Say You're Sorry, Part 2 // 2 Corinthians 2:1-11

[Music] we'll turn in your bibles this morning to second corinthians chapter two and technically we are in verses one through eleven but we as i said earlier started part one and today we'll get into part two of a message entitled say you're sorry.

And if you were here in our study, say you're sorry, it's not that you are to just say you're sorry like you would tell your kids, tell your brother, tell your sister you're sorry because we know how they say it. They say sorry, they don't mean it, but they're made to do it. There'll be no dinner for them or breakfast for them unless they say it. So their motives are most often purely carnal.

But it's true in life that without repentance, we will often say to somebody, "Well, I'm sorry," and not mean it. And in the church at Corinth, Paul had written his first letter, which caused quite a stir. And in that, now you get the study from last time, and it'd make more sense to you, but Paul had rebuked the church in part because some of them had taken his letter of correction, first Corinthians, uh, in the wrong light.

But in one of those areas, he had addressed a man's sin that was in the church where, in 1st Corinthians chapter 5, a man and a woman out of a divorce situation had come together, and they had been re- they had been married. And so there was a son that received, now in this marriage, a, uh, a stepmother. First Corinthians chapter five. And the bible says, is this wild? The bible says, "You think that can't be in the bible?" Well, it's in the bible that in Corinth, this stepmother and her stepson had sexually gotten together in this, uh, freakish incestuous relationship.

And Paul, the apostle, written in the bible, exposes this situation. And he levies the judgment. He says, "Listen, this is what you must do. You must ostracize this young man out of the body, out of the church, with hopes that he will repent. But if he doesn't repent, Satan will destroy his body, kill him physically, why? So that his soul may be saved in the day of Christ." What a strong word.

But listen, you say, "Well, that's radical." And it sure is quiet here again. But you know what? This whole part of this chapter has to do with church discipline, something that is rarely mentioned in churches today, and that's a, that's a crime, a spiritual crime. So, "say you're sorry" presupposes that we are repenting of what we've done wrong. Thank God you are learning.

In second Corinthians chapter two, the young man repented. We don't know whatever became of the inception, incestuous, uh, woman. Uh, we don't know. There's nothing, nothing mentions her. But the issue is this young man, he clearly repents. And in this portion of scripture, he is invited back into the body of Christ. That's fantastic.

So listen, second Corinthians chapter two, look at verse one with me down to verse 11. Paul says, "For I determined this within myself, that I would not come again to you in sorrow. For if I make you sorrowful, if I bum you out, church, and make you all sad, then who is he who makes me glad?" Paul was looking to them to cheer his heart. "But the one who is made sorrowful by me, and I wrote this very thing to you, lest when I came, I should have sorrow over those from whom I ought to have joy, having confidence in you all, that my joy is the joy of you all."

Verse four, "For out of much affliction and anguish of heart, I wrote to you with many tears, not that you should be grieved, notice this, but that you might know the love which I have so abundantly for you." But if anyone has caused grief, he has not grieved me, but all of you to some extent. Not to be too severe, this punishment which was inflicted by the majority is sufficient for such a man.

Verse six talks about church discipline, "So that on the contrary, you ought rather to forgive and comfort him, lest perhaps such a one be swallowed up with too much sorrow." Verse seven implies strongly, "The man has repented. Therefore, I urge you to reaffirm your love to him. For to this end, I also wrote that I might put you to the test, that's the church, whether you are obedient in all things."

Now, whom you forgive anything, I also forgive. For if indeed I have forgiven anything, I have forgiven that one for your sakes in the presence of Christ. Verse 11, "Lest Satan should take advantage of us, for we are not ignorant of his devices."

Church, by way of remembrance, mark down the first point. If you were not here, mark it down. It's vital. Number one, the first point to us saying we're sorry when we have sinned is this: verses four to five, and that is, God has a recipe for forgiveness. Church, listen, God has a recipe for forgiveness in the body of Christ, the church, and in a Christian relationship that He will not waver on. Your feelings or my feelings do not change the truth of God. "Will I feel that I should have maybe?" or "I feel like I might instead?" No. God says, "No."

God says that there is a specific recipe for the sterility, or I should say, the purity of the body of Christ and the recovery of a sinning brother or sister. Here's the recipe. We learned in verse four that it was mercy. Mercy. Paul comes to them with mercy, and he's basically saying, "I'm not delighting in the fact that I've confronted sin at the church at Corinth." He says, "I suffered anguish over this." Mercy. Church discipline should never be exercised without obvious mercy by those who are the leadership or the Christian who was offended by the sinner.

Number two, to the ingredients is the bond. Is the glue. It is love. We learned that he says, "But that you might know the love which I have so abundantly for you." Love. God wants you, as Christians, listen, don't raise your hand, but how many of you would consider yourself a mature Christian? If you're a mature Christian, then mercy should be evident in your life. Secondly, love. The love of God. Listen, not compromise and not, uh, sweeping things under the carpet, is the word love. Biblical love will confront. It doesn't want to. It doesn't like it, but it's rooted in mercy. It's grounded in love.

And the third ingredient to this wonderful thing of God's recipe for forgiveness is grace. Grace in the restoration process. Grace in the recovery. Grace to continue. It says in verse five that this grace needs to be in the presence of a church body, lest the judgment be too severe. So church, mercy, love, grace equals, in a church or in a Christian's life, the atmosphere for forgiveness. Saying you're sorry, listen, will never be enough until there is a brokenness about what your sin has caused others. Did you hear that? There can never be true restoration until the offender realizes and repents of their sin and takes full responsibility for the grief that has been caused in that family or in that church.

Very serious. Here we go. You guys ready? I know three of you are ready, but are the rest of you ready? Here we go. Second point, found in verses six through eight, and that is, God's design for restoration. What do we do after forgiveness has been extended? Next step: restoration.

Verse six teaches us that it's all about discipline. Discipline, discipline, breeds restoration. Paul says, "This punishment, discipline, which was inflicted by the majority, that is, of the church, is sufficient for such a man." How do we know the man repented? Discipline was exercised, which, listen, church, provoked the atmosphere of restoration. You should never restore a Christian back into the fellowship of the church without repentance and without church discipline.

But churches today are weak. Churches today are compromised. Churches today, and leadership in churches today, do not deal with these things, or they don't know how to deal with them because they're not reading the bible. And so, as Jesus said, "Watch out, church, because a little leaven, you know, a little yeast in a, in a, in the dough." Now, look, I don't know, I don't know this, ladies, maybe you know this, but if there's no yeast in the dough, then you've got like a cracker. You put it in the oven, and it's just flat. But if you inject yeast into it, then it begins to ferment, and it begins to grow, and it swells into this big beautiful bun or loaf. And why? Because something was brought into it causing it to swell.

Jesus said sin is like that in a church. It begins with an individual alone. It spreads to someone else, and then it begins to affect a church. And we talked about that last time where somebody over here, remember, could sin on this corner of the building, and though he may not, she may not know anyone else in the church, it begins to spiritually, supernaturally spread in a church body. Though this person over here has no knowledge of this person over here, it is a divine, supernatural existence. The church is, and its dynamic is supernatural blood flow. Are you with me? And when someone sins, that cancer supernaturally spreads. The church is a living organism, and discipline must be maintained in a church.

Uh, mark down 1 Corinthians 5:4. Going back to that incident of this sinning man and woman, Paul says in 1 Corinthians 5:4, "that in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, when you are gathered together, he said, along with my spirit, with the power of the Lord Jesus Christ, here you go, deliver such a one to Satan. Deliver a Christian over to Satan for the destruction of his body, his flesh, that his spirit, his soul, his eternal life may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus." That is radical.

Remember, we paused here last time together because that is such a profound verse. That verse speaks about church discipline. By the way, it speaks about church leadership authority. Paul says, "My spirit is present." Thirdly, it speaks about the fact that Satan is actually, at times, a tool in the hand of God. God will use the forces of demonic powers to purge the body of Christ.

But you might say, "Pastor Jack, this is so depressing." Not so. Not so. Because what? "That his spirit may be saved in the day of Jesus." That guy saved. Now, some of you contacted me, um, and said, "I can't believe that. How can a man like that be saved? He should be in hell. That guy should be..." Okay, I understand. I understand your emotions. And thank God you're not God. We thank God that you're not God.

But you know what? We're basically talking about, if you remove, uh, the issue of the woman being his stepmother, you're talking about the life of David here. David sinned with Bathsheba. David's in heaven right now. Yeah. You know what? "I just have a hard time with that kind of stuff." Then, my friend, you need to open your, your eyes up to your own sin and start right there. Because you may never have physically committed such sins, but you may have thought of it, and you're guilty.

The bible says, "Get together, find out what the truth is. And if this brother will not repent, then cast him out of the fellowship. Satan will beat the tar out of him with intent to kill him. But even if he died, that's no big loss, because his soul, the moment that guy breathed his last breath, he would be in the presence of Christ." And legalists hate this verse. People who want to think that they can get to heaven by their own good works hate this verse because it announces that even a Christian who has sinned or is sinning is still a saved, precious soul in the sight of Christ. You and I may disagree, but it's too bad. We lose. God wins.

Discipline is to provoke forgiveness and restoration, and that's brought about by discipline. And listen, it should only really happen in a church that loves this man. Are you with me? Or loves you. Because if you, if you're visiting, or if you go to a church today, or if you're watching right now and you go to a church that they're just a bunch of sin sniffers and fault-finders, and they're waiting for you to step out of line so they can wallop you, then you know what? That's probably not the most beautiful atmosphere for restoration, and certainly for church discipline and for forgiveness.

And so, listen, I, I brought forth this question, thinking you would ask it, because I would, "Pastor Jack, you might say, 'That was then, but this is now, and church discipline doesn't seem to happen much anymore.' And so, what's the big deal? Uh, what gives someone the right to exercise, uh, their authority regarding the church today?" A lot of young people say that today because a lot of young people have been brought up in very wimpy churches, and they said, "You don't have the authority to judge me, man. I can live and do whatever I want, and you have no authority."

Well, listen, there is a God-obvious anointing in the body of Christ that God has placed upon His leaders. Listen. Are you listening? Not everyone in the church with a title or the name pastor or evangelist or reverend or right reverend or priest or bishop or what else am I missing anything? And just because you have the title and the degree doesn't mean you have a God-obvious anointing. There's a lot of people in the ministry, uh, that are there because, uh, maybe they thought that was a good job to have. I don't know what in the world would lead them to think that, but I mean, come on, it's insane. Or, "Well, you know, my grandpa was a pastor, my dad was a pastor, so I went into the ministry." That's not why you go into the ministry unless you're called.

Well, how do I know if I'm called? Can I say this, not expecting any of you to believe it or recognize it? A horrible, wonderful, disgusting, beautiful, gut-wrenching, joy, pain for God's people to get so angry at them because they themselves are living a life that's destroying their own home, and you care about them more than they care about themselves. Who would sign up for that? Nobody signs up for that. I can tell you right now.

That if you're called by God, then God has put with you, within you, a God-obvious anointing to care for the body of Christ, which sometimes is a care more than what people care for themselves for, which is very frustrating. It's like a parent. You don't want your kid to go do what they do. They think you're an idiot. You know how parents, parents, you're abused by your children. They think you're so stupid. And the, the great thing is, kids do not think their parents are wise until they have kids. Mark Twain said, "Your parents get smarter as you get older." Isn't that true? You begin to realize, "Hey, my dad wasn't so dumb after all. I'm doing the same thing my dad did to me." It's a care. It's a love. And you cannot love someone or a church or a person without exercising discipline when needed.

There needs to be a God-obvious anointing upon God-ordained leadership. Do you see it in your church, wherever you go? Do you see it? Is it, I'm not asking, do you like it? That's a big different thing. There, none of us like this stuff, believe me. Remember when Mom and Dad used to say, "Son, this is going to hurt me a lot more than it's going to hurt you." Didn't we think that they were actually insane? You bear your bottom. That's what we had to do in my home. First of all, 90% of the discipline is over when you got to drop your shorts. I mean, come on. Parents, listen up. Young parents, tune in. This is free. It's not in my notes. If you tell your child, "Now go back to your room, I'm going to be back there in five minutes." First of all, that, and again, 50% of your discipline is over. When you say, "Go back to your room, I'm going to discipline you in five minutes." Half your job's done. They go back to their room. Oh, man. Oh, and by the way, uh, you can just pull your pants down and get ready now. 60% of it's done. And then you come in there and, listen, for me anyway, when you're 18, that's really embarrassing. [Laughter] My dad was a marine, man. Nobody got away with nothing in my home. And Lisa would say, "Man, that must have hurt." I'm kidding. But your parents will say, "This is going to hurt me much more than that's going to hurt you." And you think, "Well, that's impossible." You know what? Now, as a parent and a grandparent, it's, listen, it is so true. When you love someone, the last thing you want to do is send them down to their room and discipline them. But because you do love them, you must do it. Because you don't want them to grow up to be bizarre citizens and thieves and, and, you know, rebels. I mean, rebels and bad things, you know. But there needs to be a God-obvious anointing.

I'm going to give you some verses. Are you ready? In fact, I'm going to demand you write these down as I exercise my God-obvious authority. Write these verses down. They're very self-serving, I must admit. Hebrews 13:7. How should you relate to those whom God has put over your life? Hebrews 13:7, "Remember those who rule over you, who have spoken the word of God to you, whose faith follow, considering the outcome of their conduct." What does that mean? It means that I will stand before God and say, "Lord, I lived the best I could. I followed You, and I taught them the word of God to the best of my ability, and I invited them, like Paul says in numerous places, 'As I follow Christ, you follow me.' Look, I may love you, and you may be just really sweet. I'm glad you're here, but listen, the motive for what I do is this constant fear. I will stand before God someday and give an answer for what has been taught in this church and how I lived my life privately and publicly." The fear of God, the bible says, is the beginning of wisdom. Okay? So don't think I'm doing what I'm doing because you're so cute and sweet. It's because I'm going to stand before God someday, okay? And the bible says here in Hebrews 13:7, "Remember those." The word implies, "Keep them up in prayer." Okay? You're commanded to do that. I think that's sweet.

Number, number, uh, two is Hebrews 13:17. "Obey those who rule over you." What? Yep. "Obey those who rule over you. Be submissive." For why? "They watch out for your souls." You see, "as those who must give an account, let them do so with joy and not with grief, for that would be unprofitable for you." What does that mean? That means, listen, if I care, if I love you, I'm going to be praying, and I'm going to be saying, "Lord, this is a big church. It's bigger than what any one man can care for. So You care for it. And when issues are necessary, bring them to my or the other pastors' or church leaders' attention. And Lord, we will obey You." And so, when things come into our lives, listen, it is absolutely required that we, as leaders, meticulously follow the word of God, because, listen, we have to give an answer.

Most people, even within the church, want to follow their emotions about judgments and disciplines. "I feel, you know, I, I thought about it, and I know that I know he, I know he microwaved the dog." But I just, I just kind of felt like, "Take your deceiving feelings, because we're all deceived by our feelings, and throw them out the window, and look at what the bible has to say."

There's another one. Hebrews 13:24. "So listen, you're supposed to keep us up in prayer. You're supposed to obey us because we watch out for your soul. That means everything that we deal with should have a soul context for the betterment of your walk." Okay? Now, listen, this is where Paul's coming from. Remember that. Here's the third thing. Hebrews 13:24, "Greet all those who rule over you and all the saints. Those from Italy greet you. Greet all those who rule over you." What is that supposed to mean? Hi. Now, look, I know in this church, in the foyer or in the courtyard, I'm either going to meet you after service in the foyer or in the courtyard. And there's some people, you should see this. It's, I'd like to say hi to people. I love to memorize names. I love to get the faces down. And I see many people who come here, you, you could be the one I'm talking about. You'll go like this through the foyer. Now, you, you walk like this. [Laughter] And I'll see you. I want you to know, I'm, I'm revealing secrets. I'm targeting the person who is thinking, "Oh my gosh, there he is. I just want to get out of this church." And I see you, and I'm looking, and I'll go like this, "Hi. Hi. God bless you. Have a great week. Nice. What's your name?" Okay. Then, all right. No, but, and I wonder, though, this is what I honestly wonder. I wonder, I wonder what he or she is thinking. I wonder what kind of pain or grief they've gone through to try. I had one woman tell me, because I did this, and she goes, "Look, I've been coming here for two years. We've not met. I've made it. You stopped me. This is it." She, listen, she said this. She said, "The last church I was at, I got hurt so bad. I love this church. I do not want to know you." She, she was protecting herself. I understand where she's coming from. I said, "I understand. I understand that she loves this church. She's so beaten down. Her thinking is, if I know him, or if I get to know the staff, or I get to know other leaders, I'm going to be disappointed, and I don't want that to happen because I love this church." You see that? I understand. But that is the quintessential act of sweeping something under the carpet, and it will destroy your life. It's true in your marriage. It's true in the relationship with your parents or your kids. It's true in church life. Nothing is dealt with by sweeping it under the carpet. Most men, most of us guys, want to sweep it under the carpet, out of sight, out of mind. But it's there. It never goes away. It starts to fester or rot, and it begins to grow up through the carpet, and it begins to destroy.

Very important. Proverbs. Listen. Proverbs 13:24 says, "He who spares the rod hates his son, but he who loves him is careful to discipline him." And that's true in church matters. I'll just paraphrase this and move on for time's sake. Jesus said in Matthew chapter 18, listen carefully. In fact, you might want to write it down. Jesus said in Matthew 18:15-17, "He said that when someone sins against you, you go to that person privately." Did you guys all hear me? I need to hear a collective "yes" or something. "Oh, man, that guy upset me. Why are you telling me? You just sinned." "What? He hurt my feelings." Or, "He, you shouldn't be telling me this." "Have you gone to him?" "No." "Oh, great. You've not only now are sinning, but your sin may turn out to be greater than his sin that was against you. Why? Because God hates a talebearer. He says you are tale-bearing. You're carrying on something that should have been obedient to Matthew 18:15 and gone to that guy alone and said, 'Do I understand this right, that you said this and this about me?'" "No, I didn't say that. Where'd you hear that from?" Or that person might say, "Yeah, I did, and I'm really sorry. I didn't think about it." And I, and now healing begins. And right there, Matthew 18:15 to 17 has a perfect roadmap to restoration. Perfect. And only after multiple friends that you've taken to this person, when he still refuses to hear you, then you bring it to the church leadership, and then they go and deal with the guy. You know what this means? I'm hoping some of you are catching this, but now I'm going in for the kill. Twitter, Facebook, and blogging about someone whom you have not spoken to regarding an issue that you think you know so much about is a profuse sin. Amen. Tweeting, blogging, Facebooking without exercising Matthew 18 is, I believe, the largest gossip universe in the world. And if used wrongly, a tool of Satan. Imagine if these media public platforms were used to encourage one another. No. [Music] Because I wonder how much we're really caring about following God biblically. Proverbs 27:6 says, "Faithful are the wounds of a friend, but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful." Is that wise or what? I mean, it is wise. The wisest guy in the world wrote it. But man, I'd rather have a faithful brother pull me off to the side and say, "You know what? You know, I did a wedding yesterday right here, right down the middle aisle. And every wedding I do, before us guys go out, when we come walking down before the service, because I love them, I say to them, 'Are you okay? Are you ready?'" "Yeah, I'm ready." "All right. Are you ready? You got the ring?" "I got the ring." "Okay. I'll remember. I, you just, to the groom, I'll say, 'You just say what I say. Yo. You just be here because he's like this.' [Laughter] Best man, you got the ring?" "And you know what? You guys are ready." And the last thing I say, "Okay, here we go. We're going to be going out there any second now. Check your zippers. Check, check, check, check, check. Let's go." And then we walk out. Why do I tell them that? Because I love them. If I didn't like the guy, I wouldn't say that. Are you with me? Now, of course, I'm goofing off with that, but take it into your lives. This person always hurts my feelings. Don't tell me. Tell them. Speak to them, and healing can begin.

The second thing is in verse seven, repentance. God's design for restoration is repentance. Discipline, my friend, brings about an atmosphere of restoration. Listen, discipline produces repentance. You need to get this down. What if there's a relationship that's broken in your life? I guarantee you, these are eternal truths that will never change. Your marriage will never be fixed until there is an atmosphere of restoration. There's some form of discipline that takes place. It could be by church, it could be by a brother-in-law, it could be by a wife, a husband, it could be by a father or a father. It could be by God, just universally himself. But discipline puts the mind in a place of repentance. Do you guys understand that? Remember the spank brings about, "Mommy, I'm sorry." Did you know Dr. Spock? Remember him? Young people don't know who he is. That's a good thing. But Dr. Spock wound up, after, you know, he messed up his own kids, he wound up saying, "I was wrong, and Dr. Dobson was right. I never disciplined my kids, and I was wrong." And Dr. Dobson was right. Why? A child will carry, listen, an adult will carry, a religionist will carry guilt and shame in their life if they never take it to the cross. You'll be paranoid. You'll be scared. "Oh my gosh, why is that happening? I bet it's happening because in 1963, I did that thing." You are acting that way because it's never been taken to the cross. It's never been dealt with. Again, it's been swept on the carpet, and it will come up. Discipline brings about repentance, and repentance is one of the most glorious things in the world. Repentance. It's the root to saying you're sorry.

He says, "So that verse seven, 'on the contrary, you ought rather to forgive and comfort this man.'" Now, why? Because he's repented. "Lest perhaps such a one be swallowed up with too much sorrow." You don't want to heap condemnation upon a man who has repented. The word "forgive" here means to grant or to extend favor. The word means to pardon, or to, listen to this, I like this, it means to authorize a rescue. Is that a cool word? Authorize a rescue. Someone having the authority, in this context, the church body in Corinth and the leadership, and Paul exercises an order, executes a command to rescue a brother or sister who has repented from their sin. Isn't that awesome? I love that.

If you sin, by the way, we don't fall into sin. I had someone tell me today, "I fell into sin, and this is what happened." I said, "You didn't fall into sin." He's like, "You know, we talk like it's a hole in the ground." Every sin that you and I get messed up in, it's got neon lights pointing at it. Sin. The Holy Spirit's going, "Watch out." We don't fall into it like like it's unmarked. No. The truth is, I was weak. I wasn't walking with God. I wasn't reading. I wasn't praying. My eyes started to wander, and I allowed myself to just go right into that thing. And now it's ruining my life, or this, or that, or whatever. And I see the outcome of it all. And God has been dealing with me, and I want to repent of my sin. That's a beautiful day.

But listen, when a person, listen, when a person repents of their sin, church, he's going to say in a moment, "I'm testing you Corinthians on how biblical and obedient you are." When a person repents, the church is not supposed to, uh, brand a scarlet letter on the person's forehead, dress them up in black, and drag them behind the, you know, the food cart or something. You're to establish a restoration process that brings about his full recovery. It doesn't happen in a second. Do you understand that? John the Baptist said, "Bring forth fruit worthy of your repentance." When someone is forgiven, because they repented, it doesn't mean you put him back in as the leader of this or that ministry, or even if it's a husband or a wife, and he or she repents, they should immediately get into marriage counseling. Why? So they don't make the same mistake again. Or the leader should be having a time of restoration, healing, recovery by those who love him.

The word "comfort" means call them near, embrace them. The word "swallowed" here in this verse means to drown them. Don't drown them. The word "sorrow" means a deep sadness, a grievous sadness, a heaviness. And then the third thing is this: encouragement. Write down verse eight. The encouragement. God's design for restoration is that we encourage. Let me tell you right now, what a great thing. I believe that you cannot be any of the things we've previously just talked about without being encouraging. He said, "Well, how do I be encouraging?" You look at all the other points we've studied in this two-part message thus far. How do you encourage? He says in verse eight, "Therefore, I urge you to reaffirm your love to him." Reaffirm means to reapply. The, the term means to lay down another coat. Like, uh, you guys, uh, remember, first of all, somebody help me out. James, do they, do we do wood shop in school anymore? Like the wood shop and all that kind of stuff? Okay, good. Because in my mind, I think of when I went to school and we had wood shop, and we'd make boats, or, you know, we'd make stuff, or we'd make a plaque. I remember back in my day, we'd like a Jimi Hendrix plaque with, with black lights, you know? And, and you'd varnish on the wood, the plaque, you varnish over and over again in woodshop until it's so thick. Remember, you'd use that urethane stuff you poured out there, and everyone was getting high in class. Nobody had filter things to breathe. Everyone got brain damage. You're putting that stuff out there, and it's getting incredibly thick and shiny, and you're so meticulous. One day after another, one class after another, you lay down another coat. That's exactly what that word means. That we constantly reaffirm to the brother that has repented of his sin, "God loves you, man. We love you. Hang in there. God's going to see you through this. We're going to give you some men in this church for you to be accountable to. They're going to love on you every week, every other day, every day if necessary, every hour if necessary. They're going to put another coat down of reaffirming your walk." That doesn't mean they're soft. It doesn't mean they're overlooking his sin. They're godly men holding them to a high standard of walking with Christ. And so it should be that way. It should be powerfully that way. Once a brother or sister has brought forth the fruit worthy of repentance, the responsibility now is upon the church to welcome him or her into the church family, and that forgiveness be maintained as repentance was exercised in that man's life or in that woman's life.

Forgiveness is not, here's the tough part for us, forgiveness for us is not forgetting. You said, "No, Pastor, I've read some books that if we really forgive somebody, we'll forget about their situation. We'll never bring it up again." I wish that were true. I honestly wish that were true. Wouldn't that be great if that were true? Has anyone ever sinned against you? Raise your hand. Look at that. Look, look around. Look at all the liars sitting here. There's like about 10 hands went up. All of us have been hurt by someone. And then they say, "You know, I, I was wrong. What I did was wrong. I understand that by the grace of God, I won't do that again. Pray for me. I'm sorry. Please forgive me." And the atmosphere is there. Now, please get this. There's nothing fair about the gospel. Did you hear what I just said? There's nothing fair about the gospel of Jesus Christ. And I thank God it's not fair, because you want to know, you want to know what fair is? Fair is Manny, Moe, and Jack. Jack, you're going to hell. I've looked at your life. I saw the stuff you did even before you became a Christian. And I even, I even, I even know the things, Jack, that you promised me after you became a Christian, that you're going to pray for three hours a day, that you're going to witness at least one person today, and that you're going to do this, and all these promises I made God, I was going to fast twice a week, every week, for the rest of my life. And you broke those promises to me, Jack. And I'm going to be fair. You're going to hell. Huh? What's wrong with that? There's nothing wrong with it. If He's going to be fair.

The gospel is not fair. How is this fair? That God would come, sinless, holy God, would come, Jesus Christ would come into this world, put on a human suit, live His life, be abused by humanity, my sin that put Him on the cross, suffer like He did, and then rise from the dead forever a human, and I get to go to heaven? That's not fair. That's mercy, love, and grace. Those things transcend fairness. Those things are beyond fairness. Why? Because God is the only one whom in the word says, "As far as the east is from the west, so far have I removed your sin from you." God is the one who says, "I will never remember your sins no more." Based on what? The blood of Christ at the cross. I'm not God. Neither are you. Every day I must pick up my cross and bear it. And part of that cross is forgiving someone who sinned against me. Whenever I hear their name, or something reminds me of them, I cannot forget. And because of that, that is part of my sanctification in this life. Every day I will choose to either obey my emotions and hate them, and yet lie straight through my teeth and tell people, "Well, you know, I have forgiven," and down deep inside, I could, I'd kill them if I could, if I had the chance. That's not biblical, but it is human. Christians are not to be human. We are to follow Jesus.

And hearing is our struggle. Is it not to forgive those? Watch. To forgive those who have wronged us. When, when we find out about it. Okay, sure. Uh, and that's wise, by the way. He said, "Well, they haven't even, they haven't even come to ask me forgiveness yet." I understand that. But first, quickly, in your own heart, before they even come to you, deal with it between you and God, and get free. Because when someone sins against you, listen. Are you, are you sitting down? When someone sins against you, because you are like Jesus in this world, the burden and the pain to bear is not coming from the sinner who sinned against you. It comes from the one who was sinned against. You see, you and I must pay the price of having been sinned against. When I issue forgiveness to that individual, I'm set free, not them. Forgiveness is to set me free.

Next step. Once this takes place, the one who was sinned against, listen. If a man cheats on his wife, she pays the price, and he's the one that went astray. That's not fair. But the gospel is not fair. She pays the price. The burden is upon her to forgive him when he repents, because that whole dynamic is of heaven and not of earth. And so, when this takes place, here's what I must do daily. If someone sinned against me 30 years ago, I have to forgive that person every day, because I'm a human, and I cannot forget. But yet God has engineered that in the part of my Christian development. Did you hear me? Which now, all of a sudden, a ray of hope bursts through the cloud. Wait a minute, Jack. Are you saying that if you were wronged by someone, it no longer needs to eat you alive, but you deal with it every day by asking God to put it within your heart to forgive them, because you don't have the divine attribute of forgetting? Yes, that's what I'm saying. And if I do that, then by nature of me following Jesus with that cross, every day, I become more like Jesus. By virtue of the offense that was perpetrated against me, it becomes a victory. Total. So that those who have hurt me in this life, God uses to strengthen me. And when that happens, and if I see them on the street, I have to embrace them. I have to say, "How you doing?" It's no more closing the door, shut the curtains, "Oh my goodness, oh, speed up, run them over." It's none of that. You're free. You're free from that. Please. Someone. Do you understand what I'm talking about? It is so liberated. It is so incredibly powerful. That's why if the person that sinned against you, if you were to say to them, "I forgive you for having offended my life," if they say to you, "Well, I will, I don't forgive you." Do you understand? It doesn't matter what they respond to you about. Say, "Well, you know, I'll pray for you." But I'm free. "Hey, you want me to buy you lunch?" "Uh, what do you want to do?" "Uh, because I'm free." Said by doing that, by the way, that's heaping coals of fire upon someone's head, because you're blessing them with goodness. You can't do that for realsies unless you've experienced goodness. You've got to experience this encouragement. I can, I can encourage you, and I'm supposed to, and I can try. But no encouragement, listen, church, no encouragement is greater than obedience to God. He knows what He's doing. Stop being in control of your life. Stop having to have the last word. Stop having to win the argument. The greatest victories come when we give up to Jesus.

Galatians chapter six. I have four minutes left. Galatians six. We'll end with this. Second point. Clearly, this will be a three-point message. Galatians 6:1 says, "Brethren, if a man is overtaken in any trespass." Wow. Any. Is any. And trespass is to cross the line when you know you shouldn't. Sin is crossing the line, and then waking up that you've sinned. Trespass is this: "Is this the line I'm not supposed to cross?" "This one?" Yeah. And you step right over it. You know, like any four-year-old can do this, by the way. "Do not go past this line right here. Don't do this." And the four, maybe even two, they understand everything. They can't say much. They hear you. They understand what exactly what you said. You could, I think you could say it in Latin, and they'll get it. And now, "You don't go across this line right here." Okay? You can go anywhere in the whole yard, but don't cross this right here. And they go just like this, don't they? They go like this. And don't they pick their foot up? They're two years old. The domestic terrorists. And they go like this. And you know what's going on in the mind? You may, you may outweigh me by 200 pounds. However, I'm not going down easy. I may be sporting the diaper, but I have a cigar in my, you know, in my, in my diaper bag, and I'm taking you on. Are you man enough to tell me to reinforce your statement not to cross this line?" And they picked that foot up, and it's just like, I have no doubt. It's just like Eve in the garden. Just like Eve in the garden. And then that foot goes over, and you have that right. Then it's like this, "Go ahead, make my day." And you've got, you've got a full-grown adult squared off with a 30-pound, un, unredeemed, diaper-toting, baby bottle-wielding [Music] individual who says, "Let's settle who's in charge here right now." It is absolutely amazing. No. Listen. Galatians 6:1 says that we are to restore such a one in the spirit of gentleness, considering yourself, lest you also be tempted. The spiritually mature will have a heart to restore those who have repented.

I want to share this personally with you. In our last study together, I shared Philippians 1:6 with you, which says that "once the Lord has begun a good work in a believer, He will complete it until the day of Christ." Okay? And I got a letter from someone, and I'm going to read it. I won't give your name, but this is the note I got. "Pastor Jack, when you shared Philippians 1:6, it changed my course. Changed the course of my life. I had sinned against God and my husband, but he forgave me, and God forgave me too, but I could not forgive myself until today. I was about to give up on my faith until I heard that verse. I was encouraged by just how much the Lord cares for me to tell me that through, tell me that through that verse." That is awesome. To get encouragement from the word of God. The bible says in Ephesians 4:29 in the NIV, it says, "Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouth, but only what is helpful for building others up, encouragement according, look at this, to their deeds or to their needs, that it may profit those who listen."

Church, from this moment on, we need to start speaking out publicly about what is good, what is wrong and harmful. Handle it like a bomb. Don't. You would never put a bomb under the carpet. You would never go bury it in your backyard. You would find a bomb expert, and that's what a godly church does. It handles bombs. And you, you take it to that individual first. If they won't hear you, then obey Matthew 18. And this may sound nuts to you, but it probably does. But it works for me. If we would just do these things in obedience to God, I believe that the Lord, as He does, I think in any church, transmits a personality from that church. There's an atmosphere that every church sports, good, bad, or ugly. And this, this, this statement came from an inspiration. For those of you who have dogs, when you come home, what does your dog do when you come home? It greets you. How does it greet you? Wags the tail. That's the, that's what my dog does when you come home. I, I can go to the mailbox and come back, and she acts as though I've been gone for a month. And it's funny because she's only this big, six years, that big, and her tail's that big. Her tail's about an inch, maybe. And the tail starts shaking, and then it transmits up the midsection, in the rib cage area, to the shoulders, and her whole head starts going crazy. It's like [Music]. I think if we would be encouraging, our tails would wag more. I think that we would display an atmosphere of, "I'm so glad you're here."

Father, in the name of our precious Lord and Savior Jesus, I ask You, Lord, that You would take this message and embed it in our hearts so deeply that it would come out of our lips and our fingertips and our feet. Lord, where healing needs to take place, we invite You, Lord. This morning, if there's someone here who's not a Christian, may they be jealous about our God. May they become so envious about our God that they would say, "I want Your God too." Lord, do a number on their hearts. And Father, we pray right now for America, for this coming election. I know, I know we all win, no matter how the election goes, we all win as believers having voted righteously. Our conscious, conscience is clear. We have voted or shall vote biblically. And in the end, eternity comes, we win. But until then, You've given us a responsibility to not do what we think, but to obey what You've written. And I thank You for these men that we prayed for earlier who are in the public square, who are in politics, but they're Christians first. They know it. They live it. And they are examples to us. They're examples to me. And I thank You for them. And quite frankly, Lord, I just pray that You'd cause them to be victorious on Tuesday. May righteousness sweep this nation. [Music] Bless this church, Your precious ones here and now, in Jesus name. And all God's people said, amen. [Music] You.