HOW TO DEAL WITH SIN2012 Teaching by Jerry B Simmons

Teaching Transcript: How To Deal With Sin

You are listening to FerventWord, an online Bible study ministry with teachings and tools to help you grow deeper in your relationship with God. The following message was taught by Jerry Simmons in 2012. Well, this morning as we start out here in Romans chapter 6, we're going to jump around a little bit to cover different portions of Scripture. But we're going to be talking about the subject of how to deal with sin.

This is a subject that is so important for you and I as believers today. It's an important subject for the church as a whole today because what we see happening within the church so often is a real ignorance about what to do with sin.

that there is sin that is present, there's sin that is going on, and many times as believers, we're not addressing it, we're not dealing with it, we're not following what the Scripture has instructed us regarding sin. And so we need to talk about, we need to take some time to consider, to educate ourselves on how are we supposed to deal with sin. Now as we begin talking about this subject, of course, we need to anticipate

Answer the question, what is sin? We could describe sin this way. It's a deliberate violation of God's instructions. A deliberate violation of God's instructions. So here's what God said, and you say, no, I'm not going to do that. That is sin. However, we also know that sin is not just the deliberate violations. Sin also includes the idea of missing the mark.

which is a term from archery or, you know, target practice, where you're shooting at a target, the mark is the bullseye, and when you miss the mark, that is sin. In other words, when you and I are trying to do good, we're trying to obey God. It's not a deliberate, I'm not going to obey you, God, but it's a, I want to obey you, God. I'm trying, I'm doing my best, but I still fall short of

That also is sin. So the deliberate violation and the great intentions, sincere motives, you know, great love for God, but still fall short. That is also sin. Now, when we talk about sin today, I want to also make clear that this is talking about issues, activities, practices that are clearly addressed in the Bible.

We talked about legalism a couple weeks ago. Legalism, we talked about it as turning your likes into laws.

where we try to hold other people to our own preferences, our own convictions, what we like and prefer, not necessarily what the Bible says. We're not talking about that today. We're talking about the clear teachings of scriptures where the Bible says this practice, this attitude, this mindset is sinful. It is wrong. And that is what we need to address and deal with. Now, why do we need to deal with sin?

Why do we need to even, you know, talk about it, think about it? Why do we need to know how to address it? Well, Paul is really dealing with that here in Romans chapter 6. Again, in verse 20, he says, Paul calls us to look back. Remember before Christ, you were slaves of sin.

Sin in our life brings us into bondage. And so that's one reason why we need to deal with sin, because it brings bondage to us. But then look at verse 21. He said, So not only did sin bring bondage, but sin brought shame. And the things that you were practicing in sin before, you're ashamed of now.

It caused shame in your life. It brought shame. But the end result, he says in verse 21, is death. So bondage, shame, death, this is what sin brings. This is the result of sin. And then, of course, you could look at verse 23 for the confirmation of that. For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

The wages of sin. When you go to work, you earn wages. It's something that you earned. When your boss gives you a paycheck, it's not a gift. It's what you've earned. It's your wages. It's what's due to you. In the same way, in practicing sin, what we earn, what is due to us, is death. Sin earns us death. It brings us shame. It brings us into bondage.

And so this is why we need to deal with sin, because it has some serious consequences. In fact, sin is sin because of these consequences. It's not just that God said, well, let me just make up some rules, and then if people violate them, well, then, you know, I'll inflict them with bondage and shame and death. No, here's what happened. God looked on at our practices, and he says, those things bring bondage, shame, and death, but

I'm going to call it sin, and I'm going to tell people, don't practice that, because I don't want you to be in bondage and have shame and have the end result be death. This is the effects of sin, and that's why it's sin. That's why God says, do not practice it. If you've been with us in reading through the Bible in three years, we recently read through the life of David. And King David was a great king, but he had a big failure when he

Well, he committed adultery with Bathsheba. And then to cover up that adultery, he murdered her husband. It's a great failure, a big sin. But you know, David paid dearly for that sin. There's several consequences that you could look at as a result of that sin. Now he was forgiven. God forgave him, but there was still devastating repercussions. First of all, the child was

That was the product of his adulterous affair with Bathsheba. The child died. Then his daughter was raped. The rape took place from one of David's sons named Amnon. And then Amnon was put to death by one of David's other sons, Absalom. And then Absalom, remember, tried to overthrow David and take over the kingdom. And then he was put to death. So David...

experienced the loss of the child. He experienced the loss of his daughter in the sense that she was raped. He experienced the loss of his son Amnon and then the loss of his son Absalom. Then on top of that, God also said, you're going to have war. The enemies all around are going to afflict you the rest of your life. And we could look on and on and on. There was great devastating effects that were all pointing back to, tied back to this issue of sin as he committed adultery with Bathsheba.

And so we can see from the example of David, sin brings bondage, brings shame, and it brings death. It brings great destruction. It's devastating. And you have your own examples that you could look back to if you would choose to remember.

You have your own examples that you could consider in your own life, how sin has brought shame and bondage and death. You have examples of people that you've known, how sin has just destroyed their lives and wrecked them as they've engaged in and practiced sin. We see it. It's devastating. Sin brings death. It brings bondage and it brings shame. However, the last part of verse 23 is really important.

For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. So the bad news is the devastation of sin, but the good news is there's, well, there's a relief from sin. There's a relief from the results of sin. And that is the gift of God, which is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. Jesus died so that we would not have to continue in slavery to sin.

That's why Jesus died. Because before that, we had no choice. We were bound in sin. We were caught up in sin. We had no other option, no alternative, but to continue in sin, which would be then to continue to bring bondage and shame and death into our lives. But he died so that we could escape the death that sin brings.

But here's the part that I want to emphasize this morning and what we'll be addressing this morning. And that is, we have to follow His instructions in order to experience this relief that He's provided, this escape that He has provided. We have to follow His instructions. You see, the Bible has very clear instruction regarding sin.

It's not hard to figure out. It's not ambiguous. It's not confusing. The Bible has very clear instruction regarding sin. And we're going to be looking at this in four areas today. We're going to be looking at sin, talking about our own selves. How do we deal with sin when it's your sin, when it's my own sin? How do we deal with sin when it's somebody else? It's a believer who's been caught up in sin. How do we deal with sin when it's someone, a believer who's sinned

directly against us? And then how do we deal with sin when it's us who have sinned against another? And so we'll look at these four areas and learn how to deal with sin, what the Bible says to say, or has to say about what we need to do regarding these conditions of sin. So the first one we'll look at today is your sin. How do we deal with

How do you deal with the sin that is revealed in your life? For that, please turn with me to 1 John 1. 1 John 1. The Apostle John gives us this exhortation, this great understanding regarding sin and the forgiveness of it. How can we be cleansed from sin? 1 John 1.

And I want to look with you first at verses 5 through 7. It says this,

But if we walk in the light as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another and the blood of Jesus Christ, his son, cleanses us from all sin. Here as we look at 1 John chapter 1 verses 5 through 7, as we consider what to do with our own sin, what we learn here is that the instruction we're given is to repent. What do you do with your sin?

Well, you must repent. And we can see that here in verses 5 through 7. This idea of forgiveness, John is describing it's a change, walking in the light instead of walking in the darkness. So he says, God is light. There's no darkness in him at all. That's our first understanding. God is light. He is holy. He is pure. He is perfect. There is no darkness in him.

And so if we're going to have relationship with God, if we're going to have communion with God, as we'll partake of communion at the end of the service today, as we're going to walk with God, understanding that He is light, there's no darkness in Him at all, He goes on to say in verse 6, if we say that we have fellowship with Him and walk in darkness, then He says we lie and we do not practice the truth. So God is light. If we're walking in darkness...

But we say that we have fellowship with God. Yeah, I'm a Christian, you say. But you walk in darkness, John says, you're lying. You don't practice the truth. That's not real. That's not true. If you're walking in darkness, if you're walking in sin, if you're continuing to live and practice sinful practices, John says, you don't have fellowship with God. You're not a Christian, even though you claim to be.

He says you lie and you do not practice the truth. But he goes on to say in verse 7, but if we walk in the light as he is in the light, then we have fellowship with one another and the blood of Jesus Christ, his son, cleanses us from all sin. Before Christ, you and I are all in darkness. Again, there's no option. There's no alternative. There's no way to walk in the light without Christ. Now as we've believed in Jesus and put our faith and trust in him,

The call is for us to turn from darkness and to walk in the light. And what's that called? When you stop walking one way and start walking another way. What's that called? It's called repentance. The word repent, it means to turn around. You're walking in darkness, you turn around and you walk in the light. When it comes to your sin, when it comes to my sin, I have a responsibility, you have a responsibility to repent.

We have a responsibility to deal with that sin, to not just let it go on, to not just cover it up and hide it, to not just deal with it or tolerate it. We must repent. Because if we continue to walk in darkness, but say that we are walking with Jesus, John says you're lying. That's not consistent because God is light. There's no darkness in him at all. So if you're walking in darkness, you are not walking with him.

You're not following Jesus. So walk in the light, and then the result is you have fellowship and forgiveness. Fellowship with one another, he says there in verse 7, but then also the cleansing from all sin. Now let's continue on in verse 8. If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar and his word is not in us. So here is John goes on to deal with this issue of walking in darkness versus walking in light. He says, look, if you try to say that you have no sin, that you don't have a sinful nature, that you don't have sinful practices and conditions, he says, look, you're deceiving yourself and

You're not deceiving God. You're not fooling anybody else either. We all know you're a sinner. You all know that I'm a sinner. So to claim to be without sin, we're just deceiving ourselves. We all have that sinful nature. And then in verse 10, if we say that we've not sinned, so verse 8 is probably talking about our sinful nature, the reality that it still exists. But then verse 10 is the sinful practices. If we say that we've not sinned, we haven't practiced sin, we haven't done something wrong,

It says we make him a liar and his word is not in us. So it's not just something that we dealt with before Jesus. Oh yeah, sin. I remember that. Yeah. Oh yeah. And then I got saved. And man, praise God, I never had to deal with sin again. That's not how it works. That's not what John is saying. If we try to say that we don't sin...

If we try to say that we don't continue to sin, if we try to say that we don't practice sin, that we don't fall into sin, if we try to claim no sin, we're deceiving ourselves. We make Him, the Lord, a liar and His Word's not in us. It's not just something we dealt with before Jesus. It's not just something that we dealt with as new believers. But it's something that we deal with as long as we're in this body.

We will wrestle with sin. We will struggle with sin. We will be tempted to sin. We will fall into temptation. We will experience sin. We will disobey God. Even if we're trying real hard and great sincerity and have great love for God and really mean to do well, we're still going to miss the mark and fall short. That's our nature. It's going to be a perpetual battle against sin. So it's ongoing. How do we deal with sin when it's your own sin?

understand first of all it is going on and it needs to be dealt with and we must repent but he also gives us some more insight here in regarding repentance and forgiveness he says in verse 9 if we confess our sins he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness so there's a condition here in order to be forgiven to be cleansed from all unrighteousness

There needs to be confession. So there needs to be the repentance in the sense of turning from darkness and walking in the light. We got to stop practicing the sin. That's part of forgiveness. That's part of repentance. But the other part of repentance and forgiveness is confession. And so we're going to set up a booth over here and I'm going to sit in it and you're going to come tell me. No, no, no. Not that kind of confession. It's confession to God.

The word confession, it means to agree with God, to say the same thing. To agree with God and say, yes, you're right, God. This practice is sinful. The things that I'm doing are not right. The things that I'm doing are destructive. As you agree with God about sin, confessing sin to God, and turn from those practices to practice what He has commanded, the things that are good,

Well, that's what repentance is all about. And that's when forgiveness is received. You see, forgiveness in verse 7, he says, if we walk in the light as he is in the light, then we have fellowship and the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from all sin. So there has to be the turning away from sin to practice the things that are of God. But there also has to be, verse 9, the confession of sin.

that we agree with God. You're right, God, that's sinful. I'm going to stop doing it. The stop doing it is the key part here that I'm emphasizing. You got to stop practicing sin. You got to stop living in sin. And so when it comes to our own sin, how to deal with it? You must repent. But here's what we often do.

Instead of repenting, what you and I often do, what we often see within the church amongst believers, instead of repentance, we see surrender. We just kind of run up the white flag and say, I give up. I give up. I've been fighting this sin. I've been fighting this battle. It doesn't appear that I'm winning. I give up. What we end up doing is we justify our sin.

Instead of repenting and stopping, turning around, going the other direction, confessing and agreeing with God, instead we justify, well, you see, I'm this way because I had this experience. I came from this background. My parents were this way. We begin to explain a way to justify and to excuse our sin instead of repenting. We surrender. We give up the fight. We just say, I guess this is how it's going to be.

This is who I am. Take it or leave it. My mom was this way. My grandpa was this way. My great grandma was this way. And that's how I am too. It's just the way that we are. It's, you know, our Irish culture or whatever. You know what I mean? We have all of these excuses, these justifications. We give up the fight. I'm not trying to pretend that this is not a fight.

This is a real battle. It's a real war. Listen, Satan is out to destroy your life. His main instrument to do so is sin. And what does sin bring? It brings bondage and shame and death. That's exactly what Satan wants for you. And so he will set traps. He's ruthless. He's not nice. He doesn't play fair. He's cruel, vicious, unthinkably so.

And he wants to convince you to give up, to surrender, to just, well, hey, how many times can you ask for forgiveness for that sin? I don't think God even wants to hear you right now. I mean, you just asked him for forgiveness yesterday and here you are today in the same thing. Why even bother asking God? Why even bother seeking repentance? Why even bother confessing? What Satan will do is he will try to, first he'll trap us. He'll set these traps, cause you to fall.

entices our sinful nature right and then he'll get on and he'll beat us and say yeah you should just give up stop fighting why are you doing that god doesn't want you anyways look you're a miserable person you're a miserable christian you're walking in darkness you can't be a christian god doesn't want you that's what satan says why because he wants us to surrender to stop the fight you see it's going to be a battle to the very end it's a bitter battle it's it's a vicious battle

But we got to stay in the fight. And we stay in the fight, not with a lot of self-determination or discipline or great, you know, intentions, but we stay in the battle in repentance and confession. These are the instruments that God has said, look, this is the way that you can receive forgiveness. And all of your sin can be washed away. But Lord, I've done it a thousand times. That doesn't matter. He paid the price once and for all on the cross.

Don't let Satan convince you that God's done with you. He's not. You've got to stay in the fight. You must repent. Don't tolerate sin in your life. Don't just give up and say, well, this is how I am. This is how I've always been. I guess this is how I'm going to be.

I'm always going to have this temper. I'm always going to have this greed. I'm always going to have this covetousness. I'm always going to have this lust. This is just who I am and I guess I just might as well put up with it. Live with it. Thank God for grace and just continue on in sin. No. Stay in the fight. Repent. Stop walking in darkness. Turn and walk in the light. We need to turn from sin to stop practicing sin and to start practicing obedience.

Repentance involves turning from sin and confessing sin. Do you have sin in your life right now? Do you have some issues that God's been prompting in your heart? He's been prodding you? You've been surrendering to? The instruction the Bible gives us is repent.

When God was addressing Cain in Genesis chapter 4, before he killed Abel, he warned Cain. He said, look, sin crouches at your door. It lies at your door. It's lying in wait. He said, sin's desire is for you, but you should rule over it. Sin wants to take you out. The enemy wants to use sin to destroy your life, to bring you bondage and shame and death. But you should rule over it. And how do you do that? How do you have victory? Repentance.

Stop practicing it. Agree with God about your sin and walk in the light. So how do we deal with sin? Well, when it's your own sin, first of all, you repent. Secondly, how do we deal with sin? When it's somebody else in sin. It's a believer next to us who is caught up in sin. Turn with me to Galatians chapter 6 and let's see what the Bible has to say about a believer in sin. What we are to do. Galatians chapter 6 says,

Here Paul the Apostle is writing to the church of Galatia, a church that really is in need of some correction, and so Paul is bringing it. Galatians chapter 6, verse 1, he says, "'Brethren, if a man is overtaken in any trespass, you who are spiritual, restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness, considering yourself, lest you also be tempted. Bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.'"

So here, Paul the Apostle describes a believer who is in sin. He describes it as being overtaken in sin, and his instruction, which is our instruction today, is to restore. What do you do when there's a believer who is in sin? Someone you know, your brother, your sister in the Lord, who has been overtaken in sin. Well, you are called to restore that person.

This word overtaken, it means to take in advance. The literal meaning of this word is kind of a picture really. It's to eat before others have an opportunity. Okay, so picture a potluck, some kind of great feast or something.

Everybody's coming to the feast, but you get there first. And you get to eat before anybody else has opportunity. You get the first pick. You get to go through the line and get whatever you want before anybody else has a chance to. That's the idea. That's the picture of this word overtaken. Now, following that picture, here this buffet table, the believer that's caught up in sin is the prey.

The believer is the food on the table. And Satan has got there first. He wants to destroy people. His main instrument to do so is sin. He's ruthless. He's cruel. He's a liar. He sets traps. And this one, this believer, fell. He got there first. Before someone else could come and strengthen them and help them escape.

Satan got there first. He's eating at the buffet table and your brother, your sister is the food, is the prey. When a believer is in sin, they've been overtaken, they've been caught up by Satan. This is really important because sometimes we get confused and we begin to think that people are our enemies. People are not your enemies. Look, even if they want to be your enemy, people are not your enemy. Even if they try to be your enemy,

People are not your enemy. Satan is the enemy. And he's out to destroy lives. And your brother or sister in sin is not your enemy. The believer around you that's been overtaken in sin, they've been caught in the trap of Satan who is seeking to destroy their life. He got there first. He's feasting on the believer. That's the picture that Paul is painting here. And so if a man is overtaken in any trespass,

He says, you who are spiritual, restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness. And so here, Paul says, look, you have a responsibility to restore. You can't just walk by and say, whoa, that poor guy, man, he got caught. He's getting devoured. I wonder what's for lunch today, you know? Just go about your business. No, no, no. Paul says, look, you...

As a believer in Jesus, have a responsibility when another believer around you is caught up in sin, overtaken in sin. This word restore has in it two parts. The ideas of rescue and then also rebuild. Rescue and rebuild. Listen, you and I, we need to love people enough to care when they've fallen into the traps that Satan has placed for them.

This is really about our love for one another. Jesus said, the whole world will know that you're my disciples by your love for one another. And love is not just demonstrated by, you know, giving each other gifts on important holidays or something. It's also helping them, rescuing them, rebuilding them when they've been overtaken in sin. In my mind, this conjures up the picture of a battlefield. And there's a soldier who's fallen in the midst of the battle.

They're being destroyed. They're being attacked by the enemy. Our job as the soldiers who are also there is to lead the rescue mission, to go on in the face of fire. Yes, it's dangerous. Yes, it's difficult. That's why Paul says, considering yourself, lest you also be tempted.

Yeah, it's going to be messy. It's going to be difficult. But you know what? You need to lead the rescue mission. You need to rescue that person who's been overtaken in sin. Get them out of the situation. Help them get out of the trap. Help them be delivered from sin. And you can take them back to 1 John to stop practicing darkness, to agree with God and walk in the light. We need to come alongside them.

Paul says in verse 2, "...bear one another's burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ." Again, in the picture of the battlefield that's conjured up in my mind, you know, it's the throwing the person over your shoulder and bearing their burden, carrying them off the battlefield, getting them out of danger. Help them get out of it. Help them, rescue them, pull them from the teeth of the enemy who's got their first and he's been devouring your brother, your sister in the Lord.

So rescue is this idea of restore, but it's also rebuild, rebuild. We've pulled them out of the immediate danger. Now we need to train them for battle, to teach them how to win, to equip them to stand against the wiles of the devil. So it's not just a, you know, pull them out of the fire and then walk away, but there's a discipleship part now.

You see them caught up in sin. You see them overtaken. Now help them, not just for that moment, but help them as they walk to maintain victory, that they would be set upright, that they would be restored in their relationship with God, that they would be restored to be the man, the woman of God that they're called to be. Set them back up where they're supposed to be, ready for the battle. Rescue and rebuild.

And so that's what the Bible instructs us to do when a believer around us is in sin. We have a responsibility. We should have a love for the people around us that motivates us to reach out, to rescue, to rebuild. But here's what we often do. Someone's caught up in sin. You know what we often do? So we kick them while they're down. Seriously, it's what we often do. We kick them while they're down. Essentially, we join the enemy's team.

The enemy's trying to take them out. We join his side. We say, yeah, you are a miserable wretch. Yeah, you are. Yeah, you should just give up. Yeah, get out of here. We don't want to deal with you. We often join Satan's side and kick him while they're down. There's a saying, Christians are the only soldiers who shoot their own wounded. And it's a saying because it's what we often do, guys. Seriously.

We bring great judgment and condemnation upon people when God is calling us to rescue them, not to kick them, not to beat them. We're not supposed to push them away. We're to draw them near to the Lord. But because we're disgusted by what they do or what they've done, because we're upset, but because maybe we like kicking people while they're down. I don't know. But we join up with the enemy. Amen.

And we help him destroy their life. Oh God, forgive us. Have mercy on us because we've taken part in the bondage and shame and death that results from sin and the brother or sister. When a believer is in sin, when they're overtaken, they're caught up in sin, we need to restore. Don't put it off and say, well, that's Pastor Jerry's job. That's Pastor George's job. If it's been brought to your attention,

Just go ahead and understand, God wants you to be involved in this. Paul is writing to the church of Galatia.

That's not his letter to Timothy. He doesn't say, Timothy, if someone is overtaken in sin, then you, personally, Timothy, you have to restore them. He says, no brethren to the church of Galatia. He says, brethren to the church of Calvary Chapel Living Water. If anyone is overtaken in sin, you need to restore them. You have a responsibility. Come alongside. Bear their burdens. Throw them on your shoulder. Get them off of the battlefield. Build them up. Equip them. Teach them. Train them.

To be able to stand and fight. To not surrender. To not give up. Do you know someone who's overtaken in sin right now? This is what the Bible instructs you to do. This is what you've been given. The instruction God has given you. Restoration involves rescue and rebuilding. Get to work. Rescue. Rebuild. Reach out. Bring them back to that right place where they need to be.

James tells us in James 5.19, he says, Brethren, if anyone among you wanders from the truth and someone turns him back, let him know that he who turns a sinner from the error of his way will save a soul from death and cover a multitude of sins. Again, James is addressing the brethren, the church as a whole. He says, look, you need to know when you turn someone back from sin, from the error of their ways, you save a soul from death. You see,

That is what we need to understand. We're saving a soul from death. The reason why we reach out to rescue, to rebuild the one who is overtaken in sin is because Satan is succeeding in bringing death and destruction to them. And we need to love them enough to save them from that death. Listen, even when their sin is affecting you, you need to be concerned for their welfare.

Rescue and rebuild. Lead the rescue mission. So, your sin, what must you do? How do we deal with it? Repent. A believer who's caught up in sin, how do we deal with it? We restore. Thirdly, now we go to Matthew chapter 18. Would you turn there please? Matthew chapter 18. And now we'll look at how do we deal with sin when it's a believer who sins against you?

So this isn't just someone around you who has been caught up in sin or been involved in sin, but now this is someone who is directly sinning against you. That this is affecting you. That you are the attention or the focus of their sin. Here in Matthew chapter 18, Jesus will instruct us in how to deal with that. Verse 15 says this,

Verse 16. Verse 16.

So Jesus here gives the instruction for how to deal with a situation when there is a believer who is sinning against you. And he gives three steps. Step one really is a personal step. One on one. Keep it just between you. He says, tell him his fault between you and him alone. So here you are. You're going about your business. And this other believer comes along and sins against you. What are you to do?

Jesus says, first thing you do, go to them personally, between you two alone, one to one, and share his fault. Now the word that's translated here, tell him his fault, it means to admonish, to rebuke, or to reprove. And here's where we get this third point. When a believer sins against you, how to deal with it? You rebuke. You rebuke.

You share the fault with the person who has offended you, who has sinned against you. J. Vernon McGee says this about this verse. He says, the obligation is upon the one who has been injured to approach his brother who has offended him and not vice versa. McGee says, the obligation is on you, the injured party. You're the one who's been hurt by their sin. You're the one who's been

harmed by their sin against you. We would think, well, they need to come and say they're sorry. They're the ones who did the sin. They're the ones who inflicted the pain. Who's responsible? If I sin against you, who is responsible to address it? Now we'll see in the next point, really both parties are responsible to address sin. But what Jesus is talking about here, he says, look,

You have a responsibility to resolve it. You can't wait for them to get around to it. They might not even know that they've sinned against you. You have a responsibility. You've been hurt. You've been harmed. The sin has been against you. You have the responsibility. And we say, well, wait, wait, wait. They should have to do something. They should have to deal with this. They should come to me. Sure, maybe they should.

But that doesn't excuse us from what Jesus has instructed. Jesus says, you make the first move. We don't really like this a whole lot. And so what ends up happening is, we don't practice it. How often do you see this passage followed? How often do you see this practiced? How often do you yourself practice this? Now again, as we're talking about this sin that harms you, that hurts you, the sin that is against you,

Again, I need to point out, this is talking about clear issues that are addressed by the scriptures. This is not legalism, turning your likes into laws. So they did something that you would prefer that they don't do, but the Bible doesn't actually say that they shouldn't do it or can't do it. That's a whole different issue. We're not going to deal with that. That's not what today's about. This is talking about where they have violated God's law and it has affected you. They've sinned against you.

How often do you follow this passage? Do you follow this procedure, this instruction that Jesus gives? When it is followed, often it is followed with a wrong understanding. Often we approach this the wrong way. We've got the wrong heart in it. What we need to understand about this instruction that Jesus is giving is that rebuke is not about you. Rebuke is not about you.

I'm going to say it one more time because it's hard to get this through our heads. Rebuke is not about you. This is about love for your brother, for your sister. This is about love for that person. Because notice what Jesus says in verse 15. He says, if he hears you, you have gained your brother. If he hears you. You see, this sin that...

you happen to be affected by and harmed by is just like any other sin that brings bondage and destruction and shame. Your heart in this rebuke needs to be a heart of love. This is not about a heart of vindication where you're like, they gotta apologize. All right, this is what you did. Now say you're sorry. You're not gonna say you're sorry? All right, well, I'm gonna go get two more people and we're gonna come back and we're gonna make sure that you say you're sorry. You need to tell me

You need to understand how much you hurt me. You need to know this is not about that. This is not about inflicting them back, getting them back. This is not about you. That's not what rebuke is about. Rebuke is about gaining your brother, restoring that relationship, getting them back in right relationship with God. Listen, if you're not ready to forgive, then you should not be rebuking.

If you're not ready to forgive, you should not be rebuking. Remember what Jesus said back in Luke chapter 6? Why do you look at the speck in your brother's eye, but do not perceive the plank in your own eye? So you're looking at the speck, you're saying, you hurt me, you harmed me, you sinned against me, but if you're not willing to forgive, you're missing the plank of bitterness, of unforgiveness in your own eye, on your own face. Rebuke is not about you. It's not about

Making them say that they're sorry. It's not about making you feel better because now they have offended you. It's about gaining your brother. Recovering them. Restoring them. Bringing them off of that battlefield. I've shared it many times, but it's worth repeating. Forgiveness is about access. When God forgives you, what that means is He gives you access to Himself.

He says, you can come in. Enter in to the holiest of all. Enter into the presence of God. That's what forgiveness is about. It doesn't mean that there are no consequences. Again, David was forgiven of his sin. God granted him access back to himself. But then David still experienced consequences and repercussions for sin. So as we talk about rebuke and forgiveness and someone who sinned against you, understand we're talking about access.

This doesn't mean that, okay, now I'm going to trust you the same way that I've always trusted you, even though you've committed this sin against me. That's not what it means. No, there's still consequences. And of course it varies and there's lots of conditions upon what type of sin it is and that kind of thing. But the point is, it's about access.

You're gaining your brother. You're restoring that relationship so you and I can fellowship, so that we can hang out together, that we can love one another and serve the Lord together and worship the Lord together, that we can have a good relationship as believers in Jesus. That's what rebuke is about. Gaining the brother. It's that forgiveness, that restoration of your own relationship between each other.

And so Jesus says, when someone sins against you, step one, it's a personal step, you one-on-one, go to that believer and share the fault. Share the rebuke. It's about love. It's not about getting an apology. And you need to be ready to grant them access. Say, come on in. Let's have a friendship once again. Let's have fellowship together once again. Now step two. If that doesn't work, Jesus says, okay, then bring in

A couple witnesses. This cannot happen until step one is attempted. So it needs to start there. Personally, one on one. If that doesn't work, then you bring in a couple strong believers that the other person trusts. Because this is not about, alright, now let's gang up on him because he's not listening to me.

So, I'll get two or three more people to say the same thing. No, no, no. You want to involve those who are mature believers, who understand the Word of God, who could tell you perhaps you're the one in the wrong. We definitely don't want to hear that. But that's what we need. We need someone that we can trust, that we can know. They're going to speak the mind of God, the Word of God for the situation. It's not about them taking sides. You're on my side, not on their side, right? Right?

Alright, you're on my side. Okay, well let's go talk to him. No, no, no. You want two or three witnesses to the biblical truth. That you involve those who can handle the word of God. Who can discern and understand what God would say regarding a situation, regarding a sin. Because now these two or three believers, these two that you get involved, they need to be people that the other person who's harmed you, who's injured you, trusts.

Because the objective here is that that person would realize, okay, well, you know, he came and talked to me before, but I just thought he was a little sensitive and, you know, go away. But now, here's this person I know loves the Lord and walks with the Lord and he's not personally involved. He wasn't injured. He's an outside party, a third party person.

He's telling me what the scriptures say. Okay, maybe I need to listen. Maybe I'm missing it. Maybe I did offend that person and sin against that person. And so step two is to bring in those witnesses to give that opportunity for repentance. Then, if still you've not gained your brother, then step three, Jesus says, then take it to the church. Now this is only to be done after step one and two have been completed.

We have the biblical example of this in 1 Corinthians chapter 5. And then the other side of it, the restoring back the brother in 2 Corinthians chapter 2. I'm not going to get into all that. But the point is this process has to be followed. This is the instruction that Jesus has given. Sin is ugly and it's messy. It's destructive. Nobody likes dealing with it. But here's what you need to know.

In dealing with sin, you have the full support of heaven. Look at verse 18 now of Matthew 18. He says, Jesus says, look, as you gather together,

In my name, to deal with these situations, I'm with you. You have the support of heaven because God wants to deal with sin. This is his will. He wants to help people repent of sin, to be brought out of sin, to be delivered from sin. That's what he desires. And so when a believer sins against you, the instruction that the Bible gives you is that you are to rebuke.

It needs to be in love. It needs to be done with the right heart. But you need to do it. But here's what we often do. Someone sins against me, Jesus says, go talk to them personally, one-on-one. What do we do? Go talk to everybody else about what they did to me. Can you believe this guy did this to me? Do you know what he did to me? Did I tell you what happened the other day when he was there and...

What we do is we go talk to everybody else or other people or a few select people, whatever the case is, but it's a clear violation. What does Jesus say? Go tell him his fault between you and him alone. That's the instruction. We don't follow this. We don't follow this. Why don't we follow this? We need to rebuke. It involves taking one step at a time. It involves having the right heart of love. Do you have someone...

that's sinning against you right now. I like what Corson has to say about this. He says, If I say I love you, but don't walk with you in honesty when you trespass against me because I'm afraid you won't like me, my love is not real. That would be like a doctor who notices a lump on your body and doesn't want to hurt your feelings by telling you that you need surgery. Someone sinned against you. Do you love them? Jesus said, The whole world will know that you're my disciples by your love for one another. Do you love them?

That doesn't mean you just send flowers once in a while or do nice things for them, open the door and greet them at church or pray for them. But that also means that when they sin against you, that you address it, that you bring it up, that you deal with it because that's what's best for them. Leviticus 19.17 says, You shall not hate your brother in your heart. You shall surely rebuke your neighbor and not bear sin because of him. God says in the law even, Hey, if you don't rebuke your neighbor, you hate them.

Because Satan is out to destroy them with sin. And if you don't rebuke him, you're letting them continue on in that sin. You're letting them continue on in that condition. You're letting the enemy continue to destroy their life. You don't love them if you don't rebuke them. When it's a believer who sins against you, the Bible instructs us to deal with it with rebuke. The final point, now turn with me back a few chapters to Matthew chapter 5.

This time we're talking about what do we do, how do we deal with sin when it's my sin against somebody else. So we've dealt with your sin. When it's your sin, you need to repent. When it's a believer around you who's in sin, who's overtaken, caught up in sin, then, well, we're instructed to restore.

When it's someone who sins against you directly, then you need to rebuke. Now, the other side of that, when I sin against another believer, when I sin against someone else around me, what do I need to do? What is the responsibility? What does the Bible say? Here in Matthew chapter 5, we have the instruction from Jesus. In verse 23, it says this,

Therefore, if you bring your gift to the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go your way. First be reconciled to your brother and then come and offer your gift. So the instruction we have here, when you sin against a brother, how to deal with it? Well, you must reconcile. You need to reconcile with the person that you have wronged. Jesus says...

If you bring your gift to the altar, he's talking about being at the altar. Here's the idea. You're an Israelite. You've got your gift that you're offering to the Lord. You're saying, Lord, I love you. I want to give to you a sacrifice. I want to fellowship with you. I want to walk with you, God. And so, as an Israelite, you would take your gift to the temple and

You would stand in line with all the other people who were offering their sacrifices. And so while you're waiting there in line, you're standing there in line, you've got your sacrifice, you're waiting for your turn, and there you remember, oh, Jim has something against me. I sinned against him. Jesus says, leave your gift there. Just tie it to the rail. Go deal with Jim. Jim, I'm sorry. I blew it. I sinned against you. Oh, man, I just remembered. I just realized.

Please forgive me. You go and reconcile first, Jesus says, and then you come back and offer your gift. Whenever there's differences between you and another believer, Jesus is explaining here, it affects your own spiritual walk. He's saying, look, don't offer your gift to the Lord when you know you have this outstanding issue. Because that gift that you're offering to God, well, it's not worth it. It's not meaningful.

More important than that gift that you want to offer to the Lord is correcting this situation that is outstanding. That's more important than offering some kind of sacrifice. You see, the point here is that you cannot really worship and give to God while you have open issues with people around you. Jesus says, don't offer your worship yet. Worship God instead by first obeying Him and reconciling with Him.

Your brother. He says first there in verse 24. Leave your gift before the altar and go your way first. He's talking about priority. First be reconciled to your brother. The word reconciled it means to renew friendship with one. Again it's that restoration of the friendship. I've offended you. I've wronged you. Now I need to go and I need to correct that and restore to renew the friendship that we have with one another.

But I can't just leave that outstanding. I can't just leave it where you're upset with me, but oh well, I'm going to worship God. Jesus says it can't be that. That's wrong. There's a priority. First, be reconciled. Guzik puts it this way. Jesus considers it far more important to be reconciled to a brother than to perform a religious duty. It's more important to reconcile. It's more important to go and make things right. So you got here to church today.

Great religious duty. You're walking with God. But listen, as you walk in the door, if the Lord reminds you, someone has something against you, Jesus says, forget the religious duty. Make things right first. Be reconciled to your brother. Be reconciled to your sister. There's an urgency to reconciliation. Jesus is saying, stop what you're doing and go make things right.

You know, issues are not really resolved by time alone. Yeah, yeah, I offended them, but they'll get over it, you know, in time. That's not the attitude that the Lord has called us to have. I always visualize sin issues like dishes, mainly because I really hate doing the dishes.

But you know what it's like, right? So you put off doing the dishes because you're not really excited about it. So then they pile up there in the sink. Not only that, though, then they begin to get all crusty and the food is a lot harder to get off after you've waited two weeks than it would be if you just cleaned it when you ate it. You know, right after you finish, you just put it in the sink and wash it. It comes right off. But if you wait a while, then you got to scrub and really work at it. Listen, it's no different with sin.

We need to keep short accounts because if we'll go back and address it right away, soon, promptly, it will be difficult. I'm not saying that. It'll be difficult, but it will be much less difficult than if we wait and put it off and try to deal with it another time. Jesus says, no, drop everything. Go be reconciled. Do that first. So that's what he tells us to do. What do we often do? We ignore. We hate to apologize.

I think sometimes we don't fulfill Matthew chapter 18 because we don't want people to fulfill Matthew chapter 18 towards us. You know what I'm saying? We don't want to be corrected. So I'm not going to correct somebody else because I don't want them to come tell me when I've sinned against them. We hate to be corrected and we hate to apologize. We hate to deal with sin, but the Bible instructs us to deal with sin. Well, I don't like it. Well, tough. Are you going to walk in the light or walk in the darkness? We have to deal with sin.

Because Satan wants to destroy our lives. And God's given us the tools and the opportunity to be delivered from that destruction. We can't just ignore it. Reconciling involves a priority to make things right. Do you right now know somebody who has something against you? Don't leave that issue outstanding. Don't let it continue on. Deal with it. Reconcile. And so now we...

have looked at these different aspects of how to deal with sin, it's an appropriate time to partake of communion together. The worship team is going to come up and get ready. But as they do, consider this. Jesus has followed these same things towards us. Now, he didn't have sin to repent of, and he's never sinned against anyone else that he would have to go and be reconciled. But he did see people in sin.

You and me. He saw us in sin and so he made provision to restore us. He led the rescue mission at the cross, which is what communion represents. It's symbolic. It represents, the cup represents his blood that was shed. The cracker represents his body which was broken. It reminds us of the cross, his rescue mission where he brought restoration.

That we could be brought back into right relationship with God. That we could be delivered from the teeth of the enemy. And you and I have sinned against the Lord. And so He has rebuked us. He's corrected us. He's given us the instruction to deal with the ways that we've sinned against Him. And He did it all through the cross. We can be restored. We can be healed. We can be delivered through the cross.

And so this morning, as they lead us in worship, here's what we want to do. We want to give you the opportunity to be reconciled. Now, Jesus said, when you've sinned against another, first go make it right and then come back and offer your gift. And so here's what I'd like to instruct. Two things. I'd hold up a one finger, but what I mean is two fingers. Two things. First of all, if there is somebody here, you know they have something against you, go make it right before you partake of communion.

Don't offer your gift here. Don't partake of communion knowing that there's this issue that's outstanding. Secondly, you've sinned against God. So like Jesus says, drop everything and go. As they lead us in this song, we're not passing out communion today. You go. Get your own elements. You go. Make the effort. Take the journey and reconcile with God because you've sinned against Him. And so as you come to the communion table, you take the cracker, you take the cup,

realize what it symbolizes. This is Jesus dying on the cross. This is you receiving. And if it's your first time, if you've never received Jesus as your Lord and Savior, but you want the forgiveness, the rescue from sin, then come up and take the cracker, take the cup, and say, yes, Jesus, I receive your forgiveness. I turn from darkness, and I choose to walk in the light. And so as they lead us in worship, take this time.

Go reconcile yourself to God. But reconcile yourself to one another if that need exists. Let's worship Him and be restored to right relationship with God together. We pray you have been blessed by this Bible teaching. The power of God to change a life is found in the daily reading of His Word. Visit ferventword.com to find more teachings and Bible study resources.