The Prescription and Principles for Church Discipline

I think about one thing we did sing, "Speak, O Lord." It's a prayer. And we're asking God to renew our minds as we are dealing with these subjects that pertain to life and the body. We want our minds and our understanding to be renewed. Now, how will our minds be renewed? And that will be by adjusting ourselves to what God's Word says. So as we pray, "Lord, speak to us," we're not looking for some subjective experience, no. We're looking for the Word, His Word, His truth to speak to us. So I think that's very fitting, really with any message that we look at any time we gather together. So I appreciate that.

Well, take your Bible and turn back with me to Matthew 18. Like I said earlier, we will be in 1 Corinthians 5. There are some verses that I want us to look at together in 1 Corinthians 5. And next week we will look at 1 Corinthians 5 as well. But primarily we'll be in Matthew 18. We'll cover a lot of territory here in these verses, verses 15 to 20. Of course, we're in our series. It's all centered around this one large subject, and that is life in the body of Christ. You'll hear me say it like this, "Life in the local church." It all means the same thing.

And I believe most everyone sees that we have been dealing with some much needed teaching concerning life in the local church. And for some of you, I believe God is really revealing what life in the local church should look like. And for some of us, the Lord is adjusting us. The Lord is forming us and forging us to a new level of seriousness, a new level of commitment to this thing called body life, life in the local church. We've had some very good conversations. I've enjoyed hearing what the Lord is teaching you. I've enjoyed hearing how you're studying and how you're continuing to try to digest all of this.

And you know, some of the conversations I've had have been difficult because some have dealt with some tough issues in dealing with life in the body and some of the subjects that we have studied. Well, this morning we moved to a vital component of healthy church life. What we will be studying this morning and next Sunday, this subject is crucial to life in the body. So much so that if we miss the mark here, we really cripple the work of the church. We cripple the work of the church. So much so here that if we miss the mark, we could ruin the witness of the church in our community.

Really, not just our community in so many other places as well. And so much so that if we blow this one, our children and our children's children will be suffering from our mistake. Now, at this point, I want us to look back at our verses. We read them earlier, Matthew chapter 18, starting in verse 15. Let's look at them again. And we're going to reference back and forth to these scriptures really all throughout the message. "If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained. You have won over your brother.

But if he does not listen, take one or two others along with you that every charge may be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses. And if he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church. And if he refuses even to listen to the church, let him be known to you as a Gentile, as a tax collector, an outsider. Truly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth should be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth should be loosed in heaven. Again, I say to you, if two of you agree on earth about anything they ask, it will be done for them by my Father who is in heaven.

For where two or three are gathered in my name, there I am among them." Now, right away, I think that we can all see three things. I want us to see three things right off the top here. First of all, I want us to see that we have a problem. Isn't that what we see in the verses? Really, from verse 15 all the way to the end, we have a problem. Right away, we have a problem. There is a sin that has been committed against another. Now, this "against you" is not in the original language, but scholars believe that it is understood in the text. That's why it says "against you" in many of the translations.

It's footnoted in the New American Standard Version. But scholars believe that it is understood in this teaching. Well, that shows us that we have a problem that can be understood in two ways. This could be a situation where one is sinned directly against another by word or deed or some other type of action. One sins against another. But there can be a broader offense, a less direct offense. There can be a situation where one sins not necessarily against another, but that sin still offends. That sin still hurts. So we have a problem right here in all of these verses. Second, I want us to see that we have people. We have people in the problem.

Look back at verse 15. If your brother sins against you, right away we have a problem. A problem of sin, but it's between two individuals. More specifically, verse 15 says that this is a brother. Now, this is not an earthly brother. This is not an earthly family. No. Not at all. This is a Christian family. This is a fellow Christian. Christians are often called brothers and sisters in the Scriptures because they belong to the same Christian family, the family of the redeemed. They have a common Savior. They have a common salvation. And they are part of the family of God.

Not only did Paul liken the church to the body, he also likened the church to the family, the family of God. So we have this problem among brothers. We have this problem in the family of God. A brother is sinned against a brother either directly or indirectly, but there is an obvious offense. And then third, I want us to see that we have the place where this all takes place. Two times Jesus uses the word church. Look back at verse 17. If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church. And if he refuses to listen even to the church, here Jesus is referring to the assembly of God's people. These are the called out ones.

Many of you know what the meaning of the word church is. But this does not refer to a specific church. Jesus is referring to the church at large and the local churches that will in time come to be. This verse here anticipates the New Testament church that resulted from the work of God there in Acts 2. All that Jesus spoke here applies to the local churches that would come to be beginning at Acts 2 with the local church at Jerusalem and continuing with all the churches that would come to be. So we have a problem. We have a sin problem. And it's between two people, between two brothers specifically.

One brother has sinned against another either directly or indirectly. And this takes place in the church because the church is the arena in which Christians live the Christian life in the world. This is all taking place in the body of Christ, in the family of God, in the church. Now many of you do know what's happening in these verses. Yes, Jesus is explaining to his disciples how Christians are to respond to a fellow brother or sister in Christ that has sinned against them. But this is so much more. Jesus is giving his disciples and his church the prescription and principles for church discipline.

Of course, this all anticipates his people living life in the local church. Think about that. This all applies to future events and a future time when his people will be living the Christian life in the local church where we live in that time. We live in that time today. We live in the church age. That began in Acts 2, and that is the age of the dispensation in which we live. So this is all about church discipline. We have here the prescription and the principles for church discipline. Of course, we see these verses much different than those who were listening that day when Jesus was teaching.

We understand this teaching in light of the rest of the revelation of the New Testament. We know that these verses, along with other teaching, give us a full picture in teaching on church discipline. Well, that's the title. To be honest with you, I wrestle with the title, but as I work through the message, this phrase, the prescription and the principles, just kept coming to the top. This is the prescription, and then we have the principles of and for church discipline. Now, before we dive in a little deeper, I want to help us understand who we are. Sometimes when you give categories, people resist that.

I'll never forget one time as a lady in the life of the church, she looked at us and she said, "I never knew I was in a category." Well, we all kind of fit into categories. But I want us to see that there are three kinds of people here this morning. First, some of you have seen church discipline because we have practiced church discipline in the 10 years, almost 10 years I've been the pastor here. Now, some of you come from other churches or backgrounds where you've seen church discipline as well. But the practice of church discipline is a part of our church. I have taught on this throughout the years in numerous times.

As a matter of fact, in preparing to teach this morning and next week, I went through all of my material that I have accumulated through the years on the subject of church discipline. So some of you have seen church discipline. You've heard of church discipline. You've walked through this teaching because this is a part of our church. But second, there are some of you that know of church discipline but really in a negative way, the wrong way. You have heard of people being turned out of the church. I've heard it said like this, "You know, you believe in churching folks." No, that's not what I'm talking about.

But some of you have seen stuff like that. And you've seen negative church discipline, bad church discipline. Years ago, I was a victim of wrong church discipline, horribly wrong church discipline. Maybe you heard about church discipline from your grandparents or someone that was a little older. But there are some of you, you've seen it in a negative way or heard about it in a negative way. But then third, there could be someone here that you've really never heard of church discipline. This is all new. Well, please don't run for the door.

Don't get up and leave and don't check out on me because you really need to get in on what we're going to study. And see, it's because most people in the life of the church have never been exposed to this teaching. Most churches that are around here that we've been associated with really do not teach on church discipline. It's not a part of church life. And it's really sad because of the ramifications. They really are great. Now notice what we've looked at. Really, this is what God has started. We've seen the problem. It's obvious right there in the scriptures. Well, we see the people in the problem.

And then we've seen the place where this is all happening. Of course, this anticipates the New Testament church. So let's continue with the prescription and the principles for church discipline. So I want us to see fourth, we have the purpose of church discipline. Let's go back to verse 15. And notice the purpose of church discipline. Notice what it says. "If he listens to you, you have gained your brother." That phrase, "Gain your brother," is key. Now the New American Standard, it says, "One your brother." Now if we are to practice church discipline God's way, God's way, we must see the purpose of it all.

And the purpose of it all is really one word, restoration. Oh, I want you to write that word down, please. If you only write down one thing this morning, if you only remember one word, please remember restoration. The purpose is to restore a sinning believer back to a right relationship with Christ, with the offended brothers and the church. We may need to see just how concerned God is in restoring His people, because a lot of people don't see that. God truly is concerned with restoring His people. One verse that will help us here, Galatians chapter 6 verses 1-2. Galatians 6, 1-2.

Paul says, "Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression," that's a sin. "You who are spiritual should restore him." That phrase, "Restore him" is key. "And a spirit of gentleness, keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted." And then verse 2, "Bear one another's burden, so as to fulfill the law of Christ." Now this word, "Restore" here in Galatians chapter 6. Here it carries with it the idea of repairing something that is broken. It speaks of bringing something back to its original condition. In their day and culture, this word could be used for mending a torn fishing net.

It could be used for mending a broken bone, or putting a dislocated limb back in its proper place. So the idea communicated here is mending that which is broken. The idea here is of repairing something that is broken. The idea is putting something back to its original and its intended condition. But notice the motivation out of Galatians 6. The law of Christ. Well, what's the law of Christ? The law of Christ is love. This is all done in love. The text says, "With a gentle spirit." Oh, but there's a cautious spirit. A cautious spirit. Because the one initiating this work could be tempted themselves.

But we need to go back to Matthew chapter 18, verse 15. Remember this word, "Gain" here? This word, "Gain." "Gain your brother." The New American Standard uses the word, "One." Now in the original language, this speaks of accumulated things that are of value. That might surprise you. This speaks of accumulating things that are of value, wealth. The idea here is that the sinning brother or the sinning sister is like lost treasure. They are like misplaced treasure or lost treasure. Something of great value. Now who are they of great value to? First to God, second to the individual believers involved, and then third to the church as a whole.

So in both passages. Matthew 18, verse 15, and Galatians 6. We see that it is the duty of the more spiritual, even the church, to lovingly, gently, cautiously bring that sinning brother or sister back to a right relationship with God. Both to a relationship, a right relationship with God, and to a right relationship with the offended brothers and sisters. And then back to a relationship with the church and in the church. See, it's restoration. Restoration in every way.

Restored to God, restored to the offended believer or believers, restored to the church because they are a treasure which should be won back to the church for the glory of God and the good of the church. But it is important for us to see what those involved are not to do. Listen, folks, it's important for us to see what those who are involved are not to do. The purpose of church discipline is not to kick people out of the church. The purpose of church discipline is not to embarrass anyone or destroy anyone. The motive is never revenge or retaliation or retribution. That needs to be stated again.

The motive is never revenge or retaliation or retribution. The goal, the purpose is to bring that sinning brother, that sinning sister back to that right relationship with God and back into the church. Remember 1 Corinthians 12, verse 12 and 13? We're the body. We're the body. We're the body and we need each other. Every part of the body is valuable and needs one another. Now, I said earlier that I gathered all my resources, my church discipline resources, commentary, sermons, research that I had done, and I just sifted through all of that this week. And I ran across a list of concerns out of a wonderful book by John MacArthur.

The title of the book is "The Master's Plan for the Church." And he has a chapter there towards the end on church discipline. And in his chapter in teaching, he gives a list of concerns. And there were a few things there in his list that grabbed me, and I altered it. And I'm just raising the bar here. I'm not calling these concerns. I'm calling these warnings. And these are four warnings when we are approaching church discipline. And you can get all this by writing down just a few words. First, the warning, the warning against pride. Write that word "pride" down. The warning against pride.

See, there are some who just love to see others fail and fall. Don't we know people like that? Some celebrate the demise of other people. And any attitude like that comes from pride, not love. The law of Christ mentioned in Galatians 2 is not pride. The law of Christ mentioned there is love. So when we are approaching a sinning brother or sister, we must check ourselves. We must evaluate ourselves. We must sift ourselves to see if we are prideful. So there's the warning against pride. Second, the warning against persecution. Write that word "persecution" down. The warning against persecution. You see, there are some in the church.

They are worse than prideful. But they want to persecute people. They want to persecute the struggling sinner. They want to persecute. See, they go beyond pride. Their spiritual gift can be meanness. Their spiritual gift can be meanness. And their method is the meat grinder. Have we ever known someone like that? Their motivation is to embarrass, is to punish. And even to destroy that one that is in sin. They are prideful, but much more because they want to persecute. And so we can never seek to persecute a sinning brother even if they commit a horrible sin and even if they commit a sin against us.

So we must check ourselves, and sift ourselves, and make sure we're not wanting to be prideful and wanting to persecute. And then third, the warning against passivity. Write that word down, passivity. The warning against passivity. You see, there are some who just want to be passive in all of these matters. When they see a fellow believer in sin, they may say something like this, "Yes, I see their sin, but I can't say anything. Who am I to get involved?" They'll say things like this, "Who am I to get involved? I'm a sinner. So how can I say anything?

You know, I just hate to get involved." And see, just like pride is a sin, passivity is a sin as well. So we can't be passive, so passive that we will not help a brother or a sister who is in sin. But fourth, the warning to keep matters private. Write down that word, private. There is the warning here that we've got to keep all of these matters private. See, discipline is not becoming the church police, and then becoming the church bibler, the one who bibles all over the church and all over social media about what's going on in someone's life. Engaging in church discipline is a very serious and private matter.

To be honest with you, in a healthy church that practices healthy church discipline, most church discipline remains private, and it never goes past one or two people that are involved. So when we are involved in seeking to correct and restore a sinning or brother, sinning, brother or sister, we must work hard to keep matters private. Now, I know that I've covered a lot of ground here, but this is good. This is good stuff, folks. We must get the purpose of any kind of church discipline. Any kind of church discipline. It's all about recovering the one that is of great value. They are a great treasure first to God and to His church.

And their proper place is to be restored back to God, yes, to be restored back to fellowship with the offended brother, yes, but they are to be restored back to the church and to all of the believers there in the fellowship. Now, application, please write down that word restoration. You might say, "Pastor, you've said that a few times. I'm going to keep saying it. It's restoration. First to God, second to the one that is offended, and third to the church.

Full restoration is the goal and is the purpose." And listen, church, full restoration means to be back in the pew, back into the local church, where they belong, and the place from where they have fallen. And we must guard against pride, persecution, passivity, and all we need to make sure we keep matters private. Now, before we continue, what happens if they will not repent? That's a possibility. Now, there are different purposes other than restoration. It might surprise you. There are other purposes besides restoration, and we will get to that. So let's move on. I want us to see, fifth, we have the process of church discipline.

We have the process of church discipline. Let's read from verse 15 down to verse 17. "If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault between you and him alone. And if he listens to you, you have gained your brother. But if he does not listen, take one or two others along with you that every charge may be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses. If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church, and if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile or a tax collector." Now, look where we are in all this. We understand the problem.

We see the people involved in the place where this all takes place. We see the purpose, restoration. And if we get all of that, now we are ready to look at the process. Now, let me emphasize that. We've got to get all of this under that we've studied first before we can get into the process. We must see the problem, the people involved, and we must see the purpose, and that is restoration. Now we're ready for the process. Step one, tell the sinning brother or sister their sin alone. Isn't that what verse 16 says?

"Tell this sinning brother or sister their sin alone." The text says, "Go and tell him or her his fault between you and him alone." We must see that this is not a casual meeting, though. The construction of the language implies that this situation should be pursued with no delay and no distraction. And the intention of the meeting is to work hard at convincing the sinning brother or sister. The idea here is of exposing or bringing to light that which is taking place. So this is very serious. This is very sober. Well, notice the result. If the sinning brother listens, then he is won back. He is won back as something that is of great worth.

He or she is won over. They have recovered like something that is very, very valuable. He or she is won back to God, back to the truth of God's Word, back to Christian fellowship, back to the church. They are restored. But what if he or she is not won over? What if they will not listen? Well, step two. Step two is in verse 16, "Take one or two witnesses alone." See, you first start alone and then you go along with others. Now, the text says if he does not listen, "Take one or two others along with you that every charge may be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses." Now, this instruction really comes from the Old Testament.

This comes right out of Deuteronomy 19.15. And this law was established to prevent the spreading of unconfirmed, slanderous, erroneous information. So in this next step, the offended brother should take one or two witnesses or believers as witnesses. Now, what's the purpose in all of this? First, this is to apply spiritual pressure. Think about that. This is to apply spiritual pressure to the sinning brother to try to push them towards repentance. See, the desire is that the additional witnesses would convince the sinner to repent. But also, second, the witnesses are there for protection.

The presence of two or one or two witnesses protect both parties. The witnesses protect the accused, and the witnesses protect the accuser. And really, this protection is a lot. The witnesses protect against false accusations. They protect against any abuse in the process. And even against the conversation of the process moving into a sinful direction. So there are many reasons why taking the witnesses are true and good and healthy. Really, you could add to that list. Well, if the sinning brother listens to all of the witnesses, well, what happens? They are won over. They are restored. The treasure is won back to its proper place.

But if the second step is not successful, step three. And step three is this. Tell these matters to the church. We see this in verse 17. Look back at the verse. "But if he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church. And if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile or a tax collector." Now, this is very shocking for some. But this next step is to bring the sinning brother or sister to the church. What's the reason? What's the goal? What's the purpose? Again, that word restoration. This is all about restoration.

The next step involves bringing the situation to the church and calling the church to make efforts to win back that sinning brother or sister. Notice the progression. The offended brother went to the sinning brother, but there was no repentance. Next, two or three went to the sinning brother, but there was still no repentance. And next, after the church was brought into the situation, the church or groups within the church go and they seek back, they seek to win back that brother or that sister. And if they refuse to repent, there is a final step. Step four.

Treat the sinning brother, the sinning sister, the one who refuses to repent, you treat them as an outsider. We see this at the end of verse 17. The verse says, "If he refuses to listen, even to the church, even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector." Now, this simply means they are to be turned out and they are to be treated as an outsider. See, in that day, tax collectors, they were Jews that had become traitors. See, they had become tax collectors and extortioners. They took taxes from their fellow Jews for the Romans and then they added percentages and they extorted money from their own people.

And so they are to be treated like a tax collector. They are to be really shunned. This simply means that they are to be put out and treated as an outsider. Now, this does not mean that Jesus is calling his people to mistreat the one that has turned out. No. This simply means they are to be treated as one who is outside of the church because of their sin. Now, here's where we need to turn over to Corinthians. I know this is taking a little more time, but we must get this here and to get what's being taught here at the end of verse 17, we really need to look at some of Paul's writing here.

First Corinthians chapter 5, we have a church discipline case. We are going to discuss this case and a couple others next week. A serious case. Sexual immorality. One has sexual immorality in the life of the church. We will discuss that. But notice what he says in verse 9 and 11. I wrote to you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people. Now, he clarifies himself. Not at all meaning the sexually immoral of this world or the greedy or the swindlers or the idolaters, since you would need to go out of the world. What is he saying? I'm not telling you not to associate with lost people in the world.

But, verse 11, "But now I'm writing to you not to associate with anyone who bears the name of a brother." They claim to be a Christian. They are in the church. If he is guilty of sexual immorality or greed or is an idolater or a reviler, a drunkard or a swindler. What is he saying? This is one who is unrepentant. What does he say? Not even to eat with such a one. Not even to eat with him. Here Paul is dealing with an unrepentant brother. Church discipline that is not brought about repentance and restoration. And he says at the end of verse 11, "Don't even eat with one like this." Now what does he mean here?

You see eating a meal together was a sign of accepted fellowship. See to sit down and to eat with one who is unrepentant and has been put out of the church would be to extend the right hand of Christian fellowship. And they were to be treated as an outcast. Not as a brother or a sister. Not out of pride. Not out of the spirit of persecution. No. Now what is the purpose? There are really three purposes that we must see. What's the purpose of how you treat them? This is very, very important. First persecution. There is a purpose here in persecution. Now this is a lot different than the persecution that we are warned about.

I want us to go back up a few verses in the 1 Corinthians 5 situation. Notice verse 4 and 5. "When you are assembled in the name of the Lord Jesus and my spirit is present with the power of our Lord Jesus, you are to deliver this man to Satan for the destruction of his flesh so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord." He's talking about the one that needs to be expelled. But here Paul is teaching us that Christians who refuse to repent, they must be put out of the church and they are to be turned over to the world and this evil world system so that their desire to sin may be destroyed.

This is a type of persecution brought into the life of the sinning believer when they are turned out over to the world and over to their sin. So Paul is saying to turn the sinning believer out, to be chastened, to be persecuted by God through the world. So the first purpose is persecution. The second purpose is purification. Purification. This is something that we must see. Go back to 1 Corinthians 4. "When you are assembled in the name of the Lord Jesus, in other words, when you are there at church, I am with you." He's saying, "I'm with you in spirit and so is the Lord.

If you deliver this man to Satan for the destruction of his flesh, so that his spirit may be saved on the day of the Lord." In other words, persecution. Your boasting is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven, leavens the whole lump, cleans out the old leaven that you may be a new lump as you really are unleaven. Here Paul is teaching that sin must be purified from the church. Leaven is a symbol of sin in the Old and the New Testament. And Paul is saying that the sin must be gotten out of the church. It must be gotten out because that sin will spread and it will affect the entire body.

So Paul is saying that this is a work of purification. You see? There's a work of persecution and then there's a work and a purpose of purification. And then third, there is a protection. There is a protection and this must be understood. Now we're not going to turn to those verses, but there's another discipline case in 1 Timothy chapter 1. Chapter 1 verses 19 and 20. Here Paul talks about those who have shipwrecked their faith. In verse 20 Paul says that he personally put out Hymenias and Alexander and he turned them over to Satan the text says. And see, these are not people who have lost their salvation.

These are not Christians who need chastening. It seems that these are apostates. It seems that these are false converts that heard the gospel and they heard sound doctrine, but they rejected it all for false doctrines and the doctrines that Paul deals with in chapter 1. So Paul is putting out these dangerous false teachers. He's putting them out of the church and he's revealing them as false converts. So Paul is putting the false converts out of the church to protect the church. So we see the purpose here is to persecute the sinning brother and that is that persecution that is a chastening to bring them the repentance.

It is a purification of the church and it is ultimately a protection for the church. So we have the purpose. I know this is a lot. The purpose of church discipline. And all of this is to restore the sinning brother or the sinning sister. And if they do not repent, it is to bring about repentance by turning them over to the world. And this is to purify the church and many times it is to protect the church from false, dangerous converts. Now an application I want us to focus on a couple of words. Necessary. This is necessary. This is necessary. This is hard work. This is difficult.

It can be convoluted at times and it can be confusing for some and it takes a lot of wisdom and understanding to deal with this. But this is necessary. And the second word is obedience. This is not an option. This is commanded and expected. And so it is necessary and we must be obedient. We must be obedient to what the scriptures say. You know what's sad? There are many leaders and churches that say yes. I see church discipline. They might even tip their hat to church discipline, but they don't practice it. They might even say they admire you for practicing church discipline, but they don't practice it.

See next week we're really going to pick up here. We're going to pick up here and we're going to flesh this out and we'll see what these principles look like when they're fleshed out in certain circumstances. Now we got two more. I know that surprises and shocks some of you. Two more, but we're going to be real quick here. Six, we have the power in and of church discipline. We see this in verse 18. I really want us to put our eyes on this all at one time. We'll be real quick here. See I say to you, whatever you bind on earth should be bound in heaven and whatever you loose on earth should be loosed in heaven. Now just a few comments here.

Think about it. In verse 18 we see that if we as a church practice church discipline, what is prescribed here for the church given by Christ, we are truly working with God in binding and in loosening. We are working with God. The commentator said we are working in concert with God. And listen folks, there are churches that are bound up. There are churches that are bound up because they refuse to practice church discipline. They are bound up by sin. They are all clogged up with unrepentant sinners in the church and even lost people. They are bound up by their disobedience and they're also bound up by heaven.

Listen folks, churches that practice church discipline are churches that operate in freedom. There is peace and unity and freedom that comes with a purifying work, a purifying work of the church. And there is a peace and a unity and a freedom that comes in obedience. So we have the power of church discipline. And then seventh we have the presence of Christ in church discipline. We really need to read these verses, the presence of Christ in church discipline. Again I say to you if two, if you agree on earth about anything they ask, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven.

For where two or three are gathered in my name, there I am with them or among them. Now think about it. These verses, what do these verses apply to? Does this apply to the bass fishing club for Jesus? Does this apply to the football team that prays the Lord's prayer right before a game? No. Jesus says that nobody the size of the fellowship. Those who walk in obedience to Him in these matters, in these matters, in the church, what does He say? I am with you.

And listen folks, we will either walk in obedience here and have Christ with us or we will disobey and we will be bound up in sin and impurity and we will have a church full of sloppy Christians and lost people. Look, that describes so many churches today. You get that? So many churches are full of impurity and they have a church full of sloppy Christians and a church full of lost people. Why? Because they refuse to obey. Now I want to begin to conclude and close out what we are studying. You can really just take your notes and push them aside. And I want you to listen. I have a story that, I don't know, I think it will drive the point home.

Many of you know that my family still has my grandfather's old farm. I love kind of reading about some of the history of it. My mother has some of the history and some of the old deeds and some of the old paperwork. As a matter of fact, the information she has on my granddad's place goes back to the 1830s. It was a part of an old plantation. It was a part of the old Kegler place. My grandfather's place has always had a name all my life. It's always been called Buck Ridge. It was always called Buck Ridge all throughout that paperwork. And you know, as I still enjoy that place, I enjoy going to Buck Ridge.

I enjoy deer hunting and just getting away. But there are relics everywhere. There are relics of a bygone era. There are relics of the sharecropper era. See, my grandfather bought his place right at the end of World War II. At the end of what was called the era of the sharecropper. And I always heard, I remember hearing my granddad say, tell those stories over and over and over, that there were five sharecropper families that lived on the place when he bought the place. He used to always say, you know, they really didn't live. They just existed. He was amazed by their poverty and he was amazed by their ignorance.

And really, he took it upon himself. He felt the responsibility to care for him. And he did. And he used to always tell stories about taking care of their children and what happened when they got sick and such. I still remember where many of the houses are. Joe Bethlee's place is right there by what we call the Green Gate. You go around the corner on up in the middle of the place, Jack's old house was there, it burned down. The remnants of Jack's old house are still there in the woods. And there's a few other places I know of. But you know, he used to always talk about Hayes and Peggy. Of all of those shacks, he left Hayes' old house.

And he used to always talk about how pitiful Hayes and Peggy were. They never had children. And I think because they didn't have children, they relied on my granddad and my grandmother the most. And he told the story about when Hayes got a little older and he got sick. He said he loaded him up and he took him all the way to Centerville to the hospital. He said the doctor diagnosed him with what old timers called hardening of the arteries. You ever heard of that? And he used to tell the story, but it was sad.

He said, "You know, I took Hayes all the way to Centerville, got him a doctor's diagnosis, and got him the medicine for hardening of the arteries." And he said he came in the door and he put the medicine on the mantle, and he laid in the bed, and ultimately he died. See, he ignored the doctor's prescription, and he died. True story. See, listen, folks, this is the prescription for a church discipline. These are the principles. And see, we're either going to take the medicine as needed, we're either going to take the medicine as needed, or we're going to set the medicine on the fireplace, man, and we'll die.

Now, listen, death will surprise you. Because see, there could be plenty of people in the church house. There could be plenty of money in the offering plate, but the church can still be dead. So here's the challenge for us. We're either as a church going to accept the prescription for church discipline, and the principles laid out, and everything attached to it, because there's a lot more we need to look at next week, or we'll be just like Hayes. We'll put the prescription on the man and die. So let's pray.

Let's commit this to the Lord, and let's ask God to help us take even this bitter medicine willingly, because we love him and love his church. Let's pray.