NXR Podcast - SUNDAY SERMON - Lying Women & Abusive Pastors Aired: 2023-03-19 Duration: 01:01:29 === Bearing False Witness (15:12) === [00:00:00] All right, listen, guys, I get it. [00:00:02] Many of you are unable to financially support this ministry because you're spending your cash and your lives on raising young children in the fear and admonition of the Lord. [00:00:10] Praise God for you and that endeavor. [00:00:13] However, algorithms are a thing, shadow banning sadly is a thing. [00:00:18] And one major way that you can help to expand the reach and effectiveness of this ministry that doesn't cost you a dime is by spending just a few moments leaving us a five star review. [00:00:31] Also, perhaps even more effective than that, you can share our podcast with a friend. [00:00:36] We hope you'll take the time to do so. [00:00:38] Thank you so much. [00:00:39] God bless. [00:00:40] Again, for those who are new to Covenant Bible Church, we are a church that is committed predominantly to expositional preaching, namely expository preaching, going verse by verse, chapter by chapter, through whole books of the Bible from beginning to end. [00:00:58] And we have taught through the Psalms and we have taught through the book of Hebrews. [00:01:02] We recently completed our journey and study through the book of Hebrews. [00:01:07] And before embarking on another book of the Bible, there are a few isolated sermons, each with biblical texts, of course, not just a revelation of man, but a revelation of God, but one off sermons, for lack of a better term, that we're going to be committing ourselves to these next few weeks before we start a new book of the Bible right after Easter Sunday, that book of the Bible being the book of Joshua. [00:01:32] But for today, the topic at hand is. [00:01:35] Church membership. [00:01:37] Church membership. [00:01:39] This is something that I'm committed to preaching on average, probably twice a year, because I believe that it is vital to the Christian life, that it's important, and that in many evangelical churches today, the concept and principle of church membership is radically neglected. [00:01:57] So today, we are going to be looking at the importance of local church membership. [00:02:05] In the beginning of your notes, As a brief introduction to this sermon, I've written the following The Bible contains at least five strands of evidence for local church membership. [00:02:17] Each reveals something vital to Christian faith, which would be minimized at best or denied at worst if there were no definable local church membership. [00:02:30] In other words, my thesis is this there is no explicit statement in the New Testament that says, Thou shalt become. [00:02:40] A member of a local church. [00:02:43] If there were, I'm personally convinced that we would find that verse right next to another verse that would say something like, Upon conversion, the Christian should continue to inhale and exhale. [00:02:57] In the same way that the New Testament apostles did not find it necessary to command Christians to continue breathing, they did not find it necessary to command church membership. [00:03:10] Church membership is the no duh of the New Testament. [00:03:15] It is assumed. [00:03:17] It is assumed. [00:03:19] And it is assumed we can take that position because there are multiple other things in the New Testament that are explicitly commanded that cannot be fulfilled in any meaningful, tangible, practical way apart from church membership. [00:03:37] And so we're going to be looking at, I said, at least five strands. [00:03:41] We're going to focus our attention this morning on four. [00:03:44] Four different biblical texts that give us certain commandments in the New Testament that all Christians are to obey, that cannot be meaningfully or practically obeyed in any sense apart from assuming local church membership. [00:04:02] That being said, the primary text that we'll work with today is Matthew chapter 18, verse 15 through 17. [00:04:10] And so, for this text, I would like to invite you to stand with me for the reading of God's Word. [00:04:17] I'll read our text for us in its entirety. [00:04:19] When I finish reading the text, I'm going to say, This is the word of the Lord, at which point I would appreciate very much if you would respond by saying, Thanks be to God. [00:04:29] One more time, our text for today is Matthew chapter 18, verses 15, 16, and 17. [00:04:37] The Bible says this If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault between you and him alone. [00:04:45] If he listens, you have gained your brother. [00:04:48] But if he does not listen, take one or two others with you, that every charge may be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses. [00:04:58] If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church. [00:05:03] If he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector. [00:05:10] This is the word of the Lord. [00:05:13] All right, please be seated. [00:05:15] In your notes, right after this text, I've written the following. [00:05:19] Church membership is implied by the way the church is expected to discipline its members. [00:05:24] The church appears to be the final court of appeal, that is, the highest ecclesiastical court on earth for appeal in matters of church discipline. [00:05:36] If there is no such thing as church membership, then how do we define the group of people who will take up this extremely delicate and important matter of exhorting those who are unrepentant and finally? [00:05:51] If they do not repent, rendering a righteous judgment about their standing in the Christian community. [00:05:58] It's hard to believe that just anyone who shows up claiming to be a Christian should be part of this process. [00:06:05] Surely, the church, that phrase in Matthew 18, must be a definable group in order to handle such weighty matters so that we know who the scripture is actually referencing when it says, Tell it to the church. [00:06:24] So, in Matthew 18, we find a multiple step process for dealing with sin. [00:06:31] We find Jesus' process that he prescribes to the apostles to then teach other New Testament church leaders, that this would be the process throughout the entire gospel age that the New Testament church would diligently follow when it comes to the issue of dealing with sin. [00:06:51] And this process begins with, first and foremost, a private step. [00:06:57] If your brother sins against you, go to him alone. [00:07:01] Go and tell his fault to him alone. [00:07:05] And if he listens to you, you have won over your brother. [00:07:09] What's implicit in the word listen there is if he repents, if he hears your concern, the charge that you're bringing against him, if he hears it with ears of humility and contrition, he listens and agrees and acknowledges his sin. [00:07:27] And is sorry for his sin, then you have won your brother over and the process of church discipline is finished. [00:07:35] But if he does not listen to you, then we must appeal to a higher court. [00:07:42] The next step in church discipline is that we would bring along with us one or two others. [00:07:48] Why? [00:07:49] So that the testimony may be established in the presence of two or three witnesses. [00:07:55] This is according to the law word of God that we find in the Old Testament in multiple places, but most notable in the book of Deuteronomy. [00:08:05] Now, notice implicitly what we see in this second step of church discipline bringing one or two others so that you and the one or two. [00:08:14] Included, combined, would constitute two or three witnesses. [00:08:18] What's implicitly contained in this second step is number one, the two or three are now going not just to correct the individual, but as a small jury to ultimately weigh and judge and consider who's actually in sin. [00:08:39] This is vital for the evangelical church to understand in our current hashtag MeToo movement. [00:08:50] And the hashtag MeToo movement, believe all women, women can only be victims, women can do no wrong, that movement that we're in is just as prominent in the evangelical church as it is in the secular world. [00:09:06] The SBC is rife with believe all women rhetoric. [00:09:13] Grace Community Church and John MacArthur, the believe all women attacks against him are profound. [00:09:22] The church has not been safe from this particular strategy of the devil. [00:09:29] And it does come from hell. [00:09:31] Feminism comes from hell. [00:09:36] And what we see with the two or three is this our current culture assumes that the first person to run into the room is the victim. [00:09:47] But the Bible teaches that if someone runs into the room and says, I'm oppressed, And it turns out that they're lying, then the one that they actually charged is the victim. [00:10:01] A victim of someone bearing false witness. [00:10:05] The Lord despises, the Bible says, and detests, loathes, and hates a false witness. [00:10:16] And in biblical law, if someone were to bear false witness, whatever the penalty would have been for the individual that they're bearing false witness against, If they had been found guilty, that penalty now falls on the one who bore false witness. [00:10:31] And so, if it's a capital crime, the person who bears false witness under oath is now going to be stoned to death. [00:10:41] And the people of God would respond with a resounding Amen. [00:10:47] The Lord is good, He is righteous. [00:10:51] Praise the Lord. [00:10:54] Bearing false witness destroys. [00:10:58] A society, a mouth that breathes out lies, brick by brick deconstructs and tears down the very bedrock of a culture. [00:11:13] So, when we bring the one or two others with us, those one or two others in this second step of church discipline, they are coming to be unbiased, unpartial, non partial judges. [00:11:27] They're coming with the individual saying, My brother sinned against me, I went to him one on one. [00:11:32] And he didn't listen. [00:11:34] Would you please come with me? [00:11:37] And you go with them, and you're now listening. [00:11:39] But here's what you're doing you're not just reinforcing the person who's saying they're in sin, you're not just reinforcing their charge that the person's in sin. [00:11:48] You're coming in in an unbiased fashion to weigh and determine who's in sin because there are two potential sins. [00:11:56] One is that this person really did sin against this one who's bringing you in. [00:12:00] That's one potential sin. [00:12:02] The other potential sin is that the person who's bringing you in is actually bearing false witness. [00:12:07] And bringing a false charge against their brother. [00:12:09] And that their brother actually didn't sin. [00:12:11] And that the actual oppressor in the scenario is the person who's crying out, I'm a victim. [00:12:18] That that person is actually the victimizer and needs to be corrected. [00:12:24] And so the one or two others come in the scenario and they seek to weigh without partiality. [00:12:32] And the Bible says, again in the Old Testament, that when we judge certain cases, we shall not be partial to the rich. [00:12:40] But did you know, brothers and sisters, that the Bible also explicitly mentions that we shall not be partial to the poor? [00:12:49] Men can lie, so can women. [00:12:52] The rich can lie, so can the poor. [00:12:57] Everyone is a sinner. [00:13:00] And I would argue that by and large, not as a 100% guaranteed rule, but I do believe that societies and cultures and nations go through stages. [00:13:13] And that there are certain sins that can be more or less prevalent in different times of a culture, in different times of the life of a society. [00:13:25] And so, again, not as a 100% hard and fast rule, not as a guarantee, but as a general observation, I would say that in this current season of the life of our nation and Western society, [00:13:40] not just America, but Western civilization as a whole, And the ways that that has also seeped in and become predominant in the evangelical church as well, I would say that more often than not, not always, but more often than not, [00:13:56] when there is an outcry of abuse, the person who is saying they're oppressed has a better chance of being found out to be the liar than actually the one telling the truth and that the person actually is an oppressor. [00:14:13] That is where we're at right now. [00:14:16] We are immersed in victimology. [00:14:20] We are immersed in a culture that hook, line, and sinker has swallowed the rhetoric of white supremacy. [00:14:30] That we must overthrow and dismantle the patriarchy. [00:14:35] And that's our culture right now. [00:14:39] And what sinners tend to do, what the wicked tend to do, is they'll take something that is true. [00:14:48] But they'll take the minority and make it the majority. [00:14:50] They'll take the footnote and make it the headline. [00:14:53] So the headline of the story is white cops shoot an unarmed minority. [00:15:00] Or the headline of the story is power dynamics in this company or in this church where a man in a position of power and authority takes advantage of a woman. === Sons of Issachar Discernment (05:08) === [00:15:12] Those things happen. [00:15:14] Throughout history, they've happened. [00:15:15] And even in this current moment, they still happen. [00:15:20] But that is not the majority report. [00:15:23] It is posited as though it's the majority report. [00:15:27] It's made on every news cycle the headline of every story, but it's not. [00:15:34] The major headline of the story should be Black Lives Matter raises millions of dollars, doesn't spend any of it actually helping people of color, but buys large mansions instead. [00:15:47] That's what happened. [00:15:50] The actual headline of the story should be A woman claims that she was abused, turns out she lied, and she should get the same penalty. [00:16:01] That's what happens. [00:16:03] It's not the only thing that happens, but it is happening more often than the other. [00:16:10] That's the moment that we're living in. [00:16:11] Brothers and sisters, listen. [00:16:13] The sons of Issachar knew the times. [00:16:17] It is not enough only to know principles, you also need to be a Christian with discernment who can say what time it is. [00:16:27] What time is it? [00:16:29] A lot of the rhetoric, the social justice rhetoric, you know my problem with it? [00:16:33] It's not that social justice doesn't matter. [00:16:36] My problem with it is that it's 50 years too late. [00:16:41] A lot of the rhetoric that you hear, if that was coming out in 1940, it would have been good. [00:16:49] The problem is it's coming out after that, it's not an issue. [00:16:55] So we're saying, oh, there's this oppression and blah, But then Asians have to score higher on their SAT to get into college. [00:17:04] Second, whites. [00:17:07] And then down the list, there is literally affirmative action, which is racism. [00:17:13] There is discrimination in different weights and measures. [00:17:17] The Lord, another thing He hates, false witness. [00:17:19] He also hates unequal balances, unequal weights and measures. [00:17:24] There are different weights and measures for determining certain tax brackets, for determining what school you can get into, what benefits you can get. [00:17:34] And some of these things, it's not just cultural impulses, but it's actually legislative law. [00:17:41] At a judicial, legislative level, there are unequal weights and balances. [00:17:48] And the Lord abhors these things according to his word. [00:17:53] We need to be like the sons of Issachar. [00:17:56] We need to know what time it is. [00:17:57] Now, that being said, because I don't want you to say, Amen, I'm going to do that. [00:18:02] I'm going to walk out of church today and live a more courageous life. [00:18:06] And then you get punched in the face. [00:18:07] And you're like, Well, my pastor led me astray. [00:18:09] I had no idea. [00:18:10] Because you will get punched in the face, metaphorically or literally. [00:18:13] This is one other thing. [00:18:15] The sons of Issachar knew the time. [00:18:18] But what that means, when you say something when it's actually relevant, right? [00:18:22] So you're not talking about social justice 50 years too late, but you're actually talking about it when it's relevant. [00:18:28] You know what that's called? [00:18:30] It's called being a prophet. [00:18:32] And you know what happens to the prophets? [00:18:35] They get killed. [00:18:38] Now, later generations build tombs to honor them. [00:18:42] Right? [00:18:43] Everybody says, I love Charles Spurgeon. [00:18:45] That's because he's safely buried under six feet of dirt. [00:18:48] If he was still alive, you'd hate him. [00:18:51] I promise you. [00:18:51] You know how I know you'd hate him? [00:18:52] Because you hate John MacArthur? [00:18:55] And John MacArthur is tame in comparison to Charles Spurgeon. [00:19:01] Charles Spurgeon was calling people out on the front row in his church saying, You, sir, the gloves that you have belong to your employer and you stole them. [00:19:10] And he's calling them out by name and pointing at them in front of a thousand people. [00:19:18] Charles Spurgeon was way more intense. [00:19:21] Way more intense. [00:19:23] So, knowing the times like the sons of Issachar means that you're actually crying out against injustice when it's actually taking place. [00:19:32] Everybody, as a good rule of thumb, when Amazon is putting Black Lives Matter on their screensaver and on all their packages, then you know there's actually no need to say it any longer because everyone already agrees. [00:19:49] If a corporation is doing it, then what you're saying is this is a battle that's actually already won. [00:19:57] But when it's a time where there's an actual injustice taking place, not 50 years ago, but today, and you know that if you were to speak out, that instead of being hoisted up on shoulder top and given a parade in your honor, you would actually be penalized, then that's how you know that's the thing, that's the target that you should be hovering over. === Fighting Spiritual Giants (07:26) === [00:20:20] And you should do it with strategy and shrewdness and wisdom. [00:20:26] Don't be suicidal, but also don't be a coward. [00:20:31] But know that if you know the times and you talk about not just giants, see, I've used this illustration in the past. [00:20:38] It's like talking about sins and certain things, culturally wide sins and injustices that have already kind of come and gone and been dealt with, right? [00:20:51] The Overton window has already shifted, right? [00:20:54] The parade is already happening. [00:20:56] What that's like is like somebody who risked their life and killed a giant that was terrorizing the people of God. [00:21:06] And then, what you do is after the giant, just moments ago, you were shaking and quivering out of fear. [00:21:12] Now that he's good and dead and laying on the ground with his head severed, you run up to the giant and you start kicking him in the side. [00:21:23] I'm a warrior. [00:21:24] No, you're not. [00:21:26] And there's another giant right over here that's literally taking the church, the people of God, and decimating them. [00:21:34] And you're like, I won't stand for giants that you're kicking the dead corpse. [00:21:39] And there's a giant at large that's actually alive that's currently destroying the people of God. [00:21:46] Nothing to see here. [00:21:50] That's Mark Dever. [00:21:51] I'm going to name it. [00:21:54] It's John Piper. [00:21:57] That's Russell Moore. [00:22:00] That's Beth Moore. [00:22:01] It's David French, Francis Collins, Tim Keller. [00:22:08] They kick dead giants. [00:22:10] And pretend not to see living giants that are currently destroying the people of God. [00:22:16] They're bad shepherds. [00:22:19] They're bad shepherds. [00:22:23] So, church discipline. [00:22:26] Well, I mean, those guys should be disciplined. [00:22:29] But for our purposes today, the second step of church discipline, the one or two that you bring with you, is not that one or two are coming in immediately wholesale believing your testimony because you might be lying. [00:22:44] They're coming with you as arbiters to weigh between your charge and the other person getting to make their defense. [00:22:54] And after weighing these things and the testimonies being established in the presence of two or three witnesses, they then are rendering a judgment. [00:23:04] And if the judgment they render is that the charge you brought is true, and this person really did sin against you, and implicitly in the text, we might also assume. [00:23:16] They really did sin and they really are still not repentant about that sin. [00:23:22] Then we elevate to the next court of appeal. [00:23:27] We go to the highest earthly court. [00:23:30] And biblically speaking, the highest ecclesiastical court on earth is not a presbytery, it is not cardinals or bishops, it is not the pope, it is not synods or councils. [00:23:47] It is not the board of elders or deacons. [00:23:51] It is the church. [00:23:55] The local church. [00:23:57] The collective local body of believers. [00:24:02] Young and old. [00:24:06] Rich, poor. [00:24:08] Elder, non elder. [00:24:11] Deacon, member. [00:24:14] The people of God in covenant with one another. [00:24:19] In a local setting, a local church, they are the final jury. [00:24:25] They are the final court that will determine ultimately what is right. [00:24:32] And when they render that judgment, the words of Jesus, if we were to go on in the text, just to show you how weighty that judgment of the church is, the words of Jesus are this that whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. [00:24:51] And whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven. [00:24:55] In other words, when the collective body of the saints in covenant in a local church setting together, when they render a judgment, if it is to loose someone, to hand them over, as the Apostle Paul did, to hand them over to Satan, that they might be taught not to blaspheme for the destruction of their flesh, but that their soul might be saved on the last day, when the church hands someone over, And that's what it means when it goes on and says, [00:25:25] treat them as a tax collector or a Gentile. [00:25:27] That simply means treat them as an outsider, as someone on the outside of the people of God. [00:25:33] Hand them over. [00:25:35] And for the record, treating someone as a tax collector or a Gentile, as an outsider, removing them from the body of the church, is synonymous with handing someone over to Satan. [00:25:46] I've used this illustration before, I'll use it again. [00:25:49] If you've ever watched National Geographic, Animal Planet, whatever, Which gazelle gets eaten by the lion? [00:26:00] The one in the middle of the herd or the one that's on the outside? [00:26:06] Satan, what does the Bible say? [00:26:08] Prowls around like a roaring lion. [00:26:12] So Satan prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking what? [00:26:15] Who he may devour. [00:26:17] And who do lions devour? [00:26:20] The one separated from the herd. [00:26:22] So to hand someone over to Satan. [00:26:25] Is essentially simply to treat someone as an outsider, to loose them. [00:26:30] Whatever you loose on earth, you're no longer. [00:26:34] You are a Gentile and a tax letter. [00:26:35] You are no longer in covenant with the church, this visible church. [00:26:40] To remove someone from your midst, like the Apostle Paul commands in 1 Corinthians chapter 5, purge the immoral brother from among you, hand him over. [00:26:55] He's committed a degree. [00:26:58] Of sexual immorality that is unheard of even among the pagans. [00:27:04] Even among the pagans. [00:27:05] And you are proud? [00:27:07] The apostle says. [00:27:09] No, rather you should be ashamed. [00:27:13] Hand him over. [00:27:14] Paul says, spiritually speaking, with apostolic authority, I've already removed him. [00:27:20] Now, you better follow my judgment and do the same. [00:27:25] And many biblical commentators and scholars and theologians agree that in Paul's second letter to the Corinthians, 2 Corinthians, namely chapter 2, when he mentions a man who is being overwhelmed by unceasing sorrow that should be welcomed back into fellowship with the Corinthian church, that is actually the same man. === Discipline for Repentance (14:30) === [00:27:46] See, the church discipline, it not only exists to protect the purity of the church, it also exists as a form of tough love to produce repentance in the sinner. [00:27:58] Let me say that again. [00:27:59] Church discipline is not only a tool that Jesus gives to us to protect the purity of the church from a bad influence, but also it protects, or rather, it ultimately, in the sovereignty of God, if he wills, It could be used to bring about repentance in the sinner. [00:28:21] That form of tough love might eventually bring them to contrition, to not mere worldly sorrow, but godly sorrow that brings about repentance that leads to life. [00:28:37] Also, we might add the fact that there are multiple steps in the process and that there is a jury, that things are being weighed, that testimonies have to be tried and true. [00:28:49] That there must be two to three independent lines of testimony, eyewitness testimony, in order for something to be established and then weighed by a larger jury, namely the whole congregation, the church itself. [00:29:03] All of this is because Jesus is committed to justice and therefore due process. [00:29:10] That's where we get these principles in our law system today. [00:29:14] It's being eroded, but we got it from the Bible. [00:29:17] Church discipline, how. [00:29:19] How intricate the process is in the Bible, what that says is that Jesus is committed to protecting the church from the sinner and penitent sinner, but Jesus is also just as committed to protecting the alleged sinner from an abusive church because that happens too. [00:29:39] That happens all the time. [00:29:44] One more word about church discipline every church, I'm talking about the Catholic Church. [00:29:53] Eastern Orthodox Church, Episcopal, Anglican, Presbyterian, every kind of Baptist. [00:30:00] I'm talking about Joel Osteen's church. [00:30:03] I'm talking about Jesse Duplantis, false churches, prosperity churches, fake churches, churches online. [00:30:10] Every single church in the world has this in common they all kick people out. [00:30:19] They do. [00:30:21] So the determining factor of whether or not it's pleasing to the Lord is this. [00:30:25] Not whether they kick people out, but how do they kick people out? [00:30:31] Do they kick people out the way that the owners of a casino would kick out someone caught counting cards? [00:30:39] They're quietly ushered to a back room, their kneecaps are broken, and you never hear from them again? [00:30:45] That's how a lot of pastors kick out people from their churches. [00:30:48] You know that, right? [00:30:51] Where's so and so? [00:30:51] I haven't heard from him in eight months. [00:30:56] Oh, they were removed. [00:30:57] By who? [00:30:58] I never heard about it. [00:30:59] I didn't remove them. [00:31:01] We didn't exercise church discipline. [00:31:03] We didn't have a congregational meeting. [00:31:06] They weren't given the opportunity to share their testimony and for it to be weighed alongside the testimony of the pastors. [00:31:13] That's church discipline. [00:31:15] But that's casino kneecap breaking church discipline, which is what most churches, including sadly reformed churches, do. [00:31:23] Because at the end of the day, they don't care a hill of beans about the Bible. [00:31:28] They're a joke. [00:31:30] They might be Presbyterian, they might adhere to the Westminster in theory, not in practice. [00:31:36] They might be Reformed Baptists and adhere to the 1689 in theory, not in practice. [00:31:41] When the rubber meets the road, it's elder rule. [00:31:49] I appreciate John MacArthur at least calls it what it is. [00:31:51] He is elder rule, and they say it publicly. [00:31:53] There is no congregational vote at Grace Community Church. [00:31:56] Those elders, if they don't like you, something's going on, they make the determination. [00:32:02] You're gone. [00:32:03] No one hears from you again. [00:32:05] And at least they publicly say it, you know? [00:32:07] They're elder rule. [00:32:08] I would never be a member in an elder rule church because I think it's unbiblical. [00:32:13] But John MacArthur, regardless, is the Protestant Pope and everybody likes him, so, you know, whatever. [00:32:20] But I love Matthew 18. [00:32:24] And the word church here doesn't mean elders standing in as representatives of the church, it doesn't mean presbytery standing in as representative of the church. [00:32:35] It's not bishops, it's not cardinals, it's not elders. [00:32:39] The church. [00:32:39] The word church, this is crazy. [00:32:42] This is some deep exegetical study right here. [00:32:44] The word church in our text, it means church. [00:32:50] I know, if you're not careful, you'll miss it. [00:32:54] But the word church means church. [00:32:58] And for those of you who have been members of our church, you've seen us carry this out. [00:33:02] By God's grace, only once. [00:33:04] And Lord willing, hopefully never again. [00:33:06] That's unlikely, but we can pray. [00:33:11] Church discipline, I believe, should be rare, and it's not just for impenitent sin. [00:33:17] Impenitent meaning the refusal to repent after being approached by the appropriate parties and having gone thoroughly through all the steps of church discipline. [00:33:26] That's impenitence, refusing to repent. [00:33:29] However, I would add this the Westminster Confession, I like what it says in this regard. [00:33:33] It is both impenitent and high handed sin. [00:33:38] So we have, you could say it like this we have the principle in Matthew 18. [00:33:42] That Jesus gives us, the principle for church discipline and how to remove someone. [00:33:47] But we have the example or the case study in 1 Corinthians 5 from the Apostle Paul. [00:33:53] And I do not believe that it is a mere coincidence that the principle that Jesus gives includes impenitence as a chief characteristic of the one who should be removed. [00:34:04] But in the case study, it is not only impenitence, but it happens to be a man who has committed a sin that is unheard of even among pagans. [00:34:14] In other words, it's not this guy didn't invite my kids to his birthday party, and I went to my brother alone, and I called him on his sin. [00:34:24] And he said, he had the audacity to say, Pastor, that it wasn't a sin. [00:34:30] He said, he actually said, and this is going to blow your mind, that I'm emotional and too sensitive. [00:34:37] So now he's bringing false charges. [00:34:40] And I brought one or two others with me. [00:34:45] Now, they happen to be the one or two other emotional and sensitive women in the church, but I brought them. [00:34:50] And we have now determined, and we'd like to bring it to the church. [00:34:57] This person's impenitent. [00:34:58] No, it's not merely that this person has sinned and won't acknowledge and repent of their sin, but it's also impenitence coupled with a degree of high handed sin. [00:35:13] It's not just mere relational discord, which matters. [00:35:17] That can become a rotten root of bitterness that springs up and defiles many. [00:35:23] Conflict, relational conflict in the church, can have harmful effects. [00:35:29] But again, I say, I do not believe it is a mere coincidence that when we have the principle of impenitence, but the case study of someone actually being excommunicated, that it is not merely impenitence, but it is also a kind of sin and degree of sin that is egregious. [00:35:50] Egregious. [00:35:52] Not subjective. [00:35:55] Not, hey, he's quarrelsome. [00:35:59] Quarrelsome, there is an objective definition, it's a biblical word. [00:36:02] But there's a lot of debate about how to define what it is to be quarrelsome. [00:36:07] You go with the King James Version, and quarrelsome means an elder must not be a brawler, which means he might be really quarrelsome by someone's subjective definition of quarrelsome, but so long as he hasn't punched anyone in the face, he could be a pastor. [00:36:24] There are some guys that hold that view. [00:36:26] There are others who say he could be quarreling all the time because Jesus was, and so was Paul, but it means lover of quarrels. [00:36:33] And there's a difference between defending the truth versus going and picking a fight. [00:36:39] And then there are others who say he just shouldn't argue at all because the Bible says he must have a good reputation with outsiders. [00:36:45] And they subjectively interpret good reputation with outsiders meaning that pagans and sinners who hate God somehow like you. [00:36:55] There's a lot of difference of opinion. [00:37:01] But you know what's nice about sins like adultery? [00:37:08] Like the man who took his father's wife. [00:37:12] What's nice about that is that it's not subjective. [00:37:15] It's real clear. [00:37:18] It's real clear. [00:37:19] Okay, that merits removal. [00:37:23] And again, for the final time, I say I do not believe it is a mere coincidence that we're given the principle of church discipline that includes impenitence as the chief characteristic to look for. [00:37:36] But when we're given an example in case study, Of a guy actually being removed by the church, it's not that, well, his tone is off sometimes. [00:37:49] No, it's that he's really messing up. [00:37:54] I've already said it, don't need to say it again. [00:37:56] There's a difference in, I don't like your tone, versus, dude, keeping in the family isn't supposed to be played out like that. [00:38:07] Those are radically different. [00:38:09] Not a coincidence. [00:38:12] In terms of church membership, here's the deal. [00:38:16] Who is the church? [00:38:20] So the Bible doesn't explicitly command, say, thou shalt be a member in a local church. [00:38:25] But the Bible does command, Jesus himself in Matthew 18 says, you must righteously practice church discipline. [00:38:33] And to practice church discipline, it's not just appointed leaders practicing it in a back room breaking kneecaps. [00:38:39] No, church discipline, the final court of appeal is the church. [00:38:42] And as we've Already looked with a deep exegetical study. [00:38:45] Church means church, shocker. [00:38:48] And so the question is in order to do church discipline, and the highest court of appeal being the church itself, then we have to have a way of determining, deciphering who is the church. [00:39:01] And without church membership, formal local church membership, do you know how you determine who is the church? [00:39:08] Attendance. [00:39:09] It's mere attendance. [00:39:11] Apart from church membership and there actually being a process, then the only way to truly determine who is the church is who shows up. [00:39:22] Which means all of you who are joining us for the first Sunday, apparently I'm your pastor. [00:39:28] You haven't even determined if you like me. [00:39:30] You probably have determined you don't like me. [00:39:32] But the point is, I'm your pastor because you're here. [00:39:35] And if we had a church discipline case going on right now, you'd be privy to it. [00:39:40] And you don't even know their name, you don't even know who these people are. [00:39:46] And we don't even know if you're regenerate, we don't even know if you're a Christian. [00:39:52] But you're the church. [00:39:54] And the church is the final ecclesiastical earthly court for rendering a righteous judgment in regards to the alleged impenitent sinner for either loosing or binding, removing or keeping. [00:40:07] And so you're going to be making this decision, but you don't know who we are. [00:40:11] We don't know who you are. [00:40:13] But we need the church. [00:40:14] And the only way to determine the church is who shows up. [00:40:19] Unless, crazy idea, I know. [00:40:22] Unless there was like. [00:40:26] Like a process outside of mere Sunday morning attendance, where people showed up if they had interest, and you talked about practically and theologically what it meant to belong in covenant to this particular local church, and you got to, as elders, meet with them and determine their testimony. [00:40:46] They could make a credible proclamation of faith so that you know at least God sees the heart, we look at the outward appearance, but we could at least do our due diligence to see whether or not this person. Is in fact a Christ follower. [00:40:58] They could also ask questions of the leaders of the church to determine do we agree with this church's mission, its vision, its doctrine? [00:41:07] And then you could have some kind of formal mutual agreement where they say, Here I am, shepherd me. [00:41:13] And you say, I will take you as a part of my flock that I have spiritual responsibility for shepherding. [00:41:20] And we maybe even sign like a church covenant or something like that. [00:41:25] You just invented church membership. [00:41:30] So, again, no verse in the Bible that says, Thou shalt be a church membership. [00:41:34] But there are plenty of verses in the Bible that say, This is what it looks like to obey Jesus practically. [00:41:39] Not just theoretical obedience to Jesus, but practical, real obedience to Jesus. [00:41:44] And these practical examples of real obedience to Jesus assume a way of knowing who's a part of this community and who's not. [00:41:53] And mere attendance does not suffice. [00:41:56] And that is my thesis. [00:41:58] That's church membership. [00:42:00] So, I'll blow through the rest. [00:42:01] Church discipline assumes church membership. [00:42:05] Excommunication is simply after the process, the final rendered judgment, after the process of church discipline, if the person really is proven to be a sinner and still remains impenitent, you remove them. === Authority vs Counsel (07:12) === [00:42:17] We've already covered that. [00:42:18] Moving on. [00:42:19] So basically, just it's really two things, but then two subcategories underneath each primary category. [00:42:27] First category is just church discipline and excommunication. [00:42:32] The next one is shepherding. [00:42:34] Submission, shepherding, and submission two sides of really the same coin. [00:42:39] On the one hand, for the church member, Hebrews 13, 17, obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls as those who will have to give an account. [00:42:49] Let them do this with joy and not with groaning, for that would be of no advantage to you. [00:42:54] Let me brag on you, Covenant Bible Church. [00:42:57] It has been a joy. [00:42:58] Now, granted, it's been a brief joy. [00:42:59] It's only been about two years. [00:43:02] All right? [00:43:02] So that's superstition. [00:43:04] Doesn't belong in the house of God. [00:43:05] I apologize. [00:43:07] But it's been a brief joy, but it has been an objective, definitive joy. [00:43:13] To be your pastor, I mean that from the bottom of my heart. [00:43:17] You guys, you figure things out. [00:43:20] If you have a conflict, you deal with it. [00:43:24] You're not constantly coming to me or Connor with petty conflicts. [00:43:31] There's just a certain, I don't know, a certain bar of not perfection. [00:43:36] None of us are perfect. [00:43:36] I'm a sinner. [00:43:37] You're a sinner. [00:43:38] But there's just a minimum bar I've noticed with this church, with members and many of you guys who aren't members yet or attenders, but still, even for the attenders. [00:43:47] There's just like this minimum biblical bottom line of Christian maturity. [00:43:52] There's just some seasoned saints. [00:43:54] And it's a privilege to get to pastor some seasoned saints. [00:43:59] It really is. [00:44:01] It has been a joy and not groaning by God's grace. [00:44:04] It has been a joy and not groaning. [00:44:06] And I don't know if it's just providentially, right? [00:44:08] That like just like the origin of our church came out of a really crazy three years in our nation and with evangelical churches as a whole. [00:44:17] Where all of a sudden these new fault lines were coming into play in regards to who's going to stand up to civil tyranny and who's not, who's woke and who's not, who's believe all women and who's not, right? [00:44:27] And there was just kind of like this sifting, you know, like this sorting of the wheat from the chaff going on in the providence of God and our church because of my podcast and things like that and public teaching. [00:44:40] I've been very outspoken that we are not a woke church, that we are not a social justice church, that we are a biblical, theologically conservative, unapologetic church. [00:44:50] So, it's attracted those types of people, and because it's attracted those types of people, there tends to be less problems. [00:44:56] Maybe that's it. [00:44:57] I don't know. [00:44:57] But in the sovereignty of God, He's building something here that I am really proud of and humbled to be a part of. [00:45:04] And I say that as an encouragement and commendation to those of you who are members of the church, those of you who are regular, longtime attenders of the church, although I do hope you become members. [00:45:14] But I'm also saying that for those of you who are joining us for the first time, our church is not perfect, and our church certainly is not the only one. [00:45:22] We don't have the Elijah complex. [00:45:24] I'm the only one left. [00:45:26] And the Lord responds by saying, I've got 7,000 reserved, on reserve, that have not bowed their knee to Baal, that have not kissed and worshiped at the Asherah polls. [00:45:36] So we are not perfect and we are not the only ones. [00:45:39] But by the grace of God, this is a great church. [00:45:44] And the Lord is doing something special. [00:45:47] And if you want to be a part of it, we would be honored to have you. [00:45:51] So, all that being said, you're called to submit to spiritual authority. [00:45:56] Now, all authority in all three spheres that God divinely instituted the home, the church, and the state all human authority in each of these three spheres is always vested authority. [00:46:11] There is no such thing as inherent human authority. [00:46:18] Meaning that an unjust law is not a law, an unjust law is no law at all. [00:46:27] And that applies to the civil realm, that applies to the home, and that applies to the church. [00:46:37] When someone in spiritual authority, in ecclesiastical authority in the realm of the church, says something or commands something that is not rooted in the commandments of God in Scripture, a church member, not only is it permissible to disobey your pastor, It is actually required that you resist that ecclesiastical tyranny. [00:47:06] That's why, when things are not clear, one of the things that a godly and mature pastor will seek to do is to exercise the authority of counsel rather than the authority of command. [00:47:18] Because counsel can be rejected. [00:47:21] When a pastor gives you his counsel, you can say thanks, but no thanks. [00:47:26] But when a command is given, It's given with a binding quality. [00:47:32] Now, if it is not a command of Scripture and the pastor is wrong, you must still resist it. [00:47:37] But the pastor is actually exercising tyranny. [00:47:41] That would be spiritual abuse. [00:47:44] That he is going beyond his jurisdiction. [00:47:46] All human authority is vested authority, there is no such thing as inherent human authority. [00:47:53] And with this vested authority, all human authority has very clear binding jurisdictions. [00:48:03] You have authority this far and no further. [00:48:08] A pastor only has so much authority, and he must not overstep the bounds of his authority. [00:48:15] That's why, again, with COVID, when it came to shutting down churches, my position was to keep the church open. [00:48:24] One, because of Revelation 1 that we started with in our worship today, a theological reason. [00:48:30] But a practical reason, not just theological, but just logical. [00:48:34] And not wanting to be an abusive ecclesiastical tyrant. [00:48:38] If the church is closed, everyone who's in the church who feels obligated and convicted to worship, their conscience is dismissed. [00:48:47] You cannot worship God. [00:48:49] We close the church. [00:48:51] If the church is open, guess what that position allows for? [00:48:55] People can stay home, and some who feel called to worship can worship. [00:49:00] One position objectively accommodates more people. [00:49:05] One position, namely opening the church, allows those to stay home if they wish and those who want to worship to worship. [00:49:12] But the position of closing the church is essentially pastors all over our nation who said to their congregants who felt convicted by the Holy Spirit and from the Word of God, like Revelation chapter 1, like Hebrews chapter 10, verse 24 and 25, do not neglect the gathering of the saints as some have done. === Faithful Oracles Over Smooth Words (11:58) === [00:49:30] Those who felt convicted from the Spirit and the Word of God that we should be gathering, pastors who closed their churches said, your conscience doesn't matter. [00:49:40] I don't care. [00:49:42] And I will force you to sin against your own conscience. [00:49:47] And that pastor should be removed. [00:49:50] That is abuse. [00:49:52] That is spiritual abuse. [00:49:53] When we think, here's the deal. [00:49:55] When we think of spiritual abuse, we think that guy yells when he preaches. [00:50:02] Or we think that guy takes really strong positions, like the husband is the head of his wife. [00:50:09] Or we think that guy believes that when it comes to parenting, that the parent who spares the rod hates their child. [00:50:19] Yeah, that's quoting scripture. [00:50:21] That's a quote, not exegesis, a quote. [00:50:24] That guy's harsh. [00:50:26] But when the Bible talks about what's actually abusive, think of the false teachers that Paul's constantly combating. [00:50:33] Do you know what is characteristic and descriptive of the false teachers? [00:50:36] They're the guys who have smooth and flattering speech, the scripture says. [00:50:42] The bad guys, right? [00:50:43] Are we the baddies? [00:50:44] I wish Big Eva would do that. [00:50:45] Are we the baddies? [00:50:47] Yes. [00:50:48] David French, am I the baddie? [00:50:50] Phil Vision, am I? [00:50:51] Yes. [00:50:52] The baddies in the New Testament, they're the guys who have the very smooth tone. [00:51:00] The nicest guys are the bad guys. [00:51:04] And then the guys who preach sermons like Peter on the day of Pentecost in Acts 2 that says, This Jesus who you crucified, God has resurrected and made him both Savior and Lord. [00:51:18] Right, preacher, don't say you, say we, we. [00:51:21] Include yourself, we. [00:51:22] Peter says you. [00:51:24] Look at all the old timing preachers. [00:51:26] Spurgeon, we was not in his vocabulary. [00:51:28] I don't even know if he knew the word. [00:51:30] It's you. [00:51:32] Always you. [00:51:36] That's how the apostles, the good guys, preached. [00:51:39] The way that the bad guys talked was smooth, seductive, nice, flattering. [00:51:47] So their tone was kind. [00:51:49] But what made the person actually a heretic was not how they said things, but what they said. [00:51:59] We live in a culture, and the evangelical church has opted for this position as well. [00:52:05] We live in a culture and a church age where we care more about how something is said than what is said. [00:52:14] The party that is always identified by the New Testament apostles as the false teachers are the ones who are introducing strange doctrines. [00:52:26] It doesn't matter how they introduce it, it doesn't matter what speech or tone or attitude they have. [00:52:34] What matters is not how, but what. [00:52:37] And in fact, The Apostle Paul goes even further and talks about those who are quarrelsome. [00:52:42] He uses the word quarrelsome and upsetting whole households. [00:52:46] And you know who they are? [00:52:48] The quarrelsome people, truly, objectively quarrelsome, in the mind of Paul, are the people who have the nicest tone you'll ever find smooth and flattering speech. [00:52:59] But they are quarrelsome because they are the ones who are introducing to the apostolic church strange doctrine that's causing fights and conflicts. [00:53:09] The person who introduces wrong doctrine is the one who is labeled as the quarreler. [00:53:16] And the person who defends the truth, even if he does it with a raised voice, is not the quarreler. [00:53:23] But that is the one who is faithful. [00:53:27] And for the record, the reason why I believe faithful pastors do preach and don't just pace back and forth between two ferns with skinny jeans and a plexiglass pulpit. [00:53:39] Right, that the pulpit is just as see through as the pastor's soul, and I'm just gonna share with you. [00:53:45] The reason why faithful pastors don't preach like that, the reason why they have pulpits that look like tanks, and the reason why they yell from time to time, and they say we occasionally, but they also say you, is because the scripture commands let the one who speaks speak as though he is speaking the very oracles of God. [00:54:06] So when I preach, I am not getting up here to share with you my thoughts. [00:54:12] If I am to preach at all, Scripture commands me to preach as though I am heralding the very oracles of God. [00:54:20] So it is not, I feel like, or I think, or maybe. [00:54:24] If I've got a theological maybe in my arsenal, you save that for a podcast or a conversation over a snack with a friend. [00:54:33] You don't bring that into the pulpit of God because here you herald the oracles of God. [00:54:42] You don't whisper, you don't speculate, you preach. [00:54:50] You preach. [00:54:52] And although many would say that's harsh tone and therefore that is quarrelsomeness, the Bible says precisely the opposite. [00:55:00] Precisely the opposite. [00:55:03] So, shepherding and submission. [00:55:07] Shepherding and submission. [00:55:09] Let it be a joy to those in positions of ecclesiastical authority, knowing that they have very limited jurisdiction. [00:55:17] Their authority is vested, not inherent. [00:55:20] They can only speak where the Bible speaks if they're outside of that. [00:55:23] They can counsel, but it is the authority of counsel, which the member is free to reject rather than the authority of command. [00:55:30] So, pastors should be careful not to overstep their bounds. [00:55:34] Pastors should be servants. [00:55:36] They should be kind, but they should also be confident in the word of God, not in the flesh, and teach what is true as though they are heralding the very oracles of God. [00:55:45] And you, people of God, should submit so long as the pastor is faithful. [00:55:52] And the pastor, on his end, should shepherd. [00:55:56] Look at the text. [00:55:57] Pay careful attention to yourselves and all the flock in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers to care for the church of God which He obtained with His own blood. [00:56:08] That's Acts 20, 28. [00:56:10] So, on the shepherding side, for the church member, obey your leaders. [00:56:16] Right there, the key word, your leaders, and submit to them. [00:56:20] For they are keeping watch over your souls. [00:56:22] On the shepherding side, as it pertains to the pastor, to the congregation, pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock. [00:56:29] In which the Holy Spirit made you an overseer. [00:56:33] Notice the common theme between both submission for the church members and shepherding for the church leaders. [00:56:40] In both cases, it is a particular flock. [00:56:45] Submit to anyone who claims to be a spiritual Christian leader. [00:56:50] Joel Osteen says he's a leader. [00:56:52] Every time he comes out with a book or a conference, submit, right? [00:56:58] No. [00:57:00] Submit to your leaders. [00:57:02] Not just the leaders, your leaders. [00:57:06] Again, look, church membership is assumed. [00:57:09] What's assumed is that there is a local, visible, definable context. [00:57:15] And that the people of God, they know who's apart and who's not. [00:57:19] They know who their leaders are and who they aren't. [00:57:23] And I would, I'll end it with this. [00:57:26] You might be saying again, so how do we determine who is the church? [00:57:30] You sold me, Joel, we got to be able to have a visible, Local, definable community, the church. [00:57:38] I'm just not sold in terms of church membership being the only process or way of defining that. [00:57:43] I think church attendance works. [00:57:45] Well, I would say again, C.8, I don't think it works in terms of church discipline and excommunication because that would involve visitors that may not even be regenerate rendering judgments about binding and loosing people. [00:57:57] That's my first point. [00:57:58] Secondly, I would say this in terms of you, people of God, congregation, in terms of your obligation to submit to leaders, your attendance is sufficient. [00:58:09] I'll agree with you. [00:58:10] Your attendance is sufficient for you to identify who your local leaders are. [00:58:17] However, on the shepherding side of the coin, your mere attendance is not sufficient for Connor and I to determine who we're called to shepherd. [00:58:27] You can come on Sunday and say, I see Joel and Connor. [00:58:32] But you coming on Sunday is not enough for Joel and Connor to see you. [00:58:37] Think about it, put yourself in my shoes for just a moment. [00:58:40] Let's just all take out a small violin and play a sad song for pastors all over the world. [00:58:45] Just a little bit of pity for a moment. [00:58:48] If it's mere church attendance and the responsibility, remember, the responsibility is pay careful attention to yourselves and all the flock in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers to care for the church of God which he obtained with his blood. [00:59:03] And then Hebrews 13 17, that we are keeping watch over your very souls as those who will have to give account. [00:59:11] Like, I'm going to stand before the Lord Jesus Christ one day, and I will have to give an account for keeping watch over the souls of the flock, a particular flock, not the universal flock of Christ, it's global, but a particular local flock in which the Holy Spirit appointed me as an overseer. [00:59:32] That flock. [00:59:34] If that flock, even at the local level, that local flock, if that includes somebody who visited for a few weeks, And then left. [00:59:43] And I'm responsible for their soul. [00:59:46] And they came late and left early. [00:59:50] I never even got to shake their head. [00:59:51] I don't even know their name. [00:59:54] But I'm going to have to stand before the Lord Jesus Christ on the final day and be held accountable for keeping watch over their soul. [01:00:01] Lord, have mercy. [01:00:04] I can't do that. [01:00:07] And I don't believe by the grace of God, because He is merciful, that I will have to do that. [01:00:12] I don't believe that the Lord Jesus will hold pastors accountable for their flock and their flock being defined by anybody who ever showed up. [01:00:21] I think the flock is more formally and visibly and tangibly defined through covenant. [01:00:28] God works through covenant. [01:00:31] And there is a mutual agreement and covenant between the member and spiritual leaders in the church. [01:00:39] We will pastor and shepherd you. [01:00:42] And you, so long as we are faithful, will submit to us. [01:00:46] I have agreed to keep watch over your soul. [01:00:49] You have agreed to submit in such a way that that ministry and calling of mine would not be a groaning, but a joy. [01:00:57] And this is a formal process. [01:00:59] It's local, it's visible, it's definable. [01:01:03] I think it's called church membership. [01:01:05] Let's pray. [01:01:05] Father God, thank you for your word. [01:01:07] Bless it to your people, all for your glory. [01:01:10] In Jesus' name, amen. [01:01:12] Thanks so much for listening. [01:01:13] But, real quick, before you go, do us a small favor. [01:01:17] Take a moment and leave us a five star review if you enjoyed the show. [01:01:21] This is undoubtedly the best way that you can help us get this biblically faithful content to as many people as possible. [01:01:28] Thanks so much.