Open—Robert Boulard
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I'd just like to look at Matthew chapter 18 was alluded to, but uh, there's a solution for what we've been Speaking of this afternoon and the the Lord by his Spirit is brought before us. I believe in Matthew chapter 18. We'll just read from verse 15. It says, moreover, if thy brother shall trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault.
Between thee and him alone.
If he shall hear thee.
No, Husky and thy brother. But if you will not hear thee, then take with thee one or two more, that in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established. And if you shall neglect to hear them, tell it to the church. But if you neglect to hear the church.
Let him be unto thee, as in heathen man and Republican.
You know, sometimes we talk about these problems. I'm thankful that we can, by the grace of God in a venue like this, says let the prophets speak two or three. And the Spirit of God has, I believe, seen that there's a problem and addressed it head on not.
Perhaps in a superficial way. And here we have the this the Lord Jesus spoke these words himself, and they're recorded here and it gives us a little bit of an indication as to.
The seriousness of this problem among His people and the solution. I'll just point out that the next similitude of the Kingdom here and from verse 21, perhaps down to the end of the chapter in chapter 18 is the 7th similitude of the Kingdom because it begins in verse 23. Therefore is the Kingdom of heaven likened unto.
A certain king, and it's one here that is.
Umm, it it speaks in this similitude of the Kingdom of the instruction is given of having a forgiving spirit.
The first three similarities to the Kingdom in Matthew chapter 13 bring before us what Satan is doing to oppose the work of Christ in this world. And then the next three similitudes in Matthew 16, Immaculate 13, I'm sorry, are the what the Lord Himself is doing in spite of what Satan is doing during the day of grace?
The very next similitude of the Kingdom. The 7th similitude of the Kingdom. There's four that.
Give us our own responsibilities during the time that the Lord is absent. The very first similitude of the Kingdom has to do with you and I having a forgiving spirit towards one another. And if we don't have a forgiving spirit towards one another, it says in verse 34 that his Lord was wroth and delivered him to the tormentors till he should pay all that was due unto him.
So likewise shall my heavenly Father do also unto you.
If ye from your hearts forgive not everyone his brother, their trespasses. And so to be delivered to the tormentors doesn't mean that this is, uh, someone that was saved and now is going to be lost. That's not the that's, that's false doctrine. This the passenger scripture is sometimes taken out of context in that way. It's the fact that a believer can have a tormented conscience and the Lord can allow the conscience to be tormented because he will not forgive.
You know, wonderful to just have the new life, a new life, the very life of Christ to be indwelled with the Spirit of God and have the ability to forgive one another. And it may take grace, it does take grace to look at one another and to forgive. But uh, just to speak of verse 15 here, it says if thy brother shall trespass against thee, if.
He says here go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone. Now why does it say this?
There's wisdom. It's the wisdom of God. It's the Son of God who's speaking. He says, well, your brother might not even know that he trespassed against you. He doesn't know.
And so you go to him alone. You don't write him a letter.
You don't, uh, send them an e-mail.
You don't umm, tell your friends about the problem. You go to him alone and you say brother.
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It was very hurtful what you said to me or what you said to my son or whatever it was, and you speak man to man.
Brother with brother, sister with sister, if I could put it that way. It's the wisdom of God. It's a provision for us, and the Lord desires that we would communicate with one another and have the honesty to communicate with one another in this way. Tell him his fault between thee and him alone. If he shall hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother.
Isn't it nice to just be able to speak with one another honestly and to say, brother, I love you and the Lord, I just am so thankful.
For the, umm, gifts that you have and that, uh, you exercise from time to time in the assembly and that, uh, you just have a, a personality, perhaps that you do a gospel work outside the assembly. Perhaps, uh, this brother's, uh, teacher, perhaps someone just, uh, very quiet, doesn't hardly, hardly never notice them. But isn't it wonderful just to be able to be on good speaking terms and to just be able to.
Love one another.
Even as Christ loved us and to, in a sacrificial way, set aside our own rights and our own, uh, likes, dislikes and so on, and just go and speak with one another.
Well, it says that we shall hear the Daisy and nine brother. So if I went and I spoke in the right way, in the right tone, with love in my heart and the desire for reconciliation, I think my brother would hear me. And so it speaks in First Corinthians chapter 13. I might just say chapter 12 is the machinery, you might say of Christianity. Chapter 13 is the oil, for the machinery speaks of love. And then in chapter 14 you get the machinery.
Of Christianity in action. And so love thinketh no evil.
Let's think of novieval love is easy to be entreated.
Oh, how wonderful it would be if we were easily entreated for one another and by one another. Well, it says if he here will not hear the then take with the one or two more that in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established. Is this to pressure this brother to forgive you? No. Maybe you say I just didn't. I wasn't able to communicate this very effectively. And maybe.
You know, we can just go out for a coffee and, uh, we can talk about it, uh, maybe with, uh, one of my friends and maybe he can help communicate.
How offensive this was to me.
I might just say just in a natural, uh, sphere of things, umm, when we were in business, often times we'd have a situation in the office or whatever and umm, so we have a, a, a challenge with one of the employees. And the first time that we had a little bit of an interview, we would go to a coffee shop in a non threatening environment and just lay out the issue that was.
Uh, at hand and then if the thing didn't improve then.
Sometimes it would be into the conference room in the office, then we'd have another coffee and try to be, uh, uh, communicate the thing more effectively in the conference room. Well, the third time was would be in my office if the thing didn't improve. And so, you know, the Lord delights to, uh, have us communicate effectively with one another, with appreciation for one another, with love and, you know.
Are you honest with yourself? Honest with the Lord you know?
And I know that he speaks once and he speaks twice. Sometimes he speaks three times with us.
He's faithful, he trains us and he doesn't give up the first time. So I think this is really what is Speaking of here, that if, if he doesn't hear you alone, bring someone else with you and, but don't uh, use pressure tactics or anything. It's just really the desires to win the heart. Well, if you neglect to hear them, tell it under the church, you know, it might affect the assembly. If you and I have hard feelings towards one another, it might affect the assembly.
And it might be necessary to tell those that are in the assembly, perhaps those that have responsibility and care in the assembly, those that are oversight. And so I got a problem.
This brother just doesn't wanna be reconciled. This brother just wants to go on in this course. And he I've taken brother so and so we've played with him, but he just doesn't wanna hear it. And it's gonna cause a problem in the assembly. I don't want it to cause a problem in the assembly. Please help us.
Isn't it nice to just be able to, umm, ask for help?
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And ask for help in the assembly, ask for help for those that are in oversight that, uh, have a desire to see and are responsible for the way the Assembly goes on. Well, it says here, if, uh, he neglected to hear the church, let him be unto thee, as in he than man and Republican. So we've read and we've commented that, uh, as much as lieth in you live peaceably with all men.
He said don't treat him like a publican.
Just you might have to just bear with this if he doesn't want to walk in a peaceful path, let him be unto thee. To you as a heathen man in public and someone that just.
Perhaps doesn't wanna walk in a Christ like way and you have to bear this. And so the Lord gives this provision and the Lord is able to straighten these things out. Now I just want to read in Colossians just to close up these thoughts.
In umm.
I think it's Colossians chapter 3.
And just point out in verse 8.
It says Now ye also put off all these anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth.
You'll notice that it says anger first, wroth second, malice third.
There's a progression. Things don't happen all at once. And all of a sudden you find out that the malice of leaven, the leaven of malice is spreading and malice or leaven is a culture. It's uh, uh, we know it as, umm, yeast and it works absolutely marvelously under the right conditions. And sin is like that. It works under the surface and in a Co, It's a culture and it just, it just spreads silently.
And it corrupts the whole thing when connecting with bread. But this begins with anger, having an angry feeling. And you can just feel the indignation and the wrath and the anger. You have some an angry feeling, but then it turns to Roth and uh, so you get a little bit more passionate about it.
It's not just you're not just angry now. Now you've got.
You. You really. It starts to show on your face.
It's not just anger in the heart, then malice in French and Spanish, and probably Portuguese as well. Uh, math means to hurt.
Hurt Malice. Malice. Now you want to hurt this person?
Now you want to hurt them with words, you want to hurt them circumstances, so on and so forth. Well, May God give us the umm discernment to judge our own motives, our own hearts in these matters, that we might not be angry with one another and that we might not be wrothful, might not show on our faces.
In that way, and that might be judged that there might not be malice towards one another. And let's remember.
Dear brethren, the solution for these things so clearly taught by the Lord Jesus himself in the word of God and he says go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone. Now there's if I could just take one moment and just show you in Matthew 18 here it says in verse 31.
There's someone else you can tell. So when his fellow servants saw what was done, they were very sorry.
And came and told unto their Lord all that was done.
So they didn't go and tell the other servants.
They went and told the Lord about it.
So you can tell the Lord about it.
When you see a problem developing, tell the Lord about it. Be sure that we keep those short accounts with one another. And may the Lord bless us in these last days as we await His coming to have tender hearts for one another. Forgive me, Ephesians chapter 4. Just one comment on this. It's the verse 32. Be kind one to another.
Tender hearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you. You know that's the only time in the New Testament that this word tender hearted.
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Is used.
Tender hearted. You know, I stop at a lot of rest areas as I travel, and every now and then I see an old man, an old woman walking up the sidewalk, going to use the restroom. And he's so tender hearted, so tender with that dear woman. I oftentimes wonder if they're saved. And you know, I see these different places. Tender heartedness.
And the Lord sees it too. Tender heartedness. Let's be tender hearted.
Not hard hearted with one another.
288 versus 2 and three.
Fraser, my life.
Shall grateful birds and frown of heaven bring all our love away? And I understand. And if you want to say you've heard the gold.
Uh.
Right.