Church Discipline (Part 2)

No Compromise Radio Thanks for tuning in to No Compromise Radio with pastor and author,

Dr. Mike Abendroth. Today on No Compromise Radio, we'll be hearing Pastor Mike open the

Word of God in a recent message he preached at Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston, Massachusetts.

Now let's join Pastor Mike in progress as he preaches through the Scriptures, verse by verse with no compromise.

Romans chapter 6 says this, before you do anything, it's all about your mind and who you are in Christ.

And you realize that when Jesus died, you died with Him. Do you realize that when Jesus was raised from the dead, you were raised up with Him?

It's all about your relationship to Christ. I can put it this way since I know who you are and I've preached this to you before.

To deal with sin in the Christian life, you have to remember one indicative statement of fact that Jesus Christ has conquered the power of sin in your life.

Then imperative in light of who He is and what He's done, therefore live it out.

And so Paul says here in 1 Corinthians, he says, you are clean, act like you're clean. He says the other way around, be clean because you are clean.

The key to Christianity for the Christian is, of all things, Jesus. We never want to be the kind of people that say, well,

I've got that whole thing down. I did the altar call. I did the sinner's prayer. Jesus died for my sins. He was raised from the dead.

He's coming back. I repented and believed. And now I can put that little component over here and now I'm on to the deeper things in life and maturity.

These two things are always and forever linked. Your life, your growth depends on your relationship to how you think about who you are in Christ Jesus.

All right. I'll show you what I mean. Number three, stimulus to purity. Number one, remember sin contaminates stimulus to purity.

Number two, live a holy life because you are holy. Three, focus on the sacrificial love of Christ Jesus.

It's all about Christ. Paul thinks of unleavened bread. And what's he do? Well, he's got to bring up Passover for Christ.

Our Passover lamb has been sacrificed. Did you know

I could say it true or false? I guess not already. You already know it's going to be true. Did you know?

True or false? Christ's death is supposed to affect the way you live morally and ethically as a

Christian. The answer is true. How should

I live in light of a risen Savior who's made me born again and changed me from an enemy to a friend?

How do I live? What motivates you? You say, well, you know, other people do more than I do around the church, and therefore

I better man up. Well, maybe that might be good for a little while, but it's not going to last.

But if you remember how bad your sins are and how great Jesus' death was and He's been sacrificed for you, that's the motivation for the

Christian life. How does someone at Corinth say, you know what, we can just deal with this guy.

He's unrepentant, and he's had this horrible kind of sexually lewd sin, and he won't repent from it.

And so, I don't know, should we deal with it or should we not? Don't forget about the leaven, but more importantly, don't forget about Jesus who's been sacrificed.

Think about who you are in Christ Jesus and the free, sovereign, distinguishing grace that you have received.

He has been sacrificed as our Passover Lamb. How much theology is in that?

Listen to what Spurgeon said. This is rich. You're going to email me and say, where's that quote?

When I was coming to Christ, I thought I was doing it all myself. And though I sought the

Lord earnestly, I had no idea the Lord was seeking me. I do not think the young convert is first aware of this.

I can recall the very day and hour when first I received those truths into my own soul.

When they were, as John Bunyan said, burnt into my heart as with a hot iron.

And I can recollect how I felt. I had grown on all of a sudden from a babe into a man.

I had made progress in scriptural knowledge. Though having found once for all the clue to the truth of God, that Jesus sovereignly died for me, as Spurgeon said, one week night when

I was sitting in the house of God, I was not thinking much about the preacher's sermon for I did not believe it. I hope none of that is applying to you this morning.

So, if you don't believe the guy's preaching, then I guess you think of other things. And here's what Spurgeon said, the thought struck me, how did you become a

Christian? Oh, I sought the Lord. But how did you come to seek the Lord? The truth flashed across my mind in a moment.

I should not have sought him unless there had been some previous influence in my mind to make me seek him.

I prayed, thought I. But then I asked myself, how came I to pray? I was induced to pray by reading the scriptures.

How came I to read the scriptures? I did read them, but what led me to do so? Then in a moment,

I saw that God was at the bottom of it and that he was the author of my faith.

And so the whole doctrine of grace opened up to me. And from that doctrine, I have not departed to this day.

And I desire to make this my constant confession. I ascribe my change wholly to God.

And it's the best. If you've been changed, you've been changed by the sovereign decree of God. And if he's changed you, what's your response?

Well, I'll get around to acting wholly a little bit later when the kids are gone. Kids are growing up, then

I will. No, what do you say? I deserve hell and I get heaven. Lord, I'm yours. Out of gratitude,

I'd love to obey. Jesus Christ was sacrificed, not because we let him be sacrificed, but he chose to be sacrificed in the eternal counsel of the

Godhead. And Jesus fulfilled the command that the Father gave him. John 17 says, by going, taking on a body that we read about in Hebrews 10, to die on our behalf.

And you say, that's been done for me? Then I'll follow him with all my being.

What if you met someone who rescued your son from drowning? When I was growing up, there was a house next door.

The people moved out. We lost our friends. Some new people moved in.

And the neighborhood didn't really like them, because they didn't look like the old people. And they were not the same color as everybody else.

And so everybody kind of looked like, you know, we don't know about these people and they're not like us.

Well, there's a big drainage ditch out in front of our house. And there was a child playing by the drainage ditch and slipped in during a huge storm and went straight down the drainage ditch to his sure doom, literally.

And this next door neighbor, who was in the Navy, quick jumped out, ran down to the edge.

And as the kid was going to go under, literally to die, he reached his hand down and pulled that kid up and saved that kid.

Well, if you're that kid's dad or mother, what,

I won't say, what would you do? Let me say it this way. What wouldn't you do for that person? I mean,

I'd probably hug, kiss. I'd probably kiss the guy on the lips, probably.

Greet one another with a holy kiss. That'd be a sight to see. I think it was the medicine that just made me say that, so.

This person has saved my son. The response is gratitude, debt, thanks, praise.

And I guarantee you that if that person called Mr. Floyd today and said, by the way, excuse me, if Mr.

Floyd called that person today and said, by the way, there's been a tragedy in my own life and I need a favor, do you think

I could have a favor? We know the answer. The initiating grace of God in the heart of the believer should make that believer say,

I want to deal with sin. I will deal with sin. And for Spurgeon, he realized salvation had nothing to do with him.

I think for some, probably even in this room this morning, the reason why your life is still with too much sin and not enough gratitude and thanks and service, the answer lies not because you're not a

Christian, but because you don't ascribe your Christianity wholly to God's sovereign, initiating, distinguishing grace.

You somehow think you kind of partnered along with God. You let God save you.

You kind of, you know, you did the first thing, but when you realize that you ascribe your change wholly to God, then it motivates service, thanksgiving.

I don't know if you know the story of Drew Garner, but it's too good for me to pass up. He was a

Southern Baptist with a huge church, a mega church, thousands. And a visitor came on a

Sunday, and so he thought he'd make a house call. So he knocked on the door on Monday, and in his own words, he said this, the ugliest man

I have ever seen appeared unshaven and in his dressing gown. I'd only like to talk to you for a little bit, the pastor said.

Do you make altar calls? The ugly man growled. Of course I do. Why do you make them?

Well, to give people a chance to decide. Do you think that people have to have a chance?

Does God save by chance? Drew, the pastor, said this in his memoirs,

What kind of nut have I got on my hands? The ugly man said,

I would like you to see my library. And he brought him over to show him all his theological books and all the books that he had gotten from great

Puritans. And then he picked out two books and said, Pastor, I'd like you to read these two books,

A .W. Pink's The Sovereignty of God and Lorraine Bettner's The Reformed Doctrine of Predestination.

Pastor, read these two books. Went on a couple more calls.

Went home. His wife said, A strange man called this morning on his way to work. He said he was new to the area and would like me to read

John chapter 6. Drew said, Was he big and ugly?

Yes, he's a nut. This man's theological tank was running low.

He said, I guess it can't hurt. I might as well read the books. Two days later, the account reads,

Suddenly his eyes were opened. He saw it all in an instant. Leaping in the air, he shouted as loud as possible for a man to shout.

The whole plan of God, His sovereignty, and His purpose had fallen into place. He rushed out to share it with his wife,

Frances. She had seen it too in John 6. They rejoiced together. Life had begun anew.

The theological desert, the barren spiritual wandering, the doubt and skepticism had all gone and gone forever.

A new life had begun. Friends, if you believe that Jesus Christ was slain by His free choice for you, on behalf of you, it should revolutionize your mind.

Like in Hosea where God says, I have loved you freely. So Paul's answer to sin in the life of the church, and my answer to you through Paul for sin in your own life is, the

Passover Lamb, Jesus Christ. It's not something to get over and then move on in your

Christian life, because that can never be. David Brainerd, the missionary to the Indians, I never got away from Jesus and Him crucified.

And I found that when my people were gripped by this great evangelical doctrine of Christ and Him crucified, I had no need to give them instructions about morality.

If you see Jesus dying for you and you have it in your mind, then you don't need to be told, serve, give, pray, evangelize.

Brainerd said, I found that one followed as sure and inevitable fruit of the other.

I find my Indians begin to put on garments of holiness, and their common life begins to be sanctified, even in small matters, when they are possessed by the doctrine of Christ and Him crucified.

They're possessed by it. So you say, I struggle with sin. Paul says to the church of Corinth, behold the

Lamb. BBC, you struggle with sin in your life? If you do, the answer is found in the sacrificial, initiating love of Christ Jesus.

And lastly, number four. Let's look at 1 Corinthians 5, verse 8. This is language like I never heard

Paul say. Simulus to purity, number four. Remember the joy that comes from a life cleansed from sin.

Remember the joy that comes from a life cleansed from sin. Simulus to purity, number four.

Now, verse eight. Let us therefore celebrate the festival. Let us celebrate the festival.

Not with the old leaven, the leaven of malice and evil. See this great figurative language he's using?

Getting the Jews that were there to think, reminisce about the

Old Testament. Not with the old leaven, the leaven of malice and evil, but with unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.

Jesus died to make the enemies friends, but He also died to cleanse the sinner.

Now, I don't know about you, but when I look back to 1989 when

God saved me, and I realized how bad I was, and how many sins I had committed against God, and what those sins deserved, but Jesus Christ stood in my stead and in my place and on my behalf, and absorbed the holy, just wrath of God in my place.

It was hard to get over. I couldn't stop thinking about it. And then to think, I'm clean.

I'm clean. Now, when you go back to your salvation, do you remember how bad you were, and then how you are in Christ Jesus?

You have His perfect righteousness, and then is there a joy or a depression about a clean life?

I know people, my father, when he, he was a drunk, and so before he died, he didn't know he was dying at the time, but he committed himself to a 30 -day dry out.

And so they lock you in the hospital, and you can't drink for 30 days. You know, when my father came out, how do you think he felt?

He felt clean. He felt good. I thought to myself now, I have a real father now.

But he felt just so good. Paul is saying this, celebrate the festival. You know what celebrate the festival means to Paul, to the church of Corinth?

Celebrate the festival as your Christian life. It's one of the reasons why

I don't really care about Christmas services and Easter services, because every day for the Christian is supposed to be what? It's the festival.

Why are we not, it's fine to have a Christmas service. This is the disclaimer, you know, for the visitors today.

It's fine to have a service. It's fine to have a Resurrection Sunday service. Put up a

Jeremiah tree, if you want to bow down to the evergreen tree. You do whatever you want. No, I'm just kidding.

Put one up and remember the tree. If you don't want to put one up, you don't have to. But why don't you see in the

New Testament, these kind of Old Testament celebrations. Do this and then that.

Remember the Passover. What about Yom Kippur? What about Unleavened Bread? What about the kind of Feast of Purim?

What about all these kind of things? Because the Christian life is a festival. Every day is the festival.

Cleanse from sin. I was laying in the MRI tube this week and I just thought,

I am so claustrophobic. How many people don't make it through? They said one out of five. And then my pride kicked in.

I'm going to make it. Put some kind of big face thing on and then they jam the headphones on your head, you know, can

I listen to something? It's like, yes, 104 .5 horrible music. Okay, don't, don't, don't.

I'm just laying there thinking, celebrate the festival. I was trying to make myself think through that.

I go, if in five minutes when they take me out and they say, all right, we're going to put the

MRI contrast in. One out of 40 ,000 people die on the spot. Okay, 39 ,999 out of 40 ,000 is pretty good.

But if this is the time, I'm cleansed. I'm forgiven. I have hope.

I've been reconciled. The wrath of God against me has been propitiated because Christ has stood in my place.

And the worst thing that can happen to me is I don't die. That would be nice to have another

Christmas. Be nice to preach again. But my life is cleansed.

Now, this is not, we don't have to deal with evangelism. We don't have to deal with all these other issues. But your life should be a festival.

Celebrate. Come to the table of God and eat and drink and be merry. For Christ has died in your place and has been raised from the dead.

You say, well, I'm really happy. Well, show your face. Tell your face. Show your face. Cut off the tape.

That's what I should be saying. The festival. This is not some kind of giddy emotionalism and we always have to be up.

But this is that deep joy. The kind of joy that Paul says to the church of Philippi, rejoice always.

He tells them with a command. Has anybody ever come to you for counseling and you've said, do you know what?

Based on what Christ has done for you, I command you to rejoice. That's exactly what's going on here.

Celebrate. It's a command. Celebrate the festival. What is the festival? It's figurative language about the

Christian life forgiveness, cleanness. Can you imagine when you see the prostitute cleansed, forgiven of all their sins in the

New Testament. Wonder what they feel like. All those horrible sins.

Forgiven. Paid for. That's why Paul says in Philippians chapter 3, he says,

I'm running the race looking one direction. If you ever look back at your old sins, friends, do it only long enough so you remember what you deserved and then you fix your eyes on where you're going.

Christ died to cleanse sins. Transform them. The Christian life to Paul was a festival.

A celebration. And if you're going to have a religious celebration under the Lord, it should be a clean celebration.

A moral celebration. By the way, he says in the command in verse 8, it's present tense.

Let us keep on celebrating the festival. This is not once a year. This is not the new calendar.

This is not the new year. This is all the time. Celebrate. So now let me just read these verses again.

I'll let you know what they mean. Your boasting is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump?

Cleanse out the old leaven that you may be a new lump, as you really are unleavened. For Christ, our

Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. Let us therefore celebrate the festival.

Not with the old leaven, the leaven of malice and evil, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.

Paul says you don't tolerate sin because it corrupts. And you shouldn't be tolerating sin in the church because you should be celebrating forgiveness found in Christ Jesus and celebrate with holiness.

Turn to Revelation chapter 2 and I end with these words, the words of Jesus Christ, the risen

Savior. And if you go to Revelation chapter 2, there's a church that tolerates sin.

And the church that tolerates sin is taken to task by Christ Jesus.

And I do want to read you these to show you that Jesus Christ, since it's His church, wants the church to be clean, to celebrate the festival.

And when a church tolerates sin, Jesus leaves. So I don't know about you,

I'm willing to accept, it would be sad, but I'm willing to accept every person here to leave. But I don't want

Jesus to leave. So we'll obey the scriptures and celebrate the feast. And thankfully most of you will stay.

To the church of Thyatira, Revelation chapter 2, verse 18.

In this great book about Jesus, we hear from Jesus, and to the angel of the church in Thyatira write, the words of the

Son of God. Apollo is not the Son of God. Caesar is not the Son of God. These are the words of the

Son of God who has eyes like a flame of fire. He sees everything. Whose feet are like burnished bronze.

I know your works, your love and faith and service and patient endurance. You've even got more love than Ephesus.

And that your latter works exceed the first. You just keep on serving. You're a church that has love, faith, service, patience.

But I have this against you. You cannot just be standing up for what you're for.

You've got to be against sin. That you tolerate that woman. You can see the fingers stick out.

That woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess and is teaching and seducing my servants,

Jesus says, to practice sexual immorality and to eat food sacrificed to idols. You can have love, faith, service and patient endurance, but if you tolerate sin,

Jesus has a word for that church. Verse 21, And I gave her time to repent. You can even see the patient love

Christ has there. But she refuses to repent of her sexual immorality. And what's worse than sexual immorality?

A refusal to repent of it. Behold, I will throw her onto a sickbed.

She wants to be in a bed? I'll give her a bed. A sickbed. And those who commit adultery with her and her adulterous doctrines,

I will throw into great tribulation unless they repent of her works. And I will strike her children dead.

All her followers. And all the churches will know that I am he who searches minds and heart. I will give to each of you according to your works.

There are some who have been faithful by the grace of God, but to the rest of you in Thyatira who do not hold this teaching, who have not learned what some have called the deep things of Satan, to you

I say, I do not lay on any other burden. Only hold fast what you have until I come.

The one who conquers and who keeps my works until the end, to him I give authority over the nations.

He will rule them with the rod of iron as when earth and pots are broken in pieces. Even as I myself have received authority from my

Father, I will give him the morning star. He who has an ear, let him hear what the

Spirit says to the churches. Please come and join us.

Our service times are Sunday morning at 10 .15 and in the evening at 6. We're right on Route 110 in West Boylston.

You can check us out online at bbchurch .org or by phone at 508 -835 -3400.

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