Part 3 (Restoration & Forgiveness / Galatians 6)

Thank you for listening to this message from the ministry of Morse Corner Church in Leverett, Massachusetts.

Morse Corner is a non -denominational church that is committed to the preaching and teaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Our church was founded in 1896 by two students of the famous evangelist

D .L. Moody. We seek to encourage and edify the body of Christ through the proclamation of God's word through the ministries of the local church.

If you'd like more information, visit our website morsecornerchurch .com. We hope you enjoy the message.

This is now the third time Jesus showed himself to his disciples after he was raised from the dead.

So when they, the disciples, had eaten breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, Simon son of Jonah, do you love me more than these?

So know what's happening. Peter had denied Jesus three times. Jesus was arrested and crucified.

Peter, someone noticed him and said, hey, you're one of his disciples too. Peter didn't want to be arrested.

Peter didn't want to be crucified. So Peter said, I don't even know Jesus. Three times Peter denied even knowing

Christ. And then he went back to his life of fishing.

So Jesus says, do you love me more than these? And he said to him, yes,

Lord, you know that I love you. And Jesus said to Peter, feed my lambs, because Peter was a pastor.

He had to feed the sheep. And he said to him a second time, Simon son of Jonah, do you love me?

And he said to him, yes, Lord, you know that I love you. And he said to him, tend my sheep.

And he said to him a third time, Simon son of Jonah, do you love me? And Peter at this point was grieved because he had said to him the third time, do you love me?

So he's wondering, why is Jesus keep asking me? Do you love me? Yes. Do you love me? Yes.

Do you love me? And he says, Lord, you know all things. You know that I love you.

And Jesus said to him, feed my sheep. What's happening here?

Jesus is restoring Peter to the ministry by getting the response,

I love you three times once for every denial. On one occasion,

Jesus said in Peter's presence, he said, whoever denies me before men, him,

I will also deny before my father who is in heaven. That should have been Peter.

Peter should have been cut out. Peter, he should, the Lord should have been done with Peter once and for all.

But Jesus forgave Peter. He restored Peter. Why? Because Jesus loved

Peter. I'm here to tell you this morning, Jesus loves you.

If you've been overtaken in a trespass, the church is here for you because God is here for you.

God loves you. Restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness.

Now let's turn back to Matthew chapter 18. For you were in John 21, go backwards to Matthew 18.

So again, the church should be a place, not where you feel judged. The church should be a place where you find grace and forgiveness.

Jesus, when speaking to his disciples about the subject of forgiveness, do you remember what he said?

You are to forgive once or twice, three times. Now he said you're to forgive 70 times seven.

And he didn't mean 490. He meant forgive and forgive some more.

But because of the world that we live in, because we have this sinful flesh where we are still vulnerable to wrongdoing, because there is temptation all around us.

You know what? Sometimes Christians, sometimes believers do the wrong thing.

And when that happens, the church and fellow brothers and sisters should be there to help carry the burdens, to help them out.

Here's just a verse. If you take notes, write this down. Proverbs 15 .1, because our response should be one of gentleness and kindness and love and compassion.

Proverbs 15 .1 says a soft answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.

Because sometimes even in churches, people don't get along. Some people have had a bad experience in a church, and they don't want to go back because somebody said something or did something to them.

If somebody ever comes at you, they shouldn't do that. That's true. But if they do, a soft answer turns away wrath.

Sometimes you can disarm a person simply by a smile and a kind word.

So these are some of the principles that we see. The principle is forgiveness.

Look at Matthew 18 .21. This is the story I was referring to. It said, Then Peter came to Jesus and said,

Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me? And I forgive him up to seven times.

And Jesus said to him, I do not say to you up to seven times, but up to 70 times seven.

How can that be? How can we be expected to forgive and to forgive and to forgive some more?

How can the Lord expect us to do that? Because that's what he's done for us. Now, the

Lord continues with this parable of forgiveness. Verse 23 says, Therefore, the kingdom of heaven is like a certain king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants.

And when he had begun to settle accounts, one was brought to him who owed him 10 ,000 talents.

I'm just going to say dollars, okay? Because it's easier. Who owed him $10 ,000. But as he was not able to pay, his master commanded that he be sold.

With his wife and children and all that he had, and that until payment be made.

So this is a type of indentured servitude that was common in the ancient world. And obviously this is a terrible position to be in.

Verse 26, The servant therefore fell down before him saying, Master, have patience with me and I will pay you all.

Then the master of that servant was moved with compassion, released him and forgave him the debt.

If you were forgiven a debt of 10 grand, you'd be pretty happy. But that servant, here's what he did though.

That servant went out and found one of his fellow servants who owed him $100.

And he laid hands on him and took him by the throat saying, Pay me what you owe.

So his fellow servant fell down at his feet and begged him saying, Have patience with me and I will pay you all.

That's the same thing he did. How did he respond? Very differently. And he would not.

But he went and threw him into prison till he should pay the debt. So when his fellow servant saw what had been done, they were very grieved and came and told their master all that had been done.

Then his master, after he had called him, said to him, You wicked servant. I forgave you all that debt because you begged me.

Should you not also have had compassion on your fellow servant, just as I had pity on you?

And his master was angry and delivered him to the torturers until he should pay all that was due him.

So, and here's how Jesus concludes this. So my heavenly father also will do to you.

If each of you from his heart does not forgive his brother, his trespass, you know what this is about.

God has forgiven us. How much is he forgiven us? Let's just say this much.

And we won't forgive someone else this much. How can we withhold forgiveness after all that Christ has forgiven us?

All right. Now let's go to Matthew 18. We're almost done. There's another side to this.

People will say, well, you need to forgive. You need to forgive some more. But there are some people who have really been hurt.

And sometimes if you tell somebody, hey, you just need to forgive that person.

Sometimes that can actually put a burden on them. You know, this type of forgiveness, when there's been deep hurt, it has to be the work of God.

You can't just go to somebody and say, hey, you need to get over it. And you just need to forgive that person. We need to support victims.

Amen. We need to support victims. Matthew 18 verse 15.

So here's what happens if there's a problem between you and someone else, because the question is, what if they don't apologize?

What if they're not sorry? What if they don't stop? What if they continue to do this harm?

Well, Jesus has a solution. He says, moreover, if your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault between you and him alone.

If he hears you, you have gained your brother. You've worked it out. Praise God. But if he will not hear, take with you two or three, that by the mouth of two or three witnesses, every word may be established.

And if he refuses to hear them, tell it to the church. But if he refuses even to hear the church, let him be to you like a heathen and a tax collector.

So if somebody is not sorry, if somebody doesn't apologize, and they're just piling more harm upon harm, you can't just tell the person you need to get over it, you need to forgive them, wrong.

You need to support the victim. And then the perpetrator, you can separate the perpetrator from the victim.

The Apostle Paul expands on this in 2 Thessalonians 3, 14 and 15, where he says, if anyone does not obey our word in this epistle, note that person and do not even keep company with him that he may be ashamed.

Yet he says, do not count him as an enemy, but admonish him as a brother.

So even when someone does something really terrible and they're not sorry and they keep doing it, yes, you can kind of separate yourself from that person, but you got to leave a way out.

You got to leave a way for them to make things right. So bearing one another's burdens.

Let's go back to Galatians 6, and then we'll close. So the church should be a place where we look out for one another, we support one another, even when someone does something wrong, we don't give up on them.

There's a hymn in our hymnal where it says, God's grace is greater than all of our sin.

Is that true? It is true. God's grace is greater than all of our sin.

And you know, there's some people sitting here this morning, you're here because there was somebody who didn't give up on you.

There's somebody who loved you and didn't turn their back on you. So that's to be our attitude.

Don't judge the erring brother, try to help them, be there for them.

Galatians 6, 1, brethren, if a man is overtaken in any trespass, you who are spiritual restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness, considering yourself, lest you also be tempted.

Bear one another's burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ.

For if anyone thinks himself to be something when he is nothing, he deceives himself.

In other words, if you think you're too important to help this person, if you think you're above that person, if you just can't be inconvenienced to bother with this person, you know, you're kidding yourself.

You're not that important. They're just as important as you. So help, help them out.

First four, but let each one examined his own work, and then he will have rejoicing in himself alone and not in another.

For each one shall bear his own load. And basically just to summarize this, we are to bear one another's burdens in the sense of sympathizing with other people, helping other people.

But in verse five, we are told to basically bear our own burdens, meaning you're responsible for your own behavior.

So in conclusion, I just want to leave you with this challenge this morning. Try to find someone this week.

And you know, you don't even have to go out and look for it. If you pray to God and you say, Lord, I'm open.

Show me someone, bring someone into my life, bring someone across my path that I can help them, that I can listen to them, encourage them,

Lord, bring someone into my life. I can help them bear their burden. If you're open to that,

God will do that. So let me encourage you this morning, help somebody this week. And if you need help, ask for it.

Don't be too proud. Say, well, I'm just not going to ask. No, if you need help, ask.

Allow other people to bear your burdens. For in doing this, we fulfill the law of Christ.

Thanks for listening. I'm Pastor Michael Grant from Morris Cornet Church. If you'd like to listen to the complete message, or if you'd like more information about the ministry, visit our website,

MorrisCornetChurch .com. And we'd love to have you join us some Sunday morning here in Leverett.