Discipline

13 September 2026

It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and of a kind that is not tolerated even among pagans, for a man has his father's wife. And you are arrogant! Ought you not rather to mourn? Let him who has done this be removed from among you. For though absent in body, I am present in spirit; and as if present, I have already pronounced judgment on the one who did such a thing. When you are assembled in the name of the Lord Jesus and my spirit is present, with the power of our Lord Jesus, you are to deliver this man to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord.

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.

I wrote to you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people - not at all meaning the sexually immoral of this world, or the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters. since then, you would need to go out of the world. But now I am writing to you not to associate with anyone who bears the name of brother if he is guilty of sexual immorality or greed, or is an idolater, reviler, drunkard, or swindler - not even to eat with such a one. For what have I to do with judging outsiders? Is it not those inside the church whom you are to judge? God judges those outside. ‘Purge the evil person from among you’.

(1 Corinthians 5:1-13)

Please turn in your Bibles to 1 Corinthians chapter 5. We’re going to read this entire chapter as we continue our series, a topical series on the doctrine of the church, and this morning we come to look at the subject of Church Discipline. So, we're going to read 1 Corinthians chapter 5, and we'll begin reading at verse 1. This is the word of God.

“It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and of a kind that is not tolerated even among pagans, for a man has his father's wife. And you are arrogant! Ought you not rather to mourn? Let him who has done this be removed from among you. For though absent in body, I am present in spirit; and as if present, I have already pronounced judgment on the one who did such a thing. When you are assembled in the name of the Lord Jesus and my spirit is present, with the power of our Lord Jesus, you are to deliver this man to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord.

Heavenly Father, we pray that this time that we spend here this morning would be profitable in continuing to teach and instruct us in the understanding we have of the doctrine and application within the life of the church. Thank you for what we see before us in the Holy Scriptures, and we pray, dear Father, that what is proclaimed would be honouring in your sight, would build up your people. And, O Lord, we pray, save sinners, for we ask this in Jesus' name. Amen.

Now, as we've been considering this subject over now a number of weeks, one of the things that needs to be stressed, and a key reason for tackling some of these key subjects in the doctrine and life of the church, is because we need to understand them and apply them. And one of the problems is, both of these things are what is so often lacking in all too many churches. First of all, the danger of churches who simply don't have teaching. They don't know and understand some of the key doctrines about what the church is and how the church is to function. And then, even going further still, for those who do have an understanding of doctrine, they maybe say, well, we're Reformed, we're confessional, and so on and so forth. And yet, when it comes to some of the subjects, like, for example, the one we're dealing with today, they do not apply them. And as we think of this subject of Church Discipline, this is something that is necessary, essential in the life of any local church. And yet, as we have reflected on in our immediate context within this city and wider afield, this is something that is so regularly and readily not applied in the lives of all too many churches. And it's why we could go even further still and say that in all too many even supposed evangelical and Reformed churches, if we were to go back to a time when church discipline was being applied, many of today's members or those attending would find themselves under church discipline by these biblical standards.

So, this is the reality of the lay of the land of where we're at in the church application world today. And so, the first thing that we need to do as a means of recap is to remind ourselves from Scripture what we have seen so far about the doctrine of the church. So, what the church is.

If we think back to many weeks ago, as we looked at the gospel, baptism, then membership, we've seen that when Jesus came to this world, He came as the sinless Saviour. And He came as the sinless Saviour, this is God becoming man, dwelling among us, to do what? To lay down His life for His people. And as we see in texts like Ephesians 5, His people are the church. And so there's no cutting off, no separating the Christian from the church. To be a Christian is to be part of the church, and we've been thinking in these weeks about how that church is to function. Because the church is the bride of Jesus Christ. Now, take this in, you professing Christian, you member of the church. That's what you are. That's what we are as Grace Baptist Church Aberdeen, the bride of the Lord Jesus Christ.

We are in this sacred covenant union with the One who has secured it by His own blood shed at Calvary. We are therefore the ones called out in this world, gathering in this way to worship our Lord and King, where Christ Himself is at work by His Spirit, washing us with the water of the word. There is a sanctification that we have and are because we're set apart by Christ, by which we know one day we as this church, as this bride, will stand before our bridegroom, Jesus Christ, and be welcomed to be seated at the marriage supper of the Lamb.

Now, therefore, when we think of the importance and the sacred nature of the church, what is to be our attitude about this very thing that we do now as we come together as the church? Think of the folly and how quick the sinfulness if we were to consider this bride and dress her up to look like and suit the fancies of this world. And yet, is this not what we see church after church seeking to do? We need to look like the world in order to win the world.

And that contradicts the very heart of the gospel and what has been secured of what we are as the church. And this takes us to the specifics of our subject, because when a church becomes decidedly vague on Doctrine, even the Gospel. If it becomes non-existent or non-committal on church Membership, and if the Leadership becomes rudderless, being led by the wants and whims of the people, then what do we have that church becoming, and what then becomes of a subject like Church Discipline?

Well, it's completely disconnected from the fabric of that church. This is why we have needed these building blocks, what we've already looked at, as we've seen on Membership, as we've looked at Doctrine, on the subject of Discipleship. These are crucial pillars in which to understand how a functioning church according to Scripture is to then apply a subject like Church Discipline. So, as we get to this subject specifically, we're going to consider 2 key areas about church discipline. Number one, its importance for the sake of the sinning member, and then second of all, its importance for the sake and purity of the rest of the church.

The sinning member

So, we'll come first to the point of its importance, its necessity even, for the sake of the sinning member. Now, in order to address this text in 1 Corinthians 5, now we won't be working through it line by line, this is a topical series, but we will be dealing with the key themes. Before we even get to that, we need to just quickly turn back to Matthew chapter 18. A known text, this is the discipline process text, so we need to see this in Scripture and get to the grassroots of the issue.

Now, the grassroots of the issue is, we sin. And often, we sin against each other. This shouldn't come as a surprise to us. We just need to reflect on our own hearts and actions, not even thinking about, well, this member, that member, they sinned against me. What have we done, too? So, we know we sin against one another. So, then the question comes, well, what do you do about that? If, for example, you've sinned against a brother or a sister, brothers have sinned against you, well, what do you do?

So, we've got Matthew 18 and verse 15 - If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone. —Note that—If he listens to you, you have gained your brother. But if he does not listen, take one or two others along with you, that every charge may be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses. If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church. And if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector.

Now, the structure that we have here is something that is very important for us as Christians to follow. And one thing to note, when it comes to identifying issues of sin, often, by the grace of God, the Matthew 18 process is not even required. And why is that? Because as we spend time in the word, as the Spirit of God works in our lives, He convicts us of our sin. Has there been a time, by God's grace, even this past week, when you've been reflecting, maybe gone to bed at night, woken up, or thinking during the day, yeah, that was a sinful thing that I did? You didn't even need someone to convict you about that, to mention it. You were convicted about your sinful conduct. That's evidence of God's grace in your life. And so, you come before the Lord in repentance. You maybe will at times approach that brother or that sister and say, sorry, this was a way I spoke out of turn. The way I acted here was sinful. Please forgive me. And this is even where we see that process of reconciliation.

And this is the key thrust of why church discipline and its process needs to be applied at these grassroots. Because what happens if there is sin and it's not being addressed? Well, for you as the individual sinning member, the sinning brother or sister, well, you just get on with it, and maybe you keep sinning. Sin is going unchecked in your life, and just begin to consider the detrimental impact that that will have on your soul, and also, crucially, how counter the gospel that is.

And this is where we have to remind ourselves of our posture before our brothers and sisters. As we come into this building on the Lord's Day and we're thinking, maybe I need to put on my Christian face, remember what that Christian face is. It is one where you have come convicted of your sin by the grace of God, knowing what you are. You, me, we all, we are sinners before God, and the only reason we could be called a child of the living God is by the saving blood of Christ. You have come in repentance of your sin. You've not come standing on ceremony on some pedestal as if, well, look at me, I am the great completed Christian here. No, you come at this point of being at the bottom, desperately in need of grace, and it is grace that you have received. And this is the way by which we live with one another. There is a humility and a spiritually grounded realism about the fact that everyone here in this room, we sin.

And by the grace of God, because of the gospel, we have been forgiven for those who are in Christ Jesus. And so, the process looks like, at times, if there's been a situation where a brother has sinned against you, then you bring that sin to him. So, for example, I had sinned against Pawel, and Pawel comes to identify that sin, and then I realize, oh yeah, that was a sinful thing I did. I'm sorry, please forgive me. I come in repentance before the Lord for this. He forgives me, and there is that reconciliation. What has happened in that instance is this, first stage of church discipline, which we see mentioned in Matthew 18. And note the pattern, it is between you and him alone. This isn't suddenly the gossip of the church by which it's going to spread like wildfire. No, this is brought between the 2 people involved in the situation. At any stage of church discipline, at any stage involving matters of sin, it is involving those who are part of addressing the issue not just for the sake of talking about it and effectively gossiping about it. So, we have that between you and him alone.

Now, in a lot of cases, we would pray by the grace of God, that's it, the sin issue is dealt with, there is forgiveness, there's reconciliation. But then we come to the point, as the text goes on, what if the sinning brother does not listen? If Pawel brings that sin and I say, no, no, I've not sinned, no, I've been perfectly fine in this situation, then we have the principle of getting people to come and to listen to the case. There's this principle of 2 or 3 witnesses. Now, that's not something that has just suddenly appeared in the gospel of Matthew. It's something that we see as a principle within God's law, having 2 or 3 witnesses. Numbers 35, Deuteronomy 17 and 19 are chapters which deal with the two or 3 witnesses principle. And also, the gathering 2 or 3 witnesses is also something that is especially important if it is any charge involving an elder. 1 Timothy 5:19 - Do not admit a charge against an elder except on the evidence of 2 or 3 witnesses.

So, this is the second stage of church discipline, where if there is a sin that is not being addressed, if there's a hardness of heart towards that, then more people are involved to bring about addressing the issue and seeking to reconcile the issue.

Now, as we're going through this, we're thinking, oh, this is getting more serious, is it not? Perhaps there could be that inclination of the flesh to think, well, if it's getting this serious, then maybe we should just let it go. Let's not kick up a fuss, right?

Well, that would be wrong, because again, the very nature of the gospel is a dealing with sin. The very heart of anyone being a Christian is that your sin has been dealt with at Calvary. So, when we've got that gospel framework, that gospel framework is what we need when it comes to in relation to the church. This is why Jesus has laid it out. First stage, between you and the brother. Second stage, 2 or 3 witnesses. And then we come to this third stage in Matthew 18, verse 17. If still the sinning brother or sister is not listening, then this is when you take it to the church.

Now again, note the importance of Christ's bride here. There is an authority that Jesus Christ has ordained that the church has. And also, it is an authority, as we just go now to 1 Corinthians 5, by which the church is to make a righteous judgment.

Many, even some professing Christians, certainly those who are not Christians, would be quick to say, oh, doesn't the Bible say in Matthew 7:1 - thou shalt not judge? Yes, it does. But we are also to see clearly in Scripture that there is a principle of making righteous judgments. And it is stated in the text in 1 Corinthians 5:12, at the end, where Paul writes - is it not those inside the church whom you are to judge?

So, we're commanded as the church, when it gets to this stage of a sinning brother or sister who has not been listening, going through these stages, the church has a responsibility and a calling. The church must do this. And this is why Paul calls the church, in 1 Corinthians 5 verse 4, to come together to do this. The foundation by which they assemble is, verse 4, in the name of the Lord Jesus, in accordance with Christ's purpose and His will.

Now, is this an easy thing to do? Of course it's not. This is one of the great challenges that a church—any church throughout history—faces, because what you are doing, especially when it gets to the whole church addressing sin stage, as 1 Corinthians 5 has got to, having likely gone through this Matthew 18 process before we get to 1 Corinthians 5. By the time we get here, we're dealing with confronting sin and of someone who is resistant to that confrontation or does not want to change his ways. So, this is a challenge. It's not an easy thing to do. And so, the easiest thing for the church to do would be to not do it. And so often, this is why churches don't do it, especially as increasingly in a culture like ours, which is veering further and further away from this sort of thing, getting involved in people's lives and addressing matters of sin, we're more embedded into a sin-stained and self-serving framework where one's personal autonomy to do our own thing must be upheld even in the context of church life. Churches are increasingly recognizing this cultural climate in which churches are being ravaged by, and they're having to kowtow to it.

But brothers and sisters, we need to understand from the word of God in passages like Romans 6, we're either slaves to sin or we're slaves to righteousness. As a Christian here today, we're not standing on, well, now that I'm a Christian, I'm above any sense of reproach, and there's many areas of my life that will just remain untouched, because after all, I'm a Christian. Brothers and sisters, do we realize how contradictory to the gospel this is and to what the Lord Jesus has ordained.

In this instance in 1 Corinthians 5, it's to do with some very serious sexual sin that has infiltrated the church body, and it has not been addressed, and Paul is coming in to say to the church, it needs to be addressed, and as we're dealing within this first point, it needs to be addressed for the sake of this sinning brother.

Now, notice as we come to verse 5, What is to be done to such a one? This is somebody who, having gone through Matthew 18, has remained hardened in his sin, remained in the sexual sin as it is in the context of 1 Corinthians 5. What then happens if you're standing before someone who is not repentant of their sin? Because that's what we're effectively dealing with. If someone is not repenting of their sin, what then is to be done?

Verse 5, it says - you are to deliver this man to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord. Handing him over to Satan for the destruction of the flesh.

Now, without any explanation, we would already look at such language and think, that sounds really heavy. This is getting more and more serious now, that the church not only has an authority to deal with sin in such a manner, but this is what they're then commanded to do if we get to a stage where there is one in the church who is not repentant of his sin. So, what does this mean then? Well, this is the practical exhortation that a church needs to put that member out of the church. And what you're doing in the context of one who is hardened and unrepentant in his or her sin is, you are now, by this verse declaration, handing them to this world, which is a kingdom that Satan has a grab hold of, that Satan may afflict. body and soul.

Now, why are we doing this? Well, the verse tells us that this person may be saved on the day of the Lord. We're doing it for their sake. That's why. Think of the parable of the prodigal son. This son has squandered his father's inheritance. He's now sitting with the pigs, envying the food that they're eating. He's in a devastating state. And at that point, by the grace of God, he is convicted of his sin, and he is ready to come back to his father, not as a son, but as a servant. There's a posture of humility, one of repentance. And that's what we pray for.

If there's a process within the church and one is continued on this sinful path, then it must be dealt with for that person's sake, because this person's soul is on the line. If someone is hardened in their state of sin, if they're unrepentant, it's a blatant contradiction of the gospel, and there is therefore a concern for this person's soul. To leave them in the church and to continue to fester and will consider the impact for the rest of the body would be the worst thing to do for that person's soul. Because what we then communicate is - your sin doesn't matter. But it does matter. That's the point. And the church has the authority to deal with this. And the church must deal with this. And this is the thing that the Corinthian church and all too many churches have not done.

But then we may wonder, well, what happens, as we've experienced ourselves, if we get maybe somewhere at the beginning or during the process of a church discipline situation, and that sinning member says - I resign from membership. I'm out. We're done here. What then does the church do?

Well, we've heard cases, even cases in this city of very serious sins, like someone who has committed adultery. They hand in their pre-emptive resignation, and the church then says, well, he's resigned. There's nothing more I can do about it. Now, let's stop and think. Suppose you as a father and mother have a young child who has sinned. They've done something quite serious in maybe the family home. And then you as the father and mother say, oh, there's nothing we can do about it.

Another absurd example, suppose in a court of law, and you've committed a crime, but then that criminal says - I'm not going to go to the court. I'm not going to listen to any of these police officers or anything like that. I have nothing to do with it. And then the court were to say, well, he's saying he's going to have nothing to do with it, so therefore, there's not really anything that we can do.

And yet, this is how people play with church. Suddenly, the authority of the church, that even people who've been in membership in this church, suddenly that becomes like sand, and we can do as we please. Now, let's identify something as to how crucial it is to grasp this point. Even if there is a church where the leadership is acting sinfully, and maybe they've got the church discipline case wrong, even in that case, that church still has an authority, and the member who is maybe being dealt with harshly cannot even in that case simply say - I've got nothing to do with it. There is still a recognized authority. The sin does need to be addressed, even of leaders and so on. But there's an authority because, as we've seen, Jesus himself has instituted it. As absurd as it would be for parents to say, nothing I can do, or the courts can say, nothing I can do, it's the same absurdity for the church to say, nothing I can do. No, the church have been given the keys of the kingdom. That's what Jesus gave to the disciples, and they used that authority to appoint elders to have this governing authority role in the life of the church. And the church herself has this command in Scripture to make this righteous judgment. It's in the word of God.

We can't simply discard it when it doesn't suit. We can't simply close our ears when sin issues or areas in our life are being dealt with that we don't want to be dealt with. That contradicts the Scriptures. But that's where we are. That's where we are in church life in so many examples today. But for the sake of the sinning brother or sister, this member, it is essential that the sin is dealt with. And as we come to the second point, it is also essential for the sake of the rest of the church.

The rest of the church

Notice in 1 Corinthians 5 in verse 6, it says - 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.

Now, notice the first thing. It says - Your boasting is not good. Now, that's been placed there deliberately, because as we know, back in verse 2, they're not mourning over their sin. There is sexual immorality that is rampaging through the church in Corinth, and instead of dealing with the sin, they're boasting about how great a church they are. Now, we would look at that and think, well, that just makes absolutely no sense. Why would a church that's got such obvious sin issues like Corinth be spending their time boasting about how great they are?

But we see it all the time. In the church social media age, how many churches that are not dealing with the blatant sin that is masquerading itself in all manners of forms and is parading itself often in broad daylight in the life of these churches, including within our city, and yet at the same time, they're boasting about the numbers that they're having and the ministries that they've got and all the ways that supposedly the Holy Spirit is moving in this place.

And what does the word of God say? Your boasting is not good. Because as we have in this picture, this little leaven leavens the whole lump. And that's the problem. This picture of leaven is something that we have as a picture from the time in Exodus. Think where we see this mention of the Passover lamb. There was a lamb that was to be slain. Its blood was to be put on the doorposts of the houses of the people of Israel. Why? Because this is the night that the tenth plague would strike the households of Egypt, and the destroyer, the angel of death, would pass over the houses of the people of Israel, and they would then be able to leave in haste out of the tyranny of Egypt.

And so much was their haste that the only thing they could eat was the unleavened bread. And we have the picture in Exodus 12 of this leaven being a picture of sin, which cannot be within the camp of Israel. So that's the principle that we have from Exodus that is now being applied in the picture of sin within not the congregation of Israel in the Old Covenant, but in the life of the church, New Covenant. That leaven, which is sin, spreading through the whole lump. A bit like poison that spreads through the entire glass, or a cancer that spreads through the entire body. What is going to happen to that body, to that church, if the sin is not dealt with and cut out? It's going to spread everywhere.

Where there is not repentance, where sin is not dealt with, when it becomes normal. It's accepted. And this is often it. Sin is just accepted. Well, that's just how they are. Yeah, they're living together. Well, that's just what people do, young people today. Oh yeah, this is the way that they speak in the workplace. Their language is that. Well, that's just today, you know, modern times, these sorts of things. If we normalize this sort of thing, if we accept it, then we are making an absolute mockery of the gospel and of our living head, Jesus Christ. If sin was serious enough that it would take the sacrifice of the Son of God on that cross to be laying down His life for His bride, then what of that bride, whose identity is wrapped up in this gospel, to then say, well, this stuff doesn't really matter anyway? This is Christ. We are His bride.

Do we grasp this? Because this is at the heart of the pastoral exhortation of this entire chapter. Cleanse out, verse 7, the old leaven, that you may be a new lump. That's who we are. That's whose we are in Christ Jesus. And so, in the face of sin, in our own lives certainly, and in the life of the church, we should have a yearning that it be dealt with. That's why the famous quote by the Puritan John Owen – “Be killing sin or sin will be killing you”.

And that's it. So, suppose, for example, in your life. Maybe your area of sin is particularly common where you speak in a way that is quick to speak, in a gossiping, angry, sinful, self-serving manner. You do it again and again. And if you were to say with the constant use of your tongue – Well, I'm glad I'm saved. Thank you, Lord, for your saving grace. Do we see a problem with that? Well, yes, absolutely, we thank the Lord for His grace. But brothers and sisters, we don't turn grace into the reason why we excuse our sin. Grace is the reason why we would seek to mortify the flesh and fight against our sin, strengthened and equipped by his Spirit, dealing with sin for the purity of Christ's bride.

That's why, if you know that you have struggles with lust, or greed, or a desire and a thirst for power, or your temper, or whatever it may be, Jesus gives this principle in the Sermon on the Mount to cut it out, that we're to come in repentance, that we're to come with a readiness to be challenged and convicted by the word of God, and by which we come to a subject like church discipline on a church front, and there's a readiness and a hunger for this. Because as we see in verse 7 - Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed.

Christ has been sacrificed. This work has been done. So, we're not looking at the church now and wondering if we'll make it. Is this whole church thing that's been going on for a couple of thousand years going to last the pace? We know the answer to that because we know the Saviour, who has laid down his life, that we exist. And he declared when he said to Peter, that on this rock I'll build my church, that the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. The church is being built, the gospel is advancing, Christ's kingdom is advancing, and Christ is the Lord who is seated on the throne. He is Lord and king over all. And so, therefore, to be his bride, to be those who are called and set apart, makes us distinct from this world.

Look down at verse 10. Or we'll start at 9. So, verse 9 - I wrote to you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people - not at all meaning the sexually immoral of this world, or the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters, since then you would need to go out of the world. But now, verse 11, I am writing to you not to associate with anyone who bears the name of brother if he is guilty of sexual immorality or greed, or is an idolater, reviler, drunkard, or swindler - not even to eat with such a one.

Now, Paul in this text is not saying that the church has nothing to do with the world, but crucially, that we're not to be conformed to the world as the church. And this is the problem when a church becomes conformed to the world. Well, it's supposedly to win the world, but if the church becomes conformed to the world, then when sin spreads through the church, what then happens to the witness and testimony of that church? If the world sees the church and the world is thinking, and maybe positively, hey, you're just like us, is that what we want?

Is that what we want? Because the, hey, you're just like us, is true in the context of you, me, we all, we are sinners, and we are condemned because of our sin. That's where we have the common ground. But now what we are is distinct and different, not because we've become better people, but because now we know and believe in Christ our Lord and Saviour. That's what makes us the church. So therefore, we are not wanting to be like this world. No, that's what Jesus says we are to deny as we take up our cross and follow Christ.

That's the whole principle by which all of these sinful things that Paul is mentioning in these verses, no, we don't associate with these things, and especially verse 11, when it comes to one who has been handed over to Satan for the destruction of his flesh. And this is yet another hard and crucial truth that we need to reconcile. The sinning brother or sister, who now we are handing over, excommunicating from the church. It is a declaration that the church makes in this righteous judgment - you are no longer a brother or sister in the faith, and we are not to eat with you anymore.

Now, is this us acting as though we're having a bit of a sulk because they've not done what we wanted? No. Is this us being overly harsh because we need to be seen to be strict in the world? No. This is for the sake of that sinning, brother or sister, and for the sake of the purity of Christ's bride. What is being communicated in and to this world is, yes, we are in this world, we are living amongst you, but by the grace of God, we are no longer of this world. We are changed. We are a new creation in Christ Jesus, where we come in repentance, where we come in the faith we have in Him.

And so, therefore, if there's an instance where one is going back to the world, well, we cannot associate with such a one for the sake of their soul and for the sake of the church.

Brothers and sisters, this is a hard and weighty subject, but when we have the right theological framework about Christ, the gospel, and the church, what the church is, and how she is to function, it's not something that we just reluctantly shrug our shoulders and say - well, yeah, it's something we've got to do. I don't really like it much. No, this is something that we should like. And here's why, as we draw this to a close.

The health and strength of a church fellowship is not, oh, well, nobody's sinning anymore. Now we're sinless people, but we do worship the sinless Saviour. And because we worship the sinless Saviour, we as brothers and sisters who still sin and battle against sin now have a framework by which we know Christ has dealt with our sin and by which we deal with sin with each other and in the life of the church. So, as we get on to future subjects like, in a fortnight's time, Fellowship, these things can be known and lived out because even when your brother sins against you, even when you think about that time when that sister, that family, that couple spoke and did in this way that really still gets me - you know as you look through the lens of the cross and the forgiveness that we have with Christ, there is a framework of forgiveness with each other where we come and have come in repentance to one another, where there's been forgiveness and reconciliation. And think what Christ does with our sin. Christ does not say, well, I've put away your sin, but I'm going to keep some of those ready for a rainy day, and if you really mess up, then I'm going to cast them up, and you're not going to get into heaven. No, by the grace of God, they have been eternally put away, and you are welcomed into the arms of your Saviour in glory. That's who you are in Christ, and that is, therefore, how we are with one another.

But we're not like that with one another, with some superficial so-called unity where we're ignoring sin. No, we're dealing with sin, and we can do so with this gospel framework by which we can have a lived-out, actual, genuine, Spirit-built fellowship. Where we sin against one another, there's repentance, there's forgiveness, there's reconciliation, there's a growing strength in the unity and the beautiful picture of the gospel by which we are brought together as the church.

Churches that ignore sin not only don't experience this, but they are boasting and living like the world. And we need to guard against this. Churches in our nation need to guard against this and uphold these crucial doctrines and apply them in the lives of their churches. Oh, may it be that by God's grace, as a church here, we would uphold and rejoice in these things and see that when it comes to discipline in the life of the church, that this is for the sake of the sinning member, and it is for the sake of the purity of Christ's bride that the gospel would be made known and upheld for the building up of the church and for the advancing of His kingdom and church.

Let's pray together. O Father, how we thank and praise your mighty and holy name for the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, and by which we understand the significance of the church and the practical, Spirit-built applications of how she is to function. Lord, help us to grasp why discipline in the church is an important and necessary thing and something that we can truly rejoice in. Because as we look to what Christ dealt with at Calvary, we can see by dealing with sin in the life of the church, this is for the sake of our purity as the bride which will one day stand before the bridegroom. Thank you, O Lord, that we do not look to and we should have no desire to be like the world as the church. For Lord, the world is not to be won by carnal means, but by the proclamation of the gospel and the beautiful witness of a church imperfect, flawed in its sin, and yet restored by grace. Father, thank You that even and especially with subjects like church discipline that this can be, and it is, a beautiful picture of the reconciliation, the restoration that we have in and because of the gospel. Our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ.