WEBVTT 00:00:01.159 --> 00:00:06.639 Welcome to NECF Sermons. Each message here is 00:00:06.639 --> 00:00:09.660 designed to uplift and strengthen you in your 00:00:09.660 --> 00:00:13.939 walk with God. Don't miss out. Stay with us until 00:00:13.939 --> 00:00:17.879 the end for a rewarding experience. Let's dive 00:00:17.879 --> 00:00:24.079 right in. I pray that God will continue to help 00:00:24.079 --> 00:00:31.469 us to live in the reality of these songs. For 00:00:31.469 --> 00:00:34.750 the first one, he says, one of the hymns, the 00:00:34.750 --> 00:00:41.250 song, Hark the herald angels sing. Glory to the 00:00:41.250 --> 00:00:47.990 newborn king. Peace on earth and mercy mild. 00:00:49.310 --> 00:00:54.090 God and sinners reconciled. Hallelujah. And that 00:00:54.090 --> 00:00:57.729 is the theme of Christmas. That is the essence 00:00:57.729 --> 00:01:03.850 of Christmas. That is the essence of God coming 00:01:03.850 --> 00:01:07.310 in the form of a man, that there will be peace 00:01:07.310 --> 00:01:12.790 on earth and mercy will be made available and 00:01:12.790 --> 00:01:17.829 then God and sinners will be reconciled together. 00:01:18.090 --> 00:01:22.629 Hallelujah. Now, without this reality, there 00:01:22.629 --> 00:01:26.870 wouldn't be need for Jesus or for God becoming 00:01:26.870 --> 00:01:33.159 Jesus and coming on earth for us. So his humanity 00:01:33.159 --> 00:01:38.620 is anchored on what he will do in order to redeem 00:01:38.620 --> 00:01:42.019 a man, to redeem you, to redeem me unto himself. 00:01:42.579 --> 00:01:47.400 That man will be reconciled to God. So it is 00:01:47.400 --> 00:01:51.579 in the light of this that we are brought into 00:01:51.579 --> 00:01:58.040 a family. We are brought into a family. And on 00:01:58.040 --> 00:02:04.859 Sunday we discussed, we started, discussing a 00:02:04.859 --> 00:02:07.859 very fundamental principle that guides our relationship 00:02:07.859 --> 00:02:17.439 as a family. And we talked on the idea that love 00:02:17.439 --> 00:02:21.659 is a governing principle of the family that we 00:02:21.659 --> 00:02:24.280 belong to. Now, quickly turn with me. Let's have 00:02:24.280 --> 00:02:27.819 a few recap before we move forward. Matthew 18, 00:02:28.039 --> 00:02:39.550 verse 18. Matthew 18 from verse 18 to 20. I surely, 00:02:39.830 --> 00:02:51.729 I say to you, Matthew 18 verse 18 to 20. I say 00:02:51.729 --> 00:02:56.129 to you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound 00:02:56.129 --> 00:02:59.849 in heaven. And whatever you lose on earth will 00:02:59.849 --> 00:03:03.110 be loosed in heaven. Again, I say to you that 00:03:03.110 --> 00:03:08.430 if two of you agree on earth concerning anything 00:03:08.430 --> 00:03:15.169 that they ask, it will be done for them by my 00:03:15.169 --> 00:03:19.169 Father in heaven. For wherever two or three are 00:03:19.169 --> 00:03:23.689 gathered together in my name, I am there. I'm 00:03:23.689 --> 00:03:25.969 in the midst of them. I'm there in the midst 00:03:25.969 --> 00:03:31.530 of them. Hallelujah. And we summarily said that 00:03:31.530 --> 00:03:35.629 Jesus here was teaching about what? Was teaching 00:03:35.629 --> 00:03:39.129 about forgiveness and what? And reconciliation, 00:03:39.569 --> 00:03:45.789 okay? Of a family. Jesus was speaking in a light 00:03:45.789 --> 00:03:47.969 of forgiveness and reconciliation in the family. 00:03:48.370 --> 00:03:52.129 Now, this family, we agree that it is a supernatural 00:03:52.129 --> 00:03:57.069 family, right? It is a family that is spiritual. 00:03:58.509 --> 00:04:02.810 Not necessarily your biological family. And I 00:04:02.810 --> 00:04:05.990 said on Sunday that your biological family can 00:04:05.990 --> 00:04:09.009 be part of that spiritual family, conditioned 00:04:09.009 --> 00:04:14.669 on the fact that they are believers. Okay? So 00:04:14.669 --> 00:04:17.410 no matter how much you love your dad, you love 00:04:17.410 --> 00:04:20.670 your mom, no matter how much you love your siblings 00:04:20.670 --> 00:04:24.889 or you love your wife or your children or your 00:04:24.889 --> 00:04:30.560 husband, if that person is not in Christ, if 00:04:30.560 --> 00:04:32.980 that person has not received salvation in Christ, 00:04:33.779 --> 00:04:37.120 such an individual is not your brother or sister 00:04:37.120 --> 00:04:40.920 in Christ. Such an individual does not belong 00:04:40.920 --> 00:04:45.060 to this supernatural family. You might be family 00:04:45.060 --> 00:04:49.459 biologically, but you are not family spiritually 00:04:49.459 --> 00:04:53.939 because you must be born of God. You must all 00:04:53.939 --> 00:04:56.819 be born of the Spirit in order to participate 00:04:56.819 --> 00:05:01.050 in this spiritual family. And it doesn't matter 00:05:01.050 --> 00:05:03.269 how good they are. It doesn't matter how sincere 00:05:03.269 --> 00:05:07.350 they are. It doesn't matter how loving they are 00:05:07.350 --> 00:05:11.350 to you. If they have not believed in Jesus Christ 00:05:11.350 --> 00:05:15.029 and have received the Spirit of God, you don't 00:05:15.029 --> 00:05:18.250 belong to this eternal family with them. And 00:05:18.250 --> 00:05:21.170 the danger of not belonging to this eternal family 00:05:21.170 --> 00:05:27.310 is that there is the possibility of eternal separation 00:05:27.310 --> 00:05:31.399 from them. So the reason why you preach the gospel 00:05:31.399 --> 00:05:33.980 is because you love them. First of all, not only 00:05:33.980 --> 00:05:38.060 there is an instruction from God, but because 00:05:38.060 --> 00:05:41.759 God loves them and you love them as well. So 00:05:41.759 --> 00:05:44.480 what do you do? You present the message to them. 00:05:44.519 --> 00:05:46.819 You pray for them and you present the message 00:05:46.819 --> 00:05:49.040 to them with the hope that they will receive 00:05:49.040 --> 00:05:53.519 the message, believe in the message, receive 00:05:53.519 --> 00:05:56.759 the Spirit of God, thereby participating in this 00:05:56.759 --> 00:06:01.730 supernatural family. Hallelujah. So pastor told 00:06:01.730 --> 00:06:04.069 us last week that this gathering is a gathering 00:06:04.069 --> 00:06:08.209 of supernatural beings. And all of us here are 00:06:08.209 --> 00:06:10.889 gathered because we are supernatural. And God 00:06:10.889 --> 00:06:13.029 is here with us. Way too often you are gathered, 00:06:13.129 --> 00:06:15.629 God is in their midst. God is here with us. So 00:06:15.629 --> 00:06:19.670 this is a family meeting. Hallelujah. This is 00:06:19.670 --> 00:06:22.949 a family meeting of God's family, supernatural 00:06:22.949 --> 00:06:25.269 family. And what we are doing is that we are 00:06:25.269 --> 00:06:29.990 feasting. on the fruit of the Spirit. All we're 00:06:29.990 --> 00:06:32.310 doing is that we're dining, we're eating. This 00:06:32.310 --> 00:06:35.750 is our food. The Word of God is our food. So 00:06:35.750 --> 00:06:37.370 what we're doing now is that we are participating 00:06:37.370 --> 00:06:40.670 in the fellowship. We are sharing in our meal. 00:06:40.949 --> 00:06:44.509 And this meal is a supernatural meal. It is the 00:06:44.509 --> 00:06:53.269 Word of God. Hallelujah. So, this family is also 00:06:53.269 --> 00:06:55.839 what we call the Kingdom of God. is a church 00:06:55.839 --> 00:07:00.439 of God. As members of the family of God, the 00:07:00.439 --> 00:07:03.040 Bible teaches us that in the course of our relationship, 00:07:03.480 --> 00:07:05.980 in the course of our interaction, because we 00:07:05.980 --> 00:07:09.019 are humans and we are not perfect in the physical, 00:07:09.240 --> 00:07:13.139 even though our spirit man is perfect, we are 00:07:13.139 --> 00:07:16.019 perfectly loved by a perfect God, we've been 00:07:16.019 --> 00:07:18.220 brought into the perfection of God through Christ, 00:07:18.639 --> 00:07:22.000 in our conduct, there could be limitations in 00:07:22.000 --> 00:07:25.720 our conduct. There could be challenges in our 00:07:25.720 --> 00:07:28.779 conduct because we are still in the flesh. So 00:07:28.779 --> 00:07:34.000 it is not impossible for us to have conflict. 00:07:34.879 --> 00:07:38.000 What I'm saying is that it is possible for us 00:07:38.000 --> 00:07:41.079 to have conflict in the course of our relationships. 00:07:42.560 --> 00:07:47.100 Hallelujah. So offenses will come as the Bible 00:07:47.100 --> 00:07:53.100 has rightly reminded us in Luke chapter 17. That 00:07:53.100 --> 00:07:59.220 offenses will come, Luke 17. In the course of 00:07:59.220 --> 00:08:03.879 our relationship as a family, offenses can rise, 00:08:04.019 --> 00:08:10.180 Luke 17, from verse 1. Then he said to them, 00:08:10.199 --> 00:08:13.939 to the disciples, It is impossible that no offenses 00:08:13.939 --> 00:08:16.899 should come, but word to him through whom they 00:08:16.899 --> 00:08:20.139 come. It would be better for him if a mild song 00:08:20.139 --> 00:08:23.480 were hung around his neck. and he were thrown 00:08:23.480 --> 00:08:27.660 into the sea, then he should offend one of these 00:08:27.660 --> 00:08:32.820 little ones. Take it to yourselves. If your brother 00:08:32.820 --> 00:08:37.159 sins against you, if your brother sins against 00:08:37.159 --> 00:08:43.799 you, seven times in a day, and seven times in 00:08:43.799 --> 00:08:47.960 a day returns to you saying, I repent, what should 00:08:47.960 --> 00:08:55.789 happen? I'm reading verse 4, right? If he turns 00:08:55.789 --> 00:09:00.330 to you and says, I repent, you shall forgive 00:09:00.330 --> 00:09:04.950 him. Hallelujah. Now, forgiveness and reconciliation, 00:09:04.990 --> 00:09:08.570 we said, are a vital part of our nature. Amen? 00:09:09.389 --> 00:09:12.190 Because this is an instruction from God. Because 00:09:12.190 --> 00:09:17.889 we are obliged to what? To forgive. Hallelujah. 00:09:18.600 --> 00:09:23.679 We are obliged to forgive. At all costs, we must 00:09:23.679 --> 00:09:31.159 what? We must forgive. Ephesians 4 verse 32. 00:09:32.879 --> 00:10:02.809 Ephesians 4, 32. Ephesians 4, 32. He says, be 00:10:02.809 --> 00:10:08.029 kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving 00:10:08.029 --> 00:10:11.889 one another, even as God in Christ has done what? 00:10:12.129 --> 00:10:15.470 He has forgiven us, all right? So our action 00:10:15.470 --> 00:10:21.230 is a result of what God himself has acted towards 00:10:21.230 --> 00:10:25.769 us. Colossians 3, verse 13. Colossians 3, verse 00:10:25.769 --> 00:10:42.759 13. Colossians 3, verse 13. Bearing, let me read 00:10:42.759 --> 00:10:45.879 from verse 12. Therefore, as elect of God, holy 00:10:45.879 --> 00:10:49.600 and beloved, put on tender mercies, kindness, 00:10:49.820 --> 00:10:52.620 humility, meekness, longsuffering. Verse 13. 00:10:52.980 --> 00:10:56.320 Bearing with one another and forgiving one another. 00:10:57.120 --> 00:11:02.320 If anyone has a complaint against another, even 00:11:02.320 --> 00:11:08.200 as Christ would forgive, so you also must do. 00:11:09.360 --> 00:11:17.679 You also do. You also must do. Hallelujah. So 00:11:17.679 --> 00:11:22.080 God has stated a standard and a procedure for 00:11:22.080 --> 00:11:24.120 forgiveness and reconciliation for his children. 00:11:24.500 --> 00:11:27.259 And if we have received the forgiveness of God, 00:11:27.419 --> 00:11:32.700 it is important that we obey the words of God. 00:11:33.419 --> 00:11:37.480 By what? By forgiving and reconciling one another. 00:11:37.679 --> 00:11:43.740 Hallelujah. And let's go back from verse 15 of 00:11:43.740 --> 00:11:51.500 Matthew 18. Matthew 18, verse 15 to 17. Moreover, 00:11:51.620 --> 00:11:56.740 if your brother sins against you, if your brother 00:11:56.740 --> 00:12:02.919 sins against you, go and do what? And tell him 00:12:02.919 --> 00:12:07.879 his fault between you and him alone. If he hears 00:12:07.879 --> 00:12:12.120 you, you have gained your brother. Verse 16. 00:12:12.700 --> 00:12:16.580 But if he will not hear, take with you one or 00:12:16.580 --> 00:12:21.860 two more, that by a mouth of two or three witnesses, 00:12:22.279 --> 00:12:26.820 every word may be established. And if he refuses 00:12:26.820 --> 00:12:32.220 to hear them, tell it to the church. But if he 00:12:32.220 --> 00:12:35.679 refuses even to hear the church, Let him be to 00:12:35.679 --> 00:12:39.539 you like a hidden and a tax collector. And look 00:12:39.539 --> 00:12:48.259 at verse 15 carefully. Verse 15 says, verse 15 00:12:48.259 --> 00:12:51.700 or other, it says, sins, if your brother sins 00:12:51.700 --> 00:12:55.820 against you, Noah King James uses the word trespass 00:12:55.820 --> 00:13:00.080 against you. If your brother sins against you 00:13:00.080 --> 00:13:06.649 or trespasses against you, Right? And not against 00:13:06.649 --> 00:13:09.629 God. So the sin is against who? It's against 00:13:09.629 --> 00:13:14.450 you, the believer. It's not against God. So the 00:13:14.450 --> 00:13:16.610 conversation here is dealing with relationship 00:13:16.610 --> 00:13:19.950 between who? Between men, between us. Right? 00:13:20.929 --> 00:13:25.129 In our relationship, if a brother sins against 00:13:25.129 --> 00:13:31.129 you, not against God. So this conversation is 00:13:31.129 --> 00:13:34.019 dealing with A relationship between men. This 00:13:34.019 --> 00:13:37.620 affirms, it affirms, the text affirms the possibility 00:13:37.620 --> 00:13:43.779 that your brother or your sister or your supernatural 00:13:43.779 --> 00:13:48.539 family members will do what? They will sing against 00:13:48.539 --> 00:13:51.779 you. Alright? It means that they can trespass 00:13:51.779 --> 00:13:57.200 against you. They can trespass against you. Now, 00:13:57.220 --> 00:13:59.759 trespass or sing in the Greek word as used in 00:13:59.759 --> 00:14:04.860 that text. is the word hamartano, H -A -M -A 00:14:04.860 --> 00:14:14.539 -R, H -A -M -A -R -T -A -N -O, N -O, hamartano, 00:14:14.720 --> 00:14:20.779 which in this context means to miss the mark, 00:14:20.899 --> 00:14:24.120 all right? If your brother miss the mark towards 00:14:24.120 --> 00:14:32.039 you, it also means to err. It also means to offend. 00:14:32.240 --> 00:14:36.799 So it means if your brother missed the mark towards 00:14:36.799 --> 00:14:40.620 you, if your brother hurt your relationship towards 00:14:40.620 --> 00:14:47.139 you, if your brother offends you, it means that 00:14:47.139 --> 00:14:50.179 standards are not met in the course of our relationship. 00:14:50.480 --> 00:14:54.940 There are standards that are expected in the 00:14:54.940 --> 00:14:57.340 course of our relationship. And these standards 00:14:57.340 --> 00:15:00.509 are established from scriptures. And what are 00:15:00.509 --> 00:15:03.009 the standards? The standard is that we operate 00:15:03.009 --> 00:15:06.110 in love towards one another. That is a standard 00:15:06.110 --> 00:15:10.690 from Scripture. So if your brother or your brother 00:15:10.690 --> 00:15:14.970 misses the mark, misses the standard in the standard 00:15:14.970 --> 00:15:24.110 of our relationship towards one another. So standards 00:15:24.110 --> 00:15:27.110 can be missed. Standards are not made in the 00:15:27.110 --> 00:15:30.950 relationship between you and your brother. The 00:15:30.950 --> 00:15:36.629 brother failed in the expected standard of living 00:15:36.629 --> 00:15:42.889 between you and him. He misses the mark, your 00:15:42.889 --> 00:15:47.950 own mark, and not God's mark. All right? In the 00:15:47.950 --> 00:15:49.649 course of our relationship, he misses the mark 00:15:49.649 --> 00:15:56.110 towards you and not towards God. What do we do? 00:15:56.769 --> 00:16:00.309 We go. And when we go, what do we do? We tell 00:16:00.309 --> 00:16:04.009 the brother. We tell him his fault. Alright? 00:16:05.309 --> 00:16:09.009 He calls us to say verse 15. Go and tell him 00:16:09.009 --> 00:16:13.450 his fault. How? Between you and him alone. If 00:16:13.450 --> 00:16:17.149 he hates you, you have gained your brother. It 00:16:17.149 --> 00:16:21.029 says go. Okay? When there is a fault between 00:16:21.029 --> 00:16:24.549 you and a sister, what is the instruction? Go. 00:16:31.399 --> 00:16:35.740 A brother offends you, what do you do? You pray 00:16:35.740 --> 00:16:39.700 about it? You gather people around and tell them 00:16:39.700 --> 00:16:42.340 how the brother offended you? What do you do? 00:16:42.919 --> 00:16:47.019 You go to the brother. You go to the sister. 00:16:48.279 --> 00:16:55.320 Okay? Go out and speak. Tell him his fault. That's 00:16:55.320 --> 00:17:03.320 what the scripture says. You and him alone. So 00:17:03.320 --> 00:17:08.440 who will go? Who will do the going? Huh? Who 00:17:08.440 --> 00:17:12.579 will do the going? You that has been offended. 00:17:13.680 --> 00:17:17.619 Right? Not the person that offended you. But 00:17:17.619 --> 00:17:19.480 you that has been offended, the scripture says, 00:17:19.599 --> 00:17:24.319 what do you do? You initiate forgiveness and 00:17:24.319 --> 00:17:30.000 reconciliation. You and him alone. The brother 00:17:30.000 --> 00:17:33.519 is at 40 years, no doubt. It's not that about 00:17:33.519 --> 00:17:35.900 the faults. It's evidence. In fact, there is 00:17:35.900 --> 00:17:38.839 nobody that will look at the context of the offense 00:17:38.839 --> 00:17:40.859 and not know that you are the one that has been 00:17:40.859 --> 00:17:45.700 offended. The brother could be wrong, agreed. 00:17:46.359 --> 00:17:52.900 The sister could be wrong. Nevertheless, you 00:17:52.900 --> 00:17:56.880 are responsible for initiating forgiveness and 00:17:56.880 --> 00:18:01.119 reconciliation. Hallelujah. Now some of us will 00:18:01.119 --> 00:18:04.500 be saying, but this is not fair now. This is 00:18:04.500 --> 00:18:07.460 not fair. He's the one that offended me and he 00:18:07.460 --> 00:18:11.859 knows what he did. He did it intentionally and 00:18:11.859 --> 00:18:14.240 this is the first time he has done this. In fact, 00:18:14.279 --> 00:18:17.440 this is his character. This is what he loves 00:18:17.440 --> 00:18:19.920 doing. He just likes offending me. She likes 00:18:19.920 --> 00:18:26.359 offending me. The Bible says, do what? Go. Alright? 00:18:26.799 --> 00:18:33.029 You go. Sometimes the brother may not even know. 00:18:34.190 --> 00:18:39.490 Sometimes it is intentional. Nevertheless, the 00:18:39.490 --> 00:18:43.069 knowledge of the brother or the sister has no 00:18:43.069 --> 00:18:44.970 consequence to the instruction given to you. 00:18:45.430 --> 00:18:49.130 You must take the first step. You must take the 00:18:49.130 --> 00:18:52.549 first step towards what? Reconciliation, towards 00:18:52.549 --> 00:18:56.829 forgiveness and reconciliation. You must go. 00:19:01.930 --> 00:19:06.869 You know, offenses are built on lack of communication, 00:19:07.109 --> 00:19:10.970 right? Oftentimes, when issues are not communicated, 00:19:11.190 --> 00:19:15.869 it can pile up to bigger issues. Sometimes, you 00:19:15.869 --> 00:19:18.410 know, a brother and a sister in church, we are 00:19:18.410 --> 00:19:22.089 just all together, and then you just say something 00:19:22.089 --> 00:19:26.009 that is even a joke you make, and the person 00:19:26.009 --> 00:19:31.049 pick offense. And it blows up out of proportion. 00:19:33.349 --> 00:19:35.410 And most of the times that there's already a 00:19:35.410 --> 00:19:38.930 compilation of offenses that have not been communicated, 00:19:39.269 --> 00:19:46.150 all resolved offenses will lead to, you know, 00:19:46.190 --> 00:19:49.250 the destabilization of our relationship. Our 00:19:49.250 --> 00:19:53.410 relationship will not flow effectively. It becomes 00:19:53.410 --> 00:19:55.730 impossible for you to even minister to the person 00:19:55.730 --> 00:19:58.490 spiritually or be ministered to by the person 00:19:58.490 --> 00:20:04.519 spiritually because of offenses. So, offenses 00:20:04.519 --> 00:20:07.599 are built in the absence. Therefore, we must 00:20:07.599 --> 00:20:11.059 make ourselves, you know, available to discuss, 00:20:11.380 --> 00:20:14.799 to converse, and to relate, and to communicate 00:20:14.799 --> 00:20:20.680 them. So, if your brother sins against you, what 00:20:20.680 --> 00:20:26.059 should you do? Huh? What should we do? We do 00:20:26.059 --> 00:20:29.519 what? I want to hear the word go. What should 00:20:29.519 --> 00:20:34.599 we do? Do you understand the word go? Do we need 00:20:34.599 --> 00:20:36.160 to explain the Greek meaning of the word go? 00:20:38.039 --> 00:20:41.680 G -O, go. That's what it means. You go, right? 00:20:45.619 --> 00:20:49.200 In the Greek, it means to lead under. You take 00:20:49.200 --> 00:20:53.740 the leadership. You are the one to initiate what? 00:20:54.960 --> 00:20:58.799 We'll see why it's important. We'll see why this 00:20:58.799 --> 00:21:02.460 is very, very necessary. It means you have to 00:21:02.460 --> 00:21:09.700 take the lead in this reconciliation. So where 00:21:09.700 --> 00:21:12.240 do you go? What do you do? You tell him his fault. 00:21:12.339 --> 00:21:15.980 But how? Are you to just pour out your mind because 00:21:15.980 --> 00:21:26.079 the person has offended you? Telling him his 00:21:26.079 --> 00:21:31.009 fault is not fault finding. is not to go and 00:21:31.009 --> 00:21:33.369 make him know that he has committed a sin. That 00:21:33.369 --> 00:21:35.049 is not the goal of going to tell your brother. 00:21:36.730 --> 00:21:39.210 Going to tell your sister is not to prove a point 00:21:39.210 --> 00:21:40.849 that you've been offended. That is not the goal. 00:21:43.170 --> 00:21:45.569 Going is not to prove yourself to be right and 00:21:45.569 --> 00:21:47.670 the other person is in the wrong. That is not 00:21:47.670 --> 00:21:57.720 the goal of going. It's not to find fault. Or 00:21:57.720 --> 00:22:00.200 to negatively rebuke by telling the peace of 00:22:00.200 --> 00:22:02.700 your mind. I just want to go there and I'll tell 00:22:02.700 --> 00:22:07.220 that peace of my mind and then I'm gone. And 00:22:07.220 --> 00:22:12.660 that is how some of us, the moment we just pour 00:22:12.660 --> 00:22:15.519 out our mind, then we feel, we now feel relaxed. 00:22:16.480 --> 00:22:20.700 We feel at peace. No, that is not the peace of 00:22:20.700 --> 00:22:30.079 God. Amen. It is actually telling the person 00:22:30.079 --> 00:22:35.640 to expose the wrong done to you. Right? It's 00:22:35.640 --> 00:22:39.940 actually to expose the mistake or the offense 00:22:39.940 --> 00:22:43.180 in order to restore the relationship. That is 00:22:43.180 --> 00:22:48.099 the goal of going. In order to what? To restore 00:22:48.099 --> 00:22:52.299 the relationship. The relationship is more important 00:22:52.299 --> 00:22:57.440 than the offense. The relationship is a target. 00:22:57.930 --> 00:23:03.130 Of you going and not the offense itself. The 00:23:03.130 --> 00:23:05.170 relationship is more valuable than the offense. 00:23:09.750 --> 00:23:12.970 You must tell the person when offended because 00:23:12.970 --> 00:23:17.789 there is no room to keep quiet in God's family. 00:23:17.849 --> 00:23:21.970 We don't keep quiet with offenses. We don't keep 00:23:21.970 --> 00:23:25.390 quiet with offenses. There's no room for that. 00:23:27.630 --> 00:23:30.650 I said earlier on, I said pointing out the wrong 00:23:30.650 --> 00:23:33.329 is not equal to fault finding when you speak. 00:23:33.630 --> 00:23:37.490 You are not finding fault when you speak. All 00:23:37.490 --> 00:23:39.950 right? You're not looking for fault. But rather, 00:23:40.109 --> 00:23:44.089 your goal is to expose the wrong towards reconciliation 00:23:44.089 --> 00:23:48.890 of that relationship. And whenever a brother 00:23:48.890 --> 00:23:54.829 says he's sorry, you have no right. Okay? You 00:23:54.829 --> 00:23:57.589 have no right whatsoever to withhold forgiveness. 00:23:59.029 --> 00:24:02.710 You have no right as a believer to withhold forgiveness. 00:24:05.369 --> 00:24:08.049 They don't have to gather the entire village. 00:24:08.789 --> 00:24:12.809 They gather the village chief, the police, the 00:24:12.809 --> 00:24:15.430 district head, and everybody in your clan to 00:24:15.430 --> 00:24:20.329 go and ask you for forgiveness. Until they do 00:24:20.329 --> 00:24:23.839 some sacrifices and they not appease you. You 00:24:23.839 --> 00:24:26.740 have conditions. Until the person did all these 00:24:26.740 --> 00:24:31.660 things. I had a story of a guy that someone embarrassed 00:24:31.660 --> 00:24:36.279 him in the public. After many years, about 20 00:24:36.279 --> 00:24:41.940 years, they went to the brother and said, this 00:24:41.940 --> 00:24:45.500 person has realized how wrong he is. The person 00:24:45.500 --> 00:24:48.900 said, I don't have a problem. In fact, I don't 00:24:48.900 --> 00:24:50.859 have a problem forgiving this person. But if 00:24:50.859 --> 00:24:53.079 the person can gather everybody that is there 00:24:53.079 --> 00:24:59.420 that day. 20 years ago. Where would they even 00:24:59.420 --> 00:25:01.460 get the contact of everybody that was there? 00:25:02.940 --> 00:25:05.440 Then the person can now tell them in the front 00:25:05.440 --> 00:25:09.099 of everybody. Then I will now be satisfied and 00:25:09.099 --> 00:25:14.779 forgive. Who are you? What kind of a condition 00:25:14.779 --> 00:25:21.390 is that? So as believers, we must be quick to 00:25:21.390 --> 00:25:25.529 initiate forgiveness, to initiate reconciliation 00:25:25.529 --> 00:25:29.670 because that is God's instruction to us. Hallelujah. 00:25:31.549 --> 00:25:34.769 Verse 15 goes on to say, if he hears you, you 00:25:34.769 --> 00:25:39.650 have what? You have gained your brother. So the 00:25:39.650 --> 00:25:43.009 ultimate goal is to gain your brother and not 00:25:43.009 --> 00:25:47.000 to win the argument. All right? The ultimate 00:25:47.000 --> 00:25:49.740 goal is what? Is a relationship I've set for 00:25:49.740 --> 00:25:53.180 you to gain your brother and not win an argument 00:25:53.180 --> 00:25:56.240 or to show that you have been offended or to 00:25:56.240 --> 00:25:59.000 gather sympathy because some of us, what we do 00:25:59.000 --> 00:26:00.839 is that when we are offended, the quickest thing 00:26:00.839 --> 00:26:03.819 for us, what satisfies us is that we enjoy people 00:26:03.819 --> 00:26:09.920 sympathizing with us. It's not to gather sympathy 00:26:09.920 --> 00:26:12.019 and to prove that the person is wrong and you 00:26:12.019 --> 00:26:17.599 are right. But the goal is that you gain your 00:26:17.599 --> 00:26:22.740 brother. And the brother will be gained. The 00:26:22.740 --> 00:26:25.500 word gain there is a direct opposite of the word 00:26:25.500 --> 00:26:31.680 loss or perish. It's a direct opposite of the 00:26:31.680 --> 00:26:36.759 word perish or to lose. So if you don't go to 00:26:36.759 --> 00:26:42.640 him, you don't discuss the fault, there's a possibility 00:26:42.640 --> 00:26:47.269 that you will lose that brother. Or that relationship 00:26:47.269 --> 00:26:54.890 will perish? Relationship will perish? Now, the 00:26:54.890 --> 00:26:56.829 context says, when Jesus says, you've gained 00:26:56.829 --> 00:27:00.349 your brother, he's not speaking of an unselfish 00:27:00.349 --> 00:27:04.230 person. Okay? He's not speaking of an unselfish 00:27:04.230 --> 00:27:06.650 person. Jesus is speaking in the context of a 00:27:06.650 --> 00:27:11.009 relationship that relationship is restored. Alright? 00:27:13.869 --> 00:27:16.210 So the conclusion for us is that if you are offended, 00:27:16.450 --> 00:27:20.930 the moment you feel that you are offended, that 00:27:20.930 --> 00:27:24.029 moment that you feel that you are offended is 00:27:24.029 --> 00:27:26.829 the moment that you begin to initiate forgiveness 00:27:26.829 --> 00:27:31.029 and what? And reconciliation. It is your duty 00:27:31.029 --> 00:27:36.089 to seek for forgiveness and reconciliation. You 00:27:36.089 --> 00:27:38.049 don't have to wait for your brother to come to 00:27:38.049 --> 00:27:42.559 you, but you must go to him. You don't just forgive 00:27:42.559 --> 00:27:44.220 in your heart because that's what some of us 00:27:44.220 --> 00:27:46.799 do. I've forgiven her in my heart. I've forgiven 00:27:46.799 --> 00:27:49.359 her. I don't have any problem with him, but you 00:27:49.359 --> 00:27:55.339 see, we don't talk. Deep in my heart, I've forgiven 00:27:55.339 --> 00:27:59.440 her, but I have in this life, I will never do 00:27:59.440 --> 00:28:04.160 anything with her. I will never do anything with 00:28:04.160 --> 00:28:10.829 him. You make promises. You make promises. And 00:28:10.829 --> 00:28:16.609 you swear oaths never to do again with a brother 00:28:16.609 --> 00:28:23.630 in the Lord. But the instruction for us is to 00:28:23.630 --> 00:28:25.589 seek after forgiveness. You don't just forgive 00:28:25.589 --> 00:28:28.869 in your heart, but you must go and do what? And 00:28:28.869 --> 00:28:33.230 reconcile. It is an action we must take. We don't 00:28:33.230 --> 00:28:36.430 just forgive in our hearts. We go out there and 00:28:36.430 --> 00:28:40.599 what do we do? We reconcile. Jesus did not just 00:28:40.599 --> 00:28:43.740 forgive you in his heart. God did not just thought 00:28:43.740 --> 00:28:47.559 of the sin that you committed as an individual. 00:28:47.900 --> 00:28:52.359 God did not just, in the heavenlies, just think 00:28:52.359 --> 00:28:55.579 of our offense, of our separation with him, and 00:28:55.579 --> 00:28:59.440 then he just left it that way. He took an action, 00:28:59.539 --> 00:29:02.299 and the action is to reconcile us to himself. 00:29:03.759 --> 00:29:08.680 So that is the foundation by which we act. The 00:29:08.680 --> 00:29:12.779 essence of forgiveness is to restore the relationship. 00:29:13.599 --> 00:29:18.160 The essence of forgiveness is what? Is the restoration 00:29:18.160 --> 00:29:22.019 of that relationship. So forgiveness without 00:29:22.019 --> 00:29:27.480 reconciliation is not Christianity. It is not 00:29:27.480 --> 00:29:32.559 Christianity. We don't forgive and not relate 00:29:32.559 --> 00:29:37.099 with people. We don't forgive, then stop talking 00:29:37.099 --> 00:29:40.589 with people. We don't forgive and not reconcile 00:29:40.589 --> 00:29:45.569 with people. We must forgive and reconcile and 00:29:45.569 --> 00:29:54.329 keep relating. Hallelujah. I know for sure that 00:29:54.329 --> 00:29:58.329 there is a part where the other individual is 00:29:58.329 --> 00:30:01.690 not willing to relate, is not willing to reconcile. 00:30:02.390 --> 00:30:05.430 All right? We'll talk about that later and subsequently. 00:30:06.960 --> 00:30:09.380 You know, the Bible asks us to treat him as what? 00:30:09.900 --> 00:30:13.059 Treat him like a heathen, like a tax collector. 00:30:13.640 --> 00:30:17.460 Well, look at what that means subsequently. So 00:30:17.460 --> 00:30:20.940 sometimes this seems hard, okay? It seems very 00:30:20.940 --> 00:30:22.940 hard. How can this person with this level of 00:30:22.940 --> 00:30:25.559 offense, oh, pastor, you don't understand what 00:30:25.559 --> 00:30:28.299 this brother has done. You don't understand the 00:30:28.299 --> 00:30:30.259 magnitude of this crime. You don't understand 00:30:30.259 --> 00:30:33.420 the magnitude of this offense. You don't understand 00:30:33.420 --> 00:30:38.190 the degree. of what this brother did to me. You 00:30:38.190 --> 00:30:42.329 don't understand the degree to which this offense 00:30:42.329 --> 00:30:45.750 is to me. You don't know how many years I've 00:30:45.750 --> 00:30:50.549 been under the infliction of this offense. You 00:30:50.549 --> 00:30:53.369 don't know what this has cost me. You don't know 00:30:53.369 --> 00:30:56.410 how this has affected my entire career. You don't 00:30:56.410 --> 00:30:58.589 know how this has affected my entire relationship 00:30:58.589 --> 00:31:03.690 with others. How can you just say I should forgive? 00:31:05.960 --> 00:31:09.039 You don't know how many times he has wronged 00:31:09.039 --> 00:31:14.140 me. You don't know how many times. And let's 00:31:14.140 --> 00:31:19.759 say Jesus' reply to the disciples. Because when 00:31:19.759 --> 00:31:24.200 he was teaching them this, it was counterculture 00:31:24.200 --> 00:31:29.640 for them. It was something so hard and it was 00:31:29.640 --> 00:31:35.059 something hard to chew. Luke chapter 17. Let's 00:31:35.059 --> 00:32:02.039 start from Luke 17. Luke 17 from verse 1. Jesus 00:32:02.039 --> 00:32:04.000 said, verse 3, Jesus says, take heed to yourself. 00:32:04.220 --> 00:32:07.099 If your brother sins against you, rebuke him. 00:32:07.420 --> 00:32:11.420 Now, this rebuke, right, is not to shout and 00:32:11.420 --> 00:32:16.220 scream at him. All right? It's not negative incognition. 00:32:17.119 --> 00:32:21.220 All right? It's the same thing as we saw in Matthew 00:32:21.220 --> 00:32:25.539 18. Go to him and reason concerning the wrong. 00:32:26.200 --> 00:32:30.519 Okay? So, Take it to yourself. If your brother 00:32:30.519 --> 00:32:33.940 sins against you, rebuke him. And if he repents, 00:32:33.980 --> 00:32:36.960 forgive him. And if he sins against you seven 00:32:36.960 --> 00:32:41.420 times in a day, and seven times in a day retires 00:32:41.420 --> 00:32:45.759 to you, saying, I repent, you shall what? You 00:32:45.759 --> 00:32:49.619 shall forgive him. And the disciples, understanding 00:32:49.619 --> 00:32:51.859 what Jesus said, they asked him in the next verse. 00:32:53.259 --> 00:32:55.339 And the apostles said to him, Lord, increase 00:32:55.339 --> 00:33:02.829 our faith. In a way, Lord, help my heart. In 00:33:02.829 --> 00:33:06.730 a way, help me to do this because I don't believe 00:33:06.730 --> 00:33:10.410 I can do it. Alright? Now look at what Jesus 00:33:10.410 --> 00:33:14.750 said in verse 6. So the Lord said, if you have 00:33:14.750 --> 00:33:18.690 faith as a mustard seed, you can say to this 00:33:18.690 --> 00:33:22.230 mulberry tree. Now, in the context, now what 00:33:22.230 --> 00:33:25.089 is the context? Because some of us have also 00:33:25.089 --> 00:33:28.349 misquoted this passage to say, oh, If you have 00:33:28.349 --> 00:33:30.529 faith, you can tell this mountain to move. You 00:33:30.529 --> 00:33:32.609 don't know the mountain or the tree that is speaking. 00:33:32.730 --> 00:33:35.369 He's talking about forgiveness as a context. 00:33:37.569 --> 00:33:42.430 Amen? That is to say, with your faith in your 00:33:42.430 --> 00:33:45.869 heart, you can forgive. How big that thing is, 00:33:45.950 --> 00:33:48.109 you can forgive. No matter how big and thick 00:33:48.109 --> 00:33:51.069 and how long the offense is, you can forgive. 00:33:53.210 --> 00:33:57.319 So if you have faith as a mustard seed, You can 00:33:57.319 --> 00:34:00.500 say to this mulberry tree, be pulled up by the 00:34:00.500 --> 00:34:04.099 roots and be planted in the sea and it will obey 00:34:04.099 --> 00:34:08.780 you. And look at this parable he gave, this story 00:34:08.780 --> 00:34:12.199 he gave. And which of you, having a servant plowing 00:34:12.199 --> 00:34:15.820 or tending sheep, will say to him when he has 00:34:15.820 --> 00:34:19.320 come in from the field, come at once and sit 00:34:19.320 --> 00:34:25.559 down to eat. But will he not rather say to him, 00:34:26.039 --> 00:34:30.039 Right? Prepare something for my supper and guard 00:34:30.039 --> 00:34:33.619 yourself and serve me that I have eaten and drunk 00:34:33.619 --> 00:34:36.239 and afterwards you will eat and drink. It's a 00:34:36.239 --> 00:34:38.800 question Jesus was asking. That is to say, of 00:34:38.800 --> 00:34:41.179 whom of you, having a servant, having a slave, 00:34:41.340 --> 00:34:46.920 who came from the field, you call that slave 00:34:46.920 --> 00:34:49.679 and say, come and sit with me on the table. Will 00:34:49.679 --> 00:34:51.139 you not tell that servant to go and make the 00:34:51.139 --> 00:34:53.420 foods? And when you've eaten, you are satisfied, 00:34:53.679 --> 00:34:56.860 then what will happen? You can say, oh yeah, 00:34:56.860 --> 00:34:59.099 I'll go and do what you want to do. Is that not 00:34:59.099 --> 00:35:04.260 what you do? Speaking in human's terms, in human's 00:35:04.260 --> 00:35:07.699 relationship. All right? Verse 8. But would he 00:35:07.699 --> 00:35:09.699 not rather say to him, prepare something for 00:35:09.699 --> 00:35:12.880 my supper, and guard yourself, and serve me till 00:35:12.880 --> 00:35:14.980 I have eaten and drunk, and afterward you will 00:35:14.980 --> 00:35:19.940 eat and drink? Verse 9. Does he thank the servant 00:35:19.940 --> 00:35:22.679 because he did the things that were commanded 00:35:22.679 --> 00:35:27.650 him? I think not. After the servant have cooked 00:35:27.650 --> 00:35:29.630 for you, have cleaned your house, have prepared 00:35:29.630 --> 00:35:31.670 the table and have eaten with you, do you tell 00:35:31.670 --> 00:35:37.190 the servant thank you? Is it not his job? Is 00:35:37.190 --> 00:35:39.309 it not what you bought him for? Is that not what 00:35:39.309 --> 00:35:43.670 he's supposed to do? Jesus says, I think not. 00:35:43.730 --> 00:35:47.949 You don't thank him. All right? So likewise, 00:35:48.269 --> 00:35:52.130 you, when you have done all those things which 00:35:52.130 --> 00:35:56.840 you were commanded, say, We are unprofitable 00:35:56.840 --> 00:36:01.219 servants. We have done what was our duty to do. 00:36:01.579 --> 00:36:07.400 All right? So Jesus is comparing the conduct 00:36:07.400 --> 00:36:11.260 of the servant. Now, the servant is not expecting 00:36:11.260 --> 00:36:14.260 the master to thank him for doing all those things 00:36:14.260 --> 00:36:17.980 because he's a slave. And that is his duty. The 00:36:17.980 --> 00:36:21.579 instructions from the master is the responsibility 00:36:21.579 --> 00:36:25.460 of the servant. So Jesus will say, We have done 00:36:25.460 --> 00:36:30.900 what was our duty to do. We are unprofitable 00:36:30.900 --> 00:36:34.280 servants. We have done what was our duty to do. 00:36:34.340 --> 00:36:37.920 Now this is in context to the instruction and 00:36:37.920 --> 00:36:43.239 the commandment to forgive. That is to say, you 00:36:43.239 --> 00:36:46.059 are obligated to obey the commandment regardless 00:36:46.059 --> 00:36:51.400 of how you feel. Regardless of how you feel because 00:36:51.400 --> 00:36:53.789 it is an instruction from God. An instruction 00:36:53.789 --> 00:36:58.809 from God. You are a servant of God. You what? 00:36:58.909 --> 00:37:05.010 You forgive. You have to what? You have to forgive. 00:37:07.309 --> 00:37:11.849 We must forgive because it is a command. You 00:37:11.849 --> 00:37:15.090 were an unworthy servant. Unworthy of forgiveness. 00:37:16.590 --> 00:37:23.019 But God forgave you. But God forgave you. And 00:37:23.019 --> 00:37:24.760 we can see how perplexed they were and they were 00:37:24.760 --> 00:37:27.619 asking Jesus to increase their faith. And he's 00:37:27.619 --> 00:37:30.860 telling them, you, when your faith is like a 00:37:30.860 --> 00:37:32.320 mustard seed, we are not saying that it's a faith 00:37:32.320 --> 00:37:37.340 size of a mustard seed. No. It's not faith that 00:37:37.340 --> 00:37:41.340 is as a mustard seed. But the moment you believe 00:37:41.340 --> 00:37:44.079 in Jesus Christ as your Savior, you have the 00:37:44.079 --> 00:37:47.199 ability to allow the Spirit to walk through you 00:37:47.199 --> 00:37:52.199 to forgive others. So building you, is the ability 00:37:52.199 --> 00:37:57.179 to do what? To forgive sins. So forgiveness and 00:37:57.179 --> 00:38:01.340 reconciliation actually is the Christmas message. 00:38:02.199 --> 00:38:07.920 Hallelujah. That is the Christmas message. Forgiveness 00:38:07.920 --> 00:38:12.460 and what? And reconciliation. Now the birth of 00:38:12.460 --> 00:38:17.519 Jesus Christ marks the moment that God initiated 00:38:17.519 --> 00:38:23.969 to grant mercy unto us. As Scripture states, 00:38:24.510 --> 00:38:29.730 God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself. 00:38:31.590 --> 00:38:34.949 What was he not doing? He was not counting people's 00:38:34.949 --> 00:38:40.630 sin against him. 2 Corinthians 5. 2 Corinthians 00:38:40.630 --> 00:38:46.329 5 .17 Now, I want you to look at this clearly. 00:38:46.949 --> 00:38:51.019 Right? God will never give you an instruction 00:38:51.019 --> 00:38:53.239 to do something that He Himself has not done. 00:38:55.219 --> 00:39:01.199 Hallelujah. So, He is a leader. He leads us into 00:39:01.199 --> 00:39:04.699 doing what He instructs us to do. If you say 00:39:04.699 --> 00:39:07.940 you must forgive, it's because He Himself has 00:39:07.940 --> 00:39:13.300 taken the lead in forgiving. Hallelujah. So, 00:39:13.440 --> 00:39:19.179 verse 17 says, If anyone in Christ, he is what? 00:39:19.639 --> 00:39:23.880 He is a new creation. All things have what? Passed 00:39:23.880 --> 00:39:27.980 away. Behold, all things have become new. How? 00:39:29.000 --> 00:39:32.320 Now all things are of God who has what? What 00:39:32.320 --> 00:39:37.039 has he done? Look up. What has he done? Is it 00:39:37.039 --> 00:39:39.039 that he is reconciling us or he has reconciled 00:39:39.039 --> 00:39:45.440 us? He has reconciled us to who? To himself. 00:39:46.380 --> 00:39:50.940 Through Jesus Christ. And has given to us the 00:39:50.940 --> 00:39:54.980 what? The ministry of what? Of reconciliation. 00:39:55.360 --> 00:39:58.900 So reconciliation is a message that we have received 00:39:58.900 --> 00:40:03.019 to preach. Alright? Remember when we were talking 00:40:03.019 --> 00:40:07.539 about binding and losing? Alright? And we said 00:40:07.539 --> 00:40:09.440 that the context of that binding and losing is 00:40:09.440 --> 00:40:11.780 that we preach forgiveness and reconciliation 00:40:11.780 --> 00:40:15.599 to men. Also, in this context, we are speaking 00:40:15.599 --> 00:40:19.739 about binding and losing. In Matthew 18, is that 00:40:19.739 --> 00:40:22.079 we bind and lose ourselves within ourselves, 00:40:22.099 --> 00:40:24.539 the relationship within us in the context of 00:40:24.539 --> 00:40:27.000 our living together. That we are able to do what 00:40:27.000 --> 00:40:30.860 we forgive and reconcile within ourselves. So, 00:40:30.880 --> 00:40:33.079 reconciliation, forgiveness and reconciliation 00:40:33.079 --> 00:40:36.820 is both a message and a lifestyle for the believer. 00:40:39.380 --> 00:40:42.260 That we don't only go out to preach that Jesus 00:40:42.699 --> 00:40:45.300 As forgiving sins, we don't want to go out to 00:40:45.300 --> 00:40:49.059 preach that God in Christ has reconciled us and 00:40:49.059 --> 00:40:51.679 is reconciling the world to himself, but that 00:40:51.679 --> 00:40:54.940 we in our conduct towards one another, we do 00:40:54.940 --> 00:40:58.360 what? We forgive one another and we reconcile 00:40:58.360 --> 00:41:01.380 with one another. Our conduct towards one another 00:41:01.380 --> 00:41:05.840 becomes the message we preach. How will they 00:41:05.840 --> 00:41:08.659 know that you are my children? Is it not in that 00:41:08.659 --> 00:41:11.619 you forgive one? To another that you love one 00:41:11.619 --> 00:41:14.320 another and that is forgiveness within you? Or 00:41:14.320 --> 00:41:20.360 more yourself? Forgiveness and reconciliation 00:41:20.360 --> 00:41:24.380 is a Christian message. Now this divine initiative 00:41:24.380 --> 00:41:27.539 teaches us that God has set an example for us 00:41:27.539 --> 00:41:31.619 in forgiveness and reconciliation. God is not 00:41:31.619 --> 00:41:33.699 just commanding that we forgive and reconcile 00:41:33.699 --> 00:41:37.320 with one another, but he has first demonstrated 00:41:37.320 --> 00:41:42.969 that for us. Then he commanded us, who have received 00:41:42.969 --> 00:41:46.730 forgiveness that he has given, who have been 00:41:46.730 --> 00:41:50.469 reconciled to him. Then he commanded us, do likewise 00:41:50.469 --> 00:41:54.710 as I have done to you. Do likewise as I have 00:41:54.710 --> 00:41:56.650 done for you. I have reconciled you to myself. 00:41:56.869 --> 00:42:02.409 I have brought you into union with me. Because 00:42:02.409 --> 00:42:04.949 we ourselves have missed the mark towards God. 00:42:05.429 --> 00:42:08.739 By the standard of God's perfection, All men 00:42:08.739 --> 00:42:14.139 have trespassed. We have what? We have all transgressed. 00:42:14.159 --> 00:42:17.760 Romans 3, verse 9. Give me Romans 3, verse 9. 00:42:20.559 --> 00:42:36.380 Romans 3. 9. What then? Are we better than they? 00:42:37.179 --> 00:42:43.500 Not at all. For we have previously charged both 00:42:43.500 --> 00:42:46.760 Jews and Greeks that they are all under sin. 00:42:47.119 --> 00:42:50.840 Now, God's perfect standard is his law. All right? 00:42:50.840 --> 00:42:53.940 God's law is a standard by which we are judged. 00:42:54.840 --> 00:42:58.300 As it is written, there's no righteous, no not 00:42:58.300 --> 00:43:02.099 one. There's no who understands. There's no who 00:43:02.099 --> 00:43:07.349 seek after God. They have all torn aside. to 00:43:07.349 --> 00:43:10.010 gain have become unprofitable. There is none 00:43:10.010 --> 00:43:14.250 who does good, not one. Their throat is an open 00:43:14.250 --> 00:43:16.889 tomb. With their tongues they have practiced 00:43:16.889 --> 00:43:20.070 deceit. The poison of abs is under their lips, 00:43:20.210 --> 00:43:22.889 whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness. 00:43:23.289 --> 00:43:26.670 Their feet are swift to shed blood. Destruction 00:43:26.670 --> 00:43:29.590 and misery are in their ways, and the way of 00:43:29.590 --> 00:43:32.269 peace they have not known. There is no fear of 00:43:32.269 --> 00:43:35.639 God before their eyes. Now, We know that whatever 00:43:35.639 --> 00:43:39.340 the law says, it says those who are under the 00:43:39.340 --> 00:43:43.760 law, that every mouth may be stopped and all 00:43:43.760 --> 00:43:47.480 the world may become guilty before God. So by 00:43:47.480 --> 00:43:50.940 the law, all of us are guilty before God. By 00:43:50.940 --> 00:43:55.099 the law, all of us. By the law, by the standard 00:43:55.099 --> 00:43:59.059 of the law, all of us are guilty before God. 00:44:04.889 --> 00:44:07.730 Therefore, by the deeds of the law, no flesh 00:44:07.730 --> 00:44:10.869 will be justified in his sight. For by the law 00:44:10.869 --> 00:44:14.130 is the knowledge of sin. But now the righteousness 00:44:14.130 --> 00:44:18.369 of God, apart from the law, is revealed, been 00:44:18.369 --> 00:44:21.690 witnessed by the law and the prophets. Now the 00:44:21.690 --> 00:44:25.590 law and the prophets. In the righteousness of 00:44:25.590 --> 00:44:29.429 God, through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and 00:44:29.429 --> 00:44:33.489 on all who would, who believe. For there's no 00:44:33.489 --> 00:44:38.420 difference. For all have seen and fall short 00:44:38.420 --> 00:44:41.679 of the glory of God, being justified freely by 00:44:41.679 --> 00:44:44.320 his grace through the redemption that is in Christ 00:44:44.320 --> 00:44:48.059 Jesus, whom God set forth as a propitiation by 00:44:48.059 --> 00:44:51.559 his blood, through faith to demonstrate his righteousness, 00:44:52.039 --> 00:44:56.780 because in his forbearance God had passed over 00:44:56.780 --> 00:45:00.880 the sins that were previously committed. So God 00:45:00.880 --> 00:45:03.179 in his forbearance has passed over your sin. 00:45:03.789 --> 00:45:08.329 He has passed over my sins. He has passed over 00:45:08.329 --> 00:45:13.590 my offense, our offenses towards God. God in 00:45:13.590 --> 00:45:19.130 Christ has dealt with it. Verse 26. To demonstrate 00:45:19.130 --> 00:45:23.130 at the present time his righteousness, that he 00:45:23.130 --> 00:45:27.429 might be just and a justifier of the one who 00:45:27.429 --> 00:45:32.820 has said in Jesus Christ. Hallelujah. So, By 00:45:32.820 --> 00:45:35.480 the standard of God's perfection, all men have 00:45:35.480 --> 00:45:39.019 trespassed. We have transgressed against God. 00:45:39.880 --> 00:45:44.000 But in Jesus Christ, what we see is that he has 00:45:44.000 --> 00:45:47.659 dealt with our sins. He has forgiven our sins 00:45:47.659 --> 00:45:52.780 unconditionally, once and for all and forever. 00:45:55.099 --> 00:46:00.980 Never to remember our offenses. By the standard 00:46:00.980 --> 00:46:05.800 of God's perfection, All men are worthy of condemnation. 00:46:05.900 --> 00:46:11.019 All of us, by virtue of God's standards, we are 00:46:11.019 --> 00:46:16.719 worthy of condemnation. Ezekiel 18 verse 4. Ezekiel 00:46:16.719 --> 00:46:33.780 18 verse 4. Ezekiel 18 verse 4. It will say that 00:46:33.780 --> 00:46:38.539 the soul that sin, right? The consequences of 00:46:38.539 --> 00:46:43.940 sin is what? Is death. Behold, all souls are 00:46:43.940 --> 00:46:48.159 mine. The souls of the father as well as the 00:46:48.159 --> 00:46:52.559 soul of the son is mine. The soul who sins shall 00:46:52.559 --> 00:46:56.179 what? Shall die. That is the Lord's judgment. 00:46:57.000 --> 00:47:01.400 I will see it emphasized in Romans 6 .23. When 00:47:01.400 --> 00:47:04.679 Paul was discussing law and grace in Romans 6, 00:47:04.840 --> 00:47:17.440 verse 23, Romans 6, verse 23, it says, For the 00:47:17.440 --> 00:47:22.639 wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is 00:47:22.639 --> 00:47:27.780 eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. The penalty 00:47:27.780 --> 00:47:32.190 of sin that we've done, To us, God is death. 00:47:32.869 --> 00:47:40.829 But we see in Christ, He has given us life. He 00:47:40.829 --> 00:47:43.909 has forgiven us. He has reconciled us to Himself. 00:47:44.469 --> 00:47:47.210 He has given us eternal life. Not just forgiveness 00:47:47.210 --> 00:47:52.170 for the meantime, but forgiveness forever. Hallelujah. 00:47:53.150 --> 00:47:56.889 So, when we offended God, what did God do? When 00:47:56.889 --> 00:48:00.730 we sinned against God, what did He do? What did 00:48:00.730 --> 00:48:05.650 he do? Huh? Who can tell us what God did when 00:48:05.650 --> 00:48:13.309 we sin against him? He came to us. Isn't it? 00:48:14.469 --> 00:48:22.250 Hallelujah. God carried to us. Hmm? When we sin, 00:48:22.489 --> 00:48:25.889 what did God do? When man, okay, let me use the 00:48:25.889 --> 00:48:30.320 word man. When man sin, what did God do? theme 00:48:30.320 --> 00:48:35.059 to man. Is that not the Christmas message? Hmm? 00:48:36.179 --> 00:48:39.260 Is that not the Christmas message? What happened? 00:48:39.900 --> 00:48:44.039 Jesus was born. Why was he born? So that we can 00:48:44.039 --> 00:48:47.880 have Christmas today? So that we can have sweet 00:48:47.880 --> 00:48:52.280 hymns to be singing? He came because we messed 00:48:52.280 --> 00:48:55.619 up. He came because we are not worthy. He came 00:48:55.619 --> 00:48:58.599 because we have missed the mark. He came because 00:48:59.309 --> 00:49:02.269 There is a trespass because we are separated 00:49:02.269 --> 00:49:06.050 from him. That was why he came. He didn't come 00:49:06.050 --> 00:49:09.449 to give us the religion. He came because there 00:49:09.449 --> 00:49:16.750 was a separation. Matthew chapter 1 verse 18. 00:49:19.110 --> 00:49:28.190 Yes. Matthew chapter 1 verse 18. Now the birth 00:49:28.190 --> 00:49:32.409 of Jesus Christ was as follows. After his mother 00:49:32.409 --> 00:49:36.769 Mary was betrothed to Joseph, before they came 00:49:36.769 --> 00:49:42.250 together, there was a scandal. There was a scandal. 00:49:42.769 --> 00:49:46.849 Mary was pregnant and Joseph was not responsible. 00:49:48.670 --> 00:49:52.570 Hallelujah. She was found with a child of who? 00:49:52.889 --> 00:49:57.699 Of the Holy Spirit. Then Joseph, her husband, 00:49:57.820 --> 00:50:02.199 being kind of a kind man, not wanting to disgrace 00:50:02.199 --> 00:50:07.179 her in the public, he didn't want to post it 00:50:07.179 --> 00:50:10.099 on his Facebook status, on social media to make 00:50:10.099 --> 00:50:13.699 everybody see that Mary has messed up. He planned 00:50:13.699 --> 00:50:22.179 to quietly serve her breakfast. To secretly what? 00:50:23.239 --> 00:50:26.230 Put her away, right? But while he thought about 00:50:26.230 --> 00:50:28.409 these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared 00:50:28.409 --> 00:50:31.449 to him in a dream, saying, Joseph, son of David, 00:50:31.610 --> 00:50:35.170 do not be afraid to take to you Mary, your wife, 00:50:35.329 --> 00:50:41.409 for that which is conceived in her is of the 00:50:41.409 --> 00:50:45.929 Holy Spirit. And she will bring forth a son, 00:50:46.070 --> 00:50:52.969 and you shall call his name Jesus. For he will 00:50:52.969 --> 00:50:57.909 do what? will save his people from their sins. 00:50:58.409 --> 00:51:02.730 So what brought him into the world is the salvation 00:51:02.730 --> 00:51:05.769 of men from their sins. So all this was done 00:51:05.769 --> 00:51:09.190 that it might be fulfilled because it was prophesied 00:51:09.190 --> 00:51:12.050 by God, which was spoken by the prophet through 00:51:12.050 --> 00:51:14.750 the prophet saying, Behold, the virgin shall 00:51:14.750 --> 00:51:18.949 be with a child, and bear a son, and they shall 00:51:18.949 --> 00:51:21.210 call his name Emmanuel, which is translated, 00:51:21.230 --> 00:51:28.019 God has come to men. Hallelujah. We sinned and 00:51:28.019 --> 00:51:35.980 God came to us. Amen. We sinned, right? Man sinned 00:51:35.980 --> 00:51:40.679 and God came. God came to man. Do you see why 00:51:40.679 --> 00:51:42.559 I was emphasizing you must go, you must go, you 00:51:42.559 --> 00:51:45.860 must go, you must go? Because God has come. Jesus 00:51:45.860 --> 00:51:54.139 has come. So you must go. God came to man. 1 00:51:54.139 --> 00:52:07.559 Timothy 1 verse 15. 1 Timothy 1 verse 15. This 00:52:07.559 --> 00:52:11.019 is a faithful saying that is unworthy of all 00:52:11.019 --> 00:52:16.760 acceptance. That Christ Jesus did what? Came 00:52:16.760 --> 00:52:20.760 into the world. To do what? To save sinners. 00:52:20.900 --> 00:52:26.360 Christ did what? He came. into the world, which 00:52:26.360 --> 00:52:29.239 means that he existed before the world. He only 00:52:29.239 --> 00:52:33.400 came into the world to save sinners of whom Paul 00:52:33.400 --> 00:52:37.619 says, I am chief of Galatians 4. Christ came 00:52:37.619 --> 00:52:41.519 into the world. Christ came to us. He came into 00:52:41.519 --> 00:52:51.639 humanity because of sin. Galatians 4. Galatians 00:52:51.639 --> 00:52:59.690 4. The Christmas message is about forgiveness 00:52:59.690 --> 00:53:03.030 and it's about reconciliation. But when the fullness 00:53:03.030 --> 00:53:07.190 of time had come, what did God do? God sent forth 00:53:07.190 --> 00:53:12.409 his son, born of a woman. Is this Christmas? 00:53:13.389 --> 00:53:19.510 Born under the law. Right? To do what? To redeem 00:53:19.510 --> 00:53:23.889 those who were under the law that we might receive. 00:53:24.769 --> 00:53:28.289 The adoptions as sons, to be reconciled and be 00:53:28.289 --> 00:53:30.909 brought into union with him, to become family 00:53:30.909 --> 00:53:41.670 with him. That is why we have Christmas. God 00:53:41.670 --> 00:53:46.789 came and died for us. Even when we were in sin, 00:53:47.030 --> 00:53:53.360 which means that we were... We didn't merit God 00:53:53.360 --> 00:53:55.940 coming to die for us. We were not good before 00:53:55.940 --> 00:54:00.179 he came. Hallelujah. Which means that if your 00:54:00.179 --> 00:54:03.420 brother sins against you, he doesn't have to 00:54:03.420 --> 00:54:05.860 have, he doesn't have to deserve your forgiveness 00:54:05.860 --> 00:54:12.280 before you forgive. Which means that even your 00:54:12.280 --> 00:54:15.820 dad that has abused and misused and abused you, 00:54:16.590 --> 00:54:18.949 He doesn't have to deserve your forgiveness because 00:54:18.949 --> 00:54:22.550 you yourself, while you are yet in sin. Romans 00:54:22.550 --> 00:54:31.050 5 verse 8. Romans 5 verse 8. Romans 5 verse 8. 00:54:31.090 --> 00:54:34.449 It says, but God, what did he do? He demonstrates 00:54:34.449 --> 00:54:40.670 his own love towards us in that while we were 00:54:40.670 --> 00:54:46.179 still sinners. Christ. He did die in heaven. 00:54:47.440 --> 00:54:50.440 Where did he die? On the earth. Which means he 00:54:50.440 --> 00:54:53.880 came to us. He died to fix the issue of our relationship 00:54:53.880 --> 00:54:57.000 with God. Even while we were still in rebellion. 00:54:57.420 --> 00:54:59.280 Even when we didn't even know that there is an 00:54:59.280 --> 00:55:05.940 offense. Even when we were in ignorance. I wanted 00:55:05.940 --> 00:55:11.320 to use the word ignoramus. We were undeserving 00:55:11.320 --> 00:55:15.389 of his love. Nevertheless. Who initiated the 00:55:15.389 --> 00:55:18.510 coming? Did you pray before God came and died 00:55:18.510 --> 00:55:21.550 for our sins? Did anybody pray that God will 00:55:21.550 --> 00:55:23.570 understand the condition of man before Jesus 00:55:23.570 --> 00:55:27.949 came? The birth of Jesus, was it a prayer who 00:55:27.949 --> 00:55:31.590 brought it about? Were they sort of prophets 00:55:31.590 --> 00:55:34.610 that were praying to enforce, to make the hand 00:55:34.610 --> 00:55:38.829 of God to move, to come and save humanity? It 00:55:38.829 --> 00:55:43.510 is God all by himself initiating the forgiveness. 00:55:44.349 --> 00:55:48.750 It is God all by himself initiating our reconciliation 00:55:48.750 --> 00:55:52.050 to him. So John chapter 3 verse 16 will say, 00:55:52.190 --> 00:55:57.269 God loves what? Everybody. God loves the entire 00:55:57.269 --> 00:56:03.389 world, including sinners. The love of God is 00:56:03.389 --> 00:56:05.530 all that is compassionate to even those who are 00:56:05.530 --> 00:56:09.869 not deserving of his love. You are not deserving 00:56:09.869 --> 00:56:15.269 of his love, yet he died for you. Hallelujah. 00:56:16.070 --> 00:56:20.070 So collectively, we are partakers of the unconditional 00:56:20.070 --> 00:56:23.690 love of God. We are partakers of the forgiveness 00:56:23.690 --> 00:56:27.570 and the reconciliation of God. Therefore, it 00:56:27.570 --> 00:56:31.309 becomes an instruction. It becomes a command 00:56:31.309 --> 00:56:34.769 that you, when your brother sees against you, 00:56:34.789 --> 00:56:41.309 what do you do? You go to him. And what do you 00:56:41.309 --> 00:56:46.320 do? You reconcile the matter. Because the goal 00:56:46.320 --> 00:56:52.980 of God was to gain us. Alright? So, if you look 00:56:52.980 --> 00:56:56.179 at it, he didn't think of his godliness, as the 00:56:56.179 --> 00:57:00.219 scripture would say. He didn't think of his status 00:57:00.219 --> 00:57:03.800 as something so precious for him. He didn't think 00:57:03.800 --> 00:57:08.699 of his purity and holiness as something to withhold 00:57:08.699 --> 00:57:12.019 to himself. But he came down in the form of a 00:57:12.019 --> 00:57:15.929 man like us, live, in this body like we have, 00:57:16.070 --> 00:57:21.150 limited in space and even knowledge because he 00:57:21.150 --> 00:57:24.730 has to learn the scriptures. He has to eat and 00:57:24.730 --> 00:57:27.570 sleep and do the things we do. He came at our 00:57:27.570 --> 00:57:34.949 level, interacted with us that he may die a very 00:57:34.949 --> 00:57:43.130 shameful death for the redemption of men. So 00:57:43.130 --> 00:57:46.809 what level can you go in order to reconcile with 00:57:46.809 --> 00:57:49.230 your brother or with your sister? To what extent 00:57:49.230 --> 00:57:55.710 have God not gone for us? To what extent can 00:57:55.710 --> 00:57:59.070 you go that will surpass what Christ has done 00:57:59.070 --> 00:58:06.469 for us? Hallelujah. So reconciliation is a must. 00:58:06.989 --> 00:58:11.110 Forgiving and reconciling is a must. And how 00:58:11.110 --> 00:58:13.469 often should we brothers sin against us? That's 00:58:13.469 --> 00:58:14.789 what we're going to look at it from next, from 00:58:14.789 --> 00:58:18.510 on Sunday. I will see Jesus begin to give a parable. 00:58:20.010 --> 00:58:23.789 All right? Jesus gave a parable. Then Peter came 00:58:23.789 --> 00:58:27.469 to him and said, Lord, how often shall my brother 00:58:27.469 --> 00:58:29.769 sin against me and I forgive him? Up to seven 00:58:29.769 --> 00:58:33.230 times. Jesus said to him, I do not say to you 00:58:33.230 --> 00:58:36.650 up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven. 00:58:37.730 --> 00:58:41.469 Therefore, the kingdom of heaven. The family 00:58:41.469 --> 00:58:50.030 that we belong to, right, is as this. A certain 00:58:50.030 --> 00:58:52.690 king who wanted to settle accounts with his servant, 00:58:52.869 --> 00:58:55.550 and when he had begun to settle accounts, once 00:58:55.550 --> 00:58:59.369 one was brought to him who owed him 10 ,000 talents, 00:58:59.630 --> 00:59:02.269 but as he who was not able to pay, his master 00:59:02.269 --> 00:59:05.170 commanded that he be sold with his wife and his 00:59:05.170 --> 00:59:08.429 children and all. that he had and the payment 00:59:08.429 --> 00:59:10.949 he made. Then the servant fell before him and 00:59:10.949 --> 00:59:13.510 said, Master, have patience with me and I will 00:59:13.510 --> 00:59:16.489 pray you all. Then the master of that servant 00:59:16.489 --> 00:59:20.909 was knowing with compassion, release him. This 00:59:20.909 --> 00:59:24.449 releasing is losing. It's what is called the 00:59:24.449 --> 00:59:26.869 binding and the losing. The master released him 00:59:26.869 --> 00:59:30.809 and forgave him his debt. And that is what God 00:59:30.809 --> 00:59:36.320 has done for us. And he expects that we, similarly, 00:59:36.380 --> 00:59:40.719 should be able to do or demonstrate such virtue 00:59:40.719 --> 00:59:44.940 one to another. Especially, especially, specifically, 00:59:45.300 --> 00:59:50.940 those of the household of faith. Now, as we think 00:59:50.940 --> 00:59:54.599 of Christmas, our mind should be set on what 00:59:54.599 --> 00:59:57.860 God has done for us in Christ. And what our conduct 00:59:57.860 --> 01:00:00.599 should be. What our response should be. First 01:00:00.599 --> 01:00:25.340 of all, Force one another. Until next time, stay 01:00:25.340 --> 01:00:25.699 blessed.