I ask that you turn with me this morning to Matthew 18 and 1 Corinthians chapter 5. Matthew 18, as we read together verses 8 through 20 and then 1 Corinthians chapter 5. This morning we finish our consideration of the keys of the kingdom as discussed in Lord's Day 31 of the Heidelberg Catechism. We read together first from Matthew 18 beginning at verse 8. So we hear now the word of God. If your hand or your foot causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life maimed or crippled than to have two hands or two feet and be thrown into eternal fire. And if your eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into the fire of hell. See that you do not look down on one of these little ones. For I tell you that their angels in heaven always see the face of my Father in heaven. What do you think? If a man owns a hundred sheep and one of them wanders away, will he not leave the ninety-nine on the hills and go to look for the one that wandered off? And if he finds that, I tell you the truth, he is happier about that one sheep than about the ninety-nine that did not wander off. In the same way, your Father in heaven is not willing that any of these little ones should be lost. If your brother sins against you, go and show him his fall just between the two of you. If he listens to you, you have won your brother over. But if he will not listen, take one or two others along so that every matter may be established by the testimony 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, treat him as you would a pagan or a tax collector. I tell you the truth, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. Again, I tell you that If two of you on earth agree about anything you ask for, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven. For where two or three come together in my name, there I am with them. Then turning over to 1 Corinthians chapter 5. 1 Corinthians chapter 5. It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you and of a kind that does not occur even among pagans. The man has his father's wife, and you are proud. Shouldn't you rather have been filled with grief and have put out of your fellowship the man who did this? Even though I am not physically present, I am with you in spirit, and I have already passed judgment on the one who did this, just as if I were present. When you are assembled in the name of our Lord Jesus, and I am with you in spirit, and the power of our Lord Jesus is present, hand this man over to Satan so that the sinful nature may be destroyed, and his spirit saved on the day of the Lord. Your boasting is not good. Don't you know that a little yeast works through the whole batch of dough? Get rid of the old yeast, that you may be a new batch without yeast as you really are. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. Therefore, let us keep the festival not with the old yeast, the yeast of malice and wickedness, but with bread without yeast, the bread of sincerity and truth. I have written you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people, not at all meaning the people of this world who are immoral or the greedy and swindlers or idolaters. In that case, you would have to leave this world. But now I am writing you that you must not associate with anyone who calls himself a brother, but is sexually immoral or greedy, an idolater or a slanderer, a drunkard or a swindler. With such a man do not even eat. What business is it of mine to judge those outside of the church? Are you not to judge those inside? God will judge those outside. Expel the wicked man from among you. And if you would also turn in the back of Psalter Hymnal to Lord's Day 31, especially question and answer 85 on page 43. We have considered the key of gospel preaching. And this morning, the key of Christian or church discipline. Question and answer 85 as we confess together what we believe as we find it recorded here. Question 85. How is the kingdom of heaven closed and opened by Christian discipline? According to the command of Christ, if anyone, though called a Christian, professes unchristian teachings or lives an unchristian life, If after repeated brotherly counsel, he refuses to abandon his errors and wickedness, and if after being reported to the church, that is, to its officers, he fails to respond also to their admonition, such a one the officers exclude from the Christian fellowship by withholding the sacraments from him. And God himself excludes him from the kingdom of Christ. Such a person, when he promises and demonstrates genuine reform, is received again as a member of Christ and of His church. Beloved congregation of our Lord Jesus Christ, as we now this morning again continue what we began to consider last week, that is, the truth that the church is called to use Christ's kingdom keys, We now move from the key of preaching of the Holy Gospel, that key which opens the door to the kingdom by promising forgiveness for all sins for Jesus' sake to all those who repent and believe, and as well a key that closes, shuts the door by reminding that the anger and the eternal condemnation of God continue to rest on those who don't repent and believe. And we now move to the key of Christian discipline or excommunication out of the church. And church discipline also deals with the very same door to the kingdom of heaven. And this morning as we consider together the function of church discipline, we learn that this key is to be used by the church, not simply to sit on the shelf as it were, but it is to be used by the church with the power and the authority of Almighty God Himself. With the faithful use of this key, the church also declares, as with preaching, what God Himself says regarding those who repent and those who do not repent. Now we need to consider, first of all, the idea of discipline all by itself because the truth is the very idea of discipline scares many. The very word brings with it negative ideas and maybe even bad or painful memories. Boys and girls, I would imagine that when you think of discipline, you might think of the spanking that you received for hitting one of your brothers or sisters. Or maybe the grounding that you received for disobeying or talking back to your parents. Or whatever unpleasant punishment you may have received for doing something wrong. One of my memories is the leather belt my dad had about that big. It was in the closet, which I received a few times, but I know that I deserved it. But discipline, you see, does not always mean punishment in that way. It can also mean and does mean training or developing or molding by instruction and the exercise of self-control. Now, boys and girls, your parents teach you how to be disciplined in your life. We need to be disciplined with regard to what we eat and with regard to our work habits and with our time. And when we are disciplined with regard to these things, then we eat only that which is good for our body. And we work diligently as unto the Lord. and we don't waste our time knowing that even our time, every minute belongs to the Lord, and every minute we waste. We cannot get that time back. As well, for example, one who is disciplined in devotions is one who spends time with the Lord in His Word and in prayer on a regular basis. Discipline means to enforce order. And therefore, there are laws in the home. There are laws in the school. There are laws in the country. And I trust that we all know, even you boys and girls, you know that without these kinds of discipline, no society or no home can be kept in proper condition. And the same is true in the church where God's Word commands in 1 Corinthians 14, verse 40, let all things be done decently and in order. Discipline, you see, holds the body of Christ together in common faith. It protects the church of Christ. And it's clear that without discipline, there would be only chaos with everybody doing what is right in his own eyes, with no standard of truth and no standard of right or wrong. And that's why all discipline, whether it be for punishment, or for training or molding, or for good order, all discipline is only effective when it is governed and carried out according to the Word of God. And this means that at least for the believer, the key of preaching of the Holy Gospel is also discipline over every area of our lives. Every sermon you see that we hear is meant to discipline us with encouragement, or correction, or admonition, or comfort, or whatever else might be needed. With regard to this, John Calvin in his Institutes of the Christian Religion says, Therefore, discipline is like a bridle to restrain and tame those who rage against the doctrine of Christ, or like a spur to arouse those of little inclination, and also sometimes like a father's rod to chastise mildly and with the gentleness of Christ's spirit those who have more seriously lapsed. Now, in the church, as in life, there are different forms of discipline. There is self-discipline, there is mutual discipline, and again, there is official church discipline. And Scripture speaks to each one of these. We read about self-discipline in Matthew 18. It says if your hand or your foot or your eye causes you to stumble, get rid of them. And Paul says in 2 Corinthians 13, verse 5, Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith. Examine yourselves. That's the kind of self-discipline, again, that we have been called upon to engage in this morning as we look forward to coming together around the Lord's table. Test yourselves. That's our specific job this week. Test ourselves to see if we are in the faith. We are called to exercise discipline and care over ourselves. But Matthew 18 also directs our attention to mutual discipline. We are called as Christians to care for each other, even if that means admonishing and rebuking one another in love. Notice again verses 15 and 16 of Matthew 18. If your brother sins against you, go and show him his fault just between the two of you. If he listens to you, you have won your brother over. But if he will not listen, take one or two others along so that every matter may be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses. And Paul also instructs us in Philippians 2, verse 4, Do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others. The goal of mutual discipline is to be for the spiritual and the eternal well-being of the other. And then there is also the official discipline of the church, carried out by the ruling body of the church, which is called to lead the flock. Now, beloved, contrary to popular opinion, which says that discipline is terrible and bad, contrary to that, all forms of discipline are meant for good. Discipline is meant for the well-being of society or the well-being of the individual or the well-being of the church. Even as Hebrews 12 says that God's discipline of His children is a good thing. Verses 5 and 6 tell us, My son, do not despise the chastening of the Lord, nor be discouraged when you are rebuked by Him for whom the Lord loves, He chastens and scourges every son whom He receives. Now that doesn't make sense to the world. Whom the Lord loves, He chastens. Yet, beloved, that these are some of the greatest words we could ever hear. Because God's goal for you and me is to lead us on His path. And I trust that we can all understand the good to be gained from an orderly society or from a disciplined life. But the same is true with official church discipline, which mostly deals with unbelievers and the kingdom of heaven. That's the focus of this question and answer. And what are the goals or the purposes of official church discipline? We can consider three, to summarize, I believe, that have been considered throughout history. The first one, first goal, that God's honor would be defended against those who would seek to dishonor Him by claiming the name Christian, although they reject Him through their doctrine and life. In other words, that God's honor be defended against hypocrites in the church. The second goal, that God's people, true believers, would not be corrupted by unbelievers. In other words, again, the second goal for the well-being and the purity of the church. And then the third goal, that these unbelievers would be overcome by their sin and their misery and their shame and be brought to repentance by the grace of God. The power and the authority of the key of church discipline, possibly leading to excommunication out of the Christian church, is directed especially at those for whom the key of preaching has not been effective unto repentance. For those who do not truly believe or do not truly repent, they must be acted against with discipline for the three reasons that we just mentioned. Again, this is talking about those in the visible church. That's the focus of the catechism. That's Paul's focus in 1 Corinthians 5. That's the focus of Matthew 18. We know that the Word of God, the Holy Gospel, is to be preached, but it is also to be defended and vindicated against those who reject it. It's true that God will call all people to give an account for what they did with what they heard, young and old. But He begins that already in this life in the context of the church. Listen again. How is the kingdom of heaven closed and opened by Christian discipline? According to the command of Christ, if anyone, though called a Christian, professes unchristian teachings or lives an unchristian life, if after repeated brotherly counsel he refuses to abandon his errors and wickedness, and if after being reported to the church, that is, to its officers, he fails to respond also to their admonition, such a one the officers exclude from the Christian fellowship by withholding the sacraments from him. And God Himself excludes him from the kingdom of Christ. You see, whereas the preaching of the Holy Gospel opens the kingdom to some and shuts the kingdom to others with the wonderful task of opening being first, Christian discipline, somewhat in contrast to that, shuts the kingdom to those who reject the Word of God and then opens the kingdom upon repentance to the same who were previously shut out. The catechism answer, reflecting the teaching of the Bible, clearly tells us who are the objects of church discipline and how this takes place. First, who? Anyone, though called a Christian, who professes unchristian teachings or lives an unchristian life. Now we know that as Proverbs says, out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks. Yes, there are hypocrites who claim to be Christians and even act like Christians, but who do not truly believe. And the church cannot do much about the hidden sin of the heart. And that's why we are called to self-examination. We are not called to examine each other in order to come to the Lord's table, but to examine our self. To see if indeed we can say, Yes, I seek my salvation apart from myself. Only in the Lord Jesus Christ. But those who visibly and continually live inconsistently with the Christian name that they claim they give evidence of hearts filled with unbelief. And these are the objects of church discipline unto excommunication. This isn't talking about believers who occasionally fall into sin, even gross sin for a time. Indeed, there's discipline that is to take place in those situations. But this, what we are talking about here, is talking about those who willfully cling to their sin, maintaining, enjoying, and promoting that way of life, It's no secret that often believers who fall into sin are criticized instead of prayed for. And that's a shame. Heads shake at them. Fingers are wagged at them. Yet those who shake their heads and wag their fingers instead of bowing their heads in prayer for them are themselves worse sinners who live an unchristian life by their actions while claiming to be Christian. They gossip and they backbite under the disguise of Christian concern. Now I believe we need to make a distinction here between official church discipline that is not unto excommunication and official church discipline that is unto excommunication. The key of the kingdom is speaking about that which is unto excommunication when the door of the kingdom is shut and then the Lord willing opened. But those who fall into sin and are crushed by sorrow and repent, they are not the objects of church discipline unto excommunication. Now we can distinguish between public and private sins and each must be dealt with accordingly, but Matthew 18 gives the church and Christians direction, very clear direction, with regard to dealing with the sin of others. And this passage continually reminds us, continually reminds us something that I think we often forget, And that is that the ultimate goal with regard to the sinner is always sorrow and repentance. Always. And it's always forgiveness and restoration. Not execution, but reconciliation. Not to destroy, but to save. That's always the goal. But this discipline does not necessarily begin with the official ruling body of the church, the elders. It's not necessarily official right off the bat. It begins with mutual discipline, which must be practiced in the church. And actually, before that comes self-discipline, because only one who exercises self-discipline can and must admonish others. The catechism speaks of repeated brotherly counsel, or as we could say, admonitions. Again, verse 15 of Matthew 18, If your brother sins against you, go and show him his fault just between the two of you. If he listens to you, you have won your brother over. Notice, if he repents, it goes no further than between the admonisher and the admonished. It doesn't get published on the, did you hear about so and so hotline. If he doesn't listen the first time, then witnesses must get involved to confirm the fact. Verse 17 begins, if he refuses to listen to them. If. That's a big word here in this context. But if he doesn't refuse, but repents, it goes no further. And we must not ignore the fact, as we often do, that Christians are given the duty by God that if we know something about a brother or sister that is sinful and offensive, we must speak to them privately, not to someone else about them. but to them privately, then with a witness or two if necessary. We may not. We are not allowed to turn our backs on them and say, it's not my problem. Because our Lord expects us to have enough love and concern for our brother that we will go directly to him and secretly to him. Because our goal again is reformation, not defamation. Christians are not to be isolated, insulated, and indifferent people with regard to each other. But we are to care about the needs of our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ. Yet the flip side of this is that it also means that each one of us as Christians must be willing to be disciplined if necessary, knowing that that is also for our good and for our well-being and our salvation. Each one of us will have to give an account to God with regard to how we cared for His church. Yet there's more. If the fallen sinner will not listen to the two or three witnesses, then the offense must be made known to the church, meaning the office bearers first. And this reporting to the church, beloved, is not to be seen as betrayal, but love, and that the desire is still there for the salvation of that person. Now, boys and girls, even in school, if you see someone cheating, even though it's not the popular thing to do, you must go talk to that person. If that person will not listen and change their ways, you must take another couple of friends with you and go talk to that person. And if that person will still not listen, as hard as it may be and as unpopular as it may be, you must go to the proper authorities for the one who's cheating for that person's well-being. Here again, verse 17 says, if he refuses to listen even to the church, but if he doesn't refuse, but repents, it goes no further. Yet for those who with hard hearts refuse to repent, the steps toward excommunication, putting outside of the fellowship, begin. And this is where the key of discipline shuts or opens the kingdom of heaven. Of course, we all know that that's a sad, sad day in the life of the church when that must take place. But the fact remains that sometimes it must take place. The Catechism says, by withholding according to the command of Christ, the sacraments, that's the beginning of that exclusion. The sacraments, along with the preaching of the Word of God, remember, are what we call the means of grace given by Christ to strengthen the faith of His people. And therefore, they are only to be used in and participated in within the context of true saving faith. And the administration of the sacraments, which themselves points to the saving sacrifice of Jesus Christ, signifies the life of the congregation through Jesus Christ. The sacraments, you see, are the living activities of God's people in community together. When we come together, indeed for worship, but also around the baptismal font and especially around the Lord's table, that's a demonstration that we are living as a people of God. The proper administration of the sacraments along with the preaching of the Word and the faithful exercise of discipline are what we call the marks of the true church. Or maybe we could also say the marks of a living church. Those who maintain unchristian doctrines or practices, even if they partake unbelievingly, they mock and they step on that which they already reject before they even come to the table. Namely, the sacrifice, the saving sacrifice of Jesus Christ. They mock God's plan of salvation and they dishonor him by their empty and vain use of the sacraments because they are spiritually dead. As someone said recently, they toast their own eternal death sentence. How right that is. Because the table of the Lord speaks of the believer's salvation, but it speaks of the damnation of those who do not repent. and by coming in an unbelieving manner, they toast their own eternal death sentence. And therefore, they must be forbidden to partake. But all forms of censure and all forms of discipline must be exercised with patience and much prayer. But when nothing else works, then exclusion must take place. Again, this is for the glory of God. And it is for the well-being of His church and true believers. Listen to what Scripture has to say. 2 John 10 and 11 says, If anyone comes to you and does not bring, and he's talking about the doctrine of Christ, do not receive him into your house, nor greet him, for he who greets him shares in his evil deed. In other words, do not have intimate fellowship with this one. We see this all around us as we receive a knock at the door and there are those who are trying to bring a different doctrine than the doctrine of Jesus Christ. That doesn't mean that we are not to dialogue with them and try to convince them of the right way. But we are not to have intimate fellowship with them. 2 Thessalonians 3 verse 14 says, And if anyone does not obey our word in this epistle, note that person and do not keep company with him that he may be ashamed. Why the instruction to keep a distance between believers and unbelievers? Paul says in 1 Corinthians 5 or 6, Don't you know that a little yeast works through the whole batch of dough? Or as some of us may know it better, a little leaven leavens the whole lump of dough? The unrepentant unbeliever must be put out for the protection of believers. Notice Paul says in verse 5 of 1 Corinthians 5, Hand this man over to Satan so that the sinful nature may be destroyed. And this is talking about outside of the kingdom because Satan is outside. He's not inside. Only Christ is inside. Beloved, by His offense, you see, by His offense, the impenitent separates himself from the Christian church and the visible church is called to exclude him from fellowship with God's people. And that's because God Himself does this. Excommunication is done externally and visibly by the church, but internally and invisibly by God Himself. And the church defines that the offender is still bound to his sin, thereby ratifying that which God has determined with regard to those who refuse to repent and believe. God says, you have no place here. To such as these, you see, not because of the severity of their sin, Otherwise, we'd all be excluded forever. Not because of the severity of their sin, but because of their impenitence. The kingdom of heaven is shut. But, just like the key of preaching, the key of church discipline is made with the gold of love. So long as it is still the day of grace, there is hope. The catechism says, such a person, when he promises and demonstrates genuine reform, is received again as a member of Christ and of His church. Until Jesus Christ comes again. God's promise is sure, and that is that whoever calls in the name of the Lord shall be saved. Remember, the goal is always correction. It is always restoration. The same is true in our families, isn't it? When parents punish their children for doing something wrong, boys and girls, that punishment is meant to teach you that sin has consequences. It's meant to teach you that when you do something wrong, it's going to hurt. As well, it is meant to lead you to do what is right. And we know that sometimes only when one has denied something, only when they lose something they have, only then will they learn to appreciate it. For example, some don't appreciate freedom until that freedom is taken away from them. But at times, by the grace of God, those who have been excluded from the life of the church are brought through the regenerating and converting power of the Holy Spirit. They are brought to understand the life of Christ. And they are given a desire to be united with His body. With regard to delivering one to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, Paul adds, and His Spirit may be saved on the day of the Lord. The goal is that one learns his lesson and is brought to repentance and faith. Because, beloved, the highest triumph of the key of discipline is when it is used to open the kingdom to those to whom it had been previously shut. To one who has embraced the precious promise of the gospel. But notice an important point. The promise of repentance and faith and the demonstration of repentance and faith or reform, as the catechism says, must go together. Just as one is excluded, as the catechism says, for professing unchristian teachings or living an unchristian life in the same way. One is to be admitted when a Christian confession and a demonstration of that Christian confession in life go together. Believers are called to live new lives in Christ Jesus, lives in which there is no room for the old man. You see, the conversion of a sinner is a true reason for celebration. Just as the angels, as Scripture says, rejoice over one sinner who repents more than over many who need no repentance. In the same way, the church is to rejoice greatly when the mercy and grace of God is applied to the life of a sinner, to another sinner by the grace, by the power of the Holy Spirit. You see, beloved, if we truly understand and appreciate the eternal damnation that each and every one of us has been delivered from by the grace of God, if we truly understand that and appreciate that, then we cannot not help, but to celebrate. In fact, we will celebrate when another has that comfort and joy. One of the greatest times in a church is when some come and profess their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, and especially maybe one to whom the kingdom door had been shut by way of discipline and excommunication. And when that one is restored, a reason to celebrate. Another has been rescued from the clutches of hell. And then we too as a congregation celebrate. It's a celebration as we come together around the Lord's table. Beloved, Christ has given the church the key of discipline to be used to show the serious truth that God does not accept sin and unbelief. Again, the table proves that. And that's why as with the key of preaching, this key is intimately tied to the shed blood of Jesus on Calvary's cross. Discipline along with preaching is how God protects and preserves His church, purging her of unbelievers and giving believers the assurance that indeed the gates of hell shall not prevail against her. Yet until Christ comes again, the goal is always restoration. Why have believers been restored? Because Jesus Christ, the One who is to be believed by grace through faith, suffered and endured the wrath and punishment of God on account of our sins, He was banished from the kingdom and the presence of God. The door was shut to Him as He hung on the cross. And because of His work, His completed, His perfect work, He secured a place in His kingdom on the inside of the door for all those who would believe on Him. But those who reject Him, who are excluded from the Christian church in this life, are excluded from the kingdom of Christ for eternity by God Himself. You see, the kingdom of heaven is not a resort where we choose to vacation. It is the believer's eternal home where one can only enter through the door, washed in the blood of Jesus and clothed with righteousness, His righteousness by faith. You see, it's a place of exclusive membership identified by the passport of grace through faith in the saving sacrifice of the great Savior, Jesus Christ. Once again, especially in light of our call to self-examination that come to the Lord's table, it must be asked, on which side of the door are you? Amen. Shall we pray? Father, indeed, we thank you for your discipline of us, even when it may not seem so pleasant for a time. For we know, O Lord, that you have only our best interest in mind. And we may confess that all things work together for good to those who love you, for those who are called according to your purpose. We pray, too, that we might be faithful in exercising self-discipline, mutual discipline, and official church discipline. Father, these things aren't easy. But may our motives always be right and true. May our motives always be, whether it be for another or for ourself, restoration, repentance, reconciliation, to be delivered from hell by the hand of God. We thank you for the discipline of your word, for the discipline of your preached word. We pray that you will continue to teach us and instruct us, O Lord, apart from which we can only stumble and fall. In the name of Jesus Christ, we pray all of these things. Amen. Thank you.