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Matthew 18
By Skip Heitzig
Matthew 18

How should sin be dealt with? As we examine Matthew 18, we learn not only to deal radically with sin in our own lives, but also the steps toward reconciliation with a sinning brother.

From the teaching series 40 Matthew - 2011

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Matthew 18 (NKJV™)
1	At that time the disciples came to Jesus, saying, "Who then is greatest in the kingdom of heaven?"
2	Then Jesus called a little child to Him, set him in the midst of them,
3	and said, "Assuredly, I say to you, unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven.
4	"Therefore whoever humbles himself as this little child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.
5	"Whoever receives one little child like this in My name receives Me.
6	"But whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to sin, it would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck, and he were drowned in the depth of the sea.
7	"Woe to the world because of offenses! For offenses must come, but woe to that man by whom the offense comes!
8	"If your hand or foot causes you to sin, cut it off and cast it from you. It is better for you to enter into life lame or maimed, rather than having two hands or two feet, to be cast into the everlasting fire.
9	"And if your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out and cast it from you. It is better for you to enter into life with one eye, rather than having two eyes, to be cast into hell fire.
10	"Take heed that you do not despise one of these little ones, for I say to you that in heaven their angels always see the face of My Father who is in heaven.
11	"For the Son of Man has come to save that which was lost.
12	"What do you think? If a man has a hundred sheep, and one of them goes astray, does he not leave the ninety-nine and go to the mountains to seek the one that is straying?
13	"And if he should find it, assuredly, I say to you, he rejoices more over that sheep than over the ninety-nine that did not go astray.
14	"Even so it is not the will of your Father who is in heaven that one of these little ones should perish.
15	"Moreover if your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault between you and him alone. If he hears you, you have gained your brother.
16	"But if he will not hear, take with you one or two more, that 'by the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established.'
17	"And if he refuses to hear them, tell it to the church. But if he refuses even to hear the church, let him be to you like a heathen and a tax collector.
18	"Assuredly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.
19	"Again I say to you that if two of you agree on earth concerning anything that they ask, it will be done for them by My Father in heaven.
20	"For where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them."
21	Then Peter came to Him and said, "Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? Up to seven times?"
22	Jesus said to him, "I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven.
23	"Therefore the kingdom of heaven is like a certain king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants.
24	"And when he had begun to settle accounts, one was brought to him who owed him ten thousand talents.
25	"But as he was not able to pay, his master commanded that he be sold, with his wife and children and all that he had, and that payment be made.
26	"The servant therefore fell down before him, saying, 'Master, have patience with me, and I will pay you all.'
27	"Then the master of that servant was moved with compassion, released him, and forgave him the debt.
28	"But that servant went out and found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii; and he laid hands on him and took him by the throat, saying, 'Pay me what you owe!'
29	"So his fellow servant fell down at his feet and begged him, saying, 'Have patience with me, and I will pay you all.'
30	"And he would not, but went and threw him into prison till he should pay the debt.
31	"So when his fellow servants saw what had been done, they were very grieved, and came and told their master all that had been done.
32	"Then his master, after he had called him, said to him, 'You wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt because you begged me.
33	'Should you not also have had compassion on your fellow servant, just as I had pity on you?'
34	"And his master was angry, and delivered him to the torturers until he should pay all that was due to him.
35	"So My heavenly Father also will do to you if each of you, from his heart, does not forgive his brother his trespasses."

New King James Version®, Copyright © 1982, Thomas Nelson, Inc. All rights reserved.

<p><strong>Matthew 18 - Matthew 18</strong><br /> From the series: 40 Matthew - 2011<br /> <em>By Skip Heitzig </em><p></p> <p><strong>MESSAGE SUMMARY</strong></p> <p>How should sin be dealt with? As we examine Matthew 18, we learn not only to deal radically with sin in our own lives, but also the steps toward reconciliation with a sinning brother. </p> <p><strong>DETAILED NOTES </strong></p> <p><ol type="I"><li>Introduction <ol type="A"> <li>"I am convinced that nine out of every ten persons seeing a psychiatrist do not need one. They need someone who will love them with God's love...and they will get well."—Paul Tournier </li> <li>Interpersonal relationships in the Kingdom of God</li> <li>Matthey 18 is the fourth of 5 discourses in Matthew <ol> <li>Themes: Childlikeness and forgiveness</li> <li>Developing capacity to understand God's love for us so we can responsibly share God's love with people</li> </ol> </li> </ol></li><li>Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven? <ol type="A"> <li>Disciples thinking politically <ol> <li>Expected Jesus to set up the earthly kingdom immediately</li> <li>Didn't understand when Jesus spoke of His own death</li> </ol> </li> <li>Argued over their pecking order <ol> <li>Transfiguration before Peter, James, and John</li> <li>The ones left out may have confronted, gossiped </li> <li>James' and John's mother: "Grant that these two sons of mine may sit, one on Your right hand and the other on the left, in Your kingdom." (<span class='verse'>Matthew 20:21</span>)</li> <li>Upper room before crucifixion arguing</li> </ol> </li> <li>Become as little children <ol> <li>Ἀμὴν; Amēn–Assuredly;</li> <li>παιδίον; paidion–a very young child</li> <li>Characteristics <ol type="a"> <li>Simple; not complex (no subtext)</li> <li>Helpless; no resources of their own</li> <li>Not worried about things</li> <li>Dependent </li> </ol> </li> <li>What Jesus means: To get into the kingdom, you must be as dependent as a helpless, innocent little child as they depend on their parents</li> <li>A spiritual child of God: a believer</li> <li>As we love those who treat our children well, God feels the same way (i.e., when we honor His children, we honor Him)</li> </ol> </li> <li>Σκανδαλίζω ; skandalizó–cause to sin, cause to fall, entrap, entice, influence to sin <ol> <li>Cause one to be shaken in faith or lose faith</li> <li>Millstone around neck, thrown into sea <ol type="a"> <li>Roman type of execution</li> <li>A donkey's upper millstone <ol type="i"> <li>Donkey pulled to crush nuts or grain</li> <li>Weighted hundreds of pounds</li> </ol> </li> <li>"He who touches you touches the apple of His eye." (<span class='verse'>Zechariah 2:8</span>) <ol type="i"> <li>Mess with Me, like poking Me in the eye</li> <li>Saul of Tarsus on the road to Damascus: "Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?" (<span class='verse'>Acts 9:4</span>)</li> </ol> </li> </ol> </li> <li>Biblical examples of those who caused others to stumble <ol type="a"> <li>Eve enticed Adam to sin</li> <li>Aaron consented to construct the golden calf to be worshiped falsely</li> <li>Jeroboam enticed Israel to fall into idolatry</li> </ol> </li> </ol> </li> </ol></li><li>Cut it off and cast it from you <ol type="A"> <li>Shock is the intended effect <ol> <li>Sin in your life is more gross</li> <li>Allowing sin to grow in your life is worse</li> </ol> </li> <li>Right eye and right hand represent the best <ol> <li>Arm of strength</li> <li>Dominant eye</li> <li>Strong leg or foot</li> <li>Do your best to spend your best for the right things</li> </ol> </li> <li>Deal radically with sin <ol> <li>Take lightly: "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." (<span class='verse'>1 John 1:9</span>)</li> <li>Like Paul the apostle: "Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may obtain it. And everyone who competes for the prize is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a perishable crown, but we for an imperishable crown. Therefore I run thus: not with uncertainty. Thus I fight: not as one who beats the air. But I discipline my body and bring it into subjection, lest, when I have preached to others, I myself should become disqualified." (1 Corinthians 9:24-27) <ol type="a"> <li>Fight your own impulses</li> <li>Freedom in teaching God's truth</li> <li>Deal with issues in own life</li> </ol> </li> <li>Joseph ran when Potiphar's wife tried to seduce him</li> <li>"Flee also youthful lusts" (<span class='verse'>2 Timothy 2:22</span>)</li> <li>Losing any part of your life is better than losing God's work in your life</li> </ol> </li> <li>In heaven their angels always see the face of My Father <ol> <li>God's children are served by angels</li> <li>"Are they not all ministering spirits sent forth to minister for those who will inherit salvation?" (<span class='verse'>Hebrews 1:14</span>)</li> <li>If children of God are served by God's angels, how dare they be attacked by God's people!</li> </ol> </li> </ol></li><li>Shepherd leaves the 99 to find the lost one <ol type="A"> <li>Margin of loss 1% <ol> <li>Run business, expect some loss</li> <li>Cut losses and move on</li> </ol> </li> <li>Shepherds watched someone else's flock <ol> <li>Didn't own the sheep</li> <li>If one ran away, shepherd had to pay for it</li> <li>If eaten, must prove attacked by another animal</li> </ol> </li> <li>Shepherding hard work <ol> <li>Sheep are dumb <ol type="a"> <li>Wander</li> <li>Distracted</li> <li>Running</li> </ol> </li> <li>Required attention</li> <li>"All we like sheep have gone astray; We have turned, every one, to his own way;" (<span class='verse'>Isaiah 53:6</span>) </li> <li>"Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it, prone to leave the God I love" ("Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing" by Robert Robinson </li> </ol> </li> <li>Jesus' emphasis not the stupidity of the sheep, but the restoring by the shepherd <ol> <li>Love for sheep</li> <li>Value of sheep</li> <li>Recovery of sheep</li> <li>You are valuable to God <ol type="a"> <li>Difficult to believe love of God</li> <li>Highly valued by God</li> <li>How dare you depreciate what God values?</li> </ol> </li> <li>The solution for the straying sheep: "And the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all." (<span class='verse'>Isaiah 53:6</span>) </li> <li>The Shepherd became a sheep to find us and restore us to God</li> </ol> </li> </ol></li><li>When you are offended <ol type="A"> <li>Most won't follow the process <ol> <li>Won't deal with it</li> <li>Harbor bitterness</li> <li>Gossip about it</li> </ol> </li> <li>When  believer offends another believer <ol> <li>Go privately <ol type="a"> <li>Directly, to no one else</li> <li>Tell them how they have offended you</li> <li>Not to vent</li> <li>Not to win an argument, but to win the brother; reconciliation</li> <li>If agree, it's over</li> </ol> </li> <li>Get some help: 2 or 3 witnesses <ol type="a"> <li>Approach as a group</li> <li>"One witness shall not rise against a man concerning any iniquity or any sin that he commits; by the mouth of two or three witnesses the matter shall be established. If a false witness rises against any man to testify against him of wrongdoing, then both men in the controversy shall stand before the Lord, before the priests and the judges who serve in those days." (<span class='verse'>Deuteronomy 19:15-17</span>) </li> <li>Handled in the assembly of God's people </li> <li>Not in the courtroom: forbidden in 1 Corinthians 6 </li> </ol> </li> <li>Take before the church <ol type="a"> <li>Leadership that represents the whole</li> <li>For the purpose of restoration</li> <li>"It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and such sexual immorality as is not even named among the Gentiles--that a man has his father's wife! And you are puffed up, and have not rather mourned, that he who has done this deed might be taken away from among you. For I indeed, as absent in body but present in spirit, have already judged (as though I were present) him who has so done this deed. In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, when you are gathered together, along with my spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ, deliver such a one to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus. Your glorying is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump? Therefore purge out the old leaven, that you may be a new lump, since you truly are unleavened. For indeed Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us. Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth." (1 Corinthians 5:1-8)</li> </ol> </li> <li>Treat the accused as an unbeliever <ol type="a"> <li>Treat them as they have acted</li> <li>Love them</li> <li>Expect real repentance</li> <li>No intimacy</li> <li>Anticipated result of restoration</li> <li>See seriousness of sin</li> </ol> </li> </ol> </li> <li>Loose on earth will be loosed in heaven <ol> <li>Link with what precedes: dealing with sin in the assembly</li> <li>Literally: Shall have been bound in heaven</li> <li>Does not give leadership authority of "gospel gestapo"</li> <li>Purpose of reconciliation and restoration</li> </ol> </li> <li>Two or three are gathered in My name <ol> <li>Linked to text above</li> <li>How large must an assembly be before it can bind and loose as described? <ol type="a"> <li>According to the Jews, ten adult males to bind and loose as described</li> <li>Jesus said two or more submitted to the authority of His truth</li> </ol> </li> </ol> </li> <li>Why bother with steps of restoration? Why not just forgive? <ol> <li>The administration of forgiveness in stages (not forgiveness itself)</li> <li>Immediately forgive them in your heart <ol type="a"> <li>"And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, just as God in Christ forgave you." (<span class='verse'>Ephesians 4:32</span>)</li> <li>So that bitterness does not form</li> </ol> </li> <li>Don't publically forgive until offender repents </li> <li>Tell them they are forgiven </li> </ol> </li> <li>How often shall we forgive? <ol> <li>Peter's seven sounds generous <ol type="a"> <li>Rabbis said three</li> <li>Peter doubles and adds one</li> </ol> </li> <li>Seventy times seventy <ol type="a"> <li>Count 490</li> <li>We would lose count</li> <li>Love... keeps record of wrongs (1 Corinthians 13:5 NLT)</li> </ol> </li> <li>Keep forgiving; infinite</li> </ol> </li> <li>King who settled accounts <ol> <li>Ten thousand talents is millions of dollars (entire annual revenue of Galilee was 300 talents) <ol type="a"> <li>We can't pay for our sins</li> <li>"We are all beggars before God."—Martin Luther</li> </ol> </li> <li>Servant has a high estimation of self: he has nothing to pay with</li> <li>Master forgave debt</li> <li>During the process of forgiveness, if you refuse to forgive, you are a hypocrite</li> <li>God is King—all His servants owed a debt that could not be paid</li> <li>We can't be bitter or unloving toward anyone</li> </ol> </li> </ol></li></ol><strong>Hebrew terms</strong>: Ἀμὴν; Amēn–Assuredly<br /> <strong>Greek terms</strong>: παιδίον; paidion–a very young child; Σκανδαλίζω ; skandalizó–cause to sin, cause to fall, entrap, entice, influence to sin<br /> <strong>Figures referenced</strong>: Paul Tournier; Martin Luther<br /> <strong>Publications referenced</strong>: "Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing" by Robert Robinson<br /> <strong>Cross references</strong>: <span class='verse'>Deuteronomy 19:15-17</span>; <span class='verse'>Isaiah 53:6</span>; <span class='verse'>Zechariah 2:8</span>; <span class='verse'>Matthew 20:21</span>; <span class='verse'>Acts 9:4</span>; 1 Corinthians 5:1-8; 1 Corinthians 6; 1 Corinthians 9:24-27; <span class='verse'>1 Corinthians 13:5</span>; <span class='verse'>Ephesians 4:32</span>; <span class='verse'>2 Timothy 2:22</span>; <span class='verse'>Hebrews 1:14</span>; <span class='verse'>1 John 1:9</span></p> <p> </p>

Who We Are:

We pursue the God who is passionately pursuing a lost world; we do this with one another, through worship, by the Word, to the world.

What We Do:

Upreach
We express our adoration of Jesus through dynamic worship and uncompromised obedience.

Inreach
We explain the relevance of the Bible to empower and transform lives for service.

Outreach
We extend hope to a hurting world by proclaiming the gospel and demonstrating Christ's love.

Our Beliefs

We Believe that there is one living and true GOD, eternally existing in three persons: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, equal in power and glory; this triune God created all, upholds all, and governs all.

We Believe that the scriptures of the Old and New Testaments are the Word of God, fully inspired, without error in the original manuscripts, and the infallible rule of faith and practice.

We Believe in God the Father, an infinite, personal Spirit, perfect in Holiness, wisdom, power, and love; that He concerns Himself mercifully in the affairs of men; that He hears and answers prayer; and that He saves from sin and death all who come to Him through faith in Jesus Christ.

We Believe in Jesus Christ, God's only begotten Son, conceived by the Holy Spirit.

We Believe in His virgin birth, sinless life, miracles, and teaching, His substitutionary atoning death, bodily resurrection, ascension into heaven, perpetual intercession for His people, and personal, visible return to earth.

We Believe in the Holy Spirit, who came forth from the Father and Son to convict the world of sin, righteousness, and judgment; and to regenerate, sanctify and empower all that believe in Jesus Christ for ministry.

We Believe that the Holy Spirit indwells every believer in Jesus Christ and that He is an abiding Helper, Teacher, and Guide.

We Believe in the present ministry of the Holy Spirit and in the exercise of all the Biblical gifts of the Holy Spirit.

We Believe that all people are sinners by nature and choice and, therefore, are under condemnation; that God regenerates by the Holy Spirit, those who repent of their sins and confess Jesus Christ as Lord.

We Believe that Jesus Christ baptizes the seeking believer with the Holy Spirit and empowers the believers for service, often subsequent to regeneration.

We Believe in the universal church, the living spiritual body, of which Christ is the head, and all regenerated persons are members.

We Believe that Jesus committed two ordinances to the church: 1) Baptism and, 2) the Lord's Supper. We believe in baptism by immersion and communion open to all believers.

We Believe also in the laying on of hands for baptism of the Holy Spirit, for ordination of pastors, elders, and deacons, and receiving from the Holy Spirit through the believer the gift of healing.

We Believe in the personal, visible return of Christ to the earth and the establishing of His Kingdom, in the resurrection of the body, the final judgment and eternal blessing of the righteous, and the endless suffering of the wicked.

We Believe in what is termed the Apostles Creed as embodying the fundamental facts of Christian faith.

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Matthew 18
By Skip Heitzig
Matthew 18

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From the Series:
40 Matthew - 2011

From its opening genealogy through its careful record of Old Testament prophecies fulfilled, Matthew's gospel forms a bridge between the Old Testament and the New Testament. In this in-depth study by Pastor Skip Heitzig we'll consider Jesus' ancestry, birth, public ministry, death, and resurrection, and we'll gain a clearer understanding of Jesus as both Messiah and King.

Visit expoundabq.org for more information on this series.

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