Greetings and welcome again to   Heritage Reformed Presbyterian Church on this Lord's Day, July   13th, 2025. It's good to be gathered with   you to worship the Lord. Just, I'll repeat some announcements   here. This Tuesday, we plan to have   group at the McKenzie's house. 6 p.m. will be the meal, and   7 p.m. or so will be the study, continuing   through the Book of James, so really, Sinclair Ferguson's book   on the Book of James. And God willing, we'll have a   time of prayer there as well. So that's this Tuesday at the   McKenzie's. And it's been about a month or so, at least, since   we've had groups. So it'll be nice to have that again. We're   also going to, probably next Sunday, the elders will meet   for a session meeting. We'll give you the exact date   if that changes. But we plan on meeting at that   time. And we'll give you a report from that meeting probably the   following Sunday. I believe there's another announcement,   but I can't remember. Is there anything else to say? I don't think it was anything   I announced. Oh, I know what it is. For the second service, I often   forget this, but we do intend to take prayer requests before   the service starts. And so I'd like to do that now,   if there are any. Are there any Requests that you'd   like prayer for. Yeah. I've been having a really   bad headache for the last several days. OK. So if we could lift   her up and pray. Absolutely. Absolutely. Pray for mom? Yeah, my mom, she   had a bit of a health scare, I guess you'd say. But the results   came back good from that. But now she's got a stomach bug   or something, or cold or something. For the MacBurnetts. Anything else? Everybody's doing   well? Okay. All righty. Well, then   we will begin. Prepare for worship now, the   moment of silent prayer and meditation. Brothers and sisters, please   stand to receive God's call to worship taken from Psalm 96.   Give to the Lord, O families of the peoples, courts, who worship   the Lord in the beauty of holiness. Tremble before him, all the earth. Let us grace together. Our soul   waits for the Lord. He is our help and our shield. Beloved, now receive God's greeting.   Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus   Christ. As God has called us and welcomed   us to worship Him again, take your inserts and stand together   as we come to sing our song of adoration, The Son of God Goes   Forth to War. The Son of God goes forth to   war, a gilded crown to gain. His bright red banner streams   afar, who follows in his train? Who best can drink his cup of   wealth, triumphant over pain? Who patiently bears his cross   below, devours in his shame? The martyr first in his evil   eye, Who peers beyond the grave, Who   saw His Master in the sky, And all the angels sing. The Lord came with burning on   His tongue, In midst of mortal pain, He prayed for them that   did them wrong, Who followed in His train. A glorious band, the Josephine,   On whom the Spirit came, The valiant saints, their hope   they knew, And marked the cross and flame. They met the time's   tremendous sin, The lion's glory made. They bound amidst the desert   field, ♪ Whom the fathers did bear trade ♪ ♪ On noble army   men and boys ♪ ♪ The nation ever made ♪ ♪ Our grandest saviors   so rejoiced ♪ ♪ In rolls of rye and grain ♪ Let us come before   the Lord now in prayer. Father, again, as we come into   your presence to praise you, to give you the honor and glory   to your holy name, Lord, we pray for your blessing. We know that   you meet with us every time and as many times as we gather to   worship you. And we thank you for that, Lord. And we pray again   that you give us open hearts and minds to worship you and   to receive your holy word. Lord, we do come confessing our   sins, knowing that we need your saving grace, knowing that it's   only by your grace that we can gather before you and you hear   our prayers as a reconciled father, as we reconcile to you, Lord.   And we thank you for that. We pray for godliness in each   one of our families and homes and hearts, Lord, that we would   serve you and follow you. and seek your kingdom and righteousness.   And Lord, as we've heard some requests made for prayer, we   pray, Lord, for Corinne and the headaches that she's been having   and that you would give relief there and recovery and that they   would not return. Give her endurance as she deals   with the pain there, the trust in you. We pray for others dealing   with ailments, my mother, the MacBurnetts. Again, Lord, we   pray for healing, for better health and for perseverance and   trust in you as we bear up under various difficulties. Lord, it's   a reminder that we are still groaning under the curse, the   fall, and yet we have the great hope of resurrection, eternal   life, and even this life, Lord, you're pleased to give healing   and strength. So God, we pray that you would   grant that to them. Lord, we pray for each need of   the congregation, whether it's repairs in the house or family   matters or work situations, whatever is being faced, Laura, struggling   against sin, that we persevere and grow in you and follow you   and trust in you. And we know that you do give us strength. So let us rely on you and come   before you now to worship you in spirit and in truth. We ask   all this in Jesus name. Amen. Please be seated. Let's now confess our faith together   as God's people. You'll see on the other side   of your board, we have the Heidelberg Catechism, and I'll question   the rest of the Westminster Shorter Catechism. And we're looking   at the Sixth Commandment. And I will read the question,   and please respond aloud with the answer. So Westminster Shorter   Catechism, question 67. Which is the Sixth Commandment? The Sixth Commandment is, Thou   shalt not kill. In the Heidelberg Catechism 105,   what does God require in the Sixth Commandment? I am not to   dishonor, hate, injure, or kill my neighbor by thoughts, words,   or gestures, and much less by deeds, whether personally or   through another. Rather, I am to put away all   desire of revenge. Moreover, I am not to harm or   recklessly endanger myself. Therefore, also, the government   bears the sword to prevent murder. Heidelberg Catechism, Question   106. But does this commandment speak   only of killing? By forbidding murder, God teaches   us that He hates the roots of murder, such as envy, hatred,   anger, and desire of revenge, and that He regards all these   as murder. Then 107. Is it enough, then,   that we do not kill our neighbor in any such way? No, when God   condemns envy, hatred, and anger, he commands us to love our neighbor   as ourselves, to show patience, peace, gentleness, mercy, and   friendliness toward him, to protect him from harm as much as we can,   and to do good even to our enemies. With that in mind, please take   your Bibles and turn to Exodus chapter 20. Exodus 20. And I believe, for   the sake of time, we'll just jump to the very verse that we're   on, the Sixth Amendment, Exodus 20, verse 13. I will ask God   to bless His Word to us once again in prayer. Father, again,   we pray that You would help us to listen to Your Word in the   sea. Lord, it's just four words in our Bible, and yet Your whole   Bible reveals much about the sin of murder, murder in our   heart, and also our duties to not to be killing others in our   hearts and minds, but to be loving them and promoting their life   and well-being. So help us to see that now in your holy word.   We ask this in Jesus' name, amen. Exodus 20, verse 13 simply says,   you shall not murder. Thus far, the reading of God's   holy word, and may you add his blessing to it. So yes, we are   on the sixth commandment, and I've enjoyed preaching through   the first five commandments so far. I pray it's been a benefit   to hear the word of God on these commandments as we've been going   through them. Just as a very brief reminder, we know the first   four commandments show our duties to God. The last six are duties   to our fellow man. I guess it's been a couple of   weeks now that we looked at the fifth commandment to honor our   father and mother, and we talked about how that is not merely   your flesh and blood parents, but any authorities or superiors   over you in any capacity, home, work, church, state, government,   whatever the case may be, and God's blessing that He brings   to that. We also talked about from the beginning that any command   in the Bible that is given will fit in under one or more of the   Ten Commandments. And so, with that in mind, I   think that'll help us understand how much more than the act of   murder falls under the sixth commandment of not murdering.   A wicked disposition of your heart, hatred in your heart towards   your neighbor, towards your brother, whatever the case may be, is   also a disposition of killing or murdering or despising them   in their life and so on. And so in that sense, Every day,   if we're honest, to some degree, in some sense, we are breaking   the sixth commandment. We are sinning against our neighbor   by murdering them in our hearts, in our thoughts, in our words,   in our gestures, in our desire for personal vengeance, in our   covetousness towards them, and so on. Well, of course, all this   God hates and commands us not to do, and we should repent of   such murderous desires and think well of our neighbors, even of   our enemies, and have a certain patience and even a certain kind   of love for them. Now we're going to talk about   what that looks like as we go through here, but that is the   teaching of all of Scripture and the Word of God. And as the   Heidelberg Catechism, the question states and notes there, personal   vengeance is not given to us. The sword of justice and Vengeance   is placed in the hands of the rulers and leaders in the civil   realm, in the government. And there's good reason for that,   and we'll get into that here in just a moment. But before   we do, let me go and give you the sermon theme, which is that   we kill others and fail to preserve life, even by sinful passions   in our hearts and minds. And so here's three things from   that theme that we ought to do. One, we must uphold the lives   and character of ourselves and others in our hearts and actions   so as not to break the Sixth Commandment. Two, we must fight   the root of murder, envy, hatred, anger, and desire for revenge,   again, to not break the Sixth Commandment. And then finally,   we must further learn patience and friendly care for the lives   and well-being of others, even our enemies, again, to keep the   Sixth Commandment. And so, you'll notice in your   bulletin I do have for the Heidelberg Catechism the proof texts, as   they're normally called, for each section of the answer to   the questions. One of the first ones listed   is Leviticus 19.17. So I want to read that to you   and the verses surrounding it, verses 16 through 18, to connect   a few things regarding the Sixth Amendment here. Leviticus 19,   16 through 18 says, you shall not go about as a tailbearer   among your people, nor shall you take a stand against the   life of your neighbor. I'm the Lord. You shall not hate   your brother in your heart. You shall surely rebuke your   neighbor and not bear sin because of him. You shall not take a   vengeance nor bear any grudge against the children of your   people. You shall love your neighbor as yourself. I am The Lord. Well, there's several things   that I want to note there for us. One, there's at least a connection,   at minimum by the proximity of the two verses together, but   there's certainly a logical connection between tailbearing or gossiping   or slandering or lying about others. with hating them in your   heart. Now, not everybody who's tailbearing   or saying an untruth towards someone else is doing it with   malice. It could be misunderstanding. It could be they're being just   forgetful about the need to not reveal a secret or whatever the   case may be. However, generally speaking, when people are going   around and speaking ill of somebody else, without going to them,   without talking and addressing them, it is the sin of tailbearing. It could be bearing even false   witness. But it certainly shows a hatred   or animosity of that person in your heart, because you're not   going to them to address their fault, or at least their perceived   fault. You're not addressing the sin with them. And to spread   the sin around of what somebody is doing, is to show a hatred   toward that person rather than address them directly. Now I'll   go ahead and give the caveat, certainly, of public sin. If   somebody's down on Main Street running around naked or something   like that, you don't have to try to privately take them aside.   Hey, you need to put some clothes on, right? Or something like   that. There's public sins that are just out in the open that   doesn't require a private admonition. But a lot of times, the sin is   not like that. Even sometimes if it's committed where others   see it, perhaps. It's something that should be addressed, in   some ways at least, privately, if possible, first. So we can   think of the Matthew 18 process. If your brother sinned against   you, go to him and tell him your fault. If he repents, you've   gained your brother. If not, you take two or three   with you. If not, you tell it to the church, to the elders,   to the leaders in the church. If they still don't repent, then   basically it's known to the whole church. And the person, if they   persist in that, is treated as an unbeliever, is suspended or   even excommunicated from the Lord's Supper. We were told to   treat them like a tax collector, which is not a good thing, right?   To be like anathema, essentially. So certainly there is a process   to that to be followed. But something I want to point   out and focus on for us, because I think everybody, every Christian   today, all of us need to hear it, I need to hear it, we all   need to hear it. Notice what Leviticus 19 says. You shall not hate your brother   in your heart, you shall surely rebuke your neighbor. So, the   Sixth Commandment is not saying that we don't ever address sin   with one another. In other words, it's not saying,   well, because you thought or you noticed my sinful behavior,   therefore, you have fought evilly against me, and therefore, you   have broken the Sixth Commandment, right? That is ridiculous. That   would make God a sinner for noticing our sin. Jesus, Paul, everybody,   right? The command is not saying that   you pretend that you didn't see sin or that you pretend that   you didn't see something wicked take place or happen. But rather   the sin comes in if we don't address the sin. You're called   to rebuke. If you don't rebuke the sin,   you will bear that sin, at least insofar as you permitted it and   did not address it. Now, it's not everybody's place   to address every sin that they see. I trust we understand that.   Somebody else's child at the ball field is misbehaving and   acting up and being mean to his parents, and the parent isn't   addressing the child or whatever the case may be. probably isn't   the place to go to the child or the parent and go to them   and say, hey, you're not a child, you're not behaving right, parent,   you're not addressing the sin of your child correctly. That's   probably not our calling and not our place. But when you do   have a relationship to people, friends, family, church, the   workplace, the school, whatever the case may be, it is certainly   in your place, again, there's details, but it's in your purview   when you see a sin and a pattern of sin, to lovingly rebuke your   neighbor so that they would repent, so that you don't become essentially   an accomplice, as it were, to their behavior and sin and their   actions. Because it's actually unloving   to know somebody is sinning or going astray, whether they're   doing it intentionally or not, and to fail to address it, right?   particularly if it's persisted in and, you know, a serious thing. If you don't address that sin,   you're not loving your neighbor well. You're letting it go on   and on and it's going to rot them out. And if you have a connection   to them, of course, that's going to affect you as well. I mean,   to be very, you know, flagrant about it, if you all knew that   I was an axe murderer or something like that, but you covered it   up and it came out later, obviously that would make everybody here   look pretty bad. Not just going to make me look the worst, but   you guys would look pretty bad as well, just to give a very   extreme example of that. Well, there's examples of other   things that are, of course, not like that level of sin, but are   sinful and we should be correcting and helping one another. So note   that carefully in Leviticus 19, you shall not hate your brother   in your heart and you shall surely rebuke your neighbor and not   bear sin because of him. Also you shall not take vengeance,   right? Your motive when correcting and addressing sin with somebody   else, especially if the sin is against you or somebody you care   about and love, should not be a personal getting back at them   kind of thing. It should be to win your brother   back to the truth, back to repentance, back to Christ and if it's an   unbeliever to address the sin so that they would turn from   that and ultimately turn to Christ as well. That should be our motivation   as hard as that can be sometimes when people sin so greatly against   us. I can have somebody cut me off   in traffic or just do something I think stupid in traffic and   my first impulse is to be angry and to not think highly of them,   and to even speak out loud about that with my family in the car,   about how stupid these people are. And what a sin they committed   against me by whatever, passing me a little bit too closely or   something. That's our default oftentimes. And again, there   may be a right place to be upset about reckless drivers. There   probably is. But we've got to also channel that and harness   that so we're not recklessly angry and hateful towards the   neighbor passing you by. Well, imagine your own family. Imagine your children, your marriage.   Sin is seen there all the time. We live together with one another   in our homes. We are of the same flesh and   bones, as it were, the marital union and our offspring that   flow from that. We love each other dearly, but   we also sin against each other frequently and regularly because   we're around each other the most and we have the most interactions   with each other. Well, it's all the more critical that we fight   for holiness and godliness with one another, for one another.   We have to be willing to correct, to rebuke, to encourage one another   beginning in our homes. It's oftentimes the case that   we can complain about this or that person or this or that family   or this or that church, but we're allowing our own sin and our   own hearts and our own homes to fester, and we're not addressing   it. It's like, well, I don't want to address that with my   wife because this will keep the peace better, and so I'm just going   to let it go. Or the wife says, I don't like the way that my   husband's doing this, or he's not considering this, and so   I'm just going to let it go. And the argument is, I have to   be a faithful, submissive wife anyway. Or the husband says,   well, I don't want to be a domineering husband, and so I'm not going   to address it. Certainly we have to use discretion. Certainly,   a husband should be the head of his home and lead in disciplining   and correcting. And certainly, the wife, when   she has to go to her husband, her head of the home, she should   do it with humility, with submission to her husband. And yet, she   should also respectfully correct her husband if he is doing something   stupid and sinful and foolish. And he should take that into   consideration. And as we do that well in our   marriages as husband and wife, that should help us be on one   page, one flesh, one union, and love together as Christ and the   church are to be united together to help us discipline our children   well and to instruct them. And children, of course, as we   looked at the fifth commandment last week, you're called to obey   and to honor your father and mother. Even when you see your   parents sin, you should not dishonor them by spreading that sin around   to everybody. Oh, do you know what my dad did   yesterday? Do you know what mom was saying to dad yesterday?   Whatever the case may be. At the same time, if you do see   a bad pattern in your family, even as a child, I believe it's   proper for the child to humbly and respectfully say, Mommy,   Daddy, why are you behaving this way and doing this? And that   should be piercing and convicting to us as parents, especially,   particularly if it's true and the child says it with true care   and tenderness and submissiveness. It should lead us to repentance.   bring us back into greater unity. It should not be an expression   of anger or hatred or bitterness, but of love and care. A lot of   times we fail to do that and we just lash out. We've been   taking it and taking it and taking it and we've not addressed it,   which already is sort of a seed of not loving our neighbor, whether   it's our flesh and blood family, our church, community co-workers,   whatever, whatever it may be. It's more convenient not to address   it, to not rebuke it, but then it just builds up on the inside   of us and eventually we lash out. And that seed that's been   growing and building in there comes out with real wrath and   real harshness. And it's not a correction at   that point at all of trying to help them. It's more of, you   know, you've wearied me down and torn me down for so long   and I'm going to let you have it now. So there's a hard reality   that's here and that we may not like, but it's true. It's that   when we are sinned against, God's Word in true Christianity says,   we are obligated, the one who has been sinned against, to address   that sin. Now of course, I've said this   before, I think we understand this, not every moment of curtness   or every minor unkindness or whatever the case may be is something   that you have to rake over the coals, but if there's a pattern,   if there's outbursts of anger and wrath and things like that,   or mistreatment or neglect, whatever the case may be, yes, there's   a point sooner than later where that needs to be spoken to and   addressed. Hatred of others, left unchecked,   produces murder in the heart and eventually in the act. Well, when it comes to the point   of the actual acts of murder, again, God, as we see in the   first proof text in the Isle of the Cataclysm there on this,   the first question, The text of Genesis 9-6, whoever sheds   man's blood, by man his blood shall be shed. For in the image   of God, he, that is God, made man. And so the seriousness of   killing somebody made in God's image of murdering them is such   that you forfeit your own life. However, because we are sinners   and because our wrath is great, especially if someone we love   has been murdered, we will not stop at an eye for an eye often.   If someone brutally murders my wife or my child, I'm probably   going to go above and beyond just taking that person's life.   So the sword of justice and a right sense of vengeance is not given   to each one of us. It's given to the civil magistrate.   Now, of course, that's the difference between self-defense, where you   have to defend your life and perhaps take the life of another   in order to preserve your own life. But that's a different,   of course, circumstance and situation. God has given the sword of justice   to exact justice and vengeance to the magistrates, to the government,   and we should appeal to the courts and the government and the church   courts for church discipline and so on to see to it that that   is accomplished. Otherwise, things would be very   disorderly and not much good would be accomplished at all.   Further, we need to recognize that the reason, there's several   reasons why we have to have this disposition in our hearts of   love towards man and not merely remove hatred, but actually love   even our enemies. First of all, we can say God   has made everyone in his image and created them upright and   good, and the image of God, even the worst sinner, remains. It's   shattered, but it remains. So these are image-bearers of   God, and so we should have a respect for that, even for wicked people,   that they are still the image-bearers of God. On top of that, God has   sent his son Jesus to die and to redeem sinners. He has sent   Jesus for his people, for his elect, and yet Christ is, of   course, held out for all the world, every person, as the means   of salvation. Salvation is in and through Christ. And while there is life and breath,   there is hope of salvation for all who repent and believe and   follow him. And so we should desire that.   We should desire mercy and salvation for sinners and to see that they   would repent. And so that, therefore, we should   see, as best we can, to be merciful and kind to them and to say that   it would be corrected and returned to Christ repentant. If they're   Christians, to return to the fold. If they're not Christians,   then to come to Christ for the first time. And even apart from   that, as we see in passages like Proverbs 25 and elsewhere, God   calls the sun to fall, the sunshine to come, and the just and the   unjust, the rain for the seasons, for the crops to grow and water   to drink. That is given as well to the godly and the ungodly,   the just and the unjust alike. And so from that, we see in the   catechism here and throughout the scriptures that the love   for our enemies is really in the lines of showing them a basic   humanity, if you want to put it like that. If your enemy is   hungry, feed him. If he's a good Samaritan in the   ditch, dying, even if it's somebody you don't like at all, you know,   even if it's, I don't know, Joe Biden or something like that,   you help them. get back up on their feet, or   at least to save their life if it's in your means and power   to do so. This does not mean of course   that our enemies become our friends necessarily simply by helping   them. It doesn't mean that we need to love them as if they   weren't enemies. There's a proper love basic humanity   to be shown to our enemies, but our love for our friends and   family and fellow believers goes much beyond that basic kindness   and decency. I trust you can understand the   distinctions. God gives mercy to all in the sense of food,   shelter, and clothing, water to come, the sunshine. He doesn't   give saving grace to all. He doesn't bring all into his   covenant. Not all are born into the church.   There's differences of degrees of kindness and mercy and love   that he shows, but even his enemies are shown a sort of love by having   the good things of this life, life itself, when we deserve   nothing but God's wrath and judgment for our sin. And so we need to   be able to make those distinctions of how we love our enemies, love   our neighbors, love our family, love our friends as well. And again, this does not preclude,   in fact it requires in many cases, correction and rebuke when Others   have gone astray. Well, the upshot, then, of this   commandment on this first point is that we are to seek the good   name and godliness of all of our neighbors, including our   enemies, by seeing to it, as is possible, as much as is possible   in us, that they would be reformed, that they would be repentant,   that they would be holy. I mean, even the sword of justice   of the government to put criminals in prison, or to punish them   more severely, or even to execute them for capital offense, is   to restrain their evil. And you even hear stories of   those on death row and so on, recognizing their sin, repenting   and turning to Christ. Even there, it's supposed to   be protecting the righteous from evil and crime and false teaching   and all the rest. But it's also for the sake of   the one committing the crime, to be prevented from doing it   further, to reflect upon those actions, to realize, even as   our children, when they're spanked, that there's a pain, a suffering,   or they're sent to their rooms in a time out, kind of like a   prison sentence for a time, right? That there's consequences to   their actions, to see that they would do good and turn ultimately   to God and Christ and live. Another thing to note, anger   itself is not a sin. The scripture says, do not let   the sun go down on your anger, or be angry and sin not. So there   is a righteous anger at sin and wickedness, or even sin committed   against us and those we love. There's even a righteous anger   at those committing the sin against us. I mean, look at this statement   of the psalm, it says, Lord, do I not hate all those who hate   you? Right, there's even a sense of   a righteous hatred of the wicked and the unbeliever. But of course   there's an unrighteous hatred and anger and wrath that we often   express as well. We just want them to be destroyed.   We say our enemies are our enemies and we simply want deliverance   from them and it'd be great if they just fell over dead right   now. It's true that we are called   to pray for deliverance from sin and evil and temptation and   so on, but even Christ prays, Father forgive them for they   know not what they do You can think of Stephen the Martyr also   praying similarly. And even in pronouncing woes   on the cities and on Jerusalem and others, as Christ and Paul   even had done, or the prophets of old pronouncing judgment on   Jerusalem or the other cities that are in rebellion and so   on. Even then, the hope is that that would stir them up to repentance.   Even excommunication for somebody who's persistent in flagrant,   heinous sin is an act of mercy if it's done rightly by the elders   and for the whole church. Treating someone like a tax collector   is not meant to be sheer hate of them. It's saying you are   as heinous and sinful in your heart and your actions as these   ungodly, greedy tax collectors. You need to recognize that so   that you would repent and return to Christ. Such discipline is   medicine. It is meant to be good for the   soul of man. So yes, medicine is hard. It   doesn't feel good. Nobody likes, typically, to give   correction or to receive correction, and yet we are called to do that,   especially in the church and especially in our homes and our   families. It's hard to do, but it's something   that we must do. We must examine our own hearts,   we must examine our marriages, our families, our children, our   church, our community, and so on, and see where we need to   grow, where we can help others grow, and our motive needs to   be that we love our neighbors, and even our enemies, so that   they would grow in the Lord, reform, and turn to Him. Ephesians   4, 25 to 27, which is also in the Heidelberg Catechism there, Under the section I am to put   away all desire of revenge the stone question 105 Ephesians   4 tells us in fact, let me go and just read it to you. I It says, therefore, putting away   lying, let each one of you speak truth of his neighbor. We are   members of one another. Be angry and do not sin. Do not   let the sun go down on your wrath, nor give place to the devil.   Notice again, the call is to speak the truth. We are members   of one another. Be straightforward, be frank,   be honest with each other in love. Honesty is indeed the best   policy. It says, do not be angry and   do not sin. Do not let the sun go down on   your wrath. That also shows us that we should   hastily or speedily address the faults that we have with one   another, whether we are the one committing the sin to confess   it or we've been sinned against and it needs to be addressed.   We either have to address the sin because we're angry and it   needs to be addressed, or we need to put away our frustrations   with it. You know, the Bible says love   covers the multitude of sins. There are times when it's a minor   infraction, and perhaps it's not a pattern that needs to be   addressed, and we realize, you know what, I need to just let   this go. Whether it's your spouse, your   children, your parents, your boss, or whatever the case may   be, and you have to just let it go. But if you can't let it   go, then it's got to be addressed. And if that doesn't happen, you   see verse 27, nor give place to the devil. Again, remember,   the seed of all sin begins in the heart. The seeds of murder,   of hating your neighbor, it begins in the heart. And as you let   that grow and you don't address it, well, the devil comes along,   right? He himself will tell you all   kinds of things that you'd like to hear, right? Well, you shouldn't   have to address this because this is the person who sinned   and they sinned against you and they should have gone better.   So you start listening to those arguments and you don't deal   with anything. Or, you know, I can't believe this person would   do that. And then, you know, once he says he's sorry, everybody   just forgives him. Well, we're called to do that.   When your brother repents, you've gained your brother. You must   forgive them, 70 times seven, as the scriptures say. And we're   hard-hearted against that. We don't like it sometimes when   those who sinned against us actually repent. We don't let it go, which   is sort of a literal meaning of forgiveness. So we listen   to the devil, we listen to his temptations. He loves to stir   up division, and we give in to that far too often. But, again, it's better to receive   correction than to ignore it. It's better to give correction   when it's needed than to withhold it. Well, then our second point,   and we're already touching on this, is that we must fight the   root of murder, envy, hatred, anger, and desire for revenge. And we often simply hate others,   and then we want to get back at them in some way. We don't   even think about trying to help them. We just want things to   go better for us. But hear this from Proverbs 14,   30. A sound heart is life to the body, but envy is rottingness   to the bones. Now, I'm sure we see that in   all sorts of contexts. I certainly have seen it in the   church context. You might see it in family, home.   You might see it at work, wherever it may be. But people have dealt   with either real or perceived, or maybe some of both, horrible   things, situations that have happened to them in their lives,   in various relationships, and so on. And that becomes consuming   to them. It rots them away, as it says.   Envy is rottenness to the bones. They either envy the person and   their advantage or the blessings that they have, or they allow   what has happened to them to rot them away rather than to   address it, or they try to address it and it doesn't get resolved,   and so they still are torn up about this. Well, what do you   do in that situation? You gotta trust God. God says,   Christ says, I'm the judge, and the last day, if nothing else,   I will right all wrongs. Everything that man has done,   and his thoughts and his hearts and his minds will be revealed.   He will render perfect justice, even if the magistrates or the   church courts, wherever the case may be, fail to do so. And that's   hard to do. It's hard to live in such a way   that we trust God that after we've exhausted all human means,   we still can't win, our brother, our sister, or even get our enemy   off our back, or whatever the case may be, to trust God that   he will deal with this himself in his own way, in his own time.   If not in this life, then eternity. But he promises to do that, and   sometimes we have to be content with that, and not further allow   evildoers to ruin our lives by sort of channeling this mentality   of being traumatized and so on. Remember, Paul rebuked Peter   to his face, and he did so publicly. And yet, after that, Paul and   Peter were able to minister alongside, or if not alongside each other,   to still support one another's ministries as apostles. And so, addressing things with   one another should not at all be a sign that we hate each other.   I think that happens sometimes because we're so scared to help   or to address things with one another that If somebody comes   to do that, we assume they must really think badly of me because   we never talk to one another about growing or overcoming sin. addressing faults or things that   we think need to be done differently or whatever the case may be.   Sometimes, what you'll need to do, if you're not sure, is simply   ask questions. Simply ask your friend, your   neighbor, somebody in the church, whatever it may be, hey, you   know, what is the situation here? I'm just, you know, I'm concerned,   I want to help, or whatever. And maybe you get clarity and   realize there's not a problem at all. It's hard to do these things,   but we're called to do these things. And yes, even for enemies. Somehow King David honored Saul,   the king, even while Saul had sought to kill him. Now at the   same time, you can read the Psalms, and you can see David in his   Psalms praying, God, destroy my enemies. And you know, the   context of some of them is including King Saul. Yet he also prays   for his enemies. And he honors Saul as a king   and as the leader, and even eulogizes him once Saul is dead. Of course,   he didn't take his hand up to strike Saul. He knew that wasn't   his place and his calling to do that. He knew whom God had   put the sword of justice in whose hands. Now, Saul should have   administered justice, but he didn't. But David trusted the   Lord, and the Lord blessed that. So how do we live that way? How   do we grow in the Lord like this? How do we overcome our anger,   our sin, our hostility, our animosity? What do we have to do? Well,   it's not easy, but what we're called to do according to God's   Word, in Galatians 5, is to bear the fruit of the Spirit. In Galatians   5 there, of course, it says, the loss of the flesh and the   fruit of the Spirit are contrary to one another. So here's the   fruit of the Spirit. But the fruit of the Spirit is   love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,   gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.   And those who are Christ have crucified the flesh with its   passions and desires. If we live in the Spirit, let   us also walk in the Spirit. Let us not become conceited,   provoking one another, envying one another. Now before that   it talks about other lusts of the flesh, but you see it at   the end there as well. The flesh includes conceit, provoking one   another, envying one another, and these sorts of things. Christ   says to set your mind on things above. If you remember that Jesus   Christ took on flesh to pay for our sin when we were his enemies,   when we in rebellion to him, when we had too high, far too   high of an estimation of ourselves, if Christ could so lay down his   life for us to pay for our sin and did so to reconcile us to   him, and Jesus came with that desire to reconcile his people,   Jews as well as Gentiles, to himself, The scriptures tell   us, arm yourselves with the same mind, with the same mentality.   You've been shown much grace, show that same grace to others.   It is grace, it is mercy to treat others this way. It isn't deserved,   but we have to recognize that. Sometimes we have to treat people,   well, in some ways, a lot of times, all the times, in a sense,   we have to treat people better than they deserve. with love. Our enemies don't deserve our   love, and yet we're called to show that love because Christ   shows a sort of love, even to his enemies, even to those that   will end up in hell. He gave them life and breath   for a time and a season. Many of them have heard the gospel   of Jesus Christ. Many of them have been called   by the gospel. They got the sunshine. They had   some good things in this life. which even that they did not   deserve. And in that way, he loved them.   And we can at least love our enemies in a life fashion as   well. If we can't work out these things   in our own hearts and our own homes, we're gonna have a hard time   working them out beyond the private home and heart life that we have. So we must begin there and focus   there. Husbands, be patient as you lead your wives. Wives, yes,   bear up with your husbands, but when necessary, speak up as well.   Children, same thing. Respect your parents. Listen   to their commands, even when they're not pleasant. But there's   a sense in which if we don't ever do this, it shows that we   don't have the love of God in our hearts. 1 John 2, 9-11 says,   He who says he's in the light and hates his brother is in darkness   until now. He who loves his brother abides   in the light, and there is no cause for stumbling in him. But   he who hates his brother is in darkness and walks in darkness   and does not know where he's going because the darkness has   blinded his eyes. God has given us a natural love   for friends and family, flesh and blood family, friends, church   family, a spiritual bond that is there. There should be a natural   disposition in us to desire our godliness, our sanctification,   our well-being body and soul. If we see in our lives we don't   have that love, for one another, then the love of God is not in   us. We're walking in darkness and we're outside of Christ.   So we must examine our hearts to make sure that we're loving   God and to grow in love for God and for one another. Loving God   and loving one another, of course, is the sum of the whole law of   God. So we must fight, scent the root   and the lust of the flesh to the point, at the point where   envy and bitterness and greed begins. Note it, check it, repent   of it, turn from it, press on in holiness, remove the plank   from your eye, as the Bible says, and then you'll be able to see   the speck in your brother's eye to help them. Well, quickly here,   our third and final point, we must further learn patience and   friendly care for the lives and well-being of others, and even   our enemies. The Heidelberg Catechism refers   to the golden rule in Matthew 7, 12, of what you want men to   do to you, do also to them. Now, most of us, even most unbelievers,   would, if they were honest, would want correction that would help   them be better and to do better and to follow what is right and   good and true. Would you rather not have your   sin addressed or corrected if you don't see it, or maybe you   do see it and you don't care, so that you would never return   from it because it's never spoken of? Would you rather have that   or would you rather have somebody address it straightforwardly   like Nathan, the prophet of King David, you are the man committing   this sin with Bathsheba and Uriah and murder and adultery and all   that? Would you rather be confronted with that or continue in your   sin and on the path of destruction? I trust we would rather, as Christians,   we would rather be confronted, as hard and as painful as that   is, so that we would repent, return, and do what is right.   That is what we want others to do for us, and so then, that   is what we should do for them, as hard as it is. We should help   them and love them and correct them. Again, for the motive and   purpose of restoring them, Galatians 6, 1 through 5 says, we're called   to bear one another's burdens and to restore the man overtaken   in a trespass. And ask the difference. It begins   in the heart, in the sixth commandment, whether you're keeping it or   breaking it. Externally, sometimes we don't know the hearts of a   person. They're coming to you to correct you, and it could   be because they truly want you to be restored. It could be because   they're conceited and they're patting themselves on the back.   Or sometimes it may be hard to tell. But the motive for doing   this is to restore that person overtaken in a trespass, to be   reconciled to them and for them to be reconciled to God. is to   be done with meekness or gentleness. That doesn't mean that you'll   ever have to raise your voice or be firm. That's not what gentle   or meek means. Rather, it means you do it with   humility, not in a boasting sort of way, but in a true, passionate,   caring manner for their good and for their well-being. If   you're on the receiving end of correction, even if it's administered   imperfectly, our anger, our disposition is to say, well, he thinks this   about me, or he's accusing me of this, but I know about him   and what he's doing. Well, that may be the case. It may be the   person rebuking you is even more wicked than you are. But if the   shoe fits, wear it, own it. And then confess it, and then   maybe, yes, you should recognize you should be helping your brother   as well with whatever trespass that he has overtaken in. So   again, true meekness means you're acting in humility, you're recognizing   your own sin and temptations, trying to avoid falling into   sin when you correct others. You're doing it for the good   of restoring them, to not destroy them, but to restore them, to   remove the sin, and to see that they are reconciled to God and   man. Also consider Proverbs 27, 5-6. Open rebuke is better than love   carefully concealed. Faithful are the wounds of a   friend, but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful. Again, discipline   is not pleasant, to give it or to receive it. But God's Word   says that this open rebuke is better than love carefully concealed.   Because a lot of times we are trying to act out of love, and   to conceal a matter, to not address a matter, But at some point,   it has to be approached, it has to be corrected and addressed.   The person's going to continue off a cliff in that direction. So an open rebuke, even if it   hits you like a slap in the face, if it's a true blow, if it's   truly addressing your sin, it's better than those who will say   nothing about it, until years later when things have blown   up and they say, yeah, you know, we have these concerns that we   loved you so much, we just couldn't bring ourselves to say anything   to you. Well, how helpful is that after the fact that things   have festered and grown and the cancer of sin has been allowed   to grow in your heart for such a long time? Faithful are the   wounds of a friend, but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful. Now,   in our culture today, we don't think a wound is ever pleasant.   Well, it's never pleasant, but we don't ever think it's good.   We don't think wounding one another is ever a good thing, but the   Bible doesn't say that, does it? The Bible says a friend is   faithful to wound you and to address things. How can repentance   come without the soul being pierced? If you're preaching, if you're   teaching, if you're sharing the gospel with somebody, how can   they ever be brought to repentance if you don't wound them? You   are a sinner. You deserve hell and damnation.   But thanks be to God in Christ, He has come to pay for sin. And   if you trust in Him and follow Him, you will be forgiven. But   you must own your sin. You must confess it. You must   grieve it. You must turn from it and turn to God and live.   Recognize your sin, right? If we don't tell that to others,   to ourselves, if we don't wound ourselves, as it were, then how   are we going to grow in the Lord? Likewise, you can't shepherd,   you can't help others without wounding them in that sense.   Now, of course, there is wicked wounding where it's not done   rightly or it's done heavy hand or whatever the case may be.   We have to recognize there's a righteous rebuking, correcting   that must be done and we should receive it well. We should receive   it even if it was a little heavy handed sometimes. We should receive   it if it's true about us as a gift from God and confess it and grow   in the Lord. If your soul is sick with sin,   you should recognize it and want it removed. Do not coddle your   sin. Do not ignore your sin. Do not   ignore the sins of others either. When Jesus rebuked and pronounced   woes on the Pharisees, he desired that they would repent, and some   did, such as Nicodemus and others, enemies of Christ. are made friends. Think again of Paul. We just   finished the book of Acts. Think about the reconciliation   of some Jews. They repented and believed in   him. And how he says in Romans 10 and elsewhere, my burden,   my desire, I think it's Romans 9, is for Israel, that they would   be saved. He says they have a zeal for God, but not according to   the truth. But he has this burden. He has   this desire. even as He has to wound them   again and again with His words. You're wicked. It's in your blood   even, as they say. It's from generation to generation.   You persecute the prophets. You kill them. You've killed   the Son of Jesus Christ. You are uniquely pernicious in   this. Won't you see this and repent?   Because God is still gracious and merciful. Right? That's how Jesus, that's how   Paul addresses the Jews. Well, sometimes we have to address   each other in that way as well and wound them so that they would   be healed and made whole. Very briefly, the Heidelberg   concludes, protecting our neighbor from harm and doing good even   to our enemies there in the third And one of the texts for that   is Exodus 23, 4 through 5. And again, this is kind of bouncing   back and forth here, sorry. But it says, if you meet your   enemy's ox or his donkey going astray, you shall surely bring   it back to him again. If you see the donkey of one   who hates you lying under his burden, and you would refrain   from helping it, you shall surely help him with it. And again,   I just want to point out, that's the kind of love we are to show   even to our enemies. When they're in a bind badly,   you help them out. It doesn't mean you have to invite   them over for tea or become friends with them, but it does mean that   even your enemies, you're showing a decent kindness to them. And   the Lord may use that to reconcile you to them and they to you.   I don't know, the modern equivalent of that might be if your work   truck, your enemy's work truck is overheating. If the bug guys,   no not bug guys, you guys are bug guys, the bug out. If their   work truck is overheating, Tim, perhaps you do, you should give   them a helping hand. Oh, the details, it all depends,   but you know. Maybe your heart's response is,   ha ha, I've gotten justice for my adversary, for my rival now,   at last. But yes, we would hope that maybe   even they would help us and we can help them and we can show   Christian love and charity to one another in that way. And   so yes, we have to think even that way at times. If our rivals   are enemies, our business competitors, or whatever the case may be,   doesn't mean we don't try to outsell them. but it does mean   we show a decent generosity to them. Certainly if their car's   on fire and they're trapped inside, you gotta help them. Yeah, so   we're not called to be friends or enemies, but we are called   to be loving in these basic ways to them. Well, let me close with   this. Think of Paul himself, and this   I think is also a rather fitting close to the book of Acts also.   He was a persecutor of the church fiercely. He was a murderer of   the church. He broke the sixth commandment   over and over and over again, certainly in the heart, to some   extent in the act. He approved of the Christians   being murdered. He took the men, the women, and   the children and dragged them in the synagogue where they were   beaten and flogged and in some cases killed. He approved of   all of that. Paul was a murderer. of Christians. And yet, he found grace in the   eyes of God. He was knocked off his animal,   and he was redeemed and saved. He became a great leader, from   the chief of sinners to the chief of apostles. And remember, early   on in Paul's ministry, when he came to the apostles, they would   not receive him. They were deathly afraid of him, and for good reason.   They thought it was a trick, that he wasn't really one of   them. as he has been such a wicked and heinous man. And yet, somehow,   by the grace of God, one, Paul was saved and so mightily converted,   and two, the church did receive him. Think about that just for   a second. Probably many of those Christians, maybe even some of   the apostles themselves, had friends and family that Paul   had personally had a big hand in killing and murdering for   the cause of Christ. Yet they managed to forgive Paul,   to receive him as an apostle, that he had the same grace given,   and gifting given, and calling that the other apostles had,   and they learned to thank God for the ministry that Paul performed. To the ends of the earth, to   Rome, to be so mighty, and to even issue corrections to Peter. Peter was with Jesus in his earthly   ministry. Paul was not. Paul was a persecutor   even after Jesus had ascended for a while. And yet they're   willing to heed and receive those corrections from Paul. These   things are difficult and they are complicated, but it shows   the forgiveness of God, the grace of Jesus Christ, and the reconciliation   that indeed can occur. And it is better that Paul was   converted and redeemed to become a great apostle than if God had   wiped him out and sent him to hell. Now the church would have   been thankful if Paul was wiped out, and sometimes God does wipe   out the enemies of the church and of us, and we should be thankful   for that also. But how much better is grace,   as it were, to save a sinner and to make them a soldier in   the kingdom of God than to send them to hell and to remove them   from the battle that way? If our enemies become our allies,   it is greater even than our enemies being destroyed. We are thankful   for both, but we see the love that we should have even for   our enemies through that, because they might become the Apostle   Paul. So let us close. Let us live   and pray for our enemies, such that if the Lord willed, he would   even make them mighty in his kingdom, like the Apostle Paul   and others, and used for his glory and for our good. And let   us so love one another, as Christ has so loved us, even while we   were sinners. Christ died for us. Let us pray.   Father, again, we thank you for your Word and its truth. We thank   you that you loved us, even when we were   in our hearts, God-murderers, as it were, hating you, hating   others, even Jew and Gentile alike, in our hearts desiring   the death of your Son, Yet from that death life has come to resurrection   and new life for us who are in you as well. Lord, help us to   see that. Help us to understand that true   love is not passivity. It does issue correction and   rebuke, but it's for the goal of reconciliation and restoration   of the one we're correcting. that open rebuke is better than   love, carefully concealed, that we should at times give those   faithful wounds. Let us do this with wisdom and   discretion, and with hearts that truly love God and our neighbor   well. And in all of this, may we keep   the sixth commandment to not kill. We ask all this in Jesus'   name. Amen. Well, let us respond and song   and close our service out now with the Gloria Patri is printed   there in your boards. Glory be to the Father, and to   the Son, and to the Holy Ghost, as it was in the beginning, is   now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen. Amen. Beloved congregation, let   us lift up our hearts unto the Lord and receive his parting   word of blessing, the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the   love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you   all. Amen. Amen. Praise the Lord.