 The title of our sermon this morning is A Test of Obedience, A Test of Obedience. And we have come now to 2 Corinthians chapter 2 verses 5 through 11 as Paul is continuing to recount to the Corinthians his difficulty arising there as a result of false apostles and opponents who have come against him in the church. A ministry in Corinth for Paul and for the Corinthian believers there is extremely difficult and the Apostle Paul is under a blistering attack there. A full-scale assault is underway as we well know, a false apostles are undermining Paul in the church teaching error in Corinth and the Corinthians are reeling under a host of problems not the least of which is their inability to this point of dealing with these false teachers and dealing with a sin that is plaguing the church. Sin is crippling the church at Corinth. After laboring for 18 months to plant the church, Paul has for their good and in keeping with his apostolic responsibilities Paul has kept up his correspondence with them. He's keeping an eye on the church there in Corinth working laboring with them to firmly establish them in the faith and with the circumstances rapidly deteriorating during the time between our two canonical letters here Paul is forced to make a very painful and a sorrowful visit to rebuke and to correct them. Now he follows that painful visit with what is called a severe letter and the name of that letter speaks for itself. The relationship between them is tenuous to say the least until Titus returns with a good report of their response to the severe letter and the news of genuine repentance in Corinth. The Paul as we continue through this text verse by verse Paul is addressing the ongoing pain the ongoing sorrow that attends his relationship to the church at Corinth and he turns now his specific attention in 2 Corinthians chapter 2 verses 5 through 11 to an unnamed offender and his unknown sin. A sin in the church at Corinth is not however an unknown experience. A group like sin among the members of any church is not an unknown experience. It's certainly not unknown to us, amen. Genuine Christians have been set free from the penalty of sin. Genuine Christians have been set free from the power of sin and genuine Christians are being gradually set free from the presence of sin by the grace of God but the presence of that sin still remains in this life even for the Christian and even in the church. The reality of this was certainly evident in the church at Corinth. In 1 Corinthians chapter 3 there was envy, there was strife, there was division among them that would give anyone the impression that they were unsaved people. In 1 Corinthians chapter 6 they're in the public court squabbling with one another over disputes. In 1 Corinthians 14 they're abusing spiritual gifts and when unbelievers come into the church they think they're out of their mind, right? In 1 Corinthians 5 it was reported to Paul that there was such sexual immorality in the church of such a degree that even lost people would have been ashamed of it. And everyone knew what was going on, it was public. Their hearts should have been flayed open in mourning over that sin and Paul says instead that they're puffed up with pride and they've refused to do anything about it. Look at how great our church is. Look at how abundant the grace of God is. Look at how big our church is. Look at how we're growing. Look at all the activities we have for the kids. Our worship here is the best. Paul is my pastor. Cephas is my pastor. Apollos is my pastor, right? All the while this sin is going on, Satan is having a field day in the church. The world is mocking, they're bringing reproach on the name of Christ, the Gentiles are blaspheming and people are on their way to hell. And Paul says you should rather be ashamed of yourselves, you should be ashamed. The rest of the world looks on, the rest of the world looks on. They see that sin in the church, they're looking for it, right? They'll say to themselves, those people are no different than anybody else. That church at Corinth, they're no different than anybody else. That church in Chuliota, out in the sticks, no different than anybody else, right? If we allow sin to continue in the body, the salt loses its flavor and it becomes good for nothing, good for nothing but to be trampled underfoot, cast out. They'll say the divorce rate inside the church is just as high as the divorce rate outside the church. Not in the Lord's church, it's not. I'm sticking tired of hearing that. Not in the Lord's church, it's not. Paul soberly says, regarding the man in sexual immorality, he says 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 his flesh that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus. Paul says your glorying is not good. Change out the old leaven. Put him out of the church, Paul says. Put him out of the church. Don't keep company with anyone named a brother who behaves like that. Paul says, worship the Lord in sincerity and truth. The church has been called out of the world, amen? It shouldn't look just like it. To serve the world with the gospel as we've been called to do, in order to do that, the church has to look different. It can't look like the world. We're to reflect the life, the character, and the attributes of our master, the one who bought us. Peter says that the church is a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation. We as a church must lovingly and faithfully deal with sin in the Lord's church. When God's people fail to lovingly and faithfully deal with sin in the Lord's church, it brings shame and contempt from this world. In Exodus 32, verse 25, Moses had been on the mountain. He's receiving the law from God, and Aaron, down in the camp of the Israelites, rather than restraining the people, Aaron leads the people in making the golden cap. When God says their lack of restraint brought shame upon them among their enemies. In 2 Samuel, chapter 12, verse 14, David has grievously sinned against God by taking another man's wife and then killing, murdering her husband. Nathan says to him, says to David, by this deed, David, you've given great occasion to the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme. Paul says, in Romans chapter 2, verse 21, you who preach that a man should not steal, do you steal? You who say, do not commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you rob temples? You who make your boast in the law, do you dishonor God through breaking the law? For the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you. For Christ's sake were to maintain purity in the Lord's church. We're also lovingly and faithfully deal with sin in the Lord's church for the sake of the one in sin. Paul tells the church at Corinth, take the one in sin, turn him over to Satan for the destruction of his flesh. In other words, put him out of the church so that his spirit may be saved. Matthew 18, 17 says, let him be to you like a heathen and a tax collector. This man is so hell-bent on living according to his own sinful lusts, let him know what it means to live outside of God's protection and God's blessing in the church. Let him know what it means to live apart from the loving fellowship of God's people, what it feels like to have sin and Satan destroy your life, then, maybe then, he'll turn to his only hope and be saved. We're also lovingly and faithfully deal with sin in the Lord's church for the sake of the church herself, for the sake of the body. In 2 Corinthians 2 verse 11, our text, we're to do this unless Satan should take advantage of us for we are not ignorant of his devices. Considering our spiritual warfare, we don't battle against flesh and blood. Considering our spiritual warfare, it is critically necessary that we are lovingly faithful in dealing with sin in the Lord's church. For the Lord's sake, for the sinner's sake, and for the church's sake, we must put the unrepentant sinner out of the church and lovingly and faithfully deal with the sin. What does it look like? What does it look like to lovingly and faithfully deal with sin in the Lord's church? It looks like the instruction that we see here, given by Paul in our text, 2 Corinthians 2 verses 5 to 11. It means confronting unrepentant sin and sometimes having difficult conversations. It means loving that person enough to care more for their soul than you do the risk of offending them. It means loving them enough to labor with them for their perseverance and the faith. It means aiming for genuine repentance rather than a punitive or a retributive reprisal. It means standing ready to forgive, standing ready to restore when they repent of their sin. It means rejoicing in the grace and mercy of God in Christ that he will not abandon one of his own to their sin. To do this faithfully, we need wisdom from the Lord. We need wisdom from the Lord. We need a process, a process for identifying, confronting, disciplining and restoring sinners in the church. And there are several texts in the New Testament that provide that wisdom for us. Matthew chapter 18 verses 15 through 20. First Corinthians chapter 5 verses 1 through 11. Second Thessalonians chapter 3 verses 6 through 15. Titus chapter 3 verses 9 through 11 among others along with our text here today, Second Corinthians chapter 2 verses 5 through 11. These texts are taken together to understand what is often referred to as church discipline, identifying, confronting, disciplining and restoring sinners in the Lord's church. And we have the responsibility as the called out ones, people called by his name. We have a responsibility to this practice. Paul describes it in verse 9 as a test, a test of our obedience. It's a test of loving and faithful obedience to the Lord's direction for the purity of his church. Now keep in mind, who we're speaking of when we speak of church discipline is the membership of the church. We have a membership here. Those who have professed the name of Christ, they've put their faith and trust in Christ. They've proclaimed to have repented of their sins. You've been baptized. You're in the body. You're now a member of our church. That's our responsibility. That's what we're talking about in the Lord's church. We also have guests. We have visitors. Many of you may not be converted, but you're here pursuing the Lord. You're here considering Christ. We want you to hear the gospel. We want you to be saved. We want to minister you to you. We want to love you. We want to talk to you. But if you're here and you're a member of this church, you profess faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, and you call yourself a Christian, then we must faithfully, lovingly deal with sin in the Lord's church. Deal with sin in the Lord's body. Now, this concern, this concern that's presented here, is largely abandoned in the professing church today. A vast majority of churches fail the test. And they do that for multiple reasons. We think through that in the modern church. The gospel has been so watered down to nothing more than an unbiblical expression packaged up and presented as God's love, what really is a counterfeit of God's love. Nothing more is necessary for eternal salvation, but that a man make a mere one-time decision to accept that love, the placebo that's offered. Churches have lost sight of what genuine conversion looks like. People at best have a form of godliness in many of those churches, but they deny its power. At worst, they have no godliness whatsoever, and they turn God's grace into a license for sin, and they call themselves Christians anyway. And then the professing so-called church affirms them. Evidence of the Spirit's work and regeneration isn't necessary. Just give us a mere verbal profession, right? You make a verbal one-time decision, you're stayed, we accept it. Professing churches have increasingly turned into worldly methods and carnal means to appeal to this world. When you use worldly methods and carnal means to appeal to the world, then you fill your so-called church with worldly and carnal people. And the result is a so-called church that is packed with lost people and reeking with sin. And the goats that you attract with that will leave your so-called church if you don't keep them properly entertained, and they don't want the goats to leave. They're trying to get the goats in, right? They're hiring goat-gross pastors, and they're reading goat-gross books, trying to get goats into the church. They're trying to attract more goats. Open the front door, right? Close the back door. The opposite of that is true. These so-called churches have abandoned the biblical mandate for lovingly and faithfully dealing with sin. They've abandoned the Bible's clear requirement for practicing biblical church discipline, and in abandoning that, they've lost the identity of the church. And largely because, this is in the words of a pastor that I was meeting with one day, pastor said, the pastor of a church said, that if they actually did that, if they actually practiced that, they would have to clear out most of the people in their church. That's right. That's right. As a result, these camps, these clubs have been filled with the enemy. The enemy is in the midst. They've raised their flag. It's no longer a church. It's something else, but it's not a church. It's a goat pen. It's led by goat herders, but it's not a church. If your church doesn't lovingly and faithfully deal with sin through the Bible's mandated and required process of church discipline, then you don't go to a church. You go to something else, but it's not a church. The true church, the one purchased by his blood, the one infused by his word, the one empowered and led by his spirit is that one faithful to lovingly deal with unrepentant sin among the sheep. And we're gonna look at one aspect of a faithful practice of church discipline from our text in 2 Corinthians chapter two, verses five to 11. We're gonna see our text address the Lord's direction for his church in four points. You'll find these on the notes page in your bulletin. Point one, we're gonna see the setting in verses five and six. We'll look at the setting for this text together from verses five and six. Point two, we'll look at the instruction, the instruction of Paul for them in verses seven and eight. We'll look specifically at the test in verse nine. The test in point four, we'll look at the warning in verses 10 and 11, the warning. As we work through the text, where do we wanna get to, right? What do we wanna accomplish? We wanna get to loving and faithful obedience from the heart to the Lord's gracious direction for the purity of his body, the church, right? Loving and faithful obedience from the heart to the Lord's gracious direction for the purity of his body, the church. Now do that, let's look first at the setting in verses five and six, the setting. Verse five, but if anyone has caused grief, he's not grieved me, but all of you to some extent, not to be too severe, this punishment, which was inflicted by the majority is sufficient for such a man. As we consider our setting, right? The setting of our text is somewhat unclear. We don't know who this man is. We don't know what this man has done. We don't know the specific circumstances involved. There's a traditional interpretation that links this man in 2 Corinthians chapter two verses five and six here with the one who was put out for incestuous immorality in 1 Corinthians chapter five. Now that interpretation, traditional, is understandable. And as understandable as that may be, it's speculative to make that connection. There's simply nothing in our text that would make that connection for us. There are compelling reasons for why that's not the case. It's far more likely the case here that this incident of church discipline in Corinth relates to something more recent. We know that the false apostles in Corinth have begun leading a revolt against Paul, right? After Paul had written 1 Corinthians, this mutiny in the church gains way in the church and prompted Paul to make a very painful visit to deal with the sin, to deal with the rebellion in Corinth, to take a stand, right? For Paul's statement in 2 Corinthians chapter seven, verse 12, Paul speaks of an offender and then Paul speaks of himself as the one offended. From his statement here in verse five that we'll look at in a moment, it seems far more likely that Paul was sinfully opposed on that painful visit to the Corinthians and the Corinthians failed to take a stand to deal with the sin. The Corinthians failed to deal with the sin. Paul, after that very painful visit, obviously left heartbroken. Paul was in grief over the whole experience, right? Sorrow, we see the sorrow pouring out of his pen here as he writes. The severe letter that followed certainly addressed the failure of the church. It certainly addressed the Corinthians in their sin. The church had failed to deal with this particular sin and it was very evident here to Paul. Paul would have challenged them in that severe letter. You must, Corinth, lovingly and faithfully obey from the heart the Lord's gracious direction for the purity of his body, the church. Now look with me at three stages involved with this process of church discipline that Paul would have required that they undertake, right? Three stages involved in this process. Stage one, look at the grief, the grief in verse five. If anyone has caused a grief, he has not grieved me, but all of you to some extent, not to be too severe. Now verse five begins with that word, but it's better translated by the ESV with the word now. It's a connecting word, not a contrasting word, okay? That little word connects verse five with what goes before and it connects Paul's thoughts to what goes before, right? It continues Paul's thought. He's been talking in a general sense about the sorrow and grief that he's experienced, that accompanied that painful visit to Corinth, that severe letter, and now, beginning with verse five, he moves on to the specific issue and the specific person at the center of that grief, the enemy combatant, so to speak, right? The word there for grief is the word lupeo. It's in the perfect sense for you guys studying Greek. What that means is this. Whatever caused this grief, this sorrow, has happened in the past, but the emphasis now is on the current results of that. The sorrow, the heartbreak, the grief that's been caused by the sin of this man continues. It lingers between them. It lingers like an awful weight. It's caused heartbreak in the apostle Paul. It's caused grief and sorrow in Corinth. It's caused a significant ongoing problem between them, right? When Paul says that he's not grieved to me, verse five, he uses that statement in a relative sense, not in an absolute sense. So in other words, Paul is essentially saying he's not only grieved me, right? I'm not concerned with the grief he's caused to me, Paul says, as much as I am concerned about the grief that he's caused all of you, is essentially what Paul's saying. This is a similar use here to when Paul told them in 1 Corinthians, chapter one, verse 17, that Christ did not send me to baptize but to preach the gospel. Well, Paul had just listed several people that he baptized. The Great Commission tells us to baptize as part of the church. What Paul is saying is my primary concern is not baptism. My primary concern is preaching the gospel, or he uses it in a relative sense. He's doing the same thing here in verse five. Paul essentially says, this is a sense of what Paul is saying in verse five. We both know this man opposed me and I don't wanna be too hard on you by bringing it up again, but the grief he has caused is less about me than it is about the entire church. This has caused grief for all of you. It's essentially what Paul is saying there in verse five. And we see again, we see again that sin causes sorrow. Sin causes sorrow. Stage one here is the grief. Look at stage two. Stage two is the punishment. The punishment, we see this in verse six. This punishment, which was inflicted by the majority, is sufficient for such a man. The punishment of verse six is sanctioned by Paul. When we use that word punishment, I want us to understand, we're not talking about putting someone on the rack, right? We're not tying them to horses, drawing them and quartering them, right? There may be many in court if you wanted to do that with this guy. It's not what we're talking about. We're not putting the thumbscrews on, okay? This is the punishment. This would be punishment sanctioned by Paul. The only punishment sanctioned by the New Testament that is inflicted by the church, it's inflicted verse six by the majority. This is what we most often refer to as the final step in the process of church discipline. It's that punishment, that discipline, sanctioned by Paul, sanctioned by the New Testament, that the church carries out. It's church discipline. Essentially here, this is a withdrawal of fellowship. It's a disfellowship. It's what they're going through here. It's a disfellowship. Right now, after that painful visit, after the Corinthians had failed to deal with these false teachers who were opposing Paul, Paul confronted them in the severe letter. You must have been confronting them. Listen, you have to deal with that guy. You have to deal with that man's sin. Division and discord are spreading throughout the church. The truth is being undermined. Authority is being undermined. The gospel is being undermined. Paul is being undermined. And so in Corinth, they must faithfully and obediently deal with the sin for the sake of the Lord, for the sake of the Lord's church. And as we'll see, for their own sake and for the sake of that sinner. They certainly had Paul's instructions regarding church discipline. We see that all over the New Testament. And they also had the Lord's instructions regarding church discipline. Turn with me to Matthew chapter 18. Matthew chapter 18. Those in Corinth would have been well familiar with these passages of scripture with this instruction. Matthew chapter 18. And look with me at the Lord's words, beginning in verse 15. Matthew chapter 18, verse 15. The Lord gives us clear instruction. Listen to this. Moreover, he says, if your brother sins against you, verse 15, go and tell him his fault between you and him alone. If he hears you, in other words, if he repents, if he understands, if he acknowledges, if he turns from his sin, then you have gained your brother. The conflict is ended. End of story, it's done. He's repented. That person's forgiven. And it's dealt with and it's done, right? Verse 16. But if he will not hear, then take with you one or two more so that you can gang up on him. No, it's that by the mouth of two or three witnesses, every word may be established. Now notice here, in verses 15 and 16, that steps one and two here are your responsibility. My responsibility, our responsibility, right? If your brother sins against you, you go and tell him. If he will not hear, you take one or two more, okay? That's your responsibility, my responsibility. Verse 17. Then. And if he refuses to hear them, tell it to the church. This would coincide in 2 Corinthians chapter two, verse six, with the majority. That punishment which was inflicted with the majority. The majority there in that passage is the church. The majority here, verse 17, is the church. Tell it to the church. That would certainly include the elders, right? The elders responsible for leading the church through this process. Verse 17. But if he refuses even to hear the church, the Lord Jesus Christ says, let him be to you like a heathen and a tax collector. In other words, let him be to you like a lost person. Like a lost person. In other words, withdraw Christian fellowship from him. A lost person is an object of the gospel, evangelization, you're to witness the lost people. We don't have Christian fellowship with lost people. This is a withdrawal of fellowship, a withdrawal of Christian fellowship. And we're given additional insight to this from 1 Corinthians chapter five. Turn there with me. 1 Corinthians chapter five. As we hear of the brazen and grievous sin of the incestuous man called an adultery. In verse one, Paul here in 1 Corinthians chapter five instructs the Corinthians to move immediately to step four and put them out of the church in verse five. And then he gives further clarification, what this means in verse nine. In verse nine, Paul says this, I wrote to you in my epistle not to keep company with sexually immoral people. Again, what we're talking about here is a withdrawal of fellowship, a withdrawal of fellowship, not merely withholding the Lord's supper. It's not what it's talking about here. It's referring to Christian fellowship. It doesn't mean that he can stay in the church as long as he's not causing trouble, as long as he's not a member. Look at verse 10. Yet I certainly did not mean with a sexually immoral people of this world or with the covetous or extortioners or idolaters, since then you would need to go out of the world. What he's referring to in verse 10, what he's referring to in verse nine is location, proximity, right? Keep yourself away. Don't keep company with sexually immoral people. He doesn't mean sexually immoral people of this world since then you would have to go out of the world. He's talking about people who call themselves Christians in the church. They need to go out of the church for you not to keep company with them, okay? He's talking about location there, proximity. Verse 11. But now I've written to you not to keep company with anyone named a brother. There's the issue. Who is sexually immoral or covetous or an idolater or a reviler or a drunkard or an extortioner, not even to eat with such a person. The issue of refraining from having a meal with a guy is added for emphasis beyond not keeping company with them. Do you see? Not even to eat with that guy. Verse 12. For what have I to do with judging those who are on the outside? Do you not judge those who are inside? In other words, in other words, you and I are responsible to make a judgment. We have to make a judgment. We have a responsibility to judge those on the inside. Verse 13. But those who are outside, God judges. Therefore, therefore put away from yourselves the evil person, put him away. It means to put him away from the church, to put him outside the church. You know, but if he's outside the church, then how's he gonna hear the gospel and get saved? Listen, he's been hearing the gospel inside the church all along and he has rejected it in his sin. He has professed to be a Christian. And so now he's blaspheming Christ and blaspheming the gospel by sinning against his profession in the church. Put him out. Nothing is stopping you from preaching the gospel to that guy outside the church. Put away from yourselves, Paul says, the evil person. But you have other sinners that come to the church, not ones that cause trouble, not ones that have been put out under discipline. But Jesus, Jesus spent time with tax collectors and prostitutes. Not inside the church with those who have been put out under discipline, he didn't. Put away from yourselves, Paul says, the evil person. Put them out of the church. Back in 2 Corinthians, chapter two, verse six. Paul visits the church in Corinth and his visit turns out to be extraordinarily painful. Now he attempts to put things in order, but he is brazenly opposed by false teachers there and one man in particular, this enemy combatant, right? Worse yet, worse yet, the Corinthians stand by and they let this happen. They've allowed the mutiny to swell, right? They stand by and let it happen. They do nothing to lovingly and faithfully deal with the sin in the church. So Paul heads back to Ephesus, right? After the painful visit, Paul heads back to Ephesus and from there, chapter two, verse four, he writes with great grief. He writes with tears, with anguish in his heart. He writes this severe letter confronting them and rebuking them for their neglect, rebuking them for their sin. Now at the time that Paul wrote that letter, Paul knows it's hard. He knows it's difficult, but Paul wasn't sure how they would respond. Were they stiff-necked and hard-hearted, now even more angry in their sin since Paul wrote that letter? Did they respond with repentance? Paul's not sure. Had they dealt with that man? Had they dealt faithfully with the sin? Paul doesn't know at this point. He had hope and faith in Christ. He was certainly praying diligently for them, but he wants to get an update. He can't wait any longer. Paul's heart is grieving. Paul's heart is broken over this sin. And so he sends Titus to find out how they're doing. You remember from the introduction, Titus goes to Corinth to get an update. By the time that Paul is now writing second Corinthians, he has met up with Titus and Titus has a good report. If you remember, Titus goes, he doesn't hear back from Titus and he is anticipating, he's eager to get a response. He's, again, very involved in what's going on there, wants to hear back from Titus. He doesn't hear from Titus, so Paul actually takes off through Macedonia to go and find him. And he and Titus connect in Macedonia and Titus gives him a good report. Look at second Corinthians chapter seven. Second Corinthians chapter seven. And look with me there at verse five. Paul and Titus meet in Macedonia. Titus is on his way back. Paul has been out looking for him. They meet up in verse five. For indeed, Paul says, chapter seven, verse five, when we came to Macedonia, our bodies had no rest. We were troubled on every side. Outside were conflicts, inside were fears. This at all just wreaked havoc on Paul, right? Titus had been delayed in getting back to Ephesus to see Paul. Paul couldn't wait any longer. He has to cross Macedonia in hopes of finding Titus along the way. And they finally meet here in Macedonia. And look at verse six. Nevertheless, God who comforts the downcasts, remember from chapter one, the God of all mercy, the God of all comforts, who comforts us in all of our tribulation. God who comforts the downcasts comforted us by the coming of Titus. And not only by his coming, verse seven, but also by the consolation with which he was comforted in you. When he told us of your earnest desire, your mourning and your zeal for me so that I rejoiced even more. You think about the conflict going on at this point. False teachers, false apostles have risen up against Paul and the Corinthians have stood back and let it happen. It's not that Paul is grieved because they didn't stand up for him, right? It's not Paul's concern here. Paul's concern is them. They're not dealing with sin. They're not dealing with his uprising. They're a church of the Lord Jesus Christ. They have a responsibility. They need to put down the mutiny, put down the sin, put the evil man away from them out of the church. They need to deal with the situation and they've failed to do that. And so for their sake, Paul is in grief over them. But when Titus comes and they meet in Macedonia, Titus, verse seven, told Paul of their earnest desire, right, their desire for Paul, their desire for the relationship to be reconciled, their desire to have righteousness and purity and holiness in the Lord's church. Your mourning, the mourning that they had over their sin and their zeal for him. They, again, they acknowledged Paul as an apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ and they were zealous for Paul. So that, verse seven, Paul rejoiced even more. For even if I made you sorry with my letter, verse eight, I don't regret it, though I did regret it, for I perceive that the same epistle made you sorry, though only for a while. Paul didn't regret doing what needed to be done. Paul regretted that he had to use such a hard, severe, difficult letter to do it. He knew the letter would grieve them. Verse nine, though, now Paul says, I rejoice. Not that you were made sorry, Corinthians, but that your sorrow led to repentance. For you were made sorry in a godly manner that you might suffer loss from us and nothing. Godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation, not to be regretted, but the sorrow of the world produces death. Your sorrow, Corinthians, was a repentant sorrow produced by the convicting work of the Spirit of God and producing fruits that are evidence of genuine repentance. You wanna know what genuine repentance looks like? Here are the fruits of genuine repentance. Look at verse 11, observe this very thing that you sorrowed in a godly manner, that sorrow leading to repentance. Look at what diligence it produced in you. What clearing of yourselves of this matter of sin, right? What indignation, what anger over that sin, what fear came upon you, what vehement desire, what zeal, what vindication in all things you proved yourselves, that's vindication there, you proved yourselves to be clear in this matter. They had done what was necessary to be done, even though it was difficult, even though it was hard, and they had done all of that from the heart. Upon receipt of Paul's severe letter, upon receipt of that rebuke from Paul, the Corinthians repent of their sin, they repent of their neglect, and they confront the man. They faithfully deal with the sin. The Corinthians inflict, to use Paul's word there, they inflict the necessary and mandated and biblical punishment, and they put that man out of the church, and they withdrew their fellowship from him. Verse 12, therefore, although I wrote to you, I did not do it for the sake of him who had done the wrong, nor for the sake of him who suffered wrong, Paul's speaking of himself there, but that our care for you in the sight of God might appear to you. Paul says, I did it for you, I did it for you. The issue wasn't as much the man's sin, and it wasn't as much about how the man's sin had offended Paul. Paul's primary concern was their faithful obedience to the Lord in dealing with sin in the Lord's church. His primary concern was their heart attitude towards sin, their faithfulness to protect the purity of the Lord's church, their willingness to do what is necessary in the Lord's church, and Paul says, your relationship to me, your relationship to me. Remember how in 2 Corinthians chapter two verse four, Paul said, out of much affliction and anguish of heart, I wrote to you with many tears, Paul says, not that you should be grieved, but that you should know the love which I have so abundantly for you. He's not lording it over them, right? Paul is working together with them for their joy, and he has to go through this very painful, very difficult circumstance to do it. Verse 13, therefore, when Titus came, we have been comforted in your comfort. We rejoice exceedingly more for the joy of Titus, because his spirit has been refreshed by you all. For if in anything I've boasted to him about you, I'm not ashamed, but as we spoke all things to you in truth, even so, our boasting to Titus was found true. And his affections are greater for you as he remembers the obedience of you. Isn't it interesting how oftentimes when you go through things like this with other brothers, your relationship then gets stronger, right? Your love toward one another grows, doesn't weaken. You go through the trenches with somebody, just it strengthens your relationship. It doesn't weaken it. But Titus says his affections are greater for you, and he remembers the obedience of you all, how with fear and trembling you received him. Therefore, Paul says in verse 16, I rejoice that I have confidence in you and everything. And note with me, note with me, where sin had brought grief and sorrow and shame and severed relationships and anguish and tears, true repentance brought renewed joy, renewed love, peace, unity, zeal, earnestness, desire. When a true church is faithful, loving and obedient to the Lord's direction, even when that direction is sometimes difficult and solemn and sober and painful, we have the Lord's blessing then in that obedience. We have the Lord's blessing of love and joy and peace and unity. The Lord's name is honored. The purity of the Lord's church is upheld. And not only that, not only that, but look at the third stage now, the response, the response of this person. We're linking it, three stages in the church discipline process from our text in verses five and six. We looked at the grief, the punishment, now the response. Look at verse six, back in 2 Corinthians chapter two, verse six. This punishment, which was inflicted by the majority, is sufficient for such a man. Their loving and faithful obedience from the heart to the Lord's gracious direction for upholding the Lord, the purity in the Lord's church, that obedience was used as a means through which God graciously brought this sinning man to genuine repentance. And it's pretty amazing here when you think about this, right? Now what happened to this man on the outside? The church dealt with his sin. They put him out under church discipline. What happened to him then on the outside? Paul says he's turned over for the destruction of his flesh. God obviously used whatever circumstances befell him to break his heart over his sin, to cause mourning over his sin. As time passed being outside the fellowship of the church, he begins to see how his wicked actions has caused pain, has caused sorrow in the church at Corinth, right? God brought him through the means of his circumstances, through the means of being put out of the church, God brought him to acknowledge how grievously he had sinned, how he had sinned against the Lord, how he had sinned against the church, the people. He was broken. He was grieved over how he had sinned. He saw the devastation that he had caused. He was humbled by how terribly wrong he was. He had to have recognized, had to have acknowledged how sinfully wrong his behavior was, the course of action that he had taken. He saw outside the church how he'd lost everything that mattered to him, the fellowship of the brothers and sisters, the fellowship of the saints, the church, the preaching of God's word. He was as a heathen and a tax collector. He was outside of grace, outside of the fellowship of God's people. And now this man who had once sinned so wickedly longed to be back, longed to be back. In verse seven, his sorrow was nearing a point where it was more than he could bear. Unless he became overwhelmed with sorrow, they needed to restore him, reaffirm their love for him. The only way to explain such a miraculous change of heart is the grace of God in Christ. How else would a guy like this who obviously, boldly withstood Paul against the church, against the Lord's authority, how else would it be that a man like this would be turned so completely around, have such a change of heart, such a change of mind that now he wants that which he had forsaken in his sin. Sufficient, Paul says, was the discipline of the church for just such a man as this? Sufficient for such a man. His flesh had been assailed by the enemy. The spirit has worked bringing conviction, bringing repentance. And his spirit has been saved. Time to restore him, Paul says. Time to return him to the fellowship. Time to reaffirm our love for him. How affirming, right of God's wisdom in the practice of church discipline, why do people, churches, pastors, why do they argue against this wisdom when God gives such clear direction and when God gives such clear affirmation by fruit that it's wise and appropriate and loving to do? You see this all the time, right? Nowadays, all the time where see some wicked impastor, some church down the road, commits adultery, and he's right back in that church the next week preaching, or if he doesn't go back to that church, he opens a church down the road and just preaches at that church the next week, the next month. Church is all over the place where adultery is tolerated. Homosexuality is tolerated. Drunkenness is tolerated. Lying, thieving, cheating, tolerated. Open sin in the church and they don't do anything about it. Or churches that profess to practice church discipline and yet won't put the person out of the church, believing themselves to be more wise in the word of God, more wise in the prescription, the instruction that God gives in his word for putting him out of the church in some misplaced sense of sympathy for that guy who is blaspheming the Lord, blaspheming the Gospel. They want to keep him in, keep him close. Listen, do what God says and God will take care of the results. Our responsibility is to be faithful, to faithfully and lovingly and obediently deal with sin in the Lord's church. But that's my friend. Who do you love more? And if you loved that one soul, if you were really their friend and you loved their soul, then you would do what God says to do and let God take care of that. You need to love their soul enough to honor God's prescription for church discipline, cut off fellowship with that person and let God deal with them. It may be the only way that their soul may be saved. We have to be faithful. When you have a sins of the world, filling the professing church, every kind of vile offense and the people presumptuously filled up with pride right over grace when they should be weeping. Paul says that glorying is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the entire lump? Purge out, Paul says, the old leaven that you may be a new lump. You're already a new lump. The church is a new lump. Purge out that leaven and maintain your status as a pure lump. Christ, our Passover has been sacrificed for us. We gotta have our priorities straight in dealing with sin in the Lord's church and do what is necessary. It's interesting though that in verse six, there's a modifying clause there. In verse six, it's very interesting. It's very interesting. Paul says that this punishment was inflicted by the majority. That's interesting. If you're making observations on the text and you think about that, what does that statement imply? Implies there was a minority, right? It implies there was also a minority. Now, we presume that it's a minority who didn't agree. We know that there was a minority, a likely minority in the church at Corinth that opposed Paul. So maybe this minority didn't agree with putting this guy out of the church or it was a minority who supported Paul and now that minority standing up for Paul is not ready to let this guy back in. They're saying to themselves, for what that guy did, listen, put him out the front door, lock the doors and don't let that guy ever back into this place. They're not ready to forgive. Whatever the case here, what they had to do was they had to act and submit themselves to the biblical decision of the majority. It's gonna happen in a church, right? It's happened around here. Cases of discipline come through. You follow God's plan for how to deal with that, God's directives from his word for how to handle that case of discipline. You have elders here that lead in that. You have people who are a part of that process. The church is a part of that process. Maybe it's a process or a situation that you don't always agree with. What are you to do in that kind of a circumstance? We must act and submit ourselves in the direction of the majority. Unless it's sin, it is possible in churches where a majority are in sin. By God's grace, it's not the case here. If it's not sin, then our responsibility is to submit. Not all will agree. There's not going to be unanimity in all of these cases. It can't be unanimity in the Lord's church. We have to learn and have to understand how to deal with our disagreements. Is every church member as wise as they should be? No. Are you the one with the only corner on how to interpret and apply scripture? No. Is every elder as sensitive in that situation as they should be? No. There's a need in those cases for a humble and a faith-filled submission, which is a subject for another day. So as he looks to your beginning, what will be a multi-sermon series in 2 Corinthians chapter 2, verses 5-11? What are we aiming at? What are we aiming at? What was the means that the Lord used to edify his church? What was the means that the Lord used to restore that sinning man? Loving and faithful obedience from the heart to the Lord's gracious direction for the purity of his body of church. A faithful practice of church discipline. We've examined the setting for what comes next, meaning next week we'll take a look at Paul's instruction, Paul's test, and Paul's warning. The stakes couldn't be any higher. The stakes couldn't be any higher. Will we pass the test? Will you, will you individually pass the test for the sake of the Lord's church, for the sake of that sinner? Most importantly, for the sake of the Lord's name, we must pass the test, amen? I'll praise, honor, glory, dominion, blessing to him who is wisely head over all things to his church. Let's pray. As you pray silently, ask the Lord, maybe you're dealing with a situation of church discipline where you've got an ongoing relationship with someone who's been put out of the church. I'm gonna call you to repentance. I'm gonna call you to trust the Lord. The Lord knows what he's doing. And your disobedience is faithlessness, it's unbelief, you need to repent of that, turn back to the Lord. You're dealing with the difficulty of dealing with situations like this of church discipline. I know our emotions, it's easy for our emotions to be tugged one direction or another in cases like this. Praise of the Lord would help you to see his wisdom in this. And let's all pray that we would be faithful in implementing this process. The first two steps are our responsibility individually. We must be faithful in that. And we must as a church be faithful in the rest. Let's pray.