Sermon of the week

“Now we exhort you, brethren, warn them that are unruly, comfort the 
feebleminded, support the weak, be patient toward all men. See that none render 
evil for evil unto any man; but ever follow that which is good, both among 
yourselves, and to all men,” 1 Thessalonians 5:14-15.  
 
 
It is our duty when we see sin taking hold of one of our brethren, that we warn 
them, that we exhort them, that we urge them, that we beseech them. These 
responsibilities are not only found in the New Testament. I will start by using 
Leviticus 19:17: “Thou shalt not hate thy brother in thine heart: thou shalt in 
any wise rebuke thy neighbour, and not suffer sin upon him.”
 
If I see a brother walking in sin, doing what he ought not to do, who is walking 
disorderly, I do not look at him with a despising spirit. I am not to hate him 
in my heart, but I am to rebuke him. I must admonish him. I must warn him. I 
must urge him to turn from his evil way.  
 
 
If you love your brother, you will rebuke him. This is synonymous with Proverbs 
13:24: “He that spareth his rod hateth his son: but he that loveth him 
chasteneth him betimes.” By rebuking him, by not suffering sin upon him, we 
demonstrate that we love him. If you love him you will rebuke him.
 
Can you say you love your brother and allow him to continue in sin unrebuked, 
uncorrected, unwarned, never having besought him to turn from his evil ways?
 
See the warning in Ezekiel 33:8: “When I say unto the wicked, O wicked man, thou 
shalt surely die; if thou dost not speak to warn the wicked from his way, that 
wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at thine 
hand.”
 
This same principle comes through in Hebrews 10:25-26: “Not forsaking the 
assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one 
another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching. For if we sin 
wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth 
no more sacrifice for sins.”
 
Verses 27 to 29 tell us why: “But a certain fearful looking for of judgment and 
fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries. He that despised Moses’ 
law died without mercy under two or three witnesses: Of how much sorer 
punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden under foot 
the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was 
sanctified, an unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace?” 
 
 
 
When we see things we know ought not to be, we are to exhort each other to help 
each other from falling into sin, that we preserve each other from falling into 
unbelief and departing from the living God.
 
We also see this same principle taught in Hebrews 12:15: “Looking diligently 
lest any man fail of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up 
trouble you, and thereby many be defiled.”  
 
 
This is talking about someone falling from the grace of God. Bitterness is one 
of the most horrible traps Satan can get you caught in. It can happen when you 
have a heart of bitterness toward your fellow man over any little trifling 
thing, any kind of misunderstanding. When we fall from grace we lose love for 
the brethren. We get to where we lose the exercise of saving faith in the second 
table of the law, because our hearts are filled with bitterness.  Amen.
 
Though justly of wrongs we complain,
Or faithfully sinners reprove,
Yet still we do all things in vain,
Unless we do all things in love.
‘Tis love makes us humble and meek!
The wounds of ill usage it cures,
It pities the falls of the weak,
The pride of the lofty endures.
 
Has God a command to fulfil,
Which nature untoward would shun?
Love brings to compliance the will,
And causes the deed to be done.
From Jesus the blessing must flow,
To creatures beneath and above;
May He His good Spirit bestow,
And we shall do all things in love.
Gadsby selection, 1838