Sheldonville Baptist Church
July 19, 2026
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      • Luke 10:1–3NKJV

      • Luke 10:17–20NKJV

  • A New Name In Glory
  • Above All
  • In Christ Alone
  • Thank You Lord
  • He's Able
  • Burdens Are Lifted At Calvary
  • Introduction
    There are a few things that happen in time that cannot happen outside of time. To us, those things are completely normal. To God, they are alien.
    God is simultaneously present both every where and every when (He is omnipresent).
    The notion of anything getting lost is completely foreign to God.
    Unfortunately, things get lost all the time in the time and space where we live.
    Since I cannot be both where I am and where my keys are, I may lose track of their exact location: they become lost.
    Since I cannot be both in relationship with someone and out of relationship with them, I may lose track of some relationships: they become lost.
    This cannot happen to God.
    He is never not with someone or something. Psalm 139:7–12 “7 Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence? 8 If I ascend into heaven, You are there; If I make my bed in hell, behold, You are there. 9 If I take the wings of the morning, And dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, 10 Even there Your hand shall lead me, And Your right hand shall hold me. 11 If I say, “Surely the darkness shall fall on me,” Even the night shall be light about me; 12 Indeed, the darkness shall not hide from You, But the night shines as the day; The darkness and the light are both alike to You.”
    He has never lost track of a relationship either. Though many have tried to leave Him behind, all they can accomplish is changing the nature of of their relationship. Romans 5:6–8 “6 For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. 7 For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die. 8 But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”
    Transition
    It should not be a surprise then that God would demonstrate something of an obsession in Scripture with things being found. He wants us to experience life more like His and less like ours. In Matthew 18, we see Jesus demonstrating that divine obsession with not losing things.
    Illumination

    The Lost Sheep, Matthew 18:12-14

    Matthew 18:12–14 NKJV
    12 “What do you think? If a man has a hundred sheep, and one of them goes astray, does he not leave the ninety-nine and go to the mountains to seek the one that is straying? 13 And if he should find it, assuredly, I say to you, he rejoices more over that sheep than over the ninety-nine that did not go astray. 14 Even so it is not the will of your Father who is in heaven that one of these little ones should perish.
    We typically think of these verses when we want to think how important evangelism is. We are not wrong to do so.
    We cannot miss the extreme value God places on finding the lost one
    We should not miss that this is in the immediate context of Jesus talking about children
    Children are more likely to be saved
    If all children were saved, all adults would be too (we were all children once)
    Adults must become like children to be saved, and that is harder than just getting saved as a child
    While God is not willing that any should perish (2Pe 3:9), He is especially not willing that children should perish.
    We could do a lot worse that focusing on finding children for Jesus. Most adults focus on finding adults, but we don’t succeed all that much.

    The Lost Brother, Matthew 18:15-20

    Matthew 18:15–20 NKJV
    15 “Moreover if your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault between you and him alone. If he hears you, you have gained your brother. 16 But if he will not hear, take with you one or two more, that ‘by the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established.’ 17 And if he refuses to hear them, tell it to the church. But if he refuses even to hear the church, let him be to you like a heathen and a tax collector. 18 “Assuredly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. 19 “Again I say to you that if two of you agree on earth concerning anything that they ask, it will be done for them by My Father in heaven. 20 For where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them.”
    Most people are fundamentally egocentric. We may vary by degrees, but we are all afflicted with this one.
    “Egocentric describes someone who is excessively self-centered, viewing the world and situations primarily from their own perspective. They struggle to understand or consider the thoughts, feelings, or opinions of others, often assuming that everyone else perceives and experiences reality exactly as they do.” —Merriam-Webster
    Many Christians have used these verse to describe a process of Church Discipline. I think we missed the point, honestly. Simply defining a couple concepts will help us:
    Sin - the same word used almost everywhere else, it means to miss the mark. The distinction here is we are not talking about a sin against God, we are talking about a sin against us. Someone has missed our mark and offended us in some way as a result.
    Tell him his fault - convince him that he has wronged you.
    It is the same idea as the Holy Spirit convicting us of our sins against God.
    It requires clarity on our part. We must know what mark a person has missed and have a reasonable degree of confidence that they should have been able to hit it.
    It requires conviction on our part. We must be willing to do the hard work of confrontation in order to not lose the relationship.
    It requires consideration on our part. Often, the cost of absorbing the offense is less than the cost of confronting it. If that is the case, let it go (but only if you genuinely can).
    hears you - carries the idea of listens, understands, and willingly does whatever you reasonably require to repay the debt of offense he has created.
    gained - you have gained someone by not losing them. Too often, relationships that could be repaired are thrown away, that is our loss.
    Get help - with the same goal: convincing him that he has missed the mark and created an offense
    Witnesses provide clarity - they offer different perspectives and different abilities to communicate
    Witnesses provide gravity - if several people agree that you offended, then maybe you did
    Witnesses provide finality - someone who willingly offends people without remorse is not a good fit for a community. Banishment protects others from similar pain. But it is a last, drastic step.

    The Lost Soul, Matthew 18:21-35

    Matthew 18:21–35 NKJV
    21 Then Peter came to Him and said, “Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? Up to seven times?” 22 Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven. 23 Therefore the kingdom of heaven is like a certain king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. 24 And when he had begun to settle accounts, one was brought to him who owed him ten thousand talents. 25 But as he was not able to pay, his master commanded that he be sold, with his wife and children and all that he had, and that payment be made. 26 The servant therefore fell down before him, saying, ‘Master, have patience with me, and I will pay you all.’ 27 Then the master of that servant was moved with compassion, released him, and forgave him the debt. 28 “But that servant went out and found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii; and he laid hands on him and took him by the throat, saying, ‘Pay me what you owe!’ 29 So his fellow servant fell down at his feet and begged him, saying, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you all.’ 30 And he would not, but went and threw him into prison till he should pay the debt. 31 So when his fellow servants saw what had been done, they were very grieved, and came and told their master all that had been done. 32 Then his master, after he had called him, said to him, ‘You wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt because you begged me. 33 Should you not also have had compassion on your fellow servant, just as I had pity on you?’ 34 And his master was angry, and delivered him to the torturers until he should pay all that was due to him. 35 “So My heavenly Father also will do to you if each of you, from his heart, does not forgive his brother his trespasses.”
    Speaking of forgiveness, Jesus expects us to forgive quickly and frequently. There is a whole message in that one sentance!
    The broad strokes of this parable are simple enough to understand, but their are a couple of highlights we need to keep in mind:
    Verse 35 makes it clear that this parable is in the context of our personal relationships and willingness to confront and forgive each other.
    Verses 34 and 35 make it clear that forgiven people are forgiving people
    An unforgiving person will be sent to Hell to repay God for the offenses against Him.
    Those who are forgiven, are forgiving
    Those who are not forgiving, are not forgiven
    Verses 28-30 make it clear that the offense we will struggle most to forgive is the offense for which we were most forgiven.
    This is not logical: we should be most sensitive to the areas of our own greatest weakness.
    This is “normal”: we tend to be harshest to people have not overcome what and as we did
    This may be indicative: many of us overcome offenses by sheer force of will and have little use for those who do not.
    This indicates we did not receive grace or forgiveness. Since we did not receive forgiveness, we struggle or refuse to give it.
    If we refuse to forgive, we may want to double check whether or not we’ve really been forgiven
    Conclusion
    While much of this chapter deals with the issue of forgiveness, we don’t want to lose sight of the bigger picture: God doesn’t want things to get lost. We are sometimes to content to lose what we shouldn’t.

      • Matthew 18:12–14NKJV

      • Matthew 18:12–14NKJV

      • Matthew 18:15–20NKJV

      • Matthew 18:15–20NKJV

      • Matthew 18:21–35NKJV

      • Matthew 18:21–35NKJV

Sheldonville Baptist Church
information@sheldonvillebaptist.org
(508) 384-2397
http://sheldonvillebaptist.org
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