Hello, friends, Scott Pauley here.

Welcome back to enjoying the journey, and thank you for being a part this week of our special episodes on current questions and Bible answers.

Aren't you glad that the Word of God is always relative, that it always

speaks to us right where we are? This is not some ancient document. God's Word is eternal truth.

Today, I want to return to the question we began on yesterday because I think it bears us spending a little more time here. And the question

relates to how do we deal with those who have fallen into sin? Now yesterday I talked to you a good

bit about brethren. I mean by that fellow Christians, brothers or sisters in Christ. Today, let's address the idea of

authority. What about when a person in authority falls into sin? And I'll pick up right where

we left off yesterday. I still believe that the Matthew 18 model is Christ way for dealing with

every New Testament believer and member of a local church.

So you deal with them personally, privately, you deal with them then in a small group,

you deal with it within the church. And this is the orderly and spiritual way to address it.

But Paul in 1 Timothy chapter 5 gives some principles that I think are

particularly helpful. Let me give you this New Testament scripture and then I'll give you an Old

Testament illustration and some application about what I'm talking about. First Timothy 6,

excuse me, 1 Timothy 5 begins this way, rebuke not an elder, but entreat him as a father and the younger men as brethren.

So he immediately begins with dealing with the elders in the church and the elder men, and he says, don't rebuke them.

So on one hand, he says, honor them, respect them, speak to them in a way that is becoming to their age and their

stage.

But this is so interesting.

In the same chapter, he says in verse 19, against an elder, received not an accusation,

but before two or three witnesses, them that sin rebuke before all, that others

...