The church is the highest court.

And so all church discipline occurs within the community of believing people.

It can be large.

It can be very small.

It might be on a mission field, three or four missionaries.

We don't even have a church yet.

They become an assembly of God's redeemed people in which the enforcement of God's principles for holiness must be carried out.

Welcome to Grace to You with John MacArthur. I'm your host, Phil Johnson. As you may know,

John MacArthur has pastored Grace Community Church in the Los Angeles area for more than 55 years, and it's in that capacity as pastor that John has seen the practical outworking of the

theme he'll focus on today. John calls his series, My Brothers Keeper. John, when you hear that title,

the familiar rhetorical question comes to mind,

am I my brother's keeper? In other words, am I really somehow responsible for how my brother

or sister lives his or her personal life? Most people's impulse today would be an instant,

no, that's not my job. That's not my business. That's wrong. Of course, we're responsible to be our brother's keeper.

As believers, especially, if you see that your brother has need and you close up your

compassion to him, how can you even say you're a Christian, writes the Apostle John?

We are known by our love. Jesus said they'll know you by your love. That's how

men will know you're my disciples because you love one another. If there's anything true about

believers, it is that they are their brothers keepers. That really comes out clearly. In a couple of

passages of Scripture, Matthew 18 in particular, and then Galatians 5. We want you to understand

how important it is that you fulfill that responsibility from God to be the keeper of

your brothers and sisters in Christ. So we're going to have a series beginning today,

...