1 00:00:01,160 --> 00:00:03,280 Well, my name is Eric, one of the pastors here. 2 00:00:03,280 --> 00:00:07,440 Glad to be here with you this morning, especially the first 3 00:00:07,440 --> 00:00:10,040 Sunday of the year. Thank you for dedicating the 4 00:00:10,040 --> 00:00:14,240 first Sunday of the year to the Lord with us here at Redemption 5 00:00:14,240 --> 00:00:19,480 Church, North Ogden. And we are going to be in the 6 00:00:19,480 --> 00:00:23,440 book of Matthew, Chapter 7. We're starting a new chapter 7 00:00:23,440 --> 00:00:27,160 also. This is still the Sermon on the 8 00:00:27,160 --> 00:00:33,360 Mount where Jesus is teaching his 12 disciples about what it 9 00:00:33,360 --> 00:00:37,040 means to be a Christian, to live in the Kingdom of God. 10 00:00:37,040 --> 00:00:41,480 But yes, there are many people around listening to Jesus 11 00:00:41,480 --> 00:00:43,920 teaching as well during this time. 12 00:00:43,920 --> 00:00:48,200 And so that's the context of of what we're talking about today. 13 00:00:48,200 --> 00:00:54,280 And I've titled the message The Godly Way to correct One 14 00:00:54,280 --> 00:00:57,120 Another. And the verses we'll be in is 15 00:00:57,120 --> 00:00:59,480 Matthew Chapter 7, verses one through 6. 16 00:00:59,840 --> 00:01:02,880 If you have a Bible, please follow along with me. 17 00:01:02,880 --> 00:01:05,319 I'll, I'll also have some of those verses on the screen. 18 00:01:05,319 --> 00:01:07,960 But if you need a Bible, we have free Bibles back at the welcome 19 00:01:07,960 --> 00:01:10,840 table. So please grab one if you don't 20 00:01:10,840 --> 00:01:16,880 have a paper copy of the Bible. Now I have 4 points today about 21 00:01:16,880 --> 00:01:19,000 this text and I want to get right into them. 22 00:01:19,960 --> 00:01:26,800 And the first one is this are we supposed to judge because that 23 00:01:27,040 --> 00:01:31,200 that verse that we opened up with judge not that you not be 24 00:01:31,200 --> 00:01:35,120 judged or in the King James Version, it was judge not lest 25 00:01:35,120 --> 00:01:39,000 ye be judged. One of the most misunderstood 26 00:01:39,000 --> 00:01:42,960 verses of the Bible or misused verses of the Bible. 27 00:01:42,960 --> 00:01:45,800 We often think about it. And when I think about this 28 00:01:45,800 --> 00:01:48,440 verse, the first thing that comes to my mind, and I hope you 29 00:01:48,440 --> 00:01:53,280 don't judge me for this, but I used to listen to a lot of rap 30 00:01:53,280 --> 00:01:57,080 back in the day, being a kid in the 80s and nineties 2000s. 31 00:01:57,080 --> 00:02:03,840 And Tupac had a famous song called Only God can judge me. 32 00:02:04,400 --> 00:02:07,880 And even as I was a Christian, I thought this is a cool song. 33 00:02:07,880 --> 00:02:09,639 Like I agree with this guy, right? 34 00:02:09,639 --> 00:02:12,880 Like only God can judge me. I don't care what people think. 35 00:02:12,880 --> 00:02:16,440 And that was probably mostly because I was living in a lot of 36 00:02:16,440 --> 00:02:20,760 sin and people were judging me and I thought, Nope, only God 37 00:02:20,760 --> 00:02:23,520 can judge me, right? That my, that was my 38 00:02:24,040 --> 00:02:26,320 justification. Like you don't get to tell me 39 00:02:26,320 --> 00:02:28,880 what to do. Only God will judge me at the 40 00:02:28,880 --> 00:02:32,360 end of the day. Well, he's partially right and 41 00:02:32,360 --> 00:02:35,360 partially wrong. So let's look into that. 42 00:02:35,360 --> 00:02:40,040 But but really, are we supposed to judge people as Christians? 43 00:02:40,440 --> 00:02:42,800 That's the question I want to pose and I want to answer that 44 00:02:42,800 --> 00:02:45,520 through this this first point. But let's look at these verses 45 00:02:45,520 --> 00:02:49,360 again. Judge not that you be not 46 00:02:49,360 --> 00:02:53,440 judged, for with the judgment you pronounce, you will be 47 00:02:53,440 --> 00:02:58,800 judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. 48 00:02:59,840 --> 00:03:02,960 Now the word judge here in its original language means 49 00:03:02,960 --> 00:03:09,000 condemnation, or the type that leads to punishment, a judging 50 00:03:09,160 --> 00:03:14,480 that would lead to a conviction. And the authors of the New 51 00:03:14,480 --> 00:03:20,840 Testament and the Old Testament emphasize that that God is a 52 00:03:20,840 --> 00:03:23,880 judge. God does judge people, and He 53 00:03:23,880 --> 00:03:28,760 will judge people at the end of their lives and even at the end 54 00:03:28,760 --> 00:03:30,880 of the world. There's something in the Book of 55 00:03:30,880 --> 00:03:36,520 Revelation called the Great White Throne Judgment, where a 56 00:03:36,520 --> 00:03:40,800 book will be opened or several books will be opened, and all of 57 00:03:40,800 --> 00:03:44,800 the actions that humans ever did individually, every one of us 58 00:03:44,800 --> 00:03:47,920 will be called to account. Everything we ever said, 59 00:03:47,920 --> 00:03:51,840 everything we ever did, every thought we had, every motive of 60 00:03:51,840 --> 00:03:56,560 our heart will be called to account before God and he will 61 00:03:56,560 --> 00:04:00,920 judge those things. The good news is though, that 62 00:04:00,920 --> 00:04:05,480 Christians won't be in that judgment if you believe and 63 00:04:05,480 --> 00:04:08,120 trust in Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior. 64 00:04:08,600 --> 00:04:13,040 Jesus took the punishment that we deserved on the cross and he 65 00:04:13,040 --> 00:04:16,000 died for all those sins that are going to be called to account. 66 00:04:16,279 --> 00:04:19,920 And so at the end or when we die, the, the things that we 67 00:04:19,920 --> 00:04:24,840 could be accused of as guilty, God looks at the Father who took 68 00:04:25,400 --> 00:04:28,640 God looks at the Son who took our place and says, Nope, you 69 00:04:28,640 --> 00:04:31,680 are innocent. You're not judged. 70 00:04:31,840 --> 00:04:38,280 But yes, the God is a judge. Also, the Bible says that Jesus 71 00:04:38,280 --> 00:04:42,760 is coming back as God's appointed one to judge the earth 72 00:04:43,000 --> 00:04:46,320 and even the Holy Spirit, the whole Trinity, the Holy Spirit 73 00:04:46,320 --> 00:04:49,280 judged Ananias and Sapphira when they lied to him and they 74 00:04:49,280 --> 00:04:54,280 immediately died because of it. He is in Second Timothy 48, the 75 00:04:54,280 --> 00:05:03,600 righteous judge, and so him being the judge must cause us to 76 00:05:03,600 --> 00:05:09,240 have a little bit of fear, righteous fear and and humility 77 00:05:10,240 --> 00:05:12,760 because we know that God is going to judge. 78 00:05:12,840 --> 00:05:19,120 So then we ought to judge rightly if we're going to judge 79 00:05:19,120 --> 00:05:21,600 at all. That's what I would say to you 80 00:05:21,800 --> 00:05:25,600 first and foremost, because another way to understand the 81 00:05:25,600 --> 00:05:32,520 word judge is to evaluate, to form a critical opinion of 82 00:05:32,520 --> 00:05:36,360 something either either positive or negative by examination or 83 00:05:36,360 --> 00:05:39,520 scrutiny. And certainly we are called in 84 00:05:39,520 --> 00:05:42,840 the Bible to do that as well as Christians. 85 00:05:44,440 --> 00:05:48,880 But what Jesus is getting at here, what we must understand 86 00:05:48,880 --> 00:05:51,800 is, is we go into the next verse, it it talks about 87 00:05:51,800 --> 00:05:54,240 brother, it uses the word brother. 88 00:05:54,560 --> 00:05:56,840 It says, why do you see the speck in your brother's eye? 89 00:05:56,840 --> 00:05:58,440 We'll get to that in just a little bit. 90 00:05:58,440 --> 00:06:04,840 But anytime a a passage uses that word brother, it means that 91 00:06:04,840 --> 00:06:10,840 Jesus is talking to Christians. And it means that in the sense 92 00:06:10,840 --> 00:06:15,600 that we're not supposed to put ourselves in in the seat in the 93 00:06:15,600 --> 00:06:20,680 throne of God and be the judge ultimately on people's spiritual 94 00:06:20,680 --> 00:06:26,200 life or death because of some decisions they're currently 95 00:06:26,200 --> 00:06:29,840 making, right? We don't get to say to a 96 00:06:29,840 --> 00:06:32,720 Christian, because you're slipping, because you're 97 00:06:32,720 --> 00:06:37,480 falling, because you're, you're you're sinning that all of a 98 00:06:37,480 --> 00:06:40,440 sudden you've lost your salvation and now you're going 99 00:06:40,440 --> 00:06:43,440 to condemnation. That's the context in which we 100 00:06:43,440 --> 00:06:47,240 are supposed to read this judge not that you be not judged. 101 00:06:47,240 --> 00:06:50,160 Remember the the Sermon on the Mount. 102 00:06:50,160 --> 00:06:54,360 He's talking to the disciples and and he's he's talked about 103 00:06:54,600 --> 00:06:58,120 those who are merciful will receive mercy, right? 104 00:06:58,120 --> 00:07:05,520 Those who are Christians understand that they've escaped 105 00:07:05,520 --> 00:07:09,480 the judgement and received mercy, and so therefore we ought 106 00:07:09,480 --> 00:07:12,760 to do the same thing with our other brothers and sisters who 107 00:07:12,920 --> 00:07:16,480 struggle with sin and fall from time to time. 108 00:07:17,360 --> 00:07:23,240 So we shouldn't pass judgement to the point of condemnation on 109 00:07:23,240 --> 00:07:26,840 another believer because they've sinned. 110 00:07:26,840 --> 00:07:32,520 Or in Romans 1410 it says why do you pass judgement on your 111 00:07:32,520 --> 00:07:36,400 brother or you why do you despise your brother? 112 00:07:36,400 --> 00:07:39,320 For we all stand before the judgement seat of God. 113 00:07:40,200 --> 00:07:45,480 The context of Romans 14 is talking about when some 114 00:07:45,480 --> 00:07:48,440 Christians didn't like that other Christians were eating 115 00:07:48,600 --> 00:07:55,120 food, sacrificed idols. And this is basically saying 116 00:07:55,120 --> 00:08:00,440 that there's a there's, there are secondary matters that are 117 00:08:00,440 --> 00:08:05,400 matters of the conscience, matters that aren't life and 118 00:08:05,400 --> 00:08:09,280 death when it comes to salvation that Christians can agree or 119 00:08:09,280 --> 00:08:13,320 disagree on and still not be in sin. 120 00:08:14,560 --> 00:08:17,080 So matters of conscience, what is conscience? 121 00:08:18,680 --> 00:08:23,000 We're going to do a Sunday school version of this in in 122 00:08:23,000 --> 00:08:25,120 maybe a few months. We're going to talk all about 123 00:08:25,120 --> 00:08:28,960 conscience. Like can a Christian take their 124 00:08:28,960 --> 00:08:33,760 kids trick or treating or put up Christmas trees in their house 125 00:08:33,760 --> 00:08:39,679 or drink alcohol or what level of involvement in politics is it 126 00:08:39,679 --> 00:08:44,120 right for a Christian to have? Or can Christians listen to 127 00:08:44,120 --> 00:08:48,120 Taylor Swift? And I would just say I wouldn't 128 00:08:48,120 --> 00:08:53,160 do it if I were you. But all these things are a 129 00:08:53,160 --> 00:08:58,480 matter of conscience to some. They have freedom because it 130 00:08:58,480 --> 00:09:02,720 hasn't been clearly spelled out, clearly spelled out like the 131 00:09:02,720 --> 00:09:05,360 gospel spelled out. Some things in Scripture aren't 132 00:09:05,360 --> 00:09:08,880 clearly spelled out, whether it's sin or not sin. 133 00:09:08,880 --> 00:09:13,040 And and so there is freedom in Christ in in a lot of things in 134 00:09:13,040 --> 00:09:14,600 this life. And those would be called 135 00:09:15,400 --> 00:09:18,920 matters of conscience. If you feel convicted in your 136 00:09:18,920 --> 00:09:23,040 own conscience because of your faith that you shouldn't do this 137 00:09:23,040 --> 00:09:26,920 or that, and then you go and do it anyway, then that's sin for 138 00:09:26,920 --> 00:09:30,920 you. But those things are Gray areas 139 00:09:30,920 --> 00:09:36,480 and those can be debated until we finally one day go face the 140 00:09:36,480 --> 00:09:42,760 real judgement. But Jesus is saying here, here's 141 00:09:42,760 --> 00:09:49,040 a the, the the verses in Luke that are the same thing, but 142 00:09:49,040 --> 00:09:50,920 just maybe said in a different way. 143 00:09:51,360 --> 00:09:54,000 Jesus says judge not and you will not be judged. 144 00:09:54,000 --> 00:09:56,320 Condemn not and you will not be condemned. 145 00:09:56,720 --> 00:09:59,040 Forgive and you will be forgiven. 146 00:10:00,240 --> 00:10:06,120 So if you go around with a hypocritical, judgmental spirit 147 00:10:06,120 --> 00:10:11,520 towards other believers all the time, the question might be, do 148 00:10:11,520 --> 00:10:13,440 you understand what you've been forgiven? 149 00:10:14,880 --> 00:10:18,320 What what God has overlooked in your life? 150 00:10:18,760 --> 00:10:22,400 How you have the hope of not being condemned even though 151 00:10:22,400 --> 00:10:25,440 you've struggled with them? Do you not understand that? 152 00:10:25,560 --> 00:10:28,880 If you don't understand that, then we might call into question 153 00:10:29,080 --> 00:10:31,320 whether you truly understand the gospel or not. 154 00:10:34,120 --> 00:10:37,760 James, 59, says don't grumble against one another, brothers, 155 00:10:38,360 --> 00:10:43,520 so that you may not be judged. Behold, the judge is standing at 156 00:10:43,520 --> 00:10:46,400 the door. We might have to go back to the 157 00:10:46,400 --> 00:10:52,520 basics if we're seeming like we are judgmental Christians of our 158 00:10:52,520 --> 00:10:56,560 other brothers and sisters. We are we are to refrain from 159 00:10:56,560 --> 00:11:02,000 and what I believe is being condemned here is hypercritical 160 00:11:02,120 --> 00:11:04,280 judgement. We are to be critical and I'm 161 00:11:04,280 --> 00:11:08,080 going to get to that in a moment, but hypercritical about 162 00:11:08,080 --> 00:11:11,800 others, but then being gracious to ourselves. 163 00:11:11,800 --> 00:11:16,040 Have you ever noticed that that's how we kind of our we 164 00:11:16,040 --> 00:11:20,760 assign motives to other people and we become the prosecutor 165 00:11:21,600 --> 00:11:25,320 when offended when someone sins or sins against us. 166 00:11:25,520 --> 00:11:30,600 But when we sin or we, we start to call it a mistake and now 167 00:11:30,600 --> 00:11:33,880 we're the defense attorney for our own selves. 168 00:11:37,200 --> 00:11:41,480 Also, I believe we're critical of the things that we ourselves 169 00:11:41,480 --> 00:11:43,440 do. And this is where we need 170 00:11:43,440 --> 00:11:46,760 humility. If we're constantly calling out 171 00:11:46,760 --> 00:11:53,960 things in other people that we ourselves actually do, we might 172 00:11:53,960 --> 00:11:57,160 need to take a step back and look at have we repented of the 173 00:11:57,160 --> 00:12:03,400 sins that we so hate in others? Because that's often times what 174 00:12:03,400 --> 00:12:05,560 our problem is. And I'll tell you, I'm the first 175 00:12:05,560 --> 00:12:09,720 one to admit to this, right? Like when we're raising our 176 00:12:09,720 --> 00:12:12,680 children, you know this as parents, you lived a certain 177 00:12:12,680 --> 00:12:15,600 way. Maybe you had a hard life. 178 00:12:15,600 --> 00:12:17,400 You've been through a lot, trial and error. 179 00:12:17,640 --> 00:12:21,680 I, I personally made a lot of choices through trial and error, 180 00:12:21,800 --> 00:12:24,120 sinned a lot, made a lot of mistakes. 181 00:12:24,560 --> 00:12:29,720 And so then raising my kids, sometimes I can be hyper 182 00:12:29,720 --> 00:12:33,480 critical because I don't want them to have to go through what 183 00:12:33,480 --> 00:12:37,880 I went through. Or if they start acting like me 184 00:12:37,880 --> 00:12:42,760 like I used to, I get super critical about that. 185 00:12:42,880 --> 00:12:50,600 You know, things like diet and exercise, you know, eating 186 00:12:50,600 --> 00:12:54,440 enough protein and, and being kind of vain. 187 00:12:54,520 --> 00:12:57,440 You know, that was something that I struggled with for a long 188 00:12:57,440 --> 00:13:01,760 time in my life where I was so focused on what I looked like or 189 00:13:01,760 --> 00:13:06,160 my body image. And when one of my children 190 00:13:06,280 --> 00:13:09,760 exhibits the same thing, what do I do? 191 00:13:10,160 --> 00:13:12,760 I get critical. Why is that? 192 00:13:13,200 --> 00:13:16,560 I'm I'm beginning to believe it's because I haven't dealt 193 00:13:16,560 --> 00:13:21,720 with that sin in my own life yet and I haven't repented of it 194 00:13:21,720 --> 00:13:26,040 enough with God and dealt with it enough that I just get angry 195 00:13:26,040 --> 00:13:28,840 when I see it in other people. Can you relate to that a little 196 00:13:28,840 --> 00:13:31,280 bit? Do you get angry at other people 197 00:13:31,280 --> 00:13:35,640 for sins that you yourself are disgusted with in your own self, 198 00:13:36,720 --> 00:13:38,920 but instead of dealing with it inside of you? 199 00:13:40,480 --> 00:13:44,480 You pointed out in other people We need to repent of our sins 200 00:13:45,000 --> 00:13:53,480 before we judge others or we might be unrepentant Christians. 201 00:13:55,360 --> 00:14:01,400 But turning point here, we are supposed to be discerning and 202 00:14:01,400 --> 00:14:05,760 make judgments about people and choices and lifestyles. 203 00:14:06,000 --> 00:14:11,080 We are supposed to evaluate, in fact, people all over the world. 204 00:14:11,480 --> 00:14:15,880 It's interesting, especially in Christianity, when you start 205 00:14:15,880 --> 00:14:19,680 talking about being judgmental or critical or, or or or 206 00:14:19,680 --> 00:14:22,720 evaluating someone, you know how what kind of life they're 207 00:14:22,720 --> 00:14:24,800 living, whether they're living holy or not. 208 00:14:24,960 --> 00:14:28,880 Like all over in the world. We celebrate critical people, 209 00:14:29,040 --> 00:14:31,480 don't we? Listen to the podcasts of the 210 00:14:31,480 --> 00:14:35,000 people that are very critical of everyone else, critical of the 211 00:14:35,000 --> 00:14:37,560 government. We love those podcasts, right? 212 00:14:38,520 --> 00:14:42,560 People that are critical of the drug companies and the rich 213 00:14:42,560 --> 00:14:46,400 people in the world. We love people to to call out 214 00:14:46,400 --> 00:14:51,480 the faults of other people. But when it comes to religion, 215 00:14:51,480 --> 00:14:55,800 all the sudden it's like, well, wait a minute, don't judge me. 216 00:14:56,880 --> 00:15:00,760 Now we're back to Tupac, right? Only God can judge me. 217 00:15:00,760 --> 00:15:03,680 Let's not talk about that. That's being too judgmental. 218 00:15:04,560 --> 00:15:08,040 And then as a result, what ends up happening is because of that 219 00:15:08,040 --> 00:15:11,120 feeling that you're not supposed to judge in church because 220 00:15:11,120 --> 00:15:15,680 people have misused this word, we have what's called jellyfish 221 00:15:16,480 --> 00:15:19,440 clergy. In a couple of weeks, I'm going 222 00:15:19,440 --> 00:15:22,800 to preach on false prophets, which is in Chapter 7. 223 00:15:22,800 --> 00:15:26,880 I really want you to come back for that message, and I'm going 224 00:15:26,880 --> 00:15:31,560 to talk more about jellyfish Christianity, but just really 225 00:15:31,560 --> 00:15:35,720 quick, you know what a jellyfish, they have no bones. 226 00:15:36,120 --> 00:15:39,960 They have no backbone. And So what I would call a 227 00:15:39,960 --> 00:15:43,880 jellyfish clergy or even a jellyfish Christian is one who 228 00:15:43,880 --> 00:15:48,600 is unwilling to challenge or call out sin. 229 00:15:49,600 --> 00:15:54,760 In fact, sometimes they use the word broken instead of sin. 230 00:15:54,760 --> 00:15:57,440 Now I understand the word broken. 231 00:15:57,440 --> 00:16:02,360 I often say the same thing, you know, but we are more than 232 00:16:02,360 --> 00:16:07,680 broken as human beings. We are spiritually dead before 233 00:16:07,680 --> 00:16:10,400 we come to Christ. We're not just broken, but 234 00:16:10,400 --> 00:16:16,720 limping along. We are bent towards evil in sin. 235 00:16:18,000 --> 00:16:22,160 And so if you read the whole Bible, you're going to find this 236 00:16:22,160 --> 00:16:24,640 a lot that it's talked about a lot. 237 00:16:26,400 --> 00:16:30,720 In fact, First Corinthians 511 when when we talk about judging 238 00:16:30,720 --> 00:16:35,160 inside of the church, there was some sin going on in First 239 00:16:35,160 --> 00:16:36,880 Corinthians. And anytime I've ever heard a 240 00:16:36,880 --> 00:16:40,440 pastor preach on the book of First Corinthians, they always 241 00:16:40,440 --> 00:16:44,600 kind of labeled the book church gone wild, you know, or 242 00:16:45,360 --> 00:16:48,320 something along those lines. Because they were they were 243 00:16:49,800 --> 00:16:54,920 sinning a lot and they were extravagant in, you know, 244 00:16:54,920 --> 00:16:57,800 misinterpreting some things about how to do worship. 245 00:16:57,800 --> 00:17:01,760 And just they were just a wild bunch of of people, this 246 00:17:01,760 --> 00:17:04,640 Corinthian church. And there was one man whom they 247 00:17:04,640 --> 00:17:07,920 weren't doing anything about who was caught in some terrible sin. 248 00:17:08,599 --> 00:17:11,040 And here's what Paul says. But now I'm writing to you not 249 00:17:11,040 --> 00:17:16,319 to associate with anyone who bears the name of brother if he 250 00:17:16,319 --> 00:17:20,440 is guilty of sexual immorality or greed, or as an idolater, 251 00:17:20,440 --> 00:17:25,319 reviler, drunkard or swindle swindler, Not even to eat with 252 00:17:25,319 --> 00:17:27,839 such a one. And then he says this. 253 00:17:28,040 --> 00:17:31,120 For what have I do to with judging outsiders? 254 00:17:31,600 --> 00:17:35,600 Is it not those inside the church whom you are to judge? 255 00:17:36,280 --> 00:17:40,800 God judges those outside. Purge the evil person from among 256 00:17:40,800 --> 00:17:43,120 you. And this is Paul basically 257 00:17:43,120 --> 00:17:45,720 saying like, you've been allowing this to go on in your 258 00:17:45,720 --> 00:17:48,080 church. It's causing so much drama. 259 00:17:48,200 --> 00:17:51,400 It's adding so much more sin. People are confused. 260 00:17:51,400 --> 00:17:55,480 You're hurting families because you will not call this person 261 00:17:55,480 --> 00:17:59,200 out. And so Paul's saying do 262 00:17:59,200 --> 00:18:03,960 something about it. It is actually the church's job 263 00:18:04,240 --> 00:18:08,600 to make some critical judgments about sin. 264 00:18:09,080 --> 00:18:12,720 So and even outside of the church, as we look at the world, 265 00:18:12,720 --> 00:18:15,760 we are supposed to discern that there are evil people out there 266 00:18:15,760 --> 00:18:18,440 in the world. There is corrupt government and 267 00:18:18,440 --> 00:18:19,840 leadership out there in the world. 268 00:18:20,080 --> 00:18:23,240 There are dangerous and violent violent threats out there in the 269 00:18:23,240 --> 00:18:27,960 world. But on the other hand, to expect 270 00:18:27,960 --> 00:18:33,480 a non believer to live for Jesus also isn't logical. 271 00:18:33,480 --> 00:18:36,120 That's why Paul says God judges those outside. 272 00:18:36,360 --> 00:18:44,320 We make our critical opinions and evaluations, but God judges 273 00:18:44,320 --> 00:18:48,520 those on the outside. We can't expect a believer. 274 00:18:48,640 --> 00:18:53,960 We can't be going to believer saying you need to do this, you 275 00:18:53,960 --> 00:18:56,600 know, love your wife as Christ loved the church. 276 00:18:56,600 --> 00:18:58,200 Why is he going to listen to that? 277 00:18:58,800 --> 00:19:00,360 Why would he care about that, right? 278 00:19:00,720 --> 00:19:03,360 We've got to get to his soul 1st through the easy gospel. 279 00:19:03,360 --> 00:19:04,600 I'm going to get to that later too. 280 00:19:04,600 --> 00:19:08,480 But but for Christians, those who call themselves Christians, 281 00:19:08,480 --> 00:19:11,320 those who call themselves a brother or sister in Christ, we 282 00:19:11,320 --> 00:19:15,280 are to make judgments as to whether this person is in need 283 00:19:15,280 --> 00:19:20,640 of discipleship, correction or rebuke and discipline. 284 00:19:21,640 --> 00:19:26,040 And this is a good thing because if we never challenged anyone 285 00:19:26,040 --> 00:19:28,920 and anything, how would they grow, right? 286 00:19:29,440 --> 00:19:34,360 Growth is challenging. Growth is is is learning things 287 00:19:34,360 --> 00:19:37,240 you didn't know. Growth is being able to do 288 00:19:37,240 --> 00:19:41,600 things that you once weren't able to do if it wasn't for 289 00:19:41,600 --> 00:19:45,880 someone. And many people in my life that 290 00:19:45,880 --> 00:19:50,280 were, were willing to call out my sin when I struggled early on 291 00:19:50,280 --> 00:19:54,080 as a late teenager and early in my 20s with addiction. 292 00:19:54,240 --> 00:19:58,400 And I was in this cycle of, you know, getting my fix and lying 293 00:19:58,400 --> 00:20:02,240 to people and hurting people because I was so self focused. 294 00:20:03,480 --> 00:20:08,320 But yet I would still make my way into church every once in 295 00:20:08,320 --> 00:20:11,680 awhile because I kind of grew up into the faith and and 296 00:20:12,720 --> 00:20:17,760 eventually God gave me this desire to be around the church 297 00:20:17,760 --> 00:20:20,800 more. And and there were people that 298 00:20:20,800 --> 00:20:24,320 were willing to call me out and it wasn't it wasn't like I 299 00:20:24,320 --> 00:20:26,280 didn't feel like they were judge mental. 300 00:20:26,520 --> 00:20:29,240 I felt like they loved me and they cared about me enough to 301 00:20:29,240 --> 00:20:33,160 have a conversation with me. It wasn't just, hey, you're 302 00:20:33,160 --> 00:20:38,760 doing this and stop. You need to grow up. 303 00:20:38,760 --> 00:20:44,680 No, it was it was it was loving. But if they wouldn't have done 304 00:20:44,680 --> 00:20:46,840 that in my life, I don't know where I would be today. 305 00:20:47,400 --> 00:20:51,120 And that's what God has designed the church for in the 1st place. 306 00:20:51,880 --> 00:20:54,680 As we come together, we grow together, we hear the Word of 307 00:20:54,680 --> 00:20:57,360 God together. The preacher supposed to 308 00:20:57,360 --> 00:21:01,720 challenge you. But even people that are 309 00:21:01,720 --> 00:21:03,720 discipling you are supposed to challenge you. 310 00:21:05,320 --> 00:21:10,240 And so here's the problem though, we do need to approach 311 00:21:10,240 --> 00:21:15,400 sin with humility because we are also sinners saved by grace. 312 00:21:15,840 --> 00:21:18,720 As he said, with the judgement you pronounce, you will be 313 00:21:18,720 --> 00:21:23,200 judged and the measure you use will be measured to you. 314 00:21:23,640 --> 00:21:28,400 So how harsh are you? How gracious are you? 315 00:21:28,520 --> 00:21:30,920 I mean, that is going to be the question, right? 316 00:21:32,000 --> 00:21:37,000 We must be critical and judge whether or not we should say 317 00:21:37,000 --> 00:21:41,160 anything at all sometimes. And we should judge our own 318 00:21:41,160 --> 00:21:44,880 morality and our own shortcomings before we decide to 319 00:21:44,880 --> 00:21:46,960 point out the the faults in other people. 320 00:21:46,960 --> 00:21:50,640 And that's my next point. Only in humility can we properly 321 00:21:51,120 --> 00:21:54,920 help. Moving on into the verses, it 322 00:21:54,920 --> 00:21:58,160 says, why do you see the speck that is in your brother's eye 323 00:21:58,160 --> 00:22:02,080 but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? 324 00:22:02,080 --> 00:22:04,400 Or how can you say to your brother, let me take the speck 325 00:22:04,400 --> 00:22:10,480 out of your eye when there's a log in your own eye, you and I 326 00:22:10,480 --> 00:22:15,240 cannot help anyone without being able to clearly see first. 327 00:22:16,040 --> 00:22:23,320 I mean, what amount of pride does it take to be clearly in 328 00:22:23,320 --> 00:22:27,480 sin or struggling with something some major issue? 329 00:22:27,480 --> 00:22:30,200 Because that's kind of the analogy here. 330 00:22:30,640 --> 00:22:34,680 One guy's got a speck, but the other guy has a a log. 331 00:22:35,720 --> 00:22:40,720 What kind of pride does it take for a person who's got a log in 332 00:22:40,720 --> 00:22:44,520 their eye, a major sin going on in their life, and they want to 333 00:22:44,520 --> 00:22:47,040 call out some little thing in somebody else's life? 334 00:22:47,040 --> 00:22:51,880 Like, it's like, it's pretty hard to listen to someone, 335 00:22:52,080 --> 00:22:53,840 right? I know you've probably been 336 00:22:53,840 --> 00:22:56,640 there. It's like going to a Doctor 337 00:22:57,600 --> 00:23:01,840 Who's blind, but he's going to do eye surgery on me. 338 00:23:02,400 --> 00:23:05,200 Are you going to allow that? I'm not going to allow that. 339 00:23:05,400 --> 00:23:09,120 Or it's like going to the doctor and he's got this infected 340 00:23:09,120 --> 00:23:12,800 gaping wound with a knife stuck in his arm, but he's going to 341 00:23:12,800 --> 00:23:14,640 take a splinter out of my finger. 342 00:23:15,960 --> 00:23:18,520 I don't think I'm going to listen to that person, right? 343 00:23:18,520 --> 00:23:20,400 That's going to be really hard to do. 344 00:23:25,200 --> 00:23:30,680 Jesus in the in the Luke version of this says he also told them a 345 00:23:30,680 --> 00:23:33,320 parable. Can a blind man lead a blind 346 00:23:33,320 --> 00:23:35,720 man? Will they not both fall into a 347 00:23:35,720 --> 00:23:41,280 pit? Now part of this is maybe he's 348 00:23:41,280 --> 00:23:47,800 getting at the fact that if one is blind again, going back to 349 00:23:48,560 --> 00:23:52,360 don't judge in this condemning type of a judgement. 350 00:23:52,920 --> 00:23:56,280 If you don't have humility to see the the sin in your own 351 00:23:56,280 --> 00:24:02,080 life, you might be blind, you may have not repented of your 352 00:24:02,080 --> 00:24:05,680 sin. You may or may not even be a 353 00:24:05,680 --> 00:24:10,280 believer if this describes you. And I think that's what Jesus 354 00:24:10,280 --> 00:24:13,920 challenge here is as he's speaking to his disciples. 355 00:24:14,080 --> 00:24:18,480 But all these other people, Pharisees included around him, 356 00:24:18,960 --> 00:24:24,320 the hypocrites whom he's going to get to in this passage, all 357 00:24:24,320 --> 00:24:29,920 sitting there listening. He's trying to say how dare a 358 00:24:29,920 --> 00:24:33,960 person who is blind think that they can help another person? 359 00:24:33,960 --> 00:24:39,640 See first, deal with the sin in your own heart. 360 00:24:40,720 --> 00:24:43,840 Again, all throughout this Sermon on the Mount, Jesus has 361 00:24:43,840 --> 00:24:47,440 called the fairest hypocrites. They were hypocrites. 362 00:24:47,440 --> 00:24:49,880 They were actors, they were pretenders. 363 00:24:50,040 --> 00:24:53,280 And Jesus doesn't want his followers to just put on a mask 364 00:24:53,440 --> 00:24:56,680 and be a pretender. And you know, what has to happen 365 00:24:56,680 --> 00:25:00,640 is some hard conversations, some conviction, some truth has to 366 00:25:00,640 --> 00:25:03,120 come in. And yes, grace as well. 367 00:25:03,120 --> 00:25:08,720 Grace changes us also from the inside out. 368 00:25:09,920 --> 00:25:13,200 But here's what he says. He uses that word again, you 369 00:25:13,480 --> 00:25:17,160 hypocrite. First take the log out of your 370 00:25:17,160 --> 00:25:18,600 own eye. Then you will see clearly to 371 00:25:18,640 --> 00:25:21,400 take the speck out of your brother's eye. 372 00:25:22,920 --> 00:25:27,600 So what's the the the call here is to start living holy 373 00:25:27,600 --> 00:25:31,120 yourself. If you want to start critiquing 374 00:25:31,120 --> 00:25:34,440 everybody else in your life, you better start cleaning up your 375 00:25:34,440 --> 00:25:38,800 own life. You better start having some 376 00:25:38,800 --> 00:25:42,600 holiness in our and, and maybe some some days and months and 377 00:25:42,600 --> 00:25:48,480 weeks and years put together of following the Lord and in glass 378 00:25:49,160 --> 00:25:52,200 before you think that you can actually help another person 379 00:25:53,480 --> 00:25:56,320 onto the right path. And I know that this sometimes 380 00:25:56,320 --> 00:25:59,920 is controversial in some circles, but I do not believe 381 00:25:59,920 --> 00:26:07,720 that a brand new believer can properly mentor or disciple 382 00:26:08,480 --> 00:26:11,600 another person. You know, like the Great 383 00:26:11,600 --> 00:26:14,160 Commission says, go make disciples and then it says 384 00:26:14,160 --> 00:26:16,360 teaching them to obey all that I've commanded. 385 00:26:17,440 --> 00:26:20,000 Well, how is a brand new believer or, or someone who 386 00:26:20,000 --> 00:26:22,560 thinks they're a believer and isn't who, who isn't even 387 00:26:22,640 --> 00:26:25,720 doesn't even know the word of God and isn't following the 388 00:26:25,720 --> 00:26:28,240 teachings of Jesus. How is that person going to come 389 00:26:28,240 --> 00:26:35,000 and tell me how to be able to see clearly how to disciple 390 00:26:35,000 --> 00:26:39,800 another person in the faith? So first of all, we've got to 391 00:26:39,800 --> 00:26:43,480 have this humility. Humility should lead us to to 392 00:26:43,480 --> 00:26:50,840 learning because here's the problem there's two extremes and 393 00:26:50,840 --> 00:26:54,480 they're both wrong in this when it comes to judging other 394 00:26:54,640 --> 00:26:56,040 judging each other in the church. 395 00:26:56,320 --> 00:27:02,800 It's antinomianism and legalism. OK antinomian anti NAMI means no 396 00:27:02,800 --> 00:27:07,760 or against Nami means law. So no law antinomianism. 397 00:27:07,760 --> 00:27:11,120 You don't believe that there are any laws or any commandments in 398 00:27:11,120 --> 00:27:14,680 Scripture that you should or have to follow. 399 00:27:14,840 --> 00:27:19,000 It's all grace. Jesus doesn't care how you live, 400 00:27:20,280 --> 00:27:23,840 nor do you really care how to grow in more holiness. 401 00:27:23,840 --> 00:27:26,400 That would be antinomianism. That is wrong. 402 00:27:26,440 --> 00:27:29,800 That is a heresy that there are no more commandments to follow. 403 00:27:29,800 --> 00:27:33,120 Again, the Great Commission teach them to obey all that I've 404 00:27:33,120 --> 00:27:35,080 commanded. That's a New Testament. 405 00:27:35,080 --> 00:27:37,560 We're not talking just about following the Old Testament law 406 00:27:37,560 --> 00:27:40,320 like the Jews did in order to be right with God. 407 00:27:40,320 --> 00:27:44,360 We know we are saved by faith in Jesus Christ alone and we do not 408 00:27:44,360 --> 00:27:48,200 have to do anything, join a religion to get saved and to be 409 00:27:48,200 --> 00:27:51,280 made right with God, to be blind. 410 00:27:51,280 --> 00:27:57,160 But now we see to be woken up spiritually, that's a free gift 411 00:27:57,160 --> 00:27:59,520 from God. You don't have to work for it. 412 00:28:01,000 --> 00:28:04,520 But God now wants us to now go do good works. 413 00:28:04,720 --> 00:28:07,120 He has said things that we should go do. 414 00:28:07,360 --> 00:28:13,200 He has a moral character, a moral standard in his own nature 415 00:28:13,720 --> 00:28:17,840 that is good and right and holy. And we as Christians should be 416 00:28:17,920 --> 00:28:22,680 striving to glorify God in representing him in the world 417 00:28:22,680 --> 00:28:23,800 and following those things, right. 418 00:28:23,800 --> 00:28:26,320 So that's antinomianism is wrong. 419 00:28:26,320 --> 00:28:32,400 The other side is legalism. Legalism is when you know too 420 00:28:32,400 --> 00:28:34,280 much. You can't really know too much, 421 00:28:34,280 --> 00:28:40,040 but you know so much that you've forgotten about the grace and 422 00:28:40,040 --> 00:28:44,400 you want to look at everything as a law and apply it to 423 00:28:44,400 --> 00:28:48,600 everybody around you. And they used to call the the 424 00:28:48,600 --> 00:28:51,440 scribes and some of the Pharisees in the Old Testament. 425 00:28:51,440 --> 00:28:54,800 Lawyers, lawyers, you know what lawyers do? 426 00:28:55,640 --> 00:28:59,520 They're experts in the law. And when they want to get around 427 00:28:59,520 --> 00:29:01,680 something, they find loopholes in the law. 428 00:29:03,000 --> 00:29:06,840 But they hold everybody else accountable to these things, to 429 00:29:06,840 --> 00:29:11,040 the letter of the law, that legalism that you have to do all 430 00:29:11,040 --> 00:29:12,480 these things to be made right with God. 431 00:29:12,480 --> 00:29:18,800 Those two extremes are wrong. Now here's my opinion about 432 00:29:18,800 --> 00:29:26,000 this, and this is my opinion. The truth of Scripture is dead 433 00:29:26,000 --> 00:29:28,920 center in the middle. There's law and gospel, and they 434 00:29:28,920 --> 00:29:32,600 both go together, saved by grace through faith alone. 435 00:29:32,880 --> 00:29:37,560 But now, as Ephesians 10 says, he's made me a masterpiece to go 436 00:29:37,560 --> 00:29:40,120 do the works that he's laid out beforehand. 437 00:29:40,120 --> 00:29:41,760 I am supposed to become more holy. 438 00:29:41,880 --> 00:29:43,560 The New Testament's all about that, right? 439 00:29:43,560 --> 00:29:49,280 But it seems that some people who are all about grace either 440 00:29:49,280 --> 00:29:54,560 don't know the whole Bible well, or they just choose to ignore 441 00:29:54,560 --> 00:29:57,520 the parts that make them feel uncomfortable. 442 00:29:57,840 --> 00:30:01,200 Because some people are just a little bit uncomfortable with 443 00:30:01,280 --> 00:30:08,680 the judgmental feel of things. The lawyers, the legalists, the 444 00:30:09,120 --> 00:30:12,400 they know the Bible really well, but they obsess over the harsh 445 00:30:12,400 --> 00:30:16,360 points and brush, brush past the love of God for sinners. 446 00:30:17,880 --> 00:30:19,400 And here's what I would say about this. 447 00:30:20,200 --> 00:30:24,000 The ignorant called the knowledgeable Pharisees in the 448 00:30:24,000 --> 00:30:25,880 church. You guys have seen that before. 449 00:30:25,880 --> 00:30:28,280 You've heard it before, maybe you've said it before. 450 00:30:28,280 --> 00:30:31,400 So and so is a Pharisee. This is now us judging each 451 00:30:31,400 --> 00:30:34,000 other, right? So and so is a Pharisee because 452 00:30:34,000 --> 00:30:37,360 they're making me do this or they're saying this and I don't 453 00:30:37,360 --> 00:30:41,200 believe that or I don't necessarily see that clearly in 454 00:30:41,200 --> 00:30:43,880 a Bible verse. And so you need to, you know 455 00:30:43,880 --> 00:30:46,160 what I mean? And so they call the 456 00:30:46,160 --> 00:30:49,640 knowledgeable Pharisees. But then on the other hand, the 457 00:30:49,640 --> 00:30:56,560 knowledgeable need to be humble so as to not be a Pharisee, OK, 458 00:30:57,360 --> 00:31:01,000 we can't be holding people to all these things that they quite 459 00:31:01,000 --> 00:31:03,440 haven't learned yet. So we need to take some time and 460 00:31:03,440 --> 00:31:06,920 teach people. And quite frankly, people will 461 00:31:06,920 --> 00:31:10,320 always be uncomfortable with certain truths, especially the 462 00:31:10,600 --> 00:31:13,120 wrong way. And we're just going to have to 463 00:31:13,120 --> 00:31:17,760 deal with that in our hearts. But I will say this, we don't 464 00:31:17,760 --> 00:31:24,560 get to say something like it's not a sin if I don't know about 465 00:31:24,560 --> 00:31:26,520 it. That's why I think the ignorant 466 00:31:27,160 --> 00:31:30,960 need to Start learning what the Bible says because if you really 467 00:31:31,360 --> 00:31:35,920 you love God, you should want to go into his word and try to 468 00:31:35,920 --> 00:31:38,320 figure out how can I please you more? 469 00:31:38,400 --> 00:31:42,040 How can I love you more when you're in a relationship with a 470 00:31:42,040 --> 00:31:46,280 person and it's not all about you and self focus. 471 00:31:46,280 --> 00:31:49,720 And sometimes our Christian lives are seem to be all about 472 00:31:49,720 --> 00:31:52,680 what can God give me? What can God do for me? 473 00:31:52,720 --> 00:31:58,880 What can God save me from? But that would be a terrible 474 00:31:58,880 --> 00:32:01,280 marriage relationship, right? If you were constantly looking 475 00:32:01,280 --> 00:32:03,400 at the other person and saying, what can you do for me? 476 00:32:05,680 --> 00:32:12,400 Instead, we both try to learn how the other person is wired, 477 00:32:12,480 --> 00:32:16,960 what they love, and we try to serve them and love them in that 478 00:32:16,960 --> 00:32:19,080 way. And you know what God has said? 479 00:32:19,720 --> 00:32:24,960 This is how He is wired. This is what pleases God. 480 00:32:25,120 --> 00:32:28,520 His whole heart has been laid out in these scriptures and He 481 00:32:28,520 --> 00:32:32,160 has told His people what He wants from them. 482 00:32:33,560 --> 00:32:39,360 And if we love him, we will be endlessly going to this book to 483 00:32:39,360 --> 00:32:41,920 show our love for Him, to try to figure it out. 484 00:32:41,920 --> 00:32:44,080 That's why we want to learn, right? 485 00:32:44,080 --> 00:32:48,240 Learning again leads us to humility, or humility on the 486 00:32:48,240 --> 00:32:49,880 other way. It leads us to learning, right? 487 00:32:50,680 --> 00:32:54,840 So then how do we get to take this log out of our own eye so 488 00:32:54,840 --> 00:32:59,680 that we can think about all of this properly when making 489 00:32:59,680 --> 00:33:03,560 judgments and critical decisions and opinions about people and 490 00:33:03,560 --> 00:33:07,800 sin? And it's the word of God. 491 00:33:08,840 --> 00:33:13,360 It pierces, it cuts, it discerns the motives of the thoughts, the 492 00:33:13,360 --> 00:33:19,080 intentions of the heart. As Second Timothy 316 says, all 493 00:33:19,080 --> 00:33:23,720 Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for 494 00:33:23,720 --> 00:33:28,880 reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that 495 00:33:28,880 --> 00:33:31,920 the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work. 496 00:33:34,160 --> 00:33:37,080 This, this was given to us for correction. 497 00:33:37,080 --> 00:33:42,920 And if you want to use that term that I just spoke terribly 498 00:33:42,920 --> 00:33:48,320 against, we are broken and we need to be fixed, right? 499 00:33:48,560 --> 00:33:52,040 And here's how we go to the owner's manual, the one who 500 00:33:52,040 --> 00:33:56,400 created us, and we find out, OK, I must have put this together 501 00:33:56,400 --> 00:33:58,560 wrongly and I skipped some steps. 502 00:33:58,840 --> 00:34:02,000 I need to go back to the manual. And who's the most prideful 503 00:34:02,000 --> 00:34:03,560 people who won't go to the manual? 504 00:34:04,360 --> 00:34:09,360 Me, men on a manual or look at a map. 505 00:34:11,360 --> 00:34:14,159 But we need to do that. Women too. 506 00:34:14,159 --> 00:34:17,840 I'm not just calling out the men, but I can make fun of my 507 00:34:17,840 --> 00:34:19,679 own gender because that's what I am. 508 00:34:19,679 --> 00:34:26,679 So we need to go to the Word of God for correction. 509 00:34:26,960 --> 00:34:29,639 That's what it's used for. The whole Bible is the tool and 510 00:34:29,639 --> 00:34:32,880 yardstick for truth and for correcting error or sin. 511 00:34:34,800 --> 00:34:37,880 But it all always must be done in love. 512 00:34:37,880 --> 00:34:43,960 It cannot be done in harshness and in hate and in anger or for 513 00:34:43,960 --> 00:34:46,719 selfish gain, because motives matter. 514 00:34:46,800 --> 00:34:49,719 And I heard a story from a passenger and this wrecked me 515 00:34:49,840 --> 00:34:54,880 this week as I was thinking about it, because this is me. 516 00:34:54,880 --> 00:34:59,400 Sometimes the kids are in the living room and they're running 517 00:34:59,400 --> 00:35:03,160 around and you are tired, OK, You're tired and you're on your 518 00:35:03,160 --> 00:35:07,680 last nerve and they're being loud and they're being obnoxious 519 00:35:08,760 --> 00:35:14,480 and you have a choice there. And one's one's right and one's 520 00:35:14,480 --> 00:35:16,400 wrong. You can get after them and you 521 00:35:16,400 --> 00:35:21,920 can say quiet down because I'm on my last nerve and I can't 522 00:35:21,920 --> 00:35:25,920 handle this. That's the sinful action. 523 00:35:25,920 --> 00:35:29,920 That's the selfish one. But one thing I could the way we 524 00:35:29,920 --> 00:35:33,600 ought to do it, the motive should be always in correcting 525 00:35:33,600 --> 00:35:35,240 someone should be for their good. 526 00:35:35,240 --> 00:35:40,880 And so I can say, hey, kids, not because I'm tired, but because I 527 00:35:40,880 --> 00:35:44,640 don't, I want you to have some discipline in your life, some 528 00:35:44,640 --> 00:35:47,520 order in your life. I don't want you to act like 529 00:35:47,520 --> 00:35:50,800 this out in public because it just wouldn't be right. 530 00:35:51,080 --> 00:35:53,640 I'm not saying fun's wrong. You can have some fun. 531 00:35:53,880 --> 00:35:59,080 But when it gets a little bit too wild and crazy, the 532 00:35:59,080 --> 00:36:03,200 discipline that we show our kids is out of love for them, that 533 00:36:03,200 --> 00:36:06,760 they would grow up and be, you know, productive members of 534 00:36:06,760 --> 00:36:10,720 society, that they would learn to live to follow a life that 535 00:36:11,000 --> 00:36:16,440 pleases God and that they wouldn't be a burden to other 536 00:36:16,440 --> 00:36:18,320 people, right? And that's a good thing, right? 537 00:36:18,320 --> 00:36:23,440 So judging our own motives as to why we want to correct other 538 00:36:23,440 --> 00:36:25,360 people, we've got to be careful about this. 539 00:36:26,480 --> 00:36:28,640 It's always got to be done for their good. 540 00:36:28,880 --> 00:36:34,560 And yes, we get hurt by other people's actions sometimes, but 541 00:36:34,560 --> 00:36:37,960 not all the time. Do we need to tell them to make 542 00:36:37,960 --> 00:36:40,000 it right? Sometimes we do. 543 00:36:40,000 --> 00:36:43,240 Sometimes we need to get rid of that bitterness or we're holding 544 00:36:43,240 --> 00:36:45,960 something that we just need to have a conversation and let's, 545 00:36:46,160 --> 00:36:51,000 let's have this conversation so that we don't have this conflict 546 00:36:51,000 --> 00:36:53,520 between us. But if we're humble enough to 547 00:36:53,520 --> 00:36:56,440 say, you know what, I make a lot of choices. 548 00:36:56,520 --> 00:36:59,240 I offend a lot of people. I've sinned a lot. 549 00:36:59,280 --> 00:37:02,800 I have my own mistakes, my own faults, my own shortcomings. 550 00:37:02,800 --> 00:37:04,960 Then I could start looking at other people and say, you know 551 00:37:04,960 --> 00:37:11,360 what, I probably don't need to bring this up this time and it 552 00:37:11,360 --> 00:37:13,840 pleases God to overlook an offence. 553 00:37:13,840 --> 00:37:19,200 But let's look at then God's way of correcting Christians because 554 00:37:19,200 --> 00:37:21,560 it is going to come up and we are going to need to do it. 555 00:37:21,560 --> 00:37:26,800 It is important and we find this in Matthew chapter 18. 556 00:37:28,120 --> 00:37:30,560 It's kind of called the three-step plan for correction 557 00:37:30,560 --> 00:37:34,240 and restoration. Here's what Jesus says. 558 00:37:34,920 --> 00:37:38,560 If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault 559 00:37:38,560 --> 00:37:41,360 between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you've 560 00:37:41,360 --> 00:37:44,080 gained your brother. But if he does not listen, take 561 00:37:44,080 --> 00:37:46,520 one or two others along with you, that every charge may be 562 00:37:46,520 --> 00:37:49,000 established by the evidence of two or three witnesses. 563 00:37:49,600 --> 00:37:52,320 If he refused to listen, tell it to the church. 564 00:37:52,320 --> 00:37:55,120 And if he refused to listen even to the church, let him to be to 565 00:37:55,120 --> 00:37:56,920 you as a Gentile and a tax collector. 566 00:37:56,920 --> 00:38:02,000 Now what's going on here? Jesus is saying specifically 567 00:38:02,200 --> 00:38:05,720 inside the church, if you have someone who sins sins against 568 00:38:05,720 --> 00:38:09,320 you or you notice something that needs to be corrected. 569 00:38:09,920 --> 00:38:14,320 The godly way to do this is to go to them first one-on-one. 570 00:38:15,520 --> 00:38:18,640 I wish that was always our knee jerk reaction, but what do we 571 00:38:18,640 --> 00:38:21,560 end up doing? We end up saying, man, I need to 572 00:38:21,560 --> 00:38:24,800 process this with someone else and let me just tell you or it 573 00:38:24,800 --> 00:38:28,440 comes out in a prayer request. I thought meme today since don't 574 00:38:28,440 --> 00:38:30,960 gossip. They just give very long 575 00:38:30,960 --> 00:38:33,400 detailed prayer requests in front of other people. 576 00:38:36,040 --> 00:38:41,120 And so I understand that sometimes you do need to process 577 00:38:41,120 --> 00:38:44,560 with someone safe. You know where it's like, hey, I 578 00:38:44,560 --> 00:38:47,680 heard this this happened and I might need somebody to tell me 579 00:38:47,880 --> 00:38:51,440 you should let that go really honestly. 580 00:38:51,960 --> 00:38:53,840 Or somebody might say it. Well, wait a minute. 581 00:38:54,320 --> 00:38:57,880 You know, maybe you should go to them one-on-one, but be careful 582 00:38:57,880 --> 00:39:02,640 about who that person is. Go to them one-on-one and if 583 00:39:02,640 --> 00:39:08,960 they repent, you're supposed to forgive. 7 * 70 forgive if 584 00:39:08,960 --> 00:39:12,320 someone repents of their sin. That's the goal, restoration. 585 00:39:14,800 --> 00:39:18,000 But if not, you take two or three other witnesses that have 586 00:39:18,000 --> 00:39:22,000 seen the sin, not just you telling them about it, but that 587 00:39:22,000 --> 00:39:23,640 see the same thing in the person. 588 00:39:23,800 --> 00:39:27,400 And you go to them again in love, Like, hey, we, we, we care 589 00:39:27,400 --> 00:39:30,120 about you, we see this in your life. 590 00:39:30,120 --> 00:39:32,760 How can we help? We want to restore you to the 591 00:39:32,760 --> 00:39:37,000 right path. But if in pride they just will 592 00:39:37,000 --> 00:39:41,760 not come to a place of humility, then maybe that's when the 593 00:39:41,760 --> 00:39:44,400 pastor gets involved in the church, has to make an 594 00:39:44,400 --> 00:39:48,360 evaluation, a decision. This, by the way, is the passage 595 00:39:48,400 --> 00:39:50,360 that's all about church discipline. 596 00:39:51,240 --> 00:39:53,560 I'm sure maybe many of us have heard that. 597 00:39:53,840 --> 00:39:55,440 Maybe this is the first time you've heard that. 598 00:39:55,440 --> 00:39:57,200 I don't want my church disciplining me. 599 00:39:58,800 --> 00:40:01,840 But let's think about it. In all the spheres of life, 600 00:40:01,840 --> 00:40:06,080 there's discipline, right? Sphere of the family life, 601 00:40:06,800 --> 00:40:12,160 healthy families, discipline. In the government, healthy 602 00:40:12,160 --> 00:40:19,080 governments discipline, right? So why would we not do it in 603 00:40:19,280 --> 00:40:21,720 God's house? Like in the same way, if we're 604 00:40:21,720 --> 00:40:30,640 trying to grow up in maturity, as the Bible says, it says in 605 00:40:30,640 --> 00:40:33,800 Ephesians 415, rather speaking the truth in love, we are to 606 00:40:33,800 --> 00:40:37,760 grow up in every way into him who is the head into Christ 607 00:40:37,880 --> 00:40:40,880 speaking the truth in love. Remember that. 608 00:40:41,080 --> 00:40:43,200 And verse 25. Therefore, having put away 609 00:40:43,200 --> 00:40:47,320 falsehood, let each of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for 610 00:40:47,320 --> 00:40:51,400 we are members of one another. That's the great membership 611 00:40:51,400 --> 00:40:53,600 verse, by the way, Ephesians chapter 4. 612 00:40:53,600 --> 00:40:58,320 Go look at that. This is the three-step way to do 613 00:40:58,320 --> 00:41:02,320 it the godly way as Jesus is pointing out again, as he said, 614 00:41:02,320 --> 00:41:05,400 take the log out of your own eye, then you'll clearly see to 615 00:41:05,400 --> 00:41:08,240 take the speck. So he isn't saying you can never 616 00:41:08,240 --> 00:41:11,960 correct someone, but first go with a lot of humility, 617 00:41:12,320 --> 00:41:16,160 examining your motives, examine your heart and then do it the 618 00:41:16,160 --> 00:41:20,960 right way for their restoration in love. 619 00:41:21,480 --> 00:41:24,280 And this could be applied to your relationships, your family 620 00:41:24,280 --> 00:41:27,560 life as well. Here's the last thing about this 621 00:41:27,560 --> 00:41:31,200 passage, though, that we got to get to prideful and arrogant 622 00:41:31,200 --> 00:41:37,720 people don't listen. Verse 6, Do not give dogs what 623 00:41:37,720 --> 00:41:40,400 is holy and do not throw your pearls before pigs, lest they 624 00:41:40,400 --> 00:41:42,640 trample them under foot and turn to attack you. 625 00:41:44,000 --> 00:41:47,240 Man, that's harsh. And Jesus is saying that. 626 00:41:47,760 --> 00:41:50,880 What's he saying? And this is this kind of goes 627 00:41:50,880 --> 00:41:54,960 back to how this is The funny thing about the antinomian and 628 00:41:54,960 --> 00:41:58,960 the legalist. The antinomian or the the, the 629 00:41:58,960 --> 00:42:02,880 person that doesn't like any kind of correction or or 630 00:42:04,440 --> 00:42:10,960 judgement only sees the 1st 2 words in this entire passage. 631 00:42:10,960 --> 00:42:15,160 We've looked at judge not I. Everything else is scribbled 632 00:42:15,160 --> 00:42:17,160 out. All I can see is judge not don't 633 00:42:17,160 --> 00:42:23,440 judge me, only God can judge me. But then the legalist sees the 634 00:42:23,440 --> 00:42:27,320 whole passage and all they see is the speck. 635 00:42:28,320 --> 00:42:29,880 Somebody's got a speck in their eye. 636 00:42:29,880 --> 00:42:37,520 And I need to deal with it. We need to handle this or, and 637 00:42:37,520 --> 00:42:40,520 they definitely don't. The, the, you know, most people 638 00:42:40,520 --> 00:42:44,400 pass by how stern Jesus can be sometimes. 639 00:42:44,400 --> 00:42:50,240 Now what's he saying dogs in in the New Testament, Jesus 640 00:42:50,240 --> 00:42:53,600 actually refers to a Gentile woman as a dog. 641 00:42:53,880 --> 00:42:58,080 In Matthew 1526, he said it is not right to take the children's 642 00:42:58,080 --> 00:43:04,440 bread and throw it to the dogs. Now, in that context, he's 643 00:43:04,440 --> 00:43:11,160 talking about a little house pet and he's basically she was 644 00:43:11,160 --> 00:43:15,280 asking for a miracle. And he had had had explained 645 00:43:15,280 --> 00:43:20,760 that he has come as the prophet in a sense, to come save his 646 00:43:20,760 --> 00:43:23,960 people from their sins as the savior of the prophet, priest 647 00:43:23,960 --> 00:43:29,560 and king of Israel to bring them to repentance. 648 00:43:29,560 --> 00:43:33,240 And so he was doing this work in and throughout Jerusalem and 649 00:43:33,240 --> 00:43:37,720 Judea. And this woman wasn't Jewish. 650 00:43:37,760 --> 00:43:41,080 And so in a sense, she's just represents an unbeliever. 651 00:43:41,640 --> 00:43:46,000 But later, Jesus has compassion on her and gives her what she 652 00:43:46,000 --> 00:43:47,520 asks. And he says he hasn't seen it. 653 00:43:47,520 --> 00:43:50,840 Faith like this throughout all of Israel because of this woman 654 00:43:51,120 --> 00:43:54,200 who says even dogs get scraps from the table. 655 00:43:54,680 --> 00:43:58,720 And he's like, wow, he was amazed at her faith for being so 656 00:43:58,720 --> 00:44:05,320 humble. Anyway, dogs and hogs are these 657 00:44:05,320 --> 00:44:08,840 domesticated animals to be trained, but they cannot 658 00:44:08,840 --> 00:44:12,040 understand anything beyond basic life necessities. 659 00:44:12,080 --> 00:44:20,400 OK, so for us, the truth is that these represent unbelievers and 660 00:44:20,400 --> 00:44:23,800 as I said before, we cannot go about harshly judging 661 00:44:23,800 --> 00:44:26,520 unbelievers hoping they will understand the word of God. 662 00:44:27,320 --> 00:44:30,600 We should call our government and we should call people to 663 00:44:30,600 --> 00:44:36,960 repentance of their sin, Yes, and we should clearly bring 664 00:44:36,960 --> 00:44:39,880 about the good news of the gospel that they can be saved 665 00:44:39,880 --> 00:44:42,400 from their sin. And we should call sin sin out 666 00:44:42,400 --> 00:44:47,440 there in the world. But if you have unbelieving 667 00:44:47,440 --> 00:44:49,840 family members, friends, neighbors in your life and 668 00:44:49,840 --> 00:44:52,720 you're constantly telling them, well, here's how you're going to 669 00:44:52,720 --> 00:44:54,240 fix your marriage. Here's how you're going to fix 670 00:44:54,240 --> 00:44:56,120 your life. If you just start walking 671 00:44:56,120 --> 00:44:59,200 through these verses and doing what God said, you're going to 672 00:44:59,200 --> 00:45:01,560 have a better, happy life. That's legalism. 673 00:45:02,840 --> 00:45:06,960 They're not going to understand that, just like the the dogs and 674 00:45:06,960 --> 00:45:10,600 the hogs are not going to understand you trying to tell 675 00:45:10,600 --> 00:45:14,560 them that they should follow God's laws and commands when 676 00:45:14,560 --> 00:45:20,720 they're not even human, when they're not even able to hear 677 00:45:20,720 --> 00:45:25,160 it, They're dead spiritually. That's the analogy here. 678 00:45:26,520 --> 00:45:28,800 I'm not saying that people, unbelievers aren't human. 679 00:45:28,800 --> 00:45:31,000 Of course they are. I'm what what I'm saying is that 680 00:45:31,000 --> 00:45:34,440 they are people that can't understand how to follow 681 00:45:34,760 --> 00:45:37,200 properly the word of God. You know what they need. 682 00:45:37,640 --> 00:45:42,880 And so those things are holy. To explain that, don't give dogs 683 00:45:42,880 --> 00:45:46,440 what are holy or the pearls holy and pearls are kind of used 684 00:45:46,640 --> 00:45:49,400 together here. The commandments of God are 685 00:45:49,400 --> 00:45:52,880 holy. They are valuable. 686 00:45:54,160 --> 00:45:57,160 And as believers we understand these things and we love these 687 00:45:57,160 --> 00:45:58,960 things and we live by these things. 688 00:45:59,920 --> 00:46:02,640 But you go and try to do that with people who aren't 689 00:46:02,800 --> 00:46:06,840 regenerate or saved, they're going to reject you and they may 690 00:46:06,840 --> 00:46:09,000 turn and attack you. And what this is saying and what 691 00:46:09,000 --> 00:46:15,840 he says in another verse that helps me is if anyone will not 692 00:46:15,840 --> 00:46:18,320 receive you or listen to your words, shake off the dust from 693 00:46:18,320 --> 00:46:20,520 your feet. In a sense you've tried you've 694 00:46:20,840 --> 00:46:24,560 you've done what you can, but don't waste your breath 695 00:46:24,560 --> 00:46:27,120 constantly trying to get people to follow commands that they 696 00:46:27,120 --> 00:46:30,240 have no ability to do. So they need the Spirit of God. 697 00:46:30,360 --> 00:46:32,720 That's why we need to be telling them the gospel. 698 00:46:32,840 --> 00:46:34,520 They're not going to understand Calvinism. 699 00:46:34,520 --> 00:46:36,400 They're not going to understand covenant theology. 700 00:46:36,400 --> 00:46:39,120 They're not going to understand that God spoke the world into 701 00:46:39,120 --> 00:46:41,080 existence. Even they're not going to 702 00:46:41,080 --> 00:46:46,640 understand anything because they don't have the ears to hear or 703 00:46:46,640 --> 00:46:50,080 the eyes to see. They need to hear the simple 704 00:46:50,080 --> 00:46:53,200 message that they've gone against God in sin. 705 00:46:53,400 --> 00:46:56,800 But God being so loving and gracious, sent his Son to be 706 00:46:56,800 --> 00:46:58,040 born. That's Christmas. 707 00:46:58,040 --> 00:47:00,000 He grew up, He died on the cross. 708 00:47:00,000 --> 00:47:03,920 Good Friday he rose from the dead Easter Sunday he ascended 709 00:47:03,920 --> 00:47:06,440 to heaven. He sits at the right hand of God 710 00:47:06,440 --> 00:47:10,520 and he compels everyone all throughout creation to repent 711 00:47:10,720 --> 00:47:12,680 and believe. It's that simple. 712 00:47:12,800 --> 00:47:16,120 Put your faith in Jesus. It's a free gift. 713 00:47:16,240 --> 00:47:20,160 And when somebody responds to that, when God finally opens 714 00:47:20,160 --> 00:47:23,280 their ears and pulls the log out of their eyes so that they can 715 00:47:23,280 --> 00:47:30,720 now see, then it's safe for you and me to help disciple that 716 00:47:30,720 --> 00:47:34,800 person as a Christian. But first we must understand if 717 00:47:34,800 --> 00:47:38,280 a person is a believer or not. And that's what I believe that 718 00:47:38,360 --> 00:47:40,240 Jesus is getting at the last of this. 719 00:47:40,240 --> 00:47:47,400 And let me close with this Proverbs 97. 720 00:47:47,640 --> 00:47:51,160 Whoever corrects A scoffer gets himself abuse, and he who 721 00:47:51,160 --> 00:47:53,600 reproves a wicked man incurs in an injury. 722 00:47:54,440 --> 00:47:56,800 Do not reprove A scoffer or he will hate you. 723 00:47:57,240 --> 00:47:59,200 Reprove a wise man and he will love you. 724 00:47:59,880 --> 00:48:03,680 We do need to learn how to communicate with the unbelievers 725 00:48:03,680 --> 00:48:07,920 in our life. Not being so harsh, not being so 726 00:48:07,920 --> 00:48:12,120 legalistic, but giving them the grace that they need to come to 727 00:48:12,120 --> 00:48:16,360 faith in Jesus Christ. But the goal here for us in this 728 00:48:16,360 --> 00:48:21,480 one is we're not to be the one who abuses others when we get 729 00:48:21,840 --> 00:48:26,720 reproved. We're supposed to be the wise 730 00:48:26,720 --> 00:48:29,200 man or woman who can hear the truth in love. 731 00:48:29,520 --> 00:48:32,040 So when it happens to you, embrace it. 732 00:48:32,920 --> 00:48:37,440 We should strive to be less defensive and more humble, but 733 00:48:37,440 --> 00:48:39,960 on the other hand, we should be willing to have the hard 734 00:48:39,960 --> 00:48:44,640 conversations in the proper setting to prove our love for a 735 00:48:44,640 --> 00:48:50,840 person who is stuck in sin. This, however, must be done with 736 00:48:50,840 --> 00:48:54,040 humility of as I've said, and there are many things that we 737 00:48:54,040 --> 00:48:56,160 can let slide. Amen. 738 00:48:56,640 --> 00:49:03,320 There are many things that we can, for the sake of unity and 739 00:49:03,320 --> 00:49:07,920 realizing that we too have our faults, just give it to the 740 00:49:07,920 --> 00:49:10,280 Lord. But if we are to correct, there 741 00:49:10,280 --> 00:49:14,400 will be times that this needs to happen for their benefit. 742 00:49:14,400 --> 00:49:18,680 Do it in a biblical way and remember the grace of God in 743 00:49:18,680 --> 00:49:23,960 your life in His mercy too, and you won't be this guy with the 744 00:49:23,960 --> 00:49:26,760 log in your eye trying to take the speck out of everybody's 745 00:49:26,880 --> 00:49:31,480 eye, as Jesus says later in this chapter of the Golden Rule. 746 00:49:32,320 --> 00:49:34,880 So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to 747 00:49:34,880 --> 00:49:41,440 them, for this is the law and the prophets the main idea. 748 00:49:42,960 --> 00:49:45,680 Christians are not supposed to condemn one another over 749 00:49:45,680 --> 00:49:48,960 secondary issues. However, we're called to make 750 00:49:48,960 --> 00:49:52,960 judgments about sin and seek to correct with the goal of 751 00:49:53,480 --> 00:49:56,160 recognition. We must be humble in doing so, 752 00:49:56,920 --> 00:49:59,880 remembering our own faults and being ready to forgive as we 753 00:50:00,640 --> 00:50:08,040 have been forgiven. Let's pray, Father, oh Lord, 754 00:50:08,560 --> 00:50:14,920 forgive us, we ask, when we are prideful, when we can't see the 755 00:50:14,920 --> 00:50:18,080 sin in our lives. That's so easy, easily blinding 756 00:50:18,080 --> 00:50:22,720 us. Forgive us, Lord, when we become 757 00:50:22,720 --> 00:50:28,240 too judgmental, also forgiving. Forgive us when we lack courage 758 00:50:28,920 --> 00:50:35,040 and a spine willing to correct out of love, but help us always 759 00:50:35,040 --> 00:50:39,600 to remember to love and to remember the grace that you've 760 00:50:39,600 --> 00:50:42,200 given us. We were sinners and you came and 761 00:50:42,200 --> 00:50:44,560 died for us. We didn't correct anything on 762 00:50:44,560 --> 00:50:47,520 our own. You died for us and made it 763 00:50:47,520 --> 00:50:51,840 possible so that we could be made right. 764 00:50:52,320 --> 00:50:56,920 Corrected with you, our relationship corrected with you. 765 00:50:56,920 --> 00:50:58,880 So thank you so much for that. Jesus. 766 00:50:58,880 --> 00:51:02,160 Help us to learn from your words today and apply them to our 767 00:51:02,160 --> 00:51:06,200 lives, to our families and to our church relationships. 768 00:51:08,480 --> 00:51:12,160 In Jesus name, Amen. Amen. 769 00:51:12,160 --> 00:51:14,160 Would you stand and sing a response with us?