Well, it's now direct our attention to the word of God.
We're still in The Sermon on the Mount.
Although we have moved forward. We're in chapter 7, now chapter
7 of Matthew, The Sermon on the Mount.
And I want us to look at the five versus not the sixth.
It's there. I feel like the sixth is a whole
different story. Shall I tell them, Tommy?
You don't think I should? Okay.
Okay, it was a weak attempt at humor I shared with Tommy but
some things are kept confidential to the pastures.
Many things, I hope. Listen.
Now to the word of God, judge, not that you be not judged for
with the Judgment you pronounce, you will be judged and with the
measure you use, it will be measured to you.
Why do you seek the speck? That is in your brother's eye
and do not notice the log, that is in your own eye, or how can
you say to your brother? Let me take the speck out of
your eye. When there is the log in your
own eye. You hypocrite first take the log
out of your own eye and then you will see clearly to take the
speck out of your brother's eye, the word of the Lord, you may be
seated. Now we're still in The Sermon on
the Mount. And Jesus is still teaching this
elongated sermon this message with many, many topics.
But the general things to remember and we've talked about
this almost each and every time is that he speaking to his
disciples, others are there in auditing this he's talking about
their behavior, he's talking about their heart, he's talking
about his disciples worldview and their treasure and their
loyalties and own. On and on.
And a lot of the things that Jesus says are those things that
are always addressed with, do not, do not do this, do not do
that. And he has the context in mind
of the men who've been the spiritual leaders of these
Judean people for many, many years.
That is the scribes and the Pharisees.
The doctors of the law, the Pharisees were that party.
That that consider themselves to be experts, at Holiness, affect
us. What the word means, it means to
separate the separated ones and in Jesus contrast do not
interpret the law like they do. Do not pray like they do
ostentatiously do not give alms. Like they do do not fast as
that. You can be seen of men like they
do and on and on he's saying do not do not do not in the very
next passage. He's going to say do not cast
your Pearls Before Swine. And in this particular passage
it's do not judge, do not judge in the people that the Lord has
in mind to contrast his kingdom behaviors.
Earth are the Pharisees. And we see this Spirit of the
Pharisees in the scriptures. Very familiar passage.
I'll just read it just a few verses.
Two men went up to the temple. To pray.
One was a Pharisee and the other was a tax collector.
The Pharisee standing by himself prayed.
Thus God, I thank you that. I'm not like other men,
extortioners unjust adulterers or even like this tax collector.
I fast twice a week. I give tithes of all I get, but
the tax collector standing far off would not even lift up his
eyes to heaven, but beat his breast saying, God, be merciful
to me a Inner. Once again, Jesus is contrasting
that of this self-righteous Pharisees with those who receive
Grace, those who come by way of humble Contrition and repentance
to receive forgiveness for their sins.
Lord, have mercy upon me a sinner and who received from the
hand of the Lord, the gift of forgiveness and grace, and mercy
and the gift of eternal life. All Wrapped and packaged in
Jesus Christ himself. So here he is Christ.
The very sacrifice for sins is dealing with the sins of the
heart. And so he tells these Pharisees
not and he's telling his people not to be like the Pharisees and
to not judge. Now, what is meant by that?
Let me Define two or three words here that will be helpful.
I think in understanding what we're what we're talking about.
The first one is a word kirino and it means to judge and that's
the word that used here. In fact, that's the only root
word that used hear the word Credo means to judge principally
but it's used over 20 times in the New Testament and it has
about 22 or 23 different usage and and it depends on what
prefix is put on the word or what word is combined with it to
make a compound word as to what it may mean.
But I will suggest to you that here judging is the whole
judicial process of judgment. Let me spell out what I mean by
that. Edward.
The word means to judge, but it refers to the Judgment itself.
It refers to the decision that is made in judging.
Sometimes it means to discriminate or discern.
Sometimes it means to condemn. Listen to all this because I
think the Lord incorporates all of this when he says, do not do
this. And so these meanings are all
bound up in this route. It means interestingly enough to
investigate. To answer.
To probe. And noticed in the text when he
talks about seeking. Diligently seeking the speck
that is in your brother's eye as opposed to noticing.
The beam that's in your own eye. There's a lot of Rich subtlety
here in the Lord's words. And these words I think sort of
really focus that in frame it the way it needs to be.
So that's what the Lord is saying telling them not to do.
It's this whole judicial process now, there is good judgment, the
Judgment of God, the Messiah fought in the Old Testament over
and over and over the word judgment is used.
There's a lot of scripture about God being a righteous judge.
Judge and a faithful judge and we'll talk a little bit more
about that in just a minute as we come to quickly apply this.
But what the Lord is talking about here is that that critical
Probing, investigating curious Mal valent judging.
That is done. Among Brothers.
Now, Jesus is telling his disciples not to do this among
themselves to each other. It was apparently very, very
common for the Jewish people and especially the leadership of the
Jewish people, to have this mindset because they had such a
finely tuned and excellent, good and acceptable law written by
the Lord himself. They had a fine-tuned sense of
justice and equity in righteousness, and so, it was
easy for them to look at someone else and notice how they that
other person doesn't quite measure up.
And to be critical and to detect and discern, all sorts of little
weaknesses and failures in gaps, and shortcomings, and sins.
Peccadilloes as well as as gross, Miss behaviors in others.
Now, this particular mindset to judge is what the Lord is
referencing against. When he speaks of the speck that
is in your brother's eye, versus the log, that's in your eye.
He's using. Obviously hyperbole is using the
extremes of a tree. The spec is the little tiniest
of twig. It's that little part of the
tree that the bird uses to make his nest The log are the beam is
the trunk of the tree. So obviously the contrast is his
real Vivid you. You notice that little tiny twig
that little tiny Speck. That mote that is in the in the,
your brother. But you can't see the whole tree
trunk, the whole gamut of unrighteousness and seeing in
your own life. And so, the Lord is introducing
to his disciples, a measure of discernment and discipline that
cause as for balance, To start recognizing her own sins, and
not being so quick to find. Judge condemn indict.
Our brother I this this notion of really being able to see
someone else's sin and not to see your own sin, apparently was
kind of a feature of Jewish life and Paul deals with it in
Romans, Chapter 2. And I want to read good long
passage. I'll try not to, I'll try not to
comment on it and listen to how Paul when he's dealing with
these. Very same types of people these
These Jewish self-righteous people in chapter 1 of Romans,
he's already dealt with the with the unbeliever.
The Pagan that goes to the reprobate.
Now, he's dealing with the self righteous Jew and this is some
of the admonitions he gives, and this is really our message.
This morning is this passage in one more that I'll read.
It's not what I say it's what the scriptures say.
So hear the word of the Lord therefore you have no excuse old
man every one of you who judges For in the passing, judgment on
another, you condemn yourself because you the judge practice
the very same thing. We know that the Judgment of God
rightly falls on those who do such things.
Do you suppose old man? You who judge those?
Who does such things that yet, do them yourself that you will
escape the Judgment of God. Or do you presume on the riches
of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that
God's kindness is meant to lead you to repentance.
That verse cannot go uncommented, on verse 4.
Do you presume on the riches of the kindness, the forbearance
and the patients that cluster of the long-suffering Lord with
centers such as I not knowing that God's kindness is meant to
lead you to repentance, but because of your hard and
impenitent heart, you are storing up wrath for yourself on
the day of Wrath. When God's righteous judgment
will be revealed, he will render to each one according to his
Works to those who by patients and well doing seek for Glory
and Honor and immortality, he will give eternal life.
But for those who are self-seeking and do not obey,
Obey the truth but obey unrighteousness, there will be
wrath and fury, there will be tribulation and distress for
every human being who does evil the Jew first.
And also, the Greek, but glory and honor and peace for
everyone, who does good the Jew first and also the Greek for God
shows no partiality. That's where the conviction of
our own Hearts should come. When we realize that it's not
just others. It is we ourselves?
Who are guilty? This particular sin.
I think escapes. No one.
In fact, sometimes the people that really work hard to be
righteous in themselves or harsh and judgmental toward others who
struggle and fail and how things wrong in their life.
And the Lord is calling us to a self inspection and a
self-awareness. And a self-consciousness
concerning our sins and telling us to avoid that, self-righteous
stance that causes us to judge others.
It's a it's a teaching that will lead to the sweetest Spirit,
possibly imagined in the life of the Believers, the life of the
church. Jealousy's, the bitterness.
The conflicts, the quibbling, the corals the skulls that come
will be minimized when God's people learn to follow the
teaching of the Lord here on The Sermon, on the Mount.
As a couple other words will Define quickly.
The word measure. It means not only the means but
the extent. To which you set up the
Criterion and the extent to which you judge others, that
will be borne in mind when he comes time to judge, you.
If it's a strict in a harsh standard, it will be laid
against you several times already in The Sermon on the
Mount. The Lord has referred to a final
judgment. He will conclude The Sermon on
the Mount with a pretty thorough Exposition about that judgment.
That comes to all one way or the other before, it's all over
with. We all are judged but the word
there is the word Met tour which means m It's a metric metric.
Whereby we are spiritually discerned and measured.
And then one other word in this one.
I think you're all very familiar with and it is the word
hypocrite. The Lord I think has in mind the
Pharisees, the scribes, when he uses this word, hypocrite, I
know that cuz he actually called them that to their face on other
occasion. But he also I think has a
sincere desire, that his own disciples.
Are not like that at all. Of course, I've known most of,
you know, that to comes. It's a compound word.
It has that word kirino in it crit, which means to judge to
discern in all that. We've talked about a moment ago,
but it has also the compound of the hypo, which means underneath
it in before it. And, and sets forth, the, the
burden that it Bears and the word has quite a history
actually in the Greek language and carrying over into other
cultures, it literally means To say something to answer to
explain. And he comes from one who would
read poetry, and then they would stand up and read poetry and
most of the portrait that would be read in a public forum for
the edification and the entertainment of people in the
ancient Greek World. They would be a lot of
platitudes and a lot of ethics and a lot of lecture and a lot
of things that need to be said in the poem and the person would
read the poem and they would be standing out front a reading and
Explaining and eloquently setting forth this beautiful
moral poem. But they themselves may be a
liar and a drunk, and who knows? What they are off stage and
behind the scenes, but up there in front of everybody there, as
you were there wearing this, this facade this mask, and it's
talks about how that this is the role.
It's the pretense that a person has in that particular role and
later, it became routine to think of life.
As that, which is an the conduct that's played out in in real
life is manifested on a stage. That's the whole point of drama.
It takes the activities and the experiences and the attitudes of
vocabulary, all of these things of life and puts it out there on
display. I wonder Shakespeare thought
when he said all the world's a stage and all of us are merely
players. He had this kind of character in
mind and it thinks about those that separate precept from
practice. Are those that separate talk
from walk? And I think this is what the
admonition is pushing us toward getting rid of all.
False pretenses. And so this term that Jesus uses
as a name and a designation, you Hypocrites, had a lot of meaning
to it. And the thing that was most
notable to me, is the realization that Jesus is
telling us not to judge. He's telling us.
That we are not to be like the Pharisees.
He's telling us. How we are to live our lives.
And he is telling us about the expectation.
And all the world all the time. Jesus knows he is the judge.
The very one admonishing. They're very one encouraging, a
very one instructing. and as we find, as we end this to Sermon
on the Mount, the one teaching with great Authority, the reason
he had great Authority was who he is.
He himself is the judge. So finally as I wind up let me
just hear John's gospel. The teaching of John's gospel
around this subject. The father judges no one but has
given all judgment to the son. That all may honor the son just
as they honor the father, whoever does not honor the son
does not honor, the father who sent him.
Truly truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and
believes him who sent me has eternal life.
He does not come into judgment but has passed from Death To
Life. John is giving us now the very
words of Jesus. For as the father has life in
himself. So he has granted the son also
to have life in himself and he has given him authority to
execute judgment because he is the son of man.
Do not Marvel at this for an hour is coming, when all who are
in the tombs, will hear his voice and come out those who
have done, good to the resurrection of life.
And those who have done evil to the resurrection of Judgment.
Judgment.