[0:00] and I feel like I should take my footwear off. But that could cause other problems, so in spirit. I also forgot to put the notes out.
[0:14] There's a few of you that take the notes. These are the sermon notes. This is a sermon outline with all the answers. So I apologize for those. Those are for people that are note takers, but this saves a lot of time. Does anybody want these?
[0:30] I've got a few copies here. I see that hand. My pastor used to say that all the time when we were doing it. I see that hand.
[0:42] I know the DeFrancisco people over there like that. If there's more people that would like them, let me know and I'll make more copies. See, I almost tripped and if I wasn't wearing my footwear, right?
[1:00] Okay, take out your Bibles with me, please, and turn to the Gospel of Luke, chapter 6. We are in the middle of Jesus' sermon that Luke records, the sermon on the plain, right, where after he had come down from the mountain, after he had chosen the 12 apostles, he had prayed all night and then chosen the 12 apostles. He came down with those 12 apostles and then he meets a huge gathering of people, not only his apostles, but a whole bunch of other disciples who were following him and there was a whole other multitude of people that were from all the surrounding areas, including all the way from Tyre and Sidon on the seacoast.
[1:44] So most likely Gentile people and definitely enemies of the Israelites. So this is the sermon that he's preaching.
[1:55] We began looking at it, verses 20 in Luke 6, verses 20 through 23, he gives the blessings and then in 24 to 26, he gives the woes.
[2:07] And then last week, we looked at the heart of Jesus' message, verse 27 to 36, loving your enemies. And today we come to verse 37 through 42, where he's still in that context of loving enemies, but he's going to start to transition to talking about our brother.
[2:31] But in all of it, he's going to talk about this judging, judging. Right? What's our attitude? So let's read the text, then we'll pray, and then we'll jump into it.
[2:43] So if you're able and you would like, please stand as I read. From the Gospel of Luke, chapter 6, I will begin at verse 35, so we kind of tail off from the heart of the sermon.
[2:57] Luke 6, 35, but love your enemies and do good and lend, expecting nothing in return, and your reward will be great.
[3:09] And you will be sons of the Most High, for He is kind to the ungrateful and the evil. Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful.
[3:25] Judge not, and you will not be judged. Condemn not, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven. Keep giving, and it will be given to you.
[3:36] Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will pour into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you.
[3:51] He also told them a parable. Can a blind man lead a blind man? Will they not both fall into a pit? A disciple is not above his teacher, but everyone, when he is fully trained, will be like his teacher.
[4:12] Why do you see the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, brother, let me take the speck out of your eye, when you yourself do not see the log that's in your own eye?
[4:29] You hypocrite. First, first, take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take out the speck that is in your brother's eye.
[4:44] So, reads the word. Let us pray. Father, guide us to truth. Help us to gather what Jesus is saying.
[4:55] Help us hear. Help us be those who really hear. So, that we not only receive what you are saying, but that we begin to evaluate ourselves and look at the log in our own eye so that we can actually be useful.
[5:14] That we deal with our own hypocrisy. That we recognize how you unmask our own self-righteousness. Expose us today, Father, so that we might be useful to you.
[5:26] We pray in Christ's name. Amen. Please be seated. So, back in the day, every morning, I would take my cow on a long walk through the local vineyard.
[5:50] Remember those days? You say, why are you walking your cow, taking your cow on a long walk through the vineyard? Say why? Yeah. Well, it's because I heard it through the grapevine.
[6:02] Okay, don't judge me. We just read do not judge. We make all kinds of judgments, don't we?
[6:13] We naturally make judgments all the time. Somebody cuts us off. I say, don't judge them. No, I say, that rascal.
[6:26] Or something along those lines. we make judgments. We make judgments all the time. We see foolish people. We see evil people.
[6:38] We see government and what they do. We see administrators and we see bosses and we see all kinds of things and we make judgments.
[6:51] It is natural to make those judgments. We are made in the image of God and because we're in the image of God, we have that capacity to judge right and wrong. We recognize right away what's wrong.
[7:07] Children do that, don't they? That's not fair. Right? They see it right away. So, Jesus says, do not judge.
[7:20] Now, it's probably the only verse that every unbeliever on this world or in our community that they know, right?
[7:34] It's probably the one verse that every pagan knows when Christians take a stand for something, they say, Christian, judge not.
[7:47] Jesus said so. You can't judge me. Is that what Jesus said? He did say judge not. Condemn not.
[8:00] Yet, Jesus clearly judged others. He said about his own generation, this generation is evil for it seeks for a sign.
[8:17] He said publicly of the Pharisees. Hypocrites! Dress all nice on the outside. You look like a whitewashed tomb.
[8:28] It's all prettified on the outside and inside you're full of dead man's bones and hypocrisy and evil and maliciousness. So is Jesus not following his own words?
[8:42] It's not that we don't make judgments. It's about how we make those judgments. He's not saying never judge because clearly we make judgments and we're called to make judgments.
[8:59] judgments. He's talking about a judgmental, self-righteous, hypocritical view of others. That's what he's talking about. So, I want you to notice here in Luke 6, so Jesus has gone through his introduction where he talks about four blessings and four woes.
[9:19] Right? And then he gets to the heart of his sermon, the big heart of what he calls us to do. In verse 27 through 35, he says, love your enemies. In fact, he frames his message in verse 27, 28, he says, love your enemies.
[9:34] And then he explains what that looks like. Do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who persecute you. That's what loving your enemies looks like. And then he gives four examples. Say someone takes from you, don't demand it back.
[9:50] He gives four examples of not defending yourself. And by the way, he's talking about personal attacks, attacks, not if they come into your home and attack your family.
[10:02] Okay? He's not talking about lay down and let them do whatever they want. He's talking about a personal attack. He's talking about a defined enemy, not just a common thief.
[10:14] Okay? Understand, it's in the context. And we know it's in the context of loving enemies because he says that in verse 27, love your enemies. And then again, verse 35, love your enemies.
[10:26] So he's bracketing this heart of his sermon. And then in the middle, verse 31, he defines what that means, kind of the general principle. That's what we call the golden rule, right?
[10:38] Treat others as you desire them to treat you. That's the basic thing. Treat your enemy like you want to be treated by them. Fairly, mercifully, compassionately, with understanding, with patience.
[10:52] Oh, ow. But that's how I want them to be to me. Okay? I want them to give me a break. Because maybe I've become an enemy because, you know, I've had a bad decade.
[11:09] Bad childhood, whatever, whatever. Right? What causes people to be harmful to others? Lots of things cause that. Starts with their sin nature, but lots of other things aggravate that.
[11:22] So, that's what Jesus does. Right? The heart of his sermon is about overcoming our enemies. How do we overcome evil with good?
[11:33] And that's what Jesus describes. Doing what we called last week, doing the impossible. Doing the very thing that is, it flies against everything in my nature and in my, every instinct I have.
[11:48] To love my enemy, to bless those to curse me. Right? That's not natural. And yet, we find at the end, verse 35, where he says, verse 35, right?
[12:01] Love your enemies and do good. He repeats himself, right? Love your enemies, do good. Lend, expect nothing in return. Your reward is great, and you will be sons of the Most High. Why? For he is kind and ungrateful and the evil.
[12:14] God loves his enemies. In fact, he loved you. You were his enemy, right? Romans says, while we're yet enemies, Christ laid down his life for our sins.
[12:32] While we're still fighting him, he laid down his life for us. But we cursed him and hated him and spoke of him as if he was evil.
[12:47] yet he loved us. So that's why. Why can Christians love their enemies? Why can they do what's absolutely unnatural to them? Because they've been changed, because they've been loved in that way, because they've experienced that kind of love, and they know what it looks like, and they understand.
[13:05] And because they've been given the Holy Spirit, they have the capacity and the ability to do what's naturally impossible to do. So now, he's going to turn the focus, okay?
[13:18] He's been focusing on how we treat others, love your enemy. Now he's going to turn from how we treat others to how now we view ourselves.
[13:33] He's going to get to our attitudes. Oh, joy. Can't we just talk about things we do? Can't we just talk about acts? No, he's going to talk about attitude. Because he's going to say a little bit later in his sermon, you know, for out of the abundance of the heart.
[13:51] So it's about attitude. Our actions will never be the right actions if our hearts are not right. So, he's going to unmask our self-righteousness.
[14:07] He's going to call, he's still calling us to love our enemies. To love our enemies and our brother involves a humble self-examination. We cannot love our enemies or love our brothers until we've dealt with our own sinfulness.
[14:26] Take the log out of our eye. Okay? That's what he's going to get at. So hang on. It might be a little rough here. This is not a happy, but the end result will be for you.
[14:44] Blessed. Blessed. Okay, so let's look at this. What does Jesus do? He gives us essentially in these verses that we're cutting down here, from verse 37 through 42, two warnings is how I want to break it up.
[15:00] Two warnings. One warning is about the measure by which we make judgments. And then the second warning in verses 39 through 42, these pictures he gives, these parables he gives, right, about a blind man and a disciple and the speck and the log, are really about how we judge in hypocrisy.
[15:22] That's where he's exposing, right? It really gets personal at that point. So two warnings. One about the measure that we use, kind of the standard, you know, that we'll be judged by how we judge others.
[15:34] And then the other warning is really about personal, you know, before you, who are you to judge your brother, let alone your enemy. Okay, so first of all, first warning is about a measurement.
[15:48] However we, however we judge others is how we will be judged. Right? Whatever standard we use to judge others. If our standard is without any mercy, if our standard is ruthless, high standard of righteousness, okay, if that's the standard you want to use, that's what will be used back on you.
[16:11] On the other hand, if you use a measurement of mercy and patience and understanding, like that's how I want to be judged, then that's what he's saying.
[16:24] It's about the measurement, about how we judge. So see them all together here, break this down a little bit. In verse 37, he talks about, he gives four things again.
[16:35] There are four imperatives again, four calls, four directions, four you know, so verse 37, judge not, you won't be judged. Judge not, in other words, when we make a judgment, the word means to divide, to separate.
[16:50] We're making a judgment, we're dividing this from this. We're saying this is good and this is bad, or we're saying this is wise and this is foolish. We're making a decision, that's all judgment is, is a decision.
[17:01] You know, judges make decisions, right? They decide you're guilty or not, or et cetera. And then he says condemn not, so condemn is the next step. Condemn is to pass a sentence, to say they are guilty.
[17:15] See, we start with judgment, I'm making decisions about what's right or wrong, and then I go to the next step to condemn and say, no, you're guilty. So judge not, you won't be judged, and condemn not, you won't be condemned.
[17:30] So two negatives, and then he says in two positive ways. So forgive, and you'll be forgiven, and give, and it will be given to you. Forgive, that word isn't the normal word for forgive, it actually, it has to do with forgiveness, but it actually means to let go.
[17:51] I mean, forgiveness is about that letting go, right? It's about not holding that grudge. But this is more about, like, release that debt. Release them from whatever hold you have on them.
[18:04] Let it go. That's kind of what it is. And that is forgiveness, but it has kind of another nuance to it. And then give, of course, give generously, because however you give is how it will be given back to you.
[18:21] And here he says, he says a promise, verse 38. Give, and it will be given to you. And then he talks about how it will be given back to you. Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap, for the measure you use will be measured back to you.
[18:38] Now, verse 38 is a verse that the health, wealth, and prosperity preachers and people like to use. See, if you give, then God will pour out abundantly on you.
[18:48] Well, this verse has nothing to do with that. It's about our attitudes and judgment. It's about our attitudes toward our enemies. He had just said, release or forgive, and you'll be forgiven.
[19:08] Now give, go the next step, and then give, and it will, the return will be magnificent. And so I think the first application of give, and it will be given, is about that forgiveness.
[19:20] In other words, you keep forgiving, and God keeps forgiving you, and then that forgiveness gets sweeter and sweeter as we get older. Because we still blow it, and he still forgives us. He still forgives us.
[19:30] He still forgives us. It applies to other things, but I think that's where it's going. Look at this promise, this picture. This is kind of like, what's that? Right?
[19:41] Verse 38. Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will pour into your lap. What's he talking about there? Well, it's a common picture that everyone in that culture would understand about how they counted grain.
[19:54] They would have a measurement. They would sit down in their lap, and their robe would kind of make their lap, their lap, and then the person would pour out grain or corn into a measuring bushel or a bucket or whatever.
[20:13] Right? And they poured in there. They poured about three quarters full. And then they take it and they shake it. So it settles, gets the air pockets out.
[20:24] And then they press it down. They take both hands and they push it down. Make sure you get all those air pockets out. We want to give you the full measure. And then they fill it to the top. Excuse me.
[20:36] A little more shaking. Get that, get it up. A little more pressing. And then they build it up into a cone. And then it's just sitting in your lap. It's up in a cold. It's just spilling out into your lap. And that's the picture he's given.
[20:48] That's how it's given back to you. That's how God gives back to you. He's not chintzy in any way. When God gives back to you, he's going to pour it and shake it and press it down and make sure you get the whole thing. In fact, so much that it's pouring into your lap.
[21:01] He's not going to just give, oh, what do I have to give? That's what I'll give. See? And the example is that's how he gives, so that's how we give. When we give, and especially when we give, there's something, oh, I don't want to give to that.
[21:16] We give fully. Fully. Not with lots of air pockets in it. Got it? We give. We give.
[21:27] We really give. Fully. Because that's how God gives. And then he gives the point at the end of verse 38. What's this all about?
[21:37] What is this all about? Judging, condemning, and forgiving, and giving. What's this all about? The end of verse 38. For. Now he's going to explain the point. For with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you.
[21:51] However you judge, you'll be judged. However you condemn, that's how you'll be condemned. However you forgive, you're forgiven. However you give, give and come back. Get it? The measure you use, the standard you use, the yardstick you use.
[22:06] He's not talking about never judging. He's talking about how we judge. What is our attitude in judging? Do I measure others?
[22:17] Do I judge others without any mercy? Without any compassion? Without understanding? I see something they do and I just get upset and I say that's wrong and I don't know anything about their background.
[22:30] I don't know what they've gone through. I don't know what made them do what they did that day. Right? That's what he's saying. What measure are you using?
[22:42] Or are you going to judge whatever bad thing they did or whatever evil did or maybe their lifestyle, whatever it is. If you're judging them, are you going to come at it like, well, okay, what if I were in that business?
[22:54] Oh, I would never do that. It doesn't matter. What if I were in a position where I was doing something totally wrong according to God and I've got lots of reasons why I went that direction.
[23:09] And when somebody judges me, I want them to understand my background. I want them to be patient. Right?
[23:22] Yeah, judge me, but judge with fairness and patience and understanding and compassion. See what I'm saying? Jesus is not saying never judge.
[23:34] He's talking about how you be careful how you judge. Careful. Quick to hear. Right? Slow to speak. Slow to anger.
[23:46] Quick to hear. Let me understand first. Let me understand first. For I judge them or condemn them. Who am I? Who am I to judge and condemn?
[23:58] Who am I? As if I can't throw stones? Right? I can't throw. No, that's not it. Yeah. So, here's the ideal example.
[24:15] Jesus tells another parable later in Luke chapter 18. He gives an ideal example. He tells a parable about a self-righteous Pharisee and a sinner. Right? Very simple.
[24:26] Listen to this story. Jesus told a parable to some. He's telling a parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous.
[24:37] I wonder who those people are, right? Here. No. And treated others with contempt. Okay? That's what we're talking about. Trusting themselves that they're righteous and treated others with contempt.
[24:52] Two men went up to the temple to pray. One is a Pharisee and the other is a tax collector. The Pharisee. Pharisee standing by himself praying like this. God, I thank you that I'm not like other people.
[25:04] Oh, thank you that I'm not like all those sinners. Thank you that I got my act together. Thank you that I'm so good and righteous. Hmm. I'm so glad I'm not like those people.
[25:18] You know who those people are, right? I hope there's some in here. Right? Extortioners, unjust, adulterers.
[25:28] adulterers. Well, we could add to that list or even like this evil tax collector. I fast twice a week.
[25:39] Woo-hoo. I give tithes of all that I get. Woo-hoo. His performance is good. He's a good performer. Then Jesus said, but the tax collector was standing far off.
[25:54] He would not even lift his eyes to heaven but beat his breast saying, God, be merciful to me, the sinner, the sinner of sinners, the worst of all.
[26:09] And Jesus said, I tell you, this man, this tax collector, went down to his house justified. Justified.
[26:20] Okay with God. Not guilty before God. This man, who couldn't say what he performed, only asked for mercy, is the one that's okay with God.
[26:39] This man went down to his house justified rather than the righteous Pharisee that did everything right. How about that? Why is this man justified before God and not the other?
[26:52] Because this man only compared himself to God. He had no thought of comparing himself to others as if he's better than anybody else.
[27:04] He only compared himself because that's the only comparison that's legitimate. It's the only comparison that's just. And Jesus ends this with a principle, this parable.
[27:22] He says, everyone who exalts himself will be humbled. Pharisee who exalts himself, look at me, I'm glad I'm like this, will be humbled. Then everyone who humbles himself and says, just be merciful to me, O God, will be exalted.
[27:36] So the question is, see, what Jesus is getting at about making judgment because obviously here's a parable where the Pharisee makes a judgment about the other man. Thank you, Lord, that I'm not like him.
[27:48] How does he know what that man is? Well, he's a tax collector, therefore he's evil. Well, yeah, he does evil things. Tax collectors were not the most reputable people in society. But who is he to judge that man?
[28:03] What does he know? That man might have been Matthew. How do we view ourselves and others?
[28:16] Do we view ourselves like the Pharisee? Do we look at other people and compare ourselves to others because I perform, I do, I have this checklist, I fast and I give tithes and I go to church and I read my Bible and I pray and I do whatever that checklist is for you that makes you feel like, there, I'm okay.
[28:37] I did, God should feel good about me. It's all based on performance. Not that any of that is, all that's good stuff, but why are you doing it?
[28:50] If you're just doing the good stuff to get the bat on the back and to check your box, might as well not do the stuff because God ain't looking. God doesn't keep record like that.
[29:02] He's looking for something else, isn't he? He's looking for something else. Looking a lot deeper than the skin. So how do I view myself and others?
[29:18] Do I, am I comparing myself to others and saying, oh, see, I'm okay because they're worse. see, a Christian is justified and okay with God, is justified and righteous before God only by grace, only by grace, not by performance.
[29:39] Only by grace. Because I say, be merciful to me, the sinner. That's it. That's the attitude. attitude. Now, that genuine attitude will flow into other things.
[29:52] It will flow into things we do, but that's where it has to be. So Christ is unmasking our self-righteousness by these stories, by this picture, what he's describing here shows who we are.
[30:08] So, first of all, his first warning here is about however we judge others is how we will be judged.
[30:23] Now he's going to get personal in verses 39 to 42. He's going to tell this parable about a blind man and he's going to say something about a disciple and a teacher and then he's going to talk about specks and logs.
[30:37] So what's all that about? Pictures. Pictures. Parables. And here's how I would summarize what he says here in these verses. If we are blind to our own sins, then our judgment is mere hypocrisy.
[30:53] If we are blind to our own sins, then we judge others as hypocrites. Our judgment is merely blind self-righteousness or what Jesus calls hypocrisy.
[31:09] You hypocrite. You find the speck in your brother's eye and you've got a huge beam in your eye. You're a hypocrite. What an idiot. You're an idiot. Or a pretender.
[31:20] You're pretending you're okay. So let's break this down. First picture he gives us blindness. He says in verse 39, tell the parable. What's a parable? It's a parable.
[31:31] So it's para, bole,! Bole, cast, para. Parable. What's a para?
[31:44] Anybody work in the school district as a para? Anybody done parallel bars? Yeah, we've got some paras over here. You come alongside the teacher, right? You're a para. You come alongside. Para, parallel.
[31:55] You come alongside. And bole, you're cast alongside. So a parable is showing a similar, something parallel. He's going to give an illustration with a picture that parallels something else, a likeness.
[32:11] So often when he told this parable, he said, the kingdom of heaven is like this. Here's a parable. Here's a likeness, a comparison. So here's the parable.
[32:25] Where'd it go? Oh, verse 39. Can a blind man lead a blind man? Will they not both fall into a pit? So his parable is just a question. He doesn't explain the parable.
[32:35] He just asks a question. Can a blind man lead a blind man? What's the answer? Can a blind man lead a blind man? Yeah. Into a pit. Into a pit. Yeah.
[32:46] If a blind man, yeah, right, right, it's kind of, you know, they can't see. Silly, right? Then, so who's, so the comparison, if that's the comparison, who's he comparing the blind man to?
[33:02] Who's the blind man in what he's already just described? In judging and condemning and measuring that you use, right? If you're blind to your own sinfulness, you can't judge others.
[33:16] You can't, you can't do anything. So, then a teacher. Okay, this is odd. He relates it to a teacher. So, verse 40, a disciple's not above his teacher, but everyone, when he is fully trained, will be like his teacher.
[33:31] What is he getting at? This seems like he's, it seems like he's just, huh, is this in the right place? And of course, if you read the commentaries, the big commentaries, with the big scholars, who like to analyze everything to death, they're going to say, oh yeah, it doesn't belong there, it's probably borrowed from somewhere else.
[33:48] I'm like, please knock it off. Just because you, Jesus was hard to understand sometimes. So, he said things to make us think, right?
[34:01] He, he asked questions, he says things that he doesn't explain very much that make us go home and ponder on and think through what does that mean?
[34:11] And most of his parables were meant for that purpose. They were not readily understandable. Parables Jesus told were not stories to make the message clearer.
[34:27] I was told in 70, you need to tell a lot of stories. Jesus told stories. Jesus told parables. Excuse me. And Jesus told parables and nobody understood them. So, what's your point?
[34:38] Why should we tell a lot of stories? Because it makes the message clearer. That's not what Jesus did. He told parables to hide it, didn't he? They were secrets.
[34:50] And the only people that got to understand what the parable was were the people that thought about it and came back to Jesus later and said, okay, we don't get it. Explain again. Explain, explain, explain, we don't get it.
[35:04] Parables were, was a way Jesus used to separate people, to separate who are the real learners, who are the real listeners, who are the real disciples and those who didn't want to take any effort to try to understand what he's saying.
[35:17] So, here's the parable. So, parables are hard. So, a teacher, a teacher and a disciple, what does that mean? Well, common principle, teacher, a disciple's not above his teacher. Okay, right.
[35:28] They're the learners. But, everyone, when he's fully trained, will be like his teacher. Okay, so that's a statement of truth. Every disciple, when he's fully trained, will be just like his teacher.
[35:41] So, what does that have to do with this? Well, it should make us ask the question, okay, who's my teacher? And, what am I learning from him? If Jesus is my teacher, how am I going to do?
[35:56] When I get fully trained by Jesus, what do you think my attitude toward others will be like? Be like Jesus. What if a self-righteous Pharisee is my teacher?
[36:06] What if I follow a teacher who's pretty self-righteous and likes to condemn a lot of people? If I get fully trained by that individual, what do you think I'll be like?
[36:19] As Jesus said to the Pharisees, you train others and you make them twice the son of hell that you are. Right? So, I think he's just telling that to say, okay, blindness, if we're blind to our own issues, if we're just simply condemning and judging others without any understanding, and then if we get trained by a teacher who fosters that kind of better-than-you attitude, we need to be real careful.
[36:56] Careful about who your teacher is. Careful about who your pastor is. Ooh, should I say that? What if people leave? If people leave, it might be a sign that I'm communicating something that shouldn't be communicating.
[37:14] You have a responsibility to judge your pastor. Not judgmental, but to judge, is he keeping, is he from the word? Is he teaching what Jesus taught? Okay?
[37:27] So you don't get led astray. But I would say it applies to this. I know a lot of you listen to folks on the radio who read books, you know, you're listening to other speakers and stuff.
[37:38] Great. Are you being discerning in that? Because if you listen all the time, I mean, if you listen to somebody every day, you're driving to work, whatever, you're hearing them more than you're hearing me.
[37:52] Not that, you know, who am I, but what if their influence is not quite right? Are you being discerning about who you're listening to? Well, he's very persuasive.
[38:03] He's very good. I love Joel Osteen because he's always positive. Okay? Is that what it's about? Listen carefully to what that man says.
[38:18] Okay? Oh, yeah, he's got a nice smile. He's got a nice persuasion. He's a good, he's a very good speaker. Very, very motivated. I mean, he used notes. My gosh, he's very polished.
[38:30] Not that I want to rag on Joe here, but, but he's out there and we can make that judgment. That man is not preaching the gospel.
[38:44] I'm not, that's easy to judge because I hear what he says and I can compare it to what Jesus says and it's not the same. Okay? I think he'd have a hard time teaching through this sermon that Jesus is teaching.
[39:02] Especially the woes. I think he'd have a real hard time with that. What were those who were rich and satisfied? That's his whole message. Rich and satisfied. I don't know, what in the world is he going to do with that? Okay, I stopped.
[39:13] I'm getting off track. So now he turns it to brother. Okay? Verse 41. Interesting, isn't it? He's been talking about enemies.
[39:25] Now he's going to talk about your brother. And now he's shifting the focus just a little bit. So it's not just about how we treat our enemies, but now he's brought it into the relationship of discipleship and then specifically verse 41 and 42 into a relationship with my brother.
[39:46] And again, he asks questions. This is how Jesus teaches. He asks questions. Right? Why are you judging? Verse 41. Why do you see the speck that is in your brother's eye but you do not notice the log that's in your own eye?
[40:01] Yeah? Why are you judging your brother while you're ignoring the glaring sins in your own life? Here he is. He's unmasking us here. He's speaking to his disciples here, by the way.
[40:15] Why do you do that? So why? Then verse 42. How do you do it? How can you say to your brother, brother, let me take the speck out of your own eye when you yourself did not see the log that's in your own eye?
[40:26] You hypocrite. I mean, it's an absolute, I wonder, probably Jesus said it in a way that made people laugh because this is about a speck and a beam, right? It's about, I've got this huge thing coming out of my eye and I'm over here banging the guy with it.
[40:43] Let me get that little speck. Let me get that eyelash out of your, you know. I mean, it's quite humorous if it weren't sad. But he may have used a little bit of humor in this because it is an absurd kind of situation.
[40:58] but we get it right away, don't we? The picture he gives, we get it. Oh my gosh, yeah, I'm a hypocrite.
[41:11] Now, wait a minute, how come he has a speck and I have a log? Maybe he has the log. But see, Jesus is saying, I don't see clearly enough.
[41:22] As long as I got the eye in there, I still see something, but I can't see clearly. I got the log. I can see that there's a speck. There's something in my brother's character that's deficient.
[41:40] But, so notice how Jesus says it. So, how can you say to your brother, brother, let me take the speck out of your eye when you yourself do not see the log that's in your own eye, you hypocrite.
[41:51] First, first take the log out of your own eye and then, what? Then you can see clearly. To do what? To help your brother with the speck in his eye.
[42:06] See, it's not about I never judge my brother. It's not about I never confront my brother about sinfulness. It's about how I do that. Again, a judgment. We're called to help our brothers.
[42:19] We're called to confront our brothers when they sin. When they sin, we rebuke them, right? But how do we do that and when do we do that? Okay?
[42:31] And, we know, you've all probably experienced confrontation by a Christian and you, it was probably done in a wrong manner and you recognize it right away, didn't you?
[42:44] We can tell when a hypocrite's coming at us. Okay? I can. Maybe I'm more judgmental about that then. You just know something, you know, because they always harp on you and your performance that doesn't measure up to their performance.
[43:02] Right? Okay. So you hypocrite. What's a hypocrite? Hypocrite is a pretender. It's an act, it was a word used for the play actor on the stage.
[43:15] He's taking on a part. He's pretending to be something. So a hypocrite is pretending to be righteous. He's pretending to be okay. The term that went around, I don't know if it's still going around among the young folk is poser.
[43:28] Is that still around? Yeah, poser. No, that's not around anymore. Not very much anymore. So I know that the young folk, you know, used to use that word. You know, so I used to be young once and we called it a whole different thing.
[43:41] But I get it. But, you know, but you get the idea that they're acting. They're pretending to be something they're not. They act like they're above sin. They're blind and they're callous.
[43:54] Callous. So let's, how do we apply this? So obviously we get Jesus' point. If we're blind to our own sins, we're just judging others as hypocrites and we certainly can't help our brother if we're blind to our sin.
[44:10] So, in Galatians 5, we are called to help our brother who's in sin. We're called to help other Christians in sin. We're to make a judgment. We're to go and make a judgment and we're to go to help them.
[44:22] But, what Paul says in Galatians 5 is you need to do that very carefully. When you're dealing with your brother in sin, you need to deal with it very carefully.
[44:33] You don't just go. Okay, you need to be ready to go because this is important how you deal with another brother who's sinning. Okay?
[44:45] Watch how he says in Galatians 5. He says, brothers, if anyone is caught in any trespass, stop right there, if anyone is caught, what's that imply?
[44:57] They're stuck. You ever been stuck in a trespass? I mean, you know you're in it, but you can't get out. I need some help.
[45:11] Right? I'm in a hole. I can't break this. Right? So that's what he's talking about. If somebody's caught, I'm not talking about somebody that's just callous and doesn't care. He's talking about somebody that's stuck, they're caught in a transmission.
[45:25] You, who are spiritual. Oh, okay, who are those? What do you think he means? Who are the spiritual? Who? What's a spiritual person in the church?
[45:39] What does a spiritual person have that makes him spiritual? There you go. Thank you very much. You win the prize. They are spiritual because they have the Holy Spirit.
[45:51] Not because they have some kind of, you know, I'm better than everybody. They have the Holy Spirit. In other words, they got a helper to help them. Right? Okay? You who are spiritual, restore him.
[46:05] Restore, not, yeah, not, not attack. Restore him. Bring him back. Restore him. How? In a spirit of gentleness. Okay. And by the way, keep watch on yourselves lest you too be tempted.
[46:16] In other words, watch yourself. Take the log out of your own eye, right? To be, go humbly, go mercifully, go, go prayed up, right? Bear, and then, and then here, we're bearing one another's burdens.
[46:29] We're help, we're helping them. Here's, here's a brother who's stuck in a trespass. He's under that burden of something he can't break out of. We're going to go help and carry him out and so fulfill the law of Christ.
[46:40] We're loving our brother. For if anyone thinks he's something when he's not, or literally, if anyone thinks he's okay when he's not okay, he deceives himself.
[46:55] But let each one test his own worth. There we go. We'll look at myself first and then his reason to boast or glory or feel okay will be in himself alone and not in his neighbor.
[47:05] For each will have to bear his own load. So we bear one another's load, but we're also responsible for our own work. So when we see a brother stuck in sin, what's our response?
[47:16] You know, how do we, I mean, look at yourself. How do you see that? When you see someone else stuck in a sin, maybe you don't know they're stuck. Maybe you just know they're sinning.
[47:28] Right? Maybe you just know they're staying away from church for some reason. Maybe you just know I don't know what you know.
[47:41] Maybe you know they're playing with a certain kind of lifestyle. Maybe you know I don't know what you know. But when you hear that, when you become aware of that, what is your response?
[47:55] Do you feel judgment? Say, oh, shame. Right? Are you quick to condemn and blame and judge? Because that's what is natural to us.
[48:08] Oh, they've done the wrong thing. I remember this one time when I was praying for somebody. They hadn't been in church for a while and I was praying for somebody. And I was praying like, you know, God help convict them and, you know, cause them to see the wrong, blah, blah, blah, blah.
[48:32] And it was more kind of looking down on them as if, you know, who are they? Why are they doing this? And God just kind of pointed, just stop me.
[48:42] And I heard this, or this, this, words were in my head.
[48:55] I heard this phrase came to my mind. Who do you think you are? In the middle of prayer. Who's that?
[49:07] Right? Just confronting me. Who do you think you are? Changed, excuse me, changed how I prayed for that person.
[49:22] Still praying for that person. Changed how I prayed for that person. Because maybe they're stuck. Maybe they're stuck.
[49:34] All right. So how do you look? When someone's stuck in sin, do you seek them out to restore them? And do you, so I think, here's the way I would put it.
[49:50] When you go to help someone else, you're taking the log out of your eye. But when you go in gentleness and as a spiritual person, you go in the shadow of the cross.
[50:03] So I go to that person and picture that we're both just under the cross. cross. That's where we go. I'm not above the cross. I'm at the bottom of the cross with them, see?
[50:16] Because if I'm the one stuck in sin, that's how I want them to come to me. If. When I'm stuck in sin.
[50:27] So judge not does not mean to never judge. It's about how we judge. Do we judge with humility or with hypocrisy? So what Jesus is doing is unmasking our self-righteousness, our tendency to be unthinking and to simply look down on others and judge them without mercy.
[50:45] But here we have Jesus leveling the field because we're all hypocrites. And it's only those who recognize that they're hypocrites that have a genuine Christianity.
[50:59] Right? I mean, unchurched people will say you're all hypocrites. Yeah, absolutely we are. Amen. Amen. But if we recognize our hypocrisy and we're working on the logs and we're working, you know, then we're genuine.
[51:14] Then our faith's genuine. And then we can genuinely love our enemies and then we can genuinely help our sinning brothers. So let us then make our judgments, whether it's an enemy or a brother, but let us do it from the shadow of the cross.
[51:42] Let us pray. Father, we thank you for your incredible grace, kindness. We thank you that when Jesus came, he came not to condemn, he came not to judge.
[51:57] He came to offer release and forgiveness from the judgment they were already under. He did not come to remind people of how bad they were. They already knew.
[52:09] He offered hope. And so help us to be like Jesus. Help us to be merciful like you. Help us in when we walk through our life not to just kind of mindlessly walk through things and make judgments, but help us, Lord, to walk in the shadow of the cross.
[52:23] This we pray in Christ's name. Amen