If you turn in your copy of God's Word now, once again to Matthew's Gospel, I believe you'll find that on page 965 of your Pew Bibles. This morning we're going to begin chapter 7. Last Lord's Day, we sought to finish up chapter 6, and as we continue in the Sermon on the Mount, we will now look at the first six verses of chapter 7. Let's give our attention to the reading of God's Word. Matthew chapter 7, beginning at verse 1. 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 see the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, let me take that 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. Do not give dogs what is holy, and do not throw your pearls before pigs, lest they trample them underfoot and turn to attack you. This is from the reading of God's word. Amen. Please be seated. Would you pray with me? Father in heaven, we come now to a passage which is designed to open our hearts, to make us see, Lord God, the condition of our hearts. And then, Lord God, to encourage us to examine ourselves and then to help others and to be discerning. Father, guide us in this study this morning. Open this Word by Your Spirit. Give us good and right understanding. But Father, draw us ever closer to the Lord Jesus Christ. We ask this in His name. Amen. You may remember In David's rule and reign over the nation of Israel, he committed a grievous sin, actually more than one sin. As he saw Bathsheba, the wife of another, she took this woman. Committed adultery with her. And then in an attempt to cover it up, he sent her husband, Uriah the Hittite, into the front lines of battle, knowing that he would be killed. And then took Bathsheba to be his wife. David was living in that sin. up to the time when Nathan the prophet came to him and told him a story about a wealthy man who had a visitor, and instead of slaughtering his own sheep, of which he had many, he took the lamb of a poor man and gave it to his visitor. And David was so enraged, you remember, he said, that man, deserves to die, and then Nathan reveals to David, you are the man. David was convicted at that point of his own sin. He confesses it, and then The Lord tells him that he had been forgiven. This is an example of the gentleness of God with all of his children. As he did not leave David in his sin, as he revealed it to him and worked on David's heart to confess it, and then reassured him that while he would suffer the consequence of his sin in this life, that he was eternally saved. I come to a passage today which speaks in a sense of the gentleness of God as he works in and through us to help others with their sins. As we've been studying the Sermon on the Mount, we've been seeing that it's all about the kingdom of God. We saw that in the Beatitudes. We saw that there was work given to the disciples to be salt and light. We saw that there were rules and standards by which the kingdom was set, that they needed to adhere to, and then they needed to practice righteousness in accordance with those rules and those standards. That's the way they needed to be salt and light amongst the people. This part of the Sermon on the Mount is no different in terms of it is setting forth the ways for us to practice righteousness with others and then also with those who are not within the church. This morning I want us to see that Jesus calls his disciples to judge with righteousness and for the growth of the kingdom. Jesus calls his disciples to judge with righteousness and for the growth of the kingdom. We'll see that in three points. Simply judge yourself, secondly help others, and then finally distinguish dogs. Well, this passage is critical for our lives. It seems to be the first step for us in engaging in Kingdom work. Listen this morning as we go through this and see if you can see that with me. The first step in Kingdom work. Well, first, judge yourself. There's a problem that Jesus is pointing out as he begins this section saying, judge not that you not be judged. And the problem is that we know ourselves. Let me just say that again. We know ourselves as good people. We see ourselves as clean. We think of ourselves as having been saved and that as a result, all is right within our hearts. But that's just not the case. Being regenerate, having your heart changed from stone to flesh, coming to a saving faith in the Lord Jesus Christ does not erase your personal indwelling sin problem. Paul speaks of the sin that dwells within me. And as Jesus opens up this passage, he is dealing with that sin which dwells within each of the children of God. And as he sets it forth first, we must understand that that's where this passage begins this morning, with indwelling sin. We see that throughout the scriptures. As Paul writes to those in Corinth, his second letter, he writes, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from every defilement of body and spirit. If we didn't have a problem, why would Paul be writing that we must cleanse ourselves? As he wrote to those in Thessalonica. His first letter, he writes this, for this is the will of God, your sanctification, that you abstain from sexual immorality, that each one of you know how to control his own body in holiness and honor. If that wasn't a problem, why was it that Paul felt a need to write that to those in Thessalonica? Or the writer to the Hebrews, strive for peace with everyone and for the holiness, without which no one will see the Lord. Strive for it. These inspired writers knew that we have a problem with impurity. We're not completely holy. And so Jesus Even as he begins, the Sermon on the Mount describes the way our hearts should be if we're going to follow him. Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Matthew Henry writes of this passage that this describes those who have emptied themselves in order to be filled with Christ. To be poor in spirit is to think meanly of ourselves, self-denying, humble. But Jesus knew his disciples. He knew that they had trouble and he knows that we have trouble. We have trouble admitting that we sin. We have trouble recognizing our sin. And this is why Jesus gives us the image of the log in your own eye. Why do you not notice it? Do you notice those are the words he uses? Why do you see the speck that is in your brother's eye, but you do not notice the log that is in your own eye? That word notice in the Greek has a bit of a breadth of meaning. It means observe carefully, to look at something in a reflective manner. This is what one lexicon has for us. And what Jesus is saying is you're not observing, you're not reflecting, you're not concerned about that log or sin in your eye. And then he uses that word, you hypocrite. A hypocrite is one who pretends to be someone he or she is not. as Webster's defines it, as one who has the form of godliness without the power. The form looking like you're godly, but not really. One who assumes the appearance of piety and virtue when he is destitute of true religion. That's a hypocrite, and that's the word that Jesus Christ used as He is teaching His disciples, and He's using it when it comes to our interaction with others. See, that's what's going on. He's saying, hey, when you interact with others, some of you are being hypocrites. Indeed, I might say all of us at times. When we make ourselves to look good in the eyes of others, we're being hypocrites. When we want to build up our self-esteem, as the world would use that term, at the expense of others, we become hypocrites. We represent ourselves as something we are not. And Jesus knows the heart. He's saying this is our condition. You're saying the kingdom work cannot begin. Kingdom work, which he's been describing, cannot begin without this recognition and then action. First take the log out of your own eye. Now we have to also recognize before we get into some more details here that there's been some wrong understanding, wrong exegesis of this passage. Some will come to this passage and say, no, Jesus is telling us that we should not be judges, that you shouldn't judge ever anyone. That's not what Jesus is saying here. He's not saying keep to yourself. He's not saying never call out sin in a brother or sister. That's not a right understanding for at least two reasons. First, Jesus gives his disciples an illustration so that we could clearly say that he's not saying never call out sin. Take the log out first. Then you will clearly be able to see, to take the speck out of your brother's eye. So that's the objective, taking the speck out of your brother's eye. And then at the end, he's telling us that we must be judging with regard to discerning who are dogs or pigs. So he's calling us to be judges. And we know throughout scripture that that's the case. We read it from Exodus 18 this morning. Moses was called to be a judge. His father-in-law was saying, you're just taking too much on you. Get some other guys to be judges as well. Give them the Word of God. Determine who's right, who's wrong. Tell them why from God's Word. Be judges. Paul writes to those at the Corinth church, is it not those inside the church whom you are to judge? Even in glory the saints will judge the world. So Christians are to judge. But there's a certain way. to do it, and that's what Jesus is getting at, a certain way to judge, a righteous way to go about this work, to begin the work of the kingdom, and the first step in that righteous way is self-examination. Both the speck and the log referred to here by Jesus are references to sin, obviously. Why do you see the speck that is in your brother's eye but do not notice the log that is in your own? He's referring to transgressions of God's law. He's referring to breaking God's law. He's referring to being in sin and the need to recognize it and the need to remove it. That's kingdom work. But the first step is self-examination and then mortification. Take the log out. You have to recognize it first to be able to take it out and then remove it. Mortify it. Kill it. And think of the way in which Jesus refers to your sin. It's a log. It's big. It's supposedly easy to be spotted. And we have big and obvious sins. And then if something's in the way, like a log in the street, and you want to get past it, what do you do? You get it out of the way. It's got to be removed. But there must be purpose and zeal in order to removing it. There must be a desire, and there must be a desire that the removal would be complete, or as complete as it can be. See, removing laws, logs, mortifying sin within yourself is the beginning of kingdom work. Jesus says it first here. If you're going to be a useful, a fruitful kingdom worker, then you must first remove the log in your own eye. You must mortify sin within. That's the idea. In Galatians, we read this, I have been crucified with Christ. It's no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. In Romans, we know that our old self was crucified with Him. in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing." See, in Christ, we've died. In Christ, He's broken our chains to sin. It's no longer our master. And so the life of the Christian is one of killing off, mortifying, continually sin. And we know that can only be done by and through the work of the Spirit. Paul also writes, far be it from me to boast except in the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. He wasn't boasting in himself. He wasn't saying, look at me, I've killed off sin within. No, he's saying, no, it's just the cross of Christ by which the world has been crucified to me. And I to the world. Constantly looking to the cross, constantly looking to Jesus to remove the log, to mortify the sin. John Owen puts it this way, we must implant, promote the continual residence of and cherish those graces that stand in direct opposition to lust. Passion is weakened by patience, uncleanness by purity of mind and conscience, and love of the world by heavenly mindedness. Do you see what Owen was saying? You've got to replace those things which draw you into sin with things that draw you away from sin. And that's the work of the Spirit. This afternoon it would be good to turn to Ephesians 6 and just read all the weapons that the Lord gives us, that he gives us to use to mortify sin, to fend off the darts and arrows of Satan as well. The beginning of kingdom work is mortifying sin within yourself. That brings us to our second point, help others. It seems to be the centerpiece of what Jesus is preaching on this morning. Help others. Get the log out of the way first so that that small speck can be seen. That's the second point. Help others. We need to think about the size. The size of that speck. And it's clearly represented to us that sin in our brothers or sisters is small. that word that's used in the Greek as we look at a lexicon, it says it's a small piece of straw or chaff or wood, something quite insignificant, a splint or a chip. That's the point, isn't it? At least one of them. Jesus is comparing our sin as a log to this something that you could really have a hard time seeing in your brother or sister. We tend to think just the opposite, don't we? You are really a sinner. I'm not so much. But Jesus is saying, you know, to approach your brother or sister, you need to flip that. You need to understand and conceptualize yourself as the great sinner. And you're just here for this really insignificant little sin. Now, we have to remember, there are no insignificant little sins. But Jesus is saying, that's the attitude that you need to have as you come to your brother and sister. I'm a big sinner. I just want to help you with this little thing. If you go with that attitude, now you're going in righteousness. Not that you're minimizing the sin of your brother or sister, you're not doing that. But you're saying, my attitude is, I have logs that I've removed and I've got more logs to remove. Let me try to help you with this little thing. So the question is not whether or not you should judge. The question is not whether or not you have sinned. The question is not whether or not your brother and sister has sinned. The only question that Jesus is asking you to consider is how. How will you go to your brother and sister and help them remove the speck? Once you've taken out the log, how? What measure will you use to judge your brother or sister? Now, Jesus is not saying, what standard are you going to use? What law are you going to use? No, he's already gone through portions of the law. We know that Jesus knows the law. We know that he's already taught on portions of the law. He's not asking, what law are you going to use? He's saying, how are you going to judge? Will it be with compassion and love and mercy? Or will it be in harshness? Think of David again. Think of David being immersed in sin. Think of David as he has sent Uriah the Hittite to the battlefield. He is now dead. He has taken Bathsheba as his wife. She is pregnant with his child. And David is living in his sin. He was in rebellion. He was not recognizing his sin. He was not confessing before the Lord. He was living as though there were no transgressions. And so the Lord in his gentleness does not allow David to remain in his sin. He sends Nathan the prophet who gives him this picture and this picture, this image, this story allows David to say, oh, I understand. I'm the man. I've sinned against the Lord. Do you see the gentleness of God? Bringing him this image, this story, and then turning it on his head, allowing him, bringing him along to recognize, to confess his sin. Now when I say gentleness, I'm not suggesting that there won't be consequences for sin. There are consequences for sin. David is told there will be consequences for sin. Hard consequences. but yet he's also told the Lord also has put away your sin. We see the gentleness and compassion of the Lord as he deals with David's sins in Christ Jesus. And Jesus is calling us in this short passage to do the same. Use the same kind of compassion So first, be sympathetic. Think about how the Lord Jesus Christ has dealt with your sin. What is your experience as you've sinned against God and how Jesus has helped you with that sin? Has he been sympathetic? Indeed, he is the sympathetic high priest. One who is able to sympathize with our weaknesses, and that's how He helps us. He knows your frame. He knows our frames. He knows our experiences. And so has the Lord Jesus Christ known what to bring to your mind so that you would confess sin? Has He led you in that confession? Has He led you out Has He led you to show you how to hate your sins more and more? The answer must be, for those who are trusting in Christ, yes. And so as you seek to take the speck out of another's eye, the call is to be sympathetic. You know what it is to have a log in your eye. You know what it is to struggle with sin, to battle against sin and Satan daily. You've wrestled with the log, the big sin, and now you know what it is to be weak in the flesh. to be tempted, to fall in your weakness, and you know the pain, the suffering of sin, the weight of guilt that it brings upon you, and then the relief when it was removed by the grace of God. At least for the time, that sin was mortified to an extent. There'd been victory, and so now you can see the speck, and so as you go to your brother or sister and try to take that speck out, do so in sympathy, remembering what you have gone through as the Lord removed that log. Be sympathetic. Secondly, be encouraging. Think of that picture just for a moment, that log removal. They're big, they're impossible to lift on your own. Usually requires some heavy equipment to get them out of the way. You need the power of the Holy Spirit, don't you? In order to move that log. And so as you help your brother consider the work of the Spirit. Encourage your brother and sister. Remind them of the work of the Spirit, of the promise of Christ in his Spirit. as you gently and delicately probe their hearts. Remind them of the promised work of the Spirit of God. Ezekiel sets it forth so beautifully for us. I will sprinkle clean water on you. You shall be clean from all your uncleanness. I will put my Spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules. And I will deliver you from all your uncleanness. Oh, what promises! Oh, what promises to be shared with your brother or sister who's in sin? It's all God's work. And there are promises that He will work in this way. So be sympathetic and be encouraging and be loving. Again, how has the Lord Jesus Christ dealt with your sin? What's your experience? Has he been gentle, has he been merciful? Has he been kind and compassionate? Of course. Have you seen the deep love of Christ as he's dealt with your longs? Of course you have. He's not given you over to the lusts of your heart. No, he's cared for you. He's cared for you. And so as you go, your brother and sister be loving as Christ has been loving with you. It's hard to go to your brother and sister who have sinned and show them the speck. We don't want to do it. Indeed, it's impossible unless you love them. And if you love them, then you're going to want for your brother or sister exactly what the Lord has done for you. So we can sum this up in a sense of helping others. Just thinking of that speck. Something that's extremely small, something that's extremely small, lying on a very delicate organ. The eye. It needs a delicate touch, a very careful hand. We don't want to damage anything else as we remove the speck. That's part of the teaching of this image, isn't it? No heavy hand. This removal, this attempt at removing, cannot be done with a heavy hand. It must be done with a light touch. In this situation, it must be done with much love and much compassion and care for the delicate organ that's being dealt with just as the Lord was light in His touch with you. See, we're dealing with the heart. As we seek to tell others of sin, of transgression, we're dealing with a heart which is even more sensitive than the eye. We're dealing with the very seed, the foundation of one's soul. And so as you do this work, this is kingdom work, brothers and sisters, pray for this sympathy, pray for this compassion, pray for this mercy, pray for this love and this light touch. Pray for strength and courage. and pray for open hearts to receive this help and counsel. That brings us to our third point. Distinguish dogs Now we come to a bit of a different situation, a bit of a different scenario, and certainly a difficult verse to understand and apply, but we must see that this verse 6 goes with verses 1 through 5 because it's all about judging. It's all about kingdom work. It's all about discerning, and it's all about pursuing the growth of the kingdom. So now we must immediately see this contrast. In the first five verses, Jesus was speaking about helping your brother or sister. And the first step was to remove the log from your own eye. You have a particular attitude as you go to help your sister with the speck in their eye, but it was active. It was a call to active engagement, active love by Christians to other Christians, to giving brothers and sisters the truth of God's Word, His law, alongside of its application to their lives. We know that Christians are called to be holy, and so we could just see that in this passage, these verses 1 through 5. They're called to be holiness, and you're seeking to help your brother and sister in pursuing and striving after that holiness without which no one will see the Lord. Now, Jesus appears to change the scenario. Do not give to dogs what is holy. Do not throw your pearls before pigs. Here, Jesus is saying, no! No, don't give what is holy. Do not throw what is precious like pearls to these dogs and pigs. Judging is to take place. Discernment is to be practiced. And so if we're to practice this, we need to unpack it a little bit. So as we think of what is holy and what are pearls, we think certainly the word of God. Isn't that what was being given to the one with a speck in their eye? And so if we take that idea, that concept of helping one who has sinned against God, and how do we do that? By showing them what the Word of God says. We bring them to the Word of God, and we show them how they've broken it. And so it would appear that what is holy, what are pearls, are certainly a reference to God's very Word. So the idea is, do not give to dogs what is holy, and don't give these pearls to pigs. So, what does he mean? Who are these dogs? Who are these pigs so we might be able to discern in our kingdom work? Dogs are not looked upon favorably in Scripture. Deuteronomy 23, you should not bring the fee of a prostitute or the wages of a dog into the house of the Lord your God. in payment for any vows. The fee of the prostitute, the wages of a dog, they go together. I think the understanding of the wages of a dog would be a cult, a male cult, a prostitute. Don't bring the wages of sin or one who is engaged in sin into the house of God. As David is being pursued by Saul, Saul wants to retain the kingship. He wants to kill David so that David doesn't become king. David says to Saul, after whom is the king of Israel come out? After whom do you pursue? After a dead dog, after a flea. David was saying, I am nothing. I am worthless. That's the reference to the dead dog. The wages of a sinner, a worthless person. Psalm 22 writes this, deliver my soul from the sword, my precious life from the power of the dog. One who is vicious, one who is mean and deadly. Paul writes, look out for the dogs, look out for the evildoers. He's equating dogs and evildoers together in Revelation 22. We read this, outside of the dogs and sorcerers, the sexually immoral, the murderers and idolaters, everyone who loves and practices falsehood. There's an equating of dogs with those who love and practice falsehood. Sorcerers, sexually immoral. Pigs, we know are unclean, were unclean. The Israelites were called not to eat the pig, not to even touch their carcass, not to eat any of their flesh. They are unclean. That's the idea with regard to pigs. So we're getting that idea. Dogs, evildoers, entrenched in sin, pigs unclean. And so there's this division that's being created, this idea that these dogs, these pigs, are not to receive from you the holy things, the pearls. The idea is to be discriminating. It's a difficult passage to apply. But it is in the context of kingdom work. And the call by Jesus in kingdom work is to be discerning. As Jesus sends out his disciples, we're not there yet, but in Matthew 10, he sends out his disciples to go out into the villages and the towns and proclaim the gospel to heal. And he says this to them, if anyone will not receive or listen to your words, shake off the dust from your feet when you leave that house or town. The idea was, you're not receiving me. I am discerning that as I'm proclaiming the word to you, it's not being received. You don't want it, and so I'm going to move on. Go to the next town. Let your peace come upon it, meaning if the house is worthy, but if it is not worthy, let your peace return to you and move on. Do not cast before them your pearls. Do not give them what is holy once they have shown their reluctance to receive it. It seems to be the idea to be discerning, to be judging the people before whom you stand. And then there's that warning, lest they trample them underfoot and turn to attack you. This is kingdom work and the Lord uses means for it. And if you're trampled and attacked, that means you can't go to the next house. You can't then work with your brother or sister who's in sin because you've been trampled or the word has been trampled on and you have been attacked. It seems to be the concern. Think of Jesus as he dealt with Judas. I looked yesterday for any call by Jesus to Judas calling him back. I couldn't find one. As Judas says to Jesus, as they're discussing who will betray him, and Judas says, is it I, Rabbi? And Jesus said to him, you have said so. As Judas comes with the crowd and draws near to Jesus to kiss him, that was the sign. Jesus said to Judas, would you betray the Son of Man with a kiss? We don't read, I don't think of Jesus ever calling Judas out, ever telling Judas to repent, to turn away. How do you know? How do you know who is a dog or a pig, who is an evildoer practicing and loving falsehood? How do you judge? You certainly can't judge whether a person is without hope in Christ. You can't judge whether or not a person will ever come to know Christ at any point in time in their life. You can't know that. The Lord alone knows the heart. And so Jesus is not saying, never, never, never, never give that person the gospel. He's not saying that. He came to spread the gospel, to spread the good news, to save sinners from themselves. God knows the heart. So how are you to discern? You must recognize and confess your inability and then your complete dependence upon Christ and His Spirit. That you must seek His wisdom and His guiding hand. That you recognize that you need the Spirit's hand to know when to give and when to withhold. When to move on to the next person. Some have been made ready to hear. We pray for that. We pray for open doors. We pray for open hearts. But others, others are so content in their rebellion that they will not only refuse to hear, they will attempt to stop you from speaking exactly what was done to the Lord Jesus Christ. Those who sent him to punch his car were so hard, so rebellious, they not only stopped their ears to his words, they sought to end his speech by trampling upon him the very word through the cross. Brothers and sisters, we've got to be in prayer. As we evangelize, the first thing we need to be doing after we take the logs out of our own eyes is to pray. Pray that the Lord will be guiding. Pray that He would allow us to use our time wisely and discerningly. Pray that He would lead us. to those whose hearts are open to the Lord, and then pray that He would give us discerning hearts to know when a person at that point in time in their life, at that moment, is not ready to receive the good news, so that you can now move on to the next person who will hear it. Yes, Jesus calls His disciples to judge with righteousness and for the growth of the kingdom. I have a beautiful picture of what God does through Christ in His Spirit with David. He does that with each of us. And Jesus' call this morning is to use that sympathetic heart, to be encouraging, and to be love-loving and finally to be discerning as we take His Word out and seek to build His Kingdom. Praise be to the Lord. Amen. Father in heaven, what a beautiful caring, loving passage we've come to this morning. We see, Lord God, that you love us and you care for us and you call us to examine our hearts, first and foremost, knowing that our kingdom work will be in vain unless we pursue the mortification of our sin. And then, Lord God, we ask that you give us courage as we seek to help brothers and sisters caught, trapped in sin. Father, you give us discerning hearts. Guide us, Lord God. We want to see this place full of worshippers. We want to see every true church full of true worshippers. And Father, we pray, use our weak efforts, but give us discerning hearts as we go out. We thank you, we praise you. We ask these things all in the name of Jesus.