I would set before you the words this morning that we find in Matthew chapter 7 verse 12. So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them. For this is the law and the prophets. And we look at these words in the context of what you have On the back of your bulletin, ten resolutions for 2014. We're coming to the Lord's Supper this morning, but we're also coming to the Lord's Supper. This is the first time we celebrate the Lord's Supper together in the new year. 2014. Those numbers keep going up. 2014. And we mentioned, last week's service, that having turned the page into a new year, it is often the case that people make New Year's resolutions. And they do that because we're starting a new year and people think of it as sort of a fresh start and maybe a clean slate, sort of like a blank canvas in front of us. Of course, one of the things that limit us when we go into a new year and we turn the page and put up a fresh calendar and start marking it up is the fact that while there might be a fresh and new year before us, we go, the same people, in the same place, with our same ways and our same problems that we've ever had before. We are still us. You know, I've met the enemy and It is me. And so we go into the new year as ourselves. And as we go into the new year, then we go into the new year as the Bible reminds us our lives are. We are those who have been freed from the dominion of sin, and we are dead to sin, alive to newness of life in Christ Jesus, alive to God and to righteousness in Him. But life in this world is still very short, uncertain, and we are in our lives very, very vulnerable. In recognizing those things, we go into that world, and we need to go into that world realistically. And realistically speaking, with all our weaknesses, we need the help of God. But there's nothing wrong with New Year's resolutions if they are good and if they're right. And if seeking God's help, we go to, as a matter of fact, put them into effect. Indeed, as we come to the Lord's Supper this morning, one of the things that we're required to do as we come to the Lord's Supper is to examine ourselves. And if we examine ourselves truly and sincerely, we're going to find sin. And if we find sin, what are we to do with it? We're to repent of it. And what is true repentance? What is repentance as a saving grace? It's coming to grips with our sin in a way that we have true grief and hatred for our sin. And we lay hold of the mercy of God that there is in Christ Jesus. And we turn from that sin unto God with full purpose of an endeavor after new obedience. And so I would like to suggest a course of new obedience for you. And I'm doing that through this course of sermons because one of the reasons we make New Year's resolutions and don't keep them is because we don't carry them into the New Year. Well, we'll carry it at least a short way into the New Year together as we think on these New Year's resolutions. And I have suggested these 10 resolutions for 2014. And the reason I've suggested them is because I really want you to be happy. My concern is for you to be happy, to know and to love and to serve the Lord in such a way that you experience the blessedness of salvation that God has for you. Happy is the man, it says in Psalm 1. It doesn't say miserable, wretched, doubting, scraping along through life. When I was on the mission field, the last year that I was on the mission field, there was a communist motto that they put over, you'll see that one of these days in America, they put these mottos up everywhere, and you're supposed to follow them. They're sort of the theme for the year, you know, they have these themes and mottos that everybody's supposed to follow, and there it was, by your fingernails. Now there's an encouragement. by your fingernails. And the idea is you're just clawing and scraping your way. No matter what the difficulty is, we can overcome. And we'll just scrape along, right down until we rip our fingernails out. Yeah, that's motivational, helpful, isn't it? That's not happiness. That's not happiness. But it is a recognition of the difficulties of life. And I would like you to have the blessedness of living in Christ. The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, and self-control. These are wonderful things. It's things that the Spirit of God indwelling us, those who are led by the Spirit, enjoy in the Christian life. But the difficulty is often, how do we get there from here? See, I recognize I'm not there. How do I get there? So I thought of it in these terms. Here's the basic things of the Christian life. Let's lay them out. Here's 10 resolutions for 2000. Fourteen. First, I resolve to become the Christian I know and expect that every other true Christian ought to be. And that's where we are today. That's what we're going to talk about as we come to the Lord's Supper. The second is I resolve to read my Bible while alone every day. And secondly, or thirdly, rather, I resolve to pray privately every day. Fourthly, I resolve to sing to the Lord in my private worship every day. In the fifth place, I resolve to lead or follow with my family in these same activities, that is, reading my Bible, praying and singing to the Lord. I resolve to lead or follow with my family in these same activities in worship each day. And number six, I resolve to keep the Sabbath day holy, leading or following with my family and spending the whole day in rest and public family and private worship. Number seven, I resolve to make a conscious effort to do love. And I purposely put it that way, no matter how that sounds in modern English. I resolve to make a conscious effort to do love. That's number seven. Number eight is, I resolve to give up anger. And number nine, I resolve to forgive and seek forgiveness. And number ten, I resolve to give generously to the cause of the gospel and to those who have need. So, these 10 things and we begin today with the first step. The first step. And you'll notice in the bulletin I've shortened that. 10 steps to true happiness in 2014, Matthew 7, 12. You tell me. And that's because of something you've heard me do either in private or talk about in public. that that's often the response I get when someone comes to me for advice and counseling or sitting down and we're talking about difficult and sensitive things. And they say to me now, Pastor, what do you think I should do about it? And often when I perceive that perhaps someone's come and they've already made that decision, they've already decided they just want permission to do the wrong thing. They've already decided, but now they want to hear me say, so I will say to them, well, you tell me, what do you think I should say to you from the scriptures? Now, some of you are laughing because I've said that to you. And I gave away now what I thought about why you came. But and I've done that on a number of occasions in the past. And I have found almost invariably that people give a bolder, better, more scriptural answer than I would have felt comfortable giving immediately and directly to them, because it's very hard for pastors to constantly say the biblical things with boldness and candor, because people already know, but they come hardened against it And they get upset when you tell them those things. And after a while, you get a little defensive, or at least you start wearing a, if not a real one, a spiritual bulletproof vest, and you start to say words in such a way that you won't offend, and so on and so forth, and give advice. I know this is not really true of you, but in such cases, sometimes this is what... But what I found is when I say, you tell me, people just come blurting out, well, you know, I think you were going to say, ba-bum, ba-bum, ba-bum. And I go, yeah. But it was bolder and better than I could have said myself. Well, how is that the case? It's because you already knew. And that's what is called the golden rule here in our text. Matthew 7.12, in these words, is saying to you, that's part of what's being said, it's part of what it's relying on, that you know already. There are things you know, and things that you know to be true. And your problem is that you won't put them into practice. And it's telling you to do something. In the way I've summarized it, because of sort of its catchy character, its semi-offensive nature, and the fact that, of course, this is true of all of us, the first resolve is, having already preliminarily considered last week Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these other things will be coming at this from our priority. I don't care what else life throws at me. I don't care what else I might sense or feel or think that I need. I'm going to put God's things first. I'm going to put God's first. I'm going to put His righteousness first. I'm going to seek first the kingdom of God. I'm going to serve Lord Jesus, I'm going to serve the Lord God. I'm going to serve Lord Grace. I'm going to serve Lord Righteousness. I'm going to render my instruments and present them before God as instruments of righteousness. I'm going to become the Christian I know and expect that every other true Christian ought to be. Why in the world would I say it that way? Well, it's an argument from the Golden Rule. And here's the principle. Jesus is using the golden rule to set before you something you already know, something you already do. It's easier to criticize others. It's easier to sit there and say, this sermon really applies to so-and-so, and I hope they heard it this time. Now, you're all laughing. Well, except for one or two of you, Just thought, oh yeah, well, that applies to me too. But you're all laughing because we all do that. I grew up as a little boy sitting in the pew. Whether or not people say that to the pastor, I've heard people say this all my life long. Well, I hope so-and-so was there and they heard it this time. And if you haven't said it out loud, you certainly thought it. You know, wives thinking about their husbands. Husbands thinking about their wives. Friends thinking about their brother-in-law. Oh, wait a minute. And all of these sorts of things. Why didn't he get that, you know? And Jesus has been talking about that in the context of our text. So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the law and the prophets. And he's been saying in chapter seven, verse one, 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's in your brother's eye but you don't notice the log that's in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, let me take the speck out of your eye when there's a log in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye and then you'll see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye. Now there's a bit of humor there, and it's not just about the size of the log and the size of the speck. If you get a little speck, no matter how insignificant, in your eye, can you see clearly? What happens? Your eye tears up, and you can't see clearly. That's part of the picture that's here. People in the dusty Middle East are always getting something in their eyes. It's one of the great hazards of just walking down the street. We live in a very humid climate. Now once in a while we get specks in our eyes, but our eyes don't come home full of grit. But you have to protect your eyes and you have to be careful when you're walking in a high and dry climate where there's thousands of years of dust blowing around in your face and every little donkey that runs down and you're If you got a speck in your and your eye waters, you can't see clear. So even if you have a speck You're not able certainly you wouldn't go over and try to take something out of somebody else's eye because you can't see clearly and find their eye you know and So there's a humorous thing here. You've got this big problem and it's completely fogging your whole perspective on everything and yet the minute you see it in someone else you are able to identify it. There's his problem. Now in that context Jesus says So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the law and the prophets." It's a different way of saying, take the log out of your eye, so that you can take the speck out of your brother's. You can't see it all, your own problem, but when you see his little speck, Perhaps you can externalize the problem, see it in him, and turn and deal with it in yourself. Let that be a hermeneutical lesson. There's the problem. Now I need to interpret what my problem is. If you can see it in others, why can't you see it in yourself? We have to avoid some errors here. Jesus has said, so whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the law and the prophets. Notice he's referenced the law and the prophets. There's something objective here that he's talking about. You're doing something that you already know. But the thing we need to avoid is a pure subjection subjectivism, this relativism that people turn this passage into. People look at this passage and they say, well, if you don't like it, then it's wrong. If you don't feel good about it, then they're wrong. And so, you know, go by your feelings. Or everything's all relative. Whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them. Well, this isn't hurting anybody, so it must not be wrong. They twist these words. And this is not saying that you are the judge of what's right and wrong, in the sense that you are the one, on the basis of the way you feel about things, are the one who decides. Because then the Law and the Prophets would have nothing to do with it. The Law and the Prophets are an objective standard. And Jesus is pointing us to an objective standard and saying, when you do these things in this way, now you're doing the very purpose of the Law and the Prophets, which is what? To love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and your neighbor as yourself. You see, then you're really fulfilling the Law in love and you're doing no harm. How do I do no harm to my neighbor? Well, you see, it's not saying that you take your subjective experience as the criteria for what is right or wrong. Then what's the argument? Well, you start with that objective standard, the law and the prophets. And then you ask yourself, how do I do them? And Jesus is saying externalize these things and then you will see what your problem is. As you turn and internalize it within, that's how you do them. Let's just think for a minute, what's the form of the Ten Commandments? They're all prohibitions, aren't they? Thou shalt not steal, thou shalt not kill, thou shalt not commit adultery, thou shalt not covet. Right? These are thou shalt nots. So they're negatives, and you learn from them and apply them to yourself as you examine yourself. Now, what if they were positives, you say, or what if they are done to you? Let me make that a little clearer. Who's doing the acting here? in the Golden Rule. So whatever you wish that others would do to you, they're doing something to you. Someone out there is doing something to you. And now it's saying, what would you like that one to do to you? Let me use an example. Let's, I'll use a parable. We're dealing with the parables tonight. I hope all of you who aren't here this morning will come again tonight and hear the work on the parables. And some of you are here. I hope you will come tonight as well. Let me tell you a parable. Let's think of it in this way. Jesus said, unless you become his little children, you shall not enter the kingdom of God. Let's become his little children for a moment. Let's all go back to kindergarten together. We'll go back to kindergarten, and you're sitting there as a kindergartner. You remember kindergarten? Some of you didn't go to kindergarten. That was before kindergarten was invented. I went to kindergarten, but all the toys were made out of metal. That's how long ago it was. Now everything's plastic. Everything moves. Everything makes a noise. I can't imagine how kindergarten teachers teach anymore, much less nursery school. Everything's making a noise, has a song or a tune. I'd break every toy. But you couldn't break our toys, because they were all made out of wood or metal. So you're back in kindergarten, back when I was in kindergarten, right after the Civil War. And you've got all metal or wood tools or play things. You come in, and there you are, and it's your first day in kindergarten, and you notice a nice red metal truck. Ooh, I like red metal trucks, you say to yourself. So you take that, you sit down, you want to play with it. You're being good. And then a boy comes up to you, let's call him Johnny, and Johnny says, that's my truck, I brought it here today, give it to me. Now, of course, everybody says that's my truck, right? So you don't know what to do, so you hold on it. So Johnny, pulls it out of your hand, and he gives you a good pop in the head. And the teacher sees it. Now there's two teachers in the room. One's the bad teacher, and one's the golden rule teacher. Now the bad teacher doesn't recognize the teachable moment. So what does she do? She comes over to Johnny and says, now Johnny, that wasn't right, that wasn't good. You should share. And then She sends Johnny off to play, you know. All that does is turn Johnny into a bully. There's no price to be paid, and next time he'll do the same thing. Ah, but then there's the old lady. She's been teaching at school for a thousand years, and she looks like it, too. And she comes over, and she's got her nice smile and her nice grandmotherly way, and she's the golden rule teacher. And she recognizes that the teachable moment is not in Johnny, but in you. You're the one who just had the bad experience. And she says to you, because she knows you're ready to be taught now, this very thing. Was that right of Johnny to do that? And you say, no, and he hurt me too. She says, would you want to do that to someone else? No, that was wrong. Then you see what follows. Well, whatever you wish that others would do to you, now you do to them. See, it's not Johnny's teachable moment. It's your teachable moment. Jesus is coming to you in your sin and in your pain in life, and he's saying, you've experienced these bad things, and you see these things in others. Now, don't do them. You see, the reality is that thou shalt not come to you and they have meaning because thou shalt not steal means you feel it when somebody takes it from you. These things have bad consequences. Don't do them. But what do you do? Well, then the nice elderly teacher says to you in kindergarten, what should Johnny have done to you? Well, you say to the nice elderly teacher, if it really was his truck, I should have said, can I please play with it? And he should have been kind and shared it with me. And then you see, she's able to say this kindly old teacher to you. So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets. She's turned it back to you. Now the actor is you. What do you do? You know now why you should share. And you learn, I should share with others. I should give. You see, the standard is not you. And you've been able to externalize and make judgments. And now you're to turn around and internalize that yourself. There's the principle. That's why in Romans 13, you're told that love does no wrong. It's the fulfilling of the law. You owe love. And you owe to do no harm. You see, you know, when you come to the Lord's Supper this morning and you're told to examine yourself so that you can receive the Lord's Supper right, how are you going to do that if you don't do it in this way? You don't come to the Lord's Supper saying, oh, so-and-so, I hope he listened in that message and got something out of it for a change. If you feel that way, you need to see that There's something that's being visualized for you in that person's life that you need to take to heart yourself and say, I bet I have something of that in me. I better deal with that in me. And though your vision's been blurry and your eye's been hurting and you can't really be trusted to get the speck out of his eye, You turn and as you try to get that little speck out of yours, you find it takes both hands. It's not as easy as you thought. Did you ever try to pull a log out of anything? I have. But you see, this is something you know. You know already. And if I ask you about that, what's wrong with so-and-so and what ought he to do about it? As a believer living under the Lord Jesus Christ, knowing sin is wrong and bad and it has consequences, that sin doesn't just lie there indifferent, but sin is something that's aggressive. Sin is something that goes after, it ruins. It's like cancer. Cancer just doesn't sit there and go, Don't worry, I have no purpose to spread at all. It's just not the case. You see? It's aggressive. Well, that's the case with sin. And sin is ready to victimize whoever it can. But it's self-camouflaging and you don't recognize it in yourself. So you need to deal with it in a particular way. You say, what's wrong with doing things this way? What's wrong with the person that I've been? What's really so bad about these things? Why do they need to be changed? Well, I would ask you to do this. make this resolution because it puts into practice the principles that I've just set out. It works to examine yourself to come to the Lord's Supper, but it also helps you examine what needs to be changed in my Christian life and what's the big deal about that. I resolve to become the Christian I know and expect that every other true Christian ought to be. It's the golden rule turned from negative to positive. You know exactly what you expect me to be as pastor. You know, if I spend all my days doing what you do and reacting the way you react, would you want me to be your pastor? If I treated my wife the way you treat your wife, would you want me to be your pastor? What kind of Christian do you want to be? If somebody was saying, now look, I'm going to examine a pictographical record of your life. We've had hidden cameras in every room of your house for the last 10 years, and I'm going to set out an excerpt of your life so that we can see what The exemplary Christian life really is. Would you like to have the congregation watch that? You see, we need to become the Christians I know and expect that every other true Christian ought to be, because the truth of the gospel, the truth of the gospel as I really believe it and experience it, and the glory of God, and all those things are inseparable, are at stake there. You're going to seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness? Really? Really? Are you going to really do that? Well then, there are things that have to change. They must change. Why haven't they changed over the last thirty years, the last ten years, the last five years, the last six months? Because you haven't looked from the outside at yourself through the objective standard of God's Word and applied it to yourself in such a way that you can internalize it and therefore change. I remember saying to someone years ago, I never see you in church. Why aren't you in church? Oh, we come regularly. I said, really? I'm the pastor. I've been up front watching both services. For the most part, I've hardly ever fallen asleep while I've been preaching. And I haven't seen you there. But once or twice a month, You see, they thought they were attending church regularly. Now, where's the perception problem? They weren't looking from that externalized perspective. Here I stood, and I could see where they would sit in the pew. They weren't invisible. There it was. They weren't there. I wasn't hallucinating. I didn't have a blind spot. They weren't there. The blind spot was on their part. Because they thought, well, I was there at least once or twice a month. That's pretty regular. Not if we read the commandment, keep the Sabbath day holy. Six days shalt thou labor and do all thy work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God. Any you shall do no... And you were to worship the whole day? Keep it holy. So when you think about what is it that a Christian believes, what is it that a Christian does, what is it a Christian reacts and what way does he react, what are the most important things to a Christian? Why am I not there? What needs to change? You have to look at that person as he would be in life, as he would be completing the Word of God, and doing those things. Not what you're doing now as okay. You see, your idea is, I'm doing something of that. I'm doing that once in a while, or I recognize I should do that, and that's enough. It's not enough. I resolve. What do you resolve? I resolve to become the Christian I know and expect. that every other true Christian ought to be. Really, pastor, where would you get such an idea? So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the law and the prophets. We have to externalize these things in order to internalize them, to do them ourselves. We need to have a true picture. We have to focus the Word of God on us. And when we see what it is that the Word of God requires, the way it would be lived out, then we have to take the difference and make it up. We have to say, there it is. Here's the distance I am from that. That's what needs to be changed and expected of ourselves. Because what's listed as the golden rule is not setting as a standard how you feel about things. That's subjectivism. It's setting as a standard the character of God, the law of God, the word of Christ, His righteousness, and then saying, if I look at others and say, what is it I would wish them to be to me, then I need, I need, I need to do this. And that's the spirit in which you come to the Lord's Supper or you're not truly repentant. You come to the Lord's Supper saying, what is it I would and should be? I am not. But here the precious blood of Jesus shed for me, the redemption purchased for me in Christ is applied by the Holy Spirit to strengthen me to be the Christian that I would be, that I would do what I expect others would and should do. That's what I shall be now. That's what I shall do now. That's what I shall pursue. I will seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness. And coming to that Lord's Supper, I will repent I have not been there. I shall pursue it. And I resolve to do it. I will go. And with full purpose of and endeavor after new obedience. That's true repentance. With full purpose of and endeavor after new obedience. Gospel obedience. Evangelical obedience. I will be the Christian that I know I know in my heart what I should be, that by God's help, God helping me by His grace, I will do it. I will follow Him. I resolve at the Lord's Supper in the face of the cross by the power of the Holy Spirit, because of the love of the Father, because he's placed faith in my heart and I can trust in him and know that this isn't a charade. I'm going to become the Christian I know and expect that every other true Christian ought to be and do. God helping me. Let us pray. Our gracious Heavenly Father, forgive us for our callousness and our indifference to the distance between ourselves and what the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ reveals that we should be. We love you. We desire to serve you with all that is in us. Help us to gain some perspective on ourselves and our lives. that we might walk in that newness of life, experience that blessing, and then seeing the gospel work in our life, having the truths of God confirmed, that we may know the joy and the happiness, the certainty, the assurance of faith and grace and salvation and forgiveness of sins, present in our life because we see the graces to which those promises are made, evidenced in our hearts and lives. And we ask these things in Jesus' name. Amen.