Lord this morning and for his word. Now I have a little bit of sad news for our young people, our children, that is that we're not able to have Children's Church this morning and that's what happens sometimes when sickness hits. But we're glad to have you up here with us and try to keep it interesting today. So we do have some materials for kids in the foyer. And many times they'll come running up afterwards and show me what they've drawn and what they've done. And it's good to see our young people interacting. Some of the pictures are, as you can imagine, sometimes very creative. But we actually have some amazing burgeoning artists. our group and So we're glad to have our kids with us this this morning Turn back to Matthew chapter 7 This is the last chapter on the Sermon on the Mount and we started it last week And Again as I finished Last week I was talking with many of you even after the service and throughout the week. I just felt the need to go back to this and make some even more practical applications because this is so misunderstood. And I'm not really making fun at all or making light of the fact that I think this does end up being many Christians, if not their favorite verses in the top 10 at least, because they tend to misunderstand what's going on. Does this mean that it's wrong for us to confront the sin in others? Because you've probably experienced you or someone pointing something out to someone else. Some of you gave me testimonies of this this past week, where you were carefully pointing out maybe something that could have been done differently, and that phrase came back, judge not, or you're going to be judged. What do you do with that? That kind of shuts down the whole conversation, doesn't it? Well, these verses weren't meant to shut down those types of good sanctifying conversations as long as they're done in the right way but it's our misunderstanding and so I want to go back through this again we'll read through the passage and again remind you of the basic tenure the message, the focus of this passage, and we'll talk about some applications. So chapter 7, verse 1 in Matthew. 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 not 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 the speck out of your eye, when there is a 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 then turn to attack you. And the title of the message last week was Judging Others, so I guess it's Judging Others Part Two today. The question I asked at the beginning of last week, is it right to judge others? And what we saw as we jumped ahead to verse six is that yes, verse six does command us to evaluate other people's lives. that there are actually times where God may say, you know, you have given the gospel, you have given my word to particular individuals and they have rejected it, so don't toss those pearls. before the swine, before the pigs any longer. Don't give to the dogs what is holy. They've rejected me, they're not listening. Your time of ministry is done with them. That takes insight and discernment as we evaluate people. And we're going to see in a couple weeks here, later on in chapter seven, that Jesus says to beware of false prophets. And so we have to use discerning and judgment to note if there's false prophets in our midst. And then in many passages, God calls us to be subject to our ruling authorities. God calls the leaders within the church to exhort and rebuke with all authority, let no one disregard you. So all of these things call for a measure of careful judgment. It is not, in fact, a get-out-of-jail-free card, so to speak, to just mention this phrase, verse 1, and be free of all of God's moral restraints in our lives. This isn't in any way saying, as someone points out, or if you've gotten in trouble for a law that you've broken, or if you've broken one of God's moral commandments, even the Ten Commandments, There is cause for you to evaluate and to repent, and there is cause for others to deal with that sin, not just to let it hang and let it go. But with that, then, what are we talking about here? And again, this is review. God commands us to evaluate others' lives. But God also commands us and Jesus commands us to not to condemn or to have a condemning attitude toward people that is unnecessary. In other words, cynicism and judging shouldn't be our default. It shouldn't be the first thing that we go to. Obviously and if you remember 1st Corinthians 13 part of the description of love is love hopeth all things that fights against our very sin nature because our default tends to be well evaluate and judge first and Jesus says no love hopes the best But how do we make these things work together then? How do we judge in the right way? First of all, again, as we saw last week, we must remember, folks, and as we saw in our passage this morning in James that Stuart read, that we are not the ultimate judge, that there is a judge in the heavens that knows our hearts, and none of us is him. And so we have to go and we have to tread very carefully and cautiously not in any way trying to take the place of God. What a precarious situation we put ourselves in when we deem to take on the authority that only one person, the God of the universe deserves. And if we dare take on, try to act like, or try to take on in any way that authority of the creator, of all of mankind and our heavenly father, the great judge that judges all things, we will find ourselves in a very precarious situation for sure. You don't want to do that. And we ask the question just as Jesus did. He said the judgment you pronounce will be judged and the measure that you will use it will be measured to you. And so as we look at how our tendency is to judge others, do we want people judging us in the same way is a really good question. Our propensity, and all of us have a propensity for this and a bent towards this, is to immediately judge and be critical first. But is that how we want people to respond to us? Well, no. Because I'm much more innocent of these things than those people. Be careful. We must examine our own lives first and that's what that really that ridiculous illustration that Jesus gives where you see a speck in your brother's eye and there's this huge beam. You know you think of Home Depot and those long beams of wood that you can buy two by four or whatever. That's the picture here where you're looking at a sliver and you've got two by four sticking out of your face. And when we try to then help someone else, we look ludicrous. And people aren't accepting of the help that we want to give them because they see, obviously, we have our own issues to deal with. And so Jesus says, you deal with those issues and then you come back and you'll be ready to help other people. And that is really how we ought to look at this aspect of judgment and discerning is that we want to help other people. Folks, the God of the universe is the one that condemns. We don't condemn. We help and we point people to Christ. And so our whole goal in ministry is not to bring condemnation and certainly final condemnation on anyone, but to help them to grow or help them to see their need for Jesus before they do experience and face that ultimate judgment that those that reject Jesus will face eternity in hell forever. But God is the one that condemns and so we must be cleaned up. And ready. so that we can then effectively help others when God brings those situations into our lives. So the practical applications of this then. I just want to remember, first of all, is a passage that we've gone through before on forgiveness from Matthew chapter 18. And it's just a quick reminder. I'm not going to go through the whole passage this morning, but it is the unforgiving servant. that was forgiven of so much more than he could ever repay. And that is all of us in our sin debt. That we are all responsible for a sin, guilt, burden that none of us can pay. We all owe. And yet Jesus paid it all. And so when we realize that and we seek his mercy, God, because of the work of Christ, gives us forgiveness and cleanses us from sin. But we must remember that forgiveness and that grace that he gave us and show that to others. And that comes in this area of judging as well. When you look at people around you and you find yourself judging or you find yourself assessing their inner heart. Which we must be very careful with, right? Do we come with a heart that recognizes all that we have been forgiven of? Do we tread carefully? Do we prepare ourselves to help others, to help them to have victory over their sin, to maybe point out something that they're blind to? Are we prepared with thankfulness to Christ for all that he has done for us? If you are, and if you have recognized all that Jesus has done for you, you won't be that unforgiving servant who's so harsh and selfish with others. But we'll approach people carefully. Realizing, and this is even a good thing to say, if God has made it clear to you He has put someone in your path and he has made it clear to you that he wants you to help that person to mature and to help give them victory over something in their life. A great way to start out the conversation is something like this, you know, the Lord has really been helping me in a lot of areas in my life. I'm so thankful for that. You know, God, I've had my own difficulties to go through and God has helped me. And he's given me some victory. And so I just want you to know up front, whoever it is you're talking to, that I understand propensity for sin and for failure. And God has given me victory and I've noticed something in your life and I just want to share some things with you so God can give you victory too. That's a great way to start out a conversation. rather than starting out with, or even letting yourself get angry and frustrated and judgmental to the point where we blow up and we don't handle things in the right way. Remember what we have been forgiven of and it will help us in our attitude toward helping others to deal with sin in their lives as well. That's such an important aspect, and that's really what Jesus again is saying. Be careful how you respond to others. Because and here's a sobering part about it. If you are one that just tends to judge. And it has no mercy or grace in that. God very well may put someone in your life. who treats you the same way. And that's not enjoyable. So better to have a gracious attitude up front. And this then really filters in to another question that I have. When we're dealing with people that are struggling with sin and that have done things that are wrong and that are causing maybe destruction and damage in the church, are we approachable? Do we conduct ourselves in such a way that if someone knows that they are struggling with sin and that they have fallen, that they know that they can go to one of us and we will be merciful to them, that we will be gracious. Not that we'll overlook their sin. You see, someone that really biblically judges someone else, folks, is one that will deal with someone else's problem, but in a loving, gracious way, humbly recognizing that they could be in that same circumstance themselves. And I've known many sweet Christians who have confronted me in my life and many others, and they do it in a humble way. They make it clear that they want to help, that they're concerned for my soul and they're concerned for my testimony. And there are many of you out in our congregation today like that. If you see people that, and you know of people that when they have struggles and they have sin difficulties that there are people in the church that they go to because they know that it will be dealt with, but there will be grace involved, you'll see that person has a lot of friends because that person is approachable. They won't harshly judge and condemn, but they will gently, look at their own life first, evaluate their own life, and then do what they have to do to help you in your problem. You know this, folks. People like that in your life are treasures. They're valued. They're a breath of fresh air in our lives. But we just can't leave it to the few. We all should have that attitude. We all should be approachable. Are we approachable or are we intimidating? We certainly, on that scale, we don't wanna be the one, folks, that people would never go to because they don't trust us in our harshness. We're intimidating. But we need to be gracious and approachable. And all that then filters into the next thing I'd like to highlight is that when we do judge, are we judging biblically or carnally? Sometimes people, and I believe this is what Jesus is referring to, the type of judgment that is harsh and condemning, how does that show up in a church ministry? Well, many times it's through gossip. Many times it's through sarcasm. Many times it's through accusations that are unfounded or that people have heard second hand and they don't have the right information yet. Harshness. Sometimes we deal with people that have sinned by just not talking to them at all and ignoring them, giving them the silent treatment. All of those are wrong ways to judge and that is what Jesus is condemning and mentioning here. That we should not judge, we should not condemn others in that way, but rather we should be known for our reasonableness and our kindness. And so as we continue to evaluate, I need to evaluate this in my own heart as your pastor and as a father, I'll be candid here. It's easier for me to be gracious and loving toward my church congregation than many times, it's easy to have that gracious, reasonable response when I'm outside of my home. But then when I get home, there's a struggle that many of you might relate to, to have that same graciousness and reasonableness and patience in listening and dealing with sin, but doing it in the right way that I have with people outside the home. God gives us tests in many ways on this issue of judging, and many of us as parents, we know it's an everyday thing. And yet we must be reasonable and kind and not when we're stern, even when there is a there is a time for a seriousness for over people's sin. And people need to see that we grieve over it. And people need to know that we don't take their sin lightly because we don't take our own sin lightly, that we're serious, that this bothers us. but we can grieve with people and even shed tears and not come across as a strict authoritarian that just wants to condemn. You see the difference, don't you? And that strict, condemning, cynical attitude is what Jesus is saying should not be a part of our lives. Back to that illustration. that we mentioned last week. It's so perfect, but it's so ridiculous and so perfect at the same time what Jesus says here about the sliver in another person's eye. You know this, if you're having eye trouble and you've got an eye doctor appointment and they're going to do something, some sort of surgery to your eye, and you come to church and you tell a bunch of our folks about that, are you going to be really impressed If somebody says, wait a minute, I've got something in my car. If you'll just walk out the parking lot here, I've got something in my car that I think can help you. And you follow that person out. And they open up a toolbox in the back of their truck, and they have this old rusty wrench. And they turn around to you and say, I can save you hundreds of dollars of going to your ophthalmologist. Just let me get that thing out with my rusty wrench here. Come on, just come right over here and let me pull that thing out. And all of us, I would hope, are going to run the other way and say, you're crazy. And yet so often, folks, we come at people's problems with that rusty wrench, and we wonder why they don't want to listen to us. We have to have a gentle and careful response. There's more that I need to make mention of this morning, because there's more to explain here. Pastor Brock, how do I know? How do I know when it's the right time to biblically judge or help someone when I know there's known sin in their lives? Well, folks, I'm going to tell you something this morning. I think it's going to relieve a lot of burden and a lot of pressure from all of us, really, even the pastor. And I believe that this is the right way to handle things. See, I don't think, and you'll be glad to hear this, I don't think that God has called each of us in this church to have to judge and to handle everybody else's sin in the church. Except when it gets to a certain level, and I'll get to that. But initially, when we hear that someone has done something wrong, I don't believe that God calls the whole church to deal with that in that initial revelation. If that were the case, folks, that would be an incredible burden that none of us could handle. Could any one of us here handle all the sin that the rest of us have committed and try to deal with it all? No, it's not possible. Jesus did that So here's what I think in regards to what Jesus says here that's so important I do believe that there are certain times where God allows you to know and even maybe to see or Experience when somebody has done something wrong and God makes it clear. This is your time prepare yourself and maybe some others and Because this is what I have given you to handle in helping this person to mature. I believe that God makes it clear when he wants us as individuals to step in and help other people. And that's when we need to make sure that we're not bringing the old rusty wrench. First of all, Lord, help me in my own spirit. I know I'm not perfect. It's obvious this thing has happened in front of me. I know about it when others don't. You want me to do something here. I'm clear about that. So Lord, first of all, help me to deal with the sin of my own life. And help me to be approachable so that I can be an effective tool in your hand. And not a dirty unprepared tool. And then we talk with that person, and we let them know that we're humbled by our own sin, but we see this in their life, and if they don't deal with it, that there's going to be damage done. Well, Pastor Brock, I thought at some point the whole church was supposed to get involved. Well, the Bible makes it clear about that process. Individuals, right? Do you remember this? It's all throughout the New Testament. Paul talks about this. An individual goes to another individual or a couple of individuals and says to that individual, we see this in your life and we're concerned about it. Could you give us a little bit more of an explanation for what this is? Because in the end, we're not the ultimate judge. We don't know what's in your heart, but we're seeing the fruit. That may be a grievous sin in your life, and we need to know more, and we want to encourage you to repent and to turn. And then if that person repents and acknowledges their sin, then wonderful, you've gained a brother. But if she or she doesn't, then you get a few more people involved in the leadership, right? Not as condemning but as weight to help that person to see the weight of their sins so that they'll turn and then the last course of action Always the last course of action in this is that it is finally if that person is unrepentant Then it is brought to the church This is the process for all people in the church including leaders and how we judge biblically and how we bring up sin Too often It happens the opposite way. Someone finds out about a sin that someone else has done and they go and gossip about it to a bunch of other people in the church and eventually the church gets all worked up and the church then is condemning upon that person before that process has even been followed through. And that's what Jesus says. Don't judge like that or you will experience that judgment as well. So when someone comes to you on the other side of this, when someone comes to you and says, I have seen someone doing something that I think may be wrong and grievous, and I think You know, they really need to change. Then what we need to be careful of is realize folks that that person that's coming to you, that may be their responsibility that God has given to them. And they shouldn't be passing it off on you. But what we say is, okay, I'm sorry to hear that. Have you talked with that person? Have you personally interacted and encouraged them? Have you prayed with them? Have you gotten their side of the story? Well, no, but I just know, then you can, you have all, you even have the pastor's permission, because I believe this is biblical, to say, before I get involved, You need to talk to them first. That's what Jesus, that's what the Bible says. You talk with them first. If they don't respond, then I will pray about it, and if I need to, I will get involved. And even, folks, there are things that you may find out about that even the pastor doesn't need to know about, believe it or not, that God may have called you to handle And you need to pray that you are a prepared vessel for that. And if you think about it, think of the story of the Good Samaritan. A wonderful parable that pointed out our need to treat our neighbors in a certain way. But who was responsible for that man that was beaten and had things stolen from him and left to die on the side of the road? The responsibility was three people. And the Samaritan took up the responsibility. And God is saying through that, I think part of what he's saying is I am going to put people in your life that are needy spiritually, that need help, that need correction. And when I make it clear that this person is your opportunity to help, trust me, do it biblically. and watch as I use you to help gain this person as a brother and sister so that they can have victory over this sin in their life. Folks, if you've ever had the marvelous opportunity to help someone through a sin crisis and through a sin pattern and see them come out the other side and gain victory. And you know, it's not your own marvelous way of talking and your own wisdom, but you know this is God working through you. You were just a tool. It is a wonderful experience. It is something I wouldn't want you to miss out on. There's one other thing here that's very sobering in this as we finish up this morning. And when Jesus says verse two again, the judgment that you pronounce, you will be judged with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. Folks, it is true that there are some, maybe some in this congregation this morning and some in our church body as a whole that claim to be Christians, but they lack love and gentleness because in reality they don't have relationship with God at all. There is that category. And that application that Jesus is also making here is saying to check yourselves if you have no gentleness or love for others, if you're just constantly looking around to condemn and to be angry and bitter with everybody else. Have you truly been affected? Have you experienced the love in the sack, the acceptance and the faith acceptance of a sacrifice? The sacrifice that Jesus offered us? Have you experienced his love? Have you experienced his mercy? And Jesus says here, if you reject the one that has shown you so much mercy, you will be judged and it will be an eternal judgment that you will regret. forever. So folks, if there is someone here this morning who has not yet accepted the mercy through Jesus Christ, Jesus died and shed his blood for our sins so that we wouldn't have to experience the judge of the one true judge in heaven that one day will judge impartially everyone. And those of us who have trusted in Jesus Christ and have experienced his mercy, we won't face that judgment. But for those who reject Jesus and reject his love and his mercy, you will be judged in a terrible way. And so I would plead with you this morning, take the mercy of Christ. Trust in him today. before you experience the truly terrible judge of the righteous judge of the universe. For those of us that have done that, folks, the more we reflect on Jesus' love and sacrifice for us, the more we'll be willing to carefully judge and to be quiet when we haven't prepared ourselves. There's an old quote my wife actually pointed out to me the other day. I think this is great. I love this quote. It's from John Wesley. You guys know him, right? Great awakening preacher in the 1700s. He said this about this very issue. He said, I have often repented of judging too severely, but very seldom of being too merciful. Can you relate to that? I can. But what really concerns me is as I think through that, I thought of a second my own version of that because I am concerned that there are some. That need to have the work of Christ convict them in this way. And that there can be some even the church that have this testimony. I have never repented of judging too severely and I have no idea what you're talking about. About being too merciful. We don't want that kind of testimony, folks. And so for all of us this morning as we finish up, I hope that you better understand the truths of what Jesus is saying here. He's not letting us go of the need to analyze and discern and help other people in the sin that they commit. But we must be prepared. We must be surgeons. We must be ready, folks, to do spiritual surgery. And you can't do that coming to it with a rusty wrench or muddy hands. Nobody's going to want you near their eye. But we must pray, Lord, help me to be approachable, that I would have the glorious opportunity, first of all, to confess my own sin, And then the glorious opportunity to be a tool for you to use for your purposes to help people to grow. And to see them overcome sin. That is the beauty that God has called us to. And that's what I'm calling us to this morning. Father. There's so much conviction in this passage when we understand it right. Because many times we're too judgmental, or we're too harsh, or we're too angry, and we get other people worked up. And we forget that we need to analyze, first of all, have you called us to deal with this problem? And if you have, that we need to then be a purified tool in your toolbox so that we can be effectively used. In the lives of others. Lord, let our desire be that we are loving and gentle and approachable that we are people that people when they seek when they want to seek help and they want to seek. A way forward in victory over their sin that we are people that they know they can come to and not be severely condemned or judged, but be helped. Because we have been helped ourselves. Lord, do a mighty work in all of our lives that we would be prepared for that. And I know that if we have a church full of these type of people, that we will be a testimony in this community of a church that cares. That does not condemn and angrily judge, but loves, and with grief over sin desires to see people come to a saving knowledge of Jesus and grow in him. And Lord, if there is someone here this morning who has not trusted Jesus as their Savior and they are still facing the full righteous judgment of the judge of the universe, I pray today that they will come and accept the mercy of Christ and trust in him for salvation and be free of judgment.