This morning, I invite you to turn with me to 2 Samuel, chapter 12, 2 Samuel, chapter 12, as we read the first seven verses. We read that in connection with our text, once you have found that, our text, Matthew 7, verses 1 through 5, as we continue our consideration of our Lord's Sermon on the Mount. 2 Samuel 12, and then we'll turn over to Matthew chapter 7. The editor's heading in my Bible before 12 verse 1 is Nathan rebukes David. And I suspect that for most, if not all of us, we remember that right away. That David had committed adultery with Bathsheba, had had her husband Uriah put to death, and after her time of grieving, then he took her to be his wife. 2 Samuel 12, beginning at verse 1. The Lord sent Nathan to David. When he came to him, he said, There were two men in a certain town, one rich and the other poor. The rich man had a very large number of sheep and cattle, but the poor man had nothing except one little ewe lamb he had bought. He raised it, and it grew up with him and his children. It shared his food, drank from his cup, and even slept in his arms. It was like a daughter to him. Now a traveler came to the rich man, but the rich man refrained from taking one of his own sheep or cattle to prepare a meal for the traveler who had come to him. Instead, he took the ewe lamb that belonged to the poor man and prepared it for the one who had come to him. David burned with anger against the man and said to Nathan, As surely as the Lord lives, the man who did this deserves to die. He must pay for the lamb four times over because he did such a thing and had no pity. Then Nathan said to David, You are the man. Let's turn over to Matthew chapter 7. Matthew chapter 7, beginning at verse 1. Again, the first five verses. Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, let me take the speck out of your eye when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? You hypocrite! First take the plank out of your own eye and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye. Now verse 6 also says, Do not give dogs what is sacred. Do not throw your pearls to pigs. If you do, they may trample them under their feet and then turn and tear you to pieces. There are some who believe that that verse belongs with this section and I think there is a connection. But Lord willing, we'll consider that verse next time. May God add His blessing to the reading and consideration of His Word this morning. Well, beloved in the Lord Jesus Christ, it has been said that these words of our text do not judge or as we might know them better, judge not. It's been said that these words are probably the most quoted words of Scripture but at the very same time, the least understood. Used often, but often misused. Even the world tends to use these verses of Scripture, especially against believers and against the church, against God's people who make moral and ethical evaluations, for example, when it comes to social issues like abortion or homosexuality, or simply personal preferences. The world uses these words really to promote a relativistic society that what's right for me is right for me, what's right for you is right for you. There is no absolute standard of right and wrong. And therefore, don't judge me. Judge not. These words are used by the world as a call to be tolerant of everyone and everything, no matter what. And even Christians use this phrase against each other, especially when one questions another's application of doctrine and faith to their life. Who are you to judge me? When you are perfect yourself, then it will be okay. Then you can judge me. Let us understand at the very beginning here that Jesus is not, for what He is going to be telling us. He is not telling us we have to be perfect. We need to understand that. He is not calling for perfection. Otherwise, not one of us can heed His command and His instruction here. But maybe even at this moment, there may be some among us secretly rubbing their hands together thinking, well, I sure hope that so-and-so is listening because they sure need this. Because they are always judging. Yet if there is someone here thinking that that is the judgmental attitude, that is the very one that Jesus is speaking and warning against here, the truth is we most likely all are guilty of this judging. I had a difficult time with this text this week because I know how it applies to me. And therefore, I need to hear. You need to hear. We all need to hear this Word of our Lord. And as we do so, beloved, we need to remember again that Jesus is speaking to kingdom citizens. He is speaking to believers. He is giving this command, do not judge to believers. Yet to those who are not yet perfected, but those who are poor in spirit, those who understand their sin and misery and that they deserve not to stand before the presence of God, those who mourn because of their sin, those who hunger and thirst for righteousness. And here specifically, I believe Jesus is talking about how kingdom citizens, you and I, who still struggle with sin in this life, how we are to live in relationship with one another in that kingdom while we are still on this earth. He says, your brother, your brother, your brother, three times. We might say that Jesus is talking about kingdom behavior among brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ as we live together on this earth. And therefore, we notice this morning Jesus' instruction on passing judgment. That instruction, first of all, warns against the hypocritical judgment of others. Very simply, the principle that Jesus is laying down is do not judge. That's what he says. It seems simple enough. But what does he mean? Well, this is one of those words again that the word that is used here has a variety of meanings that are used in Scripture. It can mean to decide or come to a conclusion about something. It can mean to prefer one thing over another. It has the idea sometimes of to evaluate or discern or to have an opinion and express that opinion or in the court of law to make a legal decision. And of course, to condemn, to criticize harshly. Now, we ought to understand at the beginning that Jesus does not mean here, as the world would have us believe, He does not mean that kingdom citizens are never to have or to hold an opinion about what is right or wrong or good or evil. Again, as the world would say, it's all relative. He is not saying here that as believers that we are never to address the rights and wrongs and evils and make evaluations, for example, of a Hitler or a Bin Laden or a John Gardner or with regard to adultery or abortion or homosexuality or the exploitation of the poor or any number of things. We know that because the Word of God teaches us that we are to make certain judgments. In verse 6, He speaks about pigs and dogs. he's talking about people there in verse 15 he says beware of false prophets in sheep's clothing in 1st Corinthians 5 verse 5 Paul says to hand the promiscuous man over to Satan in 1st John 4 verse 1 John says do not believe every evil spirit but test the spirits because of false prophets all of these mean it is a sample of what scripture says but all of these mean that some sort of discernment some sort of judgment is to take place to determine who is a dog or a pig in God's sight. To determine what makes a promiscuous man. To determine who is a wolf in sheep's clothing. Even parents make judgments with regard to their children when their children have been disobedient. And parents need to make a judgment with regard to that disobedience and what kind of punishment would be appropriate. are to be made according to the standard of God's Word, according to obedience to His law, and not according to a standard of our own making. Sadly, we often make judgments, sometimes instantaneous judgments of others based on a standard of our own making, and we make judgments of others about things that are indifferent, often with regard to appearance, and often these judgments are negative. He's overweight. She has a big nose. She looks arrogant. He dresses kind of silly. And I believe that in a general way, Jesus here does condemn those impulsive negative impressions. In John 7, verse 24, He says, Stop judging by mere appearance and make a right judgment. Beloved, Jesus is not forbidding His people from making right judgments based on the truth of God's Word. He is not forbidding His people from challenging and caring for one another with regard to sin. In fact, it's not only permitted, but we are even bound to discern and condemn sin. To do otherwise is to rebel against God. He is talking here, I believe, about judging sin. We know that because the speck of sawdust and the plank that He talks about are both to be removed. but they are to be removed with a proper spirit and a proper attitude. You see, Jesus is speaking here against judgment in the sense of condemnation. He is speaking against a self-righteous, condemning, judgmental attitude, a sharp, critical censorship of another in some way. Of an attitude that focuses on the sins and failures of others, that looks closely for them, inspects them, you see, in order to see that speck of sawdust in another one's eye, you need to look closely. You need to inspect. And he is speaking against an attitude that focuses with clear inspection on the sins and the failures of others and when that one finds it, then treats that one with a holier-than-thou attitude as if whatever is being judged makes that one a lower-class Christian. Or somehow disqualifies that one from God's kingdom or even puts in question whether that one is even a true believer as if to say, how can you really be a Christian if you're going to do that? He's speaking against an attitude of looking down upon another as not being as good as me because of what you do. And that's what Paul warns against in Romans 14, judging another's Christianity based on foods or feast days. In verse 13 there, he says, Therefore, let us stop passing judgment to one another. Now there, he's not talking about sin. He's talking about things indifferent that don't matter. Yet he is talking about the very same kind of judgment that Jesus is talking about here. Treating someone as if they're not as good as me because of those foods and feast days that they do or don't participate in. The Pharisees of whom Jesus Himself judged were guilty of this. In John 7, verse 49, they claimed that the people knew nothing of the law while they knew everything. Earlier in this sermon, you recall Jesus says, chapter 5, verse 20, For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven. Here, Jesus is warning against a Pharisaic attitude that even believers are prone to exercise on occasion. The Pharisees who exalted themselves as being so religious and so holy that they measured others against the standard of themselves. And therefore, they condemned even the, humanly speaking, we would say, small sins of others. No one can measure up with them. And beloved, what is so dangerous about this condemning self-righteous spirit that Jesus is talking about is that it ignores one's own sin. The Pharisees clearly represented the picture that Jesus gives. He gives an illustration of exactly what he's talking about when he says, do not judge, and what is involved in it. Verses 3 and 4. Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, let me take the speck out of your eye when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? How can you condemn another when you yourself are guilty in that way? The speck of sawdust or the plank you see gives us a contrast between a tiny, insignificant, easily blown away piece of sawdust versus a heavy beam. It's talking about a support beam. Even one that would be used to support the weight of a large building like the temple. Now this is not to say that some sin is insignificant in God's sight and He'll let it go while others' sin is much more serious and He will surely punish it. That's not at all what Jesus is saying. God hates all sin. But Jesus is talking about focusing on, looking intently at others, ready to attack every single minor fault and every stumble that they make, and in a sense, to make mountains out of molehills when it comes to them, while the one who is passing the judgment himself or herself is guilty of the same or even to a greater extent. Yet that sin coupled with this self-righteous attitude is a plank, it's a beam blinding that one to the truth, making that one sensitive, oh so sensitive to the sin of others, but very desensitized to the sins of Himself. Treating the sins of others as being so serious, even to the point of unforgivable, but treating the sins of Himself is really no big deal. Maybe even it's not sin. Simply ignoring it. Not focusing on it is what we are to understand here. Not perceiving it. Knowing that it's there. But choosing to ignore it. We think of the Pharisee in the temple as praying. You remember he exalted himself for his outward demonstration of piety, for his fasting and tithing and praying, which he claimed the tax collector failed to perform. Yet the Pharisee failed to see that he himself was empty of true heart piety which made his fasting and his prayers and his tithing absolutely worthless. Or we think of the Pharisees in Matthew 15 who condemned the disciples for not washing their hands before eating. They condemned them for breaking man-made laws, yet Jesus reminds them that they themselves violated God's law. They made man's law more important than God's law while they violated the fifth commandment. They failed to honor their parents. And David is a clear picture of Jesus' illustration of a speck of sawdust and a plank. If the rich man had been literally standing there face to face with David, he could have said, Hey David, as you stand there pointing your finger at me, remember there are still three pointing back at you. In a sense, that's what Nathan did when he said, you are the man. You are the guilty party. David, in condemning the rich man, condemned himself. The prognosis in Jesus' warning here is that one who judgmentally condemns another with this kind of a spirit and ignores their own guilt is a hypocrite. Living behind a mask. living according to a double standard. He says, you hypocrite. In verses 1 and 2 again, he says, Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. And if you are harboring that sin as well, that sin in your heart, you are a hypocrite. David, the rich man, stole a lamb. Yes, he is in sin. But you stole another man's wife. You committed adultery. You committed murder. How dare you stand there and condemn him when you yourself are oh so guilty? But you're blinded to it. We might say, for example, well, you accuse another of not telling you the truth, but you yourself cheat on your taxes or you lie about your income or tell all kinds of white lies for your own benefit. Or you condemn immodest clothing, even of some into the church, yet you enjoy gazing at bodies of the opposite sex on the beaches. You judge others for violating the Lord's Day, especially for only attending worship when there seems to be nothing more important to do, yet you often attend out of custom and not out of a true heart desire to gather with the Lord and with His people. Or how can you counsel someone that they really need to make amends and reconcile with another when you yourself are harboring hatred and hard feelings towards someone else? Boys and girls, let me try to help you understand what we're talking about here with regard to the speck and the plank. For example, your mom says, no snacks before dinner. You may not have a snack before dinner. And you happen to walk into the kitchen or any room and you catch your brother or sister with a chocolate chip cookie, eating a chocolate chip cookie, and you stand there and you just give it to them. You let them have it. You weren't supposed to do that. You heard what mom said. You're going to be in deep trouble, yet you do so with crumbs on your shirt and maybe even a chocolate chip stain in the corner of your mouth because you yourself have completely ignored what your mother said. Beloved, we are to examine ourselves. And we are hypocritical in so many ways in passing judgment, in ignoring our own sin and guilt while condemning others, trying to hold others to a standard of holiness that we ourselves ignore. Jesus' instruction warns against the hypocritical judgment of others, but in the second place, calls for honest judgment of ourselves. In verse 5, he says, You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye. I want us to notice that. And then you will see clearly. You see, as believers, we are to be lovingly concerned about and seek to help our fellow believers see and remove the sin that they struggle with. And Jesus isn't calling us to be perfect in order to do that. We are to be lovingly concerned about that. Yet, it can only be done by dealing honestly with our own sin first. Only then will we be credible with others. Only then will they see a sincerity in us. And that too then affects our testimony to the world as the world sees God's people practicing what we preach. Dealing honestly with our own sin by measuring ourselves according to the standard of God's law, by scrutinizing our lives against the truth of God's Word, by being critical, oh so critical of myself, of just how far short I fall from the glory of God. Striving by God's grace and with the strength of the Holy Spirit, encouraged by and empowered by Him to put away, to strive to fight and to strive to put away particular sins that I struggle with myself. Those besetting sins of my life. Those things that I know dishonor and displease God knowing that Jesus Christ paid for it. And recognizing as we measure ourselves according to God's standard that we cannot, we never ever will measure up in ourselves. As David said of the rich man, he's guilty. to see our weaknesses and our sin in the light of Calvary and the eternal condemnation that we ourselves deserve. But Jesus Christ took from us. He took it for us. Our beloved, apart from the saving work of Jesus, one can only be judged by what they have or have not done and it will only be eternal condemnation. but true faith by God's grace for all who look to Jesus Christ. He results in two conclusions, we might say. With Paul, each one of us ought to say on the one hand, I am the chief of sinners. There's no one worse than me. You have to be able to say alongside of that, in Christ Jesus, there is therefore now no condemnation. And beloved, as we understand by the grace of God that He has not dealt with us according to what our sins deserve. It can only result in an attitude of humility and gratitude realizing that we deserve judgment and condemnation, but instead of experiencing God's burning anger, we have tasted of His infinite mercy. Oh, how wonderful. Jesus calls, His instruction calls for honest judgment of ourselves by dealing honestly with our own sin first and then. Not because we are perfect, but empowered by the Holy Spirit by setting our hearts on our fellow kingdom citizens. In a spirit, setting our hearts on them in a spirit of humility and love. The heart that has tasted the Lord's grace and forgiveness will always be restrained in its judgment of others. In love and humility, keeping from impulsive or negative judgments based on one's appearance, or keeping from unwarranted judgments with regard to things that are indifferent, or keeping from rash or harsh judgments based on unproven facts or gossip. Keeping from hypocritical and unmerciful judgment. Because in its place, by the grace of God, the judgments of God's people are made and expressed in charity oh how we need charity with one another it's difficult isn't it it's difficult because the temptation is so strong the old man of sin raised its ugly head the temptation is so strong to exalt ourselves over each other to show ourselves a little better than the other because of what we do or don't do or because of what they do or don't do yet we are called to strive for this remembering the charity of Jesus that he became sin for us that in him we might become the righteousness of God dear people of God the eye is a sensitive part of the body you know that if you get poked in the eye. It's a sensitive part of the body. And one who is to do an eye operation must have very good vision and be able to see clearly. Dealing with the sin of others is a very sensitive operation, as we all know, because we become hypersensitive when someone tries to deal with our own sin. Yet true brotherly love in Christ Jesus does not allow a fellow believer to continue in their sin if at all possible. But like warning a neighbor that their house is on fire, God's people will seek to warn and restore their brothers and sisters in Christ. As kingdom citizens, we are called to mutual discipline in the context of spiritual self-discipline. We may have, I know that we have, even among us here, we may have differences when it comes to the interpretation and the application of God's Word, of God's law for our lives. And any one of us is not always correct. But we are to be open to one another. To submit ourselves together to the study of Scripture. Not our own opinion. And be willing to be rebuked and admonished and corrected. And all of that is to be given and received in love, even as we have been loved by God. The reason for all of this? First, for the glory of God and His kingdom. Second, for the good of His kingdom. Third, for the edification and the upbuilding of each other as together we hunger and thirst for righteousness. Our beloved brothers and sisters in Christ, may He richly bless us together and use us to help each other grow in the grace and the knowledge and the love of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. Let's pray together. Father, again in Jesus' name and His name alone, we come before You. For apart from Him, we have absolutely no hope, but You have given to us a living hope. And Father, even as we rejoice in that and enjoy that for ourselves. We do so for one another. For all those whom You call to Yourself. You have brought us to be kingdom citizens. We pray, Father, You would help each one of us to strive to live in a way that pleases You and to be used in the lives of each other, in love, for encouragement, for rebuke, for admonition. and that whatever is given in love might equally be received in love for the glory of Your name, that the world may see a people who love each other in the Lord and who are even willing to step on each other's toes once in a while because of our love for the Lord. Lead us and guide us, Father. Build in us a spirit of charity charity is so great and may you be praised hear our prayer oh Lord for Jesus sake and in his name we pray Amen