Luke 6 41 And why beholdest thou the mote
that is in thy brother's eye, but perceivest not the beam that
is in thine own eye? Either how canst thou say to
thy brother, Brother, let me pull out the mote that is in
thine eye. when thou beholdest not the beam
that is in thine own eye, thou hypocrite, cast out first the
beam out of thine own eye and then shalt thou see clearly to pull out the mote that is
in thy brother's eye. A mote is a very small like a
piece of chaff that can be carried on the wind. We've all had something
in our eye and that's what this is talking about. Just a little
speck of something. It can be very painful and very disruptive
until you get it out. But a beam is a support beam. A structural support beam. A
big piece of lumber. And so I guess the first thing
we ought to establish from the language of this Lesson from
our Lord is that everybody has something in their eye Your brother has he has moat
a moat in his eye we all do He just taught our Lord just
taught in the last couple of verses before this that there
are some They're just flat blind and blind leaders of the blind But there are some who see Nobody sees perfectly. Everybody
has something in their eye. And really, if you boil it down
to what that is, it's sin. A fault of any kind of an issue. There weren't any moats or beams
in the garden. So it kind of boils down to sin, doesn't it? It's unbelief or something that
we're just not getting a hold of. But isn't it good to see? Another way our sight in this
world is described is where Paul said we see through a glass darkly. And that's a description that
all believers can relate to. We want to see more clearly.
We strain sometimes to see more clearly. And sometimes we do. But what a blessing to be able to
see. We don't see perfectly, but we
see Him who is perfect. Paul said in 1 Corinthians chapter
2, I believe it was, that we know everything if there is really
important to know. We don't know anything like we
ought to know. But bless God if you know Him. What else do you need to know?
We just need to know Him better. I see that Christ is perfect. I see that His work is a perfect
work. If you look at that word that
is translated, it is finished in the scripture. When He shed
His precious blood, when He made His soul an offering for my sin
and yours, if we're His children. That's one word in the original
that means perfect. I see perfect redemption by his
shed blood. I don't see anything perfectly,
but I see some beautiful, perfect things. And they're all bound
up in the person of Christ. The picture here is that there's
something in our eye. Just as we can well imagine what
spiritual blindness is, when compared to physical blindness,
even if we're not physically blind, we can simply close our
eyes, as we mentioned last time, and understand what our Lord
is teaching here because we can experience that if only temporarily
and we can imagine also the physical aspect of this. We've all had
something in our eye and it'll mess you up for a while or it'll
greatly inhibit your ability to see anything. Your eye begins
to water and get red and you can't even keep your eye open
sometimes if it's bad enough. You know, usually, when I've
had something in my eye, and I've been able to somehow get
it out, I never even saw what was in my eye. Have you ever
done that? Never even knew what was in there.
It was tiny. It was just, maybe just came
off and dropped to the ground or something. I never even knew
what it was. And yet, it caused me a lot of trouble. What a great
picture this is. None of us can half see anything,
and the more you see, the more you realize how little you see. Our Lord acknowledged that there
is a mote in our brother's eye. He didn't deny it. He didn't
say, you got something in your eye, and you're saying your brother,
and he don't have anything. No, we have it. It's there. There
is a mote there. But you have something in your
eye too. It all really boils down to unbelief,
doesn't it? If we can't see Christ perfectly,
because the only thing to see is Christ. If we look in somewhere
besides Christ, then we're completely blind. You're utterly blind if
you're not seeing Him. what you see when you look at
the Word of God. Many see all kinds of different doctrines
and stances to take, you know, and positions that they can defend
and things like that. He said that this book is that
which testifies of me. And you're not going to have
life because you won't come to me. So, thank God if we can see Him
But we live with an old nature of evil that lusts against the
spirit, just as the spirit lusts against the flesh. It causes
us all kinds of pain and trouble, and it keeps us from seeing clearly. 1 Corinthians 8, verse 1, Now as
touching things offered unto idols, we know that we all have
knowledge. Knowledge puffeth up, but love,
charity, edifieth. And what he's saying there is
knowledge puffs up, but love builds up. That's what edify
means, to build up, to strengthen. And if any man think that he
knoweth anything, and boy I've run across some people that think
they know something, haven't you? They'll defend it, boy they'll
say we'll defend it to the death, you know, and you're all a bunch
of heretics because you don't know as much as we know. He knoweth
nothing yet as he ought to know. And usually something like that
doesn't, what they know is not a person, it's a what. But if any man love God, I should have had you turn, listen
to this language. Look at it in your mind. If any
man think he knoweth anything, he knoweth nothing yet as he
ought to know. But if any man love God, I don't care how much
you know, do you love? He asked the apostle Peter, do
you love me? If any man love him, the same
is known of him. It's not about how much you know,
it's who knows you. And if he knows you, you know him.
We know Him because He first knew us. He knew us from the
beginning. Those whom He did foreknow, He also did predestinate. And what does it tell me about
loving God? Do you love God? Do you know why? If you do, you
do. Because He first loved us. Do
you see that? Oh, people that know some things
get puffed up, don't they? But when you know somebody, You
realize, Lord, I don't know anything. But I love you. By your infinite,
sovereign grace, I love you. And I know that I'm yours because
I wouldn't love you if you didn't first love me. The Lord speaks comfortably there,
doesn't he? Don't despair that you're an
idiot. Do you love me? Don't despair, Peter,
Simon. That you betrayed me, a horrible,
horrible thing. But do you love me? Don't despair. You love me because I first loved
you. And I know you. You may have denied me, but I
didn't deny you. And I tell you this, if he knows
us, we got nothing to worry about. I'm an idiot, but bless God,
I'm his idiot. That's my hope. But even as idiots, he's given
us some sight. We see some things. We see him,
and we know him. Many times in the book, in John's
epistle, in his epistles that he said, we know, we know, we
know. And that's a beautiful, beautiful
study. He gave us eyes to see. He's hidden these things of his
kingdom, he's hidden himself from the wise and the prudent
and revealed himself to babies. And we do see him, those who
see spiritually, They're always looking at Him. They look unto
Him. Hebrews 12, 2, looking unto Jesus. If you can see, you're looking
unto Jesus. You're not looking unto a doctrine.
Doctrine's wonderful if you see the truth as it is in Him. But most people, when they're
talking about doctrine, they're not talking about this book. They're
talking about what their denomination came up with, or somebody in
some convention somewhere wrote. This is our doctrine. And if your doctrine is according
to this, then this is your doctrine. Looking unto Jesus, the author
and finisher of our faith, the one who originated it, who gave
it to us, who began it, and the one that will have to keep us
in it. What did he say to Simon again? He said a lot of good
things to Simon, didn't he? And to us. I've prayed for you,
Peter. Satan desired you. He's gonna
sift Judas like wheat. And he wanted to do the same
to you. But I've prayed for you that your faith fail not. I'm
gonna finish your faith that I gave you. Boy. That's comforting, isn't it? It's very important here the
character in which we look unto him. We look unto him the author
and finisher of our faith. Now why does it describe him
that way in the same sense that it's talking about us looking,
where we look? Because faith is how we look.
We don't look with these eyes. Faith is the evidence of things
not seen with these eyes, the substance of things hoped for.
But we see him with eyes of faith and so he's called We look unto
him, the one who opened our eyes, who gave us faith, and who will
keep us by his grace, looking unto him. You see that? Faith
is our ability to look unto him. And he authored that faith. The
blind man in John 9 saw the Lord, but first it says this in John
9, 1. You remember he, the Lord opened his eyes and he saw the
Lord. And ultimately, He bowed to the Lord and worshiped him.
But in verse one of that chapter, it says, as Jesus passed by,
he saw a man which was blind from his birth. When that man
couldn't see, the Lord saw him. That's my testimony. Christ is the reason that that
man saw him, and he is the finisher also of our faith. What does
that mean? Well, if you've ever seen him, you're not ever going
to stop looking to him. You're just not. You're not going to
get distracted. Not for long. Not for good. You're going to keep looking
to Him. To whom shall we look? Is it alright if I paraphrase
that a little bit? To whom shall we look? He is life itself. His word is life. The glory of
God is seen shining in His face. We never stop looking to Him,
and He's the reason for that, too. He's the finisher of our
faith. If you're not looking unto Christ, then you just can't
see at all. You're referred to earlier in
this text that we're looking at today. God-given saving faith
is looking unto Jesus, who is the Alpha and Omega of my salvation. He is salvation. Faith has one object. We look
to him for righteousness. We look to him because we look
it away from self Paul said No more. It's all loss all of it
everything about me who I am what I've done It's all loss,
but I'm pressing toward the mark We look away from self to him
for righteousness not having my own righteousness. He said
there in Philippians 3 and We look, there's, by the way,
there's only one righteousness. There's just one. We talk about
imputed righteousness, imparted righteousness, the righteousness
God requires, the righteousness He provides. It's all one righteousness. And it's Christ's. It's Him. He is the Lord, our righteousness. Either He is my righteousness
before God, or I just don't have any. We look to the Lamb as our
sin offering. We sing that song, Look to the
Lamb of God, and by His grace we do. He's our sin offering.
We say with the publican, God be propitious to me. Be merciful
to me. Meet with me at the mercy seat
where the blood is splashed. Because I'm a sinner. And we say that, we say, Lord,
be propitious to me the only way you can be. By the Lord Jesus
Christ, made an offering for my sin, the perfect sacrifice
of my Savior. We look to Him for strength and
comfort every moment. And more faith, He authored our
faith, and He'll have to finish it. And right now, I could use
some more of it. I think I'll ask Him for it.
What about you? He gives us everything we have
physically. We look to Him for everything.
We saw that in Psalm, didn't we? He opened up His hand and
satisfied the desire of every living thing. You see that in
nature, but also every spiritually living thing comes to Him for
that spiritual life, for forgiveness. We come boldly to the throne
of grace. Why did Paul say we do that? To find grace, to help,
that we may obtain mercy. We look to Him spiritually. And
we come to his open hand, his wounded hand, his hand that he
told Thomas, reach hither and quit doubting. And we keep, by
his grace, we keep looking to him. What was the first thing
you saw spiritually? That man in John chapter nine,
we just talked about him, the blind from his birth. The Lord
asked him, do you believe on the Son of God? And he said to the Lord, who
is he, Lord, that I might believe on him? And the Lord said, thou
hast both seen him, and it is he that talketh with thee. And
he said, Lord, I believe. He could see physically a little
while before that. Now he sees for real. I believe, and he worshiped him.
May God give us grace to never take our eyes off of the one
who opened them. So all believers, none of us
have eyes of faith that are clear of obstruction or, but we do see by his grace. And
then thirdly, there are big obstructions and little ones. Notice there
are moats and beams. Now there's no sin that's greater
really than any other, I don't believe, best I can tell from
the word of God, but it can be a bigger problem for you than
others. And I believe that's what's taught
here. But here's the question. How can the Lord state emphatically
that the man looking to get the moat out of his brother's eye
has a beam in his own eye? Why isn't it a moat in both eyes?
That'd be, that'd still be a problem, wouldn't it? Why isn't it a beam
in the brother's eye and a moat in the one who's trying to help
the brother? Well, there can only be one answer
to that in the language of the text. The only thing we know
about this fellow who is trying to help his brother get a moat
out of his own eye is that he's ignoring what's in his own eye. And the Lord calls him a hypocrite.
He's pretending to be better. I can see clearly, and so I think
I'll help you out. You know anybody like that? Oh,
I don't want to be that. I don't want to be that, do you?
The Lord has a word for it there in the text. Hypocrite. You're
pretending to be something that you're not. The word, the original
word is the word that's used for actor was back then. You're
just playing a part. You're pretending to be righteous
enough to tell everybody else what to do. This is the word hypocrite. This
is who he, the word that our Lord used so often to describe
the self-righteous religious scribes and Pharisees. in his
days on this earth? If this is you now, and we all
have this in us, don't we? There are times when we're the
one with the beam, isn't there? We're the one with the beam.
We're, you know, the I know more than you self-righteous one who's
always worried about everybody else's shortcomings and insufficiencies
and always correcting and arguing and debating and straightening
everybody else out. And even when the gospel is preached,
they'll go, boy, I'm glad old so-and-so heard that. He needed
that. And we can be certain that what
is in your eye is a beam. If that's me, what's in my eye
is a beam. Self-righteousness is the beam,
isn't it? If you're trying to fix everybody else and you're
ignoring what you are, you see, the lower you get, I think just about all of our
problems would go away, all of our anxieties, all of our issues,
all of our, especially our animosity and enmity with others, especially
our brothers and sisters in Christ, if we had the slightest idea
of what we are. Not only would it solve all of
our problems with one another, but it'd solve a lot of the problems
in your own mind because you'd realize that You have so much
more than you deserve. You feel so much better than
you deserve. Your situation is so much better
than you deserve. Listen to me now for a second.
I may not even get through this, but if we just get this one thing.
Nothing will keep you from seeing Christ clearly, Christ as everything,
Christ as all in all. Nothing will sooner remove you
from the simplicity that is in Christ than self-righteous pride. That's me, that's you. The bigger
you see yourself to be, the less you're going to think of Him
and everybody else. That's why John said, He must
increase. And if He must, and He must,
then I must decrease. That was true in the circumstance
that John was in at the time, but it shows us a spiritual principle. The more you love yourself, the
less you're going to love Him and everybody else. And vice
versa, the more you trust yourself, the less you're going to trust
Him. The more you lean on the flesh, the less weight you're going
to put on him and let me you know this now you know this in
your head we need to have all of our weight on him all of it and this is important now it's
just a matter of practicality your brother may need help with
his moat he may need it but if you're going to be any
help doing it all you're going to have to get the beam out first
aren't you You see, our Lord didn't say, don't help your brother.
He didn't say that. He said, first, first things
first, first realize what you are. In the spirit of meekness, considering
yourself, you see that? That's how we help each other. If you're going to be any help
at all, Christ is going to have to get the glory. Christ will
either get it or you will. And in the end, we're not getting
any. It's just going to seem like it for a little while and
you're going to be all proud of yourself. How much is it going
to help your brother for your flesh to be glorified? If Christ
is all. How much is it gonna help him
to discover, after all, that you do know more than him, and
that you are better than him, and you should be an example
to him. He just took his eyes off the
only hope there is for sinners and put them on you. Our Lord in this passage does
not say, don't help your brother, but first things first. When we're fully looking to Him,
and when you're looking at Him, that's when you're going to see
yourself. We don't want to look at self, that's not what I'm
saying, but we want to look to Him and realize, looking to Him,
that we're nothing, we have nothing, we can do nothing. Christ is
all. That's when you can help your
brother. Maybe he's forgotten, maybe I've forgotten. Do you
ever forget that Christ is all? I know you do, you wouldn't act
like you did if you didn't. And I wouldn't either. But that's
when I can help you, when I'm looking fully in his face and
seeing in him all of my righteousness, all of my strength, all of my
everything. If you can help your brother
in such a way That Christ gets the glory and both of you end
up looking to him And away from everything else everybody else
yourself and everything about you So that your father in heaven
is glorified and your brother is sincerely helped to see christ
better Then what a wonderful thing I need help. Don't you? I need some help And if you're able to help a
brother that way, the right way, first things first, everybody
looking to him fully and completely for all things, he may be the
one helping you out next week. We do help each other, but the
flesh profiteth nothing. Galatians 6, one brethren, if
a man be overtaken in a fault, You which are spiritual, restore
such in one. But do it in the spirit of meekness,
considering thyself. Don't overlook the beam in your
eye. Because when you do, that's what the beam is. It's you seeing
yourself as qualified somehow. As able to see good enough. I'm
not helping you because I can see better than you. I'm helping
you because both of you, because I need your help and you need
my help, so that all of us together will never look away from Him.
Never look away from Him. In the spirit of meekness, considering
thyself, lest thou also be tried. Bear ye one another's burdens.
The Lord may have put that mole in his eye, you know he did,
for his good. And he may use you for his good. But don't forget what you are. Don't forget that spirit of meekness.
Don't forget to consider yourself and how many moats and beams
and every kind of debris there is, is in your own eye. It's not about that. It's not
about I know more than you or I'm better than you or I'm more
spiritual than you. It's not about that. It's about look brother,
we need to be looking to him. Let's look to him. and so fulfill the law of Christ. For if a man think himself to
be something when he is nothing, he deceiveth himself. Paul says here in this passage
that when you help a brother in this spirit, in a meek and
honest way, you're doing what Christ told you to do. You're
fulfilling what he said. Not perfectly. Not meritoriously. And don't
trust it. Or there's another beam. And even when the beam of self-righteousness
is cast off for a time, we still have moats. Even when we're helping
someone else, and we're to understand that. But I, by God's grace, I want
to do what He said, don't you? I want to fulfill whatever is
intended there, and I believe it's pretty clear. I want to
do that with His grace and Him working in us at both will and
to do, as pitiful as our efforts are. I want to do what He causes,
works in me by His grace to do. And we want to, we do want to
be like Him, don't we? We want to be like Him, humble
and forgiving and loving and gracious. Kind. Giving glory to God alone. Look
back at Luke 6 again, verse 35. See if now, you know how scripture
tends to shed light on scripture? We looked at these verses last
time, but listen to them now. And we've talked about this,
verse 35. Love your enemies and do good and lend, hoping for
nothing again, and your reward shall be great, and you shall
be the children of the highest, for he is kind unto the unthankful
and to the evil. I can testify to that. And you
can too. Be ye therefore merciful, as
your Father also is merciful. Judge not, and you shall not
be judged. Condemn not, and you shall not
be condemned. Forgive, and you shall be forgiven. Give, and it shall be given unto
you. Good measure, pressed down and shaken together and running
over, shall men give into your bosom. For with the same measure
that you meet with all, it shall be measured to you. Again, that's
what this is all about. It's about Christ, who he is
to us. We just want to be like him.
That's all it is. He's gracious and kind. He overlooked
all of our... He didn't overlook it, he paid
for it. But now he sees us in himself. Though we're still full of unbelief. Though we... We're half blind all the time.
He saved us freely and He still loves us freely. He saved us
freely by His grace and now that by His grace we've abandoned
our good works as a way to be accepted of God. We don't want
to do anything for that reason. To find acceptance with God by
what we do. But now we want Him to work in
us to do and will and to do of His good pleasure. If we do anything
to be a help to a brother, it's because of him. But what a blessing
to be in on it. Now part of the problem in our
text is what that hypocrite says. He says, let me pull the moat
out. That's not how moats come out. They come out by looking to him. I can't get it out. That's presumption
right there. I'll pull the moat out for you.
No you won't. All we can do is speak of him, reflect his light,
show him, say like John, there he is. That's what causes the
moats and the beams to fall away when we're able by his grace
to look to him by faith. And so that's all we're doing
is brothers helping one another. That's what this message I pray
this morning is doing for all of us. Causing us to look to
Him alone and away from our own works and self-righteousness
and abilities and our shortcomings and sin. Quit looking at yourself
in every regard. Holy God, who brought you to
Christ to begin with? He said, no man can come except
my father draw you, which literally means take you from where you
are and bring you to me. Now, how are you going to get
to him this morning if you're far away? How are you going to
get closer to him? As our brother prayed, he's going
to have to stand us on the rock, isn't he? Stand us on the rock. I'm glad he prayed that because
I need to, I need to be stood on the rock this morning. That's how moats come out, not
by you pulling them out or me pulling them out. Behold God's
Lamb that takes away moats. In every way. Off of our record
before God and out of our eye too. He's gonna have to take
them away. Well, we still got a little time. Bear with me. Ephesians chapter
2. Ephesians chapter 2. When I was looking at this, I
was seeing Him. And looking always to Him. Keeping our eyes on Him. I couldn't
help but think of this passage of scripture. Ephesians 2 verse
1. He gave us life. He gave us sight to begin with,
who were dead in trespasses and sins. Dead people don't see anything.
Dead people don't worry about motes and beams. Wherein in time past you walked
according to the course of this world, according to the prince
of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the
children of disobedience. That was us and it's most everybody
we know now. They're still walking that way,
blind and dead. dead while they live, among whom
also we all had our conduct in times past in the lusts of our
flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind,
and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others. But
God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved
us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together
with Christ, by grace you are saved, and hath raised us up
together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ
Jesus. That in the ages to come He might
show the exceeding riches of His grace and His kindness toward
us through Christ Jesus. If we ever see the riches of
His grace and His kindness toward us through Christ Jesus, That,
only that will motivate us regarding what He taught in our text. Be
kind, be generous, help others, be forgiving. His kindness toward us through
Christ Jesus, for by grace are you saved through faith, through
seeing Him, through believing on Him. And that's not of yourselves. It's the gift of God. Not of
works, lest any man should boast, for we are his workmanship. Created in Christ Jesus unto
good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk
in them. If you see the riches of his
grace in his kindness toward us through Christ, and you are
able to imitate that, all of it, is His work. Look at how completely He has
saved us. Look at how all-inclusively salvation
is of the Lord. Salvation is a person. Christ is our salvation. The
theologians like to divide the scriptures into the doctrinal
and the practical. Our text this morning would fall
under the heading, in most people's estimation, I would imagine,
under the practical. The doctrinal concerns how God
saved us, and the practical concerns our responsibility as Christians.
But the truth is that this thing of casting off a beam to remove
a moat, That's God saving us too. He hasn't stopped saving
us. He's not going to stop saving
us until we're plumb saved. He that endureth unto the end,
the same shall be saved. He saved me. He's saving me right
now. And He's going to have to save
me, isn't He? He's going to have to save me. He's still working
in us. I need Him to give me faith right
now to see Christ clearly, to see my own wretchedness, and
to help a brother, if I can, by His grace, to see that Christ
is all. I need Him. You need Him. And one final thought. How can the Lord Jesus Christ
ever refer to any fault? We've said it's sin, isn't it?
If you can't see Him perfectly, it's because of your sin. That's
what's in your eye. That's what's irritating you.
That's what's, as a believer, it's debilitating, isn't it?
It keeps us from seeing Him. more clearly and more fully. How can the Lord Jesus Christ,
then, ever refer to any fault, any sin, as just a piece of dust
in somebody's eye? Even in a story like this, even
in a parable, how can he refer to sin as just a fleck of dust?
It was sin that caused him to go to the tree, was it not? His
love for us, of course, but you know what I mean. He died for
our sins. That's why he died, for our sins,
according to the scriptures. Yes, but since he did die for
our sins, according to the scriptures, we're never to think of sin lightly
in the sense of the evil of it. We can never do that if he's
dwelling in us and teaching us. But with regard to what sin is
to you now, your relationship to sin as far as in the light
of eternity, what is sin to his people? I'm never going to suffer
any consequences of it, really. He took them all. It's a temporary inconvenience.
It's a speck of dust in my eye right now, and it can cause me
some real problems now in temporal things. I still, it still messes my sight
up, but he don't see it at all. Because of what my Savior did
on Calvary, sin now is just some dust in my eye. Or maybe a beam
if my flesh takes over for a while and makes it a big deal to me.
But as far as my Savior is concerned, my sins are gone. They're gone. And we're going to have to live
with them for a little while. He saved me from the power of sin.
He said, sin shall not have dominion over you. He saved me from the
penalty of sin. free from the law, oh happy condition. We will never, this dust in my
eye, now that's not me suffering from my sin, are you kidding
me? We don't know what sin is if we think that. We don't know
who he is if we think that. One of these days, he's gonna
save me from even the very presence of sin. He's gonna wipe every
tear from my eyes and with those tears, that dust, forever gone. because of his precious blood.
Let's pray.