Matthew 7. I left off two weeks
ago. I was gone two Sundays. And you
remember, I dealt with no man can serve two masters.
And how we got to the end of Matthew 6, you know, and we see
spiritual arithmetic there in verse 33. True spiritual arithmetic.
Seek ye first the kingdom of God. That's the first thing.
That's the first thing. Of all the things in this world
that we need, seek ye first the kingdom of God. A lot of people
want to be first in so many things. And it's good to be first. Somebody's
got to win. Somebody's got to be the first.
But oh, when it comes to a relationship with God, when it comes to eternity,
when it comes to whatever else happens in this world, seek ye
first the kingdom of God. And His righteousness, not yours,
His. And then there in verse 34, it
says, Take no thought for tomorrow, for tomorrow shall take thought
for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the
evil thereof. And remember, that means don't
carry tomorrow's burden today. And that's why so many people
do. They carry tomorrow's burden today. There'll be enough to
deal with today. Enough burdens today. There'll be enough evil today.
without start carrying the burdens for tomorrow. You wait till you
get up in the morning, there'll be some new ones. But with every
burden, there's new verses every morning. That's why it says,
take no thought. Don't start concerning yourselves
about tomorrow, talking about the Spirit, because God knows
what you have need of. And now we're going to move on
here, and I'm going to deal with these first five verses here.
Judge not that you be not judged. For with what judgment ye shall
be judged, and with what measure ye meet, it shall be measured
to you again. And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy
brother's eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine
own eye? Or how wilt thou say to thy brother,
Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye, and behold, a beam
is in thine own eye? Thou hypocrite, first cast out
the beam out of thine own eye, and then thou shalt see clearly. to cast the moat out of thy brother's
eyes. I hope by the grace of God this
evening to use the Scripture to hopefully instruct us in righteousness. That's what they're given for,
to instruct us in righteousness. I want to speak by God's grace,
things according to sound doctrine. Now, if there is any particular
portion of Scripture other than John 3.16 and Psalm 23, where it says, God so loved the
world. That's the most misapplied, misunderstood scripture. And
the Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want is the second, I guess. But here is one of the most misunderstood
and misapplied verses of scripture in all the world that people
misapply. Judge not that you be not judged.
I could not tell you how many times somebody says, who made
you judge? Don't the Bible say something
about not judging? How many times have you heard that? Whenever
you start talking to somebody about something. Start talking
to somebody about the Scripture. Start talking to somebody about
Christ. Start talking to somebody about something you believe real
strong. And they'll say, oh, why don't the Bible say something
about judging God? And the world don't like people
like this who do judge. But oh, they don't like somebody
who expresses an opinion. The world don't like people that's
dogmatic. They don't like people who are
strong and assertive in what they believe. They don't like
people who believe certain things and really believe them and don't
back down from them. They don't like that. They don't
like people like that. They don't like people that are
principled, that hold doctrine and truth at any cost. And people
say, well, we've got to keep peace. I said, I'll do anything.
And I'll tell you, beloved, I'm like John Bunyan. I'll do anything
for peace, but deny the truth. I want to get, you know, I want
to follow peace with all men. But I'm not going to do it and
compromise the gospel. We can't do that. Now, these
type of people who are judges, who judge, that, you know, here
they say, you know, judge not. And whenever they run across
somebody, when we run across people who always hold this,
don't the Bible say, don't you judge? Don't you judge now. Don't judge not. Whenever you
find somebody who does this, they're called troublemakers.
People want somebody to walk down the middle of the road.
They like people that's easy going. Don't judge. Be easy. Be indulgent. Be tolerant. That's the day.
That's the cry of the day. Tolerance. Tolerance. Tolerance. They want you to tolerate everything,
but they don't want to tolerate you. Tolerate homosexuals, but don't
tolerate somebody who says anything against them. Tolerate adultery. But don't tolerate anybody who
says anything against them. Tolerate lying and stealing and
fraud and lying and blaspheming and lying preachers. Don't tolerate
them. But don't tolerate them who say
anything against them. That's the worst we're at. Oh,
they want people to allow almost anything to go for peace, quiet,
and unity. So just not. But this cannot
possibly be what it means according to Scripture. Look at its context. Judge not that ye be not judged.
Now it says down there in verse 6, Give not that which is holy
unto the dogs, neither cast ye pearl before swine. Now how am
I going to tell a person is a dog or a swine without judging, without
discrimination? Huh? I see some dogs and I'm
not going to give anything holy to them. Run into some out in California,
run into some in Oregon. They only use the church whenever
they want something, whenever they need something. They want
to come around and tell you everything that they know and they believe,
but they don't want no pastor, they don't want no church, they don't
want no commitment. The dogs, I'm not going to feed them dogs.
How are we going to do that without judge's discrimination? Then
it says down here in verse 15, They wear false prophets which
come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they're ravening
wolves. How am I going to tell a false prophet? He comes in
sheep's clothing, looks like a sheep, dresses like a sheep.
How am I going to know him? You'll know him by the fruits. That's how you'll know him. How
are we going to judge if we don't do that? And I must be able to
judge between the true and false. Must be. Always must do. We must
make some judgments of the world. And it's affairs. If we don't,
how would we be deceived? How would we know how to deal
with certain things? How would we know how to deal with old banks?
And how would we know how to deal with one another? How would
we know how to deal with our own finances? How would we know
who to trust in this world? And we must make some judgments
in the Church. The Scripture said in 1 Peter
4, 17, He says, The time has come that judgment must begin
at the house of God. And you know how God judges in
this world? He starts right here. He sets judgment in the hearts
of men right here. He passes judgment on men on
the sound of the gospel. Either you believe or you don't.
As He prayed through this evening, He says, There's no other name
given among men whereby we must be saved. That's a fact. That's
assertive. That's true. God made this judgment. You'll believe that or you'll
be damned for not believing it. You'll come to Christ or you'll
perish. That God's already set judgment here in the house of
God. That's where it begins. And that's why so many people
come in here and believe it for a while and go on. But God makes
judgments here. He gives life and He gives death
through the gospel. In fact, the scripture says,
set him that's least among us. We have to make a judgment over
something that's going on in the church. He said, get the
least among us. He said, him to be the judge. Don't go get
the smartest, the wisest, the strongest, the one who knows
the Scripture the most. Take the one that's the simplest,
the least among you, and let him be the judge. And then we
must make some judgment in doctrine. If we don't judge, how will we
know whether we've entered the straight gate or built our house
on the sand? Look down here in verse 13. Enter ye in at the straight gate, wise
the gate, and broad the way, the least destruction. Straight
is the gate and narrow is the way. How am I going to know?
Straight is the gate and narrow is the way which leads unto the
Lord. How am I going to know which gate I went in if I don't
make some judgments? How am I going to be able to
tell what's a straight gate? How am I going to tell if my
house is built on a rock or built on sand? Look down there in verse
24, that's what our Lord said. Therefore, whosoever heareth
these things of mine, I like him unto a wise man, build his
house on a rock, and when the floods come, and the winds blow
in the house, and be upon that house, it won't fall." Because
that's what our Lord said, it's not everyone that saith unto
me in verse 21, shall enter into the kingdom of God. Many will
say to me in verse 22, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied?
Then he said, I'm professing, you never knew me. I never knew
you. So then, whoever hears, How are we going to do this?
Our Lord said, if a man, he'll know if thy doctrine is mine.
Over in John 17, he'll know if the doctrine is true, whether
the doctrine is mine, whether he hears God or not. Oh, this
is the way to detect false prophets? Have we got to have to do the
doctrine they preach? Before swine, it's because of
what they believe and what they preach. That's why Paul said,
if a man comes preaching any other gospel, let him be accursed. If an angel comes from heaven
preaching, let him be accursed if he ain't preaching the gospel.
That's what he said about Hymenaeus. He made a judgment upon Hymenaeus
and Philemon. He says, they have overthrown
the faith of many. He said, the resurrection's passed
already. He told Paul, said, Alexander
the coppersmith done me much evil. He made judgment on him. He said, after the first and
second admonition, the heretic just reject him outright. I know the fellow that's going
to have a heretic preached for him this summer. And I wrote
and told him, I said, you know what, this fellow believes that
you have him come preach for you. Two other preachers I know
said, I'm not going, I'm not going to go preach with a heretic.
And the man's a heretic. He's a true genuine true heretic. But anyway, I don't understand. Oh, look what our Lord said over
here in John 7, 24. That's why, you know, we have
to make these judgments. In John 7, 24, look what our
Master said. I'll get to it here in a minute. I'm still using this new Bible.
These pages stick together. John 7, 24. Look what our Lord
said. Judge not according to the appearance,
but how are you going to judge? Judge a righteous judgment. Judge
a righteous judgment. And if we're going to judge,
make sure you do it righteously. Make sure you do it according
to Scripture. Make sure you do it according to truth. Make sure
you do it according to principle. And that's what He means about
if you're going to judge. And our Lord says, you know,
He told the Pharisees, He says, You are those that justify yourselves
before men. But God knows your hearts. And
that that is well-pleasing in the sight of men is an abomination
in the sight of God. That's what our Master said.
He made a judgment on those Pharisees. So what does it mean here? And
it says, Judge not, back over in our text. What does it mean?
Judge not that you be not judged. With what judgment you judge,
you shall be judged, and with what measure you measure, it
shall be measured to you again. What does it mean? It means this.
It means condemning, pronouncing judgment in a final sense. Pronouncing
judgment in a final sense. Condemning, pronouncing judgment
in a final sense. What it means is to make our
word and our judgments to be law. That we're the final arbiter
in these things. That we're the final one to make
the decision on these matters. The Pharisees were guilty of
this sin. They said, has any of the rulers
ever went after him? Where did this man have him learn
the letters? And they said that after he says,
you know, judge not, but that I would appear as the judge of
righteous judgment. They said, is not this the man
whom they seek to kill? So they had pronounced judgment
on him strictly because they made their word to be law. They
made their truth to be law. They made their opinions to be
law. And that's the danger our Lord is warning us against. It's
a kind of a spirit that manifests itself, the spirit of judging,
that's the wrong kind of a judgment that our Lord's condemning here,
manifests itself in several different ways. First right, it manifests
itself as self-righteousness, sinciousness, a false superiority. When we come to the place we're
right and everybody else is wrong. And that's the way a lot of people
are. You know, I'm right and everybody else is wrong. And
that always leads to despising others. Our Lord says, if that's
self-righteous, man, he despises others and thinks himself more
superior. That's why He said, I thank you.
I'm not like that fella right over there. And then secondly, it's hypercritical.
It's not only just self-righteousness and sensuousness and false feeling
of superiority. But it's hypercritical. Now,
true criticism is constructive. I got through preaching Wednesday
night and was on the way home. Mary gave me some true criticism.
It was constructive. I was doing something that I
was totally oblivious that I was doing. Never in my mind that
I was doing it. She called my attention to it
and said, I didn't know that I was doing that. Then I had a clue. True criticism is constructive.
And faithful are the wounds of a friend. I've had some good
criticism in my time and I've had some bad criticism in my
time. I have been constructively helped and I have been destructively
criticized and been cut to the bone. But that's neither here
nor there, but that's hypercritical. What this person is, a person
who delights in criticism, delights in finding faults. They criticize
for its own sake. They enjoy it. They expect to
find faults and blemishes, and they hope to. It's the very opposite,
you know, when the scripture says that he, charity, hopeth
all things, believeth all things, endureth all things, believeth
all things. This hypercritical person, he
expects the worst. And there are people who get
malicious satisfaction in finding faults with others. Malicious
satisfaction in doing it. Well, why do we end up making
judgments like this? First of all, it's because it
says here in our text, we have a beam in our eye. Now, look
down in the last part of verse four. And behold, a beam is your
own eye. It's in your own eye. He said
there in the last part of verse three, consider us not the beam
that's in your own eye. That's why we judge. We have
a beam. A beam. And this beam here, it's
like a beam that would hold up the house. That's how big it
is. What kind of beam? What's this
beam? It's pride. It's just pride. That's the greatest
beam we have. Our natural pride, our spiritual
pride. And when you've got a beam in
your eye, who in the world can see with a beam in your eye? and all pride, natural and spiritual
apparency. And then there's perception.
Why do we judge like this? We have this being we pursue.
We think we have the ability. We're arrogant enough to think
that we have the ability to make judgments that's not true and
right just because of our feelings or our opinions or our thoughts. And that's why it says, cast
out the being out of your own eye first. Huh? Another reason why we judge,
and our Lord is condemning here, and that's what He's condemning,
this judge not to be not judged. He's condemning this in a certain
way, and He's showing us what's wrong about it. First of all,
we judge because we have pride. We judge because we're presumptuous.
We think we have the ability. We're arrogant enough to think
we can. And then some desire the preeminence. Diotrephes loved
to have the preeminence. Some think that if I can make
everybody look at me, and consider me, and see me, and what I think,
and what I feel, that they will, by making themselves, putting
out somebody else's light, making somebody else look bad, they're
going to make their light shine brighter, and make themselves
look better. You ever been around somebody,
a husband and a wife, and the husband or the wife won't just
constantly, constantly, constantly, belittle him, the husband or
the wife? You ever been around anybody like that? Just constantly
saying something negative about it. Constantly. Every time they open
their mouth, they say something negative. Every time they do
something, something negative. That's awful. That's awful. That's despicable. It's wicked. And that's what our Lord said.
Somebody's trying to have the preeminence over the other. He wants everybody to think that
I'm better than this. Where love would say, they got
all the goods, I ain't got any. Ain't that right? And then there's
self-delusion. Why do we judge? Because we have
a beam. The beam of pride, the beam of
presumption, the beam of preeminence. And then there's the beam of
self-delusion. Self-delusion. Ignorant of our own thoughts.
Ain't that what our Lord says there in verse 3, and considers
not the beam that's in your own eye? Here you are, you're making
judgments, and you're not considering that you've got a beam in your
own eye? Self-delusion. Ignorant of your own thoughts.
Huh? I'll tell you another beam that
we have. Another beam that we have that our Lord tells us about.
is we judge by personality. We don't like a particular person.
And we judge by personality rather than with scriptural views. They say, well, they're not hardly
like me. I thank God that they're not like me. I wouldn't want
anybody to be like me. Oh my, if you knew me like I
know me, you would never have me in your home. You want to have me for dinner?
Oh my, we judge by personality rather than by scripture views.
By prejudice, not by principle. I don't like a certain person,
so you make judgments on them, because you don't like their
personality. But I like what Scott Richardson said, if you
don't love a man, you're going to have to love him the way he
is, because he ain't going to change. God made him that way. Once God saves a man with all
of his warts and with all of his faults, you've got to take
him the way he is, because you ain't going to change him. And I mean that, you know, there
may be things about them that bug the hound out of you, but
if you're going to love them, you're going to have to love them the
way they are. You're going to have to love them with their
sense of humor. You're going to have to love them with the way they think.
You're going to have to love them with the way they talk. You're
going to have to love them with their views. You're going to have to
love them the way they are. If you don't like them, because
you ain't going to change them. And if God's not pleased to change
them, you're going to have to take them the way they are. Is that
not right? No matter what their personality is. Some of us got some weird personalities.
I've met some people. Not anybody in this building.
We're talking about the royal meal. Bang! Oh, and I'll tell you another
read we have in our own eyes. Habitually express our opinions
without having the facts. Oh, express our opinions without
having the facts of the matter. You know, I get these emails
of certain things, and if they sound too good to be true or
something, I always go to Snopes, and I check them out and see
if they're so or not. And if they're not, I emailed that Paul
Swinton, the true of it, and I sent it back to him and said,
now you're sending this out here and it's not true. So here's
the real truth of the matter. And that's what people do. They'll
read something and they'll say, boy, that just touches me, that
moves me, everybody needs to see this. But they never take
the trouble to understand, to find out whether it's true or
not, and people habitually express opinions without facts. They
never take the trouble to understand the circumstance. What's the
circumstance that caused this thing to happen? What situation
were they in that caused them to do that? Never ready to excuse
what somebody's done, never ready to exercise mercy. I read a story
the other day, and I assume it's true, but it's a good story. goes to this church, and there's
a couple of ladies in the church that I mean, they just made everybody's
lives miserable. Judged everybody, criticized
everybody. Well, this fella had an old pickup truck, and she
seen it at this woman's house one time. Seen it there a couple
of times. And she went to tell him around,
said, you see old So-and-So's truck over at Sister So-and-So's
house? Wonder what he's doing over there? What do you reckon's
going on? Oh my, you know. See, when they
went on home, next thing you know, see, they had suspicion
playing in everybody's mind that there's something going on between
these two. But what it was, he was loaning
her that truck. Just loaning it to her. He wasn't
there at all. So we'd gone around and everybody
got criticized, said, that fella and that woman's got an affair
going on. So that old woman who was wagging her tongue so much,
that fella took that pickup truck of his, parked it in front of
her house that night, left it there all night, got out and
walked off. Left it set in front of her house all night. Huh? Expressing opinions without
facts. Making judgments without seeing
the circumstances. Next time you think of that,
somebody will park a pickup truck in front of your house. Next
time you do it. You see, there's a tendency to
pronounce final judgment upon people. Not so much for what
they do, or believe, or say, but upon the persons themselves.
And that's what our Lord's saying about it. What our Lord is condemning
here is taking to yourself the prerogative that belongs to God
only. Making a final judgment. Making
the final judgment. Well, look what our Lord says
here in verse one. Let's go through these verses
now. I set it up the best I could. He says, Judge not that you be
not judged. And what our Lord said here,
if you make the wrong judgment, you'll be judged. Now watch what
he says. People will do us the way that
we do them. For with what judgment you judge,
you'll be judged. And with what measure you meet,
it shall be measured to you again. Whatever kind of judgment you
make upon people, and whatever kind of judgment you make in
this world upon others, that's what our Lord said will be brought
right back to you. We want people to do us the way
we do them. Look what it says down in verse
12. Therefore, all things whatsoever
you would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them.
For this is the law and the prophets." So treat people like you want
to be treated. That's what our Lord's saying
here. That if you judge, and you judge falsely, and you judge
to the final judgment, that's what you're going to be judged
the same way you're judged. He said in another place, bushel
or basket you measure with, say, that's the very nice basket you're
going to be measured in. And that's what he's saying here.
God's going to be the judge. Make sure your house is built
on the rock, because the storm's going to come. The wind's going
to blow. The rain's going to descend.
The floods is going to rise. So whenever we're going to sit
in judgment upon a particular person and make our final judgment
about them, mark it down. We're going to be judged by the
same judgment we give to others. Now look what our Lord said over
here in Romans 14. Romans 14. Talking about judging
here. Look in verse 10. Romans 14.10, But why doest thou
judge thy brother? And you notice here, it's thy
brother too. And Matthew 7 is talking about thy brother. Well,
why doest thou set it not thy brother? Whenever you pass judgment
on him, you set him as not, like you've got the power, and you
set him like he's nobody or nothing, that you're making the judgment,
final judgment on him. Now watch this, for we shall
all stand before the judgment seat of Christ, for it is written,
as I live, saith the Lord, every knee is going to bow, every tongue
is going to consent, says the God. Watch this, so that every
one of us shall give account of himself to God. Listen, let
us not therefore judge. Judge. one another anymore. But judge this rather. If you're
going to make a judgment, don't put a stumbling block or an occasion
to fall in his brother's way. Don't mistreat him. Don't treat
him like he's nobody. Don't treat him like he's just
somebody you can just pass judgment on and ignore. Now back over
in our text. What our Lord is saying here,
with what judgment you judge, you should be judged. And with
what measure you measure, it should be measured to you again.
And judging others, you're saying, I know what is right. So if you
do that, and if you don't do right, what are you doing? You're
condemning yourself. You're condemning yourself. By
the claims I make, God says I'll be judged by it. If I scrutinize other people
in their lives by my standard, And the standard by which I judge
them, then that very standard will come back and judge me.
And when it does, I'll have no reason for complaining. It's
like that woman with that pickup truck. She got up the next morning,
seen that truck sitting out there. What's she going to complain
about? She's doing the same thing. Got a dose of her own medicine.
And that's what God does. If we want to give everybody
medicine, God will give us a little. And then that's what our Lord
says, you reap what you sow, with what measure you meet, with
what measure of judgment, with what measure of censure-ness,
with what measure of self-righteousness, with what measure of presumption,
with what measure of arrogance, it shall be measured to you again.
Reap what you sow. You'll do it in this life. We
judge and censor strictly, God will judge us strictly. And I
tell you, beloved, in how He does it, we'll lose our peace,
we'll lose our joy, we'll lose our fellowship, and the Holy
Spirit will be grieved within us. And then in the life to come, With the life to come, oh my,
I don't want to face God as a judge over the affairs and hearts of
the people I preach to if the gospel doesn't do it. And that's
why I say we have to make judgments about false prophets. We have
to make judgment about doctrine. We have to make judgment about
the gospel. We have to make judgment about many, many things in this
world. But to do it as making the final
judgment on one another, and that's what he says, your brethren,
behold the moat that's in your brother's eye. He's talking about
us among one another. And that's what he says in verse
3, and why beholdest thou the moat that's in thy brother's
eye? And watch what he says, why beholdest.
That means you're looking and looking strongly. We say, behold,
that means stop, look intently. And you behold it. Huh? And you know what a mote is?
It's so tiny. It's just an irritation in the
eye. Huh? I mean, you know, whenever
you get something in your eye, you have somebody else. You say,
come see what's in my eye. And you hold your eye out there,
and somebody else tries to find it. But this fellow with his
beam in his eye, he's there! He can find it! Huh? And some only see the mold
and see it as a monstrosity out of proportion. They're straining
their necks while they're carameled. That's why the Lord said, if
you consider it's not the beam that's in your own eye. And then
in verse 4, they act like they really care. They act like they
really care for you and what's best for you. Look what they
say. Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, let me pull out
the mote out of thine eye? I'll just, you know, I care for
you, and this is going to really help you, you know. Sin has such a blinding influence,
it's so deceitful. And that's why the lost criticize
the saved so much, because they can't, not some man can't judge
a saved man. They can't discern. The spiritual
man, he can't discern. the people that are saved by
the grace of God, he don't have the right judgment. He don't
have the right understanding. And then look what our Lord says
about him in verse 5. Oh, you hypocrite. You hypocrite. Behold, a beam is in your own
eye. Cast out the beam out of your own eye, then thou shalt
see clearly to cast out the mote out of your brother's eye. Behold
the beams in your own eye, what our Lord said, and where's your
honesty? Where's your honesty? Where's your integrity? Test
out the beam of your own eye first. Deal with yourself first. Now how are we going to do this?
By faithfully dealing with ourselves. And the scriptures that, you
know, when they're talking about they're taking the Lord's table
there in 1 Corinthians 11, one of the thing is, says, judge
yourselves that you be not judged with the world. When he talks
about taking the Lord's table. He said, when it comes to examining
yourselves and see whether you're in the faith or not. And if you're
going to take the Lord's table, you judge yourself whether you
know Christ. You judge yourself whether you're
worthy of Him. You judge yourself if you know
what the blood and body of Christ mean. You judge yourself. And
then you will be condemned and judged with the world when God
doesn't. Past judgment. Look at yourself. And faithfully
dealing with ourselves. Not sparing ourselves and judging
ourselves before God. Oh, an unqualified, unqualified
judging of myself before God. Look at myself, my ways, my heart,
and look at it by God's Word. Search me, O God. Know me. Try
me. See if there may be an evil way
in me. Turn me. Take me by the reins and turn
me, Lord, and see which way I turn. And I'll tell you something else,
not ever excuse our fleshly conduct. And if we do, and when we do
make a judgment, examine to see if it's truth that we're judging
by, if it's righteousness we're judging by, if it's principle
that I care about. If we're concerned and we're
concerned about righteousness, true judgment, we'd start, the
first place we'd start with is ourselves. First place we'll start with
is with ourselves. How many times when you start to say something,
you say, well, I'll just leave that and go. I know it ain't
going to amount to nothing to be saying it, because you know what's going
to happen if you just open your mouth. And then he says there in verse
5, Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam of that old eye,
and watch what happens when this happens. Then thou shalt see
clearly. Then you'll be able to cast out
the mold out of your brother's eye. Your brother's got a mold. When you get that beam out, then
you see clearly. You can actually do something
for somebody then. Huh? Clearing our vision gives us
not only just the ability for us to see, but the ability to make right judgments. You
know, how ridiculous it'd be for the blind to lead the blind.
And how much more ridiculous it'd be for a blind man to try
to pull something out of another blind man's eye. You know, his telephone to get
the moat out, he got a beam in his that supports the roof of
the house. And a moat's just a tiny straw, just a tiny piece
of wood to cause somebody's eye. And getting out of mode, that's
a different operation. And the eye, all of us know,
is the most tender part. You get something in your eye,
it'll just worry you to death. It'll cause it to water, get
irritated. You can't see clearly. And you know, if you take, if
every one of you, if something gets close to your eye, you automatically
blink. Something gets close to your eye, because that's the
tenderest part. Tenderest part is your eye. And when a finger
touches it, it closes up. And when we're trying to get
the mold out of somebody's eye, we see a mold in somebody's eye.
When we see it clearly, it requires sympathy, patience, calmness. You don't go sticking your finger
in people's eyes. Let me get that out of your eye. Rub a finger across it real quick.
No. You take sympathy. Oh, I'm so
sorry you got that in your eye. Let me help get it out. Patience,
calmness. And now you translate this mode,
getting the mode out of a person's eye, translate that to the spiritual.
And that's what our Lord's telling us here. You be gentle and tender
and sympathetic and patient and calm with one another because
you're dealing with another man's soul. A soul. And that's the tender part of
a man. You know, if brother offended, it's hard to be one in a strong
city. And what's required to deal with
the soul, to handle and deal with somebody else? First of
all, the knowledge of self. How would I want somebody to
deal with me? Again, verse 12. Therefore, all things whatsoever
you would that men should do to you, do you so even to them. Do to them. That's the law of the prophets.
And sympathy. Instead of enjoying the fault
of a brother, he read tonight, weep with them that weep, rejoice
with them that rejoice. Remembering yourselves and your
faults, and think of the cost to yourself and them if you don't
treat them right. With what judgment you judge,
you're going to be judged. With what measure you meet, it
will be measured to you again. And every time you treat somebody,
that's how you're going to be treated. Faithful are the wounds
of a friend, all to learn to be, through wisdom, to know how,
to faithfully deal with one another, to honestly, generously, kindly,
patiently, sympathetically, to the glory of Christ. Our gracious, gracious Father,
thank you for this time of being able to preach your word. to
deal with the truth as it is in Christ. God blesseth our hearts,
blesseth our understanding. And Lord, we cast ourselves on
you. Lord, we're so frail, we're so
weak. And you told us, as a father
pitieth his children, even so, Lord, you pitieth us. Because
you know that we're but dust. Frail flesh and dust. God give us the wisdom that comes
from above, that's peaceable, gentle, easily entreated, that'll
bring glory and honor to your name. And as we take the Lord's
table here this evening, I ask that you'd be pleased to bless
it as we do it in remembrance of our Lord Jesus Christ, who
asked it in His name. Amen.