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Good morning everyone. We'll continue our studies from the Sermon on the Mount. And today we'll turn our Bibles to Matthew chapter 7 and we will read verses 1-6. Matthew 7, 7 verses 1 till 6. Title this sermon as, I Judge Me Before I Wreck Me. It's a call to judge ourselves than to judge others.
And we'll read from verses 1 till 6, which we'll all read together. “Do not judge so that you will not be judged, for in the way you judge, you will be judged. And by your standard of measure, it will be measured to you. Why do you look at 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,' and behold, the log is 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 what is holy to dogs, and do not throw your pearls before swine, or they will trample them under their feet and turn and tear you
to pieces.” Let's pray. Our Father, we thank you for this morning. Thank you Lord for giving us this wonderful privilege to gather as your redeemed people, to declare your praises, to remember your mercies in our lives. And we pray as we look into your word, oh Father, we pray that we may behold your purposes for our lives, we may understand your ways. We also pray that you give us grace to submit to the teaching of your word, and also to mend our own ways. And Lord we pray that you give us grace, pray that you would work powerful in our hearts through your spirit, conforming
us into the likeness of our Lord Jesus Christ. Father, we thank you in Jesus Christ and we pray. Amen. Many years ago we were in a place, a small town in Maharashtra. We were helping a church there. It was a new church plant and we were helping that church. We were there for some time. And one Sunday there was a very good brother, a very good well-intentioned brother, um, you know, he — you know, in during the service a lady walked in, an old lady. She appeared to be very sick. Um, I mean that's all I could make out. Uh, very old
and she was sick and she was very weak and she was seated to at a corner. And after the church service, the — this gentleman who was with me, and he perceived to be, he perceived something else of her, and he went to that lady and asked her name. And she said, “My name is Sushila.” And this man said, “No, your name is not Sushila.” She said, “I am Sushila.” And he said, “No, you're not Sushila.” Said, “Yes, I am Sushila.” Then he said, “You are Satan.” She said, “I am not Satan, I'm Sushila.” Then he said, “I will not come out.”
“No. No.” And it was like a fun show for some time. And that lady didn't know what was happening. That she didn't understand probably, she didn't even know who Satan is. She's from a Hindu background. And this man was asking her to come out. And she would say, “I will not come out. I will sit here.”
Yeah, sometimes we are too confident about our judgments that we make about others. And yeah, and sometimes we'll make a laughing stock of ourselves. Right, so in the Sermon on the Mount, it was a sermon delivered to his people. And they were, you know, in this gathering, they were a mixture of people, you know. There probably, there were some people who are not yet part of the kingdom of God, and also there are people who are probably, there are Pharisees also. And you see that in chapter 5 onwards we will see that Jesus was correcting the misinterpretation of the law and misapplication of the law by
the Pharisees. And also you see that as you read intently into the, in this portion of the Scripture, you see that I think the Lord is also making, uh, references to the Pharisees and how we can avoid a hypocritical lifestyle. And life in the kingdom, it begins with the gospel and is shaped by the gospel. And essentially in the Sermon on the Mount our Lord shows us what life in the kingdom looks like if the gospel truly impacted you, and it will continue to do so, and the evidence lies in the changes that you see in your own character and also
the value system of your life. He begins with the Beatitudes which will eventually, as we believe in the Lord, will shape our fundamental nature. Then he spoke about us being the light and the salt in this world, which influences our righteousness here. And our righteousness should exceed that of the Pharisees and the scribes. And he spoke about hypocrisy and anxiety, and moreover he emphasized the importance and the manner of prayer, which impacts our ambitions and where we begin to seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness. And then as we also store up treasures for ourselves in heaven. In the first part of Matthew
7, Jesus addresses a form of hypocrisy that is prevalent among all of the fallen human beings. Although we are redeemed, we are still influenced by this fallen nature. And we must, and again, again and again we have seen from the Sermon on the Mount that we should be people who are governed by the kingdom righteousness rather than our own wisdom or perception of things and perception of people. I think the key verse in Matthew chapter 7 is verse 12. Well, the Lord says, “In everything, therefore, treat people the same way you want them to treat you, for this is the law and the prophets.” Everything. In everything, therefore, treat people the same way you want them to treat you. And quite often the Lord has repeated this principle even in the Sermon on
the mount in different ways, in different forms. So the — which means that the kingdom citizens should treat others as they want to be treated, without, in this particular context, that is without, you know, judging or evaluating falsely or unfairly, right? Broadly, I'm going to share two points here. One is, do not be a judge, and secondly, do not be a hypocrite. Firstly, do not be a judge. Verse 1, our Lord says, “Do not judge so that you will not be judged, for in the way you judge you will be judged, and by your standard of measure it will be measured to you.” Now first
of all, we must try to understand what he is not saying here, then we must learn what our Lord is saying here, especially when he says, “Do not judge.” In today's world, you know, people use this phrase very commonly, right? “Do not judge me.” And, uh, and it could mean, don't condemn me because of my actions, for my actions, and because I have — I have the right to do what I wish, so don't judge me, right? But Jesus isn't using the word judge in this postmodern sense. He also didn't mean that we must refrain from using our mental faculties to properly evaluate or discern
between wrong and right. And it also doesn't mean that we should never confront a brother or a sister who are in sin. We have seen that, we have seen where the Lord says if you see sin you have to go and confront, you have to deal with that. And and it is, it is clear throughout the scriptures that we must confront with love, with concern, anyone who sins, especially we see that in Matthew chapter 18 verse 15. The Lord says, “If your brother sins, go and show him his fault in private. If he listens to you, you have won your brother.”
and Paul says in Galatians chapter 6 verse 1, “Brethren, if anyone is caught in any trespass” — he says, caught in any trespass — “you who are spiritual restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness, each one looking to yourself so that you too will not be tempted.” And elsewhere Paul says in First Corinthians chapter 5 verse 12, in the context of disciplining an immoral person, “Do not you — do you not judge those who are within your church?” Right? So he's calling people to judge properly. So is Jesus contradicting himself and the rest of the scriptures here? No, in all the scriptures we read, no, we
as we read from Genesis — sorry, Galatians — and Corinthians, in those particular context the sin is evident, it's very apparent, and based on this evidence in other brothers and sisters will come for — sorry, confront each other in a spirit of gentleness, right? But what is Jesus forbidding here? He forbids a critical, self-righteous, bigoted, censorious attitude.
What do you mean by bigoted? Being prejudiced, narrow-minded, intolerant, and opinionated. Let's understand these terms for our own clarity. What is prejudice? It is an unfair, unreasonable and preconceived opinion or feeling about others, and these thoughts or feelings are often formed without proper evidence or knowledge of the persons or their circumstances.
And because of this prejudice, we create a mental image about others. And we respond to that person with this preconceived notion, that is prejudice. And what is being opinionated? It is closely connected with prejudice. You have formed your own opinions about people already without taking the time to getting to know them, understanding their circumstances and whatever, and for whatever reasons those opinions in your mind are undeniably strong. Even if people try to convince you, you are already, can see, convinced that no, this person is wrong, this person is wrong. And what does it mean to be censorious?
It refers to being hypercritical and inclined to seek out and highlight faults. You are unwilling to give any benefit of doubt and you are determined to cling to your own opinions. You are hypercritical about people. If that person didn't smile at you, “Oh, I know he has something against me.” Right?
And we will dig, search for meanings, you know, and ascribe motives to people. And we would benefit a lot if we did the same thing with the scriptures, right? We would get much out of the scriptures if we did such intentful study of the scriptures.
And so this, in Jesus' view, is a pharisaical hypocrisy. One who assumes that they have a right to form their opinions about people without a proper relationship and evidence, and they, and they presume a sense of superiority and ability to render judgment over others. Jesus condemns here this sort of attitude, assuming things about people and believing that my assumptions are correct. And that is a form of arrogance.
It serves the role of God as only God can truly see the hearts of people. Only God can discern the thoughts of people and understand the motives of people. Brothers and sisters, we cannot even properly judge our own motives. That the state of our existence, we cannot properly judge our own motives. We need the help of the Word of God and the Spirit of God to convict us of our true motives. And how can we be so sure that we discern about others, what we discern about others is absolutely true? How can we be so unshaken and so strong about our opinions about other people? We should not form judgments about people in our minds and pass judgment before truly understanding them and understanding what’s happening in their lives. We should renounce presumptuous ambition to be judges and deliver hasty judgments
about others. In other words, me. We must not judge unfairly. We must apply verse 12 here and should not judge others more harshly or by a different standard than we judge ourselves. What is the command here? We should not judge others. This is a prayer, is in the present imperative tense, which means that we must continue to do this, should be our consistent lifestyle every time, in all our relationships, in all our dealings with people. We should keep doing this. Make assumptions about people, we should not. Make unfair judgments of people, we should not. Ascribe motives to people, we should, we should not hold
our own opinions about people or pass judgment on them. If you are doing this, we should stop doing this. That’s a command. Stop doing this because you are not God, because you’re not judge, right? Don’t be a judge. And the clearest exposition on this idea is found in the epistle of James chapter 4 verse 11 and 12. James chapter 4 verse 11. Now we see that as you read through the epistle of James, we understand that James, he often reiterates what the Lord has taught, and we see that he’s probably reiterating what the Lord has already taught in the Sermon on the Mount. James chapter
4 verse 11, he says, “Do not speak against one another, brethren. He will speak against a brother or judges his brother” — it’s the same word — “speaks against the law and judges the law, and if you judge the law you are not doer of the law but a judge of it.” James goes even further and says that you’re not just judging the brother, but if you’re judging unfairly and out of that unfair judgement you’re speaking against that brother, you’re actually judging against the law.
Here speaking against is speaking out of judgemental notions or a critical evaluation of a person formed in your own mind, and that is the reason James says in the second sentence here, “He who speaks against a brother or a, or judges his brother.” And in verse 12 James says, “There is only one lawgiver and judge, the one who is able to save and one is able to destroy.” He determines on how we ought to live. And the law, which is a word of God, the Holy Spirit word of God, is an expression of God’s mind. And since He is the lawgiver, we are accountable to Him.
God alone judges people. And rejecting God’s law. And here in this context, rejecting God’s law is rejecting God’s word. We hear in this context it means that here we are judging others unfairly, and making opinions about people in our own minds and speaking against them is rejecting God’s law. And it means rejecting heavenly wisdom. And in the context of James, if you remember, we see that rejecting heavenly wisdom means giving room to earthly wisdom. And that earthly wisdom, James explains in epistle of James that it is carnal, it’s earthly and it’s demonic.
Such wisdom will bring divisions in the church. James concludes by saying, “But who are you who judge your neighbor?” Who are you? He shows our rightful place. You are not a judge. You cannot discern people. You cannot know the hearts of people. Who are you to make opinions about people? Who are you? Who are you? And this is rhetorical in nature. We have no — which means that we have no right to judge our fellow brothers and speak evil against others. Why should we stop doing it? Why should we stop doing it? Again, come back to Matthew chapter 5, sorry, Matthew chapter 7 verse 1. He says that, “Do not judge so that you will not be judged.” We should understand that primarily the merciful God
who called us into his kingdom is the true judge. He sees everything clearly. He sees our motives and nothing can be hidden before his eyes, from his eyes. And look at what psalmist declares in Psalm 44 verse 21. Psalm 44 verse 21, he says, “Would not God find this out? For he knows the secrets of the heart.” Jeremiah chapter 17 verse 10: “I, the Lord, search the heart, I test the mind, even to give to each man according to his ways, according to the results of his deeds.”
So, what we learn here is that God is a true judge. He is the one who can truly understand, discern the motives of people. And knowing God as judge has a sanctifying effect on our lives and also a restraining influence on our lives.
Knowing that he judges our motives, he is the true judge and he will bring, he will bring everything into account, it also acts as a restraining influence on our own lives. So God’s position as judge teaches us to be stricter not with others but with ourselves first, as we discover our own hearts. Since God is the judge, since God is the judge, we cannot ignore our own hearts. It teaches us to be merciful and gentle with others, because God who sees our wickedness day in and day out is merciful, is gracious to us. He allows us to be called as his children. Still he
bears with us, he persists with us, he perseveres with us, and he forgives us, he sanctifies us, he sets us right with him. And how can we persist to be unfair with people? The knowledge of God’s judgment, it clarifies and it sanctifies our attitudes toward ourselves and also others. Jesus is repeating a principle here. Remember, in the Sermon on the Mount, is said in the Lord’s Prayer — it’s not the Lord’s Prayer, it’s a model prayer. In the model prayer he said that if a person forgives others, he can expect to be forgiven by God. If he refuses to forgive others, he can
expect God to withhold his forgiveness. And Jesus repeats and rephrases the same principle. If a person judges other harshly, they can expect harsh judgment from God. If you refuse to show mercy to people, God will also be merciless to you, right? Why? Why are we harsh with people? What makes us harsh with people? What makes you think that you are better than others? What makes you think? And why do we avoid certain people? Why do we avoid certain people? Is it because you have made a judgment in your mind that a particular person is not worth your time? Is that the reason
that you avoid people, don’t spend time with people? Even the thought that you are better than others or the feeling that you are not like the others is a deception, is a deception. God sees your heart and sees all forms of wickedness in our hearts. Do I feel satisfaction when I hear someone has fallen, someone has sin? Oh, I expected that. I expected that. I couldn’t think better of him. I’m type of a person who easily recognizes and discusses other people’s faults.
Do I seek out those who enjoy such talk? Brothers and sisters, the Bible clarifies the nature of God’s love. And we as his people should be filled with such love and be motivated with such love. And if you fail, we should repent and submit to God’s Word. Bible clarifies that love does not rejoice in evil, love rejoices with the truth, love always protects, love always hopes for the good, love always perseveres. On the contrary, a critical spirit, a judgmental spirit is thrilled by the evil that it sees in others. The critical spirit doesn’t want to know the truth. It moves in the world of half-truths. You’re not concerned about knowing fully what has happened, why it has happened, but you have made your own thoughts about that person about some half truth, and you keep seeing
that person from that lens. And the critical spirit loves to destroy the reputation of people. The critical spirit destroys trust. This critical spirit will not believe you, will always distrust this. The critical spirit always hopes for bad. Even if that person comes and says sorry, are you really sorry? Did you really repent? I doubt that. I don’t see that, the genuine marks of repentance. Oh, you have become God man, you can see that whether that person is truly repenting or not. It hopes for bad. It hopes that you remain bad for a long period of time. I don’t know how long the spirit
the critical spirit always destroys, it always destroys, it doesn’t believe. And Jesus said in verse 2, “For in the way you judge you will be judged. And by your standard of measure, it will be measured to you.” Do you like to be judged and have the things said about you that you say about other people?
Am I or are you guilty of being critical and making snide remarks about other people before you have honestly gathered all the facts of that person or the case? Would you enjoy it if you were the one being gossiped about or being bashed?
Then why do you talk about others when you meet? Why do you make a character picture of a person and try to assassinate that person when that person is not present? And some of us are very good at criticizing and weighing up the falls and failings of other people, but supposing somebody pays back in the same way, how do we react? We call out unfair, unjust, just. Brothers and sisters, you may rejoice now, but remember the Lord says the way you weigh people’s sin, the Lord will take into account. He will, elsewhere in Matthew our Lord says that he will take even a word, every word that you, we speak into account. If your judgment of people isn’t right and if you handle other people’s sins in wrong way, you stand guilty before God. You stand guilty
before God. No more. I don’t think, I don’t think we are guiltless in this. Sinclair Ferguson says, “The heart that has tasted the Lord’s grace and forgiveness will always be restrained in its judgment of others. It has seen itself deserving judgment and condemnation before the Lord, and yet instead of experiencing his burning anger has tasted his infinite mercy.” And let us also act in the same way with others. Principle number one, do not make assumptions about people. Do not ascribe motives, have opinions or pass judgment on others, for God will judges and
this is a sign that we should always recognize that our judgments about people can be flawed, because we are not God and we cannot be certain about the motives of people’s motives. Second point. Number one, do not be a judge. Number two, do not be a hypocrite. Verse three, “Why do you look at 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,” and behold, the log is 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.
Jesus here uses this illustration of the log and the speck as a hyperbole, as an exaggeration. It’s a figurative speech. And this figure of speech is designed to make a point here. And the point of this illustration is this. Please pay close attention. The point of this illustration is this. What you notice in others, with all your faculties, mental faculties, what you notice in others, it will only remain as a speck.
It is only a speck, a small splinter of wood. But when God examines your heart, he sees a huge massive log. Regardless how many specks you see in others, they pale in comparison to the log in your own life. Remember, this is God’s judgment of us. We see a lot of specks in people, small splinters of wood. But remember that the true judge sees, that sees us, and he always sees huge massive pieces of logs in our own lives. And no matter how many specks we see in others, they pale in comparison to the log in our own lives. No matter how many specks you try
to pick from others lives, remember that there is a huge log of wood that still remains in you which should be removed. Jesus is not prohibiting a proper correction here, but whenever you do that, do it with proper evidence and always do it with the awareness that you are only seeing a speck while there is still log which should, which is yet to be uncovered, right? And to, and we have to deal with that. There may be no clearer example in the entire Bible than the moment when prophet Nathan courageously confronted King David about his wrongdoing with Bathsheba.
In 2 Samuel chapter 11, we see that. Nathan came to David and shared a parable about a wealthy man who took and killed a poor man’s only lamb. When David heard this he declared a sentence on the thief. He said, “The man who did this deserves to die.” This striking judgment is not — David is judging about others here. This striking judgment came from someone who had recently misused his divinely appointed position to seduce a married woman and orchestrated her husband’s death. And Nathan’s bold confrontation concluded with the powerful indictment of King David. He said, “You are the man. You are the man.” Before we let anger burn in our hearts toward others when we see other people’s sins, it’s truly beneficial for us to examine our own hearts ruthlessly. We
might just uncover some logs, huge massive logs in our own lives. Brothers and sisters, can we be, can we just be honest today? We do this all the time. We judge people all the time. We are critical, unmerciful towards people all the time, all the time, not once, all the time. We are experts at magnifying other people’s faults. When it comes to us, it’s only a small sin, it’s only a small lie. We are experts in exaggerating other people’s faults and experts in minimizing our own faults. Why don’t we treat others the same way we treat us ourselves? Why
don’t we say to our fellow brother, okay, you have done this wrong, it’s okay, repent, turn to the Lord. Why do you, why do we try to criminalize him, right, make him feel more, him or her, more guilty, right? The fact that Jesus forbids us from being judges or hypocrites, it does not release us from our responsibility to lovingly correct our brothers and sisters. In Matthew 18, Jesus encourages us to confront sin, however, once we have first engaged in self criticism, self correction in our own lives before God, and as we live a life of consistent repentance while experiencing God’s forgiveness, daily tasting
his grace daily, we can with a humble attitude correct our fellow brother or sister who are in sin, because as recipients of grace daily, we will be able to give grace also. The issue is first deal with our own selves. Look at what Paul says in Galatians chapter 6. Please turn your Bibles to Galatians chapter 6.
And we’ll read verses 1, 2, and 3. Can someone read it very loudly and clearly? Galatians 6, verse 1, 2, 3. Right, let me quickly explain this passage. Who are the spiritual here in this context? They are not some super elite people, some supernatural experiences day in and day out. No. If you read Matthew, sorry, Galatians chapter 5, they are the people who walk in the Spirit, right? Paul explains the works of the
flesh and the works of the Spirit, and he encourages people to walk in the Spirit, which means under the control of the Spirit. And those who walk under the control of the Spirit, they will not fulfill the desires. Matthew, sorry, Galatians chapter 5, I think it was 16, he says that those who walk in the Spirit, under the control of the Spirit, under the influence of the Spirit, as they submit to his control, they will not fulfill the desires of the flesh. They will not act out of the flesh. They will not think according to the flesh. They’ll mock, they will not make fleshly judgments
Right, and you come to chapter 6. He says that you—someone is caught in a trespass, right? It's caught, you caught them, you saw them sinning. It's not that they come out to you openly and confess. You saw them, you saw them. How do you act? How do you respond to that person? He says, “You who are spiritual”—there is a respond. The spiritual. Who are the spiritual? Those who walk under the control of the Holy Spirit. Spiritual are those who walk in the control of the Holy Spirit, not in the flesh. They are the people who are sensitive to the work
of the Spirit of God in their own lives, who convicts us of our sins. So they, it means that they are the people who live under the conviction of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit continuously convicts them of their sin. They are sensitive to the conviction, convicting work of the Holy Spirit, and because of the convicting work of the Holy Spirit they have a lifestyle of repentance. They keep repenting of their sins. And such a person is not, he has not fully overcome sin, but he is a person who is sensitive to the working of the Holy Spirit, who is sensitive to his
or her own sin and is, has a life of repentance, life of trusting in the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, finished work of Lord Jesus Christ. And such a person is qualified to help those who are in sin, and the evidence is a spirit of gentleness. As a person who received grace, you are giving grace. You know what it is to give grace. You know what is, what is, what it is to let go. You know what it is to come, comfort people, because you're comforted by the Holy Spirit, you're comforted by the scriptural truths, right? Because God is dealing with your log, you're
now saw a speck and you're dealing with that speck as a person who was, who is being dealt with the log, right? And such a person is qualified to deal. If you are not a person walking in the Spirit, let's say you are a man of flesh, self-righteous, right? You saw a person sinning. How do you act? Man, you will destroy that person to pieces. You will destroy him or her. You will, you will destroy their reputation. You have made or your own opinions in your own mind. You will act out of flesh. You will spread that opinion of your purse, you, your perceived
opinion of that person to others. You will spread that opinion to others. You will destroy it, you will destroy that person. And additionally, these spiritual people do not take the high ground; rather, they are acutely aware that they are susceptible to the same sins. They can't do the same sins. They also do not become puffed up because a brother is failing in an area where they are not currently, because they know that they can also fall in the same area. They recognize their own vulnerabilities to sin, so they watch over themselves, they trust in the grace of the Lord and give the same hope to
the fellow brother and sister who is caught in sin. Not condemn them, not treat them as no and make them even more guilty. They come alongside and bear the burden of that brother or sister, thus they'll fulfill the law of Christ, which as yourself. You're treating your fellow brother as you want to be treated.
When brother senses, if you're caught in sin, you do not want people to spread that. You don't want people to be, you know, make you feel even more guilty. You want people to help you. You want people to build you. Let's come to verse 6.
Matthew chapter 6, sorry, Matthew chapter 7, verse 6. Verse 6 says, “Do not give what is holy to dogs, and do not throw your pearls before swine, or they will trample them under the feet and turn and tear you to pieces.” Verse 6, it seems like a misfit here, right? But I think there's a context here. Jesus is addressing a mixed group there. People who are already his followers, people who are not already followers, people, there are Pharisees who are there to judge Jesus's teaching, right? And unholy, these people are influenced by a Pharisaic tradition or Pharisaic interpretation of the law, right? And you
see here that dogs and pigs are metaphors here. When you approach a person, not like a judge, not like a hypocrite, but like a person in Galatians 6 who is aware of his own vulnerabilities and speak the truth in love, there are going to be some who will repeatedly over and defiantly reject the truth and reject the gospel. They will not appreciate the truth. They will not like to change. They will reject your help to see their sin. Such people act like dogs and pigs who do not know the preciousness of pearls or the holy words. They do not know the value of these pearls
they will trample those pearls. If you see such a person part of your community, then we must follow scriptural principles. Paul says in Titus chapter 3, verse 10, “As for a person who stirs up division, after warning him once and then twice, have nothing more to do with him, knowing that such a person is sinful and is self-condemned.”
But Jesus may be addressing people like Pharisees here, who are self-deceived, who thinks that they are holy, more righteous. You know, you remember that prayer of the Pharisee and the sinner? The Pharisee couldn't see his own sin. He said, “Oh God, I'm not like this man.” He boasts about his own righteousness. He's talking about that people. No matter how much you go and tell them about their sin, they will not see it, because their eyes are blinded. The Pharisees are like the blind men leading the blind. D. A. Carson says, “Jesus is commanding his disciples not to share the richest parts of spiritual truth with persons who are persistently vicious, irresponsible and unappreciative.”
And he goes on to say that, “I have gradually come to the place where I refuse to attempt to explain Christianity and introduce Christ to the person who just wants to mock and argue and ridicule. It accomplishes nothing good.” So do not try to help those who do not want your help. The best you can do is pray for them. There could be someone in your own family or maybe your friends or whoever.
So, yeah. So I want to give two principles here. Principle number two. Remember that you can't sit in the seat of the judge, because not only is your judgment fallible, but you yourself are fallible. A sinner. You are a sinner in need of God's grace to deal with logs in your own life, right? So always have that perspective of yourself. We will never grow out of our need of God's grace. As long as we live here in this mortal frame, in this side of eternity, we will never stop needing God's grace. We will always be people in need of God's grace. We will always be sinful. We will always be dealing with sin. We need grace. We need grace of the Lord, and we need grace from our fellow brothers and sisters who helps us in our sanctification. And principle number
three, never be arrogant about anything you possess. Never overestimate yourself. Do not elevate yourself even in your thoughts about others. Such an attitude is worldly and carnal. Always live under the control of the Spirit of God. Know your vulnerabilities to sin, and be vulnerable to others as well. Regularly examine your heart in the light of the scriptures. Judge yourselves more often in the light of the scriptures, and continue to repent. In this mindset, with this mindset, assist weak, assist those who are weak. Point them to the Savior who gives grace to you and to that person. The good news of Jesus is that when
we deserve punishment, brothers and sisters, we all deserve to die. We all are born in sin. Our mothers conceived us in sin. We grew up in sin. We love sin. We love nothing but sin. We deserve God's punishment. We deserve eternal punishment. God's wrath should rightly fall on us, because we are sinners by nature, and no matter what we do, we, we will never be able to measure up to God's holy standard. We will always fall short of God's glorious standard. We all sin, and we will always come short of God's glorious standard. But God looked upon us in kindness. We are utterly helpless. We couldn't save. But God sent his only Son, who is one with him from all eternity. He stepped down into this world. He took upon himself our human nature, became a man, lived in our, in this world as a man,
yet without sin. As a sinless man of God, he went to the cross. Our sins were laid on him, because we couldn't pay for our own sins. He suffered and died on the cross in our place, for our sins. He paid for our sins. He suffered under the holy wrath of God, which was burning hot against all sinners. And Isaiah says that it pleased the Father to crush Jesus on. Jesus was crushed under her God's holy anger for our sins. He took our filthiness. You look into your own heart, you see all kinds of filth, and all that filth was laid on our Lord Jesus
Christ. Jesus took that responsibility. He suffered in our place. God looked upon us with kindness, and in his mercy God saved us in, because of Christ's death, because Christ died for us, and he rose again on, from the dead, so that we will be justified, we will be made right with God, have a right relationship with God, have a right standing before God. His righteousness will, may be imputed into our, into our lives, so that we will be energized by the Spirit of God, so that we will the newness of life. So brothers and sisters, as the people who are recipients of such marvelous
grace, our response to other people's sin should always be rooted in mercy. Even the act of discipline stems from mercy, stems from mercy. Let's pray. Let's look into our own hearts. Let's take a moment. Let us be honest today. Do you have a high view of yourself?
Are you prone to be critics of others? Judge others? Are you prone to cynicism? Are you cynical? Are you open about your own failures with someone? Are you vulnerable to someone? Do you seek anyone's help in your life? Are you accountable to someone?
Do you ever open up about your failures with someone? Or do you take a spiritually higher ground? Anyone. I am self-sufficient. Are you more sensitive to the sin of others than to your own sins? When you see the sin of other brother or sister, do desire for the Lord to work in their lives to bring them to repentance, or do you have a feelings of superiority and disdain toward others? Let us, let us examine our own hearts in the light of the scriptures, and let us repent of our sins.
Father, we thank you for your precious word. Give us grace that we may see ourselves, see our own failures in the light of your scriptures, Father. Help us, Lord, Father, be ever grateful and thankful to you for the grace that you show and shower upon us.
We are greatly, deeply indebted to you, oh Father, for the grace that we receive day after day. And may we live out of that grace and respond to people’s failures out of that grace. Father, have mercy upon us. Please build us up, Lord. May your spirit work in our hearts, lead us unto change in Jesus Christ, and we pray. Amen.