Go to Matthew chapter number 7, Matthew 7, and we're going to keep the teenagers with us today. And if you need a copy of, it's the same outline from last week, but if you need a copy, Brother Terry's got some. If you'll raise your hand, he'll come by and give you a copy. We need one up here. Who else needs one? Maybe the teenagers didn't know they needed one. So maybe you need one. Do you have one? Okay, we need one up here. Shawn needs one. Okay, look if you will at the first while he's doing that we're gonna read the first five verses in of chapter 7 Matthew chapter 7 and There it says judge not that you be not judged For with what judgment you judge you shall be judged and with what measure you meet it shall be measured to you again And why beholdest thou? the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but considereth 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 out the mote out of thy brother's eyes." So this is, again, following the format of what the Lord's been teaching. He's bringing it, the faith of Israel had become very, let's say, false. It had become duty To the letter of the law so that then they were looking all for all sorts of loopholes in the in the Old Testament law so they could do whatever they to justify whatever they want. That's what we do. We are humans and we want to justify what we do. In fact is 90% of churches are filled with people that come to church not to hear what's wrong with me, but to hear, I'm looking for the pastor to put his stamp of approval on what I believe. They want to be reaffirmed that what you have already been taught and believed is correct. And to hear the preaching that says something's wrong with our lives is actually despised. And that's what that verse meant in our Sunday School verse, despise not prophesy. Don't despise the Word of God. Others have, the morning service. So we're going to go to a passage that has something to do with that. But don't despise what God's Word says. You know, the Bible says that we should love God's law, and if we love his law, he said, we'll not be offended. I love that law and nothing shall offend me. And why? Because I'm conforming my deplorable life back to the image of Christ through the obedience of God's word. So he's correcting them. So let's take the correction on ourselves. Last week we had the first Roman numeral we got through, the restricting of judgment. And the first letter there, if you just got your outline you needed, it's misinterpretation, misinterpretation, and the meaning. Because this is often misinterpreted. People quote that first phrase, judge not, that you be not judged, in the sense that we are not supposed to judge people's sin. That's not what it's saying, and we went over that last week. It would be a misrepresentation to try to live your life without judging. It would be a ridiculous fantasy. It's completely unillogical to say, well, I'm just not going to judge anything, OK? And what the Bible is saying here is not to judge wrong judgment. But you're going to have to judge. You're going to live that way. You made a lot of judgments today. I sent home that text yesterday that everybody heard, like, hey, there's a sickness go around. If you have any symptoms, stay home. And so you had to make a judgment. Do I have any of that sickness? And the ones that are here, apparently, among the others that could have come, have said, I feel up to coming to church physically. Okay, hopefully you felt spiritually, emotionally up to come to church too. And then the others judged that they couldn't. The point I'm making is, you're going to judge. It is part of life. It is right. In fact, we're teaching our children the right and wrong of life because we want them to be able to judge. Could you imagine if we're just like the world and saying, I'm not gonna put any pressure on my kids. I wanna wait till they're old enough to make their own decisions. Now, I'm not trying to be mean, but that is so dangerous, number one, and it is, secondly, very ridiculous. I mean, could you imagine, I always say this way, let's give them that choice when it comes to brushing their teeth. I'm not gonna put any pressure on my kids to brush their teeth. I'm gonna wait till they're old enough to make that decision on their own. Could you imagine? I mean, you'd have to be, well, whatever time they decided, maybe they decide after so many visits to a dentist, you know, because their teeth are horrible, right? And we know because it's not good for them. And so we're gonna- any pressure on your kids to believe anything from the Bible or not to believe, why not? And if our faith is not worth passing on to our children, why should we even believe it? But because it is true, then to not have it is utterly dangerous. It's not just rotten teeth, it's an eternity without Christ. So it's very important. And so when people say not to judge, Dave, I can't see back there. I don't like wearing glasses. You have your hand up. You want to say something? I like the point also, it's the enemies of Christ have no set of reservations. Every person who interacts with your children in almost every environment, public schools, everything, they want to impose an opposite worldview. So if you're not going to do it to your children, somebody else will. Yeah, I agree, completely agree, 100%, and I'm gonna repeat it for the, hopefully, dozens of people that are at home listening on Zoom today. But what he was saying was that the opposite is that every other element in society is not going to be neutral. They're coming after your kids with an agenda, all right? And they would love, and could you think the wisdom of the devil himself to say, I've got an idea, Let's make the parents on a guilt trip not to educate their children in some indoctrination, they would call it, into the truth so that we can have them at five and following as totally empty-headed kids that we can fill with our garbage. And that's what they're after. They're not neutral. They're not letting the kids decide. They're telling them all this absurd unbiblical and ungodly things like this woke-ism. That's a good point. I appreciate you saying that. So look, if you want to make a comment, you're always welcome. Ask a question. But I don't like my glasses, so you have to wave at me if I'm going to see. Thank you. But the point here is that this verse is the one that everybody says, don't judge, don't judge. Bible says don't judge. But that's not what the Bible is saying here. And it's ridiculous to believe that. So what does it mean? Okay, so we discussed basically last week, that's as far as we got, was what does it not mean? Let's go to point number two where it talks about the reciprocation. the reciprocation of this judging. All right, so we have this stated for us three different times, and we'll get to that point in a moment. But look at verse number one, it says that ye be not judged. So wait a minute, if I judge wrong judgment, there is the possibility that I'm going to reap what I sow. That's the whole point. In fact, as capital letter A in your outline is the word reaping, R-E-A-P-I-N-G. Now keep going in verse two, for with what judgment you judge, ye shall be judged. So there a second time. And with what measure you meet it, shall be measured to you again, third time. Third time, there are three mentions here of the fact that you're warned that if you judge falsely, you're gonna reap. The warning is not about not judging, it's about judging wrongfully. It's judging, it's like this. There's a lot of things that happen to people that both, there are two sides to an issue. And the Proverbs tell us that we should hear both sides of an issue before we make a judgment. And the Bible says that those who judge a matter without hearing it are acting in a folly and in a foolish way. So I've had some friends in my life that You know, in a matter of time, I'm gonna go back about 10 years, we had a big disagreement that caused some splits with some friends of mine. And I had a lot of people that, a number of people, I don't know a lot, there's been just a number, who never picked up the phone and called me and said, what really happened? What is your vantage point? And they just heard the one side and they made a judgment. And I'm telling you, they were totally off, totally wrong. It was completely wrong. And I'm not gonna go into the issue, but think of a situation like that. And at one point, and for Debbie and I, we were just kind of baffled, like, why would somebody believe that? All right, and then some of those friends, because it was dealing with the leadership of a former church, they never really saw the truth of what our side is until that same pastor attacked them. It had to happen to them. So it doesn't do a Christian any good to say, I'm not gonna hear both sides. I'm not talking about gossip. Like, that's the whole point. And if what we're teaching can't be matched and challenged, then maybe our interpretation isn't correct. Now, I do a lot of study, and I prepare, and I really do want to give the truth of God's word, so I hope that my diligence pays off. But if you come up to me, and here we go again, I was teaching this last night in Bible Institute. But if you come up and say, pastor, I'm not sure I agree with that position. Well, I'm inviting you to. I enjoy that. I think that's an important point. Because as a pastor, it tells me that you're thinking about it, and you're in the process of internalizing it. and you're weighing the options, and the result of that, hopefully, because the Bible is true, and I know it'll come out true every time, hey, even if I'm not right, the Bible is right, okay? So I'm careful to point that out, that as I'm trying to lead the church in the right direction, it doesn't mean I'm the answer of all doctrine. You need to see the word of God. Now, if it disagrees with the Bible, it's just wrong. Right? I mean, if it's in the Bible, it's correct. This book is correct even though it's not a historical book. It's historically correct. It's scientifically accurate. It is complete. And if anything disagrees with the Bible or contradicts the Bible, even me and you, it has to be wrong. But you and I must have the value of being willing to have two sides of an argument being examined. Right? This isn't an indoctrination in the sense that what we're teaching is untenable, therefore we don't want you to challenge it. In fact is, if you read it in the Bible, you can believe it, but I'm saying if you're having trouble with something, challenge it. Go and study it. And then when you're done with it, you're going to find out that the Bible was true, no matter who else disagrees with you. I once was talking to somebody going through problems at a church, and they said to me, Pastor, I don't know if I'll ever go to church again. And I told this fellow, I said, now listen, every church in the world could be wrong, and God is still right, and the Bible's still right. All right? Now, the Bible, now, is that possible for every church to be wrong? Not according to Matthew 16, because the Lord made a promise that the gates of hell will not prevail against it. All throughout history, the truth is available. It has to be. It could never be hidden and it can never be quenched. The only way it's destroying it in America is that places like America can become like Great Britain. Great Britain was the number one missionary supplier of the world. And they grew into atheism and coldness and woke-ism, unbelief. And now there is a mission field. You know, it's all around and we're having it all over America right now where the gospel light is going out and we need to get the light back out there. So it's not possible that all of the churches would be wrong. It's not possible because God made a promise. But I'll tell you, the ones that are going to be right are the ones that focus upon this book. This right here, this is God's. You contradict this, you're in a wrong church. You need to have that interpretation fixed. So it's not about judging or not judging, it's about being right when you judge. And anytime you're on God's side when you judge something, you're always on the right side. That's important to know. So we have this reaping that I put down there, and it's then repeating, and I want you to notice that it's three times. But if you write down a reference maybe over here next to it, Galatians chapter six in verse number seven, Galatians 6, seven. Does anybody know that verse off the top of your head? You want to say it? Be not deceived. God is not mocked. For whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. Galatians chapter six, verse seven. So really, it's important to remember that God is watching. You know, judging something before you know it, or judging wrong judgment, and then we're going to get into the specifics about this kind of wrong judgment in this next section. But it's repeated. Here it's repeated three times. Now I'm gonna try to explain this to you, that there are poetic portions of the Bible. And we think of poetry as, maybe I do, as words that are used to create an effect in a person's heart, one way to appeal to their emotions. And so that there might seem at times extra words that are used or employed in order to certain effect. I want to teach you says every word of God is pure. God doesn't have filler words. Right? I remember when Debbie and I were dating, and, you know, I just, I'm not a conversationalist by nature, and I used to worry, getting ready to go on a date, I used to worry if I'd run out of something to say. Like that awkward silence, you know? So I used to, and then all week long, I would, I would remember, I would remember, oh, I remember this, I'm gonna tell Debbie about that. And then we'd get on a date, and I couldn't remember any of it, because I was just going to college, only sleeping a couple hours a night, that kind of thing. So I started carrying a three by five card in my pocket all week long. And I would pull it out when I thought of something that I wanted to tell my future wife. I'd write it down, write it down. So by the end of the week it was getting, and we'd eat supper together on Saturday evening. And usually we were planning out another activity for the teenagers. I was a youth pastor at the time. We were preparing for marriage and everything. And so then I would pull this card out, hoping she never saw me pulling this card out to keep the conversation going. Part of it was because I wouldn't remember the things I wanted to tell her. But part of it was that awkward silence with her that I felt embarrassed that I just couldn't keep filling the conversation. I think you know what I'm talking about. But God doesn't have to do that. He invented language. Every word was chosen, every article. In fact, as in Galatians chapter four, the Lord makes a picture, a word picture, goes back to Genesis, and he is making the specifics on one letter. He said, I said not unto thee seeds as many, but seed as one, that is Christ. And so he makes an argument based not only on one word or one sentence, but on the letter, the plurality of the word seeds or seed. You can read about it in Galatians as he gives that metaphor. In other words, God doesn't waste words. So when things are repeated in the Bible like this, where three times he's warning us, you're going to get it if you do this. Judge not, or you're gonna be judged. Because what measure you meet, you're gonna get it again. Right? And how does he put it the last time? What measure you meet, and it says, what judgment you judge, ye shall be judged. So he's saying watch it for those that are hypocritical. He's been dealing with hypocrisy since the beginning of chapter, this whole sermon's about hypocrisy. And he's still on this subject. So here are the Pharisees judging people I mean, really casting burdens upon them, punishments for their wrong, while the very Pharisees are doing the same thing. Oh, now we get it. So what the Lord is saying is watch yourself. You start getting on everybody else, you better make sure you're right with God. or you're gonna get it, and he repeats it. So let's go on to Roman numeral three then. The rebuking of this judgment in verses three through five. So let's read verse three and verse four. He goes into kind of a parable here. And why beholdest thou the moat that is in thy brother's eye? And when I was a kid, I thought, oh, could you imagine having a moat? And I'm thinking of like a moat around a castle. Right? Like, I remember that when I was a kid. Like, how does that happen? Because, I mean, that would be as big as a beam. But as he goes on, it's talking about a little wedge of wood, like a little piece of wood that you get in your eye that irritates you. And he said, but consider us not the beam that is thine own eye. And so, as I study this, Albert Barnes points out, he's a commentator that has some good things, but in the research he said this, that this was a proverb in frequent use among the Jews, had the same sentiment among the Greek people, and he puts in here that it deserves to be expressed in every language. In other words, the comparison of some kind of large piece of rod or stick or beam compared to a little sliver. And so you're out there picking out the slivers in somebody else's eye while there's all this while a stick hanging out your eye. Right? And that's what the Lord is telling the Pharisees. This is the way you're living. You're living a life that isn't consistent with your message. And that has to change. So, we note here some things. The terms. Capital letter A is terms. My outline is not really spiritual, so I would just say the terms. Talking about what a mote means and what a beam means. And... The moat is a chip or splinter of some material, the same as with a beam. But a beam is a log or joist or rafter in that time. So look up here at these rafters and compare that to a little sliver, right? Like how ridiculous, here's this guy, how could you even see to get the moat out of somebody, the sliver out of somebody's eye when you're carrying a rafter in your eye? What a great picture, but it was a word picture that was being used among the Jews at his time already. And then we notice in these terms about the words beholdest, interesting. This is the Greek word blepo, which really just means to see, to have sight. The second term is considerist. Right? And that is a deeper word, it means to understand. It has to do with not just something you visibly see, but you're not even perceiving something is wrong. And a third term is to see clearly, in verse number five. Then thou shalt see clearly to cast out the mote. So, what I have noticed in life, and I'm just going off and trying to put an example to this, that people whose problem in life is a real difficulty with pride. Now, how many of you have a problem with pride? Right? I mean, who didn't? I'm not talking about, we all have it. It can be said that pride is the beginning of every sin, okay? I mean, every sin stems from it. But I'm talking about somebody who is, openly antagonistic about limiting themselves above other people. And what I've noticed about that particular area of life is that when somebody is filled with pride, it also comes with a great blindness simultaneously. And I'm not talking about physical blindness, I'm talking about they just don't think right. It messes up their brain, right? And it's like the emperor with no clothes, right? Like his pride left him like they really could invent invisible clothes. What a dumb thing. But people do the dumbest things when they're full of pride. Well, I know better. I just know something that you just don't know. Watch out, man. Wherefore, let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall. And what does the Bible say about pride in the book of Psalms on Proverbs? Pride goeth before destruction and an haughty spirit before a fall. So this is the issue. These Pharisees and their pride were, as you read in the last chapter, were walking around blowing a trumpet so people could stop and listen to their great prayers for to be seen of men. Or they were fasting and acting like they were fasting, or they were, oh, I'm about to give more money. Everybody look, I'm filling the offering plate, right? So the pride then brings them to the point where they're totally blind. So something that Brother Terry taught me, and I hope I say this right. He said, if you're in a marching band, and everybody's feet are out of tune with yours, you probably should check where you're marching. Now I'm not talking about, there's times when you have to stand upon the truth of God's word. But here's my point. If all of your godly friends around you can see that there's a problem, everybody is not wrong. I'm talking about godly friends. And people need to see this. So I have had to confront a few of my friends at times as a pastor or a friend, right? That's what the Bible does say, that iron sharpeneth iron, right? And we go to our friends and we say, in a loving way, in a meek way, and as best we can without hurting feelings, we have to say, can I talk to you about an issue? Okay, and I've dealt with this, especially with this issue of bitterness or anger. And one particular person that probably more recent, I said, well, I'm concerned that you're really struggling with bitterness. Not somebody in our church. First words, what do you think the first words in reply? What? I'm not bitter. And they said it so bitterly. But I wasn't the only one. I mean, I know this in this situation. I'm not trying to make it obvious, but several pastors loved this guy and trying to help him. And he and his wife were sunk in bitterness in a way that our hearts broke for that family. And it's going to continue to hurt. But along with that bitterness comes a blindness and a pride. I'm not bitter. Then you go to somebody else. you know, their friend, another pastor. I wanna deal with you, help you with the bitterness. I'm not bitter! Well, if you're, if everybody in the marching band is not in step with you, you probably should look at your own steps. Everybody that loves you is not wrong if they're trying to give you advice. I'm not talking about, there is wrong advice out there. There are plenty of that. But I'm talking about if everybody around you says, I think you have a problem with anger. You probably have a problem with anger. But don't let your pride get hurt. You're going to have a problem with something. The Bible says every man is tempted when he is drawn away, now listen, of his own lusts and enticed. What does that mean? We all have a propensity for certain sins. Your desires are different than mine. I'm talking about the wrong desires. And so to come to the place where I, and you remember I had an anger problem a while ago, not here, but years and years ago, but the Lord gave me victory. And if somebody came to me and said you had a problem with your anger, you know what I would do? I don't have a problem with my anger, it's your problem. What a ridiculous blindness comes on our hearts. And if everybody around you says, brother, I love you, and can I help you with your anger problem? I don't have a problem with anger. Man, after a while, you probably should stop and ask God, are you sending these people to help me? I'm not talking about the world. I'm not talking about like people out in the world. God might even use some of them, but specifically God's people that love you. They're trying to help you. But this is the case. So next point, not only terms, but travesty, T-R-A-V-E-S-T-Y. The travesty, so this is going here to just one word in verse number three, the second word, and why? Yes, you have something else? Pastor, I think there's also a risk with this verse of how the devil has twisted it in the minds of many people. What you're talking about is people are willing to confront the being in your eyes of about being able to do that to each other. The devil often uses these verses to convince people that they are never in a position to help anybody else. Oh, yeah. Beat them down to the point where they go, I'm such a bad person myself, I've magnified our own problems, that then we are never qualified to reach over to our brother and say, hey, brother, can I help you with this problem? Absolutely. Right. So so let's let's I'm going to kind of repeat that point for those that are on Zoom listening. And basically what he's pointing out, another good point that he's that David brought up is that we we have had this passage used as if we're we're not allowed to help each other one on one with the difficulties of each other's lives. Like you feel like I don't have any right or any grounds, biblically, to help a friend who's having difficulties. To confront them with their difficulties. Yeah, being two brothers. So, in Proverbs, the Bible says that only by pride cometh contention. So when it becomes contentious, we know one thing, it's because of pride. That guy's pride, or my pride, or usually it's both pride. It's a problem. It's not that you can't help. In fact, the Bible says in James chapter five, confess your faults to one another and pray one for another. Galatians chapter six and verse one tells us, ye that are spiritual, he tells us to go and to help those who are having difficulties. Actually, you're wrong if you don't say something. Are you going to, as the world would say, friends don't let friends get on drugs, right? Well, Christian friends don't let Christian friends continue to disobey the Bible and to live that way. It doesn't mean you're a policeman. That comes down to the attitude. Romans 12 tells us over and over again how specifically to treat one another. So most importantly when you disagree, you should never lash out. Like, you shouldn't get in your anger, speak in harshness, that's not what it's about. But if you're sincerely trying to help somebody else, you should still honor that person and respect them. But it's right to confront them with the right spirit. The travesty here is the word why. And the Lord is saying, why? Why would you not clean up the problem you have before? going to the other person. And that's really what he says in verse number four. Once you have pulled out the beam out of your own eye, then you can go and clean up the moat in somebody else's eye. But not only that, you should do that. My last point is the teaching in the parable. So let me give you a few things and I'll let you go. The bottom summation of this whole concept here. So if you have those three points at the end, the terms travesty and teaching, let me give you three points here under teaching. Number one, I say three, it's four. We're not to judge hypocritically. So you can write that somewhere on your page. Don't judge hypocritically. Number two, don't judge presumptuously. Presumptuously. Number three, don't judge eagerly. This is not a game. These are people's lives. Be tender toward them, yes? And don't judge inaccurately. Now, we're all gonna make mistakes. There have been times that I've had to go back to church people that I have come and, as the pastor, I have people come to me with problems, and I have to confront them with the truth. They're wanting help. Much of the time when people come to me, a lot of times what they're not seeing is that there's sin that's causing the problem in their lives. Okay, most problems are a problem of sin. And so I confront people, but there are times when I've had to go back to people and say, hey, I have read that wrong, I apologize, and I want to make it right. What is wrong with that? That's so much better than to be inaccurate and to judge inaccurately. When you found that you've done something hypocritically or presumptuously, or you had the wrong spirit, meaning that's what I mean by eagerly, that you're just glad to hurt somebody, that's absurd. Or that you would not be accurate, you go back and you fix it. In other words, humility runs every direction in the Christian life to our benefit. God says he resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble. That's what we should be seeking. Not to be seen or known, not to be lifted up of man, but to please God in a humble way and to help one another get through this great life's journey that we have. Okay, I'm way over time here. I know you're surprised. We have about seven minutes before church starts. Can we close in prayer? And I'll give you a little bit of time. Father, I thank you for the opportunity to gather. Thank you for, Lord, the things we've covered, the teaching, the way that your word speaks to us. I pray that you bless this morning service. Give wisdom as a power as I preach in Jesus name, I pray. Amen.