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Good morning, brethren. I'd like 
you to take your Bibles and turn to Matthew chapter 7. I understand your pastors preach 
through Matthew. And the great thing about the 
Word of God, there's many great things about the Word of God, 
is that you can preach from a passage that you may have already heard 
preached. And because of the grace given, It is of great benefit 
and help to God's people. So I plan on preaching two messages 
from Matthew today. So today it's Matthew chapter 
seven. I'll read verses one through 
six. This is the word of the living God. Judge not that you 
be not judged. For with what judgment you judge, 
you will be judged. And with the measure you use, 
it will be measured back to you. And why do you look at the speck 
in your brother's eye, but do not consider the plank in your 
own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, 
let me remove the speck from your eye, and look, a plank is 
in your own eye. Hypocrite. First remove the plank 
from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the 
speck from your brother's eye. Do not give what is holy to the 
dogs, nor cast your pearls before a swine. lest they trample them 
under their feet and turn and tear you in pieces." When we 
come to Matthew chapter 7, we are at the end of probably one 
of the most famous sermons by our Lord, commonly known as the 
Sermon on the Mount, and when you consider the Sermon on the 
Mount, it's really the difference between the Christian and the 
unbeliever, the one who has believed and the one who has not believed, 
one who is repentant and one that is not repentant, the righteous 
and those that are not righteous. A couple of weeks ago, I preached 
from John 3, 16, probably the most famous verse among believers 
and unbelievers. Well, there's a second verse 
very much quoted by unbelievers. This is usually quoted by unbelievers 
whenever they are called on a carpet, so to speak, with regards to 
their sin. And they all say something like, 
well, you shouldn't judge. Don't judge me, that type of 
thing. Well, my question is, Did Christ 
mean in this particular statement, judge not, and some of your translations 
will say condemn not, but did our Lord really mean that we 
are never ever to express any opinion concerning maybe our 
neighbors, our family relations, or anyone? Are we never to express 
an adverse and unfavorable opinion? Well, John the Baptist, Matthew 
chapter 3, when he saw the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to be baptized, 
what did he call them? A brood of vipers. That would 
entail John making a judgment, a decision upon these men. He 
even reproved Herod for having his brother's wife. Paul rebuked 
Peter and Barnabas because of their hypocrisy. In Galatians 
chapter 3, the Jews would arrive And Barnabas and Peter fell into 
that hypocrisy and withdrew from the Gentiles there. And again, Paul rebuked them 
for doing that. In Matthew 18, we're to tell 
our brother his fault. That involves making a judgment. Even in the book of Ephesians, 
Paul says, have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of 
darkness, but rather expose, can be translated, reprove them. 1 John, test the spirits, see 
if they are from God. So everything here that we brought 
out does entail some judgment on our part. We constantly judge. It's not a bad thing at times. It can be a bad thing. We'll 
see what our Lord means by this. We judge all the time. I went 
to the gym yesterday and At this particular gym, there's something 
called a lunk. I never heard of a lunk, but 
apparently it says here is, of course, they named the guy Ricky 
of all things. Here is Ricky. He is slamming 
his weights around. He's drinking from a gallon bottle 
of water. And I forget, something else. And they said, what a lunk. I'm 
thinking this is supposed to be a judgment-free zone. And 
yet you're judging Ricky because of the fact that he's just, throwing 
weights around and drinks from a different bottle than you are. 
Everyone judges, that's the bottom line. So what does our Lord mean 
here when he says, judge not that you be not judged? Well, 
the word judge can be translated condemn. It can be also looked 
upon as something that would separate, where you separate 
the lambs from the goats in Matthew chapter 25. Also to make a distinction 
as well. But I find it interesting that 
the key word here is not. Judge not. In fact, it's a double 
negative. Judge not that you be not judged. You take away those nots there. 
Judge that you may be judged. But it's there for a reason. 
Judge not lest you also be judged. Now, before we look at this warning, 
And if you're looking for a title for this message, it would be 
a caution, a caution. In America, whenever we're driving 
near a railroad track and all of a sudden the lights go red 
and the arms come down, I imagine you have them here as well, that 
lets you know you got a big locomotive coming down that road and you 
are not to, now some of them don't have gates that prevent 
you from going onto the railroad tracks, If they don't have that 
gate there, people could possibly drive and get hit by that locomotive 
and be killed. I mean, that 3,000 pound car 
is a speck compared to that locomotive. It's carrying tons upon tons 
and going at a pretty good speed. This is a warning, a caution 
that our Lord brings out, and before we look at that closely, 
I'd like us to do kind of a flyover of the passes that I just read 
and bring out some truths that can help us or some cautions 
that can help us before we dig a little bit deeper into this. 
The first caution is that we need to be careful because of 
the one who is speaking. Jesus, who is the Christ, God 
manifested in the flesh, is bringing this sermon out. If ever there 
was one that we should listen to, it's the Lord Jesus Christ, 
or the prophets when they spoke in the Old Testament, or even 
the apostles after our Lord to send it into heaven, or any preacher 
preaching from the Word of God, there is indeed that authority, 
and therefore there is a certain measure of caution as you listen 
to this Word that's being proclaimed. Another caution that we should 
consider is that we're entering into a very serious action, judging, 
condemning. So again, there's great caution 
that should be used. Another caution commands patience 
and not to be hasty to judge, as he who hastens with his feet 
sins." Take your time in terms of this caution. There's also 
caution against that which is common to man. eager, severe 
judging without all the facts. Years ago, when President Obama 
was our president, a prominent religious leader was asked to 
give his opinion about something that Mr. Obama had done. I like 
what the man said. He said, well, you know, I don't 
have all the facts that Mr. Obama does, so this interview 
is over with. And he was done. He was not going 
to make a judgment about Mr. Obama. because he who answers 
a matter, before he hears it, it's a folly and a shame. Now, the context, remember the 
context of this. It is the Sermon on the Mount, 
but I think our Lord has the religious leaders in view. Remember, these leaders made 
a big deal. They called it a grave sin to, 
okay, now here we go. Here's the horrible sin. that 
was being committed by our Lord's disciples, they didn't wash their 
hands. And yet, these same men plotted 
to kill our Lord, they committed adultery, and they stole. See kind of the peck, speck I 
should say, the speck and the plank? Here they are, murdered. adultery, stealing, okay? And here, on the other hand, 
don't wash your hands. Which is worse? Kids, wash your hands before 
dinner. Don't. But the Pharisees also condemned the disciples 
for rubbing the wheat on the Lord's day and eating. They even 
condemned our Lord. for casting out demons and for 
healing on the Sabbath. And for them to accuse our Lord 
of casting out demons by the power of Satan, that's insanity. 
Of course, sin is insane. So that gives you an idea of 
the atmosphere of the day. Okay, now we can take a look 
at the verses. And I'm gonna ask four questions. The first 
question will be found in verse one. And that is, why no judging? Why no condemning? He says that 
there are judged not that you be not judged. Now this is one 
of those immediate application. We're not reading through a narrative 
or having to hear a parable and then making judgments or making 
application. This is one of those immediate 
application passages that deals with the fact that we are not 
to condemn. Why is that? Well, the second half of the 
verse says that you will be judged, you will be condemned. Again, 
we stop here because this is a warning, a severe warning. 
One of the most serious applications our Lord could have brought out, 
judgment, He does right here at the very beginning. And it's interesting that it 
appears that those that delight in judgment, there's a rush to 
judgment. Instead of it landing on those 
that they're judging, it appears that it lands on them. Judge 
not that you not be judged. Condemn not lest you also be 
condemned. Punishment that they desired 
lands on them. And those that demonstrate an 
eagerness to bite and devour in judgment with no mercy do 
not escape God's judgment. In James chapter 2 verse 13, 
For judgment is without mercy to the one who has shown no mercy. 
Again, it's an alarming verse right here. Judge not, lest you 
also be judged. I will explain that a little 
bit further, but I have a second question. It's found in verse 
2. What is the standard on how I will be judged? Now remember, 
brethren, children, those that may not be in Christ, Every single 
one of us have got to be judged by God Almighty. Notice it's 
being judged by God Almighty. We all have to. We all have to 
come to that great day of judgment. And what is that standard? According 
to verse two, it's you. Me? Yeah, it's you. Some may 
say, well, that doesn't sound too bad. I think I can get along 
with that, no problem at all. Well, let me ask you something. If you are harsh towards others, 
will God be harsh towards you? If you are unforgiving, it appears 
that God will not be forgiving towards you. If you show no mercy, 
no mercy will be shown to you. Matthew 6.15, if you do not forgive 
men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your 
trespasses. So if there's no tenderness, 
no kindness, no mercy, no forgiveness, no grace, our Lord preaches, 
you will receive the same. Now, what I've just said, you 
only take in part. All will be judged by the law 
of God. This is just in part where our 
Lord has taken us through that great day of judgment, pulling 
the curtain for us to take a brief glimpse of what that judgment 
day is going to be like. Then we step aside. How you are 
to others, God will be to you. Third question I have to ask, 
which our Lord asks as well, is why do you judge? Our Lord 
gets specific and probes deeper by asking a question. And the 
question is, is how do we answer that question? It has to be answered. Look at verse three. And why 
do you look at the speck in your brother's eye, but do not consider 
the plank in your own eye? Our Lord is using a gross illustration. If it wasn't so serious, it would 
be comical. Can you imagine if I had a two 
by four in my eye? It's physically impossible, but 
it's, you know what a two by four is, right kids? You know 
what that is? Big piece of wood. Imagine that being in my eye 
and I'm trying to remove a little speck of wood in my wife's eye. It makes no sense whatsoever. 
The question is, why are you judging? You have this huge piece 
of wood in your eye and you're concerned about some small speck 
in another person's eye. The reason why people judge is 
because they've not been cautious. Consider your sins against God. Are they far worse than maybe 
someone's sin against you? My sins against God are far worse. Far worse. That is what our Lord 
is bringing out. Now some that have that plank 
in the eye consider the fact that their sins are not that 
bad. They're not that bad off. Not that bad, not a big deal. 
There's no true sense of personal sin. So when our Lord says, why 
do you judge? We have to say, if we do fall 
into that sin, I've not been cautious. I've not considered 
my sin. I'm not aware of my own personal 
sin, which brings us now to our fourth question. And that fourth 
question is, how can you judge? Why can you, why do you judge 
in verse three, fourth? How can you judge? How can you 
say that? How can you see when you have 
this two by four in your eye and you're trying to remove a 
speck from your brother's eye? Well, the answer to that question, 
how can you see is, well, I can't see. You can't see and therefore 
you're more concerned with the speck in your brother's eye and 
not concerning the plank in your own eye. How can you say to your 
brother, let me remove the speck from your eye and look, a plank 
is in your own eye. It appears that there are those 
that are more distracted from their duty of removing the plank 
from their own eye and are taken up with the activity of removing 
a speck from a brother's eye. It may not even be a sin at all. Quick and severe in judging others 
and not using the same standard on yourself. In Romans chapter 
two, you may have been thinking about this, Romans chapter 2, 
listen to how Paul brings out judging. In Romans chapter 2 
verse 1, Therefore you are inexcusable, O man, whoever you are who judge. For whatever you judge another, 
you condemn yourself. For you who judge practice the 
same things. Verse 3, And do you think this, 
O man, you who judge, who practice such things and do the same things, 
that you will escape the judgment of God? Notice that ends with 
a question. Do you really think you're going 
to escape the judgment of God when you are judging and doing 
the same thing that you are condemning? When you take a look at verse 
21, You therefore who teach another, do you not teach yourself? This 
is more towards pastors. You who preach that a man should 
not steal, do you steal? You who say do not commit adultery, 
do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you rob 
temples? It almost appears that Paul has 
been taught by our Lord potentially from this same passage. Granted, 
our Lord taught Paul the Apostle face to face, if you will. But 
you have to say that the thrust of these verses that we're looking 
at here in Matthew 7 is, are you doing the same thing that 
you're preaching against? That's the question. To be severe 
on others and easy on yourself is, look at verse five, go back 
to Matthew chapter seven, stands out. Mine says hypocrite with 
an exclamation point at the end of it. That's hypocrisy, hypocrisy. To quickly judge others and strangely 
to enjoy it. and yet at liberty to commit 
the same sin that you're preaching against. That is grieving. Harsh and unmerciful are not 
aware of their own sin, for they are in a blind condition. That's 
what the plank in the eye means. They're blind. It's spiritual 
blindness. You can't see. It's spiritual blindness. And I think that our Lord had 
the Pharisees in mind, Before we, oh, I'm glad this has nothing 
to do with me, I'm not a Pharisee. We have to say, can it be, can 
it be that that is at our door at times as well? Using a lot 
of effort to uncover the sins of others and yet using that 
same effort to cover one's own transgression. The Proverbs said, 
he who covers his sins shall not prosper. Shovel, if you will. Throw dirt 
on others. That same shovel to take that 
dirt and cover up your sin and then say, oh, I am holy. I am 
preaching. Well, now we come to the solution. 
The solution for these four questions. It answers all the questions 
and it's found in verse five. He does begin with the word hypocrite. 
Our Lord was quite a preacher, the best 
preacher. He was the Lord God Almighty, 
and he had the right to say that to them. I am not going to stand 
here in this pulpit, come down around the front, hypocrite, 
hypocrite, because you know what I have to do? There's hypocrisy 
in all of us. Hypocrisy with all of us should 
humble us when we consider our neighbor. Love teaches us that 
there's a splinter in our neighbor's eye while there's a large beam 
in our own eye. And this produces true repentance, 
true personal awareness of our sins, and produces a humility. Remember, God gives grace to 
the humble, but the proud he resists. Now, the one who sins against 
us, when you get down to it, that's really nothing compared 
to our sins against God. When we look at it like that, 
that helps us to be able to remove that plank from our own eye before 
we remove the speck from our brother's eye. Remember when Adam sinned, who 
did he blame? He blamed God. Lord, the woman you gave me." 
So there's, remember this, it's our nature to deflect sin. Someone reproves you, you might 
deflect it. You might blame someone else. We blame the fact that 
so many people are not in church, we blame that on God, and that 
should not be done. It's not God's fault that Adam 
sinned or that we sinned. But I also want you to notice 
something else here in verse 5. And he says, then you will 
see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye. There 
is a time to remove the speck. There really is. And that's when that large beam has 
been removed from our own eye. Remember when David repented 
of his sins? He had committed adultery, committed 
murder, wrote Psalm 51. But at the end of Psalm 51, he 
says this, then I shall teach transgressors your ways. Then you will be able to remove 
the speck from your brother's eye. You will be able to help 
them because your consideration is quite different now. You're going with great caution. 
If any of you are spiritual, as Galatians says, If a man is 
overtaken in any trespass, you who are spiritual, go and restore 
such a one in a spirit of gentleness. Considering yourself lest you 
also be tempted." You see the attitude that is being driven 
by the saint is that one of humility. I'm going to go and talk to someone 
so I know that they have sinned. but you do it with humility, 
with much grace, not in a very harsh way. Now, removing the 
beam. If you try to remove that beam 
from your own eye, in your own power, in your own strength, 
if I preach a works righteousness to you, come on, just remove 
the beam from your eye. I'd be a false teacher. Remember, 
this is the Sermon on the Mount. Earlier, our Lord said, give 
us this day our daily bread and forgive us our debts. Notice 
it's a prayer. And if it's a prayer, it indicates 
our powerlessness to remove the beam from our eye. The same trust 
that we have for God to provide us with our daily bread is the 
same trust that we have for God to remove the beam from my eye. 
Forgive me of my sins. We're going to the one that we 
have sinned against. Remove the plank yourself, you 
don't have it within you to do it. The Lord can, and that's 
the one that we are to go to, to Him. Now, verse 6, many say that this has 
nothing to do with the first five verses, and I would respectfully 
disagree with that. Another gross illustration our 
Lord uses here and that is to cast pearls before swine. We went to Kilby Farms here about 
a week ago and there were some two nice size hogs and they were 
rolling around the dust and the dirt and anything else they get 
their hands on. It would be useless for my wife 
to take her nice necklace and strap it around a pig. Make no sense whatsoever. Our 
Lord uses that illustration to teach us that we are not to take 
the gospel at times to those who mock and make fun of the 
religion of Jesus Christ. Again, I think the Pharisees 
here is in our Lord's crosshairs, so to speak. In other words, 
our Lord has told them in the past, leave them alone. We must be ready to give an answer 
for the hope that lies within us, but have some discretion. Use some judgment. If someone 
is a mocker and a scoffer of the Lord Jesus Christ and the 
gospel of Jesus Christ, you leave them alone. Or if you've gone 
to them several times and they just make fun of you, or our 
Lord uses strong language, turn and tear you to pieces. They 
are very violent towards you. You let them go, okay? So, the 
application should be pretty simple here, right? I've been 
applying the whole time as we've been going along. But if you've 
been following along in this sermon, it should be pretty simple. And hopefully I might add some 
things that might be of help to you. And the first thing for 
you to consider is to think biblically. Initially in my notes, I had 
think differently. But if you think differently, 
it doesn't mean you're gonna be thinking biblically. The thing is that we need to 
think biblically, and we think biblically when we consider our 
Lord's caution about judging. It is natural for man to be quick 
to condemn. Now, I'm speaking from personal 
experience. Before I was a Christian, I would 
take God's name in vain with a damn at the end of it, or I'd 
tell people to go to hell. not even considering that I was 
on the road to destruction, and I threw God's judgment around 
like it was nothing at all. Well, that was then. This is 
now. What has changed me? What has 
changed you? I would submit to you, you saw 
that plank in your eye. You came to the Lord and He had 
mercy on you through the Lord Jesus Christ. And as a result, 
that great weight has been taken off of your back. When you believed 
upon Christ, God justified you. When you saw that my sins were 
far greater, I was not too concerned about the specks in other people's 
eyes. I'm concerned about me. I'm concerned 
about my sin. Because when I stand before God, 
I'm not judging these other people. I'm only concerned with God and 
me. What will I do on that great day of judgment? Thankfully, 
our sins have been judged in Jesus Christ. When I said we 
will all stand before the judgment seat of God, we will, but we 
will have the righteousness of Christ put to our account. That 
should make us to be a different kind of people when we deal with 
sin in a congregation, family, even friends. We will deal quite 
differently because we've been given new eyes, eyes to see, 
ears. We've been granted a new nature. 
We have a new heart. That is the difference. This 
word here that our Lord preached, if we were sitting there listening, 
being convicted by our sin, where do we go to find life? I've got 
a huge plank, a huge beam in my eye, where can I go to get 
that beam removed? The Lord Jesus Christ, the author 
and finisher of our faith, and therefore we will be much more 
patient much more cautious when we make judgments. And we do 
need to make judgments about those things that are righteous 
and not. When my wife and I left Roman Catholicism, we made a 
judgment. The Roman Catholic institution 
is a damnable religion. That's all we could see. teaching 
a works righteousness. We had to leave it. We had to 
make a decision. We had to make a judgment. Wait 
a minute, you're judging people. I'm judging their doctrine. I'm 
not judging people. If you say that Jesus being crucified 
at every mass, figuratively, literally, a bloodless sacrifice, 
that's blasphemy. I'm not saying that, okay, now 
you guys, these priests have bare more responsibility, but 
when people begin to say, well, hey, you're judging me. No, judging 
the doctrine. You do what you want with that 
doctrine. But if you believe that God is in that host, and 
you bow down to it and call it God, a piece of bread, that's 
idolatry. We are leaving. You have to make 
judgments. Some of you may have had to leave 
churches. You had to make a judgment because of gospel situations. Gospel truth may not have been 
preached. We must be very careful, but 
we must make judgments. We have to test to see if the 
Spirit of God, if the truth of God is there or not. The next 
thing for us to consider is, and I'm repeating myself, 
how you are to others in one sense reveals your condition. Are you a person that hangs on 
to a grudge? Are you harsh, unloving, and 
hateful? Now those are strong words. Do I have a beam in my eye that 
makes me blind? How do I know if I have been 
harsh or judgmental? Your family probably knows. You may say, well, what do they 
know? Well, they live with you. And that's a good indication 
to ask our spouse, even ask our children, how am I? Am I harsh? Am I gracious? Now, granted being 
strict, we should be strict. We have to be strict. That's 
the call of the Christian is to be strict, to turn from the 
course of this world and to live for Jesus Christ. I hope they 
would say I'm strict, but also gracious and long suffering and 
kind. That's what you hope. But the 
best one to find out from is from the ones that you normally 
live with or close friends or even with brethren. And there 
are also those who would utter these horrible words. This is 
the worst thing you could ever say. I think it is. Oh, I'll 
never forgive that person. Granted, there are times if children 
have been abused, If spouses have been abused, adultery has 
been committed, whatever it is, and there have been very severe 
things done to you, you're on the receiving end of that. That's 
a separate sermon because you just don't automatically quickly 
forgive someone for that. There was a relative of ours 
that was abused and they used this verse to protect them from 
going to the magistrates. That man should have went to 
the magistrates and he should have been put in jail, but he 
wasn't. Oh, judge not. Well, if you do 
something against the law, if you abuse a child, okay, I'm 
not looking at that child for forgiveness. That child is suffering 
from the abuse and that one that did the abusing, they need to 
pay for their crime. So my main point though, is our 
Lord is teaching about our own sins being worse 
than others. Our Lord is teaching that the right response is, in 
one sense, I don't care too much. I'm not too concerned about the 
sins of others. I'm more concerned about mine. It's good for us as a congregation 
to keep short accounts with one another. It will promote peace 
and unity within the church. It will be of great help and 
benefit to the church, as well as with marriages as well. Be open to reproof. That's my 
next point in terms of application. Be open to reproof. That's biblical 
in the way of Christ. I'm kind of changing here a little 
bit my direction. This does not teach that your 
reprover must be perfect in order for you to listen to them. you should receive correction 
regardless of your reprover. If you have sinned, or you are 
in sin, and someone comes to you, and let's say this person 
is a mess, they are in sin, maybe they are an unbeliever, and they 
reprove you, should you listen to them? Yes, you should listen 
to them. If someone reproves you for your 
sin, and you have sinned and you are wrong, you should receive 
that reproof. You should receive that correction. Remember Shimei? David kicks 
out of his city by his son Absalom and he's walking along the road 
and here's Shimei throwing curses and rocks at David. Either he's 
really brave or he's really stupid. Because you have Abishai there. 
He said, you want me to just go over there and take that dead dog's 
head off right now? I'll do it. David said, no. Lord sent him. I'm going to listen 
to his reproof. And he did. Even though Shimei 
was a wicked man, I believe he was a wicked man. We have remaining sin. Remember 
that. We do indeed have remaining sin. 
whenever we have been reproved for because of our sin, it's 
good for us to receive it. The question is, let's say they're 
wrong. Let's say that they're wrong. Completely missed the 
boat on it. You're a this or a that. So what? So what? I would say there might 
be a degree of truth in there. Might be. But if you just don't 
see it, you just don't see it. Say, I'm sorry, I just don't 
see where I've sinned. I recall a woman approaching 
an elder and said that he had done something years ago and 
he can't remember it at all. And he's trying to remember. 
He says, I'm sorry, I just don't remember it. But tell you what, 
you're one of the members here in this church. I'm an elder 
here in this church. How about if I do this? I can't remember, 
but will you forgive me for that? She said, sure. Great. They moved 
on. It was just wonderful to see. 
It's part of the Christian experience. We are to approve one another, 
to be of help to one another. We are to make judgments about 
one another. But it's to be done in a cautious way, in a humble 
way. It promotes unity. It also promotes 
unity within the marriage. Because there are times when 
the husband and wife are at each other's throats, they can't do 
anything right now without some form of suspicion, and there's 
just sin being thrown around instead of stopping and considering 
their own sin, how they contributed to the mess in their family, 
so to speak, and how they might be able to put things together. 
But that's another sermon with regards to marriage. A couple 
of cautions I want to bring out. Be careful of harsh views on 
things of indifference. things of indifference, okay? 
A man approached me one time and he wanted to talk to me because 
he was greatly concerned because I was, here's the horrible sin, 
I was playing basketball. Okay, I know that shocks you. That same man would go around 
to families and reprove them for taking their children to 
Disneyland. We live right on Disneyland's doorstep. And at 
the same time, this man, was involved in fornication and drunkenness. Now, if the man's right, he's 
right. Even if he was a fornicator, 
even though he was a drunk, if he was right, he was right. It's 
God's word to determine something's right or wrong. There's 10 commandments. And we try, I try to figure out 
why is he approaching me, telling me that I've sinned by playing 
basketball. You might get injured. You know, I'm not playing with 
a gun. I'm playing basketball. And very 
well, too. I'm very humble when I tell you 
that. However, there's no sin in playing 
basketball. There's no sin, as far as I can 
tell, with the children going to Disneyland with their parents. 
Insert the picture of the Pharisees right here. Remember, our Lord 
said that they strain at a gnat and swallow a camel. Again, our 
Lord uses an extremely gross illustration. Straining at a 
nap. Whenever wine was made, it's sweet, it attracts bugs. 
And they gotta strain it to get all the impurities out of that 
so they can drink it. So they do that. The Pharisee 
does that. He's got this nice cup of wine 
right here. He turns his head for a minute 
and a camel jumps in it. Turns around, sees it, downs 
it, okay? Now, if it wasn't so serious, 
it would be comical. It really would be. But here 
are these Pharisees, as I mentioned before, they made such a big 
deal about stupid things. Did he wash when he came back 
in after mixing with those Gentiles? And here they're committing adultery 
and murder, plotting against our Lord, not receiving Him as 
Lord and Savior, straining at a gnat and swallowing a camel. 
I'm really beating up the Catholic Church again today, but they 
made a big deal about the fact that, hey, our priests don't 
marry. And yet they're covering up the sexual abuses to the children 
and have a perverted view of how someone is made right with 
God. Or the Mormons, back in my day, Mormons were not allowed 
to drink caffeine and they still go, no, we don't drink caffeine. 
Jehovah's Witnesses, oh no, we don't celebrate Christmas. We 
don't celebrate birthdays. And yet you have a perverted 
view of Jesus Christ as well as how someone is right with 
God. Straining at a nap, swallowing a camel, making judgments about 
trivial things that don't really matter. Whether you celebrate 
Christmas, whether you celebrate a birthday, Those are things 
that personally people make their decisions on, but there's no 
sin in it as far as I can tell. Now, the last thing I want to 
bring out is that, and I've already touched on it, but we should 
not be blind or naive about the things around us. We will make 
judgments about those things around us. We need to beware 
of wolves in sheep's clothing. If I came in here preaching false 
doctrine, you have to make a judgment about that. And the men in this 
church need to take me out and whip me bad. Metaphorically speaking. We are 
to see the actions and the doctrines of false teachers and make a 
decision, make a judgment. That involves judging. We are 
to refrain from an eagerness to condemn, but we are to use 
discretion and wisdom in deciding which things are wrong and what 
things are right. And we are to be our brother's 
keeper, contrary to what Cain said about Abel. We are to point 
out error cautiously. These verses here in Matthew 
have been misapplied and set aside to eliminate any type of 
discernment or distinction between good or evil. There's things 
that are good, there's things that are evil, and it's according 
to God's Word that's how we're able to make a distinction between 
one or the other. A splinter or a beam. We have 
to make decisions with regards to that. It's always best for 
us to assume that our brother has a splinter, not a beam in 
his own eye. So our Lord says, First remove 
the plank from your own eye, and then you will see clearly 
to remove the speck from your brother's eye. This afternoon, 
or I should say tonight, we'll be looking at our Lord walking 
on water. And the problem that the disciples 
had is that they didn't make a proper judgment about something 
our Lord had done. So come back tonight, I'll tell 
you about it, preach to you about it, hopefully be of help to you. 
Let's pray. Our Father, we thank you. and 
praise You that You have not judged us according to our sins. Our sins have been placed in 
Your Son. You've appointed us to look to Your Son, and we praise 
You, our Lord Jesus, for that wonderful sacrifice of taking 
our sins upon Yourself, suffering the judgment of Your Father, 
being raised from the dead on this first day of the week. We 
thank You for this first day of the week that we remember 
the resurrection from the dead of our Savior, His ascension 
to glory, Him being our High Priest forever according to the 
order of Melchizedek. So we give you thanks, we praise 
you for giving us this day. Thank you for this wonderful 
church that you've established here in Chilliwack. We ask your 
blessing to be upon the membership, upon the brethren here, save 
the children, cause many more to come in to hear this word 
that we all might grow in your grace and knowledge. Hear our 
prayers, do good to us this day, we pray through Jesus Christ 
our Lord and Savior. Amen. We'll close by singing 564 as 
our doxology this morning. 564 and afterwards we will have 
a brief time of meditation before you're dismissed. ♪ Who only knew and wondrous might 
♪ ♪ In glory ever stand ♪ ♪ Who only knew and wondrous might ♪ ♪ In glory ever stand ♪ ♪ Sing ye this glorious day ♪ ♪ 
To all eternity ♪ ♪ The whole earth let its glory glow ♪ ♪ Glowing so gladly here ♪ ♪ The whole 
earth let its glory glow ♪ Are you seated?