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.
Scripture Reading
Introduction
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.
A Caution: Four Preliminary Warnings
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 Authority Behind the Warning
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
Judging as a Serious Action
we're entering into a very serious action, judging, condemning. So again, there's great caution that should be used.
Against Hasty Judgment
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.
Question One: Why No Judging?
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.
Question Two: The Standard of Judgment
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.
Question Three: Why Do You Judge?
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.
Question Four: How Can You Judge?
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.
The Solution: Remove the Beam First
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,
Pearls Before Swine
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
Application
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.
Closing Prayer
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?