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Let us pray. Father, thank you 
for this, your word. We pray now that you would bless 
our study. We pray that you would fill us 
with your spirit. We pray that this would be a time of worship 
as we hear from the from the word of God. We ask again that 
you would forgive us, that you would cleanse us. God, this particular 
sin that Jesus pinpoints in these first few verses is certainly 
a universal one. We pray that you would forgive 
us for oftentimes having planks in our own eyes, going after 
the specks in other people's eyes. We just pray that you would 
wash us, that you would purify us, that you would sanctify us. 
And we pray through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. Well, because 
it's been a couple of months, I just want to. reconsider the 
context of the Sermon on the Mount, or at least the things 
that we have seen up until this point. Remember that Jesus went 
up on this hill, he sat down, he assumed a position of authority, 
and he began to speak to both the multitudes, the unbelievers, 
and to his disciples. The first thing he does, and 
the first thing he does in Matthew 5, is give a description of kingdom 
citizens. He gives the Beatitudes. That 
describes, that is the characteristic of the man of God, the one justified 
freely by his grace. Remember, they're not imperatives. 
He's not saying, go do this in order to be saved, rather you've 
been saved And therefore, this is true of you. It perhaps isn't 
as true as it ought to be. But nevertheless, these things 
are indicative of the Christian. He then in chapter five indicates 
how the Christian is to witness. We are the salt of the earth. 
We're the light of the world. And then in chapter five, verses 
17 to 20, he indicates his relationship to the law. He is a teacher come 
from God. And it is important for him to 
highlight his association with the moral law, what we might 
call the Ten Commandments, those things that were spoken, promulgated 
at Sinai, that were originally written upon the heart of Adam 
in the creation account. And so what Jesus does in chapter 
5, 17 to 20, is say that he did not come to destroy, but rather 
he came to fulfill the law and the prophets. And then in chapter 
5, verse 20, he tells his people that their righteousness must 
exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees. And then 
in chapter 5, 21 to 48, he indicates the believer's relationship to 
the law. It has abiding validity. It is 
a rule and a standard for life. It is not something we ought 
to disregard, but rather it is something we ought to, by the 
grace of God and by the power of the Holy Spirit, pursue and 
seek to engage in. And then in chapter 6, he deals 
with religious duties, religious observances, how a man is, before 
his God, in the matter of almsgiving, in the matter of prayer, and 
in the matter of fasting. Jesus' concern, again, is that 
we're not like the hypocrites, we're not like the Pharisees. 
The righteousness of a godly man must exceed the righteousness, 
or the so-called righteousness, of the scribes and Pharisees. 
When you give, don't sound the trumpet. When you pray, don't 
do it on the street corner. When you fast, don't walk around 
all miserable, telling everybody that you're fasting for Jesus. 
And then in chapter six, he continues with how the believer is to live 
in the mundane affairs of life. We're not to be riddled with 
insecurity and carnal anxiety. We're not to worry about what 
we'll eat. We're not to worry about what we'll drink. We're 
not to worry about what we'll wear. But rather, the governing 
principle in all of life is summarized in chapter 6, verse 33. Seek first the kingdom of God 
and His righteousness. The very best antidote, the very 
best remedy, the very best prevention to guard against carnal anxiety 
is to be consumed with God and His kingdom and His righteousness 
and His holiness. And now here in chapter 7, he 
deals with our personal relationships. He deals with how we're supposed 
to relate to brethren in verses one to five, how we're supposed 
to relate to at least a category or class of outsiders in chapter 
seven, verse six. And then he gives us this section 
on prayer. It's beautiful. You read seven, 
one to six properly, you'll probably scratch your melon and say, how 
in the world can I live in this manner? How can I guard against 
a judgmental, petty, fault-finding, censorious spirit toward my brothers 
and sisters in Christ? How can I rightly identify who 
are the dogs and the pigs to whom I'm not to present holy 
things? God, how am I supposed to function in this world? Ask, 
seek, and not. beautiful statement of power 
for the believer, both for personal relationships and for what was 
already specified at the end of chapter 6. If you are riddled 
with carnal anxiety, then ask, seek, and knock. The Lord is 
there to help. And then he summarizes personal relationships with what 
has been called the Golden Rule. Basically, it is the summary 
of the law and the prophets, chapter 7, verse 12. Whatever 
you want men to do to you, do also to them, for this is the 
law and the prophets. He ends the sermon by then contrasting 
two ways, two trees, two claims and two builders. Interestingly, 
some commentators, John Calvin, one of them, says that chapter 
7 verses 1 to 12 really has no connection with what has preceded 
or with what has followed. I could not disagree anymore. It is perfectly located. It follows 
the flow of the sermon. It has bearing on what's preceded 
and on what follows. So we'll take it. As a unit, 
we'll take it as a whole, but because there's a lot of material 
here, we ought to break it up, perhaps for your sakes, in a 
few sermons so that we're not here all day long. In preaching 
certain sermons, I understand this introduction is a bit longer 
than what we usually engage in, but because we haven't been in 
the Sermon on the Mount for a while, I thought it would be necessary 
to bring us back to speed to chapter 7. Now, in preaching 
certain sermons, preachers suspect, at times, that those hearing 
them aren't guilty of the particular sin that they're preaching against. 
In other words, if we were going through a study in the book of 
Exodus, If our text this morning was Exodus 21-16, which is a 
prohibition against kidnapping, I would not for a moment think 
that any of you are guilty of kidnapping, unless you've got 
a great way to hide yourself and you're living a completely 
double life. It just would not be my supposition. 
I think we ought to look at Exodus 23. I think we ought to know 
verse 16. I think we ought to understand the comprehensiveness 
of God's law and how it speaks to every jot and tittle of our 
lives. But a preacher would not be suspect or would not suspect 
rather that the hearers would be guilty of kidnapping. That's 
not the case with this particular text. Let me just say it at the 
outset. We are all guilty. If you think you are not, then 
you are probably the lone wolf in this congregation. Judge not 
that you be not judged. Who can stand before a holy God 
and say, I have never done that? We are all guilty. 1 to 5 is 
penetrating. 1 to 5 is painful. 1 to 5 is 
difficult. 1 to 5 is difficult for the preacher 
who realizes the very real existence of planks. When we see the word 
speck and plank, we need to think speck of sawdust and log. Jesus was a carpenter. He was 
familiar with these images, both from the same family. Wood, log, 
protruding out of the eye socket. He uses this outlandish sarcasm 
to make this point. I mean, it's just amazing the 
way he illustrates the particular point in view. But brethren, 
suffice it to say we have all had this log and we've probably 
all gone after specks of sawdust in our brothers and sisters' 
lives. I just want to remind us of one of the ways the Sermon 
on the Mount functions. I think a lot of times Christians 
read 5 to 7 and say, well, I need to go and be like Jesus. Well, 
certainly we do. We need to go and be like Jesus. 
But I think we need to understand as well the particular one of 
the particular uses of the Sermon on the Mount. It is to throw 
us to the foot of the cross. In fact, J. Gresham Machen said 
it this way. I love this. He said the Sermon 
on the Mount rightly interpreted then makes man a seeker. after some divine means of salvation 
by which entrance into the kingdom can be obtained. The Sermon on 
the Mount, like all the rest of the New Testament, really 
leads a man straight to the foot of the cross. In other words, 
when you read five to seven, if you come out on the other 
side, patting yourself on the back for having been a pretty 
good guy or girl, you've missed the point. My reading this week 
of Martin Lloyd-Jones, he says something similar, and I believe 
this is right on as well. He says, there is nothing that 
so utterly condemns us as the Sermon on the Mount. Now, you 
need to realize with Lloyd-Jones and with Machen, they were arguing 
against liberals. By liberals, I don't mean the 
Democratic Party. By liberals, I mean theological 
liberals that saw more in the life and example of Christ than 
in the cross of Christ. Let's just be like Jesus. Let's 
just follow the Sermon on the Mount. Let's just obey. Let's 
just behave. That is a complete disregard 
for the doctrine of sin. depravity, and the necessity 
for the new birth and the supernatural power of God. So they're arguing 
vehemently against that sort of a mindset. So Lloyd-Jones 
says, there is nothing that so utterly condemns us as the Sermon 
on the Mount. There is nothing so utterly impossible, 
so terrifying, and so full of doctrine. He says, indeed, I 
do not hesitate to say that were it not that I knew of the doctrine 
of justification by faith only, I would never look at the Sermon 
on the Mount because it is a sermon before which we all stand completely 
naked and altogether without hope. You need to understand 
that in this particular sermon. It should drive us back to the 
cross. Certainly as Christians, as those 
with the Spirit, we seek by the grace of God to obey, but certainly 
we won't even do that perfectly and we constantly stand in need 
of the blood. of the Lord Jesus. Well, let's 
look at verses 1 to 5 in a bit of a lengthier introduction. 
Verses 1 to 5 will notice first the prohibition, secondly, the 
explanation, and thirdly, the illustration that Jesus sets 
forth here. Notice first the prohibition. Judge not. Do not judge. Now, this is probably one of 
those passages that has been abused in our day and age. You 
ever heard the Christian, when you've said something that was 
disagreeable to him or her, say, well, you're not supposed to 
judge anybody. You're not supposed to judge 
anything. Jesus said in Matthew 7, verse 
1, judge not, so that any voice of opposition that a Christian 
gives is met with this text as the proof text on why you ought 
to be silent, why you ought to knuckle under, and why you ought 
to never, ever disagree. with the ebb and flow in evangelicalism 
or in the world today. In fact, Tolstoy said that this 
text prohibited law courts. This text indicated that there 
ought to be no judging ever whatsoever. So I thought to myself, this 
text probably doesn't mean anything or very few of the things that 
it's actually applied to. It's quite refreshing to read 
the commentaries and to see they had to deal with the abuse of 
the text too. Ryle, for instance, says the first portion of these 
verses is one of those passages of Scripture which we must be 
careful not to strain beyond its proper meaning. It is frequently 
abused and misapplied by the enemies of true religion. I would 
add it's frequently misapplied by the friends of true religion. Unfortunately, well-meaning Christians 
are messed up in their understanding of Matthew 7.1. to offer up any 
criticism or any difference of opinion, you're met with this 
particular text. Ryle says it is possible to press 
the words of the Bible so far that they yield not medicine, 
but poison. We know the text cannot mean 
that we're never supposed to judge. The text is not universal. The text is not an absolute prescription. The text, rather, is conditioned 
by the context. Let me just give you several 
illustrations of where we are really supposed to judge. Verse 
six, doesn't it take judgment to determine who's a dog and 
who's a pig? Doesn't it require, in fact, 
that's the whole balancing in the context. Verses one to five, 
don't be a judgmental, critical, petty, fault-finding wretch. 
But at the same token, don't lack discernment. Don't deal 
with dogs and pigs and traffic with them while they belittle 
holy things and threaten your life. No. He is not calling us 
to suspend all judgment. Then notice in verse 15, beware 
of false prophets. Aren't the Christians supposed 
to be able to judge and rightly discern truth from error? Jesus' statement in verse 15 
presupposes that the Christian knows the truth of the gospel, 
knows the truth of the Bible, and can rightly identify true 
teachers and false prophets. Paul says this in Galatians 1, 
8 and 9. If judge not is an utter prescription or an absolute prescription 
against ever engaging in this, then Paul's outlandish for promoting 
or pronouncing anathema on those who distort the gospel in Galatians 
1, 8 and 9. We are also called to judge in 
matters of church discipline. Matthew chapter 18, verses 15 
to 20. Jesus is going to give the prescription 
on how to deal with sinning brethren. It takes judgment. It takes discernment. Paul deals in First Timothy five 
with how the church is to receive an accusation against elders. Therefore, the church must be 
able to engage in discernment and in judgment to rightly evaluate 
the charges. Matters of civil law. The church 
in First Corinthians chapter six is told to deal with their 
disputes in house. Why would you go to the unbelievers 
with your civil disputes? But as well, times are, chances 
are, that we'll end up in a civil dispute with someone outside 
of the church. Romans 13, 1 to 4. There is a civil magistrate. 
There is dispute. Jesus is not saying that if you're 
accused of these things, never engage in a defense. Or always, 
you know, just say, well, you know, that's just fine, whatever 
people do. No, it's not an absolute prohibition. It is not an unqualified 
and universal prohibition to never engage in judgment. It 
is rather a prohibition against a particular activity that unfortunately 
we are all prone to when dealing with our brothers and sisters 
in Christ. So it's not an absolute prohibition. John Calvin said 
it this way. These words of Christ do not 
contain an absolute prohibition from judging, but are intended 
to cure a disease which appears to be natural to us all. We see 
how all flatter themselves, and every man passes a severe censure 
on others. This vice is attended by some 
strange enjoyment, for there is hardly any person who is not 
tickled with the desire of inquiring into other people's faults. I 
think the genuine interpretation is more difficult than to just 
say, well, it means no judgment at all. That's simplistic. It's not responsible. It doesn't 
make heads or tails out of the context of the rest of the Bible. What does it mean when Jesus 
says, judge not? Remember, we're dealing with 
brothers. We're dealing with brothers in 
the church of Jesus Christ. Brothers include sisters as well. Verse six deals with outsiders, 
but again, not to all outsiders. We're not to conclude that every 
unbeliever is a dog and a pig, and we're not going to cast our 
pearls before them. We'll see what that means, God 
willing, next Sunday. But within the context of Christchurch, 
this judge not has the idea of nitpicking, fault finding. A petty approach to our brother's 
shortcomings. As Calvin said, it is often attended 
by some strange enjoyment. Has it ever pricked your conscience 
that you find a bit of delight in someone else's misfortune? 
Maybe I'm just betraying my hand here. Maybe you're saying, that's 
never ever dawned on me. Look at the news. Do you ever see the 9 o'clock 
or 10 o'clock or 11 o'clock news about the family where the guy 
goes to work, he shows up, he does a good job, he comes home, 
he kisses his wife, he leads in family worship, he disciplines 
his children. That's not interesting to us. 
Far more interesting is the guy who goes to work and poisons 
a bunch of people where he works and comes home with an axe and 
hacks his family up to pieces. That gets ratings. There's something 
in us drawn to base things. I don't understand it. Oh, I 
do understand. It's a biblical doctrine of depravity. What Jesus 
is prohibiting here is a nit-picking, fault-finding, petty approach 
to our brother's shortcomings that unfortunately is often attended 
by some strange enjoyment. It involves an utter disregard 
of 1 Corinthians chapter 13 as a whole. the statement on love, 
but specifically verse 7. How does Paul end his summary 
definition of love? In verse 7 he says, love bears 
all things. It doesn't jump on everything. It doesn't strain out gnats. 
It doesn't go after specks. It bears all things. It believes 
all things. Jesus is condemning in verse 
one the opposite. What happens when someone offends 
you? Do you put the worst possible 
construction upon it? Or do you think perhaps they 
made a mistake? Have you ever done that? Have 
you ever jumped to the conclusion that so-and-so or such a one 
did this sadness or engaged in this activity because they hate 
you? They despise you. They loathe everything about 
you. They want nothing to do with you. They want to ruin your 
life. They want to just live and exist in God's world to make 
you unhappy. The love believes all things. 
Give them the benefit of the doubt. Judge not. Maybe your wife really didn't 
mean to burn dinner. Maybe it was a mistake. Maybe 
your husband forgot a particular date. Maybe in the crucible of 
hard work and a busy life, A word flew that perhaps wasn't as seasoned 
with salt as it could have been. Was it designed and meant to 
destroy and plow up? Or maybe was it just carelessness? And yes, a sin, but a speck compared 
to a plank. That's what Jesus is talking 
about. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all 
things. Does it immediately conclude 
everything is terrible? I think I've shared before the 
magnet we have on our refrigerator. My wife purchased it for me at 
the dollar store. It says things are as bad as 
you think, and everyone is out to get you. I'm preaching at least to the 
choir in this sermon. Y'all men just sit there and 
go, this guy needs help. He's messed up. I've often thought 
the way, you know, when people walk into my office and they 
think, is this guy a freak? Everything's perfect. I wish 
it wasn't that way. Even Camille Jones this morning, 
I said, I like the way everything's perfect. OCD? Yes. But office reveals more about 
me. What does Paul go on to say? It endures all things. Probably in this world, everybody 
really isn't out to get you. Probably in this world, your 
wife isn't planning your demise. Probably in this world, your 
husband hasn't woken up in the morning, got on his knees to 
pray and said, God, help me ruin her. Judge not, is what Jesus says. Don't do it. The tense of the 
verb, the imperative with a specific prohibition, a prohibiting word, 
means stop doing it. Jesus presupposes, if we take 
the grammarian seriously, that this is a trait practiced by 
God's people. It is a disregard of the mandate 
given by Paul that we studied recently in Colossians 3.13, 
bearing with one another and forgiving one another. To summarize, 
Ryle says, what our Lord means to condemn is the censorious 
and fault-finding spirit. A readiness to blame others for 
trifling offenses or matters of indifference. A habit of passing 
rash and hasty judgments. A disposition to magnify the 
errors and infirmities of our neighbors and make the worst 
of them. This is what our Lord forbids. It was common among the Pharisees. Remember, we're to let our righteousness 
exceed the scribes and the Pharisees. If the Pharisees and the scribes 
went around nitpicking, censoring, fault finding, magnifying the 
faults of others, the children of God's kingdom must not operate 
in kind. We need to be gracious. We need 
to be loving. We need to be kind. We need to 
bear. We need to forgive. We need to 
realize that the people we are dealing with, maybe this will 
help all of us are sinners, too. We really expect a lot from people, 
don't we? Have you ever found yourself 
saying, how could you ever do that against me? I mean, maybe 
you don't pronounce it to me that way, but the offense is 
seen in that somebody had the gall and wherewithal to wrong 
you. How did you do that to me? I 
can understand you treating other people that way. I understand 
you treating your spouse that way. I can understand you treating 
your child that way. But me? Do you realize what you're doing? 
Do you realize who you've sinned against? Do you realize how holy 
I am? Judge not, is what Christ says. 
I think we ought to spend time here, because as Ryle says, it 
was common among the Pharisees. Could it be, my dear brothers 
and sisters, that it's common in the church, that it's common 
in our Christian families, that it's common in the way that we 
deal with our children? Have you ever been surprised that 
your children sin? You call yourself a Calvinist? 
That's the first point of Doctrines of Grace. Total depravity, except 
for my junior. Your junior's an Adam. Your junior 
needs the gospel, the free and sovereign grace. Your junior 
needs to be bathed in blood. Yes, be grieved. Yes, deal. Yes, point out. Yes, go after 
the sin. But never say, how in the world 
did you have ever done such and such a sin? It's hypocritical. Osborne adds that the key component 
in this attitude is the absence of love. You see, Jesus does 
not teach that it's wrong to try and help your brother with 
the specks in his eyes. The end of verse five. Get rid 
of that log from your own eye, and then you'll be better poised 
to help your brother. Think about what Jesus says from Imagine you're sitting in the 
doctor's chair. You're at the oculist. It's at 
least what the Brits call the optometrist or the ophthalmologist. You're going to have eye surgery. 
One of us can identify with this. You've got a small problem in 
your eye and in comes the surgeon and he's got one of those canes 
because he can't see. He's got his dog leading him 
in through the threshold. He's got the dark sunglasses 
on, which indicates, at least in those three ways, that he's 
blind. You'd probably feel a bit odd 
sitting in his chair at that particular time. Or imagine, 
to use the metaphor that Jesus uses later in Matthew 23. He condemns the scribes and the 
Pharisees, and He calls them this. He calls them blind guides. Imagine you take your family 
vacation to Arizona. You want to go visit the Grand 
Canyon. You want to take the burrow ride 
down to the bottom of the canyon. Here comes your guide, and he's 
blind. You see what Jesus is saying? 
It's that bad. When you, dear Christian brother 
or sister, have a log hanging out of your eye, and you go and 
try to correct the speck in your brother's eye. He doesn't say 
it's always wrong to correct the speck in the brother's eye. 
He says, get rid of that log first. How dare you think, in 
light of your sin, that you can be petty, fault-finding, censorious, 
and bitter toward someone else? I think you see the point. Notice the reason for the prohibition, 
verse 1. Judge not why. that you be not 
judged. Now, perhaps that means in the 
social arena, the way that I treat people is the way they'll treat 
me. 7-12. Certainly some merit to 
seeing it that way. But the verbs that Jesus uses 
in this particular section are passive verbs. That means something 
happens to you. They're probably what's called 
a theological passive. In other words, judge not that 
you be not judged by You see, Jesus' mind, with reference to 
the Sermon on the Mount, isn't just happy, healthy, helpful 
social interaction. Jesus is concerned with your 
state before a holy God. There's three different ways 
that a Christian can be judged. There are three different types 
of judgment in the Scripture. I don't want to spend too much 
time here. Of course, there's the judgment that keeps us out 
of heaven. The judgment in terms of heaven 
and hell. Probably not what's in view here, because Jesus is 
dealing with his disciples. He's dealing with the community 
of brethren. There is a temporal judgment, isn't there? When we 
treat others like garbage, we might get sick. We might die. In fact, Paul deals with this 
in 1 Corinthians 11. Do not take the sacrament of 
the Lord's Supper. Do not engage in that table of 
blessing when you're living in rejection against the Lord Jesus 
and his people. For this reason, many are sick 
among you. There's temporal judgments. He 
says if we would judge ourselves, we wouldn't be condemned with 
the world. Rather, we are chastened by God. So there is that in time, 
in space, in history, as a Christian, if we treat other people like 
garbage, there may be a reciprocal judgment from the living and 
true God in our temporal affairs. And then, of course, there is 
that judgment in terms of rewards. There's other men, other brethren 
that are more able to deal with that whole situation. Jesus does 
indicate that there will be more reward for certain categories 
of people in the kingdom to come. In Matthew chapter 5, whoever 
breaks the least of these commandments and teaches others will be called 
least. Whoever teaches them shall be 
great in the kingdom of heaven. I must admit, it takes me some 
effort to get my mind wrapped around the whole concept. Because 
in my mind, if I fall into heaven, I've enjoyed the blessed best 
reward I could ever imagine. I would rather be a doorkeeper. 
I would rather sweep the gutters in the new Jerusalem. My desire 
is not to jockey for position. And I don't think that the teaching 
of scripture is that we jockey for position, but there is great 
reward in heaven. That could be what Jesus is talking 
about. Judge not that you be not judged. Notice his explanation, 
verse two, for with what judgment you judge, you will be judged. 
And with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you. 
There's another place that we could have looked at when we 
were showing what it does not mean. In John seven, verse 24, 
Jesus says, Do not judge according to appearance, but judge with 
righteous judgment. You see, when we judge people 
based on our preference, When we judge people based on our 
prejudice, when we judge people based on our whims or our capriciousness 
or our fancy or what we like or don't like, God will judge 
us. Whatever we measure out to others 
that betrays the living word of the living and true God, God 
will judge us. You see, if we want to engage 
in proper social relationships, we must judge with righteous 
judgment. We must judge according to the 
word of the living God. James says it this way, so speak 
and so do as those who will be judged by the law of liberty. For judgment is without mercy 
to the one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment. Jesus, in his explanation, judge 
not that you be not judged for with what judgment you judge. 
You sacrifice the scripture. You sacrifice the spirit. You 
start treating people according to your own peculiarities or 
your own oddities, your own preferences. God will bring heat to bear upon 
you. In other words, in the church 
of Jesus Christ, it does not matter what you want. It does 
not matter what you say. It does not matter what you feel. It matters what the Word of the 
living God says. I think half the time our problem 
is that we apply our standard to people that the Bible hasn't 
spoken to. We've got preferences and we 
think everybody should follow them. No. You may not think that's 
the way to go. Fine. God has not revealed himself 
on a specific issue, on a specific matter. Thou must do this and 
not do that. Then we have liberty. We may 
not like that. It causes for a messy environment. It causes a bit of a threat to 
some, but God nevertheless has given us those options. So point 
in Romans 14. What's the issue in Romans 14? 
The people who think they can eat meat look down on those who 
think they can't. The people who think they can't 
look down upon the people who can. What's Paul's point in Romans 
14? It's exactly what Jesus is specifying 
in this verse. Who are you to set yourself up 
as a judge over that person? He is interpreted the Scriptures 
and he was with a clear conscience before God. That's not your job 
to judge. You don't want to say. Don't go on a campaign to rid 
the world of state. Paul James are repeating the 
same. They speak a lot to this issue. 
You know what splits churches? Yes, when the pastor stands up 
and says Jesus was created, he should be thrown out. It's usually 
these matters of preference. There's no clear testimony concerning 
thou shalt or thou shalt not. Be very careful of elevating 
your preference to the level of law. That's the point. For with what judgment you judge, 
you will be judged. With the measure you use, it 
will be measured back to you. Notice his illustration. The 
speck in the plank. What a master teacher, huh? Why 
do you look at the speck in your brother's eye? Remember a couple 
of weeks ago when we considered Elijah on Mount Carmel? And I 
said how when Elijah is challenging those false prophets, the Israelites 
or Probably laughing. We read it and we're kind of 
chuckling. That's funny, right? Where's your God? Maybe he's 
resting. Maybe he's meditating. Maybe he's relieving himself. Brethren, that was a knee slapper 
in Israel. Subsequent generations read that 
account and they laughed. We'd probably laugh at Jesus' 
illustration if it wasn't so true, if it wasn't so applicable. Consider what he'll say to the 
Pharisees. You strain at the gnats. You 
know what a gnat is, kids? It's that little tiny, tiny, 
tiny, tiny bug. But you swallow the camel? That's 
a knee slapper. That's funny. He's using humor 
to make a point, sarcasm to make a point. He's doing the same 
thing here. You've seen a speck of sawdust. It's tiny, right? It's minuscule. It's microscopic. He says, why do you look at the 
speck in your brother's eye, but do not consider the plank 
in your own eye? Just consider this for just a 
few moments with me. I guarantee you, when I'm going 
to go past 1230, if you're feeling tired, wake up. This is the most 
important section of Holy Scripture. Not that others aren't, but the 
health, the peace, the unity, the joy of a people of God depends 
largely on how they treat Matthew 7, 1 to 5. Consider that this 
type of fault finding takes effort on the part of the judge, doesn't 
it? I mean, when I walk up here and 
I got a plank out of my... it's easy to see, right? Isn't 
it? Yes, if I had a beam hanging 
out of my eye right now. Yes, we think we'd see that, 
Jim. You kind of have to get up on me close to see a speck 
in my eye, doesn't it? This kind of offense takes effort 
on the part of the judge. Now ask yourself, is this really 
how you ought to spend your time? Are you God's policeman? Are 
you the RCMP in the church? Are you called to be the speck 
finder? I love what Solomon says in Proverbs 
4.23, keep your heart with all diligence. How many of us spend 
our efforts, time, and energy keeping other people's hearts? 
I guarantee you, if you busy yourself with your own heart, 
you have enough to do in the day. This takes effort to find 
specks in our brethren's eyes. Consider as well, this type of 
fault finding is a betrayal of the law of liberty. James 2.12, 
we just saw that. You know, in a reformed context, 
in a reformed setting, one of the things that defines us is 
covenant theology. Covenant theology informs a particular 
view of God's holy law. As reformed people, we ought 
to be those who appreciate the law. We ought to be those who 
delight in the law. We ought to be those who understand 
its use, who understand how it's used lawfully and unlawfully, 
and we ought to engage in doing so. But when we do what Jesus 
condemns here, we are saying that the law of liberty doesn't 
matter and that what really matters is a Consider thirdly, this type 
of fault finding is a rejection of biblical procedure. It's a 
rejection of biblical procedure. We perceive the speck, we perceive 
the malice, we perceive the intent, we perceive all those things, 
so we're going to go fish it out of there. Wait a minute. 
He who answers a matter before he hears it, Proverbs 18, it 
is folly and shame to him. He who answers a matter or are 
the first to plead his cause seems right until his neighbor 
comes and examines it. Have you ever had it, brethren, 
where you had someone dead to rights and when they explain 
themselves, you said, wow, I didn't know. That's right, you didn't 
know, so maybe it's best to close your mouth. This type of fault 
finding, fourthly, is a failure to come to grips with one's own 
shortcomings, failures, and sins. Now, again, I do not believe 
Jesus is prescribing here that we never seek to lovingly aid 
and correct our brethren. That's the very goal in sight. 
Get rid of the plank. Help your brother. Do it in love. Do it in kindness. Do it with 
gentleness. But this type of fault finding, condemned in the 
passage, is a failure to come to grips with one's own shortcomings, 
failures, and sins. John Stott says we have a fatal 
tendency to aggravate the faults of others and minimize the gravity 
of our own. Screw tape, wrote to Wormwood. Aggravate that most useful human 
characteristic. The horror and neglect of the 
obvious. You must bring him to a condition 
in which he can practice self-examination for an hour without discovering 
any of those facts about himself, which are perfectly clear to 
anyone who has ever lived in the same house with him or worked 
in the same office. Screw tape was bang on. And then 
consider fifth grade. This type of fault-finding may 
be a means of hiding one's own sin. You see, sawdust and plank 
come from the same tree. That man who is most vociferously 
opposed to one sin all the time, not saying he's always guilty, 
not saying it's always his, I'm just suggesting that we are masters 
at trying to camouflage and trying to hide our own inequity. And if it means magnifying the 
sins of others so that we can stand quietly hidden in the shadows, 
perhaps that is a driving influence. Notice what Jesus says to this 
sort of a man. 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. He says, hypocrite. Jesus is gentle, said Spurgeon, 
but he calls that man a hypocrite who fusses about small things 
and others and pays no attention to great matters at home in his 
own person. Never met people that said if 
we just fix this one thing, the church would be Latter-day Glory. 
It's not that easy. Whatever your pet thing is, whatever 
your preference is, whatever you think, the church is missed 
by a long shot. The church and life is systemic. We have to fix a whole lot of 
things. We've got to work hard in a lot of areas. Calls that man a hypocrite who 
fusses about small things and others and pays no attention 
to great matters at home in his own person. And then Jesus ends 
with his exhortation in verse 5. First, remove the plank from 
your own eye. Then you will see clearly to 
remove the speck from your brother's eye. You ever read Bunyan's Pilgrim's 
Progress? Christian is before the tribunal. 
And Mr. Blind Man says, I see clearly. That's funny, brethren. When 
Mr. Blind Man says he sees clearly, 
that's funny. When Jesus says, perform a log 
extraction ceremony first on your own ocular cavity, and then 
you'll be able to see the specks in other people's eyes, that's 
funny. But you know what I don't think 
Jesus means? I don't think Jesus means we 
have to be sinlessly perfect before we can ever correct someone. 
And beware of that. Sometimes a dear brother, a dear 
sister, a husband, a wife may come to us and say, Honey, I 
notice you have a speck in your eye. Well, what about you? Yes, 
you're right. I'm not sinless and I'm not perfect. 
Well, then, therefore, you can't judge me. No, the being, the 
law, the plan, an attitude, a disposition. Yes, it certainly generically 
means we ought to be pursuing holiness. We ought to be pursuing 
righteousness. We ought not to be living as 
gross hypocrites and promulgating all manner of wickedness and 
correcting the faults of everybody. But it certainly can't mean that 
if a man is seeking to deal with his own sin, even though there 
is remaining corruption, he's praying against it, he's asking 
for forgiveness, he's taking means to deal with it, he falls, 
he gets up. That's not the plank in the eye. 
Yes, the general application is be holy so that you can help 
your brethren. There's a specific thing in view, 
and I think Lloyd-Jones hits this on the head. If you really 
do want to help others and to help to rid them of these blemishes 
and faults and frailties and imperfections, first of all, 
realize that your spirit and your whole attitude has been 
wrong. Take the beam of self-righteousness out of your eye. Take the beam 
of censoriousness out of your eye. Take the beam of pettiness 
out of your eye. Take the beam of fault-finding 
out of your eye. And replace it with love. Replace 
it with gentleness. Replace it with charity. Replace 
it with a genuine desire to do good to your brothers and sisters. 
He says, the spirit of judging and hypercriticism and censoriousness 
that is in you is really like a beam contrasted with the little 
mote in the other person's eye. Deal with your attitude and then 
lovingly help your brother. Let's get that speck out of there, 
my brother, and let's march our way on to Zion with joy and happiness 
and holiness. Isn't that Jesus' point? Isn't 
that his emphasis? First remove the plank from your 
own eye and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from 
your brother's eye. The tendency is there to never 
deal with someone else's sin because of our own sin. But this 
is wrong too. We'll take this as if I can't 
ever tell anybody. I couldn't come preach this morning 
if that interpretation was right. How can a man stand up and preach 
Matthew 7, 1-5 in light of his own sin? It's dealing with the attitude 
involved. A petty, whining, grumbling, obsessive spirit that is so often 
manifested in the hearts of God's people. Well, tonight, God willing, 
We're going to look at some ways to prevent judge mentalism. As we have seen, this is manifested 
through those things I just mentioned. Pettyness, fault finding, hypercritical 
spirit, excessive eagerness. That's another interesting facet 
that Calvin indicates in his coming to excessive eagerness. 
Really, should you be so eager about everybody's sin? Should 
you know all that? You know, do you have a database? It's another way. I like the 
NIV's translation of First Corinthians 13. Love keeps no record of wrongs. People who love don't have a 
database of everybody who's ever offended them. They don't keep 
a traveling list in their wallet. Oh yeah, on November 20th, you 
did this and you said this. Stop! Isn't it obvious what Jesus 
is condemning? I can't believe 17 years ago 
you said this and you... Get over it! How many things 
have you done within the last 17 seconds to offend someone 
or God? It's an amazing disposition that 
is in our hearts. Curiosity. Not everything concerns 
us. You know what, dear brothers 
and sisters as well, your pastors, elders, they don't need to know 
everything. If you fit something with someone, they don't need 
to know. They don't have to hear about what someone or so-and-so 
did, you know, in March of 2000. Let's move on, okay? Praise God that 
Micah 7 is in the Bible. This is why Micah Butler has 
his name. What does God do with our sins? What we should start 
doing with other people's sins. He casts them into the depths 
of the sea. They don't keep popping up. Hello! 
Popping up. Hey! He casts them into the depths 
of the sea. He deals with that. How does 
a psalmist rejoice in Psalm 103? As far as the east is from the 
west. What's he done with our transgression? He's removed our 
iniquity. Is there a curiosity about everything 
in your heart and mind about your brother's sin? Some of this 
stuff just isn't undatification. Look at these accountability 
groups. Well, I did this 15 times. Come 
on already. Confess it to the Lord God Most 
High. Go to the high priest. Go to 
Jesus. Plead His blood and merits. If 
you need accountability, that's a different story. But some of 
these seem like sensationalizing sin and depravity and wickedness 
and things that Paul says it's better just not to speak about. We don't have to Facebook every 
time we do something and we found God's forgiveness. We don't have 
to tweet. We have to be mature Christians. We have to grow in the grace 
and in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus. The manifestation of this 
particular sin is very evident. The gravity of this particular 
sin. I want to deal with this before we close. First, it is 
an arrogant assertion of authority over others. This is an assault 
on the throne of God. Judge not. There is one lawgiver, 
James 4. Who are you to exercise your 
prerogatives over men? You will stand or he will stand 
before his own master, according to Romans 14, 4. Again, I'm not 
suggesting that as a brother, dealing with beans, dealing with 
plants, dealing with logs, taking them out, going through that 
extraction procedure, gently, lovingly, graciously, and charitably, 
dealing with the specks of brethren, that's of God. That is glorious. 
That is wonderful. But the manifestation of the 
judgmental attitude that Jesus herein condemns is to irrigate 
to oneself authority that doesn't belong to you. You're not God. The sooner you accept that, the 
better you will be. Aren't you glad? Can you imagine 
hearing everybody's sins all the time? That's great. That's good. I'd be off my rocker 
if I heard all that stuff. Secondly, it is an expression 
of self-righteousness. How could you? How do you? What 
are we saying in that? I don't do that. I never say 
that. I'm a great guy or girl. A.B. Bruce says, censoriousness is 
a Pharisaic vice, that of exalting ourselves by disparaging others, 
a very cheap way of attaining moral superiority. Have you ever 
been with those people? Who's talking about how bad everybody 
else is, but lo and behold, they're not. I'm not saying anybody in 
this church, I'm not. Oh, Butler's talking about when 
he was over at my house. No, I'm not. I'm talking about a woman I used 
to work with many, many years ago at Northrop Grumman. She 
had this uncanny ability to tear everybody down that was standing 
there and build herself up. Take that in the life of Christ 
Church. The Bible calls that self-righteousness. Have you ever thought about this? 
Have you ever thought about how bad self-righteousness is? You 
know, when you look at life, when you look at the Bible, when 
you look at things concerning salvation and damnation and hell 
and heaven and all those things, do you know that there is a remedy, 
there is a prescription, there is help and hope for sinners? It's the self-righteous that 
are in big trouble. There's no 1 John 1, 9 for the 
self-righteous. Of course, if he repents and 
pleads 1 John 1, 9, that's fine. But the unrepentant self-righteous 
has no 1 John 1, 9. Sinners do. If you confess your 
sin, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sin and to 
cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Self-righteousness is condemned. 
God opposes the proud, but he gives grace to the humble. Galatians 
2.21, Paul says, if righteousness comes through the law, then Christ 
died in vain. What's his clear point? Righteousness 
doesn't come through the law. Christ died to save sinners. 
This is a manifestation of a self-righteous attitude and a spirit that really 
doesn't understand the Bible's teaching on sin. As if somehow 
you are better because you haven't done that speck thing that your 
brother or sister has done. And it is ultimately a lack of 
charity toward brethren. It's not 1 Corinthians 13. I 
think there is application here, again, for husbands, for wives, 
parents, for children, for children to parents, church member to 
church member. I mean, I think and I hope that you can start 
to flesh some of these things out. You can tease some of them 
out. You can look at your own heart and say, you know, that 
was petty. That is judgmental. That is a fault-finding mentality. 
That is an arrogation or an assertion of my authority to judge brethren. 
That is a lack of charity. God have mercy, God forgive me, 
God cleanse me from my sins for manifesting the very disposition, 
the very characteristic that Jesus here prohibits. Judge not 
that you be not judged. There is forgiveness, there is 
grace, there is mercy to be had with God the Lord through Jesus 
Christ our Savior. The glory of the gospel is seen. 
in that Christ came into this world, sinners to save. Sinners 
that were judgmental toward other sinners. Sinners that were petty 
toward other sinners. Sinners that were fault finders 
toward others. If you are a Christian and you 
are guilty of this sin, confess it, forsake it, and you will 
find mercy. And resolved by the grace of 
God, beseeching Him for the power of the Holy Spirit, that you 
will no longer engage in this kind of a practice. If you're 
not a Christian, And you think that you're going to go to heaven 
because you're better than others, or you have a righteousness, 
or you don't need Jesus, you need the same cross, you need 
the same gospel, you need the same Christ. Believe on him and 
you shall be saved. Well, let us pray. Our Father, 
we thank you for this, your holy word. We thank you for the instruction 
of our Lord. We thank you for his wonderful 
illustration. And God, we would all probably be ready to confess 
that this is true of us, having beams in our own eyes, having 
logs in our own eyes, and seeking to fetch out the speck in our 
brethren's eyes. Grant us forgiveness, grant us 
mercy, grant us grace, and grant us help, Lord God, that we may 
not engage in that which Jesus prohibits here. And we ask these 
things in Jesus' holy name.