Matthew 7:1-6

[0:00] Please take out your copy of God's Word and join me in Matthew chapter 7.! Our text for this morning is Matthew chapter 7 verses 1 through 6.! Thank you for that prayer, Reese.

[0:12] I started to preach the text in that prayer. I used to say, just take it, man. Just go with it. Matthew chapter 7 and verse 1 is one of the most misused verses in the Bible.

[0:30] Previously mentioned book that I'm going to give out. This is the first chapter. This is the first verse that he decides to tackle in that book of misused verses in the Bible.

[0:43] Judge not that you be not judged. People love to quote this verse. Most often in an attempt to quiet those who would speak about the sin in their lives or in the lives of others.

[1:00] What is meant by judge? People make judgments all the time. Right? Decisions about things.

[1:11] Deciding one thing better than another thing. If we isolate this verse and take it at its face, as many would attempt to do, we can't have courts.

[1:24] I can't determine one food item better than another food item. We make judgments. This is a thing we do. Right?

[1:35] This verse is never cited to quiet our opinions concerning how a particular athlete or team is performing. Ever watch the game with a friend and call a bad call?

[1:48] A friend says, Judge not that you be not judged. It's never cited to quiet your view of a particular movie or show.

[2:02] I just didn't like it. It was just to judge not that you be not judged. So people make decisions about how they want to use this verse, don't they?

[2:13] It doesn't apply unilaterally. When people misuse this verse, they are most often saying, I like the way that I am living.

[2:24] And who do you think you are to tell me I am wrong? The Greek word here translated judge means to separate, choose, select, or determine.

[2:39] It's a complex word with a dozen or more shades of meaning that have to be determined by the context.

[2:51] We have to determine from the context. What did Jesus mean when he said, Judge not that you be not judged? How do we understand what it is he's driving at?

[3:05] And so that's why we'll labor today to rightly understand what Jesus meant by looking at the teaching accompanying this most misused of verses.

[3:18] Matthew 7, verses 1-6. This is God's word to us. It was written for his glory and our good. And we would all do well to listen to it in order to believe its promises and obey its commands.

[3:37] Judge not that you be not judged. For with the judgment you pronounce, you will be judged. And with the measure you use it, will be measured to you.

[3:48] Why do you see the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, let me take the speck out of your eye when there is the log in your own eye?

[4:01] You hypocrite. First take the log out of your own eye and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye. Do not give dogs what is holy and do not throw your pearls before pigs, lest they trample them underfoot and turn to attack you.

[4:23] By following verse 1 with a reading through verse 6, we can see already that Jesus cannot possibly mean that we are not ever to judge anything as He, in this text alone, passes judgment on the type of people who judge wrongly.

[4:43] At the beginning of verse 5, He says, you hypocrite. This is a statement of judgment. He's separating out.

[4:53] He's categorizing a person who doesn't judge appropriately and declaring them hypocritical. Further, we will see in the coming weeks more judgment in chapter 7.

[5:08] We are warned away from false prophets who evidence themselves by their fruit in verses 15 through 20. How are we to judge whether a person is a true prophet or a false prophet?

[5:23] By their fruit. Jesus declares, in a day of judgment, those He never knew workers of lawlessness in verses 21 through 23.

[5:38] They say to Him, but Lord, Lord, we did this and we did this. And He says, depart from Me for I never knew you. And He declares them, He judges them, workers of lawlessness.

[5:50] And finally, in chapter 7, verses 24 through 27, we see a man who built his house on the rock and a man who built his house on the sand. And the storm that comes is the storm of judgment.

[6:04] One man's house stands and the other falls. In fact, the entirety of the Sermon on the Mount is meant to distinguish what citizens of the Kingdom of Heaven will look like.

[6:18] It is meant to instruct and to judge those claiming to be worshipers of God. And we have seen this as we have worked our way through. How are people who belong to God's Kingdom characterized?

[6:32] True worshipers versus false worshipers. Much of chapter 6 of the Sermon on the Mount is an indictment against the Pharisees.

[6:44] Jesus has in mind, don't be like those who claim to be worshipers of God in this way. And He's constantly correcting. He's constantly changing the way they think.

[6:58] John MacArthur in his commentary on this text said, the entire thrust of the Sermon on the Mount is to show the complete distinction between true religion and false religion, between spiritual truth and spiritual hypocrisy.

[7:12] Jesus places God's perfect and holy standards beside the unholy and self-righteous standards of the scribes and Pharisees and declares that those who follow those unholy and righteous standards have no part in God's Kingdom.

[7:28] No more controversial or judgmental sermon has ever been preached. And how dare anybody say to Jesus, judge not, lest you be judged.

[7:45] So Jesus was a judge and Jesus will be the final judge, the ultimate judge. And so you may say to me at this point, well, he's Jesus.

[8:02] He was and is God incarnate and so it's okay that he judges but not okay for us to judge.

[8:13] And I would respond, that's fair, but let's look elsewhere for a moment and then we will take a hard look at Jesus' teaching in Matthew 7, verses 1-6.

[8:26] What Paul said in Galatians, chapter 1, verse 8, says, but even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preach to you, let him be accursed.

[8:42] Judge the teaching of those who will come to you and teach against the pure gospel, the gospel that we've already proclaimed to you. Judge whether or not it's consistent with that and if it's not, let them be kicked out of the church.

[8:55] That's what he's saying. Paul says this. John said in 2 John, verses 10 and 11, not chapter 10, excuse me, 2 John, verses 10 and 11, if anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not receive him into your house or give him any greeting for whoever greets him takes part in his wicked works.

[9:19] Once again, judge his teaching against the teaching that you have received. And another place, the author of Hebrews said in Hebrews 5 and verse 14, but solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish, to judge, good from evil.

[9:48] So we are instructed as the church to be about the work of judgment, but a particular kind of judgment. We can see in our text today three types of judging.

[10:04] One is condemned, the other two are commended, and they'll form our outline for today. So the first type of judging that we see is unloving, hypocritical judgment.

[10:23] Unloving, hypocritical judgment. Much of the text this morning is concerned with this. Verse 1 through the very beginning of verse 5.

[10:34] I'll read it to you one more time. Judge not, that you be not judged. For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you.

[10:45] Why do you see the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, let me take the speck out of your eye when there is the log in your own eye?

[10:58] You hypocrite. The type of judgment that Jesus speaks against is self-righteous, unloving, hypocritical judgment.

[11:11] The Pharisees were so full of this type of judgment. And let's call it for our purposes this morning, judgmentalism. Judgmentalism is characterized by an eagerness to find and point out others' faults.

[11:31] The Pharisees loved to do this work. They loved to show themselves to be more righteous than those who were around them.

[11:44] Judgmentalism is characterized by this. And we are guilty of this at times. Looking at others and rather than seeing their strengths, trying to identify their weaknesses as quickly as possible and to point those things out.

[12:00] Seeking that we would look better in front of other people and feel better about ourselves than others. Comparison, beloved, is the death of holiness.

[12:13] Judgmentalism is characterized by this eagerness to find and point out others' faults. Judgmentalism is also characterized by an assumption of motives.

[12:25] The Pharisees were, and we can be so very quick to see an action and assume what lies behind that action. Not know anything about the person or what's driving the decision that they're making, but to cast a quick and immediate judgment upon the thing that they are doing.

[12:44] And we do this with so many gray area issues. Things that we can't clearly point to and say, this is clearly sin, the Bible prohibits this activity, or this is clearly sin because they're not participating in the things that the Bible commands, but that's gray and we're very quick to apply our judgment to it by assuming the motives of it.

[13:11] Judgmentalism is also characterized by an unhealthy desire to share those faults with others. Having noted the faults, we're very quick to run around telling everybody else the fault, not for the edification of the person, but for the tearing down of that person.

[13:30] And this is the kind of judging that Jesus is speaking against. The log pictured here in this text was likely the main beam that was used to support the roof in the typical house of Jesus' day.

[13:48] You may not be aware of this, but in the Middle East, there wasn't just wood lying around. So these logs would have been imported in and would have been these big pieces of wood. So probably what's going on here when he's referring to this log or beam or moat, some of your texts may say, is this massive piece of wood that was meant to hold up the roof of the house.

[14:12] It was huge, typically about 40 feet in length. the person with a log like this in their eye cannot see anything, much less even get close enough to another to remove the speck in their eye.

[14:31] And Jesus here is not trying to weigh out one sin over another sin. What he's trying to give us is this perspective we should have on our own sin before we ever think we could go to another and help them with theirs.

[14:47] Consider your sin to be a log. Consider everybody else's sin to be a speck. This type of judgmentalism was the activity of the Pharisees doing eye operations as blinded men.

[15:06] They could not see to do the work they were claiming to do. And sadly, this is the activity of many in our day and we are not above correction this morning.

[15:20] Listen to some of the woes that Jesus declares in Matthew chapter 23. This is beginning in verse 13 and following. Jesus says, Woe to you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites.

[15:34] Once again, this is a judgment he's making. For you shut the kingdom of heaven in people's faces for you neither enter yourselves nor allow those who would enter to go in.

[15:48] Declaring people unrighteous. Declaring people outside the grace of God. Judgmental. Woe to you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for you travel across sea and land to make a single proselyte, a convert to Judaism, and when he becomes a proselyte, you make him twice as much a child of hell as yourselves.

[16:17] Building up self-righteousness in people. Building up this idea of self-defense. Bearing gladly the logs in our own eyes and pointing out all the time the specks in others.

[16:33] Jesus tells a parable of a scribe, a Pharisee, in Luke chapter 18, verse 9 and following. Luke records this, he also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, self-righteous, and treated others with contempt.

[16:56] Judgmentalism. Jesus said, two men up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed thus, God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector.

[17:18] I fast twice a week, I give tithes of all that I get. But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven.

[17:29] An act of shame. But he beat his breast, saying, God, be merciful to me, a sinner. I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other.

[17:43] For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted. This type of judgment should not characterize us, beloved.

[17:58] It is informed by an improper view of God and the gospel. God has given to us a holy standard by which we should live.

[18:13] It's found in the moral law of the Old Testament. It's repeated for us again in the New Testament. It's taught to us here in the Sermon on the Mount.

[18:26] this is what you need to look like to be pleasing to God. And then he tells us at every turn that we are incapable of doing this work.

[18:38] And he doesn't stand judgmental over us for it, but he comes to us with graciousness. He comes to us kindly. He loves us and makes for us a way to be righteous in Christ.

[18:56] He sends his very son to come and to live a perfect life. Fulfilling, crossing every T and dotting every I of the law of God that we might have his righteousness and that he would take away all of our sinfulness.

[19:14] We have no space to be judgmental towards others. There is no reason for us if we rightly have a view of God and this gospel that has come to us.

[19:27] It should bring about great measures of humility and loving kindness towards others. But often this type of judgmentalism, this improper judgmentalism is informed by an improper view of ourselves.

[19:47] But we think far too much of ourselves. we need to stop and think for a moment how very, very deep your sin really is.

[20:00] What a self-worshipper you are. If you haven't already done that this morning, I hope by the end of this sermon you will have.

[20:11] Maybe already you're starting to see how very judgmental you can be at times. this is because of your great sinfulness. We ought to always view our sin as a great beam in our eye.

[20:28] We ought to always be humbled by that. And that should flavor how we relate to others who also find themselves in this position.

[20:41] And often it's informed by this improper judgmentalism is informed by an improper view of others. Improper view of others.

[20:54] I find far too often when I pick up this sin of judgmentalism it's because I don't really consider the eternal souls of other people.

[21:06] I'm more concerned about the immediacy of their action and how it offends me and my sensibilities than their eternal state and their worship of God.

[21:21] So we need to have a proper view of God and the gospel and ourselves and our others if we're to pick up the practice of judging as we should.

[21:33] So we want to avoid this. This type of judgmentalism should not characterize the church. This unloving hypocritical judgment. And this is the judge not lest you be judged that Jesus here is talking about.

[21:51] Much like back in the Lord's prayer when Jesus in verse 12 teaches us to pray and forgive us our debts as we also have forgiven our debtors. Our lack of this type of judgmentalism our proper understanding of God and the gospel and ourselves and others is an evidence of the type of working that God has done in our life.

[22:15] It's the guaranteeing that we will not be held to the same standard that the Pharisees would be held to in their day. The second type of judging we see in our text is loving careful sin removal.

[22:39] Loving careful sin removal. And I don't mean to say here that we have the power to remove sins from others. But what I mean to say is that God uses us as the means to that end that we would help others to see clearly repent of their sins.

[22:59] Notice first most of verse five here that our brother does have something in his eye that needs removal.

[23:11] After declaring this type of wrong judgmental person a hypocrite Jesus says first take the log out of your own eye and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye.

[23:26] He needs help to see clearly and it is the loving careful work of those who call him brother to help him.

[23:39] Note that it's your brother someone who we have committed to care for deeply. When Jesus is asked what the greatest commandment is in Matthew chapter 22 he responds by citing Deuteronomy 6 5 you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart with all your soul with all your mind this is the great and first commandment he then cites Leviticus chapter 19 and verse 18 and the second is like it you shall love your neighbor as yourself on these two commandments depend all the law and the prophets so Leviticus 19 18 says you shall love your neighbor as yourself just before this statement in Leviticus chapter 19 you shall love your neighbor as yourself what love to neighbor looks like is defined in Leviticus chapter 19 verse 17 listen to this you shall not hate your brother in your heart but you shall reason frankly with your neighbor lest you incur sin because of him you shall not hate your brother by ignoring his sinfulness but you should love your brother instead by reasoning with your brother pointing out the air helping him to see the place that he's gone wrong if we desire to help others well then we must first start with our own examination we must ready ourselves by removing the glaring sin in our own lives before we are qualified to help our brother with the sin in his we must first have a right view of

[25:33] God and the gospel ourselves and our brother if we are to help him we must remember who we once were and what we've been delivered from and how even having been delivered from it how often we still go back to our sinful ways how readily we betray the one who we call Lord we must remember these things repent and believe afresh before we can be of any help to our brother we must put on the love of Christ in order to fulfill the law of Christ to love one another Dr.

[26:17] H.A. Ironside which is a great preacher's name the 20th century pastor of Moody Church in Chicago once said when our hearts are occupied with his wondrous love we remember that he loved us when we were unlovely and some of us are not very lovely now we remember that he loved us when we were unlovable and some of us are not very lovable yet if he could do that when we were rebellious and if that same love is now shed abroad in our hearts we ought to be able to love those who are sinful and unkind and selfish love is the motivating factor for the right kind of judgment calling sin sin in another's life and going to them out of concern for them having the difficult conversation right at my expense to come to someone and say

[27:23] I think you're erring in this way I want to show you from the text and I want to pray for you and I want to help you be delivered from the snaring place that you found yourself it's love that motivates!

[27:37] this 1 Corinthians chapter 13 verses 4 through 7 not just a text for weddings Paul writes love is patient and kind love does not envy or boast it is not arrogant or rude it does not insist on its own way it is not irritable or resentful it does not rejoice at wrong doing but rejoices with the truth this is flavoring the right kind of judgment not the improper judgmentalism verse 7 love bears all things believes all things hopes all things endures all things this is the attitude by which we want to come to others we don't want to be a people who are seeking correction for our gain uplifting ourselves we want to be a people who as

[28:46] Peter says in 1 Peter 4 8 keep loving one another earnestly since love covers a multitude of sins right bearing with people believing in people hoping for people enduring people and all of the specks that are in our eyes Paul helps us with this helps instruct us in this in Galatians chapter 6 verse 1 where he writes brothers if anyone is caught in any transgression you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness right come to that friend and say seeing this thing do it with a great deal of gentleness and then he says keep watch on yourself lest you too be tempted and I think certainly in this instruction to us Paul is saying don't get wrapped up in the very sin that they're participating in if you go and find your brother in a sin don't find yourself doing the same sin

[29:54] I think it's included in that but if we're already seeing clearly enough to see it as sin I don't know that's the specific thing he's referring to so what could he possibly mean brothers if anyone is caught in transgression you are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness keep watch on yourself lest you too be tempted and this is conjecture on my part I'll have you know this is not thus saith the Lord but I find for myself that Galatians 6 1 is instructive to me to not become self righteous in my correction of others seeing clearly having removed the beam from my own eye it's possible in coming to someone to help restore them that I pick the beam back up and jam it back in right finding myself feeling better than this person who needs gentle restoration so we're meant to come to people with a great deal of humility and love and gentleness this loving careful sin removal now

[31:10] Jesus helps us in the book of Matthew chapter 18 so join me if you will to Matthew chapter 18 beginning in verse 15 Jesus gives us here in Matthew 18 verse 15 16 and 17 a step by step instruction guide for how we're to go about the work of gentle restoration of loving careful sin removal this text is most often the text that's used to talk about church discipline and it bothers me that we too often talk about church discipline in the final sense of church discipline which we'll talk more about in our text this morning but discipline is part of the day in and day out process of a healthy church discipline comes from the same word that we use for discipleship discipline is just helping people to follow

[32:25] Christ in this case we're talking about corrective discipline we're talking about corrective discipline someone has erred from the way and we're showing them how to get back on the narrow path so see that in our church discipline happens in the first and second step a lot we hope the first primarily constantly going on we're coming to each other if we're not the exhortation to you this morning is to pick up this responsibility clear your eyes of being so that you can see specks and help each other out in pursuing holiness so here it is beginning in verse 15 if your brother sins!

[33:11] against you go and tell him his fault between you and him alone love covers a multitude of sins doesn't seek to proclaim it doesn't need to broadcast it to everybody so not everyone knows about this thing that's going on between you but you go to him and you speak to him hoping looking for restoration repentance and growing faith if he listens to you you have gained your brother praise god this happens a lot in our church but if he does not listen take one or two others along with you that every charge may be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses So now people get involved in the process of coming we're talking about confronting clear sin here right we're talking about here here the text says and this is the way you're living in contradiction to this clear command of the scripture take a couple along with you and

[34:20] I don't know if you've ever been in that situation or not but it's much more difficult to pop up with pride and tell the person that they're wrong and improperly cite Matthew chapter 7 verse 1 to them tell it to the church tell it to the church here Jesus is talking about the local gathering of believers people who can know one another and know this particular brother tell it to the church and if he refuses to listen even to the church right so again here's the assumption now the church is saying the church is calling out the sin the church is trying to bring him back to restoration to show him the air of his way and he refused to listen even to the church let him be to you as a gentile and a collector that is to say one who's outside the faith one who you would not consider to be part of the people of

[35:41] God and so the second type of judging we see is commended to us we're meant to be about the work of loving careful sin removal right we need each other to do this we are so very blind to our own sin we need each other's help in doing this but we can see in our text for Matthew 18 and back in Matthew chapter 7 that there's a third type of judgment loving careful separation loving careful separation Jesus says in verse 6 and this is how this relates to this entire idea do not give dogs what is holy and do not throw your pearls before pigs lest they trample them underfoot and turn to attack you dogs and pigs in Jesus day were not pleasant animals so in case you have any notion that they were there was the very rare dog that shepherd sheep they had some dogs that did this type of work but even then they were work dogs they weren't friendly pet dogs the way we have dogs in our day most of the dogs of our day have been bred to be friendly they weren't so in this day most of the dogs would have lived in the dumps at the edge of town and would have been avoided!

[37:17] animals the Jews detested pigs and they weren't the cute pig of Charlotte's Web these were more like wild boars tusks and hairy and if you've spent much time hunting in Georgia you've probably come across wild boars and they are nasty animals they can be pretty good but you don't want to be attacked by one they are mean vicious animals Jesus is here instructing that once it has been determined that a person is not in the faith and is hostile to the gospel of Jesus Christ that we should stop presenting the gospel to them we should get away from them now hear me the clarification and is hostile right you have come to them they have shown themselves to be an unbeliever you have shared the gospel of Jesus Christ and they are hostile to the gospel of

[38:19] Jesus Christ they have shown themselves to be this particular kind of person we are to get away from them we can see two quick examples of this in Jesus instruction when sending out the twelve apostles Matthew chapter 10 verse 14 he's just taught them this and not long after he sends them out and he says if anyone will not receive you or listen to your words shake off the dust from your feet when you leave that house or town it was an action of judgment in the day right leave the town leave them to themselves you've proclaimed the gospel to them and they did not receive it and they opposed and reviled him he shook out his garment same thing knocked the dust and said to them your blood be on your own heads I am innocent from now on I will go to the Gentiles and he established a church amongst the

[39:20] Gentiles in that town so how is it determined that an individual is outside the faith the assumption here in Jesus text that these are people who claim be inside the faith remember he has the Pharisees in mind all of this time that he is on the mount talking to the crowd he has this religious elite who are claiming to be followers of God so how are we to determine that an individual is outside the faith and I would refer you back to Matthew chapter 18 verse 15 through 17 I won't read it all but you need to step process which I talked us through one by one if your brother sins against you go and tell him his fault if he listens to you you you have won your brother step one if not take two or three along with you again if he's listened to you you won your brother if not take him to the church still unwilling to listen step four let him be to you as a gentile and a tax collector it has been given to the church the keys to the kingdom it is a weighty responsibility that we are meant to be about the work of church discipline right we want to admit people carefully into the church and we want to see people carefully out of the church loving careful patient long suffering discipline this is an important work that

[41:04] God has given for us to do in the church we don't get to declare absolute and final judgment over anybody I'm very thankful for that that's a responsibility we don't have to bear Jesus will be the final judge but we're meant to be about the work of keeping the church pure we're meant to guard it from false doctrine and we're meant to keep the false prophets the wolves out of the church and this is the way that we do this careful church membership careful letting people out of the church excommunication it helps mark out the church in the world it helps say here's the clear line of who we say is church and who we say can't be church we don't know right how can we know we're not given opportunity to inspect your fruit or we've said we have in fact and you're showing yourself to be an unbeliever and this is so important so that the church can be a proper witness to the goodness and loving kindness of

[42:12] God our world desperately needs to see the gospel in action see a people changed! Right? Loving each other peculiarly! And loving the world saying those people are different we gotta mark out very clear lines for this reason to love our communities with the gospel of Jesus Christ we are not to be peddlers of what Dietrich Bonhoeffer called cheap grace I commend to you his book called The Cost of Discipleship where he puts up for us he shows us through the scripture that salvation of our souls is a gift but it is a gift that demands our lives having been saved by grace we're not continually saved by our works we are saved but this is a life transforming salvation we've been given the spirit of God who leads us into the truth of

[43:13] God and changes who we are those who are in the faith who are truly saved desire! holiness hate sin a bit more each and every day love God's ways more each and every day we're not changed in an instant but we're changed from one degree of glory to another and a major way this happens is in our working together to remove specks from each other's eyes it's a very important work the gospel we have far too many churches in our day that peddle cheap!

[43:49] grace decisionism raise your hand walk an aisle now we're not concerned about the way that you live as long as you give and invite we'll be okay so we can keep the process rolling right along and it is a dangerous affront to the gospel of Jesus Christ it is I would suggest much like the Pharisee in Jesus day that would travel across the sea to make a proselyte and make him about the gospel of Jesus Christ and a major way we do that is by leading each other in holiness Bonhoeffer said in the cost of discipleship this is on your bulletin if you want to read along with me cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance baptism without church discipline the Lord supper without confession absolution without personal confession cheap grace is grace without discipleship grace without the cross grace without

[44:54] Jesus Christ living and incarnate Jesus was concerned with the church allowing dogs and pigs to be a part of the church Matthew chapter 7 verse 15 beware of false prophets who come to you in sheep's clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves the apostles were also very concerned with this matter Paul wrote in Romans chapter 16 verse 17 and following I appeal to you brothers to watch out for those who cause divisions and create obstacles contrary to the doctrine that you have been taught avoid them for such persons do not serve our Lord Christ but their own appetites and by smooth talk and flattery they deceive the hearts of the naive hear what

[45:55] Paul is saying there to us avoid these divisions and these obstacles that are contrary to doctrine to the truth of the gospel why so that we can be more right absolutely not this is not the aim of what he's trying to say what he's saying is that these people by smooth talk and flattery deceive the hearts of the naive they will lead others astray by wrong doctrine we must protect those people from this type of teaching Paul said again 1st Corinthians chapter 5 verse 11 but now I'm writing to you not to associate with anyone who bears the name of brother if he is guilty of sexual immorality or greed or is an idolater reviler drunkard or swindler not even to eat with such a one not to join with them I would suggest that in the day the

[46:58] Lord's supper! was a practice that always happened around an actual meal at an actual table don't claim to be in fellowship in Christ with the person who says they're in Christ and yet their life is characterized by ungodliness be very careful about who you give approval to and denial to cast proper judgment again 2nd Timothy chapter 4 verses 1 through 4 Paul writes to Timothy I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus who is to judge the living and the dead and by his appearing and his kingdom preach the word be ready in season and out of season reprove rebuke and exhort all these different ways that we bring the truth to people with gentleness and sometimes with firmness with complete patience and teaching and then in verse 3 he tells us why for the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths there will come a time when people will say to anybody who tries to help them follow

[48:24] Christ faithfully judge not that you be not judged and they will go and find a group of people who profess to be followers of Christ who say that they're a church who just give out cheap grace who aren't concerned at all about the holiness of the people that they associate with and finally Paul writes to Titus in Titus chapter 3 verse 10 and 11 as for a person who stirs up division after warning him once and then twice have nothing more to do with him knowing that such a person is warped and sinful he is self condemned now I end with this text because as we're talking about this third type of judging this loving careful separation it is not the work of the church or any individual of the church to fully and finally condemn anybody you know what

[49:32] Paul says there in Titus 3 10 and 11 right we're to have nothing to do with this person with the kind of confidence we can have we're saying we don't think you're in the faith we've warned you once we've warned you twice and then Paul says he is self condemned it is his own activity that has condemned him so we're very careful about our association with such people so for the glory of God we should rightly understand Matthew chapter 7 verse 1 and avoid unloving hypocritical judgment I don't ever want someone to cite that verse to me and be right using it properly I don't ever want somebody to cite that verse to me and me go yeah boy you're right that really cuts deep that is exactly what I'm doing we should avoid that type of judgmentalism we should be so very careful so very loving so very humble and patient in the way that we approach others but we should be about this work of loving careful sin removal and loving careful grief filled separation right the glory of God in the world right displayed in his church needs this work and it's all of our responsibility let's pray together