Judge Not

morning at this time. Children are dismissed for Bible basics. If you're a guest with us, this is an opportunity for children three to six to learn an age-appropriate lesson Let us continue to worship by looking to Romans 2 and hearing God's word. Therefore, you have no excuse, O man, every one of you who judges. For in passing judgment on another, you condemn yourself, because you, the judge, practice the very same things. We know that the judgment of God rightly falls on those who practice such things. Do you suppose, O man, you who judge those who practice such things and yet do them yourself, that you will escape the judgment of God? Or do you presume of the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God's kindness is meant to lead you to repentance? But because of your hard and impenitent heart, you are storing up wrath for yourselves on the day of wrath, when God's righteous judgment will be revealed. You will render to each one according to his works, To those who by patience and well-doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, he will give eternal life. But for those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth but obey unrighteousness, there'll be wrath and fury. There'll be tribulation and distress for every human being who does evil, the Jew first and also the Greek. But glory and honor and peace for everyone who does good, the Jew first and also the Greek. For God shows no partiality. Let us meditate upon these things. you Will you pray with me? Father, we praise you. We thank you for speaking to us. for the words you spoke even after Adam had sinned and rebelled, seeking him out. Lord, we thank you for the way we can see how you've initiated your grace and your love to a sinful, a stiff-necked people throughout your history and your word. Lord, we thank you that your words extend your kindness, your mercy, You call us with great power to know you, to know who you are, to know how you've loved us. Lord, thank you that you've not left us alone in a silence of fear and dread, a silence of having to figure things out on our own. Lord, we thank you that you've given us such clear words so that we do know what's right and what's wrong. Most of all, Lord, we know that You love us because you do not spare your own son. We thank you, Father, for sending your very own son to speak. And Lord, as we meditate today again on just a sampling of his teaching, Lord, we thank you for the power and authority of his word. Will we thank you that he leads us to know who you are, the God of mercy, and leads us to know how we can also be merciful? Lord, thank you that you have not left us to be hated and hateful. You've called us into your mercy to be merciful. Father, we pray that you would bless us as a church Bless us to be a people of mercy. Let us be a children who love our enemies, who are quick to show kindness, who are slow to anger. Lord, we pray for us as parents. We pray for the children who are in a Bible lesson now. We pray for the children who are being raised up in this body that they would see and experience and hear mercy abounding. Lord, we pray for our children. that they would hear the great power of the gospel, to believe in Jesus Christ, to know him, and desire to proclaim him, Lord. May we as a church teach and model and train up. Lord, we pray for parents, Lord, that we would be committed to being trainers, first followers, Lord, but trainers of the children you've blessed us with. to know Christ. Father, this morning we rejoice that this upcoming weekend there's a wedding. We pray for Andrew and Audrey. We do pray for the wedding ceremony, that it would glorify you, that those who attend would hear the gospel and be cut to the heart to believe in Jesus. Lord, even more, we pray for the marriage. We pray for Andrew, Lord, that he would know how to lead his wife to love her as Christ of the church, to live with her in an understanding way, to honor her, Lord. We pray for them to find a church where they would grow up into Christ with maturity, with fellowship, finding other believers who they would be discipled by and be built up to be disciples of others. Lord bless Audrey, Lord, as she Commit yourself to love and submit to Andrew, Lord. I pray that you would bless this union, you would bless them as a family. Lord, we thank you that you've given us the covenant of marriage that you declare the two one flesh. As they enter into this new covenant, Lord, I pray that you would bless them with the grace they need to depend upon you and to glorify you. Lord, as a church this morning, we also grieve. We've lost a dear friend, and we thank you for Birch. We thank you, Lord, for her life, for her joy. Lord, I thank you for the enthusiasm she had as a student of your word. Lord, it's untimely death. We always grieve death because it's not the way it's supposed to be, Lord. We've been shaken. Lord, I do pray you would bless us to grieve because we have lost a loved one. Lord, I pray that you would help us to grieve with hope because of the power of your saving resurrection. Lord, I pray for Steve and her son and his wife, Jen. Pray for Nancy and the many friends she had here and has left behind. Lord, I pray Thursday we would honor her life, and most of all, Lord, proclaim the gospel that saves sinners. Father, this morning as we reflect on your high calling to be merciful, give us ears to hear. Lord, we thank you that you speak again. We thank you that you're speaking all over the city from pulpits that are blessed with men of God who are opening your word. Bruce, as he opens your word at Laurel Hill this morning, I thank you for this man's almost decades of ministry, Lord. Lord, as we just sung, I pray that you would speak. Help us, Lord, to have eyes to see your grace and authority. Protect us from being blind. Protect us from leading blindly others into the pit. Lord, may we have eyes to see your grace and authority so that we would know you. Be faithful disciples and be faithful disciplers. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. Here is our sermon text we read by Cheryl. I'll be reading from Luke chapter six, starting in verse 36. You can find that in the Pew Bible, starting on page 862. Be merciful, even as your father is merciful. Judge not, and you will not be judged. Condemn not, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven. Give, and it will be given to you. Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap. For with a measure you use it will be measured back to you. He also told them a parable. Can a blind man lead a blind man? Will they not both fall into a pit? A disciple is not above his teacher, but everyone when he is fully trained will be like his teacher. 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? How can you say to your brother, brother, let me take out the speck that is in your eye, when you yourself do not see the log that is in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take out the speck that is in your brother's eye. Blessed be the reading of God's word. Good morning. If you're new with us, we mostly, almost always, are walking through books of the Bible. We are in the middle of Luke, well, the beginning of Luke. Luke is one of the longest Gospels. And if you look here, we've been studying in Luke 6, the Sermon on the Plain. We often know more about the Sermon on the Mount. That's from Matthew here. It's a different sermon. He's come down from the mountain. And we've been meditating upon the different parts of this sermon. This is a sampling from Luke of what his teaching would have been like. And it may reflect this morning that I have pastor friends who've told me about how they've done a series of the difficult sayings of Jesus. And what they would do is take the different parts of different aspects of his teaching kind of put together a topical series that looks at these different passages, and I just kind of thought, why wouldn't he just do this sermon? It's just over and over again, difficult and difficult and difficult. Everything Jesus is saying here has a difficulty to it. There's great authority. The word of God himself is speaking. The son of God is teaching. I'll be very clear, he's speaking to his disciples, he's giving expectations for who we should be as a church. Just think about the things we've already heard. Blessed are the poor. Woe to the rich. Blessed are you when they persecute you, when they speak evil of you, and spurn your name, and exclude you, but blessed are you, blessed when they speak evil of you, but woe to you when they speak well of you. Love your enemy? That is the unique Christian ethic? Lend without returning? And then as we ended last week, and where we're gonna pick back up this week in the beginning, be merciful. That bar, the measure, listen to the measure, even as your heavenly Father is merciful. Those qualifications, as we look at the different commands of love, love the Lord your God with all your heart, love your neighbor as yourself. Here, the qualification as. merciful. Well, how merciful? Even as your heavenly Father is merciful. This is a high calling to godliness. As we consider this next difficult saying, I want us to see here, the whole principle is, you've been shown mercy. The only way this calling, the only way this command makes any sense is if we first receive mercy, if we first know that God who is merciful, as we first know the God who is patient and kind. And it's so important. The kindness of God, we read from Romans 2, it leads to repentance. Oh, how often we presume upon kindness to sin. No, the kindness of God leads to repentance. We're supposed to be a church who's striving to receive this mercy, striving to be merciful. This morning it's a high calling. If you're looking for just one simple sentence to summarize, it's God's mercy makes us ministers of mercy. God's mercy makes us ministers of mercy. There's a molding aspect to what God's mercy does. We receive it and then it transforms us. Three questions we'll ask of the text as we walk through. First, what mercy requires. And that's intentionally supposed to make you think mercy requires. What mercy requires. Second, what mercy returns And then how mercy ministers. What mercy requires. Let's look at our text. Again, I believe Jesus here is unpacking that very central declaration, be merciful, even as your heavenly Father is merciful. Well, what does that mean? There's four commands, there's four requirements. He's unpacking mercy. And we're gonna first look at the commands, then the other half, the promises that go alongside of them. Judge not, condemn not, forgive, and give. Simple observation, we've got two negatives, do not judge, do not condemn, and then two positive things we're supposed to do, forgive and give. Let's start with judge not, condemn not. We'll break these up into the pairs because there's the negation and then the positive. Here we are, judge not. Lest ye be judged. We usually hear this in the King James, right? Gives a little more oomph. Judge not, lest ye be judged. It's the favorite quote of Jesus that we like to recite, right? We typically know John 3, 16, because there's a guy, well, back when I was a young man, with a rainbow wig that hold up John 3, 16. We typically know John 3, 16 in our culture. We never see this one held up at a basketball game. We got Luke 6, 37, but how often is it cited? Judge not. How often is this just misused, actually? It typically communicates the idea that, you know, Christianity, we're not supposed to tell each other people their sin, we're not supposed to confront each other in sin, they're not supposed to tell other people they're sinners. To communicate anything that's judgmental is out of bounds, is how this is usually used. It's embraced by a culture that embraces relativism. that morality and ethics is purely subjective, it's a personal thing, or it's a societal thing. There isn't a real absolute right or a wrong, so who are you to tell me what's right or wrong? That's how it's often used. Maybe more close to home is we like to pretend that our religion is private. We like to pretend that my beliefs, my behavior are my business, Stay out of it. There's nothing more untrue than what Jesus says. The whole principle here is how we actually treat one another. And the whole reason he's telling all the disciples is that this is what we're all supposed to know and to do. No, religion is not private. Morality is not relative. Let's be clear. There's a high calling. Be merciful. Do not judge. Do not condemn. Let me be clear about what merciful, I believe, communicates, especially if you heard Romans 2. Mercy is not an excuse to sin. This is how often this do not judge is used. Don't judge me. Who are you to tell me that I'm sinning and confronting me because I'm just gonna believe in God's grace. I'm gonna presume upon God's grace and I'm gonna keep on sinning. That is so dangerous. Hear the warning for Romans 2. Church, we're supposed to be confronting sin with a clear expectation that we welcome those who confess sin. This is the one thing the church does that no one else does. Welcome confessing sinners. Confessing their sin, confessing a repentance, confessing a desire to be forgiven. We show mercy to those who are being confronted and therefore confess sin. We need to be very concerned and careful about embracing and welcoming those who are holding tight to sin, refusing to repent. The church is supposed to make certain kinds of judgments. We've got to add some kind of qualification here in verse 37, judge not. Here's why. If we're just to look a little bit further down the page, Luke 6, 43 through 45, our next week's sermon. Jesus is gonna say there's two different kinds of trees and you know the kind of tree it is by its fruit. How could you possibly know what kind of tree it is by its fruit? By making a judgment, right? Nobody's done it in their head. We kind of have to be convinced of this before we can really move on. Judge not We cannot exclude the next thing Jesus is gonna say. We have to make some kind of judgment about what kind of fruit somebody is bearing, which tells us something about the roots and the health of their life, right? I heard one amen. I guess he and I will just continue. There's judgments that are seen throughout scripture. I mean, the letters of Paul are all very judgmental. He writes to the Galatians, how dare you abandon the gospel so quickly? He tells the church of Corinth, cast that man out who was sleeping with his father's wife. Make a judgment. So how do we qualify this? I believe it's this. Judge not according to your own measure. That's the qualification I think we've got to add in there. We can't say it's absolutely no judgment ever because in order to actually uphold each other, in order to admonish one another, in order to exhort one another, in order to follow 2 Timothy 3.16 and take the word of God that's good for correction, we have to make judgments. Jesus, the key qualifier is not according to your own measure and this is why. Look at verse 38, the foundational principle he lays down. For with the same measure you use, it will be measured back to you. The same standard you use to judge, it will be put back on you. That's the standard God's going to use. Whatever plumb line we lay out for others, God's gonna use the same for us. Now that doesn't mean God's only gonna judge us based upon our judgment. So God has a holy and righteous and perfect law. We will be judged by his actual law. And then, how we add a judgment to others. When we judge others, we're adding judgment to ourselves. There's also something here, we will not condemn according to our own measure. We're not gonna look around and declare, oh, judge, condemn, like the Pharisees. There's a sense in which we're not condemning according to our own measure, because what we do is we look at others and we think, how could they? How dare they? Refusing to see that the seed of every sin resides in our own hearts. When we think about condemnation, it's declaring they're too far gone. They're too sinful. Giving up hope. No, I believe what Jesus is teaching us throughout all of his teaching is that we as a church are supposed to be holding each other up to his right standards. It's very clear. We're not supposed to be people who lie, commit adultery, lust, murder, get overwhelmed with anger. There's clear standards of God's people that we are to make judgments about for ourselves and for others. I also believe there's a way in which he's wanting his disciples to be his disciples and not like the Pharisees. As Mark mentioned earlier, Jesus is regularly confronting the religious leaders because they have the job of teaching people about God. If we just go back to Luke 5.33, it's a perfect example. They're looking at folks and saying, well, you don't take our fasting seriously. Well, it's their fasting. It's their measure. It's their added standard. It's not prescribed in Scripture. But they miss justice and mercy. We have to just be aware of how we can be so tempted by superficial spirituality. That's what he's confronting here. Making judgments about ourselves and others based upon our own standards, which by definition is a superficial spirituality. It's so alluring. It promises to be so satisfying. And it is so dangerous. As we consider how I believe he's confronting them to not be like the Pharisees, let's just look at, real quick, kind of a preview for sermons coming forward. In a few weeks, we'll look at the sinful woman, the woman of the city, who's at Jesus' feet, weeping. And remember Simon, the host, He says, what kind of man would allow this kind of sinner to be in his presence? Jesus gives him a very clear teaching. Verse 41, a certain money lender had two debtors, one owed 500 denarii and the other 50. When they could not pay, he canceled the debt of both. Now which of them will he love more? And Simon answers correctly, well, the one who is forgiven more. And then he looks at the woman and says, you are forgiven. The point isn't that Simon didn't have enough sin, it was that he did not recognize his sin. He doesn't judge correctly. And then you have the condemning Pharisee who says, thank you, I'm not like the tax collector, a sinner from Luke 18. As we consider what this means, we're called to judge rightly. We're called to judge according to God's word and God's word alone, not called to judge according to our own opinions and convictions. There's two principles here I hope we embrace. One, disciples are bound to scripture and are called to bind the conscience according to God's word. There is a way in which we're supposed to be binding our consciences together according to God's word. We want to be knit together and bound to God's word. And secondly, disciples make sure there's Christian liberty where God's word doesn't speak. How damaging and how often do we know of those who are gonna come and teach opinion as if it is the very word of God? It's actually judging God's own word when we feel like we need to add to it, when we feel like we need to modify it. Brother, sister, the call this morning is to put off, to put off our own judgments and condemning spirit, and to put on God's forgiveness and generosity. Here's a few questions to consider. One, How clearly do we see the importance of God's principles over our own preferences? How often do we want to make sure that our preferences take place in the church rather than making sure that what we're pushing towards and building up towards is the headship of Christ and his priorities? It's important here. We're students of God's word. So we're pushing each other and holding each other according to God's word alone. Secondly, Do we talk about others' sin more than our own? That's a judging and condemning spirit. Gossip is a form of judging, talking about someone else and whatever failure, whatever sin they have, without them present, without making clear the gospel. It's a form of judgment that's deadly. Third. Are we more embarrassed by our sin than we are angry about everyone else's? Do we carry an embarrassment and shame of our own sin or are we just too busy being angry about everybody else's sin? What we should be doing is when we see their sin is immediately taking the opportunity to reflect that sin, the seed of that sin, it resides within me. I may not commit that particular sin, but I have sinned that's just as embarrassing and outrageous to God. Fourth question, are we praying for our own godliness and for others? This is the power of judging rightly. Not taking it upon ourselves to make sure someone's conformed to what we think God should be doing, that is the judgmental idolatry. But no, this is taking God, taking God's people up to Him in prayer. There's two ways you can measure someone's maturity based upon Jesus' Sermon on the Plain. How do they handle adversity? Love your enemy. How well does somebody handle the adversity? Love your enemy. Do we return evil for evil? That's one way in which we measure godliness. The other is how do we treat others in disappointment? Are we harsh? Are we demanding? Are we suspicious? The second half of this, still what mercy requires, the second half, we had the negative, do not judge, do not condemn, and we must judge rightly is what Jesus is saying. Second is mercy requires forgiveness. These next two are equally exciting but less often recited. Forgive and give. These also need some kind of qualification. Forgive whom for what? What do we give and what's the measure? Again, let's go back. Be merciful as your heavenly Father is merciful. Forgive as God in Christ has forgiven you. That's Ephesians 4.32. What is forgiveness? Forgiveness, at some maybe unhelpful, simplistic level, is not holding a sin against someone. Okay, what does that mean? It means we're not seeking to hold somebody under their sin to make sure that they are under our sense of what shame and guilt should feel like. Forgiveness is not forgetting, but it's also not seeking a payment. Forgiveness does not seek payment for sins committed. Forgiveness means we're satisfied with the words I'm sorry. Forgiveness means we long for reconciliation that comes when somebody confesses sin. Our willingness to forgive others really demonstrates how much we recognize God's forgiveness. Forgive one another as God in Christ has forgiven you. Forgive. Forgiveness means we absorb the debt. Forgiveness means we don't seek to make sure they understand how much they hurt us, what they've done to us. No, no, forgiveness seeks to make sure we absorb the payment. And we're quick to extend it. The next command, give. These are simple, just forgive and give. As we consider this, we're also supposed to give according to what God has given. That is a key principle. Let's meditate for a moment. God gives generously, that's James 1.5. God gives good gifts, that's James 1.18. God gives us all we need, that's 2 Peter 1.3. God gives us what is best, his own son, Romans 8.32. What thing would he withhold from us? God gives generously. And he calls us to give generously, cheerfully and courageously. Well, what are we to give? First, whatever God requires of you. We can go through all of Scripture, and we can just think about right now, we could go through the whole long list of one another's. Submit to one another, love one another, forgive one another, walk alongside one another, admonish one another, exhort one another, sing to one another, pray for one another. The service of the Christian, whatever God requires of you, is what you give. What else do we give? The second one. Whatever God has given you. Stewardship. Whatever God has given you is meant to be used for his glory, to give in some way. Again, the whole principle of blessed are the poor, woe to the rich. The problem with the rich is that they would be self-consuming. Selfish. That's the danger of riches. This last requirement. is a call to not be self-indulgent, but to be a giver. A giver of your time. Not to be misers of the good things God's given you, but to seek to be stewards who serve according to God's word. That's what God's word says mercy requires here. Judge not, condemn not, forgive and give. Now let's look at an even weightier matter. How mercy rewards. We've got to look at the second half of these commandments. Judge not, and you will not be judged. Condemn not, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven. Give, and it will be given to you. Good measure. Press down. Shaken to gather. Running over, we put into your lap. The key principle. For with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you. We've looked at these four commands, now look at these four promises. You will not be judged. You will not be condemned. You will be forgiven. It will be given to you. Again, the whole principle here, God is going to use the same measure, standard, line with which we've used. Now again, this is not a proof verse for relativism, that God is gonna judge us and forgive us based upon our own judgment. No, God has a clear law. We simply add to our own judgment as we judge others outside of God's law. For the judgment. We add extra laws. We add extra expectations. And this is what by definition makes us hypocrites. Because when we add something that God does not will, that God doesn't expect, we ourselves are not gonna be able to keep it. The measure is immediately important. I'm gonna go ahead and explain these phrases, verse 38. Good measure, press down, shaken together, running over. The picture here is if you were to go to the market with a jar and the market, the fellow, he's gonna fill it with wheat. Now he could just fill it with wheat and you pay for it, but the generous man is going to press it down. Shake it, get the air out of it. Pour more in, make it run over. And then put it in your lap. For those of you who've been through five, guys, this is like opening that bag and realizing that cup of fries is runneth over. He puts it in your lap. The generosity of God. The clarity with which he gives. He's not stingy, he's not lacking. He gives, he gives. It's an incredible warning and an incredible promise. We're going to be judged according to our judgments. We're going to be given according to how we give. Now, the one I wanna press in here is forgiveness. Matthew 18, his disciples ask, how often should we forgive? 70 times seven is what Jesus says. And then he gives a parable. A king who has owed lifetimes of money, millions of dollars, he forgives the debt. Because the man could not pay it, he forgives it. What happened to the money? It's gone. The king absorbed the debt, that's what forgiveness is. How should that servant have left? Rejoicing in the mercy he's been shown. Rejoicing and then being merciful. What does he do? He goes down and shakes another servant for lunch money. What does the king do? He calls him back, throws him in the dungeon. How dare you receive such great mercy and not be merciful? How dare you receive such great forgiveness and show no forgiveness? Even the Lord's Prayer, forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. The end of the prayer, Jesus gives us a lesson. If you forgive others their trespasses, then your Heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others, neither will your Heavenly Father forgive you. These are those terrifying warnings in all Scripture. I believe it's unpacking here, forgive and you will be forgiven. This doesn't mean we need to make sure that we forgive enough to earn God's forgiveness. No, the principle is, you've been shown great forgiveness, and what that's supposed to do is mold you into being forgiven. You can judge a tree by its fruit. Is there fruit of forgiveness? Is there fruit of absorbing, not making someone pay you in a different way? It's a terrifying warning. We will be forgiven with the same measure that we give forgiveness. It's an incredible warning about hurts, grudges, holding on to anger and offenses. You do not earn the forgiveness, but when you receive the forgiveness, it's expected to mold your heart. He also says give, and it will be given to you. Give and it will be given to you. What a fantastic promise of prosperity. Give and God will give you more. That's what it's saying. Now, we think about this and return an investment. If you give to God, he's going to return on that investment. I don't think he's saying if you give $10, he's gonna give you 100. That's dangerous. That's a prosperity of let's think about God as the American wish maker. We want to believe in these divine get rich, get happy quick schemes. We need to repent of those. We receive the riches of God's mercy. We receive the great love of which he loved us. We receive God himself. the Son who died for us and rose again, the Holy Spirit that indwells us. He gives and He gives and He gives and what do we withhold from Him? This is important. Given that God has given us so much, God has given us so much, what are we afraid to trust Him with? Our money? Our time? Our energy? Are we afraid God is going to disappoint with a return on our investment? Do we think the world's promises are better? The entertainment we invest in, is that gonna return better than God? The time in casual comfort rather than coming together and pray, is that gonna return better than God? What lie are we believing that's going to return better than God said? Give and it'll be given. Looking back to last week, this is all one connected unit, judge not. Goes all the way back to love your enemy. And there's a section there. You should love your enemies and do good to them. Love those who don't love you. Because even sinners, they just love those who love them. There's a reward, there's a benefit. There's a high calling. Those who have received the mercy of God, they show the mercy of God. For those who give according to what God gives, there's a great benefit, and there's a credit, there's a reward. They show themselves as sons. We need to be very careful and terrified of get-happy-quick schemes. If you think about the principle of investment, What kind of investment are we looking to get a return on? To ask another way, in 1 Peter, the calling is not be merciful as God is merciful. It's what? Be holy. For God is holy. Be set apart and called. Why? Because you've been bought by the precious blood of Christ. When we think about riches, God has not withheld anything good. We've been bought with a price. Not silver or gold, but the precious blood of Christ. What do you ask? Give. I've shown you I will give you anything. I'll give you everything. I give everything good. I've proven it through the blood of my own son. He's not stingy. He's generous. I got a Christian this morning. God is merciful. He's rich in mercy. It's incredible as we just think about how patient he is. I wanna be very clear that you do not earn forgiveness by forgiving. You do not earn the gift of salvation by giving more to God. No, you first just have to receive it. God is a just God. That is the first thing we must see. God is a just God and all of us are one day going to stand before God and we're going to see him as he is in his righteousness and his holiness and we are going to be speechless because our sin, all the things we've done or not done, all the things we've said, thought, felt, desired, all obvious right there before us. Speechless. And what we will need in that moment is someone to speak for us. There is only one person who will be able to speak for you. As we stand before the Father in His judgment, with our sin, speechless. Only His Son can speak. His Son will either say, this one is with me, He believed in my death, He believed in my resurrection, His sins are forgiven. Or you yourself will pay for your sin. The offer this morning. Confess your sin. Come to Christ. Come out of the judgment. Come out of the wrath. Come out of the presuming upon God's grace. Come out of your sin and come to Christ to be forgiven. And then you would become forgiving. Our third point, what mercy requires, judge not, condemn not, forgive and give. What the return is, it's an abundant God who gives generously, who will judge us according to his right standards, but gives us everything as a living God. Now how mercy ministers. Notice Jesus turns and gives three parables. Can a blind man lead a blind man? Will they not both fall into a pit? Secondly, verse 40, a disciple is not above his teacher, but everyone, when he is fully trained, will be like his teacher. And then third, 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? How can you say to your brother, brother, let me take out the speck that is in your eye, when you yourselves do not see the log that is in your own eye? You hypocrite. First, take out the log of your own eye. And then you will see clearly to take out the speck that is in your brotherhood. We see a blind man cannot lead a blind man, that a disciple must be fully trained to be like his teacher, and that you should not try to get a splinter out of your eye if you've got a telephone pole in your own. These three are united. This is mercy at work. To be trained in mercy means we're actually merciful to other people. And here we see some warnings. There's two warnings and then an essential teaching. Verse 39, can a blind man lead a blind man? No. This isn't just unique to Jesus' teaching. You can find this as sage wisdom throughout all cultures. A blind man will end up ruining another blind man if that's who's leading. What does blindness mean? Blindness means we don't see clearly God and His mercy. We don't see clearly God's right judgment. We see hazily and make our own judgments. We don't see clearly we're condemning. We don't see clearly we're not forgiving. We don't see clearly we're not giving. A man who does not see the God of mercy cannot lead someone else to that God of mercy. You will lead them into every other kind of destruction, but if you do not see the God of mercy, you cannot lead someone to the God of mercy. The second saying, a disciple is not above his teacher, but everyone, when he is fully trained, will be like his teacher. He's speaking to disciples. He's speaking to those who will follow him. It's important, you're never above your teacher. Here, especially this teacher, he's the son of God. He's given you the very words of God. He's the author of the law of God. We do not stand over Jesus. We have no place that we can stand and say Jesus was wrong about this. We submit to him as our teacher. We trust him as our teacher. And then we seek, look at the language here, fully, Trained. Anybody ever train for anything? Usually takes quite a bit of commitment. Sweat, maybe some blood. Yeah, you ever get trained while sitting on the couch? Training takes work. Training takes practice. Training takes endurance. Training means we see a goal and we're going to strive towards that goal. By the grace of God, we can be like our teacher. By the grace of God, we can help each other be like our teacher. He is our master. He is our God. We don't decide which things we're going to like about Jesus and not like about Jesus. He's God. Are we being trained? to be like him. Because if you're not being trained to be like him, you're not gonna be able to lead other people to him. You're going to be a blind person leading to something else. Verses 41 and 42. A well-known parable. You've got to get the log out of your own eye. Notice, the whole goal is that you would actually be able to help your brother. It's not denying there's a problem, it's a speck. The problem is the hypocrisy that I have so much sin in the way I see things. I have so many problems the way I view God. I have so much of my own judgment that I'm going to place upon you. I can't really help you. The call here is to be a brother's keeper. I don't know if we can be our brother's keepers if we're actually brothers, sons of God, who love our enemies, who judge not, who condemn not, who forgive and give. We can't be blinded by our own self-pity or self-righteousness. Are you merciful? Are we longing and striving to know this God of mercy more and more that we might grow to be more like Him? If we're to think about who would be affected by us in verses 3 and 42, the whole idea is that you're doing things to other people, you're judging not others, you're condemning not others, you're forgiving others, you're giving to others, you're leading others, you're getting something out of somebody else's eye. Well, who? If you're married. Is this how we're approaching our spouse? Are we seeking to know our Heavenly Father so that we can lead our spouse and love our spouse and submit to our spouse and move our spouse closer to the Heavenly Father? There's a way in which that's the relationship that we should be seeking to impact with the gospel so that we know the mercy of God and we're seeking to help each other move closer to the mercy of God. If you're a parent, what kind of values are we teaching? What kind of judgments are we regularly making by how we generously use our time, energy, and talents? Do our kids hear us speaking well of others with charity? Do they hear us confessing our own sin or condemning others? If you're a disciple of Jesus, what kind of disciples are we making? What kind of fruit is hanging off of you? Yes, there's the spiritual fruit that we hear about in Galatians, but we're talking about fruit of others. Disciples make disciples. We need training. It means requiring commitment. It means being together. It means coming together to hear God's Word, to sing God's Word, to pray according to God's Word. It takes time. Let's step back. There's two things we learn about God from this passage. He's just. He's praiseworthy because he will punish every sin. That makes him praiseworthy. He is praiseworthy because he does not overlook sin without payment. He is praiseworthy because every sin we punish, he has overlooked, he has taken away our sin, but only because he punished it in Christ, but he's just. And secondly, he's generous. He's generous. He's slow to anger. He's abounding and rich in mercy and steadfast love. He gives in abundance. This is something that's very important for us to hear. He will not judge us for sin we did not commit. He is just. He never judges us more than we should be judged. But oh, how he gives us more than we ever deserve. He does not judge us. for more sin than we've committed. But oh, how He gives us more than we could ever imagine or even ask, Paul says. Are we like Him in that way? Do we judge others more than they've sinned? Do we give more than they deserve? Next week, we'll finish this similar plane. It ends. There's two kinds of trees that bear two different kinds of fruit. There's two different kinds of foundation. One is sturdy, one is fleeting. The call is for self-examination. Let every man examine himself, but the goal is repentance. You've heard the mercy of God. You've heard the kindness of God. It's repentance. We confess. We come out. We rejoice. Will you pray with me? Father, we praise you. Because your word is a wonderful mirror for our souls. We see how we have failed. We see how we need your mercy. We see how we've even presumed upon your grace. Lord, let us not walk away from here forgetting what we've seen. But Lord, let us boldly confess it to you, our generous and gracious God. in the name of your Son, who is at your right hand, because he is accomplished salvation for us. Lord, may your Spirit stir up within us a confidence, a courage, a courage to see our sin, to confess our sin, to know you forgive our sin. Lord, I pray that you would show us mercy, help us, Lord, to experience that mercy, and to mold one another according to that mercy. Thank you, Father, that you are merciful. We pray that we would be merciful as you are merciful. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. Let us stand and sing our song of response, O great God.