Episode Transcript
[00:00:05] Good morning. 9:30.
[00:00:07] Good morning. If I have not had the opportunity to meet you, my name is Michael Fueling. I'm the lead pastor here at the village church and I wanna invite you open up your Bibles. We're gonna be in the book of Matthew. We're gonna be in chapter seven. So this is three, three, week three of our series on the questions of Jesus. And if you're new with us, I'm probably gonna say this to launch it off. Every week, Jesus was the message master at getting to the deepest parts of the heart through perfectly designed questions. So here is our question from Jesus this morning. It comes from Matthew 7:3. Jesus asks, why do you see the speck that's in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye?
[00:00:56] Do not kick your spouse right now and tell them that this sermon is for you.
[00:01:00] As with most of Jesus questions, there is more to this than meets the eye. Gosh, that was so good, guys. That was. All right, Cheesy, this joke's over. All right, I wanna take a moment on the front end of this and I want to take some time. I wanna prepare our hearts for one of the major takeaways from this message. I wanna invite you to ask yourself three questions. These are rhetorical, not out loud. Number one, when is the last time you asked someone for feedback?
[00:01:34] Notice I did not ask when is the last time you gave feedback?
[00:01:37] When is the last time you asked someone for feedback? And let me just be so broad here on anything, either something in you, something you've done, an opinion you have, it doesn't matter. When's the last time you've asked someone for feedback? Number two, when is the last time you wrote down or reflected with a person? This could be a friend, a therapist, a pastor, about your own failure or struggle.
[00:02:04] Not someone else's failure or struggle, but your own failure or struggle.
[00:02:09] Question number three, when is the last time you have asked the Holy Spirit to reveal your role in a problem or a sin in your life? Here is my hope. My hope is that at least one of these you were able to quickly find an example. Each of these are symptoms of a person who practices self examination.
[00:02:36] The Bible actually has a word for this practice and it's the Greek word dokimazo. And here are some of the ways it's translated into English. It's the same Greek word, but as you open up your New Testament, it's you may see it translated as examine. For example, 1 Corinthians 11, 28 says, Let a person examine themselves. It can also be translated at times as test. 2 Corinthians 13:5 says, Test yourselves. It can also be translated as discern. So in Scripture, this kind of self examination, it is not a suggestion, it is a command. And you and I are commanded to examine ourselves, to test ourselves, to discern ourselves. Now I want to share with you a principle that is going to guide our message.
[00:03:28] The one who does not examine themselves will grow in judgment of others.
[00:03:35] You are created in the image of God to test, to examine, to discern, and you are going to use this examining power. And here's what we find. That those who will not examine themselves first will obsessively look at all those around them and examine everything wrong with them.
[00:03:54] And yet those who will practice self examination will find themselves with an unusual amount of grace at the failures of other people. All right, Matthew, chapter seven. Let me set the context. The Jewish culture that Jesus was born into was strongly influenced by some of the, the most hypocritical and condemning spiritual leaders. They were able to control people by making up extra biblical rules and then punishing people for those very rules that they broke. And then secretly, behind the scenes, they didn't even obey the rules in private, which made them, as Jesus calls it, calls them, hypocrites. And so by Jesus day, this Jewish religious culture had gotten away from this spirit of the word of God and basically became a place of hypocrisy and condemnation and judgment. And so Jesus in his earthly ministry, he had three years, three years to expose these evil leaders.
[00:04:57] Three years to call the ones who would be humble to repentance. And many of the Jewish leaders, they ended up following Jesus and believing him. And then three years to train the disciples who were going to be called to build healthy cultures, healthy, healthy cultures in churches all over the world. What does it look like to live in the kingdom of Jesus as opposed to the kingdom of the Pharisees? And so Matthew chapter five to seven, here's what you got. The Sermon on the Mount, one of the most famous sermons. And in this message, yes, you can pull out so much practical wisdom and insight for Christian living in the kingdom of God and the culture that Jesus wants to create.
[00:05:38] But if you start to read between the lines, what you realize is that in almost every single lesson he was giving, he was exposing the failure of the religious culture of that day to live according to the kingdom of God. Now we get to Matthew chapter 7, verse 1 in our text this morning. It starts off with the number One misused and wrongly applied verse in the Bible. Here we go.
[00:06:00] Judge not that you be not judged.
[00:06:05] Anybody ever said to you Christians aren't supposed to judge? Right. All right, so in Greek, judge is the word. Krino, k R I, N O.
[00:06:16] It's one of those words that can mean different things based on where it is in its context. So here's a range of the meanings of this word. It can mean making a legitimate evaluation, deciding a dispute, rendering a verdict, or it can mean condemning someone.
[00:06:37] And I want you to notice here, when you look at this, Jesus is commanding his disciples to never judge or to never creno. So let's clarify, what does he mean here in this situation? All right. Is Jesus telling the people of God you should never evaluate? Well, no, that's ridiculous. We know that's not what he's saying. Is he telling the people of God you should never decide or finalize a dispute?
[00:07:03] Probably not saying that either. Is he telling the people of God you should never render a verdict?
[00:07:08] Well, no, we render verdicts all the time. That's fine. Is he telling the people of God to not address sin in other people?
[00:07:14] Well, no. Yeah, the scriptures actually command us that we're supposed to call out sin and one another. So what is Jesus forbidding here? Specifically, Jesus is forbidding a spirit of unauthorized condemnation.
[00:07:31] Unauthorized condemnation. I want to show this to you in Luke, chapter 6, verse 37. This is Luke's version of the Sermon on the Mount.
[00:07:39] Jesus says, Judge not and you will not be judged. And then he clarifies what he means by judge. He says, condemn not and and you will not be condemned. To condemn is to inappropriately declare a final verdict over somebody. It is unauthorized condemnation. I wanna take a moment. I wanna clarify some things that I think are really important for us to understand about condemnation and judgment.
[00:08:06] Number one, when it comes to condemnation, this is Jesus Job, not yours and not mine.
[00:08:15] Jesus has the authority to condemn. And when and if Jesus condemns, it is a good right, just condemnation.
[00:08:25] Second, in the Bible, the authority to judge is reserved for the following categories of people.
[00:08:34] Number one, God toward whoever he wants, whenever he wants, because he's God, percobean, deity. Number two, God government only toward their citizens and those within their territory.
[00:08:45] Number three, elders towards those in their local church.
[00:08:49] Number four, parents only toward their children. And number five, authorities that adults have willingly subjected themselves to, like your boss and some of you reluctantly, your HOA or your kids, teachers or your coaches. Okay, so when or if a coach tries to ground my child, that's not happening. That is unauthorized condemnation.
[00:09:17] When an elder from a different church tries to discipline a member of somebody who's under my authority or the elder's authority here, not gonna happen. That's unauthorized condemnation. Now, can we have a conversation if there's a sin issue? For sure. But you don't get to walk into our church and exercise authority. But when you're not an elder here, when the government oversteps its God assigned authority and tries to control what I teach my family, we're gonna have a fight. That is unauthorized condemnation. If a coworker tries to fire a coworker but they have no authority over them. Nice try. So cute. That is unauthorized condemnation. Now, in the Bible, you are, as a believer in Jesus, authorized to admonish and to confront and to correct other believers, right? Village church. This is part of your privilege, but you are not authorized to do it in a spirit of condemnation.
[00:10:12] As if you have the authority of Jesus to cast a final verdict over someone's life.
[00:10:19] Here's how Paul says this in Romans, chapter 14, verse 10. And I want you to remember, this is about Christians judging one another in the church.
[00:10:27] He says to Christians, why do you pass judgment on your brother?
[00:10:33] Or you? Why do you despise your brother? It's interesting when you take on the role of judge and condemner, right? It comes from a heart of despising, not of love, because you're taking onto yourself that responsibility, which is only Jesus. And he says, for we will all stand before the judgment seat of. Of God. So when someone says, who are you to judge me?
[00:11:00] Sometimes, okay, a lot of times, here's what people mean.
[00:11:03] I'm going to do what I want, when I want and where I want. You don't get to tell me what I do. Leave me alone. You don't get to judge me. I'm not reporting to you.
[00:11:12] Don't judge me. Leave me alone. I want to sin. I'm going to sin. Don't stop me. Okay? That is what a lot of people mean. But sometimes, sometimes when people say this, they are trying, however imperfectly, to describe a real experience.
[00:11:27] And this kind of cultural vocabulary is the only thing that they have. It's like they're trying to say this.
[00:11:33] It feels like you're condemning me and you don't have the authority to condemn me.
[00:11:40] By the way, there's a devil and he condemns me all the time. I don't think he needs an advocate personally.
[00:11:47] It feels like you're casting a verdict over my heart.
[00:11:52] But you don't even know what's in my heart.
[00:11:55] And so I think you guys all know this experience.
[00:11:57] When somebody accuses you or when somebody, like, casts a verdict over you, when somebody just declares some level of, like, condemnation, There's a part of you that goes, I don't think you have the right to do that. And I don't think that you know what's in my heart. And even if you did know what's in my heart, I'm not going to give an accounting ultimately to you anyways. I just don't feel like you actually love me is what it comes down to.
[00:12:19] And so when we get into this judgy spirit, the people on the receiving end of this, they know this. They're like, I don't even feel like God would talk to me like this.
[00:12:27] Look at verse 2. Jesus says, for with the judgment you pronounce, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. So in other words, to the Jewish leaders, God will judge you by the severity and measure with which you judge those under your leadership.
[00:12:47] And to the rest of the Jewish people, if you heap shame and unauthorized condemnation onto people, then here's what you need to expect. This kind of judgment, it's going to come right back on your own head. Let me say it this way. The culture you create, it's the culture you reap.
[00:13:07] You raise your children in a home of condemnation and condemnation and shame. Do you know what happens when they move out of your home? They will heap that right back on you. Because the culture you create is the culture you reap.
[00:13:19] And so before we judge someone, before we pronounce a verdict over their heart and their life, before we put ourselves in the position oftentimes of Jesus number one, make sure you're authorized to actually execute that judgment.
[00:13:34] And if you are authorized, be very ready to be judged by the same standard with which you judge others. So, for example, our elders at village church, we have authorization from the Word of God to lead and oversee and to judge at village church. And we have to take this very seriously because we cannot hold our body to. To a higher standard than we hold ourselves.
[00:13:59] And at the same time, we also need to lead and love in a spirit of graciousness, kindness and tenderness. Let's talk about moms and dads. You are authorized in your home not to condemn your children, but to judge them. And sometimes you have to discipline and judge, do you not? And we have to take this very seriously. But here's the deal. We do not want to Judge our children, children at a different standard by which we judge ourselves, otherwise we become hypocrites. And by the way, if you mom and dad are an unrepentant hypocrite who always knows it, your children.
[00:14:36] So as believers, we are not authorized, just because we're believers in Jesus, to judge anyone we want, but we are authorized to confront and to admonish and to have hard conversations in a spiritual of humility and self examination. First we get to verse three and we see Jesus question.
[00:14:57] Jesus asks, why do you see? We'll get to the Greek word in a moment, but 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?
[00:15:09] 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? Two things I want you to see here. Number one, speck. It most literally can refer to like a small splinter, a piece of straw, chaff, or like a tiny dry particle. So it's like you need a crane to get the log out of your own eye. And you show up with tweezers and you're like, I'm really good at this, let me help you. Right, no.
[00:15:39] Second, I want you to notice these words, see? And notice two different words here. To see.
[00:15:43] It's more of a factual word. It's like, you see me, I see you. We're not really paying much attention to it. We're just acknowledging, I see you, you see.
[00:15:52] And then he says, here, but notice.
[00:15:54] This can be translated to consider, to perceive carefully, to study, to look intently at.
[00:16:02] And it's like you are noticing my speck, but you're not even barely paying attention at all to the log in your own eye. And the logic here is flawless. This is so simple. Okay, you are so concerned about the dandelion in my lawn, but your entire lawn is dandelions.
[00:16:23] Like you don't like the way I made that comment to my wife. You berate your wife in front of other people.
[00:16:30] Okay, I got myself into some trouble. I'm $2,000 into credit card debt and you're gonna come teach me and correct me when you have $150,000 of outstanding credit card debt and you're not even sorry about it. Now, I made up all of these. I don't berate my wife. And I'm thinking about debt and different things, but, like, you get the point. The logic is flawless. And when somebody comes to you and they confront you on Something that they have a 10x issue with. You're like, I don't want to hear from you. I'm going to be honest. Like, it makes it really hard for me to listen. Now, if we're going to put our humble hat on, can we just do this for a moment? Just because a hypocrite confronts you, does that invalidate what they're confronting you on?
[00:17:06] No. One of the hardest things to do is to receive and to seriously consider feedback from a hypocrite. But listen, sometimes the hypocrites, they can be right. I can't control what the hypocrite does in their life. But if they do shine a light on something in my life that I need to repent of, I want to do everything within my power to try and listen. And so Jesus is calling us to deep self examination before we enter into the process of confrontation because it will protect us also from condemnation.
[00:17:40] Okay, verse 5. Jesus gives the diagnosis and then he gives the antidote to those who struggle with this. I know this is not you. It's like your children and other people, but your spouse next to you but God.
[00:17:52] Here, here's the diagnosis, you hypocrite.
[00:17:55] I just so appreciate Jesus calls sin for what it is. He doesn't make it worse, but he doesn't make it better.
[00:18:02] And so he says, you're guilty of the very thing you condemn others of. And now here's the antidote. First, this is so logical, it's ridiculous. Take the log out of your own eye and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye. And there's a few levels to this. Number one, don't be a hypocrite and judge others for that which you will not address in yourself. Amen. Like don't do it. Like, restrain yourself. Number two, if you're not practicing self examination, please release yourself from the duty of examining others. In fact, we release you. You are free. You do not need to examine other people if you do not practice self examination. Number three. Yes, address the speck and even the log. Jesus does not say, don't address it. He does say, first examine yourself first deal with your issue, then go and examine it. And then number four, be very discerning whose specs and logs you address. Look at the next verse. Number verse 6.
[00:19:07] Jesus says, do not give dogs what is holy. Do you feel the strength of this?
[00:19:13] And do not throw your pearls before pigs, lest they trample them underfoot and turn to attack you, the dog and the pig Hear me, are not the person you think won't receive your hard word.
[00:19:31] They are the person who has historically not received your hard word.
[00:19:36] And when you give them the hard word, when you give them that thing, no matter how humbly you do it, they turn it around on you, make it your fault. And in the entire process, they accuse you of gaslighting them while they're gaslighting you. And you're like, where am I in space and time?
[00:19:55] Everybody knows someone like this, don't you? You know exactly who you cannot say the hard thing to. And the hard thing here, I love this. It is called holy, and it's called a pearl. They are things of great value.
[00:20:10] And so we slow down before we give these valuable things to people. We think twice. And here's the deal. Jesus is setting us free. Free from having to address every sin and everyone, all the time, everywhere you go. Could you imagine a world where you had to deal with and you had to address everything that was wrong with everyone you saw? And you know what would happen? Everyone would hate you. They would never want to be around you. And so there's a general rule of 100 sinful things. I see, Nay, a thousand.
[00:20:47] Maybe one time the Holy Spirit will say, I want to activate you to go deal with that sinful thing.
[00:20:54] And so we just kind of slow down. So here's some questions to ask before confronting the speck in someone else. I mean, the first big one is like, am I the right person to do this?
[00:21:04] Or two, is this the right time and matter? Maybe, like, family dinner isn't the best time to do it right?
[00:21:11] Is the issue truly sin? Have you ever noticed our ability?
[00:21:16] Okay, I've done this. I assume some of you have, that I take things that irritate me and make it sin, or I take my preferences and I turn it into sin in my own heart. Have you ever noticed our ability to take preferences and make them sin?
[00:21:28] Have I examined myself?
[00:21:32] Have they demonstrated defensiveness or hostility?
[00:21:38] I want to share with you a couple. So what's number one?
[00:21:41] Have the hard talks, but do so prayerfully, humbly, and graciously, like Jesus does with you.
[00:21:52] Prayerfully. I have been learning, and I think I've been learning this for about 35 years now, that those in my church, my spiritual community, that for them, the Holy Spirit is a much better Holy Spirit than I am.
[00:22:07] Like, I don't do good in that role. I'm a terrible Jesus. I will never be your Savior. I'm a terrible Holy Spirit.
[00:22:14] I can't Convict your heart.
[00:22:16] And so what I've learned to do is to ask him to do what only he can do. Before I ever have to have a hard word with someone like Holy Spirit, would you bring some level of conviction? Would you also show me if I'm supposed to do this? Would you also show me if this is, like, in me too, but, like, Holy Spirit, I just. I'm asking you, would you please go deal with this humbly?
[00:22:38] I've learned that before I address something in someone else, I have to look intently at my own sin. And really what I want to be really specific about is, have I sinned against them or is the thing I'm confronting them on an actual sin issue in my life?
[00:22:52] Graciously, I think, as I ponder how Jesus addresses sin in my life, for the most part, here's how it goes.
[00:23:03] The Holy Spirit gently nudges me.
[00:23:06] Hey, dummy. No.
[00:23:08] Hey, Michael. That was not good. Not becoming. That was kind of ugly, actually. You know? And then sometimes I'm like, quench.
[00:23:15] And then he gets a little louder, a little more aggressive. Michael.
[00:23:19] And I'm like, okay. And sometimes even then, I'll quench that. Anybody else?
[00:23:24] Yeah.
[00:23:25] And then this is typically when the Holy Spirit will activate somebody to enter into your life to say, have you considered.
[00:23:35] And what a sacred, awesome moment that is, what a beautiful moment that is, what a hard moment that is.
[00:23:41] But if you're at the point where the Holy Spirit is bringing people into your life, consider that maybe there's been a few quenchings before that moment. And so I walk into this moment graciously, and I just say, okay, Lord, would you do for them what you do for me? And here's the deal.
[00:23:59] If I'm ever gonna have a hard conversation with somebody, I never, ever assume that this caught Jesus off guard. Jesus, he's like, wow, I didn't even know they had this issue. That's a good point, Michael.
[00:24:08] Like, I actually assume that he's already been working on this person before I ever even entered into this situation.
[00:24:16] I wanna illustrate what this spirit might look like in evangelism. So when I share the gospel with somebody, I am praying because I don't have the power to save anybody or change anyone's heart.
[00:24:26] And so we typically ask God for the things not in our power to do. And so I'm like, God, I got no power here. I can't get through unless you open the door, unless you break open a heart. And so I pray.
[00:24:35] And then in evangelism, I choose to be humble. Which means I don't always feel humble, but I try to choose it. Which means I'm not afraid to share my own weakness, failure and sin. And not just my past sin, but even my present current sin.
[00:24:50] And then I choose to be gracious because I remember at one time I was an unbeliever.
[00:24:54] And I have never before or after ever been motivated nor compelled by somebody who is angry, condemning or yelling. I've never thought to myself, I'd love to consider that idea. You are so compelling in that moment. And so what I have learned is that the kindness of God leads people to repentance, not the condemnation of God.
[00:25:15] Here's what this might look like with other Christians.
[00:25:18] If I have something that I feel like the Holy Spirit's like you do, you need to go talk about this. I'm going to first pray. I'm gonna pray, Lord, if it's from you, I'm trusting that you've gone before me. I can't control their response. But I believe that I'm not new to this situation. You've already been doing something behind the scenes. I need to go into this humbly, which means I need to spend time examining myself. I need to go into this graciously knowing that, that I do not need to yell. I don't need to be angry. I don't need to be coercive. I don't need to be manipulative.
[00:25:50] I just need to be gentle and honest. And then the Holy Spirit is the one who can bring conviction. I don't want their conviction to come because of the power of my hurt or the level of my emotions. I want it to come because the Holy Spirit has brought conviction to them.
[00:26:07] All right, so number two, I wanna come back to this principle from the beginning of the message.
[00:26:11] The one who does not examine himself will grow in judgment of others. So I want to share with you a personal illustration of self examination and how it has helped me grow in grace toward others. So I don't know if you know this, but I'm a preacher, so I teach God's word. And so I have three self examination processes that have helped me grow as a communicator. Here's the first. I listen and watch every message I give every time. Here's my motto. I, I must subject myself to that which I subject you to. And let me tell you, sometimes I'm just like, whew, guys, I'm so sorry. Like there are some Sundays I'm gonna get up and I'm gonna apologize just for, you know, Something dumb, I said. So second, I asked specific people for advice before and after most of my messages. And so this week, I think my sermon notes ended up going to seven, eight or nine different people before I ever got up here.
[00:27:04] Some of them read through it. I got counsel and feedback on a few different pieces from people. This is almost every single time I preach every week.
[00:27:11] Every time. And third, every year I set one or two preaching goals and I obsessively focus on them. And I'm going to just gonna share with you one of them this year. Okay?
[00:27:21] My sermons, my goal is to get down to 32 minutes and not compromise content, self heart evaluation or application. And I've seen stare at those numbers because we have three services. And here's what happens. Like the kids, like parents need to go get them. You need to go get your cars between the 9:30 and the 11, it's like, it's tight. And so people like, if they're kind of new to church, they'll just drive in. If there's not a parking spot, they won't wait. They'll just leave. And so like trying to honor that space but not compromise any aspect of the teaching of God's word that is not easy to do. So like this week I found an MP3 of one of my first sermons at village church from 2005.
[00:28:04] I just want to say I'm so sorry.
[00:28:08] I don't even know if I hit puberty yet in 2005, my voice was. Hey. What? I just, it was shocking.
[00:28:16] And so I still recoil whenever I watch or hear myself. I did notice. I was like, be gracious with yourself, Michael. You, you've come a long way.
[00:28:25] Some of you are like, amen. Because you knew you were here in 2005. There's a handful of you. I'm looking at you. You heard that message. Anyways, here's what I've learned. I've learned to pace myself. You're welcome.
[00:28:35] I've learned to get rid of some superfluous stuff that I don't need to say. I've learned to control myself, learned to focus, learned to have better visuals to help anchor your brain. I've learned. These are skills that I've learned. And the reason I learned them is because I chose one or two skills per year that I would obsessively focus on until I did a good job and then I would pick new ones. And so by next year, I'm going to be. I'm gonna be at 32 minutes with opening and closing prayer. And you're not gonna be turning around looking at that clock as it haunts me.
[00:29:00] But fine. But here's what I learned in the seasons where I have been focused on self examination.
[00:29:10] I have found that I have grown an unbelievable amount of grace towards other pastors and preachers.
[00:29:16] I have found that I've not just grown in grace to the ones who are trying to grow and do better. We all are. The, like, every time somebody preaches, they're giving you the best they got. Like, I've never heard anybody get up and be like, oh, I didn't really try, right?
[00:29:29] And so I found myself being really gracious with them. And then there are the guys who don't work on it. And I even find myself being really gracious with them as well. But in the seasons where I'm not self evaluating and self examining and trying to do the best with what I have, I turn into a pretty critical guy.
[00:29:47] And I have learned that self examination is the antidote to unauthorized condemnation.
[00:29:52] Those other preachers aren't gonna give an account to me for what they do in their church. They're gonna give account to Jesus. I wanna come alongside of people and champion them, not criticize them.
[00:30:00] But I found this direct correlation between my ability to self examine my commitment to this and the graciousness that comes out of my heart. I'll give you another illustration of this.
[00:30:11] Every year I try to set one or two. And by the way, I'm well aware that I'm going a little bit over. We're gonna be fine. I see it haunting me and some of you are like, we're hungry. I got it.
[00:30:21] Every year I choose two or three, like, things to grow in intentionally in my spiritual life. And I break them into three categories. One is head. This is knowledge I want to grow in. This could be like learning a book of the Bible, a theological topic I want to master. I want to get my head around a cultural issue that's kind of new and emerging. Number two is hands. These are skills that I need to learn or improve. It could be a skill that the Bible commands that I'm just not good at. It could be something in my marriage with my kids or learning to do something practically that blesses other people. These are skills I want to grow in. Number three is heart. It's brokenness I need to repent of. It could be habits that I had, I didn't even know they were sin. It could be when I take good things which I can do and make them controlling things. It could be behaviors like Old relationship patterns that kind of crept back.
[00:31:09] It could be neglect of God, my wife or my kids, and certain issues.
[00:31:14] And let me tell you what I try to do. So I try to focus on two or three of them. And what I find is that when I am trying to intentionally grow and I'm examining myself, my grace towards people who make a lot of mistakes is through the roof.
[00:31:30] But when I am not trying to repent and grow intentionally, do you know what grows towards people? Critical spirits.
[00:31:38] I'm like, in my heart sometimes I'm like, why are you doing this? What is wrong with you?
[00:31:42] But then I have to remember, like, I don't think that's actually the way Jesus really ever speaks to me. I think he's so unbelievably kind, even when I'm being a doofus. Like, he's so unbelievably kind. And even when he's stern, I'm like, I still know that he loves me. And yet when I get critical, I don't think there's much of a spirit of love in it. I'll be honest with you, it's just critical and unauthorized condemnation. I don't want to do that. And I think there's an antidote that Jesus understands here, which is deal with the log in your eye, examine yourself, look inward, and then you will have not just the lack of hypocrisy, but the heart to address the problem in other people. Yes, do it. The one who does not examine himself will grow in judgment of others. But the one who practices self examination will grow in grace toward others.
[00:32:27] Finally, so at number three, get right with God before the final judgment. Hebrews 9:27. It is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment. None of us like being judged, but there will come a day where every aspect of our life will be scrutinized under holy eyes and we will be guilty.
[00:32:48] But there will be those who have come to Christ before their death, who have asked him for forgiveness, who have believed in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. And though you are guilty, you will be declared forgiven and innocent.
[00:33:04] And I could not ask for a better gift for you to receive right now than to be declared forgiven and innocent. Not because you're good, but because you believed in Jesus who was good for you. Just great news for you. You are welcome to trust in Christ anytime, any moment. But that opportunity expires the moment you're dead. And you don't know when that moment is happening. God is offering forgiveness, innocence back to those who have sinned against him. I don't know about y', all, but if I were you, I'd take that gift. And here's what I love. You can talk to God right now, right here and say, I am sorry.
[00:33:46] Forgive me. I believe in Jesus, his death on the cross for my sins and in his resurrection. Save me. And God's answer to you is going to be absolutely 100%. Let's do this. Amenville Church. I'm going to close with a quote for your enjoyment. Thank you, Ryan Chaney, for sharing this with me. This is from Charles Spurgeon. If any man thinks ill of you, do not be angry with him. For. For you are far worse than he thinks you to be. Let's pray.
[00:34:17] Thank you, Ryan.
[00:34:22] Thank you, God, for how much you have loved us. May we love others.
[00:34:28] May we create more and more cultures not of condemnation, but of grace and patience. And Lord, may we take Jesus seriously. That the antidote to condemnation is self examination.
[00:34:42] Protect us from beating ourselves up. You're not impressed by that?
[00:34:45] Protect us from ignoring our own sin? You're also not impressed by that. But Lord, would you give us, by the power of your Holy Spirit, a heart that looks into maybe the sin that is there, A prayer life that asks you to expose us and show us what is there.
[00:35:02] But Lord, even when we see the sin and we repent of it, we also just affirm. You are doing so much good in each of our lives, us sinners, you are transforming us day by day, more and more into the image of Jesus.
[00:35:15] Lord, sometimes those are secret parts of our heart that nobody sees. But you see it and we see it. Sometimes those are more public. But Lord, I just thank you that you are faithful to finish what you started in us. The moment you saved us, you started that process. And so thank you that you never abandoned us, you never forsake us, and you never stop working in us. Despite how belligerent we can be at times, we love you. We give you all honor and glory. And we thank you in Jesus name.
