Sermon on the Mount Part XLV - Addendum #2

[0:00] A couple of Sundays ago, I told you that we were engaging our final message from the Sermon on the Mount after having turned to this passage in Matthew 5, 6, and 7 for the last 45 or 46 Sundays.

[0:15] And I had every honest intention of wrapping it up then, but I had this nagging feeling that something had been left undone, and I couldn't put my finger on it.

[0:26] And then it occurred to me that throughout those messages, I had made it very clear, or at least attempted to make it very clear, that there are things in the Gospels, including things in the Sermon on the Mount, that must be interpreted in the light and time in which they were given, and they were never intended to be a go-and-do-likewise for all of the rest of the world.

[0:51] And I made point of the fact that what we have for the vast majority of the Bible is God's revelation to the nation of Israel, His chosen covenant people.

[1:04] And as you move through the Old Testament, it becomes very apparent that Israel is the only concern that is involved. All the rest of the world consists of Gentiles or non-Jews. That does not change when the New Testament opens.

[1:18] That same theme continues on. It is with the nation of Israel in the forefront. It is the nation of Israel to whom Christ came in John chapter 1.

[1:30] It is the nation of Israel that received Him not. But to those who received them, to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them on His name. That included, of course, not only the Israelites then, but it includes all today, whether they are Israelites, Jews, or Gentiles.

[1:48] So there are numerous distinctions that absolutely have to be made, not only in the fact that Israel was God's covenant people, still are God's covenant people, but they were on the front burner at the time.

[2:00] Now they are not. They will once again be placed on the front burner because God has unfinished business with the Jews. However, the point that was made repeatedly throughout our discussion of these chapters, Matthew 5, 6, and 7, was simply the fact that much of this content must be left in the context in which it was given, historically and culturally.

[2:26] These things were what Jesus was saying was required of the covenant people of Israel. They were never intended for those who were not Jews. In fact, He makes that distinction in a number of places in the sermon when He refers clearly to Gentiles and places them in contrast to the Jews to whom He is speaking.

[2:47] So all of the people who were gathered there for this sermon on the mount, even though the number began with just the disciples, or the apostles rather, the 12 of them, as Jesus began speaking, more and more people closed in.

[3:01] And by the time the message was over, there were probably a couple of thousand people there who were listening to this, and they were all Jews. Israel was a Jewish nation.

[3:12] They were anticipating a Jewish Messiah. And Jesus was purported to be that Jewish Messiah. All of these people were waiting, bated breath, as to what He had to say.

[3:24] They were hanging on every word. And when He taught them, He taught in terms with which they were familiar. He referred to items in their culture that they could identify with, things that they dealt with on an everyday basis.

[3:38] And He made it very, very clear that He was speaking to those who were under the law. That's the law of Moses. Gentiles, or non-Jews, which is about 99% of the world's population, never were under the law.

[3:54] Still aren't under the law. That's difficult for some people to understand. But it's true. These things were for the people in a covenant relationship with God.

[4:07] They were the seed of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Twelve tribes and their offspring, even to this day. So, when you and I, as a Gentile, try to put ourselves in this passage, or for that matter, anywhere in the Gospels, and make it fit and see how we can go and do likewise, all kinds of problems arise.

[4:35] Things become very inconsistent and very uncertain, and even appear to be contradictory. And we just can't make it fit. And the reason we can't make it fit is because it doesn't fit.

[4:46] It was never intended to fit. It's like opening a personal letter that was addressed to somebody else, and you try to make sense of it.

[4:59] And in that personal letter, it contains references to names that that somebody else knows, and experiences that that somebody else had, and places where that somebody else lived, but that somebody else is not you.

[5:15] And you read that, and you're scratching your head and saying, it's so hard to understand this. I can't make sense of it. Well, it's not addressed to you. It's not your mail. No wonder you can't understand it.

[5:26] And that's the way it is with much that we find here in the early portions of the New Testament. And the reason, having made that statement, and having made that case, I thought a number of times, we could safely go on and consider the job done.

[5:41] But then it occurred to me that when I told you, as we went through there, that there are things in the Sermon on the Mount that you need not concern yourself about.

[5:53] They just don't apply to you. Don't go try to do them or repeat them, because in the first place, you can't. And in the second place, you're not supposed to. They were not addressed to you. But I didn't identify any of those things.

[6:06] I didn't say what they were. That's what we did last week. And if you weren't here last week, and you would like to know what those things were, feel free to stop on the table in the rear, and there you will find copies of last Sunday's message, where we dealt with those things.

[6:22] This morning, what we are going to deal with is, how do we go to a passage like the Sermon on the Mount, and extract from it those principles and values that we are supposed to imitate and duplicate?

[6:43] And how can we tell them apart? So what I am telling you is, and I trust to reinforce it, is that in all of the Bible, from Genesis to Revelation, there are certain things, certain maxims, certain truths, that are applicable for all people, everywhere, at all times.

[7:13] I call these abiding truths, because it doesn't make any difference who you are, or where you live, or what your faith is or isn't. These things are for you. They are general spiritual principles.

[7:28] And this morning, we are going to simply attempt to extract some of those, and let you see how a spiritual principle, is cross dispensational, how even though it was given to a people, a couple thousand years ago, it is valid and applicable for us today, in principle.

[7:45] And before I do that, let me just say this. As you read the book of Proverbs, you see that it is a whole book of maxims, 31 chapters, of just flat out good advice.

[8:01] But a lot of it is given in a cultural setting, that existed in Israel, 3,000 years ago, and it is not applicable today, but there are principles that apply.

[8:14] For instance, as you go through the Proverbs, it talks about the principle, of not being wasteful, of saving money, of working hard. These are things across the board.

[8:25] They are not dispensationally contained. They are for everyone, everywhere. And as you go through the Proverbs, you will find all kinds of wonderful examples, of good living, sensible living, righteous living, the kind of living that pays off, for everybody who applies those principles.

[8:44] So, let us look now at Matthew 5, and if I can just briefly run through these things, at least some of them, I will, and I'm not suggesting that this is in any way, shape, or form, thorough or complete, but I want to give you enough to get an idea, so you can see where we're going.

[9:06] In chapter 5, in verse 13, Jesus is talking to this group, and he says, you are the salt of the earth. What does that mean? Well, for one thing, it means, hey, you're really special people.

[9:21] And they were. And he goes on to say, you are the salt of the earth, but if the salt has become tasteless, how will it be made salty again? It's good for nothing anymore, except to be thrown out, and trampled underfoot by men.

[9:36] Is there anything more worthless, than salt that isn't salty? In sip of salt. It's good for nothing, but throwing on the ground, and men trample on it.

[9:47] And then he uses the illustration, you are the light of the world. A city set on the hill cannot be hidden. Now, when he used this, I'm sure that he was referring to a passage that they were very familiar with.

[10:00] Isaiah 42, and verse 6, and Isaiah 49, and verse 6. And in those passages, God was using Isaiah, to tell the nation of Israel, that they were the light of the world.

[10:13] In other words, what he was saying is, I have made you, the nation of Israel, a special light, that is supposed to shine forth, the glory of God, to all the rest of the world.

[10:26] That was their assignment. That's what they were supposed to do. They were supposed to live their lives in such a way, under the law of Moses, that they put the God of Israel on display for all the rest of the nations.

[10:42] That was the intent. We know they did not succeed in doing that. And as a result, God snuffed their light.

[11:01] When he addressed them as the light of the world, the point that he was making was this. You, and when I say you, keep in mind that Jesus was using the you as the audience to whom he was speaking there on that plane of the Sermon on the Mount.

[11:18] Again, we don't know how many people there were, could easily have been a couple of thousand. They were all Jews. And he was saying, remember what you people are supposed to be, what God said you are to be. He raised you up to be a light to the Gentiles.

[11:31] You are the salt. And not only that, you are the only salt and light there is. Now that's a pretty awesome thing to think about. What was it that made these people salt and light that was so valuable it needed to be extended to the Gentiles?

[11:51] What was it about these people? It was their God. Their connection to their God. Jehovah, the only true God, as opposed to all of the false deities and pagan gods that the neighbors had.

[12:04] And he is saying, because you are in a special relationship with me, you are the light of the world. You are the salt of the earth. Other nations are counting on you, even though they may not know it, to give them a true representation of who and what God really is.

[12:21] So, the basis upon which they were salt and light was the fact that they were connected with God. Now, the spiritual principle is this. Anyone and everyone in any day, in any age, in any place, who is connected with God is the light of the world.

[12:44] Salt of the world. This includes you today as a believer. You may not think of yourself as a light to the world, but you are. Now, you may be just a flickering lamp, dimly lit, on the verge of going out.

[13:00] Or you may be burning brightly as a blaze. In either case, you are a light to the world. And let me lay this on you. You are the only light the world has.

[13:13] Those who are in connection with God are the only light the world has. That's it. And when we talk about light, we're talking about real, truthful, spiritual, eternal type information.

[13:30] We're not talking about the kind of light that comes through science and advances in living and standard of living. We're not talking about those kind of lights. We're talking about the kind of light that endures, the kind of light that really matters.

[13:44] When Jesus said, I am the light of the world, he was very serious. And if you are connected with him, you are the light of the world. Here is a principle extracted from this.

[13:56] He was telling them they were the light of the world. But you know what? You are too. This is a cross principle. And it needs to be born in mind. Verse 20.

[14:07] I say to you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you shall not enter the kingdom of heaven. And I think what Jesus is saying here is this.

[14:20] Righteousness is not quantified. It's qualified. What do I mean by that? We do not come into a right relationship with God because of the quantity of our righteousness or the quantity of the good deeds we do.

[14:44] That's what the scribes and Pharisees were hung up on. And Jesus condemned that practice. He said to the masses, to the multitude, with the scribes and Pharisees right there among them.

[14:56] I mean, remember, the scribes and Pharisees were supposedly the guys that had it all together. They were the ones with all the answers. They were the ones who were so close to God, at least so they thought.

[15:08] But their ranks were shot through and through with a lot of hypocrisy and inconsistency and selfishness and everything else. And Christ exposed that. And he told the masses in general, listen, unless your righteousness, the general population there, exceeds, goes beyond the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you'll never enter the kingdom of heaven.

[15:36] Now that was a shocker because virtually everyone thought that if there's anybody that's got it made with God, it's these scribes and Pharisees.

[15:48] I mean, these guys are so holy, you know. Well, it was 90% sham, just like a lot of outward holiness today is 90% sham.

[16:00] And Jesus is saying, you have to have a righteousness that exceeds theirs. Well, where are you going to get that? How can you outdo these guys?

[16:11] They're the pros. They're the experts. Man, if you're saying they're not going to make it, I don't have a chance at all. And I don't want to wax too theological here, but I do want you to know this, that the righteousness that God accepts is never quantified by how much you have or how good you are.

[16:39] That's not the issue. That misses the point entirely. It's not a quantity. It is a quality. What kind of righteousness do you have?

[16:55] Not how much. you either have human righteousness, which is about all we can muster. And some of us have more than others.

[17:08] Some of us have less than others. But none of that works. What Jesus is saying is that which brings you into right standing with God is the quality of your righteousness.

[17:24] Whose righteousness is it? And we know, of course, that it is the righteousness of God. Paul said when he wrote to the Romans that God hath made Christ to be sin for us, he who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.

[17:53] Is that what it really says? Yeah, that's what it really says. the righteousness of God? You have that?

[18:05] Well, if you don't have that, and you've got nothing but your own, that's not good enough. Your righteousness, just like mine, is flawed, fails, comes short.

[18:22] God, this is what he meant when he said, all have sinned. Well, there isn't, there isn't any righteousness in sin, and if we've all sinned, then that makes us all unrighteous.

[18:38] So, what are you going to do about these sins? Well, that's why Jesus came. And when Jesus died on that cross for our sin, he paid the debt that we owed.

[18:54] Not the debt he owed, he paid the debt we owed. And he took our place in himself upon that cross, the place for the whole world.

[19:06] Adam all die, and Christ all made her life. He took that penalty upon himself, and he made salvation thusly available to everyone because Christ died for our sin.

[19:19] So, when we come to him acknowledging our sin, admitting it, telling God, frankly, I'd like to think sometimes that I measure up and that I'm good enough, but in my heart of hearts, I have these terrible doubts, and I know that I don't have any comfort or assurance in that at all, so all I've got is my own righteousness.

[19:42] But since Jesus Christ died for me, what am I to do about that? I am to acknowledge my lack and his provision that compensates for my lack.

[20:02] And, listen, I'm going to say something that is very difficult for people to believe, but it's true. And if it isn't true, the whole Christian church for the last 2,000 years is sunk.

[20:16] When you receive Jesus Christ as your Savior, as your substitute, God gives Christ's righteousness to you, and it becomes your permanent possession.

[20:34] righteousness. His righteousness becomes your righteousness. That's what we mean when we say it's not an issue of quantity, how much you have.

[20:47] It's whose you have. The righteousness of Christ makes you fully acceptable to God despite your sin.

[20:59] That is amazing. And you know that John Newton wrote a song about that, didn't he? Well, righteousness is quantified, not qualified. Verse 23 and 24, we must hurry on here, I'm just skipping through here.

[21:15] If therefore you are presenting your offering at the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you. Did you do that just last week, by the way? Anybody here? Probably not. Why not?

[21:26] Well, this is a different time, different place, different culture, different everything. We're not into this. Leave your offering there before the altar and go your way. First be reconciled to your brother, then come and present your offering. What's the abiding principle there?

[21:38] How can we extract a principle from that that is cross-cultural and cross-dispensational? It's simply this. The moral of this story, of these couple of verses, is, hey, don't hold grudges with one another.

[21:54] Don't be out of sorts with one another. Don't get in a position where you're not on speaking terms with one another. Where do you get off of that kind of nonsense? You are to make amends one with another.

[22:09] You are to love one another. You are to be on the basis of friendship and familiarity one with another. None of this strange business, so that when you see such and such a person coming, you cross the street just so you won't have to say hello to them.

[22:23] Where do you get off of that kind of stuff? life? This is the principle, the abiding principle. It doesn't make any difference who you are or where you're living or what time you're living. Life is too short to have it in for anybody or for anybody to have it in for you.

[22:39] It's just not good. 27 and 28. Oh, this generates a lot of controversy. You shall not commit adultery, but I say to you, everyone who looks on a woman to lust for her has committed adultery with her already in his heart.

[22:56] Well, yes and no. As far as God is concerned, you have. That was your wish, that was your intent, that was your desire, you have.

[23:06] Now, as far as people involved are concerned, the public is concerned, you haven't, because you haven't actually done the deed, but the thought is there in the heart, and the principle, the moral principle is this, that applies to all dispensations is this, is listen, if you don't take charge and control of what you have in your heart, it will surface, it will come out.

[23:32] Issues like this need to be dealt with at the point of origin, and that's internally, and that's cross-dispensational as well. Verse 29, he's simply saying, if your right eye makes you stumble, tear it out and throw it from you.

[23:49] It is better for you, one of your parts of body, part of parts perish, than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. Now, Christ never meant this, even to the people to whom he was speaking, to take it literally.

[24:01] I mean, if you're coveting something, and you're looking at something, and desiring it, and wanting it, then your eye is leading you to stumble, and the best way to treat that is just reach in there and pluck your eyeball out and throw it away.

[24:14] No, of course not. He's not saying that at all. But what's the principle here? How do we extract the principle from this? What's it saying? It's saying this. Be aware of anything that leads you into temptation.

[24:29] Don't allow yourself to be put in a position of vulnerability. Watch out for yourself. Don't allow yourself to be set up for situations that can be compromising and sinful and embarrassing.

[24:45] Take safeguard against that. That's what he's saying here. Use whatever strenuous measures are necessary. And in the case of one of my favorite examples, in the case of Joseph in Potiphar's house, he used his feet, didn't he?

[25:03] Potiphar's wife says, come here, honey. Lie with me. He took off. Turned around and ran. This is no time to enter into a debate.

[25:15] This is no time to look for details or anything of the kind. He just knew he was in a position of vulnerability and he used his feet to get out of there.

[25:30] That's an abiding principle. It doesn't make any difference who you are or where you're living. verses 33 through 37. Again, you have heard it said, the ancients were told, you shall not make false vows.

[25:44] You fulfill your vow to the Lord. I say to you, make no oath at all in heaven. And what the abiding principle here is this. Look. We all, all, all who are connected with God, all who claim to be related to God, need to be people of integrity.

[26:04] Is your word worth anything? That's what he's saying. Jesus is saying, don't qualify what you're saying with a whole bunch of restrictions and add-ons and ifs and ins and buts.

[26:17] Speak plainly and speak the truth. Let your yes mean yes and your no mean no. And very often we're willing to say, well, yes, under these circumstances, and we put a bunch of strings on it, you know, but let's cut through all of this stuff and speak plainly and speak the truth.

[26:42] And when you tell somebody that thus and so is the truth, they ought to be able to believe you just because of your reputation and your character.

[26:54] That's the abiding principle extracted from this passage. be a person of truthfulness and of honesty. And that plays out with huge dividends no matter where you are, when you are, or what you are.

[27:11] This too is in the context of Israel. Chapter 6, 5, verses 38 through 48. All of this about borrowing from your neighbor. And I want to qualify something about that too, by the way.

[27:23] verse 43, you shall love your neighbor, hate your enemy. This subject came up a little bit this morning in our Sunday school class in the Les Feldeck tape. And we were talking among ourselves in the Q&A about who was our neighbor and was pointed out.

[27:40] Jesus used the Good Samaritan as an example of who the neighbor was. When somebody asked Jesus, well, just who is my neighbor? He used the Good Samaritan as an example. But this too still all has to be kept in a Jewish context.

[27:53] When he was talking about an eye for a eye in verse 40, if someone wants to sue you and take your shirt, let him have your coat also. And then love your neighbor and hate your enemy, verse 43.

[28:06] Verse 44, love your enemies, pray for those who persecute you. Let me ask you a question. Is that what the Israelites were supposed to do with the Philistines and the Amalekites?

[28:23] I mean, where does God get off telling his chosen covenant people to do battle with the Amalekites and to kill every last one of them?

[28:39] Is that how you love your enemy? What do you do with that? Can you not see how important it is, Miles Coverdale, but to whom it is written or spoken at what time, with what words, considering what goes before and what follows?

[28:55] If you just get no consideration to those things, and you've got horrendous problems. No wonder people say the Bible is full of contradictions. Well, how do you love the Amalekites?

[29:06] You kill that sucker. What? Kill him? But aren't I supposed to love him? Well, maybe ordinarily.

[29:16] What are you supposed to do? What are you supposed to do to terrorists? What are our soldiers sent over to Afghanistan to do when they confront a band of roving terrorists who they know are looking for them with the intent and purpose of killing them?

[29:37] What are you supposed to do with them? Well, you confront them and you ask them if they would like to have your weapon, and if they would, say, here, you can have my weapon, and here's the ammo that goes with it.

[29:50] And you like my boots? I'll give you my boots, too. I'll give you the shirt off my back because that's what the Sermon on the Mount says I'm supposed to do. It's patent nonsense. And Jesus would be the first one to say so.

[30:01] If you don't keep these things in the context in which they were written for the people for whom they were written, you've got all kinds of horrendous problems. What are you supposed to do with the enemy? What were you supposed to do with the Japanese when they bombed Pearl Harbor?

[30:14] What were you supposed to do? You bomb them back. That's war. Someone said, I think it was General Curtis LeMay that established the Strategic Air Command in the 1950s during the Cold War.

[30:31] He said, like it or not, war is all about killing people. and when enough people have been killed, the war is over.

[30:43] That's a terrible thing to say. You know what that is? That's reality. That's life. That's life that we are living as fallen people in a fallen world.

[30:55] And you cannot take this peace, brotherhood, love, everybody kind of thing, turn the other cheek and try to apply it today or in any other dispensation to the military, to the time of conflict, to people who want to destroy you.

[31:07] I mean, self-defense is a very legitimate enterprise, too. And bleeding hearts that don't understand that, they apply the same thing to capital punishment.

[31:19] What do you do with a man who is a mass murderer? Well, you give him every privilege you can and you put him in jail for at least 30 years and you pay for his room and board and you give him access to all of his lawyers and all of the rest of it.

[31:34] And no, when he has been tried by a court of law and found guilty of murder, you put him to death. You execute him. Whoso sheds man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed.

[31:48] And people say things like, well, if the government's going to put someone to death, that's murder. No, it doesn't murder. It's the lawful execution of a wrongdoer. And it's even prescribed by scripture.

[32:01] The Bible doesn't say, thou shalt not kill. It doesn't say that. It says, thou shalt do no murder. And there is a huge difference between murder and between killing. If you don't make these distinctions, the Bible is going to be just a puzzle and a riddle to you.

[32:16] And again, it gives way to people who say it has contradictions in it. Chapter 6 and verse 4. My, hear that your alms may be in secret and your father who sees in secret.

[32:30] This is discreet giving. You are to be as generous with your money as you want to be. I don't want anybody to put one dollar in that offering box out in the hall unless they really want to.

[32:52] Our giving is to be discreet. We're not to make a show. We're not to brag about what we give or how much we give or anything like that. We are to give in such a way that it's just between you and the Lord.

[33:05] And that too is cross dispensational. In the sermon and the prayer that is given here, the model prayer commonly referred to as the Lord's prayer, prayer, I think in it all our Lord is saying is that we need to recognize the fatherliness of God.

[33:26] We need to recognize the hollowness or the sacredness of God in his name. We need to recognize the provisions that we have are from God. But in this very same passage here, Jesus tells us, don't say prayers that you have memorized and repeat them over and over and over again.

[33:45] He said, that's what the Gentiles do. You're not supposed to be like them. You don't pray repetition prayers. And the distinction I've often made is that all Christians should pray.

[33:58] But Christians should not just say prayers. Fasting, if you do it, is private. I'm not for, you can tell just by looking at me, I haven't practiced that too much.

[34:15] I haven't missed any meals. But I think this is a very personal thing. I'm not advocating fasting. I'm not saying you shouldn't do it. I'm saying that if you do it, if you want to fast, then go about it the way Jesus said.

[34:30] But these people, when they were fasting, they would paint their face and let it be shown that they were fasting and they'd go around and look so solemn. So everybody could point to him and say, oh, he's holy.

[34:41] He's fasting. fasting. He's doing without food because he loves God so much. Jesus said, that's all a sham. If you want to fast, fast, but keep it to yourself.

[34:53] Don't broadcast it. Just make it between you and the Lord. That's a principle. 619. Do not lay up for yourselves treasures upon earth where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal.

[35:13] Lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven. All he's saying here is use your assets that God has given you to do some good here on earth and don't lay up everything in a selfish mode for yourself later on like the man who tore down his barns to build greater.

[35:31] What he's saying is be generous with what you have and don't deprive others from the benefit of what you have earned when it is in your power to do it.

[35:42] There's nothing wrong with a savings plan. There's nothing wrong with a retirement program. But people can go even overboard on those things. And all they are doing is setting themselves forth in a self-centered kind of way.

[35:54] And what Jesus is simply saying here as well as in verse 24. No man can serve two masters. You cannot serve God and mammon. You cannot be a servant to God and wealth.

[36:07] I remember talking to a young man one time in my office. He came in for some counseling and he was 25 I think 25 or 26 years old. And I said well tell me.

[36:18] I said here you are just starting out in your life. What are your goals? What's your objectives? What are your dreams? What would you like to accomplish? He said well my goal is to be a millionaire before I become 40 years of age.

[36:33] And I said well why are you willing to set your sights so low? And he kind of looked at me. Low?

[36:44] And I said yes. You make it sound like the only thing that really matters and the only goal and objective worth having is the acquisition of wealth. Aren't there other things?

[36:57] Well I guess so. And this kid he's just picked up from some of the scuttlebutt and some of his buddies were saying goals and objectives there.

[37:09] There's nothing wrong with making a million dollars before you're 40 years old. Nothing wrong with that at all. But it depends on what you have to do. What you have to forfeit in order to do that. And sometimes it's a matter of the tail wagging the dog.

[37:28] Well where are we now? I've got to skip some of this. So the moral of the story is you cannot be a servant of God and mammon and the observation has been made that money, money is a wonderful servant but it's a terrible master.

[37:47] And you'd be surprised how many people are under that. chapter 7 and verse 1. When our Lord says that we judge not lest we be not judged. And we spent a little time on this when we went through it.

[38:00] And you will recall I pointed out that this is one of the most misunderstood verses in all of the Bible. It doesn't mean that we are not to enter into judgment. We exercise judgment every day.

[38:12] You can't get away from exercising judgment when you choose a mate, when you go to buy a car, when you rent or buy a house, you're exercising judgment. You're making a decision.

[38:24] You're evaluating, you're weighing, and you can't escape from that. In fact, the Lord chided the people at Corinth when they had some very nasty behavior going on in their midst, and they didn't rein it in and hold people accountable.

[38:40] And Paul said, is there not one among you who can judge in these things? judge. What this is talking about is we do judge. We have to judge.

[38:51] You can't live without judging. When you order a meal from the menu, you're exercising judgment. All it means is you're discriminating and making decisions. You want this instead of this.

[39:02] Judging is a fine thing. What Jesus is condemning here is judgmentalism. And what judgmentalism is, is judging people and their actions on the basis of inadequate information.

[39:19] You don't know the facts, and yet you enter into judgment on that person or that situation, and very often you are completely wrong. Because you don't know what that person is dealing with.

[39:34] You don't know what's going on in their life. And it's easy for us to make snap judgments of thus and so, thus and so, call it this or call it that. And we don't know. We don't know. So what do we do?

[39:46] We withhold judgment. We just say, I don't know. That's between them and the Lord. Judgmental is a terrible thing.

[39:57] And congregations have been fractured by judgmental people. People who render decisions about other people and their motives as to why they did this or why they did that.

[40:10] And the truth of the matter is, more often than not, we just don't know. But we talk like and act like and think like we do know. We do know everything. We've got all the facts, all the details.

[40:20] No, you don't. So we ought to cut each other some slack and not be eager to enter in judgment on other people because so many times there are issues and items involved in the ingredients that we don't know and we don't understand.

[40:39] So we ought not to be eager to enter into judgment. Verse 3, look at the speck in your brother's eye, not notice the log that is in your own eye.

[40:55] That's something that's easy for us to do. All of this falls prey to the flesh. we are not to try and explain the prophet's plan of God to an unbeliever.

[41:09] Verse 6, chapter 7, that's casting our pearls before swine. Don't spend laborious time and details trying to explain the rapture to an unbeliever.

[41:21] They don't have the perspective or the ability to grasp it. You're casting your pearls before swine. In verses 21 through 23, there were and are professors of faith who are not possessors.

[41:36] There are going to be all kinds of religious people. There are going to be all kinds of religious people who are going to show up at the judgment bar of the Almighty only to hear these words, depart from me, I never knew you.

[41:57] Religion saves nobody. we are justified by faith, by believing in a God who has done for us what we cannot do for ourselves.

[42:10] Religion is man's effort to get to God on man's terms. And they're all failing and flawed. So, what Jesus is simply saying here is that there are professors believers and there are possessors.

[42:27] There are people who can talk a good religion. They know the language of Zion. They can sing the hymns. But they do not have a personal relationship to Jesus Christ because they are so sold on their own goodness.

[42:42] They see no need for that. And that's tragic. These are people who profess to be believers. But they do not possess faith in Christ.

[42:55] And that is cross dispensational as well. And then the last few verses of chapter 7 have to do with the kind of foundation that we have under the life that we are building.

[43:08] And Jesus simply makes a very clear-cut statement by saying, the words, the truth that I share, the information that I give out is the only information that is worthy of building your life upon.

[43:28] And that is quite a statement for someone to make. But he made it. And he not only made it, he made good on it. If you build your life upon anything else, your church, your good works, your baptism, your confirmation, your good intentions, if that's what your life is built upon, it is sinking sand.

[43:55] Only a life that is built upon Christ and his message is that which will really deliver the goods. On Christ, the solid rock I stand, all other ground is sinking sand.

[44:15] God's will be given. Well, pray with me, please. Thank you, Father, for truth, for its existence, for its availability.

[44:31] And we recognize sometimes we're not very adept at identifying it or seeking it out. but we trust that you will take what has been explained today and use it in the lives and hearts of anyone here who's looking for answers we don't have them but you do and we are so grateful should there be anyone here today who's been looking for answers to life and doesn't know where to find them we pray that your gracious spirit of God will reveal to them even now that it's all about Jesus Christ it's all about him it's not about us and for anyone wishing to put their faith and trust in Christ we pray you'll give them the wisdom the insight and the courage to do that even now and saying forsaking all others I take him thank you Jesus for doing for me what none of us can do for ourselves and you did it just because you love us and we are so grateful thank you amen

[45:43] God damn you and let's ball the right