Cornerstone – Week 63

All right. Good morning everyone. It's good to see you today. Thanks for joining us for worship. Uh, my name is Jason. If we have a met, I have the privilege here of serving as one of our pastors, and, uh, it's so good to be with you today. Um, before we get started this morning, I know some of you're wondering, uh, maybe looking for a little bit of an update. Uh, last Sunday night, as you guys know, we had a very special evening with Ken Ham here at the church.

So many of you, uh, were here for that. Um, for those of you who missed it, um, his part I'm gonna share here is gonna be pretty shocking to you. But there was a pastor visiting from Claremont, and, um, his heart stopped sudden death, um, for all practical purposes. He died last Sunday night right here as we were getting started, uh, for the event. And so I just wanted to give you an update on him. Um, he's home safe. Praise the Lord. Can you believe it?

Amen. And so, yeah, Talk about an attention getter. All right. Um, he's home safe. Praise the Lord. Uh, he's, he's recovered well. Uh, pastor Meer and I were able to go visit him earlier this week. Um, he and his family, uh, are incredibly grateful to our church family, um, being used to save his life. Uh, in talking with him earlier this week, he shared, you know, I wasn't even a c*m. I was kind of like, ah, maybe I'll just skip it, or maybe I can tune in online and watch it.

And he said, if that would've happened, I would've died. Nobody would've been able to revive me. And, um, aren't you glad you come to church on Sunday night? Enter the plug tonight, five 30, don't miss it. Um, honestly, like, wow. Thank you Lord for saving his life. He died and his heart stopped. Um, he's gotten the, the help that he needs since. And, um, by the way, we have such an amazing team here. Um, special thanks to Angie West. Um, praise the Lord.

She performed CPR. We have a defibrillator, um, that she used. And, uh, Levi Fullerton as well. CPR. Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you. Um, Greg Boop, Greg Jones, Mike Zdi, Louis Cruz. Honestly, a lot was going on. And by the way, if you do have a medical background, it's good for us to know that kind of thing. Um, should an emergency like this happen again. Um, and so for those of you who have been praying for him, um, for Pastor Wade Davis and his family, thank you, he's doing better.

Praise the Lord. And we give God thanks for his goodness. And so thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you. Um, thank you. Uh, we're gonna be continuing this morning in our sermon series. And so why don't we get to work, uh, the title of this series, you see it there up on the slide. It's called Cornerstone. And, uh, we are spending roughly two years or so looking at the life and ministry of Jesus Christ. And, uh, we've been seeing how Jesus, the cornerstone can transform lives and build disciples.

And we're gonna continue that today. And so, if you have a Bible, why don't you go ahead and turn with me to the gospel of Matthew chapter seven, verse one. Alright, go ahead and turn there with me now, Matthew chapter seven, verse one, all the way through verse 12. Uh, if you need a Bible, I'll go ahead and raise your hand. We have some ushers that would love to get a copy of God's word into your hands so that you can follow along. And if you don't have a Bible of your own, consider this our gift to you.

Matthew chapter seven, verse one. And following, if you've been with us most recently, we've been looking at the Sermon in the Mount, uh, that continues today. This is without question, the greatest sermon ever preached. This sermon changes that all this sermon revolutionizes everything that every religious, religious leader has ever taught up to this point. Um, and without exaggeration, what we're looking at today is gonna be so, so relevant. And so I tell you what, as I set this up, why don't I do it this way?

You guys, many of you know this. I grew up, um, in the state of, do you guys know, in the state of Minnesota. And so, um, and so I love where I grew up. I'm very proud of where I grew up. Good people. Minnesota's kind of famous for being nice. Um, most of the people up there are fantastic. It it's a really a great state. Uh, I got a bunch of family up there, even to this day. Um, I love my family. I say that because many of them are listening to the message right now.

And so, uh, great people up there. We, we love Minnesota. Um, as far as Minnesota goes, as good as it is, honestly, I think it's an an even better place to be from, if you know what I mean. And so, uh, I mean, let's be honest, I don't live there for a reason, right? That's why we moved to Florida 25 years ago. Um, I mean, we all moved to Florida for a reason, didn't we? Right? Yeah. We love it here. Uh, so whenever we travel back, i, I, I can't help but notice, like, wow, it's a lot different here than it is in Florida where we live now.

And so I moved away when I was 18 years old, so I've lived away for 30 years or so, which is hard to believe honestly. And so what stands out? Whenever I, whenever I go back, I can't help but notice that summer is short, winter is long, and when a nice day finally comes, you have to deal with a very large amount of mosquitoes. And so for those of you who are from the upper Midwest, you know what I'm talking about. And, um, here's another thing. How do I put it?

Um, pretty much everybody up there looks the same. And so that's one of the things I love about Florida. There's so much diversity here. And that's a, that's a beautiful thing. It's a, it's a wonderful thing up there in Minnesota. And yeah, not so much, not so much, um, up there. Pretty much everyone is, according to Ken Ham, do you guys remember this last week? Um, pretty much everyone up there is ultra light bleached whitish brown. All right? I think that's the technical word for light brown.

And so, um, some of you know this, there's also an accent in Minnesota, if you guys notice that there's an accent up there. And, and people say things like, uh, don't you know, that's what they say and, and don't, you know, that's how they talk up there. That's the stereotype. Anyway. Um, that's how I talk honestly, if I'm not trying to sound Floridian, a lot of you think I'm from Canada. I'm not from Canada. Geez Louise. Oh, for Pete's sake, Canada not even close.

You know, I think one of the most challenging things about life up there is there's not a ton of stuff to do. A lot of people don't know this, but there's not a lot of theme parks up in Minnesota. I heard Walt thought about it for a minute or two, and then he realized it's eight months of winter up here, we'll go broke. And so no Disney, uh, no universal studios, no major theme parks, but you know what they have instead, anybody. We have the county fair at the VFW fairgrounds.

Oh yeah. And don't forget the Friday night beauty pageant to crown the Dairy Queen, the fairest dairy queen daughter in all the land. And so, true story, and it gets even better, did I mention from October to May, there's roughly three feet of ice and snow on the ground. So pretty much the only thing you can do is go ice fishing. Okay? Well, that sounds fun. No, it's, it's, it's not fun if you have zero options. It's fun if you have option, it's just not fun.

And so here's why I mentioned that when I do travel home, honestly, I gotta guard my heart. I gotta guard my heart a little bit because I can find myself being somewhat critical, not proud of it. I can be a little judgmental. And these 30 years away, I've changed a lot. Um, my interests have changed, my hobbies have changed, my preferences have changed like a lot. And so you can't help but notice that whenever we go back home. And so maybe you say to that, you know, Jason, you shouldn't be judgmental, Jason.

You know, you shouldn't be critical. Yeah, I know, I know. And today Jesus has a word for people like me that can be critical, that can be judgmental. Do you tend to be critical of those who are different than you? Are you negative or quick to judge those who see things a little bit differently? Yeah, me too. And so if you're like me, Jesus has a word for us today. Maybe for you, it's people that are different, culturally, different, different politics, different sports teams, different generations, different ideas, different preferences.

I think we all can be guilty of this. And today in Matthew chapter seven, Jesus is gonna speak to us. And so I tell you what, before we get to work here, we bow our heads together and let's pray and let's commit our time to Lord, father in heaven, we do thank you for your word. It's truth. It's precious, it's lovely. Oh, how we need it. Uh, God request this morning is that you would sanctify us with your truth. Help us see life as it is with clarity.

Soften our hearts, open our eyes. Remind us again what is true and right and lovely and noble and praise worthy, and help us get our lives in line so that we could live in a way that would glorify you. And so speak to us now. We pray in Jesus. Good name. Amen. All right, here we go. My big idea this morning is this, love your neighbor as your self. That's the big idea. We have two sermon points this morning. My first point will be in verses one through six.

My second point will be in verses seven through 12. And as a heads up, this first point, honestly, it's, it's a little bit more complicated to explain. Probably gonna take me a little bit longer to walk through it. But once we do get to verse seven and following, you guys are gonna love it because it's such a great word of encouragement. And so here we go. My first point this morning is this, love your neighbor despite their shortcomings. Do you guys see that?

And this is a word for all of us today, church, love your neighbor despite their shortcomings. Notice here verse one. Do not judge you guys. See that you guys see it. Do not judge so that you will not be judged for with what judgment you judge you will be judged. And with what measure you measure, it will be measured to you. Now, I think it's safe to say we could take all the biblical content related to human relationships and really boil it down to just a few verses here in chapter seven.

Um, simple command. Jesus here does a fantastic job of simplifying the complicated dynamics of human relationships. And keep in mind, Jesus here is contrasting his standard, which is very different from the standard of his day, the standard of the scribes, the standard of the Pharisees. And at the heart of it, Jesus teaching us to love our neighbor as yourself. This is the law and the prophets. That's how he'll put it. This is how he'll summarize everything in verse 12 at the end of our passage today.

And this is why our big idea this morning is just that love your neighbor as yourself. I notice there back in verse one, it says, do not judge so that you will not be judged. And so that's the principle. Do not judge. And isn't this true? We hear a lot of people throw that around, don't we? We kind of hear this thrown around, judge, not lest you not be judged. People say that. Maybe you say that. I've heard it, I've said it. And so have you. Who are you to judge?

We say, honestly, it's probably one of the most misquoted texts in all the Bible. Who do you think you are? Who are you to judge me? You're gonna be the one to throw stones. Do you think you're better than me? So we say people are always like, oh, oh, you can't judge, don't judge, don't judge me. Hey, hey, I don't know if you know this, but we're not supposed to judge. You guys have heard that. Maybe you've even said it. And so the question, okay, Jason, what does Jesus really mean here?

What does he mean by what he says? Well, do not judge forbids pronouncing judgment on another person guilty before God. That's what he means. What he's talking about is the critical judgmental, condemning self-righteousness of the Pharisees. They were guilty of it. We are guilty of it. They weren't criticizing people because of their sin. They're criticizing them because of their what? Personality, their character, their weaknesses. Perhaps the way they looked, the way they dressed, or the fact that they didn't do the things the way that they did them.

And so what is Jesus saying? Well, let me clarify what Jesus saying by explaining what he is not saying. Sometimes that is the best way to make things clear. Jesus is not talking about don't judge actions. That's not what he's talking about. Jason, what do you mean? Um, this week in my quiet time, um, I was reading through second Corinthians and in chapter five, if you guys are familiar with Second Corinthians, uh, Paul was calling out a guy for being a serial adulterer in the church, called him out publicly and then wrote it in the Bible.

That's what he did. As he was sexually immoral, his actions were sinful. And so therefore we can judge sinful actions. We can, we should, we must parents. That being said, don't ever let your kids back away, back you into a corner telling you that you shouldn't judge them because we do judge actions. The gift of discernment is a spiritual gift. We have to judge actions just go down for a moment. Look there at chapter, um, seven verse six. Look at verse six for a minute where he says, do not give what is holy to dogs and throw up, uh, your pearls before swine.

Do you guys see that pearls? There he is talking about the precious teachings. Now if you're going to apply this, you have to find out who are the dogs, who are the pigs, so that you know who not to give your pearls to make sense. There must be discernment. You must discern by being observant of their actions. Y'all with me so far? Come on now. Somebody giving me an amen. Amen. Good. Now, throughout the Bible we're commanded to discern. We're commanded to test the spirits we're commanded to distinguish between good and evil.

That's good and right and necessary and important. In fact, the reformation of the Christian Church took place because good and godly men took a stand. They judged actions of the religious leaders of their day and they took a stand. And so back in verse one, Jesus is not talking about don't judge actions. We are to judge actions. Uh, here's another example. A few years back, this was a new story. It was all over the place. Maybe you remember it. I looked it up this week just trying to remind myself of the details.

But there was this husband and he was exposed as a polygamist and uh, I looked it up. I couldn't remember his name, but his name turns out to be Warren. Jeffs ring a bell. Um, he was on the FBI most wanted list. Not a good guy, bad guy. And uh, he was the head of the fundamentalist church of Jesus Christ of the Latter Day Saints. And um, and he was convicted of child sexual assault. Terrible story, sad story, awful story. Honestly, don't even look it up.

It's just a bad, bad situation. This guy. True story. He had 78 wives. What? 24 of them were under the age of 17. Awful. True story. Um, now here's the thing. The Mormon church thought this guy was like something special. This guy is like, he's got it going on. He's got 78 wives, he has his act together to them, he was like a modern day Apostle Paul. Now, if you remember, because this guy was so highly esteemed by the church, they recorded everything he did.

They wrote it all down because once again, they believed he was something special. And because of that, the prosecutors had everything they needed to rightly convict this man. But I'm telling you, this guy is very disturbing. And so as we seek to apply God's word, it is right to take God's word and discern whether he was doing wrong or not. It's right to do that he was doing wrong. That is sinful. It's right to do that. The Bible calls it sinful.

However, it is arguably wrong to say. I mean, just look at the guy. I saw his picture and, and, and, and if you see a picture of him, he does kinda look like a pervert. He dresses like it's 1971. That's a dead giveaway. He's probably a pervert. I'm pretty sure he is. Kids stay away. I don't trust him. Um, that's not a good thing that's being judgemental because of his style or his appearance to judge him based on observations about his appearance or his demeanor is wrong.

That's what Jesus condemning. But to judge him based upon his actions. That's right. Does that make sense? The distinction is essential. Alright, so that's the first thing that Jesus is not saying. He's not talking about don't judge actions. He is. Here's the second thing. Jesus is not talking about judging motives. This is where Christians, we get in so much trouble as a pastor, as a biblical counselor here at the church. Oh my, do we get this wrong?

And so let me put it to you this way. Is anyone here a mind reader who thinks that they can read minds the biblical word for it? Do you know what it is? Neck romancer. Alright, another word for it, omniscient. Is anybody here omniscient? No. That's right. We are not, we are not mind readers. We are not omniscient. Therefore, because of that, we are not supposed to judge others' motives. Do not do that. You with me? Can't get an amen. Amen. Let me put it this way.

You and I, we don't know why people are doing what they're doing. We don't know. Don't act like you know. You don't know. I don't know. Don't ever let yourself say, well, I know why she's like that. I know why he's doing that. Don't say that. No, you don't. Only God knows a person's heart. We don't even know our own hearts. Scripture says, why pretend like we know somebody else's. It's wrong. Husbands, wives, children. It is a great sin to presume with a judge's gavel in our hand and judge motives of another.

It's wrong. Don't do that. And I'm making such a big deal about it because people do it all the time. Don't judge people's motives. Nothing is more painful than somebody judging your motives. How many times have you said it? How many times have you heard it? I know why they do that. Have you said that? Do you really know why they do that? Do you really fully understand the complexities of their heart? Because I bet you don't. I bet you don't. God does not want us judging the territory.

That is his venue. He does not. Judging the heart is God's job, not ours. How many people here this morning? Go ahead and raise your hand. How many people here this morning think we should just let God do his job? Anybody? Yeah. I'm good with that. If you are, I'm okay with that. We Christians get a bad rap for being very judgmental. It's wrong. Jesus is saying, don't do that. Christians and judgmental should be words that are opposites not synonymous.

And that's a good place for an amen. Lemme say it again. Christians and judgmental should be words that are opposites not synonymous. Amen. It's true. It's true. And this is God's word for us today. Church. We can be guilty of this. I can be guilty and so can you. And so don't do it. Don't judge people's motives. Alright, for clarity, it's okay to judge actions, but it's not okay to judge people's motives. Here's the third thing, last one. Kind of just trying to make, uh, clear this point of Jesus.

Jesus is not talking about judging appearances. Do not judge appearances. Here's what we do not do. Do not judge a person by the color of their skin or the, or the clothes that they wear. Do not do that. Don't judge them because of their cowboy boots or their tattoo or their khaki pants or their polo shirt or their piercings. Don't judge the car that they drive or the place that they live or the job that they have. Don't do that. It's wrong. Can you just believe that they bought a new car in this economy?

I always thought that they were impulsive. Don't do that. Or can you believe they took their kids outta public school? Do they think they're better than public school now? Don't do that. Or can you believe that they don't homeschool their kids? They must not love their children very much. Or can you believe that they let their kids just run around wild like that? You know, kids misbehaving says a lot about their parenting. Or can you believe how messy their hair, their house, their car is?

Man, they should really get their life in order. Or what, what is it that you say? What is it that you focus on? Don't judge people in this way. You really can't tell a book by the cover. And as we think about our church family, um, God loves every person in this room. And when we form judgments about people based upon how they look or how they act or how they appear, God's like, why are you doing that? Don't discern actions. Discern wisdom, discern actions, but don't judge the motives or appearances.

Moving on verse two, here's a warning four. And this is important. Notice four, with what judgment you judge, you'll be judged. And with what measure you measure, it will be measured to you. Jason, does that mean what I think it means? It does. It's a warning. And so with the judgment that I give others, that's the judgment I'm going to get. In other words, what goes around comes around. The judgment you pronounce will be the judgment or the measure that you receive.

And that should make us uneasy. Honestly. It really should. And even now, this morning, like the response, the proper response to this, my response is I've been wrestling with this is, Lord have mercy. Please forgive me. Forgive me for being harsh critical. I, I I do this, I do this. It's, it doesn't honor you how quick I am. We are to judgements on people have mercy. Oh Lord. But when you have to judge, because sometimes you do have to form judgments, actions, not motives or appearance.

Don't judge harshly. Don't judge harshly. Don't hold people to the standard that you are not keeping yourself. Now notice there verse three. And why do you look at the spec? Do you guys know what this means here? And why do you look at the spec that is in your brother's eye, but do not notice a log that is in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, let me take the spec outta your eye. And behold the log that is in your own eye, do you guys see what's going on here?

It's honestly, it's almost kind of comedic. It's like an intentional overstatement. And so you got this guy that's trying to be very helpful to somebody else who has a speck in their eye, except they got a huge log in their eye. And that's how we are when we're swift to give correction. Here's the point. The idea is that the thing in your life is so big that it keeps you from getting close to see the thing that's in another person's life that needs the work.

The bottom line is you and I are very easily blinded. We don't see clearly even though we think that we do, we think we see clearly, but we do not. And when we're swift to judgment, when we're rushing to correction, more often than not, we have a log and we're trying to help somebody with, with, with, with a tiny speck. Think about this for yourself. Jesus saying, it's very easy to be blinded and we don't even know it. Listen to me. As soon as you approach someone to judge them or criticize them or force them to your standard, you give evidence that you are not seeing clearly.

That's what it does. Or else you'd be working on the own log in your eye. Um, I see this all the time. So do you, I see this all of the time. And here's what I've noticed in pastoral ministry and biblical soul care, biblical counseling, just pastoral ministry. Here's what I've noticed. This is like, it's like so true. Um, usually the people who see everything wrong in somebody else's life see absolutely nothing wrong in their own life. Amen? Is that true?

Some of you are that person and you're blind to your own blindness. And welcome to the club. That's our human condition. The Bible calls itself righteousness. That's what the Pharisees were guilty of. Jesus calls them a hypocrite. And you and I do the same thing. Lord, help us notice there verse five. You hypocrite, you phony. You're pretending to be what you're not. You're a fake eye doctor. You're not even a a real eye doctor. You're a fake one.

You're a fraud. You're a hypocrite. First, take the log out of your own eye and then you'll see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye. Jason, how do I do this? How do I get the log out of my eye? Truly? This is, this is the Christian life. This is a spiritual matter. That's what this is. It's spiritual. It's something between you and God. I believe it's simply a matter of walking humbly before the Lord. It's a matter of confessing your own sin and repenting of it.

It's recognizing that you have a fake eye doctor inside of you. So do I. And therefore pray that Jesus will clear the log out of your eyes so that you can help others with this speck in their own. And once I've done that, once I'm walking humbly before the Lord, I'm taking a look at my own heart, my own life. I'm confessing my own sin. I'm repenting of my own sin. And then we move on. Notice here in verse five, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye.

The lesson is, we cannot be useful to our brothers and sisters until we first examined ourself. Do you guys see how relevant this is? And here's the thing, I've hope, I've hope you've experienced this for yourself. Loved ones, when you've dw dwelt with the big things in your life, your tone will change. Mom and dads, your tone will change man. Your tone will change. Ladies, when you've dwelt with the big things in your life, your tone will be way different as you talk to somebody else who needs to grow.

And here's like a pro tip just from experience, your tone gives it away. And so if you want to know if you have a log in your eye or not, your tone gives it away. If your tone isn't right, that's a clue that you probably have a log in your eye. But when you've prayed about it, humbled yourself, confess your sin to the Lord. Lord, I need you. Help me, help me Lord, as he does a work in our heart, as it's a spiritual matter, our tone changes, kindness and grace will be present in the judgment, in the correction.

When I'm dealing with my stuff, the whole way that I come to talk to you is now going to be different. My approach is different because I'm looking to serve you out of love for you. And that's when we know we are loving our neighbor as ourself. And once again, that's our big idea this morning. It's loving our neighbor as ourself. That's what the Christian life is all about. It's not being judgmental, it's not being critical. It's examining or judging myself first.

And please hear me on this truth and love. We are not good at this. You are not good at this. I am not good at this. Help us, Lord, the greater church, by and large, we are awful at this. We just don't get it. We miss the mark over and over and over and over again. The church of Jesus Christ can be, it doesn't have to be, but it can be very judgmental. How about we begin judging ourselves first? And so as we take this to heart now, um, getting practical, how's this going for you?

How quick are you to point fingers? How quick are you to slam the judge's gavel? How quick are you to look into the mirror of God's word? First, who have you been cri critical against this week? And as you even now wrestle with how to apply this, how can you avoid judging incorrectly? Is there a speck in your eye today? What about a log? The Lord is not honored when we are harsh, self-righteous, self-centered and judgmental. And this is not loving our neighbor.

Well help us Lord. Let's move on. Notice over six. Do not give what is holy to the dogs. And do not throw your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under feet and turn and tear you to pieces. Uh, we've already touched on this. The point of this is that believers are to be merciful, forgiving, slow to judge, yet they should be wise to discern the true character of people. Therefore, you have to discern you with me. The dogs, the swine represent those who, because of their ungodliness, refuse to have anything to do with the holy and precious things of God except to trample them underfoot and turn an attack to attack you.

And this is a tremendous truth. Here's what it means. We have to learn to be discerning. Uh, wisdom is necessary in the Christian life. You don't say everything to everybody. Jesus teaching us to ask who is a dog and who is a hog, just as well rhyme. Let's make it memorable. Wisdom, discernment, prayer. Who's a dog? Who's a hog? So are you wise with your words? Are you discerning? What do you do to balance this carefulness with grace and mercy since you too, yourself and me too used to be a dog and a hog for that matter.

Now notice here verse seven, let's move on. We're gonna pick up some speed. Here's my second point this morning, love your neighbor despite your shortcomings. Alright? First point is love your neighbor despite their shortcomings. Now let's love your neighbor despite your shortcomings, this part. Wow. Get ready. Notice every seven ask and it will be given to you. Seek and you'll find knock and it will be open to you for everyone who asks, receive.

And he who seeks fines and to him who knocks it will be opened. Huh? Well, this is interesting. I must confess Jason. I like this part better. Ha ha ha. Ask, seek knock, receive, find open. That's what I'm talking about. I can get into this. Yeah, I think this is my new favorite verse 2025 Act, seek, knock, receive, find open. I like this. I like this. I, So you can imagine my remorse in having to burst your bubble. Um, some people think when they read this, it's like, really?

That's what we think this is. Like, is this like winning the lottery? Wow. It's like a blank check, man. And so what does that mean for Me? Here we go. Here we go. All right, God, I'm gonna apply this today. Ask, seek, not get ready to unload the the Bank of heaven. What is it for you church for me? It's a, oh, here we go. It's a uh, 2025 Ford F two 50 Super Duty King Ranch. Yeah. Don't forget the keys, Lord, Just send it down. Ask, seek, knock. Um, but that's not it, is it?

I wanna show you something right now that's, you probably never heard it before. Maybe you've never really studied this that closely. What happens is most of us read these verses in isolation during a prayer meeting at church. And so during the prayer meeting, somebody reads verse seven, verse eight, and then we start praying and it's, wow, it's, it's just great. But we never really study actually what this means within the greater context of Jesus sermon.

And so let's remember the greater context of Jesus sermon. Can we you guys up for that? Yeah. Let's look at the context for a minute. Notice there back in chapter five, verse one. Remember this is all a part of the Sermon of the Mount, right? This is a sermon. We're looking at one portion of the greater sermon, but this is just a portion of the greater sermon back in chapter five. Uh, let's walk through this really quick, um, and then prepare to have your minds blowing.

Alright, so the Sermon of the Mount begins with the Christian's general character. We saw that in the Beatitudes. You guys remember that? Verses one through 12 of chapter five. And then in light of of the Christian's character, Jesus discussed the Christian's reaction to the world. How do we interact with the world? We're called to be salt in light. You guys remember that? That's the verse 13 through 20. Then Jesus discusses the Christian's relationship with the mosaic law.

Jesus said, I did not come to abolish but to fulfill. And then he began a series of examples to help the Christian apply the relationship to the law. You have heard that it was said, but I say to you, that's what Jesus did kind of over and over and over again from verse 21 to 48. At the end of this part of the sermon in chapter five, Jesus said, therefore, be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect, revealing that we need a savior, we need Jesus.

That's the end of chapter five. Then in chapter six, it's all about our relationship with our heavenly Father. Jesus discussed our relationship to the Father through prayer. You guys remember fasting, giving, forgiving, anxiety. In other words, in chapter six, Jesus explained how Christians should love God with their heart, soul, mind, and strength. Now, in chapter seven, Jesus transitions to our relationships with other people. And what did he say?

Verses one through six, this is how we are to relate with other people. Don't be harsh. Don't be critical. Don't be a judgemental person. Stop doing that. Well, how, how do I stop? Because I just am. We just are. It's a defect because of sin. Do not be harsh, critical. Don't be a judgmental person. How do we do that? Here's the answer. Verse seven, ask and it will be given to you. Seek and you'll find knock and it will be open to you. For everyone who asks receives, he who seeks finds and him who knocks it will be opened.

Wait a second. What? So so who is able to judge, who is able to discern, who is able to know when you've got somebody that you don't want to throw pearls to, how can you tell who is able to discern when you have somebody there that you don't wanna give a holy thing to because they're gonna trample it under foot? Who is it that's able to see the sin in a believer's life and go lovingly to restore them? How do you do that? You know the answer. It's only God.

God and God alone has that kind of discernment if we want to have it. It's not a formula. You gotta pray. You gotta ask and you gotta seek and you gotta knock and you gotta pray and you gotta ask and you gotta seek and you gotta knock and you gotta pray. The only place you get this kind of information is when we're down on our knees. You with me? And so ask and knock and seek and pray and repeat. That's what Jesus is saying here. Now here's the thing.

There's an important part of this I really wanna be clear on. We don't pray the hairy, the Hail Mary prayer where you kind of throw the ball down to the end zone, game over. Prayer. Done. It's not what it is. The kind of prayer that Jesus talking about here is, is wrestling with it. We're kind of struggling in it. We're asking, seeking, knocking, acting, seeking, knocking. We're persevering. Why is that? Why is it? Is it because God's reluctant? No, he is not reluctant at all.

Honestly, I think the reason why we're encouraged to persevere, I think the reason God wants us to keep asking, seeking knocking is because the more that we're involved in the process, the greater our relationship with him becomes. It's because it's in that point of need that we depend on him. And the relationship with the Lord grows richer and deeper and more meaningful as our communion with him enhances. Because our Father in heaven wants a relationship with us.

And so what are we told to do? How do we love our neighbor as ourself? Gotta pray about it. Help me Lord, to apply this word we're told to ask and seek and knock. And mind you, there are some conditions in all of this. There are some conditions I trust, you know, that several things come to mind. No particular order. Um, but first this is only good if you're a child of God. Um, scripture's clear on that. Otherwise you have no relationship to him.

So you do have to know the Lord. You do have to be one of his children. It means that we are recognizing the fact that we fall short. Yep. I fall short. It's believing what the Bible says. God, out of love sent to son Jesus, lived a perfect life, died for our sins, conquered death for our salvation. I repent God, I do fall short. I recognize that. I confess you as Lord. Help me, save me, change me. And then when we pray, God hears. Second, you must be living in obedience.

Or as it says in one Peter chapter three, verse seven, your prayers will be hindered. Third, third, you must have a totally selfless motive in asking if you ask to receive for yourself, forget it. Well, what do you mean? James? Chapter four, verse three, for example, says this, you ask and you do not receive because you ask if wrong motives so that you may spend it on your pleasures. Here's one more. You have to submit it all to God's will. Super common theme.

First John chapter four talks about it. And this is the confidence which which we have before him. That if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. It's not a blank check, but if you are his child and if you are his obedient child and you're unselfish and you ask according to his will, he's gonna do it. He will do it. Let's move on there to verse nine. Here we get a little bit more clarity on, on, on our Father in heaven. This is lovely.

Notice of verse nine. Or what man is there among you who when his son asks for a loaf, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, he will not give him a snake, will he? I wish we had more time to spend on this honestly. Um, I mean, what a terrible trick. What a dirty deal. Jesus here is teaching us to pray with a sense of security in the father's love because he's a good, good father. It says in verse 11, if you then being evil, um, pause there you being evil.

This is one of the clearest statements made from beginning to end in the Bible about the fallen nature of man, about our fallen nature. Even when he does a good thing for his children, even when an earthly father does a good thing for his children, he does not override the basic sinful nature. In other words, earthly parents have an innate impulse to do what's best for their children, yet they are flawed as a result of sins corruption. We are flawed.

That's why judging harsh, critical, it's just this is hard for us. It's part of sins corruption. The truth is the quality of our parenting does not match God's. Verse 11, once again, if you then being evil know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more do you guys see that? How much more will your father who is in heaven give what is good to those who ask him? That's our father in heaven. He inclines his ear to his children. When we pray far better than even the best earthly fathers.

And that should settle our hearts. It's a good reminder about the character of our God. And so maybe some of you this morning, you're a little sensitive about the subject at hand and, and you're just like, ah, man, I fall so short. I just lose my cool. I'm, I'm quick to rush to judgment. I certainly don't pray about it very much. Um, God, help me be reminded that our father in heaven, he is a good, good father. Notice your last verse, verse 12. Therefore in all things, whatever you want people to do for you, so do for them, for this is the law and the prophets.

Jesus says, they're so do for them. This is known as the golden rule. And I mentioned at the beginning of this passage, Jesus is basically teaching us to love your neighbor as yourself. That is the law in the prophets. And this is how we summarizes here in verse 12. So if the first and greatest commandment is to love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength. And the second is to love your neighbor as yourself, this then is the truth that guides our passage today.

Basically Jesus sum summarizes biblical revelation with two simple things, our relationship with our Father in heaven. It's crucial. It's crucial. And number two, your relationship with your brothers and sisters in Christ matters ever so deeply. And as a church, we're a family. God is our father. Christians are our brothers and sisters. So don't be critical. Don't be judgemental, don't be condemning because when we are, we are self-righteous. We are hypocrites.

God help us today. We repent of our sin. We ask for forgiveness. And if need be, we right relationships where we've wronged somebody with our quick to judgment gavel. And so what do we do? We extend the same gration compassion that we have received. And so by doing, we love our neighbor as ourself. And so as we wrap things up this morning, as all this settles in, um, where's the Holy Spirit calling your attention today? How might our father in heaven have you apply this?

Are you harsh with others? Do you have a tendency to be critical? Are you negative, pessimistic, quick to judge those who see things differently? Maybe you haven't been praying about this as you should. Maybe you haven't been loving your neighbor. Well, today we have an opportunity to make that right. And so I tell you what, let's go before the Lord. Now can we, let's pray together. Father in heaven, um, thank you for the reminder, uh, that you are a good, good Father.

It's who you are. And we thank you. Thank you that you've been so gracious to us to forgive us of our many judgments and our many criticisms. God, you are ever so merciful with us, more so than we are with each other. And forgive us of that. Lord, forgive us as we fail. Thank you that you are far more merciful to us than we deserve. Uh, Lord, help us to follow your instruction this morning, to follow your lead, to be tender hearted, to be kind, to be forgiving, to be slow, to rush to judgment, prayerful, help us be discerning.

Guarding our heart. Guide our words. Help us Lord, not to set ourself up as judges all the while maintaining discernment, having our senses exercised to know the difference between good and evil. Sinful not compromising the truth, but standing for truth. But never Father in a selfish motive. Never because of self-righteousness or self-seeking. Never because we're hypocrites. Help us Lord. Um, God, we pray for our church family here. Wow, what a church.

Such lovely people. We are far from perfect God, but you are at work in us. Please continue your good work that you started. I pray that we would be praying about this. That we would be men and women who would persevere in prayer constantly asking, seeking, knocking, asking, seeking, knocking, and that our human relationships would be changed for the better. That's our prayer. Help us Lord, know the balance. We'll trust you for that. We give you thanks now in Jesus.

Good name. Amen. Amen. Let's stand together. Let's close in worship now.