Overcoming Judging

In Matthew chapter 7, Jesus preached about living in His Kingdom and how we should relate to each other. He spoke about not judging others and treating them as we would like to be treated. He reminded us that God is the King of this Kingdom and the church is the body of that Kingdom. He emphasized the importance of true love, which is selfless and reaches out to others. He pointed out that selfishness and fear drive negative ethics, but love should drive us to do good. Only Christ can help us put others before ourselves. Matthew chapter 7, we've been going through this Sermon on the Mount that Jesus Christ preached, and we have been looking at the different areas that He was addressing and the difference of living in His Kingdom, and last week we said that actually we covered two parts. Last week we looked at the subject Judge Nod, and we looked at this section in the Sermon that now that we are in this Kingdom, how do we relate to each other? And so He begins by not judging. Now what do we mean by Judge Nod? We're talking about that hypocritical, that critical, hasty, condemning type of judgment that we see so prominently in our society today. And I want us to remember and go back to the beginning of this and understand, repent, for the Kingdom of God is at hand. And that was John the Baptist's message. And so Jesus Christ came in and He said, I am offering you a new Kingdom. I am offering you a new residency. I am offering you a new life. And in that Kingdom, we know that God is the King. God is the One that sits on the throne. He is the One that makes up the rules. He is the One that is holy. And so we have our Kingdom, and we have God who is reigning in that Kingdom, and then we come to the church. The church in the Bible is the body of that Kingdom. In other words, we are the visual manifestation of Jesus Christ to this earth that we live in. And so the church is this body. And Christ is told in 2 Corinthians that He is the head of that body. So God is the King. We live in this Kingdom. The church is the body. Christ is the head of that body. And then within that body, we operate as a family. And we start with the husband as the head of the house. Then we have the wife. And then we have children. And so God has this entire Kingdom set up that you and I are living in today. And as we think about this Kingdom, He tells us in our text this morning in Matthew 7 and verse 12, He says, "...therefore all things whatsoever you would that men should do to you, do you even so to them. For this is the law and the prophets." He's been talking a whole lot about the law and the prophets. He's been talking a whole lot about the Old Testament because somehow or another, man got a hold of the Old Testament, right? The scribes and the Pharisees. And all of a sudden, they took that Old Testament and they had twisted it. They perverted it. They used it to control people, to manipulate people. And God Jesus Christ comes in and says, men, y'all have messed all of this up. Why? Because men are selfish, right? We like to control. We like to manipulate. We like to dominate. And so we see the same thing happening in the church today with the New Testament. We have the same context. Same idea that the scribes and the Pharisees were doing. And so now Jesus Christ, as He comes onto the scene, and He begins to preach, He begins to lay out this idea for them. And the basic positive affirmation that we see that governs all human relationships on this earth as we have heard it since you were a very child, do unto others as you would have them do unto you. And we hear it all the time. We repeat it. We grew up with it. And this is what we're talking about in this. We're talking about true love. And true love reaches out and does to others what it wishes that it does to itself, even though it may not ever be returned or reciprocated. That's what He's talking about in this passage. We are selfish individuals. We care about ourselves. We want to focus on ourselves. And our culture has taken what we know as the golden rule, and they have taken that golden rule, and they have made it into a negative thing rather than a positive. Remember last week, Jesus Christ dealt with the negative of relationships. He says, judge not. And then He says, since we're not judging, since you're overcoming that judgment, then here's the positive side of it. Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. But America and our culture has taken that and made it into a negative when Jesus Christ meant it to be a positive. Don't do anything to someone that you do not want done to you. That's the mentality of the golden rule, right? And so if you don't want somebody to talk bad about you, don't you talk bad about them. If you don't want someone stealing from you, then don't steal from them. If you don't want somebody to burn your house down, then don't burn their house down. That's why we have taken this golden rule and we have made it into this negative thing because of our selfishness. And anybody can do this and anybody can use it for whatever means they want because this is a great principle. And it's easy to understand that selfishness and selfish love is able to do and to do and to do what it wishes would be done unto us. Even though it knows it will never be that way. And the positive aspect is utterly impossible. To assume in your own heart what you would want the very most. In other words, think with me for just a minute. You're sitting here this morning. What do you desire the most? What do you want the most out of this worship service today? What do you want the most out of your job that you return to tomorrow? What do you want the most out of your family this afternoon as you gather together for lunch and visit with each other? What is it that you want the very most? And Jesus says now, once you've determined what you want the most, go and give it to others. Go give it to others. That's what He is talking about here. And it just isn't going to happen, right? Because we know what we want, but we're not willing to give it to others because why? We're selfish. We're selfish. That's what Paul told Timothy in 2 Timothy 3. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy. For we ourselves also were sometimes foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving various lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful and hating one another. Now every once in a while, somebody may stumble onto a good deed or a good act or do something that is good. But overall, we are evil people. We're wicked people. We're selfish people. And so you know, just like what he was talking about last week, you don't put them pearls to a hog. Why? Because they're not going to appreciate it. Because they're hogs. They're dirty animals. They're filthy animals. But every once in a while, guess what? You can make a hog look pretty. You can clean it up. You can make it presentable. And every once in a while, it's going to happen. But it's not the pattern of life. It's not what we normally see and what we normally have. The word ethics comes to mind and it is the negative rule. And when we think about ethics and we think about this golden rule, we are discussing what drives that. It's the drive of fear, right? Fear drives the golden rule for most of us. Because what? I'm not going to do to you because I'm afraid it will be done back to me. We use words today like karma, right? We take from a whole other religion, but it's the same exact thing as doing to others karma, right? And all of these types of ideas and these words that we use, but the world's ethics, when the world looks at ethical things and what it is, it's driven by fear. Fear of retaliation or fear of evil. And God's ethics is a positive one. It's driven by love. It's driven by love. You remember the two greatest commandments? Love the Lord your God and love your neighbor as yourself. Fear should not drive us. Love should drive us. And so with that understood, we're driven by this self-preservation. So this negative rule of ethics, this negative idea becomes very easy for us because fear is real, right? Fear is something that we all face and we all deal with. None of us, nobody here this morning likes bad things to happen to them. Nobody here this morning wants to be harmed. Nobody here wants evil things done to us. And what? We react when evil and bad things happen to other people because I don't want that to happen to me. But love, on the other hand, is produced by God in us. And it's not what we fear. It's what we can give. See, love, we talk about it all the time, is agape. It is a giving Word. It is an active Word. It is not a Word that is based upon us. It's not inactive. In other words, Jesus Christ so loved the world that He gave His love, motivated Him to give. He didn't die on the cross out of fear of what's going to happen to the human race. No, He died on the cross of Calvary in order that you and I might be saved. You and I might be redeemed. You and I can have eternal life and come into this kingdom that He is offering us. And the world and its ethics can restrain itself from doing certain things because of fear, but will not find the power to do other things of the good nature. And it doesn't have the love of God shed abroad in our hearts because that demands the knowledge of Jesus Christ. And so Paul's writing to the church at Philippi in Philippians 2.20. He says, For I have no man like-minded. Paul, all of the churches that he started, all of the people that came to know Jesus Christ as His personal Savior, and he's writing to the church at Philippi, and he says, I have no man like-minded who will naturally care for your state. For everybody that Paul knows will seek their own, not the things of Jesus Christ. He goes on in v. 21. He says, For all seek their own, not the things of Jesus Christ. He says, I've looked around. There's none. Everybody with me is selfish. We all do things for our benefit, for our pleasure, for our adjustment. Only Christ can make you put others before yourself. Only Christ can do that. So what does this look like? What does this look like? Because I want to overcome judgment. I am a judging person. And after preaching last week and after reviewing myself this week and looking, I am very hasty sometimes in my judgment. I am very critical. I am very condemning of others. And I don't want to be a judge because Jesus Christ said judge not. Because I don't want to be judged of Him, right? And so I don't want to judge. And so how do we overcome that? How do we get away from it? What does it look like? And I want you for just a moment to just close your eyes for just a second. And I want you to go with me. And I really want you to seriously think way down in your heart this morning and determine what is it as I mentioned earlier, what is it that you really want or desire for yourself? Once you've got a good clear picture of that, do you know what you really, really want? Then now take what you really, really want and think of somebody in mind that you can give that to. That's what God's asking us to do. That's what He's asking us to do. Everything we do, we do for self-seeking, our own pleasure, whether it's gain to the affection of our peers, whether it's to gain a reputation, whether it's to make our name for ourself in society, to have this martyr's complex, to go down in history. Whatever it is, we live by selfish moment. Almost never do we ever take our desires and do it for someone else. Look at what Paul said in Romans 3.10. As it is written, there is none righteous, no, not one. There is none that understandeth. There is none that seeketh after God. They are all gone out of their way. They are together become unprofitable. There is none that doeth good, no, not one. However, we live in this kingdom, right? That is controlled by God. That He is the King. We're in a body of Christ, the church, where Christ is the head of the church. And instead of looking at the church and being a reflection of God and being a reflection of Jesus Christ, what are we? We're judging and condemning and critical and hasty, right? We're totally opposite of what God and Jesus Christ is. But yet, here we're in this kingdom, and you ought to be able to look and tell an American apart from anybody else in any other nation. If you set them side by side, you ought to be able to tell. Why? Because it is part of our culture. It's a part of our DNA. Where we came from, we did not only live in America, but we have accepted America's values. We've accepted America's stuff. And so what happens? We begin to look like Americans. And I do not go anywhere on foreign soil or whatever that they don't look at me and know immediately He is not from here. He is an American. But yet, when it comes to the church, the body of Jesus Christ in this new kingdom, we have a world out there that is looking at the church. And they're not seeing Jesus Christ. They're not seeing God. And so what do we do about this? How do we fix this? Well, I'm glad you asked this morning because God deals with this. And He gives us a purpose. And if God gives us a purpose, then it demands our obedience, right? If the king and the head of the church say that we should do something, and here is the purpose. Here is what your purpose in life is. And many of you have been looking for God's will in your life. You've been looking for a purpose in life. And Jesus Christ is going to give it to you this morning. And notice what He says back in our text in v. 20-12. Therefore, all things whatsoever you would that men should do to you, do you even so to them. For this is the law and prophets. The standard of the law is focused on principles of the law. The Old Testament is focused on just not doing things. You know, thou shalt not kill. Thou shalt not commit adultery. Thou shalt not covet. Thou shalt not lie, right? It's not just on the negative aspects. But Jesus Christ comes on and He says, listen, you have heard in the Old Testament what you should not do. But I say unto you... See, He takes the law from a negative thing and He elevates it into something that is positive. And He says, but I say unto you. I say unto you. And so we have this elevation. In Matthew 22 and v. 37, Jesus Christ took the law and He elevated it. He took it from something that was negative. You know, how many times do we hear people say, well, God just doesn't want me to have any fun. God doesn't want me to enjoy nothing. God doesn't want me to have anything. Right? Negative, negative, negative. But yet we saw in Ephesians where God has blessed us with all spiritual blessings, right? Where He took us and saved us. We sang about it this morning. Thank You, Lord, for saving my soul. I didn't deserve it. But You are great. You are holy. You are the One that came and did what I couldn't do, what I didn't want to do, what I had no desire to do. You loved me even while I was a sinner. You died for me. Wow! See, that puts a different perspective on things. And the last half of the Ten Commandments presents this standard of negatives. These things that you do not do. And Jesus elevated it. And the second is like unto it. He took the first four laws about God and what you're not supposed to do with God. Not supposed to have other gods. Not supposed to blaspheme God. And He elevated it to what? Not a negative thing. Not what you don't do, but what you are to do. And He turned around with the last half of it that deals with individuals and He did the same exact thing. Now listen, this elevation is not based on fear. Fear is an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth, right? The law teaches that. Jesus Christ. Go back to Matthew 5. We skipped over that part, but in Matthew 5, Jesus Christ stood up and said yes, an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. However, He's taking that law and that negative and He is elevating it to not an eye for an eye, not the result, but I want to focus on love. I want to focus on love. In Matthew 5 and verse 20, He says that except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven. Remember, the scribes and the Pharisees were not doing the things that were commanded to abstain from in the law, but they sure were not doing for others as they would want them to do under themselves, were they? They were taking advantage of people. They were manipulating people. They were trying to control and dominate people. And Jesus, the half-brother of Jesus Christ, refers to this as the royal law. The royal law. In James 2, He says, if you fulfill the royal law, according to the Scripture, thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself, you do well. The whole Bible teaches that love is what hangs in the entire law and prophets. Everything hangs on love. The law is a very, very minimum standard. That's why we hate the minimums, right? And that's what the law produces. The law produces this negative when it comes to tithing. Nobody likes tithing, right? Nobody likes giving up 10% of what you've earned and what you've worked for, right? And so we say, man, that was of the law. We don't want nothing to do with that. But Jesus Christ comes onto the scene and He says, guess what? That's the minimum standard. He says, I don't want just 10%. I want you to realize that I've given you everything. So this is My kingdom. And you wouldn't have nothing without Me, so I want it all. I want everything. Wow, that kind of shakes things up just a little bit. Love, all of a sudden, where the law is this minimum standard to holiness. Jesus Christ elevates the law in the New Testament to love. And love is the maximum reality of the law. So look at another Scripture in Romans 13 and verse 8. He says, "...Owe no man anything..." Now remember, this has come after chapter 12 where He said, "...Present your bodies a living sacrifice, wholly acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service." In chapter 13, He says, "...Owe no man anything but to love one another. For he that loveth another hath..." What? Fulfilled the law. You've completed the law. You don't have to worry about the law if you are loving others, because love will not break the law. Love fulfills and elevates the law. If you love your neighbor, you're going to give them instead of steal from them. If you love your neighbor, you're not going to desire their wife, right? You're going to desire to give to them rather than to take from them. So all of the law hangs on this idea of love. He goes on in verse 9. He says, "...For this, thou shalt not commit adultery, thou shalt not kill, thou shalt not steal, thou shalt not bear false witness, thou shalt not covet. And if there be any other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying, namely, thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. Love worketh no ill to his neighbor. Therefore, love is the fulfilling of the law." And so God's purpose has left us here. Why are we saved? And please, please don't say to go to heaven. I've taught y'all better than that. We're not saved to go to heaven. What are we saved for? What is our commission? Our commission is to go into all the world and preach the Gospel. To share Jesus Christ. That's not just the commission to the church. That's not just the commission to the pastors. But that is the commission for every single one of us. Because the church is a local body, but it's also manifested outwardly, right? In other words, we don't stay as a body all week long. No, we go out to witness. We go out to do. And then we come together as a body to worship Jesus Christ to find out what does the head want us to do and what does the head want us to go. So our purpose in life is to witness. Our purpose in life can be summed up into love. For to love other people as Jesus Christ loved us. And so when we think about that, God's purpose demands obedience. If we're going to be in His kingdom and He is the King, then what He wants us to do we must do. But secondly, God's promise demands obedience. See, most of the time what happens is we look at the text right quick in verse 12. We're going to get to those verses up in front of it in just a minute, but I want us to do it backwards today. Because I'm not the great teacher. I'm not the master teacher. Jesus Christ is. And Jesus Christ did it the other way. But I'm not the master teacher, so I'm going to do it the backwards way. And in a minute, I'm going to show you why it was so brilliant on what Jesus Christ did and why He's the master teacher. But look at what He says in verse 12. Therefore, all things whatsoever you would that men should do unto you, do even so to them, for this is the law of prophets. Therefore, this is the conclusion. He started this message out with judge not. This section. Dealing with people. Judge not. And He ends, and He says here is your purpose. Not to judge. Not to condemn. Not to be hasty. Not to be critical. But here's what it is. Whatever you would desire men to do unto you, you do unto them. That's our purpose. So now let's go back to verse 7 and see what the promise is. See, He gives us the promise before He gives us the purpose. Notice what He says. And so many people misquote this and use this in a wrong way. But look at what He says. He says, Ask, and it shall be given you. Seek, and you shall find. Knock, and it shall be opened unto you. For everyone that asketh receiveth, and he that seeketh findeth, and to him that knocketh it shall be opened. Do you see the promise here? Do you see the promise that Jesus Christ makes? Whatever we ask, wherever we seek, whatever we knock, shall be given to us, and shall be found, and shall be opened. That is the promise. Now let me ask you a question since we're dealing with promises. How many of you have asked for things that you never have received? How many of you sought for something that you never did find? How many of you have knocked at doors that have never been opened? We have a problem, right? This is a promise. But in reality, how many of us are fulfilling this promise that Jesus Christ gave us? How many of us are actually experiencing when we ask God for something, God gives it to us. When we seek for something, God shows us where it's at. When we knock on somebody's door, they come and they open it. How many of us are experiencing this? And we use this verse all the time, and what do we do? Because the majority of people are just like you and I. They read this promise from God, and they say, guess what? I have asked God and He hasn't given. I've sought God and He hasn't shown Himself. I've knocked on God's door and He hasn't opened it. And what do we say? The Bible is full of lies and no good. God is not real. God does not care His promises. And we see Christians and people bouncing this verse all around. And this is one of the verses that they say the Bible's not true. Christianity's not true. I've been asking for my entire life, and here's the problem. We always, as humans, get the promise messed up before the purpose. You've got to understand the purpose to receive the promise. And so Jesus Christ being that masterful teacher, look what He does. And this is what I read from James 4 this morning, so I'm not going to read you the whole thing, but I hope that you see the correlation between James 4. Remember, James is the half-brother of Jesus Christ that rejected Jesus Christ, the entire ministry, and it was not until after His resurrection that he believed on Jesus Christ. He writes this in the book of James, and he says in chapter 4, verse 1, where does wars and fighting come among you? What causes wars and fighting? Disagreements, right? Disagreements. Why is Hamas and Israel fighting today? Over a disagreement, right? And so it's that. Where does these wars and fighting among you come? Come they not hence even of your own lust that war in your members? In other words, Israel thinks God gave them that land and He did. But Palestinians say that God gave us this land and they didn't, but they want the land, right? Because they're of the seed of Abraham. They're Ishmael's descendants, but God said the line is not through Ishmael. The promise is through Isaac. And so what's happening? But they're jealous. They're afraid. And they want something that's not theirs. And so because of this disagreement, we have this intense war that is happening. And so in this war, look at what he says in verse 2. You lust and have not. You kill and desire to have and cannot obtain. You fight and war, yet you have not because you hast not. See how we always get the problem ahead of the promise? He said, man, you're wanting. And how many of us are praying for Israel's peace, right? For everybody just to love Israel. The problem is, is it's not that we should be praying for Israel's peace. We need to be praying that Israel recognizes Jesus Christ as their Messiah, and when they recognize Christ as their Messiah, He will give them peace. But we pray all day, man, let's help Israel. We need to be praying for Israel. We need to be praying for Israel. We're asking God to step in and help Israel. No, we've read the end of the book. Israel is going to deny Jesus Christ as the Messiah. And even through the middle of the tribulation period, when they have 144,000 that are going to be sealed to witness to Him, they're still going to say, no, we don't care. When the Antichrist stands up and sacrifices there in the New Temple, the hog on their altar, they're still going to say what? No! No! No! And if you read the last part of the signs when they're opening up the seals, when they get to the trumpets and the vows, you see Israel shaking their fist at God knowing that God is causing this trouble upon them, but they're cursing God because of what He's doing. We're Your people. We're Your people. You promised us a land. And God said, I promised you a land, but I also said if you bless me, I will bless you. If you curse me, I will curse you. And so we've got our prayers messed up. We want God just to come down to our whims and we're asking God to bring peace. We're asking God to help with agreements. But why do we really want peace? We really want peace because we're really not interested in the salvation of Israel's soul. But if Israel's at peace, guess what? We're at peace. And if we're at peace, guess what? We've got more money going into our bank accounts than our 401ks, right? And that's what James is saying. Look at what he says here. You ask and receive not, because you ask amiss, that you may consume it upon your own lust. And as I read that passage of Scripture this morning, he says you adulterers and adulteresses, you adulterers and adulteresses, know you not that friendship of the world is enmity with God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is an enemy of God. Thou what? Hypocrite. It's what he said in Matthew 7 and verse 5. What's the difference between a hypocrite and an adulterer and an adulteress? Jesus said both of them will find their place in the lake of fire, right? Unless your righteousness exceeds that of the right Pharisees. And he said last week, what did he say? He said thou hypocrite. James said you adulterer and you adulteress. First, cast out the beam of thine eye, and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the moat in thy brother's eyes. Remember the conclusion to last week. The whole purpose in confronting sin in individuals is not to prove how great of a Christian you are. Not to convince somebody that you are holy and they're not. It's not to condemn them to hell. What is the purpose of confronting sin in this world? We are to present Jesus Christ. What is the purpose of life? The purpose of life is to dispel darkness. And as we go into the world, we confront sin because why? The only way that we can dispel darkness is if Jesus Christ enters into their life. And so what are we doing? Our whole purpose in confronting sin is yes, we are to discriminate. Yes, we are to stand on the Word of God. Yes, we are to judge. Just not to do it hypocritically and hasty and condemning and critical. No, we are to judge in order that that person will see their sins and do what? Repent and be saved. Recognize that they are poor in spirit and they need Jesus Christ. And you remember what He said? He said first, you need to get the beam out of your eye. Make sure you are living holy. Make sure you're doing what you're supposed to do. And then, the second part of that is, then you can deal with someone else's sin. But see, when we've got sins and stuff all in our life, and we try to deal with other people's sins before us, then what happens? We become a hypocrite. When you have adultery, what happens? You're choosing someone else's wife over your wife. Right? Instead, don't go home and deal with your wife first. Then you wouldn't want to commit adultery. You see how that works? And so, look at what He's saying. And then what did He say in verse 6? And this was so strange and weird, but notice how He is tying it all together. He says, "...give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast you your pearls before the swine unless they trample them under their feet and turn again and rend you." Remember, 2 Peter 2. We looked at it last week. What are the hogs and the dogs? The hogs and the dogs are those false teachers that are teaching heresies that are damning people to a devil's hail instead of bringing them to Jesus Christ. And they're getting these great big followers of people that are trying to live the law rather than repent. And He said, these are the hogs and dogs. They don't understand or appreciate the grace and the mercy of Jesus Christ. Who is it that's able to discern? And what does He say? How do we know if they're a hog or a dog? How do we know when we go to deal with their sin in their life, if they're going to repent and turn to Jesus Christ, or if we do them, they're going to turn on us and eat us? How do you know? If I had that, that would make witnessing 100,000 times easier. Because listen, I've walked into houses before. I walked into a drug house one day. The door was cracked. I just knocked on the door. And as I did, the door flung open. There's drugs. There's money. There's five guys sitting there with guns all on their table. And I'm standing there in the door. And I said, Lord, I sure would have liked to have known this before I opened that door. Right? But God saw me through it. But see, we can't see. We don't know how they're going to react. And guess what? I was able to start talking to them. Come to find out, one of the guys that was in there grew up in a missionary Baptist church. One of the guys called me the next week and said, man, I've got my life way off of track. I need to come back to Jesus Christ. You see what happened? I had no idea when I opened the door. I can't see into people's hearts. So how do we discern? We don't discern. It's not my job to know if I'm going to knock on this door to look at their yard and look at the appearance of their house and know whether or not they're going to accept or they're going to reject. That's not my job. Only God can do that. Only God can look into the heart. And so that's what he's talking about. We don't know if they're hogs or dogs. But God does. We don't know if they're going to tear us apart or kill us. What's going to happen when we confront them about sin? And that's the whole point that Jesus Christ is trying to make. We have to depend upon God because only God can discern. That's the point of judge not. Now, with that being said, look at what he says in verse 7. Ask, and it shall be given you. Seek, and you shall find. Knock, and it shall be opened unto you. Now listen to this. When we deal with sinners, we need spiritual discernment. You need spiritual discernment. We need the non-condemning love of Jesus Christ. You remember what He did? He was able to discern between these scribes and Pharisees that brought the woman in the act of adultery. Why? Because He was fully died. And He saw the scribes and the Pharisees and He saw their heart. What were they wanting to do? They were wanting to kill this woman in the act of adultery. Was it justified? Absolutely. She was caught in the act of adultery. Jesus Christ never did once justify her sins. But what He did, He said, here, you're bringing this woman down here before Me. And you're wanting to kill her according to the law. But first, let's deal with the beam in your eye. And you'll find out that guess what? Adultery's not really that big of a deal. And He said He started writing in the sand. And I would love to know what He wrote. As a preacher, you know, and I've asked and He hasn't gave me because I ask for selfish reasons. Because I'd love to send people some notes sometime on Monday morning. Whatever He wrote. But all them hogs and dogs, all of a sudden, what did they do? They disappeared. And He looks up at that woman living in adultery. And He says, where are your accusers? Where did they go? Where did they go? They couldn't deal with the beam in their eye. And so none of them was willing to do the speck. But there was one that was there that had dealt with this, right? He's the perfect Son of God. And He looked at that woman in adultery. And what did He say? Neither do I condemn thee. Go and sin no more. You see the difference between judging and love? The whole point of that story. The scribes and the Pharisees judged her based on the law. But Jesus Christ looked into her heart. And when He looked into his heart, He knew that she would be receptive to the sin. And what happened? He said, go and sin no more. And so listen, we've got to have in this purpose of witnessing to people, we've got to have spiritual discernment. But folks, we also have to have this non-condemning love of Jesus Christ. And so notice the last thing, the pattern. He gives us the promise. Then He gives us the pattern. And then He gives us our purpose. We went and looked at the purpose first. That's what the therefore does. The therefore draws us back to the other. And so now look at the pattern that He has. And notice, go back to Ephesians 5. You remember when we swapped over from doctrine to duty in Ephesians? And all of a sudden in chapter 4, when we changed over, you remember what was His first name? He said, walk like Jesus. Chapter 5, verse 1. He said, Be you therefore followers of God as what? As dear children. This is so good and it fits in so wonderful, man. And I've been studying all week. I was talking to Austin Wednesday night because I'm already working on my messages for the first part of next year. And she said, man, you're excited. I said, yeah, I'm excited because some things opened up this week as I was studying God's Word. And He said, be you therefore followers of God as what? Dear children. But we're all sinners, right? And God's the One that sits on the judgment throne, right? He's the King of this kingdom, right? But He doesn't look at me as a sinner. Jesus Christ looks at me as what? As someone who has responded to His love and accepted His forgiveness. And so therefore, it is imputed unto me the righteousness of Jesus Christ. And so He doesn't look at me as a sinner. He didn't look at that woman caught in the act of adultery as a sinner. What did He look at her? As a child. Because if you accept Me as your Savior, then you have the power to become what? The sons of God. And so Ephesians, He says, be you therefore followers of God. What do we know about a father and a son? Or a mother and a daughter? Don't usually the son begin to look and act like the father? Similarities? Different things? Matter of fact, and I've shared this with you before, because my wife's got a picture of it, and I need to find it somewhere and frame it on my wall, because my grandfather and my uncle are both passed away. My dad's still here. And then there's me, and then there's Daniel. We're all five walking down to the barn to look at some horses. And she snaps a picture from the behind. And I guarantee you, other than the different ages, every one of us was walking the same way, was standing the same way. We had the same type of stride. Why? Because we've lived together. We've been around each other. And children will begin to look and act like their parents. But here's the problem. We have churches that are over 200 years old that still doesn't look like Jesus Christ. Right? We have Christians that have been saved for 5, 10, 20, 30, 40 years that still don't look like Jesus Christ. And so what does He say? Be followers of God as what? As dear children. In other words, we should start imitating and looking like Jesus Christ. And He goes on in verse 2. He says, how do we do that? How do we begin to look like God and look like Jesus Christ as sinners? He said, walk in love. And then He gives us an example, as Christ also loved us and as what? Giving Himself for us a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling savor. So notice the pattern. Go back to Matthew 7 and verse 9. Notice what Jesus says. He gives us this example. What man is there of you whom if his son asks bread, will he give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent? So I'm going to ask you. I'm going to put them in Arkansas language though. And I'm going to ask you this question. How many of you fathers, how many of you mothers would give your child a rock instead of bread? What's that rock going to do to them? First of all, they could break a tooth, right? If you give them bread, and they bite down into it, they could break a tooth. What happens if they swallow the rock? It could even almost cost them their life. Now they could get jumbled up. It could mess something up in the digestive tract, right? And so, none of us as loving parents when our children wanted bread would give them a stone. Why? Because the stone would cause them harm. The stone is not going to be any benefit to them. And so then he asks the second question. What about if they want fish? They don't want bread. They want fish. How many of you parents, instead of giving them fish, would slip in a serpent? Now, when I read this, I read this just like you read this in Western culture eyes. I don't like snakes. Right? I was sharing with the prisoners the other night. When God told Moses to throw down that rod and it turned into a snake, I wouldn't have been around to hear God say pick it back up because I'm out of there. I don't like snakes. And that's most of our mentality. But do you realize that that's not what He's saying is how many of you, if your child asks for a fish, you give them a serpent. He's not talking about something that is alive. He's talking about something dead. Remember, the child's hungry. The child is needing something. They have a desire. So how many of you would give him a dead fish? How many of you would give a dead serpent? Now why would that really matter? Well, it matters because the serpent was an unclean animal. Jesus is crossing the Jews. He says how many of you, if your child asks for something clean, would turn around and give them something unclean? See, how many of you parents would take your child and they want to come to church, and you send them home and let them watch pornography on TV? Clean and unclean, right? How many of you and your children want to listen to wholesome songs about Jesus Christ and stuff on the radio? You put this satanic stuff in their ears. Wait a minute, we do that, don't we? Oops. It's a bad example, isn't it? But that's what He said to the Jew. Clean and unclean made a difference. To the Christian, clean and unclean ought to make a difference. And so He's dealing with this cleanliness. First of all, He was dealing with their health, their physical. Now He's dealing with their spiritual cleanliness and holiness. And notice what He says in verse 11. Because none of us would do that intentionally. We do do it a lot unintentionally. But none of us would do it intentionally. But notice what He says, If you then be an evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask of Him? Look at what He said. If you then be an evil... If you be an evil... One of the greatest statements that was made from the beginning to the end of the Bible is the fallen nature of man. Every one of us were evil. Remember what we read earlier? Even in James, what all of us before we were saved was evil. We're selfish. A lot of us still after salvation are selfish and wicked. Look what He says. If you be an evil, know how to give. If you do good things to your children, when you don't have a good nature, when you have an evil nature, if you're evil when you even give good gifts to your child, like bread and fish and an egg, the basic substances of life, all of us know how important it is to have our children in church and to be there. You know, I can take a couple that has been out of church for ten years and they have a kid and it don't take much to convince them that they need to get that kid in church Sunday morning. The problem is, I always take it one step too far because I say you don't need to be here because of the kid. You should have already been here setting the example and living the example. But anyway, if you know being evil, how to give good, in our fallen, corrupt, sinful nature, we do that because of a sense of parental love, then how much more? Now here's the argument. How much more? The same argument that He used all the way through chapter 6 dealing with our life and our worship. Remember, you have heard what I say. Don't give your alms before men to be praised, but do what? Give your alms in secret. Don't go praying out in public, but enter into your closet. See, the whole thing in chapter 6 is this battle between what we do and what we know and what we're supposed to do. How much more shall your Father, God, instead of saying Who is good, remember, God is good. God is good all the time. All the time. God is good. Instead of saying God is good, what does He do? He says, Your Father, which is what? In heaven. Why does He say not good, but heaven? Think with me for just a minute. What does heaven represent? Holiness, right? A sinful person can't reach God in heaven, can we? And He says, Do you know you that are evil are willing to do good things for those that you love and care for and you see the need to do it? How much more is your holy God that is now your Father going to do for you? And then look what He says now. Go back to verse 12. Here's why we did the purpose first. Because Jesus Christ drops this bomb on us. Right? Every one of them scribes and Pharisees that are sitting there in earshot of them disciples are saying, He's given us some good news and stuff. And look at what He says, Therefore, all things whatsoever you would that men should do to you, do even so to them. For this is the law in prophets. Now bounce back to the promise. Ask and you shall receive. Seek and you shall find. Knock and it shall be opened. What is the promise now? Based on the conclusion, the promise is when we are sharing Jesus Christ. Right? When we are trying to reach people for Jesus Christ. When we are discerning between hogs and dogs. We don't know. Don't judge them. Don't be hasty. Don't be critical. Don't be condemning. But here's what we are to do. What are we supposed to do? Give them what we desire. And what happens if you give a hog things that you desire, like pearls? What are they going to do with it? They're not going to accept it. And what? Don't let them be a hog. It's not your responsibility to teach a hog to like precious things. So He didn't say don't go ahead and give them the pearls. No, you present it. But you'll find out real quick, because God's going to discern if they're good or they're evil. If they're a hog or they're a child. And so when we do unto others, if we ask God anything financially, God, I need this not for my benefit, so that I can store up more food and houses, but God, I need a job so that I can help other people so they can hear about Jesus Christ. And guess what? Ask and it shall be given. God, I need this job, not because I want to be comfortable. Where does light shine brightest? In dark places, right? God, I don't want this job so that I'll be comfortable. I want this job so that You will be magnified. So that these sinners, these lost people, will come to know You as their personal Savior. Ask. Think. And what? You shall be found. Not. And it shall be opened. Does this make more sense now? Do you see what Jesus Christ is telling us here? And how do we do this? How do we do this when we are evil? How in the world when we are selfish? When we are wrapped up in ourselves? We live in the age of the selfish. Me and I, you know? What's the country song? Occasionally, I just want to talk about me. I want to talk about me all the time, right? And we don't stay in conversations because why? People don't spend enough time talking about us. If I talk about what you and what you're doing and what's in your life, you will talk all day long. Because we're selfish and we're evil. So how do we get like Jesus? How do we get like Jesus? We go back to Matthew 5. And we realize that we're poor in spirit. We're bankrupt. I'm no good. I am a rotten guy. I am a horrible pastor. I can't do nothing right. I can't get nothing right. I don't even understand enough about the Bible to be teaching it myself. And we mourn. Oh, I don't like being that way. God, You called me to be a pastor. And yet, I'm sinful. Yet, I'm not very good. I'm not worthy. I don't put near enough time in studying. I don't love preparation. I mourn. And what do I do? Meek. What is meekness? Blessed are the meek. Those that say, you know what? I'm not in control. God, You are. You're the boss. And God, I know according to 1 Corinthians that You take the foolish things of this world in order to confound the wise. And so God, I know You didn't pick me because I was a liar. You already knew that I was who I am. But guess what? I submit to You. And when we submit to Him as meek in His authority, then what's the fourth one? We hunger and thirst for Jesus Christ. God, I'm not no good, so help me to be good. Help me to look like You. Help me to understand what I'm reading. Help me to convey this to these people this morning. Help me to show them what You have shown to me. Help me to elaborate on what You have elaborated to me. And so we hunger, not because I want to be great. Not because I want to pastor a church of 5,000. But I want to see Jesus Christ magnified. I want to see your life changed. Your families changed. I want to see this community changed. So we hunger and thirst after righteousness. And then what does He say? Then we start being pure in heart. And when we're pure in heart, then what? Then we can righteously go about this world without being soft and light. Now I can start doing good because I don't have my interest in mind. I have God's interest in mind. And so when I ask God anything, like several times, you know, I've gone on mission trips and I'm praying hard about one right now and everything in my wisdom and everything in my body is telling me now is not the right time. But there's this little nug in my body that says it's my time. It's not your time. And I've been battling with this thing for a while, but how many times have I been told you don't need to go down to Mexico right now? You don't need to do this right now because it's bad and evil. But you know what? God is always blessed. And God has always taken care and provided for me. Right? Ask, and He shall give. Seek, and you shall find. Knock, and it shall be opened. That's what God wants us to do. So what is it? Back to that. We'll have a standard verse of invitation. What is it that you desire more than anything? If you desired $1,000 today, and I walked up and gave you $1,000, what would it make you feel like? If you desire $1,000, don't you think somebody else probably desires $1,000? Don't you think it would benefit somebody else's life? Right? Do unto others. Not the negative way, but the positive way. Because we want them to come to Jesus Christ. And I guarantee you, you remember that deal? That honey attracts a lot more flies? Right? Well, I don't like flies, and so what do we do? We go around acting like cow poop, right? Vinegar. Bad. And what happens? We compel all these people, but guess what? God takes that fly and makes it into something beautiful because it comes from His child. So how are we going to gain the world? Are we going to gain the world by being critical? Making hasty judgments? Condemning them to a devil's hell? Or are we going to reach our world by loving them the way that Jesus Christ loves them? And then ask yourself this question. How did Jesus Christ reach you? Did He reach you by condemning you? Or did He reach you because He loves you in spite of who you were? See, how you wanted God to act to you. That's why when I pray, God, I want Your grace and mercy. And as a pastor, you could talk to my wife. You could talk to my family. I have not always been a pastor of grace and mercy. Because God has also gave me that gift of prophecy, that black and white. And there's good and there's bad. But guess what? Over the last 15 years, God has made me to where I pray more and more, God, I want Your grace and mercy. And the only way that I can receive Your grace and mercy is by giving it away. My deepest deal at 54 years old is I want God's grace and mercy and forgiveness. And the only way I can get God's grace, mercy, and forgiveness according to the promise is not for myself. It's by giving it away. So I give grace. I give mercy. I give forgiveness. And as I do that, guess what? God says, that's what you desire. You're giving it away, so I'm going to keep giving you more. You see how the kingdom works? And He says, those that will bless Me, worship Me, obey Me, I will bless. And those that worship themselves, those that worship other gods, I will curse. He didn't change the law. He elevated the law. And we as the church keep wanting to go back to the law when Jesus Christ is wanting us to elevate and love others as we love ourselves, as we sing with Him.