Correcting One Another

[0:00] The scripture reading for today is coming from two passages, Psalm 141-10 and Matthew 7-1-6.

[0:16] ! O Lord, I call upon you, hasten to me. Give ear to my voice when I call to you. Let my prayer be counted as incense before you, and the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice. Set a guard, O Lord, over my mouth. Keep watch over the door of my lips. Do not let my heart incline to any evil, to busy myself with wicked deeds in company with men who work iniquity, and let me not eat of their delicacies. Let a righteous man strike me. It is a kindness. Let him rebuke me. It is oil for my head.

[1:03] Let my head not refuse it. Yet my prayer is continually against their evil deeds. When their judges are thrown over the cliff, then they shall hear my words, for they are pleasant. As when one plows and breaks up the earth, so shall our bones be scattered at the mouth of Sheol. But my eyes are toward you, O God, my Lord. In you I seek refuge. Leave me not defenseless. Keep me from the trap that they have laid for me, and from the snares of evildoers. Let the wicked fall into their own nets while I pass by safely. Matthew chapter 7 verses 1 through 6.

[1:57] Judge not that you be not judged. For with the judgment you pronounce, you will be judged. And with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. Why do you see the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, let me take the speck out of your eye, when there is a log in your own eye? You hypocrite. First take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye.

[2:33] Do not give dogs what is holy, and do not throw your pearls before pigs, lest they trample them under foot and turn to attack you. This is the word of God.

[2:50] Well, this morning we are continuing our sermon series in the Sermon on the Mount. And we have come to some words of Jesus that are among the most frequently quoted words in all of scripture. Judge not that you be not judged. These words of Jesus are even well known by unbelievers.

[3:18] And I'm sure many of us have lived long enough to have heard these words uttered to us when we sought to bring correction to someone else, whether a believer or an unbeliever. And I think you'd agree with me that these words are oftentimes used as a shield to protect ourselves from any criticism or critique or correction that comes our way.

[3:54] But did Jesus intend these words to be used as a shield I think it's an important question for us to consider.

[4:13] How did Jesus commit these words to his disciples? How did he commend these words to his disciples? I think we need to hear them the way that Jesus commended them. So let's take a moment and pray and ask the Lord to help us to do that.

[4:34] Father, we are so grateful this morning that we are able to gather in this place and to be reminded of truths that we so easily forget. Thank you for reminding us that you are at work in all things.

[4:48] for your glory and our good. And Lord, part of your working in all things for your glory and our good is you have brought us here this morning.

[5:03] All that we have heard and will hear. The interactions we will have with one another, Lord, they are all ordained by you. And I pray you'd use them, Lord.

[5:15] And in this moment, would you use the proclamation of your word to benefit our lives? Use the proclamation of your word to work in our lives for your glory and for our good.

[5:33] Would you give us all ears to hear and hearts to obey? Would you grant me faithfulness to your word and tenderness, Lord?

[5:45] Even as I am reminded that I not only preach to others, but I preach to myself. So would you grant us all grace that we need this morning to sit under the proclamation of your word.

[5:59] We ask this in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. But we have come to the final chapter of the Sermon on the Mount. And although it's a new chapter, I think it's important for us to remind ourselves that Jesus is addressing the same audience that he always addressed from verse 3 of chapter 5.

[6:24] It's not a different audience. It's the same audience. The same people who came and sat at his feet to hear the message of the kingdom.

[6:36] To hear this message that a new society was possible because the king had come and he brought the kingdom of God near. And Jesus began to unfold for them what it looks like to be a citizen of this kingdom.

[6:50] What it looks like to be a citizen of this alternate society that runs counter to the world. Jesus is still addressing that same audience of people.

[7:08] And when you consider that, these words are very sobering. These words are sobering because Jesus addresses these who are his disciples. disciples. And he reminds them of a reality that will be their portion until the day they die.

[7:24] And that is that they will deal with sin. And they will deal with this issue of correcting and being corrected.

[7:40] I think it's helpful to notice that three times in six verses, Jesus uses the word brother or the possessive brothers. And while we can think that brother is all of humanity in the context that Jesus is using it, it's brothers and sisters in Christ.

[8:00] It's fellow believers in Christ. It's fellow Christians. And what Jesus is specifically addressing in these six verses is how should fellow believers correct sin in each other's lives?

[8:20] How should we deal with this ongoing reality that though we belong to Christ, we sin. And at times we need to be corrected.

[8:34] And sometimes our brothers and sisters in Christ, they also sin and they need to be corrected. How should we go about correcting sin in each other's lives?

[8:46] I think in these six verses, Jesus provides us with two very important principles that guide us about how we should deal with sin in the lives of fellow believers.

[9:03] And I think we should take heed to what Jesus says to us because the reality is that all of us, without exception, our natural tendency is to do the opposite of what Jesus tells us to do.

[9:19] There's nothing in us that naturally is inclined to do what Jesus tells us to do in terms of how we correct sin in each other's lives. So we all need to listen to hear what he says to us.

[9:34] The first principle that Jesus gives us to guide us as we deal with sin in the lives of fellow believers is this.

[9:47] Correct sin with humility. Correct sin with humility. Jesus commands this principle in verses one to five.

[9:59] I wish you noticed right away what Jesus doesn't say in verses one to five. He doesn't say when your brother or your sister is in sin leave them alone it's their business it's none of your business.

[10:15] Instead what Jesus does is in these first five verses he tells us that we should bring correction but he tells us that we should bring it with humility.

[10:27] So in verse one by saying judge not that you be not judged Jesus is saying that we should never take the seat of judge when it comes down to correcting sin in our brother or sister's life.

[10:44] Jesus warns us that we should never sit in the seat of judge. We should never sit in the seat of one who is condemning and bringing some judgment against the person that we are correcting.

[11:00] The reason for that should be obvious. There's only one judge and he is seated on his throne and he alone is able to judge because he knows all things perfectly.

[11:13] He knows hearts. He knows what people would be say mitigating circumstances. He knows those things that could nuance the judgment that comes because he knows all hearts.

[11:26] I think we've all been in a situation where there was more to be judged about us than the facts that met people's eyes. We knew where our hearts were but people don't know but God does and therefore he's the only one who's able to sit as judge.

[11:48] And verse two, Jesus further warns us that the same way that we handle our brother and sister in their sin is the same way that we ourselves will be handled.

[12:06] And don't think for a moment that what it means is you know what I can leave everybody alone so everybody can leave me alone. And that's the way I would get that. That's not the point that Jesus is making. So what Jesus does in these very first few verses is he warns us against judgmentalism.

[12:25] He warns us against being harsh in dealing with the sins of others. And notice in verse two that the warning is not that we will be too merciful.

[12:39] That's not our natural tendency. The warning is that we will be too harsh. and so Jesus warns us against being harsh and merciless when we judge, when we correct sin in the lives of other people.

[13:00] Look at how he says it in verse two. For with the judgment you pronounce, you will be judged. And with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.

[13:14] It's important to notice that what Jesus is condemning here is judgmentalism, which is our human tendency to pridefully set ourselves up as a moral authority, as a moral judge who is better than the one on whom we pass judgment.

[13:37] And then starting in verse three, Jesus goes on to correct a related tendency that we sinners have, and it's a tendency to be more concerned with sin in our brother's life, in our sister's life, than we are about the sin in our own life.

[13:56] Look again at what he says in verses three to five. Why do you see the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye?

[14:09] Or how can you say to your brother, let me take the speck out of your eye when there is the log in your own eye? You hypocrite. First take the log out of your own eye, then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye.

[14:30] Now clearly Jesus is using a figure of speech that is called hyperbole, and he is doing it to make an important point.

[14:41] And so when we use hyperbole, we exaggerate a statement to make a particular point that is very important. And so that's what Jesus is doing when he talks about having a log in our eye versus a speck in someone else's eye.

[14:56] He's not speaking literally. The truth is, even without a log in our eye, we really can't see a speck in another person's eye. So imagine having a log in our eye and then trying to see a speck in another person's eye.

[15:14] And Jesus exaggerates this point because he wants to tell us we're like that. That we're able to see things that we shouldn't be able to see, especially in light of other things that should preoccupy us, other things that our eyes should be fixed upon.

[15:35] Now, I think it's important to notice that Jesus is not saying to us that, well, if the sin in the other person's life is bigger than the sin in your life, then you could go and correct the other person.

[15:55] So if you see what you think is a log in the other person's life, a log sin, versus your speck sin, that you can go and address the person. That's not what he's saying at all.

[16:05] Jesus is not saying that if you have what you consider a lesser sin, and there are lesser sins. Contrary to popular belief, there are greater sins and lesser sins.

[16:22] And a very good example, there are lots of examples, you can go to the Old Testament, you can see how the Lord laid down the law in terms of what punishments were given to certain sins.

[16:34] Some were capital, punishment. You did certain things and you could be executed. You did other things, you had to pay back by giving animals or some other form of restitution.

[16:47] And then when Jesus was before Pilate in John 19, Jesus said to Pilate, he said, the one who betrayed me to you committed the greater sin, the greater sin than what you're doing right now, Pilate.

[17:00] What Judas did was a greater sin. So there's no question that there are greater sins. But Jesus is not saying that if I have the sin of gossip, an act of sin in my life, I'm aware of my gossip, and I see a brother or sister who is perhaps engaged in sexual immorality, maybe adultery, maybe fornication, maybe some act of homosexuality, he's not saying that I therefore can go to that person with their bigger sin because my gossip, my spec sin is not as big as their log sin.

[17:43] That's not what he's saying. What Jesus is saying is that I must first deal with my sin in my life before I can go to that other person and try to help them with their sin.

[17:58] and here's the reality. The reality is this. Any sin in my life is a log because it's right in my own eye. And any sin in your life really is a speck because it's in the distance.

[18:15] So even if it's a greater sin, I must first of all deal with that sin that is in my own life before I try to address the sin in another person's life.

[18:30] The sin in my life that I need to repent of is a log. The sin in your life that you need to repent of is a speck. Even if when we look at those sins in isolation, the sin in your life may be a weightier sin.

[18:50] In the scheme of things and where my priorities need to be, I need to consider the sin in my life, the lesser sin as a log and something that needs my immediate attention.

[19:04] That is the only way I'm going to be able to be of any spiritual benefit to that other person that I go to. And this is why Jesus uses this word hypocrite in verse 5.

[19:20] This is the person who is trying to preoccupy himself, herself, with another person's sin, while they are sin in his or her own life, that person is a hypocrite.

[19:32] Because it is a given that if I'm going to try to help you with your sin, then I have taken my own medicine. I have taken the medicine of the need to repent, and so it is understood, that's the impression that is given, that I've done what I need to do with myself.

[19:51] When I've not done that, I'm playing the role of the hypocrite, because I'm pretending to have done that. I'm pretending to be in a position to say, hey brother, hey sister, you need to repent, you need to turn away from this sin, when in fact I've not done that.

[20:10] One of the best pictures I know of how we should approach correcting one another in our sin is a picture of two persons standing side by side as co-equal, as brothers, as sisters, on a similar journey, rather than being in front of the person and pointing the finger and saying, this is what you need to do.

[20:39] We need to be side by side with brothers and sisters. We need to be coming alongside a brother or a sister and showing them this is your sin, and this is what you need to do to repent and to change.

[20:55] We don't sit in front of them, we don't sit above them, we sit alongside them to help them with their sin.

[21:06] part of saying clearly to help our brother or our sister with their sin, it also includes more than repenting of our sin, we need to do that.

[21:22] But part of saying clearly how to help our brother and our sister in our sin is to remember the forgiveness that God has given to us, is to remember that we are fellow sinners, is to remember that Christ has been merciful to us.

[21:44] Psalm 103 is a favorite psalm of many of us, and one of the things the psalmist says is that God does not deal with us according to what our sins deserve.

[21:56] He doesn't deal with us in accordance with what we truly deserve. If he did, none of us could stand. None of us could stand. We'd all be crushed by the weight and the guilt of our sin.

[22:12] So part of seeing clearly to come alongside a brother or sister who is in sin is to be mindful of our own sin for which God has forgiven us.

[22:26] And so that when we go to them, we come with humility humility, we come as one who knows the grace of God and not as a prideful superior judge who has all too quickly forgotten the mercy and the grace of God that has come to us.

[22:51] And so when we bear these things in mind, when we go to a brother or a sister, we would go with tender hearts. we would go clothed in humility and gentleness.

[23:03] And listen to how the Apostle Paul says it in Galatians chapter 6 verses 1 to 3. He says, brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness, keeping watch over yourself, keeping watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted, bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.

[23:32] If anyone thinks he is something when he is nothing, he deceives himself. And how easy it is for us to think we are something when we're going to correct our brother or our sister in a particular way.

[23:47] And we think more highly of ourselves than we should. And Paul says, keep watch over yourself. Keep watch over yourself, lest you also be tempted.

[24:02] And we are so easily deceived, we are so easily blinded, that we could do the exact same thing Paul tells us not to do, and be unmindful, that we can be tempted in the very same way, and find ourselves in the very same situation.

[24:22] And so, brothers and sisters, let us be among those who are spiritual, those who humbly and gently correct those who are caught in sin.

[24:33] Let us not be among those who think of themselves more highly than they should, that they are better. We have to live as forgiven sinners, as fellow sinners, who are going in the same direction, and seeking to humbly and gently correct sin in each other's lives.

[24:57] A number of years ago, I heard a story about a man. He was a part of a committee in a very large denomination, and this committee was appointed to write the rules of discipline for pastors who failed morally.

[25:14] And this man was a part of that committee, and sadly, in a few years after having done that, he himself failed morally.

[25:27] And he was, he gave an interview to the local newspaper in that town, and he was quoted as saying that if he had thought when he was writing those rules, that he would have been subject to those rules, he said, I would have been more merciful.

[25:49] And see, brothers and sisters, he is no different from us. He is no different from us. We, many times, can be laying down the rules. We, many times, can be making medicine that we never think that we will have to take.

[26:06] And we won't be as merciful because we're not mindful of ourselves. as we should. To one degree or another, this is the condition of all of us.

[26:24] We have a natural tendency not to be as merciful with others as we are with ourselves and as we want others to be with us.

[26:35] So let me ask you, what is your general tendency? tendency? And perhaps, rather than think about it in a vacuum, what is your general tendency in a recent or some recent situations perhaps where you have had to bring correction to a fellow believer?

[26:57] for example, husbands to wives and wives to husbands, parents to children and children to parents, or children to siblings, to recorrect with the awareness of your fellow sinners, the people to be correct with the awareness of the amazing grace of God that has come to us and that has freed us from our sins and forgiven us.

[27:38] I pray that we are, but if we aren't, I pray that God would convict our hearts however we need to be convicted this morning. when we correct the sins of others, we should be faithful to correct the sins of brothers and sisters.

[27:56] But you know what? We shouldn't be eager. We should be faithful, but we shouldn't be eager. There should not be a zeal in our hearts to correct the sin of brothers and sisters.

[28:18] There should be a desire to be faithful. There should be a desire to be compassionate, but there should not be a desire to be eager to correct sin. Because far too often, that eagerness is rooted in a sinful motivation.

[28:36] And when we consider ourselves and we are mindful of the many sins that we've been forgiven of, I think we're not as eager to go to a brother or sister to correct them.

[28:48] in their sin, but we will be faithful to do it. Robert Murray McShane, a Scottish preacher who lived in the 1800s, he made a very sobering statement.

[29:03] It's a statement that we would all do well to take to heart. This is what he said. The seed of every sin known to man is in my heart.

[29:20] By all accounts, most people would say that Robert Murray McShane was one of the most godly men who walked the face of the earth, certainly among pastors.

[29:35] And as he contemplated his own sinfulness, as he contemplated his own heart, he was able to say, the seed of every sin known to man is in my heart.

[29:49] And here's what we know about seeds. We know that seeds can germinate given the right environment, given the right conditions, that seed can germinate.

[30:02] And all he's saying is this, every single one of us is capable, not that we would necessarily do it before we die, but every single one of us is capable of every single sin that anyone will commit.

[30:21] And the more we know that, as believers, the more we know that, the effect on our heart would be that it will cause us to cling to Christ and to stay close to Christ.

[30:34] Because we know, like the Apostle Paul, there is no good thing that lies within me in and of myself. And away from Christ, I can manifest being the worst sinner because the seed of every sin known to man is already in my heart.

[30:58] I don't need to go looking for it outside, it is in my heart. And given the right conditions, it can germinate into that sin in a full sense.

[31:11] Brothers and sisters, if we bear this in mind as we seek to correct sin in each other's lives, it will help us to be humble. It will help us to be gentle. It will help us to be grateful to God for his mercy and his grace that has come to us.

[31:29] We often use humility and sometimes we assume what it means because we use it so much, but I want to offer to us this morning a definition of humility, especially in the area of correcting the sin of a brother or sister.

[31:52] It's a definition from C.J. Mahaney, and this is what he says, how he defines humility. Humility is honestly assessing ourselves in light of God's holiness and our sinfulness.

[32:10] It's not viewing ourselves the way others view us based on their limited knowledge of us, but it is viewing ourselves in light of God's perfect holiness that he's revealed in scripture and our own sinfulness that we know all too well.

[32:27] and allow that to shape how we walk towards brothers and sisters and correct their sin.

[32:39] We're to do it with humility. humility. I pray that we would embrace this brothers and sisters. There's another principle in this passage that Jesus gives us for correcting sin, and it is correct sin with discernment.

[33:02] And this is my second and final point. First, we are to correct sin with humility, and then we are to correct sin with discernment. And Jesus gives us this principle in verse six.

[33:15] Now, I realize that a lot of commentators say that what Jesus is referring to in verse six is how people could reject the gospel. And while that might have application, I don't think that's what Jesus was addressing.

[33:32] I think Jesus is continuing in context with this same practice of correcting sin in the life of a fellow believer.

[33:46] That's the best way, I think, to understand what Jesus is saying, that he's not jumping from correcting sin to talking about preaching the gospel, that he is continuing to talk about the same thing.

[33:58] And what he does in verse six is he helps us to see two things in particular. One, the value of godly correction, correction, and two, how some people respond to godly correction.

[34:15] Now, I don't think that Jesus, in verse six, is calling people dogs and pigs, but I think what he is doing is he is likening the response of some people to godly correction in dog-like manners and in pig-like ways.

[34:38] And notice how he refers to correction. He refers to it as what is holy, and he refers to it as what is precious.

[34:49] He uses pearls. He says, don't give what is holy to dogs and don't throw your pearls before pigs. And so I think Jesus is identifying how some people respond to correction.

[35:07] And what he calls us to do is to have discernment. He's essentially saying to us, correct with discernment, correct with some understanding of who it is that you're correcting, because not everyone will receive your correction.

[35:23] Some people will respond in dog-like ways, some will respond in pig-like ways, and you need to be discerning. And you hear them growl like a dog, or grunt like a pig when you try to bring correction?

[35:39] Well, then you need to realize, okay, this is not someone who values this holy, valuable correction that I am seeking to bring. And sadly, there are some that we just have to leave to themselves.

[35:56] In the case of the dog, leave to go back to its vomit of sin. In the case of the pig, to leave it to wallow in its mud of sin.

[36:09] And Jesus calls us to recognize that correction, godly correction, is precious. It's precious as pearls. It's a holy thing.

[36:21] judgment. And therefore, we need discernment. And this word discernment also means judgment. It means to distinguish between. And so we know that Jesus is not categorically prohibiting judgment.

[36:36] We all have to bring judgment. What he warns us against is judgmentalism, an attitude of sitting as a superior judge. But we all have to humbly judge situations, humbly judge the kinds of people that we're dealing with.

[36:51] Because not only would some people reject the correction, but Jesus says they'll come and pounce on you. And they will try to devour you as well.

[37:04] And so what we are called to do is to try to discern what are we dealing with? Who are we dealing with? The truth is that some people we bring correction to, they just don't understand.

[37:20] And so there needs to be a conversation to help them to see. And that's a simple person. The person and all of us are simple in a natural sense. We see this in the book of Proverbs.

[37:32] And so we need to recognize that you do have those persons who may question and ask because they don't understand. But then you have some who are steeped in their sin and unrepentant in their sin.

[37:44] And if you don't discern that, they will reject what you have to offer. They'd prefer to wallow in the mud of their sin.

[37:57] They'd prefer to continue to eat the vomit of their sin and then they will come and they will attack you. And so we have to exercise some kind of judgment and try to discern how we should respond to the particular person.

[38:14] And sometimes when we are on the receiving end of correction, we have to realize that oftentimes correction doesn't come as neatly and as perfectly as we may want it.

[38:29] Sometimes people can be well meaning and they may come and they may bring correction in a way that rubs us wrong. And we need to realize that imperfect people are called to correct imperfect people.

[38:46] And so sometimes it's not going to be shared in a helpful way. And we have to be able to bear with that. In Psalm 141, the first psalm that was read this morning, starting in verse 3, the psalmist is crying out to God, praying to God, and he says, set a guard, O Lord, over my mouth.

[39:11] Keep watch over the door of my lips. And I think most of us know why, because most of the sins we commit are with our lips. It's with the words that flow from our hearts.

[39:26] In verse 4, he says, do not let my heart incline to any evil, to busy myself with wicked deeds, in company with men who work iniquity. Let me not eat of their delicacies.

[39:40] The psalmist did not want to act like sinners acted. Things that they, sinners do in their practices, he calls them these delicacies, and they're so enticing for us to go and mimic.

[39:55] He says, Lord, help me not to eat their delicacies. And then he says this in verse 5, let a righteous man strike me. It's a kindness.

[40:08] Let him rebuke me. It is oil for my head. Let my head not refuse it. Brothers and sisters, we're going to grow in godliness. We have to have a disposition to lean into correction, to welcome correction, to be able to say, let a righteous person, let a person who is righteous, a brother or a sister, let them strike me with correction.

[40:33] It is a kindness. Let him rebuke me. It is oil for my head. It is something that is going to do me good and may my head not refuse it.

[40:46] But you know what? We need the grace of God to do this because none of us naturally wants correction. We didn't come out of the womb saying, please correct me, please correct me. It's quite the opposite.

[40:56] And this is the psalmist's prayer. May it be our prayer that we would welcome the correction from brothers and sisters and we would see it as a kindness to us.

[41:12] In Proverbs we read, faithful are the wounds of a friend, but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful.

[41:22] brothers and sisters, we need faithful friends. We need brothers and sisters who are willing to come to us and bring correction.

[41:34] And then we need to be humble people who would like the psalmist say, let a righteous man strike me. I see it as a kindness. Let him rebuke me.

[41:46] It is oil for my head and may my head not refuse it. brothers and sisters, if we posture ourselves in this way, we will never be seen like a dog, like a pig, who prefers the vomit of sin, the mud of sin, to stay in that, and would then try to attack the person who brings us correction.

[42:16] correction. And so I encourage us to think about both sides, but in particular, let's think about the side of how do we receive correction?

[42:33] I asked you earlier how did you give correction, maybe in some recent situations, but perhaps how have you received correction? Maybe you've been corrected recently by a brother or sister.

[42:44] brother or sister. And again, in our context, when we think of brothers and sisters, the nearest brother or sister in our lives is our husbands and wives, is our children, is our parents, our siblings.

[43:00] What would they say about us in terms of how we receive correction? Would they say that we have dog-like and pig-like tendencies? Or would they say that we are like the psalmist?

[43:13] And even though the blow of correction can hurt sometimes, that we still see it as a kindness. And we will not fight back with it, but we will receive it by the grace of God.

[43:32] When we consider these six verses, hopefully it is obvious to us where the emphasis lies.

[43:44] Hopefully it's obvious to us that the emphasis lies in the first five verses where Jesus tells us to correct with humility and not in the last verse where he tells us to correct with discernment.

[44:00] Listen to how D.A. Carson points this out in a very helpful statement. He writes, in seeking to do full justice to the warning in verse 6, we ought to not fail to note that five verses are reserved for judgmental people and only one for undiscerning people.

[44:25] The ratio reflects an accurate assessment of where the greater danger lies. Brothers and sisters, the greater danger for us is this area of judgmentalism, this area of judging the sins of others more harshly than we want our own sins judged, judging the sins of others in an absent minded way of the grace of God that has come to us rather than our need to be discerning as to who we are dealing with when we bring correction.

[45:01] We need to do both. but the accent and the emphasis is on our need to be gentle, to be humble when we correct one another.

[45:15] And then, yes, by the way, when we go to bring correction, we need to be discerning about the person that we're bringing the correction to and their response to it and trying to ensure that we're not casting pearls before swine.

[45:31] and we're not putting ourselves at risk of being harmed because of the correction that we bring.

[45:41] what do you that in your heart, as in my own heart, there is one ringing need that we all have, and that is we need to stay close to Christ.

[45:58] Brothers and sisters, we cannot stay close to Christ and be judgmental and harsh with brothers and sisters in our sin and their sin. And we will not stay close to Christ and be undiscerning about the person that we are seeking to correct, the person we are trying to help.

[46:23] And so may the Lord help us. And it is so easy to take these words of Jesus in a moralistic sense and say, well, I'm just going to be more objective and I'm going to do this and that.

[46:36] No, we need Jesus. Jesus had to come to enable us to do this. We cannot do this on our own. We can't do this on our own. We can only do this through a transformed life and a life that is staying close to Jesus and a life that is being reminded, as Robert McShane said, that the seed of every sin known to man is in my heart.

[47:07] And as we do that, I believe that we will emphasize what Jesus emphasizes and we will correct with humility.

[47:22] And then we will correct with discernment. Let's pray. Father, we are so thankful for the mercy of God that has come to us through Jesus Christ.

[47:45] And Lord, we pray that we are not those who receive his mercy in vain. we ask that you would convict us this morning where we need to be convicted.

[48:00] And will you help us to change? Lord, would you help us to be a community of brothers and sisters who come alongside each other having repented of our own sin and helping brothers and sisters to repent and to change?

[48:24] Lord, may judgmentalism and hypocrisy be far away from us. Lord, may judgmentalism would you help us to truly see ourselves the way you see us and to remember that we have been accepted by you despite our many, many imperfections.

[48:52] And therefore, we can be secure in our identity before you and therefore, we can be humble as we either give correction or receive correction because we know that we are secure in you.

[49:10] But I pray that you'd work in all of our hearts this morning, especially in the hearts of anyone where this issue is active. Would you bring conviction to all of our hearts by your Holy Spirit?

[49:27] We ask in Jesus' name. Amen.