[0:00] This message was recorded at Vision Baptist Church in Alfred, Georgia. It is our prayer that you will be blessed by the preaching of God's Word. So we're in Matthew chapter number 7, and the theme of Matthew is the King and His Kingdom.
[0:12] We come to the end of the Sermon on the Mount here. In chapter 6, we saw him talk about worship, saw him talk about wealth, and then in 7, we're talking about the walk of those that truly believe. Because remember, here he's dealing with a group of self-righteous people, the Pharisees, that fake everything, who go about making their own righteousness, who fake at fasting, who fake at giving, who fake at prayer, who fake at all those things.
[0:35] And then it's outlining those of us that truly believe in what our life will look like. And as we read these things, we know that we love grace and we fear legalism, but we also love grace and we pursue holiness.
[0:47] So sometimes it's hard to know where we stand at. And in Matthew chapter number 7, there's kind of a personal test here of where we stand here. And it's on this ethic of judgmentalism.
[0:59] And we are known to the outside world, the church, not specifically this church, but we're known as being judgmental people. And they think that we are critical people because we have aided and abetted the self-righteous.
[1:12] That the self-righteous have often represented the church, and so they see us as critical and cynical people sometimes. But that is not the heart of a real believer, and that's not what he came to save.
[1:23] And there's no reason for us to live like that. How many of you could tell me if I asked you this morning, what is the golden rule? If you could say that, could you raise your hand if you think you know what the golden rule is? You're just scared because I'll call upon you if you know you wouldn't.
[1:36] I've got a couple pictures here. If you just Google golden rule, you'll see real quickly. You've got this one, do unto others as you would have them do unto you. And that's the golden rule that you'll find throughout the Bible.
[1:47] I'm not exactly sure when the term first came up. Here's another picture. Do unto others as you see it. Here's just a little sign outside the store. Here's a third one. That's what Pastor told me.
[1:58] Remember the golden rule. What's that? Whoever owns the gold makes the rolls. That's what Pastor told me the golden rule was. I think he's trying to throw me off this morning. But everybody has a definition of what the golden rule is.
[2:09] And if you would have asked me what the golden rule is, I would have said do unto others as have them do unto you. But as I was studying this, Pastor Frick, when I got to verse number 12, and I saw that word, therefore, and then it goes on in give the golden rule, I realized that to be able to live out that truth, I have to understand what the Bible is talking about leading up to that.
[2:30] Because that's a hard one, isn't it? If you had that one thing given. You take all the teaching on human relations, and it is not near the depth that you'll find in these 12 verses.
[2:40] That Jesus teaches us how to relate one to another in these 12 verses more than everything else in the world combined, and it's hard. Last Sunday night, Pastor in Exodus gave a list of, I believe, 42 different things in Exodus 21, 22, and 23, and how we should relate one to another.
[2:59] And it seemed like it would be hard to remember. If my dog bit Brother Miza's dog and killed it. Wait, it couldn't be a dog because you've got to eat it. But if one of our animals, we were supposed to sell both of them.
[3:11] If it injured it, we were supposed to sell both of them and divide it, and we would both get the average of it. And it would seem complicated. There were so many of them. And you hear these, and those were expounding upon the ten, and you say, how am I supposed to remember all these ways in relating one to another?
[3:28] And Jesus says, let me make it simple for you. All these things, they hang upon this truth. Love the Lord, your God with all your heart, and then love your neighbor. And so our human relationships are hanging upon that, is to love your neighbor as yourself, which we find to be a challenge because we really love ourselves.
[3:45] And it's a great reminder here of how we can go about it. So if you want to know how to act in your family, or on your job, or in a neighborhood, or in recreation, or if you want to know how to deal with people in business, this is the sum of all of it.
[3:59] The negative and the positive in these 12 verses. And so let's look at it here, starting in verse number 1, and we work our way down to verse number 12, because you need all 11 of these verses to get your heart ready to be able to obey verse number 12.
[4:15] So we see here in verse number 1, Judge not that ye be not judged. I said that is the bookend in the chapter, in this 12 verses, that is the most misapplied. Everybody likes it.
[4:25] We don't like to be judged. People don't like to walk into a new place not knowing how people are going to think about them. That keeps sometimes people from going into church, and he's against it.
[4:36] One of the worst things that we can do for this world is be judging. And one of the worst things that we can do for this world is not to judge at all. And that sounds complicated, doesn't it? Are you telling me to judge or not to judge?
[4:49] And as you study these verses, you're going to see that there's a difference here in the way that is being spoke. We're not supposed to be critical, condemning people, because we have no right to come to that judgment.
[5:00] The command to judge is not a requirement to be blind, but rather a plea to be generous. Jesus does not tell us to cease from being men by suspending our critical powers to think, which make us different than animals, but to renounce the presumptuous ambition to be God by setting ourselves up as judges.
[5:18] Thou shalt not judge means do not become a judge. You do not get the right to decide right and wrong. You are not the right to detest somebody by their personality that only belongs to God.
[5:30] So what are some wrong forms of judging? In Romans chapter 14, verse 13, it says, Let us not therefore judge one another any more, but judge this rather, that no man put a stumbling block or an occasion to fall in his brother's way.
[5:45] Do you see the tension there in verse number 13? It says, let us put away judging that we shouldn't judge. And then it says, but let us rather judge this. So are we the judge or are we not supposed to judge?
[5:57] And this passage is dealing with it. And so the wrong type of judging will put a stumbling block in front of people coming to the truth. And the right type of judging will be where we know where the truth needs to go and we share it.
[6:11] John 7, 24 says that we should judge with righteous judgment, meaning we shouldn't look upon the appearance. Any time a person, a man or woman, invents a system of morality, they then become a judge.
[6:24] And this is what the Pharisees have done. I've said it about them before. They're like the little kid that makes the game up and they're always going to win because they're the only ones that know the rules and whatever they do is right and whatever you do is wrong.
[6:36] So no matter how you play, the Pharisees are like that. Yesterday, Thatcher was swimming with his cousin. And Thatcher had a life vest on. And his cousin had these arm floaties on. And we all know if you have arm floaties on, you're a baby.
[6:50] But if you have a life jacket on, you're a big boy. At least that's what Thatcher told him. He said, why are you wearing these arm floaties? And he said, well, you have a life jacket on. He said, no, these are just my muscles. He was lying to his cousin because he wanted his cousin to think that he didn't need any help floating on water.
[7:05] But the little cousin did. And that's at the heart of the Pharisees. Whatever you do is wrong and whatever I do is right. And we judge in this way and we make it up. And they focus on the externals.
[7:16] They only trusted themselves, Luke 18, 19. They didn't trust in anybody else. And they were not judging sin, but they were criticizing personalities, clothing, motives, and other people's weaknesses.
[7:29] As Pastor said there about the Pharisee that beat his chest and said, I'm not as his tax collector. And he looked down upon him and he cast judgment upon this man and the temple.
[7:40] That is a wrong type of judging. And the self-righteous may continually deny their sinful state because they're trying to maintain their sanity. And one of the best ways of achieving this is the focus on the failings of others.
[7:53] When you live in this kind of performance-based mentality that the self-righteous have, it's too hard to look at their own shortcomings. It's too hard to look at their own sin. So they have to go about being busy looking at everybody else's failings.
[8:07] So if I am busy judging you, then there will be no time for me to focus on my own problem. That's what's said here. It says you focus on the moat instead of the beam.
[8:18] And this is almost comical how big a difference it is between the sawdust or a twig in your eye compared to this huge beam that would be in somebody else's eye.
[8:28] And that huge beam that would be in their eyes is the worst of all sins, which is self-righteousness. This idea that you could come to God without the righteousness provided by Jesus.
[8:40] And until they remove that, they have no ability to help other people. But as we'll see here, it says after you remove the beam, your responsibility is to go and to help your brother.
[8:51] A wrong sense of judging it says don't worry about your brother that has something in his eye. Don't worry about the thing in your eye. Just continue life as it is. That would be life without discernment. But it says you should not be judging.
[9:03] We should follow the judgments that he gives. So what can it not mean? Here's the things it can't mean. According to Romans 13, it affirms that the right for a nation, the role of the people. So the government, you cannot, if you get pulled over this afternoon by Officer Clapp, you cannot say, hey Jonathan, you heard Trent this morning.
[9:20] You're not supposed to be judging me. If I want to go 95 and 400, that's my prerogative. Please don't judge me. And he's going to say, you took that out of context. Let me show you.
[9:31] I have the right here to make this judgment. We learn that the eye for an eye wasn't supposed to happen in our house, but in the courthouse. They are in the civil and criminal places of the world.
[9:41] They make those decisions. We're also told to confront our brothers in sin. So even inside of the church in Matthew chapter number 18, that if a brother is overtaken in sin, we should lovingly with a heart want to restore them.
[9:55] And we go to them and we plead with them. We shed tears. We show them from the Word of God. If they will not respond to the Word of God, we go and we get another brother as a witness. And there's a whole system in place where we fight for one another, for each other's joy.
[10:09] And we don't allow people to live a life of sin without being confronted with the truth. We're also told in Romans 16, 17 that we're supposed to mark people with wrong teaching, with wrong doctrine.
[10:21] If somebody in our church begins to teach a false gospel, it would be loving and caring of you to warn me as a father with children and say, hey, do you know this is going on?
[10:31] You want to avoid that? And this chapter does not contradict these things that are being said. But we should live with discernment. Verse number 6, Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast your pearls before swine, lest I trample them under their feet, and turn again, and rend you.
[10:50] So no judgment, no discernment, that how would you have the ability to know the difference between the dogs and the swine? But we don't have the ability, we don't have the right to be condemning or critical.
[11:02] So verse number 6 brings an important question. If you're reading through this, you want to know who is the dog and who is the pig. 2 Peter chapter number 2, verses 19 through 22 are going to help us know who the dog and the pig is, and it's those that teach a false gospel.
[11:19] It says this, While they promise them liberty, they themselves are the servants of corruption. For of whom a man is overcome, of the same he is brought in the bondage. For after they have escaped the pollutions of the world, through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein, and overcome the latter end is worse with them than the beginning.
[11:39] For it has been better for them had they not known the way of righteousness, than after they had known it, to them the turn from holy commandment delivered unto them. But it happened unto them according to the true proverb, the dog has turned to his own vomit again, and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire.
[11:55] So it's these people here that later on in the chapter that says, There's a wolf in sheep's clothing. And you say, Is there really a person or a time where that I should not be sharing the wonderful pearls of God's truth, the wonderful majestic truth that He died for us?
[12:10] And the Bible says, Yes, that you need discernment. When you go to somebody and the gospel has been shared with them, and they have perverted the gospel, and it's been given to them clearly, and they've seen it clearly, and they say, I don't want any part of that, but I'm going to twist it and pervert it, that you need to invest your life in going to share it with other people that have not heard that message, so that you're not just sharing the gospel with people that will not receive it.
[12:34] And so we're commanded not to judge, but absolutely expected to affirm and apply the judgment that God has already given to His Word. Life isn't trial by jury.
[12:46] We don't come up with a census of our opinion and say, I'm only thinking what the rest of the people in the jury are thinking about this person. The judge is our king and our God, and where He judges, we apply that in our lives.
[13:00] So we've been told here how we are not supposed to go about being condemning or being critical, but how should we be judging? Proverbs 18.13 tells us that we should not do it hastily.
[13:12] We shouldn't do it quickly. I was working at a gas station in high school, and a guy showed up and he appeared to be drunk and he was pumping gas, and I guess I'm not old enough to be admitting things that I did wrong in high school.
[13:25] I should wait until I'm in my 50s. It's still too close to the truth, but when I would have somebody come in that was drunk, I usually made more money off of them than I did other people. They would just hand me their wallet, and I would say, yeah, that would be $15 for that pack of gum, and we made good money when those people came in.
[13:40] And so I saw this person and I was laughing with my friend, and I said, look at this guy. He can't even hardly make it here. And the guy punched me. And he said, that's my friend. And he told me the illness that that guy had.
[13:52] And I just went back to where the drinks were, the cooler in the very back. Not those drinks, okay? Different context. I went back to where the Coke and Pepsi was. I just remember my heart was broken, and I thought, you jerk.
[14:05] This guy has been overcoming this physical ailment in his life to go about, to live life on his own, and you would just in a moment cast judgment towards him. That's what happens when you make quick decisions, when you don't understand what's going on in a person's life.
[14:20] Maybe that's not been your story before, but you remember casting judgment on somebody. Why are they being so short with me? Why aren't they being nice to me? Then you get the Paul Harvey rest of the story, and you think, wow, knowing what's going on in their life, it's amazing.
[14:33] They were as nice to me as they were concerning that. So we're taught in the Bible that we're not supposed to cast judgment there in a quick fashion. Also, this undeserved judgment. In Colossians, they were criticizing people who did not observe the new moon.
[14:48] And so sometimes we cast judgment on things that we make up. With the desire to help others, not just unjust, we shouldn't be unjust. In the Northern Kingdom, in the Old Testament, there was people that took bribes before they would make a judgment.
[15:02] So with a false motive, we shouldn't judge people. And so, why is it important that we are not to be judging in this manner? In verse number one, it tells us that we, in verse number two, it says that we are not to judge because it shows we have a wrong view of God.
[15:18] Because when you are judging, you have made yourself to be God. Joseph with his brothers, when they were worried about him, he said, I can't stand in the place of God. He knew that there would never be the bitterness in his life and never be gone.
[15:30] There would never be forgiveness. He doesn't get to play the role of God. God, that judgment only belongs to the Son, God tells us in John chapter number five. Romans 14, 14 says that your brother is not your servant.
[15:44] That I am not your servant and you are not my servant, but we serve the King. So I don't get to judge you as if you're my servant and you don't get to judge me as if I'm your servant because we are servants of the King.
[15:55] And Paul told him, in 1 Corinthians 4, he said, the only judgment that mattered to him came from the God of heaven. He said, you can judge me and my motives, but I know the only judgment that really matters is what comes from God.
[16:06] So first of all, having this critical heart, this condemning heart, where you look to your brothers and sisters here and you make these judgments. First of all, it demonstrates in your life that you have a wrong view of where God belongs and you have set yourself up to be king or to be judge.
[16:23] And also, as there it demonstrates this wrong view of self. Judging like this makes you think that you are above the law. James 4, 11 and 12 says, Speak not evil one of another, brethren.
[16:36] He that speaketh evil of his brother judges his brother. Speaketh evil of the law and judges the law. But if thou judge the law, thou art not a doer of the law, but a judge. I always go back to my kids, but I always think it's funny when Thatcher comes to tell me that Tinsley is not in bed or the other way happens.
[16:54] They come to you and they say, hey, me and you, we're buddies, right? Well, Tinsley, she's not in bed right now. And I say, well, buddy, you're not in bed either because you're in the living room telling me. We like to float above the law.
[17:05] We like to look at it. And so we think that we can just be, we put our arm around God and we say, look at all these people. They're not living up to this standard. And he says, you are not judge. You do not belong here beside me.
[17:16] That you are under this, under my authority as they are. It's the ultimate sign of hypocrisy. It says there in verse number five, thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam of thine own.
[17:26] As you go around judging one another falsely, it's the greatest sign of hypocrisy because you won't allow your own heart to be examined and look at it. Wonderful story in the Bible here of how false judgment is this two-edged sword that Romans 2, one says, therefore thou art inexcusable, man, whosoever thou art, thou judgest for wherein thou judgest another, thou condemnest thyself for thou judgest doeth the same thing.
[17:53] Haman in the book of Esther, he had made a noose and he was going to have Esther hung and the end of the story happens, it ends with Haman being hung on his own noose because he cast a judgment and in that judgment he is hung on it.
[18:06] That's what's going to happen in your life. Can I tell you men, you vote and you make decisions and we should have the right to protect their own domain. You should have the right to protect your family if somebody comes in and you vote and you make purchases so that you can do that but if you have a critical heart, you've allowed something into your home that will be more dangerous than any automatic weapon that if you allow yourself to have a critical heart you will be devoured by that judgment and your family will as well and you must stand and protect and fight.
[18:36] Many times young couples you enjoy as you're first married, you enjoy being we are better than everybody else, we are better than every other couple, we raise our kids better than everybody else and you have this enjoyment of being critical towards everybody else but then eventually it turns in towards itself.
[18:52] You've been so critical and then you start being critical of each other and you think, man, if you think this of them, what do you think of me? As a way of confession, my wife and I have been going down the road and had a critical spirit about it, just complaining about everything and Stephanie says, well, do you feel better?
[19:08] I'm like, no, you, no, I don't either. It's just a lose-lose situation when you think the sky is always falling and everybody's an idiot and you're an idiot too because they're your friends, you know, and so you make bad decisions and it just, it happens.
[19:22] So as you're judging, it's a two-edged sword and it comes back on you and you'll be judged as well. I read a funny story about how a man, he bought his cheese from a cheesemaker, I guess that's what you'd be if you make cheese, and he is this morning a cheesemaker and he complained and he said, I used to buy this thing of cheese and it weighed a pound and now over the years it weighs less than a pound, you're cheating me and he was standing before the judge.
[19:48] Well, the judge looks to the man that sold the cheese and he says, why, do you have a scale? Do you weigh your cheese? He says, no sir, I don't have a scale. When I started buying cheese from this, when this man started buying cheese for me, I decided it was only fair that I would buy bread from him.
[20:03] So every day I would buy a pound of bread from him and I would use the pound of bread to measure my cheese and so I would give him a pound of cheese for a pound of bread and over the years the bread weighed less and so the cheese would weigh less and the man was caught up in his own judgment there.
[20:19] He was condemning himself in doing that and when you criticize other people, you're telling the God of heaven that you have perfected something that they are inferior in and you're condemning yourself.
[20:31] Think about anything that you criticize. Have you really mastered it yourself? That person is not very good at this or this person is not that person is not very kind or that person is not very hospitable or that person is not very smart.
[20:43] Are you the smartest person in the world? Are you the most kind and loving person in the world? Have you really achieved that place of perfection to do that? So the question which immediately comes to my mind is how can I possibly walk this tightrope?
[20:57] How can I distinguish between destructive criticism and discernment? It's difficult even impossible assignment and I must have divine enablement. When we talk about a wrong judgment that is deadly and we also talk about a need for discernment and it leads us to a point where we say God I can't do this without you and we say time and time again that is a wonderful place to be and is a place that the Pharisees would never stand where they'd say God I cannot do this and so what is the prayer of the child here?
[21:27] The critical and prayerless heart are symptoms of a wrong view of our role in this world. Because we're a self-appointed judge we become critical and because we're a self-sufficient judge we see no need to go to God for wisdom or provision and we should be encouraged here.
[21:42] It tells us to ask, seek, and to knock. Three different forms of invitation that follow this. He tells us to come to Him and we are encouraged to pray.
[21:53] An invitation should be enough. Have you ever went to something to a party or get together and you wondered do they even really want me here? Should I go? Did they mean it when they invited me? But you take confidence in invitation that you have.
[22:05] I'm not sure if I'm supposed to be here but I received an invitation. You'll get an email and you're praying for somebody and I know all of you have responded to me at times like this. You said, if there's anything I can do for you please let me know.
[22:19] That's an invitation to talk to you. Say, if you need anything the God of heaven has given an invitation here. It says, ask and seek and to knock. He gives you an invitation to commune with Him and to talk.
[22:31] So I need wisdom Lord in my area of discernment. God, I need you to examine my heart and see if I'm being judgmental. God our Father is always present. When we know that He's near enough to ask, we can ask Him.
[22:45] When we think He is distant and we think we have to go find Him even though He never moves, if we seek Him we will find Him. If we feel like there's something in our lives that will separate us, we can knock and He will be there.
[22:57] In three different areas there's nothing that will separate us from the love of God. And we're told that it's a promise filled endeavor. When we pray as needy children looking for something that can only be found in the Father, He says, ask and it will be given verses 1 and 4.
[23:14] Seek and you will find it 2 and 5. Knock and it will be open and the Father gives good things. Much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them which ask of Him.
[23:25] If the Son asks for bread will He give Him a stone? And He says, no, I give good things. So when we come to Him as a child speaking to Him as an all-knowing, all-loving Father we know and expect that He knows what is best for us.
[23:40] And so we go to Him and because of His death upon the cross we have access now given to Him. Martin Luther says, He that knows that we are timid and shy that we feel unworthy and unfit to present our needs to God we think that God is so great and that we are so tiny and that we do not dare to pray.
[23:57] That is why Christ wants to lure us away from such timid thoughts to remove our doubts and to have us go ahead confidently and boldly. He wants to remove that fear and He gives an invitation to come to Him.
[24:10] And as we said a few weeks ago we get to come to Him as our Father as we address Him. He says, if your earthly Father would give good things how much more your heavenly Father who knows everything that He would give you that you would need.
[24:24] So if you go to Him and He will only give good things and what you need and if our earthly Father knows what to give how could you not expect that our heavenly Father would be more wise and all-knowing and He can be trusted here as His children.
[24:39] How do we know He can be trusted? He has already given us position as His child. And if He will not withhold that from us why do we think He would withhold any good thing from us? Simply being able to come to Him and say our Father ought to remind us that He loves and cares for us.
[24:56] Look real quickly at verse number 11. If ye then being evil know not how to give good gifts unto your children. You see in the middle of this that we're told that we're evil? And how can this be?
[25:07] How can it be told that we are His child that even when we are evil we know to give good? And we're reminded here of the cross. How did He call people that were once evil now children?
[25:19] We're told in Matthew chapter number 28 verse number 28 that He came to be a ransom for us people and that He purchased us and made us His children. And now we can say what a friend we have in Jesus.
[25:32] As the song says all our sins and griefs to bear what a privilege to carry everything to God in prayer. Oh what peace we often forfeit. Oh what needless pain we bear. all because we do not carry everything to God in prayer.
[25:46] And so this relationship with the Father sets us up now for verse number 12. It makes it possible to live out what He had told us. People that used to be our former enemies are now become our brothers and sisters.
[25:59] And why were we former enemies? Because when you only live for yourself unless somebody else is living for your good and they'll be worshiping you they become your enemy. But now we have the power to live for something else.
[26:11] So we start off and we're judging and we bring conviction into our heart and we see that we shouldn't be the judge that that courthouse in our heart ought to be shut down. You're no longer judge and this world is not on trial and you have no right to have a critical heart.
[26:27] And your heart it finds peace and it's been silent. And then now with that silent heart you go to the Lord in prayer. And when you go to Him in prayer you recognize that He is all sufficient.
[26:38] that everything that you need that you don't have to run around taking care of yourself that you're the most powerful person in the world that only if anything good is going to come it's going to come from you and your hard work but the Father is going to give it to you.
[26:51] And it's with that heart that we can come to verse number 12 and now we can love our neighbor as ourselves because we just had a relationship where we just was reminded of our relationship with our Father.
[27:03] And that's verse number 12 says therefore the word signals what Jesus has said leads somewhere. What He just said is taking us somewhere and enabling us to go somewhere with the truth. It's implied what's implied with the word therefore if you really treasure your Heavenly Father who meets all your needs by only giving you what is good for you then you can live for others.
[27:23] If you really treasure your Heavenly Father who meets all your needs by only giving you what is good for you then you will live for others. If you're living for others from trusting in your Father through Jesus who paid your ransom and forgave your sins then this kind of life fulfills all the law and the prophets which is what we're aiming for.
[27:42] We should not think that if we will do this life will become easy. James chapter number 2 and verse number 8 this is often called the golden rule but it isn't called that in the Bible. James 2.8 calls it this it says if you fulfill the royal law according to the scripture thou shalt love the neighbor as thyself ye do well.
[28:01] I love it called the royal law because I'm part of a royal family and I live according to a different kingdom where God is my king and so I obey a different set of standards of different things that are expected of me and in this royal law.
[28:17] If you went into your home and you went in there and there was an absent father there was no food for you there was very little things very little provision for you and you walk out of that home where there was an absent father or a dad that didn't provide for you and you walk out into the community and you see somebody else on the side of the road and they don't have anything you would have a very hard time thinking that you have any ability or have any desire to care for that person.
[28:45] But if you're part of a royal family and you go into a house where there's a heavenly father that loves you that has everything that you would ever need that supplies all your wants that comforts you and gives you the desires of your heart as he places them there then you walk out of that castle and you walk into this world then you have an ability to help and to care because you're not insecure thinking that everything comes your way needs to stay there just for you.
[29:12] Ephesians were told we're the household of God John repeats that we are the children of God and it reminds us of two great realities in Christianity is that God is our father and that Christians are our brothers and sisters and that all the law hangs upon these two truths.
[29:29] John Pearson could tell you about my negotiating skills in India they were not very good the first time that I went there I bought this little device that shoots up in the air and I paid like a dollar for each one of them and then next time then I negotiated them down to 50 cents and I was really proud of myself and then John goes and buys 50 for like $3 okay and so I learned that and Stephanie went there and I bought her some jewelry the one time and then when she went with me on my second trip there a time to get to go there she was negotiating and first she said I'll buy 12 of these necklaces for you for $5 and as she began to negotiate they finally started measuring things differently they said we're not talking about 12 necklaces I will give you two armfuls of necklace for the same amount the measurement changed instead of looking at each necklace and making a purchase it was then decided on those two arms when it comes to human relationships you can go to Exodus and you can ask for a handbook and it can be outlined for you every single thing that you're supposed to do but God says let me just teach you two things that it hangs upon is to love your brother as you love yourself and that settles it you don't have to worry about what to do with brother Miza's ox when it gets out of the fence because you just say what would I do if that was my ox if it got out of the fence because you would care for him as you care for yourself and we're taught here that we can only do this as we go to our father
[30:53] Hebrews 10 16 says this is the covenant that I will make with them after those days saith the Lord I will put my laws into their hearts and in their minds will I write them it's been written on our heart that we are loved by God and that we are supposed to love one another and that's how we can obey this royal law so when you don't feel loving and you feel very judgmental and you feel very critical towards one another go back to your relationship with God and say how does he love me how does he view me and then once you get that in place you can go back into the world and have a proper perspective on things and live out that new heart that has been given so the critical heart sees no need for prayer because you're at the top you are the judge you don't need to talk to God about people or you don't need to talk to God and pray for people because you're having your own conversation but the prayerless heart has no ability to care you're not going to care for people that you're not willing to pray for you're not going to do anything that's self-sacrificial to help somebody else if you're not willing to pray for them and the only way that your heart is going to be a heart of prayer is if it stops being that critical heart that so easily gets in there
[32:06] Ephesians 520 tells us we're supposed to put off and to put on a new man because we now have so learned Christ and so it's time for us to go to God asking seeking and knocking asking for forgiveness for our judgmental hearts towards one another asking for discernment when it comes to knowing where to invest our time sharing the pearls of God's wisdom and it's time to live as we know we are incredibly loved by our Father and that we've been freed to be loving generous and caring for all we meet as you go about living out this royal law remember it's only possible because of that one word therefore every major religion has something like the golden rule I looked it up in Wikipedia every group had one every book had one almost every government in the world has something to say you are supposed to do it it's just built into us to know that I'm supposed to care for you as I care for myself so it's very easy to say and it ought to govern the way we treat one another but it's impossible and so even though every other religion may tell you to do that and you may learn it in school you know it can't be done and so that's why
[33:15] I believe the best word in the royal law and the golden rule in verse number 12 is therefore based upon the way that you are cared for and loved and your opportunity to speak the God that now you can go out and make a difference in this world and love other people in the same fashion we don't just teach our children do this do that we say based upon your relationship with the God of heaven you now treat the world differently as I pray here can I remind you the royal family sons and daughters of the king that we live differently we live a different life we don't live as a self-righteous but we live as people that have been greatly loved and we can love this world in a great manner Heavenly Father thank you for your word thank you for your truth thank you for teaching us about judgment and discerning Father I pray that you we know that you will forgive those that come to you and I pray that people will come to you today asking for forgiveness for the critical condemning heart that they have had how they have made themselves God and judge and in doing so
[34:19] Lord they have not seen a need to come to you in prayer because they are now the absolute and the sovereign in their own lives Lord I thank you for the forgiveness that you have provided in that area I ask that you will be with us Lord as we go out and we do unto others as we have do unto us which means we will share the gospel with them and we will care for them as you have cared for us this message was recorded at Vision Baptist Church in Alfredo, Georgia for more information log on to www.visionbaptist.com where you can find our service times location contact information and more audio and video recordings