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Bible reading as I mentioned before is the beginning of Matthew chapter 7. If

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you are using one of the Bibles that are provided on the seats you can find

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today's passage by turning to page 788 and looking for the big

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number 7 in the heading judging others. These are the words of our Lord Jesus.

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Do not judge or you too will be judged for in the same way you judge others

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you will be judged and with the measure you use it will be measured to you. Why

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do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention

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to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother let me take the

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speck out of your eye when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? You

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hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye and then you will see

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clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye. Do not give dogs what is

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sacred. Do not throw your peals to pigs. If you do they may trample them under

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their feet and turn and tear you to pieces.

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Thank you Liam. Good morning church. It's great to be together. God's kindness and

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providence has brought us together for another week to hear the words of

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eternal life and that's what we are appearing into this morning which is in

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incredible grace and mercy on our Father's part but also something that we

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don't want to take lightly as we come to his words this morning. So would you

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please pray with me to our Lord before we look at his words. Lord Jesus we thank

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you that you have not left us as orphans but have sent us your spirit. Lord these

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are words of eternal life and we ask by your spirit that you would pierce our

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hearts, give us ears to hear, eyes to see, minds to understand what you would have

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us to understand and that by the work of your precious Holy Spirit that you

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would give us changed lives and a zeal for the worship of you in this world. We

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ask for this in your name Jesus. Amen. So our church over the past three and a

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half months we've been going through this incredible sermon that Jesus gave

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that's come to be known as the Sermon on the Mount and over the months as

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we've seen our Lord unpack incredible things we've learnt what it is where the

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place of the law is in the believers life, how we are to view things like

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divorce and hatred and how we are to love our enemies among other things and

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as we've been making our way through this sermon we've seen that his address

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is vitally important because it's not just a sermon it's not just a sermon

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it's an address from a king to a people who have been gathered into a kingdom

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and I say that because before Jesus came on the scene and made this address

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Matthew has been very careful to record for us that a kingdom was indeed

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expected. We see this theme in the ministry of John the Baptist for example

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who was sent by God to the people of Israel to announce to them that the long

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awaited kingdom of God that was promised to them by prophets such as Isaiah and

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Jeremiah had finally come it was at hand and more than that John was sent to

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announce that the one that was to come after him would gather his wheat into

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his barn and would baptize them in none other than the Holy Spirit. We also saw

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that John preached that this man who was to come after him would be so

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deserving of honor that he himself Israel's most famous preacher at the

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time wouldn't even be worthy enough to carry this guy's sandals. In other words

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John was sent to announce that the one coming after him would be Israel's king

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and it would be this king that would usher in the long-awaited kingdom of

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heaven. So when Jesus came on the scene and called his disciples to himself here

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on this mount much in the same way God did with Israel at Mount Sinai and tells

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them that they are the salt and the light of the world he's drawing their

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attention to themes that are meant to make them aware of their uniqueness in

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this world. In other words Jesus wants them to know that they were not like

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those around them who were still trapped in the dominion of darkness but had been

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rescued into the kingdom of heaven. And it's interesting that Jesus has said

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this to his disciples right because from the start of this sermon Jesus has made

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it crystal clear to them that the community that had gathered around him

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was something different in this world set apart if you will as they were a

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ray of sunshine in this dark cold world. But we might ask here how were they the

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light of the world? Well it must be said it wasn't because of anything in and of

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themselves. You see Matthew makes it clear in chapter 4 verses 15 through to

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16 quoting the prophet Isaiah that before Jesus came on the scene everyone

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everyone including these disciples were trapped in darkness saying land of

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Zebulun and land of Nephtali the way of the sea beyond the Jordan, Galilee of

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the Gentiles the people living in darkness have seen a great light on

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those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned. So why does

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Jesus call his followers the light of the world? Because quite simply out of

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all the people that had heard Jesus's preaching they were the ones that had

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believed what he had to say. They were the ones who had repented who had left

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their own ways and followed him. To say this another way they believed in Jesus

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and what he had to say and in the doing as they believed as they repented as

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they followed they had become imitators of their Lord meaning that they were in

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fact like little mirrors reflecting the light of the world and that church is

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what it is to be a disciple of Jesus. It's not to just hear the words of Jesus

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no it's to hear the King's call of repentance and it's to put into practice

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what you have heard. In other words it's to do the will of the one who has called

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us from darkness into light. This is why this address here is so vitally

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important for us to understand because like the disciples we read about here

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gathered around Jesus we too confess that Jesus is the King of God's heavenly

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kingdom. We too confess that he is our Lord that we trust him with our

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eternities and as his disciples we want to not only hear about his unpacking and

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applying of what it is to be a follower of him but we too want to obey our Lord's

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words in all that we do. We want to live out obediently what he has to say to us

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in this world. We want to be like mirrors that reflect his light in this dark

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world. As it's already been said that's not because we in and of ourselves are

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the light. No in and of ourselves we were as Isaiah put it the people dwelling in

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darkness who had been dwelling in the region and shadow of death. It might I

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say this morning if you have heard the word of the King if you have repented if

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you have trusted in what Jesus has to say if you have turned from going your

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own way and turned to King Jesus and there has been an awesome supernatural

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work of the Holy Spirit in your life. Where whereby you have been transported

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from death to life from condemnation to justification from the dominion of

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darkness to his kingdom of light. And like the disciples we see gathered here

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in our passage this morning we too have been gathered into a community of people

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who are seeking to obey our Lord in all that he has to say. And as we do that as

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we together obey King Jesus as we seek together to put into practice our Lord's

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words well we too will indeed be the salt and light in this world. And that's

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the aim of our passage this morning brothers and sisters. We don't just want

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to understand our Lord's words but put into practice what he tells us this

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morning. And it's as we do this at Grace Christian Church that we will look

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drastically different in this world because we are a community that is

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seeking to reflect the light of this world. So in saying that let's turn to

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our passage this morning if you have your Bibles in front of you that will be

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handy because we're going to be in the text quite a bit this morning. So looking

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at verses 1 & 2 these are the words of our Lord. Do not judge or you too will be

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judged. For in the same way you judge others you will be judged and with the

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measure you use it will be measured to you. Alright seems pretty straightforward

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right? Don't judge and with that said let's pray and we can all go home. And

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all the aspiring lawyers in the room just well their dreams have been crushed.

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And though it seems a bit extreme to say that believe it or not people like

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Russian novelist Leo Tolstoy have taken these very words and argued that Jesus

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was saying that law courts well they shouldn't be a thing. And Tolstoy isn't

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alone in this kind of textual misuse as the phrase do not judge or you will be

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judged is actually one of the most misused, misunderstood sayings in the

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whole Bible. I mean you don't have to be on social media for very long before

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somebody saying hashtag judge not usually in connection with some horrendous

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public behavior. Indeed this sentence is a favorite of many that like to use it

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as a type of get out of jail free card. But we might ask what is Jesus actually

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commanding here? Is he saying get rid of the law courts? Is he saying don't have

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about any opinions about anyone you meet? Is he saying close your eyes to the

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world around you and simply just presume the best of everyone? Well as it's

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been said many times from this pulpit before a text without a context is

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simply just a con. So let's not fall into that trap church. Let's understand the

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context here so that we will get a better understanding of what Jesus is

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actually telling his disciples. See this statement hasn't been made in a vacuum

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right? It's not been made in a vacuum. Jesus has said it in the middle of a

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sermon that he's delivering to his disciples, to his community of followers.

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So that's the first thing we need to take note of. This is addressed to his

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disciples not to judges and to lawyers. The second thing we have to notice is

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that he doesn't say don't judge and that's that let's move on. No he goes on

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to explain what he wants from his disciples in the rest of this passage

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in regards to this very theme and as we'll see his disciples well we are to

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make judgment calls in regards to certain things and we will look at that

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in just a moment. But for now I want you to notice something very interesting in

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the text, very interesting about judgment in verse 2. He said with the measure you

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use it will be measured to you. That's an interesting phrase right? And I say it's

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interesting because his warning is we all have a standard by which we measure

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the people around us and Jesus is saying be careful not to judge people by your

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own standard because it will only ever come back to bite you. We've actually

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seen this warning from God before in the Bible. We see it in 1st Samuel 16 7. God

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says to his prophet Samuel whom he had sent to anoint David who he'd chosen to

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be the new king of Israel as God had rejected Saul and Samuel gets to

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Bethlehem and he meets David's oldest strongest tallest brother and he thinks

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to himself wow this guy is going to be an awesome leader just look at him. But

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God warned Samuel. He says don't look on his appearance or the height of his

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stature because I've rejected him for the Lord sees not as a man sees. Man

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looks at the outward appearance but the Lord he looks on the heart. Hear that

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church. Man looks at the outward appearance but the Lord looks at the

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heart. To put it simply God was warning his prophet about the standard he was

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using about his measurement that he employed to judge other people and what

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was it? Well Samuel was looking for Israel's next king by his outward

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appearance looking to such things that people look for in a strong leader like

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his height his strength his place in the family. Yet ironically it was this very

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standard this very measurement if you will in which Israel chose Saul which

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had landed them in a shocking predicament namely with a king whom God

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had rejected. See church Jesus came to gather his wheat into his barn and he

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calls people from all over the world to be his from all walks of life meaning

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he calls people that don't look sound or think the same way that you and I do. He

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calls people from all sorts of backgrounds into his kingdom that's the

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amazing and wonderful thing about our King and this means that his kingdom is

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filled with all sorts of people from all sorts of walks of life. I mean let's

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apply this to us here this morning look around you church look around at all the

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people the Lord Jesus has brought together from different nations different

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races economic contexts different life stories different cultures yet we all

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have one King one Lord and Savior one Father in heaven one spirit one baptism

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so we are in that sense brothers and sisters a real spiritual family. This is

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what Jesus is saying to us here this morning. My disciples if you are quick to

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judge one another on say things like what denomination you've come from where

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you live what job you have on the outward appearances on race if we measure

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each other by each other's standards of what we think it is to be a good

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Christian then we'll quickly cease to be a community that is light in this dark

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world. Why? Because like any other community will be full of hypercritical

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judgmental gossips that glory in being an exclusive club that is unwelcoming to

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those who don't fit the outward superficial mold. Jesus is prohibiting

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something here. He's prohibiting something that his disciples must not

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do and it's to see ourselves as the moral standard and judge of his people

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that he brings into his kingdom. No we are simply brothers and sisters who have

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been rescued by our great King meaning we don't choose the mold we don't set

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the standard and then measure others by it. Yes we may have opinions yes we may

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have observations and concerns of others in our Lord's community but these things

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must never become the standard that we impose on our Lord's blood-purchased

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people. Jesus is the king of his people not us. Jesus is helpful here because he

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gives some practical application to his point verses 3 & 4. He says why do you

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look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to

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the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother let me take the

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speck out of your eye when all the time there's a plank in your own eye? Notice

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the language here it's hyperbolic I'm so hungry I could eat a horse but it's

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big. Jesus is giving a picture of a person who thinks that the moral rule

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of the roost who pretty much has a plank for a head and walks around seeing other

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people's little issues telling them how they can fix their problems. The picture

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is meant to think meant to make us think how humorous how ridiculous but Jesus's

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point it's serious it's dead serious because it's a direct warning against

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those who have a pharisee to cool attitude towards their brothers and

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sisters in the faith. Church I want to make this clear this morning

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Jesus isn't telling us to ignore each other or to be ignorant of each other's

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behavior to never help with the specks in others eyes that would be incredibly

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unloving as we're going to see but think about the context context is important

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Jesus is speaking to his disciples who are surrounded by and as we've seen

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through the months may have been educated by the Pharisees we've seen

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that through the months and they demanded a higher religious life from

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those around them all the while breaking God's law themselves because of their

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own traditions. In other words they had erected impossible standards for the

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people and they had measured others by them while not even living them out

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themselves. They literally peered into other people's every move and criticized

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their every action looking for so-called specks in their eyes to accuse them by

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and their sin totally blinded them to the work of God in their midst as these

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as they had these planks through their heads. I mean just read through the book

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of Matthew you'll see them be appalled by Jesus eating with the how casts but

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he's forgiving their sins not to mention plotting to kill Jesus because he

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wonderfully healed someone on the Sabbath. That's the context that's the

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world that Jesus is speaking into. We might say well that's not our context

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but let's not be so quick to dismiss the point of our Lord here. The warning is

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just the same. What traditions of men have we employed and held people to in

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our own lives? Do you look at your brother and think to yourself they

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can't possibly be a Christian like me because they such and such. Do you look

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at your sister and say she couldn't possibly love Jesus as much as me

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because she's such and so forth. I think this is the point our Lord is making. This

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is what he's making to all his disciples and it's this. His precious people, his

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people are all works in progress. We have all sinned, we are all dealing with

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specks in our eyes in various degrees and because of the work of the Holy

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Spirit we are all, every single one of us, me included, we're all at various

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stages of that wonderful progress of leaving our old life behind. So church

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don't be the one walking around with tweezers in your hands nitpicking other

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other people's sanctification because like the one with a plank for a head

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that's to display a pharisee-tical attitude. It must be said, Pharisees know

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nothing of the love and grace of God. They have an inability to reflect that

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wonderful love and grace to others around them. But in saying all of this

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there is a great hope in this passage. Our Lord is amazing at doing this right.

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We've seen it all throughout the Sermon on the Mount. He can both rebuke and he

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can both encourage us greatly at the very same time and we see it again here

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in our Lord's words. Verse 5, Jesus says, you hypocrite first take the plank out

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of your own eye and then you will clearly, see clearly to remove the speck

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from your brother's eye. Why is this encouraging? Let me explain. First because

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our Lord says to his disciples, take the plank out of your own eye. Why is that

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encouraging Michael? Well quite simply because spiritually dead people have no

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conviction over sin. No ability to notice any plank. No ability or want or power

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to do anything with it. Meaning that Jesus is applying this to those whom he

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sees as his, those who are spiritually alive. And he's saying to us that when

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our sin is shown to us, well we no longer have to live as slaves like we once did.

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Now we can actually take the plank out and cast it off. Meaning that those sins

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that once held us captive, which once seemed impossible to not indulge

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ourselves in, well there's an ability, a work of God in us to put those things to

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death. The Apostle Paul explains it like this to the church in Rome in chapter 8

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15 of his epistle, for you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall

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back into fear, but you have received the spirit of adoption as sons by whom we

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cry, Abba, Father. There's such an intimacy in those words, Abba, Dad, Father. And church

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this is the incredible news of the gospel. Our King came to rescue his

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people. He came to redeem us, saved us from certain destruction. He is the one

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who snatched us from the dominion of darkness and placed us in his kingdom

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which is everlasting. We have been given by his grace the Holy Spirit. And church

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God has become our Father in the process. What mercy and incredible grace, what

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wonderful amazing love and when we see our sin in our lives we no longer have

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to believe that we are slaves to it. We've been set free and by the help of

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the Holy Spirit working in us we can cry out to our Father in heaven for help to

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put that thing to death. And as we do that, as we cultivate a life of prayer and

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confession and repentance, we'll witness sin really being put to death in our

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life. So-called planks really being pulled out of our eyes. And when we by

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the work of the Spirit live like that, then secondly as our Lord says here, then

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you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye. Do you see that

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church? Jesus is saying to us here, to his disciples, first deal with the sin in

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your own life so that you can help others. That's what the Lord has called

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his church to do. He's called us to reflect his mercy, to reflect his grace,

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to reflect his love to those around us in community. He's called his disciples

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to reflect him, the light of the world. And it's as we know and experience

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Jesus through the gospel that we will be disgusted with our own sin and want to

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be rid of it. And as we witness his tender care and work in our lives through

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the precious Holy Spirit, we will want to reflect that tender mercy and work to

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others around us. That's why we can't ignore. That's why we won't ignore or

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leave others in sin. We have received such mercy and grace. How can we not

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share that with those around us? What's it practically look like? What's it

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practically look like? How do we apply what we've heard this morning? Well we

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are to evaluate and correct one another in a spirit of humility. How do we do

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that? How do we humbly correct one another? Well it's as we've seen here in

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our passage this morning. First Jesus tells us that before we correct and

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before we turn our attention to others we must first examine ourselves. Meaning

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we must look at our own motives and ask why am I so concerned about this

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person's life? Why do I want to correct this person? And as we pray for them, and

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that's a great place to start, we pray for them. We might ask God for wisdom and

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how to go about correcting them in the most encouraging, most loving way

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possible. And while doing this ask yourself honestly am I mourning for what

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I'm seeing sin do to their life? Do I really want this precious

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spiritual sibling built up? Or do I want to feel better about myself? And reflect

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am I practicing the very thing that I'm about to go and speak to this person

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about? Maybe not perfectly, most likely not perfectly, but are you attempting? Are

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you taking that thing to the Lord yourself? Are you able to go in love to

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the one that you see struggling and say hey let me come alongside you, let me

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help, let me pray with you? So that's first, Jesus says examine yourselves and

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take the plank out of your own eye. Then the Lord teaches us to take out the speck

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in our brother's eye. And this is all done with a view to build others up, not

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to tear them down. We help with the speck, with the view to make others stronger.

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Not to make ourselves seem more holy or wise or feel a moral superiority, but

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that's what our Lord tells us to do here. Take that plank out so that we might

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help others. I'm so thankful for the men in my life. They've taken me out for

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coffee and spoken straight with me and they've said things like brother I

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love you but I see this and that in your life. And like a kind parent who takes

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the eyelash out of their kids eye when they're screaming something's in my eye.

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Or like a rear-view mirror which aids us to not change lanes right in front of a

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Mack truck. These brothers have lovingly taken specks from my eyes so that I can

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see more clearly. So might I say church all this only comes from being in

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community. All this comes from being in a community that is living in light of the

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gospel of Jesus Christ. It only comes from knowing that we were called, that we

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were set free not to judge others by our own standards, not to destroy others by

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our own measurements, but to see clearly so that we might build one another up in

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our most holy faith. By showing mercy like we've been shown, by showing grace

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like we've been shown, and showing love like we are loved at this very moment.

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This is a wonderful community picture isn't it church? Being loved and

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showing love in all that we do towards one another. Yet because we are the

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light of this world and because God advances the kingdom through the gospel,

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through us, through his church. Jesus also gives us a warning in verse 6, a heads

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up if you will. He says don't give to dogs what is sacred, don't throw your

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peals to pigs. If you do they may trample them under their feet and turn and tear

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you to pieces. Church admittedly the temptation to pass over this bit and

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just end with verse 5 was overwhelming. But as we know we are a people that love

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the words of our Lord. We want to hear all that he has to say, we want to do all

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that he tells us. Verse 6 is by no means out of place in any sense. It's

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in no way contradicting what's come before. But it's a warning to us here

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this morning. It's a warning to you and me. A warning that we must heed on back

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on the back of what Jesus has just said and it's this. Not everyone is going to

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be thrilled with the work of God in your life. That is the reality. Not everyone is

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going to be over the moon about your conviction of sin. You're putting to death

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the transgression and your freedom from slavery that you found. Not everyone is

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going to celebrate when you come to them and witness to them about the amazing

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love and mercy of God that you've been shown and that you're so excited to

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share with them. Not only will they not rejoice with you, but Jesus says here

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there will be some that will try to attack you. Some that will cancel you,

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defame you. Some that will want you fired and as we've seen in church history and

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now in the church around us in this very day and age, some will try to kill you.

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All this to say, Jesus has called his people not to be judgmental in the

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hypercritical, unmerciful sense where we set our own standards. But he has not

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called us to be without discernment in this world and we have to keep the two

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intention consistently. On the one hand, don't presume the worst, but on the other

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hand, don't presume the best of everyone either. And we have to keep that in

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balance church. We have to observe without harshly judging. We have to

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understand without quickly condemning because as Jesus says here in our text

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this morning, there are real spiritual differences with people. There

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are real differences between those who have been set free who are citizens of

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the kingdom of heaven and those who are dead in their trespasses. Those that are

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still full pledge citizens of the kingdom of darkness and the warning is

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this. The whole council of Scripture were warned. There are people that want it

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that way. They love darkness. They hate light because they love their evil deeds

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and don't want to be rid of them. They're hard-hearted and they hate the

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gospel and what you stand for. And Jesus says because of that rejection, because

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of that love for their wicked deeds, these people who are not our brothers,

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not our sisters, they may turn on you. They may attack you. If that's what they

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did to our Lord, what would they do to his servants? But I want to end by saying

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this church. I want to end on this. This verse in no way excuses us from taking

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the gospel to the nations. In no way does it discourage the Great Commission that

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we are all called to. But what it reminds us of is this. There's a spiritual reality

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in this world. A real enemy that hates Christ and his people and we are sent as

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sheep among wolves. The battle is real but some are saved. Some hear the gospel,

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some turn and come into the kingdom and they become our brothers and sisters in

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the Lord. And as we live this gospel truth out here in this community in

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Armidale, as we reflect the light of the world in all that we do, as we take the

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good news of Jesus to our workplace, our families, our city, the nations, well

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let's be as innocent as doves but as wise as serpents. Would you pray with me?

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Father we thank you that you have sent the Lord Jesus into this world. That you

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sent the light of all mankind to rescue, rescue to the uttermost. And indeed Lord

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you have rescued that that was unsavable, us and you saved us in your grace, your

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mercy, your kindness, your love. And Father these are words that are amazing.

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There's no words to describe what you have done for us. Father we ask

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that you would please use us. Use us in this room, use the church in Armidale, use

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the church in Western Australia to do something. As we heard this morning many

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of us might lose treasures on this earth in the doing. But Father we ask that the

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zeal that you work in us by your Spirit as we lift our eyes to Christ would

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drive us more than our love for things of this world. Might we be a people that

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you use and might we have great joy in the doing. We love you because you first

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loved us and we thank you for these words this morning. In Jesus name, Amen.