Sermon on the Mount

If you have a bible and you want to take it and turn to Matthew's gospel, or the reading is gonna be on the screen as well. We're gonna read from Matthew chapter 7, the first 6 verses. Do not judge. Or you too will be judged. For in the same way as you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.

Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother? Let me take the speck out of your eye when all the time there was a plank in your own eye. You hypocrite. First, take the plank out of your own eye and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye.

Do not give dogs what is sacred. Do not throw your pearls to pigs. If you do, they may trample them under feet. And turn and tear you to pieces? Yeah.

I mean, so, I mean, look, we've got all sorts going on here. Haven't we? We've sawdust in eyes. We've got planks in eyes. We've got dogs.

We've got pearls. We've got all sorts. So let me let me pray before we get into this and apparently there's something going on at 8 pm as well. Father, we do pray that as we come to your word now. You would you would help us.

You would open our hearts. You would make us soft and teachable. You would you would put us in a position where we hear what you have to say no matter how hard the hearing may be. So please do help us now. Oh, ma'am.

LIBate, equality, fraternity. Or in other words, sorry, Sophie, for butchering the French that. Was it okay? Okay. Just about just about scraped it.

Yes. Liberty equality, fraternity, fraternity, or death. That was the cry of the French revolutionaries. It was the cry of the French revolutionaries as decades of economic mismanagement had crippled their country as needless wars have been fought on behalf of other nations on the other side of the planet that no 1 really cared too much about. As corruption and scandal just ran amok amongst the politicians and the the ruling class.

The fires of revolution were were stoked, and everyone was to be judged by that tripartite motto. That's what it's called. Of liberty, equality, fraternity, or death. It's pretty pretty pretty final, isn't it? Liberty equality, fraternity, or death.

Now of course, if you know anything about the French revolution, you'll know that that it sparked the infamous reign of terror which lasted for around about a year. And and as is often the case, if you lift the lid on something like revolution, if you open that door, then the rule of law is quickly replaced with something that's a little bit closer to utter chaos. And during that period, Paris by by pretty much all accounts resembled something closer to hell than anything else. No 1 was safe. The quick judgement that was that was wrought in the kangaroo courts that were set up to to judge and condemn anyone that fell foul of liberty, equality, and fraternity.

No 1 was safe. From a date with madame Gillity. At the at the at the height of the revolution, something like 25 people a day were loaded into the carts. And taken off to the square to have their necks chopped. They reckon something like 50000 people died as a result of this.

50000 souls judged and condemned because they fell foul of the agenda of the day. And if you know anything about this, you'll know that the revolutionaries themselves, the ones that kicked this all off, found themselves falling foul of this very thing themselves. They would they were judged by it. It became it became, you know, self fulfilling. It was galvanizing itself.

It was eating itself. They too were judged, they too were condemned. Now, the point that I'm trying to make, other than the fact that I recently read a tale of 2 cities, is that people love judgment actually. We're in a world that really enjoys judging other people. We're in a world that not just enjoys judging other people but condemning them.

They love the sentence. They love the punishment. That comes with it. And actually, since since then, nothing's really changed. I mean, Dickens when he writes the book at the very beginning includes this line and he's talking about his age she said in short, the period, the revolution was so far like the present period, his period that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received for good or for evil, and nothing's really changed now.

Nothing's really any different now. We still live in a world that has all kinds of movements and rebellions and revolutions. We have cultural revolutions. We have sexual revolutions. We have all kinds of agendas.

We have extinction rebellion. There are all kinds of things within our culture, within our society that bring with them, judgment. And condemnation for anyone that falls foul of what whatever their agenda happens to be. Anyone who butts up against that agenda, anyone who doesn't agree with it, anyone who has a different viewpoint finds themselves falling foul. And we may not have a guillotine for the neck.

But we have a guillotine for the character. We have a guillotine for for the career. We have a we have a guillotine for someone's personal life. As people are hauled over the coals and everything's laid bare for all to see. They're basically assassinated in public.

It's the world we live in. It loves judgment and yet it really doesn't know how to judge at all. It has no idea what it's doing. It has no way of framing it. It it it doesn't understand where to where to begin from and and what is right and what's wrong.

I mean, we saw this so clearly recently. I mean, well, over the whole of the last year, all the the double standards and the hypocrisies of the COVID regulations and the the You can do this but you can't do this and you can do this in this situation but you can't do this. And everyone's judging everyone for wearing a mask and everyone's judging everyone for not wearing a mask and then suddenly people are saying, I don't wanna be vaccinated. They're being judged and condemned. It's just happening all over the We love it.

If you were to take your mobile phone out of your pocket, I bet you in the news stories you would very quickly find a story of judgment and condemnation of something someone said or done. It wouldn't take you too long. We love it. We absolutely love it and we have no idea what we're doing. I mean, it was said this morning, but the whole Matt Hancock situation I mean, for goodness sake, everyone is bent out of shape because this man who has given all the regulations broke the rules, but no 1 really cares a figure about the fact that he's had an affair.

No 1 cares that he's destroyed that marriage and that she's destroyed her marriage and that those kids are gonna have to grow up with that and bear the consequences. All people care about is he broke his bubble. What a load of nonsense? Our world knows nothing about judgments. And forming judgments and decisions.

And I tell you what, if that's the way that people come to decisions. I I refuse to be judged by these people. God is my judge, and thankfully, my brothers and sisters here. Thank goodness, we're not at the mercy of those people out there because their judgment is utter nonsense. What's it based on?

No 1 can match up to the standards. Not 1. Even if you do somehow manage to match up to the standards of today, you'll find that you'll you'll be judged by the standards of tomorrow at some point. And the stuff that you do today and the position that you hold now will be wrong in the future. No matter what you do, you can't win.

You can't predict the way it's gonna go. In the same way the revolutionaries just had no idea, the beast that they were unleashing was gonna come back to bite their own heads off. You just have no idea. There'll be another agenda. There'll be something else.

And not only do we not match up to the world standards, we actually we actually struggle to match up to our own. We all have our own standards, don't we? We all have our own things that we put in place. And and we can't even match up to them, but we're quite happy to judge other people by our own standards. Happens all the time, doesn't it?

I mean, the classic's in the car. The amount of times that you're driving, someone does something, you're furious about it and then you do exactly the same thing. It might not be the same day but it might be the next week and you just absent mindedly find that you've done that same thing. It happens all the time, happens all the time to me anyway. And that's just in the car, there's all kinds of other things.

People do stuff at work that annoys you and then you find you've done the same thing. And you've been judging them for the past couple of days and then you go and do the same thing. We can't even live by our own standards And no 1 comes anywhere close to matching up to God's standards. Which in the end are the only ones that matter anyway, and yet they seem to be the ones that that are cared least about They don't even focus in our society. Reference Matt Hancock, who cares about the divorce?

No 1 cares what God thinks. And yet, his are the only standards that matter literally no 1, not 1 person is even close to matching up to those except, of course, for Jesus days. Except for Jesus. He is the only 1 who when held up against any standard that's ever been passes with flying colors. Anytime you attempt to judge him, he'll always be found right.

Anytime you judge his actions, they're always found to be good. No matter what he does, no matter what he says, no matter who he comes into contact with, He never fails the test. And yet, this world still judged and condemned him anyway. That should really tell you everything you need to know about this world and the way it judges, that you can find a perfect man guilty is utter nonsense. Well, Jesus is the 1 who spoke the words that we're looking at tonight.

So, let's let's see what he's got to say. On the subject. So if you'd look at me with look with me at verses 1 and 2 of of chapter 7, so Not not that 1. I actually haven't got these on the PowerPoint Mandy, so if you could just go back 1. Great.

Thanks. Do not judge or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged. And with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. Now, there's a very common error when it comes to this passage and it's a very natural error and a very natural point of view to come to and that is that I shouldn't judge.

I'm not to judge and you hear it quite often. You know, it's it's just the first thing that comes out. So, okay, well, no 1 can judge me, and I shouldn't judge. Do not judge or you too will be judged. Who am I to judge other people?

Now, it sounds good, doesn't it? It sounds kinda right because it sounds pretty noble. Well, I'm not better than anybody else. That's true. So who am I to judge what anybody else does?

Sounds kind of noble. It sounds good because it's the easy option. Well, live and let live, I say. You know, just let them get on with it. I'm not I'm no 1 to judge what they do and just let live and let live.

Let them get on with their lives. It sounds good because it actually sounds loving. Like, I'm not gonna stand up to them. I'm not gonna get in their way. I'm not gonna go against them.

I'm not gonna tell them they're wrong. Sounds loving, doesn't it? It sounds good because it absolves us of all responsibility because we don't have to get our hands dirty and get involved. In other words, really, I mean, this is this is me probably being fairly blunt, but it's the lazy disengaged unloving and cowardly approach to other people. Who are you to judge?

Well, if you are a Christian, if you are a child of the living God, then you are just about the best person on the planet to form decisions and judgments of what's going on around you because you are the only person that has any sort of framework to be able to do that with. The question's not 1 of should I or shouldn't I judge. The question is 1 of how and when and why. If you look at Proverbs 1, 1 to 5, I think that's what we've got there. Yeah.

Great. This is what we've been looking at in the morning services and and it's exactly what it's been saying. It says the proverbs of Solomon, son of David, king of Israel, So these are the proverbs of God given through Solomon, for gaining wisdom and instruction, for understanding words of insight. For receiving instruction in prudent behavior, doing what is right and just and fair, for giving prudence to those who are simple knowledge and discretion to the young. Let the wise listen and add to their learning and let the discerning get guidance.

This is the person who is in the best possible position to be able to form decisions and to be able to make judgments on what is going on around them. Because it's not their thinking. It's not their opinion. This is God's wisdom. And if you are a child of the living God, then that wisdom is imparted onto you.

You have given his wisdom. You are given his instruction. You are given his teaching and you are to apply this to the world around you. In a range of different ways, and we'll come on to some of those. There's also a a common fear with this this passage.

And that's that if I judge and I'll be judged back. It's fairly rational response to have to the to the words that that Jesus that Jesus says here, because he says for in the same way you judge others, you will be judged. Okay? Well, I I don't want to be judged so therefore I'm not going to judge. That would be quite a logical argument, wouldn't it?

The only problem with it is, it is impossible to exist in this world without having to form judgments on a daily basis on an enormous range of things. Parents, you know that you have to form judgments on what your children do pretty much constantly all the time. If you stopped making judgments about what they were going to do, then it would go badly for everybody involved. We know this, don't we? In the workplace with colleagues, managers, and and people there who are under their supervision.

You have to make judgments. You have to. You have to be involved. And the thing is, as Christians, we're not just passive observers in this world. We're not just people who know better, but don't do anything.

We're not just people who have been given some of God's wisdom, but Don't put it to any use in the world. We don't just hide it away. If we if we were to stop judging this world and to stop judging the actions and the behaviors of the people around us, of the things going on in our societies and Imagine what would happen. Can you imagine what would happen? Well, the first thing that would happen is that as a church, you would just drift.

You would be just blown around with whatever prevailing wind there is. Carried along on whatever current there is because you've lost the ability to judge the situation. You've lost the ability to think critically about the agenda. About what's being fed into you. If we if we stop judging each other's actions, if we stop making decisions based on what we see each other do, then how are we ever going to correct each other?

How are we ever going to help each other? How are we ever going to be involved in in each other's lives? 1 of my 1 of my favorite TV shows is the wire. Rory can add, introduced me to it. Thank you, Rory.

And it's based in Baltimore. In a city Baltimore, it's all about the drug trade in inner city Baltimore. And it's actually based on a guy who acts in the show. He's a reformed gangster and he plays this character called Deacon. And basically, he is I mean, he's he's reformed.

He's saved. He found Christ later on in life and then he devoted the rest of his days to being involved back in those communities with which he once used to terrorize by all accounts. And in months, he comes up with this brilliant quote among the seasons, Man if you could put it up. It's like a good churchman is always up in everybody's stuff. In other words, A good churchman, a good Christian is dead involved in in other people's lives, in the mess of other people's lives, making judgments and decisions and reaching in and helping getting messy Putting yourself out there to help brothers and sisters, doing the work that needs to be done.

And in order to do that, you have to be able to make judgment. If you've gone to the next slide, Mandy, we we read again in proverbs. I mean, proverbs helps to frame this passage. So so helpfully. As iron sharpens iron, so 1 person sharpens another.

You know, as as we come together as Christians, we help each other. We have to be involved in each other's lives. We have to be we have to really be making judgments on what we're saying and doing. Again, We hear in Proverbs chapter 3, my son do not despise the Lord's discipline and do not resent his rebuke because the Lord disciplines those he loves as a father the son he delights in. God reaches in and makes judgments on our lives, and he puts us with brothers and sisters so that we can do this work as well, so that we can help each other.

And that is really always the big difference, and Jesus makes this quite clear because he goes on to say in verse 2, for in the same way you judge others, He expects that we will judge others. He expects that we will be judging. But he also warns that however we choose to judge people, That will be the way in which we're judged. And whatever measure we use off the back of that judgment, Well, we're going to receive that measure in turn. And that ought to make us pay attention.

That ought to make us prick up our ears and and really think this through and and and and ponder this and listen. So if I choose to judge someone harshly, I guess this is where it's going with this. If I choose to judge someone harshly and condemn someone, because they've done something wrong or or or whatever. Then I need to know that if I judge someone harshly, And if I if I pour out condemnation on them, if I if I assassinate their character as a result of it, Well, then that's how I'm gonna be judged. That's what I'll receive in turn.

That's what will come back at me That's when my wrong doings are laid out. When God comes to judge my wrong doings, that is gonna be what I receive in turn. So be careful. Be very very careful because after all, who here's never done any wrong? There's anyone in the room that can raise their hand to that.

And who here has probably judged other people harshly? I think probably all of us could put our hands up in the room to that even if it's just internally at some point or another and condemn them in our minds as fantasized about their downfall for some imagined slight or something that they've actually done. Judgment in and of itself is not the issue. The issue appears to be how and why we judge. And Jesus goes on to clarify this in these 2 these 2 sort of parabolic illustrations that he that he gives next.

And this is where it gets kind of comical. So we we come to this very famous little passage in verse 3. So why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye. How can you say to your brother? Let me take the speck out of your eye.

While all the time, there is a plank in your eye. You hypocrite. First, take the plank out of your eye and then you'll see clearly to remove the speck. In your brother's eye. I mean, it's ridiculous, isn't it?

I mean, firstly, you you wouldn't survive a plank in the eye. I don't think. Without drastically altering the shape of your face forever. But there's just the thought of going around with this plank stuck in your head and then try Oh, yes, by the way, brother. Do you notice you've got a speck of dust in your eye?

Let me just take that out for you. Bang. You're probably more likely to knock them out than anything else. You're going to go in and do more damage than good if you haven't first dealt with your own issues. Don't focus.

Don't focus on other people's sin before dealing with your own for goodness sake. You're only gonna do more harm than good. And especially, don't tackle an issue that someone else is having. If you're sitting in the same way, particularly not. Not if you haven't dealt with it.

If you dealt with it, go for it. You're probably the best person in the room to help them through that thing. But if you haven't dealt with it yet, Whatever it may be, don't even think about it. I mean, it brings to mind David and Nathan, doesn't it? David having just committed adultery with bathsheba, got her pregnant, murdered her husband, Yuri, and then is is actually just largely getting along with life.

So God sends the prophet Nathan to him and the prophet comes in and he's got this story that he brings to David and he says to David there was a man and he had just 1 little lamb. That's all he had in the world. He was a very poor man. He just had this 1 little lamb that he loved. And there was a rich man who was travelling through and the rich man insisted on being, you know, put up for dinner and all the rest of it.

The rich man had loads of sheep but he wanted to eat that 1 little lamb that the poor man had. And so he eats it. He has it for dinner and David is furious when he hears this. He's full of condemnation. He judges this guy.

He wants to see him dead. And Nathan stands up and says, well, you are that man. You took your man's wife. 1 of your friends, You've got everything your man could ever want, David, and you took this 1 thing. You are that man.

We need to be so careful, don't we? Because so often, we find that actually it's easiest to see our own faults in other people because they're the ones that we can spot the the easiest. We know them. So, we see them in other people and we we tend to be able to judge them in other people what's completely forgetting that we're completely guilty of the same things ourselves. Have you never have you never had that happen to you?

It always happens to me. I always see a fault in somebody else and then go, oh, you know what? That's because I do that. Happens all the time. It's so annoying.

What are the hypocrites we are? The clear the clear weighting that Jesus is is is is putting and the stress that he's putting on this passage is Take a hard look at your own heart first before you start taking a look at other peoples. Make sure you've you've put yourself right. Set your own house in order, Make sure you've you've come to him. You've brought whatever it is to him for forgiveness, before you go and you you start you start looking into other people's stuff.

So, if you're someone that's always finding fault in others, be careful. Be careful with that. It's it's dangerous. It it actually, I think portrays more of a a a lack of your relationship with Christ than anything else. If all you're doing is you're finding fault in everybody else all the time, but you're never seeing it in yourself.

You're never seeing it in yourself. It's always other people's fault and this can be in any You could find fault in the preaching all the time and just be utterly critical. You could find fault in the way people dress constantly and be critical of that. I I always remember a story that Pete tells of a guy coming up to him at contagious and complaining about the way the girl's addressing. And it's like, address your filthy heart first because you're the 1 who's got a lost problem before you go start blaming all the girls for how they're dressing.

I mean, of course, you know, there is a case to talk about, you know, being discerning in the way you dress but that's not the main issue here. You're the 1 with the problem and you're blaming everybody else. Sort your heart out first. And then maybe you can find a way to address so I wouldn't advise that. Take the plank out of your own eye.

Humble yourself and then and then the point is you can help other people. You see that's the that's that's the difference here. So the thing that Jesus is attacking is the pharisaical hipper critical way of judging someone as being not up to the standard and absolutely condemning them and not even lifting a finger to get involved in helping them. And just get lost, your trash, Go away. This is utterly different.

This is address your problem. And then once you've addressed your problem, you can start to help other people It's it's radically in the opposite direction. It couldn't be any more different if you tried, but you still have to make the judgement, don't you? You still have to understand what's going on. You still have to look in and make decisions about those things.

And then you can go, by the way, brother, you realize you've got a speck in your eye. I mean, you might not be able to see it because it's in your eye. But I can see it's causing you some discomfort Oh, yeah. Yeah. Actually, yeah.

It's, you know, I am a little bit out of sorts. Well, I can see really clearly. You might not be able to see it. It's so close to you in your life. I can see that you're struggling with it.

Would you let me help you? Would you let me reach in and help? Because I can I can get it out? I can help you with that. It's it's an utterly different thing, an utterly, utterly different thing.

It's not judgment with condemnation. It's it's judgment that seeks to help. Because judgment with condemnation doesn't seek to help anyone except for the person doing the judging. That's the only person that that helps. It's just to make you feel better about yourself.

As you put other people down. That's not to be how we are. So that's how we are to relate this to our brothers and sisters, but Jesus makes 1 other application here. This is where we come to pigs and dogs. And this is where it often gets slightly tricky, but but bear with me.

Do not give dogs what is sacred. Do not throw your pearls to pigs. If you do, they may trample them under their feet and turn and tear you to pieces. It is strong language, isn't it? Because he is not talking about dogs and pigs.

Believe me, he's talking about people. And he's calling people pigs and dogs. And we we immediately sort of bulk at this a little bit and go uh-oh. Like this is this is where people are gonna take offense, if they're gonna take offense anywhere. This is where it's gonna this is where it's gonna go wrong.

But I think essentially what what he's saying is is be wise about who when and how you you you you get involved with his word and with with judging these situations and with reaching in. I mean, we were hearing this morning about some particularly unpleasant individuals. Can you imagine going to a Russo or a Marx and going, oh, by the way, Mark, you do realize you've got a speck in your eye. Would you mind if, you know, could help you with that. Just, you know, the lord Jesus Christ says this.

He's just gonna turn and tell you to pieces, is he not? It's not saying be cowardly. It's not saying with hold God's word. It's more actually, I think, giving over of themselves to themselves. It's making judgments of these I mean, you know, if Marx turned around, he was utterly repentant.

If he he came and sat here, right now and said, I wanna hear God's word. I've I've come to realize something, then none of us would hold it back from him. Who would we be to do that? But the point is we know that's not the case. It's obviously not the case.

It's right to judge a Hitler, and a Stalin, and a chairman Mao, and a Marx as wicked men. It's right to do that. And then how you behave changes as well. In line. I My previous job It's good that it's my previous job.

So if it was my current job, I couldn't talk about this. My previous job and this was about 10 years ago, and I don't think the guy even works for them anymore anyways. But he was the sales manager there and he he was 1 of these sorts of guys where everything's a joke. Everything ever is a joke. And he just would love to wind people up.

He was a wind up merchant. But not only that. I mean, most of the jokes pretty vulgar. They were often quite racist. They were often quite sexist.

And actually, he was just people would cringe and sort of just try and put their heads down and carry on with things in the office. And annoyingly, he was actually quite funny at times. That was the annoying thing and I wish that he wasn't. But when I first started, I wasn't a Christian, and it was only a couple of months later that I actually became a Christian, So, the change in me was was obvious to them. And, you know what it's like when you're a new Christian.

You're sort of bouncing off the walls, aren't you? You're up for every single fight going. You know, you're almost waiting for it. You want it. You go into work thinking, right, who's gonna have it today?

And he would always be there wanting to have it. Always always always and he would come and he would pick on me and he would try and entrap me into some sort of hot potato, although maybe homosexuality, maybe abortion, maybe just something that I was going to be culturally out of sync on because I follow the gospel and and he would try and do this publicly. In front of the office, he would try and get me to give some of my pills and I often would. I would often try and tell him about what I'd learned on Sunday that week. And say, oh, yeah, but no.

Jesus says this. And this is what God says and you've got it all wrong, mate. I don't know what you're talking about. That's rubbish. You know, this is this is how it is.

Every single time, trampled over. Every single time, torn to pieces, mocked. And you think, why am I putting God's word out there to be trampled over unnecessarily? This guy is not interested. I wish I'd known what I knew now, and I could have just turned around and said, well, why throw your pearls to pigs?

Seriously, why throw your pearls to pigs? Because that is what you are being. You're not you're not actually worth it. I shouldn't give a dog what is sacred. Just gonna slobber all over it and tear it to pieces.

You give a dog a scrap. It's fairly sobering stuff, isn't it? It's fairly sobering stuff. If you actually look at how how Jesus conducts himself throughout the gospels, when he comes up against pharisees, when he comes up against people who are staunchly in opposition to him. How does he answer them?

Does he spend hours and hours and hours on them? Does he get them to come along with him from place to place? No. He answers them in riddles and parables. He throws it back on them in a question that totally exposes their hypocrisy.

And then at the end, when he's on the cross, I mean, interestingly, he do not give dogs what is sacred. You think at the end on the cross and you think, well, he was silent. In the trial, he was silent. When he was being beaten, he was silent. In Psalm 22, it says, I'm surrounded by packs of dogs.

They're tearing apart. My garments, they're sharing everything out amongst them. It really seems quite pertinent, doesn't it? Do not give dogs what is sacred? Do not throw your pearls to pigs.

Jesus was silent. In those situations. There is a time when anything you're gonna do is just gonna be trampled. Anything you do is you're just gonna be torn to pieces for it. If you look at Proverbs chapter 9 verses 7 and 8, We see this.

I mean, look whoever corrects a mocker invites insults. We know this. Whoever rebukes the wicked, incurs abuse. Do not rebuke mockers or they will hate you. Rebuke the whys and they will love you.

And I think that's what we're seeing in this passage, isn't it? The loving rebuke to a brother or sister who has the wisdom of God at work in their life. It might hurt. It might dents. It might bruise at first.

But they'll love you in the end for it because you're loving them, you're getting involved in the mess of their life and trying to help but you do it to a mocker and they're just gonna hate. They're never gonna see it as help. They're just gonna abuse and hate So, that's how we're to apply this in those 2 different ways. And, In the end, in the end, the only person that can that can stand up to any form of judgment and be found correct. Every single time in every single way is Jesus.

Is it not? I challenge anyone to find him to be incorrect. I challenge anyone to find him to be wrong or to be abusive. Or unloving in any situation. It just doesn't happen.

He passes the test again and again and again and again and yet when he judges us and we are found wanting rather than condemning us, he reaches in and helps us. He paint he paints the picture of what we're supposed to be doing with each other. Does he not? He finds people in all kinds of sinful states who come to him, and he comes across. And he reaches in and he helps.

There's love and there's grace and there's kindness to be had No matter what the sin is, he'll walk with them through it. He's happy to help. He's happy to love. He's happy to guide. That's our God.

That's our God. That is who our father in heaven is. He doesn't just sit there, judging and condemning from some throne on high. And just throwing people away and forgetting all about them as though they never mattered. That is not who he is.

That is not what he does with us. And so when we're faced with a judgment like that, I mean, what what else can we do apart from applying it to other people? To hold out the gospel, to our brothers and sisters, like use your judgment to help people. Use your judgment and your your experience, your wisdom in this world to reach in and help brothers and sisters with what's going on in their lives. And for anybody else, for anyone who couldn't call themselves, a child of God, I don't know.

Then what's stopping you from coming under that loving judgment of God? What's stopping you from coming under his loving judgment and care? Because it's not a bad place to be. You're gonna be under someone's judgment, and I'll tell you what, if I were to choose, I would rather be under God's judgment because he knows what he's doing with it. And he will reach in and help you and that's why he sent his son Jesus so can place your trust in him.

Let me pray. Further we do, we do pray that you would you would help us with this. It's it's It's difficult for us to be involved in each other's lives because we have feelings of hypocrisy, we have feelings of guilt. We have all of the mess of our own selves to bring into situations and yet through your son, through Jesus, you cut through it all, and you offer forgiveness, and you offer us a way forwards you offer us a way into relationship with you, and so we can then offer people a way of repairing relationship. We can reach out to the people around us and offer those same things, but father help us to be wise as we do this.

Help us to understand this is not always going to work. In many times, we're just going to be attacked and it will be thrown back in our faces. Father, do help us to be wise and help us to be gentle as we apply this to each other as well. This this often takes gentle sympathetic careful handling as we as we carefully, you know, take each other by the hand and and help try to help guide each other through, you know, the many tricky messes that life throws up in this sinful world, this side of heaven. Father, thank you for sending the Lord Jesus Christ to make any of these things even remotely possible.

Omen.