Intro to Matt. 7:7-12

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 1/22/2021 10:25 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                                              Focus:  Intro to Matt. 7:7-12

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Matt. 7:7-12

 

            Message of the verses:  “7 "Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. 8 “For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. 9 “Or what man is there among you who, when his son asks for a loaf, will give him a stone? 10 “Or if he asks for a fish, he will not give him a snake, will he? 11 "If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give what is good to those who ask Him! 12 "In everything, therefore, treat people the same way you want them to treat you, for this is the Law and the Prophets.”

 

            We move from “Stop Criticizing” to “Start Loving” as Jesus in these 12 verses gives all we need for human relations to succeed. Imagine all of the thousands, if not millions of books that have been read on human relationship, and Jesus, as He only could shows is in 12 versus what we need to do, as we have stated, stop criticizing and start loving.

 

            John MacArthur writes at the beginning of his chapter entitled “Start Loving” the following:  “Here is the conclusion of the main theme of the Sermon on the Mount, which is to give the standards for kingdom living.  Jesus has given the standards related to self, to morality, to religion, and to money and possessions.  Here He concludes giving the standards related to human relationships begun in verses 1-6.

            “This passage forms the positive side of Jesus’ summation of the principles that lead to right human relations.  To love others in the way God wants us to love first of all requires that we do not self-righteously and carelessly criticize and unmercifully condemn others.  If that attitude is present, it has to be removed.  Not to be unjustly critical of a person is not the same as loving them, but it is absolutely necessary before true love can exist.  Yet love is much more than something negative, it is immeasurably more than simply not wishing evil on others or doing them any wrong.  The mere absence of hatred and ill will does not constitute love.”

 

            As we think about love it seems that we only have one word for love in our English language.  A man can say that he loves baked beans, and in the next sentence say that he loves his wife.  The word in John 3:16 “For God so loved” is the word agape and that is used many times in the New Testament for love.  The word in its meaning means that God loves us unconditionally not looking for anything in return, but once a person is born of God they will begin to love God like He loves them and will love others in the same way that God loves them, doing something without asking or expecting something in return.

 

            In 1 Corinthians 13:4-7, what is called the love chapter, we will see that in verses 4-7 it emphasizes action.   We can see a number of times the words “love is” and then we see action following those words. 

                       

            The key verse in our verses for today is verse twelve:  “12 "In everything, therefore, treat people the same way you want them to treat you, for this is the Law and the Prophets.”  This is what we would call the “Golden Rule.”  William Barclay writes the following about this verse:  “That verse, often referred to as the golden rule, has also been called the Mt. Everest of ethics.”  MacArthur adds “The famous Bible scholar Alfred Edersheim said ‘it was the closest approach to absolute love of which human nature was capable.’  Bishop J. C. Ryel wrote ‘[This truth] settles a hundred different points,…it prevents the necessity of laying down endless little rules for our conduct in specific cases.’

 

            “Jesus gives three reasons for obeying the command to love others as ourselves:  God’s promise to His children demands it, His pattern for His children demands it, and His purpose for His children demands it.”

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  It looks like as I read over what I have written here that I am about to get my toes stepped on for the next week or so.

 

My Steps of Faith for Today:  I hope that as I study this section that I won’t have to get my toes stepped on after I learn from this wonderful passage, a passage that in my mind is very important for revival in my life.

 

1/22/2021 11:11 AM

  

           

PT-3 "The Right Ballance" (Matt. 7:5b-6)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 1/21/2021 9:23 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                                  Focus:  PT-3 “The Right Balance”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                     Reference:  Matthew 7:5b-6

 

            Message of the verses:  “first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye. 6 “Do not give what is holy to dogs, and do not throw your pearls before swine, or they will trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you to pieces.”

 

            We continue to talk about dogs and hogs as we begin this SD.  We all know that wild animals, as their primary concern is to scavenge for food will not even at all appreciate being thrown a pearl.  He may even resent someone doing this, and for that matter who would?  He may even attack the foolish person who does that.  I think we get the picture here as some people do not ever want to be told that they are sinners in need of salvation.

 

            We can see from Matthew 11:25 that Jesus did not give all of His teaching to everyone who happened to be listening:  “At that time Jesus said, "I praise You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that You have hidden these things from the wise and intelligent and have revealed them to infants.”  I have written about what the progression is in the book of Matthew as there is a turning point in this book when the Jews accused Jesus of doing healing in the power of the devil.  This turning point happens in chapter thirteen as Jesus begins to speak in parables to which His disciples asked Him why He was doing this:  “10  And the disciples came and said to Him, "Why do You speak to them in parables?" 11 Jesus answered them, "To you it has been granted to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been granted. 12 “For whoever has, to him more shall be given, and he will have an abundance; but whoever does not have, even what he has shall be taken away from him. 13 “Therefore I speak to them in parables; because while seeing they do not see, and while hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand” Matt. 13:10-13).  One more thing here and that is after Jesus arose from the dead He only spoke to those who were believers.

 

            In Peter’s second letter which like Jude has to do with false prophets he writes in chapter two the following:  “1 But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will also be false teachers among you, who will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing swift destruction upon themselves. 2 Many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of the truth will be maligned.”  In verse 12 of this chapter Peter uses words similar to what Jesus taught in Matthew:  “12 But these, like unreasoning animals, born as creatures of instinct to be captured and killed, reviling where they have no knowledge, will in the destruction of those creatures also be destroyed.”  Peter will close his warnings with what is found in verse 22 “It has happened to them according to the true proverb, "A DOG RETURNS TO ITS OWN VOMIT," and, "A sow, after washing, returns to wallowing in the mire.”  One does not have to wonder too much to see where Peter got his ideas to write what he did here.

 

            MacArthur writes “Dogs and swine represent those who, because of their great perversity and ungodliness, refuse to have anything to do with the holy and precious things of God except to ‘trample them under their feet, and turn and tear’ God’s people ‘to pieces.’”

 

            Any true believe who has witnessed to people will have times when they are ridiculed, as the gospel is offensive.  Let us look at Matthew 10:14 “"Whoever does not receive you, nor heed your words, as you go out of that house or that city, shake the dust off your feet.”  Jesus says this to His disciples who He is sending out to spread the good news.  It was Paul’s plan as he went on his missionary journeys to talk to the Jews first and many times, in fact most of the times they rejected what he was telling them.  He said the following to the Jews in Acts 18:6 “But when they resisted and blasphemed, he shook out his garments and said to them, "Your blood be on your own heads! I am clean. From now on I will go to the Gentiles.’”  When believers witness to the lost it can be frustrating, but sometimes the rewards are so great that they cause you to forget being frustrated.  I have felt both, the frustration and the spiritual high that goes along with witnessing.  I remember that I am only the message giver and it is the Spirit of God who convicts and saves.

 

            We conclude this section and this chapter with the last paragraph in this section from John MacArthur to help wrap things up.

 

            “Matthew 7:6 is one of the ‘hard sayings’ of Jesus.  We must take the command seriously and do our best to obey it, because it is the Lord’s will.  But because it is so serious and because we may also be inclined to be self-righteous and judgmental, we need to depend on the Lord with special care and sincerity.  Even when we determine that person is too rebellious to hear the gospel or is a heretical and false teacher, we go on our way not in self-satisfied judgment but in great disappointment and sorrow—remembering how our Lord, as He approached Jerusalem for the last time, ‘aw the city and wept over’ those who refused to recognize and receive their King (Luke 19:41-42).  To avoid wrongful judging and to accomplish right discernment is to be marked as a citizen of the heavenly kingdom.”

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  Self-righteous is not something that I desire to be a part of, but sometimes I am and this section from Matthew surely has convicted me about this.

 

My Steps of Faith for Today:  I trust the Lord to give me wisdom to be able to teach a Bible study this afternoon at my friend’s house.  I look forward to teach about the end times in this Bible study.

 

1/21/2021 9:58 AM

 

           

PT-2 "The Right Ballance" (Matt. 7:5b-6)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 1/20/2021 3:21 PM

 

My Worship Time                                                                  Focus:  PT-2 “The Right Balance”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Matt. 7:5b-6

 

            Message of the verses:  “first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye. 6 "Do not give what is holy to dogs, and do not throw your pearls before swine, or they will trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you to pieces.”

 

            Looks like we will be talking at sometime in this SD about “dogs” and “hogs,” so I hope that sounds interesting.

 

            We have been talking about humility, for that is one thing that we truly must desire as we walk with our Lord.  We are not to play the hypocrite—blaming others while we excuse ourselves.  This is what we ended up looking at from our last SD, but today we must talk about some dangers even for the truly humble and repentant believer.  Let us look at the first danger which already has been mentioned and that is of concluding that we have no right to oppose wrong doctrine or wrong practices in the church.  We just can “judge not or you will be judged” in cases pertaining in the church.  I suppose another case would be if you were a juror deciding on a case of law.  In the church we have to be able to confront a sinning brother.  Jesus talks about this in the 18^th chapter of Matthew as He gives the church an order in dealing with sin. 

 

            John MacArthur writes “Jesus closes this illustration with a thunderbolt that completely shatters the sentimental interpretation that, in the name of humility and love, we are never to oppose wrong or correct wrongdoers.  It is clear that Jesus does not exclude every kind of judgment.  In fact, He just as plainly commands a certain kind of right judgment here as He forbids a wrong kind in the preceding verses.  ‘Do not give what is holy to dogs, and do not throw your pearls before swine.’ To obey that command it is obviously necessary to be able to determine who are ‘dogs’ and ‘swine.’”

 

            I don’t want you to misunderstand about what the dogs were in Jesus’ day and what they are in our day as we live in the United States of America.  In Jesus’ day the dogs were wild, and they certainly were not kept in houses.  Much different today than in His day.

 

            I Jew would never want to take some meat that was offered as a sacrifice and throw it to the dogs, this just would never happen.  In the Law there were certain practices on what to do with the different parts of the sacrifices as some were burnt up, some parts were eaten by the priests, and some would often be taken home and eaten by the family who made the sacrifice.  Now the part that was left on the altar was the part which was consecrated exclusively to the Lord, and therefore it was holy and very special.  Now you can better understand what Jesus is talking about here.

 

            Most people probably know what the Jews thought about swine.  One of the Jews great enemies, Antiochus Epiphanes, a picture of the coming antichrist, sacrificed a pig on the Jewish altar, and in the future the antichrist will do something similar.  When Epiphanes did this in 168 B.C. it touched off the Maccabean revolt against Greece.

 

            I believe that Jesus’ point here is that certain truths and blessings of our faith are not to be shared with people who are totally antagonistic to the things of God.  Most of them would probably just make fun of it because they are spiritually dead.  MacArthur adds “Such people are spiritual dogs and swine, who have no appreciation for that which is holy and righteous.  They will take that which is holy, the pearls (the rarest and most valuable of jewels; see Matt. 13:45-46) of God’s Word, as foolishness and as insult.”

 

            Giving a wild animal whose primary concern is scavenging for food a pearl would hardly be something he appreciates.  The animal will resent its not being something to eat and possibly attack the one who is throwing it to him.

 

            Looks like one more SD to do on this section, and Lord willing we will do this tomorrow.

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I like to talk to people about the Lord who seem to me to be a divine connection, as this seems to be the best way to me.

 

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Seek the Lord’s help in bringing revival to me, my family, our Sunday school class, and our church.  Then if it is the plan of the Lord it will spread to our land and eventually around the world before the Lord comes to take His church home to be with Him.

 

1/20/2021 4:02 PM

 

 

  

PT-1 "The Right Ballance" (Matt. 7:5b-6)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 1/19/2021 2:06 PM

 

My Worship Time                                                                  Focus:  PT-1 “The Right Balance”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                     Reference:  Matthew 7:5b-6

 

            Message of the verses:  “first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye. 6 “Do not give what is holy to dogs, and do not throw your pearls before swine, or they will trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you to pieces.”

 

            I think that it is good for me to remind all who read this is that the Sermon on the Mount is talking to kingdom citizens, the person who is poor in spirit, humble, and who hungers and thirsts for God’s righteousness as seen in Matt. 5:3, and 5:6.  This will be the person who first of all sees and mourns over his own sin as seen in Matt. 5:4.

 

            MacArthur writes “Jesus here gives the corrective to the wrong kind of judgment by showing the right balance of humility and conviction, poverty of spirit and power in the Spirit.  The Lord’s command is ‘First take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye.’  First of all we confess our sin—often the sin of self-righteousness and of a condemning spirit toward others—and ask for God’s cleansing.  When our own sin is cleansed, when the ‘log’ is taken out of our ‘own eye,’ then we will see our brother’s sin clearly ourselves.  We will see God as the only Judge, others as needy sinners who are just like ourselves.  We will see our ‘brother’ as a brother, on our own level and with our own frailties and needs.”

 

            Let us look at Psalm 51verses 10, and 12-13 so we can see the right balance of humility and also helpfulness.  “10 Create in me a clean heart, O God, And renew a steadfast spirit within me. 12 Restore to me the joy of Your salvation And sustain me with a willing spirit. 13 Then I will teach transgressors Your ways, And sinners will be converted to You.”  We know that this psalm that David wrote was one of two psalms he wrote after his sin with Bathsheba and her husband Uriah.  There is another story that fits in here and that is the story told by the gospel writer Dr. Luke.  In the 22^nd chapter we read that Jesus tells Peter that Satan has desired to sift him (Peter) like wheat.  Jesus told Peter that after he had recovered from his moral defection, he could then “strengthen [his] brothers” (Luke 22:32).  One of the things that I like about that story is that when a person is sifted like wheat then what is left is the wheat as the chaff is blow all away.  Paul advises us in Galatians 6:1 “Brethren, even if anyone is caught in any trespass, you who are spiritual, restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness; each one looking to yourself, so that you too will not be tempted.”  What we can see here is that all confrontation of sin in others must be done out of meekness, not pride.  We cannot think that we are better that others for we are all sinners who fall short of the glory of God.  With that said we cannot play the role of supervisor as if we were exempt from the same standards we demand of others.  First we must not play the hypocrite as we blame others while we excuse ourselves.

 

            We have some pretty heavy stuff here, at least for me, and so we will stop here and Lord willing pick it up again tomorrow.

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I am a retired supervisor and sometimes I live that way at home and around others, which is sinful, but I, through the help of the Spirit of God am learning.

 

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Continue to pray for revival in myself, family, Sunday school class, and our country, and then Lord willing, around the world.

 

1/19/2021 2:29 PM

An Erroneous View of Ourselves (Matt. 7:3-5a)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 1/18/2021 9:59 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                      Focus: “An Erroneous View of Ourselves”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Matt. 7:3-5a

 

            Message of the verses:  “3 “Why do you look at the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? 4 “Or how can you say to your brother, ’Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ and behold, the log is in your own eye? 5 “You hypocrite,”

 

            It is when we judge critically that we also manifest an erroneous view of ourselves.  As we look at all three false views, an erroneous view of God, an erroneous view of others, and an erroneous view of ourselves, we find that they are all connected.  The reason is when we have a wrong view of God; we cannot but then have a wrong view of others and of ourselves.  As we put ourselves in God’s place as judge this then prevents our perspective of others and ourselves.

 

            John MacArthur writes “A karphos (speck) is not a tiny piece of dust or soot but a small stalk or twig, or possibly a splinter.  Though small in comparison to a ‘log,’ it is not an insignificant object to have in the eye.  Jesus’ comparison, therefore, is not between insignificant object to have in the eye. Jesus’ comparison, therefore, is not between a very small sin or fault and one that is large, but between one that is large and one that is gigantic.  The primary point, of course, is that the sin of the critic is much greater than the sin of the person he is criticizing.”

 

            There are some who interpreters who would suggest that the speck in a person’s eye is something like a minor ceremonial infraction, and the log would represent an extremely vulgar and a repulsive sin.  Most of the time people who have those vulgar and repulsive sin tend to cover them up and would not try and justify their own great sin, not in criticizing the small sins of others. 

 

            In the ministry of Jesus while on earth the sin that He repeatedly condemns in the scribes and the Pharisees is self-righteousness, and not only in the Sermon on the Mount, but in other places as well we read of this.  MacArthur writes “Almost by definition, self-righteousness is a sin of blindness, or of grossly distorted vision, because it looks directly at its own sin and still imagines it sees only righteousness.  The ‘log’ in this illustration represents the same foundational sin of self-righteousness that Jesus has been condemning throughout the sermon.

            “The very nature of self-righteousness is to justify self and condemn others.  In so doing people play God, because they judge themselves on the basis of their own standards and wisdom.  Self-righteousness is the worst of sins because it is unbelief.  It trusts in self rather than God.  It trusts in self to determine what is right and wrong and to determine who does what is right or wrong.  Self-righteousness claims to be both lawgiver and judge, prerogatives that belong only to the Lord.”

 

            What do we also see from self-righteousness?  We see that it denies and opposes the gospel and the reason is because the gospel proclaims man’s sinfulness and lostness even as it proclaims God’s mercy and also His grace.  It is because the self-righteous person sees no sin in their lives that they have no need of God’s grace in his behalf.  At the end of verse three we see the word “notice” and this word conveys the idea of serious, continuous meditation, in other words someone must have been thinking about if for a while.  Jesus could be saying something like “Will you not stop and think about your own sin? Until you have done that, how can you confront another with his shorcominings?”

 

            So the person who is self-righteous can never be anything but a hypocrite.  We see the word hypocrite in the beginning of verse five.  Here is the definition of this word that comes from my Online Bible program “1) one who answers, an interpreter 2) an actor, stage player

3) a dissembler, pretender, hypocrite”  I believe that the highlighted one is perhaps what Jesus is describing here.

 

            The reason this self-righteous person is a hypocrite is because he continually puts on a deceitful act of righteous superiority.  That is the reason that he feels qualified to say to his brother, “Let me take the speck out of your eye” in other words let me tell you what is wrong in your life and let me straighten you out.

 

            James describes a hypocrite in James 1:23-24 where he writes “23 For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks at his natural face in a mirror; 24  for once he has looked at himself and gone away, he has immediately forgotten what kind of person he was.”  This person sees but he does not see is the conclusion of these verses.  He is like the persons that Isaiah was sent to minister to.  Isaiah was sent to the lost people of Israel, but he was told by God that they would not listen, but God sent him any way.  We read the following in Isaiah 6:9-10 “9 He said, "Go, and tell this people: ’Keep on listening, but do not perceive; Keep on looking, but do not understand.’ 10 “Render the hearts of this people insensitive, Their ears dull, And their eyes dim, Otherwise they might see with their eyes, Hear with their ears, Understand with their hearts, And return and be healed.’”

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  Sometimes, and perhaps far too many times I need to have the Lord clean up my act for things that I do and don’t realize that I am doing.  “The Word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart” (Hebrews 4:12).

 

My Steps of Faith for Today:  I desire to continue to trust the Lord to bring about revival beginning with myself, my family, and also our Sunday school class to whom I spoke to last night.  Then from there I pray it moves through our entire church and even further.

 

1/18/2021 10:44 AM

 

 

 

           

PT-2 "An Erroneous View of Others (Matt. 7:2)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 1/17/2021 9:17 PM

 

My Worship Time                                                      Focus:  PT-2 An Erroneous View of Others

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Matthew 7:2

 

            Message of the verse:  “2 "For in the way you judge, you will be judged; and by your standard of measure, it will be measured to you.”

 

            We continue to look at this verse that probably has stumped many people for a long time.  Let us begin by looking at James 3:1 “1 Let not many of you become teachers, my brethren, knowing that as such we will incur a stricter judgment.”  James has the same principle here of what Jesus says in this verse.  The person who is qualified to teach is judged on a stricter basis than others because as a teacher he has greater understanding and also has greater influence.  We can see an example of this from Luke 12:48 “From everyone who has been given much shall much be required.”  I think that Spiritual gifts can come into play as we look at this principle found in Luke and also in James, and Matthew.  The one who has been given more Spiritual gifts has much more to be responsible for.

 

            Now if a person has a gift of teaching and is teaching something and does not follow the things that he is teaching, something like the Pharisees were doing then they are guilty as seen in Romans 2:1-2 “1 Therefore you have no excuse, everyone of you who passes judgment, for in that which you judge another, you condemn yourself; for you who judge practice the same things. 2 And we know that the judgment of God rightly falls upon those who practice such things.”

 

            John MacArthur writes “God has no double standards.  In criticizing unjustly or condemning unmercifully, we play God and give the impression that we ourselves are above criticism and judgment. But God sets none of us as final judge above others, and we dare not set ourselves as judge above others.  Other people are not under us, and to think so is to have the wrong view of them.  To be gossipy, talebearing, critical, and judgmental is to live under the false illusion that those whom we so judge are somehow inferior to us.”

 

            Those who do things like this will have it come back on them like a boomerang as Jesus tells us in this verse.  The story in the book of Ester is partly about a man named Haman who hated a man named Mordecai because he was a Jew.  Haman made gallows to have Mordecai on and ended up being hung on those very gallows.  Kind of like what goes around, comes around.  MacArthur adds another little story:  “Just as the cruel Adoni-bezek had ordered the thumbs and big toes cut off seventy other kings, so his own were eventually cut off (Judg. 1:6-7).”

 

            This final story should make all of us stop and think.  MacArthur writes “In ancient Persia, a certain corrupt judge who accepted a bribe to render a false verdict was ordered executed by King Cambyses.  The judge’s skin was then used to cover the judgment seat. Subsequent judges were forced to render their judgments while sitting on that chair, as a reminder of the consequences of perverting justice.

 

            “To be judgmental is dangerous to the victim because of the bias against him.  It is even more dangerous to judge, because by the ‘standard of measure’ with which he judges others ‘it will be measured to’ him.”

 

1/17/2021 9:40 PM

An Erroneous View of Others (Matt. 7:2)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 1/16/2021 11:55 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                             Focus:  “An Erroneous View of Others”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Matthew 7:2

 

            Message of the verse:  “2 "For in the way you judge, you will be judged; and by your standard of measure, it will be measured to you.”

 

            Why do you think that people believe that they have the right to judge others?  The main reason is that they think that they are superior to the ones that they are judging.  Think about the religious leaders who were in Judah when Christ was on the earth.  The scribes and Pharisees believed this so much that they crucified Jesus Christ.  I know that there are others who responsible for his crucifixion including me and all other believers who realize that they are sinners saved by grace.  The Roman’s were also were responsible including Herod, and what happened to Herod after giving the authority to crucify Jesus is a very long and sad story.  God the Father was also responsible for the crucifixion of Jesus Christ:  “Isa 53:10  But the LORD was pleased To crush Him, putting Him to grief; If He would render Himself as a guilt offering, He will see His offspring, He will prolong His days, And the good pleasure of the LORD will prosper in His hand.”

 

            John MacArthur writes “Jesus says that God will judge us with the same type of judgment with which we judge others.  When we assume the role of final, omniscient judge, we imply that we are qualified to judge—that we know and understand all the facts all the circumstances, and all the motives involved.  Therefore, when we assert our right to judge, we ‘will be judged’ by the standard of knowledge and wisdom we claim is ours.  If we set ourselves up as judge over others, we cannot plead ignorance of the law in reference to ourselves when God judges us.”

 

            I think that what I want to do at this time is to give a quotation from the sermon that I finally got to listen to yester from John MacArthur on these six verses.  It was eye opening to me as it helped me to better understand this passage that has been very difficult for me to understand.  The part that I wish to quote is a review of the things that we have been going on since we began to study The Lord’s Prayer.  The quotation will not be that long but will remind us of what we have been studying for a fairly long time.  Then I will try and finish this section in our next SD.

 

            “In the Sermon on the Mount, our Lord has touched on all of the areas of a believer’s life, in a wonderful and marvelous summation of all of the areas of truth related to living within the kingdom. We have seen Christ meet us at every point. He began with our perspective on self in the Beatitudes, with our perspective on the world in the statements on salt and light, with our perspectives on the Word of God as He talked about the law and the fact that it was immutable and unchanging, our perspective on the moral law or holiness as He discussed the fact that we are to have an inward commitment as well as an external one. He discussed our religious activity – giving, praying, and fasting. He discussed our perspective, as we have just recently seen, on money and possessions, material goods. And now he comes to a text that deals with our relations with other people. We’ve talked about our relations to ourselves, to God, to His Word, to the world; our relations to religious activity, our relations to the morality of the time and what God wants; and now to human relationships, right relationships. And this is a tremendous passage that you’ll be looking at.

            “Now as in all the other elements of the Sermon on the Mount, the perspective here is given in contrast to the view of the scribes and the Pharisees. They were the existing religious influence of the time; and against the background of their perspective, the Lord presents the truth. They came along, and their view of life was to be proud, and the Beatitudes were to be humble. They were a part of the system; Christ said that we are to be salt and light to the system.”

 

1/16/2021 12:21 PM