Luke 6: 37 – 49
All You Need Is Love
37 “Judge not, and you shall not be judged. Condemn not, and you shall not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven. 38 Give, and it will be given to you: good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over will be put into your bosom. For with the same measure that you use, it will be measured back to you.” 39 And He spoke a parable to them: “Can the blind lead the blind? Will they not both fall into the ditch? 40 A disciple is not above his teacher, but everyone who is perfectly trained will be like his teacher. 41 And why do you look at the speck in your brother’s eye, but do not perceive the plank in your own eye? 42 Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Brother, let me remove the speck that is in your eye,’ when you yourself do not see the plank that is in your own eye? Hypocrite! First remove the plank from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck that is in your brother’s eye. 43 “For a good tree does not bear bad fruit, nor does a bad tree bear good fruit. 44 For every tree is known by its own fruit. For men do not gather figs from thorns, nor do they gather grapes from a bramble bush. 45 A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart brings forth evil. For out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks. 46 “But why do you call Me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do the things which I say? 47 Whoever comes to Me, and hears My sayings and does them, I will show you whom he is like: 48 He is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid the foundation on the rock. And when the flood arose, the stream beat vehemently against that house, and could not shake it, for it was founded on the rock. 49 But he who heard and did nothing is like a man who built a house on the earth without a foundation, against which the stream beat vehemently; and immediately it fell. And the ruin of that house was great.”
I do not know about you but I have difficulty judging people. Should we judge people or not is the question. Today we are going to see what our Precious Holy Spirit teaches regarding how we should conduct our lives in regards to this vital situation.
I think that we can all agree that our opinions mean nothing. We therefore have only one standard in thinking about judging others. What does our Lord say in His word?
37 “Judge not, and you shall not be judged. Condemn not, and you shall not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven. 38 Give, and it will be given to you: good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over will be put into your bosom. For with the same measure that you use, it will be measured back to you.”
We can see right off the bat that our Lord speaks about this issue like it is a court session. For one thing we are not the judge. Do you see our Lord’s direct instruction to us – ‘Judge not!’. We are not to render a verdict against anyone. I know that many times my flesh cries out for people to get the ultimate sentence. However, He always stops me with this one which I think we are all familiar with in the book of Deuteronomy chapter 32 verse 35, “Vengeance is Mine, and recompense; Their foot shall slip in due time; For the day of their calamity is at hand, And the things to come hasten upon them.’ We often just respond with our memory of this verse, ‘vengeance is Mine, I shall repay.’
Our Lord here also reminds us that in addition to not being the judge we are also not in the jury. We are instructed to ‘condemn not!’. We are not to decide anyone’s case - Are they guilty or not.
What is terrible hard for us sinners is to do these two things – give and forgive. However, if we follow the advice from our Lord as given in 2 Corinthians chapter 9 verse 6 we will greatly benefit, “6 But this I say: He who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully.’ In other words, if we respond greatly in love by giving and forgiving when our desire is a pound of flesh, we shall greatly receive rewards from our Great God.
Now there are also situations in which we are to judge. Here are the reasons and purposes in which to do so;
John 7: 24 says, “24 Do not judge according to appearance, but judge with righteous judgment.’
1 Corinthians 2: 13 – 16, “13 These things we also speak, not in words which man’s wisdom teaches but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual. 14 But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. 15 But he who is spiritual judges all things, yet he himself is rightly judged by no one. 16 For “who has known the mind of the LORD that he may instruct Him?” But we have the mind of Christ.”
1 Corinthians 6: 1 – 11, “1 Dare any of you, having a matter against another, go to law before the unrighteous, and not before the saints? 2 Do you not know that the saints will judge the world? And if the world will be judged by you, are you unworthy to judge the smallest matters? 3 Do you not know that we shall judge angels? How much more, things that pertain to this life? 4 If then you have judgments concerning things pertaining to this life, do you appoint those who are least esteemed by the church to judge? 5 I say this to your shame. Is it so, that there is not a wise man among you, not even one, who will be able to judge between his brethren? 6 But brother goes to law against brother, and that before unbelievers! 7 Now therefore, it is already an utter failure for you that you go to law against one another. Why do you not rather accept wrong? Why do you not rather let yourselves be cheated? 8 No, you yourselves do wrong and cheat, and you do these things to your brethren! 9 Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, 10 nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God. 11 And such were some of you. But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God.
1 Corinthians 11: 31, “31 For if we would judge ourselves, we would not be judged.”
We are to carefully here both sides of issues before commenting. In addition we are always willing to offer mediation to any problem or situation. And lastly, we need to remember to judge ourselves.
In addition in receiving instruction on how we should think about others we are taught that the real success or failure in love is reflected in our behavior and speech.
39 And He spoke a parable to them: “Can the blind lead the blind? Will they not both fall into the ditch? 40 A disciple is not above his teacher, but everyone who is perfectly trained will be like his teacher. 41 And why do you look at the speck in your brother’s eye, but do not perceive the plank in your own eye? 42 Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Brother, let me remove the speck that is in your eye,’ when you yourself do not see the plank that is in your own eye? Hypocrite! First remove the plank from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck that is in your brother’s eye.
Here is a little reminder. You are under constant surveillance. People are watching your every movement. What you say and do is scrutinized to see if you are really who you claim to be – God’s child.
There is important reality regarding our behaviors in public - 39 And He spoke a parable to them: “Can the blind lead the blind? Will they not both fall into the ditch? 40 A disciple is not above his teacher, but everyone who is perfectly trained will be like his teacher. 41 And why do you look at the speck in your brother’s eye, but do not perceive the plank in your own eye? 42 Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Brother, let me remove the speck that is in your eye,’ when you yourself do not see the plank that is in your own eye? Hypocrite! First remove the plank from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck that is in your brother’s eye.
We do not see our own faults clearly. If you have a wife, she does. Check with her. This will keep you humble.
Our Lord used a great startling comparison. A key point to remember in these verses is that we need to deal with our own problems before we can go and help others.
You have marriage problems. Then you are not in a position to give advice to someone else in their marriage problems.
Now in addition to our actions our Lord remarks about our speech.
43 “For a good tree does not bear bad fruit, nor does a bad tree bear good fruit. 44 For every tree is known by its own fruit. For men do not gather figs from thorns, nor do they gather grapes from a bramble bush. 45 A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart brings forth evil. For out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.
These words cut me right to my heart. Boy do I fail the test and I am supposed to be our Lord’s servant. With the Lord’s help I can somewhat obey His truth, “45 A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart brings forth evil. For out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.”
It all comes down to submission totally to our Lord.
46 “But why do you call Me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do the things which I say? 47 Whoever comes to Me, and hears My sayings and does them, I will show you whom he is like: 48 He is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid the foundation on the rock. And when the flood arose, the stream beat vehemently against that house, and could not shake it, for it was founded on the rock. 49 But he who heard and did nothing is like a man who built a house on the earth without a foundation, against which the stream beat vehemently; and immediately it fell. And the ruin of that house was great.”
Next time you are praying remember this, “46 “But why do you call Me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do the things which I say?”
How do you feel about the word ‘Hypocrite?’ I do not like it. When we say to our Great Jehovah Elyon – The Lord Most High, ‘Lord, Lord’ we are humbly submitting to Him in all things. Then if we ignore His truth as taught in His word and fail to obey it, we are guilty of hypocrisy. Ouch! We do not follow through in what we claim to be – our Lord’s follower.
Probably the scarcest verses in the bible to me come from the Gospel of Matthew chapter 7, “ 21 “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. 22 Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ 23 And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!”
Please make sure you are His child.
As mentioned earlier – we need to do our own inventory. As the apostle Paul advised in his second letter to the Corinthians chapter 13, “Examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Do you not know yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you are disqualified.”
The believer will display stability in his or her life no matter what storms may come their way - 47 Whoever comes to Me, and hears My sayings and does them, I will show you whom he is like: 48 He is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid the foundation on the rock. And when the flood arose, the stream beat vehemently against that house, and could not shake it, for it was founded on the rock. 49 But he who heard and did nothing is like a man who built a house on the earth without a foundation, against which the stream beat vehemently; and immediately it fell. And the ruin of that house was great.”
When the dust clears will you still be standing or destroyed? Let us totally give ourselves to the One Who loves us. Thank you Lord Jesus.
