Mat. 7:3-5
“And why do you look at the speck in your brother’s eye, but do not consider the log in your own eye? 4 Or how can you say to your brother, “Let me remove the speck from your eye”; and look, a log is in your own eye? 5 Hypocrite! First remove the log from your own eye, then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.”
2nd Sam. 12:5-7, 9
5 And David’s anger was greatly kindled against the man; and he said to Nathan, “As the Lord liveth, the man that hath done this thing shall surely die: 6 And he shall restore the lamb fourfold, because he did this thing, and because he had no pity.” 7 And Nathan said to David, “Thou art the man! Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, I anointed thee king over Israel, and delivered thee out of the hand of Saul . . . .9 Wherefore hast thou despised the commandment of the Lord to do evil in His sight? Thou has killed Uriah Hittite with the sword, and hast taken his wife to be thy wife, and hast slain him with the sword of the children of Ammon.”
Introduction:
When it comes to our desire to make things better, we all have a tendency to start by looking at other people instead of looking at ourselves. When we view society as a whole or if we start on a smaller scale; if we get it into our heads that things need to change for the better, we usually start from the position that “other people need to change”. We want other people to change to our standards of “righteousness”, we want them to change to what we think they ought to be, we want them to talk like we think they should talk, or act like we think they should act, or dress like we think they should dress, or believe what we think they should believe. We are fast at desiring, even demanding change in other people, but we are pitifully slow on recognizing the need for change in our own lives. We are quick to see the weaknesses, the deficiencies and the sin in some one else’s life, but we are blind to the train wrecks clogging up the tracks in our own lives. There is a big difference in how we think and How God thinks, we always want to change other people, God thinks and works in the opposite direction, He always wants to change me! When God moves to revive me, when He moves to bring me back to Him, He always starts working on my heart to the exclusion of my brother’s heart. God’s issues are with me personally; my brother or my sister belong to the Lord and it is His prerogative to will deal with them in His own way.
Question: Why is it our nature to try to remove splinter from our brothers eye and ignore the log that is in our own eye? My greatest challenge is always keeping myself under control, keeping my feet off the “Broad way” that leads to destruction and on the narrow way that leads to eternal life. As we move deeper into these times of spiritual awakening that God is working among us we should begin to realize that this is not the time for us to “point the finger” at any one else; it is a time God has set aside for the Holy Ghost to confront “me”, this is not the time for us to ignore our own sins and concentrate on some body else’s shortcomings. In His Message on the Mount, Jesus Himself pointed out the need for us to pay attention to our own spiritual condition before we take it upon ourselves to “point the finger” at someone else. This is a hard truth for us to admit, it is a hard lesson for us to learn; it is even harder for us to put to work in our own lives; it is hard because it requires us to come to some sobering truths about who we really are inside. If I start “sweeping around my own front door”, if I start turning over my own trash pile, if I start sorting through my own garbage, the mess, the broken branches and dead leaves inside of my own soul will bring me face to face with some not-so-pleasant facts about who I am and how much I need to be cleaned up.
A. Be careful how we “judge” other people.
All Scripture is inspired by God and the Apostle Paul tells us that all Scripture is given to us as an “example”, to guide us into what is right and away from what is wrong. When it comes to finger-pointing or “judging” other people King David stands out as a classic example and we can learn much from his personal “finger pointing”experiences. David learned the hard way about the dangers of “pointing the finger”. Most of us are familiar with King David: God took him from a shepherd’s life and made him King over Israel. In all things, in every way, David was blessed by the Lord; their relationship was so strong and God loved David so much that God Himself said of David, “He is a man after my own heart.” As a sign of His love for David God promised him that one of his descendants would always sit on the throne of Israel, and He made one of the greatest covenants in the Bible with David; that the Messiah, the “Hope of Israel” and the “Glory of the Gentiles”, the Savior of the world, would come from his loins. Yet, with all God gave to David, with all the blessings and the promises He poured out on David, like most of us today, David lost it, he lost it because he took his eyes off the Lord and he started looking at some one he should not have been looking at. Like all of us, David should have remembered the warning God gave Cain when he told him, “sin lieth at the door and will seek to rule over you but you must rule over it”. Like a crouching beast sin is always lurking at the door of all our hearts, and when David started looking at another man’s wife the sin of lust leaped from behind that door and right into his heart; David fell head-long into a black hole of evil. The Apostle James writes to the church,
“Then when lust has conceived it brings forth sin, and sin when it is finished brings forth death”
What James write came true in the life of David. In the matter of Bath-Sheba, Urriah’s wife, David broke all five of God’s commandments that teach us how we are supposed to treat other people:
10. He coveted his neighbors wife (10th commandment)
7. He committed adultery (7th commandment)
8. He stole from another man (8th commandment)
9. He lied and tried to use Uriah to cover up his lie (9th commandment)
6. He committed Murder (6th commandment)
The Bible tells us that “the eyes of the Lord roam to and fro over the earth”, we do well to remember that nothing we do is hidden from His sight. Scripture also tells us if we persist in sin we can “be sure that our sin will find us out”, God will pull the cover off of any of His children who persist in living in sin while professing righteousness.
As the blood-bought property of the Lord, we should never expect to “get away” with sin. We are the “purchased possession” of the Lord, we wear His name and Romans 8:29 tells us we are being “conformed to the image of His Son”; we are supposed to be the standard-bearers for the Righteousness of God, therefore it is a serious matter when we abandon the ways of the Lord and begin to walk in a life of sin.
B. God Will Deal with His Wayward Children
God has a way of showing up when we least expect Him when we think we have gotten away with sin. In David’s case Scripture says: “But the thing that David had done displeased the Lord, and God sent a preacher to confront David about his sins. In the middle of the preachers message David thought his own crimes were hidden, he thought his own sins hand been concealed, he thought he could relax, he settle down and ‘move on’ with his life. It is foolishness for the child of God to ever think or believe that God will overlook our sins. Grace forgives and “where sin abounds grace does even more abound,” but God still requires of us the same thing He required of Abraham, to “walk before Me and be thou perfect in all thy generations.” As children of God we wear the name of the Lord and we are to reflect the holiness of the Lord.
So it is with us and so it was with David; the Scripture says, “The thing that David had done displeased the Lord.” and the Lord was now ready to deal personally, privately and publically with David. In response to David’s murderous lust God sent Nathan the prophet to confront David about his sins. When the preacher showed up David was glad to see him; after all, Nathan had always been not only a prophet David respected and listened to, he had always been a friend and close advisor. Most people today are glad to see the preacher, that is, until he “stops preaching and starts meddling”, they want the preacher to give them the “shouting news” but they don’t want the preacher to confront them about the sin in their lives. David had no clue what kind of message Nathan was about to deliver to him. The preacher began to tell David the story of a very rich man who had everything, yet to satisfy his own selfish desires, he took the most valuable possession that a poor man had and left him with nothing. When the preacher finished his story David rose up in his own self-righteousness, he was not only ready to judge and condemn the man who "did such a thing", he demanded the rich man restore fourfold what he stole and was ready to execute him. Forgetting the crimes he himself had just committed, David "pointed the finger" and passed judgment on someone he considered a "sinner". While wallowing in the pig-pen of his own sin, like most of us, David was immediately ready to "point the finger" at someone else. In his haste to point the finger at another person he completely forgot that he had just murdered a man and took his wife.
Nathan told him the story about the greedy rich man who had no pity or mercy on a poor man who had only one possession he valued, but the rich man took it from him to satisfy his own desires. After hearing Nathan’s story of the rich man and the poor man it is interesting to note David’s reaction. What he heard filled him with self-righteous indignation to what he perceived to be a great sin and a great injustice committed by some one else!!.
1. First, he got angry, his self-righteous indignation was stirred up; next,
2. Without so much as hearing the man’s defense, he was ready to not only pass judgment on the man, he was ready to take his property and his life
3. All this without knowing that while he was pointing the finger at someone else God was pointing the finger right at him!!!
David becomes a classic example of how quick we all are to pass judgment on other people; how fast we move when we see something in someone else’ life that we perceive as sin. Like David, we are merciless, we are swift to shed blood; we are quick to condemn others while we conveniently forget what we were doing just ten minutes ago or for that matter, what we are thinking about while we are sitting here in church!! . There are many today who see the need for revival but they always see it as a need in someone else’s life; they want others to be guilty, they are quick to “point the finger” of accusation at others, they are quick to convict and condemn someone else. All too often we are willing to point out the need for “revival” in others, we want revival for the woman who has an abortion and the doctor who performed the operation; we want revival for the homosexual man and the lesbian woman, we want revival for the alcoholic and the liquor store owner; we want revival for the drug addict and the drug pusher. We want revival for the politician who took bribes and the business man who paid the bribes, we want “revival” for the call-girl and the madam, the prostitute, the pimp and the “John” . We want revival for pornography-peddlers in Hollywood and Hip-Hop gangsters in the ghetto. We want revival for the publishers of Playboy and Penthouse. We want revival for the mugger and the murderer; the fraud and the phony, the adulterer and the adulteress. We want revival for anyone and everyone but we conveniently overlook the place revival is needed the most, that is a revival in my own heart. What about my “hidden sins”? Does the mask I wear in public cover a monster that walks in private? What about the hatred I have toward someone; do I hate my brother or sister for no other reason than the color of their skin; what about the secret lust I hide from the public and the secret things I do in private? What about my pride and “self-righteousness”? What about my “spiritual arrogance” and “better-than-you” attitude; what about my spiritual pride that fools me into thinking I am “on a higher level than other people”? What about my stubbornness and refusal to follow God’s anointed leadership? What about the robbery I commit against God when I refuse to pay my tithes and offerings to support the church? What about the wife-beater dressed up in a Sunday suit; what about the child abuser dressed up in a Sunday dress? What about the husband sitting in church who will not love his wife and support his family and home? What about the wife sitting in church who continually disrespects her husband and constantly pollutes her mind with dirt dished out by Oprah, Phil and the soap operas, then does not understand why she is dissatisfied with her home and husband? What about getting up and leaving church and going right back home to live with a man or a woman I am not married to. What about the trashy programs, movies and shows we watch at home? What about the honest days work I don’t do at my job; what about the employees I cheat so I can put more money in my own pocket? Never mind the splinter in someone else’s eye, what about the “thought and intent of my own heart”? How do we feel when the word of God penetrates our soul or the conviction of the Holy Ghost “points the finger” at me and tells me the same thing God told David: “YOU ARE THAT MAN!”
C. Jesus, as always, summed up the whole matter:
Before we “point the finger” at others , before we demand “revival” in someone else’s life we should first clean up the mess in our own lives. As always, The Lord Jesus goes straight to the “meat of the matter” in Matthew 7:3:
And why do you look at the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not consider the log in your own eye? (NKJV)
Undue attention to the “sins” of others and a failure to see our own sins is Satan’s trap designed to keep us from looking in the mirror and dealing with who is staring back at us. Can we do an exercise that will enlarge this issue? Let’s read Romans 2:17-24 and as we read this passage we will change all of the “they’s” to “me, I and our”” puts a whole new spin on the message; the finger of the Holy Ghost is now pointed at the man in my mirror. I can take my pick of any of the above sins and ask myself, “Is this me?” Before my self-righteousness demands that God change others, I must first recognize the sins I need to turn away from. In Romans 2:17-24, the Apostle Paul sets before us more piercing and personal questions; let’s put the “I” in these Scriptures:
17 But if I bear the name “Jew”(or “Christian”-added by writer) and rely upon the Law and boast in God, 18 and know His will and approve the things that are essential, being instructed out of the Law,19 and are confident that I myself am a guide to the blind, a light to those who are in darkness, 20 a corrector of the foolish, a teacher of the immature, having in the Law the embodiment of knowledge and of the truth, 21 I, therefore, who teach another, do I not teach myself? I who preach that one shall not steal, do I steal? 22 I who say that one should not commit adultery, do I commit adultery? I who hate idols, do I rob temples? 23 I who boast in the Law, through my breaking the Law, do I dishonor God? 24 For “the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of me,” just as it is written.”
Conclusion:
“Re-turning” to the Lord requires me to admit that God’s primary interest is not my “pointing the finger’ at any one else; His primary interest is in bringing me personally back to where He wants me to be. Before I cast the first stone at anyone else I need to first “humble myself under the mighty hand of God”, and allow God to change my life. I am NOT MY OWN, I have been bought with a price, I have been purchased by the blood of Jesus, I am part of God’s “purchased possession”, God owns me lock, stock and barrel.
His son, Jesus Christ carried a cross so I would not have to pay for my sins;
He wore a crown of thorns so that I can wear a crown of Life;
He took my stripes on His back so that my soul could be healed;
He wore a ragged robe so that I can wear the robes of righteousness
He carried a cross so that I will not have to carry my own sins
He hung on that cross;
He bled and He shed every drop of His perfect, pure, potent and powerful blood to pay for my sins, He died so that I can be forgiven;
He got up from the grave so that I could be reconciled to the Father of lights who gave me life.
He has the right to clean me up so I will be fit to serve Him. Where the Holy Spirit confronts, cleans and re-commits, He also instills a spirit of compassion that allows me to understand the weaknesses that others fall into, I see myself in other people and instead of condemning them, instead of judging them, instead of “pointing the finger” at them, I have love and compassion makes me want to help them to over come, to be gracious because I have received grace, to forgive because I have been forgiven, to be merciful because God has been merciful to me.
D. When confronted With My Sin:
Finally Scripture sets the example for us: when God confronts us about our lives He is always looking for a response. When confronted by Nathan, David responded; saving grace will always bring us to a place where we respond to the Lord.
1. David immediately left his throne; he came down from his high ‘position’, many of us will not respond to the prompting of the Spirit because it means we have to come down from where we think we ought to be. The throne was the last thing David was concerned about. He knew his relationship with God had been seriously damaged and he immediately set God as his priority.
2. David immediately went to the house of the Lord and “humbled himself before the Lord”. There can be no better place for us to start than the house of the Lord. The church is a hospital for sin-sick souls. The church is where we receive “blood transfusions”of the precious blood of the Lamb, the church is the laundry where we come to be washed in the blood of the lamb. The church is where the living blood flows, that blood that reaches to the highest mountain and flows to the lowest valley. There is a fountain filled with blood, flowing from Immanuel’s vein; and sinners plunged beneath that flood lose all their guilty stain; The church is where I find the blood that gives me strength from day to day. The blood of Jesus will never lose it’s power!!!
3. The first step in restoration is admitting that I am wrong. Notice that David did not try to make up any excuses for his sin; he admitted his guilt, he admitted his transgressions, he did not come up with any reasons that would excuse him for his sins. David confessed his sins before the Lord. 2nd Sam. 12:13 “So David said to Nathan, I have sinned against the Lord.”
4. What he had done personally in private God revealed openly and publicly; but God also revealed openly and publicly that He had forgiven David and restored him. Nathan told David, “The Lord has put away your sin.”
Like David, the Lord will put away our sins. 1st Joh. 1:9 tells us:
“If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness”
The question before all of us today, the question of the hour, the question for this minute, this second in eternity, is simply this, “God is calling to us, will we respond to the Spirit of the Lord, will we let the Lord take that log out of our own eye? Will we come to Jesus and let Him wash away our sins, will we return to the Lord?
God restored David, and as a memorial to God’s saving grace, David wrote the entire 51st Psalm; it is a song of praise and thanksgiving for the forgiveness, compassion and mercy of God. When The Lord’s restored his soul, David prayed in Psalms 51:12-13
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.
The fountain of personal restoration are watered by repentance and “re-turning” of the Lord’s people. The headwaters of national public revival are found in the private revival that begins within the soul of each one of us.
“But grow in the grace, and in the knowledge of or Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be glory both now and forever.” Amen - 2nd Peter 3:18
