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| SERMON #167 Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother's eye, MAT 7:5. Notice the salutation of our text; it is no small matter to be labeled a hypocrite by the Lord. It is most important to understand that our text does not say we are not to be concerned about the sins in the lives of others, but as we grow in self- knowledge, we do not look at our brother's sin with a hypocritical beam of self-righteousness in our own eye. Self-knowledge is seen in Psalm 51. David had fallen; Nathan, the prophet, had come to him after he had taken Bathsheba. PSA 51:1-3 says, "Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy lovingkindness: according unto the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions. [He saw the beam in his own eye.] Wash me throughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin. For I acknowledge my transgressions: and my sin is ever before me." Jesus is saying in our text, "...first cast out the [hypocritical, self-righteous] beam [of a condemning judgmental spirit] out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly [with a spirit of true charity] to cast out the mote out of thy brother's eye." David clearly saw the beam in his own eye. Now he is a proper candidate to be able to remove the mote from his brother's eye. He could now come as a tender, loving person to a brother taken in a fault. David understood because he had been tempted, he had fallen, he was reproved, and he had repented. Now he was a qualified candidate to help his brother. Now David understood the spirit of meekness; he would consider himself, lest he be tempted. GAL 6:1-4 says, "Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted. Bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ. For if a man think himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceiveth himself. But let every man prove his own work, and then shall he have rejoicing in himself alone, and not in another." After he had been restored, David understood and could help remove the mote from a brother's eye; he could help bear another's burden and fulfill the law of Christ. We are not to go on in a hypocritical way, "but let every man prove his own work, and then shall he have rejoicing in himself alone, and not in another." The Lord Jesus is not teaching that we should judge hypocritically; we do not see sin in another person's life. He is saying, "then shalt thou see clearly..." When? After we "cast out the beam out of [our] own eye." We may not come with a self-righteous, hypocritical attitude; we must come with meekness to restore a brother after we have cleaned up our own act. As knowledge of self increases, our skill in properly seeing and removing the mote from our brother's eye also increases. It is as we wrestle with and overcome our own besetting sins that we increase in the tact and skill to direct others to overcome their sins. When we see a person who has fallen in a sin, or is flirting with a sin, it is far better to admonish them by letting them know you are not a stranger to the wiles and tricks of Satan. We might say, "You are walking on slippery ground; beware my friend, because I have been there." A person would be more able to accept that rather than one coming with a critical spirit, with condemnation as though he stands above him. There is so much difference in the two ways. After Nathan, the prophet, came to David to rebuke him of his sin with Bathsheba, David cried unto God for cleansing that he might be able to strengthen his brethren after he was converted. David had to first flee his own sin; he had to plead for the cleansing of that sin that he had committed with Bathsheba and the murder of Uriah. In PSA 51:9-13 we see how David saw how his sin stood before the Lord. He said, "Hide thy face from my sins, and blot out all mine iniquities. Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from thy presence; and take not thy holy spirit from me. [You see how his first concern was his own sin!] Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation; and uphold me with thy free spirit. [Now follow the important chronology here; after his soul is cleansed, David says] Then will I teach transgressors thy ways; and sinners shall be converted unto thee." Look again to see the steps which had to be taken and the order in which they happened. Do you see the self-knowledge David had? He saw into the corruption of his own heart, then he pleads for the Lord's presence. After he was converted, he could teach transgressors. He couldn't come before the Lord with that beam of self-righteous, hypocrisy in his own eye. He had to first be cleansed; he had to see the Holy Spirit restored in him. Why? It says in GAL 6:1 to "...restore such an one in the spirit of meekness..." David saw his need to have the spirit of meekness first when he said, "take not thy holy spirit from me. Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation; and uphold me with thy free spirit. Then will I teach transgressors thy ways; and sinners shall be converted unto thee." Now he could come to his brother and say, "Let me help you take the mote out of your eye." He could relate to the weakness and the chronic condition of such sin. The principle of our text is clearly taught in the following verses because David needed to understand and overcome the sin of his own heart before he could instruct his brethren who were taken in a fault. PSA 51:13-17 says, "Then will I teach transgressors thy ways; and sinners shall be converted unto thee. Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God, thou God of my salvation: and my tongue shall sing aloud of thy righteousness. O Lord, open thou my lips; and my mouth shall shew forth thy praise. For thou desirest not sacrifice; else would I give it: thou delightest not in burnt offering. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise." David pleaded with the Lord to deliver him from bloodguilt; he was guilty of the blood of Uriah, and he was also guilty of fornication and adultery with Uriah's wife, Bathsheba. You see, David understood that if he was ever to be a reprover, a Godly reprover, he needed that Spirit of Christ so he could teach transgressors the ways of the Lord that sinners might become converted unto God's ways. When? He could only do that after repenting of his sin before the Lord; he saw how the sin of his own heart had closed his lips. No person can be an effective reprover without "the sacrifices of...a broken spirit." "A broken and a contrite heart," in the reprover over his own sins becomes an excellent oil on the head of those being reproved. The following verse speaks of the righteous who understand the second table of the law and have a right attitude, actions, and character toward their fellow man. PSA 141:5 says, "Let the righteous smite me; it shall be a kindness: and let him reprove me; it shall be an excellent oil, which shall not break my head: for yet my prayer also shall be in their calamities." Do you see what makes a proper reproof? It is a righteous spirit. It is a spirit of love and charity coming to our fellow man in a way that does not lord over them; it is not a condemning, hypocritical, self-righteous spirit. An effective reprover comes with a humble and contrite spirit as a righteous person. "It shall be a kindness: and let him reprove me;" we do not come to crush, we come to restore a brother. As we have learned to wrestle with the world and the passions of our own heart, we receive insight into how to solve religious difficulties. The Lord Jesus told Peter in LUK 22:32, "But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not: and when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren." It was after Peter had learned to see the hypocrisy in thinking he could stand in his own strength, and his covetousness in wanting that last big haul of fishes so he could become financially independent, that Jesus said to him in JOH 21:15, "Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me more than these? He saith unto him, Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love thee. He saith unto him, Feed my lambs." Jesus waited until after Peter had learned by experience to see the corruptness and wretchedness of his own heart. Notice, it is after Peter knew what it was to go out and weep bitter tears over his own foolishness that Jesus told him to strengthen thy brethren. It was to be after Peter was converted, i.e., it is when you are no longer so strong in yourself, when the beam of self-righteousness has been removed from your eye, that you can help others. Now Jesus says, "Feed my lambs." They are the little ones, the ones with the little mote in their eye. Now he could go talk to them. Peter could strengthen them because he could speak to them of his own corrupt heart and the experiences in his own life; he could bring them to an understanding of the dangerous wiles of Satan. Satan craftily ensnares us and our soul. Now Peter is a candidate to go out and feed Jesus' lambs. The reproof of the righteous is not done with a judgmental, condemning spirit of self-righteousness, but out of charity, in righteousness, i.e., according to the second table of the law. The meaning of charity was discussed in a previous message; it is one-sided love, a loving, merciful spirit, and an attitude of wanting to restore a brother according to the second table of the law. The Lord Jesus uses the eye as the judgment seat for reproof. This is most beautiful! It is not coincidental that the Lord used the eye to illustrate reproof. It is with the eye that sin is seen. This brings us back to the concept Jesus spoke of in MAT 6:22-23, "The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light. But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness!" It brings us to the single eye concept. This is very important for it asks what our motive is in reproving another person. Is it because we are offended or do we see it for their good because we want them to come right before the Lord? If our eye is blinded by that beam of self-righteousness, we will be filled with a critical condemning spirit, but if the light of God's Word shines into our own heart, our eye becomes single. That means we have one objective. Our motive is for the glory of God, not to vaunt ourselves over others. Our eye becomes single in purpose to restore such a one. God's Word becomes the Judge in our conscience. When the eye is filled with light and one sees a brother taken in a fault, immediately our conscience comes forth to warn us to beware; it is but for the restraining grace of God that we have not been taken in that fault. It is not because we are better than the other person, it is God's restraining grace. In the court of our own conscience the eye is single, not because it sees only one thing, but because it looks only in one direction. A single eye sees our own faults as well as those of our brother. God's glory, and our brother's salvation, must be our only motive for reproof. We may not lord over them or become judgmental or hypocritical. Our text, by using the eye as the place of judgment, is also significant in that it teaches the quickest reflex against anything besides love and charity to "...restore such an one in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted," GAL 6:1. The eye is used in our text as the place of judgment to teach us how delicately we must consider the other man's feelings in the use of reproof. What is more delicate than the eye? Look how the Lord has guarded the eye. Consider how it is placed in the head with natural reflexes. It blinks instantly when anything comes near it. This is to teach us that we must proceed very delicately when reproving another. Picture in your mind a person who has gotten a little sliver of wood in his eye. Is that person going to open their eye to have you take the sliver out if he can sense that you are going to roughly claw it out? If you are going to stand above him, putting him down, he will not open his eye to allow you to help him. He must have confidence in you, "but if thine eye be evil..." The reflex in the eye is an instinct which God put there so a person will not open it to something dangerous. MAT 6:23 says, "But if thine eye be evil [a critical, judgmental eye passing judgment on our brother while we have that beam of self-righteousness in our own eye], thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness!" In other words, if the light we have whereby we see the mote in our brother's eye is a self- righteous, condemning spirit, a beam of darkness masks our vision. How can we see clearly to cast out the mote in our brother's eye if we are in great darkness? EPH 5:21 says, "Submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God." We must see that it is only in the fear of God, in holy reverence for God, that we can ask a person to submit to opening his eye to allow us to remove the mote. The conscience is the spiritual eye or light within every man which calls us to answer before the bar of God for our every infraction of the law of love. If your conscience is tender before God, that is the spiritual eye with which we see our own guilt which summons us to God's bar begging for mercy under the law of love. When our conscience is tender, it is the eye wherewith we see our own sins. When the Spirit convinces us of our sin, we become so much more generous to our brother with a desire to "...restore such an one in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted," GAL 6:1. When our conscience is tender and we have a right attitude toward our brother, then we understand the Psalmist saying, "Let the righteous smite me; it shall be a kindness: and let him reprove me; it shall be an excellent oil, which shall not break my head...," PSA 141:5. In other words, our conscience prompts us to act in the spirit of the first and second tables of the law. The Apostle Peter uses the woman as a type of the church to teach us how lovingly we are to reprove in 1PE 3:1-2, "Likewise, ye wives, be in subjection to your own husbands; that, if any obey not the word, they also may without the word be won by the conversation of the wives; While they behold your chaste conversation coupled with fear [with respect and reverence]." In other words, when you reprove someone who obeys not the Word of God, it is done with a chaste conversation, tenderness, and love. When they behold your tender, loving conversation coupled with fear, they will hear. Those who handle God's Word so roughly, with a condemning harshness, lack the tenderness to effectively be a means of removing, or helping to remove, sins in the lives of others. It is impossible for us to use God's Word as an instrument to remove a mote from our brother's eye with an unskilled hand, i.e., with a wrong spirit. We cannot be God's instrument to remove the sin in the lives of others if we have a condemning harshness even though we speak the truth and use the Word of God. We are not only admonished to speak the truth, "But speak the truth in love," EPH 4:15. The eye is a symbol of the place of judgment. They not only hear, but they behold your chaste conversation; they not only hear, "While they behold your chaste conversation," they are watching the attitude and spirit you have. Therefore, we must adorn our reproof with a meek and quiet spirit. 1PE 3:3-4 continues, "Whose adorning let it not be that outward adorning of plaiting the hair, and of wearing of gold, or of putting on of apparel; But let it be the hidden man of the heart, in that which is not corruptible, even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price." In our reproof, the other person must be able to see our chaste conversation which has all the characteristics of a meek and quiet spirit; those are the important attributes, not the things we wear or how we look. All righteous reproof must be with the eye on God being honored by turning a man from his error and covering his sin. JAM 5:19- 20 says, "Brethren, if any of you do err from the truth, and one convert him; Let him know, that he which converteth the sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death, and shall hide a multitude of sins." Jesus said in MAT 18:15, "Moreover if thy brother shall trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone: if he shall hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother." We must reprove a person in private, in a way that does not make a scene, and does not humiliate him. That would make the other person defensive and cause his eye to flinch when we try to examine it. We do not want the eye flinching when we try to remove the mote. We may not reprove a person by blasting his name before the world and making his sins known. Reproof must be done in private to keep his sins secret. We must work with the person, trying to convince him of his sin. Reproving must not only be done in private, but it must be done in a way to conceal and remove that sin. This will do two things: it will "...save a soul from death, and shall hide a multitude of sins." We must fully trust an acceptable reprover. A person that is critical, one who will blast before the world any admission of fault they hear, makes trust and submission to reproof nearly impossible. Our natural tendency is to flinch to prevent the other from slandering our name before the world. The reaction is to hear the reproof and receive it, but not admit his faults because it is impossible to open the eye to one who is not acting with love. We must not put on a scene, but we must talk to our brother alone. To reprove one in public is putting on a scene; the purpose of such behavior is to exalt ourselves in a hypocritical manner or to embarrass our brother. Jesus tells us in MAT 18:15, "Moreover if thy brother shall trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone: if he shall hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother." It must be a private admonition, a private sin. The more we are able by God's grace to remove that beam of self-righteousness from our own eye, the more our brother will be able to confide in us to look for the mote in his eye. Our brother will sense a Godly spirit. The Old Testament gospel taught us not to show hatred by being judgmental, but to rebuke in love in LEV 19:17-18, "Thou shalt not hate thy brother in thine heart: thou shalt in any wise rebuke thy neighbour, and not suffer sin upon him." It is not saying we are to see a neighbour or a brother in sin and not rebuke him, but we must be so careful in rebuking him that it is not done with a judgmental, critical, hypocritical spirit. It is a horrible thing to be critical; when one is critical of a person, trying to pull him apart, then one becomes judgmental as though standing above him. That is having a beam in one's eye compared to the mote in his eye. Verse 18 continues, "Thou shalt not avenge, nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people, but thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself: I am the LORD." Notice the weight given to His commandment when He says, "I am the Lord." It is so necessary to understand how God looks upon our heart according to the law of love. If you are to remove a small particle from a brother's eye, he must have enough confidence in you to open his eye for your examination before you can proceed. This is the message Jesus gives us to illustrate the tenderness needed to reprove another's sins. The person in need of reproving must see enough of the Spirit of Christ in the reprover to be able to discuss the problem and be open enough to examine it. Our text gives such a beautiful picture of how we are to handle ourselves in admonishing our brother, "...then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother's eye." How is it that we will see clearly? It is only by having seen first the corruption of our own heart. Notice that when Jesus says, "Judge not," He does not mean that we are to compromise the truth or tolerate wrong. Satan's gospel today would have us be careful, don't be judgmental; therefore, if a person does wrong, we do not interfere. In the matter of homosexuals, Satan would have us not be judgmental claiming God created homosexuals. No! Homosexuality is a judgment God has placed upon man. Why? It is for worshiping the creature more than the Creator. We find this answer in ROM 1:17-32. We are not to compromise the truth or tolerate wrong. It is not judgmental to identify sin; we are judgmental when we are critical of the person instead of trying to restore such a person to worship the Creator above his own human reasoning in the spirit of meekness, i.e., to walk in holy reverence to the authority of His Word. It is not only necessary that we know how to rebuke, but also to receive rebuke. One who hears rebuke is wise. We must never forsake the assembling of ourselves together because we must come together for reproof and rebuke. Why? We must be able to receive admonishment as well as give it because no one is without sin. PRO 13:1 tells us that "A wise son heareth his father's instruction: but a scorner heareth not rebuke." PRO 15:32 says, "He that refuseth instruction despiseth his own soul: but he that heareth reproof getteth understanding." We must understand that we not only give rebuke, but we need rebuke and a willingness to submit to rebuke from others because we all offend others in many things, JAM 3:2. ECC 7:5 tells us that, "It is better to hear the rebuke of the wise, than for a man to hear the song of fools." The body of Christ is edified by speaking the truth in love. There is a difference between simply speaking the truth and speaking the truth in love. Truth is not received unless it comes with love, but we may edify other Christians by speaking the truth in love. EPH 4:15-16 says, "But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ: From whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth [every person in the body of Christ], according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love." Every person in the body of Christ must supply edification by building up each other when we speak the truth in love. That does not mean one flatters others as being tremendous Christians when there is sin in the camp. We give and receive reproof in love; these are areas where we are "fitly joined together." Our one purpose must be to build each other up by restoring the members of the body. We cannot hold our eye open unless we are fully convinced the other person is lovingly trying to help us. If this is not in the right spirit we cause his eye to flinch when we try to examine it, and that will defeat the purpose of the attempt. The person whom we ask to hold their eye open so we can remove the mote will sense whether there is a critical condemning spirit, or whether there is a charitable motive. The eye will flinch instantly if there is any threat to harm it. Who can stand in the temple to say, "I thank God I am not as other men who have a beam of self-righteousness in their eye," except the hypocritical Pharisee who looked with disdain upon the publican whom Jesus said was justified rather than he. Every one of us has this hypocritical character within us by nature. We need to deal with and refrain from those hypocritical tendencies. Just as that beam of self-righteousness has been removed from our eye, in that proportion, we will be able to tenderly help others to see their wrong, and in the same proportion the more willing they will be to hold their tender eye open for us to help them. God will be glorified in our Godly conversation whether men will hear or whether they will forebear. There are some people who will not tolerate reproof, regardless in what spirit we try to give it, but we are still called upon to do so. If the reproof is done in a Godly spirit, God will still be glorified. 1PE 2:11-12 says, "Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul; Having your conversation honest among the Gentiles: that, whereas they speak against you as evildoers, they may by your good works, which they shall behold, glorify God in the day of visitation." When the Lord comes with His vengeance and puts His finger upon them, the truth will come forth, and God will be glorified. It will be so even if they come against you, speaking of you as an evildoer while they slander you. They still may glorify God by your good works in the day of visitation. Jesus admonition does not mean we are not to judge right and wrong, nor does it mean we are not to warn others, but it must be done according to God's Word, and in the manner in which God commands. Jesus is telling us how we are to proceed when He says, "Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother's eye," MAT 7:5. He doesn't say we should not try to remove the mote; He says we are to get rid of the beam of self- righteousness first so we can help our neighbour in the right spirit. MAT 7:1-4 are the verses just preceding our text, and they have been discussed in previous sermons. However, let's consider how they tie in with our text. "Judge not, that ye be not judged. For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again. [How can we pass judgment until we have examined our own heart?] And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye? Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye; and, behold, a beam is in thine own eye? Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother's eye," MAT 7:1-5. Now our text is centering on the fact that the beam from our own eye must be removed first. If we were to proceed to reprove our neighbour with no confession of our wrong, then we have a beam of self-righteousness in our eye. That makes one stand above the neighbour. If we first cast the beam from our own eye, we can see clearly to help another person in the right spirit. Do you see how we are to proceed with love, mercy, and tenderness so our fellow man may come to us with love, tenderness, and mercy when they come to take the mote from our eye? Remember that David understood himself, his own heart, and the necessity of that knowledge before he could be a wise reprover. PSA 51:5-8 says, "Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me. Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward parts: and in the hidden part thou shalt make me to know wisdom. Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. Make me to hear joy and gladness; that the bones which thou hast broken may rejoice." After David was restored by the cleansing of his heart, he knew he would be able to help restore others as we are told in V:13, "Then will I teach transgressors thy ways; and sinners shall be converted unto thee." This happened when David was restored, when he came forth with a humble and contrite spirit and reproved in love. Amen. |
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