In Paul Carrington's sermon 'A Word to the Speck Hunter,' he revisits the Sermon on the Mount, emphasizing its teachings on righteousness and judgment. He explains that the Sermon on the Mount describes the qualities of the citizens of God's kingdom and how they should live. Carrington highlights that true righteousness is not about surpassing the Pharisees' adherence to the law but involves a different quality of righteousness that comes through Christ. In Matthew 7, the speaker focuses on the dangers of judging others, emphasizing three reasons: self-protection, setting one's own standard of judgment, and the capability to judge accurately. He illustrates the hypocrisy of judging others while ignoring one's own faults, using Jesus' metaphor of the speck and plank. Carrington stresses the importance of humility, cautioning against a censorious spirit, and encourages Christians to maintain discernment while sharing the gospel. The sermon concludes by encouraging believers to live with the cross in view and to practice love as described in 1 Corinthians 13.

Just thinking as Victor is talking that only eternity will show the fruit of what you've been doing there, but it's a great ministry, so we've all been blessed by it. This afternoon we're going to get back into the Sermon on the Mount. We haven't been there in a long, long time. I can't remember the last time we were there. But if you could, please open up your Bibles to the seventh chapter of Matthew, Matthew chapter 7.

And we're going to be going through some of those verses. I'll get to that in a second. But because it's been a little bit of time since we've been in the Sermon on the Mount, I just wanted to do a quick summary of where we've been so far in chapters five and chapter six. And really what we've discovered is that the Sermon on the Mount is this declaration of the King of the kingdom and he is explaining who its citizens are and how he wants them to live as their King and we started off with the Beatitudes you remember that and This was really the description of the Christian man. There were no commandments at all.

It was simply a description of what has taken place in the heart of a person who has been invited and has now taken up citizenship in this kingdom. But what happens is because of these traits that are on display in the life of the Christian for all to see. It's through these traits that men become light in a dark world and salt in a world that is rotting. And because of the way that they're living, oftentimes they also will incur the ire and the persecution of the world as we saw in those Beatitudes. And then after describing the Christians relationship to the world, the Lord delivered the key verse to help us really unlock and interpret the rest of the Sermon on the Mount.

That was chapter 5 verse 20 and this is really again the verse that just brings out and makes clear what he's going to be doing for the rest of the sermon and he says this, for I say to you that unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees. In other words, unless your righteousness is of a different quality altogether, it's of a different nature than the scribes and the Pharisees, he says, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven. It won't be by law keeping or good by good behavior or conformity, it's just impossible for man to be able to do that. And then from there using the law he begins to describe what true righteousness actually is And he talks about things like murder. He talks about things like adultery, even marriage and honesty.

And these are things that he's bringing out. And what these things do is they drive home the very fact that if anyone is to be saved, it's not gonna be on their own power. Who can keep these commands as they were truly intended? I couldn't. Give me a thousand lifetimes to live and I fail every single time.

But what that also does is it shows how we need an advocate, how we need a savior. It's such a beautiful thing. And so we need this alien righteousness that Christ offers. And then in chapter 6, what we're told is rather than performing before men to earn their fleeting praise, we're to live before God. You remember those things to do with giving when you give, and when you pray, and when you fast?

He's talking about this inner work that's taking place, that you're doing it before God to receive his praise, not to receive honor from men. Well, then the largest section, really, of the Sermon on the Mount, and this is quite telling, it had to do with where do you place your trust. As a physical beings living in a physical world, our temptation is to get swept up in pursuing security and things we can see. If I could just get this, I'll be happy. And this is one of the great dangers to the advancement of the kingdom of God, this heart that just can't find any rest in God.

But He tells us to seek first the kingdom. I'll take care of the other things. Well, now we have a word to the spec hunter in chapter seven, which we'll read right now in verses one to six. And I'll read this And then we'll pray. The word of the Lord says this, judge not that you be not judged.

For with what judgment you judge, you will be judged. And with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you. And why do you look at the speck in your brother's eye but do not consider the plank in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, let me remove the speck from your eye and look a plank is in your own eye? Hypocrite, First remove the plank from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye.

Do not give what is holy to the dogs, nor cast your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet and turn and tear you in pieces. Let's pray. Lord we do need your help and we ask you Lord to guide us and work deeply in each of our hearts here this afternoon. We want to be those Lord that obey and follow the dictates and the word that our great King has spoken. So Lord put this desire within our hearts now as we go through his words delivered on that sermon those many many years ago.

Lord work deeply in our in our hearts and change our spirits in Jesus' name, amen. Amen. Well today, what I'd like to do is give you the application before the sermon. And what I mean by that is I'm going to ask you something really important, and that is to resist the temptation to have someone else in mind as we go through these verses. You know, years and years ago there was a pastor, Charles Spurgeon, and he was at a preaching conference and one of the preachers there he got up and he he preached and one of the things he hit on was how there's this thing of sinless perfection and he was beginning to speak about the fact that this can actually be attained and that he in fact had attained it himself and Charles Spurgeon heard that he was stunned and it just so happened by the providence of God that they were staying in the same home back in those days, perhaps, you know, weren't being in hotels and things like that during this conference.

Well, the next morning at breakfast as they were all there eating and talking and the man was telling them of what he's going to preach on this coming day, Charles Spurgeon got up from his chair quietly. He went around the side with a carafe of milk, went behind him and emptied the carafe of milk on his head. I won't recount to you the words that came out of the man's mouth but needless to say, that man's reaction marked the end of his so-called sinless perfection. That was the end of that. And so while I'm no Spurgeon, there's going to be a little bit of milk spilled today.

We're going to be Looking at the design of what the Lord Jesus was really after, you know, some hard words are going to be spoken today to those who have been deluded perhaps into thinking that they have become the standard. That's what the Lord is after. Before we get into all of the text I think you would agree with me this verse here, Judge Not, it might be and it might easily win the prize for the most dragged out of context verse maybe in the entire Bible. I would probably classify it as the ungodly man's favorite verse in the Bible. It's the one that he feels gives him just full license to sin without censure.

The Trump card, you might hear it smugly shot back at you if you're ever street preaching or evangelizing or maybe even at the abortion clinic. You know, this is the thing. And really what it is, is it's code for, at least they think, you can't tell me that my actions are wrong or don't hold me accountable. This is kind of what they're after and it's been used actually I think quite effectively. It's created a I think a very flabby maybe even silent indulgent tolerant peace at all costs church.

The single verse is probably wreaked a lot of havoc over the years here in our culture. But what is the Lord really doing here? Well, what is he after? I think what we see here, remember who he's speaking to, is a Sermon on the Mount and he's speaking to his people. It's directed to his saints.

These aren't simply just general ethics that you can just take and pick and choose to improve society, but he's dealing specifically with the church and he's giving them exactly what it means to be citizens of his kingdom. He's concerned with our relationship with other people, with other believers specifically, but what he's doing in these verses is he's gonna attack head on the great destroyer of churches, the great destroyer of fellowship and friendship. And I want to just break these few verses here into three reasons not to judge. Three reasons not to judge. Well, the first reason that we shouldn't judge is really protection for yourself.

The Lord says it like this, judge not that you be not judged. I think something can happen to the Christian as We enter into the kingdom of heaven. Remember, Brother Moody, he just read it to us in Romans chapter five, but here you were, you were saved from your sins. You were humbled to the dust when you heard the word of God, but then He lifts you and He washes you from your filthiness. It's one of the most beautiful things.

We saw a picture of that with baptism here earlier. Remember that very first beatitude of all the things the Lord Jesus could have started off with when He opened His mouth in chapter five. What does he say? Blessed are the poor in spirit. Blessed are those that are acquainted with their own bankruptcy, that know that they're destitute, that know that they have no hope outside of anything in themselves.

They have to go outside for that. And then over time though what can happen with us as believers is we can kind of get our sea legs. You know when you've been out on a ship for a while the first day maybe you're a little wobbly but then you get your sea legs and you can begin to kind of grow in knowledge. Your life begins to change you know. But often undetected something that must be so perverse in God's eyes is we can also side by side of that have this growing pride that's also there.

Our doctrine lines up. We can speak fluently of grace and all the different doctrines of God and maybe we've even become useful to God in some way along the line but with a slanted hand and then we've got a little gavel in our hand. We can begin to be a little bit censorious and develop a spirit of censoriousness towards others. And so the Lord here, he brings us to this critical point. He's addressing the Christian's tendency to see shortcomings in others and to become judgmental of their sin while ignoring or minimizing or excusing our own sin.

And he has some really tough things to say. So I want to ask us today, each one of us, to examine your heart. Are you tempted to a censorious spirit? Think about that. You know Noah Webster, he defines censorious as addicted to fault-finding, blaming or expressing disapproval, severe in making remarks on others, apt to blame or to condemn.

This is what the Lord is really warning against. J.C. Ryle, he said it so well. Look at this, we often think of backsliding as something altogether different, but look what he says. He says, there is no sure mark of backsliding and falling off in grace than an increasing disposition to find faults, pick holes, and see weak points in others.

He goes on to say this, speaking about the battle that we're all in. Look what he says, he says, the devil is not dead. We are not yet like angels. Heaven has not yet begun. The leprosy is not out of the walls of the house, however much we may scrape them and never will be to the houses taken down.

Our bodies are indeed the temple of the Holy Ghost but not a perfect temple until they are raised or changed. Grace is indeed a treasure, but a treasure in earthen vessels. Let us know, and then listen to this, let us know that if we cannot allow there is grace where there is corruption, we shall find no grace in the world." What a statement. He goes on to say this, he's so good with the way he puts it, he says, there are spots on the face of the sun and yet the sun shines brightly and enlightens the whole world. The best of Christians are gonna be full of spots, but yet God can use them and shine through them and bring glory to himself.

And so keep those things in mind as we go through this. I think what the Lord is, he's trying to encourage here and rebuke against is he wants us to develop a blessed flexibility to live with the imperfections, I should say, of others, all under the principle of, guess what, you're not that good yourself. Don't kid yourself. And so just consider, you know, how maybe your view of yourself might be a little bit inflated. I mean, imagine up on these screens just your thoughts for the last week.

Brother so-and-so, and we project your thoughts just from seven days not your whole life just from the last week up on the screen that would be I know if it were me it wouldn't be a very pleasant thing I wouldn't be comfortable sitting here how about you or sister so-and-so would you be comfortable with that See we're not all that good when it comes down to it. We haven't made all that much progress. We're still so much in need of grace that we should extend grace to others. And this is what Proverbs 19 says. It says that the discretion of a man makes him slow to anger and his glory is to overlook a transgression.

What a beautiful way to put it. Now not all transgressions should be overlooked, so you kids don't play that one at home, but some can, right? It's a sign of maturity and wisdom in letting go minor infractions, not holding everything and everyone to account for everything that's done. And if you can't, guess what? There might be times when you can't overlook an infraction and that's why we have Matthew 18 and there's steps and processes to take but here's the question must the sword be pulled out for every infraction just some to think about ask yourself that and so the Lord is an issuing this blanket rule that we are never to judge other people.

The task of the elder we see in Titus is to exhort and to convict those that contradict, right? And so if you interpret this text or this sermon as just be nicer, that's not what I'm saying. And that's not what the Lord is saying here. Rather what he's doing is he's telling you you must be humble versus this self-righteous Phariseeism that can so easily creep in even in a newborn Christian over the years. And so the first reason to not judge is really to protect yourself.

The second reason not to judge is this, that you inadvertently set the standard for your own judgment. Look what he says here in verse 2. He says, for with what judgment you judge, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you. I couldn't find a better quote than what Martin Lloyd-Jones said in his commentary on this. Try this one on precise.

He says this, there are no people who are more sensitive to criticism than those who are always criticizing others. And so the question is, is how would you stand up beneath your own standards? Now before answering too quickly, we can all go back into the Old Testament. You can go back 3, 000 years, and you can recall the approach of Nathan when he came up to David, you remember, after David had committed that atrocity with Bathsheba and then killed Uriah and covered it all up and he'd been going on in his sin living in unrepentance for maybe about a year give or take. He was going to church, he was singing, he was offering sacrifice, he was even governing as the king.

And Nathan lays out that parable of the rich man on the one side with a whole flock and then the poor man with that single you. You remember that? And it says this in Samuel, so David's anger was greatly aroused against the man, and he said to Nathan, as the Lord lives, the man who has done this shall surely die. Notice the indignation in his own heart. And then of course we know what happens Nathan looks at him and says David you are the man and And this is the problem that we often can't see that we are actually Guilty of the thing that we might be accusing or maybe we're not guilty of that exact same thing but we have another glaring area of our lives or a blind spot that we don't see that should tone down the way that we approach others.

And of course all of this adultery, murder, hypocrisy that he had sustained for a whole year, it all came crashing down to his great benefit and he repented and was restored to the Lord. He wrote Psalm 51 which we we reap the benefits of but beware beware of the spirit of Haman that builds the scaffold for Mordecai only to swing on it yourself. Be very careful. Jesus is saying basically that you might discover you hate the yardstick with which you are measuring others when it's applied back to yourself. So beware of these things.

A far better approach to dealing with others even in their sin is a spirit of humility versus a spirit of censure because again we we're still people so much under the sway of sin, aren't we? When you dig deep, when you look at the thoughts on the screen, and perhaps again it's different than the sins of some other people, but we're sinful nonetheless. And so what we find in Scripture is that this should color the way that we approach others and the way that we think about others. And this really brings us to the third reason that we should not judge, which is in verses three to five. And this is where the spec hunter, he's really taken to the woodshed.

Now children, see if, use your imagination here and you can actually get this picture. It's such an exaggerated picture that the Lord paints for us so that we hopefully can get the point. But look what he says, and why do you look at the speck, that is this little moat, this little bit of sawdust. If I had it in my eye right now You couldn't see it from where you're sitting. Why do you look at the speck?

That little piece of chaff in your brother's eye But do not consider the plank in your own eye, but the word for plank there is like a load-bearing pillar or beam. Think of an 8x8 piece of we got a lot of contractors or something like that that that holds up a structure that you've got in your eye. Or how can you say to your brother, let me remove the speck from your eye, and look, a plank is in your own eye? And so what Jesus is doing here, he's speaking really about capability. Are we capable to judge properly?

Really? This is a big question. Are you in a position to operate on your brother when you might even be under a worse affliction, in this case having a beam in your own eye? And so what Jesus is saying here, I think the intention here is to say stop a moment. Just stop a moment, think about things and consider this.

What an illustration. It's this idea of a man who's bent over his friend's face and he's about to play the eye surgeon and take out this little piece of sawdust. Meanwhile his eyes are totally obstructed not by a speck but by that eight by eight load-bearing pillar. You couldn't get a more exaggerated picture and yet it it describes how we can often be even as Christians. And so what's he doing with this exaggeration?

Well he's seeking to drive home the truth that that people are often blind to their own faults while keenly focused. Notice he was able to notice that at least the guy had a speck and were keenly focused on the weaknesses of other people. And so in verse 5 we get the punchline. Now this is perhaps if we could mimic the Lord This is really the harshest word in the entire sermon on the Mount. Hypocrite.

First remove the plank from your own eye and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye. He reserves the greatest when he's talking about the law and expounding on the law. He doesn't even speak in these terms. When he's speaking about the way that saints judge saints, he uses that harsh tone. That should tell us something that we we should take away.

And notice the order of operation that the Lord dictates here. So he's not saying leave the brother with the speck or you with the plank, just everyone to their own corner and no one say anything to ever anyone. No, He's saying this, that the man who has done the inner work is the man best equipped to do the outer work and to help other people. Isn't that what we read in Galatians, right? If a brother be overtaken in a fault, you which are spiritual, you who have done the inner work, who have really known the battle, you who are spiritual, restore such a one in a spirit of meekness.

And then he says, considering your own selves. Because that then colors how you approach that brother. It's just beautiful the way the Word of God helps us along. And so he's not prohibiting honest evaluation of others. That's not what he's doing at all, but what he's warning us against is a censorious judgment that can often take over our hearts and this hypocrisy.

So again don't hear me saying there's a prohibition against judging, that's not it, but at the end of the day at the end of this what's happening is hopefully both the the speck and the plank are dealt with, but in the right way. I think that's what he's driving home, right? Don't forget your propensity and my propensity to just overlook my own faults while arrogantly locking in to the faults of others. It's quite beautiful and quite simple. And so we should be modified by really our own sense of our own need for the Lord at every turn here.

And so this will do two things, I think, if we embrace what the Lord is saying here. Number one, it's going to make you a wonderful help to other people if this becomes the way that you deal. And also, it's going to set you free from a spirit opposed to Jesus Christ. Think about that. While naming the name of Christ, we can also be opposing him in the way that we treat one another and consider one another.

And so we've been told not to judge, and the three reasons not to judge, but then the Lord, he catches his listeners off guard. And what do I mean by that? Well, after all he's just said about judging your brother by a standard that you yourself don't meet, then he goes on to say this, do not give what is holy to the dogs, nor cast your pearl before swine, lest they trample them under their feet and turn and tear you in pieces." And so I think what the Lord is doing, he set these two things side by side on purpose. You know, there's great wisdom on display here from the Lord. On the one side, he's saying charitableness, it doesn't cancel discernment, right?

We're still called to be discerning. Verses, if we just had verses one to five, we might be tempted to just Be too careful and never rebuke or never correct or never do anything Because judge not and we fall into the world's way of rendering that verse so afraid of judging at all Turning a blind-eyed everything from heresy to gross sin. It's all fine because we don't judge. But that's not what we're called to do. We're not really called to be simpletons, are we?

We're not called to be limp-wristed impotence. Who's to say who's right, who's wrong? Who's to say is that a man or is that a woman? All that garbage. No, we're to be people that have the Word of God and it's a hammer at times that breaks the rock in pieces.

At other times it comes like a bomb. It's so varied in the way that it helps us in our Christian walk. But While we're not to be censorious, I think what we're getting here, again, this doesn't mean that we just do away with discernment. So let's keep those two things in mind here. Make sure that when it comes to things, matters of truth that are important, things that are holy, things that are valuable, that's, again, don't throw what is holy to dogs or cast pearls, valuable things.

The Christian message, the gospel of the kingdom, what is right and wrong, manhood and womanhood, those aren't up for debate or things that we should just lay down on. And oftentimes you can tell when you're interacting with a dog or a pig spiritually speaking, and I think that's what the Lord is saying here. Be discerning. Am I dealing with a pig? Am I dealing with a dog metaphorically when I'm talking to somebody?

And that will dictate how you respond to that person. He says, do not give what is holy to dogs, right? Nor cast your pearls before swine. So the idea is what is holy. This is the idea of this meat that has been dedicated ceremonially on the altar of God.

And you simply, you're offering this consecrated meat now that was just in God's presence. And now the next frame is you're giving it to the dogs out on the street who have no sense of value who have no discernment themselves and of course back then you know dogs weren't precious members of the family like they are today. Every couple months we get a letter from our vet, Aslan Carrington on the thing. I'm like, who's Aslan? And of course, it's our dog that they're calling Carrington.

It's unbelievable. And we're to treat our animals humanely and all of that, but in the 40 or so times that dogs are referred to in scripture, I don't think there's one positive mention. They're always unclean scavengers, you know. I've had a lot of interactions with dogs. In fact, years ago I was in Turkey, And I don't know, I like to take my conference calls on a walk, I'll go for a walk and just talk as I'm walking as opposed to sitting, I just have a hard time sitting.

And I remember one time I was walking and I was in a field, like an olive field, and I'm about just to hop on this call in a second, and all of a sudden I look behind me and there's a pack of wild dogs coming up behind me. And I'm literally about to jump on this phone call, and I pick up a stone. I try to stone these dogs. They don't get away. I run to this tree, climb up into an olive tree.

And these pack of wild dogs, they're barking around me. I end up just taking the call in a tree. Hey brother, how you doing? Just hanging out. I'm fine.

Here I am perched in a tree. But these are what dogs are in the Middle East. This is what dogs are, not pets in the Middle East. And pigs and swine are unclean animals. And that's what he's saying here.

Don't cast pearls. Pearls in those days might be the equivalent would be the wisest teachings of the Torah which everyone listening to Jesus would understand. Don't cast the wisest teachings of the Torah between people who have no value for it. You would think it a crazy man who takes precious things and throws them in front of pigs who then trample them but then they're not done they trample them under their feet and then turn and rend you. And you see this all through the book of Acts.

There's times when Paul stays. There's times when Paul is let down the wall through a basket, or when he leaves the city. And you see even the Lord Jesus himself discerning. And there's no particular law after two rejections. Or if they say this, leave.

You've got to use spiritual discernment, is what the Lord is doing. But he's intentionally stacked these two things together. Verses one to five, judge not with judge. Use discernment so that we can actually understand the mind of the Lord. It's so beautiful.

I just found myself being amazed at the wisdom of God in all of this. I would say this is by way of a word of caution to just let us be on our guard against too readily setting our neighbors up as dogs and swine, meaning, oh, he didn't receive it, I write him off because God can do mighty things. So again, spiritually discerning is what's called for here. And so we are to share the gospel, but when it comes to the point where perhaps it's not welcome anymore, you're just grating on somebody, you know, how long, how many attempts? I don't know.

None of this is prescribed here for us. But again, just using the wisdom of God and the spirit of the Lord to discern those types of things. And so that's where the Lord leaves us. Judge not and judge. So just by way of applications, there's a couple things I just want us to keep in mind.

There's three things perhaps that we can take away from this. The first thing is this, just recognize that a spirit of censoriousness, it suffocates love and it's opposed to the Spirit of Jesus Christ who came to lift up the lowest, the woman in adultery or beggars and lepers, people like you and I, slave traders like John Newton, God is able to save. In fact in 1st Corinthians 6 You see that list of sins, even homosexuals, sodomites, drunkards, and such were some of you. So just keep that in mind. Hold that there and let that really just color everything that you think about.

If this is your temptation, I would just say go home and endeavor to not be censorious even for a day if you catch yourself or maybe even for a week. Let's be practical and lay it before the Lord and see the change that's wrought in your own heart and also in your own home. That's one thing to keep in mind. Keep the sword in its scabbard for the minor infractions is what I'm saying. And then the second thing is the most helpful thing, and this isn't just for this, but I think especially for this, live within view of the cross.

Just always have the cross in view, and just dwell long on the mercy that you have found yourself in Christ. And then the last thing I would say is maybe read 1 Corinthians chapter 13, because this sensoriousness, the opposite of that, is the spirit of love. And so maybe read 1 Corinthians 13 over and over maybe memorize it and let the let that spirit the spirit of Christ Dwell in you richly And when you must rebuke and correct, and when you must judge, do it with the Spirit of Jesus. So let's close in prayer. Well, Lord, we thank you so much for your word.

Lord, I pray that you would grant us repentance from this spirit that is so prone oftentimes to creep in and maybe even undetected dwell in us and dominate us, oh Lord. We pray that you would please return us back to those first days where Lord we were so acquainted with our bankruptcy help us to know even now Lord that we are in desperate need of you every moment every hour and that that would just shape and color the way that we see One another let love abound in our homes that love abound here and fellowship among the Saints that you might be glorified Lord. You even say in your word by this shall all men know that we love one another Lord. So may that May that just dwell in our hearts as we leave this place. We thank you in Jesus' name, amen.