 Matthew chapter 7, I'm going to begin at verse 1. I'll read verses 1 and 2 and give you a prolonged, I must say, a prolonged introduction. And you'll see why in just a moment. Matthew chapter 7 verses 1 and 2. Judge not that you be not judged. For with what judgment you judge, you will be judged. And with the same measure you use, it will be measured back to you. Verse 1 is one of the most misquoted New Testament scriptures in our nation. Next to wives submitted to your husbands, it is also the most misunderstood. There are scriptures that people memorize that seem convenient to them to kind of like delineate their behavior. They're able to say, well it says this in scripture and therefore you should or should not do this. So if somebody is doing something wrong and you as a brother or a sister may approach them and bring a word of correction, very often you're going to hear, don't be judging me. I wonder how many of you in this room have ever heard that where you've shared something with somebody that is of necessity. You have to do it. It's not like you want to, but you have to. And you've brought this word of correction and you've said to them, you know, this is what the word says and this is what you're doing. I'm concerned for you. And then you've had somebody turn to you and say to you, don't be judging me. Only God is my judge. I mean there are people who have that tattooed on their chest or on their back on their arm. God is my judge. And instead of being afraid, realizing indeed God is your judge, we use that as a way to tell people, stay out of my business. Don't be saying things to me. Doesn't the Bible somewhere say you shouldn't be judging others? We all have heard that. And the second scripture as mentioned, you know, there are men who will say, I know somewhere in the Bible it says wives are to submit to their husbands. I know it's in there somewhere, so when are you going to start doing that? So these are two of the misquoted scriptures, two that are used very often and not understood. So the question has to be asked, was Jesus saying suspend all discernment? Was Jesus saying when he said do not be a judge, judge not that you be not judge, was he saying that we should never exercise discernment? Was he saying we should never make critical judgments? Was Jesus teaching us to refuse to ever make a moral judgment? If he's saying that, then obviously that we have no place of preaching. I cannot take the word of God and divide it correctly and present it to you. I cannot apply it to people's lives because if I do, will I be a judge? If I see somebody doing something wrong and I say to them this is wrong, the word of God says such and so. And they turn to me and say, well Jesus said don't judge, are they right and am I wrong? Today there's a general inability to discern right from wrong and this inability to discern right from wrong, to differentiate black from white has given rise to a concept that we call today, a concept of tolerance. You might as well make thou shalt tolerate the 11th commandment because there are people today who will say that you have to tolerate, you're supposed to be tolerant. This society has to become more tolerant. We've heard that for years, which is another way of saying let things go, don't bother to correct, don't worry about things. You can't make moral judgments. Tolerance is the ability or the willingness to bear with something. In particular the existence of opinions or behavior that one does not necessarily agree with. And so we have made that the 11th commandment today. Thou shalt tolerate everybody and everything. Many today believe in a superficial unity glossed over by a sentimental kind of love. Often the ones who believe in that, this kind of mentality, this superficial unity, don't say anything that'll cause a problem, don't say anything that may cause or stir something up. We need to love each other well. The ones who usually hold fast to that are the ones who aren't reading their Bibles, the ones who don't study their Bibles and the ones who don't attend church or Bible studies. They're just not in the Word of God and so they get caught up with the contemporary morals. They get caught up with just echoing what is being said by the press or some news individual or some humorist on an evening program. They're not studying the Word of God so they don't know what is true and they don't know what is true unity. Sometimes those who call people judges well simply are living sinful lives and they don't like being called out. Instead of receiving the Spirit's conviction, they instead claim that people are judging them and they'll say, don't be judging me. You're judging me. You ought to allow things to be the way that they are and allow me to do what I want. They don't know the difference between the words conviction and condemnation. Years ago I was teaching a Bible study and it was over 30 years ago, probably about 33 years ago now. I was teaching a Bible study and as I was teaching the Bible study, somebody came and spoke to me after the service and said to me, you know, I usually go to this other fellowship but I'm glad I came here because sometimes I need to be condemned. And I smiled and I said, condemned. Yes, sometimes I need condemnation and I thought about that and I thought, did I bring condemnation today because of course I don't want to do that. Did I do that? Did I bring a word in such a way to cause a person to feel guilty and to lose hope? And what I have come to believe and I believe is correct is they were confused between conviction and condemnation. See, in the Holy Spirit, Jesus said in John 16.8 that God would send, the Father would send the Holy Spirit and he would bring conviction. He would convince the world of sin, righteousness and judgment. So conviction of the Holy Spirit is when God speaks to your heart and awakens you to what is right in contrast to what you're doing which is wrong and he brings a conviction with the intent to awaken us to say, God forgive me, I've blown it, I'm a sinner, help me, that's conviction. Condemnation would be causing you to think there's no hope, I'm hopeless and there's nothing that can be done and God isn't bringing a word of condemnation, there's no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus who walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit. John, rather Paul says in Romans 8.1, we are not condemned when we come to faith in Christ but we will be convicted when we're doing something that he doesn't approve of and sometimes conviction occurs through a brother or a sister who loves us enough to tell us the truth. But not everybody wants to hear that. I was reading an online post that was written by a professing Christian and as this person was writing concerning Christians he said that they're hypocrites. Christians are hypocrites because they pick and choose scriptures and use the ones that appeal to them and ignore the ones that don't. So they're a bunch of hypocrites and he used the word hypocrite, that's a strong word. Jesus has the right to speak of hypocrites and he does so but it isn't something that all of us should run around using, that's not a word that you use and so I read what he posted and I wrote a response to him and I said, you know, the things that you're saying really reveal that it would be good for you to sit down with one of the leaders of your church or with your pastor and ask these questions that you're posting on Facebook and get some answers. So he writes back and says, I don't need to go to church and I don't need to speak to any pastor, I know what I'm talking about, I'm right. So I thought that's an interesting attitude and so I looked up his name and I went to his page and when I went to his page, there was a lot of sexual stuff on it, there was a lot of profanity on it, so I wrote him back and I said, you know, I open up your page, I was wondering who you were and now I see who you are and you really need to get right with the Lord and then he writes back, don't be judging me, don't be judging me. That is the answer, isn't it? You know, when I'm convicted of sin, when I'm doing something wrong, if somebody brings it up, then what they're doing is they're judging me. In other words, let me continue in sin, unabated, and don't be in my business. Is that what Jesus is teaching? Is he saying that when somebody's blowing it, someone's living with their girlfriend, somebody's out there getting drunk on a Saturday night and serving in children's ministry on Sunday and somebody should say, that's not right, are they being judged and is Jesus forbidding that? Because that's how people are interpreting and misinterpreting the Scripture today. You see, what happens is many today consider what is taught in the Bible to be of very little importance and when it's presented, when Scripture is presented, very often they'll simply say, well, that's your opinion. That's your opinion, you know, and it's true that sometimes we do give our opinion. There's no doubt about that. Everybody on occasion will begin to share what they think is true or not true and it's not necessarily Biblically accurate and I accept that, of course. There will always be also those who give their opinions like their pronouncements from Mount Sinai, like God is in this opinion and that's not true either. But what if what is being said is actually what Scripture itself does teach? What if the Scripture is in context? And the person in sin actually needs to hear what is being said. You see, Christians have had their world view formed by what the Bible teaches. There are things that Christians have believed that were cultural and wrong and misunderstandings of Scripture. There's no doubt about that. There were professing believers who fought in the Crusades and yes, there were professing believers who owned slaves and that was wrong and yes, they used the Scripture to justify those kinds of things. There's no doubt about that. Martin Luther at one time thought Jews would come to Jesus and he got angry when they didn't and I was reading something recently from a book that he wrote called The Jews and Their Lies and Martin Luther gave advice concerning their treatment. He wrote, set fire to their synagogues in schools, destroy their homes, burn their prayer books and Talmudic writings, forbid their rabbis from teaching and execute them if they do, cease protecting them when they travel, forbid them from lending money and receiving interest, put them to hard work and so that was absolutely wrong. That was anti-Semitic and we know that. Culture and our sin nature conspired to misread and misunderstand Scripture. We understand that too but does this mean that there's no proper understanding of the Bible? Does that mean that Scripture is always misunderstood? Should we believe that there's no proper interpretation of Scripture? You see, the Bible teaches us as pastors to properly study and present Scripture to accurately divide the word of God. In 2 Timothy 2.15, Paul wrote, do your best to present yourself to God as one approved a workman who does not need to be ashamed who correctly handles the word of truth, rightly dividing the word of truth. Cut it straight and make it proper. So we have that responsibility. Yes, there have been times and seasons in the 2,000 year history of the church that culture has influenced us in an improper way. But overwhelmingly, when the Scriptures have been rightly divided, we can present the truth in such a way that people can know what is right lovingly and encouragingly performed correction is a deep expression of love. It isn't judging a person when you warn them and encourage them to flee from sin. In Proverbs 29, verse 1, a man who remains stiff-necked after many rebukes will suddenly be destroyed without remedy. We don't want people destroyed and therefore what we want to do is encourage them. But sometimes people will harden their heart. Sometimes people stiffen their neck. We don't want to hear what's being said and they'll say, don't be judging me. John 12.48, Jesus said, he who rejects me and does not receive my words has that which judges him. The word that I have spoken will judge him in the last day. And so naturally, because we are concerned with people, we will sometimes have to bring a word of correction. You see, when people develop their own standards of morality, they begin to judge others by their own standards. That was true of the Pharisees. Their traditions replaced God's written authority. That's why Jesus in Matthew 15, verses 7 through 9, said this. He said, hypocrites, well did Isaiah prophesy about you saying, these people draw near to me with their mouth, and honor me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. And in vain they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men. You see, the Phariseic system produced the appearance of righteousness, which in reality was simply legalism. When we personally decide what is right and what is wrong, we end up becoming self-righteous. And Jesus made it clear when he addressed this attitude in the Pharisees. In Luke 16, verse 15, he said to them, you are the ones who justify yourselves in the eyes of man, but God knows your hearts. What is highly valued among men is detestable in God's sight. So the inevitable result will be all who fail to live up to my standard is less righteous than me. What that produces in my life, instead of the fruit of humility, is spiritual pride. An attitude that I'm better than those who do not meet my standards. That old saying, I don't smoke and I don't chew and I don't date the girls who do. And that attitude results in judgmentalism, a habit of condemning other people. Now, Christian love is not blind, and Christian love does not tolerate evil, but true love contains the element of spiritual discernment. Paul said this, I pray, that your love may abound still more and more in knowledge and all discernment, that you may approve the things that are excellent, that you may be sincere and without offense until the day of Christ. Knowledge, discernment, approve things that are excellent. Love has knowledge and discernment which leads us to approve the right kinds of things. So our ability to judge or to discern with righteous judgment is built on the knowledge of Scripture. And our moral beliefs are built on proper understanding of the Bible. When somebody doesn't believe in God and somebody doesn't believe that there is such a thing as moral absolutes, try and convince them that something they did is wrong. Try. If somebody walks up to you and has a gun and points it at you and says, convince me not to shoot you. I don't believe in God and I don't believe in the Bible. Try and convince them not to shoot you. They don't have a moral compass. They don't have something you can appeal to. The Bible says, thou shalt not kill and not to murder. I don't believe in God and I don't believe in the Bible. There's a professor in one of his college classes who wanted to show the extreme that that can be taken to when somebody doesn't have a moral value or moral compass and he said to his students, convince me not to shoot you. Let's imagine that I have a gun. Imagine that and convince me. I want to hear your arguments and people said, well, the Bible and he says, I don't believe in the Bible. Well, God will judge you. I don't believe in God. What convinced him was one of the students said, if you shoot us, it'll make the room real messy. And the professor said, well, you know, I hate messes. That's a good reason not to shoot you. And he was trying to show what moral relativism actually produces, which is an inability to make a decision as to what is right or what is wrong. So when you have absolutes, when you have the Word of God, when you have those 10 commands and you see how God says, this is how you are to be with me and this is how you are to be with other people, then you begin to see that God had laid a structure for us by which we can use this structure to help us understand what is good and what is not good. God's Word gives us understanding. In Psalm 119.104, the psalmist said, from your precepts I get understanding and therefore I hate every false way. And that's why Jesus, when he was speaking about making judgments, in John 7.24, said it like this. He said, do not judge according to appearance but judge with righteous judgment. You see, without moral codes, we could not properly judge what is right or what is wrong. And without a knowledge of right or wrong, everything is relative. Therefore, everything can be right. We have laws for marriage. We say there are certain laws that should be. Somebody says, no, I think you can have same-sex marriage. It creates a big issue. Of course it does. Because that's opening up a can of worms. Because somebody is going to say, I want to marry my cousin. Somebody else is going to say, I would like to marry a horse. I mean, somebody else, you've got a slippery slope. This is what's taking place. I'd like to marry an 11-year-old. What's to keep a 50-year-old man from dating and marrying a 10-year-old little girl? Well, that's not right. Who says it's not right? You've just determined that scripture doesn't give us any insight. So therefore, what is right and what is wrong? And that's the slippery slope that we're in right now. In the courts of law, we cannot be convinced of someone being wrong of what he's doing he feels right about. And it's okay. And as long as it's not hurting anybody. You see, as a Christian, I'm not surprised that people accept sinful behavior as acceptable. That's the way it is. That's the way it's always been. There's sin and there's always been those who make excuse for it. What is concerning is that people who profess to be saved can be calloused because of sin. Again, that's not to be taken as a surprise. In Matthew 24-12, Jesus said it like this. He said, because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold. In 2 Timothy 4, 3 and 4, a time is coming when people will no longer listen to right teaching. They will follow their own desires. They will look for teachers who will tell them whatever they want to hear. They will reject the truth and follow strange myths. And that's where we are right now in our society. It's one thing when the Supreme Court makes a ruling. It's another thing when you have Christians going on Facebook defending the ruling of the Supreme Court. Because they're ignorant of Scripture and they're ignorant of the ways of the Lord. And they're defending what God is in opposition to. So, getting back to it, that's your introduction in this portion of Scripture. What is Jesus talking about? When he says in verse 1, judge not that you be not judged. What is he talking about? What he is talking about is unmerciful condemnation of other people. By practicing this kind of judgmentalism, he's saying you are replacing God as final judge. You see, we don't know a person's motives because only God can and only God does. Paul said in 1 Corinthians 4, 3 and 4, with me, it's a very small thing that I should be judged by you or by a human court. In fact, I do not even judge myself. For I know nothing against myself. Yet I am not justified by this, but he who judges me is the Lord. I don't know the ins and outs of why a person did what they didn't. Therefore, I'm not to be unmerciful in the way I look at them. I'm not to make those harsh kinds of judgments. Have you ever heard somebody say, or perhaps you might have said this in the past yourself, I don't understand how they could do that. I don't understand how they... Well, the fact is, but by the grace of God, there go I. There are things that I can and cannot do. There are things that I could do that at one time I thought was normal that I know now isn't. And so we never get to the point where we're self-righteous, pointing fingers at other people saying, oh, I don't understand you. When you don't have the Lord and you're not being controlled by the Spirit of God, you're going to do whatever it is that pleases your flesh. But you can even get to the point where you don't even judge yourself. You think everything you're doing is just right. And that's why Paul said I don't even judge myself. He judges me as God because he knows everything about me. And he knows what is true and what is not true. You see, when he says, for with what judgment you judge, you will be judged, and with the same measure you use, it will be measured back to you. We need to understand that self-righteous judgment, inevitably, will boomerang. We ultimately reap what we sow. And that can take place while we're still alive. People begin to treat us as we treat them. And if we don't exhibit faith in a compassionate way, people accuse us of being harsh. And in many ways, that's inevitable because when you stand for righteousness, people will object. And it's the stand that we have, that fuels rejection, and it can result in persecution. But when we stand up and say this is what the Lord says, we should say it with love towards that person. Sometimes people think that we're just rigid and demanding. And that can cause people to reject us and to judge us. James 2.13 says judgment is without mercy to the one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment. So listen, if you ever have to get into a position where you have to bring correction, every parent has to do this, by the way, or every parent should be. But if you ever get into a place where you have to bring correction to a brother or a sister in the Lord, let me tell you this, and I'll say it very briefly, it is not easy to do. It isn't easy to do. It can be very difficult. A word of correction very often should come from a broken heart. And sometimes a word of correction will come with a tear in the eye. There have been times, I've been in ministry a long time, this isn't my first ministry, I've been in ministry since 1973. I've been in ministry a long time, I've done Bible studies for many years. Many years, I've taught thousands of Bible studies over the years, thousands of them. An average of 150 to 200 Bible studies a year for years. So I've been teaching a long time and I can tell you, I've done a lot of counseling over the years. And I've sat down with people more than once where they're in sin and they've been in my office or I've met them somewhere and we're speaking and it's been more than once where I've had to bring a word of correction and it is never easy, it is never easy, it has never been. And I don't know that it ever will be. I don't know that it's supposed to be. And some people shy away, some people won't do it, they don't love them enough to tell them the truth but my responsibility is to tell the truth even if it hurts, it hurts me and it hurts them and it does hurt. And there have been times when, and I can tell you this, that I've wept that I've openly cried as I've shared with people only to have them leave and say, he judged me, he doesn't love me, he condemned me. 30 plus years ago there was a woman in my church I spoke to, church was young and I was speaking to her and I said to her a few things. She said she had a boyfriend, she wanted to get married and asked if I would perform the ceremony. I said, may I meet your fiancee and she said, yes. And they made an appointment, they came to my office, it was after hours and it was just me, this boyfriend and this young woman in the room and we were seated there and he seated across for me and she seated to my left and I used to begin in my counseling somewhere at the beginning as we introduced ourselves began to share and all I said, in every relationship there are certain things allowed and certain limits that you have voluntarily yielded to. May I ask you where your limits have been in the area of your physical relationship? And I was asking, are you sleeping with one another? And I said it in a tactful way but that's what I was asking, are you fornicating? At what point have you stopped your affection to one another? She got mortified, her face got like, I'll never forget it, she got like, oh, bust it. But he had a different attitude. He looks at me, I'll never forget this, I was sitting there and he was maybe four feet away from me and she's there in a small office and we're just kind of seated there and he starts going off and he starts saying, what are you saying? Are you saying that love is not proper, that I can't express my affection in a physical way? And he started and I could see the thermometer going up and he's starting to get mad and I'm just looking at him and then he starts doing these karate stretching things. He did. He started doing this thing and I'm looking at him and he goes, when I'm doing my kata and he's doing this and I'm thinking he's going to fly out of his chair and pop me in the head. True story. And I said, Jesus, let him knock me out with the first punch. I just don't feel like getting hurt today. Not everybody likes conviction. This guy was doing all of this, I talked to him for a while, talked him down, got him off the ledge, got him out of the room, locked two doors to make sure he didn't break in. Some people don't like conviction and they get real worked up over it. A young lady, again about 30 plus years ago, comes in dating a man who's not saved, wants to marry him. I said, listen, the Bible teaches you not to be unequally yoked together with an unbeliever. From the Old Testament to the New Testament, the Scriptures teach us that believers marry believers and a believer is not to marry an unbeliever. It creates an unequal yoking. It's going to ruin your life if you do that. Well, I don't see why I can't. I love him and he loves me. I said, well, because God's word says and I think God knows better than you do. She said, are you telling me there's no chance for him to get saved? I said, no, I'm not saying that. Do you think he can get saved? I said, of course. God loves everybody and yes, do I believe that God could save him? Yes. God is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. Yes, I do. Do you think he'll get saved? I said, how will I know whether he'll get saved or not? That's between God and his conscience and the spirit of the Lord. How would I know that? Well, what do you think is the percentage that he will get saved? This woman was bent on this. I said, I don't know. How do I know what percentage is to lay on whether God will or will not save somebody? Well, if you were to give an educated guess, what would you think? I said, my educated guess? I said, do you want me to guess? She said, yeah, would you guess? I said, okay, maybe less than 1%, maybe. She says, I'll take those odds and she left. And she married the guy. And she did so, thinking I gave her permission to do that. So there have been times, there have been times where I have literally cried in front of people, literally, not just here, but literally in front of people, one on one, where I have said in the name of Jesus, you're going to destroy yourself. Listen to what the Spirit is saying with tears. Because listen, if you're going to bring a word of correction, it should come through a broken heart and a tearful attitude. Not like, hey, you know what? You're all messed up. Get right with God or go to hell. My mom, my mom used to do that. She said, I was trying to lead him to Christ. And he said, no, so I said, go to hell. I said, mama, that is not how you, have you ever seen Billy Graham do that? That is not the right thing to do. Paul in the book of Galatians in chapter 6 verses 1 and 2 said it like this. He said, brethren, if a man is overtaken in any trespass, you who are spiritual, restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness, considering yourself, lest you also be tempted, bear one another's burdens, so fulfill the law of Christ. You do it in a spirit of gentleness with humility and meekness. If you have to bring correction, you pray, God, give me the right words and the right attitude that I might bring a word that will encourage this person to get on the right path. He goes on in verse 3, why do you look at the speck in your brother's eye but do not consider the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, let me remove the speck out of your eye and look, a plank's in your own eye, hypocrite. First remove the plank from your own eye and then you will see clearly to remove the speck out of your brother's eye. A speck is a splinter and a plank is a beam. When you're sanding down a beam to get it ready to put up, like to support the roof, there's specks that come off of it and that's what Jesus is saying, it's basically the same kind of wood. It's interesting how our sins never seem so ugly until we see them practiced by someone else and Jesus is saying, listen, if you're going to reach somebody and minister to them, the best way to see clearly is to remove the beam in your own eye and when you remove that beam, you'll be able to see clearly enough to remove a bit of sawdust from somebody else. In other words, proper judgment begins with ourself. If we're ever going to truly help somebody else, we need to see clearly. So make sure that you're not cluttered. You don't come in with legalism and harsh attitude. Speak to them with humility and love and make sure you realize that you yourself are saved by the grace of God too. He says in verse 6, 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. Which you have to tie this in with verse 1 again, please. Judge not that you be not judged and yet in verse 6, do not give what is holy to dogs nor cast your pearls before swine. That gives to me the insight that Jesus is speaking concerning being self-righteous and critical, but he is not saying do not be discerning because to be able to know what a dog is and what a swine is requires me to be able to see clearly. When he speaks of the dog, that's this vicious scavenging mongrel. You guys have been in places I have in various countries where you've been by, we'll say by a dump or where trash is just piling up in a country that may not have the same kind of rigid sanitation practices as your neighborhood and all. I've been in the dumps and things in the Philippines and Mexico in various places where they'll have dogs or wild dogs that will come and will be tearing into the trash and the bags. They're wild or those feral cats that nobody can get near because they'll bite you and claw you. Well, he's speaking concerning those vicious scavenging dogs and don't cast your, don't give things to them, don't give them food. And then he speaks of the swine, that was one of those foraging pigs and in Israel we know that pigs were unclean. So he's saying don't give to the dogs of the swine, why, because they're going to attack you. They don't care for what is precious. What's the practical application? Be very wise when you share and be very careful to avoid provoking angry confrontations. You have a burden for some gangsters and you walk up to share with them and they immediately turn on you and it gets kind of heated. Be wise enough to say you know what, I'll talk to you later and walk away. There's very little glory in getting beat up and then dragging yourself home with all these bruises in blood when you could have just turned around and walked away and said I'll just leave you with that. Just be wise. There are those who listen, there are those who don't, you need to be wise and know the different. If you're sharing with someone, they become angry, insulting, walk away. Sometimes you'll be going to a function for the family, maybe it's a wedding, maybe it's a baptism, maybe it's a Christmas or an Easter or something like that, a birthday party. And you've got your whole family and many of your family perhaps don't know the Lord and you go all prayed up and you're in the Word and you want to bring the gospel to your family and you sit down and you begin to share and somebody you're talking to gets all uptight and angry at you. It's not wise to continue provoking them. It's wise to just say you know what, I understand we'll leave it alone. It's just wise to do that. You don't want to continue pushing and provoking people and that's what the Lord is saying. Have wisdom to know. Don't give what is holy to the dogs or pearls before swine. Why, they'll trample them under their feet and turn and tear you in pieces. There's no need to provoke that kind of thing. You'd be like standing at some kind of parade where everybody is celebrating certain things and you're yelling at them and you're just provoking them. Be very wise in that. Moving on, verse 7. Ask, it will be given to you. Seek, you will find. Knock and it will be open to you. Everyone who asks receives and he who seeks finds and to him who knocks, it will be opened. What man is there among you who if his son asks for bread will give him a stone or if he asks for a fish will give him a serpent. If you then being evil know how to give good gifts to your children. How much more will your father in heaven give good things to those who ask him? And so in the midst of all of this God judging harshly and yet we're aware of opposition what am I to do? Well what I do is I ask for wisdom and I do so through prayer and that's what Jesus is saying. Ask, seek and knock because God will grant us the wisdom in our time of need. God will respond to you with a proper answer as well as direction. We so often require wisdom so we should ask God for it openly and humbly. Now there have been times when I've been ministering one on one somebody says something and I don't have a clue how to respond. It happens all the time. It happened this morning after first service. Somebody approaches me they had a real heavy thing going they're going through and I'm standing there speaking right after service right here down here talking to people and as he was laying out what he's going through I'm praying. Get me out of here. No, I was praying. Bring somebody over who's smarter than me. That's what you do. God give me an answer. I want to have an answer to help this brother in the situation he's in that is from you and the Lord supplied that answer. James says in chapter 1 verse 5 if any of you lack wisdom let him ask of God who gives all men liberally and without reproaching to him. God give me wisdom for this moment I'm asking I'm seeking and I'm knocking I need to know the difference of who I should speak to and when I should speak to and when I should be quiet. Help me to know in context what you would have me to do. Now what do we need as we pray we need the power of the Holy Spirit. Verse 9 what man is there among you who if his son asks for bread will give him a stone. In Israel if not we still we have this kind of bread here you go to Israel they have bread that when you look at it if you put it down on a highway it would just look like a stone. The bread that they ate at that time and they do to this day it can look like it's a stone and so it looks similar so if you gave your child what he thinks is bread and he takes a bite and breaks his teeth well what father would do that and that's the whole point he's making a good father wouldn't do that if the child asked for a fish but you gave him a serpent. No a good father wouldn't do that and so on what basis do we ask of the Lord and we ask the Lord on the basis of his love for us he's our father and he wants to bless us and he wants to provide for us and listen if you walk away with anything in this context know this the God you serve and the God you worship loves you and he wants to answer your prayers and he does so properly whatever it may be that you need sometimes I may be asking for the wrong thing or the thing that isn't proper at the moment but he always answers with the right thing for me and I trust him in that now Jesus says something I'm going to develop this for just a moment but he says something we need to notice in verse 11 he says if you then being evil know how to give good gifts to your children how judgmental Jesus just called me evil what are you saying well Jesus is commenting on our sin nature our sin nature is evil Psalm 51 verse 5 I was born a sinner yes from the moment my mother conceived me Jeremiah 17 9 the human heart is most deceitful desperately wicked who really knows how bad it is and so he's making comment on our sin nature there have been times when I've quoted the scripture and I have said you know I'm an evil father and some in my congregation have laughed thinking I was either depreciating myself for being silly no I'm just quoting Christ if you then being evil because he's he's saying listen even evil people will feed a child a house a child will close and protect their child why because they love them and so that's such a basic action any genuine parent would perform it so if I provide what is needed for my child will God not provide what is needed for his and what is needed well notice with me please in verse 11 how he says your father who is in heaven will give good things to those who ask him your father in heaven gives good gifts to those who ask him when you compare this scripture with Luke 11 13 if you then being evil know how to give good gifts to your children Jesus goes on to say how much more shall your heavenly father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him EM Bounds said this what the church needs today is not more machinery or better not new organizations or more in novel methods but men whom the Holy Spirit can use men of prayer men mighty in prayer the Holy Spirit does not flow through methods but through men he does not come on machinery but on men he does not anoint plans but men men of prayer if you walk out this morning please take this that without the Holy Spirit you are a ship with a sail and no wind you're just going to be in the doldrums but when the Holy Spirit moves on your life he will direct you my encouragement to all of us here in this room this morning is when you get up every day pray and say God fill me with your spirit the spirit of God making you alive and animating you spiritually you will become religious you'll do the right things with no satisfaction with no joy with an empty dryness Jesus said that the Holy Spirit would come upon us and flood our souls and that's what I need the most his word and his spirit so that I won't judge people and I won't be harsh towards them so I'll know how to take the gospel and give it to people and be wise enough to step back when they're not receptive that I'll know how to pray and ask and seek and knock because I know my father's listening and he'll answer and this all comes because the Holy Spirit is flooding my soul and as a promised God gives he said in Isaiah 44.3 I will pour water on him whose thirsty floods on the dry ground passing on your offspring that's a promise flood me with your spirit in a world that doesn't know right from wrong in a world that applauds a man for claiming he's a woman and ignores true heroes God help us all God help us all fill us with your spirit and finally therefore verse 12 whatever you want men to do to you do also to them for this is the law and the prophets this is a proactive this is the golden rule there is what is called the silver room silver rule what you don't want men to do to you don't do to them this is the golden rule because it's proactive you want good do good good to all men as you would have them do to you were your circumstances in theirs reversed only those whose hearts are filled with the love of God can keep this command Christianity is not simply words it's understood by actions and the perfect love of the father is reflected in his children when we treat others with love that destroys preoccupation with ourselves and it's positive in its application because Christian love seeks the well being of somebody else and that reveals the love of God you see the bible says to us God demonstrated his love toward us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us the bible says God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life God so that he did my wife could tell me all day long she really loves me talk is cheap it is isn't it talk is cheap talk is cheap if you love me Jesus said keep my commandments if you love me keep my commandments it's one thing for me to tell my girl I love her that's another thing for me to show her I love her she needs to hear the words and see the deeds now my children my children will learn love not by the way daddy says it but by the way daddy does it that's how they learn love I learned love not by a father who was overly romantic because my dad wasn't I don't remember seeing my dad kiss my mom in my whole life with any kind of passion he kissed her on the cheek once in a while once in a blue moon my dad was one of these stoic guys my mom was one of these all eee types with my dad but my dad was mr. like that was my dad I never heard him in my life tell my mother he loved her you know that how interesting I bet a lot of you could say the same thing you never saw your dad ever say to your mother I love you I never saw that I never heard that never in my life did my dad ever ever that I can remember say to my mom looking her in the eyes baby I love you I don't remember that ever he just did and I saw that and the reason I love my wife the way I do isn't because my dad gave me lectures is because in his last breath I prayed for that woman when he was dying he was praying for her that's love I watched it I saw it and so Jesus says talk is cheap talk is cheap do good unto others do good to them the way you would have them do to you do good to others this is what the law and the prophets is all about what are you saying like this for the commandments you shall not commit adultery you shall not murder you shall not steal you shall not bear false witness you shall not covet if there's any other commandment are all summed up in this saying namely you shall love your neighbor as yourself love is not just a word love is a lifestyle and that's the golden rule do good to others