Luke 6:37-45

Luke 6:37-42

When I read this it reminds me of how the Lord Jesus reproved the spiritual blindness of the religious leaders and told his disciples to avoid them. He said they were blind leaders of the blind and both would fall into a ditch. When I read this it helps me to discern the religious spirit which controls people. What is this religious spirit like? It judges others but is unable to see that it does the same thing that it condemns in other people. It condemns others and cannot see that God condemns it for the same things it condemns other people for. This religious attitude causes people to be blind to their own condition. Instead, it brings pride which blinds a man to his own moral and spiritual condition. It can easily see the faults and failures in other people but is incapable of seeing the same faults and failures in its own life.

I believe the Lord wants us to help our brother with the mote in his eye. However, we cannot help someone if we have the same problem in our life. I think people desire to preach, counsel, or help others but they are not free in their own life. They are bound up with sin, unbelief, idolatry, covetousness, immorality, and yet they want to help other people. This is religion. It is hypocrisy. We must be completely free and filled with life before we can free someone else and impart spiritual life. We must be completely free in Christ. God places us in Christ. He unites us together with him in crucifixion, death, burial, and resurrection. It is only by abiding in the gospel that we are set free and it is only when we walk in victory we can help other people see the truth and be set free as well. This requires dying to self and allowing the Holy Spirit to live through you. When you do this you are not focusing on judging or condemning others. Instead, you discern the problem and come alongside the brother with love and compassion to help him be set free.

Praise the Lord for setting us free from self, from sin, from the world, and from the devil. Christ died for our sins, he was buried, and he rose again on the third day. Everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord Jesus will be saved.

Luke 6:43-45

In the last section the Lord Jesus warned us about judging people. However, in this section we are called to use discernment in dealing with people. There is a negative type of judging that we are to avoid. That kind of judging is tied together with a blindness of one's own sin and faults. However, the discernment described in these verses is completely necessary if we are ever to help others and help ourselves avoid people who would corrupt us.

The Lord Jesus taught us with the analogy of trees and their fruit. A tree brings forth a specific kind of fruit. A bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree bears good fruit. If you hear bad things coming out of a person's mouth consistently then you know the heart of that person is bad. If you constantly hear good things coming out of a person's mouth you know that person is good.

Even in this, however, you need to discern between things that are "carnal" good things, and what is "spiritual" good. Many people nowadays are into positive confession, but they have no grasp of the truth of the bible at all. They may say positive words but the spirit and heart behind what they say is covetousness and self worship. It takes the wisdom of the Holy Spirit to discern these things. This is why we can NOT rely upon our natural understanding of people to know what is good and bad. We must rely upon the Holy Spirit to show us the kind of fruit a person has.

Churches are filled with crowds of people. Look at mega churches. Would you say they are bearing good fruit or bad fruit? How do you discern what is good fruit? Is great numbers of people an indication of good fruit? Many times it is not. There were many people who followed King Saul and died with him. Was King Saul good because many people followed him?

When you hear the gospel of Jesus Christ coming out of people consistently you can know they are good. The gospel is this. Christ died for our sins, he was buried, and he rose again on the third day. Everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. Preach to men and tell them they are great sinners, and Jesus Christ is a great Savior. We are wrong in every way. But Jesus is right in all of his ways.