All right, to judge or not to
judge? Well, these first four verses of Matthew chapter seven,
I heard a fellow say one time preaching on verse one, judge
not that you be not judged. That that's one of the most,
if not the most misunderstood and even abused verses in all
of scripture. And I believe he's right. You
know, we often hear people say they do not judge. They say,
we don't judge. And that's not true. We're gonna
look at this. What is Christ saying here? What
is he teaching his people concerning this idea of judgment? For example,
to say that, a lot of people interpret these verses as if
Christ is forbidding all judgment. In other words, we're never to
judge anybody, but that's far from the case. For example, now
we're just gonna look at the first four or five, I think I
put four verses here, but it's gonna be five. Yeah, we go to
verse five. So in your lesson, change that
four on the top to five. But if you'll look at this, we
won't get this far, but look at verse six, for example. Now
he says, judge not that you be not judged. And then he tells
his disciples, he says in verse six, give not that which is holy
unto dogs. Now who are these dogs that he's
talking about? You know he's not talking about
literal canines. He's talking, it's a metaphor
for a certain set of people. He goes on, he says, neither
cast your pearls before swine. Who are these swine? How are
we gonna know who not to, he says, give not that which is
holy. Now what he's talking about there
is the gospel. How am I gonna know whether or
not to preach the gospel, to witness the gospel to a certain
person or whatever without making some kind of a judgment, some
kind of assessment of who they are? And then if that doesn't
answer the question, think about this one, go down to verse 15. He says, beware of false prophets. which come to you in sheep's
clothing. Now, how am I going to beware or wary of a false
prophet if I can't make a judgment on whether or not that prophet,
that preacher is false or not? You listen to preachers, all
right? You have to make a judgment. I tell people all the time, I
say, as you're listening to me right now, you're making a judgment.
And you're gonna go one of three ways. You're either going to
agree with what I'm saying based upon the testimony of scripture,
you're going to disagree with what I'm saying, or you're going
to not care what I'm saying. I tell young people all the time,
as you listen to the message, you're making a judgment. Now
your judgment may be that what I'm saying is not worth hearing
and you may tune me out, but you've made a judgment. So we
always make judgment, but we'll look at that in just a moment.
Let's look here and see what Christ is saying. First of all,
he says in verse one, judge not that you be not judged. What we see here is that the
Lord is not forbidding all judgment, but what he is forbidding is
self-righteous judgment based upon a self-righteous or a wrong
standard of judgment. Now that's what he's forbidding.
And the next verses will show that, and we'll get to them in
a minute. But think about this, all right? For example, think
about the parable of the Pharisee and the publican as recorded
in Luke 18. I've got that verse, Luke 18,
nine. It's written there in your lesson.
And he spoke that parable of the Pharisee and the publican.
It says in Luke 18 and verse nine, it says, he spoke this
parable unto certain or certain people which trusted in themselves
that they were righteous. In other words, they had a judgment
of themselves that they are righteous. And it was based upon their own
standard and despised others. That is, they rejected others.
Now that's self-righteous judgment and he goes on to prove that
in the parable of the Pharisee and the publican. You can read
the whole parable. You remember the Pharisee stood and prayed
thus with himself, I thank God that I'm not like other men.
And this was his judgment of himself based upon what he imagined
God had enabled him to do. And he despised that publican.
I'm not like that publican now. I'm righteous and he's not. Now
that's the kind of judgment that Christ is forbidding here in
Matthew 7.1, judge not that you be not judged. And remember what
Christ said, the publican, he bowed his head and beat on his
breast, God be merciful, which is literally propitious towards
me, a sinner. In other words, I need a mercy
seat is what he's saying. I'm a mercy beggar. And Christ
says the publican went down to his house justified rather than
the Pharisee. He was unjustified. That's the
kind of, judgment that Christ is forbidding here. The Pharisee
who judges himself to be righteous based upon his works or however
he thinks that he has taken care of the matter of sin and judging
others to be condemned based upon their sins. Another example
of that is in John chapter 8. You don't have to turn there.
But you remember John chapter eight, the first 11 verses, you
remember when they brought the woman who was caught in the act
of adultery and they were gonna stone her according to the law
of Moses? And of course they were breaking
the law of Moses. That's not the kind of capital punishment
that was given under the old covenant law, vigilante justice. And of course, as I always make
a comment on that, I say, they're always, they're judgments. I
don't know who the woman was committing adultery with, but
you don't see anybody else there, do you? Must have been somebody
of reputation, because they only brought the one. Since she was
caught in the act. So, takes two to tango. So where's the
guy, you know? Must have been somebody of reputation.
Well, that's speculation, I know, but here's the point. Remember
what Christ told them when they were gonna stone her? He said, let
he who is without sin cast the first stone. Now, what's he teaching
there? He's teaching this, that if any
of us were judged based upon our works, we would deserve death. That's what he's saying. And
so the Pharisee was no closer to working righteousness by his
works than the adulterous woman or the publican. And yet the
Pharisee was judging the publican and the adulterous woman to be
sinners. And this is the case right here.
Think about it this way. Paul wrote in Galatians chapter
six, he said this. He said in verse three, for if
a man thinketh himself to be something, When he's nothing,
he deceives himself. But let every man prove his own
work, and then shall he have rejoicing in himself alone and
not in another, for every man shall bear his own burden. In
other words, if my judgment of my salvation, my righteousness,
my acceptance with God is based upon how I compare with you or
anybody else, I'm deceiving myself. That's the kind of judgment that
Christ forbids here. A person looks at a heinous criminal
and they make this statement. They say, I know that that person
is lost or condemned or somebody who dies there in hell because
they were so sinful. Well, now let me tell you something.
That person who dies in their sins is lost and condemned. But what makes me think that
I fare any better? Because I look at him and say,
well, I'm not as sinful as him? You see, if you judge anybody
lost because they're a sinner, what you have to understand,
you're a sinner too. And all sin deserves death. And
David stated that in Psalm 130 in verse 3 when he said, Lord,
if thou, Lord, shouldest mark iniquities, who would stand?
Where would I be if God charged sin to me? Because I'm a sinner. Paul said, this is a faithful
saying, worthy of all acceptation. Christ Jesus come into the world
safe centers of whom I am chief. And here's the point, in judgment,
in anything, salvation is all of grace. Nicodemus, the religious
man, the Pharisee, the member of the Sanhedrin, He was no closer
to salvation based upon his works than the woman at the well in
John chapter four who had five husbands. That's the point he's making.
And let's turn to this verse. Turn to Luke chapter 13. Luke chapter 13. And look at verse one. Now, here's
another illustration of this that Christ brings forth about
this thing about judgment. And basically, he's judging saved
and lost here. That's what he's talking about,
that our judgments are saved and lost. You know, somebody
says, well, somebody commits a sin. We say, well, that's wrong.
Well, we know that's wrong, and that's a judgment. But what he's
talking about is how we see ourselves and how we judge ourselves in
light of others. And he says here, look at Luke
13 verse one, he says, there were present at that season,
some that told him of the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled
with their sacrifices. These were Galileans apparently
who were sacrificing according to the law of Moses and Pilate
sent in an army and killed them all. Well, verse two. And Jesus answering said unto
them, suppose ye that these Galileans were sinners above all the Galileans
because they suffered such things. In other words, it's kind of
like, you know, uh, you remember when, uh, I always forget the
name of these hurricanes. All right. But what was the name
of the hurricane that came through new Orleans? Katrina. That's it. All right. All right.
Hurricane Katrina came through new Orleans. And I know, I remember
hearing two, maybe three preachers on television who came on and
talked about that they only got what, they may not have said
it this way, but the essence of their message was, is that
because New Orleans is such a sinful city, they just got what they
deserved. Now that's the kind of thing
that Christ is talking about. Do you suppose those Galileans
were sinners above all, they were the worst sinners among
the Galileans and that's why they got that, that Pilate, they
got killed. All right, go on, verse three,
he said, I tell you nay, but except you repent, you shall
all likewise perish. What am I? You know, you look
at New Orleans and say, well, that's sinful. Well, Albany's
just as sinful as New Orleans, folks. I know there's a church
on every street corner here. Now don't get me wrong. I know
that. But, but listen, how does a sinner attain righteousness?
It's not by having a church on every street corner. It's by
looking to Christ as the Lord, our righteousness. We'll look
on verse four. He says, or those 18 upon whom the tower in Siloam
fell. Now, the first example he gives
is of human sin, Pilate. Here's natural disaster, like
the hurricane that came through New Orleans. Those 18 upon whom
the tower in Siloam fell and slew them, think ye that they
were sinners above all men that dwelt in Jerusalem? In other
words, did that happen to them because they were greater sinners
than the rest of the people? That's natural thinking, isn't
it? He says in verse five, I tell you nay, but except you repent,
you shall all likewise pay. We're all sinners. We all deserve
condemnation. Salvation and the attaining of
righteousness is not a matter of what I deserve or what I earn
over and above somebody else. It has nothing to do with how
I compare to the worst or the best. It's all of grace in Christ. And when you see that, when the
Holy Spirit implants that upon your conscience, I guarantee
your standard of judgment will change. Isn't that right? Paul stated it this way, he said,
God forbid that I should glory save in the cross of our Lord
Jesus Christ by whom the world is crucified unto me and I unto
the world. So look back at Matthew 7. Look
at verse two, now he says, judge not that you be not judged. What
kind of judgment is he forbidding? Self-righteous judgment based
upon a wrong ground, a self-righteous ground. Verse two, for with what
judgment you judge, you shall be judged. And with what measure
you meet, it shall be measured to you again. All right, go back
to this. You look at a person, you say,
well, I know their loss because they're great sinners. Well,
what does that prove? I'll tell you what it proves.
It proves you don't know the reality of your own sin. It proves
you don't know Christ. And the kind of judgment you're
going to get is the same that you dished out. Unless God saves
you by his grace. That's what it proves. You say,
well, they're sinners. Well, when you stand before God
at judgment, how are you going to be assessed by the judge of
all? Are you a sinner? You say, well,
I'm not as bad as them. Doesn't matter. For all have
sinned and come short of the glory of God. The wages of sin
is dead. There's none righteous, no, not
one. That's why Paul said this. I
think this is the summation of Paul's life as a believer. that
I may know him, Christ, and be found in him, not having mine
own righteousness which is of the law, but that which is through
the faithfulness of Christ. That's it, that's our only hope.
So he says, with what judgment? You see, if God saves us by his
grace, as Christ said earlier in the sermon I'm at, we're poor
in spirit. We know our spiritual poverty. We know that we have
nothing of our own, of our works, or any goodness or any righteousness
of our own to recommend us unto God. And that's how I am. That's how you are, even as compared
to the worst sinner that ever lived on earth. His only hope, sure only hope,
is the grace of God and the righteousness of Christ. But you know what?
That's my only hope too. You see, grace levels out the
field and changes our standard of judgment. Now look at verse
four, he says, or verse three, he says, why beholdest thou the
moat, that's a splinter, that is in thy brother's eye,
but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye. That's
a big log. Now that's a metaphor, the beam
and the mode. It's a metaphor to make the point
that what sin we see in others is really just a small splinter,
a small part of the reality of the bigger sins we can see within
ourselves. I can't see your heart right
now, your thoughts, okay? But I know mine. I know those
thoughts that come into my head. That's the beam. What I see in
you, I know you're a sinner, because God says it, and I know
we're all imperfect. I know that. But I only see a
little splinter of what you are. I know a little more and more
about myself. Somebody said, well, God knows us even better
than we know ourselves. Well, that's true. But I know
more about myself than I know about you. And that's what he's
saying. What in the world? Knowing our
thoughts and our attitudes, how in the world could we look at
somebody else and judge ourselves to be saved in comparison with
them? That's the beam and the splinter issue, you see. And
then look down at verse four. He says, or how wilt thou say
to thy brother, let me pull out the mote, the splinter, out of
thine eye, and behold, a beam is in thine own eye. Verse five,
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. Now here's what he's saying.
You know, it's inevitable. A person who is self-righteous
in this way, really thinks that he or she can deal with and cure
this sin problem. That's what they think. In some
way, the moment you think that salvation from sin is conditioned
on you, that's what you're saying, you can take care of this problem.
You can't. But here in verse five, he shows
a hypothetical, all right? If you're going to put yourself
in a position where you can righteously judge others because of their
sin, well then first take care of your own problem. Now you
can't do it. You can't do it. How do you know
that, preacher? Well, by deeds of law shall no
flesh be justified in God's sight. Remember what he told Cain? Cain,
if you do well, then you're fine. What is it to do well? Come to
God, pleading the righteous merits of Christ, like Abel. But now,
if you don't do well, then sin lies at the door. It's like a
crouching lion outside your door, ready to devour you, and it says,
you shall have it to deal with. You've got a problem you've got
to deal with all of your life, and you will not be victorious. That's what he's saying. So,
hypothetically though, I'll tell you what, if you can take care
of your own sin problem, if I can take care of my own sin problem,
then I'm qualified to go around and help others do that, remove
the moat out of their eye. Well, that's an impossibility,
isn't it? That can't happen. There's only one way that the
beam of sin can be cast out of any of us. And that's by the
grace of God through the blood and righteousness of Christ.
And that's his point. Well, let me give you these two
things just to close with. In the back of your lesson there.
Again, we often hear people say, I've heard it all my life. People
say, well, and they use this verse, judge not that you be
not judged. They say, well, we don't judge others. Well, that's
just not true. And the first thing you've got
to confront there is the conscience. Every person has been given a
conscience. And you know what the conscience
is? It's the seat of judgment. It's like your own little courtroom
in your mind, whereby you judge the rightness or the wrongness
of people or works or whatever. You see somebody commit a heinous
crime and you, in your conscience, you make a judgment, that's wrong,
that's sin. You can't help but judge, we
all judge. It's in our psyche, it's in our nature, it's put
there by God. Romans chapter two, and let me
just read it to you here. That's what Paul's talking about
here when he talks about the Gentiles who did not have the
old covenant law. But he says they weren't without
law. He says in Romans 2 and verse 14, he says, for when the
Gentiles, which have not the law, do by nature the things
contained in the law. These having not the law are
a law unto themselves. Well, what do you mean, Paul?
Verse 15, which show the work of the law written in their hearts,
their conscience also bearing witness and their thoughts the
mean while accusing or else excusing one another. Now back during
the old covenant days, the Gentile world did not have that covenant,
the 10 commandments in that form and all that, but they still
had laws. They still had courtrooms. They still had jails whereby
they accused and excused. And that's the conscience. We're
going to judge everything. Do you know that? We really judge
everything. Somebody says, well, we don't
judge anything. We judge everything. Again, you know, like somebody
comes to you and they say, well, I'm a Christian. We are either
going to receive them or you're going to reject them. If you
receive them, if you receive everybody, you say, well, we're
all Christians, which we're not. You've made a judgment, haven't
you? That's the way it is. All right, that's the first thing.
We judge by nature. Now, the problem is in our conscience,
in our natural conscience, it's fallen and in darkness. That's why over in Hebrews chapter
10, it talks about how the conscience, even our conscience, has to be
cleansed. And how is it cleansed in Hebrews
10? By the blood of Jesus. In other words, we don't even
know good and evil according to God's standard to make a judgment
until God brings us to see our own sin and to see Christ in
his glory. And then the second thing here
is this. In John chapter seven and verse seven, Christ commands
his disciples to make right judgments. He calls it righteous judgment.
And here's what he says. He says, judge not according
to the outward appearance, but judge righteous judgment. Now
here's the question. How in the world can we judge
righteous judgment? Well, here's what it is. Righteous
judgment is judgment based on God's revealed word. It's the
word of God. It's God's judgments. In other
words, in essence, it begins with gospel judgment in the doctrine
of Christ. Do you know the gospel itself
is a judgment? You can't preach the gospel,
the true gospel, and not judge. Hebrews chapter 11 talks about
Noah preaching all that time, and he preached the righteousness
of faith by which he condemned the world. Well now, somebody
says, well, I don't condemn anybody. Here's what I tell people. He
that believeth not shall be damned. Isn't that what the word of God
says? That's a condemnation on people who don't believe the
gospel. 1 Corinthians 1.18, they are perishing, the foolish, the
gospel's foolishness to them who are perishing. Over in 2
Corinthians 2, Paul said when we preach the gospel, It's the
savor of life unto life to them that believe. It's the savor
of death unto death to them that don't believe. That's a judgment.
And then, uh, uh, you can look at other past John three 36,
uh, uh, those who believe not the wrath of God abides on them.
That's a judgment. I've got a list of scriptures
there that just blatantly demand that true believers judge things,
make right judgments based on God's work. You know, over in
1 John chapter 4, he makes this statement. He says, believe not
every spirit. Don't believe everything you're
hearing. Somebody stands up to preach and he says, don't believe everything
that you hear. Test the spirits, he says. Judge
those who claim to be preaching and teaching by the spirit of
God. Now, how are you going to do that? You say, well, I don't
like his tie. Well, that's a wrong judgment.
I know he's not a, somebody said, well, I know he's not preaching
the gospel because he doesn't tell enough stories or give enough
illustrations or show enough emotion. Well, what did Christ
say? Judge not according to the outward
appearance. How are you going to tell if he's preaching the
truth? You got to pick up this measure here called the word
of God and you got to judge him. I often tell people say when
we hear preachers preach, teachers teach, all of that, we've got
to listen critically. Now that doesn't mean we listen
to find fault. It means we listen to see if
what they're saying is true. And our measure, our standard
is the word of God. And that's what we have to get
into. So that's, that's the righteous judgment. Okay.