Take your Bibles this morning, if you will, and turn to Matthew 7. We're going to be there in a while. Matthew 7. So this morning, I want to begin by reading you a little story. Some of you have heard this, and you've heard it very recently. So just kind of keep all your thoughts to yourself. But I'd like you to listen to it. It's very short. By the way, you'll have to forgive me. I realize I sound kind of choked up. I'm getting over some chest stuff. So bear with me. If I have to get a drink once in a while, you be patient with me. All right, it goes like this. There were two men in a certain town. One was rich and one was poor. The rich man owned a great many sheep and cattle. The poor man owned nothing but one little lamb he had bought. He raised that little lamb and it grew up with his children. It ate from the man's own plate and drank from his cup. He cuddled it in his arms like a baby daughter. One day a guest arrived at the home of the rich man, but instead of killing an animal from his own flock or herd, he took the poor man's lamb and killed it and prepared it for his guest." Now, I need you to be really honest. Would anybody here be honest enough to say, I really haven't heard that story before? Anybody? Okay. All right. Thank you, a few of you. That helps me. Okay. Now, those of you that raised your hand, so I want to ask you, what do you think should be done to the rich man who, instead of taking one of his many lambs and preparing it for the guest's dinner, he takes the one lamb that the poor man has? What do you think we ought to do to that guy? I know your thoughts. So, in terms of the Old West, string him up. A man like that is not fit to live, right? Okay, I would have to agree. Now, that story I read, as many of you know, it was not a made-up story. Let me read you how it starts. So the Lord sent Nathan the prophet to tell David this story. That's the story. Now, you remember who David was? He was the second king of the nation of Israel. The Bible says he was a man after God's own heart. Now, there's a little story behind this, but before I tell it, when David heard the story, he responded just like that. He says, string him up. That man should not live. Let's execute him now. This is where it takes a strange turn. Nathan looks right at David and he says, you're the man. He said, this little story represents you. You're the rich man. Now you remember what David had done. David was king of the whole nation, but one day he saw a beautiful woman and he summoned her to come to the palace, even though she was another man's wife. He found out she was pregnant with his child, and then he got rid of her husband by putting him up at the front of the battle. So he committed adultery and murder. And now Nathan points to him and says, you're the man. If we were to put it in New Testament terms, Nathan would say to David, don't be so quick to judge because you are the guilty party. Now Matthew 7, when we come to the 7th chapter, many of you know because you've been around here, we're going through the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew 5, 6, and 7. And now we come to chapter 7, and it begins like this, Judge not that you be not judged. How many of you have heard those words before? Almost everyone has heard those words before. Whether Christian or non-Christian, they are famous words. Millions of people know them. It is one of the best-known passages among non-Christian people. But most often, when these words are used, they are not used in the proper sense that it is used in Scripture as Jesus spoke it. So we're going to talk about this morning what it does not mean and what it does mean. So let's read it. I want to go ahead and read right now verses 1 through 5. Matthew 7, 1 through 5. Judge not that you be not judged, for with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged. And with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. Why do you see the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, let me take the speck out of your eye when there is the log in your own eye? You hypocrite. First take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye. Let's pray. Father, this morning, As we begin to look at this passage, I simply pray that you would give us courage to examine our lives in light of these words, honestly and openly before you. In Jesus' name, Amen. Now, we're going to see and we're going to deal with this a lot next week. It's like we've seen in chapter 6. Jesus will give a command and then he will give a lot of explanation as to why he gives that command. This morning, We won't get to the explanation. We're going to look very pointedly at the command, judge not. So let's begin by what does it not mean? The reason we have to ask that is because the majority of the times that you will hear these words used in our world, they will not be used properly in the sense that Jesus spoke the word. So how is it used? Well, Somebody brings up something about sin, and immediately somebody says, judge not, don't judge. Let's say somebody asks you just a plain, honest question. Is sex outside of marriage sin? And you say, yes. All of a sudden someone says, judge not, lest you be judged. And then one of the favorites that go with it, let him without sin cast the first stone. These are words that are known by our world. And often that is the accusation whenever we try to deal with something. This usage fits our society well, and even much of our religious society. Our society will not tolerate absolutes. We've talked about this before. So if you say, especially if you were to say to an educated crowd, there is only one way to God, and that is through faith in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. That'll get you in a lot of trouble. Why? Because the world would say, judge not. You can't condemn everybody who doesn't have faith in Jesus Christ. That's judging. Let me give you an example that's closer to home. Let's suppose a church takes seriously what the Bible says about church discipline, confronts someone with sin, and urges them to repent. Many people will say, judge not. Let him without sin cast the first stone. Christians face a constant temptation to substitute niceness for truth, and this idea of judge not fits in perfectly. The general population, the general church population, were to hear the funeral message that was preached here a year and a half, a week and a half ago, I guarantee you many people would say, judge not. That has become a watchword in our world. So those words, what I'm getting at is this. They are generally taken to mean there is no place for any kind of judgment. We must leave judgment to the Lord. Never judge another person's behavior. Christians are not to be known by their judgment, but by their love. You may think, well, that sounds pretty good. Is there any problem with that? Yeah. There's a problem, and this is it. When Jesus says, judge not, this is not an absolute command. He does not mean there is never a place for any kind of judgment. You say, well, Ron, how do you know that? I know it from the context. Never come to conclusions about Scripture unless you examine the context. The context of the passage Matthew 7 right here of the larger book, the book of Matthew, and finally the larger context of the entire Bible. We have to set it in its context. We could give examples. You've said things that if were taken out of context they would make you look really bad. We have to understand the context. So let me give you an example. Go down to verse 6. Do not give dogs what is holy, and do not throw your pearls before pigs, lest they trample them underfoot and turn to attack you. Now we're going to be looking at this later, and he's obviously not interested in what we give our dogs. I mean, dogs and pigs here represent a certain kind of people. Now here's the question. How are we going to apply this passage unless we know who the dogs and the pigs are? And how are we gonna know who the dogs and the pigs are? We have to form judgment. We have to pass judgment. Go down to verse 15. Beware of false prophets. Well, how are we gonna know who the false prophets are? keep going beware of false prophets who come to you in sheep's clothing but inwardly they are ravenous wolves in other words they're doing all they can to disguise themselves so that you won't know they're false prophets so how you gonna know they're false prophets you have to judge you have to exercise judgment there is no other way to know So you hear what I'm saying? Jesus says, judge not. But it's a command in context. If you want to flip over there, or you can just listen, it's in John 7. And I'm not going to read all the context of this one. You can read it later. But in 724 of John, Jesus says, do not judge by appearances, but judge with right judgment. So in John 724, by the way, it's the exact same word, Jesus commands people to judge. Matthew 7.1, he commands people not to judge. Many people will say there's a contradiction. There's no contradiction when we understand the context. Now, one of the things that makes this difficult is the word that's translated judge in both of those passages. It's the Greek word krino. You don't have to remember that. But it's used one hundred and fourteen times in the New Testament and in the King James it's translated twelve different ways. Now that's kind of hard to get a handle on. All I'm saying is this same word is used with various shades of meaning. You have to know what shade of meaning is being used. How do you know. Context context context. If you'd like to turn for a moment to first Corinthians chapter five. I have to make this really really clear that you cannot take Jesus words judge not and take that to mean don't ever pass any judgment 1st Corinthians chapter 5 now in 1st Corinthians 5 let me just read you a little bit of this verse 1 it is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you and of a kind that is not tolerated even among pagans for a man has his father's wife Now, that's a big problem. But Paul sees a bigger problem, verse 2. And you, that is all of you, the congregation, you are arrogant. Ought you not rather to mourn? Let him who has done this be removed from among you. For though absent in body, I am present in spirit. And as if present, I have already pronounced judgment. Literally, I have already judged the one who did such a thing. And then he goes on. Paul, he says, you think you have a liberal mindset and you can tolerate people doing these things. We're not too strict on these things. He said, this is a problem. You ought to mourn that this is going on. And Paul says, I have judged. Now we say, but he's the Apostle Paul. He can do that, but not us. Come down to verse 12. For what have I to do with judging outsiders? Is it not those inside the church whom you are to judge? God judges those outside. Purge the evil person from among you. Paul says very clearly that those within the church are to judge those within the church. Now, was it true in Paul's day? It's true in our day. So some of you may be thinking, well, he's not really talking about judging in that passage like that. He's talking about discerning. And you're exactly right. What we have to determine is what the word judge means. And yes, in these passages, it's talking about discernment. Like if you're going to look for false teachers, you have to be discerning. You have to judge. You have to be critical, et cetera, et cetera. Now, Jesus is not forbidding all judgment, but a certain kind of judgment. Now, we come to the second point. If that's not what judge not means, then what does it mean? Our problem is we can say, well, we get what it doesn't mean, and we rush on, and we don't focus on what it does mean. When Jesus says, judge not, what kind of judging is He forbidding? And I tell you, we need this, and we need it desperately. Don't congratulate yourself on, well, Ron, I know that. I know he doesn't mean judge not in that sense. Then what does he mean? Let's cry out to God. God, show us what this means so that we will not be guilty of judging in the sense of Jesus saying, judge not. Martin Lloyd-Jones, in commenting on this passage, He comments that we live in an age of appeasement. You know what appease means? It means you do things to make people happy. You never offend anybody. Now Lloyd-Jones died about 40 years ago. If it was true then, it's more so today. We live in an age of appeasement. Society would tell us, and it goes right along with this idea of no absolutes. We can't tolerate absolutes. Don't offend people. Everyone has truth. Just accept all of these things. That's the age in which we live. Judge not goes along perfectly with that. But that strategy of appeasement is not according to the scripture, and that's what we've been talking about. But there's another error that we will make on the other side if we're not careful. D.A. Carson puts it succinctly like this, is readily warped into justification for harping criticism." In other words, we may become really good at discerning, judging in that sense, but all the while we're unaware that we've become hypercritical and self-righteous. Now just think about that. So The difficulty is this, there is a fine line between healthy criticism and a judgmental attitude. Criticism is not bad. Now let me explain that. Let's say we're talking about an art critic. An art critic evaluates pieces of art, works of art. He's able to do many things because of that. He may spot something that isn't what it purports to be. It's a fake, okay? An art critic could help us with that. An art critic could help a person like me who has very little appreciation for art. You know, unless it's a sunset, I usually don't get it. So an art critic can help me understand why this is such a marvelous work of art. So when we say he is an art critic, we're not putting him down, we're praising him. We're glad we have him to help us evaluate works of art. But there's another kind of criticism that is not healthy. We call it being hypercritical, not hypocritical, hypercritical. The little preposition hyper, it comes out of the Greek and it means over or overly. It means to be overly critical, excessively critical. This is the attitude that is always finding fault. And this is the attitude that Jesus is forbidding when he says, judge not. It's the attitude we see in the Pharisees. Now you remember when we talk about the Sermon on the Mount, we have to deal with the Pharisee because Jesus was saying many of these things in reference to the Pharisees. Turn to Luke 18. We go to this passage a great deal. And I'm not apologizing for coming back to it because if there's any one passage that tells us about the Pharisees and their attitude, it's Luke 18, 9 through 14. So let me just read it again. He, that is Jesus, also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and treated others with contempt. Now verse 10 in chapter 18. The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed thus, But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, God, be merciful to me, a sinner. I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humble, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted." Immediately we read that passage and we think, well, I'm not like that. I'm certainly not like that Pharisee. Understand this is the extreme, but this attitude is not limited to Pharisees. The Pharisee had the conclusion, I am far superior. to this tax collector because i don't do the wicked things he does and i do the righteous things that he does not do i thank you god that i'm not like wicked sinners around me don't think that we can't be that way may not be is extreme we can be guilty this is not limited to pharisees one man puts it like this I suppose there is nothing in the whole Sermon on the Mount that comes to us with such a sense of condemnation as this statement which we are studying. Judge not. How guilty we all are in this respect. There is a tendency for this thing to spoil all our lives. What havoc it has made and does make in the church of God. It is a word to every one of us. It is a painful subject, but a necessary one. So I am begging us, when we hear those words, judge not, not to write it off, but to realize this is His word for me and for you. We must understand that. Jesus attacked this attitude of self-righteousness. that has the default mentality that says I'm right and others are wrong it's an attitude that judges others it finds fault and it sees others as inferior and as this attitude persists it will play itself out in action gossiping about others making others look bad so it will build me up and put others down at this point Someone is probably thinking, well, what do we do if we see something that's really wrong? What if someone is treating me or someone else in a very sinful way? Do we just say, well, judge not. We'll just let it go. No, the Bible instructs us and gives us ways to handle that. Matthew chapter 18, Jesus said, if your brother sins against you, you go to him and you tell him his fault between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you've gained your brother. If not, you take another brother with you and you go and you talk to him. If he won't listen, you tell it to the church and so forth. He gives us instructions Of what to do and it's not judging in a wrong sense. We do that and we're not judging We're being obedient turn to galatians chapter 6 if you will galatians chapter 6 There's a very instructive passage We're going to look at it again next week. I think but let me just read it for now galatians 6 verse 1 Give you a moment to find it galatians 6 Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted. Bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ. For if anyone thinks he has something when he has nothing, he deceives himself." Now did you hear that? Even if you are called on to confront brother or sister who is strayed how do you do it with humility and meekness or gentleness it's not a condemnation what's the goal to restore the brother and so we do it with humility and meekness this is all about attitude now there are two passages that will help us avoid judgment in the sense of hyper-criticism and self-righteousness. Turn to 1 Corinthians 13. This is the one that we know well. We read it earlier this morning. I want to come back to it again. This is one of those passages that we can become so familiar with it that we kind of miss its meaning. We've heard it so many times. Kind of like Rhonda played Amazing Grace this morning. We've heard it so many times, we don't let the message register anymore. So let the message register. I'm not going to read it all. I'm going to read the portion in verses 4 through 7. 1 Corinthians 13, 4. Love is patient and kind. Love does not envy or boast. It is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way. It is not irritable or resentful. It does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Now, when you look at these qualities in these verses, it's pretty much the opposite of judgmentalism, the kind of judgment that Jesus forbids. Instead of immediately finding and pointing out fault, this love is patient enough to wait, and it demonstrates kindness at the present time. It doesn't envy or boast. This kind of love doesn't lead us to compare ourselves with others, which comparison often leads us to envy and boast. Love is not arrogant. More literally, it says love is not puffed up. It's the one who is puffed up with pride that will most often judge others. Love is not rude. It treats others with gentleness and respect. Love does not insist on its own way. What a searching word to ferret out the selfishness that lurks in us. Down in verse 6, it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Not the truth as we see it, but as God sees it and reveals it in His Word. And finally in verse 7, love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Now think about those qualities. They are the divine medicine for the disease of judgmentalism. Turn back a book to Romans chapter 14. Romans chapter 14. This is a rather long passage. But I'm just going to read all of it. And the reason I'm going to read all of it is because the same word judge is used repeatedly in this passage. And it's used in the very same sense that Jesus used it in Matthew 7. So Paul is going to speak the same thing but he's going to give us some understanding. Romans chapter 14 verse 1. As for the one who is weak in faith, welcome him, but not to quarrel over opinions. One person believes he may eat anything while the weak person eats only vegetables. let not the one who eats despise the one who abstains and let not the one who abstains pass judgment on the one who eats for god has welcomed him who are you to pass judgment on the servant of another it is before his own master that he stands or falls and he will be upheld By the way, that's the word judge right there used in a good sense. One person judges one day is better than another, while another esteems all days alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind. The one who observes the day, observes it in honor of the Lord. The one who eats, eats in honor of the Lord, since he gives thanks to God. While the one who abstains, abstains in honor of the Lord, and gives thanks to God. For none of us lives to himself, and none of us dies to himself. For if we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord. So then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord's. For to this end Christ died and lived again, that he might be Lord both of the dead and of the living. Why do you pass judgment on your brother? Literally, why do you judge your brother? Or you, why do you despise your brother? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God, for it is written, As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God. So then, each of us will give an account of himself to God. Therefore, let us not pass judgment on one another any longer, but rather decide never to put a stumbling block or hindrance in the way of a brother. I know and am persuaded in the Lord Jesus that nothing is unclean in itself, but it is unclean for anyone who thinks it unclean." Now, let me pause there a minute. He's talking about the matter of eating meat or not eating meat, or of observing a day and not observing another day. See, you've got to read it in context. It does not mean, well, nothing's unclean. That means murder is not unclean. That's not what he's saying. Read it in the context. Verse 15, For if your brother is grieved by what you eat, you are no longer walking in love. By what you eat, do not destroy the one for whom Christ died. So do not let what you regard as good be spoken of as evil. For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit." So here's the context. In that day, there were those who would not eat meat that was offered to idols. They thought it was contaminated. Others would say, hey, it's just meat because the idol is nothing. And so there was kind of this disagreement. Some believed you should observe certain days, especially days that had been set up in the old covenant. And they would observe them. And some would say, no, we don't need to observe. Those were free in Christ, et cetera, et cetera. And we don't need to go into a lot of details. So the point is this, these were not clear scriptural commands like do not murder, do not commit adultery, honor your father and mother. These were not like this. These were, as some would say, these were disputable matters. And in regard to those matters, Paul said, do not judge one another. He had to tell them this because there was a tendency to judge one another, and he knew it, okay? So the guy who says, I do not eat meat that's been offered to an idol, and I can't believe that anyone would. How could anybody eat that meat if he's not an idolater, he's right next to an idolater? I would never do that. And Paul says to him, do not judge your brother. You assume that your brother, when he eats this meat, is not following the Lord. But he may be eating it in order to glorify the Lord. You don't know, so do not pass judgment. Now, think about that. Sometimes we are tempted to judge others in things that are of a disputable nature. We take smaller things and we make them huge, and we pass judgment. Now, I have an example I'm going to give, and I'm very hesitant to give this example, because some may have strong feelings about this, and there's going to be difference of opinions. But that's exactly why I have to give the example, because it's perfect. This, the whole thing that we're talking about, Romans 14, I mean, this was loaded. Okay, so, you hear that one of your brothers has an occasional beer. How do you handle that? We're not paying any attention to old Mr. Norman up here. So how do you handle that? What do you think about that? Many believers will be tempted to immediately judge their brother. How could he do that? How can he do that? What is he thinking? Doesn't he know he's going to compromise his Christian testimony and the testimony of his church and everything else? And even though no one would say it out loud, I would never do that. Now, some of you may be thinking exactly that. So here's my question. Are you certain that your judgment is based on what this book says and not your cultural upbringing? Do you know what your brother's motive is? Have you considered the circumstances? You know, this kind of judgmentalism often jumps to conclusions without fully considering the situation. Now, some of you are thinking, oh, you're like situation ethics. No. Remember, we're not talking about a clear biblical command. See? Now let's take the other side. Some believers would say, I cannot believe anybody would even think about judging him for that. What are people thinking? There's nothing. The Bible doesn't say don't drink. It says don't drink to excess. Man, those people ought to grow up, you see, judging from the other side. We have to be really, really careful. That's why in Romans 14, Paul makes such a big deal out of this. He's saying it is a serious thing to judge your brother or sister in Christ's indisputable matters. Did you notice in there how he talks about Jesus dying and rising? He's doing that to make us see how serious this is. And notice how he ends down in verse 17. For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. So two things bear in mind. Number one is we need to be careful not to judge. And the other thing we have to realize is we can judge many times and not realize we are judging. We must understand that. So originally we were going to cover verses 1 through 5 in Matthew 7 this morning. We're not doing that for two reasons. First of all I realize it's too much to cover in one session. But the more important reason is this. I fear that we will read these words. Judge not. We will rush over them and we will not get the full impact. More specifically, I fear that we will read these words, judge not. We don't like to admit it, but we're thinking, boy, that's good for Tom. Sally really needs to hear that. But we will not apply it to me. This is the danger. It's that way with lots of things, but I think especially with this, I think we have the attitude, well, occasionally I might fall into this, but for the most part, I just, I'm not guilty of judging other people. So I'm begging us this week, To come to this passage and cry out to God, God, expose the judgmentalism in me. Now, at the end of the week, if you come out scot-free, praise the Lord. But I don't think there'll be many of us. Man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart. So let's pray it. Search me, O God, and know my heart. Try me and know my thoughts. See if there be any wicked, judgmental way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting. Later on in this passage in Matthew 7, you get down to verse 13. Enter by the narrow gate, for the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow, and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few." So you know the passage. He talks about the narrow way and the broad way. If you're going to walk on a narrow way, you have to be really careful because it's so narrow not to fall off on the right and not to fall off on the left. Don't get too near the edge. When you get a taste of that in this passage, judge not. We have to be careful not to fall off on the side over here where we say, we should never exercise any kind of judgment. If we do that, what will happen, we will end up being sentimental, wishy-washy religionists that stands for nothing, doesn't stand for truth. We don't want to fall off on that side, but There's another side. If we're not careful, we'll be really serious about exercising judgment. We'll grow in wisdom and discerning judgment, and then we'll be in danger of falling off over on this side where we're always criticizing, we're finding fault, and we're ultimately condemning other people because they don't meet the standard. Both sides are extremely dangerous. It's only as a spirit of God works within us that we can stay on the path and not fall off on one side or the other. And I'll tell you we need one another here too. Oh we need to exhort one another with the word of God in this area. We need to encourage one another. We need to pray for one another. But this week. I'm urging you, don't be praying for Jimmy, first of all. If your name is Bart, you pray for Bart. If your name is Ron, you pray for Ron. That's what we need to do before God. And God is faithful. He will show us our own heart. Let's pray. Father, thank you that you are our great example. You are the absolutely just judge. You have every right to condemn us to hell. And yet, you did not send your Son into this world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. Thank you. Oh God, you extended mercy to us. Give us grace to extend mercy to others. I pray that you use these simple words and what we've read in the context of Scripture this morning to search our hearts. Give us courage to truly cry out to you, asking you to search us. Lord, don't let us forget. Bring our minds back to this again and again and again. In all of it, be glorified in and through our lives, we pray. In Jesus' name, Amen.