Morning. It's definitely a privilege to preach in chapel. It's scary every time. This is my second time. But I'd like you to turn with me and your Bible to Matthew chapter 7. If I tried to go through and thank everybody that's helped me here in my time, I would have a long list. I'd like to thank the teachers for all the things they've invested in me. Like Dr. Bill said, I have changed a lot. I came here very African, or very, Paige says it's not really African, it's more just Cuthbertson. I don't know. I'm living a little less that, I think, than I came. One thing that I've learned in master's that I didn't learn in senior is that I don't know very much at all. I identified that a lot more during my master's, how much I didn't know. So I'd like to praise the Lord for those who encouraged me to stay here in master's. The passage that I chose today is something that's not exactly the most comfortable thing for me to preach about, because it's something that I struggle with and I've had to work with. Usually when I preach, I like to preach on missions, soul winning, the Great Commission, when we travel for deputation, God's privileges to start already. Usually that's what I'm preaching on, is something to do with how to save souls or witnessing. This passage is something that I've had to work on, and it's something that I've heard a lot. Probably, in my opinion, the second most known verse that unsaved people know is the verse we're gonna look at today. Matthew 7, verse one. We'll read verses one to five. It says, judge not that ye be not judged. For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged. And with what measure ye meet, it shall be measured to you again. And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye? Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, let me pull out the mote out of thine eye, And behold, a beam is in thine own eye. 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. I'm sure you guys have had the experience if you talk to just a few people, this verse is quoted a lot, the first verse. You talk to them about sin, talk to them about how they can be saved, and they say, well, God says don't judge me. There's actually a song out there about, only God can judge me, which is crazy. And there's tattoos all over, all kinds of different, I was looking it up, all kinds of different renditions of tattoos that say don't judge, only God can judge me, only God can judge me. Well this passage here tells us not to judge, lest we be judged. I'd like us to dig into this passage a little bit more to see if these people who use this passage to justify their lifestyle, they don't want to be convicted by what you say, so they say, don't judge me. I can do what I want, you're not the judge. I wanna look at this passage and identify if their understanding of this passage is right, if we really have a right or if we have a responsibility to judge people. So the four points I have is the prohibition, the practice, the problem, and then the provision that we find in this passage. Before we continue though, I'd like to pray. Dear Heavenly Father, I thank you for today. Thank you for the privilege we have to open your word. Thank you that your word is living and active. It's sharper than any two-edged sword. I pray that you will use it today. I pray that you'll use it through me and you'll use it in me, that you'll speak to each one of us here, that you'll help us be tender to your Holy Spirit, that you'll conform us more into the image of your Son. I thank you in Jesus' name, amen. So first of all, we have here in Matthew chapter 7 verse 1, judge not that you be not judged. Like I said, the first point is the prohibition, judge not. When I looked it up in the Greek, this word judge not is a present imperative, which means that this judge not is something that they were in the process of doing and they had to stop. So God isn't just saying don't judge people, he's saying stop judging people. And if we look at the context, the second part of the verse is that ye be not judged. It's obvious that they are judging other people. It's not that they're judging themselves, it's they're judging other people. So we're told here, stop judging other people, or they will judge you, all right? So the prohibition. When we judge people, why is this a problem? Judge not. And do we ever do it? Do we ever set ourselves up as the standard to condemn people. This idea of judging, I looked up the word, it's forming a personal opinion or evaluation. That's what this word judge can mean. We have, first of all, that judging, we're not supposed to be the standard. We're not supposed to be the standard. In this command, Jesus is talking to the Jews. And it's interesting because the Bible tells us that the Jews were supposed to be a light to the nations. But instead of being a light, they were being the judges. Look at the Pharisees, they walked around with their long phylacteries and they were the pious people that everybody thought was spiritual. and they were the judges of people. We have in Matthew 23, 13, Jesus says, According to God, our opinions aren't really that important. What I think, I'm sure you've heard the expression, we all have two opinions like we have two armpits that both stink, right? We have opinions and we think that they're so important, we try to push them on other people. In this passage, we're told don't judge or stop judging or you'll be judged. Our opinions aren't that important. Titus 1, 10 and 11, it says, for they, talking about Jews, are many unruly and vain talkers and deceivers, especially they of the circumcision. whose mouths must be stopped, who subvert whole families, teaching things they ought not for filthy lucre's sake. There were Jews who set themselves up as judges, and the prohibition is we are not supposed to be judges either. As a Christian, we're not supposed to be judges. I'm gonna look at a little bit how this happens. Second point here is the practice. Like I already said, the tense of this verb means that they were in the process of doing it. He warned them what would happen if they continued this practice. He said, judge not, or stop judging people, or you're gonna be judged. So if we set ourselves up as the judge, people are gonna begin judging us. It's interesting, when we judge people, we in a way are teaching them that this is what we're supposed to do. We teach people we're supposed to be judges, and we start to judge each other. What I find so ironic, when, again, going to witnessing, when you talk to people that are saying, you know, don't judge me, only God can judge me, they say that, but in the same time, they use men as their standard for whether or not they're good. Let's say I'm a good person, and they're basing it upon somebody else, so in a way, they're letting other people be their judge, and claiming only God can judge me. If only God can judge me, then only God's the standard, and God's standard is perfection. But here, this practice of judging, Others were learned to judge in Romans 14, one to five, were told, him that is weak in the faith, receive ye, but not to doubtful disputation. For one believeth that he may eat all things, another who is weak eateth herbs. Let not him that eateth despise him that eateth not, and let not him which eateth not judge him that eateth, for God hath received him. Who art thou that judges another man's servant? to his own master, he standeth or falleth. Yea, he shall be holding up, for God is able to make him stand. One man esteemeth one day above another, another esteemeth every day alike. Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind. Here we're commanded, don't be the judge of other people, let his own master be his judge, and that's God. They, I'm not even sure what this point is supposed to be. I have a weird point here. In Isaiah 49, six, he said, it is a light thing that thou shouldst be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to restore the preserved of Israel. I will also give thee for a light to the Gentiles, that thou mayest be my salvation to the ends of the earth. When we set ourselves up as a judge instead of as an example, there's a difference. A judge versus an example. When we set ourselves up as a judge, We make ourselves a standard, and we teach other people that what we think is most important. When I talk to people, a lot of times I'll tell them that in the judgment day, no pastor's gonna be up there to judge you. It's God, so his standard's the one that matters. And it's the same with our Christian life. When we stand before God, what your roommate or what your friend thought was important isn't really gonna matter unless it was what God thought was important. A lot of people, they think they're going to go to heaven because they're a good person, because they go to church, because they were baptized, because they pray. All those are things that people have told them instead of God. God never said that. This practice was being done by God's chosen people, judging. He was talking to the Jews, people that were selected by God to be a light to the Gentiles. And today, Christians are doing the same. Luke 12, 48, it says, But he that knew not, and did commit things worthy of stripes, shall be beaten with few. For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall much be required. And to whom men have committed much, of him they will ask them more. This problem with judging, when we judge, we're setting ourselves up as a standard. The problem with judging was something that was going on among God's people. In this day, it was the Jews, before he changed to work with the church. But when I was considering what message to preach, sometimes, often, I'll preach messages that I like to preach about, that I'm passionate about. But God led me today to preach a message about what I struggle with and what I see a lot of times in my life. This problem with judging, like we said already, it's something that was going on. Think about, in our own personal lives, how we judge people. Judging about how people dress. We here at Ambassador have learned a standard, a good standard, a great standard. But when we see somebody that doesn't have our standard, we think they're less spiritual or evil. That's this verse, judge not lest ye be judged. Yes, skinny jeans aren't good, I'll say it. But some people don't know that. And this verse says to whom much is given, him much is required. Whom little is given, he's required little. So if they've never been taught, Why are we gonna be the judge, and why not let God be the judge? We continue on a little bit more, this is a big one, virgins. Bible virgins. Some people use NIV, they still do. It's crazy, I know. But some people don't know. I grew up not knowing. I used the NASB for a long time in my life. And I learned from it, and I grew from it. Is that amazing, that I grew from a wrong version? Yeah, it is. Because it still has God's word. But sometimes we set ourselves up as, oh, they're the lesser Christian because they don't use the right version. Maybe they haven't been taught. A lot of schools aren't like Ambassador. They don't teach that the way they taught it here. I actually avoided versions. I avoided GBI when I came because I was afraid of people who judged based upon King James. I'd been in churches where they preached the cover, King James, instead of preaching the Bible. Continuing on a little bit further, just a few more things, judging about their skin. You ever judge somebody because they have a tattoo or piercings where you don't think they should? This is his verse here. This is the right application of this verse. What I think is interesting is that the unsaved quote this verse all the time, judge not that ye be not judged, judge not that ye be not judged, that we avoid the verse altogether. Often when people would quote this verse, I would jump over to John where it says, judge not according to appearance, but judge righteous judgment. And I say, well God says I do need a judge. And then I leave the verse alone. This verse is in the Bible though. We're told not to judge, and we do. How people dress, how people, their skin, this is one that I struggle with, how people spend their time. You know that some people, what some people think is important, it might be important to them, but it's not to you, and you're not supposed to be their judge. Example, somebody that might stand in front of the mirror a long time to get ready for class. You might say, well, they're wasting their time. Or somebody that plays video games. Now, that usually is wasting time, but sometimes it's not. or TV, how they spend their time, or books, or sports, or working out. I've been a judge of people a lot. And here's one that I learned from Paige. What do you, how do you call it? I am a, I wrote it down, I think. I think I remember where we found it. I grew up in Africa where I didn't have a lot and I liked it. And I would judge people who spent money. I was stuck up poor. Nose in the air instead of the rich people. Yeah, it's weird. What? A what? A reverse knob, yeah. Because for real, I'm not even teasing at all. I would look at people who spent, like I would stand in line, just an example, stand in line at Starbucks. Or standing near Starbucks and see people how much they spend there. Yeah, you can ask Paige how I spent money in Israel, because I hadn't learned that I was a reverse snob yet. But we judge people, we judge people all the time. We'll look at other schools, we'll look at other people, and we think we're so much better than them. And that's this verse right here, judge not lest ye be judged. Judging their goals in life, maybe you think that That career is not a worthy career, worthy job. Sometimes, yes, they're living for money, but God says, don't be judged. Judge not, lest ye be judged. So we have the prohibition, don't judge. We have the problem. It was happening. It's a command that is happening. It's telling them, stop it. Stop judging. If we go to John 7, same idea. Judge not according to appearance. Judge not is in the imperative present, which means they are in the process of judging people and they need to stop judging people according to appearance. So how you see, God says, don't judge based upon what you see. What's the problem with this? We have the prohibition, we have the practice, but why is this a problem? We saw that if they do judge, they're gonna be judged. If you judge, you're teaching people to judge. And that's what the unsaved are doing. We judge them on how they dress, and so they judge us on our own consistency. And they say, well, there's hypocrites in the church. Yeah, well, we are judging them, so they're learning to judge us back. And that's what this verse says. So what is the problem? Why shouldn't we judge? We continue on a little bit further. It says, for with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged. And with what measure ye meet, it shall be measured to you again. What you sow, Galatians 6 says, you are gonna reap. How you judge people, they're gonna judge you back. Verse three though, makes it a little bit personal and kind of sad too. It says, and why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye? But considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye. Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, let me pull out the mote out of thine eye, and behold, a beam is in thine own eye. Now, if somebody has a speck in their eye, if you had a speck in your eye, Danny, wouldn't you want somebody to help you get it out? Especially if you couldn't. I mean, your eyes are all teared up and you can't hardly open your eyes because it itches. It's not a mean thing to help somebody get something out of their eye. It's a nice thing. So there are people that have problems, this passage is telling us. But when we are being a judge, we disqualify ourself from helping people. We hurt them more than help them. Imagine, I'm coming with a 2x4, and I try to help Danny and I knock him out. Because I turn my head and he's knocked out. That's kind of the picture he's given. The beam versus the moat. The moat is like a 2x4. The beam is like a spec. Might be big when he's looking at me, but in his eyes, small if I'm trying to help him. The problem, when we start to judge, fear of man begins to develop. We start to care what people think. When we set ourselves up as judge, people start to care what does Danny think. Have you ever changed the way you live? You were doing something completely normal, and then when somebody that you liked or somebody that you knew was going to come over, you changed? Maybe you changed the music you were listening to from classical to ABC, Ambassadors music, because they didn't like classical music. Now that's a crazy example, but change the way you, the music you listen to because, or maybe the way you dress. You know, there's an example of that with Peter. Remember in Galatians, Bible says that Paul withstood Peter to his face because he stood condemned. Because when the brothers came, the Christians came from Jerusalem, Peter stopped eating with the Gentiles. There's a lot of that going on all over. Growing up, I wore shorts like every single day except on Sunday when I went to church. They were cargo shorts and I put my tracks and my tools in my big pockets there. It was really nice. But I feel kind of weird coming to Ambassador that way. And that's not really a bad example because we have a rule that we're not supposed to wear shorts on campus. But the question is, the problem is when we start to fear man, You start to let their standard be what really matters, not what's truly important. The fear of man starts to develop. We're told in Proverbs 29, 25, the fear of man brings a snare. It's a trap. It ties us, it holds us from doing what we're supposed to do. Galatians 2, like I already mentioned, Peter. But when we also make ourselves the standard, people are hurt instead of helped. We've already mentioned that. Proverbs 11.2 says, when pride cometh, then cometh shame, but with the lowliest help. Proverbs 13.10, only by pride cometh contention. And pride is keeping that moat in our eye and trying to help the person with the beam in their eye. Your sin, we already mentioned a little bit, your sin can harm people. It's interesting if you look in the past, in the lives of many, many people, many Christians, who set themselves up as a standard and then who sinned, they helped other people do that same sin. Think of Abraham. Remember Abraham when there was a famine? He ran down to Egypt. Pragmatism. And he got himself a slave, Hagar. He comes back and there's a problem with Lot and him. And Lot uses the same method that Abraham used. He used pragmatism to go to Sodom and Gomorrah. Abraham couldn't say, hey, you shouldn't do that. You should pray about it first. He didn't. You think of David, he committed adultery. When his son Amnon commits adultery, what does David do? Nothing. Why? Because David was the standard and David had messed up. When we set ourselves up as a standard, whenever we mess up, and we will, we limit ourselves from being able to serve God or do anything because we're the standard. The Pharisees, Jesus called them hypocrites time and time again because they were the standard and they messed up. In Romans 2, 17-24, Paul says, behold, thou art called a Jew, and restest in the law, and makest thy boast in God, and knowest his will, and improvest things that are more excellent, being instructed out of the law, and are confident that thou art a guide to the blind, a light of them which are in darkness, an instructor of the foolish, a teacher of babes, which hath the form of knowledge, and of the truth and the law. Thou, therefore, which teachest another, teachest thou not thyself? Thou that preachest, a man should not steal. Dost thou steal? Thou that sayest that man should not commit adultery, dost thou commit adultery? Thou that abhorrest idols, dost thou commit sacrilege? Thou that makest thy boast of the law through breaking of the law, dishonest thou God? For the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles through you, as it is written. And that's exactly what's happening today. So many unsaved people aren't getting saved because we have set ourselves up as a standard and we're not keeping the standard. And Paul says, the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you. Because we're disobeying this verse, and we're the judge. My last point though, so we've had the prohibition, stop judging. The practice that was going on. The problem, when we are the judge, we limit, we don't help people, we hurt them. We make ourselves a standard, and when we fall, they fall, they mimic us. But this passage doesn't just say don't judge. Because if we continue on, he gives the example of the moat and the log, or the moat and the, sorry, that's the other version that I used to read before I became an ambassador. The moat, for real, the other version was the log and the speck. That's the version I used to read. I actually memorized this passage in another version, so it gets really hard. But the moat and the beam. is in a picture, is a picture not saying don't judge, but qualify. Qualify, he's not saying don't help people. He's saying qualify to help people. The picture here is not you don't want to help people when they have the problem in their eye. It's get yours out first so you can help them. Verse five says that. It says, thou hypocrite, or fake, 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. Get your problem fixed first, and then you can take care of other's problem. Provision here, God is the standard. God is the standard. I want us to turn to John chapter seven. We're told in Acts 17, 30, we'll read there in a second, it's John 7, 24. We're told that God is the standard, he's the one that's gonna judge in the last day. Acts 17, 30 and 31, when Paul's preaching at Areopagus, he says, the time of this ignorance God winked at, but now commandeth all men everywhere to repent, because he hath appointed a day in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained, whereof he hath given assurance unto all men that he hath raised him from the dead. God's the judge. What he deems worthy is what's going to count in the end. Remember in 1 Corinthians 3, it talks about a judgment where you're going to be tried by fire. Some things will be burned up. Some things will last. Wood, hay, and stubble. Gold, silver, precious stones. God is the judge. God is the one that gets to decide what you're doing worthwhile. It's really easy to do. It's to judge people's motives. Not just what they did, but why? He really didn't mean that. We judge what their purpose in doing whatever they did was. He was trying to hurt me. He was trying to be mean. He was trying to cut me down. How do you know? God is the judge. God's the standard. And the Bible says in John 5 that God has relinquished all judgment to the Son, Jesus, so that all will honor the Son even as they honor the Father. John 5, 20 to 23. When Jesus, when we get saved, Jesus comes and lives inside of us through the Holy Spirit. When the Holy Spirit lives inside of us, we are not supposed to be the judge, but we're supposed to let him be the judge through us. Let's read John 7, 24. It says, judge not according to appearance. Again, this is the imperative present, which means stop judging people based upon what you see. You're doing it, stop. The second part says, but judge, righteous judgment. That's a command. You realize that's a command? So in this verse we're commanded to stop doing what we're doing, but we're also commanded to start judging people, righteously. That's a command, that's a requirement for every Christian. And the provision is that we have the Holy Spirit now living inside of us. and we're supposed to let Him be the judge. Christians are to let Him live through them. Revelation 20, 10 to 15, we're told of the great right to run judgment, when the books will be opened, and the book will be opened, the book of life, and the dead will judge, those things which are written in the book. Galatians 6 tells us that for us to be judges, like we're commanded to be, If, I believe, I believe that if we were, if Christians would take up the challenge, take up the command to be the judges that God has required of us, we would see less people saying, oh, Christians are hypocrites. We'd see less people with the big tattoos on their arms or on their chest saying, only God can judge me. We see more people realizing their sin. In reality, I believe that God's given us the requirement to judge so that he doesn't have to. You realize if somebody dies without Jesus, God will judge them. and He'll condemn them. Whereas if we judge them righteously, they can get right, and God won't have to judge them. I praise the Lord that God judged Jesus instead of me. To be the judge, though, first of all, we have to mimic God. We have to determine what is God's standard, not what is my preference, not what is my conviction even, but what is God's standard. Secondly, you have to be spiritual to judge. Galatians 6.1 says, brethren, if any man be taken in a fault, ye that are spiritual restore such a one in the spirit of meekness. Ye that are spiritual. So there's a qualifying factor in this. It's a command, you must judge righteously. So if we went a little bit further, you must be righteous so that you qualify to judge. So the question is, do we qualify to judge? Do we, when people see us, when people see you, Grant, do they see Jesus, or do they see Grant? When they see your convictions, your standards, do they say, oh, that's Stephen's standards? Or is that my standards? Or is that God's standards, sorry? We're commanded to judge. The provision is that we have the Holy Spirit living inside of us, and we're supposed to shine God's standard in people. Be spiritual, Galatians 6.1. Carnal people don't qualify to judge. And that's the problem, I believe, that so many carnal people are trying to be the judge. Back to Matthew 7. The whole idea behind the moat and the beam is that you're supposed to be trying to help people, not trying to condemn them. And that goes back to this, righteous judgment. A lot of times we judge people because we want to look better. Want to cut them down so we look so spiritual. Judging righteous judgment. So the question, the conclusion, how have you been at judging? Do you judge other Christians here at Ambassador? Or do you judge Christians at your church as being less spiritual? Do you judge the lost that have the tattoos and the earrings, the piercings? They're just carnal. I've seen tattooed people that are saved. They're actually spiritual. It happens. Are you being the judge that God commands you to be? Righteous judge. Do you qualify to obey that command? I hope you do, I want to. I've been the carnal judge. I've looked at people and thought, wow, they're not as Christian as me, they're not as spiritual as me. Let's judge the way God commands us to judge.