Judge Not, Part 1

Introduction to Matthew 7 and the Sermon on the Mount's Structure

0:05 On last, we have worked our way through the sixth chapter of the Gospel of Matthew, the second great, the third major section in the Sermon on the Mount. Now we come this morning to the first few verses of chapter seven.

0:26 Many times the chapter divisions in the Bible do not mark a strict division of thought, and we should read from one chapter to another as though there were no chapter divisions. But this is one place where the men who broke up the Bible into chapters and verses for convenience of location were more accurate than at some other places, for there is a definite transition in thought from verse 34 of chapter six and verse one of chapter seven. And as we come to chapter seven, we are confronted, the last major section of the Sermon on the Mount. And again, it's necessary to view this particular section in its relationship to the whole. If there's one thing that I've sought to emphasize continually in our study of this sermon, is that no individual text can be understood apart from its relationship to that which precedes and follows its immediate context, and many times its larger context, the more remote, the more remote relationship between the other parts of the sermon. Now in order in about three minutes to bring into focus the relationship of this section to the whole, I want to read the review that is in one of the sermons of Dr. Martin Lloyd-Jones on the Sermon on the Mount,

1:52 and he introduces the seventh chapter with a review that is so succinct and accurate that I could not improve upon it, and so without any embarrassment, or apologies, I read, and I trust interestingly, and not in a way that will put you to sleep, this review that we might approach chapter seven, holding it up before our eyes against the backdrop of chapters five and six. First of all, we got the description of the Christian man, his character. Then we were shown the effect upon him of all that happens in the world in which he lives, and his reaction to the world. Then he is reminded, reminded of his function in the world as the salt of the earth, and as the light set for all to see. Then having thus described the Christian as he is in his setting, our Lord goes on to give him particular instructions with regard to his life in the world. He starts with his relationship to the law. That was especially necessary because of the false teaching of the scribes and the Pharisees.

2:59 That's the theme of that long section in chapter five, in which our Lord in terms of six main principles enunciates his view and interpretation of the law over against the view and interpretation of the scribes and the Pharisees. So the Christian man is taught how he is to behave in general, and how the law applies to him and what is expected of him. Having done this, in chapter six, our Lord looks at this Christian man who's thus been described in the Holy Attitudes. He describes him now as he lives his life in the world and living it especially in fellowship with his Father.

3:41 He has to remember at all times that the Father is looking upon him. He has to remember this when he is in private, when he's deciding what good he's going to do, his almsgiving and his prayer, his fasting, and everything designed to bring about the growth and nurture and culture of the spiritual life. It has to be always done realistically. Realizing the Father's eye is upon me.

4:06 You remember that theme again and again. Your Father seeth in secret. Your Father seeth in secret. This is the important principle.

4:14 Then we came to this section that we have just now concluded, in which our Lord shows us the danger of the impact of this life in the world upon us, and the danger of worldliness, the danger of living for things of this life, whether we have too much, or too little, and especially we consider the subtlety of this danger. Now this is a brief review of what we've covered, and now we come to this last section, and though some commentators would say that this is simply a collection of isolated statements, I agree with Dr. Jones' approach to this, that in this seventh chapter this main theme is also carried on, that all that matters is the eye of the Father, and that under the eye of the Father, we are moving on to a Day of Judgment. And you will find the theme of judgment occurring in Chapter 7 again and again, in a way that it has not occurred in any other part of the sermon. And so it's a fitting conclusion. The man described in the Beatitudes as poor in spirit, mourning, hungering and thirsting for righteousness, that man who holds the holy Law of God up before him in all its breadth and length, will be called to be a judgmental man.

Reading of Matthew 7:1-5 and the Abuse of 'Judge Not'

5:31 But he will not be the judgmental man, and seeks to live conformed to that law in spirit, in attitude, and in action. That man who prays and gives and fasts with an eye to the Father, that man who seeks to live by the power of the Spirit, unencumbered by sinful anxiety, that's the man who's on a pilgrimage heading to that time when he'll stand in the presence of his God. Now we come to chapter 7, and the first section is found in verses 1-5 dealing with the problem of sinful judging. I shall read the verses and then make some introductory comments and we will only consider the first phrase of the first verse this morning. Judge not that ye be not judged, for with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged. And with what measure ye 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?

6:39 Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull 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 thou shalt see clearly, to cast the mote out of thy brother's eye.

7:04 Now here is one of those passages which, though people know absolutely nothing about the Bible, they can usually quote.

7:13 This is a passage that is on the lips of everybody. Judge not that ye be not judged. It's sort of like the passage, it's better to give than to receive, though a lot of people don't know where they could find it. It's found in the book of Acts, believe it or not.

7:28 You don't find it in the Gospel. It's found in the book of Acts. But they know it's there. But this word, Judge not that ye be not judged, is one of the most abused passages in all of the Bible.

7:41 It's abused generally in the world. It's made to prove almost everything. It's abused in the church. It's made to be the cover-up of all forms of anemic kinds of Christianity.

7:55 And I have found personally that it's been a passage that's been hurled at me as almost an anathema. I can remember when I was first converted. I was brought to the Lord in the midst of a deep moving of the Spirit of God when a few fellows like myself who had a lit profession for years went to church, Sunday school, could tell you when we went to an altar and all the rest, but had never been saved. God genuinely saved us.

8:22 And we knew the kids that we went around with in our churches. And we knew that they were right where we were before the Lord laid hold of us. Because we used to go to young people's together. And then tell dirty jokes together on Monday.

8:33 And we knew that. So we began to preach to these kids and tell them, you better get saved. You're not saved. Well, their parents got up in arms and elders and deacons got up in arms and here was their verse.

8:43 They came at it like a large lance, you know, on their chargers. Judge not that ye be not judged. Who are you to judge? And so I said, well, it's in the Bible.

8:54 Maybe it's right. Maybe I ought to believe they're saved. Even though they can tell dirty jokes on Monday and go to young people's on Sunday and lie to mother and dad and cheat and sneak around and be dishonest.

9:09 So I know from personal experience how much this verse has been abused. I've been in situations where it was necessary to exercise church discipline. Where you had to bring a professing Christian before a group of spiritual leaders and face them with their sin. And immediately when you do, people say, well, who are you to judge?

9:26 He that is without sin, let him cast the first stone. Oh, judge not that you be not judged. And this passage is used many times to prove that we ought not exercise church discipline. So it's an abused passage.

Principles of Biblical Interpretation: Context and Analogy of Faith

9:38 How are we going to handle it? What did our Lord mean? It's obvious that the key word is judge. If we can only find out what our Lord meant when He said, judge not that ye be not judged, for with what judgment ye judge ye shall be judged, etc.

9:54 What is the meaning of that word judge? Well, someone says, let's run to a dictionary. Well, if you do, you're going to find seven meanings listed in the dictionary. So what do you do?

10:05 Pick one that sort of fits what you think it ought to be? No, that wouldn't be right.

10:10 Well, someone says, I've got a better idea. It's a lot quicker. I'll just reach into my mind and I'll take from the raw material of my own prejudice and my own temperament what I think the word means and I'll slap that meaning onto it and make my Lord mean what I want Him to mean. Ah, this is what many do.

10:28 No, the way to find out what our Lord meant in this passage and in any passage where the meaning is not clear is to do two things. And we're going to do that this morning in a reoccurring cycle as we work our way through the passage. The first thing we must do is consult the context. Consult the section in which our Lord speaks these words and many times this will give us a hint as to His meaning and having consulted the context, the immediate context in the more remote context, then the second thing we must do and I trust you'll listen carefully.

11:07 I've been waiting for a right chance to give a little instruction on this and I feel under the Lord's leading that this is the time to do it. We must not only consult the context. That's rule number one when you have a question about the meaning of a passage of Scripture. But the second thing you must do is compare that verse with what is called in theological circles the analogy of faith.

11:32 Now what is the analogy of faith? Simply this. It is the sum total of whatever the Bible says about a given subject. You take everything the Bible says on a certain subject and that is the analogy of faith.

11:48 Then when you come to an individual verse, you not only try to understand it in terms of what is before it and after it, but you hold it up with what the rest of the Bible says upon that particular subject. Now if we will do that with any passage and any doctrine by the teaching of the Holy Spirit, we can be kept from all forms of heresy and error. Why do the Jehovah's Witnesses go around spouting Scriptures like a machine gun and yet a thousand miles away from the truth? I'll tell you what they do.

12:25 They do not take verses in their context. They take a little phrase here and yank it out and a phrase here and yank it out and a phrase here and then they concoct it all together. Into a sort of scriptural machine gun and they come at you and all it is is a phrase, phrase, phrase, phrase, phrase, phrase, phrase. But it has a tremendous effect upon people who don't know the Bible.

12:45 They say, my, these people know their Bibles. No, they don't. They've yanked a phrase here and a phrase there and a phrase there with no reference to context and with no reference to the analogy of faith. Let me illustrate.

12:59 They find a verse where Jesus says these words. My Father is greater than I. And they say, aha, see? He's not equal to God.

13:07 He said it. My Father is greater than I. Ah, but wait a minute. What did Jesus mean by that?

13:13 Well, let's take everything that the Bible teaches about Jesus Christ and His relationship to the Father and interpret this verse in the light of the analogy of faith. Now, what does the rest of the Bible teach? The rest of the Bible teaches in the beginning was the Word. And the Word was with God and the Word was God.

13:33 I and my Father are one. And then you take all of those verses that teach the essential deity of Christ and when you come to this verse, my Father is greater than I, why, it's obvious what He meant. That as the Son of Man taking the place of a servant in order to work out redemption, He subjected Himself to the will and the plan of the Father and in that sense, the Father was greater. So when you take that phrase, compare it with the analogy of faith, the meaning is obvious.

14:05 And so not only do the Jehovah's Witnesses run headlong into this or ignore this principle, but this is what's done in Roman Catholicism. The average Roman Catholic knows two or three verses in the Bible. Thou art Peter and upon this rock I'll build my church. Whosoever sins ye remit, they are remitted.

14:25 And blessed art thou and blessed is the fruit of thy womb from the announcement of Elizabeth when she saw Mary. Now, I don't say that to be critical, but I want us to see something. Taking those few verses, they say they must mean this, that Peter was the first pope and that there...

14:42 No, no, wait a minute now. Let's take that verse and compare it with the analogy of faith. Now, what does the rest of the Bible teach about who is the head of the church? Why, it teaches one consistent truth.

14:53 Christ is the head of the church. God hath given Him to be head over all things to the church. And what is Peter? He's a little stone in that church.

15:02 We read that we are built upon the foundation of the apostles and the prophets. Jesus Christ, the chief cornerstone. So when you take those individual verses and compare them with the analogy of faith, the whole body of scriptural truth, you come up with a proper interpretation. Now, why am I taking all this time?

15:22 Because, beloved, I want you to be a people instructed in the book of God and to have some guidelines to know how to dig out meanings to the word on your own. That you might be kept from error and be led into the truth. All right, now if we do that with this passage, judge not that ye be not judged, if we look at the context and then we look at the analogy of faith, what do we come up with? Well, we come up, first of all, with four things that our Lord did not mean.

What Christ Did NOT Mean: Dismissing Discernment of Character

15:56 We start with the negative. First of all, our Lord did not mean that we are to dismiss all our faculties of discernment regarding the character of other men.

16:13 There are those who say, well, this passage means that you're never to evaluate someone as an unrepentant sinner. You're never to evaluate someone as a hypocrite. You're to have no discernment, whatever, with respect to the character of other men. Now, did Christ mean that?

16:30 Well, let's look at the context. Just look at verses 6 and 7. What do you find? Or just verse 6.

16:36 Having given this passage about judge not, the very next passage, he says these words. Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet and turn again and rend you. Now, how can I obey that unless in my eyes certain people are dogs and swine? I've got to discern who's a dog and who's a swine.

17:07 I've got to discern who's a dog and who's a swine. Now, I'm going to obey that next verse.

17:11 Our Lord said, further on in this passage, verse 20, Wherefore, by their fruits, ye shall know them. He said, You will be able to discern a false teacher from a true teacher, and you must discern. So you take the context, and it can't mean what some people make it mean, that we're to have no discernment regarding the character of other men. Now, compare it not only with the context, but with the analogy of faith.

17:41 Take the rest of what the Bible teaches on this subject, and what do we come up with? Well, may I suggest just three or four verses, and there are many more, or at least a substantial number more, but let's look at several. First of all, in the book of Romans, chapter 16 and verse 17.

18:02 Romans 16 and verse 17.

18:09 Now I beseech you, brethren, mark them which cause divisions and offenses, contrary to the doctrine ye have learned, and avoid them. Now, that's pretty clear, isn't it? Paul said you are to use discernment. And when you find men who are causing division, either by their lips or by their doctrine, you are to mark them, remember them, and avoid them.

18:39 Now, if our Lord meant by saying, Judge not that ye be not judged, that we're just to absolutely pull a blind over our eyes and exercise no discernment with human character, then we could not obey this command. Turning over to Corinthians. First Corinthians, chapter 6. First Corinthians, chapter 6.

18:59 Notice carefully verses 9 and 10.

19:07 I'm sorry, verse... First Corinthians, chapter 5.

19:12 I'm sorry. First Corinthians, chapter 5, verse 9. I wrote unto you in an epistle not to keep company with fornicators, nor yet altogether with the fornicators of the world, or with covetous, or extortioners, or idolaters. For then ye must needs go out of the world.

19:28 But now I've written unto you not to keep company. If any man that is called a brother be a fornicator, or covetous, or idolater, or railer, or a drunker, or an extortioner, with such an one not to eat. For what have I to do to judge them also that are without? Do not ye judge them that are within?

19:52 There's the key word. Paul says you have a God-given right and responsibility to pass judgment upon the character of those who are your professing fellow Christians, not in terms of motives. Don't you read something in here you shouldn't. But this is in terms of outward, overt activity that marks them as men not walking in obedience to God.

20:15 Then I could mention several other passages. You just jot them down if you're taking notes. First Thessalonians 3.6 and Titus 3.10.

20:23 So as we... We compare our Lord's word with the context.

20:27 He talks about swine and dogs. He talks about knowing false prophets. As we compare it with the analogy of faith, the first thing we know our Lord did not mean was that we were to dismiss all faculties of discernment in relationship to the character of men. Now we discover a second thing our Lord did not mean.

What Christ Did NOT Mean: Dismissing Discernment of Teaching

20:50 He did not mean that we were to dismiss all discernment regarding the teaching of men. Now here's the second area where there's such shoddy thinking in the church and out of it. Do you know what the cardinal sin of professing Christendom is today? If I were to go to the local ministerial meeting, I can't do it.

21:10 They've got everything from soup to nuts on there. I have nothing in common with these men. Some of them deny the truth for which I'd shed my blood.

21:19 That's why I'd be looked upon as a terrible sinner. Not because I'm chasing around with somebody else's wife or not paying my bills in the community, but you know what's the cardinal sin? What's looked upon as the cardinal sin in religious circles today? It's to have decided, definite opinions about truth and stand for truth and expose error.

21:38 That's looked upon as the cardinal sin. They say with the world about to blow itself up, with communism sweeping across the face of the earth, a nuclear holocaust hanging over our heads, forget our differences, all join arms, let's all be brothers. Oh, wait a minute. Wait a minute.

21:59 Where do you justify that? Oh, Jesus said, judge not that ye be non-judged. Who are you to say someone's right and you're wrong or you're right and they're wrong? Well, is that what our Lord is teaching?

22:09 Well, let's look at the context. It's the only way I know to find out if that's what He meant. So when we look to the context, what do we find out? Well, look at verse 15.

22:17 Verse 15, our Lord says these words, Beware of false prophets. That means I've got to know who are false prophets. That is, and when I see one, I've got to treat him as such.

22:36 So the context immediately lets me know that when Jesus said, judge not, He was not telling me to dismiss all discernment regarding the teaching of men. Looking at the immediate context, our Lord says, Beware of those who come with teaching that is not lining up with the plumb line of eternal truth. Now comparing it to the analogy of faith, the rest of the, the Bible teaching on this subject, what do we find? Just again, several verses.

23:06 Galatians chapter 1. Galatians chapter 1.

23:12 We generally don't do so much jumping through the rest of the Bible, but I want us to get this this morning. I'm in earnest as your pastor that you lay hold of these principles.

23:23 And I know it means you've got to think. I'm not giving you a lot of stories or illustrations this morning, but this may save your soul, so you better listen. Better listen. Galatians 1 verses 8 and 9.

23:34 But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed. And Paul uses the strongest word in the Greek language. Let him be anathema.

24:00 And we said before, so say I now again. Paul is saying, this isn't some hasty word I've uttered in a fifth time. It's a passion. He said, this is the calm deliberation of my heart.

24:12 I say again, if any man preach any other gospel than that which he hath received, let him be accursed. Now, when Jesus said, judge not that ye be not judged, was he saying we're to jettison all discernment about religious teaching and as long as someone comes with a saintly flush upon his face and the word God upon his lips, that we're to open our arms to him? Oh no. Jesus said, beware of false teachers and this is the thing that makes them so subtle.

24:43 They don't come as wolves, they come as sheep. Everybody, when it sees a little lamb or sheep, wants to go up and pet it. Few kids have gone on the retreats to Chester. They're the most popular creatures out there at Chester.

24:54 Those poor dumb sheep out in the backyard, aren't they? They give more hours of entertainment. We go up to the Chester church for a retreat. Why those sheep?

25:02 Everybody loves poor, dumb, innocent looking sheep.

25:06 Why, nobody would ever think a sheep was going to hurt you. Jesus said, that's the way false teachers come. Inwardly, they are ravenous wolves with fangs, carnivorous animals who would devour you and devour flesh and soul.

25:25 Our Lord said, beware. The Apostle Paul says, though we should come back and preach a different gospel, the curse of God is upon us. One other passage, 2 John. 2 John, way back towards the book of the Revelation.

25:37 2 John, verses 9 to 11.

25:42 We think of John as the apostle of, and well he was, and is. But did he have love at the expense of truth? I think not. But notice his words.

25:55 2 John, verses 9 through 11.

25:59 Whosoever transgresses and abides not in the doctrine of Christ hath not God. He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ hath both the Father and the Son. If there come unto you, any come unto you, and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into your house, neither bid him God's speed, for he that biddeth him God's speed is partaker of his evil deeds. Now that doesn't mean you shouldn't open the doors of your house to witness to the cultist that comes to your door.

26:34 John is saying, don't show him the hospitality that you extend to a brother. Don't extend him the blessing that you extend to a brother. You shake a brother by the hand who's one in Christ and you say, the Lord, bless you, brother. Don't you ever do that, John says, if a man does not abide in the doctrine, not a doctrine, but the doctrine of Christ.

26:56 And so when we take the analogy of faith, we know our Lord cannot mean that we are to close our eyes to the teaching of men and jettison all discernment. No, the Bible teaches, dear ones, that you will be saved or lost in terms of what you believe.

27:17 And that concept is shot right out of Christendom today, beloved. You may think I'm getting the tempest in the teapot, but I try to read some of the modern theological journals and periodicals and this is all outmoded. As long as what you believe is meaningful, this is the word in theological circles today, as long as it's meaningful to you, then it's of God.

27:45 It's not the teaching of the book. The teaching of the book is that there are certain truths which if believed and received and acted upon bring you life. And those truths if not received and believed and acted upon lead to death and sincerity will be no substitute for truth. All right then, what did our Lord not mean in the third place?

What Christ Did NOT Mean: Dismissing Church Discipline

28:11 When he said, judge not that you be not judged, he was not telling us to dismiss discernment regarding the character of men. He was not telling us to dismiss discernment regarding the teaching of men. And in the third place, he was not telling us to dismiss all decisive action in the discipline of men in the church and out of the church. Let's consider it first of all within the church.

28:40 Suppose someone were to sin a gross, obvious sin in our assembly.

28:48 Then that person were called before the elders and asked to repent. Suppose they would not repent and make their repentance as open as their sin. If the Bible's true, we would be forced to excommunicate that person from our fellowship. Now, what would your attitude be if I were to stand up next Sunday morning and say, members of this North Caldwell church, brother or sister so and so, has been knowingly involved in such and such a sin, has been faced with a sin and refuses to repent.

29:17 We are thereby striking them from our church rolls and none of you is to receive him into your home as a brother to eat with him as a brother or a sister until the repentance is as open as the sin. What would your attitude be?

29:37 Would it be an immediate revolt and say, that's cruel.

29:41 Who among us is without sin to cast the stone?

29:45 You see, we've become terribly anemic in our biblical concepts of church discipline and this is one of the passages that's been used to lead people into a minimizing of what the Bible teaches on this subject. Who are we to judge?

30:02 Well, who are we to judge? Do you know why the Lord did not mean that here? Well, let's look again. When you look at context, what do you find?

30:13 You find the Christian described. You find his conduct laid out as that which is light and salt and when it ceases to be that, our Lord says it's good for nothing but to be cast out and trodden underfoot. When we look to the analogy of faith, we look to the rest of the Bible, what does our Lord teach? Well, just again, one or two clear passages.

30:32 Matthew 18, our Lord's very words. Matthew chapter 18.

30:41 Matthew 18, beginning with verse 15.

30:47 Moreover, our Lord speaking, if thy brother shall trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone. Now remember, this is not dealing with something that you surmise or you suppose or that you have in a dream. Someone does something that is clearly a trespass. It's a tangible act or word.

31:09 Now he says, go tell him his fault. And if he shall hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother. But if he doesn't hear thee, forget about it, then let love cover it. No.

31:18 Then take with thee one or two more, that in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established. But if he shall neglect to hear them, tell it to the church. But if he neglects to hear the church, let him be unto thee as the heathen man and the publican. Now what does the church do to the heathen?

31:38 We don't shoot them. We don't throw stones at them. We try to reach them. But we don't extend the hand to them as brethren.

31:47 We extend the hand in evangelism, in entreaty, but never as brethren. We don't welcome them to the Lord's table. We don't welcome them into the communion of the saints. And the Lord says, when a man will not face his sin individually and then with the two or three witnesses and then with the church, he is to be excommunicated and is to be regarded as an unsaved man.

32:10 Whether he's saved or not, we don't know. But we're to regard him as an unsaved man. 1 Corinthians 5 is the biblical application and illustration of this, where Paul said, take that man who was living in an incestuous relationship, cut him off from your fellowship, deliver him over to Satan for the destruction of the flesh. Time proved that the man was a Christian for he later on repented.

32:31 But we're to regard him as an unsaved person until they repent. Now I tell you, this strikes strange territory in our day. We've become so anemic and flabby in our concepts of Christian principles. Do you know the old reformers defined a church as a gathering together of believers where the word was rightly preached, where the sacraments were rightly administered, and where church discipline was exercised?

33:00 When the great reformers, Calvin, Luther, Zwingli, Knox, when these men sought to define the nature of a true gospel church in contrast to that terrible system out of which they were delivered, they said, these are the three great marks, of a true church. The word fully preached, the sacraments or ordinance rightly administered, and discipline practiced. So when our Lord declares, judge not that ye be not judged, he cannot be meaning that we are to dismiss all decisive action in the area of discipline in the church. And last of all, he was not teaching that we should cast off the authority of civil government to pass sentence and to bring judgment. Now again in our day, there are people who would bring about a lawless society. You may not be aware of it in terms of an actual statement, but you are living in a mood of absolute lawlessness. Our courts have become the protectors of evil men instead of the judges of evil men.

What Christ Did NOT Mean: Dismissing Civil Government's Authority

34:12 And there are people who would completely dismiss the right of our government to take arms, pacifism, and involve in that is this attitude, well, who are we to sentence another man to the electric chair? And so you find in state after state, capital punishment is being voted out. Now, is our Lord to be in any way construed as defending this? Didn't Christ say, judge not?

34:41 And this is what's used to try to prove that position.

34:46 Well, let's look at the context. We go back into chapter 5 and we find our Lord speaking, about human judges and courts, not in a derogatory way. In fact, He's using their function as a warning to His people. Notice chapter 5 and verses 25 and 6.

35:06 Agree with thine adversary quickly whilst thou art in the way with him, lest at any time the adversary deliver thee to the judge, and the judge deliver thee to the officer, and thou be cast into prison. Verily I say unto thee, thou shalt by no means come out thence till thou hast paid the uttermost pardon. And He in no way teaches that it's wrong for the officer to deliver thee to the judge and the judge to the prison. He puts His approval upon it.

35:33 So in its very context our Lord cannot be forbidding the right of civil government to pass sentence and judgment upon men. And then you take the analogy of faith. I won't read the passages, but Romans 13 and 1 Peter 2, 13 and 14. Romans 13 says that the civil government is the instrument of God to bring judgment upon evildoers and to bring praise to well-doers.

36:02 Peter teaches exactly the same thing in 1 Peter 2, 13 and 14. And do you know I've read those passages to intelligent people and professing Christians and they say I never realized that. They actually wondered why is it right for one human being to take the life of another? Maybe we ought to shoot out capital punishment.

36:21 The man who's a professing Christian and we have no doubt to believe he is a Christian, Mark Hatfield, governor of Oregon, he's been behind the abolishment of capital punishment in the state of Oregon.

36:35 I'm ashamed of this because the scriptural position is that civil government bears the sword of God to bring vengeance upon evildoers and praise to well-doers. And the sword was the instrument of judgment and capital punishment in the Roman government and Paul says God put that sword into the hands of the Roman government. Now do you see with the negatives behind us why so many err? It's because of what our Lord said ye do err not knowing the scriptures nor the power of God.

The Method of Bible Study and What Christ DID Mean: The Pharisaical Spirit

37:12 Now why have I taken all this time the great bulk of the message this morning to consider what our Lord did not mean and just take the context and the analogy of faith in four areas. I hope you've learned a method of Bible study this morning. Oh, you say that's work. Sure it's work.

37:30 You don't want to hear a preacher who hasn't worked. Do you?

37:37 I don't. I've heard myself enough when I haven't worked. And I've heard too many others who haven't worked and it's just religious blurb. It's like spun sugar candy.

37:48 It looks so nice but when you try that there's nothing there.

37:53 If you want your children to be instructed then just don't pass on the pretty little cliches that you learned in Sunday school. You did. Check the passage in its context. Check it with the analogy of faith.

38:04 See what it can. Then you narrow down the field as to what it can mean and this will be helpful I trust in your own study. Now, what did our Lord mean when he said judge not? We can only deal very briefly with those two words in their positive way.

38:19 What did he mean? Well, I hope I don't put you to sleep. We're going to look again. Context and the analogy of faith.

38:27 What did our Lord mean? Judge not that you be not judged. Well, the whole context of this passage is Matthew 5 verse 20 where our Lord said except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees you'll in no wise enter the kingdom of heaven. Then he tells us how the Pharisees perverted the law and he gives us the true meaning.

38:52 Chapter 6 he says don't be like the Pharisees. When they pray when they give when they fast their motive is wrong. Don't be like them. Now he says in chapter 7 when you must stand in the place of evaluating your fellow men don't be like the Pharisees.

39:13 Judge not as the Pharisees judge lest ye be judged. Now this will help us. The whole context is this general theme that the Christian is not to be like the Pharisees. He's to be something more and above and beyond him.

39:31 Now what was the attitude of the Pharisees in this area of judging? The best description I know in a book in a very short succinct manner is found in Luke 18 and verse 7. Luke 18 and verse 7.

39:59 I'm sorry verse 9. Verse 9.

40:05 And he spake this parable unto certain which trusted in themselves that they were righteous and despised or looked down or set at naught or put beneath them all others. Ah, there's the characteristic of the Pharisee. He was continually taking the place of a judge esteeming himself to be above others and therefore others beneath him. And having assumed that place what would he do?

40:41 He would strain at the little gnats of their sins while he swallowed the camels of his own vices. You remember Jesus said you strain you strain out a gnat but you swallow a camel. Later on as we'll see they have such close scrutiny of others that they can find a little speck of dirt in somebody else's eye. You've got to get up pretty close.

41:04 Mr. Bischoff's about ten feet away and he could have twenty pieces of cinder in his eye and I couldn't see it from here. For me to find a moat in his eye I'd have to get out of the pulpit out of the pew right up next to him and get my face about six inches from his. And Jesus said all the while you do it you've got a huge beam sticking out of your own eye.

41:23 What would anyone assume to go around hunting for little specks in other people unless he felt I have a union card to be a speck hunter. See? And that's what our Lord is condemning in this passage. He's condemning that spirit that sets me up above others and makes me an authority on finding faults in my fellow man.

41:51 Again looking at the context it's contrary to the spirit of the Beatitudes. And my own heart was searched as I simply read 7-1 in the light of the Beatitudes. Look at them. Judge not that ye be not judged.

42:09 Why? For it's contrary to this. Blessed are the poor in spirit. How can a man who sees his own wretchedness and who's mourning his own sinfulness go around hunting for specks in other people?

42:28 He's got enough to do to take care of the mountains of iniquity within his own breast. He's got no time to go speck hunting. So whenever you're hunting for specks Jesus said there's no mourning over your own sin. Take the next Beatitude.

42:46 Blessed are the poor in spirit. The man who sees that he is nothing has nothing and can do nothing he doesn't set himself up in the place of a judge. Take the next Beatitude. Blessed are the meek and what is meekness?

43:02 You remember we defined it as the absence of self-will to God and the absence of ill-will to my brother. And if I know anything of true meekness how can I go about trying to dig specks out of the eyes of people when I'm so blinded by my own beings that I butcher them in the process? It can't be done. Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after righteousness and that they the man who's panting after God doesn't have time to go picking out moats as his business.

43:37 And you read each Beatitude and you see in its context that what our Lord is condemning is that hypercritical spirit that placing of ourselves on a pedestal of judgment and self-righteousness which is contrary to the attitude and spirit of the Beatitudes which is contrary to the likeness of the Lord Jesus. And it makes us at that point just like the Pharisees. Now so much for the context comparing our Lord's words with the analogy of faith with the rest of what the Bible teaches on this matter of judgment. What do we find out?

Characteristics of the Condemned Judging Spirit: Self-Righteous and Hypercritical

44:17 Well, we already found out it's not condemning a healthy discernment of character, a healthy discernment of teaching, a healthy climate of discipline, a healthy climate of firmness in law. But what does the rest of the Bible condemn in this area of judging one another? Will you listen carefully? Here's what it condemns.

44:40 It condemns that spirit of self-righteous, hypercritical, quick to pass sentence, anxious to condemn attitude which is unlike the Savior and unlike the spirit of the Beatitudes. It's that spirit which underlies the guise of exalted spirituality will castigate, deride, tear down, and despise all others with no valid grounds.

45:13 And frankly, dear ones, this is what makes this thing so subtle. The only person who's guilty of this is the one who thinks he's got a right to go moat hunting. And his right, he thinks, is his exalted spiritual condition. And there's nothing more difficult to penetrate than to go hyper-spirituality.

45:35 It is the most delusive, blinding thing in the realm of the Christian experience. I have never confronted anything there's more delusive than a hyper-false spirituality that makes the man or woman feel I'm in the place to go moat hunting with others. What are some of the characteristics of this spirit as we look at the rest of the scripture? First and foremost, it's always self-righteous.

46:04 It always assumes an air of self-righteousness. It always assumes superiority. Hence, it gives birth to a censorious attitude which in turn gives birth to a despising of others. Since I am better than others, I have a right to pass sentence upon them and having passed sentence, I have a right to regard them as something beneath me.

46:25 You read about it in Romans 14 where Paul was dealing with the problem where some Christians felt it was all right to eat meat offered to idols. Other Christians felt it was wrong and Paul said, you know what? Some of them were doing. It says in Romans 14, verse 10, why dost thou set at naught thy brother?

46:45 The one person said, why, that's ridiculous. I know that the meat offered to idols is nothing. I have such liberty in Christ. I can eat meat offered to idols.

46:55 And he looks at his poor brother out there who's got a tender conscience and who used to be involved in idol worship and he used to go to the temple and when he worshipped his idol, he would eat that meat offered to the idol and it was a part of his heathen worship and having been saved out of that, he shies away from it. He just can't go near it. This fellow over here who realizes that that meat's just a hunk of meat and an idol is nothing. It's just a word.

47:18 He looks at the fellow and says, poor, sensitive fellow. He's just a baby. Just nothing but a little old fundamentalist. I'm an evangelical with a broad mind.

47:32 Some of you know what I'm talking about. Others, those terms don't strike a response but for the sake of some of you I use them purposely. This is the climate even in the world. This is the climate.

47:40 Even in theological circles today and in our schools.

47:44 Oh, you people that feel you can never go to a movie and never take a glass of wine or beer. You poor old fundamentalists. We evangelicals have a broad mind.

48:01 That's the spirit our Lord is dealing with. It's that spirit of self-righteousness that makes us feel superior and then censorious and then we despise all others. We go about saying I have a Mote Pickers union card issued to me by Mr. Blind to my own sin and Mr.

48:20 I am better than thou. And so they go around and flash their Mote Pickers union card signed by these two authorities. Mr. Blind to my own sin and Mr.

48:33 I am better than thou.

48:36 The second thing about this spirit which our Lord condemns is that it's always hypercritical. Now what does hyper mean? It means too much. As some of you know I have seven sisters.

48:47 I think seven sometimes they get mixed up. Seven. And we were privileged to live in the home of my folks.

48:57 My wife and I sometimes debate whether it was a privilege.

49:02 I thank God for my parents. As you know I speak often of them and speak highly of them but God never made one roof broad enough for two families. It ain't never been made yet. So we found it out to heart.

49:14 Well anyway we were there at the time when some of my sisters I'm second oldest in the family were coming out of their pigtails and into their bobbed hair. They were coming into their teens and into young womanhood. And if there's anything characteristic of a poor girl who's becoming a young lady it's hyper and all the good old fashioned weeps that I've seen my sisters have. The littlest thing and ooh the world came to an end and off they were on a good weep.

49:44 Now to be completely insensitive is a terrible thing. The person who can never weep and never laugh he's not a human being. He's a hunk of stone.

49:53 Sensitivity is a necessary thing but hypercritical hypersensitivity that's a terrible you ever meet people hypersensitive? They've got one big red swollen toe about 18 inches broad and anytime you get near to them you're always touching them. Oh you know what a sore toe's like? Well that's the way they are.

50:11 They've got one big swollen toe about yay big. And hypersensitive you look at them the wrong way and they're hurt and they're wounded. You say something in jest and they take it as a personal affront and you're all the time going around trying to salve over that big toe of theirs. Now hypersensitivity is a terrible thing.

50:30 How may the Lord deliver us from it? But now listen. What's true in the area of sensitivity is true in spirituality. There is a true valid spirituality.

50:38 Don't be afraid of the word.

50:41 But what is a hyper spirituality?

50:45 It's that thing that is exemplified in this matter of judging.

50:52 We put ourselves in the place where we feel we have got to be critical about everything under the sun. It's not a matter now of having proper discernment about the character of men. We put ourselves in the place of God and we start reading the motives of men. It's not a matter of having proper discernment about the teaching of men but we begin to want them to jot their I's and cross their T's exactly the way we feel they must or we're ready to write them off.

51:19 There's one Christian leader in our area who's hunting for a communist amongst the clergy under every single bench and I said if he ever came in here and saw all the red curtains he'd have us labeled for sure. And I'm sure I'd be on his program the next time as a pink sympathizer because of the color of the curtains. Now this is what we're talking about. This is what our Lord is talking about.

51:41 It's that self-righteous hyper-critical spirit. That picture of finding moats. You're all the time going up real close to people looking for moats. And it's interesting.

51:53 You see if my wife had something in her eye I'll pick on her because I can get away with that. Suppose she had just fixed herself up to go out somewhere. The Lord willing Tuesday night we have some friends coming in from New York and we're going to go out for one of those rare times to eat together. And so she's done her hair up nice and she's put on her nicest new suit and all the rest.

52:12 But you see if she says honey I've got something in my eye and I go looking for that that's all I see. When you get up close enough to be looking for a moat I wouldn't see her hair. I wouldn't see her dress. I wouldn't see anything.

52:22 All I'd see was that one eyeball and that little speck.

52:27 I think that's all involved in the passage. What is it to judge in the sense that our Lord condemns it? It's that hyper-critical. People, you may be adorned with a thousand and one graces of the Spirit and they may be beautiful with the adornment of Christ's likeness.

52:45 Oh yes, they're in the flesh and so they have little faults and all we see is not the beautiful adornment of Christ but we get up real close to people looking for the speck. Hyper-critical. Hyper-critical. In short, the best way I know to define it and then I'll have to close is that it's a spirit that's so completely opposite to 1 Corinthians 1.

Characteristics of the Condemned Judging Spirit: Opposite of Love

53:10 1 Corinthians 13. Paul says, Love thinketh no evil. This judging spirit will find evil at any cost even when it's got to go looking for it with a magnifying glass. It feeds upon evil.

53:26 1 Corinthians 13 says, Love rejoices not in iniquity but you watch the person who's got this spirit. The minute they find out that someone did do something, aha!

53:37 All along I was right. I suspected it. I'm right. They actually rejoice when evil comes to them.

53:44 As a report concerning another. This is what our Lord is condemning. 1 Corinthians 13 says, Love hopeth all things. Love hopes all things.

53:55 Love puts the best construction possible upon a situation but not this judging spirit. The minute it sees something that may have any remote possibility of a bad motive, immediately judgment is passed. No standing back saying, well, let's hope that maybe what I saw was not a true reflection of that person's character. Let's wait and hope that something will happen that will contradict what seemed to happen here.

54:21 No, no. This spirit is one that's quick to judge, quick to pass sentence. So opposite. So opposite.

54:29 Peter says, Above all, have fervent love among yourselves for love shall cover a multitude of sins. Those multitude of little motes. Love will cover them but this spirit magnifies them, brings them into focus. And will make an issue of them.

Exhortation to Repentance and Rejoicing in Grace

54:48 Well, I didn't get through. We'll have to carry on from here next week. We want to consider some of the manifestations of this spirit. Then we want to consider the reasons our Lord gives why His disciples should be free of this spirit.

55:02 But as we close this morning, I want to bring a word of exhortation first of all to those of you who are born again. Those of you who do not yet belong to Christ. If this is what the Lord meant when He said, Judge not that you be not judged. A condemnation of that self-righteous, hyper-critical, censorious spirit.

55:29 Then you and I have got to do something this morning. We've either got to own up to the fact that we're guilty of this sin, call it what God calls it, go down on our knees before the Lord pleading mercy and forgiveness or we can do something else. We can rationalize it, excuse it away, cover it up, and God's word is sure. He that covers his sin shall not prosper.

55:56 He that covers his sin shall not prosper. And you know what happens to every one of us by nature? By nature, nobody embraces the balance of God's truth. By nature and temperament and the work of the devil, all of us will either be not critical enough or we'll be hyper-critical.

56:18 By nature and temperament, we may be the kind of person that would shrink at church discipline. We may be the kind of person who shrinks at labeling a man a false teacher. So what do we need? We need the first part of my message.

56:31 That when our Lord said, Judge not, He was not condemning a proper spirit of discernment and a critical attitude toward teaching. He was encouraging it. Others of us, by nature, we want to go beyond what our Lord has said. We not only want to have discernment about the obvious character of men, we think we've got a right to read their motives.

56:55 The words of Christ cut us at the quick this morning. We would not only want to discipline people for overt sin, we want to discipline them for something that we've conjured up is sin. We need the second emphasis. You see, the chasm between truth and error or the space is not a chasm, it's not a grand canyon, it's a razor's edge.

57:20 It's a razor's edge. And only when we're determined to take the whole counsel of God with a mind submitted to the Spirit can we be kept on that razor's edge. So if you're a Christian this morning, you're going to let to yourself, you're going to fall off one side or the other. You're either going to sit here and back off and say, no, I'll just have the attitude I've always had.

57:42 Everybody that comes with a Bible and a smile, they're all right. You need to be brought up this way to realize that when our Lord said judge not, He was not discouraging a healthy, critical, analyzing mind and attitude to men and to truth and to discipline. Others of you who've gone over this way and you've assumed the role of a judge and this morning left to yourself, you're going to justify it, you're going to excuse it, you're going to rationalize it to mark my word, the blessing of God is not going to be on you. For he that covers his sin shall not prosper.

58:15 And my plea to you this morning as the people of God is, face the words of Christ in their context, in the light of the analogy of faith and see that He's condemning that horrible attitude in your heart and mind and go down before God and go before Him and ask His forgiveness and His mercy.

58:33 The second thing it ought to make us as Christians do is rejoice that we're not saved by our works but wholly by the grace of God. For if I were saved or kept by my life, facing a passage like this would send me back into hell on the first train going that direction. For I must confess before God that I see this thing in me and it's ugly. And if it's ugly in me, before my sinfully darkened eyes, what must it be like before God?

59:02 And so this passage again drives me to say, Jesus, Thy blood and righteousness, my beauty are my glorious strength. So Christian, you ought this morning to be broken in repentance and then you ought to be exalted in the glorious truth of your acceptance in the Beloved One. And those of you here this morning who are not in Christ, does this say anything to you? It sure does.

59:29 You want to go on trying to save yourself? You want to work out your own salvation?

59:36 You want to try to do enough good deeds that will balance out the bad ones? If the bad ones involve even an attitude of hypercritical spirit, what a mountain of iniquity you've got to balance out. Dear unsaved friend, when you face a passage like this and realize that it's even sin to assume the role of a judge upon another, this ought to beat you off every other ground but the ground of seeking mercy through the wounds of Christ and cause you to fall down before Him and come and say nothing in my hands I bring simply to thy cross I come. Judge not that ye be not judged.

60:18 Let us pray.