Text: Mt 7: 1-5
Date: Jan 2, 2020
Place: SGBC, NJ
Turn to Romans 14.
Last Sunday, we began looking at this chapter. Before we get to the next
message this coming Sunday, I want to look at a subject we saw here concerning
judging.
Romans 14: 1: Him that is weak in the faith receive ye, but
not to doubtful disputations. 2: For one believeth that he may eat all things:
another, who is weak, eateth herbs. 3: 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. 4: Who art thou that judgest another man’s servant? to his
own master he standeth or falleth. Yea, he shall be holden up: for God is able
to make him stand…10: But why dost thou judge thy brother? or why dost thou set at nought thy brother?
for we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ. 11: For it
is written, As I live, saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every
tongue shall confess to God. 12: So then every one of us shall give account of
himself to God. 13: Let us not therefore judge one another any more: but judge
this rather, that no man put a stumblingblock or an occasion to fall in his
brother’s way.
Now, let’s turn to Matthew 7 to hear our Master, our
Judge speak on this subject.
Matthew 7: 1: Judge not, that ye be not judged. 2: For
with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete,
it shall be measured to you again. 3: And why beholdest thou the mote that is
in thy brother’s eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye? 4:
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? 5: 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.
Our Master is speaking to brethren. He begins, “Judge not!” These words may be more well-known than John
3:16. When you tell someone what God
says in his word, they say, “Judge not!”
Tolerance is the word of the day.
But when we show someone the word of God concerning marriage between a
man and a woman only, they say, “Judge not!”
When men hear us preach God’s word that all men are totally depraved,
dead in trespasses and in sins—especially when we do as Christ did and point
out their wicked religious works, a visitor will say, “Didn’t Christ say,
‘Judge not.” When we declare from God’s
word his absolute standard of right and wrong, his absolute doctrinal truth,
those who have no understanding of scripture at all, say, “Judge not!”
Christ is not
teaching us to never judge. He teaches
us through his word to judge using spiritual, righteous judgment. Concerning false preachers and false
doctrine, Christ instructs his child,
1
John 4: 1: Try the spirits (judge preachers by the word of God so you know
false from true)
1
Thessalonians 5:21: Prove all things;
hold fast that which is good.
Regenerated sinners
are the only ones who have spiritual discernment so that we can judge.
1
Corinthians 2:14: But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of
God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they
are spiritually discerned. 15: But he that is spiritual judgeth all things, yet
he himself is judged of no man.
In verse 6, he says, “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.” (Mt 7:6)—that
means we have to use spiritual discernment to judge who are dogs and swine. Again in verses 15-16, he says, “Beware of
false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are
ravening wolves. Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of
thorns, or figs of thistles?” (Mt 7:15-16)—that requires us to judge
false prophets and the fruit they produce.
Proposition: The
Master is teaching his disciples to be not a critical, accusing and condemning our
brethren, especially not in things that are not vital issues. He is condemning a self-righteous fault-finding
spirit which magnifies the errors and infirmities of our neighbor
Divisions:
Our Lord gives us 4 reasons for not judging
CHRIST’S COMMAND
Matthew 7: 1: Judge
not,…
First, we should not judge because Christ commands us not
to. This is Christ’s command, his law,
to his sanctified children. If we have a
God-given love for Christ then, by God’s grace, we will obey him.
John 14: 23: Jesus
answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my
Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him. 24:
He that loveth me not keepeth not my sayings: and the word which ye hear is not
mine, but the Father’s which sent me.
When Christ says to believers, “Judge not”, this is the
law of Christ that we are under. It is
the law James spoke of,
James 4: 11: Speak
not evil one of another, brethren. He that speaketh evil of his brother,
and judgeth his brother, speaketh evil of the law, and judgeth the law:
He speaks evil of Christ’s law to judge not, to love one
another as he loved us. By disobeying he
is judging Christ’s law to be no good. But
read the rest,
James 4: 11…but if
thou judge the law, thou art not a doer of the law, but a judge. 12: There is one
lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy: who art thou that judgest
another?
Our Redeemer laid down his life for God’s elect—for you who
are wretched, vile sinners worthy of his judgment and wrath. He entered our hearts in regeneration so he
is our Master. He commands us, “Judge
not!” That will be enough for those
constrained by his love.
He is teaching us not to walk contrary to his love toward
us—
1 Corinthians 13: 4: Charity
suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself,
is not puffed up,…7: [Charity] Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth
all things, endureth all things.
Brethren think how
long Christ suffered with our sinfulness.
From eternity Christ entered covenant to save us. Since the fall he has suffered long with all his
sinful people, including you and me. We
were worthy of his wrath. Yet, he was kind
and gracious to us even when we were his enemies—and he still is. Let us be like our Master—longsuffering, forbearing,
merciful, gracious, forgiving. Let us do
it because Christ commands us, “Judge not!”
THAT YE BE NOT JUDGED
Matthew 7: 1: Judge not, that ye be not judged. 2: For
with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete,
it shall be measured to you again.
Secondly, we should
not judge because in this life, God will judge us with the same judgement
wherewith we judge. Listen to Christ’s
word which Luke recorded on this subject:
Luke 6: 37: Judge
not, and ye shall not be judged: condemn not, and ye shall not be condemned:
forgive, and ye shall be forgiven: 38: Give, and it shall be given unto you;
good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men
give into your bosom. For with the same measure that ye mete withal it shall be
measured to you again.
If we rejoice in judgment—if we are hyper-critical, looking
for things to accuse and blame—then God will judge us the same by chastening
us using men to judge us the same way. If we are forgiving and gracious in abundance,
God will use men to do the same to us. Christ taught this when he taught his disciples
to pray:
Matthew 6: 14: For if
ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you: 15:
But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive
your trespasses.
Remember, Christ put away all the sin of all his elect--“By
one offering he hath perfected forever them that are sanctified.” Before the judgment seat of God, he says,
I remember your sins no more. There is
therefore now no condemnation to those in whom the Spirit of God dwells. But in this life God will use men to judge
us and chasten his child to turn us from an unforgiving spirit OR God will deal with us in grace as we deal
with others in grace.
Psalm 18: 25: With
the merciful thou wilt shew thyself merciful; with an upright man thou wilt
shew thyself upright; 26: With the pure thou wilt shew thyself pure; and with
the froward thou wilt shew thyself froward.
Brethren hear Christ speak. He says give mercy, grace and forgiveness abundantly
to one another and God will see to it men do the same to us in this life or God
will judge us and chasten us if we judge our brethren. But that is love for God to chasten us. He does it so that we shall not be condemned
with this ungodly world. The Lord
teaches us this concerning his table. We
are to examine and judge ourselves. But
if we do not then God will judge us.
1 Corinthians 11: 28:
But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of
that cup. 29: For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh
damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord’s body. 30: For this cause many
are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep. 31: For if we would judge
ourselves, we should not be judged. 32: But when we are judged, we are
chastened of the Lord, that we should not be condemned with the world.
Believer, knowing that Christ shall present us without
fault and unreprovable in God’s sight in the great judgment, let us live our
lives rejoicing to show our brethren mercy as God has shown us mercy.
James 2: 12: So speak
ye, and so do, as they that shall be judged by the law of liberty. 13: For he
shall have judgment without mercy, that hath shewed no mercy; and mercy
rejoiceth against judgment.
THAT WE BE NOT GUILTY OF FAR WORSE
Matthew 7: 3: And why beholdest thou the mote that is in
thy brother’s eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye? 4 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? (Mt 7:3-4)
Thirdly, our Master teaches us that we should not judge
because when we do we are guilty of a far worse sin and are in a far worse
condition than the brother we blame.
Do you behold a mote in your brother’s eye. Yes, it is true. Your brother has multiple motes. But what is that compared to the beam in your
own eye? Every time one of us judges his brother, we are guilty of far worse sin.
What is this beam in our own eye when we
judge our brethren unrighteously?
One, we are attempting to usurp authority over Christ our
Master.
Romans 14: 4: Who are
you to judge, to his own master he standeth or falleth, yea he shall be holden
up for God is able to make him stand.
1 Corinthians 4: 3 But with me it is a very small thing that I
should be judged of you, or of man’s judgment: yea, I judge not mine own self. 4:
For I know nothing by myself; yet am I not hereby justified: but he that
judgeth me is the Lord.
Two, when we
judge and condemn our brother then we are passing judgment before it is time.
1 Corinthians 4: 5: Therefore
judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come, who both will bring to light
the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the
hearts: and then shall every man have praise of God.
Three, we are guilty of that sin which God hates—pride
and self-righteousness. When we see
sin in our brother and judge him then our problem is that we cannot perceive or
consider it in ourselves—"why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy
brother’s eye, but considerest not [Luke says, “perceiveth not”] the beam that
is in thine own eye?” In this
bad spiritual state of pride and self-righteousness we cannot see clearly, “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.” Judging our brother, and not perceiving and
not considering our own sin, we have become proud and self-righteous like the
Pharisee that Christ condemned. We think
we are without blame and we despise our brother for whom Christ died. We have become the Pharisee.
Luke 18:9: And he
spake this parable unto certain which trusted in themselves that they were
righteous, and despised others: 10: Two men went up into the temple to pray;
the one a Pharisee, and the other a publican. 11: The Pharisee stood and prayed
thus with himself, God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men are,
extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican. 12: I fast twice in
the week, I give tithes of all that I possess. 13: And the publican, standing
afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his
breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner. 14: I tell you, this man went
down to his house justified rather than the other: for every one that exalteth
himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.
If we are a bastard and not a son of God then God will leave
us where he left the Pharisee in this parable.
It will only be in the great day of judgment that we hear Christ say, “Depart
from me, I never knew you.” But if we
are God’s chosen, blood-bought, regenerated child then God will chasten us to
bring us to the place he brought this publican.
That brings us to the third reason we should not judge.
WE SHALL BE HUMBLED
BY PAINFUL CHASTENING
Matthew 7: 5: 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.
Thirdly, we should not
exalt ourselves in judgment over our brethren because if we are God’s child
then we shall be humbled by God’s chastening hand and made to see our awful
sin.
When we are guilty of
judging—when we are puffed up in pride and self-righteousness—when we think
ourselves something—Christ chastens his redeemed by making us hear this word
loud and clear in our heart, “Thou hypocrite.” Thou actor! You are merely playing a part like an actor on
a stage. Most of God’s children know
exactly what that is like! Christ makes
us know that we are guilty of the same things for which we judge our
brother. After giving that long list of
the Gentile’s sins in Romans 1, the Pharisees were thinking themselves far
superior to the Gentiles. But Christ
said through Paul,
Romans 2: 1: Therefore
thou art inexcusable, O man, whosoever thou art that judgest: for wherein thou
judgest another, thou condemnest thyself; for thou that judgest doest the same
things. 2: But we are sure that the judgment of God is according to truth
against them which commit such things.
Brethren, judging others is one way we deflect attention
from our own sins. If a brother gets
into a back-and-forth with us when we are overcome by our Pharisaical old man
of the flesh then we will always turn the blame back on our brother. We will not take any blame. It will all our brother’s fault. Yet, we are guilty of the same sins that we
condemn our brother for. When we judge
others we condemn ourselves because we are guilty of the same thing. And God knows our heart!
Brother Henry Mahan said, “We are all three people: one,
we are the one we think we are; two, we are the one others think we
are; three we are the one God knows we are!”
So Christ convicts us
in our conscience, making us know our hypocrisy. That is right brethren. If you want judgment rather than mercy, God
will give you judgment rather than mercy.
Christ will make you see your own sin, including the ugly, wretched pride
and self-righteousness which God says he hates.
Brethren, when
convicted of our sin by the Spirit of God, does a believer ever get the beam
out of his eye so that he can see clearly to get the splinter out of his
brother’s eye? Yes and No!
No, in that Christ’s
word make us see ourselves as the worst of all sinners. God’s chastening hand always produces this
fruit of righteousness. We are brought
down, abased, to the same place as the publican. Then we cry out to God. It is on purpose that the next word in our
text, Christ says, “Ask and it shall be given you.” It is on purpose because when Christ works
this in us then we are like the publican, asking, “Lord, be merciful to me
the sinner.”
King David heard
Nathan tell him about a rich man who had many lambs but who took a poor man’s
one little lamb. David became angry and
judged that the man would be punished to the full extent of the law and that he
would restore the poor man fourfold.
Nathan said, “David, thou art the man!”
That was Christ convicting David in his conscience, saying, “Thou
hypocrite.” Then where did David’s
Master bring David? David would not give
mercy before. But then David was crying
out for mercy. He cried,
Psalm 51:9 Hide thy face from my sins, and blot out all
mine iniquities. 10: Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right
spirit within me. 11: Cast me not away from thy presence; and take not thy holy
spirit from me. 12: Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation; and uphold me
with thy free spirit. 13: Then will I teach transgressors thy ways; and sinners
shall be converted unto thee.
Believer, do you have
a brother or sister in your life whose mote is making you have a beam in your
own eye? Have you ever considered that
the reason God put you with a brother who struggles with sin and infirmities is
to humble you from your pride and self-righteousness? David said, “Then will I teach
transgressors thy ways; and sinners shall be converted unto thee.” When we judge and correct our brethren we come
across as puffed up and self-righteous because we are. God does not bless our word to instruct our
brethren anything. But after God abases
us by his chastening hand then we are able to have the right spirit to teach
others God’s word. Do we ever see
clearly to get the moat out of our brother’s eye? Yes, in the sense that after God
chastens and humbles me then God can use me to help another brother when he is
overtaken in a fault. But next time we
go about it like Christ teaches us to go about it.
Galatians 6:1:
Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore
such an one IN THE SPIRIT OF MEEKNESS; CONSIDERING THYSELF, LEST THOU ALSO BE
TEMPTED.
By this chastening,
God abases us giving us the spirit of meekness rather than the spirit of
a self-righteous judge. God makes us consider
ourselves, that is, God makes us judge ourselves, remembering that we are
guilty of the same sins as our brother; yet Christ redeemed us and God forgives
us. God makes us do this lest we also
be tempted, that is, tempted to judge our brother and become puffed up, “for
if a man think himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceiveth
himself.” (Gal 6:3) But by the chastening,
our Master holds us up, makes us stand and gives us grace to obey his law of
love, that is, to not judge one another but to “Bear ye one another’s
burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ” (Gal 6:2). Knowing Christ bore our burdens to the
cross into a land not inhabited, never to be remembered by God again, may
Christ give us grace to do the same for our brethren.
Amen!