It’s very good to be with you this morning. And I do hope when you think about churches that suffer the way they do and churches that come together and they risk literally their lives of gathering together as believers that we don’t take it for granted what a great blessing and joy it is to be able to do this freely, to talk about Jesus freely, to worship Jesus freely. So our Sunday gatherings for that reason are always a blessing in the context in which we live here in America. So just something to always praise the Lord and thank the Lord for. If you have your Bible, and I hope you do, we’ll be back in Matthew. We jumped out of it last week and looked at some things in Revelation. But we’ll come back into Matthew this morning. We’ll be in Matthew chapter 7, verses 1-6.

Matthew 7, 1-6.

And here’s what Jesus says. He says, Judge not that you be not judged. For with the judgment you pronounce, you will be judged. And with the measure you use, it will be used to you. Why do you seek the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, let me take the speck out of your eye when there is a log in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye. Do not give dogs what is holy,

and do not throw your pearls before pigs, lest they trample them underfoot and turn to attack you. I’m not sure if you’ve ever been to an art museum or an art gallery, but when I go in a place like that, I feel very uncomfortable. I don’t know what I’m supposed to do. I see things, and I’m like, well, that’s interesting. Am I supposed to appreciate that there? What am I looking at? I came across this funny little comic strip, and it’s just a picture of this guy staring at this massive abstract painting. And the caption says, Stand still, count to ten, slowly walk toward the painting, stop, lean forward, count to ten, step backwards twelve paces, cross your arms, stroke your chin, then count to fifteen, put your hands behind your back, step forward five paces, nod your head and smile, and then move on to the next one. So that’s how to appreciate art. I was trying to teach you. So I think that’s what it feels like. Am I appreciating this thing? But art galleries are a reminder that beauty is subjective. Art is subjective. Some things you find to be interesting, someone else would find to be hideous. And it’s not just true with what you see. It’s music. We all like very different kinds of music. We like different kinds of architecture and buildings and homes and decorations. We like different kinds of cars just based off of shapes and colors. So art, beauty is very subjective. But what Jesus is teaching us here and reminding us is this. Truth is not subjective at all.

Judgment day for every person is coming. And friends, when we all get to judgment day, we will be judged off of the criteria of God’s truth, God’s objective truth. So how aware are we of God’s objective truth for our lives? But also not for just us, but for those around us. Not just one of us is on a pathway headed towards judgment day. We all are. And the greatness or the dread of judgment day will be based not on just our knowledge of God, of God’s objective truth, friends, but how well we judge ourselves according to that truth along the way until we get there. Do we judge ourselves well? Do we know what it means to judge well now?

Back at verse 1 with me. Jesus says, Judge not that you be not judged. For with the judgment you pronounce, you will be judged. And with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. So let me go ahead. Let me go ahead and appear to be doing something that I’m not doing, but let me appear to do it, and that’s disagree with Jesus. You should never actually disagree with Jesus at the beginning or end of a sermon or any part of life. So I’m not actually disagreeing with Jesus. I only want to appear to be for a moment. Jesus has just said, don’t judge.

But in fact, we ought to judge. We really should judge. Jesus is not prohibiting any and all forms of judgment. Jesus is talking about a very particular sort of judgment we dare not pass on one another. So that becomes the question then, well, what kind of judgment is that and why can’t we pass it on one another? The kind of judgment that Jesus is talking about here, it’s a kind of final and complete judgment. To judge here as Jesus is talking about, it is exhaustive. It is full. It is to perfectly know the error of someone else and judge it in its entirety. The problem with that is this, none of us can fully and completely know the hearts, thoughts, minds, and intentions of someone else. You may have a very good idea of someone else’s vices and you may be proud of it. You may have an up-close and personal relationship with someone else and their mistakes. But the Scriptures are very clear on this. Only God alone can really see the heart. He says that to the prophet Samuel when he goes to anoint King David. He says, I see the heart. Hebrews tells us, it’s that the Word of God judges the whole person and cuts down to their core. Only God sees. So we have to take that series and we have to take Paul’s series when Paul says, who are you to judge someone else’s master? To his own master he stands or falls. So only the Master is rightly able to judge exhaustively and accurately every person, ancient and modern, both now in our lives as we live it, but only the Master, God alone, will judge us. That’s the judgment day and we’ll all be laid bare before Him. He can uniquely do that. Give those final verdicts, if you will. But I want you to consider the second reason why Jesus says we dare not pass a definitive final verdict on someone, who they are and what they’ve done.

It is because, friends, you and I are no better than anyone else. So we aren’t qualified to pass critical, definitive judgments on people. You cannot find a criteria, a standard in life in which you have not only excelled, but you’ve achieved perfection over someone else. You cannot. You may say, oh, I’m such a better parent than such and such is. And you may be right. You may be a 7 out of a 10 and they may be a 2 out of a 10. But still yet, you’re not a 10 out of a 10. No one is the ideal parent, which means the law that you chose to weaponize against someone else, it will certainly be weaponized against you. Amen. I cannot find a standard or a criteria by which I have achieved perfection as a father, as a husband, as a friend, as a son, as a pastor. I have many, many failings. So whenever I want in any of these categories to point the finger and say, hi, look there, see how you failed? I better watch my back because the same law is going to be applied to me. Now I think someone could say, hey, this can’t be true because I’ve never murdered anyone. So I could go around if I wanted and put my finger in a murderer’s face and say, hi, you are a murderer. I am not. Look at what you have done. But if you were willing to do that, you forgot what Jesus said earlier in Matthew that if you even have ever had unjustified anger in your heart, the law judges you as a murderer. And the apostle James says, if you failed in one point of the law, you’re guilty of all of it. So friends, there is no criteria, there is no standard, namely God’s law, by which we have achieved perfection over and above someone else. It is not so. So we leave exhaustive, final, descriptive, even damning judgments to God alone because He alone sees all things and is qualified alone because He’s pure in all things. So if we are to escape God’s judgments, we must learn to do a couple things. The first thing we must learn to do is rightly judge ourselves. Can you rightly judge yourself?

Verse 3, Jesus says,

Why do you seek the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own? Or how can you say to your brother, let me take the speck out of your eye when there is a log in your own eye? So now Jesus is doing what Jesus does often best. He’s using a hyperbole. Exaggerated, overblown statement, to really make a point, right? It’s what He’s doing. And what Jesus is leading us to do here is to recognize if we’re going to judge others rightly, it doesn’t matter how well you know someone else’s vices. It doesn’t matter how passionate you want to tell somebody else about their vices. What matters first, Jesus is teaching us is this. You need to deal with yourself. You need to look yourself in the mirror. Jesus says, what good is it if you want to see somebody else’s problems and you want to correct other people’s problems? But you’ve got that own problem lodged in your own heart. You’re dealing with the same problems and you can’t even see it. You don’t even recognize you’ve got a giant log, which is a crazy thing, sticking out of your eye and you’re going around messing with other people’s specks in their eyes. You’re not qualified to do it based on the fact you have the same problem. So I want to answer this question for us. Why are we as people so able, and we are, aren’t we, to see everyone else’s vices and condemn people yet? Yet we are completely ignorant of our own. We’re even willing to justify and approve of our own vices. Why is that so? Here’s why it’s so. You and I, far before we wrestle and deal with any other sin in life, you and I are sin sick with pride. That’s a problem that you and I are born with. And because it is so, we are not disposed to pointing out our own vices. Because you know what would happen if we pointed out our own problems? We would have to change. And if we had to change, it means we’d have to give up the sin that we love and the sinful ways we love to be. So we’re not disposed to do it. And so I want to really draw out this point by comparing and contrasting two Old Testament characters for us. Adam in the garden and King David.

So Adam and Eve, you probably know the story. God said, hey, you can eat of any tree in the garden that you would like. Just don’t eat of the tree of the knowledge of God. Of good and evil. And of course, they did. And I want you to see how they respond to God’s inquiry as to why they did it. Genesis 3, verse 11.

He said, God said, who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree of which I commanded you not to eat? The man said, well, the woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me the fruit of the tree and I ate. And the Lord said to the woman, what is this that you have done? And the woman said, the serpent deceived me and I ate. Now notice, did they ever actually address God’s question, what is this that you have done? They don’t. They self-preserve. They cover up for themselves. They justify. They rationalize their sin and by so doing, approve of their own sin.

Adam gave the most bold, offensive response to God. God should have backhanded Adam like back into dirt in that moment. Adam says to God, hey, I’m this way because she did this. And oh, by the way, you gave her to me. This is your fault. You see what he just did? He blame shifted. And what does she do? Well, hey, it’s not my fault I’m like this. It was that serpent over there. Adam and Eve protected, aided, and abetted their sin rather than admitting to it and forsaking it. Why? All due to their newfound pride. And I want you to think about what is human pride. Human pride is an unnatural, perverted love for oneself, regardless of what’s wrong about you, regardless of what wrong you’ve done. That’s what pride is. It is an unhealthy, illogical protection of yourself. That’s why we can’t see the log in our own eye and can see the faults of big and small in other people. Now, I want you to think about King David with me. King David was once described as a man after God’s own heart. God said that. How would you like for God to say that about you? There, right there, is a person after my own heart. But David failed miserably. He committed adultery with Bathsheba, and then he murdered Bathsheba’s husband Uriah. So this is a terrible falling on David’s heart. And Nathan the prophet comes to David and says, David, I want to tell you a story about somebody that I know. Here’s this rich guy. He’s got everything.

And yet this rich man steals away this poor man’s one lamb. He kills it and serves it up at a feast.

David responds in 2 Samuel 12.5 Then David’s anger was greatly kindled against the man. He said to Nathan, as the Lord lives, the man who has done this deserves to die, and he shall restore the lamb fourfold because he did this thing, and because he had no pity. Nathan said to David, you’re that man. You stole away Uriah’s one wife. You murdered Uriah. This is what you have done, David. In the words of Genesis, what is this that you have done?

But notice what David doesn’t do. He doesn’t rationalize. He doesn’t justify. He doesn’t make excuses. He says, yeah, you’re right. I have sinned. I have done wrong. This is a problem with me. David owns his own sin. And in Psalm chapter 51, you really get, which is I think such a beautiful psalm. It is David’s contrition of recognizing it. He says in verse 1, have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love, according to your abundant mercy, blot out, David’s willing to say, my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity. Cleanse me from my sin, for I know my transgressions and my sin is ever before me. Against you and you only have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you may be justified in your words and blameless in your judgments. Friends, what does this teach us? It teaches us this. If you want to escape the exhaustive, final,

condemning verdict of God Almighty, we must often, we must quickly judge ourselves.

Don’t judge yourself as God judges you, because you can’t. Judge yourself as one who corrects himself until he walks in the right way. Oftentimes, I’ll see Jessica working with Darcy on penmanship, and Jessica might say to Darcy, now that looks nothing like the letter G. Looks nothing like it. Now, is she doing that because she wants to tear down Darcy? Let this little girl forever be known as someone who can’t write the letter G. No, that’s not what she’s doing. She’s doing it so that someday her letter G just may actually look like a letter G. In the same way, friends, the word of God tells us, hold your own heart. Hold your own life up next to the criteria of God’s word. That in the end of it all, what’s wrong about you can be exposed and be corrected so that you would look like the Lord Jesus Christ.

Owning our own sin is the only way to be free of it. It’s the only way. If you want to be free of your sin, you must own up to it, confess it, and forsake it. And in that freedom, there’s no prideful boast, look at me, look how I’ve changed. No, I want to boast about God who didn’t give me what I deserved. What God did is He had patience with me, and He drew me into Himself that I would change. So humility gives us the eyes to see what the log of pride has blinded us from perceiving. Only God is good. Only God is right. I’m not going to exalt in my achievements, in my righteousness, in the mirror of God’s law. We see what? We’re vile. Godly humility splashes us in the eyes and to see things as they are, but also, friends, as things ought to be according to God’s standard.

Dr. H.A. Ironside once tells this story. He felt that he wasn’t as humble as he should be, so he was concerned, and he asked an older friend what he should do about it. His friend replied, make a sandwich board with the plan of salvation and scripture on it, and wear it. Walk around the business and shopping areas of downtown Chicago for a whole day. And Ironside followed his friend’s advice. Upon completing this humiliating experience, he returned to his apartment, and he took off the sandwich board, and he caught himself thinking, boy, nobody else would do what I just did by walking around town with a plan of salvation all over themselves. As soon as you think you’re set free from pride, friends, there it is again to remind you of why you should love and be for yourself. We need godly humility to see where we’re wrong and see how we ought to be corrected according to God’s word. So pride is not an illness you may catch. Like, hey, him over there, he’s got a pride issue. No, you’ve got a pride issue. I’ve got a pride issue. Pride is an enemy that we’re going to have to constantly war against in our flesh. Catching a glimpse of the cross is catching a glimpse, not of first the world’s sin, but of your own. What you’ve done. And we’ve got to be really aware of this, because we live in a time, we live in a culture that says, hey, you be you. You find your own purpose. You discover your own truth. You find your own fulfillment. But the cross of Jesus Christ tells us God was disgusted with our own version of fulfillment and rightness and truth and purpose. Jesus died to do away with it. So friends, a lifestyle of repentance, a lifestyle of judgment of oneself is the only way to be set free from the sin that would eternally judge us in God’s eyes. And it’s a marathon that we’re all going to have to run. It’s just the way it is. It’s like, well, I once struggled with pride, but I reached a new plateau in my Christian life, and pride’s not my thing anymore. If you think that, you’ve got a pride issue, alright? So we’ve got to be busy about the work of judging ourselves

rightly. Judge yourself rightly. Second thing I want us to see here, if we are to escape the judgment of God, we must secondly, rightly judge others. We must rightly judge others. Verse 5, Jesus says, you hypocrite, first take out, take the log out of your own eye,

and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your own eye. Out of your brother’s eye. So see what Jesus said. He said, hey, now that you’re in the right place, because you’ve judged yourself, you’ve rightly discerned your own sin, you’ve confessed it and forsaken it, He doesn’t say, so now just leave everybody else alone. Go about your own business. That’s not what He says. He says, now actually you’re in the right place, you’ve got the right disposition to begin judging others rightly. So I want to push back, and you’ve got to do this too, push back against a very popular slogan you hear all the time, it’s misguided. And it’s three words, you’ve heard people say, hey, don’t judge me, right? Don’t judge me.

Well, that’s fine if someone wants to say, hey, I’m not a Christian at all. I have no ties to the church, I’m not a Christian. That’s very true. I think you can share the gospel with someone. I think you can share with them the message of the cross. That really isn’t my place to judge non-believers at all. In fact, I think we really hurt ourselves as a church when we whine and complain about how immoral the world is, and how wicked everything is, as if the world’s not going to be the world, right? So I think bashing the world for being the world doesn’t help anything. Pining for yesteryear when things seem to be better, it is a waste of time. But the moment when someone dares claim to be a Christian, they are subjected to what Jesus says about judging others, and I want you to see how Paul says it in 1 Corinthians chapter 5. He says,

So Jesus and Paul are very clear if you’re going to say you’re a Christian, whether you know it or not, whether you like it or not, you need to be judged by other Christians. Christians judge Christians. It’s how we grow. It’s how we change. It’s how we recover from error. So you having Christians in your life who are willing to say, hey brother, hey sister, I see this sin struggle in you. I see you doing this. Do you recognize that? What are you doing about it? You’ve got to have that in your life, and you need to be able to do that in other peoples as well. We’re not talking about God’s exhaustive judgment, Him putting final verdicts on you like He’ll do on Judgment Day. We’re talking about here, this is what Paul and Jesus are talking about. It’s a corrective, helpful, encouraging kind of judgment that gets us to the place where we’re free from sin struggles.

After David in Psalm 51 confessed his sin, fully, completely, he acknowledged his sin. He says in Psalm 51 13, I want you to see this, then, T-H-E-N, then I will teach transgressors your ways, and sinners will return to you. It is the next chronicle. And I want you to It’s a very logical step when you’ve dealt with your own heart is to help other people deal with their sin. Once you’re living a life where you’re judging yourself according to God’s Word, the expectation, not option, I think we want it to be option a lot of times, the expectation is that you’re helping other Christians judge the sin in their own heart, in their own life. It’s a normal, I want to say it, it’s a normal pattern and rhythm for a real Christian. So it doesn’t matter if you’re like, hey, I’ll be a Christian, but I don’t want to be the kind of person that has to like, hey, pull somebody aside and like, tell them what they’re struggling with. Like, that’s awkward. It doesn’t matter what you think. It’s what real Christians do. Paul says in Galatians 6, those who are spiritual, what? They are to restore those with the spirit of gentleness, those who fall, those who deal with their sin, and keep a watch on yourself as well. So friends, I want to say this to you. If we truly have the Spirit of God in us, what we will do is keep our lives from error, that we can be in aid to other people struggling in their sin. And I’m afraid the church today is very, very soft on correction, because we’re so afraid of offending people. We’re so afraid of any kind of controversy. But I want you to think about it in that cowardice that doesn’t want to correct other people, because you’re afraid of offending them. You know what we’ve done? We’ve offended the Holy God, who said, you must judge one another so that you’re helping one another. Consider, consider other people more significant than yourself, that you’re willing to suffer a little uncomfortable conversation. You’re willing to suffer a little bit of awkwardness to help them free of their sin. Are you going to cater to your fears of controversy? Or are you going to do what God has called you to do and help? We don’t have a license to condemn. We have the privilege in Christ to help one another grow and be free from sin. Humbly help. Humbly judge. It’s a privilege. It’s a calling we have as followers of Jesus.

Friends, it’s easier to do this. It’s easier to say, hey, I see that person’s wrong.

I’m condemning them quietly to myself. You know why they keep asking for money? Hey, you know why he said that to me? Hey, you know why she’s dealing with that? Can you believe what he did to me? I’m just going to silently judge them and walk away. That’s so easy to do, and that is the human Adam-like way to act.

But if we were spiritual, if we had the genuine marks of a Christian, we would judge people, not because they have been overcome by their sin. We would judge people to help them overcome their sin. We can judge and pretend to play God, or we can judge and help people before they come to judgment day. And again, you’ll find whether or not you bear these marks when you’re in the heat of the battle, and your flesh is telling you, judge that person. Belittle that person. Think little of that person. It’s in that moment you’ve got to swallow your pride and say, no, Christ has loved me such. Let me correctively, helpfully judge this person as well. That’s what we’re called to do. It’s how we’re called to care about one another. It’s kind of like when you sit on an airplane, and the lady’s up there doing all the pointing, and the mask, she’s got the air mask, and she says, put the mask on yourself first before you help anybody else. And why do they tell you that? Well, they tell you that because if you die, you’re not very helpful to anyone else, right? If you’re sitting there, you know, going out of air, you’re lightheaded, it’s not helpful. But at the same time, once you put your mask on, you’re a monster if you don’t help anyone else. It’s not time to worry about feelings. It’s time to help people stay alive. So in the very same way, friends, you’ve got to be thinking about, what has the Lord called me in obedience to do because I am for His church?

It is to offer right judgment to other people. I’m over my 10, about 10 years being in ministry, I can think about times when I’ve had to do this, and I remember sweating bullets and not sleeping all night, and it being just such a fearful thing, because you know you’ve got to sit down and have a really tough conversation with somebody, and you sit down and you do it, and the person receives what you’re saying, and it’s awkward, but they’re the better for it, and your relationship is the better for it, and the church is stronger for it. That’s great. Sometimes it’s the exact same process, and you pray through it, and you’re worried, and you’re thinking through what you’re going to say, and man, you pour your heart out because you see somebody struggling with sin, and you get that look like, what did you just dare say to me? You know? There’s no promises of a beautiful outcome, but that’s not why you do it. You do it because Jesus says, hey, if you’re my people, and you love my law, and you love what’s true, love my church enough to say when things don’t look like my church should look. It’s not about being superior over other people. It’s having the willingness to be humble and get below people and serve them by helping them see where they struggle. That’s what a healthy church does. That’s what a healthy church looks like.

Let me say to you on the flip side,

are you the kind of person, possibly, that someone would lose sleep all night because it would be a dread to correct you?

Now, I’m not going to answer that for you. You’re going to have to take that to the Lord in prayer, but are you a teachable, correctable, kind of person?

Take that to the Lord in prayer, but discern that in yourself. Are we a church full of people who we have humble, open ears because we know we love one another even when it hurts? Even when it hurts. And by the way, healthy change in Christ usually hurts, right?

So be for others so much you’re willing to sacrifice what would be a false friendship if it fell apart because you were to offer correction.

Be willing for the sake of the church to engage the failure of another. Be willing to stir it up. What is your fellowship but false if pointing out error causes a relationship to fall apart? And I think about Paul in 1 Corinthians. He says, hey, that man that won’t repent of his sin, put him out of the church. Why? To be harsh and condemn him and shame him? No. Paul says put that man out of the church so that on the judgment day, he’ll be saved. In other words, judge him, show him how big of a deal his sin is so that he’ll hopefully repent in the future. So the aim is always correction. The aim is always someone else improving and growing in their spiritual life. Do we rightly judge one another?

So back to verse 6 here in Matthew chapter 7.

Jesus says, do not give dogs what is holy and do not throw your pearls before pigs lest they trample them underfoot and turn to attack you. Now that seems like the most disjointed random verse that could be stuck in there. We were just talking about judging ourselves, judging one another, and now we’re talking about pearls and pigs and dogs. Where is the connection here? There’s a very good connection.

In Matthew chapter 13,

Jesus says, 13 verse 45, again the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls who on finding one pearl of great value he went and sold all that he had and he bought it.

Jesus says that’s what the kingdom of heaven is like. That’s what the gospel is like. It’s this wonderful story about us being enslaved to sin and having no hope, yet the judge, became the accused. And the accused paid the full price for all of our sins so that you know what? I can look at myself and say hey, I see this in me that’s not right and Jesus has already died for that sin. This is a false life. I don’t need to live anymore. I can correct myself and know that Jesus forgives me for that and He’s going to allow me just to move on and continue to grow in holiness. And I can look at other people in the church and say, hey, I know that you’re doing this and you’re thinking that, but let me tell you something. Jesus has already died for you so you can be a new person outside of that sin. So you need to repent of that and grow in holiness and grow in sanctification. And we can do that because we look to the cross and see how the judge already was judged in our place. That is a pearl of great price. That is something, a treasure that you should value and you should be happy to die to yourself and die to the praises and approval of people and die to yourself and suffer some awkward conversations a little bit because this gospel message that the judge became the accused, for us, is such a wonderful, beautiful message, such a good news message and I don’t want to miss out on that and I don’t want you to miss out on that and you can’t stand the thought of other people missing out on that. So you know what judging well is? Judging well is loving well. Because if we really love one another, we push one another, we correct one another so that on judgment day, it’s not a day of great dread, it’s a day of great rejoicing because we see ourselves looking like Jesus. That’s what it is. Are you willing to love yourself, which sounds weird, but Jesus loved you enough to die for you so don’t spit on what Jesus died for, your own life by living in the muck and the mire that a pig would roll around in. Don’t be like a dog that returns to its vomit and just loves it and eats it up. Jesus is saying, I’ve died to that. Be set free from it. So it’s just a simple question really for us. Will we love one another enough to judge one another well so that come judgment day we’re whole and free in Christ because we held our life up next to the Gospels and we believed it and we forsook our sin time and time again. That’s the good news of it. And I think there’s a part of us that could say, well it’s a free gift the whole Gospel thing, so why do I need to do anything? Like if I’m constantly trying to like repent and change, I thought Jesus already did that for me. I thought He already secured my salvation. He did secure my salvation and you know how you really love it that Jesus secured your salvation alone? You have a zeal for obedience. You don’t want to look like your old self. You want to be set free from it. So take your change, your willingness to change your desire to look like Christ or your lack of desire to look like Christ, your lack of desire to change as proof of whether or not you see the Gospel and the Kingdom of Heaven as a great pearl. Is it a great pearl that you’re willing to die to yourself? We’re willing to die to ourselves so we don’t miss out on that one beautiful eternal treasure of being free and pure and found in Christ. So that’s the good news of judging one another this morning. Let’s pray.