“Judge Not, That Ye Be Not Judged”

Matthew 7:1-5

So there’s real confusion today about when it’s appropriate to judge.

Are Christians supposed to judge or not judge?
It’s the #1 criticism that Christians receive from non-believers.

The charge against us is always: “Why are you so judgmental?”

But I’m going to show you today how this is a hypocritical statement itself.
And there are Biblical examples in which non-believers harshly criticize God’s people for taking a moral stance and making a judgment.

For example, in the Book of Genesis, the very first book of the Bible, when the men of Sodom surround Lot’s house and wanted to rape the men / the angels who were staying with Lot, & Lot says:
Genesis 19:8-9
8 Behold now, I have two daughters which have not known man; let me, I pray you, bring them out unto you, and do ye to them as [is] good in your eyes: only unto these men do nothing; for therefore came they under the shadow of my roof.
9 And they said, Stand back. And they said [again], This one [fellow] came in to sojourn, and he will needs be a judge: now will we deal worse with thee, than with them. And they pressed sore upon the man, [even] Lot, and came near to break the door.

So you see, these evil men, these wicked sodomites, are basically saying, “You don’t have a right to judge us. Who made you judge over us? JUDGE NOT.”

And what was Lot doing?
Lot was trying to appease the sodomites – he was trying to placate them — by offering them his daughters.

In the preceding passage he even called them “brethren”.
Sodomites weren’t his “brethren”; and Lot knew that.
But he was trying to appease them.
He was trying to reason with them.
But they were sons of Belial, they couldn’t be saved.
And I covered this last time, but that was not the right thing to do.
God did not condone Lot offering his daughters.

And so no matter how much you try, you can’t appease the sodomites. The Bible says they’re implacable in Romans 1:31.

That means no matter how much you compromise w/ them, they’re never satisfied. They’ll always want more.

Until they’re literally at your door, taking your wives, your daughters, your sons, they won’t be satisfied, they can’t get enough! Because they’re never going to be satisfied, they’re never going to be placated.

So we see in the bible that wicked-doers hate being judged. It vexes them, because their sins are being exposed.

And so they accuse of “judging”.
Just like today.
Just like the men of Sodom to Lot, where they said: “This one fellow came in to sojourn, and he will needs be a judge:”
But Matthew 7, doesn’t end at “judge not”. Let’s look at it:

V. 2 – Romans 2:3: “And thinkest thou this, O man, that judgest them which do such things, and doest the same, that thou shalt escape the judgment of God?

And so what this is telling us is if you are judging someone, are you doing the same things? – Because if you are, you’re a hypocrite!

If you’re an adulterer you have no right to judge another adulterer.

If you’re a liar, you have no right to judge someone else who lies.

Paul says in Romans 2:21-23:
21 Thou therefore which teachest another, teachest thou not thyself? thou that preachest a man should not steal, dost thou steal?
22 Thou that sayest a man should not commit adultery, dost thou commit adultery? thou that abhorrest idols, dost thou commit sacrilege?
23 Thou that makest thy boast of the law, through breaking the law dishonourest thou God?

So we are supposed to judge, but there are certain conditions attached to it.
John 7:24: “Judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment.”

The key point of this passage is hypocritical judgment.

V. 3 & 4 – mote = spot or small particle, a speck
beam = long piece of lumber, a tree trunk

So it’s also a matter of proportions and size;
a small sin v. a great sin, represented by the mote and the beam.

So, for example, let’s say I’m a Drinker (v. Fornicator)

That person is in no spiritual condition to judge anyone.

In fact, I should be the one to judge him. The Bible says in 1 Corinthians 5 that I should cut myself off from such an one and not even eat with him.

• So it’s a matter of proportions.

And this can create some grey areas for people, because we all have sin.

Our spirit has been redeemed, but our flesh continues to sin.
In Romans 7:22-24, Paul said:
22 For I delight in the law of God after the inward man:
23 But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.
24 O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?

We won’t be without sin, until the resurrection, when we shall receive a new body.

Jesus is saying: be introspective. Look first at your own sins, weigh them … are you in a position to judge others?

Before you go into “rebuke mode”, consider your own ways.
But he’s not saying don’t judge at all … !

Galatians 6:1-2
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.
2 Bear ye one another’s burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ.

Notice here that is says that when we find a brother in sin, we are to restore such an one in the spirit of MEEKNESS.

And then it says consider thyself, lest thou also be tempted.
Paul said in 1 Corinthians 5:
11 But now I have written unto you not to keep company, if any man that is called a brother be a fornicator, or covetous, or an idolater, or a railer, or a drunkard, or an extortioner; with such an one no not to eat.
12 For what have I to do to judge them also that are without? do not ye judge them that are within?

And so this is an active form of judgment. It’s not merely verbal.

Paul is saying to physically separate yourself from such an one and not to eat with them.

And when it comes to the non-believer, he’s saying, we’re not judging them that are without. In terms of this active sort of judgement that requires action, that requires separation.

Because he says in v. 10, right before:
10 Yet not altogether with the fornicators of this world, or with the covetous, or extortioners, or with idolaters; for then must ye needs go out of the world.

When it comes to non-believers, we are not supposed to judge them, when it comes to your average, individual non-believer.
When I’m preaching to a non-believer, I’m not concerned about what sins they’re dealing with.
I’m just interested in sharing the Gospel with them, so they can be saved.

So we’re not supposed to judge those that are “without”, the average non-believer. Those that you’re trying to reach.

But when it comes to society, or to the wicked, or to the reprobate, or to our leaders, or especially to false teachers, we are supposed to judge, we’re supposed to rebuke and set them forth as an example.

Romans 16:17: Now I beseech you, brethren, mark them which cause divisions and offences contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned; and avoid them.

Now how are you possibly supposed to do that if you’re not allowed to judge?

Obviously there’s different types of judgments.
It’s not just “Don’t judge” and let’s just stop there.

V. 5 – So Jesus is saying here, once you’ve cleaned up your own life, once you’ve taken the beam out of your own eye, then you WILL be able to see – because that beam is out of your eye. It was blocking your view.

And now that you CAN see, you ARE in a position to judge, because now you can see clearly!

So again:

1. It’s hypocritical judgment that’s the issue, not judgment in general.

We are supposed to judge once we see clearly, by removing the beam out of our eye.

2. When Jesus talks about the mote v. the beam, it’s a matter of proportions.

You have to weigh the gravity & magnitude of your own personal sins, before you judge the sins of others.

If I have my life together for the most part, and you don’t; if you’re living in sin, if you’re a drunk, if you’re a fornicator, I’m not gonna take judgment from you.

You’re in no position to judge me.

But ultimately, we judge to help others and improve society and to hold up a standard of righteousness.
At least that should be your motive. You’re not just there to condemn people.

James 5:

19 Brethren, if any of you do err from the truth, and one convert him;
20 Let him know, that he which converteth the sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death, and shall hide a multitude of sins.

We make judgments every day …

For example this BATTLE flag … what people think of as the Confederate flag, the battle flag of General Robert E Lee.

This flag represents many things to many people.

To me, this flag represents states’ rights. It also represents rebellion against the United States’ unlawful & over-arching federal power.

Now, we would be naïve to think that this flag has not also been abused for the purposes of racism.

But that’s not what this flag represents to many.
Obviously, racism is evil.
There’s one color only in the church of Jesus Christ, and that’s the red, the blood of Jesus which covers all of us.

But a judgment has been made recently by our government about this flag, while they proudly fly the vile sodomite fly across our nation.

So they’ve judged that this flag needs to be banned.

So it’s judging is OK, when they’re doing it. And so we see a great double standard.

We see the hypocrisy that Jesus was talking about in Matthew 7.
If you think about it, judgments are being made all the time.

It’s just that they don’t like CERTAIN judgments.

They just don’t like judgments that go against the things that THEY like

Society, liberal society, anti-Christ society, has made a decision … has made a judgment …

So then judgment in & of itself is not their actual complaint.

Everytime someone tells you that YOU’RE being judgmental, they’ve made a judgment!

Simple logic.

And what does the Bible say about judging?
Matthew 7 isn’t the only place in the Bible that mentions judging.

1 Corinthians 2:15: “But he that is spiritual judgeth all things, yet he himself is judged of no man.”

Leviticus 19:15: “Ye shall do no unrighteousness in judgment: thou shalt not respect the person of the poor, nor honour the person of the mighty: but in righteousness shalt thou judge thy neighbour.”

So again it’s just like righteous judgment, just like John 7:24.
Look, nowhere in the Bible does it ever say not to judge.

1 Corinthians 6:5: “I speak to your shame. Is it so, that there is not a wise man among you? no, not one that shall be able to judge between his brethren?”

1 Kings 3:9:
Solomon asked God for wisdom to judge between good and evil in ruling his people.
“Give therefore thy servant an understanding heart to judge thy people, that I may discern between good and bad: for who is able to judge this thy so great a people?”

You know, the whole Book of the Law was written so that we MAY JUDGE!

Why would God give us moral laws if He didn’t want us to consider them and weigh them and live by them?

There’s an entire book in the Bible called “JUDGES”.
THE WHOLE BIBLE’S ABOUT JUDGMENT!

We’re all going to appear before the judgment seat of Christ!

In Psalm 7:11, King David says: “God judgeth the righteous, and God is angry with the wicked every day.”

*** How are we supposed to warn the wicked, if we can’t judge them?

How are we supposed to call the unrighteous to repentance from dead works and to faith towards God?

But what people like to accuse us of is that what we’re preaching is “hate speech”.

If we have a view that’s dissenting to the mainstream ideology– if we’re going against the socially accepted norms of the day, if we’re going against something that THEY approve of – it’s labelled “hate speech”.

I mean you need to pick up 1984 by George Orwell or Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury and try reading sometime about the dyspotian utopias that are coming to life today.

You need to see that labeling dissenting views as “hate speech” is FASCISM!

The only kind of speech that the Bible is against is blasphemy.

Leviticus 24:16: “And he that blasphemeth the name of the LORD, he shall surely be put to death, and all the congregation shall certainly stone him: as well the stranger, as he that is born in the land, when he blasphemeth the nameof the LORD, shall be put to death.”

Woops, there goes all of Hollywood and 90% of the population!

Blasphemy is also equating yourself w/ God.

In John 10:33, the Jews accused Jesus and crucified Him for blasphemy, because Jesus claimed to be God in the flesh and they understood that that was His claim:

“The Jews answered him, saying, For a good work we stone thee not; but for blasphemy; and because that thou, being a man, makest thyself God.”

So that’s the only form of speech actually banned by the Bible, in terms of what’s lawful.

And the “Don’t Judge” Mantra has gotten so out of hand …
And taken to such an extreme level, that we’re not even supposed to judge anymore between male and female, between man and woman, or distinguish between the TWO genders that God has made.

• And I don’t want to spend a lot of time on reprobates like Bruce Jenner or TransJenner, because he’s not worth the time … but here’s the thing …

According to the Don’t Judge crowd, we’re not supposed to be able to look at a man and says, “That’s a man!” – Or look at a woman and say, “She’s a woman!”

And so the perception that people are manufacturing about what’s right and what’s wrong has become utterly insane!

The Bible says: “Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!” (Isaiah 5:20).

And you might say, I thought this sermon was about not judging!

But I don’t have a problem with my gender. I don’t have a problem with who I am … as a man.

I don’t have those issues.

And so I’m in a perfect position to judge.

Deuteronomy 22:5:
The woman shall not wear that which pertaineth unto a man, neither shall a man put on a woman’s garment: for all that do so are abomination unto the LORD thy God.

And people who are offended by our views have to realize that their views offend us just as much, if not more!

Why should WE be the ones on the defensive? Why are they always the ones setting the standards?

I’m offended by what’s going on. Where are my rights?

Don’t tell me that you’re offended & embarrassed by my views! I’m more offended by you than you are by me!

Ephesians 5:11 says:
“And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them”.

What does it mean to reprove?
It means to “charge someone with a fault”.
It’s a verbal rebuke.
It’s pointing out someone’s faults in hopes of correcting them.

But how are we supposed to do this, without first making a JUDGMENT.

And I hope I never hear again the stupid mantra: “Hate the sin, not the sinner.”
That’s from Ghandi, it’s found nowhere in the Bible!

GHANDI rejected Jesus Christ and is burning in Hell right now.

And if that offends you, it’s because you’re not saved!

You don’t understand that salvation is through faith alone in Jesus Chirst, and anyone who rejects this WILL end up in the Lake of fire.
And so we have to stop getting our Bible knowledge and doctrine from unbelievers and atheists who can’t understand the Bible anyway, because the Bible says:

In 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.”

And the majority of Christians today … the average Christian …. does not read his Bible … is not learned in the Scriptures … they haven’t read the Bible through and through, and so … they are:

“… tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive;””

It’s a great deception of the devil to convince Christians – the only ones who ARE qualified to judge – that it’s wrong for them to judge!

1 Corinthians 6:2-3 says: “Do ye not know that the saints shall judge the world? and if the world shall be judged by you, are ye unworthy to judge the smallest matters? Know ye not that we shall judge angels? how much more things that pertain to this life?”
So the Bible says that Christians will be judging the world … and angels.
Revelation 20:4 says that the Saints of God will live & reign with Christ for a thousand years:
“And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years.”

Psalm 149:
6 [Let] the high [praises] of God [be] in their mouth, and a twoedged sword in their hand;
7 To execute vengeance upon the heathen, [and] punishments upon the people;
8 To bind their kings with chains, and their nobles with fetters of iron;
9 To execute upon them the judgment written: this honour have all his saints. Praise ye the LORD.
Matthew 19:28:
28 And Jesus said unto them, Verily I say unto you, That ye which have followed me, in the regeneration when the Son of man shall sit in the throne of his glory, ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.
Luke 22:
28 Ye are they which have continued with me in my temptations.
29 And I appoint unto you a kingdom, as my Father hath appointed unto me;
30 That ye may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom, and sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel.

Let’s begin by judging 1 nation now.
America has become a reprobate nation.

Proverbs 1:
24 Because I have called, and ye refused; I have stretched out my hand, and no man regarded;
25 But ye have set at nought all my counsel, and would none of my reproof:
26 I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your fear cometh;
27 When your fear cometh as desolation, and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind; when distress and anguish cometh upon you.
28 Then shall they call upon me, but I will not answer; they shall seek me early, but they shall not find me:
29 For that they hated knowledge, and did not choose the fear of the LORD:
30 They would none of my counsel: they despised all my reproof.
31 Therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their own way, and be filled with their own devices.

America kills 1.3 million babies per year.
America destroys nations & creates instability around the globe and rapes nations of natural resources.
America supplies the world with GMO foods.
America poisons our water with fluoride.
America poisons our air with chemtrails.
America kills children in third world nations with vaccines.
America indoctrinates children to love sodomites & promotes fornication and abortion at the kindergarten level.
America exports filth & lewdness globally through the media, music, & Hollywood.
And America over-taxes its own people to pay for it all.
America is a reprobate nation!

The US Supreme Court has become a sick reprobate court.
Congress has become a castrated joke.
And the White House has turned queer.

The reprobate president this week changed the colors of the White House to the usurped colors of the reprobate sodomite flag.

This was historic & prophetic.
It’s a sign that we have become a reprobate nation.
Isaiah 3:9: “The shew of their countenance doth witness against them; and they declare their sin as Sodom, they hide it not. Woe unto their soul! for they have rewarded evil unto themselves.”

America has been given over to a reprobate mind.
America can’t be saved.

But the good news is if we come out of her, and split off from her in our hearts and become righteous, the Bible says God will spare those who don’t partake in her sins.

Isaiah 3:10-11 continues:
10 Say ye to the righteous, that [it shall be] well [with him]: for they shall eat the fruit of their doings.
11 Woe unto the wicked! [it shall be] ill [with him]: for the reward of his hands shall be given him.

Revelation 18:4 says: And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues.