Judging Others
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Matthew 7:1-6 

 

Judging Others



"Don't judge, so that you won't be judged. For with whatever judgment you judge, you will be judged; and with whatever measure you measure, it will be measured to you.

 

Why do you see the speck that is in your brother's eye, but don't consider the beam that is in your own eye? Or how will you tell your brother, 'Let me remove the speck from your eye;' and behold; the beam is in your own eye? You hypocrite! First remove the beam out of your own eye, and then you can see clearly to remove the speck out of your brother's eye. 

"Don't give that which is holy to the dogs, neither throw your pearls before the pigs, lest perhaps they trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you to pieces. 

 

Why is it that God is so upset with hypocrites? What makes hypocrisy so wrong?

We want to encourage you to turn in your Bible to Matthew, chapter 7, beginning at verse 1. "Judge not, that ye be not judged. For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye measure, it shall be measured to you again. And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye? Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye; and, behold, a beam is in thine own eye? Thou hypocrite, first cast the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother's eye. Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn again and lacerate you."

This is a fascinating portion of Scripture, a Scripture that is frequently referred to and often quoted, and yet sometimes not really put together in a total package as the Lord intended for it to be. In the Sermon on the Mount, our Lord has touched on all of the areas of a believer's life, in a wonderful and marvelous summation of all of the areas of truth related to

He began with our perspective on self in the Beatitudes, with our perspective on the world in the statements on salt and light, with our perspectives on the Word of God as He talked about the law and the fact that it was immutable and unchanging, our perspective on the moral law or holiness as He discussed the fact that we are to have an inward commitment as well as an external one.

He discussed our religious activity: giving, praying, and fasting. He discussed our perspective, as we have just recently seen, on money and possessions, material goods. And now He comes to a text that deals with our relations with other people. We've talked about our relations to ourselves, to God, to His Word, to the world, our relations to religious activity, our relations to the morality of the time and what God wants, and now to human relationships, right relationships. And this is a tremendous passage that you'll be looking at.

Now, as in all the other elements of the Sermon on the Mount, the perspective here is given in contrast to the view of the scribes and the Pharisees. They were the existing religious influence of the time, and, against the background of their perspective, the Lord presents the truth. They came along, and their view of life was to be proud, and the Beatitudes were to be humble. They were a part of the system. Christ said that we are to be salt and light to the system.

They had denied the Word of God and established their own. Christ reestablished the affirmation of His Word and His Word alone. They believed only in an external morality. Christ brought about an internal morality. They acted out their religious activities of giving, praying and fasting in a hypocritical, superficial way, and the Lord said it has to be from the heart. They were preoccupied with money and possessions, and the Lord says you are not so to be, but with the kingdom.

And they were very involved in wrongful human relationships, and the Lord sets it right here. And in so contrasting Himself with them, He is unmasking the inadequacy of human religion, and reaffirming the fact that true religion comes only from God. The last area, then, of His comparison, is this area, in chapter 7, of human relations. And then from there He goes to sum up and finalize His message.

The area of human relations goes all the way through verse 12, but suffice it to say at this point that the Pharisees were so proud and so self-styled and so self-righteous and so smug and so convinced of their own superiority that one of the natural results of that was that they became totally condemning and judgmental of everybody else.

Any time a person, a man or a woman, invents a system of morality, they then become the judge that sits on the throne of that system and determines whether anybody else qualifies or not, and that's exactly what happened in the Pharisees' case. And so they became oppressively judgmental of other people. They condemned and criticized. They were censorious. They were unmerciful and forgiving, unkind, lacking grace, in their constant, carping criticism of everybody who didn't come up to their own standard.

Jesus said to them in John, chapter 7, verse 24, "Judge not according to appearance, but judge righteous judgment." Because it was their habit to judge in a very superficial manner. Also in Luke 16, the Bible tells us in verses 14 and 15 that the Pharisees were covetous, and they heard all these things and were scoffing at Him, that is, at Christ, and He said to them, "You are they who justify yourselves before men, but God knows your hearts, and that which is highly esteemed among men is an abomination to God."

In other words, you think you've got the answers. You think you've got the system. You think you're the judges. But you're wrong. Their judgment was inevitably the reverse of God's judgment. For example, in the classic illustration of this problem, in Luke 18, it says in verse 9, "And Jesus spoke this parable unto certain who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and despised others."

That's the Pharisees. They trusted in themselves. They put all their confidence in their own self-righteousness. And because they had set their own standard, and they were the standard, and because of their pride and egotism, everybody else they looked down upon, they despised, they hated.

And so the Lord confronts them with this parable. "Two men went to the temple to pray; the one a Pharisee, the other a tax collector." Now, from a Pharisee's viewpoint, a tax collector was the most wretched, rotten, vile person in human society, because he would be a traitor among the Jewish people who had aligned himself with the Romans to collect taxes on the behalf of Rome, and for all intents and purposes to rip off the Jewish population in doing it. He was a traitor of the first order.

And these two went into the temple to pray. "And the Pharisee stood and prayed with himself, God, I thank you that I am not as other men, extortionist, unjust, adulterers, or even as this tax collector." You notice, the Pharisee prayed with himself. The Pharisee was not interested in associating with anybody, because nobody came up to his level. So he went off to a place where he stood alone and apart, to demonstrate his self-righteousness as being unattained by any other person. And he said, "I'm so thankful I'm not like that vile tax collector. I fast twice in the week; I give tithes of all that I possess." And the tax collector over in the corner was beating upon his breast and saying, "God be merciful to me a sinner." And Jesus said that tax collector went home justified and not that Pharisee.

In other words, they made judgments, but their judgments were wrong. They sat as condemning, critical judges of other people. This is the one thing that marked their relations with others: a judgmental, condemning attitude. And, frankly, it belied their claim to be citizens of God's kingdom. They couldn't be and be that kind of person. And so the Lord, in recognizing this particular problem, speaks to this issue.

Now, in Matthew, chapter 7, verses 1 to 12, you have the sum of teaching in the Sermon on the Mount relative to human relations. You might not think you could sum up all there is on human relations in 12 verses, and a man couldn't, but Jesus can. There are books on behavioral psychology ad infinitum, ad nauseum, trying to figure out how to coordinate human relations. Jesus says more in 12 verses than all of them put together. And He has an amazing way of summing up the whole world of human relationships in very simple terms, because He sees the whole come together.

Now, in this 12-verse section, you have, first of all, in terms of how we are to act with one another, how we are to deal with one another, what we are not to do, that's verses 1 to 6, and then what we are to do, verses 7 to 12. First a negative and then a positive. And the sum of the two is enough to govern all our human relations. If you want to know how to act in your family or on your job or in your neighborhood or in your recreation, or you want to know how to deal with people in business, this is the sum of it all. The negative and then the positive.

First, we're going to look at the negative, what not to do, verses 1 to 6, and the principle appears in verse 1. Note it. "Judge not." You can stop there. That's the principle. Don't judge. Now, you might say, "Well, you can't reduce all of human relations down to that." Of course, you can, from the negative, as we shall see as we move along. Don't judge.

That sounds simplistic. Don't judge. And you hear people throw that around. "Judge not, lest ye be judged." I've heard that. "Who are you to judge?"

There are many people who've misunderstood this. Tolstoy, for example, the Russian novelist, said, "Christ here totally forbids the human institution of any law courts." What is a gross misunderstanding of this. But there are other people who equally misunderstand it, only with another aberration. They say, "We should never criticize. We should never condemn anybody for anything. We should never evaluate anything at all. We don't want to judge, lest we should be judged."

And that phrase sort of fits our time because we live in an age when the wrong use of "judge not" would find a ready audience. Our time hates theology. Our time hates dogma. Our time resists doctrine. Our time doesn't like convictions. People speak about love, and they speak about compromise. They speak about ecumenism. They speak about unity, anything to get everybody together. And somebody who talks about doctrine or dogma or convictions is generally unpopular in many circles.

There was an ad at a church asking for a young man who might be interested to be candidate for their pulpit, and they said, "We want someone who will teach holiness, not doctrine." Holiness and not doctrine. There is a resistance to any conviction. Our time dislikes strong men, even though we’re waking up to the fact that we could use a few. Our time dislikes men with convictions, who speak up, who confront society, who disturb the status quo, men who know what they believe and why they believe it and are not intimidated about saying it. Such men today are branded as troublemakers, and as controversial.

Some people even says the one thing we've got to eliminate in Christianity is doctrine, and we've got to go all out for love and fellowship, because doctrine is dividing us, and people who want to always talk about doctrine are the dividing ones in the body of Christ. But, as we go back, if we have any sense of perspective there have been times in history of the church, when men were praised for being men of conviction. They were praised for being men of principle, men of standards, and men of dogma. Frankly, there wouldn't have even been a reformation if there hadn't been men like that. But today such men are difficult, non-cooperative, self-styled, unloving. And the man who is praised is the compromiser.

And so some people have taken "judge not" and just fit it into the mentality of the time. But the Lord is not condemning law courts. The Bible instituted that. The principle of an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth is based upon a law court, and Romans 13 affirms the right for a nation to rule its people. And the Bible is not condemning any kind of judging or discriminating. The Bible tells us, as believers, that we must discern. That we must know the truth from the falsehood.

And the whole of the Sermon on the Mount is predicated on a clear understanding of the distinction between true religions and false, between hypocrisy and reality. We're not to be undiscriminating. We're not to be blind. We're not to be flabby sentimentalists. For example, verse 6 says, "Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast your pearls before swine." Now, if you're not going to do that, you have to find out who the hogs and dogs are so you know not to give them that. There must be discrimination.

Look at verse 15. "Beware of false prophets who come in sheep's clothing." Now, if you only perceive things superficially, you'll see the sheep's clothing and never know the wolf that's under there. There must be discernment. There must be judging, or we don't know the false prophets. We don't know the dogs. We don't know the swine that we're to avoid.

So in the very passage itself we are told to test, discriminate, evaluate between the true and the false. We have law courts to do that. The church, for example, in the same Gospel of Matthew, is told to confront a sinning brother in chapter 18, and to confront that brother boldly, forthrightly about his sinfulness, and to make it a matter of public knowledge if he doesn't repent. So we are not flabby and soft in obedience to Scripture. Scripture calls us to discern.

Paul says in Galatians 1, if somebody comes and preaches another gospel, let him be accursed. John says, if anybody comes and talks about a Christ other than the Christ of the Bible, don't receive him into your house. Don't even bid him Godspeed, or you're a partaker of his evil deed. We are told to remove from our midst those who are sinning as leaven that leavens the lump, in I Corinthians 5. Hymenaeus and Alexander were put out of the church because of the corruptive influence they had upon it.

So, all throughout the Bible we are commanded to discern, to try the spirits, to have our senses exercised to know the difference between good and evil, says Hebrews 5:14. Now, having said that, then, we look at "Judge not." We know it doesn't mean that we're not to discriminate between truth and error. That's infantile. It is a child, according to Ephesians 4, that doesn't know the difference between good and evil that becomes victimized and prey to Satan's cunning craftiness because of an inability to discern. We must discern. We must discriminate. We must evaluate. There are things we must judge. That's not what the Lord's talking about.

What is He talking about? What He's talking about is the critical, judgmental, condemning, self-righteous egotism of the Pharisees. They weren't criticizing people because of sin. They were criticizing them because of their personality, their character, their weaknesses, their frailties, perhaps the way they looked or the way they dressed or the fact that they didn't do the things the way they did them. They were criticizing their motives, which they couldn't see or perceive anyway in their humanness. You don't know why a person does what he does.

To go around saying, "Well, we should love everybody and never judge anybody," that isn't what the Lord is saying. In fact, in Leviticus 19:17, it says this. "Thou shalt not hate thy brother." Thou shalt not hate thy brother? What do you mean? "Thou shalt in any case rebuke they neighbor and not allow sin on him." In other words, to allow him to sin is to hate him, not to love him. So, if you see, sin is love that makes a change. It is love that demands repentance. People say, "Oh, I don't want to say anything." We just love everybody. No, when you find sin and you tolerate it, you do hate your brother, not loving him. It is love that confronts. It is hate that ignores a fault and a sin and lets a person go in that path.

Jesus expressed such evaluation. He condemned repeatedly. He judged, He evaluated, He criticized. He unmasked and stripped naked the Pharisees in Matthew 23. We’re not talking about that. We're talking about the ugly, self-righteous, judgmental, critical spirit of the Pharisees, and not only the Pharisees, but a lot of other people had the same problem, and we fight it, as well, even today. We're not shirking church discipline. But we are talking about that personal critical spirit.

An easy translation of what it says in verse 1, would read, "Stop criticizing." Stop criticizing. Who are you to criticize other people? That's the issue. We must judge. We must evaluate. Romans 16:17 says, "We must mark them that cause divisions and offenses contrary to the doctrine which we've learned and avoid them." We must make doctrinal distinctions, and we must mark the people who offend that doctrine, and we must avoid those people. We can't all get together. We must make distinctions. And that judgment must begin, says, Peter, at the house of God. We have a right to judge righteous judgment. John 7:24. But not the carping criticism of the Pharisees. And that is essentially what He's saying.

The word "judge" here is the word krino, and it's translated at least 15 different ways potentially, or even 20 different ways, it has such a broad meaning. We must see the context to get its meaning. And as we look at the context, it's a contrast with the Pharisees all through the sermon. As we look at the Biblical context, we know He's not forbidding all judgment, because He talks in so many other places of the necessity of that kind of judgment.

But we're not to judge people's motives. We're not to condemn them because they don't look like we think they ought to look or they don't act or talk like we think they ought to talk or act. They don't come up to our supposed self-righteous standard. We have no business doing that. That is forbidden. Romans 14:13 succinctly puts it, when it says, "Let us not, therefore, judge one another anymore." Stop doing that. Stop criticizing.

The Bible is very clear about the kind of judging we're not to do. In the first place, we're not to do some official kind of judging. Do you remember when we studied back in chapter 5, eye for an eye and tooth for a tooth, and we said that that is a legal prescription, not one for personal relationships? That's for the law courts, and you have no right to carry those things out. There's no place in the Bible for personal vengeance. We cannot make official or vengeful judgments.

Secondly, the Bible forbids hasty judgments. He that answereth a matter before he hears it, it is folly and shame until him, says Proverbs 18:13. The Bible forbids us from making great judgments on less than full knowledge and facts, to make some hasty judgment.

We must not to make any official judgment. We must not to make any hasty judgment. We must not make any unwarranted judgments, or undeserved judgments, such as in Colossians when they were judging the believers for not keeping a new moon or a feast or a Sabbath day, and those things had already been abolished. We must not to set up any human standards, some of our own little codes, and then if people don't live up to our little non-Biblical codes put them in another category spiritually.

We're not to make unjust judgments, like the judges in the northern kingdom of Israel made. They were unjust judges who took bribes. We must not make those kinds of judgments. We must not make unmerciful judgments, where we're unrelenting and persistent and we never let up, and we just keep criticizing and criticizing and criticizing. That's even more than God does, for God is rich in Mercy.

And what the Lord here is forbidding is that officious, hasty, unwarranted, unjust, unmerciful condemnation that is spawned by self-righteous pride. We're not to do that. And then, worst of all, after we've made that judgment in our heart, we go tell people about it and we become a tale bearer or a gossiper. So we're not to do that.

He gives three reasons why not. Number one, to make that kind of a judgment manifests an erroneous view of God, verse 1. An erroneous view of God. "Judge not, that ye be not judged." He simply reminds them that they are not the final court. And, if you do this, you will be judged. Have you forgotten that you are not God? That is precisely the bottom line in this sin. To judge other people, their motives and so forth, is to play God. It is to usurp the divine position.

John 5 tells us that judgment belongs to God, and He's committed that judgment to the Son, and that's the extent of it. We are not, at this particular time, to sit in judgment. There will be a time millennially when there will be a joining together with the Lord as He reigns, and we will carry out some of His rule and judgment, the Bible says. But at this time and for now, we have no right to judge. We literally blaspheme God by usurping His proper place.

Every time you sit in judgment on someone, every time you criticize their motives, or every time you think you have a right to make an evaluation, you're playing God. Every time you carry out vengeance or a vendetta or you get even on your own, you are playing God. Every time you pass sentence on someone arbitrarily, you're playing God.

Now, it isn't true if there's an obvious sin. It isn't true if you follow the principle of Biblical judgment, which is always with two or three witnesses. It is when you set yourself up as the authority and you're going to call all the shots, and you're going to determine who fits and who makes the standard. And, in so doing, you've taken God's seat.

And Romans 14:4 says who are you to do that? Who do you think you are? Listen to what Paul's saying. "Who are you that judge another man's servant?" In other words, that person is God's servant. That's the analogy. To his own master he'll stand or fall. God's able to make that determination.

In I Corinthians, chapter 4, the apostle Paul says, in verse 3, a simple thing. "With me it's a very small thing that I would be judged of you or of men's judgment." "For I don't know anything against myself, yet am I not hereby justified. He that judges me is the Lord. Therefore, judge nothing before the time." Let God evaluate my ministry.

We sit in judgment on other people's ministries and other people's teaching and other people's life and other people's attitudes, and we do this all the time. We hear Jesus saying, "If you will eliminate this, you will literally dramatically alter and transform all human relations." Just stop judging each other, criticizing.

In James, chapter 4, verses 11 and 12, another word that speaks directly to this, "Speak no evil one of another, brethren. He that speaketh evil of his brother and judges his brother speaks evil of the law and judges the law. But if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law, but a judge." Why don't you let God's law do its work? You can't set yourself up as the judge, verse 12 says, "For there is one lawgiver who is able to save and destroy, and who are you that judges?" In other words, you're usurping God's role. You're setting yourself above the law, as the judge of the law, rather than one who is subject to it.

Every time you criticize somebody because they don't do something the way you think it ought to be done, or because you think you've figured out their motive, you pass judgment and set yourself up as God. Listen to what one writer said, "Judge not. The workings of his brain and of his heart thou cannot see. What looks to thy dim eyes a stain, in God's pure light may only be a scar brought from some well-won field where thou wouldst only faint and yield." Don't play God.

Secondly, don't judge, because it's an erroneous view of God and also an erroneous view of others. Verse 2. Most people think that they can judge because they're under a different condition than everybody else is. The Pharisees thought they were exempt. They lived on some strata beyond the purview of any judgment. They were up here where everything was fine, and only people down here got it. But He says in verse 2, "With what judgment you judge, you'll be judged, and with what measure you measure, it'll be measured to you again." You're going to get just what you give.

Now, some people think this is talking about human relationships. You judge somebody; they'll judge you the same way. You measure out something to them; they'll measure it out to you the same way. And they keep it on a human level. There is a sense in which the way we treat people, they'll treat us. That's true, to some extent. Luke 6:38 says, "Give and it shall be given unto you, pressed down, shaken together and running over shall men give into your bosom." So there is a sense in which we will get reciprocation for the way we treat people. But that's not the heart of this verse at all. That's to miss the point.

Because, you see, how men treat us is not what motivates us, right? Paul says, "It is a small thing how you judge me." That's a small issue with me. I mean, that -- how -- what people think of me is not a major restriction on my behavior. A man or a woman who walks with God is not so concerned about what men think as about what God thinks. And the great restriction on our life, the great confining element of our life, is what God thinks and what God feels about us.

Oh, we're not indifferent to what men feel. "Faithful are the wounds of a friend." And we want to hear criticism, like Psalm 141, "Let the righteous smite me if I deserve it." It isn't that we're indifferent. But it is that more than anything else we seek God and His judgment and His evaluation, as Paul said in I Corinthians 4.

And so I believe it's talking about God's judgment. And what He's saying is, and I want you to see this, it's a powerful statement, what judgment you judge, God will judge you with. And what measure you measure, God will measure to you again. In other words, God is going to evaluate you on the basis of your knowledge, your light. If you say, "All right. I know enough to judge all of you people on this," then you prove you know enough to be judged on it yourself. Right?

I mean, if you're the guy who is going to be able to judge everybody else at that level, then you manifest evidence that you know enough to be judged for that same standard. That's why the Bible says, "To whom much is given," what? "Much is required." That's why the Bible says that when you trample underfoot the blood of the covenant and count the sacrifice of Christ an unholy thing, and you reject the full gospel, as the Book of Hebrews says, you reject the whole knowledge of everything there is to know, and you reject all of that, you're going to receive the hottest hell and the sorest punishment of all. Because the more you reject, the greater evidence you give of guilt. And that's really what He's saying. The more you know, the more you're responsible for.

That's why James is so pertinent. It says, "Stop being so many teachers, because theirs is the greater," what? "Judgment." Why? Because the one who stands up in teaching is the one who gives evidence of knowing. And what you know is going to be what you're judged on. And the more you know, the severer the judgment.

So He's saying to them, "Look, you think that by knowing all of this stuff, you sit on a seat of judgment, and I'm telling you, by knowing all of that, you manifest the fact that you are responsible to have lived up to all of it. And if you haven't, you'll be judged on it all."

You see, they had a wrong view of others. They thought they were exempt and everybody else was going to get it. And He says, "No, I don't have a double standard. You're going to be judged on the same basis that you're judging everybody else." That's power.

In Romans 2, he said the same thing; Paul did, in chapter 2, in verse 1. "Therefore, thou art," listen to this, "inexcusable, oh, man" -- you have no excuse -- "whosoever thou art that judgest." If you judge, you have no excuse. "For wherein thou judgest another, thou condemnest thyself. For thou that judgest doest the same things." And you prove, by judging another and doing it yourself, that you know better, and you'll be judged on that knowledge.

There's no double standard. We should not criticize, because in criticizing, we play God. And in criticizing, we assume that we're exempt from what other people are not exempt from, and we miss the point. That's the wrong view of others. They're not under us. They're equal with us. And God'll judge us by the same standard.

If you're negative, gossipy, tale bearing, critical, judgmental, you're under the false illusion that you're exempt from judgment. For whatever you condemn in somebody else, you prove that you should be condemned for in your own life by virtue of such knowledge. Criticism then becomes a boomerang. You throw it out and it comes right back. And unloving criticism will recoil on your own head at the hand of God.

Think about Haman in the Book of Esther, who built a gallows to hang Mordecai and wound up being hanged on his own gallows. There was a king named Adonibezek in Judges, chapter 1. He had captured 70 other kings and cut off their thumbs and their big toes. And then he was captured, and they cut off his thumbs and his big toes. And he said, "The Lord has requited to me as I have done."

Listen. To judge wrongly is to play God. And it is a serious thing. Because you will be biased and you will bribed by your own self-righteousness, by your own pride, by your own ego. And you can't judge righteous judgment, because you don't have all the facts.

In early Greece, whenever they had a very severe case to try, they tried it in the middle of the night, in the pitch dark, so there were no faces, so that no one would be prejudiced. And all they would hear were the words of the case.

In Persia once, there was a judge, Montagne tells this story, and this particular judge was bribed. And so he rendered a wrong verdict, for money. Cambyses was the Persian king. And he heard what happened. And so he ordered the judge to be executed. And after the judge was executed, he ordered his soldiers to skin him. Strip off all his skin. He took all of the skin of that judge, and with it, he covered a chair. And on that chair sat every judge from then on who judged in that court in Persia. I would say that would be a fairly good reminder of justice.

You see, we are prejudiced by our own egos, and we are impotent by our own ignorance. We have no business trying to play God or assume we are operating on another standard than anybody else is.

Finally, of these three reasons not to judge, when you critically judge other people, you manifest an erroneous view of yourself. I mean, are you so good that you can sit around checking out everybody else? I mean, you've got nothing to work on? I mean, you've got it all under control, so that you could spend your time evaluating everyone else? Some of us would do well to take the time we spend criticizing other people and put it to action in prayer and confession of our own sin somewhere in a closet. Because until we get our own life straightened out, we have little usefulness in trying to assist someone else.

That is essentially what the Lord says in verses 3 and 4. Listen to it. And this is like a cartoon, this is so bizarre. "And why beholdest thou the moat" -- and that means a splinter or a twig -- a splinter might be a good one, but it's the idea of not something that's mammoth, but something that's the size of a twig. It's not a little tiny speck. It's something substantial. I mean, if you got it in your eye, it would be horrendous.

But anyway, so let's call it a splinter in your brother's eye. "And you're not considering the plank, the timber, the beam," like a beam underneath a ceiling, "in your own eye." And you see the picture? Here's a guy with a twig in his eye, and he's miserable. I mean, you get anything in your eye and it's really -- you get a little tiny thing in there and it'll drive you crazy.

But imagine a twig or a splinter in your eye, and here comes a guy, "I'll help you," and sticking out of his eye is an 8-foot 2x4. I mean, he can't even get over there to help the guy, let alone see what's going on. It's the blind leading the blind. "Or how wilt thou say to thy brother," verse 4, "let me pull the splinter out of your eye, and behold you've got a 2x4 in your own eye?" Ridiculous. It's comedic, it's so bizarre.

We are unfit judges, not only because we are fallible and we can't play the part of God, and because we are partial in our own favor and tend to think we have a different standard than everybody else, but because we are hopelessly and utterly blind when it comes to perception. Because, listen to me, as soon as you approach someone to judge them or to criticize them or to force them to your standard, you give evidence of the fact that you are blind, or you'd be working on your own plank instead of their splinter. See? That's the point.

Now, people have argued back and forth about what the splinter is and what the plank is. And some have said the splinter is sort of a little sin. Well, I don't see it as a little sin. I think it's pretty severe sin, a twig in your eye. And then they say, "But the plank is a vulgar, heinous, vile, wretched, evil, horrible sin." I don't see that, either. I mean, people with a vile, wretched, evil, heinous, horrible sin in their eye aren't going around trying to straighten out other people. They're usually trying to justify themselves. And so someone with a smaller sin they would easily justify, right? That wouldn't be a problem for them.

Usually the people who see everything wrong in somebody else's life see absolutely nothing wrong in their own life. And the only gross, vile, wretched sin that never sees anything wrong in its own life is what? Self-righteousness. And that's what the plank is. As long as you're self-righteous, as long as you're spiritually proud, as long as you set yourself up as a judge, you can't help anybody out with any sin.

It is interesting, though, that in the Lord's caricature, that is a far worse sin than any other, because it plays God. It is the vilest of all sins. Do you realize that every situation in the New Testament, Jesus condemns sin, not the sinner, except one, self-righteousness. And there He blasted the sinner with the sin, because it is the worst sin of all. It plays God. It denies the gospel. It denies the need for redemption. It says, "I'm holy like I am." And so the plank is self-righteousness.

And as long as you're self-righteous, and you think you're all right, and you never bother dealing with your own sin, there's no way you're going to help anybody else. You're blind. It is the sin of subtle, self-righteous criticism. And it's a plank in your own eye. And you cannot help anybody else.

Listen. If you're more interested in the principle than the personality, you'll deal with your own problem, not the other person. Not the other person. If you're really concerned about righteousness, if you're really concerned about judgment, if you're really concerned about truth, then you're going to see it first in your own life, aren't you? Because if you have the perception to know truth and see it, and you have the perception to see righteousness and hunger for it, where you're going to see it is right where it is most obvious, and that's in your own heart.

You see, that's why the key to this whole thing is the Beatitudes. Until you have humbly and meekly hungered and thirsted for righteousness out of a recognition that you're sinful, you can't follow up on any of these things. The truly holy person is lost in his own sinfulness. He's not trying to pull splinters out of people's eyes with a plank in his own eye. He sees himself for the way he is.

Verse 5, "You hypocrite," you phony, He says, hypocrites, you absolutely false person, pretending to be what you're not. The eye doctor, the oculist, is a phony. He's a fraud. So, you see, people, we can't judge, because it's a wrong view of God, others and self. Who are you to do that?

Now, listen to me very carefully. This is fabulous, as we draw this to a close. Immediately we run into two dangers right now. You say, "I'm not going to judge. I hear that message. I'm going to go in a corner and confess my sin and take care of me, boy. I'm not going to get into this." And immediately run into two dangers.

Danger number one is we will not be willing to confront a sinning brother. We'll say, "Boy, I'm not; oh, no, I'm not going to judge. Judge not, lest ye be judged. Who am I to say? We certainly don't want to do that." And danger number two, we will not discern or discriminate at all. We'll say, "Well, we don't want to get into that. Boy, we'll just -- oh, whatever you say, we'll just take everything in."

And those are the two dangers. And we would be devastated, because if we don't confront sin, then leaven is never put out of the lump, right? And the church is going to get corrupted. And if we don't discriminate the true from the false, we're all going to go waltzing down the line into heresy. So the two dangers are that we would fail to deal with a brother in sin, and we would fail to deal with a heretic, or one who would corrupt the faith, or one who would mock the faith or blaspheme the faith, and we must do that.

And so the Lord closes, then, with an injunction to cover both of those, and it is a masterful balancing. First of all, he says we must still, even though we have to be careful, we must maintain the tension and the balance, so that we still reprove and rebuke a sinning brother. Verse 5, "First, cast the beam out of thine own eye." Now, He doesn't stop with, "It's in your eye." He says, "Get it out of your eye. Get rid of your self-righteousness. Get rid of your pride."

How do you do that? I believe it's a matter of confession of sin. Don't you? I think first you have to look and see that it's there. Verse 3, "Considerest not the plank in your own eye?" And the word "considerest" there means to perceive in a meditative, prolonged way. It is used, for example, in Luke 12:27. "Consider the lilies." In James 1:23, "as we behold our face in a glass." It is a constant look, a look of understanding, a look of comprehension.

And so he's saying, "Take a good look. Don't you see you've got a spiritual problem yourself? Don't you see you've got an ungodly self-righteousness that makes you judgmental and critical of other people? Consider that." Having considered it, you go to verse 5. "Cast it out." And how do you do that? By confessing it to the Lord. I Corinthians 11:21, "If we judge ourselves, we won't be judged." Right? God's not going to have to chasten the sin of self-righteousness if we deal with it. And so I bring my life fully to the judgment of God, and I ask Him to cleanse, to purify, to remove it.

And once I've done that, I can move on to verse 5, and "then shalt thou see clearly to cast the moat out of thy brother's eye." Listen, we've got to get the thing out of our brother's eye, don't we? We can't let him go on in sin. That's to hate him, Leviticus 19:17 says. We've got to get it out. But we've got to deal with, first, ourselves.

Listen to how David put it. Psalm 51. "Create in me, oh, Lord, a," what? "Clean heart." Did you hear that? "Create in me, oh, Lord, a clean heart." Now listen. "Then will I teach transgressors thy ways and sinners shall be converted to thee." But there's no way to teach a transgressor the right way, and there's no way to convert a sinner to God, until I have in my own life a clean heart.

He's not saying, "Don't help a sinning brother." He's saying, "Get your own act together first." Because then your help is going to be the right kind. It's going to be the humble help. It's going to be the meek and quiet spirit. If you restore a brother, it says in Galatians 6:1, "restore him in love, in meekness and fear, considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted." You don't come to a sinning brother on top. You come from underneath, in humility.

Jesus said to Peter, and this is a very potent passage, in Luke 22, He said, "Peter, Satan has desired to have you, that he may sift you like wheat." He's going to find out what in you is real. "But I have prayed for you, that your faith fail not." Now, listen to this. "And when you are recovered, strengthen the brethren." The point is, he couldn't strengthen the brethren until he got recovered himself. He was useless until his own life was made right.

"Ye who are spiritual," Galatians 6:1, "restore such a one." We have to be right before we can help. So the key is a selfless, humble love. We are not to be a judge, playing God. We're not to be a superior, thinking there's a double standard. We're not to be a hypocrite, blaming everybody else and not seeing the sin in our own life. But we are to be a brother, and, having dealt with that sin, we are to deal, in brotherly love.

The second danger is that people who say, "Well, judge not, judge not," like today, in this flabby, sentimental day, they say, "Well, we don't want to discriminate. No doctrine. We don't want to get anybody upset. We just want to love everybody. We'll all get together." They don't discern, and they don't discriminate.

And then verse 6 comes like a thunderbolt to them. Listen to it. "Give not that which is holy unto the dogs. Neither cast your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet and turn again and lacerate you." Now, listen. This is a fascinating verse, and I want to pull it together for you, because I think it'll really open your understanding.

Dogs in those days were not the little nice smelling, painted nails, rhinestone collars, funny little sweater things that flip flop around the houses today. They were not the little lap dog, pet dog things that we spend a fortune on and all. Dogs in those days, apart from the dogs that worked with the flocks, and, of course, in Job it talks about the dog of the flocks, it would be a trained dog that worked with the sheep, but the dogs in the cities were a mongrel, ugly big bunch of dogs that scavenged around the city and ate the garbage, and they were a horrible, ugly bunch of wild dogs.

The Jews believed them to be filthy. The Old Testament talks about that. Unclean. The Psalms say they threaten, they howl, they snarl, they are a greedy, shameless group. They are called contemptible in I Samuel. Dogs were an ugly kind of a being. They weren't anything like we have today, except for those that worked with the sheep. They would be pariahs, savage, mongrels. Lived in the garbage heaps. And holy things were not to be thrown to the dogs.

What are the holy things? Well, when you came to the temple to make a sacrifice, the sacrifice would be presented to the Lord; you'd keep a part to take home. A part would go to the priest for his meal. And a part would go on the altar. The part that went on the altar was for God, and it would be consumed on the altar as an offering to the Lord.

Now, no priest would take the part on the altar. He might throw the bones left from the part that he took, and you might throw the bones left from the part you took out the opening in the house so the dogs could have something to eat, the wild dogs roaming the streets, but no way was a priest going to take that which was offered to God on the altar and throw it to the dogs. That would be a horrible desecration by an unclean, filthy, vile animal. I wouldn't do that.

Jesus says, "Anybody knows you don't throw the holy part of a sacrifice to a bunch of wild dogs." In other words, the Lord is saying, "Look, you'd better be discriminating in your ministry. There are some people who will hear your criticisms and who will respond to your work and respond to your word and respond to your efforts, but don't waste the precious truths on those who would shred it and tear it without a thought of its significance."

And then He gives them a second illustration. By the way, dogs were so rotten they even ate people in those days. When Jezebel fell out of a window, the dogs came over and ate her up. And, by the way, to be eaten by a dog was considered a curse. So they were a vile bunch. Secondly, He says hogs. Dogs and hogs. He says, "You don't throw pearls to swine, either, because they'll trample them under their feet, and they'll get so angry they'll turn and tear you up."

Now, the pigs in those days weren't quite as domesticated, perhaps, as today, and you get a bunch of hogs mad at you, you could be in real trouble. You come out pretending to feed them and throw them pearls. You say, "Who'd do that? Nobody would do that." That's the point. I mean, a man would have to liquidate his entire fortune to get just one pearl from the Persian Sea or the Indian Ocean. They were priceless things, incredible things.

Who's going to throw a pearl to a hog? The hog can't appreciate a pearl. True? Hog's going to think it's a big piece of barley, and when it isn't, boy, it's going to go bang, bang and you're going to get it, see? Hogs don't appreciate pearls. Don't waste things on those who don't appreciate them. Therefore, you're going to have to discern, discriminate that.

This is a tremendous truth, people. We have to learn in our ministry to be discriminating. You don't say everything to everybody. Paul even said to the Corinthians, "I could not speak unto you certain things because you were carnal. I wouldn't waste them on your misunderstandings. I wouldn't waste them on your sinfulness." Jesus to His disciples could only reveal certain things, and He had to hide other things. And to the world it says, "And He hid them from them and revealed other things unto the babes." Jesus didn't say everything to everybody. When Jesus rose from the dead He never one time appeared to an unbeliever. Never once.

You see, we have discrimination, so we have to evaluate. Hogs were the chosen refuge of the demons in Matthew 8. They were contemptible and filthy in Jewish eyes. The prodigal son, to eat pig slop and live with the hogs, had reached the pits of Jewish culture. They were considered unclean, and in Isaiah it says that the eating of hogs' flesh is an abomination to God.

Now, who are the hogs and the dogs? Look at II Peter 2, and I'll show you. II Peter 2. It says, in this chapter, that there were false prophets among the people. "And there will be false teachers," II Peter 2:1. And verse 2 says, "And many will follow their pernicious ways." Listen, many are going to follow the pernicious ways of false prophets, false teachers.

So all the people who are involved in the false systems of religion, the adamant, covetous, lustful, evil, vile people, such as those who were drowned in the flood, verse 5, those who were destroyed in Sodom and Gomorrah for their homosexuality, those who walk in the lust of uncleanness, who are self-willed, who mock angels, who are scabs. He calls them scabs. Filth spots. Verse 14, cursed children, in the way of Balaam. Verse 17, wells without water. Liars. So forth.

And who have, verse 20, "escaped the pollutions of the world through a head knowledge of the Lord Jesus, but have turned away from it." And then verse 22, "that it has happened unto them according to the true proverb. The dog is turned to his own vomit again, and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire."

You could take one of those street dogs and bring him in and try to change his diet, but he'll go right back to his vomit. You can take a hog in the house, clean it up, leave the door open; it'll be right back in the slop. Hogs and dogs are those who, having known the truth, have followed the way of false teachers and false prophets and liars and deceivers.

I saw that thing on television with the gay power, gay politics. And your first reaction is that somebody ought to give them the gospel. And your second reaction is that they are the hogs and the dogs of which Jesus spoke, who have willfully and wholesale turned their backs on the truth of God, and we should not allow them to trample under their evil feet the purity of the gospel message.

That's a hard, hard word from the Lord, because it's difficult to distinguish so much in our own mind that we have to be dependent on the Lord. When the disciples were sent out in Matthew, chapter 10, he said, "If you come to a place and they don't hear your message, you leave that place, and you shake the dust off your feet." Listen, Jesus was patient with Peter and He was patient with Thomas, but He didn't say one single to Herod Antipas, because Herod Antipas had a hard heart, and He didn't waste the pearls. See?

And the apostle Paul in the 18th chapter of Acts went and he preached to the Jews and they blasphemed and they mocked and they rejected, and he said, "Your blood be on you. From now on I go to the Gentiles." He turned his back and walked out. You say, "Well, what about them?" Well, listen, later, some of them were saved. But they had to be saved by coming to the gospel, not by the gospel coming to them. Paul turned his back and walked out.

There comes a time, you see, when we have to be careful. In John's epistle, he says, "If somebody comes to your door and he belongs to one of these false systems, don't let him in your house and don't you bid him Godspeed." You say, "Well, what about his soul? Maybe I could win him to the Lord." You let God take care of that. Don't you let him trample the pearl. Don't you throw holy things to dogs.

Now, what is it saying? What is the holy thing, and what is the pearl? I believe without a doubt it's the Word of God. It's the truth of the Word of God, encompassing the gospel and all of the contents of the Scripture. I go to speak sometimes in places where I'm not speaking to Christians. I'm very careful how I use the Bible, because there are things they will reject. There are things they will refuse. There are things they will mock and despise. And I choose not to give them that opportunity, for the precious treasures of God's Word.

We must make judgments, beloved, but they must be proper, righteous judgments. We must discriminate, and we must deal with sin in the life of another brother or sister. But we must never be judgmental and critical, because we set ourselves up as some self-righteous judge. And I'll tell you frankly, folks, it all comes down to an attitude. And I say this because I really believe this. It all comes down to an attitude.

Are you criticizing, are you evaluating, are you discerning, are you discriminating in order to know the truth and honor God? Or are you doing it to exalt yourself and hurt somebody else. Ultimately, it comes to that decision.

Let's pray.

Father, we thank you that you have been so gracious as to forgive us our many judgments, our many criticisms. You have been ever more merciful with us than we are with each other, ever more forgiving than we are with those who fail us. Thank you that you're a far more merciful God than we are merciful men and women.

Lord, help us to follow your instruction and your lead, to be tenderhearted and kind and forgiving. Help us not to set ourselves up as judges, all the while maintaining discrimination and discernment, having our senses exercised to know the difference between good and evil, not compromising, standing for the truth and marking those who cause division and offenses, but never, Father, for a selfish motive, never because of self-righteousness or self-seeking, because we think we're better, but ever, Father, that we may pursue the truth.

And even when we find those who err, may we restore them in love and meekness, knowing we, too, could be in the same situation. And may we be forgiving and merciful.

Lord, we pray that our fellowship here, this church, might be known as one that loves. We know that all human relations could be amazingly adjusted if we just stopped being critical and had good words for one another, except in those times where rebuke and reproof and restoration is needed, and then we seek your counsel, and those times when we must confront the evil, Christ-rejecting, God-hating, Scripture-denying who would trample the pearl. Help us, Lord, to know how to keep that balance, and we'll thank you. In Christ's name. Amen.

At this point in the Sermon on the Mount, it is quite typical to be licking our wounds over the piercing, probing message of Christ to kingdom citizens. Looking at ourselves in light of the explanations and commands of Christ will either heap condemnation or cause us to look to the grace of God. No wonder that Martyn Lloyd-Jones was amazed at those who denied the gospel, and the teaching of the epistles, but said that they believed the Sermon on the Mount. He wrote, "Indeed, I do not hesitate to say that, were it not that I knew of the doctrine of justification by faith only, I would never look at the Sermon on the Mount, because it is a Sermon before which we all stand completely naked and altogether without hope". Thus the power of the words of Christ concerning attitude, ambition, behavior, and devotion cut to the core of our lives.

But some begin to congratulate themselves, mistakenly for sure, thinking that they have achieved a superior level of Christian life above their brethren. And so the long journey down one's nose to the lower echelons of faultfinding and condemnation bring to light the need for Christ's word on judging. A clearer vision of our own sinfulness will act as a barrier to judgmentalism and give wisdom in helping others. But this is hard for us to see and accept because of the native tendency to applaud ourselves and condemn others. How does Christ set the record straight so that we might be faithful kingdom citizens?

I. Condemnation condemned:

The opening words, "Do not judge" [literally, "judge not," with the "not" being set first in the Greek sentence with a present tense verb for emphasis on stopping an action that is in progress], set the tone for what Christ demands of kingdom citizens. We realize that judgmentalism is part of the whole fabric of our existence. We've just come through a several month period of public elections in which the character and abilities of every candidate has been raked over the coals. It is certainly true that those running for public office open their lives for the public to see. But it is unfortunate that the level of harshness, hypercriticism, and exaggeration has escalated to the point that the public has difficulty distinguishing truth from lies. It is into this kind of setting that kingdom citizens are to make a mark for Christ, living distinctly different from the world by not embracing the same tone of hypercriticism that characterizes it.

 It is one thing for this to exist in the world of politics; we've come to expect it nowadays - yet a totally different matter in the church. It seems that the arena Christ addresses is that of the community of faith. He explains the context of hypercriticism taking place by seeing the speck in "your brother's eye." It is possible that he is using the term "brother" in generic fashion. But more likely that He intends us to especially guard against hypercriticism with our fellow kingdom citizens.

We know that this command is brought up right and left, and most of the time used illegitimately. Jesus is not calling for us to become simpletons that gullibly believe everything and every lifestyle to be on equal levels. The egalitarians of our day have used this verse, even though they likely do not believe most of the balance of Scripture, so that they can legitimize their lifestyles and keep Christians from reproving them. Those rejecting church discipline also use this verse. They claim that we have no right to judge one another as Christians; thus condoning myriad sinful practices. But we must see that Jesus Christ is not calling upon kingdom citizens to be silent before sin or to neglect correcting sinful practices in our brothers or sealing our lips at the moral injustices of our day or not being involved in admonishing holiness in one another. We need only look at 7:6 and 7:15 to see that our Lord calls for us to be discerning, to make moral and doctrinal judgments as kingdom citizens. So what does it mean when the Lord tells us, "Do not judge so that you will not be judged"?

1. The principle: The word "judge" has multiple meanings so that going to a dictionary may not be of great help other than to give us plenty of selections. In this context the Lord is not at all referring to the legal judgment or discernment, but to the sharp, unjust criticism that comes from an attitude of superiority. The chief focus is on "attitude." What the person doing the judging says may indeed be true but his intention is not for good but to be malicious toward the one he is judging. "But it is always the case that he says it maliciously [i.e., the one doing the judging in this case]; that is, he speaks without any desire to build up, or any real concern to instill discernment. He only wants to puff himself up, or to be heard, or to enhance his own reputation, or to demean the person about whom he is speaking" [The Sermon on the Mount]. One word that many writers used to describe this is censoriousness, that is, the spirit of blaming, finding fault, and condemning others. It is not an attempt at helping a situation but normally one of trying to put someone else down so that in a strange way the speaker might feel himself to be bigger.

How does it happen that one begins to judge others? We could give many answers to this but would begin by suggesting that judgmentalism or a hypercritical spirit results from an exaggerated view of one's own spiritual or moral life. It is spiritual and moral smugness, the kind of mind that finds approval by disapproving others. This sort of spirit develops over time, especially when the person has not come to terms with his own sinfulness. It is most prominent in those that are quite religious as the case of the Pharisees. Judging others is a self-made remedy to alleviate the pain of dealing with his own sin, so that in turning on others he convinces himself that his faults are small and unworthy of being exposed. "It is a disease which always brings in its train an element of unfairness," writes John Calvin, "so that we come to condemn a slight fault, as though it were a most heinous offence" [Calvin's New Testament Commentaries, I, 225].

"Don't judge" does not mean "don't think," explains Leon Morris [The Gospel of Matthew, 164]. One must think to decide who the "dogs" and "swine" might be or who the false prophets are. Nor does it mean that we are not to think critically if by that we mean to offer good, constructive comments that will help others. Frankly, we all need constructive criticism because we are all works in progress. But there is a difference between the gracious, kind constructive criticism of someone that loves you and looks out for your good, and the person that eyeballs you as though you were under his microscope so that he can find some fault to parade before the eyes of the world.

We have been on the receiving end of both types. We've been greatly helped by constructive advices that pointed out something that we've said or something we’ve failed to do or something that we should not have done. They have quietly and humbly pointed out the fault, and made themselves available to help us and pray for us in the need uncovered. On the other hand, we've felt the blows of those that make a mountain out of a mole hill or who find genuine faults but use them as a club to destroy rather than to help. You've had both as well. There is no question on what we deem most valuable!

2. A measurement: Jesus explains that judgmentalism or hypercriticism brings on judgment for us: "Do not judge so that you will not be judged." The question is who will be doing the judging. The Greek is ambiguous, using a passive voice to describe someone else judging the one that judges. It can describe the reality that a harsh, critical person will find himself being criticized as well. Such a person quickly loses friends because his intention is not to build up but to destroy. So the judgment that takes place may be silent but it takes place through shunning the censorious person. This stands as a warning that hypercriticism brings its own judgment among one's peers. Alexander Maclaren describes such a critical spirit as fighting with a tomahawk. He warns, "If he chooses to fight with a tomahawk, he will be scalped some day, and the bystanders will not lament profusely" [Expositions of Holy Scripture, vol. 6, 328].

The passive voice is probably referring to divine judgment rather than human judgment, though it is obvious that it will happen on the human level as well. The reason to believe this to be true is the context of chapter seven. Jesus is dealing with judgment in the overall theme of this section of the Sermon on the Mount. "A judgmental attitude excludes us from God's pardon, for it betrays an unbroken spirit" [Don Carson, 100]. Jesus has already explained that kingdom citizens are merciful and forgiving (5:7; 6:12). Having received the mercy of divine forgiveness, and realizing his own sinfulness, the kingdom citizen is free to be merciful to others rather than hypercritical.

The measure of judgment applied to us will be commensurate with the kind of judgment we have dished out. "For in the way you judge, you will be judged; and by your standard of measure, it will be measured to you." Literally, "for with the judgment that you are judging you will be judged, and with the measure that you are measuring you will be measured," with the future passive verbs pointing to what lies ahead as we all stand before God. It is a small thing that we are judged by men, as Paul understood (I Cor 4:3), but the weighty issue is that we will all stand before the judgment seat of Christ, "who will both bring to light the things hidden in the darkness and disclose the motives of men's hearts" (I Cor 4:5; II Cor 5:10).

The question that each of us has to face in light of this passage is this: Am I willing to be judged by the same standard that I judge others? If I criticize someone else's discipline, am I disciplined? If I judge someone else's motives, are my motives truly pure? If I question another's behavior, is my behavior exemplary and approved by Christ?

II. Examination extolled

To see such passages as verses 1-2 make us want to shut our mouths and never speak again! Yet that is not the intention of this exhortation. We are to be involved in helping one another and even in correcting faults and behavior issues in one another. But we are never to do so without first examining our own lives.

1. Self-inspection: Jesus asks, "Why do you look at the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye?" The use of hyperbole gets our attention. The speck might be sawdust or a small splinter that the wind blows into the eye. But the "log" conveys the idea of a floor joist or ceiling rafter stuck in one's own eye. The contrast could not be clearer. "So absorbed is he in his campaign" against someone else, Sinclair Ferguson explains, "that he is blind to the fact that he has sin in his own life that is far greater than anything he sees in the lives of others.... Sensitive to sin in others, he has been desensitized to the sin in his own heart" [The Sermon on the Mount: Kingdom Life in a Fallen World, 151-152]. Notice that Jesus explains the judgmental person looks at the tiny speck in someone else's eye. To notice it he must get close, and peer into the other person's eye. The intention is to show that judgmentalism begins by spending far too much time and attention looking at others, and far too little considering one's own life.

He does "not notice" that in his own eye is a two-by-twelve joist. The word "notice" implies that he has not set his mind upon his own life. He has avoided self-inspection lest he find something that is sinful, so he probes others' lives to find the "speck" of debris that has lodged in their eyes. He does not perceive or take notice of the sin in his own life. Leon Morris is right: "Jesus is drawing attention to a curious feature of the human race in which profound ignorance of oneself is so often combined with an arrogant presumption of knowledge about others, especially about their faults"

So what must we do? We must "notice the log" that is in our own eyes. It is only when we prayerfully, and humbly open the Word of God and ask the Holy Spirit to search our hearts, to turn His divine gaze upon us and expose our own sin, that we will begin to "notice the log" that has blinded our own sight. Do you regularly ask the Lord to expose your sin so that you might confess and repent of it? Do you read the Word with a view to discovering the logs that have marred your vision? Do you keep a short account on your sins? Self-inspection is not suggesting that you develop a morose, introspective kind of life that never climbs out of the sewer of the past for the light of liberty in Christ. But exhorts you to be sensitive each day to the sin that creeps into your life. It happens with all of us. Before long we can become desensitized to our own sinfulness simply because we either ignore our sins or rationalize around them. The result inevitably is a harsh spirit toward others. Much of what we judge in others is because we do not want to face the same sins in ourselves.

After David had sinned with Bathsheba, and even had her husband killed to cover his sin, he sat smugly in his palace as though he had gotten away with his sin. He lost his spiritual sensitivity until Nathan the prophet told him the story about a rich man taking the one ewe lamb of a poor man to feed his guests, even though he had ample flocks and herds to cover the meal. David was moved with compassion because of the suffering of this poor man. He thought the rich man deserved death! Then Nathan aimed his arrow at David, "You are the man!" Has the Holy Spirit aimed this same arrow at your heart lately, but you have sought to ignore or rationalize his penetrating blow?

To make matters worse, the one that ignores the log in his eye thinks that he can help others spiritually. "Or how can you say to your brother, 'Let me take the speck out of your eye,' and behold, the log is in your own eye?" There is a bit of humor in thinking that someone with a log stuck in his eye can see clearly enough to do the delicate work of helping remove a speck of debris from someone else's eye. Yet it is no funny thing when it happens, and it happens too often. A. B. Bruce calls this "a very cheap way of attaining moral superiority" Ignoring one's own sin while trying to deal with someone else's sin is the height of hypocrisy. That is why Jesus declares, in light of this practice, "You hypocrite!" Such hypocrisy is a strong feeling about others' sins and faults, while not having the same rigorous application in dealing with one's own sins.

2. Brotherly correction But you will notice that in the same breath our Lord tells us that we are to be a help to one another in dealing with sin. "First," in other words, set as your priority, "take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye." We are told in many places in Scripture that we are to deal with sin in each other's lives. The classic passage of Matthew 18:15-20 instructs us in the process of recognizing sin in a brother's life, and the diligent pursuit we are to have to restore him to fellowship with Christ. In such a process the Christian must call sin, sin in another's life. But he does so with a view to seeing this person restored to fellowship in Christ and the church. Paul tells us, "Brethren, even if anyone is caught in any trespass, you who are spiritual [that is, you have examined your own life first], restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness [that excludes the kind of judgmental spirit Christ warns against]; each one looking to yourself, so that you too will not be tempted [you are just as liable to the same sin as that person so do not be haughty]" (Gal 6:1). Stott summarizes it best, "It is evident that Jesus is not condemning criticism as such, but rather the criticism of others when we exercise no comparable self-criticism; nor correction as such, but rather the correction of others when we have not first corrected ourselves".

We need the help of the body of Christ so that each of us might walk in faithfulness before the Lord, and so that each of us will contribute to the good of the kingdom. Each of us needs correction from time to time. Each of us has his blind spots in which we get a speck in the eye, and must have help in getting it out. But the only way that this can be done is by each of us taking the forethought to examine our own lives, and in humility dealing with each other.

There may be someone that you know that needs help with pesky sins. Help them, please! But first examine your own life, and then correct our brother.

III. Discernment demanded

From this point the Lord moves to discerning a situation and making right decisions regarding the gospel. Jesus tells us that we must determine who are the "dogs" and "swine" that we must limit dispensing our gospel pearls.

1. Limitation: "Do not give what is holy to dogs, and do not throw your pearls before swine." What are the "holy" and the "pearls" that Jesus calls upon for our limitation? The picture might be that of taking sacrificial food and giving it to the dogs. A Jew would never do that because it was "holy," belonging to sacred use. In humor Jesus talks about throwing out "pearls" before swine. They would not hold the same value with swine as they did with you! What he is talking about is the gospel of the kingdom, and particularly the truths that the unregenerate man cannot understand without the regenerating work of the Spirit. The "dogs" referred to a band of marauding, wild-dogs that roamed Palestine destroying whatever it found. The "swine" refer more to the wild boar than a domesticated pig. He uses this to refer to those that reject the gospel of the kingdom, and that are actually repulsed by the gospel.

But does Jesus mean that we are not to witness to anyone except the elect? John Calvin states it clearly, "Since the servants of the Gospel, and all who are called to teach the Gospel, are unable to discern between the sons of God and the swine, it is their role to set the doctrine of salvation indiscriminately before all"  Of course we are to preach the gospel to all without discrimination. But the time may come with some that we realize they will not even listen to what we have to say, so we do not cast our pearls before swine. Paul did this in his missionary journeys as he preached to the Jews in their synagogues, but many of them reacted with blasphemy toward the gospel. So Paul in Antioch shook the dust off of his feet and left them for the Gentiles; in Corinth he shook out his garments and declared, "Your blood be on your own heads! I am clean. From now on I will go to the Gentiles" (Acts 13:44-51; 18:5-6; 28:17-28).

Maclaren's comments help us understand what our Lord intended. "We can only tell most men's disposition towards it [the gospel] by offering it to them, and we are not to be in a hurry to conclude that men are dogs and swine". But those who viciously reject the gospel, those that respond with blasphemy do not value the gospel, so our Lord tells us not to cast our gospel pearls to them. They have heard, and we have seen their scorn of our Lord, so

we stop, knowing that until the heart is softened they will only heap more condemnation upon their heads for their abuse of the gospel.

2. Loss: There are certain truths that many cannot handle, so they react with blasphemy: "they will trample them under their feet [hence the holy truths have been given to them], and turn and tear you to pieces." So we must learn to discern how far to go in gospel conversations. Jesus would not entertain the questions of the Samaritan woman but stuck with the main issue: her sin and need of salvation. He talked with Pilate and even confessed His deity to him, but with Herod - whose only interest was to be entertained by Christ and His gospel - our Lord kept silent. He offered gospel pearls to Pilate even though to our knowledge he never believed, but not to Herod for he knew that Herod would have trampled the holy underfoot.

Nothing is grander than the gospel. It is not something to be used for entertainment or to be carelessly tossed about. It is a divine treasure entrusted to us, and a message we must be faithful to proclaim. However, the time may come, rarely, in which we will need to refrain from dispensing gospel pearls due to the "vicious scorn and hardened contempt" of those whom Christ calls "dogs" and "swine" [Carson, Expositor's Bible Commentary] Face such times with broken hearts, knowing that such individuals may very well face eternal loss. Yes, pray for them. Pray for God's mercy. But hold the precious gospel pearls until you discern that God's timing is at hand for you to dispense them in all of their power and beauty.

Conclusion:

This passage is really about each of us as individual believers living in relationship to our brethren and to the world. With the brethren, we are to guard our attitudes lest we use a fault or perceived fault in their lives to pounce on them so that we can hide our own sins. Instead, let us be faithful and regular in examining ourselves in light of the standard that Christ has set before us. We must help one another in dealing with sin, but only after self-examination and only in humility and gentleness.

Let us dispense the gospel truth freely and only hold on to our "pearls" when we recognize that the hearer will scornfully trample upon the gospel and blaspheme our Lord. Step back in such cases, and pray, and be amazed that God has shown mercy to us, as sinners.

Living With Difficult People: Not everyone is easy to live with. If any of you have children, if any of you have ever been married, if any of you have had a roommate, if any of you have brothers and sisters, then you know that..

Not everyone is easy to live with: If anybody would know about living with difficult people, though, it would have to be Jesus. When you’re perfect, let’s face it, living with anyone else would be difficult. So, as you might imagine, Jesus had something to say about how to live with difficult people. His words on the subject are found in Matthew 7. It’s part of the Sermon on the Mount that we’ve been studying all year.

We’re going to look at three biblical principles, three secrets for successfully living with difficult people. And since none of us is perfect, let’s face it, all of us are difficult to live with. So, hopefully, this is some truth that you’ll be able to use in your life right away. Let’s begin with the first principle:

Guarding my Thoughts: It has to do with the importance of guarding my thoughts. One of the things that makes it difficult to live with difficult people is what we think about them. We think they’re difficult! And so it’s difficult to live with them. Jesus tells us that the first thing we can do to be successful in getting along with each other is to guard our thoughts. Specifically, we need to be careful about making judgments of other people.

Who are you to Judge?

Quick Judgment Invites More Judgment: Matthew 7:1-6 Do not judge, or you too will be judged. [2] For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.

Quick Judgment is Distorted: [3] Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? [4] How can you say to your brother, 'Let me take the speck out of your eye,' when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? [5] You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye.

Careful Judgment is Necessary: [6] Do not give dogs what is sacred; do not throw your pearls to pigs. If you do, they may trample them under their feet, and then turn and tear you to pieces.

Proverbs 9:7-8 Whoever corrects a mocker invites insult; whoever rebukes a wicked man incurs abuse. [8] Do not rebuke a mocker or he will hate you; rebuke a wise man and he will love you.

Two Kinds of Judgment:

1. Condemning Judgment vs. Discerning Judgment

2. Quick vs. Careful

3. Focused on Others’ Faults vs. Examining Self

4. Generalizations vs. Individual

5. Gossip / Assumptions / Appearances vs. Benefit of the Doubt, Observations, Questions

6. Legalistic vs. Gracious

7. Motives vs. Actions

Conclusion:

Condemning Judgment vs. Discerning Judgment

When we go through the 40 Days of Purpose, we notice two kinds of responses. A few people asking, “What’s wrong with this book? What are the problems? What don’t I like about it?” Most people asking, “What can I learn from this book?”

When a new pastor or staff member comes to our church there are two kinds of responses. Some will look to discover what’s wrong with them. Others will look to discover how God has gifted them and what they contribute to our body.

When a new person walks in the door of our church, you can focus on what’s wrong with them or you can focus on what’s right with them.

When we implement a change in our ministry, there are two ways to respond. Some people make it their responsibility to identify what’s wrong with the plan. Others are excited to discover the new benefits and opportunities that change offers us as a church.

People who tend to find fault often act like they have helped everybody out by uncovering a faulty program, a faulty person, a faulty pastor, or a faulty plan. But you know what the truth is? We can always find something wrong with anything, any program, any person, any pastor, any plan. But if “finding out what’s wrong” is the focus of your approach, then you cheat yourself and everyone else out of the opportunity to learn and grow and benefit from what God has brought into your life or into your church.

Are you one that always tends to search for “what’s wrong with it?” If you are, then stop it! Stop judging!

Thank God for people who can see the potential pitfalls in a plan. Discernment is a helpful skill and a positive contribution. Good judgment is a valuable quality. But some people miss the distinction between discernment and condemnation. They elevate fault finding to a ministry, as if they were doing the church a favor, or doing society a favor, or doing their spouse a favor, by making it their goal to find out what’s wrong.

It’s very legit to ask questions like, “Can we do this?” “Should we do it?” “How will we do it?” or “What problems need to be solved in order to do it?” But all that is different than searching for faults and focusing on weaknesses, intentionally championing problems instead of solutions. One is the gift of discernment, good judgment. The other is the bane of condemnation, the kind of judgment that Jesus says does not belong in the church and does not belong in our lives.

Jesus has just gone to great lengths to help His listeners see more clearly the good character of their heavenly Father. He had told them that He is a Father who is present, who sees them “in secret” even when no one else is paying attention, and is ready to reward them for care and comfort. He told them not to be anxious because their heavenly Father knows them, knows their needs, is directly active in His creation, and therefore in their lives. By trusting in God to be their true heavenly Father, they were free to devote themselves to seeking His kingdom, to living according to His good, perfect will.

Jesus now turns to the subject of judgment. Now what makes this passage at first seem difficult to understand is the meaning of the word “judgment.” Judgment has mainly two meanings. When we use the word judgment, we can mean discerning, weighing, or seeking to know the truth about something. Or judgment can be used in the sense of passing sentence on or deciding payment, reward, or condemnation. In fact, the Greek word used here for judgment has the double meaning of discernment and condemnation.

To understand which of these meanings Jesus has in mind here, it will help to look at the section as a whole. It does not seem that Jesus is telling them not to judge in terms of discerning. It takes discerning to see and remove obstacles to vision. And in order to avoid tossing our pearls before swine, we need to be able to distinguish what our pearls are and who are the swine of whom we need to be careful. He opposes the idea of using our powers of discernment only on others and not on ourselves as well. It would seem from verse 5, “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” that the ultimate purpose of discernment here is restoration, healing, or sanctification. The benefit of discerning the speck in your brother’s eye is the same as that of discerning the log in your own-, so that both can be removed and you can both see more clearly. The problem develops when we think that we can see what is needed to be removed from others’ lives without examining our own.

If the point of discerning then is to move towards greater wholeness, then the real problem seems to be when we want to use discerning as a way to “lord it over” others or control others, rather than out of trust in God’s work and hope for transformation. Jesus just finished urging His listeners to seek the kingdom of God first and foremost. The prayer he taught earlier makes the same point. We are to pray for God’s good and perfect will to be done here on earth as it is in heaven.

In other words, to be seeking His kingdom is to hope that what is happening now in our lives and in our world is not the last word. We are those who are poor in spirit, who knows that we cannot give ourselves life or our identities. We are longing for God to forgive, heal, and transform us. We hope that we will not be left where we are now. It is in understanding this context of hope in God that we can understand this passage. We are not to judge others in the way of passing final judgment on them or condemning them. We do not allow our discernment to be the “last word” on them any more than we want others to declare the “last word” on us. Our hope is that God can heal and transform even those who have hurt us. We can recognize that the truth is; only God knows the heart of each person, and only He knows what the true last word is.

Our discernment then comes out of this hope and trust in God’s presence and activity. How sad to be able to see and attempt to remove the speck in another’s eye, but to be content to leave a log in our own! We are to be discerning for the sake of participating in God's work of healing in ourselves and in others.

Jesus goes on to warn His listeners with two images, similar to each other. In both there is a great discontinuity between what is being given and the possible receiver of the gift. The gifts are very precious, “what is holy” and “pearls”. The possible recipients are “dogs” and “swine”. But what is the connection between this warning and the previous section? Is Jesus just throwing in a random statement that has nothing to do with what He just said, beyond that it does involve discernment?

Jesus wants His listeners to pay close attention to what they are offering others, and to consider whether others are ready to receive the offering. Is He then helping His listeners further in how to go about being able to take the speck out of another's eye? Before we can help another person, we need to consider where they are right now, and whether what we want to share with them, they are ready to receive. Jesus is not using the images of dogs and pigs to be derogatory towards anyone, but to highlight the inappropriateness of the gifts. A dog cannot benefit from what is holy and a pig is not in any way helped by the offer of pearls. To be truly helpful to another is to provide them with something that they can hear and understand in the circumstances in which they currently find themselves. The wisdom you have may truly be wonderful, but if they don’t yet have ears to hear, it will be useless.

Now so often we want to share our "pearls" with others because we feel the responsibility of making them "see the light." It is hard to slow down, and give someone only the next step. Shouldn't we share all that we know? Isn't it up to us to make God's work happen on earth? No, the truth is that any judging we do, any discerning is a participation in the judging and discerning that Jesus does. He is the One who knows us, who has come to unite Himself to us for our healing and transformation. We do not know "the last word" on anyone, but He does.

Our relationships are to be lived out in the context of seeking God’s kingdom. When we desire what our heavenly Father desires, wholeness, peace, true justice, life, then we are free from the need to dismiss people, or to put them into categories that we won’t let them ever move out from. We can leave them in His hands, and ask Him to enable us to see them, and ourselves through His eyes. Does He dismiss us, or put us in a box so that there is no hope for us, no possibility to leave what damages us behind? No, God shows us in Jesus, in becoming one with us, that His intention for His creation, for us, is to make all things new, o transform us to be His true children.

Trusting in Jesus to give us His word about us and about others, we are freed to hope in His transforming work, in His ability to make us able to share in His life.

To Judge or Not To Judge (7:1-6):

1. A favorite saying of many people is "Judge not, that you be not judged"...

   a. Frequently quoted whenever someone is pointing out the sins or faults of another

   b. The impression is that we should never make moral judgments in what we see in  others

2. Is that true?  Is that what Jesus meant when He said this?

   a. Are we never to make moral judgments about the right or wrong in other?

   b. If we see wrong in others, can we never point it out?

3. Jesus' statement is often misused, that Jesus taught...

   a. There are times when we must judge

   b. There are times when it is appropriate to point out the faults in others

"To Judge or Not To Judge", that is the question before us. The proper answer comes from a closer look at Jesus' words in Mt 7:1-6. First note how His words are frequently misused...

I. His words often used to forbid "all" manner of judgment

A. Such as adverse or unfavorable criticism...

            1. Like pointing out a fault in someone else

            2. Even if it be truly "constructive" criticism

B. Such as the exercise of church discipline...

1. Exercising discipline of any sort does require "judging" others as to their moral or spiritual condition

2. Since such "judgment" is involved, some feel verses 1-2 rule out any sort of church discipline

C. Such as exposing those who teach error...

1. Admittedly, it requires making a judgment in order to consider whether someone is teaching error

2. Therefore, some people, in light of verses 1-2, believe we cannot speak out against those who teach error

Is that what Jesus means?  Must we remain silent when we see people overtaken in a fault, bringing reproach upon the name of Christ, or blatantly teaching error? 

II. Jesus did not rule out "all" forms of judgment

A. Note the "immediate" context...

           1. Which reveals that in some cases "proper" judgment must be made

           2. Mt 7:6 implies judgment is to be made as to who are "dogs" and who are "hogs"

a. Otherwise, how can we know when not to give that which is holy to "dogs"?

                       b. Or how can we know when not to cast our pearls before "swine"?

3. Mt 7:15-20 implies that we must make judgments in determining who is a false teacher ("by their fruits you will know them")

           B. Consider the "remote" context...

            1. Which speak of times when judgment must be made!

           2. Elsewhere, Jesus taught people to "judge with righteous judgment" - Jn 7:24

3. Christians have a responsibility to "judge those who are inside" the local church - 1Co 5:9-13

4. We are taught by the apostle of love (John) to "test the spirits" (which requires making judgments) - 1Jn 4:1

There is no contradiction here, for as we continue with our text, we notice that...

III. Jesus defined what "kind" of judging he is condemning

A. Judging when one is blind to his or her own faults...

            1. Read carefully Mt 7:3-5

2. Jesus is saying "that is it wrong for anyone to concentrate his attention on the speck in his brother's eye, and while thus occupied, to ignore the beam in his own eye"

3. Just Paul taught the necessity of proper "introspection" when helping others - Ga 6:1

            B. Judging without mercy and love...

1. "The Lord is here condemning the spirit of censoriousness, judging harshly, self-righteously, without mercy, without love, as also the parallel passage (Lk 6:36-37) clearly indicates."

            2. James warned against making judgments without mercy - Jm 2:13

a. If we make judgments without showing mercy, then no mercy will be shown when we are judged!

                       b. Just as Jesus said in verse 2...

                        1) "For with what judgment you judge, you will be judged"

                       2) "With the same measure you use, it will be measured back

                         To you"

The implication is not we should never judge, but when we do judge, remember that we shall be judged by the same standards we use!  Let mercy and love temper our judgments.  Finally...

 

IV. Jesus implies there are times when we "must" make judgments!

A. It is "after" we have corrected our own faults...

            1. First, we must remove the "beam" from our own eye - Mt 7:5

2. When we have done so, we are able to see, discerns (judge), and be of help to others who are overtaken in their faults

            3. Indeed, "the law of Christ" requires us to! - cf. Ga 6:1-2

B. Again, we must judge between those "worthy" and those who are "hogs & dogs"...

            1. Note carefully Jesus' words in Mt 7:6

                        a. Some are not worthy of that which "holy"

                         b. Some are like "dogs" and "swine"

                       Determining who is which requires "judgment" upon our part!

2. With those who are receptive, we are to be long-suffering in trying to help them come out of their error - cf. 2Ti 2:24-26

            3. But for those who are not, we are not to waste what is good and holy on them!

                       a. Cf. the instructions of Jesus to His disciples - Mt 10: 12-15

                       b. Cf. the example of Paul and Barnabas at Antioch of Pisidia- Ac 13:42-46

Conclusion:

1. The kind of judging forbidden by Jesus is "self-righteous, hypocritical judging which is false and calls down God's judgment on itself."

2. This is the kind of judging that was also condemned by James when he wrote:

"Do not speak evil of one another, brethren.  He, who speaks evil of a brother and judges his brother, speaks evil of the law and judges the law.  But if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge."

"There is one Lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy.  Who are you to judge another?" (Jm 4:11-12)

3. May God help us to refrain from such judging...

   a. To be more apt to remove the "beams" from our own eyes

   b. To then be more useful in helping others with their problem

But to say we should never judge, is to abuse what Jesus teaches, not only in this passage but elsewhere as well!

Speaking of judging, are you preparing yourself for the day in which you will be judged by the Lord?  - cf. Jn 12:48; 2Co 5:10

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Commentaries:

It upsets God because you see the faults and wrongs of others so fast and so ready to condemn them but you forget your own faults and short comings and so ready to justify them. You who are sinful cannot judge others their sins and you are doing worse things than them

As human, we will never acknowledge our fault. We are good at spotting the faults of others. Reason why god is upset is we are guilty of what we accuse others of.

 

We are all hypocrites to some degree and God forgives us. How are we going to tell someone to do the right thing, whatever it may be and do the opposite of what we tell them? That's why we all need to check ourselves before giving advice we don't follow to others. 

 

God is so upset with hypocrites because they act inconsistently with what they preach. Hypocrisy is wrong because God hates such kind of attitude, especially among so called "religious" and it misrepresents Him.

Because we are only humans and no one is righteous, so we cannot judge other people for their wrong doings, we must pray for our friends who are in darkness and not to judge them, let God works......it’s just so hurtful to us when we see our friends who are lost because we know God is hurting every time we disobey Him. Oh God please help me to make my heart so loving, to love other people especially those who are lost and living in darkness......

There is not much that a person can judge of another person and not have either the same or worse measure and God knows that this is true. Hypocrites are not of God.

Hypocrites look at others and pass judgment on their doings without looking in the mirror to see their own short comings.  It is wrong because of the fact that you can only see the wrongs of others without seeing your own.  If you can recognize wrong and you still partake in that act, even without knowing it, you are falling into Satan's trap.  You have allowed Satan to have more power over you that God.

Because they are unstable people. God wants us to be single minded not double minded. God takes pride in faithfulness that’s what makes hypocrisy so wrong.

Because no human is perfect. We all make mistakes. God is the only one with a

God is upset with hypocrites because hypocrites always judge others as though they are truly perfect people. Their mistakes may even be greater than what they judge. Hypocrisy is wrong because, none of us are perfect in our lives to judge others. When we judge others when we ourselves are wrong, we are committing sin unknowingly. Anything that leads us to sin is wrong.

Hypocrisy ... Sends folks running from the Jesus' place of help ... instead of to it for help ... But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, reasonable, full of mercy and good fruits, unwavering, without hypocrisy. (James 3:17) ... hypocrisy ... a pretense of having a virtuous character, moral or religious beliefs or principles, etc., that one does not really possess  ... So, a religious hypocrite is, by definition, a non-believer, since he is only pretending to be an adherent of the faith ... 

God is very upset with the hypocrites because they always do the wrong things which are not pleasing to God the Father. Hypocrisy is wrong because in judging others and showing fingers at other they forget that the other fingers are pointing towards them.  This show how bad they are.  So we should not judge anybody leave everything in the hands of the Almighty.

Hypocrites are lip service kind of people who tend to mislead people with their pretentious attitude to love and to follow the laws of God. God is upset with hypocrites because they tend to love God but their heart is all deceitful

The hypocrites are not doing what God wants and yet they are trying teaching other to do what is not right in God's eye that is why God is so upset with them.

Don’t pretend to be a good person and deep down your heart you are hiding evil.  It is very wrong it upset God.

God hates hypocrites, because while we sin, we pass judgment on other sinners. God is the only judge, and we are all sinners, for us to become "self-righteous" places us in an untenable position; we can only become righteous through the grace and mercy offered by Jesus at the cross. So we being sinners and enemies of God should offer no lease mercy and grace to others.

Hypocrisy is wrong because it is not pleasing to God and is not part of the will of God. God is upset with hypocrites because they say one thing and do another, they judge others for the same things they themselves do. Matthew 7:1, 2 says Do not judge others, so that God will not judge you, for God will judge you the same way you judge others. God calls us to obey Him, to love our neighbor as ourselves and to reach out and help those in need, He will do the judging when that day comes.

 

This is because they pretend to be what they are not and when they come into contact with young believers, they always try to lead them through the wrong way. If you try to follow their hypocritical ways, you will eventually end up falling apart your believe. This set of people, when they are in the mist of believers; confusion is always amidst, unless the strong believers, those that have foresight discover them at the early stage of their entrance. Hypocrisy is a very strong agent of confusion .It has the power of creating serious but unnecessary enmities. It is not to be living among Christians.

 

We are not to judge people...God is the only one that we will stand before when judgment time comes. We are too quick to judge others when we are doing the same or worse

 

Because God is honest, just and fair while hypocrites go far away from the honesty and justice that God values. Hypocrisy is wrong because it comes from pride and injustice, which betray love.

 

Because only God can judge.  It is a sin to judge others, and God is against all sins.  It upsets him for one to try to take on his role. We are not God, and should remain in our places.

 

Hypocrites talk but never walk, seek but never find. Hypocrites are those who place themselves so high above others when clearly they just have no clue to life and its true meaning. Quick to judge, and make false hope.

 



By: Gregorio Magdaleno
Category: Judging Others
Comment Helpful? Favorite Violation
Those who have peaels called the Gospel often unconsciously judge people.
Jesus said,"Don`t judge" to his followers.Jesus is God and Judge.But his followers are nothing but human beings.They must not be members of the Inquisition because God does not permit it to them.They should put all their energy into the treatment of their own cataract`disease.If they get health again,they may advise the other peole.At that time they must not say hastily the Gospel to people like dogs or pigs.



By: Takao Ogawa
Category: Judging Others
Comment Helpful? Favorite Violation
How can we take the beam out of our own eyes?
    We need to change our steps in order to correct siblings.



By: thomas akanvese
Category: Judging Others
Comment Helpful? Favorite Violation
Why is it that God is so upset with hypocrites? What makes hypocracy so wrong?
Because people dont look at themself but they look at others.Hypocracy is wrong because it is not of God.


URL: http://www.jesuscentarl.com

By: joanna naipaul
Category: Judging Others
Comment Helpful? Favorite Violation
why would people always look for other peoples weakness rather than looking in to themselves? is there any internal personality or behaviour that forced to be like this? if so how can it be get remedy? because i think it is sickness.



By: meaza wondafrash
Category: Judging Others
(1) Comments
Comment Helpful? Favorite Violation
Why is it that God is so upset with hypocrites? What makes hypocracy so wrong?
Because we are all Imperfect. Only the Lord is Perfect and with out sin. We have no right to judge others. We must worry about ourselves and try to be as close to perfect fot God as we can. He is the one who will judge all of us. It is not our place to be critical of others.



By: Lesa Braddock
Category: Judging Others
Comment Helpful? Favorite Violation
Why is it that God is so upset with hypocrites? What makes hypocracy so wrong?
God loves us when we are humble and obedient to Him. How can we be humble and judgmental at the same time? Only Jesus is perfect. When we concentrate on our own shortcomings rather than judge others, then we will be better examples and others will see the Way. Hypocrisy is so wrong because ONLY God can judge.



By: Patty
Category: Judging Others
Comment Helpful? Favorite Violation
Why is it that God is so upset with hypocrites? What makes hypocracy so wrong?
They pretend to appear wiser than they are while God knows them properly and more than they know themselves.



By: Bol Joseph Agau
Category: Judging Others
Comment Helpful? Favorite Violation
Why is it that God is so upset with hypocrites? What makes hypocracy so wrong?
because it is one kind of lying, ...you lied to yourself the real you that is so wrong !! S H A L O M !!



By: shydear
Category: Judging Others
Comment Helpful? Favorite Violation
Why is it that God is so upset with hypocrites? What makes hypocracy so wrong?
Hello! Because it would be a sin of pride. thinking that we are either sinless or that ours are just venial ones. So we would be taking God`s role in juf?dgine others and ourselves using moreover two differnt measures, a harsher onme on them and a lenient one on ourselves. The Lord`s prayer says forgive ''so judge with charity'' our trespasses as we forgive ''so see with the eyse of charity'' those who trespass against us.



By: Alessandra Parrini
Category: Judging Others
Comment Helpful? Favorite Violation

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Judging Others

"Don't judge, so that you won't be judged. For with whatever judgment you judge, you will be judged; and with whatever measure you measure, it will be measured to you. Why do you see the speck that is in your brother's eye, but don't consider the beam that is in your own eye? Or how will you tell your brother, 'Let me remove the speck from your eye;' and behold, the beam is in your own eye? You hypocrite! First remove the beam out of your own eye, and then you can see clearly to remove the speck out of your brother's eye.
"Don't give that which is holy to the dogs, neither throw your pearls before the pigs, lest perhaps they trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you to pieces.

Matthew 7:1-6
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