All right, we're continuing through the book of Matthew.
We're here in Matthew, chapter seven, and we're going to be talking about
the topic of judging here in these first five verses.
And so we're here in Matthew seven, verse one.
And the Bible says here, Judge not that you be not judge, judge
not that you be not judge.
You know, several years ago, my sister told me that this verse
had replaced John three sixteen as being the most famous
and most quoted verse in the entire Bible.
And it's like it just shows you a sign of the times when a great verse
like John three sixteen is just kind of going out of favor for judge not.
But really, it's not completely true
because I don't think most people know how to quote this entire verse.
I think it's really just two words judge not.
And then they don't know anything about the rest of the verse
or the context or the verses after that.
Now, go to John Chapter seven, John seven.
Now, we have four points here today, but the points are all going to be
toward the end of the sermon.
I'm going to show you a lot of verses about judging
because there's so much confusion in two thousand and twenty four.
And what I would say is if it's always wrong to judge, no matter what,
then why is it God set up a system of government
with judges being the ones that would judge in matters?
And there's a book of the Bible called Judges.
Right. So the Bible does not teach that it is always wrong to judge.
Now, many times God or Jesus will condemn how somebody's judging.
But that doesn't mean it's always wrong to judge no matter what the situation.
Now, John Chapter seven, verse twenty one.
John seven, verse twenty one.
Jesus answered and said to them, I have done one work and you all marvel.
Moses, therefore, gave on to you circumcision, not because it is of Moses,
but of the fathers and you on the Sabbath day, circumcise a man.
If a man on the Sabbath day received circumcision, the law of Moses
should not be broken.
Are you angry at me because I haven't made a man every whit
hole on the Sabbath day?
So basically, they're criticizing Jesus for healing someone on the Sabbath day.
And he's saying, well, if somebody's eighth day
happens to be on the Sabbath day, you will circumcise them.
So the law is not broken because the Bible says eight days old
for the circumcision of a male child in the Old Testament.
And he's saying, you know, you're basically being hypocrites.
You have unrighteous judgment.
Verse twenty four.
Judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment.
Now, does this verse say that it's wrong to judge no matter what?
No, he says actually judge righteous judgments.
He said you should judge, but you should do it in the proper way.
He's saying you're judging unrighteously.
You're judging in the wrong way.
But what he's not saying is never judge no matter what.
Right.
Turn your Bible to Romans two, Romans Chapter two.
And it's such a foolish thing to say,
because every single person judges in every situation they come to in life.
I mean, when you see somebody in a situation,
you're going to have opinions, at least in the back of your head,
about something all of us form judgments.
The difference is we admit that, yes, we do judge.
We're not shy or afraid to admit that because the Bible says,
hey, there is a time to judge and there is a way to judge.
And so, look, don't tell me when people criticize us and say,
hey, your church is too hateful, your pastor's too mean.
It's like, hey, man, the Bible says judge not.
That's what they come out with us is like, well, why are you judging me?
You're criticizing me and condemning me for being too judgmental.
Well, why are you judging me?
Because if you're going to be consistent and that was really your opinion,
you know what you do?
You just keep it completely to yourself.
But they're being complete hypocrites when they say that.
Romans Chapter two actually look back at Romans one to the last verse,
because this is a little bit tricky.
So let me show this to you. Romans one, verse 32.
And the Bible says in Romans one, verse 32,
who, knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things
are worthy of death, not only do the same,
but have pleasure in them that do them.
And Romans one is the famous chapter.
We have people that reject God.
They hold the truth in unrighteousness.
They profess themselves to be wise, and they go down
this spiral of depravity and sin and wickedness.
And then it says here in verse 32, it says,
who, knowing the judgment of God,
that they which commit such things are worthy of death,
not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them.
What it's saying is the homosexuals, which is the context here,
they know the judgment of God because they're not ignorant about what the Bible says.
It says they hold the truth in unrighteousness.
They know what the word of God says, but they know the judgment of God.
Not only do they do these things, but they take pleasure
when everybody else goes down that road of being depraved and wicked like them.
I mean, to the person that is pure, all things are pure.
But to them that are defiled and unbelieving is nothing pure,
but even their mind and conscience is defiled.
And for us, when something horrible happens, it will grieve us.
It will make us sad.
But you know what? It makes the LGBT happy.
They want to see this wickedness take place.
And look, the Bible says they're full of murder.
That means when they see that someone gets killed, it doesn't make them sad.
It actually makes them happy.
That's what's in their minds.
That's what's in their hearts.
They want to see people commit sins and do wickedness, the Bible says.
But then it says in Romans two, verse one,
it says, Therefore, thou art inexcusable.
Oh, man. Oh, man is not referring to a member of the LGBT.
It says whosoever thou art that judges for wherein thou judges another,
thou condemn as thyself for thou that judges do is the same things.
What he's referring to in verse one is the person
that would look at Vice Pongi and say, man, that guy's going to hell
because he is not repentant of all sins.
Look at how bad he is.
But me, I go to church every week.
I read the Bible.
I don't drink, so I'm going to heaven.
And what the Bible is saying here, Paul's saying, Hey, you do a lot
of the same things as them.
And so you're not going to escape the judgment of God.
It's like if you say that they're condemned and guilty
because of their sins, well, you are also condemned to guilty.
But then it says this in verse two.
But we are sure
that the judgment of God is according to truth against them,
which commits such things.
So you've got three different groups that are mentioned.
Romans 132 is the LGBT member.
Romans two one is this hypothetical to an unsaved person.
And then Romans two, verse two, we who is the we referring to
us that are saved?
We are sure that the judgment of God is according to truth against them,
which commits such things.
See, here's the difference.
I can get up and scream and preach against Vice Pongi
because I'm not a homo.
And also because I'm not trusting in my works to get to heaven.
I can say he's condemned to hell and anyone trusting their works
is going to go to hell.
But here's the thing.
I'm not trusting in my works, so I'm not a hypocrite.
Even if I am also guilty of some of the things from time to time,
like being envious or being covetous, like all of us are from time to time.
But that does not make you a hypocrite.
You say why?
Because you're not trusting in your works to get to heaven.
Right. Right.
If you believe salvation is by grace through faith
and you say that, you know, someone trust in their works
is on their way to hell, you're not a hypocrite.
I've heard it said before.
Well, if you're living in sin, you can't really go soul
winning because then you'd be a hypocrite.
Well, what I teach people when I go soul winning is faith alone for salvation.
If I was teaching
repents of sins, I would be a hypocrite.
But that's not what I'm preaching door to door.
Now, if you're a hypocrite going soul winning,
I would like to know what you're saying out door to door.
And we're going to talk about that.
Maybe this is not the right church for you.
But if you believe salvation is by grace through faith,
no works involved in salvation, you are never a hypocrite
when you go out soul winning.
You say why?
Because you're teaching people to believe on Christ,
just like you believe on Christ. Right.
And so we are sure that the judgment of God
is according to truth against them, which commits such things.
Verse three.
And thinkest thou this, O man, that judges them,
which do such things and do us the same,
that thou shalt escape the judgment of God?
Paul says, Look, you're looking at other people and saying,
Well, you can't drink alcohol and go to heaven.
And yet you're also guilty of breaking sins all the time.
And you're justifying yourself.
It's like you think you're going to escape the judgment of God.
Because last I checked, my Bible said it wasn't just murders that go to hell.
It says all liars shall have their part in the lake,
which burneth with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.
All liars, meaning one lie is enough to condemn you to hell.
So here's the thing.
If one lies enough to condemn you to hell, I would be a hypocrite
and foolish to condemn somebody else for not being good enough
to go to heaven when I am also guilty myself.
But we are sure that the judgment of God is according to truth.
And here's the thing.
When we get up and say what the Bible says or go out soul winning,
we're not really the ones that are making the judgments.
You say, why? Because God's the one that wrote this book.
It's not like we have to figure out, well,
what do you think that the solution should be in this situation?
Well, it doesn't matter what I think or what you think.
What matters is what does God think?
Because God is the one that the Bible says is the just judge.
All we are doing is just looking at what God says and say,
thus sayeth the Lord.
This is the answer in that situation. Right.
So it's not that it's always wrong to judge.
It's about judging in the proper or correct way.
Turn in your Bible to Romans 14, Romans 14.
Anyway, usually when people criticize
churches like ours or preachers, they get up and preach the truth.
Oh, you're too hateful.
You're always judging.
You know what that really means, that they probably have a lot of sins
and they want to hide in darkness.
I mean, isn't that what it says right after John
three sixteen, where it talks people that are doing evil deeds,
they want to hide from the lights.
They want to be in darkness.
They don't want the light to be shined in on their sins
because they're living a wicked life.
See, if I were to get up here and preach that, hey, you know what?
It's a sin to drink alcohol.
If you don't drink alcohol, it's not going to bother you.
It's not going to offend you.
But what if you are guilty?
Then all of a sudden that kind of hits to the inside of you, doesn't it?
And look, we all have sermons where it steps on our toes
a little bit because we're not perfect on things.
We're guilty. It's a matter of what we do.
But here's the thing.
What I'm saying is people that are saying, well, you're too judgmental.
You're too hateful.
Why are you always preaching against sin?
Look, if you were living a clean life, you would be happy.
I was preaching against sin.
I mean, look, for those of us that are parents
that are raising young children,
I mean, you're glad that I'm getting up and preaching against sin.
You say, why?
Because even if you made mistakes in the past,
you don't want your kids doing the same.
You want your kids to do a better and live a better life than you did.
That's the way that I feel with my kids.
I want them not to make some of the mistakes I made
when I was growing up.
And look, if you're right with God, it's not going to bother you
when I'm getting up and preaching against sin.
Bible says in Romans 14, verse one.
Romans 14, verse one, it says,
him that is weak in the faith receive ye, but not to doubtful disputations.
Now, what this verse means is doubtful disputations
is basically somebody coming in and giving disputes or arguments.
The Bible is saying we ought to receive people into our church
that are baby Christians.
But if they're bringing in arguments and want to fight,
it's kind of like, well, we need to have peace in our church.
We need to be united as a church.
Those that are weak in the faith we receive,
and it doesn't mean they believe everything we do
or they know everything the Bible says.
But if they're coming in bringing arguments,
well, then there's a line in the sand where it's like,
this is what the church teaches.
This is what we believe.
It's like, no, you can't just go around
and tell people all these doctrines that we disagree with. Right.
Then it says this in verse two.
For one believeth that he may eat all things.
Another who is weak is a vegetarian.
Another who is weak.
I was just giving the modern translation right into the modern English.
Another who is weak, eateth herbs.
Right. Doesn't eat meat, basically is what it's saying.
Now, let me say this.
This is not about being physically weak.
But if you don't eat any meat,
you're going to be physically weak also.
I mean, meat's actually given by God to give us strength.
I mean, we need the protein in our in our bodies.
And in this specific situation,
God is actually telling us who is right and who is wrong.
So who is right in this situation?
The vegetarian or the person that says we can eat all things?
The person that says we can eat all things.
Now, if you disagree with me, that's fine.
If you say, well, I'm a vegetarian,
that's fine, we receive those that are weak in the faith.
You're wrong.
And I say that without holding back because I'm reading the verses,
I'm just expounding it to you.
You know, I act very friendly to people.
If after the service you say I'm a vegetarian, I'll be like,
well, no problem. It's great to have you here.
You know, it's not going to bother me.
I'm not going to try to force you to eat meat or whatever,
nor should any of us.
But it's very clear in this one who's right and who's wrong.
The person that's a vegetarian is wrong.
The person that says we can eat all things,
they're the one that's correct.
But those that are weak in the faith are those that say,
wow, you know what? Just eat plants.
Verse number three,
Let not him that eateth despise him that eateth not,
and let not him which eateth not judge him that eateth,
for God hath received him.
And so the basic idea is this, that you know what?
If you have two different people and they disagree on what their diets are
or what to eat, but they both pray and ask God to bless the food
that they eat and they're both obeying God's commandments.
You know what?
God is not mad at the person just because they're off on a doctrine.
And look, the truth is probably a lot of us have different diets
of things we do eat or things we don't eat for various purposes.
And you know what? That's perfectly fine.
People have different diets.
You can eat whatever you want.
That's perfectly fine.
And, you know, we shouldn't look down on people
that have a different standard than us.
I mean, if somebody says, Well, you know what?
I don't need any meat.
I mean, we shouldn't look down on them and think,
Well, you know, you're a bad person or whatever,
because, you know, they're a vegetarian.
On the contrary, if you're someone who says, Well,
I don't think that you should eat this, it's just like,
Well, don't go around and tell everybody why they're wrong.
Right, like if you think it's a sin to drink caffeine,
don't go and just be rude to people that are drinking coffee.
Right. Just let him do whatever they want. Right.
The Bible says in verse four,
Who art thou that judgest another man's servants?
To his own mastery standeth or falleth.
Yea, he shall be holding up,
for God is able to make him stand.
So the Bible is saying here,
I mean, who are you to judge somebody else?
Now, it's not a matter of judging whether or not
they're right or wrong in the doctrine.
Do you see that?
If someone says it's wrong to eat meat, they're wrong.
That's not what the Bible says.
But it would be wrong for me to judge that person and say,
Well, I don't think this person is a godly person.
This person's a wicked person.
Just because of this one thing, that would be wrong.
So it's not wrong to judge in any situation.
It's a matter of doing it properly, the Bible says.
He gives another example, verse five.
One man esteemeth one day above another.
Another esteemeth every day like
let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind.
I like to celebrate holidays.
I celebrate primarily Christmas and Easter,
but also other holidays.
But if you say, Well, I'm against that
or I don't like to do that, that's fine.
You don't have to celebrate holidays if you don't want.
If you say, Well, it's pagan, so I think it's wrong.
I don't agree with you,
but let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind.
Or you say, Pastor,
I know that we don't have to keep the Sabbath anymore,
but I think that I should try to have one day set aside for God.
You know, that's fine.
I think that's great if you're able to do it.
That's not what I choose to do.
But if that's what you do, then great.
Nothing wrong with that. Right.
Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind.
The Bible says verse six.
He that regardeth the day regardeth it on the Lord.
And he that regardeth not the day to the Lord.
He doth not regard it.
He that eateth, eateth to the Lord, for he giveth God thanks.
And he that eateth not to the Lord.
He eateth not and giveth God. Thanks.
So look, if you wake up in the morning
and you say, I'm taking this day off my once a week,
my my my version of the Sabbath or whatever in 2024,
and I'm going to devote it to God and I ask God to bless my day.
Praise God.
If somebody else, though, wakes up and ask God to bless their day
and they go out to work or whatever. Praise God also.
Or somebody prays and asks for a blessing on the food they eat,
regardless of what they choose to eat or choose not to eat.
God hears the prayer.
They're giving thanks to God, and God will bless them for doing that.
Go in the Bible to First Corinthians Chapter two.
First Corinthians, Chapter two.
And look, you know, one one where one place
where people can kind of get a misunderstanding.
You know, you hear me up here preaching sermons.
You might think that when I step aside from the pulpit,
I'm just like looking around and just trying to judge everyone for everything.
I don't think you should do that. I don't think you should do that.
Personally, I have, you know, plenty of things to worry about.
I'm married with three kids.
So it's like I'm more concerned about especially because Ezra likes to wander,
you know, making sure, you know, that we have our kids taken care of.
I don't care what you do in your personal life.
Do whatever you want.
If you hear me preach against rock music and you go out and listen to
I was going to say AC DC leads up
and I don't know what the rock is today.
Go ahead and do whatever you want.
Now, it's wrong.
God's not going to bless you, it's not going to make you happy,
but you can do whatever you want with what I preach.
That's fine, right?
I'm not worried outside of the pulpit what people do in their personal lives.
You can do whatever you want.
And I would say for all of us, just kind of worry about your own backyard.
Right. Clean your own house, clean your own kitchen
before you worry about other people's kitchen.
That's true for 99% of situations.
Now, your turn of First Corinthians, too.
But if you remember when when Moses, you know, judge
between the two Hebrews when he was 40 years old
and then the one person criticized.
And what he said is, who may be a ruler and a judge?
You know what the answer to that question is? God.
God made Moses a ruler and a judge, because and this is Stephen
referring back to the story, because the next verse said this Moses
and they refused, saying, Who made thee a ruler and a judge?
The same did God send to be a ruler and a deliverer.
And so the first judge you have in the Bible is actually who?
Moses. He's the first judge that you actually see in the Bible.
But you see this person.
Well, who are you to judge me?
Who made you a ruler and a judge?
And you know what?
When people say that about pastors in 2024, it's like people
that have been ordained, ordained properly and biblically
and have the spirit of God upon them.
Who are you to judge me?
Who made you a ruler and a judge? God.
So if you've got a problem with it, take it up with God.
That's what I would say.
And so when people are criticizing, why are you so judgmental?
Well, it usually shows a problem in their own hearts.
It usually shows a problem with their own sins and their own lifestyle,
why they are just so sensitive to somebody getting up and preaching against stuff.
First Corinthians, chapter two, verse 15.
But he that is spiritual never judges anything for any reason.
Is that what your Bible says?
My Bible says, but he that is spiritual judges all things.
Yet he himself is judge of no man.
Now, when he says yet he himself is judge of no man.
What he's saying here is that basically God is the one
who's the ultimate judge, and that's true.
You're serving God. You're doing right.
Somebody gets up and says, Well, who are you to be a judge and a ruler?
It's kind of like, well, you can say whatever you want,
but it comes down to God making the judgment on my life
and God being the one that gives out rewards for what you do in this life.
But if you're a spiritual person, the Bible says you will judge all things.
You'll have opinions about everything.
Now, it doesn't mean you always voice your opinion.
But here's the thing.
If you know what the word of God says and situations come up,
you can't help but just think, Well, I mean, in Exodus chapter 17,
I think he gives us the answer for that.
Right. I mean, you're going to judge all things.
It's like, well, you know, what's your opinion about?
Like, if this person committed murder, it's like I'm trying to figure out,
should they get the death penalty or not?
Well, I mean, immediately as a Christian, it ought to be like,
Well, yes, they should, because thus saith the Lord.
Whoso shedeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed.
Right. Turn your Bible to First Corinthians, chapter four,
first Corinthians, chapter four.
I was in first Corinthians, chapter four, verse four,
for I know nothing by myself, yet am I not hereby justified,
but he that judgeth me is the Lord.
Now realize that in between first Corinthians two and first Corinthians four,
you've got first Corinthians three,
which has the rewards of the judgment seat of Christ being mentioned.
So he talks about this idea of judging quite a bit in these chapters.
He says in verse five, therefore, judge nothing before the time.
Until the Lord come, who both will bring to light
the hidden things of darkness and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts.
And then shall every man have praise of God.
Now, look, when it comes to the rewards
that people are going to get at the judgment seat of Christ,
none of us have any idea who's going to get how many rewards.
I mean, we have a room full of people that go soul winning every week.
We have a room full of people that read the Bible.
We have a room full of people that are trying to serve God and do right.
I don't stand up here and have this opinion.
Well, I'm going to get more rewards than anybody because I'm the pastor.
I have no idea.
Paul even speaks about I can't even judge myself.
It's like I'm going to find out myself
how many rewards I get at the judgment seat of Christ.
And the thing is, somebody could maybe be going soul winning a lot
and reading the Bible a lot.
But you don't know the reason for doing it,
because God's going to make manifest the counsels of the hearts.
He's going to show us on the inside.
And if somebody is doing something for the wrong reason, guess what?
Not going to get a lot of rewards.
And so I can't stand up here and make judgments.
Well, this person is going to get more than this person.
Now, I can say this.
If somebody never reads the Bible and never goes to church
and never goes soul winning and doesn't obey God's commandments at all.
Yeah, they're not getting a lot of rewards.
What I'm saying is, if somebody is doing a lot for God,
I still don't know because you don't know what's inside the heart.
And you know what, what, what, what the kind of scary thing is,
is that we don't even know about our own hearts.
The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked.
Who can know it?
Now you can see through your actions.
It can kind of help reveal to you what your heart is like.
But really, none of us actually know for sure
how many rewards we are going to get or not going to get.
So the Bible saying, hey, judge nothing before the time
because you don't really know. Right.
Go to First Corinthians, Chapter five.
First Corinthians, Chapter five.
And in First Corinthians, Chapter five,
it's the chapter where there it talks about church discipline
and there's major sin inside the church, and it says here in verse 12.
For what have I to do to judge them also that are without?
Do not judge them that are within, but then that are without God judges.
Therefore, put away from among yourselves that wicked person.
And what the Bible is saying is that inside of a local church,
there are times when church discipline takes place
and people have to be judged for their sins
and people are removed from the local church.
I mean, we've had people kicked out of our church before.
You say, well, what's your opinion about those people now?
Well, them that are without God judges.
It's up to God, right?
We judge those within, and now that they're out of the church, it's like,
well, it's up to God. Right.
But the Bible saying very clearly here
that you are to judge those that are within.
So there's a list of various sins where people, if they're guilty,
would be removed from the local church.
And so if somebody is guilty of one of these sins,
why, you know, who am I to judge?
And here's the truth.
At a lot of Baptist churches, you know what you see?
It's like they have these big kids programs and kids grow up in the church.
And then you'll see a lot of young girls getting pregnant
when they're teenagers and the church does nothing about it.
Nothing about it.
It's known in the church.
People are committing fornication.
Nothing is ever done about it. Right.
And what I would say to them is, do not you judge them that are within?
I mean, why wouldn't you make a judgment
when the Bible specifically tells you?
Now, of course, it's not the job of the individual church member,
but it is my job on situations.
And if somebody is guilty of a sin and the Bible says it,
that you're removed out of church, that's the way it is.
Well, you're so judgmental.
Well, I'm not the one that made the rule. Right.
I'm just enforcing the rule.
I'm more like a policeman. Right.
I'm not really like a judge.
I'm like a policeman. Right.
Go to First Corinthians, chapter six, First Corinthians, chapter six.
I mean, literally, at most Baptist churches, they will never you
never kick you out of that church for any reason under the sun.
Unless you're you believe in a poster of rapture.
That's like the only reason they would ever kick you out of church.
It's like, oh, wait a minute.
We heard that they're like a new person is like, we got to remove them.
Right. I mean, I mean, this is I'm being a bit facetious,
but this is honestly true at a lot of churches.
They will never kick anybody out for any reason.
Doesn't matter what the sin is.
Doesn't matter how bad or how grievous.
Doesn't matter if the person is trying to deal with the situation.
They just let him stay in church and nothing ever takes place.
First Corinthians, chapter six, verse one.
So in First Corinthians, five is saying you should be judging the situation,
then in First Corinthians, chapter six, there's a situation
where they're not judging at all, First Corinthians, chapter six.
Dare any of you having a matter against another go to law
before the unjust and not before the saints?
Do you not know that the saints shall judge the world?
And if the world should be judged by you, are you unworthy
to judge the smallest matters?
Know ye not that we shall judge angels?
How much more things that pertain to this life?
If then you have judgments of things pertaining to this life,
set them to judge who are least esteemed in the church.
And when he says those that are least esteemed in the church,
you know, what he's basically saying is this.
If nobody wants to get up and judge, one thing I can promise you is
someone that's saved can make a better judgment
than a corrupt judge in this world could make.
And that's true, even if you know very little about the Bible.
You've never read a cover to cover, but you're saved.
And you know just a little bit about the Bible.
You're going to do a better job than just famous judges in this world,
because at least you're saved
and at least you're using this as your final authority,
or at least you should be on what to do in situations.
Verse five, I speak to your shame.
Is it so that there is not a wise man among you?
No, not one that shall be able to judge between his brethren.
But brother goeth the law with brother and that before the unbelievers.
And Paul is criticizing them, saying there's nobody in church
that is able to judge in this situation, not a single person.
So according to what we've seen so far,
does it seem like it's always wrong to judge no matter what?
Does it seem like the Bible says just judge not no matter
what the situation, never judge for any reason?
Now, actually, Paul says you should judge in certain situations.
And he says, isn't there anybody in the church
that can judge in this situation?
But you won't judge in inside the house of God.
But then you're going to go to a lawyer or a courtroom
and have them judge in your situation.
Right. It doesn't make any sense.
Right. Go back to Matthew seven.
Matthew, chapter seven.
That was the introduction.
OK, I had to go quickly because we got to start the sermon now.
OK, as I said, we got four points.
They're all going to be toward the end of the sermon.
Right. But look, I mean, there's so much confusion about judging in 2024.
I mean, I think most of you already are aware of the things I preach,
like, yeah, of course, we should judge in situations.
But in 2024, there's this attitude from churches.
We should never judge, you know, never say anything negative,
never criticize, never hurt anybody's feelings.
Well, I'm sorry, but I'm not going to walk, you know,
like there's eggshells or glass on the ground here
that I got to avoid while I'm preaching.
I'm going to preach the Bible.
Yeah, you know what?
Sometimes maybe it doesn't come out as nice
as it could, but just, you know, deal with it.
So if you're guilty, it's like it doesn't change the fact
if I could have said it in a nicer way, it doesn't change the fact
if you're guilty, fix it.
Spiritual surgery hurts, doesn't it?
That's what preaching is like.
It is like spiritual surgery that hits to the inside.
You know what?
I'm pretty sure that when you go through surgery, it never really feels that good.
When I had surgery on my knee, it you know, and I was out, right.
You know, they put whatever, so I wasn't awake during it.
But it's like I woke up and it's like once the pain medication went off,
it's pretty painful.
You know why? Because surgery hurts. Right.
Point number one.
God will judge you by your standard.
God will judge you by the standard you use to judge other people.
Matthew seven, verse one.
Judge not that you be not judged, for with what judgment you judge,
you shall be judged.
And with what measure you meet, it shall be measured to you.
Again, now, when he talks about measuring, he's putting this
idea inside of your head, like cooking, for example,
like you're measuring out, you know, one cup of flour
or, you know, two teaspoons of salt or whatever.
And what he's saying is depending on how much that you get out
and measure, the same is going to come back to you.
Right. So, for example, you put in more ingredients,
you're going to get more cookies at the end or whatever you like to bake.
Right. Or whatever your life likes to bake or whatever.
Right. I don't know much about cooking.
I would just say, make sure that it's it's sugar and not salt.
If the recipe says sugar, just because they're both white,
it's not going to taste the same.
OK, I know from personal experience, but go to Luke Chapter six, Luke six.
But with what measure you mean, it shall be measured to you again.
So here's the thing, if I am super strict
with people in terms of how they live their lives,
like can you believe that person,
you know, didn't read the Bible for 30 minutes this morning?
It's like, OK, if you want to be that strict, that's fine.
God's going to look at you the same way.
You better make sure you're reading the Bible a lot every single day then
and never miss your Bible reading.
I personally don't like to be that strict because although I do preach,
you need to read the Bible every day and I try my best.
I mean, sometimes maybe I don't get in 30 minutes of Bible reading.
I can't say I've read the Bible every single day since I've been saved.
And so for me personally,
it's like I don't want to be that strict on people's lives,
I preach what the word of God says, but just because people make mistakes,
man, I would never do that.
I'd be very careful about having that sort of attitude,
because if you're very strict with others, God's going to be strict.
Also with you.
It says in Luke Chapter six, verse 35, this is a parallel passage.
Luke six, verse 35.
But love your enemies and do good and lend, hoping for nothing again.
And your words shall be great
and you shall be the children of the highest for his kind
and the unthankful and to the evil.
Luke six, verse 36.
Be therefore merciful as your father also is merciful.
Judge not and he shall not be judged right after he says be merciful.
We ought to be long suffering and compassionate and merciful to other people.
Condemn not and you shall not be condemned.
Forgive and you shall be forgiven.
Give and it shall be given unto you.
Good measure. Press down.
So think about, for example, you've got your cup of flour
and you press it down to make sure that it's like perfectly one cup
or whatever and shaken together and running over.
So men given to your bosom for the same measure that you need with all.
It shall be measured to you again.
So look, if you're an unforgiving person, hey, that's fine.
God's not going to be that forgiving to you if you need forgiveness someday.
Right. Verse thirty nine.
And he spake a parable on to them.
Can the blind lead the blind?
Shall they not both fall into the ditch?
The disciples not above his master,
but everyone that is perfect shall be as his master.
And why beholdest thou the moat that is in thy brother's eye,
but perceiveth not the beam that is in thine own eye?
Either how can say to thy brother, brother, let me pull out
the moat that is in thine eye when thou thyself beholdest
not the beam that is in thine own eye.
Thou hypocrite cast out first the beam out of thine own eye
and then shalt thou see clearly
to pull out the moat that is in thy brother's eye.
Now go back to Matthew seven, Matthew seven.
So point number one, God will judge
based on how strict your standard is with other people.
Number two, you are foolish
to judge people for things they're guilty of.
If you're guilty of bigger things than that.
If you've got something major in your life going on,
that's wrong, and then you're looking down on someone,
did you see she wasn't quite dressed right?
It's like if you've got much bigger things,
more skeletons in your closet, it's like worry
about the skeletons in your closet.
It says here in Matthew seven, verse three.
And why beholdest thou the moat that is in thy brother's eye,
but consider'st not the beam that is in thine own eye?
Well, the analogy he's giving is you have something massive
sticking right there in your eye.
And it's like, let me just get that little eyelash
that's by your eye.
It's kind of like you've got something much bigger
that you need to worry about.
It's like worry about yourself
and something much more major than something a lot smaller
than what you're dealing with.
You know, you could look at people
that let's say they're on trial for murder.
They're guilty of murder.
And they'd be like, well, you know what?
I heard that so-and-so stole money from a 7-Eleven.
I would never do that.
Can you believe that?
It's like you killed somebody.
What are you talking about?
It's like what you did was far worse.
But here's the reality.
When people try to pick apart other people's lives
and find all their flaws,
usually they've got much bigger things in their own life.
And it's like, why don't you just worry about
what you're struggling with
rather than worrying about other people?
Look, when the preaching goes out in the Word of God,
don't have this attitude of thinking about,
well, brother so-and-so needed that sermon.
And yet you've got much bigger things in your life
that you don't have right.
You know, I think it's something,
a lesson that every preacher learns.
I remember when I was preaching in Sacramento
and I didn't specifically write sermons
for specific people, but you'd write sermons
and sometimes in the back of your head
there's certain people at the church you know,
this could probably be helpful for them.
And it was comical how those same people
would come up to you after the sermon
and thank you for the sermon
and say that was great, brother so-and-so,
they needed to hear that.
And it's just like, I failed as a preacher.
I retire.
I quit.
I'm done.
And it's like, and look, I'm telling you,
it is without fail.
Like I remember when I preached a sermon on Bible reading,
all the people that read the Bible zealously
are like, man, I needed to hear that.
And then the people that don't read the Bible much,
it's like, man, that was a good sermon, you know,
so-and-so, they didn't really read the Bible much.
You know what, it's like, what are you talking about?
Point number one, God will judge by your standard.
So if you're very strict with other people,
be ready for God to be strict with you.
If you're unforgiving, unmerciful to other people,
then God's gonna be the same way to you.
Point number two, you are foolish
if you have bigger flaws and bigger problems
if you're looking down on people
that have much smaller things
that are not as big as what you're dealing with.
Point number three, you are not gonna be able
to pull out and fix the problem in somebody else
if you've got massive problems yourself.
Notice what it says in Matthew 7, verse four.
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.
And so the way I like to think about this is,
you know, I like to think of like an eyelash.
You know, for example, sometimes with my kids,
they'll have like an eyelash by their eye,
or they'll have the morning glory.
And you know, maybe it doesn't bother you,
it bothers me, so I always wanna like, you know,
remove it.
And so, you know, it's something very small, right?
But what if I had something massive in my own eye,
and I can't even see, it's like,
well, let me help you get that eyelash there.
I'm gonna poke him in the eye.
It's not gonna work.
Or I think to myself, you know, like right now,
I'm wearing contacts because, you know,
makapal on glasses call, right?
You can see, I don't know if you can see,
if you're close, maybe you can, they're very thick.
I started wearing glasses when I was like 10 years old.
I'm legally blind without glasses or contacts.
I can't see.
So when I wake up in the morning, you know what?
I can't see at all until I put my glasses on.
And so, what I have to do,
if I don't have glasses or contacts or whatever,
if you try to see, what you do is this.
This is the secret.
And for those that have bad vision,
you probably know what I'm saying.
You make a little peephole,
and you can see a little bit better, right?
Look, if I'm not wearing glasses or contacts,
I don't think my kids want me
to try to pull out an eyelash out of their eye.
If I wanna be like this, trying to see,
it's like, all right, well,
let me try to get that there, right?
It's not gonna work.
And what I'm saying is,
and what the Bible's trying to give the example,
if you've got major problems in your own life,
not only is it foolish to worry about somebody else,
but you can't even fix the problem.
You cannot remove the eyelash.
You can't remove the morning glory.
You're not gonna know how to do it.
Even if you bring it up,
you're probably gonna be obnoxious and rude,
and it's not gonna work.
I mean, if you're removing something from someone's eye,
you know what, you gotta be careful.
You don't just go in and just, ah,
just try to rip it out.
It doesn't work that way.
You gotta be careful.
And I'm telling you, the person that is unspiritual,
they will not be able to help out somebody
that's actually really struggling and needs help.
It's gonna be the person that's spiritual
that is living a godly life
that can actually fix the problems.
Go to Galatians, chapter six, Galatians six.
Galatians, chapter six.
Galatians, chapter six, notice what it says
in verse number one, Galatians six, verse one.
Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault,
ye which are spiritual,
restore such in one in the spirit of meekness.
See, that's where people are gonna miss it
if they've got major sins in their life.
They're not gonna have meekness.
They're gonna be obnoxious and rude.
And you know what sometimes takes place,
that if you approach someone with the wrong attitude,
it's gonna cause them to rebel
and do the opposite of what you say
because of the way that you approach them.
And so if you're trying to help somebody out,
you don't be rude and obnoxious to them.
You actually do it in the spirit of meekness,
the Bible says.
Considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted.
But the key is that you're spiritual.
So here's the thing.
If you've got a beam in your eye,
you've got major sins in your life,
it's like don't go trying to fix other people's problems.
You're not gonna be able to help.
Now look, if there's people that are guilty
of things much worse and you're a friend of them,
you might be able to come along and help them out
if you're spiritual.
But if you're not spiritual,
you're not gonna be able to help.
That's what the Bible's saying.
So go to Matthew chapter seven.
Matthew seven.
Matthew chapter seven.
And so look, when people stand up
and they criticize a church like ours,
because I'm sure if you've got Catholic relatives
and they know about our church,
they've looked us up online or whatever,
they probably don't like me very much,
and that's fine.
I'm not here to win a popularity contest.
It is what it is.
But here's the thing.
It's like usually when people get up
and criticize churches and pastors
for preaching the word of God,
let's say hypothetically they were correct
that I'm too harsh and I'm too hateful.
Now I don't think I'm too hateful,
but if I'm slightly overboard or whatever,
here's the thing.
Is a person that's ungodly and wicked
the ones that can be able to come around
and help me to see things properly?
No, they're not.
Because they've got much bigger things
they need to worry about.
They've got much bigger fish to fry themselves
than worrying about, wow, he was hateful.
It's like, you're a homo,
and then you're worried about me
being a little bit too overboard in your mind?
It's like, I'm pretty sure that you've got major sins
that unfortunately you're not gonna be able
to deal with or fix.
But it's just like, and then you're gonna come
and criticize me for my sermon,
like, wow, he didn't have to say pangi.
He could have said gandha.
He could have said vais gandha instead of vais pangit.
And if that's what you think, fine, I don't care.
It's like, vais pangit,
I mean, he's a very ugly man, woman, whatever,
so that's what I call him.
Especially, you see his infomercials everywhere
and the billboards everywhere.
It's like, he can't help but just make you mad
when you see that all the time.
Well, I think you're a little bit too harsh.
Fine, you're welcome to your opinion.
I don't think you should judge people.
Okay, judge not.
You hold yourself to the same standard.
Quit judging me then, right?
Point number one, God will judge you by your standards.
So depending on how strict you are with other people,
God's gonna be that strict with you.
Point number two, you are foolish to judge
if you've got bigger flaws
because God's gonna judge you by the same standard.
And if you are super critical in looking down on people
for not being dressed appropriately, okay,
but God's gonna be that strict with you.
And I would say, make sure you're reading the Bible
quite a bit every day.
Make sure you're memorizing the Bible
because honestly, you've probably got bigger things
to worry about in your own life
than the way somebody else is dressed.
Point number three, you cannot pull out
if you've got the wrong vision.
I mean, if you've got major sins in your life,
you're not gonna be able to see clearly the Bible says
to fix somebody else's problems.
But lastly, cleanse yourself
before worrying about other people.
The Bible says this in verse five.
Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye
and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the moat
out of thy brother's eye.
So the Bible says, first get rid of your problems
and then you can actually see clearly,
you won't have double vision
and then you can actually help somebody else out.
So look, if you say, well, pastor,
I just wanna help people out,
people have various problems in their life.
Okay, step number one,
read your Bible for at least 30 minutes every day.
Make sure you're spending time in prayer.
Make sure you're going so any.
Make sure you're obeying God's commandments.
Make sure you're doing those things
because otherwise you're not gonna be able to see clearly.
You're not gonna be able to approach
in the spirit of meekness and actually help people.
And look, yeah, it's a good thing
if you can help somebody deal with situations
in their life, but usually the people
that are trying to help everybody else's problems in life
usually have a lot of their own problems
that they're not dealing with themselves.
Is it wrong to judge all the time no matter what?
Absolutely not.
The Bible commands us to judge.
But the Bible also commands us to judge righteous judgment.
Do it in the right way and the proper way.
Let's close in a word of prayer.
Dear Heavenly Father,
thank you for allowing us to be here today
and just getting to see this topic on judging.
And help us to be people that judge all things
because we are spiritual, we are serving you,
we're doing right, God.
Help us to all just have a personal walk with you, God.
And let us not get sucked into this lie from the world
that it's always wrong to judge,
it's always wrong to preach against sin.
Help us be people that are zealous
with preaching the gospel,
but also being zealous for your commandments as well.
We pray this in Jesus' name, amen.