Matthew 7:1-6 : Judging Others

[Laughter] [Music] well how are we doing watermark we are making our way through something called the Sermon on the Mount Matthew 5 through 7 and we are at a crucial passages of a little bit of a pivot in the emphasis of what Jesus is the emphasis that Jesus is making as he makes his way through this little section he's gonna address some people that have been listening and give them a little bit application at this particular moment and I will tell you it is application we all desperately need it is probably the most quoted passage of Scripture by people who know no Bible the section we're gonna look at is the favorite passage of anybody who just wants to be left alone and they love it they think it's in the Bible and they're there right but what they don't know is the way they're using it is wrong you ever anybody say something like this to you hey you ain't the judge of me right or what are you doing judge them in let you know know that you judge not or you'll be judged well that's quoting scripture but it's just not done it correctly most often I am I taught a serious a number of years ago called the most and I did the entire series because I didn't have time to just teach through the book of Matthew verse by verse or even the Sermon on the Mount and so I just did a series called the most and what I did is I took what I thought was the most difficult verse of the Bible and I taught a week on it and I took what I thought was the most comforting verse in the Bible I taught a week on it the most awful verse of the Bible the most quoted the most important the most misquoted the most essential the most neglected the most read all of those verses I'd grab one out and I would say hey this I think is the most difficult passage in the Bible to interpret or the most misunderstood passage and when I did the most misunderstood I went to Matthew 7:1 so we're gonna teach you how to respond when people say to you hey man don't you know the Bible says that you're not supposed to judge or you'll be judged it's not exactly what it says but let's learn father would you teach us this morning how to rightly divide the word of truth so we can be workmen who don't need to be ashamed people who accurately handle these words that are true there are life-giving but boy we know it's a fact there's nothing quite so dangerous as a truth that is misunderstood so teach us what you will today open the eyes of our heart that we might know more and serve you better and be the salt and light you intend this to be teach us now in Jesus name Amen let's read Matthew 7 1 through 6 that's the text we're gonna look at together let me read it to you then we'll come back and we'll have some fun picking it apart here's what it says do not judge so that you will not be judged for the way you judge you will be judged and by your standard of measure it will be measured to you why do you look at the speck that's in your brother's eye but don't notice the log that's in your own add or how can you say to your brother let me take that spaghetti Nona and behold there's a log in your eye you hypocrite first taking the log out first take the log out of your own eye and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye do not give what is holy to dogs and do not throw your pearls before swine or they will trample them under their feet and turn and tear you to pieces I'm going to teach you four things today and here they come number one we're going to talk about what do not judge means number two I'm going to teach you how you can judge rightly number three I'm gonna teach you when it's time to move on and number four what you should never move on from so here we go what does it mean or what does do not judge me well I always tell people you should never memorize a Bible verse and that kind of shocks them right except what I'm saying there is be careful when you take one verse and you don't understand the context in which it is said when you do that to anybody and even Jesus it usually turns into problems now some verses just do fine proverbs pretty much do fine on their own although you have to understand proverbs aren't statements that are always true they're just principally true and statements of wisdom that if you order your life fight or generally hold to these ideas it's going to serve you well sometimes though you might take proverbs or Psalm 53 one which says there is no God and if you don't really read that in context where it says the fool says in his heart there is no God it will get you in trouble right if you read all things are lawful but you don't read all things but not all things edify it's gonna get you in trouble if you just grab this one little verse right here do not judge so you will not be judged then you're gonna get in trouble I'm explaining what's happening the Sermon on the Mount is Jesus's effort to tell you not how to become a disciple but specifically what the characteristics of a disciple are Jesus describing the character of a disciple not the requirements if you will to become one no where in the Sermon on the Mount is the gospel the gospel is the good news that God loves you he's not angry at you that the wages of sin is death but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus some of the math doesn't teach that the closest that comes to telling you the requirement to get into the kingdom of heaven is in Matthew chapter 5 verse 3 the very beginning the first words out of God's mouth when he shows up on earth in public ministry are blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven and he's gonna start to address why you need to have what God has always wanted to see and sinful humanity a broken and contrite spirit he is yet to deny but you know what God doesn't like God doesn't like pride God doesn't like when somebody goes am I good enough is good enough every time you see somebody make a mistake they're always doing one of two things and usually both they have too high view of themselves and too low uh view of God blasphemy is when you attribute to God something that's not true or you take away from God something that is true and Jesus is telling a watching and listening world hey God is holier than you think and the reason that God gave you the law was not so you could keep it but to show you you're not doing what I want you to do now what's interesting is there's a group of guys called Pharisees that were the teachers of the law and they were telling people look this is how we should keep the law and not just the law but here's the traditional understanding of it and then would add kinds all kinds of burdens to those individuals and guess what the more they thought they were keeping the law and the more they added things that were derivatives of what that law said and they kept those they thought they were really really holy and they were not poor in spirit they were prideful in heart that's why Jesus says things like this hey you have heard it said but I say to you these guys say you should commit murder that's good Moses said that but I'm telling you that if you have hatred in your heart for your brother you're a murderer you've heard it said Moses said it you should not commit adultery but I say to you if you look at the one with less than your heart you're an adulterer and Jesus keeps teaching them the real standard of the law he's teaching them that the law wasn't there to make you righteous the law was there to show you that you're not righteous enough and even the way we understood it wasn't even full enough Jesus is saying hey your father who's in heaven whose name is holy he's more holy than you think and so he drops this bomb on everybody in Matthew chapter 5 verse 20 unless you're more righteous than the scribes and the Pharisees you won't enter into the kingdom of heaven which should make you go we'll then who's gonna get into heaven well see Matthew 5:48 be perfect like your heavenly Father is perfect don't practice your righteousness before men be righteous in your heart seek first the kingdom of God and the kingdom of God can be found when you're poor in spirit you mourn over your sin you say God lead my life and I'm gonna hunger and thirst after more of you but I can never be as righteous as you want me to be there were a group of people listening to Jesus give this message that said hey my good enough is good enough you're not that holy and more not that bad and in fact you wonder who's bad it's the people who don't keep the law like we do and don't keep the traditional understanding of the righteousness of the law the way we do now let me just share with you a couple things about what Jesus thought about these people he actually told a story in Luke chapter 18 in verses 9 through 14 it says he told a story to some people many who were listening to the sermon the man who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and viewed others with contempt let me just stop right here he's about to tell a story to those kind of people but if he had to give to mess two verses to tell what he thought about those people who think they're righteous and view others with contempt the two verses he would give are Matthew 7 1 and 2 and he would say to them don't judge because you're going to be judged if you do the way that you judge will be the way you're judged and by your standard of measure I'm gonna measure you so if you're telling me that you think people won't get to heaven because they're not righteous that I'm going to judge you based on real righteousness and it's not gonna work out for you if I had to give you a little application it would be this don't judge based on works because it won't work out well for you in the end because your works are never good enough now let me tell you what Jesus is doing is he's disarming us from being prideful and I want you to listen because it's so easy to pick on the Pharisees but I'm gonna tell the same story and add a little color to it you ready Luke 18 two men went up to the temple to pray two men hung out in Dallas on a Sunday one a Pharisee the other tax collector one goes to watermark the other dozen the watermark first stood up and prayed to himself that is what God I thank you I'm not like these other people these homosexuals these guys that slept with her girlfriends last night these divorcees that have walked away the Pharisee said these other people these swindlers these unjust these adulterers I'm so glad I'm not like a tax collector I go to watermark now I don't go to watermark I'm not a regular attender I know regular tenders are really irregular believers I'm a member I'm in community I I give to the mission of watermark I serve so glad I'm not like those other people who go to dead churches or those atheists or those Muslims or those Buddhist or those LGBTQ people those pro-choice people man I'm so glad I'm not like them and and in some ways you should be but if what you're doing right here is you're building a resume that you think is going to make you righteous and not need a Savior tune in Pharisee said I fast twice a week I pay tithes of all I get see all the comments I just made about watermark folks verse 13 but the tax collector the homosexual the immoral person standing some distance away was even unwilling to lift up his eyes to heaven but was beating his breast saying God be merciful to me a sinner let me just say this if you identify your sin but you don't really do anything about it you just know my life is miserable and I'm doing things that God doesn't want to do and I acknowledge these things God don't want to do and you never come to God and see his kindness and his goodness and grace and have that be a transforming effect in your life it doesn't matter if you acknowledge that you're a sinner but if you come to Christ seeking mercy with a broken and contrite spirit and you acknowledge that you need judgment and death and that God and his kindness provided for you grace through Jesus Christ on the cross and you throw yourself at him and in response to seeing the goodness and love of God you turn from your wicked ways and do the best you can to seek Him with all of your heart then that's good news he says in verse 14 I tell you this man went to his house meeting the one who acknowledged he was a sinner and appeal to the mercy of God and hungered and thirsted after righteousness this man went to his house justified rather than the other for everyone who exalts himself who builds a resume and turns it in will be humbled but He Who humbles himself acknowledges his sin and believes that God made him Jesus who knew no sin to become sin in your behalf that you might become the righteousness of God that person will be exalted well Christ is saying both in this story and in Matthew 7 specifically as guys you got to quit telling folks that aren't like you that they're not good enough to get into heaven like you think you're going to heaven you're not getting to heaven because you do good things you're getting into heaven if you acknowledge that there's no good that you can do if you acknowledge that you are saved by grace through faith the righteous have always lived by faith by grace you have been saved through faith and that not of yourself it's the gift of God not as a result of works so that no one can boast the Pharisees were boasting in their ability to keep the law the Pharisees were saying my good enough is good enough nobody who's a member of this church ought to ever say am i good enough is good enough the only requirement in fact for membership in watermark and in any biblical church is that you go I can never be good enough for God but God and his kindness demonstrated his love for me and that while I was still a sinner he died for me there for having me justified by faith through grace we have peace with God through Jesus Christ and then if somebody who understands the kindness of that God you go look if God is that good that he loved me when I was offensive and a tax gatherer an immoral and self-righteous why wouldn't I want to know more of him and so you commit yourself to learning his ways but you never ever turn to him and say I think I'm good enough long enough that you can celebrate that you've got me on your team no man and if you start to say and look at somebody and say there's no way you can be saved when that's your sin issue Jesus says that's not gonna work out well for you what does it mean to not judge it means that you should never look at somebody else and say because of their sin history because of their sin pattern there beyond saving you can't be Westboro Baptists God hates God doesn't hate God loves people he hates sin because sin destroys people and when you start to say that there's something that someone does that will make them impossible to be saved by God or think you're saved because of something you possibly have done other than throw yourself at the mercy of God you better read Matthew 7 1 through 2 I'll just take you a little farther you need to know this Jesus and the Pharisees they continue to butt heads because religious people will not like this message today self-righteous prideful people will not like what I'm about to say and what I'm here to tell you is there is nobody who is good enough long enough to look God in the eye and say aren't you glad I'm yours Pharisees rejected Christ's message they said you're not gonna kill our traditional understanding of righteous just we're gonna kill you you see that show up in fact as this battle continues between God bringing the truth through his son and the people who are representing or actually misrepresenting God kind of go at it you're gonna see that the Pharisees in Matthew chapter 12 14 they watched Jesus keep taking them on he healed on the Sabbath which they go we don't do work in the Sabbath healing work is work on the Sabbath and Jesus says it's never wrong to do the work of God on the Sabbath and by the way the Sabbath wasn't was made for man not man for the Sabbath the Sabbath is not something you should burden people with Sabbath is a gift from God where you can rest and meditate on him and gather together and be with your family and celebrate and stop your work and just know that God's going to work for you and remind yourself like wait continually so that when you go to work the rest of the week you do it with a heart that's full and in response to the love of God that's the intention of the Sabbath is that you can focus on the God who is worthy of all praise so you live for that God who is worthy of all praise all week long the Pharisees didn't like what he did so they conspired verse 14 against him as to how they might destroy him you're not gonna kill our tradition you're not gonna kill our religion we're gonna kill you and then Jesus does some amazing things he he deals with a person who's demon-possessed this person that is filled with an unholy spirit which by the way is everybody who's not in relationship with God is necessarily if you're not filled with the Holy Spirit you're filled with a spirit that's less than holy and unholy spirit and the way you deal with unholy spirits when you run up against them it's not to cast them out but to bring truth in Jesus part the truth of who he was in the grace of God into this demon-possessed person's life and this person understood the kindness of God at work I'm not going to go into a whole theology here of how you deal with darkness and even brokenness but suffice it to say when Jesus did miracles what he was showing is that he was God that God can reverse the effects of the fall who can drive out darkness except the God of light who can drive out the effects of sin which are disease and death except the God who is sovereign over disease and death and so he does that the Pharisees reject that Jesus did it by being the power of God and they said no he does it because he himself was Lord of the demons no when he's confronted that way because these guys were committed no matter what to suppressing the truth and unrighteousness Jesus does something very wise here after he gets in this little conflict with the Pharisees in Matthew 12 he quotes Abraham Lincoln because everybody loves Abraham Lincoln right and so Jesus is gonna quote Lincoln here in Matthew 1225 he says listen guys any Kingdom divided against itself is laid waste in any city or house divided against itself will not stand see it's so brilliant right because everybody loves him it's a favorite president and you know 16th press you knighted States and kept the Union together and so Jesus quotes him right here and anybody goes well that's a good point right and then and then he goes on and gives a couple of more reasons and and at the end of the day he just tells people we gotta beware of these guys because they're not gonna take any kind of halation he actually gets into this thing where he says they blast him against the spirit and he pronounces judgment on the nation because the spiritual leadership of the nation said it doesn't matter what the father says about the son I'm at how well pleased the father is in the son no matter how much the son says that he is the means that God's gonna reconcile the world to him no matter how much the Spirit of God does through Jesus when you reject the testimony the Father Son and the Holy Spirit there's no more testimony bring brought to bear and so Jesus says this passage in historical context that really can't be repeated except what happened right here hey that's the unforgivable sin as a nation when you take the works of God and call in the words of the devil if you're gonna follow this kind of spiritual leadership you're into judgment and the nation of Israel moved under judgment and God then didn't stop reaching out to Jews and didn't stop reaching out to the world but the nation itself was not going to usher in the kingdom of heaven because they rejected the king and so that's why Jesus now in Matthew 13 is gonna start to talk in parables because parables are a way of teaching truths the people who wanted to understand the truth but also shielding those who were scoffers from hearing more truth and it was a gracious thing because Jesus is saying hey the more revelation the more judgment and so Jesus starts to talk in stories you're gonna find out that individual Jews still trust and who Jesus is but the nation God says is about to go underneath some significant judgment and they are under this judgment to this day the nation of Israel if you want to understand more about that read your Bible Romans 9 10 and 11 God says he's not done with Israel they're still as I said individual Jewish people that are trusting Christ but by and large it's the nations that are responding to the Messiah that was given to the Jews he even tells the nations you walk with me so faithfully that my blessing of my way and my spirit in your life makes the Jews finally look up and go they're dancing with our day and we want to go back and figure out who this Messiah is that's the call on the church that's the call on the nation today of believers that we're to live lives that are so at peace with God that non-believers look and go what are you all doing who are you people and we answer were people who follow the Messiah the one prophesied in the law and the prophets now watch what's interesting is that Jesus tells another story and this is really helpful it goes to the context of what we're teaching and it comes at the very end of this little section of this conflict between these Pharisees that Jesus pronounces judgment on and I just want to say this what's the unforgivable sin today the unforgivable sin today is not blaspheming the Holy Spirit in one particular moment but it's in grieving God by standing before the Lord on the day of judgment and saying I don't want what you had to offer for me the it says in the Bible it's appointed for man to die once and after this comes judgment that's the moment where you can be certain that you have committed the unforgivable sin you have died and you've rejected God's provision for you in the person of Christ on the cross his perfect life for your sinful life and you never acknowledge that you were a sinner and needed mercy all of us by the way have heard the gospel and said I don't need a gospel we've heard talking about God I don't think that's true about God and in doing so we have in a sense blasphemy in that moment this is speaking to the nation in a very unique context where the Messiah came to the nation to usher in his kingdom and they said you will not be our King if you go back and even read the section of Matthew 12 I'm talking about you'll see that God's plan all along was that the gospel would go to the Gentiles it was through primarily through the Jews that they would see the goodness of God at work but when the Jews were not gonna let the goodness of God go to work and reject the goodness of God made known in human flesh God said alright well I'll just make myself known to the rest of the world and then you'll come back to me when you see my work through them watch this story though he tells here in Matthew 12 verse 43 and 45 it's another very confusing passage verse 43 now when an unclean spirit goes out of a man it passes through waterless places seeking rest and does not find it then it says I'll return to my house from which I came and when it comes it finds it unoccupied swept and put in order then it goes and takes along with it seven other spirits more wicked than itself and they go in and live there and the last state of the man becomes worse than the first that is the way it will also be with this evil generation you're like how what is the purpose of that story and why are you telling us that in the context of us not judging here's why because Jesus is saying to this group of people that thought they were righteous in and of themselves and better than other people who they thought couldn't be saved because they were not as righteous as them here's your problem religious leaders here's your problem nation of Israel when I put you in the land of Israel and I taught you my way and my kindness you didn't walk in my way in kindness you adopted the worship of the pagan nations you got into idolatry and child sacrifice you built the high places and you wandered away from me you went into a form of extreme judgment where eventually you were exiled in the Babylon your nation was turned upside down and when I brought you back and we rebuilt the temple now you've adopted something even worse than your idolatry and paganism and child sacrifice now you've adopted this self-righteousness and this system of pharisaical performance and your house now looks great you don't look like you're worshipping idols you don't look like the Canaanites anymore and so what he tells them in the story is we've driven out the demon if you will of bail worship but because you didn't fill your heart up with submission to me and love for God you now have your house in order and you look all good and right but inside you're still corrupt and it's even a worse condition than before why when we see people who are on the street and are beaten up and drunk and broken and suffering from years of rebellion we look at them ago man we know these people need help right but when you go into religion and churchianity and you see people who smile and hold hands and tell Bible stories you don't think that they need God all the time but man if they've never gotten on their knees and say it is no amount of Church going no amount of philanthropy no amount of singing hymns no amount of call other since them will ever save you the only thing that saves you is when you get on your face and you go I'm a sinner I'm no better than anybody else if it weren't for Jesus I have no chance the only requirement to be rightly related to God is to come to terms with your own brokenness and there's no amount of works or self-righteousness or performance that could ever make you righteous in God's eyes if you want to judge other people by the way they live and God says I'll judge you by the way you live and that isn't going to work out for you it's called the gospel and now when you understand the kindness and goodness of God you don't just keep saying you're a sinner you start to pursue the Savior that's how you know that you know that he is a good god is your life begins to be transformed and you're no longer conformed to sin in the flesh in the way of the world but you're being transformed by the renewing of your mind you now know that God's good you seek his word you be conformed to his image but you never say I was look how much I was conformed I should be saved no you're saved because you have faith in God's provision that's how you become justified and then you prove or justify that you have a genuine faith by the way you walk with this guy that you say you've come to know is good and when you don't do it perfectly you go guess what I'm a Christian I just didn't live Christian Lee will you forgive me I repent of that I want to make amends when I can and I'm gonna keep seeking God again the righteous fall seven times and get back up again the self-righteous go I'd never fell in a way that was that big a deal there you go what's it mean to not judge it means you better not judge others based on their works because it won't work out for you when you get judged by your works let me take a moment though and tell you what it doesn't mean and this is so important Jesus is making a judgment about the way the Pharisees are acting Jesus will never violate his own law he goes on to these guys that he tells that story about in Matthew chapter 12 when you get to Matthew 23 this is what he says about the Pharisees you guys are unclean he says woe to them eight times he calls them hypocrites times he says you're lawless serpents whitewashed tombs full of dead men's bones you're a brood of vipers your sons of hell and does that sound judgmental to you it sounds to me like whatever it means to not make judgments Jesus is judging that these men are not what God is looking for and what he's telling them is that you need to be somebody who knows they're sick so you can have a physician Church can I just convince you this let me just tell you Church we got to be the most humble people on the face of the earth we are not here because we're not like them we're here because the God who is nothing like us died for us I'm gonna tell you how to I'm gonna tell you how to love them in a second all right and so we should have no self-righteousness Rita come in here and sing songs about the greatness of God's love how he is faithful not we are faithful amen and then we ought to aspire to honor the God who has died for us that's what we're doing so what's it not mean it doesn't mean watch this here's the statement we are called to make judgments but not be judgmental about who can be saved I'll show you this because this is a few verses down right Jesus says this in verse 15 now we're back in Matthew 7 in verse 15 and will teach us in a few weeks but watch he says beware of false prophets that means you got to make a judgment what's a true prophet what's a false prophet who come you in sheep's clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves you're gonna know them by their fruits grapes are not gathered from thorns and figs not from thistles are they you got to be able to depth make a judgment that's a great that's the thorn that's a fig that's a thistle that's a boy that's a girl it's okay you're allowed to make judgments in fact you should and when you stop making judgments we're gonna approach he tells us to judge when a brother sins in Matthew chapter 18 verse 15 if your brother sins if you are saying hey I'm making a judgment God's Word says you're not doing this I'm gonna love you enough to say that's a problem you go to them the Bible talks about you should go to them I'm gonna explain how you can judge rightly in just a moment but I want to make it clear whatever judge not lest you be judged it doesn't mean you stop making judgments this is one of the great problems that we have in our country today we have stopped thinking it's appropriate to make judgments we talk a lot about tolerance tolerance too much of it paves the way for trouble well what's too much tolerance well I'd say it this way old tolerance used to be we ought to civilly discuss different views that's what tolerance used to mean but new tolerance is that we have to embrace every idea as equally true and I will tell you you cannot tolerate new tolerance and be a Christian we have to tolerance presumes disagreement disagreement presumes judgment and judgment presumes truth there are things that are true you guys know who let's see the guy who wrote 1984 George Orwell wrote Animal Farm right George Orwell who lived just till he was 47 years old George Orwell wrote a lot about this he was not a believer by any stretch of the imagination but he said this he said the further a society drift from truth the more it will hate those who speak of it and he says that in a time of universal deceit which is what we're moving into telling the truth is a revolutionary act and he says that further that the first duty of intelligent men is to speak the truth we live in a world that has misinterpreted Matthew 7 bullies people would judge not lest you be judged and it's extrapolated from Jesus saying there's no man that is righteous to no man can make a judgment about what is right and true that's crazy we have to keep speaking the truth it's our job and when we stop doing that because we're intimidate by somebody said judge not lest you be judged it says we should make a judgement when you can't tell a grape okay from a thorn your fruit bolt is gonna be a mess and when you can't tell a boy from a girl and a marriage that's a blessing to society from a marriage that's gonna destroy society you are in trouble if I tell you that I'm a woman and I'm Asian or I'm nine years old what am i I'm mentally ill I'm mentally ill and it's not loving to go oh I don't want to be make judgments about whether or not Todd's a man or what Todd's an Asian or Todd's nine I don't need your encouragement I need your counsel and I need your compassion let me just say this to you Bruce Jenner when he won the author Ashe award for courage I said and I'll repeat it I think he should have won the award for courage when you're one of the most renowned male athletes of the 21st century loved by all but there is something going on in you where you think that you were trapped in a man's body even though you want to be a woman it takes a tremendous amount of courage to share that with people right I don't know what you're sharing your small group but probably some of you guys if you think you're trapped in the wrong gender you're probably not just going well this week I was thinking I should be a girl right because like you like wow that's hard to share it takes tremendous courage Bruce Jenner was courageous Bruce Jenner's problem was not his sim struggle Bruce Jenner's problem was his church when his church goes we're not gonna judge you it's okay we encourage you to keep going that way friends don't let friends drive drunk and friends don't let people go through her mortal therapy to destroy their physical makeup or maybe even surgery itself to destroy their physical person because they're confused about who they are by the way this isn't even a radical idea until just a few years ago the American Psychological Association which is a group of men who study things used to say that homosexuality is a psychological disorder and now and they go you know what there's a lot of us that are homosexual so it can't be a such sociological disorder it must be people think that homosexuality is wrong there the psychopaths do you know that's just happened in the last few years and it didn't happen because of science that because a group of guys got in a room and voted and you need to not be afraid to stand up and go listen I'm not better than you maybe I don't have the same struggle that you do Bruce Jenner but I need Jesus just like you need Bruce can I tell you where I'm screwed up I think that if I have sex with as many women as I can my life's gonna be better and I need help and that is a part of my brokenness and I need you not to encourage me I need you to pray for me and remind me the grace of God that his way is the right way and I need to lean not on my own understanding because all his ways of peace political correctness guys creates profound confusion I'm gonna warn you that speaking the truth and love will produce a tax it's gonna be a revolutionary Act but it's also gonna prevent societal decay Jesus already got through telling us in this message that were to be salt and light salt prevents the k-lite brings truth into darkness and so we are not supposed to be people who don't make judgments we just shouldn't be judgmental that because that's yours them struggle there's no way you could be saved it's crazy it's offensive to God despising people because they are not good and not perfect is not good but saying everything is good and perfect is not good for people y'all with me this isn't even radical we have got to remind ourselves that boys aren't girls grapes on thorns figs aren't thistles and you're not violating the scripture when you make judgments you're not to be judgmental about different people's struggles and what God can do with them by the way I'm just gonna add this in here right now even when you become a Christian right it doesn't mean you stop struggling with your flesh I still even though I've been a believer for 30-some odd years my mind I am still prone to be monogamous I'm still prone to be controlling I'm still prone to be self-serving and I need your encouragement your prayer I need to conform myself more to the image of Christ I need to not lean on my own understanding I don't need people to encourage me and also I shouldn't be surprised that my flesh is not changed yet because Bible doesn't tell you it has any program to change your flesh here's the Bible's program for your flesh deny it consider it dead crucified and so it's a continual dying to self and if you're wondering I love God but I still want to do evil things don't be surprised Jesus says the temptation though that you're experiencing is not uncommon to other individuals and Godwin that temptation will fried the way of escape also what's the way of escape will you remind yourself of what you've come to know it's true that God is good got his kind all his ways her peace the heart is desperately sick and deceitful above all else and so I'm not gonna listen to my flesh I'm gonna walk by faith because it doesn't feel like what I want to do but by faith the guy who loved me and delivered himself up for me how will he not also want every other good thing for me and I'm not gonna think I'm better than you because your struggles are different than mine but I will say to you because I love you that's sin so second question how can I judge rightly this is really important you judge rightly this way I'll just read it to you again why do you look at the speck this in your brother's eye but don't notice the log that's in your own eye I think there's a reason Jesus talked about eyes here because eyes are really tender things is there anything more delicate to operate on than the eye and I think what he's trying to teach us here is when you're dealing with a soul you're dealing with something as tender as an eye so don't just go rushing in how can you say to your breath let me take the speck out of your eye behold a log that's in your own eye in context here the log that was in the eye of his listeners is that they thought they were righteous and other people the ones that needed to get as righteous as they were when Jesus saying no you need to be as righteous as Jesus's well none of us can be that righteous in fact that's this point and so you gotta mourn over your sin but if you start to go out mourn over my condition I'm better than tax collector I'm better than these other people he goes man that's a problem that's a problem so how do you judge rightly with humility with humility there's some verses that I always read when I go into conversations with other people that I'm gonna have to admonish I'm gonna give them to you ready one of them is in Hebrews chapter 5 verses 1 and 2 that's just the passage it talks about how every hype East among men that that offers sacrifices knows that he himself is ignorant and misguided it says in verse 2 he himself is also beset with weakness and so he can be gentle in effect with those that he's leading I always read 2nd Timothy to 24 through 26 which says the Lord's bondservant must not be quarrelsome but be kind to all able to teach about the goodness of God the beauty of his way patient when people don't like what he's saying cuz it's a revolutionary act to share that truth but with gentleness correcting those who are in opposition if perhaps God might grant them repentance in the same way I got repentance which would lead them to the knowledge of truth so they may like I did come their senses and escape the snares of the devil who blinds the mind if you Willoughby unbelieving and are held captive by him to do their will and so I realized the problem with them is not that they're ignorant the problem is that their slave to sin and death and deceptor the devil and so I come in with truth and kindness and grace telling them as one beggar to another beggar where I found bread I read Titus three three through five whenever I go in for we ourselves were once watch this I love this disobedient deceived you want Todd Wagner's resume here's my resume I was once disobedient deceived enslaved to various lusts and pleasures I spent my life in malice and envy I was hateful hating one another but the kindness of God appeared to me and then verse five he saved me he saved me not according to deeds which I have done in righteousness but according to his mercy by the washing of his regenerating power and by the renewing of his holy spirit this is God's work from beginning to end and so when I come up alongside somebody who's struggling even as a believer maybe to walk with God I come to them gently this is what it says in Galatians chapter 6 verse 1 into okay look this is holy work this is holy work when you're dealing with people's souls and so be wholly prepared to acknowledge your propensity to think that they're stupid or that you're better than they are and don't do that it's why Galatians 6:1 and she says brethren if any of you is caught in a spiritual trespass you who are spiritual restore others restore that person who's struggling in a spirit of gentleness each one looking to yourself what's that mean to make sure you don't come pridefully or arrogantly or forgetting it you yourself needed mercy and thus fulfill the love of Christ so that you two will not be tempted the scripture says bear one another's burdens and thus fulfill the love of Christ this is holy work gang let me just say this to you don't have to be perfect you don't have to be perfect before you admonish the unruly you just got to be perfectly in touch with your own need to be constantly sharpened and your own need for a savior okay so so how do you judge rightly with humility with humility okay when's it time though to move on when do I say okay I'm no longer gonna Shepherd this person the answer is you don't Shepherd pigs right pigs don't have Shepherds they've got pig farmers and we're not pig farmers wild dogs don't have Shepherds and Jesus is just gonna say listen you just got to understand there's certain people that are fools and that her sons of hell so they're gonna want to hear truth from God what Jesus saying is you got to have discernment okay and so he says don't give what is holy to dogs don't throw your pearls before swine so so when do you not admonish and when do you not correct sinners the answer is when they're sinners I'm never surprised when a sinner sins they're just fulfilling the job description I don't go to up to a pig yo why do you not want green pastures and still waters how come you don't love the shepherd cuz I Pig that's why right so watch this so I asked myself two questions all right when am I supposed to stop speaking the truth and love to somebody okay or when is it time to stop admonishing that's really the answer that Matthew chapter seven verse six is answering when do you stop admonishing here's the answer it's time to stop and mana Shing when you realize it's time to move in with transforming hope that really I'm going to skip it to you right now it really is the answer to my fourth question what do you what's it never time to do it's never time to stop loving the lost and having compassion for the loss but you don't you don't ask pigs to act like sheep I don't ask we're not we say it this way we're not into moral therapeutic deism here we don't talk about God and say quit sleeping with each other and we're gonna become more or less here what we do is we say let's talk about the kindness of God and the goodness and beauty of his way the love of God expressed through the cross and when you embrace the love and the kindness of God then we say as an overflow of your fundamental repentance from the brokenness of sinful humanity now let's learn his ways but we're not just we're not trying to get people who don't understand they're broken to behave we're not making better sinners that's Jesus's point in Matthew 7:6 what you do is go I was defined by my sin but now I'm defined by the cross and so Saints you Shepherd Saints aren't people that are better than others but they do start to live in a better way because now they don't resist God they don't fight God they learn his ways acknowledge that their own ways and own understanding doesn't lead to life and they begin to in all their ways acknowledge him who was slow to anger abounding in loving kindness full of grace and truth who did not deny his own son so you might be saved and those people that know the goodness of God and run to him we Shepherd the others we love silence is never the role of a shepherd but Shepherds don't herd pigs they shepherd sheep this is what you do though with pigs you sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts this is 1st Peter 3:15 and there's you become more like Jesus you're not going to impose your values on them you're gonna propose a better way you can say hey pigs I don't think it's gonna work out for you eating slop or living sloppy lives if you guys want to married yourself if you want to give yourself hormone therapy and change your gender if you want to abandon your family if you want to live illicit lives it's a free world but you're not free to choose the consequences you're free to shoes but not choose your consequences I used to make the same choices what you do is you give your testimony you share I used to be enslaved to various lusts and pleasures in bondage to malice and envy hateful and hating one of the kindness of God appeared to me do you know who God is do you know that this is not a rulebook do you know this is a love letter and God's rescue do you know he came to me and he saved me I'm not worth saving I'm a sinner I'm a rebel but the kindness of God pulled me out of darkness and called me into his marvelous light he loves you he's not mad at you he hates sin and Sid leads to death and death largely defines your society and largely defines your decisions and if you're not sick and tired yet of what you're doing then keep doing it but I will tell you it's not gonna be long before you're sick and tired and when you are and you come to your senses run to me and I will tell you the grace of God you sanctify Christ as Lord in your life you're always ready to make a defense when anyone asks you to give an account for the hope that is within you and you do it it says with gentleness and reference there we go so what do we never move on from we never move on from the from the gospel kindness converts not judgmentalism kindness we speak the truth in love we don't ever stop loving we realize it's a spiritual problem I I sometimes you ever do this when you go to a foreign country it's like they speak a different language and and I go there and what do I do I talk to them in English they look at me like this and so I talk in English louder and then I talk in English with an accent so that would help them and they look at me like man you got a problem you don't understand well you're not speaking the same language it's the same way with non-believers you can't keep talking louder to non-believers because they don't get it they're not spiritually appraised just like you weren't before you saw the kindness in the love of God so what do you do what's the what's the recipe the recipes you live holy lives you let God's kindness mark you you let God goodness be your song and you pray you propose a better way you become more of what Jesus wants you to become in your life and then you invite them in you give testimony of what your life used to be like and you love them and you warn them and you make judgments but don't you ever act like they can't be saved the moment you act like someone can't be saved you're a fundamentally an unbeliever in the power of God don't raise your voice man raise your love for lost people so let me sum up today's message you ready here we go correct those who are self-righteous Jesus spoke to people most of the time through tears right except sometimes he tore into people the people that he tore into were wolves and Shepherds clothing I'm gonna speak I'm not gonna speak poorly about folks who don't know God and live that way I'm gonna tell you that there's gonna be a consequence to following them and doing what they do but at the end of the day the people that I'm gonna tear into the same kind of people Jesus tore into it's gonna be it's gonna be false prophets and false teachers and pastors you don't call people of biblical Christianity or people who teach dead religion and workspace salvation those clouds without rain those Springs without water those hidden reefs those men who talk about freedom but themselves are slaves of corruption I will speak strongly to there is nothing that I hate more than a false Shepherd and a compromised Church but man to people that are and so people that are self-righteous or have a wrong view of righteousness I'm gonna speak strongly to those Shepherds correct the self-righteous secondly be a courageous Shepherd I listen it's a revolutionary act to teach truth today people go man and that's not really a popular thing to say I don't have an option I'm a servant of Christ and a steward of the mystery of God he left me here to speak the truth in love some of you might say well gosh if I do that Todd they're not gonna like me it's gonna be dismaying this is what Jesus said to you it's what he's always said to his prophets and Jeremiah 1:17 he says now you gird up your loins in other words you get ready to run you be a man and you speak to them all that I have commanded you do not be dismayed by them or I will dismay you when you are God's sis source of grace when you're his ambassador and you don't want to represent what he asks you as his representative to represent brace yourself for severe correction be a courageous Shepherd thirdly challenge the wayward the wayward sheep we need to challenge one another we need to become more sanctified here when you spur each other on the love and good deeds here we need to admonish the unruly amongst the flock encourage the faint-hearted amongst the flock encourage those who need help amongst the flock and be patient with the flock but we need to challenge one another you don't have to be perfect before you can sharpen somebody else and your community group just be perfectly aware that you yourself need to be sharpened got it and then fourthly we got a compassionately care for the lost don't raise your voice raise your love for them live holy lives but God's kindness mark you but God's goodness be your song pray father thank you for my friends and chances to to be with them today and just to be reminded what this really challenges us towards help us to not be people who stop making judgements but Lord may we never be judgmental that we think somehow work better and we're not we just have the best God who met us in our great need and saved us from the destruction we deserved Lord we don't deserve mercy that's why it's called grace we thank you that you are slow to anger so slow that's your judgment and the closing of your work in the context of human history delayed till we could come to understand who you are like maybe somebody here today can come to understand who you are because you don't want any father to perish but all to come to repentance and so if there's somebody here who needs to run to the graciousness that is offered through your son Jesus Christ I pray today would be their day that they would see you a goodness father would you increase your goodness in us may your goodness be our song may we be people who live holy lies that propose a better way our families our dating our our deployment of resources help us to go to war in prayer we know that pigs aren't pigs for any of the reason and that's that's just the state they were born into and I pray that you would save that that the the god of this world would no longer blind their eyes the way you blinded ours the kindness of God Lord we asked you would appear in their life and we know that you said it should appear through us do the way we live in the way we love the way we speak where we serve where we sing make us compassionate people we speak the truth and seek and save the Lost Shepherd the flock and we'd be a glory to our Savior we love you in Jesus name Amen some good stuff that relevant who that's relevant if you're here and you don't know that kindness would you come and if you know that kindness make him your song have a great we can worship we'll see you

Channel: Watermark Community Church

Views: 5,835

Rating: 4.7723579 out of 5

Keywords: judging, misunderstood, misinterpreted, bible, study, biblical, summer on the mount, sermon on the mount, summer series, todd wagner, watermark community church, dallas, Jesus, judge, judgement, bible questions, matthew 7:1-6

Id: Zy1fCoZ5g6U

Length: 55min 27sec (3327 seconds)

Published: Thu Oct 31 2019