Matthew 7:1 KJV 1900

1 Judge not, that ye be not judged.

How many of you have heard someone say?

“You can’t judge me”

“The Bible says not to judge”

“Who are you to judge”

Now, remember, Jesus was giving this sermon in contrast to the religious establishment of His day. The Scribes and Pharisees were proud, a part of a system, they denied the Word of God by establishing their on word, they focused on outward morality, they outwardly worshipped God but were far from Him, and they were possessed with money and possessions.

Now, when it came to human relationships the Scribes and pharisees were very judgmental of people to the problem of obsessiveness.

The Scribes and Pharisees condemned, criticized, and censured individuals that didn’t rise up to their created standards.

John 7:24 KJV 1900

24 Judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment.

Luke 16:14–15 KJV 1900

14 And the Pharisees also, who were covetous, heard all these things: and they derided him. 15 And he said unto them, Ye are they which justify yourselves before men; but God knoweth your hearts: for that which is highly esteemed among men is abomination in the sight of God.

Jesus illustrates this precisely in Luke 18

Luke 18:9 KJV 1900

9 And he spake this parable unto certain which trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others:

Luke 18:10–14 KJV 1900

10 Two men went up into the temple to pray; the one a Pharisee, and the other a publican. 11 The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican. 12 I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess. 13 And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner. 14 I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other: for every one that exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.

Jesus is telling them that they think they have the answers, they think they are the judges, but they are wrong.

In these first 6 verses, Jesus is dealing with negative side of human relationships and then deals with the positive side in verses 7-12.

So, we are contrasting this judgmental, condemning attitude of the Pharisees.

We live in an age when this verse is probably quoted more than John 3:16.

We live in a culture that hates theology and doctrine. Our culture does not like people to express doctrine or convictions.

Because of this culture, we have this extreme point of view from we should not have any courts or human institutions to interpret and enforce law to another extreme of never being able to criticize, never being able to condemn anyone for anything, never allowed to evaluate, or never able to judge lest we be judged.”

Basically, our culture dislikes men with convictions, who speak up, who confront society, who disturb the status quo, men who know what they believe and why they believe it and are not intimidated about saying it. Such men today are branded as troublemakers. They’re branded as controversial.

“Judge not”

What is the truth that Jesus is presenting in this passage?

Now the word that is translated “judge” here, krino, has a number of meanings—as a matter of fact, about a dozen shades of meaning.

It might mean “to separate.”

It might mean “to choose.”

It might mean “to select.”

It might mean “to determine.”

It might mean “to evaluate.”

Or it could mean “to condemn.”

Now you’re going to know which one—like many words, you have to see the word in its context.

Also, the meaning here will not contradict doctrines taught other places in the Bible.

“Judge not” is Discrimination.

The principle of an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth is based upon a court of law, and Romans 13 affirms the right for a nation to rule its people.

The Bible does not condemn any kind of judging or discriminating.

The Bible tells us, as believers, that we must discern. Right? That we must know the truth from the falsehood.

“Judge not” is Discernment.

As a matter of fact, the entire Sermon on the Mount is a discernment between true religion and false religion, between hypocrisy and truth.

We are commanded in Hebrews 5 to

Hebrews 5:14 (KJV 1900)

14 But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.

Paul says if anyone comes preaching another gospel,

Galatians 1:8–9 (KJV 1900)

8 But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed.

9 As we said before, so say I now again, If any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed.

1 Corinthians 5, we are told to remove those from our congregation that are sinning, unrepentedly, because a little leaven permeates the entire loaf.

Leviticus 19:17 KJV 1900

17 Thou shalt not hate thy brother in thine heart: thou shalt in any wise rebuke thy neighbour, and not suffer sin upon him.

So this idea of “we should love everybody and never judge” is bogus.

Hatred is actually not rebuking sin.

Love confronts sin, hatred tolerates and ignores sins.

So, we are to separate, evaluate, discern, and determine, so this could not be what Jesus is referring.

Romans 16:17 KJV 1900

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

“Judge not” is not

As we look at the Biblical context, we know He’s not forbidding all judgment, because He talks in so many other places of the necessity of that kind of judgment.

What Jesus, in context, is referring to is the critical, judgmental, condemning, self-righteous egotism of the Pharisees.

Stop Criticizing!

The Scribes and Pharisees weren’t criticizing people because of sin.

They were criticizing them because of their personality, their character, their weaknesses, their frailties, perhaps the way they looked or the way they dressed or the fact that they didn’t do the things the way they did them.

Criticizing Motives

They were criticizing their motives, which they couldn’t see or perceive anyway in their humanness.

You don’t know why a person does what he does.

Official Judging

When it comes to personal relationships with people, you are not a court of law.

You do not have a right to carry out justice. There’s no place in the Bible for personal vengeance. We cannot make official or vengeful judgments.

Even discipline in the church, if they want listen to you, then bring them before the body to judge.

Hasty Judging

Proverbs 18:13 KJV 1900

13 He that answereth a matter before he heareth it, It is folly and shame unto him.

Listen, we don’t always have full information.

We don’t always see what we think we see.

Have you forgotten that you are not God? That is precisely the bottom line in this sin. To judge other people, their motives and so forth, is to play God. It is to usurp the divine position.

Every time you sit in judgment on someone, every time you criticize their motives, or every time you think you have a right to make an evaluation, you’re playing God.

Every time you carry out vengeance or a vendetta or you get even on your own, you are playing God.

Every time you pass sentence on someone arbitrarily, you’re playing God.

Now, “Judge not” isn’t true if there’s an obvious sin. "Judge not” isn’t true if you follow the principle of Biblical judgment, which is always with two or three what? Witnesses.

Judge not is wrong when you set yourself up as the authority and you’re going to call all the shots, and you’re going to determine who fits and who makes the standard. And, in so doing, you’ve taken God’s seat.

Why shouldn’t we judge?

Matthew 7:1–2 KJV 1900

1 Judge not, that ye be not judged. 2 For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.

Who is the only authority that is allowed to convict or condemn?

God

Jesus is not talking of a reciprocating judging.

Where if you judge someone that will flip it back to you. or when you point 1 finger, you have 3 pointing back at you.

Jesus is making a very powerful statement, what judgment you judge, God will judge you with. And what measure you measure, God will measure to you again.

In other words, God is going to evaluate you on the basis of your knowledge, your light.

There is not a double standard.

You don’t get to criticize, because in criticizing, you play God. And in criticizing, you assume that you are exempt from what other people are not exempt from, and you miss the point.

That’s the wrong view of others. Others are not under you. They are equal with you. And God’ll judge you by the same standard.

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

We are Fallible Judges.

Matthew 7:3–4 KJV 1900

3 And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother’s eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye? 4 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?

We are not God. We are fallible and we are partial in our own favor and tend to think we have a different standard than everybody else, however, we are hopelessly and utterly blind when it comes to perception.

Isn’t amazing that we can find specks of dust or splinters in others eyes while looking through a beam in our own eye.

Listen to me, as soon as you approach someone to judge them or to criticize them or to force them to your standard, you give evidence of the fact that you are blind, or you’d be working on your own plank instead of their splinter. See? That’s the point.

What is the only gross, vile, wretched sin that never sees anything wrong in its own life? Self-righteousness.

And that’s what the plank or beam is. As long as you’re self-righteous, as long as you’re spiritually proud, as long as you set yourself up as a judge, you can’t help anybody out with any sin.

Do you realize that every situation in the New Testament, Jesus condemns sin, not the sinner, except one, self-righteousness. And there He blasted the sinner with the sin, because it is the worst sin of all. It plays God. It denies the gospel. It denies the need for redemption. It says, “I’m holy like I am.” And so the plank is self-righteousness.

If you’re really concerned about righteousness, if you’re really concerned about judgment, if you’re really concerned about truth, then you’re going to see it first in your own life, aren’t you? Because if you have the perception to know truth and see it, and you have the perception to see righteousness and hunger for it, where you’re going to see it is right where it is most obvious, and that’s in your own heart.

So now, we fast forward to today after hearing this message, we conclude.

“I’m not going to judge. I hear that message. I’m going to go in a corner and confess my sin and take care of me, boy. I’m not going to get into this.” And immediately run into two dangers.

Danger number one is we will not be willing to confront a sinning brother.

And danger number two, we will not discern or discriminate at all.

Both of these are still commanded in Bible.

so, What is

The Solution to “Judge not”

Matthew 7:5–6 KJV 1900

5 Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother’s eye. 6 Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn again and rend you.

Don’t be a Hypocrite.

Matthew 7:5 (KJV 1900)

5 Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother’s eye.

Get rid of the beam in your eye. Get rid of your self-righteousness. Get rid of your pride.

This happens with confession.

Matthew 5:3–7 (KJV 1900)

3 Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

4 Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted.

5 Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth.

6 Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.

7 Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy.

1 Corinthians 11:31 KJV 1900

31 For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged.

Remove the sin in Others.

Matthew 7:5 (KJV 1900)

5 Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother’s eye.

Now we can get the thing out of our brother’s eye.

We can’t let him go on in sin. That’s to hate him, Leviticus 19:17 says. We’ve got to get it out. But we’ve got to deal with, first, ourselves.

However, we still have this culture of toleration. A culture, that says you can’t judge me.

A culture that doesn’t want to discriminate. That want No doctrine. That don’t want to offend or get anybody upset. This culture that just wants to love everybody and everybody to be loved. We’ll all get together.”

So, Jesus, has a final word to them.

Matthew 7:6 KJV 1900

6 Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn again and rend you.

This is a fascinating verse, and I want to pull it together for you, because I think it’ll really open your understanding.

Dogs in those days were not the little nice smelling, painted nails, rhinestone collars, funny little sweater things that flip flop around the houses today. They were not the little lap dog, pet dog things that we spend a fortune on and all.

Dogs in those days, apart from the dogs that worked with the flocks, the dogs in the cities were a mongrel, ugly big bunch of dogs that scavenged around the city and ate the garbage, and they were a horrible, ugly bunch of wild dogs.

They lived in the garbage heaps. And holy things were not to be thrown to the dogs.

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

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

Jesus is saying, “Anybody knows you don’t throw the holy part of a sacrifice to a bunch of wild dogs.”

In other words, the Lord is saying, “Look, you’d better be discriminating in your ministry. There are some people who will hear your criticisms and who will respond to your work and respond to your word and respond to your efforts, but don’t waste the precious truths on those who would shred it and tear it without a thought of its significance.”

And then He gives them a second illustration. By the way, dogs were so rotten they even ate people in those days. When Jezebel fell out of a window, the dogs came over and ate her up. And, by the way, to be eaten by a dog was considered a curse. So they were a vile bunch.

Secondly, He says hogs. Dogs and hogs. He says, “You don’t throw pearls to swine, either, because they’ll trample them under their feet, and they’ll get so angry they’ll turn and tear you up.

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

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

Here is the tremendous truth.

We have to learn in our ministry to be discriminating. You don’t say everything to everybody.

Paul even said to the Corinthians,

1 Corinthians 3:1 KJV 1900

1 And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ.

Jesus to His disciples could only reveal certain things, and He had to hide other things. And to the world it says, “And He hid them from them and revealed other things unto the babes.” Jesus didn’t say everything to everybody. When Jesus rose from the dead He never one time appeared to an unbeliever. Never once.

Now, who are the hogs and the dogs? Look at 2 Peter 2, and I’ll show you. 2 Peter 2. It says, in this chapter, that there were false prophets among the people.

2 Peter 2:1 KJV 1900

1 But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction.

2 Peter 2:2 (KJV 1900)

2 And many shall follow their pernicious ways; by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of.

Listen, many are going to follow the pernicious ways of false prophets, false teachers.

So all the people who are involved in the false systems of religion, the adamant, covetous, lustful, evil, vile people, such as those who were drowned in the flood, verse 5,

2 Peter 2:6 (KJV 1900)

6 And turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrha into ashes condemned them with an overthrow, making them an ensample unto those that after should live ungodly;

those who were destroyed in Sodom and Gomorrah for their homosexuality, those who walk in the lust of uncleanness, who are self-willed, who mock angels, who are scabs. He calls them scabs. Filth spots.

2 Peter 2:14 (KJV 1900)

14 Having eyes full of adultery, and that cannot cease from sin; beguiling unstable souls: an heart they have exercised with covetous practices; cursed children:

Verse 14, cursed children, in the way of Balaam.

2 Peter 2:17 KJV 1900

17 These are wells without water, clouds that are carried with a tempest; to whom the mist of darkness is reserved for ever.

Verse 17, wells without water. Liars. So forth.

And who have, verse 20,

2 Peter 2:20 (KJV 1900)

20 For if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein, and overcome, the latter end is worse with them than the beginning.

And then verse 22,

2 Peter 2:22 (KJV 1900)

22 But it is happened unto them according to the true proverb, The dog is turned to his own vomit again; and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire.

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

Now, what is it saying? What is the holy thing, and what is the pearl? I believe without a doubt it’s the Word of God. It’s the truth of the Word of God, encompassing the gospel and all of the contents of the Scripture.

I go to speak sometimes in places where I’m not speaking to Christians. I’m very careful how I use the Bible, because there are things they will reject. There are things they will refuse. There are things they will mock and despise. And I choose not to give them that opportunity, for the precious treasures of God’s Word.

We must make judgments, beloved, but they must be proper, righteous judgments.

We must discriminate, and we must deal with sin in the life of another brother or sister.

But we must never be judgmental and critical, because we set ourselves up as some self-righteous judge. And I’ll tell you frankly, folks, it all comes down to an attitude. And I say this because I really believe this. It all comes down to an attitude.

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

Ultimately, it comes to that decision.

Romans 2:1–10 KJV 1900

1 Therefore thou art inexcusable, O man, whosoever thou art that judgest: for wherein thou judgest another, thou condemnest thyself; for thou that judgest doest the same things. 2 But we are sure that the judgment of God is according to truth against them which commit such things. 3 And thinkest thou this, O man, that judgest them which do such things, and doest the same, that thou shalt escape the judgment of God? 4 Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering; not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance? 5 But after thy hardness and impenitent heart treasurest up unto thyself wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God; 6 Who will render to every man according to his deeds: 7 To them who by patient continuance in well doing seek for glory and honour and immortality, eternal life: 8 But unto them that are contentious, and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, indignation and wrath, 9 Tribulation and anguish, upon every soul of man that doeth evil, of the Jew first, and also of the Gentile; 10 But glory, honour, and peace, to every man that worketh good, to the Jew first, and also to the Gentile: