The Sermon on the Mount - Judge not with hypocrisy
Judge Not With Hypocrisy
Mt. 7:1-5 1/7/07 a.m.
Sermon on the Mt. –Message Series
Mt7:1 “Judge 1not, that you be not judged.
Jesus did not forbid us to judge others, but to condemn others, for careful discrimination is essential in the Christian life.
Christian love is not blind
Phil. 1:9–10 9 And this I pray, that your love may abound still more and more in knowledge and all discernment, 10 that you may approve the things that are excellent, that you may be sincere and without offense …, 11 being filled with the fruits of righteousness ….., to the glory and praise of God.
The person who believes all that he hears, and accepts everyone who claims to be spiritual will experience confusion and great spiritual loss.
Judge – Condemn (not discernment)
Judge 2919
to pronounce an “opinion” concerning right and wrong. [1]
opin•ion
1 a : a view, judgment, or appraisal formed in the mind about a particular matter
b : approval, esteem
2 a : belief stronger than impression and less strong than positive knowledge
b : a generally held view
syn opinion, view, belief, conviction, persuasion, sentiment
[2]
Condemn 2613 From 2596 and a derivative of 1349; TDNT 3:621; TDNTA 418; GK 1463 and 2868; Five occurrences; AV translates as “condemn” five times.
1 to give judgment against (one), to pronounce guilty.
2 to condemn.[3]
con•demn
damn
1 : to declare to be reprehensible, wrong, or evil usu. after weighing evidence and without reservation 〈a policy widely condemned as racist〉
2 a : to pronounce guilty : convict
b : sentence, doom 〈condemn a prisoner to die〉
[4]
Damn
Only Christ can damn the man and the soul;
MT. 10:28 28 And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. But rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in 8hell.
convict
Only Christ can pronounce someone guilty
John 5:22 22 For the Father judges no one, but has committed all judgment to the Son,
Sentence
Only Christ can sentence someone
MT. 16:27 27 For the Son of Man will come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and then He will reward each according to his works.
ROM 14:4,7-8,10 4 Who are you to judge another’s servant? To his own master he stands or falls. 7 For none of us lives to himself, and no one dies to himself. 8 For if we live, we live to the Lord; and if we die, we die to the Lord. Therefore, whether we live or die, we are the Lord’s. …. 10 But why do you judge your brother? Or why do you show contempt for your brother? For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ.
The context makes it clear that the thing here condemned is that disposition to look unfavorably on the character and actions of others, which leads invariably to the pronouncing of rash, unjust, and unlovely judgments upon them.
What our Lord aims at is the spirit out of which they spring.
This doesn’t mean we are to condone the sin and wrong done by others or that we are to look the other way.
What it means is that we aren’t to have a condemning, fault finding, finger pointing, and mean attitude toward others.
While we are not to be mean spirited & condemning of others in our judgment and/or our opinions, we are to make righteous judgment as to the right or wrong, the good or bad of words and/or actions.
The scriptures bear this out.
LEV.19:17 17 ‘You shall not hate your brother in your heart. You shall surely 2rebuke your neighbor, and not bear sin because of him.
Eph. 5:8-12 …., but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light 9 (for othe fruit of the 2Spirit is in all goodness, righteousness, and truth), 10 finding out what is acceptable to the Lord. 11 And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather 3expose them.
John rebuke Herod
LUKE 3:17 19 But Herod the tetrarch, being rebuked by him concerning Herodias, his brother Philip’s wife, and for all the evils which Herod had done,
Jesus rebuked others
MARK 8:33 33 But when He had turned around and looked at His disciples, He rebuked Peter, saying, “Get behind Me, Satan! For you are not 5mindful of the things of God, but the things of men.”
MARK 16:14 14 Later He appeared to the eleven as they sat at the table; and He rebuked their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they did not believe those who had seen Him after He had risen.
The benefits of rebuke
JAMES 5:19 19 Brethren, if anyone among you wanders from the truth, and someone turns him back, 20 let him know that he who turns a sinner from the error of his way will save 3a soul from death and cover a multitude of sins.
TITUS 1:13 13 This testimony is true. Therefore rebuke them sharply, that they may be sound in the faith, 14 not giving heed to Jewish fables and commandments of men who turn from the truth.
Our manner of rebuke
v2 For with what 2judgment (Condemnation)you judge, you will be judged; and with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you.
GAL.6:1 Brethren, if a man is 1overtaken (caught) in any trespass, you who are spiritual restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness, considering yourself lest you also be tempted.
2 TIM. 4:2 2 …….. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching.
The Woman Caught in Adultery
JOHN 8
7 …., “He who is without sin among you, let him throw a stone at her first.”
And Jesus said to her, “Neither do I condemn you; go 2and sin no more.”
Christ to the Woman at the Well
JOHN 4 Jesus said to her, “You have well said, ‘I have no husband,’ 18 for you have had five husbands, and the one whom you now have is not your husband; in that you spoke truly.”
Christ to Saul
Acts 9:4 “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?”
He didn’t ignore their sin, He acknowledged it but w/o condemning them
Self examination rather than condemnation
v3 And why do you look at the speck in your brother’s eye, but do not consider the plank in your own eye? 4 Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me remove the speck from your eye’; and look, a plank is in your own eye? 5 Hypocrite! First remove the plank from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.
This was the sin of the Pharisees,
They were haughty in justifying themselves, were scornful in condemning others.
Example;
They were condemning of Christ’s disciples for eating with unwashed hands,
which was scarcely a mote,
While they encouraged men in a contempt of their parents,
which was a beam.
The Tax Collector & The Pharisee
LUKE 18:9 9 Also He spoke this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others: 10 “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 11 The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, ‘God, I thank You that I am not like other men—extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this tax collector. 12 I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I possess.’ 13 And the tax collector, standing afar off, would not so much as raise his eyes to heaven, but beat 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 everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”
Nathan & David
2 Sam. 12 12 Then the Lord sent Nathan to David. And he came to him, and said to him: “There were two men in one city, one rich and the other poor. 2 The rich man had exceedingly many flocks and herds. 3 But the poor man had nothing, except one little ewe lamb which he had bought and nourished; and it grew up together with him and with his children. It ate of his own food and drank from his own cup and lay in his bosom; and it was like a daughter to him. 4 And a traveler came to the rich man, who refused to take from his own flock and from his own herd to prepare one for the wayfaring man who had come to him; but he took the poor man’s lamb and prepared it for the man who had come to him.”
5 So David’s anger was greatly aroused against the man, and he said to Nathan, “As the Lord lives, the man who has done this shall surely die! 6 And he shall restore fourfold for the lamb, because he did this thing and because he had no pity.”
7 Then Nathan said to David, “You are the man! Thus says the Lord God of Israel: ‘I anointed you king over Israel, and I delivered you from the hand of Saul. 8 I gave you your master’s house and your master’s wives into your keeping, and gave you the house of Israel and Judah. And if that had been too little, I also would have given you much more! 9 Why have you despised the commandment of the Lord, to do evil in His sight? You have killed Uriah the Hittite with the sword; you have taken his wife to be your wife, and have killed him with the sword of the people of Ammon. 10 Now therefore, …you have despised Me, …
King David found it easy to judge someone else while he had a giant log in his own eye.
Rom.2:1Therefore you are inexcusable, O man, whoever you are who judge, for in whatever you judge another you condemn yourself; for you who judge practice the same things.
Reflect that perhaps the fault of which you complain, might, on a strict examination, be discovered in yourself;
Being so severe about the faults of others, while being indulgent of our own, is a mark of hypocrisy.
Spiritual charity must begin at home; "For how canst thou say, how canst thou for shame say, to thy brother, Let me help to reform thee, when thou takest no care to reform thyself?
Jesus condemned the hypocritical judgments commonly made by the Pharisees.
He called us to judge with humble discernment, not prideful criticism
Jesus reminded people to judge themselves before criticizing others because missing their own faults would leave them condemned.
It is important to distinguish between judging self-righteously and discerning sin with proper humility
So the question today is, “Have I rightly judged myself”? Am I right with Christ?
Do I rightly judge the sin of a person w/o condemnation or contempt for that person?
----
1 Condemn
[1]Strong, James: The Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible : Showing Every Word of the Test of the Common English Version of the Canonical Books, and Every Occurence of Each Word in Regular Order. electronic ed. Ontario : Woodside Bible Fellowship., 1996, S. G2919
[2]Merriam-Webster, Inc: Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary. Eleventh ed. Springfield, Mass. : Merriam-Webster, Inc., 2003
TDNT Theological Dictionary of the New Testament
TDNTA Theological Dictionary of the New Testament, Abridged in One Volume
GK Goodrick-Kohlenberger
AV Authorized Version
[3]Strong, James: The Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible : Showing Every Word of the Test of the Common English Version of the Canonical Books, and Every Occurence of Each Word in Regular Order. electronic ed. Ontario : Woodside Bible Fellowship., 1996, S. G2613
usu usually
[4]Merriam-Webster, Inc: Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary. Eleventh ed. Springfield, Mass. : Merriam-Webster, Inc., 2003
8 Gr. Gehenna
2 reprove
o Gal. 5:22
2 NU light
3 reprove
5 setting your mind on
3 NU his soul
2 Condemnation
1 caught
2 NU, M add from now on