7 “Do not judge, or you too will be judged. 2 For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.
3 “Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? 4 How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? 5 You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.
6 “Do not give dogs what is sacred; do not throw your pearls to pigs. If you do, they may trample them under their feet, and then turn and tear you to pieces.
V1 is one everybody likes to quote but the problem is, they're taking it completely out of context.
It obviously does not mean that we are not to exercise discernment.
V6 Do not give dogs what is sacred; do not throw your pearls to pigs.
It takes discernment to be able to tell who the dogs and pigs are.
v15 “Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves.
It takes discernment to be able to tell who are false prophets and wolves in sheep's clothing.
It does not mean we are not to determine good from evil.
Hebrews 5:14 But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil.
It does not mean that we are not to confront fellow believers about their sin.
Matthew 18 15 “If your brother sins against you, go and show him his fault, just between the two of you. If he listens to you, you have won your brother over.16 But if he will not listen, take one or two others along, so that ‘every matter may be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.’ 17 If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if he refuses to listen even to the church, treat him as you would a pagan or a tax collector.
1 Corinthians 5:9 But now I am writing you that you must not associate with anyone who calls himself a brother but is sexually immoral or greedy, an idolater or a slanderer, a drunkard or a swindler. With such a man do not even eat.
In fact, that type of confrontation is an act of love.
Leviticus 19:17 “‘Do not hate your brother in your heart. Rebuke your neighbor frankly so you will not share in his guilt.
We are not to be pushovers when it comes to the truths of Scripture.
Galatians 1:9 As we have already said, so now I say again: If anybody is preaching to you a gospel other than what you accepted, let him be eternally condemned!
So we know that v1 does not mean we are not supposed to judge at all.
So what does it mean?
It means we are not supposed to be judgmental. We are not supposed to have a critical, self-righteous, condemning spirit.
John 7:24 Stop judging by mere appearances, and make a right judgment.
Righteous judgment, yes. Harsh and judgmental criticism, no.
We are not supposed to make judgments of personal vengeance in retaliation for a crime committed against us. That is up to the courts of law to do.
We should not make hasty judgments, without all the facts. Proverbs 18:13 He who answers before listening—that is his folly and his shame.
We are not to make judgments based on man-made rules.
We are not to make unjust judgments based on bribes.
We are not to make unmerciful and unrelenting judgments with no room for forgiveness, mercy and grace.
We are not to judge people's motives because we cannot possibly know them.
We are not to sit in judgment - that belongs to God and He has committed that responsibility to the Son. We are not to usurp that authority.
Yes, we are to judge biblically (Matthew 18) but we cannot set ourselves up as the authority who sets the standard.
If we are truly passionate about holiness, righteousness and truth, then we will first and foremost be concerned with our own sin, and then with that same meek and humble attitude we will be able to deal with a sinful brother or sister with the goal of restoration, not condemnation.
Psalm 51:10-13 Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me. Then I will teach transgressors your ways, and sinners will turn back to you.
When we first humbly deal with our own sin, confessing it to the Lord and receiving forgiveness, then we will have the right attitude and motive for confronting a fellow believer. He's not saying that we're to leave our sinning brother to his own devices. He's telling us to deal with our own sin first. Then our help will be the right kind - humble, merciful, meek.
Galatians 6:1 Brothers, if someone is caught in a sin, you who are spiritual should restore him gently. But watch yourself, or you also may be tempted.
Here's MacArthur's explanation of v6....
Jesus says, "Anybody knows you don't throw the holy part of a sacrifice to a bunch of wild dogs." In other words, the Lord is saying, "Look, you'd better be discriminating in your ministry. There are some people who will hear your criticisms and who will respond to your work and respond to your word and respond to your efforts, but don't waste the precious truths on those who would shred it and tear it without a thought of its significance."...
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."...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....
Now, who are the hogs and the dogs? Look at II Peter 2, and I'll show you. II Peter 2. It says, in this chapter, that there were false prophets among the people.....And verse 2 says, "And many will follow their pernicious ways."..So all the people who are involved in the false systems of religion, the adamant, covetous, lustful, evil, vile people, such as those who were drowned in the flood, verse 5, those who were destroyed in Sodom and Gomorrah for their homosexuality, those who walk in the lust of uncleanness, who are self-willed, who mock angels, who are scabs. He calls them scabs. Filth spots. Verse 14, cursed children, in the way of Balaam. Verse 17, wells without water. Liars. So forth.
And who have, verse 20, "escaped the pollutions of the world through a head knowledge of the Lord Jesus, but have turned away from it." And then verse 22, "that it has happened unto them according to the true proverb. The dog is turned to his own vomit again, and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire."
You could take one of those street dogs and bring him in and try to change his diet, but he'll go right back to his vomit. You can take a hog in the house, clean it up, leave the door open, it'll be right back in the slop. Hogs and dogs are those who, having known the truth, have followed the way of false teachers and false prophets and liars and deceivers...
we should not allow them to trample under their evil feet the purity of the gospel message.
That's a hard, hard word from the Lord, because it's difficult to distinguish so much in our own mind that we have to be dependent on the Lord. When the disciples were sent out in Matthew, chapter 10, he said, "If you come to a place and they don't hear your message, you leave that place, and you shake the dust off your feet." Listen, Jesus was patient with Peter and He was patient with Thomas, but He didn't say one single to Herod Antipas, because Herod Antipas had a hard heart, and He didn't waste the pearls. See?
And the apostle Paul in the 18th chapter of Acts went and he preached to the Jews and they blasphemed and they mocked and they rejected, and he said, "Your blood be on you. From now on I go to the Gentiles." He turned his back and walked out. You say, "Well, what about them?" Well, listen, later, some of them were saved. But they had to be saved by coming to the gospel, not by the gospel coming to them. Paul turned his back and walked out.
There comes a time, you see, when we have to be careful. In John's epistle, he says, "If somebody comes to your door and he belongs to one of these false systems, don't let him in your house and don't you bid him godspeed." You say, "Well, what about his soul? Maybe I could win him to the Lord." You let God take care of that. Don't you let him trample the pearl. Don't you throw holy things to dogs.
Now, what is it saying? What is the holy thing, and what is the pearl? I believe without a doubt it's the Word of God. It's the truth of the Word of God, encompassing the gospel and all of the contents of the Scripture.
Tomorrow's scripture focus: Matthew 7:7-12
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