This is Jesus teaching in the Sermon on the Mount. He says this, and he's still saying this, by the way. It stands written, hallelujah. It wasn't just something he said in time and yeah, yeah, whatever. No, no, no, he's saying it right now at this hour. Judge not that you be not judged. But with the judgment you pronounce, you will be judged. And with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. Why do you see the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? Well, how can you say to your brother, let me take the speck out of your eye, when there is the log in your own eye? You hypocrite, 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 dogs what is holy, and do not throw your pearls before pigs, lest they trample them underfoot and turn to attack you. The Word of God. It comes as no surprise that Christians have a favorite verse in the Bible. I think most would say, John 3.16 is my favorite verse of the Bible, you know, and God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whoever should believe in him will have eternal life. And if you're a little more erudite, maybe Romans 8.1, for there is now no condemnation in Christ Jesus, period. Or maybe Jeremiah 29 11, for I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord. Plans to prosper you and not to harm you. Plans to give you hope in the future. But guess what, folks? Not only do believers have their favorite verses, but unbelievers do too. People who have never read the Bible, and it's no shock to anyone in this room, I'm sure, that the favorite verse of unbelievers is, Judge not, lest ye be judged. Ironically, this verse, which they love most, is the least understood. Never has a passage of scripture been so utterly abused and misunderstood and misapplied as this one about non-Christians and maybe even a few believers as well. You see, because we can't speak about the sins of our age, we're judging We can't call that wrong and that right because we're judging. You can't say that what I'm doing isn't right in the eyes of God because you're judging me. And no one judges me, right? Remember the t-shirts for sale? No one judges me but God. Or something like, God will only judge me. I'm like, yeah, he will. You can guarantee it. But you know, some people think that whatever they do, they're immune from judgment. and it really has its basis from their thinking in this verse. But we have a problem immediately from the context. Jesus says this at the end of the passage, don't give what is holy to dogs, and don't throw your pearls before pigs. So if you have to determine who's a dog and who's a pig, don't you have to use some method of critical evaluation? So the word judge cannot mean critical evaluation. Otherwise, the Bible has a contradiction in the force of six verses, all out of the mouth of Jesus. So what is the answer? The answer is this, that words have a semantic, um, If you take any word and look it up in the Bible, you will see that it means various things within a area. So judge means evaluate. Your wife or your husband comes home and said, I just blew out two tires on the car because I didn't judge the curb correctly. You wouldn't think that she was out or he was out judging the curb, you're a bad curb, right? It was evaluation, right? He didn't evaluate correctly where the curb was. But it also means, and we know this right, that the Lord is coming back to judge the living and the dead. And he is going to condemn the unbeliever. Judge them, punish them. So on one side of the semantic scale, judge means condemn, and the other side, it means evaluate. See what I'm saying? Because, and it has to, because of the rest of the New Testament, indeed. In Romans, I'm sorry, in John 7, 24, Jesus says this, do not judge according to appearance, but judge with righteous judgment. So there he's telling us to judge. Does he mean that we condemn people? No, he doesn't. He means that we evaluate and we do so based upon the standard, which is the word of God. We evaluate our own conduct, and indeed, we evaluate the conduct of others on the Word of God. But here's the kicker. We don't condemn. Why? Would you like to be condemned? It says, look, by the measure you use, it'll be used unto you. You want to condemn people? You're going to be condemned. Nobody is beyond redemption. Right? Until that final day. Or their final day. But until that final day happens, either personally or globally, no soul is beyond redemption. And how do we condemn people today? It's easy. We do it a lot. We put a label on people. We stick it right on them. We tattoo them with a label. Here's a few. I can't say all of them because the words aren't so kosher. He's a narcissist. I just condemned him as a narcissist, right? I have people come into my office and say, yeah, I'm getting divorced, and he or she is a narcissist. They're in love with themselves. And everything they do is about them and their love for themselves. Now, everybody's got a touch of narcissist in them. Right? But it doesn't mean they're not redeemable. How can we condemn them? You know, you're dead to me because you're a narcissist. You're invisible. I can't see you. Right? You've heard people say that. You're dead to me. You know, and so that's one of the labels that people use. Or here's another one. She's toxic. What does that mean, toxic? I don't know what it means. But, you know, people will call others toxic. He's toxic, she's toxic. And that's the label that means no way. Don't go near that person. Have nothing to do with that person because they're toxic. You know, now they may have, areas in which they would fit a description of that, whatever that description is. But it doesn't mean we can condemn people by applying a label to them. And we shouldn't. We need to love people to life. Amen? And there are people in your lives right now that have hurt you. And it hurts. And it hurts right in your heart. And they've done things like narcissism or toxicity or other things, you know, whatever the label may be. And you just want them to be invisible. You want them to be dead to you. You want them to go away. But we cannot condemn them. And that's what Jesus is saying. Do not condemn them. Right? You see, because we're in the same business as Jesus. We're in the same business as Jesus. A church is in business. We're in business together. You came here today, you're in business. And your business starts when you walked in, but it carries on the entire week. You see, it's not me that's doing everything in the church. You didn't come just to hear me speak and say, all right, that was great, see you next week. No, you got work to do Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday. And what is that? To bring the gospel of God to people in your world. To shine, to be salt, to be light wherever you go. Right? Whether it's in a restaurant, whether it's at a factory, whether it's in the school room, whether it's in your home with your husband who's not yet saved or your wife who's not yet saved. You see, you emanate the gospel of God wherever you go. Amen? And you know, you're going to meet people that are really different than you. And they're gonna know there's something different about you if you shine the love of Jesus Christ. Sometimes you don't even need to say a thing. Just the way you treat them. I went to a restaurant a few weeks ago and, um, I asked the lady, the waitress, I love torturing waitresses, and I asked the waitress, I said, what do you think I do? And she named some stuff. I said, well, I'm a lawyer and a pastor. She said, I can see the pastor part, because you're really kind. And it's like, thank you for saying that, that some kindness shines through. That's no glory to me, but glory to God. Amen? So we are to be discerning, but we are not to be condemning. Your heart must be one of hope. Hope for those folks that they be not condemned. Because no one is beyond redemption. And God's going to use you to speak into their lives, perhaps. But you must, must, must have a heart full of humility that is not a heart full of hype. We live in the day of hype, right? We go on Facebook. We put up posts. I don't know if you do this, Instagram, whatever, and for people to think we're wonderful. You know, and it's hype. It's all hype, right? You know, and the deal is, the deeper you get into Christianity, the greater your sins will appear to you. you will realize that you are a worse sinner than you thought. Amen to that? You'll know that just about every action in your life, even if it was a good thing, was motivated in part by self-glory or something of that nature, but it was motivated by sin. And it's pervasive. You hate your sin, but it's always there and you'll have to work on it for the rest of your life, right? You have to fight it. You fight the good fight of faith. You're fighting your own sin. If you think you don't have any sin, you're not there. You're not there. God's gotta do some work on you on the inside, amen? So what Jesus is saying in a very kind of ironic and comedic fashion is that you're looking at somebody's sins and you say, yeah, you know, he's got this. And it's like a speck in their eye. And you have a beam, not even a two by four. The word is more like a beam in your eye. And you want to do eye surgery. You want to help people. That's good, right? Because you're not going to be a condemner. You want to do eye surgery. But you can't do eye surgery when you can't see, because you have a beam in your eye. Can you imagine? Did you ever have eye surgery? Anybody? Yeah, it's fun, isn't it? I had it done. I had to have a vitrectomy. Sounds bad. I can still have babies. No, that's... I've attracted me as they suck stuff out of your eye. They suck the goop out of your eye. And they have to put these two like knitting needles in your eye and you're awake and you can see. And I'm like, holy Lord. And they give you this drug, which I don't know what it is, but it's the best drug in the world because they could be cutting off your leg and you wouldn't care. You're just like, everything is beautiful. in its own way. Right? They're starring off your leg, they got their knitting needles in your eyes, and you really don't care. But they're really careful and it's amplified so they can see exactly what's going on. And when they sucked all the vitreous out of my eye, I noticed that at the end that I still had some vitreous. And I said, Doc, I still got some vitreous in there. And he said, well, let me tell you why. I said, go ahead, bro. And he said, because we don't want to get too close to the retina with that vacuum cleaner. Because if we suck that up, we'll suck your retina up, and you won't be able to see. My point is, eye surgery is delicate business. Your eye is insanely complicated. It's got millions of working parts. You could prove the existence of God by your eye alone. Right? You've got to be insane. Or as we say, blind, if you can't determine by logical consequence the existence of God from the creation of an eye. It didn't come from an amoeba. It couldn't. Hallelujah. All right, just want to make sure you're still here with me. So anyway, it's delicate, and we don't want to engage in fault-finding. We don't want to be that guy that's always finding fault with other people. We don't want to be that Christian, right, that's fault-finding. We want to be the Christian that says, oh, I am a sinner through and through. God forgive me for pointing fingers at people and things. Right? I don't want to be a finger pointer. I don't want to be that guy. My sins loom large, you know, and if I can deal with something, if I've dealt with something, I can help somebody else who's dealing with something. But I'm doing it not to condemn them. I'm doing it because I love them and I want to help them. And I know that if they overcome, they will bring greater glory to God. and the whole thing just gets better and better. Amen? That's what it's all about. Yup. And you parents, it's the same way. Now, the Christian therefore must engage in healthy self-examination with the help of the Holy Spirit. You can't examine yourself unaided. You need him to shine the light on your heart. Amen? Because we're frequently self-deceived. It's easy. And we all have blind spots. We have blind spots. People can see our blind spots, but we can't. That's why they're blind spots. And we need people to help us with our blind spots. You've got blind spots. Remember the CompuServe? You've got mail. You've got blind spots. And if we were a church where everybody was accountable to somebody, the growth would be exponential. But you know what? We won't do it. You know why? Because we're scared. I want you to think that I'm the most wonderful person in the world. That when I walk on the water, my feet don't touch. Believe me, everybody puts their pants on, if they're wearing pants, one leg at a time, right? We're all sinners, folks, and nothing would surprise this guy, I'll tell you that, right? Nothing, ain't nothing. So that's the second point. The third point is this, and this is really a crazy verse. It's a parable in one sentence. This is how brilliant Jesus's teaching is. He's brilliant. He's not only is he comedic even, right? And using irony, but he's shifting things and moving things. He is because he's God. And he says this, do not give dogs what is holy and do not throw your pearls before pigs. lest they trample them underfoot and turn to attack you. These are domestic animals. We're talking about a dog in a domestic sense. If you have a dog, right, and you set the table and your family's eating dinner, the dog shows up, right? Dog's like right there at the table saying, all right, when am I getting it? And usually, you know, what happens is the dog has to patiently wait till the end, and then he eats the cleanup batter, right? You give him all of it. Yeah, he loves it. Give me the steak fat. Yeah, yeah, give me that fat. Give me that fat. He'll eat anything, right? The dog will. And so the dog is hungry, and he wants to eat. And the pigs are the same way, even worse. Pigs gotta eat, that's all they want. The pig is like, what's in it for me, bro? What do I get? What am I getting today? You follow me? Now, the pearl, think about this. The pearl, it reminds us of Matthew 13, and it should. The pearl is the pearl of great price. The pearl is the gospel of God. What Jesus is saying is don't give the gospel to pigs and dogs. Wow, really Jesus? Yeah, because they'll trample it underfoot and attack you. Here's what we're missing from the Christian world. Are you ready? I'm gonna say it, I'm gonna say it. We are ignorant to the pace of grace in somebody's life. You can't treat every person you meet the same. Because God is working at different speeds and in different ways with people. And you can't just hit people over the head with the gospel and you think they're gonna go, I'm a Christian now. There's the pace of God in somebody's life and it takes patience. You have to love them to life and it takes patience. It takes sensitivity, right? You can't just drop it on their head and think they're gonna be happy with it. They may turn and attack you. Think about it. You're asking people to give themselves away to somebody else, even if it is God. Would I do that on the basis of a paragraph in a tract? We really are naive. We think, okay, I'm gonna give this guy a tract, or I'm gonna say two paragraphs to him, and he's gonna surrender to God right then and there. If he does, it's because he's heard the gospel 26 times previous, right? You can't expect people just to drop to their knees and say, oh, thank you. It takes time. We've had people here, I've had people in my life where their spouses were unsaved, but it was a miraculous thing. The spouses started to come to church more than one occasion. We have some spouses that are coming to church now that are not there yet, but they're coming to church. And I look at it and I get so excited about it because they just come to church. And gradually they learn about the Lord Jesus Christ. And there's a pace of grace in their lives. And God brings them. It can be with kids too. Don't think you're just gonna have birth your kids and they're gonna say, mom, four years old, mom, what time's the altar call? I'd like to give my heart to Jesus. It may take a long time, right? It may take a long time. It could be a slow burn. And so when we are insensitive to that, we really are doing something that's not loving, you know? And we need to, because they can't eat it. They can't digest it. They can't eat the pearl, right? It'll choke them. Because why? All they want is what's in it for them. you give the gospel to a pig or a dog, they're gonna be calculating saying, well, what's in it for me? What do I get out of this? Let's say a realtor comes into church, right? Are there any realtors here? I apologize in advance for this illustration. But if you're a realtor and you come into the church and you say, yeah, I'll go to that church. Yeah, yeah, the gospel. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And they're like, oh, let's see here. It's not for me. Maybe some, wait, sorry. Oh, yeah, maybe some commissions here. You don't think, I'm gonna go to a big church where there's like a thousand people. Can you imagine all the commissions there? When they find out, you know, that kind of thing or whatever. You see, people are looking for what's in it for them. And in the pearl of great price, what did the guy do? He found the pearl. He didn't say, what's in it for me? He said, I'm gonna sell everything to get the pearl. I'll surrender everything for the gospel. Because God is good, and God is important, and God is transcendent, right? It doesn't matter if you live or die, right? Think about it. Everybody's grasping onto their lives. Oh, goodness, we need all the best healthcare. The best thing that could happen to you is you go home and drop dead in Jesus. Right? We don't want to say that. It's probably not cool to say that if you're a pastor. Just drop dead in Jesus. It's the best thing that could happen for you. Really. As long as you're in Jesus. If you're not in Jesus, keep alive until you're ready to accept the gospel. It's funny because when we Well, nevermind. We can't work off a template with people. We must learn them. We must understand them to the extent we're able. Amen? So it's that sensitivity and that winsomeness that we will display that will catch people, that will catch the gospel a fair hearing. Amen? Why? Because you love them. You're not condemning them. You want to see them redeemed. And you love them. And you'd say, oh, the horror for this person to go to hell on that last day. Horror. A terrible horror. Oh, man. So we are not to be on the one side abrasive, right? Do you know those people that are abrasive? They go out in the world and they drop the gospel on people and they're abrasive. It's just like, everybody hates them. And then on the other side, it's cowardly, right? On the one side, people are cowards. They won't talk about the Lord Jesus. You don't want to be a coward. God doesn't have good things to say about people who are cowardly and will not witness the gospel to others. If you're ashamed of me and my words, I will be ashamed of you. You don't confess me before men. So we don't want to be cowardly, but we don't want to be abrasive. We want to be in the middle, and that is what? Loving. Speak, what? The truth in love. If that's all you need to know walking out of here, you got it. Speak the truth in love. Speak the truth in love. Not to condemn people, right? With sensitivity. And that's the gig. And God will use you. And so that spiritual sensitivity is so important in this day, isn't it? Grace isn't just for us. Grace is for other people too. And God is saving other people too. People that you don't even like, right? Jonah said, I ain't going to Nineveh. I hate those people. The Gentiles. And he ran the other way. He got on the ship and he said, I'm going to the opposite. I ain't going there. And God said, oh no, bro, you're going there. Let me just give you a little education. So the Lord gave him some education and he went to Nineveh. Right? And so for us, It's so easy in these days, with the busyness of all of us, to be indifferent to people. We don't want to be indifferent to anybody. And you know, sometimes, like, you ever go and get a coffee somewhere? I'm not, like, the only place I go to get a coffee usually is home, but once in a while I go to Dunkin' Donuts maybe. I don't go to Starbucks because I think even the decaf makes you crazy. But if you go to Dunkin' Donuts, sometimes the person's looking right through you. You're invisible to them, right? Sometimes you ever go to a business and do business with people in this day and age, and it's like, they don't even see you. But, okay, that's them. But for us, you know what? Every person in front of us is a human being. And you know what? Every meeting with someone, and it may be brief, Just be, have a heart of love and care. Even if it's just some random kindness you show, you know? If you walk around like that all day long, you'll just watch and see what God will do with that, right? It's not about, you know, sending money overseas. That's good, it is good. But we have a mission right here. And Massachusetts. Massachusetts? You live in Massachusetts? That's the most godless state in the union. Yeah, of course it is. So think about this. You're special. Let me tell you why. You live in Massachusetts. And they're not too friendly to the gospel here. You know. People don't say, oh, bless your heart, you know, God bless you, and I'm going to church this afternoon, and after that to the church, right? It's like, not here. People are like, what? I do love Massachusetts, though, because it's a cool place. It's terribly godless. The ground is very hard. But people are smart. And they're kind of mean. But if you get beneath the surface, you might find a friend and a friend to the end. And so that's it. Be mindful of the pace of grace in people's lives. Be not condemning. They're redeemable. Make sure your heart is well self-examined so that your eyes are clear and you can see. And love those people to life. Speak the truth in love to them. Amen? Are you with me? Any objections? If there is, please stand. No. Madam, let's pray, shall we? Our Lord and our God, we do indeed love your word and the profundity of your word on a page. As we think about it a little bit more deeply, it's just amazing that, Lord, you are the greatest teacher. You taught us, Lord. You teach us, Lord, by creation. You teach us by the Holy Scriptures. And Lord, we could never plumb the depths of your word in this life. But Lord, let us continue to dig and mine for the truths, Lord, that change lives. Change our lives, Lord, for the better. Just work in us, Lord, and fill us with your blessed Holy Spirit. Cleanse us and fill us, Lord, that we would just walk with you and enjoy walking with you. The great adventure that it is to be yours in this day and age. For who knows, we were born for such a time as this. This we pray in Christ's name and all God's people said,