[0:00] Please join me in Luke chapter number 6. Maybe in the future we'll let Charlotte tell you some of the things in her life that led to the writing of it, but she had plenty to do today and just singing it.
[0:11] We'll do that for another day. Luke chapter number 6 as we will study this. I only have one friend who is a judge, that is Paige to be a judge. Her name is Judge Toler out of Gainesville, and we would be friends.
[0:24] She met Greg last year, and Greg kept referring to her as your majesty instead of your honor. She really liked that. So Greg also has a friend that is a judge, Judge Toler.
[0:38] But other than that, I don't have anybody else on my list of friends that are paid to be a judge as their profession, but I must say that I probably have many friends who make their lives being judges, unpaid, unsolicited, and they give their lives to it.
[0:54] It's really become America's favorite pastime, right? Even better than baseball, judging one another. Probably the reason that reality TV is so much fun, right? Because you say, man, I thought I was messed up until I saw that family.
[1:08] Those people have problems. And collectively we sit around and we judge other people, and we want to talk about that today. As I jokingly said, the Bible says you shouldn't judge other Christians.
[1:20] As the Bible says, we must judge other Christians. The Bible is clear on that. And so we're going to talk about what that means. Funny story. We're about two old men that would sit around and argue together.
[1:33] My grandfather was part of a group like this. We would meet at the court square, and they would trade pocket knives. We'd always end up with the same pocket knife that he took. But after a morning of arguing about why the city council was so dumb or whatever was going on, that's what they spent their time having a conversation about.
[1:50] But these two men were arguing, and they said, the one man said, he said, I would hate to be a fish. They were looking at this pond, and they said, I would hate to be a fish. It's a boring life.
[2:00] All you do is swim around. It would be horrible to be a fish. And the other man says, you've never been a fish before. You have no idea what it's like to be a fish. And the older man looked at him and he said, well, you have never been me, so you don't know what it's like for me to consider being a fish because you don't know me, right?
[2:18] And so, so many times we judge people as fishes as in fact that we do not know what it's like to live in their skin or live in their scales, but we make a decision predetermined for them.
[2:30] My kids play four square in the front of our house, but we call it the bait team practice. We don't even really need a ball. All we do is go out there and they say, the ball hits you.
[2:41] The ball hit the line. I mean, that's what we spend the majority of our time doing is having a debate and judging one another, the saying, I know that you did not tell the truth because you never tell the truth when you do this.
[2:55] And then Tinsley makes up new rules and that creates problems. And it ends up just being a fight. And we find that sometimes if we're not careful that we enjoy that more than we should, that we enjoy living like that.
[3:09] The Apostle Paul, through inspiration of scriptures in 1 Corinthians 4 verse 5 says this, Therefore, judge nothing before the time until the Lord come, who both will bring to life the hidden things of darkness and will make manifest the counsels of the heart, and then shall every man have praise of God.
[3:29] Don't judge other Christians is what you could say. It says judge nothing before time. But in the same letter in 1 Corinthians 5 verse 12, it says, For what have I do to judge them also that are without?
[3:41] Do you not judge them that are within? In 1 Corinthians, we will see examples of how the church is to bring and to judge the sins of Christians.
[3:53] So here in this passage, you could quickly say it says we aren't the judge and we are the judge, but we know it must mean we are to judge properly. This is, the Bible would say in Luke 6.36, or it would tell us in John 7.24, Judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment, which is to say that there is a proper way to judge in an improper way.
[4:17] So is Paul contradicting himself? No, Paul simply giving instructions on how things must be judged and not judged. This Luke 6.36, judge not, this is not a life verse for those who simply want to live their lives in sin undisturbed.
[4:35] The most common occurrence of this being used in our today's culture is to be a life verse to say, don't bother me, don't disturb me, do not tell me that I'm living in sin.
[4:47] Unbelievers would share this verse, believers would share this verse, that is not at the heart of what Jesus was saying when he said, judge not. Critical thinking, not being critical people, but critical thinking, discernment, a right judgment, it belongs to every mature disciple of Christ.
[5:08] We need God to give us an understanding about a righteous judgment, what is right and what is wrong. And so here, let me, before I get into those four things that I told you on how the Bible will tell us that we should judge, let me quickly tell you some ways that I know most certainly we are not to judge.
[5:26] 1 Corinthians 4.5, I've already read it, but at this point I want to emphasize, therefore judge nothing before the time until the Lord come, who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, who will make manifest the counsels of the heart.
[5:41] How are you to know someone's heart? How are you to know the motive? I'm going to now give a NASCAR illustration. I believe in our 15 years we have never had a NASCAR illustration.
[5:53] I know that I've certainly never given one, and I'm afraid it's going to be lost on most of you. Hope Brother Brett hears this. He won't miss it. But a couple years ago, a NASCAR driver named Tony Stewart was racing in a smaller track and on a dirt track.
[6:09] Some of you may know this story. And him and another man got into an altercation on the track, and then the man wrecks and he gets out of his car. All the other cars are slowing down.
[6:20] The man gets out of his car and he heads towards Tony Stewart's car, which is coming around the corner. And Tony Stewart hits him and the man dies.
[6:31] And so you can find tons of articles that are going to tell you that Tony Stewart was trying to avoid hitting the man. That's one thing that people see. They see it clearly on the video.
[6:42] Other people see that he was trying to scare him and just wanted to brush by him. Those people believe that they know that completely. Others said that he did not mean they hit him at all, that in that car he did not have the visibility needed to see the man.
[6:57] But what you're going to find is that everybody knows certainly what he did because they tell you they know the man's heart and motives. But not a single person in this world is ever going to know what was in his heart besides that man and God.
[7:14] And so we're told here in this passage that we cannot judge the motives or the intent of another man's heart, but on the count that the Lord in the end will make all things known.
[7:26] So that's one way we're not to judge. We're not to judge something that is not sinful behavior. Don't judge others based on decisions, actions, perspectives, words, or a personality that concerns us if those things are not explicitly sinful.
[7:44] As a young parent, I remember asking Stephanie many times, can he be in trouble for this? And she says, no, it's not wrong. They're just being weird. All right. And so I'm like, you sure this isn't wrong?
[7:56] No, it's not wrong. You can eat ketchup with anything if you really want to. All right. It's not sin. It's just weird. And that's a funny example.
[8:07] But apparently in the Bible, in the story that's told about Paul and Apollos that were given here and Peter, that people were making judgments based upon personality types and differences that would be there, but that we were told to have a righteous judgment and something that is a judgment that's not based on sinful behavior and that's based on believing you can know a person's heart without seeing an action that would explicitly state it is not righteous judgment.
[8:35] Another way is with hypocrisy. Matthew 7, 4. 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?
[8:46] It doesn't mean that we're not to help others, but we're first to take heed to our own heart and ask God to look at our motives and the sincerity of our heart.
[8:57] Are we loving and are we caring? Do we hate sin? Do we love the person that we're addressing? That's the first thing that needs to be done because in Matthew 7, 5, it says, Thou hypocrite, but then it tells you, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye, then shalt thou see clearly that cast out the mote of thy brother's eye.
[9:16] A mote or a beam in our eyes are things that should not be there, and we should lovingly help one another remove those because they would hurt. Another way that we're not supposed to judge is without mercy.
[9:29] Hypocrisy is never a friend of mercy. When we're judging one another is in hypocrisy, we're never going to extend mercy as we should. And so when we spend time noticing others' sin more than our own, then we're going to struggle to wear a spirit of meekness as we're commanded to in Galatians 6, 1.
[9:49] I do not care if you learn how you put on a tie or any of the different things you choose to wear on a Sunday, but there's one thing that every one of us should put on on every day of our lives, and that is, So we would have here the spirit of meekness that we wouldn't make a judgment to other people without mercy, without being hypocritical on things that aren't sin, believing that you can know things about the heart that are not being evidenced.
[10:25] And so it leads, all of that would lead to a false balance. It's been said, we have a way of swelling other specks into logs and shrinking our own logs in the specks. We jokingly say, what's the difference between a minor surgery and a major surgery, right?
[10:40] A major one is one that you're having. A minor is one something that somebody else is having. It's how we always look at things. Things in our lives are always bigger, but in this case, we often reverse it. Your brother's sin is bigger than the sin that you are facing.
[10:52] But the Bible would say, and it shall be given to you, good measure pressed down and shaken together, running over shall men give their wisdom. For with the same measure that you meet with all shall it be measured to you again.
[11:05] The measuring stick that you would take to measure the sin in another person's life must be the same measuring stick that you would take and would apply to your own life. And we all know exactly what that measuring stick would be.
[11:17] It would be only the word of God, not personality, not preference, not things that aren't explicitly sin, but only the word of God. And we should be generous, generous people.
[11:29] James 2, 13, for he shall have judgment for ye, for he shall have judgment without mercy that has shelled no mercy and mercy rejoices against judgment. Those that would give a judgment without mercy would be people that would receive judgment without mercy.
[11:46] Generous, merciful judgment takes energy and time. It is far easier to madly swing the gavel and just say guilty, guilty, guilty on everybody you see and everything that they do.
[12:00] But it takes time to be merciful and ask God for wisdom and discernment, to ask God to look at your own heart and your own life. Because what? There are some things in which that we must judge.
[12:12] Matthew 12, 33, either make the tree good for his fruit good or else make the tree corrupt and his fruit corrupt for the tree is known by his fruit.
[12:23] Christians must judge explicitly sinful behavior of professing Christians. When do these hidden sinful purposes of the heart reveal themselves in a person's explicitly sinful behavior?
[12:37] A story out of 1 Corinthians chapter number 5 verse 3. Paul, who wasn't present to pass judgment on a man who was engaged in sexual morality, says in 1 Corinthians 5 verse 3. For barely as absent in body but present in spirit, have judged already as though I were present concerning him that hath so done this deed.
[12:57] He was explicitly instructed to the Corinthian church to pass judgment on this man due to his behavior. Because unlike the story of the NASCAR driver, his actions did not clarify what was in his heart.
[13:09] The actions of a man living in morality, being unfaithful to his wife, a man involved in sex outside of marriage, is a person who has explicitly sinned against the Scripture.
[13:22] And in doing so, then there ought to be a judgment that would be said about his heart. 1 Corinthians 5, 12 and 13. For what have I to do to judge them also that are without?
[13:33] Do judge them that are within. For them that are without God, judge us. Therefore, put away from among yourselves that wicked person. When we sin, our Christian brothers and sisters have an obligation to judge us.
[13:47] They must not condemn us, but they must, out of love, call us to repent. And such a judgment is a grace, an expression of God's kindness, and they only compound their sin if they take offense.
[14:01] Romans 2, 4. Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance along suffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance.
[14:12] That the goodness of God is what would call all of us back to repentance. To have friends that would say that I love you too much to see you continue in this is a great gift from our God.
[14:26] To have a parent in your life that says, I'm not going to allow you to live life outside of the boundaries of it, and a parent would speak to you, kids, teenagers in here, that is a gift.
[14:37] To have friends and a church family that would do that, that is a gift. And so that brings us to the four things I've mentioned already, which is on how are we to judge?
[14:48] This can be hard when we look at the context of what's being asked to rightfully judge, just not those who you love, but even those who do not love you. And so I said that it was important that we saw the context because we're being told here that in this judging that it's supposed to be done upon those that are not even loving to you, those that do love you.
[15:09] We just ended that whole portion there on what it meant to love your enemies. And it is hard to have a righteous judgment if you do not let your spirit and emotions be controlled by the word of God.
[15:24] My kids, in a small example, could tell you that in my home, I wear my glasses so I can see you, and I don't wear my glasses so I don't see you, all right? Sometimes one's more helpful than another, all right, when preaching, all right?
[15:38] And so when sometimes in my home, my decisions on my kids are not equal in weight, the same offense in my home can bring a different decision from me based on my emotion or maybe how much it affected me.
[15:56] Yesterday, I wanted to take a nap, and Carson did not want me to take a nap, all right? And so Carson knocking on my door was a very high crime in my land, okay?
[16:09] He had broken many laws, and the punishment for doing that was very extreme, all right? Where there was other times it wasn't very extreme because I wanted to go back to my nap, all right?
[16:21] But if I wasn't in the middle of the nap, it could have been mowing every yard in the neighborhood, all right? It could have been something. But other times, Selah can wake me up from a nap, and it would not be the same offense at the same time.
[16:35] And that's a very poor example to say that if we are going to be grounded by the Word of God, we will be fair and balanced and merciful and loving to the person who is easy to love.
[16:47] And then also in the passage says those who are not easy to love as well because we're not going to be determined based upon feelings, but we're going to be determined upon what does the Word of God say.
[16:58] And the first thing I find in the Scripture is that we must be prayerfully slow to condemn. Judge not, and you shall not be judged. Condemn not, and you shall not be condemned. Forgive, and you shall be forgiven.
[17:10] Jesus is saying, in the circumstances of you not being loved well, in the circumstances of you being mistreated, be slow to condemn. He is asking you to operate in the opposite direction of your instincts and to say, be controlled by the Holy Spirit and do not let your emotions and your instincts take over here.
[17:33] We should have a healthy suspicion of our own pride, keeping Jesus' words in our ears and say we should move prayerfully slow.
[17:44] You may say prayerfully is not a word that describes slow. I'm the one preaching today, people, all right? And so we can move prayerfully slow when it comes to that.
[17:54] And what is a way in which we would do that? Is we see one another as a brother. Romans 14.10, Why dost thou judge thy brother? Or why hast thou said it not thy brother? For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ.
[18:08] Thy brother. There's an emphasis to say there is a relationship. I have told you in here before that the brother talk for me used to be a little bit weird, meaning that when I was in Walmart and I was with some teenagers and one of them yelled across Walmart and yelled, Brother Trent, it's on aisle three.
[18:25] And everybody around me turned and said, oh, you're a brother. I had no idea that I was there because sometimes unchristian people that aren't Christian, that aren't together in a church, don't understand our brother, sister language.
[18:38] Brother is not just something we call somebody because we don't know their name, right? Jonathan, all right? Brother is something that we would call somebody to remind them that we're in a family together.
[18:49] And so in judging another Christian on explicit sin, one of the things that is going to help us move prayerfully slow is that we recognize that they are our brother and we treat them as a brother in Christ.
[19:03] If you want to invest time into conflict resolution, deal with yourself 99% of the time recognizing, is your heart set towards the person as it should?
[19:14] Do you love them as a brother? Do not set at naught or despise your brother. It says, do not set at naught. We despise them. Don't treat your brother scornfully without brotherly affection.
[19:25] Recognize that one day we will all be judged. Romans 14, 10 through 12. Look at the emphasis here. But why dost thou judge thy brother? Or why dost thou not set at naught thy brother?
[19:36] For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ. For it is written, as I live, saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to me and every tongue shall confess to God. So then every one of us shall give account of himself to God.
[19:50] Reckon moving prayerfully slow by recognizing that they are our brother or sister in Christ and recognizing that there will come a time that we will all give an account for our decisions that were made. That all of us will bow our knees.
[20:03] All of us will stand before a perfect judge. And then we re-examine. The first thing we do in circumstances are going to seek not to quickly condemn and move prayerfully slow.
[20:13] To those that have done wrong, we must re-examine ourselves. Re-examine ourselves where we are going to re-examine our own motives in getting involved.
[20:25] So the first one is that we would move prayerfully slow to condemn. The second one here, it says, But we not only must be quick to forgive, but to also give. Slow to condemn, quick to forgive, and to give.
[20:40] And you shall not be condemned. Forgive and you shall be forgiven. What's your instinct? It is to say, you're wrong. You've caused all this. What does Jesus say? Be quick to forgive. Be slow to condemn.
[20:51] But be quick to forgive. You see, forgiveness is how a love will cover a multitude of sin. 1 Peter 4, 8, And above all things, have fervent charity among yourselves, for charity shall cover the multitude of sins.
[21:06] And so what does that look like in everyday life? That is most certainly inspired Word of God. And it is perfect and complete. But it's also poetic, isn't it? That love covers a multitude of sin.
[21:18] But what does it look like in real life, in our Mondays through Fridays? It looks like Proverbs 17, 9. He that covereth, which is not hide, he that covereth a transgression seeketh love.
[21:31] But he that repeateth a matter separateth very friends. Loving looks like providing forgiveness. Loving looks like reconciliation.
[21:42] Not loving, not being quick to forgive, looks like repeating a matter. It looks like a separation between friends. So not only be quick to forgive, but to be ready to give.
[21:54] Kind of seems a little bit out of context. That's not often how we bring the verse up. But we're talking about forgiveness in this passage. Luke 6, 38. Give, and it shall be given unto you.
[22:07] How did an offering devotion slip up in the middle of a passage here about forgiveness? Good measure pressed down. This give, and it shall be given unto you. Don't be looking for what you're going to get out of this situation.
[22:21] A problem with forgiveness, it means that we give up our rights to gain from someone's actions towards us. And we're not only ready to forgive, but we're ready to give.
[22:32] Ephesians 4, 28 says in such a beautiful way, It tells you that if you stole, that you should steal no more. But not only should you not steal any longer, but you should now what?
[22:43] Give. That stopping the steal is not enough. But stopping, stealing, and now giving. And so not only are you not supposed to provide forgiveness where you say, I cannot make things right in my life.
[22:55] I cannot take from this situation. I cannot get from this situation. I cannot exact the judgment upon this person that will make me feel complete and whole and all that. I'm going to give that up, and I'm going to give it to God.
[23:07] And the thing that I'm going to get is only from Him. And say, God, I'm going to give completely, not expecting anything in return. But I know that from you, I will get more than enough.
[23:19] I will find in you my treasure. In you, I'll find my satisfaction. And so that is what we are going to give. And it's also how we're going to get. Which means, number three, let the knowledge of doing right before God be your only reward.
[23:34] Be assured of God's reward. Shall men give unto your bosom? For with the same measure you meet with all shall be measured unto you. If you are slow to condemn, quick to forgive, ready to give rather than to get, then here's what you're going to find out.
[23:51] Once you have given up any idea of getting out of that relationship, receiving out of that relationship, that you are going to find that God is going to put good measure in your lap.
[24:02] For with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you, given. We must remember our own sins, seek to correct in the same way that we would want to be corrected, saying that I cannot become the equalizer, but I am going to give unto this.
[24:18] I am going to be a person that gives. I'm not only going to be quick to forgive you, but I'm also going to be quickly to give. Because I don't need anything from you in out of this. I need to give you something at this time.
[24:31] And so how do we do this? It's very similar to what we said two weeks ago. How do you find your treasure outside of retaliation, knowing that His loving kindness is better than life? And so what feels better than revenge?
[24:43] It's obedience to God. What feels good in forgiveness? It's obedience to God. What feels better than taking things into your own hands? It's leaving them in His hands. What feels better than getting from the situation, and casting judgment, and hoping to gain something out of the situation?
[24:59] It's giving up completely on that idea, and saying, the only thing that I will get out of this, God, is what you would want to give to me. And then lastly here, a proud spirit speaks critically of others, but a humble spirit will be used to correct others.
[25:15] And we will look in James 4.10. Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and you shall lift you, and He shall lift you up. Speak not evil one of another, brethren. He that speaketh evil of his brother, and judges his brother, speaketh evil of the law, and judges the law.
[25:31] But if he that thou judge the law, for thou art not a doer of the law, but a judge. Evil speaking is what comes from a heart that is prideful. Have you ever apologized for someone to something that you had said, and then they said, oh, I didn't take it that way.
[25:48] I didn't think that you meant it in a bad way. And you had to honestly say, well, you should have, because I did mean it bad, and I did say it bad, and it did come from pride in my heart, and evilness.
[26:00] We know the speaking that bubbles over from a heart that is critical, and that is filled with pride. And evil speaking is a judgment towards a brother is not humble correction.
[26:13] God will not use you to help bring healing to a person that you are speaking evil about. God will not give you words of comfort.
[26:24] God gave Charlotte words to comfort us and to encourage us. Obviously, and she knows this, not in equal to the words of God that were inspired, but he gave her words that pointed us back to Scripture.
[26:38] She created no new revelation in this, but she pointed back to the revealed word of God. If you want God to use you in the same way to help bring healing in the life of somebody, to help somebody, He is not going to do it if your mouth is being used to speak evil of that person, because your heart is not in a position to receive the words that could help somebody.
[27:04] And so what is speaking evil of someone? It is proud, hurtful, demeaning, speaking about another one's faults without any heartfelt care for their good. It is judging someone in a manner that you would not want to be judged.
[27:19] It is a violation of the text here to judge somebody with a heart. So we ought to judge with the right judgment. Judge not according to the appearance.
[27:30] Not like they judged Apollos and Paul and Peter in that story on non-sinful behaviors, but a righteous judgment. One that would be when a Christian explicitly sins against the Word, we come to them broken in heart.
[27:46] We come to them having measured. We come to them, what is the right judgment? It is charitably quick to believe innocence. It is charitably slow to pronounce guilt.
[27:57] It is charitably redemptive when it can be and it is charitably silent if at all possible. And I ask you, believer in here, as I've asked myself for the last two weeks and I continue, is have you been living according to God's Word in regard to how we are to judge and not judge one another?
[28:18] And if you're in here today and maybe you're not a believer or maybe you're listening online and you're not a believer and you say you felt falsely judged, you felt misunderstood, and you long for a day when you will stand before a perfect judge and rule and reign.
[28:35] And can I tell you, as imperfect as all the judges of this world are and how many times even as Christians we have not been biblical in our judgment, if you're in here today and you have not repented of your sins, you have not recognized that you have broken the laws of God and you have not repented of that sin, that that perfect judge that you want to stand before, you will one day stand before Him and His judgment will be fair.
[29:01] Revelation 20 tells a story of a judgment for all those who have not found forgiveness of their sins on this earth. Revelation 20 verse 12, this is not the place that we would be, this is a place for those who had never put their faith and trust in Christ.
[29:14] And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God and the books were opened and another book was opened which is the book of life and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books according to their works.
[29:26] I can tell you that on that day every man and woman who stands before Jesus will be found guilty because He is a perfect judge. And He warned us in Galatians 2 verse 16, knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even when we have believed in Jesus Christ that we might be justified by the faith of Christ not by the works of the law for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified.
[29:53] Every believer in here you ought to ask ourselves are we judging appropriately the scripture? Every unbeliever that's listening here or on the internet you ought to know that one day you will stand before a perfect judge.
[30:05] That's why when we sing songs like my faith has found a resting place not in the vice nor creed, I trust the ever living one his wounds for me shall plead enough for me that Jesus saves this ends my fear and doubt a sinful soul I come to Him He'll never cast me out and this is what I love and I hope you do as well I need no other argument I need no other plea it is enough that Jesus died and that He died for me.
[30:37] That's the only way that I would ever stand before a perfect judge and be found innocent. Outside of that there would be no innocence there would only be guilt there would only be sin there would only be brokenness and would you ask that God would use you we live in a hateful world we live in a world where we're constantly being judged let that not be said about the people of God let us judge with a righteous judgment let us only judge in the way that we are required to be let us be charitably silent when we can let us be charitably quick to see innocence let us be quick to forgive and to give to those in our lives let the word of God transform us individually and as a church family let us know that we may