Should You Be The Judge?

MATT. 7:1-6 "SHOULD YOU BE THE JUDGE?"

* We are going to study, what I believe is the most misunderstood, misused, and misapplied verse

in all of the Bible ... In fact, it is probably the world’s favorite verse.

* People who normally scoff at the Bible, reject its teachings, and ridicule its content, love to

quote this verse at just the right time to shut the mouths of their critics.

A) I want you to listen to the following statements: Homosexuality is a sin!

* Homosexuals are not right with God and there’s no such thing as a Christian homosexual!

* All pre-marital sex is wrong - Two people living together out of wedlock, are committing

adultery.

* Abortion is murder ... It is the killing of a human being and those doctors who perform

abortions, except for rare exceptions, are guilty of taking innocent human life.

* Now when those statements are made the world immediately trots out their favorite verse in the

Bible: "Judge not, that ye be not judged." v.1

B) Now this raises the question, "Should you be the judge?"

* The answer of Jesus was not an all and out no, as some people think.

* The answer of Jesus was, "It all depends."

* In this passage Jesus tells us to be watchful of three things - logs, dogs, and hogs.

* You’ve got to use some type of judgment to identify any of them or all of them.

* Jesus gives us here three principles to help us answer the question, "Should you be the judge?"

(1) DESTRUCTIVE JUDGMENT IS WICKED! * v.1 "Judge not, that ye be not judged."

* The word for judge is the Greek word "krino," and it means to condemn.

A) Now there is a difference between confronting the sin and condemning the sinner!

* John 8:1-11 tells us about a woman who was caught in the act of adultery.

* The Pharisees condemned the sinner, each one had a rock in his hand to carry out the sentence.

* But Jesus confronted the sin, and said to the woman, "Neither do I condemn thee: go, and ..."

B) Now the Pharisees were guilty of self-righteous condemnation! * But Jesus confronted ...!

* Now the question is, how do you know when confronting becomes condemnation?

* Well, let me give you a simple formula! * You can judge what a person does, but you cannot

judge why a person does it!

* Judgment is wrong when you judge by the wrong standard, and in the wrong spirit!

* You see, there’s only one standard we are to use to judge other people, only one yardstick, only

one measurement, and that is, the Word of God!

* When you judge others based on your standards, your opinions, your feelings, then you are

wrong. * But you are not wrong to judge others when your standard is the Word of God.

C) It is never wrong to call wrong, wrong, when God calls it wrong!

* But judgment can still be wrong even if you use the right standard if you do it in the wrong

spirit.

* You see, the spirit of judgment must be corrective and constructive, not condemning and critical.

* Someone has well said that you cannot judge a person by what others say about him.

* But you can judge a person by what he says about others.

D) Now there are two reasons why we cannot judge other people!

* First of all, we are fallible ... meaning that we are capable of falling into sin!

* It is dangerous to judge a situation when you do not know all the facts, because then you might

jump to a hasty conclusion, which is both wrong and unjustified.

* I read about an owner of a manufacturing plant who decided to make a surprise tour of the shop.

* Walking through the warehouse he noticed a young man just lazily leaning up against some

packing crates with his hands in his pocket doing nothing.

E) The boss walked up to him and angrily said, "Just how much are you paid a week?"

* Well, the young man’s eyes got rather big, and he said, "Three hundred bucks."

* The boss pulled out his wallet, pealed off three one hundred bills, gave it to him, and said,

* "Here’s a week’s pay. Now get out of here and don’t ever come back!"

* Well, without a word the young man stuffed the money into his pocket and took off!

* The warehouse manager was standing nearby staring in amazement.

* The boss walked over to him and said, "Tell me, how long has that guy been working for us?"

* The manager said, "He didn’t work here, he was just delivering a package."