Believers in Black Robes (Pt 1)

Matthew 7:1–6 and the Misuse of “Judge Not”

Turn in your Bibles to Matthew chapter 7, and we're going to read verses 1 -6. We stand to give honor and reverence to God's Word as we read Matthew 7 and verse 1. Judge not that you be not judged. For 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 it is in your own eye? Or 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.

Father in Heaven, we come today, Lord, to a verse which has been so misinterpreted, so misunderstood, and so misused by the world. May it be that we have a right understanding of it. And Father, I pray that you would keep me from error, as I am a fallible man incapable of preaching error.

And I pray also, Lord, that you would open the hearts of your people to the truth, that you might be with us today as we examine this most serious issue of having a judgmental and condemning spirit. In Jesus' name we pray, and for His sake.

Amen. You may be seated. There was a time in our history where it would have been very odd and very unusual for a person to see the inside of a courthouse. The only reason to have gone to court would have been if you were going for someone else, or if you yourself had been called to court for some reason.

But now, with the advent of television and the advent of things like court TV and C-SPAN and all of these other ways, we get a new view into the court. And most of you also know that there are television shows, Law and Order and all kinds of dramas, which depict or at least make attempts at depicting what goes on inside of the courtroom.

So I would venture to guess that most of us, because of being in the information age, would be able to identify at least most of the parts of the courtroom. We understand that there is the place where the two attorneys sit at the front.

One is the prosecuting attorney, one is the defending attorney. And beside the defending attorney is the defendant, the person who is there being accused of whatever. And then there is the place where there would be the group of people who would sit in judgment over this person.

They would be there having been called to sit in judgment over him. There is the bailiff who stands next to that group. The group is called the jury. And then you have the bailiff who stands there to keep order in the class, not the class, the order in the courtroom.

But there's one person in the courtroom whose appearance is unlike anyone else. He sits higher than all of the rest of the room, usually elevated by a foot or two. He sits in a giant chair in comparison to the chairs of the rest.

He sits in a nice, large chair in front of a giant desk. And it identifies his position as being the most important person in the room. And he wears a piece of attire which identifies him as the person who will be the one who makes the final judgment.

And he is called the judge. He wears a long flowing silk black robe. And when he enters the room, everyone stands up to give honor to this person who is in the position of judge. We all know what a judge is.

We've all seen judges, whether it be in person or on television or when you get that dreaded letter in the mail that says you have to serve jury duty. We know what a judge is. Well, today we're going to be talking about judgment.

And I have entitled today's lesson, Believers in Black Robes. Because, beloved, Jesus is going to address us on the issue of judgment. And he's going to tell us not to be the ones who make it our business to condemn.

And essentially, he's going to tell us that if we are ones who enjoy the black robe, we enjoy the seat of judgment, we enjoy to be the condemner of others, then we need to repent. For such is not our calling.

What Matthew 7:1 Does Not Mean

Now, when we look at this text, we have to note right off that this text is one of the most misused texts and misinterpreted texts and misapplied texts in all of the Bible. You'll notice that I read all the way down to verse 6.

I do believe this all maintains a specific context. And while I was preparing my sermon this week, as I often do, I sat down trying to put together an outline of what I wanted to say from this text and what God was leading me and teaching me through the study of the Word.

And I began to realize that there was no way I was going to be able to preach this all in one sermon. Because, really, there are three things we need to come at in regard to this text. We need to understand first what it doesn't mean.

Why is it that we need to worry about what it doesn't mean? Because, beloved, the world has misapplied this text so much and misused it so much that it's almost impossible to use it correctly because it's been used so incorrectly.

So the first thing we are going to do is we're going to figure out what it doesn't mean. And I think that's going to take most of our day today. Because I don't like to limit myself and say, well, I've got to squeeze it in all into one message.

I'm not one to rush. But we also don't want to stop there. Because I did hear some sermons this week. I often listen to sermons as I'm preparing mine. I'll listen to someone else's sermon just to kind of get an idea of what others have said on this.

It's like reading a commentary with your ears. You know, you hear somewhat. And I did hear a couple of guys. They went all about what it doesn't mean and never got around to what it means. They never got around to how it does apply to us.

And that's why I want to point out the fact that I do think that not only has it been misapplied in the world, it's also been misapplied in the church. There is a meaning that applies to us, and we mustn't miss that either.

So, as I said, there are three things we're going to look at from this text. One, we're going to look at what it doesn't mean. Two, we're going to look at what it does mean. And that'll probably be actually in two weeks, because next week we're doing a special service.

And I'll explain that later. We're going to look at what it doesn't mean. We're going to look at what it does mean. And then we're going to look, how do we apply it? How do we take off our black robes and live as we ought?

Because I have to tell you, beloved, the reality is so many Christians, they live for condemnation rather than restoration. And that's what this verse is really about. They live to condemn rather than live to restore.

They get excited when they hear that someone has done evil so that they might speak ill of them or tell others about their evil rather than going to them and dealing with them in their sin and trying to restore them.

We need to remove our black robes. We need to remove ourselves from the seat of judgment and seek to be restorers rather than condemners. So that's the thesis of everything that we're going to deal with.

But as I said today, we're going to ask the question, what does the text not mean? Because I imagine that you have had this text given to if you've ever shared your faith. And I spent a whole Sunday school class this morning.

I got to teach the kids. I love it when I get to teach the kids. It's one of my most joyous things is to teach young people. And I love that I got to teach young people about evangelism. By the way, if you're in Sunday school class, I think I'm teaching next week, aren't I?

We're going to do the same thing with you all. We're going to talk about evangelism. We're going to talk about how you share your faith. But one of the things that will happen if you are a person who is regularly sharing your faith, as we all should be, you will hear someone say to you at some point, you don't need to judge me.

The Bible says, judge not lest ye be judged. It's the one that everybody knows. People think John 3, 16 is the most popular verse of the Bible. They're wrong. The one that everyone knows, the one that is universally understood among people, especially the lost, is judge not lest ye be judged.

And they'll point, if you tell them about Jesus and that they are sinners. Oh, you're judging me. Sinners hide behind this verse. You can't judge me. Don't judge me. Only God can judge me. People get tattoos that say that.

Only God can judge me. Well, that's what we're saying. But we'll get to that in a minute. But the point of the matter is that people read this text and they misapply it so many ways. And this is the most common way you will hear this text applied.

You are never supposed to make any righteous discernment about anyone else's situation at any time or in any way. That's how it's normally applied. You are not allowed to make any righteous discernment about anyone else's situation at any time or in any way.

In fact, Tolstoy, Tolstoy, the writer, he said this text makes it impossible for Christians to have law courts. So he had totally misapplied it to the point to a far extended misapplication. He was a great writer, was a terrible theologian.

But he said this effectively makes all law courts void because no one is ever supposed to judge anyone else. Certainly that's an incorrect understanding of it. But there are many incorrect understandings of this passage.

But the primary one is that Jesus is not saying that we're not supposed to have any discernment at any time or anywhere about anyone. So I'm going to give you three things today that this text is not forbidding.

This will be the outline of today's message. Three things that this text does not forbid, because it says judge not. In the Greek word, the word judge, and I'm going to get into this more the next time we look at this passage, is actually the Greek word krino.

It means to make a discernment or judgment. It can be as simply as making a choice between one thing or another, or it can be as harsh as making a condemnation. So it has upwards of 17 different nuances of just this one word.

But we know ultimately it's talking about condemnation here. Jesus said don't condemn or you will be condemned. Don't judge or you will be judged. But there are three things that this text is not forbidding.

Number one, this text does not forbid us from telling lost people that they are sinners in need of repentance. Let me say it again, this text does not forbid us from telling lost people that they are sinners in need of repentance.

But see, that's the way the world takes it. Because, beloved, when we share the gospel, as I was telling the kids this morning, when we share the gospel, there is an element of it which is offensive. Because the only way to tell someone that they need a Savior is to tell them what they need to be saved from.

And when you tell someone what they need to be saved from is their own wretched sin, then they often will respond by saying, who are you to say I'm a wretch? Who are you to say I'm a sinner? Who are you to say I'm lost?

Who are you to say I'm a rebel? Who are you to say anything about me? Judge not, lest you be judged. And that's their response. But, beloved, that's not what we're doing. Now, it is for some people. Some people have the hard hand of judgment, and they go around smacking people with judgment with no intention of sharing with them God's grace.

They only want to smack them down with God's law. But we must balance law and grace, and we must share both law and grace. And let me add something to this. If you talk to a sinner, and I'm making the distinction, we're all sinners, but a person who is lost.

If you talk to a lost sinner, a person who is not in Christ, and you condemn them for their sins based upon your own wicked opinions of them, then that's not right. For instance, and I'm going to get real with you.

You see somebody who you think is effeminate, and you assume this person may be a homosexual. Well, the Bible says homosexuality is a sin. So you condemn them for their homosexuality. But you talk to somebody who's living in sin, a man and a woman, who are living together and they're not married, they're sinning in the same fashion, and you don't condemn them.

Because you find homosexuality personally repugnant. But you don't find living in sin personally repugnant. Then, beloved, you are wrong. Now, if you go to the sinful person and you say, God has called us all to repentance, the homosexual and the fornicator.

He has called the idolater and the adulterer. He has called the man who has lived a relatively good life, never cheated on his wife, never cheated on his taxes, never cheated a person out of a dollar, who has never done anything morally reprobate, but is yet still a sinner in the eyes of God.

He has called them all to repentance. And we must be honest with ourselves and not look down upon one type of individual and at the exclusion of these others, because, hey, they're pretty nice people.

The nicest person in the world, apart from Christ, will split hell wide open. So when we share the Gospel, we don't look for the reprobate. They're all around us. We don't point out the person who's the effeminate, who's the gay, who's the person that we find personally repugnant.

But we share the Gospel with all people and say all of our sins are atrocious to God. All of our sins are an abomination in His nostrils. All of our sins have turned His holy stomach. And all of our sins must be paid for.

And they will either be paid for us, by us, or they will be paid for by Christ. We must share that truth. You get where I'm going with this? You get what I'm saying? We have to tell the sinner that they're a sinner.

But we must not bring our own prejudices into the situation. I've told many of you this before, but when I share the Gospel with somebody, you know where I take them? I don't care if it's a person that I know is a person who is an idolater.

I don't care if it's a person that I know is a homosexual. I don't care if it's a person I know is a Muslim or a Jew or anyone else. I always take them to the same place. The law of God. Because the law of God, the Bible says, is the schoolmaster which leads us to Christ.

The law of God condemns us, and the grace of Christ saves us. And I tell the person, do you believe you're a good person? Everybody does. Everybody believes they're a good person. That's why they don't want you to judge them.

You can't judge me. I'm a good person. Now, I don't necessarily follow Ray Comfort's method to a T. But Ray Comfort is an evangelist who teaches this, and I have learned a lot from him over the years, and I find him a very godly man.

He shames me at times with his level of desire to go out and share the Gospel. I wish it would rub off on all of us a little more. The desire to just go out and tell people about Jesus. But when he talks to people, he asks a simple question.

Do you believe you're a good person? To a man, people always say yes. You know what happens when people say no? I don't think I'm a good person? That's great! Because now the work's done. Now we get to grace.

Because the Bible says we give law to the proud, and grace to the humble. So when I speak to someone who's proud, I'm a good person, we share within the law of God. But if somebody comes and says, I'm not a good person, fantastic!

Because you realize you need Christ. If you realize you're not a good person, now we can share grace with you. But the point is this. The Gospel, for many people, has become devoid of telling people about sin.

Because we don't want to be judges. We don't want to be considered judges. Beloved, you have to tell people about their sin. You don't condemn them yourself. You don't stand up as the holy Superman and say, I condemn you, because that would be wrong.

But you say, beloved, friend, relative, co-worker, you stand condemned before God because of your sin. They say, well, I don't think my sin is that bad. Well, what does the Bible say? The Bible says if we've ever had any God before the Lord, we're idolaters.

Do you love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength? They'll say, well, no. Well, then you're an idolater. Have you ever used the Lord's name in vain? The third commandment? Well, that's not a big deal.

It is to God. He put it in the top ten. Have you ever looked at a woman with lust? I asked a guy that one time at a Burger King. I said, sir, have you ever looked at a woman with lust? He said, no. I said, are you gay?

And he said, no. I said, do you know what lust is? He said, no. I said, well, let me explain. OK, because I was trying to be honest. But I did ask him. I said, and I wasn't trying to be ugly. I said, are you gay?

If you've never ever had a lustful thought that strikes me as odd, and I want to pursue that. And I did. Nathan was with me. He just... It was a funny moment. But the point is, we have to be willing to confront people on sin because that's what forces people to realize their need for a Savior.

And that's not judging. That's doing what gospel evangelism is. It's confronting people with their sin so that they will turn to Christ. That is. If somebody tells you you're judging them because you're telling them what the Bible says about their sin, then know that they're wrong and they're coming at you with a worldly understanding of this verse.

They've misinterpreted it. They've misunderstood it. But don't allow them to condemn you with their inappropriate understanding of Matthew 7 .1. Make sense? That the first thing we have to understand, this text does not tell us that we can't tell lost people that they're sinners because we must tell lost people that they're sinners.

No, we have to do it with gentleness. We have to do it with kindness. We have to do it with reverence. We can't stand out there with a sign that says God hates fags like the Westboro Baptist Church, which is a heinous organization, an ungodly organization, and they're not doing anything to promote the cause of Christ.

We can't do that because such a thing is shameful, and that's not gentle, and it's not reverent. And it is a violation of 1 Peter 3 .15 which tells us that we are to always stand ready to give a defense for the hope that is within us and to do so with gentleness and reverence.

It's how we have to share our faith. If we go around with the billy club of our own condemnation, we will do nothing but leave bruises on people's heads and never rend a heart. Okay? So, first things first, this text does not tell us that we can't tell lost people that they're lost.

And if that were the case, we'd have to pack up our evangelistic tents and go home. And we can't do that. We have to keep telling people they're sinners because we have to keep telling people they need Christ, and that's why they need Christ.

Make sense? Alright, number two. This text does not forbid us from telling believers that they are sinners in need of restoration. Turn with me to Matthew 18. Now, if you know me, you know I was going here because this is the text that talks about church discipline.

This is serious. Matthew 18, verse 15 -20, says this, If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault. Between you and him alone, if he listens to you, you have gained your brother. But if he does not listen, take one or two others along with you that every charge may be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses.

If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church. And if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector. Now, it goes on, but I want to just stop there because here's the situation.

You find a church member, a brother in Christ, someone who proclaims the name of Jesus Christ is in sin. Specifically, Jesus said, have sinned against you. But this also applies, according to 1 Corinthians 5, and we're going to go there in a moment, this also applies to someone who is living in a sinful lifestyle and you become aware of it.

But particularly, Jesus is addressing somebody who sinned against me. He says, the first thing that you do is go and tell the person between you and them alone. What do we often do? We go and tell two or three other people and he never knows that he sinned against us.

But they do. Half the class knows that he did, but the person that's in the class and half the church is looking at him, they don't know. But everybody else knows. You know what gossip is? Gossip is judgment practice.

It's condemnation in practice. Because I have person A who has sinned against me and instead of saying, brother or sister, you have hurt me and I pray that you would repent. Or you are sinning and I pray that you would repent.

Instead of telling them, we find it easier to tell others. We find it easier to spread their name among others. And what happens? We gain for ourselves a community of gossip against that person. It makes us feel good about ourselves.

Well, you know, Bunny and Buffy agree with me, so she must be wrong. I don't know who Bunny and Buffy are. We find two or three people who agree with us. You know how many times I've been in counseling sessions where it got to a fever pitch and there were five people involved when there should have only been two?

The one who offended and the one who was offended. And there were five people involved now and they're all... And I look at them and I say to the person, the original person who offended, and I say, did you know about this?

If they would have just told me, I would have apologized. But you see, we don't want apologies. We want judgment. We want to make our own condemnation. We want to stand in our black robes on our seats of judgment and we want to cast dispersions upon others rather than seeking their restoration.

Matthew 18 is not about putting people out of the church, even though that is the step, the final step, and we'll get there in a moment. But Matthew 18 is not about putting people out of the church. Matthew 18 is about winning your brother.

And how do you win your brother? You win your brother through loving confrontation and rebuke, not by talking about him to others. And we've all been guilty of this. Every one of us should be taking our shoes off and rubbing our feet because our toes are being stomped upon.

Don't be the person, oh, that's not me. We all have done it. We all need to stop. That's the point. It wouldn't be a sermon if I weren't exhorting you to better behavior, right? It's part of what we do.

We call ourselves to higher accountability and higher standards. And beloved, when somebody sins against you and you come and tell me, my first response as a pastor should be go tell them. And when somebody sins against you and you go tell someone else, their first response they should ask is have you talked to them?

And if you say no, say say no more. I want to hear nothing else of it until you address this with them. Well, they're hard to talk to. Well, then it might lead you to step two. Notice the step two in the text.

It says if you go to your brother and you talk to them and they repent, you've won your brother. But if they refuse to repent, then you go and you take two or three witnesses with you so that now you can bring to bear the situation on their lives that you have in fact sinned, that you have in fact need repentance, and you do have now a group of people that are bearing upon you this need.

It's still not gossip, by the way, because you still haven't gone out and shared it with everybody. You haven't played the telephone game. You haven't sent out a group of email lists. But you've gone to only the people who are responsible that you know, that know about the situation, and you've brought them along to try to bring it to bear on the heart of this person.

And then, if that doesn't work, if they refuse to repent, they are brought before the church for one reason, so that the church would understand that this person has, by their lack of repentance, demonstrated that their heart is unconverted and they are no longer welcome as members of the church.

They are to be treated as a Pharisee and a tax collector. Essentially, they are to be treated, a Republican and a tax collector. They are to be treated as ones who are not members of the church. Now, I want to take you to this practice.

Because Jesus tells us what to do. Paul shows us how to do it. 1 Corinthians 5 He tells us a situation where this has happened. Now, this is only 13 verses. I want to read all the way through. And I'm going to make comments as I go.

But let me just tell you very quickly, this is church discipline on display. Matthew 18 tells us how to do it. Paul shows us how to do it. He says in verse 1, chapter 5, 1 Corinthians, It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you and of a kind that is not tolerated even among the pagans.

For a man has his father's wife... Stop right there. This man, in some way, shape, or fashion, has created a affair relationship with his stepmother. It's not his mom, because if it was his mom, it would have said his mom.

It says his father's wife, which means his father either has multiple wives or his father, which more likely in this scenario, has been remarried. Possibly the first wife died. He now has a second wife.

And this young man has created an incestuous relationship with his stepmother. Okay? Verse 2. And you are arrogant. Now, who is he talking to? He's talking to the church. Why is he talking to the church and calling them arrogant?

Simply put, the whole church knows about it and nobody's doing anything about it. Everybody in the church knows what's going on and everybody's got tight lips. Nobody will confront this person. Maybe he's a son of a deacon.

I don't know. But nobody wants to offend this kid. Nobody wants to confront him with his sin. This is what it says. Ought you not rather to mourn? Should this not cause weeping in the church that this is being allowed to go on in the house of God?

Should this not cause weeping in the church? I've got a lot to say about this. I'd better get reading. Let him who has done this be removed from among you. Essentially, the point is this guy has bypassed the steps of church discipline because his sin is now public and he's publicly refusing repentance.

By the way, the steps of church discipline can be bypassed. If you stand up in this church right now and you say, you know what, Pastor, I'm living in sin and I refuse to repent, I would say I call you before the church body of Christ, repent in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.

If you say no, you're out. We don't go through three steps. You don't bypass the three steps. You don't brought it publicly before the body of God. Now, the elders may meet with you. There may be a time of seeking to try to counsel you to restoration.

But if you come publicly and spread your sin among the church, it has to be removed. It's like a cancer. You can't let cancer metastasize within the body without dealing with it. OK, so he's saying put him out.

Verse three, for though absent in body, I am present in spirit. And if present, I have already pronounced judgment on the one who did such a thing. Oh, by the way, Paul says he pronounces judgment, which proves that Jesus, when he said judge not lest you be judged, doesn't want made all types of judgment, because Paul here is saying this judgment is righteous.

OK. When you are assembled in the name of the Lord Jesus and my spirit is present with the power of our Lord Jesus, you are to deliver this deliver this man to Satan for the destruction of the flesh so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord.

Why are they delivering him out? Why are they putting it out? Because if they let him continue to live in sin in the church, he's going to harm the church and he's going to continue to harm himself because he's living without any discipline at all.

You put him out with the hopes that by putting him out, he will see what has happened and repent. It's like your child. If you leave your child without discipline and you never discipline your child ever.

How in the world does he learn anything? He doesn't. You have to lay the rod to the rear of the child at certain points so that he will understand what is right and what is wrong. All right. Verse six, your boasting is not good.

How in were they boasting? They were boasting in their arrogance by not doing what they ought. He said, your boasting is not good. You do not know or do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump?

Cleanse out the old leaven that you may be a new lump as you really are unleavened. For Christ, our Passover lamb has been sacrificed. Let us therefore celebrate the festival not with the old leaven, the leaven of malice and evil, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.

He's talking about when I mentioned a cancer in the church that spreads and metastasizes. He says leaven because that is the example in the old world. The leaven gets into the loaf or into the flour and it leavens everything.

It makes everything leaven. And he's saying that's the problem. He said, you let the sin in the church and like leaven, it's going to spread throughout the church. It's got to be taken out. And he uses the Old Testament picture of the Passover where they would separate leaven from the house because leaven represents sin.

They would take the leaven out because of its representing sin and say, now our house is clean. And the same thing here. All right. Now, verse nine is where it's going to start hitting us in the head.

This is going to literally punch us in the face if we really take this to task. Listen, I wrote to you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people. Verse 10, not at all meaning the sexually immoral of this world or the greedy or swindlers, idolaters.

Since then, you would need to go out of the world. But now I am writing to you not to associate with anyone who bears the name of brother if he is guilty of sexual immorality or greed or an idolater, rebeller, drunkard, or swindler.

Not even to eat with such a one. For what have I to do with judging others? Is it not those inside the church whom you are to judge? God judges those outside. Purge the evil person from among you. Here's what Paul says in plain language.

When you submit yourself to the church, when you have joined the church, the body of Christ, and you submit yourself to the body of Christ, you are now under the discipline of the church. If you decide to act out in sin, the church has the authority and the right to bring the burden of discipline upon you.

We don't have the right to discipline the world. I can't walk down the street and see a guy who's living with a woman and they're living in sin and they're living as they ought not and say to you, Brother, if you don't repent, we're going to put you out of the church.

Is he going to say, I ain't in the church. And I'm going to say, are you right? It won't make sense. Paul's point is simple. Church discipline happens within the context of the church. And he says something very important in this verse.

He says that when a person is put out, we are not to associate with them, not even to eat with them. When a person is calling themselves a Christian, and yet they're living in habitual, unrepentant sin, then we are not to associate with those people.

You might say, well, what if it's a relative? It doesn't change. John MacArthur. John MacArthur was condemned publicly recently. He's been condemned a hundred times by the world. But this one, I took special notice of.

Because John MacArthur does this thing where people ask him questions and he answers the questions. Little two minute videos he puts online. Somebody asked him, what do we do if we find out our child is a homosexual?

Now, I'm not here today to beat up on that particular sin, but that was the question that was asked of John MacArthur. And I want to address his answer because I think his answer was right. He said, first, you have to ask, do they claim to be a believer or not?

Because if they don't claim to be a believer, if they don't claim to be a Christian, then what you need to do is to bring them the gospel and love them and encourage them to receive Christ and to repent.

But he said, if they believe that they are a Christian and yet they continue to live in sin and they knowingly continue in that sin, you need to leave them in their sin and disassociate yourself with them.