Myth-Busters: Judge Not

Welcome to No Compromise Radio, a ministry coming to you from Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston. No Compromise Radio is a program dedicated to the ongoing proclamation of Jesus Christ based on the theme in Galatians 2, verse 5, where the Apostle Paul said, But we did not yield in subjection to them for even an hour, so that the truth of the gospel would remain with you.

In short, if you like smooth, watered-down words to make you simply feel good, this show isn't for you. By purpose, we are first biblical, but we can also be controversial. Stay tuned for the next 25 minutes as we're called by the Divine Trumpet to summon the troops for the honor and glory of her King.

Here's our host, Pastor Mike Abendroth. Welcome to No Compromise Radio ministry. Tuesday means, yes, always biblical, yes, always provocative, always in that order, but it also means Pastor Esteban Binkouli.

Oh, I thought it was Barney Rubble or something. Barney Rubble.

I haven't thought of Barney Rubble for some time, but I bet his feet are sore. Oh, that Fred. Okay. Um, up for today, we have to start the message. Oh, a message moment. A message moment, yes, because I meant to say this last week, but we ran out of time.

24 and a half minutes does not give itself, give us much time.

We really need some theme song, you know, for the message. I think it should be though, some kind of, I think it should be like a Barry Manilow song or something.

One banana, two banana, three banana, four, no, Copa Cabana. Oh, yeah, no, I might know some Barry Manilow songs, but I'm afraid to sing them. Okay. I prefer John Denver to Barry Manilow if I had to choose.

You know, I saw John Denver in concert a couple of times. Did you? Yeah.

It was the first concert I ever went to. It was fun. I have to say, Steve, and I think this is a true statement, that the first time I ever thought about marijuana or smoking pot or anything like that was because of John Denver.

What? Yeah. Rocky Mountain High.

Oh, well. Yeah. I think that was just, you know, a natural high. But I think he was into that stuff. I think he probably was too.

I think the hemp stuff. Yeah. Wow. When you go to Santa Cruz, and it's legalized in California now, and they have the special doctors, and you drive past the doctor who gives the medical marijuana certificate, and then you see all the Lexuses in the parking lot, and they're super nice cars.

A lot of people have a lot of boo-boos.

Here's a question. Maybe you should handle this on a no-copyright show. Should Christians smoke medicinal marijuana?

Well, I think we're going to have to deal with it sooner or later, because a lot of the people who used to be emergent, who are now post-emergent, and who that means they're, I don't know, what are they now?

What's the new moniker? Well, rank unbelievers. Oh.

A medical marijuana. And we're going to have to do a whole show on that, but I'm not quite ready to discuss that at the time, because I want to really smoke out those that want to.

I want to run them right into the reef.

Now, I will say that if you're on a desert island listening to this show, and you have no medicine available in any way, shape, or form. I feel very sorry for you. And you have an impacted tooth, and or you have a terminal disease, and you want to take some marijuana and smoke it, I won't tell anybody.

Because I won't know who you are. You won't know at all. That's not silly. All right. So that'll be a future show. One to look forward to, I think.

Yeah, absolutely. Ephesians 2. Now God has us where he wants us.

Trapped in the corner. That's what we say, now I have you right where I want you, right? It's always trapped in the corner.

With all the time in this world and the next to shower grace and kindness upon us in Christ Jesus. Wait. This is Ephesians 2, right? Yes. This is Ephesians 2, verse, I think it's verse 4, 2 -4.

Because I don't really recognize this text.

Okay. Saving is all his idea and all his work. Well, that sentence is true, by the way. Yeah. I would agree with that. It's a really bad translation. But I agree with that sentence. Slay a phrase. Yeah.

All we do is trust him enough to let him do it. Oh. So how do you make the cross void? 1 Corinthians 1, verse 17. I think you do something like that. Saving's all of God. But I want to just repeat this so everyone can listen.

All we do is trust him enough to let him do it.

God, I signed the permission slip so that you could save me.

But then he picks up where he left off earlier. It's God's gift from start to finish. We don't play the major role. Okay. We play the supporting role.

Supporting actress. Yeah. I was just thinking. For the Emmy. So we could be nominated for an Academy Award for a supporting role, but not the lead role. Okay.

If we did, we'd probably go around bragging that we'd done the whole thing. But we only did part of it. Just a little. Smidgen. You know, this is called smidgen theology. A little boasting is okay. Yes.

Steve, I'll get back to a message in just a second. But I gave the story on Sunday night about when my wife and I went camping in Yosemite not long ago. And there are bears there. Did you know that? Yes.

Yes. And I would be afraid of bears if I would read 2 Kings, probably chapter two, and call people baldhead and stuff because bears, she bears, can destroy a lot of youth. Maybe that's what's wrong with youth today.

They've been visited by bears.

So instead of putting your, in this main camp area, your food up high over a tree, they have bear lockers. Not to have bears put in them, but to put your food in them and bears can't figure out how to get in there.

Bears are smart. They know how to open up latches.

But these are actually bear proof. I think I had a bear locker when I was in high school. I bet you did. I came in one day and it was completely bear. See?

And so you have to put all the food in the locker when you're not around camp. You can't have food in your car. You get a little ticket for that from the Rangers because bears would get in your car. You can't have like a tied bottle in your car because it looks like it could have food in it.

Right? It's a packaged, it's a processed container. And you can't have food in your tent at night. And I was That makes sense. I was told that you can't even have things like cherry chapstick because it smells like it's food to a bear.

And then the bear comes in through the little tent.

I thought it was because they like to use chapstick.

Well, you know, bears are super angry and angry enough to kill under only two conditions. Number one, if you mess with their cubs. Number two, if they have chapped lips. Oh yeah. So anyway, my point is this, bears can sniff out even probably molecules of scent that smells like food and they will go get it.

And what we want to try to do, because it's for the glory and honor of King Jesus, the King who will not give his glory to another, sniff out any human achievement for salvation, any human merit, any human works, any human anything.

It is 100 God saving. And as a result, we, yes, repent and believe in other things, but God does the saving. Is that so hard to wrap our minds around, Steve?

It isn't the message yet. Yeah, it shouldn't be, but it's difficult. And I think, you know, again, I like to give Arminians the benefit of the doubt, and I think they do what they do because they're trying to protect God.

Because if he isn't saving everyone, you know, under the Calvinistic understanding of salvation, then he's not being fair. And so they go, wait a minute, that's not fair. And they jump in to protect God as if he needs protection.

You know, they're trying to say, well, wait a minute, he's not really mean. He's fair and equal to everybody because we have to give him permission to save us. And some people don't give him that permission.

Steve, is it mean to try to protect the notion of God's grace in people's minds? In other words, we want to make sure that when you think of grace, it is sovereign, distinguishing, unmerited, demerited grace?

Well, to go a step further, it's grace as presented in the Bible. Would that be wrong to say what you mean?

Romans 11, 6, and you add any kind of works to grace, then it evaporates grace because those two don't mix. I mean, he should know because earlier in Ephesians 2, Eugene Peterson says, you filled your lungs with polluted unbelief and then exhaled disobedience.

Oh, that's pretty graphic. I like that. That's excellent writing, wouldn't you say? I can't write like that. No, we did it, all of us doing what we felt like doing when we felt like doing it, all of us in the same boat.

It's a wonder God didn't lose his temper and flood the whole world. Oh, wait a second. Lose his temper and do away with the whole lot of us.

Well, and then he goes on to say, and then we had to give God permission. Those same rebels thought, well, wait a sec. You know, maybe I'll give God permission if perhaps by chance he would save me.

If you ask Eugene Peterson, he would say by grace alone, I'm certain. But when he begins to translate some of the New Testament, I just kind of wonder.

Well, he modifies. Grace is what he does. Okay, so that's our message. What's our myth for the day? Because I want to do the theme song.

Mythbusters. Oh, it is? Okay. So we're doing a little series, a mini series. It's probably going to go on for about 12 weeks, I guess, Steve. At least. Because we're doing one a time. Might be like years.

Yes. And they're myths that Christians either believe or are tempted to believe. Okay. Yes. So the one that we have. Are tempted to believe. Yes. Let's talk about something today. That stems from modern philosophies.

And that is that we should not judge other people. Judge not. Unbeliever's favorite verse, right?

Matthew 7. That is our life verse. Yeah. Every unbeliever. I mean, if they know anything about the Bible, that's the one verse they know.

So let's talk about that today, because here's what happens. The agenda of the world energized by Satan. There's an invisible war going on. Satan loves to use people as puppets to speak. Hypocritical lie speakers to use 1 Timothy 4 language.

But it influences us. And so we as Christians become influenced by the world's definition of tolerance. You can even hear it in Christians today when they talk about homosexuality. In the old days, people would say, yes, it's a sin and it's a sin against nature.

It's the keystone of sin in the end days when God gives over society. And now the first thing you hear out of people's mouths, Christian people, well, it's a sin like every other sin. And they just immediately start talking about homosexuality that way.

And my point is this. We are influenced by the culture. And so how has the culture influenced Christians to now say we aren't to judge anybody about anything for any reason?

Well, and, and, you know, to some extent, here's what, here's what I would say. To the extent that we're all sinners, we understand that, right? Every single one of us. And, and if, you know, I ever get up and I'm preaching or teaching and I say I'm better than you, well, there's an issue.

And I would certainly agree that we're all sinners. That's not the question. The question is, you know, are we to suspend all judgment in every case? And the answer obviously is no. And how do I say obviously?

Because in that same context of Matthew 7, he goes on to tell us how to judge false teachers. You're going to know them by the fruit that they bear. And, and how do you, how do you say, well, Jesus never, or he told us never to judge anyone.

Well, yes, he did.

It's right there in the same context. Excellent point. If you keep reading Matthew 7, which we'll read in a few minutes, pretty soon the false teachers pop up. And so how do you know a wolf versus from a goat, from a sheep?

What do you do? Do you have to have some discernment in Christian life? Don't you? True or false?

I know you know the answer to these, Steve. Let me think. I'm going to put on my thinking headphones.

The Bereans were commended for their discernment. How long do I get? They were commended for their judging.

Yeah, yeah. Because they compared, and here's what we mean by judging. You hear something and then you do what? You compare it with scripture, right? And when you compare it with scripture, you go, well, that doesn't meet the standard.

What are you doing?

You're judging. How about 1 Thessalonians 5? Examine everything carefully. Judge everything carefully.

No, no. It just means to look at everything. Just give it a real good hard stare, right?

Now, as we're talking about judgment, let's talk about what bad judgment would be. There are some bad ways Christians could judge, some improper ways, ungodly ways. And I'll start it off by saying one of the wrong ways to judge is to judge hypocritically or self-righteously.

Why is that bad?

Well, because, I mean, you know, again, getting back to the same Matthew 7 context, what are we supposed to do? You know, worry about the speck in somebody else's eye or worry about the beam in our own eye.

You know, it's easy for us to get all concerned about somebody else's life or like, you know, here's one of Mike's favorite things to say, you know, oh, that message was so good. Someone else needs to hear it.

No, no, you need to hear it. You know, the Word of God applies to you.

That message is so good. I just can't believe my friend or a husband or spouse wasn't sitting next to me because I needed to put an elbow into somebody's rib. Rib eye. How about this kind of judgment, Steve?

Is this a good judgment or improper judgment? I, as a person, see someone's actions or behaviors or hear their speech. And I say, as the judge of the universe, I condemn thee to hell.

That would be exceedingly bad judgment.

I judge your eternal state based on my partial limited knowledge.

Well, and we can't know that. I don't care who the person is. I mean, there's a lot of talk the last few days about Miley Cyrus. I don't really care who the person is or what they've done until that person is dead.

And really, until they face God, we don't know what their eternal state is. I mean, do I believe in deathbed conversions? Yes. You know, do I believe that someone has done something now that they cannot be forgiven for by God if they've, you know, if he determines that they're going to be saved?

The answer to that is no. So we can't know someone's eternal destiny. Only God judges the heart.

So when someone comes in and says, I've been living with my girlfriend for 10 years and been sleeping with her and, you know, more than just sleep. And am I a Christian or am I not? I can say to them, and I have said to people like that, based on your testimony, I don't see how you can call yourself a Christian.

If your testimony is true, what you're telling me, unrighteous people, people who commit adultery, fornication, will not inherit the kingdom of God. And I think based on what you've said, if you were to die tonight, you're going to go straight to hell.

That is not me saying I now am judge, jury, and executioner. And I'm saying that you are. I always put it back on based on your own testimony. The Bible teaches people that live like you do aren't going to go to heaven.

Would that be fair? That is fair. John says in John 5, for as the father has life in himself, so he has granted the son also to have life in himself. And he has given him authority to execute judgment because he is the son of man.

And so since the eternal father gives the eternal son the right for judgment, I think I'm going to just kind of keep my nose out of his business.

Well, Paul said the same thing in Acts 17, that he's appointed a man and definitely refers to Jesus Christ. You know, he's going to come back. He's going to pass judgment on everyone. And, you know, John tells us that Jesus executes that or will execute it perfectly, that he's going to do everything in accord with the father's will.

Matthew 7 says, judge not that you not be judged. But there are other verses that go along with it. So what's one of the key things for Bible hermeneutics, Steve? We have a little principle. Keep reading.

Keep reading. Keep elbowing that person next to you. I actually hurt my rib. I was surfing. And this rib is so sore, Steve, that when you kind of breathe in deeply, it hurts.

I thought you were going to say you were preaching a message and you elbowed yourself. That would be good. Auto-elbowing.

Mike, that's a good point for you. For with the judgment you pronounce, you will be judged. And with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. Boy, the ESV is hard to read, isn't it? 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?

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 judge or to take the speck out of your brother's eye.

Do not give to dogs. What's a dog if I can't judge what is holy? And do not throw your pearls before pigs, lest they trample them underfoot and turn to attack you.

Well, I mean, it's just rife with judgment, you know, judgment in the sense that we need to be discerning. We need to make decisions. I don't even know how people could say, you know, it's wrong. It's wrong to judge with regard to eternal destiny, but it's not wrong to make judgments because we're, even in that passage, it's just filled with different decisions that we are forced to make.

Steve, did you ever play the game when you turn on TBN, the Trinity Broadcasting Network?

To see how long I can go without hearing heresy? Yes, yes.

Now, that's kind of a judgment game, isn't it? Yeah. I know parents who say, all right, kids, we're going to watch a show. And I wouldn't want to mention any names who this parent might be. It might be me, but I wouldn't want to confess that on live radio.

Good. Thank you for not confessing. Let's watch Cecil B. DeMille's, The Ten Commandments, and let's spot what's true according to the Bible and what's not. And is Edgar G. Robinson's character injected into the—.

You dirty rat. Is that what he said to Moses? That was the message version of the Old Testament in Exodus. And so we want to judge, even if we say to ourselves, listen, somebody said this or did that, okay, Miley Cyrus on TV, we can talk about those things with our children.

But I think one of the things we want to do is we need to realize, but if it wasn't for the grace of God, we'd be going there. Our kids would be going there. We aren't better than anybody. We aren't better than unbelievers.

We're probably worse than unbelievers in one sense, because God picked a lot of the worst people. So we would really extol his righteous character in saving the unrighteous. And so we don't want to be self-righteous judges, hypocritical, but I want to have my kids think right, wrong, yes, no, black, white.

Every day I wake up and I look around and I go, I can't believe this is my life. I can't believe what the Lord has granted me. And I'm not saying everybody is as blessed as I am, but I think we ought to have the attitude that in light of what I deserve, I can't believe this.

This is, you know, beyond anything that I could imagine or, you know, draw up on it. If I looked at my life in totality and thought, okay, where should I be right now? It would be one sad picture. If I got what I deserved, it would be really sad.

Even in this lifetime, let alone, you know, heaven, hell, and everything else.

When you look at the Lord Jesus Christ and his ministry to sinners, of course, he, the judge can make all kinds of judgments, but he still ate with sinners. Matter of fact, the Pharisees hated him for it.

And so I think it would also be wrong for us to judge the unbelieving sinner to such a degree that we just play Amish. We play Mennonite and have to flee to the hills because we can't stand to be around people covered with spiritual, what's the stuff that's in trees?

Sap. I was going to say lint. Spiritual sap, because you're going to get it, you're going to touch it, and then it's going to get on you and it's sticky and it doesn't come off. And so if we do judge, this is wrong behavior.

This person is an adulterer. We still need to minister to these people because we're adulterers in our hearts anyway. We've been forgiven of adultery and we need to minister the gospel to sin sick people.

Well, and I'm really thankful for my unbelieving friends, not because, not just because I get to talk about Christ with them, but also because it's a good reminder. It constantly puts me in check. But for the grace of God, I believe the same things.

I used to believe that. I used to believe that. I used to believe that. You guys think I'm an idiot because I don't believe what I used to believe. And, you know, like, I've never had the thoughts that you had.

I had all those thoughts. You know, what you are doing, I used to do. Everything, there's no big difference between you and me except the grace of God. And that's where my focus needs to be. And that's why, you know, I'm thankful.

If I thought in any way, shape, or form that it was self-improvement that got me to where I am, that I cinched up my belt, that I finally grew up, or, you know, however you want to phrase it, my attitude toward them would be entirely different.

Steve, isn't it wonderful that when we look back to the cross and see what God has done for us and how much He cared for us and loved us and was gracious toward us while we were even sinners? That helps me with this kind of judgment.

And I say to myself, my best friend growing up for a lot of years was named Scott. And Scott, as far as I know, not regenerate. His life is a mess. And, you know, married, unmarried, kids out of wedlock, lost his job, alcohol, all kinds of things like that.

And if I think about the cross, I easily can remember, I'm not any better than that guy. I was that guy. I'm worse than that guy. But the cross intervened. God intervened through the great life and death of Christ.

And so, I think if you think about judgment in light of the cross, you'll be less tempted to do it hypocritically and self-righteously.

It sure takes all the church lady tendencies right out of you. You know, I don't look at anybody and go, isn't that special? Because I just know me, you know?

Steve, the more I realize what I know and then don't do, or know and do and still sin and fall short. And it's just heartbreaking because I think I should know better. And I'm a pastor, yet I still am rife with sin.

And I say to myself, I have to look at people in a way that better not be self-righteous because I have to live with myself.

The Lord knows who I really am. Yeah, would I like to be judged the way I'm judging other people? And the answer is, you know, no. Would I like to be forgiven the way, you know, by God, the way I forgive other people?

Well, that's why I try to be more forgiving. I try to, you know, all these things, just try not to let things wear you down in light of the cross, in light of Christ's work on my behalf.

I think that's a mature, maturing sign. I'm glad for that. Seen a lot of grace of God in you, Steve, and through you over the years. And I appreciate you and what the Lord's doing through you. My name is Mike Abendroth, Steve Cooley today.

One of the myths is judge not lest you be judged. We'll find another one next week. No Compromise Radio with Pastor Mike Abendroth is a production of Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston. Bethlehem Bible Church is a Bible teaching church firmly committed to unleashing the life-transforming power of God's Word through verse-by-verse exposition of the sacred text.

Please come and join us. Our service times are Sunday morning at 1015 and in the evening at 6. We're right on Route 110 in West Boylston. You can check us out online at bbchurch .org or by phone at 508 -835 -3400.

The thoughts and opinions expressed on No Compromise Radio do not necessarily reflect those of WVNE, its staff or management.