The Command of Discernment

Is the command for discernment, the command for discernment. On the idea of whether we are supposed to judge. I think in our culture, and especially in the church, if we can say there is North American Christianity, a thing that you have probably heard, you may have even said this, is Christians aren't supposed to judge.

Jesus commands us to not judge. And so I want to, as we enter these verses, I want us to think about that. Is that actually true? What does the Bible say about judging others? Certainly we have the practicing of one another, and some of those are admonishment, admonish one another, exhort one another, encourage one another, build one another up.

And so there's sort of an implication in those passages that if you're going to admonish or encourage, that there's a judgment that has been made. That's why you're going to admonish or encourage the person.

But going beyond the practicing of one another, we want to sit and listen to what our Lord Jesus Christ says about this issue. And so in today's passage, we will hear Christ on this topic. And we can think of having a wrong misunderstanding.

Let me give you a couple of examples if we have a wrong misunderstanding here. As a Christian, you're not supposed to judge. Well, is that true? Well, we're going to see today whether that's true. But think about if we don't make judgments, what could be a negative out of that?

Let me give you two examples. I recently saw there was a church in Mexico. And you may have seen this if you're on social media. It's kind of going around. And they're selling plots of land in heaven.

It's only $100. And so they're selling plots of land in heaven. So someday when you die, you got to make sure you don't go to Jesus and there's nowhere, oh, it's all sold out. But you could pay $100 to us today and you can secure your plot of land in heaven.

I would say that's an example of not making sound judgments. So that church probably, well, I'd say church in quotations, there's some element of a presentation of godliness, let's say, where they're talking about Jesus, they're talking about spiritual things, maybe saying, hey, we're proclaiming the gospel, whatever their specific teachings are for that congregation.

So they're adhering to this stuff over here. But then, oh, hey, you can give us $100 and we'll make sure we save you a plot of land in heaven for $100. So there's something going on there. There's not good judgments being made.

So on one hand, you can portray godliness. You can have a presentation, a charade, if you will, something that's fake that you're presenting that you care about God's word. But then over here, you're doing something that is a complete violation of scripture.

That's one example. So that was almost like a silly thing when I saw it. It's so absurd, it's hysterical. But that's real. And guess what? There are people giving them money, giving them money with a false sense of security in terms of whether they're going to get land in heaven.

It's so silly and nonsensical, but people are believing it. That's a lack of sound judgment. How about in our context, in the state of Montana? So we're all sort of praising God for the way the election went.

Well, we want to be careful. We don't want to hurt our shoulder or arm patting ourselves on the back. That's great that we have conservative people in the legislature and political power. But also what happened?

Well, CI -128 passed. So that's great we have Sheehy or we have Giaforte or we have Trump. But yet, as a state, we voted for CI -128 to pass. And being part of that letter that we had out for a few weeks, we had the letter out, local pastors signing and kind of calling their congregations to be aware of this issue.

So you can terminate or really mutilate and dismember babies up to nine months without parental consent in the state of Montana. You know, there were local churches that didn't sign that letter. Here in this city, some of the biggest churches in town, the biggest church in Laurel, their pastors didn't want to sign that.

They said, no, we're about Christ. We preach Christ and Him crucified. So here there's a presentation of godliness, and you care about what the Bible says. But over here, well, we're not going to care or say anything about murdering children in their mother's womb.

That would be an example in our context of not having sound judgment, not judging with right judgment. Just a couple examples. The dangers of not having righteous judgment is very dangerous. When churches or people change their values to match the current culture, they are no longer following the word of God, the god of the Bible.

They're basically following the lowercase g god of this world. Man's laws cannot make moral what God has declared immoral. So even if a sin is legalized, it is still sin in the eyes of God. The founder of the Salvation Army, which in an ironic way would also be falling into the principle of not judging, William Booth said this.

He's the founder of the Salvation Army. I consider that the chief dangers which confront the coming century will be religion without the Holy Ghost, Christianity without Christ, forgiveness without repentance, salvation without regeneration, politics without God, and heaven without hell.

And so William Booth, I believe if he was still alive, would disavow the current form of the Salvation Army, which has gone so far to the left it's hard to describe, just embracing all of the social justice gospel nonsense.

Very sad to see that organization, which had a very conservative founding, now fall. This morning in our passage, we find Jesus standing before a crowd divided in their opinions, opinions clouded by their own assumptions and biases.

Jesus confronts their judgments, not with a defense rooted in personal pride or self-interest, but with an unwavering commitment to the truth of God. He says, my teaching is not mine, but his who sent me.

Here, Christ gives a profound reminder to everyone who speaks and ministers in his name. No true teaching of God originates from ourselves. Very important. Every faithful minister, every true disciple, speaks not with their own authority, but under the authority of the word of God as taught to us by the Holy Spirit.

Jesus knew that the hearts of men prone to sin and self-righteousness are quick to judge by appearance, in other words, worldly standards or human presuppositions based on culture. The Pharisees, blinded by their narrow interpretation of the law, condemned him for healing on the Sabbath, focusing really only on the surface, what was visible, but not what was true.

They saw only a man breaking the Sabbath. They failed to see God's hand restoring life, restoring health and hope in the midst of brokenness. So Jesus challenges them, do not judge by appearances, but judge with right judgment.

This is the command for discernment. This command is as relevant to us today as it was to the Jews at the time that Jesus said this. It calls us to discernment, to look past what seems obvious or even right by our own standards, what our culture or our own preferences might tell us, and to judge by God's standard, his word and his spirit, to seek to know whether the doctrine or the teaching is of God, not to settle for superficial impressions.

And if we truly desire to do his will, Jesus assures us we will know the difference between truth and error. So as we explore this passage, let us seek for the kind of discernment that looks deeper, that does not merely skim the surface but seeks the spirit's wisdom.

May God reveal to us his truth so that we, like Christ, may walk in humility and boldly uphold the righteousness of God. And so we'll look today at verses 20 through 24, but for the sake of context, I want to start back in verse 14.

John chapter seven, starting in verse 14. Please stand with me for the reading of God's word. John chapter seven, starting in verse 14. But when it was now the middle of the feast, Jesus went up into the temple and began to teach.

The Jews then were marveling, saying, how has this man become learned, not having been educated? So Jesus answered them and said, my teaching is not mine, but from him who sent me. If anyone is willing to do his will, he will know about the teaching, whether it is of God or I speak for myself.

He who speaks from himself seeks his own glory, but he who is seeking the glory of the one who sent him, he is true, and there is no unrighteousness in him. Did not Moses give you the law? And yet none of you does the law.

Why do you seek to kill me? Verse 20, the crowd answered, you have a demon who seeks to kill you. Jesus answered them, I did one work and you all marvel. For this reason, Moses has given you circumcision, not because it is from Moses, but from the fathers.

And on the Sabbath, you circumcise a man. If a man receives circumcision on the Sabbath so that the law of Moses will not be broken, are you angry with me because I made an entire man well on the Sabbath?

Do not judge according to appearance, but judge with righteous judgment. You may be seated. So as we open our Bibles to this passage this morning, we see Jesus confronting the spiritual blindness of his critics.

These were men who prided themselves on their knowledge of the law,.

Experts,.

Who claimed to uphold the commands of Moses as the foundation of their religious life. And yet, Jesus exposed something beneath their zealous devotion to the law, a failure to grasp its true purpose, a spirit of hypocrisy, and even a murderous intent.

In verse 19, he challenges them, declaring, none of you keeps the law. Their obedience was outward, but their reverence was superficial. They missed the law's heart, its aim to reveal God's holiness and to point them to righteousness, mercy, and truth.

When Jesus healed on the Sabbath, it struck at the very core of their pride. And so what is Jesus talking about? What is this event? I did one thing and you marvel at it. And so this idea that they want to kill him, we actually need to go back a little bit in time.

Turn to John chapter 5. John chapter 5, starting in verse 2, we see this miraculous event. Jesus heals. John chapter 5, starting in verse 2, this is the event that started the hostility, and now they're wanting to kill him.

Look at verse 2 of chapter 5. Now there is in Jerusalem by the sheep gate a pool, which is called in Hebrew Bethesda, having five porticos. In these lay a multitude of those who were sick, blind, lame, and withered.

Waiting for the moving of the waters, for an angel of the Lord went down at certain seasons into the pool and stirred up the water. Whoever then first, after the stirring up of the water, stepped in was made well from whatever sickness with which he was afflicted.

And a man was there who had been sick for 38 years. When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had already been sick a long time, he said to him, do you wish to get well? The sick man answered, sir, I have no man to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up, but while I am coming another steps down before me.

Jesus said to him, get up, pick up your mat, and walk. And immediately the man became well and picked up his mat and began to walk. Now it was the Sabbath on that day. So the Jews were saying to the man who had been healed, it is the Sabbath and it's not lawful for you to carry your mat.

But he answered them, he who made me well was the one who said to me, pick up your mat and walk.

They asked him,.

Who is the man who said to you, pick up your mat and walk? But the man who was healed did not know who it was for Jesus had slipped away while there was a crowd in that place. Afterward, Jesus found him in the temple and said to him, behold, you have become well.

Do not sin anymore so that nothing worse happens to you. The man went away and disclosed to the Jews that it was Jesus who had made him well. And for this reason, the Jews were persecuting Jesus because he was doing these things on the Sabbath.

But he answered them, my father is working until now and I myself am working. For this reason, therefore, the Jews were seeking all the more to kill him because he not only was breaking the Sabbath, but also was calling God his own father, making himself equal with God.

Go ahead and turn back to chapter seven. How could he break the Sabbath by restoring life when they believed even circumcision on the Sabbath was an acceptable exception? To them, Jesus's actions were incomprehensible and offensive.

They took it as a challenge to their rigid interpretations. And so just for the sake of context, we have to also point out that the timing here is far removed from this event. In chapter six, we see before the feeding of the 5 ,000 that there was a new Passover.

So the healing was at a feast. I believe it was a Passover, not clear in the text. Fits nicely with the timing, the accepted time of Christ's crucifixion in AD 33. That's not a theological thing that hangs on salvation.

It was a feast in chapter five, but chapter six, John moves it along. After these things in chapter six, there was a Passover. So we know at least there's been six months to a year. And then now as we are entering into this text in chapter seven and eight, one event, the Feast of Booths, another Passover.

So approximately, it has been about a year and a half since the healing of the man. They know who he is. Think of it like he's a marked man. They hate him, and they want to see him dead. They have a murderous intent toward him.

And so here is Jesus challenging their sort of rigid interpretation of the law, and what did they do in response? Well, here in our passage, they accused him of having a demon, accusing the very one who came to fulfill the law of breaking the law.

Their judgment was not sound. It was clouded by legalism. It was clouded by envy and really a lack of true spiritual insight. Here, Jesus delivers a pointed rebuke that we must not ignore. Do not judge by appearances, but judge with right judgment.

His words reach beyond the Pharisees and scribes of his day to a world that is in many ways just as blind today. In our culture, we see a desperate need for sound judgment in spiritual matters.

Do we not?

Quick to label truth as intolerance and quick to embrace spirituality, quote, without true faith. Christ's command here challenges us to look deeper, to judge not by appearance, but by God's standard of truth.

And this is no easy task in a culture that values tolerance over truth, which is an oxymoron. It's impossible. You can't have tolerance without truth. Yeah, a culture that elevates feelings over faithfulness.

We are called to discern with the wisdom of Scripture, to weigh the actions, to weigh the teachings, to weigh the spirits of our age by the unwavering truth of God and God's word, the Bible. And just as Jesus exposed the error of superficial judgments, we too must stand against the shallow worldly criteria by which our culture measures spiritual matters.

Today, as we look at this passage, let us examine our own hearts, our own judgments. Let us ask God to grant us wisdom and discernment, to look past the surface, to understand the truth by his word and his spirit.

May we as faithful disciples learn to judge rightly as Christ commands and to live with the courage to pursue truth in an age that has lost its anchor in God's word. In verses 20 through 24, the Apostle John records three distinct responses to Jesus' ministries that demand our discernment.

In this passage, we encounter misunderstandings, explanations, and imperatives, each emphasizing Jesus' call for moral and theological discernment, the command for discernment, so that you can judge with righteous judgment in your daily life based on Jesus' example.

The misunderstandings of the Jews, Jesus' clarifying explanation, and his imperative for righteous judgment confront us with a choice. Will we evaluate Jesus' words and works with superficial skepticism or with discerning faith?

As Jesus calls us to judge with righteousness, may we anchor our discernment in God's word and the wisdom of Christ. It means living in obedience to his truth, no matter what the culture says. As we move into the heart of Jesus' confrontation in these verses,.

We need to consider.

A couple things in the biblical backdrop of Genesis and Exodus, how circumcision predates the law of Moses, yet was central to the Jewish identity and their form of obedience. In John 7, the tension rises as Jesus confronts the Jews for their inconsistency.

They are eager.

To uphold circumcision, a command given to Abraham centuries before Moses, yet blind to the deeper demands of the law that prohibit murder, a clear mandate from God on Sinai. Jesus exposes a contradiction at the core of their faith, a contradiction that sheds light on the tragic nature of legalism.

Circumcision goes back all the way to Genesis 17, where God established it as a sign of his covenant with Abraham and his descendants. Before there was the law of Moses, before the Sabbath regulations, God set circumcision apart as a sign of his promise.

It symbolized not only a mark on the flesh, but a call to obedience and trust in God's promises. And yet, by the time we reach John 7, circumcision had become a ritual disconnected from faith, a matter of cultural pride rather than covenantal obedience.

In Exodus, the law formalizes circumcision, but it also expands the scope of what it means to be holy, to live with a heart consecrated to God, a heart separated out of the world, in other words. The Jews were diligent to circumcise on the Sabbath, convinced this ritual could be prioritized even above Sabbath rest.

But in John 5, when Jesus heals a man on the Sabbath, they're outraged, ready to condemn him even to plot his murder. Jesus exposes their hearts. They cling to circumcision, yet they disregard the law's prohibition against murder, revealing that their obedience is shallow, it's selective, and it's ultimately self-serving.

So Jesus cuts through the hypocrisy and he issues a piercing rebuke. Do not judge by appearances, but judge with right judgment. He is calling them and us to move beyond superficial obedience and to see that every command, every part of the law is designed to reveal God's heart.

Circumcision, healing, Sabbath, these are not isolated rules to be checked off, but revelations of God's mercy,.

His holiness,.

And his desire for a people whose hearts are fully given to him. So as we press into this text, let us see that Jesus is not merely confronting them with a point of doctrine. He is challenging their entire approach to God and God's word, exposing a way of life that clings to the symbols while missing the substance.

And he calls us to examine our own hearts. Are we judging by mere appearances? By human presuppositions or biases or cultural standards? Or are we allowing his word to penetrate deeply, bringing us into alignment with the fullness of God's truth and mercy?

And so may the Holy Spirit grant us the grace to heed this call. We can't do this on our own, but we can with the Holy Spirit that we might truly walk in the light of God's word. And so we see three distinct responses to Jesus' ministry that demand our discernment.

The Jews respond to Jesus with outright rejection, accusing him of madness and denying their intent to kill him. And this reflects deeper misunderstandings, not only of Jesus' identity, but of their own hearts.

Their response reveals spiritual blindness, hostility, and an unwillingness to grapple with the truth that he presents. In verses 20 and 21, we have misunderstandings. The Jews' counter-statement says this, The crowd answered, You have a demon!

Who seeks to kill you? Jesus answered them, I did one work, and you all marvel. So let's step into the tension of verses 20 and 21. Jesus has healed a man on the Sabbath, demonstrating his authority, demonstrating his compassion, and yet this very act has sparked a plot against him.

Now, if Jesus had been just another religious pretender, the world would have ignored him. He would have been tolerated,.

Tolerated,.

Even embraced by the powers of his day. But because Jesus embodies the truth of God, because he brings light that exposes darkness, the religious leaders despise him. We'll see this warning later in the account here in John.

In chapter 15, Jesus later will tell his disciples, If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own. But because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, because of this the world hates you.

So their hatred is a sign that he came from God, standing apart from the corrupt systems that rule the world. In verse 20, the crowd responds with skepticism, saying you have a demon. They call him mad,.

Madness,.

Convinced that only someone possessed would claim others are plotting against him. See, the common people didn't know about the plans of the religious leaders. They weren't privy to the conspiracy that was brewing in secret.

So when Jesus spoke of the plot against him, they dismissed it as nonsense. They assumed he was paranoid, seeing enemies where there was none. Their reaction is a lesson for us. We should never presume to understand spiritual matters when we lack the insight that only God's spirit can give.

In verse 21, Jesus shifts the conversation from people's motives to the act itself, defending his Sabbath healing. He makes it clear that his actions align with God's law in a way that exposes the hypocrisy of his accusers.

He says, I did one work, and you all marvel at it.

The religious leaders.

Accuse Jesus of breaking the Sabbath, yet they make exceptions for circumcision on the Sabbath, a right that predates the law of Moses going back to the covenant with Abraham. If they can break the Sabbath for circumcision, a physical mark of a covenant,.

Then how much.

More appropriate is it for Jesus to bring healing, restoring not just a body, but the entire person? Jesus here points to the true purpose of God's law, one that reveals mercy and grace. Mercy and grace.

The leaders hold tightly to outward symbols while missing the substance, the greater work of God in healing and restoration. And this misalignment is why they ultimately hate Jesus. His life challenges their superficial.

Obedience.

He sees right through them. In contrast, we are called to seek discernment, not relying on outward appearances or inherited traditions, but letting the Spirit guide us into the depths of God's truth. Christ's rebuke here is sharp and exposes the superficiality that comes from judging by appearance.

Let us then turn to God's Word, to the Bible and to the Holy Spirit to discern rightly, not only in doctrine and teaching, but in every act of obedience, understanding that every true work of God will stand in stark contrast to the world's shallow religiosity.

In these verses, we find a powerful call. Do not settle for superficial faith. Judge with righteous judgment, seeking the deeper reality of God's will. And let the Holy Spirit empower you to uphold the truth in a world quick to dismiss it.

In this section, we see the tragic irony of the Jewish leader's response to Jesus. Here was Jesus, the Son of God, standing in the midst of those who should have known better. They were steeped in scriptures, priding themselves on their knowledge of the law, and yet completely missed its heart.

Rather than recognizing Jesus' defined authority, they accused him of being demon-possessed, out of his mind, driven by an evil spirit. This kind of accusation was common in Jewish culture. Essentially, when someone acted contrary to reason or self-control, showing how blind they were to the truth standing right in front of them.

In verse 20, the crowds, unaware of the schemes of their leaders, accused Jesus of madness when he confronts them about their intentions to kill him. They don't realize what the religious elite are plotting in secret, thinking such a claim is absurd.

But Jesus, fully aware of their murderous intentions, speaks truth to their face, challenging them on their hypocrisy. Here's the inconsistency. These religious leaders were more than willing to defend circumcising a child on the Sabbath, claiming it was in accordance with the law, yet they condemned Jesus for healing a man on the Sabbath.

In John 5, Jesus had healed the lame man on the Sabbath. It was an act of compassion, an act of power that revealed God's grace. Yet instead of seeing the hand of God, they began to conspire to kill him.

He was condemned not for breaking the law, but for fulfilling it in a way that brought life and healing. In verse 21, Jesus points out this inconsistent mindset directly. He brings up the very miracle, the healing of the paralytic.

That's what sparked their outrage. Jesus reminds them that if circumcision, a symbol, could take precedence over Sabbath restrictions, how much more could the healing of an entire person? Circumcision was a mark on the flesh, a sign of covenant, but healing restores.

Healing renews the whole person, body and soul. Here, Jesus makes a powerful argument contrasting their rigid legalism with the true purposes of God's commands. The Sabbath was meant for rest, restoration,.

And remembrance.

Of God's mercy. So Jesus confronts them, showing that their devotion to the law had become selective. It was self-serving. In other words, they used it as a tool for condemnation rather than a guide to understand God's grace.

They missed the deeper purpose of the law, its call to love, justice and mercy. In this passage, we see a crucial lesson. Outward rituals without inward transformation lead to hypocrisy and judgment. Jesus doesn't merely defend his actions, he exposes their hearts.

And the tragedy of this moment is that they were blind to the very God they claimed to worship. They couldn't recognize the true power of God because they were too invested in maintaining their appearance of righteousness.

So we must ask ourselves, are we clinging to traditions and worldly appearances while neglecting the weighty matters of God's law? Do we make snap judgments based on cultural acceptance rather than God's truth?

Jesus calls us to judge with right judgment, to look beyond the surface, to pursue the heart of God's law, a law that is fulfilled in him alone. And so here we see the counterstatement. Misunderstandings about Jesus are not just intellectual errors, but moral failures stemming from hardened hearts.

The Jews' counterstatement. Misunderstandings about Jesus are not just intellectual errors, but moral failures stemming from hardened hearts. Are we quick to dismiss truth when it confronts our assumptions?

Are we quick to dismiss truth when it exposes sin? In today's passage, the apostle John records three distinct responses to Jesus' ministry that demand our discernment. In this section, we encounter misunderstandings, explanations, and imperatives, each emphasizing Jesus' call for moral and theological discernment, so that you can judge with righteous judgment in your daily life following Jesus' example.

First, the misunderstandings of the Jews, and second, Jesus' clarifying explanation. Jesus exposes the inconsistency of their judgment. They permit circumcision on the Sabbath, rightly understanding it as obedience to God's law, yet they condemn Jesus for healing a man, a greater act of restoration.

His explanation reveals their hypocrisy and points to their failure to understand the unity and purpose of God's commands. In verses 22 and 23, we see explanation, Jesus' clarification. Look at verse 22.

Jesus says, For this reason Moses has given you circumcision, not because it is from Moses, but from the fathers. And on the Sabbath you circumcise a man. If a man receives circumcision on the Sabbath so that the law of Moses will not be broken, are you angry with me because I made an entire man well on the Sabbath?

In these verses, Jesus exposes the deep.

Hypocrisy of the.

Jewish leaders by addressing their double standard. These were men who esteemed themselves as guardians of the law, yet their very actions betrayed the heart of it. They were hiding behind a pretense of outrage at Jesus' healing on the Sabbath, but beneath the surface, they were plotting murder.

Jesus, knowing their hearts, doesn't let their hypocrisy go unchallenged. He begins by reminding them that circumcision didn't originate with Moses, but rather with Abraham hundreds of years earlier. We find this in Genesis chapter 17.

This is the Lord speaking. This is my covenant which you shall keep. Between me and you and your seed after you, every male among you shall be circumcised, and you shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskin, and it shall be the sign of the covenant between me and you.

And every male among you who is eight days old shall be circumcised throughout your generations. So God himself instituted circumcision as a sign of his covenant with Abraham, a mark that predated both Moses and the law given at Sinai.

Later, this practice was woven into the law under Moses, but it had always been a covenant sign, one that carried so much weight that it even took precedence over the Sabbath. If a child's eighth day fell on the Sabbath, he was still to be circumcised despite the prohibition of work on that day.

We find this in Leviticus 12. Now on the eighth day, the flesh of his foreskin shall be circumcised. Now Jesus brings this up, not to demean Moses, but to reveal the inconsistency of the Jewish leader's thinking.

They had elevated circumcision above the Sabbath law, and rightly so, they recognized that the work of God in marking his covenant people took priority, but in that case, how could they turn around and condemn Jesus for healing a man on the Sabbath?

If the lesser act of circumcising a small part of the body could lawfully take place on the Sabbath, how much more the greater work of making an entire person whole again? Jesus' act of mercy and restoration should have been celebrated, not condemned.

In pointing out this hypocrisy, Jesus challenges the religious leader's rigid legalism. They were quick to apply the Sabbath law when it suited their agendas, but they had no room for grace or compassion.

They failed to see that the Sabbath itself was a gift of restoration from God, a day set apart for healing and wholeness, pointing to God's mercy. And so Jesus confronts them with a powerful comparison.

The law permitted a.

Single part of the body to be cleansed through circumcision on the Sabbath, but here stood the Son of God bringing restoration to a whole person. Yet rather than marveling at the mercy of God, these leaders chose to be offended, and it was a deliberate decision.

They had allowed ritual to overshadow righteousness, and their own sense of pride kept them from seeing the grace.

Before them.

Jesus' message here is clear. True worship of God does not revolve around rigid adherence to rituals, but around a heart aligned with the purposes of God. Mercy, compassion, and a hunger for truth must govern our judgments.

The Sabbath wasn't created to be a burden, but to reveal the character of a loving God. And if these leaders could allow a ritual on the Sabbath, then they had no grounds for denying Jesus' healing, a work far greater in scope, a complete restoration of body and spirit.

This text serves as a powerful warning for us today. Are we focused on rituals while missing the heart of God's commands? Jesus calls us to move beyond mere observance, and to understand the character of God that lies at the heart of His law.

Mercy, compassion, and truth. These things must define our walk with Him, and the standard we uphold should be God's, not our own. Think of it like this. Imagine a court trial where the judge calls for evidence in a case against a man accused of a crime.

The prosecutor presents a case so distorted, so blatantly biased, that it becomes clear he is not interested in justice at all. He omits crucial evidence, he highlights irrelevant details, and he constructs a story that twists the facts to fit his desired outcome.

It's clear he isn't looking for truth, but simply wants to win, regardless of integrity or accuracy. His actions betray the very system of justice he claims to uphold. This is not unlike what we see today in our culture's handling of moral and theological discernment.

Many who claim to seek truth seem more interested in affirming their own agendas, creating standards that benefit themselves while condemning others. They call for tolerance, yet are quick to silence anyone who challenges their ideas.

They demand freedom, yet dismiss traditional moral standards, even if those standards align with Biblical truth. This selective morality betrays an intellectual dishonesty that is more about defending one's own preferences than pursuing objective truth.

This is precisely what Jesus exposed in John 7. The Jewish leaders condemned him for healing on the Sabbath, an act of compassion and power that should have glorified God in their eyes. Instead, what did they do?

They hid behind Sabbath law. They used it as a pretense to accuse him while secretly plotting his death. Their outrage was not grounded in real reverence for God's law, but in their desire to protect their authority.

They used a double standard, claiming strict adherence to Sabbath law while performing circumcisions on that day and, worse yet, harboring murderous intent. Jesus saw through their hypocrisy, just as he sees through the hypocrisy in our culture today.

When we see moral.

And spiritual standards applied selectively, when mercy is overshadowed by pride and truth is compromised for self-interest, we know that we are witnessing a betrayal of genuine discernment. Jesus calls us to judge with right judgment, which means aligning our hearts and actions with God's truth, not our own agendas or what is popular.

Our judgments, if they are to honor God, must be rooted in a sincere pursuit of his righteousness and compassion, not in a self-serving interpretation of right and wrong. And so we see explanation, Jesus's clarification.

True discernment sees the harmony of God's work and the heart of his law. The clarification. True discernment sees the harmony of God's work and the heart of his law. Are we prone to legalism? Are we clinging to external rules while missing the spirit of grace and redemption?

Three distinct responses to Jesus's ministry that demand our discernment. First, the misunderstandings of the Jews. Second, Jesus's clarifying explanation. And finally, his imperative for righteous judgment confronts us with a choice.

Jesus.

Issues a direct imperative. Reject superficial judgments and evaluate with righteous discernment. This is not a call to abandon judgment altogether, but to align it with God's truth. Judgment based on appearances reflects a shallow worldly perspective.

Righteous judgment requires humility, spiritual maturity, and submission to God's word. And so we have to answer this question. Will we bow the knee to the word of God and make that the highest authority?

Or will we bow to the culture and make that the highest authority? And so here we have in verse 24.

Imperative. Jesus's.

Command. Jesus's command. Verse 24. The Lord says, do not judge according to appearance, but judge with righteous judgment. And so as we open to this verse, let us carefully unpack this profound instruction from our Lord Jesus Christ.