Judge Not
Key Passage: Matthew 7:1-6
Date: June 7, 2024
Matthew chapter number seven, Matthew chapter number seven. And I was planning on preaching this last Sunday night. The Lord just been changing things up here lately. He knows better than I, so we’re trying to follow him. But Matthew chapter number seven tonight.
In God’s Word. And we’re going to read the first six verses. Then we’ll kind of pray, change course a bit. Same subject, but a different old avenue, if you will. Then we’ll go back to Matthew 7. Okay, so hang with me on that. Matthew 7. And we’re going to start in verse number one tonight. Would you please stand as we read God’s Word together, Matthew 7 and verse number one?
In God’s Word, the Bible there says, “Judge not, that ye be not judged. With what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged. With what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again. And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother’s eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye? Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, ‘Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye,’ and behold a beam is in thine own eye? Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye, and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother’s eye. Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet and turn again and rend you.”
Would you pray with us that we would just see life a little bit more like the Lord does and how he wants us to see it? Would you do that? Father, give us your mind, give us your wisdom. Lord, help us to view life like you do. And Lord, help us to handle life like you want us to. Father, do pray that you would kind of reset us, if we need be, to where we ought to be in this area. Lord, help us to be able to enjoy the life more abundantly you came to give because of tonight. And Father, well, thank you for what you do. We’re asking for these things. Lord, help me to divide it. And Jesus, then we ask these things. Amen.
Thank you so much for standing. You may be seated.
Just some little statements, kind of introduction statements. Statement number one: It is a good thing if we judge ourselves.
You remember over there in 1 Corinthians chapter number 11, he’s talking about the Lord’s Supper there. Other places we could use, but over there, it says, “Let a man examine himself.” And then he says this statement, he says it’s 1 Corinthians 11:31, “For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged. But when we are judged, we are chastened of the Lord, that we should not be condemned with the world.” So number one, that’s a good thing if we judge ourselves.
Number two, number two, it’s better that we let the Lord be our judge. 1 Corinthians chapter 4, verse number 3, and Paul, through the inspiration of God, says, “But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged of you, or of man’s judgment. Yea, I judge not mine own self, for I know nothing by myself, yet am I not hereby justified? But he that judgeth me is the Lord.”
Let me say this: Let the Bible, the Lord’s Word, be your judge. Let me say this along this, and we’re just kind of introducing things here: Be careful of letting people be your judge. You’ve heard it said, the easiest way to fail is try to please everyone. You’re just not going to do it. And so be careful of letting that be your judge. No, let the Lord—and you’ve got to judge yourself—let the Lord be the chief judge there, and his Word. At the end, the thing will be judged by is the Word of God. Be so careful about that.
I remember years ago when we were in our third storefront over here. How many remember when it used to be Kmart instead of where now it’s Stars and Stripes? Do you remember Kmart being there? Yeah, when Kmart was there, we were across the street, one of those long strip malls there. We had rented some sections of that, whatnot, and our church was there.
And I was into some drink. I can’t remember what it was. All right, all right, it was non-alcoholic, okay? All right, now, you know, I know you’re looking at me like that. Maybe it was one of these—it wasn’t an energy drink per se, but just one of these drinks that was out for a while. I like, like, you know, kind of fruit drinks, whatnot. I like them all, with my problem. But I was into this drink for a while, and I would go over to Kmart sometimes at lunchtime, and I’d get this drink. The only problem was it was in a bottle that looked like one of the bottles. And I always kind of going back and forth on that thing, you know.
And I remember buying it one time, you know, I kind of tried to hide it, but it wasn’t nothing wrong with it, you know. And I thought about that verse where it says, “Abstain from all appearance of evil.” And I said, “All right, Lord, last one I’ll buy is this one.” I never bought another one. And I was letting the Bible, best it could be, the judge.
By the way, we’re just hurrying along here. Let the Holy Spirit handle the sword. You know what it calls over in Ephesians 6? He says, “The sword of the Spirit.” You know a man can get a hold of the sword and cut and hurt people? I mean, the devil knows the Bible really well. But you let the Spirit…
And by the way, sometimes you’re questioning something. Say, “Lord, would you bring a verse to mind?” That helps me so often because sometimes I’m like, is that my fault? Is that you, Holy Spirit? I say, if that’s you, would you bring a verse to mind? He’ll do that. And it’s the sword of the Spirit. And I ask the Holy Spirit to use that sword, and he’ll wield that sword, and it’ll be a help to you, and it’ll grow you. And so let the Word of God and let the Lord, guided by the Holy Spirit of God, the Bible, be your judge.
Now, number three, just statements from making the beginning here: Sometimes we must make judgment decisions. If you are maybe debating who you are going to let be a leader in your life here in the context about to read, it is specifically a preacher. Or maybe, should I go to this church or should I listen to this person on YouTube, whatnot? Look over in verse number 15 in Matthew 7. He gives some guidelines about that. Verse number 15.
He says, “Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire. Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them.”
So I’ve got to make a judgment call there. Should I listen to this guy? Should I not listen to this guy? And God has given us a good guideline here: by their fruits. Check the fruits out. Let me say this: If they’ve had a long history of financial trouble, I’d say I’d probably wouldn’t listen to them. You know, what’s the fruit of their ministry? What’s the fruit of their children, and so on and on? “By their fruits ye shall know them.”
But you’ve got to make a decision. Am I going to allow this person to be my leader? I would even say, especially if it’s a smaller company, I’d check my boss out just to touch. If it’s a larger company, we just changed trash companies, the trash service we use. And the reason why we changed is, at the end of the day, it’s about the same deal on both of them. But I checked out the political stance, and one was more conservative than the other. I said, that’s one I’m going to go with right there, you know.
So anyway, you’ve got to make decisions and judgments on those decisions. If you’re in certain positions of leadership, you have to make judgment calls. I coached basketball for a while years and years ago in Florida. And, you know, those boys practice, and all of them have to be at practice. I mean, the boy that he—look, he can’t hit a basket if it’s like two feet right underneath there. I mean, he just can’t hit it, you know. But he’s out to practice, and so you’d like for him to have playtime. But you’re getting those tough games where it’s, you know, just a point or two game, you know, the difference between winning or you’re just a couple points. And you’re the coach. And the parents say, “My little junior’s been practicing all the time,” and I understand that, I want to play him. But I want to win a ball game every once in a while. You understand?
And you got to make a judgment call. You know, you’re just, you’re in the position. It’s your right to make that call. And so you have to make some judgment calls. If somebody comes up and they take that out and they’re thumping on the ground and say, “Hey, I would like to be a Sunday school teacher at Rutherford County Baptist Church,” I’d have to make a judgment call there. Probably not going to happen. You understand what I’m saying, you know? And that’s just part of leadership. You’re going to have to make some judgment calls wherever you’re at, especially if you’re in leadership.
James 3 and 1 is a very interesting verse. Let me just read it for you. He says, “My brethren, be not many masters, knowing that we shall receive the greater condemnation.” Friend, it’s not always the best thing. If God doesn’t want you in leadership, don’t be bidding for leadership because when you get in leadership, you’re going to have to make some judgment calls. And it’s not always the funnest thing to do, but it’s part of the job. And so just trying to clarify some things about judging here really before we go back to Matthew 7.
Now we’re going to go back to the first part, Matthew 7, verse number 1. Y’all still with me tonight? We’re kind of hurrying along. I felt like we needed to cover some territory before we get to this right here. Let’s just start with verse number one, Matthew 7. And let’s just start—let’s just let’s just let’s just start with the first two words: “Judge not.”
Now, let me say this. The subject matter here, look in verse number three, verse number three. He says, “Oh, beholdest thou the mote that is in thy…” What’s the next word? That’s very important, brothers. He’s not talking about who you’re going to let me over you as far as a leader. He’s not talking about someone that you know is a father. He’s got to make some decisions there. He’s just, he’s talking about horizontal here. His context is so much your brother. It’s not a—it’s not a work situation. It’s a relationship—your brother. It could be your brother in Christ or other things.
But “Why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother’s eye?” So you understand the context here is not in a—by the way, I have to judge things that come into my life, whether they’re going to help or hurt me live for the Lord Jesus Christ. But it’s not talking about your brother here. And when it comes to this subject here, first two words, he says, he says, “Judge not.”
I think of it sometimes like this. If we’re not careful, we’ll find—I’m looking for something to use the illustration here—we’ll find the, you know, once we learn a little Bible truths and Bible principles, and by the way, it’s right to have Bible standards and convictions, that’s right to have. But once we learn, if we’re not careful, we’ll just say, and we’ll come along and he’ll put this badge on us, where we kind of watch everybody else. And are they keeping up the biblical standards and convictions? Now, the biblical standards and convictions are not wrong. They’re right. They’re Bible. But if I’m not careful, I’ll be walking around wearing that Christian badge watching everybody else.
And, friend, here’s what he’s saying, if you will: He’s saying, take the badge off and place it at the feet of Jesus. Now, if you’re in leadership and you’ve got to make a decision, I understand all that, I get that fully. But we’re not careful just with our dealing with our brothers. And friend, it’s not—it’s what I’m saying—lay that badge down and put it at the feet of Jesus and enjoy life.
I mean, just enjoy. I’m called to keep myself right, if you will, and I have a tough time of that. I don’t want the responsibility of keeping everybody else right. Just take the badge off and put it at the feet of Jesus and enjoy life. I’ve never been a police officer, but I would imagine I’d venture to say a police officer that had been a police officer for a while, he’d probably want to go out every once in a while where everybody doesn’t think or know he’s a police officer. He just wants to go out and kind of just enjoy life. And as Christians, if we’re not careful, we’ll just kind of wear this badge all the time. No, no, judge not.
Trust God that he is a just God. I love this verse: Deuteronomy 32:4. “He is the Rock, his work is perfect: for all his ways are judgment: a God of truth and without iniquity, just and right is he.” I love this verse. This has been so helpful when we have presidents in office that I don’t agree with at all, and maybe even the Senate or the House, whatnot, it’s been so helpful, Supreme Court for years and years, years.
Ecclesiastes 5:8: “If thou seest the oppression of the poor, and the violent perverting of judgment and justice in a province, marvel not at the matter: for he that is higher than the highest regardeth; and there be higher than they.”
Proverbs 15:3: “The eyes of the Lord are in every place, beholding the evil and the good.” And sometimes it’s good to say, “Hey, devil, that’s not my badge to wear. That’s his badge to wear.” I’m going to take it off and put it at his feet, and I’m going to enjoy life because Jesus came to give me life and life more abundant. I want to enjoy that life more abundant.
So first thing, Matthew 7, first two words: “Judge not.”
Now, here’s an interesting thing. God gives us a motive, a very powerful motive for not judging. Look at it. Look at it. Look at what he says here. He says, “Judge not that ye be not judged.” For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged. And in what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again. And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother’s eye and considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye?
Now, here’s the thing: the motive. God says, don’t judge. Now, in that, we don’t lay aside the law books, if you will, the Bible. No, it’s still true. It’s still right. That’s still the standard. But I don’t take that and apply it to everybody’s life all the time. No, that’s not my job. My job is telling about Jesus. And if I use my sphere of influence that comes to me, I can help, and we’ll talk about that. But it’s not my job to do that.
And here’s the thing: If I go around just applying it to everybody, and I’m judging all the time, that’s the same thing that’s going to come back to me. And that’s the motive of God gives. God says, “Judge not.” Why? “That ye be not judged.”
Look over if you have the parallel scripture. This is in the Sermon on the Mount. Look over the Sermon on the Mount in the book of Luke, chapter number six. Look at the parallel scripture, and it adds a little light to the subject here. Luke chapter number six. And look in verse number 37. Luke 6:37. You’ll kind of notice the beginning part here. It’s a parallel scripture.
“Judge not, and ye shall not be judged: condemn not, and ye shall not be condemned: forgive, and ye shall be forgiven.” Now this next verse we use always—not always, a lot of times—towards finances, and it does apply to that, but actually the context is not about finances. It’s not judging and forgiving and condemning.
Look at verse number 38: “Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom. For the same measure that ye mete withal it shall be measured to you again.”
I can’t help read verse number 38 without thinking about my grandma, my mom’s mom, Granny Lee. And we go to these U-pick places. She usually had to garden herself, but we’d go to a U-pick place sometime and get a hamper of green beans or whatnot, you know. And we were just little fellows at that time, and man, you just want to fill that hamper up because, you know, you’re tired of picking green beans. So after a while, you’re not just picking green beans, you’re picking limbs. If you can pull the whole plant up and put it in there, you do all that, you know, just want to fill that up, you know. And you’re putting all that in there just trying to fill her up.
And you’re like, man, it’s full. And Granny Lee would come along over there, and she’d take that hamper, and she’d shake it like that, back and forth a little bit, and up and down, you know, and she’d push it down and shake. And, “Granny, man, it was full!” Now it’s only three-quarters of the way full. And so you’ve got to pick up more rocks and put them in there, fill it up, you know. Get it so heavy Granny can’t shake it anymore. No. But, and that’s what comes back to you: pressed down, shaken together, running over.
And the context is just talking about judging, condemning, which is more of illegal—I mean, just condemned in a court of law—and forgiving. Hey, friend, I don’t want to get too judgmental because I like to be forgiven myself. In some ways, we’re making our bed.
And look, if I spend my life judging, I’ll spend my life being judged. I don’t want that. How many have ever tried to throw a boomerang where it would come back to you and catch? Anybody? Anybody? I lost fingers trying to do that. No, I didn’t. They say you can do it. It comes back to you just right. I have never been there. I can’t do it. But that’s kind of the way it is. You know that over in Galatians 6: “Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.”
Well, you’ve heard it said if you’re pointing your finger at someone, you know, three fingers are pointing back at you. And I don’t want that. I don’t want to become just judgmental. I’m judging everybody, all my brothers, and I’m just spending my life because, you know, if I do that, it’s going to come back to haunt me. I’d rather enjoy life. I just believe God’s a big enough God to judge.
Now, if he’s giving me responsibility—my children, by the way—I still remember, and that’s right, that’s your children, you’re to raise them, you’re to protect them. I still remember Dad saying, “I don’t want you to hang around those kids.” “Why not, Dad?” “Because those aren’t good kids.” “Well, how do you know? You don’t even know them, Dad.” And I remember—my family joked about this, probably still joke about it today at Christmas time, we’ll probably joke about it—because I can know what kind of kids they are by the way they ride their bikes. You know, Dad, by the way they’re riding their bikes.
But you know, my honest truth is, my dad probably was right. I remember right, he knew. And that’s right. As a dad or as a mom to judge those things. God’s given that; that’s your call, parents. And you’re going to rub some people the wrong way doing those things, but that’s right to do. But I don’t want it for the rest of my life just going around judging every kid that rides a bike in the neighborhood. Now enjoy life.
And so it says, “Judge not.” Wow, that should be “that ye be not judged.” You know, it’s a wonderful thing when you see an older person—we’ve got wonderful older people in church—and they’re just, they spent their life kind of loving, and they’re enjoying getting loved back. And that’s not the total thing, best part of it, though.
So he gives me a good motive: “Judge not, that ye be not judged.” And then look at verses 4 and 5. Verse number 4 and 5 here tonight. He says, oh, let’s start verse number 3. Let’s get verse number 3. “And why beholdest thou the mote that is—oh, if you will—that’s… we’ll call that a toothpick, okay? The mote that is in thy brother’s eye, but considerest not the beam—we’ll call that a two-by-four—that is in thine own eye? Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, ‘Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye,’ and behold, a beam is in thine own eye? Thou hypocrite! First cast out the beam—the two-by-four—out of thine own eye, and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother’s eye.”
Now, here’s the thing: Keep yourself right in case you’re called upon to help others get right.
Now, I notice it said that unless you’re called upon. That’s very important. Look at verse number 6, verse number 6, right here. He says, give the context, you just talked about, hey, get that two-by-four out of your eyes so you can help pull the toothpick out of their eye. That’s the thought. Then verse number 6, he says, “Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet and turn again and rend you.”
This might be a good way to put it: Unasked for advice is seldom—excuse me—unusually unwanted advice, seldom followed advice, and often resented advice. He said, “All right, get yourself right.” So if someone wants your help, you’ll be able to help them. He said, don’t just go out giving what’s holy to the dogs. He said, well, you know what’s going to happen? Don’t cast your pearls before swine. You’re just going around giving your advice to everybody, and they’re going to turn and rend you. They’re going to trample that underfoot. No, no, no, no, no. That’s not my job unless they come and say, “Hey, it seems like you’ve done good in this area in your life,” whatnot, and have them say it. They probably won’t say it exactly like that, but something along that line: “Can you help me with this? How you’ve got the right?” And you’re going to have to have some wisdom and some judgment in helping them.
Now, that’s when they come. They want that help. You’re not trying to get yourself straightened out so you can go around and judge the world. That’s the Lord’s job. Actually, we didn’t have time to get it, but Jesus said, “I’m not here to judge. I came here to save.” One day he will be the judge. The Father gives him that right and that privilege, that responsibility. But no, look, if they’re not wanting your advice, look, friend, don’t go—don’t go trying to get them straight now. They’ll trample it underfoot and turn and rend you. Okay, that’s what he’s saying then, verse number six.
By the way, the best environment for someone to grow is acceptance—accepting them, not their sin, but that individual. I was so pleased; I visited someone just here recently. They’ve been visiting our church, and I’m trying to be wise about how to say this. It was obvious they did not have their T’s crossed and their I’s dotted. We’ll just put it that way.
And went to visit them, and they said, “You know, I’ve been visiting a lot of churches. And he said, your church—of course, not minus the Lord’s, but your church, our church, the Lord’s church—he said, that church, I just feel welcome there. I feel at home there.” They were very welcome. And I’m all, “Praise the Lord, that’s the way it ought to be.” By the way, he’s been coming faithfully on Sunday morning, and God can use that to grow him. But if it had been judgmental when he walked in those doors, you know what? He’d have been out and gone for good. No, acceptance is the optimum environment for growth. See?
And so, look, you help when they want your help. Now, on the gospel, I go, gave them all the Lord, preach the gospel to every creature on the gospel. But I don’t go just, just, “Well, bless God, get your hair cut, buddy. You look like a girl. I couldn’t tell. Drive another street if you’re a man or a lady,” you know. Well, that might be right for a preacher. Everyone’s might have preached those things from the pulpit. God’s giving him to spread the truth. But that’s not our job to go around town and spread that. You understand? And I don’t want to be people just why am I judging me all the time?
And God’s Word, the principle is if I become like judging everybody, then God says it’s going to come back to you. You understand? By the way, Christ didn’t come to condemn.
I like this. They say a man fell into quicksand, and Confucius walked by and he said, “Men should stay out of such places.” Buddha walked by and he said, “Let that be a lesson to the rest of the world.” Mohammed walked by and he said, “That must be the will of Allah.” Jesus walked by and he reached out his hand. He said, “Take my hand, brother, I’ll save you.” I like to be like Christ. See?
Now, let me just—we’re almost done here. Okay, we’ve got a couple more to cover here, all right. I don’t want you to judge me on that now. No, I’m joking with you here. Let me just for a bit. It’s my last point, but there are several things underneath it. Let me just encourage you to not become judgmental.
Now, let me be honest with me: the hardest one to not be judgmental against is those who are judging you. That’s the hardest ones. And here’s what I want to say: buddy, you’re yelling and screaming at me, “Don’t judge!” And look who’s the biggest judge right now? But you understand the temptation for me to say, hey, in basketball, I’ve said there are so many times over the years, but they say in basketball, almost always, the one that gets called for the foul is the one that’s retaliating the elbow. Same thing in Christianity.
Look over in John 3, if you will. John chapter 3 real quickly here. Well, I’m sorry. Let’s go to 1 Samuel first. Let’s go to 1st Samuel. I’m sorry. We’ll get to 1st John just a second. Let’s go to 1st Samuel. And I want you just see sometimes how it works. This is David over here, 1st Samuel. And this is David and Goliath. Big mouth was out there yelling and defiling the nation of Israel and Jehovah. And David is saying, “Why won’t somebody go knock that fellow’s block off?” You know, a big mouth, somebody needs to shut his mouth up, you know. And God’s going to enable me to do it, and we can do it.
And David’s oldest brother—isn’t that interesting—his brother, the brother over here at Matthew 7. And David’s brother, he starts really just judging David. And he says, “What are you doing leaving the sheep out there? And I know your heart.” And boy, you know the temptation for David to start judging back. And let’s see what David does. We’re in 1st Samuel 17. 1st Samuel 17. And look at verse number 28 here. Now I think this is so important. I think maybe this was the greatest spiritual battle of the day. And because David won that, he was able to win the physical battle that happened that day.
But look at it, 1 Samuel 17, look at verse number 28: “And Eliab, his eldest brother, heard when he spake unto the men; and Eliab’s anger was kindled against David. And he said, ‘Wherefore art thou come down hither? And with whom hast thou left those few sheep in the wilderness? I know thy pride, do you really? And the naughtiness of thine heart; for thou art come down that thou mightest see the battle.’”
And David said, “What have I now done? Is there not a cause?” Well, don’t you—here’s the victory in the spiritual battle—and he turned from him toward another, spake after that same manner. And the people answered him again after the former manner. You know, I often think, if David had got caught up in that battle right there with his brother, old Goliath probably lived another day.
Friend, it’s so important. And it’s so easy. By the way, you will get attacked. You will. And in that, you’re going to get judged just for standing for truth. It’s going to happen. And we’re not careful when you get just judged, if you are just to temptation, that’s the greatest time to start judging back.
Look over in John. Let’s get to John 3 now. John chapter number 3. And a great, great chapter. And a lot of the motives of God are expressed here and why he sent his Son. Of course, the great verse, verse number 16: “For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son.” You know the verse. Now look down verse number 17, verse number 17 of John. And he expresses more the motives of God.
Verse number 17: “For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.” Time out for just a lot of times I’ll use an illustration. Years and years ago, we had our first boat, and I’d never owned a boat before. And it was, of course, a used boat. And we went out in Percy Priest Lake, my family, and I’d walked along the back of the boat and checked everything out. But it’s kind of like, you know, you ever seen someone their car’s not working so they open the hood? They open the hood. Yep, there’s the engine, I think, you know, and they close it up. That type of thing.
Well, it’s kind of like that with boats. I didn’t know that much about it. And I noticed that propeller and that little—oh, the nut that’s in the propeller and the little washer behind it, and it’s got tabs all over it. And I thought, well, those tabs don’t look like to push down very good. I don’t think that much of it. And we’re out in the lake. And we cranked the motor up, we put it in gear. It wasn’t going anywhere. And it wasn’t the world, you know. And put in reverse, wasn’t going anywhere. And I thought, what’s going on? You trim that motor up. And you look, and I don’t know—I seem to remember, I’m not sure, maybe it was Sarah—said, “Dad, isn’t there supposed to be like a little, you know, little thing that’s called a propeller on there?” You know, “Yeah, there’s supposed to be a propeller there,” you know. And it was gone. It didn’t work its way off, and it fell off.
So we tried to dive down and, you know, get it off the bottom of the lake. And it was deep right there. We never could touch the bottom. You know how it is. Then you get everybody standing on each other’s shoulder so you can get far enough to—come on now, you’ve been there before on these things now, you know. And you’re diving as far as you get all that, you know, and we’re not going to get that propeller.
And here’s the thing: We had so many people come by, so many boats come by. And the head stops, “Hey, you know, hey, you all right?” “No, we’re not. We’ve lost a propeller,” you know. And the nut came off, and just so many of them said, “Well, you need to make sure that tab is pushed down real good.” And it was dirty and big and black sludge, but I know that now, you know. We had so many of them, so many, do the same thing. And then finally one guy, he pulled up alongside. And so, “What’s going on?” And we told him. He said, “Hey, I’ll hook the rope up, I’ll pull you in.” And he wasn’t there to condemn us. Who’s there to save us? That’s what Jesus came to do. That’s what he’s saying, verse number 17.
Now let’s keep going here a little bit. That’s verse number 17. Verse number 18: “He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.” And this is a condemnation, that light is coming into the world. And men love darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil. For everyone that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God.
Now, here’s what I’m getting at here on this last part here: If the light of Jesus is shining through you, standing like Jesus would stand, you have some convictions. You have some standards. Your dress is right, your music’s right, your talk is right. You don’t go to a certain place, and all that. You have light shining. And some people are not going to like it because the light exposes the darkness, the sin. And so what’s going to happen? You’re going to get shot at.
I remember times people that I love—I love them, and I’m close to some of them. And some of these I’m thinking years gone by, or maybe even at the workplace, these things happen. And you’ve never come to anybody. You just, “I just don’t talk like that. I don’t drink that. I don’t go to those.” I have a conviction in my life. I’ve had it for years. I don’t go to the movies. I don’t go to the theater house. And I understand it’s a little bit different nowadays. You can watch the same thing pretty much at your house. I get all that, but that’s been a standard I’ve had in my life. Here’s the principle, the Bible truth is: setting a wicked thing before my eyes. And so I got a conviction, I don’t want to watch bad things. Well, I’ve set a standard that’s helped me keep that conviction. I don’t go to the theater. And I understand things are a little different now, but I just—I had that, and I don’t want to lower my standard. It’s helping. I have a hard enough time keeping that conviction, not watching anything bad, much less if I go to the movies, I’d probably have a much harder time, for me.
And so I remembered some people knew that in my life. Boy, I got shot at. And here’s the thing: “You’re judging me.” And I thought, I didn’t say a word about it. I’m just standing and shining. And I’m not saying I have everything perfect. But I’m not saying when you have a light, you have a standard of conviction, you’re going to get shot at. And I remember thinking, why am I getting shot at? Why are they accusing me of judging? I’m not saying anything to anybody.
And you can use that a lot of different ways, whether it be, you know, there’s been times, and I worked in the secular field so many times, and I’m not going to go there for lunch and so on and so on, all those things. And you’re going to get shot at because you’re light and you’re shining light, however your conviction is. That’s not the thing I’m trying to get at tonight. But because you’re shining light, you’re going to get shot at, and you’re going to be accused of judging. And that’s going to be the time that you’re going to be tempted to start judging back. Friend, don’t do that. That’s a trick of the devil. No, no, I’m not going to lower the light. I’m going to stand where I believe I ought to stand according to biblical principles and truth and the convictions and standards I set in my life. I’m not going to lower that to please them. But in turn, I don’t want to start judging them because they’re judging me.
That is born. “You elbowed him.” “Yeah, but Ralph, he just hit me right over the elbow with his elbow, and you missed that one.” Well, it doesn’t matter. You still got the foul. And same thing.
Can I just say this like they did in the book of Nehemiah? Just stay on the wall and keep doing what God’s called you to do. By the way, so often, if we’re not careful, we’ll get caught up in these little battles and we’re judging each other and we’re getting in the fray of it all. And so a lost person is dying and going to hell and they don’t get reached.
This summer, my wife and I, our 30th anniversary—it’s the card, a Christmas card my wife sent out. I didn’t know she was sending that picture, by the way, you know. My goodness, you know. But anyway, she sent that one out, and I’m fine with it. But we were in Florida, and it’s just kind of traditional a little bit. We’re on vacation. And we just did it since the kids were little. It just happened. But Sunday afternoon, of course, we go to church, and then Sunday night in between church, we typically will find a flea market. We got to have Baptist distinctives. We get an A-P in there first. Come on now, you know, that’s Baptist distinctives. We’ve got to teach that, you know. But anyway, find a flea market. We’ll go to a flea market Sunday afternoon before Sunday night at church. And so we did it this summer, my wife and I, in Florida.
And, you know, Florida’s hot and whatnot. And so we both were wanting water. Now you understand there’s a difference than a man shopping and a lady shopping. You know what I’m talking about out there? Men, I go to the tool section. That’s where I went to the flea market. I think I might have even actually bought me—usually we just go look. I think I bought me one tool, and I’m done. You understand? I mean, you know, we foul. We want it.
And so I said, “Hey, babe,” you know, she’s like, “We’re on vacation.” I went—I went shopping with her a little bit, you know, for those of you who have to go shop with you, I did a little bit. Thirty seconds, all right. But I did. I went with her a little bit. And, you know, we went and shopping. I’m ready to take a break. I had some things in my phone going on. So I said, “Hey, I just sat down here,” and I went through some things, whatnot. And then after that, I’m trying to call her or text her, you know, and we couldn’t find each other. This flea market, pretty good size flea market.
And so we were both wanting water. So I went over one corner and I found some water. Before we didn’t have found some water machines, but they wouldn’t—their card machine didn’t work, whatever, we couldn’t get it. So I found some water. I thought, “What?” You know, and I… So I had that bottle of water, you know, and it was cool. You could tell it, you know. And so I took a picture of it, and I sent it to her phone. There’s a guy standing there in one of his booths there. And I said, “I’m going to get my wife here real quick. When she sees this picture of this water,” you know.
And when I said that, he said, “I’ll tell you how to get her here even quicker than that.” And he pulled out a beer. He said, “Take a picture of that. You’ll get her here right away,” you know. I didn’t have my son to go over and meet her close on, you know?
And I just kind of casually, I said, “Well, my wife doesn’t drink.” You know, that wouldn’t work for my wife. And as soon as I said that, boy, he didn’t like that. That’s all I said. But you remember when the light, you know, it shows up the darkness. And he said, “Well, there’s nothing wrong with drinking. Jesus turned the water, you know, into wine.” And, you know, and that was pretty good at first. You know, it’s kind of like, brother, I don’t want to get in a fight with you, you know. I’m about to pour that water right on him, you know. Hold that beer bottle. I got something good to hit it with, you know.
But it just kept going and going. And so pretty soon, you know, I’m a preacher, you know. Pretty soon, I just had a couple of things—you kind of stayed straight on a couple of things there, you know. And we had our little tiff. I can’t remember everything that happened there. And when it was all over, I thought, “All right, Paul”—I mean, the temptation was we got in a little battle over it with the badge on. And praise the Lord, you know, I said, “No, Paul.” You know, I said, Bible things to him. In fact, told him a little bit about relatives that I never even met because he was alcoholic and so on and so on. Got a little personal there. Sometimes that was effective, too, you know. But I said, “No, I don’t want to pick up the badge.” And I got to let that down. He’ll stand before God and answer for that.
And somewhere along there, I finally got over to my wife. And here’s the thing, here’s the thing. When I was over there, and the temptation was he was coming after me, he just coming to me. The temptation was to get back in there, just getting in this battle. And all the time that was going on, my wife was over there leading somebody to the Lord. And just a glorious one of those that somebody just needed someone to come along and say, “Hey, let me have to go to heaven.” And let her just cry and arise out and wanted to get saved. And she did.
And if we’re not careful, we’ll get caught up on this judging and fighting and bickering and all the rest of that. Somebody will there want to get saved. If somebody sticks to the weighty matters of the law, you stick to—hey, no, we’re not going to lower the light—but our job is to those that they look, it’s not really you that they’re coming out against. It’s the light they don’t like. I don’t want to turn the volume down on the light because there’s somebody else saying the light. Did you notice that last verse we read? They want it. They know they need some light in their life. And they know they need—don’t you bow your heads and close your eyes? Our heads are bowed, our eyes are closed. You’re here tonight, just two folks. You say, “Preacher, you know, I feel like in some ways, in some areas, I need to lay the badge down, the temptation, wherever it may be, however it may be. I just need to lay the badge down.” I’m not talking about lowering our standards of conviction. No, no, not at all. But I need to let the badge—give it to the Lord and let the Lord be the police, if you will. God spoke to my heart about that. That’s you tonight. Just, “Preacher, that’s me.” “That’s me.” God bless you. God bless you.
Oh, it’s so tempting. It’s so tempting. All of us. God bless you. God bless you. Oh, me too. I’m there from time to time. Maybe here tonight, and you say, “You know, I need to stay in the battle of reaching people.” Praise the Lord for old David. He turned from it. He said, “No, I’m not going to get caught up on that. There’s a bigger, more important battle, O Goliath over there.” And, “Preacher, I want to stay involved in the battle for souls. I want to stay on the wall, if you will. I want to keep shining the light for those that want the light. And I want to be busy in the right—for the good fight, the right fight. I want to be caught up in that.” God spoke to my heart about that. “That’s where I want to be involved in.” Oh, God bless you. God bless you. That’s key. Me too. I want to be there. Me too. God bless you. God bless you.
Would you please stand tonight? We’re going to have a word of prayer. Just be obedient to the Lord. And let’s pray that his light shines brightly through us. Would you do that? Father, thank you for the wisdom of your Word. Lord, help us to have life more abundant like you came to give us. Lord, I do pray that your light would shine brightly through us. And Lord, even when those come at us because we’re shining, I pray that we’ll be wise enough to keep shining, not to get involved in the darkness, to keep shining for you. Bless our people tonight, Father, please. Well, thank you for what you do. In Jesus’ name we pray, amen.
Original File: Pastor Paul Chisgar - Judge - Sunday PM 12172023