Matthew 7:1-5, Romans 2:1-3, 17-29
“Judge not, that ye be not judged” – Matt. 7:1
I dare to declare that, anyone who is compelled in sincere love to share the gospel of Christ to lost sinners has heard Matthew 7:1 quoted by scores of souls headed for hell – “Judge NOT!” they holler. Why? These people think they are good persons, thus in actuality they believe they don’t need a Savior for the present conduct they are engaged in – whether it be drunkenness, drugs, clubbing, sexual immorality, etc. In many states, most of those souls which stream into the clubs on Saturday night will stream into their “churches” on Sunday morning as faithful, tithing, pew dwellers with X’s on their hands. I have heard it screamed at me as I’ve pled with club lines, “I am going to Church tomorrow!” as if that excused their behavior. Is the heresy of the Roman Catholic Church any different? Would it be any different for these persons to say, “I will confess my sins to my father-priest tomorrow at the confessional,” as if that is all that God demands? Their minds are halfway or fully intoxicated by alcohol or drugs, indulging in unspeakable sensuality this world calls dancing, their minds numb to shame as sight is impaired by darkness and strobe lights, and the booming bass rhythms the energy of hell as hell’s preachers rap and rhyme of sex, drugs, gangster violence, rape, killing, and death! My soul cries to God as I think how many of these people will be in church tomorrow singing hymns or “christian rock and roll.” The pastor sets the stage of “Christian worship” under the night lights of the wicked. Sinners go from the club lights and strobes, florescent beaming rays in contrast and motion across a pitch black arena, and they wander into the same scene on Sunday morning “worship” – pitch black, beaming light shows, and stage performances big-screening the house’s most beautiful women. Hell rages in the night house and perfumes the morning house. Oh God have mercy.
“For they that are such serve not our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly; and by good words and fair speeches deceive the hearts of the simple” (Rom. 16:18).
The stage brightens only for more darkness as the preacher steps up to deliver his snapping and moving motivational speech. With fair words, he justifies the masses and scores for himself the happy admiration of the hypocrites. The people leave in peace, remembering his fair speeches. His glazed smile of peace is magical to the congregation’s mind, but they “know not what they do” (Lk. 23:34). This preacher’s image and doctrine mummifies dead men to keep them from the powerful stench of decaying flesh and somehow preserve the rottenness of depravity. His preaching makes their depravity look good, even look alive, so men flock to his aura and deception. The “church” is an atmosphere of acceptance which is tolerance of the unrepentant, which is forgiveness to those whom God has not forgiven. The pastor’s sermons paint pictures of God through twisted biblical exposition integrated with elaborate stories which skillfully causes everyone to forget about their sins, and so, the people leave remembering an imaginary God that does not exist (Jer. 23:27). They are preachers of dreams to a dreaming people. Forgetting about their sins, eternal judgment, and repentance, the people salivate for next weekend’s sinful liberties while the God of the Bible is ready to slay them with merciless wrath for all eternity. The catholic father-priest confessional, which is a sure absolution of sin, is now a peace-preaching, protestant pastor who attains the same result all in one meeting. Singing, dancing, and praying in church, everyone leaves saying, “God is good!” So it is so, and the people think they are allowed to commit the infamous lusts of hell. “And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: that all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness” (2 Thess. 2:11-12). Oh Lord God, have mercy.
Such men and women in this mad and blasphemous blindness do criminalize the truthful while they defend their lying pastors. They say, “Judge not, that ye be not judged,” but is this the correct interpretation of the passage (Matt. 7:1)? This passage does not forbid judgment! It disqualifies those who are hypocrites from practicing biblical judgment, and rather, it affirms those who are righteous to continue to judge. Look at the entire passage in context –
Such men and women in this mad and blasphemous blindness do criminalize the truthful while they defend their lying pastors. They say, “Judge not, that ye be not judged,” but is this the correct interpretation of the passage (Matt. 7:1)? This passage does not forbid judgment! It disqualifies those who are hypocrites from practicing biblical judgment, and rather, it affirms those who are righteous to continue to judge. Look at the entire passage in context –
“Judge not, that ye be not judged. For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and 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” (Matthew 7:1-5).
Judgment in this context is judging what is right and wrong or who is right and wrong, in their actions or character. The Divine forbiddance, “Judge not,” is circumstantial depending on which of the two individuals you are. Each individual spoken of has two different seeing capabilities – one who sees clearly and one who has a beam in his eye which is blinding him. The ability a man has to correctly judge right and wrong when it is observed in another, this is said to be as the capacity a man has to see clearly. Let the reader note, every man has his own sense of right and wrong and holds others to it according to his own desire, even if he holds others to the standard of no standard. It is a judgment for club-line persons to judge that it is wrong for the preachers to judge. When they are saying, “judge NOT,” they are judging the judgment of the judgers – the preachers. They are using this passage to exclude the judgment of themselves as if it is unbiblical to hold a person accountable to saving truth and righteous deeds consistent with true salvation. The principle behind the warning, “judge not, that ye be not judged,” is connected with which person you are: the one who sees clearly…or the one who has a beam in his eyes. If your friend or family member had a beam in his eye, would you help them remove it?
A man’s capability to see is their accuracy, qualification, and capability to judge. In scripture, if you are a hypocrite, you will be blinded from truthful, honest, and righteous judgment. By righteous judgment I mean what Jesus meant when He said, “Judge not according to appearance, but judge righteous judgment” (John 7:24). Romans 2:1-3 shines more light on why God forbids a hypocrite from the practice of judgment. He teaches there, in other words, that if you judge while being a hypocrite you will be judged by God with greater severity, and therein is the meaning of the passage in Matthew 7:1 – “That ye be not judged. For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.” Romans 2:1-3 puts it this way: “Therefore thou art inexcusable, O man, whosoever thou art that judgest: for wherein thou judgest another, thou condemnest thyself; for thou that judgest doest the same things. But we are sure that the judgment of God is according to truth against them which commit such things. And thinkest thou this, O man, that judgest them which do such things, and doest the same, that thou shalt escape the judgment of God?” Again in Romans 2:21-23, “Thou therefore which teachest another, teachest thou not thyself? Thou that preaches a man should not steal, dost thou steal? Thou that sayest a man should not commit adultery, dost thou commit adultery? Thou that abhorrest idols, dost thou commit sacrilege? Thou that makest thy boast of the law, through breaking the law dishonourest thou God?” Do you see the principle being preached regarding judgment? It is rebuke of hypocrisy! When a hypocrite judges, he will be judged by the truthfulness of the law that they preach, for, they commit the same or other sins of equal punishment, but by self-confident hypocrisy they are boasting themselves of the ability to see clearly and judge – and God says they are thus disqualified from judgment.
Look again at Matthew 7:1-5. Christ questions the confidence of the hypocrites: “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 eyes; and, behold, a beam is in thine own eye?” This hypocrite is confident in himself to pull out a mote from his brother’s eye when he cannot even see the beam blinding his own eyes. “Why beholdest thou the mote,” is to say, “Why do you judge your brother,” which is to mean, “don’t judge him. You can’t see clearly to judge, and you are a hypocrite by covering and hiding your own sins which are greater than the person that you are judging. You are so concerned about this other person’s sins which are not damnable, and your sins are far greater and damnable to your own soul.” “Lest you be judged” is the hypocrite’s endangerment by the judgment of God. A man tainted in sight by a mote is a righteous man who is still qualified to judge, and thus, He is not under the danger of the warning of God – “Lest you be judged.” The mote is not disqualifying the man from the holy duty of judgment. According to the passage He can still see “clearly.” So Christ justifies the one and condemns the other when he says, “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,” or in other words, “judge ourselves” that “we should not be judged” of God (1 Cor. 11:31). Self judgment, or, “judge ourselves,” is the mortification of self-hypocrisy which is a sight impairing beam, and when such is removed, righteousness of heart is restored to qualify a man to righteous judgment. The passage does not forbid judgment, but only hypocritical judgment, as Christ says - “THEN shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother’s eyes” – which is judgment without hypocrisy. So, to hypocrites it is said by God, “who art thou O man,” and, “judge not,” because God will judge such a man, but if a man is not a hypocrite and sees clearly, he doeth righteousness by caring about his brother so as to show him his sin and deliver him from it. To shout “Judge NOT” to those who are not hypocrites is rather to say, “Love not, help not, and preach not!” Nevertheless, if you see clearly, you must cast out the mote and beam “in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted” (Gal. 6:1).
The scripture says, “if thy brother trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault” (Matt. 18:15). God’s preachers are always preachers against sin! God commands, “Cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and shew My people their transgressions, and the house of Jacob their sins” (Isa. 58:1). “Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort” (2 Tim. 4:2). When a man sins, is it business between him and God alone? God says again, “Brethren, if any man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted” (Gal. 6:1). There are damnable consequences for the negligence of NT judgment, and such men who cry out, “Don’t judge me,” are preaching the Devil’s anarchy against God’s goodness, and so they crucify the right, so as to stay undisturbed in the night. Rather, God says, “If thou forbear to deliver them that are drawn unto death, and those that are ready to be slain; If thou sayest, Behold, we knew it not; doth not he that pondereth the heart consider it? And he that keepeth thy soul, doth not he know it? And shall not he render to every man according to his works” (Prov. 24:11-12)? God will get for Himself fame by remembering and repaying all sinners’ sins, whatsoever they are (Psalm 137:7, 2 Thess. 1:6), and God says He will repay men who neglect the blind as they are drawn to eternal death.
A club line is no different than a church line in these modern day “churches.” They “err in every work thereof, as a drunken man staggereth in his vomit” (Isa. 19:14). The Lord likens the pastors and members of these churches to those who are physically drunk, so as to depict the horror of spiritual drunkenness: a senseless, sightless staggering in the devouring perversity of a sin-loving nature called death (Rom. 8:6-8). Pastors should be “vigilant, sober, of good behavior;” yet these “watchmen are blind” (Isa. 56:9). “Come ye, say they, I will fetch wine, and we will fill ourselves with strong drink; and to morrow shall be as this day, and much more abundant:” (Isa. 56:12). Their doctrines are strong drink, and those that tarry long at their fountain will behave in heartless enmity to true preaching and righteous, saving conviction. “Whoredom and wine and new wine take away the heart” (Hos. 4:11). God judges in the heavenlies and has decreed it in the fierceness of His wrath, “If a man walking in the spirit of falsehood do lie, saying, I will prophesy unto thee of wine and of strong drink; he shall even be the prophet of this people” (Mic. 2:11). These drunken prophets are against the sober truth of righteousness and holy living. They have “commanded the prophets, saying, prophesy not” (Amos 2:12), which is to say, “Judge not!” The righteous do “turn the battle to the gate” but the false prophets “have erred through wine, and through strong drink.” “The priest and the prophet have erred through strong drink, they are swallowed up of wine, they are out of the way through strong drink; they err in vision, they stumble in judgment. For all tables are full of vomit and filthiness, so that there is no place clean” (Isa. 28:5-8).
Those who have come speaking another thing than biblical judgment are the "mockers" who have come "in the last time," and that time is now (Jude 18). Mockers are sin-loving, raging men, confidently deceived. “Wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging: and whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise” (Prov. 20:1). They walk after their ungodly lusts (Jude 18), "turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness" (Jude 4). They do declaratively state and preach, “This is the amazing thing about the Grace of God:”
"You don't have to obey the word of God to be saved" –The scripture saith, "LET NO MAN DECEIVE YOU WITH VAIN WORDS” (Eph. 5:6)!
"God is not so much burdened about works as long as you have imputed righteousness which is apart from works. By this you are justified, and therefore don't burden yourself, and rest from considering what works of righteousness God requires of you. Some men die daily and others aren’t so disciplined and we are not under the law but under grace" - The scripture saith, "BE NOT DECEIVED" (1 Cor. 6:9-10)!
"God wants you to rest from fear and doubt of your salvation even when you don't do righteousness. He alone did righteousness! There is no standard of works righteousness which declaratively must be kept for you to make it to heaven, because all sin is equal in the sight of God." - The scripture saith, "LET NO MAN DECEIVE YOU" (1 John 3:7)!
"You don't have to care so much about your words and tongue, they are irrelevant to your eternity" - The scripture saith, this man "DECEIVETH HIS OWN HEART" (Jas. 1:26, Matt. 12:36-37)!
"Who you spend time with is of no real consequence on your soul because God has called you to be a light. Therefore go out into the world and salt it by being in the places where they celebrate iniquity like bars, clubs, entertainment parks, etc. They will not corrupt you, but you will be a witness to them in a dark place" - The scripture saith, "BE NOT DECEIVED" (1 Cor. 15:33)!
A man’s capability to see is their accuracy, qualification, and capability to judge. In scripture, if you are a hypocrite, you will be blinded from truthful, honest, and righteous judgment. By righteous judgment I mean what Jesus meant when He said, “Judge not according to appearance, but judge righteous judgment” (John 7:24). Romans 2:1-3 shines more light on why God forbids a hypocrite from the practice of judgment. He teaches there, in other words, that if you judge while being a hypocrite you will be judged by God with greater severity, and therein is the meaning of the passage in Matthew 7:1 – “That ye be not judged. For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.” Romans 2:1-3 puts it this way: “Therefore thou art inexcusable, O man, whosoever thou art that judgest: for wherein thou judgest another, thou condemnest thyself; for thou that judgest doest the same things. But we are sure that the judgment of God is according to truth against them which commit such things. And thinkest thou this, O man, that judgest them which do such things, and doest the same, that thou shalt escape the judgment of God?” Again in Romans 2:21-23, “Thou therefore which teachest another, teachest thou not thyself? Thou that preaches a man should not steal, dost thou steal? Thou that sayest a man should not commit adultery, dost thou commit adultery? Thou that abhorrest idols, dost thou commit sacrilege? Thou that makest thy boast of the law, through breaking the law dishonourest thou God?” Do you see the principle being preached regarding judgment? It is rebuke of hypocrisy! When a hypocrite judges, he will be judged by the truthfulness of the law that they preach, for, they commit the same or other sins of equal punishment, but by self-confident hypocrisy they are boasting themselves of the ability to see clearly and judge – and God says they are thus disqualified from judgment.
Look again at Matthew 7:1-5. Christ questions the confidence of the hypocrites: “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 eyes; and, behold, a beam is in thine own eye?” This hypocrite is confident in himself to pull out a mote from his brother’s eye when he cannot even see the beam blinding his own eyes. “Why beholdest thou the mote,” is to say, “Why do you judge your brother,” which is to mean, “don’t judge him. You can’t see clearly to judge, and you are a hypocrite by covering and hiding your own sins which are greater than the person that you are judging. You are so concerned about this other person’s sins which are not damnable, and your sins are far greater and damnable to your own soul.” “Lest you be judged” is the hypocrite’s endangerment by the judgment of God. A man tainted in sight by a mote is a righteous man who is still qualified to judge, and thus, He is not under the danger of the warning of God – “Lest you be judged.” The mote is not disqualifying the man from the holy duty of judgment. According to the passage He can still see “clearly.” So Christ justifies the one and condemns the other when he says, “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,” or in other words, “judge ourselves” that “we should not be judged” of God (1 Cor. 11:31). Self judgment, or, “judge ourselves,” is the mortification of self-hypocrisy which is a sight impairing beam, and when such is removed, righteousness of heart is restored to qualify a man to righteous judgment. The passage does not forbid judgment, but only hypocritical judgment, as Christ says - “THEN shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother’s eyes” – which is judgment without hypocrisy. So, to hypocrites it is said by God, “who art thou O man,” and, “judge not,” because God will judge such a man, but if a man is not a hypocrite and sees clearly, he doeth righteousness by caring about his brother so as to show him his sin and deliver him from it. To shout “Judge NOT” to those who are not hypocrites is rather to say, “Love not, help not, and preach not!” Nevertheless, if you see clearly, you must cast out the mote and beam “in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted” (Gal. 6:1).
The scripture says, “if thy brother trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault” (Matt. 18:15). God’s preachers are always preachers against sin! God commands, “Cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and shew My people their transgressions, and the house of Jacob their sins” (Isa. 58:1). “Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort” (2 Tim. 4:2). When a man sins, is it business between him and God alone? God says again, “Brethren, if any man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted” (Gal. 6:1). There are damnable consequences for the negligence of NT judgment, and such men who cry out, “Don’t judge me,” are preaching the Devil’s anarchy against God’s goodness, and so they crucify the right, so as to stay undisturbed in the night. Rather, God says, “If thou forbear to deliver them that are drawn unto death, and those that are ready to be slain; If thou sayest, Behold, we knew it not; doth not he that pondereth the heart consider it? And he that keepeth thy soul, doth not he know it? And shall not he render to every man according to his works” (Prov. 24:11-12)? God will get for Himself fame by remembering and repaying all sinners’ sins, whatsoever they are (Psalm 137:7, 2 Thess. 1:6), and God says He will repay men who neglect the blind as they are drawn to eternal death.
A club line is no different than a church line in these modern day “churches.” They “err in every work thereof, as a drunken man staggereth in his vomit” (Isa. 19:14). The Lord likens the pastors and members of these churches to those who are physically drunk, so as to depict the horror of spiritual drunkenness: a senseless, sightless staggering in the devouring perversity of a sin-loving nature called death (Rom. 8:6-8). Pastors should be “vigilant, sober, of good behavior;” yet these “watchmen are blind” (Isa. 56:9). “Come ye, say they, I will fetch wine, and we will fill ourselves with strong drink; and to morrow shall be as this day, and much more abundant:” (Isa. 56:12). Their doctrines are strong drink, and those that tarry long at their fountain will behave in heartless enmity to true preaching and righteous, saving conviction. “Whoredom and wine and new wine take away the heart” (Hos. 4:11). God judges in the heavenlies and has decreed it in the fierceness of His wrath, “If a man walking in the spirit of falsehood do lie, saying, I will prophesy unto thee of wine and of strong drink; he shall even be the prophet of this people” (Mic. 2:11). These drunken prophets are against the sober truth of righteousness and holy living. They have “commanded the prophets, saying, prophesy not” (Amos 2:12), which is to say, “Judge not!” The righteous do “turn the battle to the gate” but the false prophets “have erred through wine, and through strong drink.” “The priest and the prophet have erred through strong drink, they are swallowed up of wine, they are out of the way through strong drink; they err in vision, they stumble in judgment. For all tables are full of vomit and filthiness, so that there is no place clean” (Isa. 28:5-8).
Those who have come speaking another thing than biblical judgment are the "mockers" who have come "in the last time," and that time is now (Jude 18). Mockers are sin-loving, raging men, confidently deceived. “Wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging: and whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise” (Prov. 20:1). They walk after their ungodly lusts (Jude 18), "turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness" (Jude 4). They do declaratively state and preach, “This is the amazing thing about the Grace of God:”
"You don't have to obey the word of God to be saved" –The scripture saith, "LET NO MAN DECEIVE YOU WITH VAIN WORDS” (Eph. 5:6)!
"God is not so much burdened about works as long as you have imputed righteousness which is apart from works. By this you are justified, and therefore don't burden yourself, and rest from considering what works of righteousness God requires of you. Some men die daily and others aren’t so disciplined and we are not under the law but under grace" - The scripture saith, "BE NOT DECEIVED" (1 Cor. 6:9-10)!
"God wants you to rest from fear and doubt of your salvation even when you don't do righteousness. He alone did righteousness! There is no standard of works righteousness which declaratively must be kept for you to make it to heaven, because all sin is equal in the sight of God." - The scripture saith, "LET NO MAN DECEIVE YOU" (1 John 3:7)!
"You don't have to care so much about your words and tongue, they are irrelevant to your eternity" - The scripture saith, this man "DECEIVETH HIS OWN HEART" (Jas. 1:26, Matt. 12:36-37)!
"Who you spend time with is of no real consequence on your soul because God has called you to be a light. Therefore go out into the world and salt it by being in the places where they celebrate iniquity like bars, clubs, entertainment parks, etc. They will not corrupt you, but you will be a witness to them in a dark place" - The scripture saith, "BE NOT DECEIVED" (1 Cor. 15:33)!
