Logs, Dogs, & Hogs (Matthew 7:1-6)
Logs, Dogs, & Hogs
Matthew 7:1-6
Well, last week we sort of opened the door
On this infamous and often quoted passage.
What is clear is that Jesus clearly commanded “Do not judge”.
What is apparently unclear to most of those who quote it
Is exactly what Jesus was talking about when He forbade it.
For the same Jesus who said here “Do not judge”
Also said in
John 7:24 “Do not judge according to appearance, but judge with righteous judgment.”
And also said to expel the immoral brother.
And also said to recognize false prophets by their fruit
And when you couple those truths with the fact that in 1 Corinthians
Paul told us that we do indeed judge those within the church.
We quickly understand that Jesus was not condemning
Any and all sense of confrontation amongst people.
In fact you remember as we laid the ground work last week for this text
We said that Scriptures seems to indicate three types of judgment.
1) WICKED JUDGEMENT THAT ONLY DESTROYS
Condemns based upon opinions and motives.
Condemns to make self look better.
Condemns solely to destroy.
2) BLIND JUDGEMENT THAT ONLY DECEIVES
Love to confront sin in others.
Can’t see sin in their own lives.
Obviously can’t clearly see anyone else’s sin either.
Only judgments given are faulty and deceptive.
3) TRUE JUDGEMENT THAT ONLY DELIVERS
Spoken of in 1 Corinthians 5 & Matthew 18
Demonstrated by Jesus (especially in John 8)
Purpose was to shame to repentance and thus deliver a brother.
We learn that judgment can be a good thing when done correctly,
Or it can be a horrible thing when corrupted.
And we also understand what kind of judgment
Jesus was talking about here in Matthew 7.
Jesus is confronting both wicked and blind judgment.
And the reason He confronts them here in the Sermon on the Mount
Is because these are both indicators of self-righteousness.
NOTHING INDICATES THE PRESENCE OF SELF-RIGHTEOUSNESS
MORE THAN A CORRUPTED JUDGMENTAL SPIRIT
• If a person is unaware of any of their own flaws and can only see the flaws of others…
• Or if a person is only interested in tearing others down that he might look good…
You can be certain that self-righteousness exists.
And Jesus is in this text EXPELLING SELF-RIGHTEOUSNESS
He is here making the obvious observation
That self-righteousness is a major problem of mankind,
As evidenced by their corrupt judgment of one another.
And now that we have laid that groundwork last week,
This morning I want to get into this text a little more
And bring some insight through what Jesus said here.
What we see in our text this morning are three concepts about judgment.
#1 THE DANGER OF WICKED JUDGMENT
Matthew 7:1-2
Last week we talked about what wicked judgment looks like.
It was pictured in Romans 14 by those who condemned a brother
Simply because he ate different food than you did.
What the brother was doing was not sin, it was a matter of preference,
It was a matter of opinion, and Paul said
It was nothing short of wickedness to condemn your brother over it.
Such judging was only serving to destroy the church of God.
That was wicked judgment.
Here in our text Jesus shows us the danger of this wicked judgment.
“Do not judge so that you will not be judged.”
First off we notice that the main reason Jesus commands us not to judge
Is to protect someone; WHO?
“you”
He doesn’t tell you not to judge in order to protect those you judge.
He tells you not to judge in order to help you protect yourself.
So first and foremost you must understand that
Judging puts someone in immediate danger,
And that is the person who does the judging.
And that danger is even articulated here as Jesus says,
“so that you will not be judged.”
The implication is that the person who judges will be judged.
The person who condemns another will himself be condemned.
And let’s take it a little further to see why.
“For in the way you judge, you will be judged; and by your standard of measure, it will be measured to you.”
Now notice here that Jesus indicates two attributes
About the way you judge another.
He speaks of “the way” you judge.
He speaks of “the standard of measure” you use.
And so let’s talk about each of those this morning.
FIRST
“the way you judge”
Perhaps the biggest problem with the judgment of Israel,
And even with the judgment of mankind is not that we judge,
But “the way” we judge.
For a better understanding of what Jesus is referring to,
Just look at Luke’s gospel.
Luke 6:35-37 “But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return; and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High; for He Himself is kind to ungrateful and evil men. “Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful. “Do not judge, and you will not be judged; and do not condemn, and you will not be condemned; pardon, and you will be pardoned.”
Jesus is obviously referring to judgment without mercy.
And Jesus insinuates that judgment is present because mercy is not.
And of course you will remember that is one of the key differences
Between wicked judgment and true judgment.
True judgment always looked to the redemption of a fallen brother.
Wicked judgment was without mercy and looked to destroy him.
And that is a horrible way to judge.
We remember from last week studying Matthew 18 and Jesus teaching that if your brother sins:
• You first go to him in private.
• Then you take 2 or 3 with you.
• Then you tell it to the church.
• Then you disfellowship him.
And each one of those was meant to be a check point where your brother
Could repent without any further embarrassment or punishment.
And the best circumstance would be if you privately
Went to your brother and he repented
And no one else ever had to know.
It was a merciful and wonderful act of deliverance.
James 5:19-20 “My brethren, if any among you strays from the truth and one turns him back, let him know that he who turns a sinner from the error of his way will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins.”
And that is THE WAY in which Jesus said we should judge.
Yet commonly we do it exactly wrong.
Instead of going privately to the brother
And using public disclosure as an extreme measure.
We tend to tell everyone else first, and very rarely ever go to the brother.
It is judgment, but what is the purpose?
IT IS JUDGMENT DONE THE WRONG WAY.
It is judgment without mercy.
James 2:13 “For judgment will be merciless to one who has shown no mercy; mercy triumphs over judgment.”
IT IS AN EXTREME PICTURE OF SELF-RIGHTEOUSNESS.
It is the picture of a man who doesn’t care about his brother,
He only cares that others see him as a righteous man who hates sin.
He was only out to condemn, and certainly felt qualified to do so.
And Jesus says:
If you judge in that way, then you will be judged in that way.
Because your lack of mercy indicates a self-righteous heart
And God will judge a self-righteous heart without mercy.
God is opposed to the proud yet gives grace to the humble.
Remember the beatitude?
Matthew 5:7 “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.”
The point is if you are so proud that you can
Willingly condemn another without mercy,
Then rest assured that you are self-righteous
And you yourself will be condemned by God.
“For in the way you judge, you will be judged”
And that is not all.
SECOND
“by your standard of measure”
WHAT IS THIS?
It indicates how strict you are in regard to your judgment.
Now we know that sin is clearly condemned in Scripture.
And if a person is sinning, then it really doesn’t matter why.
That is God’s standard, not ours.
Our standard comes in to play
When we want to take God’s standards to new extremes.
Anytime we judge someone for something that God does not.
For example:
Eating meat or not eating meat.
Worshiping on Sunday or another day.
It can also be seen any time we judge the motives of a man.
CAN ANYONE IN HERE SEE THE HEART?
You can’t say, “Well they came to church, but I know why they were there.”
You can’t say, “Well they just gave to get tax relief.”
The fact is you don’t know.
(side note: most relational squabbles I deal with involve motive judging)
Now, if what they do is sinful, then motives don’t matter.
If a man sleeps with another man’s wife, motive is irrelevant, it’s wrong.
But when what they do is not sinful, and you judge them
Based upon speculation that is pretty severe.
And that again is an indicator of self-righteousness.
In fact you have viewed yourself even more righteous than God.
For you condemned someone that God didn’t even condemn.
And again, your self-righteousness will be judged by God.
Your desire to condemn will be measured to you.
“by your standard of measure, it will be measured to you.”
NEED AN ILLUSTRATION?
TURN TO: MATTHEW 18:21-35
If you judge someone without mercy and by a severe standard,
Then rest assured you will be judged by God the same way.
And so we see THE DANGER OF WICKED JUDGMENT.
It is not dangerous for them, it is dangerous for you.
It reveals a merciless self-righteous heart which God will surely judge.
The Danger of Wicked Judgment
#2 THE DAMAGE OF BLIND JUDGMENT
Matthew 7:3-5
Here we are still on the concept of forbidden judgment.
There is also blind judgment.
Blind judgment is that hypocritical type of judgment
That is OBVIOUSLY BLIND because it cannot see it’s own sin.
It only sees the sin in the lives of others.
That is judgment without knowledge.
That is judgment without discernment.
That is blind judgment.
Jesus condemns that as well because of the damage it causes.
“Why do you look at the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye?”
Here is a man with a massive beam sticking out of his eye,
And yet he has the audacity to recognize a splinter in the eye of another.
The implication is that he couldn’t possibly have seen the splinter,
Because his judgment was far too impeded.
That is why Jesus says, “Or HOW can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ and behold, the log is in your own eye?”
How could you possible think that you are qualified to perform eye surgery when you can’t see?
And honestly, how many of you would agree to let a blind doctor root around in your eye for a splinter?
You know, he will cause more damage than he will good.
Luke 6:39-42a “And He also spoke a parable to them: “A blind man cannot guide a blind man, can he? Will they not both fall into a pit? “A pupil is not above his teacher; but everyone, after he has been fully trained, will be like his teacher. “Why do you look at the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? “Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Brother, let me take out the speck that is in your eye,’ when you yourself do not see the log that is in your own eye?”
If someone is going to remove the speck from your eye,
Then you want it to be someone who is seeing clearly.
SO BEFORE YOU START PERFORMING EYE SURGERY,
MAKE SURE YOU SEE CLEARLY.
Anything else is spiritual mal-practice.
IF YOU START TRYING TO JUDGE WHILE BLIND,
YOU WILL DO MORE HARM THAN GOOD.
LET ME GIVE YOU ANOTHER EXAMPLE
Matthew 13:24-30 “Jesus presented another parable to them, saying, “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field. “But while his men were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went away. “But when the wheat sprouted and bore grain, then the tares became evident also. “The slaves of the landowner came and said to him, ‘Sir, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have tares?’ “And he said to them, ‘An enemy has done this!’ The slaves said to him, ‘Do you want us, then, to go and gather them up?’ “But he said, ‘No; for while you are gathering up the tares, you may uproot the wheat with them. ‘Allow both to grow together until the harvest; and in the time of the harvest I will say to the reapers, “First gather up the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them up; but gather the wheat into my barn.”‘”
Now first we need to evaluate the discernment of the servants.
• They obviously had no discernment to protect form the invasion of tares.
• They apparently had no discernment as to who planted the tares.
• And yet now they wanted to go on a wild tare hunt.
To which Jesus said:
“No, for while you are gathering up the tares, you may uproot the wheat with them.”
It wasn’t that the tares were good, or that God would allow them to stay.
It was just that the servants obviously had no business being the judge
Because they had the discernment of a mole.
When they should have been repenting, they were trying to judge.
“You hypocrite first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye.”
Please notice that Jesus never intended
To allow that speck to remain in the brother’s eye.
That speck was sinful too.
Jesus wanted it gone.
Jesus wanted true judgment.
HOW DO I KNOW WHICH I AM DOING?
John 5:30 “I can do nothing on My own initiative. As I hear, I judge; and My judgment is just, because I do not seek My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me.”
There was no selfishness in Jesus’ judgment.
He just wanted to do what pleased God.
And this is the type of judgment we must have.
A judgment that sees all sin as the problem, even our own.
A judgment that declares war on sin, not sinners.
Make sure you see clearly before you attack other people’s sin.
The Danger of Wicked Judgment
The Damage of Blind Judgment
#3 THE DISCERNMENT OF TRUE JUDGMENT
Matthew 7:6
Now you notice that Jesus actually hinted at true judgment
There at the end of verse 5.
“first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye.”
But what we notice here is that even those with true judgment
Must exercise discernment about it.
“Do not give what is holy to dogs, and do not throw your pears before swine, or they will trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you to pieces.”
Now we know from last week what true judgment looks like.
It examines self first, and then confronts a brother for their sin,
With the intent of helping that brother find deliverance.
(We saw that in 1 Corinthians 5)
But let me remind you of something else Paul said in that passage.
1 Corinthians 5:9-13 “I wrote you in my letter not to associate with immoral people; I did not at all mean with the immoral people of this world, or with the covetous and swindlers, or with idolaters, for then you would have to go out of the world. But actually, I wrote to you not to associate with any so-called brother if he is an immoral person, or covetous, or an idolater, or a reviler, or a drunkard, or a swindler — not even to eat with such a one. For what have I to do with judging outsiders? Do you not judge those who are within the church? But those who are outside, God judges. REMOVE THE WICKED MAN FROM AMONG YOURSELVES.”
Judge those within the church.
However, there are those outside that we do not judge,
God judges them.
And this is what Jesus is referring to here.
The reference to “dogs” and “swine”
Is a reference to the unclean Gentiles.
They were the wicked outside of the church.
They don’t claim to love God.
They don’t pretend to love God.
They could care less about God’s Laws.
AND EVEN BEYOND THAT,
THEY ARE THOSE WHO ARE OBSTINATE TO THE GOSPEL
Pigs and Dogs were both menaces and unclean.
A pig didn’t know what to do with pearls.
A dog didn’t know what to do with consecrated meat.
SO DON’T GIVE IT TO THEM.
And the picture here is that there are those in the world who,
Even after hearing the gospel, don’t want anything to do with it.
And it won’t do you any good to continue trying to evaluate their life.
They won’t value your assistance.
They won’t listen to your warnings.
You might as well give a strand of pearls to a pig.
SO DON’T KEEP BEATING A DEAD HORSE.
Proverbs 9:7-12 “He who corrects a scoffer gets dishonor for himself, And he who reproves a wicked man gets insults for himself. Do not reprove a scoffer, or he will hate you, Reprove a wise man and he will love you. Give instruction to a wise man and he will be still wiser, Teach a righteous man and he will increase his learning. The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, And the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding. For by me your days will be multiplied, And years of life will be added to you. If you are wise, you are wise for yourself, And if you scoff, you alone will bear it.”
In those moments you must have enough discernment
To know that now is not the time.
Remember when Jesus sent out the disciples?
Matthew 10:12-15 “As you enter the house, give it your greeting. “If the house is worthy, give it your blessing of peace. But if it is not worthy, take back your blessing of peace. “Whoever does not receive you, nor heed your words, as you go out of that house or that city, shake the dust off your feet. “Truly I say to you, it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment than for that city.”
Remember what Jesus said about His parables?
Matthew 13:10-13 “And the disciples came and said to Him, “Why do You speak to them in parables?” Jesus answered them, “To you it has been granted to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been granted. “For whoever has, to him more shall be given, and he will have an abundance; but whoever does not have, even what he has shall be taken away from him. “Therefore I speak to them in parables; because while seeing they do not see, and while hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand.”
Jesus told us to stop, to do so anyway still exhibits arrogance.
Are you really going to save those who Jesus couldn’t?
The point is that our judgment is a tool of God
To rescue a wayward brother,
Not one to puff up ourselves or use to fight the dogs.
AND LET’S BRING IT ALL TO A CLOSE
When we judge to condemn – we are indicating a lack of mercy.
When we judge while in sin – we are indicating self-righteousness.
When we judge those Jesus couldn’t save – we are indicating arrogance.
AND THESE MUST GO,
FOR GOD WILL JUDGE THOSE THINGS IN OUR LIVES.
Friend it’s time for a little self-evaluation.
2 Corinthians 13:5 “Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith; examine yourselves! Or do you not recognize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you — unless indeed you fail the test?”
It does you no good to assume you’re fine and move on to judging others.
YOU MUST BE WILLING TO RECOGNIZE THE SIN IN YOUR OWN LIFE.
AND YOU MUST DEAL WITH IT FIRST
FOR THE SELF-RIGHTEOUS WILL BE JUDGED BY GOD.
Luke 18:9-14 “And He also told this parable to some people who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and viewed others with contempt: “Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. “The Pharisee stood and was praying this to himself: ‘God, I thank You that I am not like other people: swindlers, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. ‘I fast twice a week; I pay tithes of all that I get.’ “But the tax collector, standing some distance away, was even unwilling to lift up his eyes to heaven, but was beating his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, the sinner!’ “I tell you, this man went to his house justified rather than the other; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but he who humbles himself will be exalted.”
Don’t be like that tax collector.
Get real with God and let Him show you yourself.
And then cry out to Jesus.
