Luke 6:37

read that. Luke chapter 6 verse 37, judge not and you shall not be judge. Condem not and you shall not be condemned, forgive and he shall be forgiven. God bless his sacred and holy word this morning. Adonai Bizik was an exceptionally cruel Canaanite king and whatever his army successfully defeated another king, he would mutilate the bodies of the defeated kings. He would have their big toes and their thumbs cut off. And then they would crawl under his dinner table hunting for scraps of food to eat. No less than 70 kings were victims of this sadistic tyrant. However, one day the Israelites conquered Adonai Bizek when they took the land, and what do you think the Israelites did? Well, you guessed it. They cut off his big toes and his thumbs. And Adonai Bizik confessed, as I have done so, God hath requited me. If you mistreat others, God will deal with you in a similar way. God repays toe for toe and thumb for thumb. When Christ tells you to judge not, he’s teaching you to take great care in this area of judging others. God is not forbidding you to make judgments whatsoever because the scripture says in John 724, judge not according to appearance, but judge righteous judgment, which indicates we can make judgments. But what we talked about last week is that Christ is forbidding unlawful judgments, setting yourself up in the office of a judge. being self-righteous in your judgment, condemning in your judgment, and uncharitable in your judgment. Now, Jesus is providing the reason why you should not make unlawful judgments in our text. And basically, it comes down, you’re going to have to answer to God for that behavior. Now, let me begin by saying this. Some people, the common interpretation of this text is this. Be careful how you judge others if you don’t want them to judge you in a similar manner. That’s the common interpretation that people give to this text. The second half of each phrase is a warning against the sin forbidden in the first half. The sermon of the mount states it this way, for with what judgment you judge, you shall be judged, and with what major you meet, it shall be major to you again. So many take this to mean you must be prepared for others to treat you just as you have treated them. In other words, as you do unto others, they’re going to do to you. You’re going to be paid back in the same coin. So if you’re always self-righteous, condemning, suspicious, unloving, and your judgments, then you’re going to draw a light criticism yourself. this is sort of like if you live in a glass house, don’t throw stones, because they’ll come back at you. There’s a story about Bishop Potter of New York who used to tell the story against himself, and it was about suspicious judgment. He said he was sailing for Europe on a great transatlantic liner. When he went on board, he met the man he was going to share a cabin with on the crossing. After going to see his accommodations, he came up to the purser’s desk. The purser is the office in charge of the accounts, the luggage, the tickets, the safe, and so forth. And he asked if he could leave his gold watch and other valuables in the ship’s safe. He explained that he was suspicious of the man that he was assigned to share the cabin with him. And so he wasn’t the trustworthy type, he said, judging from his appearance. The purser accepted the responsibility of caring for his valuables. It’s all right. I’ll be glad to take care of them for you, he said. And then the purser added, you might be interested in know. Your cabin mate also left his valuables with me. It seems he is just as suspicious of you and deemed you untrustworthy. So tit for tat, you can see how that happens in life. There’s an element of truth in that. We reap what we sell, the Bible talks about. Therefore, if you don’t want to be unlawfully judged, don’t do it yourself. However, the common interpretation of Christ’s words cannot be the complete explanation. A believer’s only concern really should be what does the divine master thinks of them? If you’re walking with God, the unjust judgments or others are going to happen all the time. It doesn’t matter how well you treat others. That’s going to carry a little weight. You have to be like Paul. But with me, it’s a very small thing that I should be judged by you or man’s judgment. But he that judges me is the Lord. Luke, excuse me, First Corinthians four, three, and four. Certainly no one likes to be unjustly judged, but knowing the impravity of man, you cannot escape it. Which servant of Christ didn’t receive unjust judgment? Yes, your ego and your pride may be hurt by unjust judgment, but Christ is your ultimate judge. You stand or fall before him, ultimately. The worst that man can. say doesn’t ultimately matter to you. Because you know Christ is the righteous judge, and he will exonerate you. In the days of Queen Mary, Woodruff, the sheriff, said to Mr. Rogers, who was about to be martyred, thou art a heretic. To which Mr. Rogers replied, that shall be known at the day of judgment. The only one that really counts here is Christ and his judgment. When the Lord said, judge not, that you be not judged, and condemn not that you shall not, and you shall not be condemned, it has something more, is that something more solemn than retributive judgment by men and mind. Fear of God delivers you from the fear of men. Do you think Christ’s chief design and his teaching here is to have you focus on what your fellow man, says of you. Passage, I think, has a more solemn note to it. If it’s God’s judgment and condemnation that we’re talking about in this text. There’s no guarantee that Christ warning here will assure you that you will not be unjustly judged by others. It won’t stand the test of the Holy Scriptures. You will be unjustly judged by others. Simply take the example of Christ. and the treatment that he received by men. Christ never unjustly judged anyone while here on earth. As I here I judge, and my judgment is just, John 530. Now, is it not true that he was unlawfully judged in return and condemned in return? Apply to say the principle of the Apostle Paul, and you find the very same thing. So the common explanation really doesn’t work. It doesn’t really answer. this situation here. So we have to be careful, this idea, be careful how you judge others if you don’t want to be judged by others in a similar manner. That’s the common explanation, but I don’t think it’s the full explanation, and I don’t think it really satisfies the text. But how about this as the second point this morning? Be careful how you judge others, for God is going to judge you. I think that’s the correct interpretation. And he’s always going to judge you fairly. Surely the meaning is that judge not, that you be not judged by God, and condemn not you be not condemned by God. We shouldn’t tone it down to just what man thinks and man’s judgment. I think it has to be seen in the light of the judgment of Almighty God. There are many evangelical Christians who immediately react against this and said, well, Christians are never going to be brought before God’s judgment bar. Is it not true? God is a God who judges in the earth. As we read in Psalm 5811, he meets out temporal judgments in this life, doesn’t he? God’s true people are judged by God in a fatherly sense and a disciplinary judgment. I like what it says there in 1 Corinthians 1132. When we’re talking about communion, it says here, when we are judged, we are chastened of the Lord, that we should not be condemned. with the world. Scripture is also clear that all men shall stand before the final judgment without exception. The sheep and the goats, the small and the great, while there is therefore now no condemnation to them who are in Christ Jesus, Jesus here is addressing those who profess to be his disciples according to verse 20 of this chapter. Not all professing, followers of Jesus Christ are genuine, truly in Jesus Christ. The condemnation of Luke 637, therefore, certainly would be that of the hypocrites who were not genuine Christians. But without a doubt, in some respect, the children of God are going to be subject to judgment. So that brings me to the third point. Be careful how you judge for God meets out temporal judgments in this life. As a Christian, when you sin, you can expect the rod of God’s discipline to fall. Judgment must begin at the house of God. Scripture says, therefore, it is the people God who are going to have to face some type of judgment. God’s chastening is in the form of a judgment, whom the Lord loveth, he chastenedeth, and scourges every son that he receives. When you unlawfully judge another, you can expect God’s discipline, his disciplinary judgment to fall upon you. I want you to look with me the book of Numbers in Chapter 12 a moment. Let’s look at an example of this. Numbers chapter 12, beginning with verse 1. And Miriam and Aaron speak against Moses because of the Ethiopian wife, whom he had married, for he had married an Ethiopian woman. and they said hath the Lord indeed spoken only by Moses, hath he not spoken also by us, and the Lord heard it. Now the man Moses was very meek, above all men which were on the face of the earth. And the Lord spake suddenly unto Moses and unto Aaron, unto Miriam, come out, ye three, under the tabernacle congregation, and they three came. out and the Lord came down in the pillar of the cloud and stood in the door of the tabernacle and called Aaron and Miriam and they both came forth. And he said, hear now my words, if there be a prophet among you, I the Lord will make myself known unto him in a vision and I will speak unto him in a dream. My servant Moses is not so. faithful in all his house. With him will I speak mouth to mouth, even apparently, and not in dark speeches, and the similitude of the Lord shall he behold. Wherefore then, were you not afraid to speak against my servant, Moses? And the anger of the Lord was kindled against them, and he departed. And the cloud departed from off the tabernacle, and behold, Miriam became leprous, white as snow. And Aaron looked upon Miriam and began, behold she was leprous. And Aaron said unto Moses, alas, my lord, I beseech thee, lay not the sin upon us, wherein we have done foolishly, and wherein we have sin. Let her not be as one dead, of whom the flesh is half consumed, when he cometh out of his mother’s womb. And Moses cried unto the Lord, saying, He’ll now, heal her now, O Lord, I beseech thee. The Lord said unto Moses, if her father had but spit in her face, should she not be ashamed seven days, let her be shut out from the camp seven days, and after that let her be received in again. And Miriam was shut out from the camp seven days, and the people journeyed not till Miriam was brought in again. Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses and unlawfully judged him about marrying an Ethiopian woman. Evidently Miriam and Aaron were very critical of Moses marrying a non-Israelite, even though she seems to be someone who did worship Jehovah. And so they spoke against God’s anointed leader, placing themselves on the same spiritual level as Moses. and also receiving divine messages. They prophesied, as verse 2 indicates to us. They thought, well, you know, we also get messages from the Lord. We read those ominous words, though, and the Lord heard it. God took notice of what Miriam had said and didn’t approve of it. Moses, being a very meek person, didn’t defend himself, but the Lord defended him. The Lord declared Moses is special, for he speaks personally with God, face to face, so to speak. Not like the other prophets who get a vision or a dream or something of that nature. And therefore, they should have been more careful about judging him. That was disrespectful. And the anger of the Lord was kindled against them. and provoked divine judgment against them, particularly Miriam. So God struck Miriam and gave her the dreaded disease of leprosy. She was leprous, white as snow, verse 10. Miriam, who was a godly woman, and unlawfully judged Moses, and God had judged her. And she had to live in a secluded space for a week until God took away the leprosy and then she could return to the camp. But she needed Moses’ intercession as well. Now, we see the same thing with regard to the communion service, as I talked about before. In 1 Corinthians 11, 27 to 32, you want to look at that with me as one. Corinthians 11, 27 to 32. Wherefore, whosoever. shall eat the bread and drink of the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner shall be guilty of the body and the blood of the Lord. Let a man examine himself. So let him eat of that bread and drink of that cup. For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh, condemnation or damnation unto himself, not discerning the Lord’s body. For this cause many. are weak and sickly among you in many sleep. For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged. But we are judged. We are chastened to the Lord that we should not be condemned with the world. We see the temporal judgments of God in this passage of Scripture. If we come unworthily to the Lord’s supper, some of these people were coming you know, drunk. Some of them were coming with carelessness to the table. And he says that the Lord had struck them down with sickness and weakness and even death. Now that’s pretty serious. But is it a judgment of God? And what does he say here? This judgment of God is beneficial. He tells us. He says, he, says it’s for the purpose of keeping us from being condemned with the world. Notice that in verse 32. God judges his people in this life so that they’re not condemned. So they straighten up, so this be it. So you can’t walk through life thinking, I’m never going to receive any judgment from God. You got you, you’re sadly mistaken. so be careful how you judge for God meets out temporal judgments in this life. Lastly, be careful how you judge, for you’re going to have to face the final judgment. You’re going to stand before God at that great day of judgment on the last day. You know, contrary to the popular teaching of dispensationalists and some evangelicals, the truth. is scripture reveals the Christian is going to stand before God and give an account. God shall judge the righteous and the wicked, according to Ecclesiastes 317. While there is, when Christ returns in Matthew 25, a separation of the sheep from the goats, God’s people, the sheep, or on his right hand, the goats, the goats, the ungodly, are on the left. they’re still all there. And remember when the assessment was made, the question came up about, well, who among us has fed you, Lord, or visited you in prison or done any of these things when you did it under the least these, my brother, and you did it unto me. So there was an assessment made. and with the ungodly, it was just the opposite. They had not done anything, and therefore they received the judgment of God. The Bible indicates that the books are going to be opened, which record everyone’s works, and they are going to be judged. Let’s look at Revelation 20, which is 11 to 15, and I saw a great white throne. Him that sat on it from whose face the earth and the heaven, than fled away, and there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, small and great stand before God, and the books were opened, and another book was opened, which is the book of life, and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books according to their works. And the sieve gave up the dead which were in it, and death in hell, delivered up the dead which were in them, and they were judged, every man, according to his works. Death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And whosoever was not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the Lake of Fire. Now, friends, the fact that there is the Book of Life there, which they check, indicates that the righteous are going to be there, because their names are going to be in the book of life. But it’s always check. before anybody’s cast into the lake of fire. There’s never going to be any mistake about who gets cast into Lake of Fire. Look with me at also at 1 Corinthians. I’m not going to look up all the passages of what was going to look up this morning. But let’s look at the 2nd Corinthians chapter 5. I had planned to dovetail this with the Bible study, but since we didn’t have the Bible study, I’m not going to dovetail this morning. I’ll just hit the highlights here. Notice verse 10 and the first part of verse 11. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ and that everyone may receive the things done in his body according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad. Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord we persuade men. Now notice he says we must. do this, indicating that Paul himself expects to stand before the judgment seat of Christ and give an account. He’s not exempt. And then look at the book of Colossians chapter 3, verses 23 to 25. Whatsoever ye do do do to hardly as to the Lord and not unto men, knowing that of the Lord, ye shall receive the reward of the inheritance, for you serve the Lord Christ. And he that doeth wrong, shall receive for the wrong that he hath done, for there is no respect to persons. So do not be ignorant what the scriptures teach. And there are many verses, you know, we could have checked this morning. We could have read Matthew 25, 31 to 46. I mentioned it about the Christ’s coming, the sheep and the goats being separated and so forth. We could have read Romans 14, 10 to 12, where each of us has to stand before Christ and give an account, so be careful how you judge your brother. Don’t judge anything before the time, and so it’s forthforth. So you’re going to have to stand before God at the great day of the last judgment. Now you’re going to be assessed by the Lord as his servant. What does it mean when the Bible says that the believers shall receive for the wrongs he hath done in 2 Corinthians 5, 10 and be judged for the good and the bad in his life. Look with me also this morning at 2 Timothy 1, 16 to 18. There’s an interesting passage of scripture here. Paul’s in prison and Onessa Forrest comes and visits him, and this is what he says. The Lord, you know, a lot of people deserted him, but this man did not. The Lord gave mercy under the house. of Vanessa force, for he off refreshed me, was not ashamed of my chain. And when he was in Rome, he diligently sought me out very diligently and found me. Now notice verse 18, the Lord grant unto him that he may find mercy of the Lord in that day. And in how many things he ministered unto me at Ephesus, thou knowest very well. Now that day is the day of judgment. What does it mean that Anessa force may find mercy on that day? James also says something similar in his epistle. Look at James chapter 2, verse 12 and 13. So speak ye and so do as they that shall be judged by the law of liberty. For he shall have judgment without mercy that has shown no mercy. But mercy rejoices against judgment. So the question comes up, why would the Christian need mercy on the day of judgment? What does this mean? I wish to tread lightly in this area because I don’t have full light on this matter. But the Bible indicates that God’s grace reigns through righteousness. Never at the expense of righteousness. Why should it be considered strange if both righteousness and grace or mercy are shown in the day of judgment? What would be more gracious than to read the account of your works, maybe even the good and the bad, and then proclaim paid in full by the Lord Jesus Christ? What would make you more aware of God’s wondrous mercy than this? Will this happen? I can’t be sure. I can’t be done. dogmatic about this matter. But I suggest that at least it seems to account for the biblical data on the subject, and I can only ask you to look at this for yourself and maybe weigh it, maybe there’s something I’m missing. But I suggest that that’s at least one solution to this matter. So your life is going to be assessed by the Lord on the day of judgment. You will be rewarded for what you have done in the circumstances. service of Christ. Now, since God takes into account of the bad, he also considers the good. Ecclesiastes 1214 says, the Lord will bring every work in the judgment and every secret thing, whether it be good or whether it be evil. Look with me at 1 Corinthians chapter 3, if you would. Versus 9 to 15. For we are laborers together with God. You are God’s husbandry. You are God’s building. building according to the grace of God which is given unto me as a wise master builder I have laid the foundation and another man buildeth thereon but let every man take heed how he he buildeth thereon. For no other foundation can no other foundation can no man lay than that which is laid which is Christ or Jesus Christ. Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, haystubble. Every man’s work shall be manifest. For the day shall declare it because it shall be revealed by fire, and the fire shall try every man’s work of what sort it is. If any man’s work abide which he hath built thereon, he shall receive a reward. Then his man’s work shall be burned. He shall suffer loss. but he himself shall be saved yet so as by far. Now the day of judgment is in view as verse 13 seems to indicate and we find here in this passage of scripture that your works will be tested for the purpose of reward, verse 14. It’s possible to suffer loss of reward in verse 15. The person judged is saved despite this loss, the second part of verse 15. Now, in particular, this passage has to do with the work of the ministry. But I think we could make a general application of this and apply it to all believers. This judgment regards rewards concerns what you’ve done in the body during your earthly existence and by God’s gracious work within you. So we are going to be rewarded. There is going to be some type of assessment and reward handed out at that time. Let me close this morning by saying this. The account of the Canaanite king, Adonai Bizek, demonstrates that God pays back in kind your mistreatment of others. If you mistreat others and unlawful judgment, then you can expect God to judge you. The two main reasons to be careful about judging others is one, God chases the sin of his people in this life so that there are temporal judgments, and you’re going to have to stand before God and face a final judgment on the last day. Therefore, judge not unlawfully that you be not judged by God. Let’s close with the word of prayer.