Judging Rightly Text

“Judge not, that you be not judged. ² For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you. ³ Why do you see the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? ⁴ Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when there is the log in your own eye? ⁵ 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. ⁶ “Do not give dogs what is holy, and do not throw your pearls before pigs, lest they trample them underfoot and turn to attack you (Matthew 7:1-6, ESV).

Introduction

“Judge not lest ye be judged” has been called the unbeliever’s favorite Bible verse. People do not like to feel guilty of their sin; therefore, they try to eradicate the truth by calling it judgmental.  However, that phrase in itself, when taken out of context, is a judgement statement. When I say such and such action is a sin, and someone calls me judgmental, that in and of itself is a judgement statement. Many well-meaning Christians also have taken this false interpretation of the text to mean we should never call out sin, warn people about Hell, or try to warn someone of the coming judgement. Jesus in His illustration and call to not give what is sacred to pigs, was telling His people to judge who is worthy to hear the gospel. Jesus also says that you will know false teachers by their fruits (Matthew 7:16). Those are judgement statements. Since our Lord would not contradict Himself, then He must not mean to not make judgements. He is saying to judge rightly.

Context

Jesus is teaching the disciples and the audience about the Kingdom of Heaven, its standards, and how one becomes a citizen. Jesus teaches there are two kinds of people: true and false converts, true and false worshippers, and true and false teachers. The difference between the two is Heaven and Hell. The main thrust of the sermon shows that salvation is based off God’s grace, not human merit. Therefore, Kingdom citizens judge rightly, according to their repentance.

Thesis

Kingdom citizens can only judge others based off their repentance and relationship with God.

Outline

This will be seen in three movements: I. False Judging, II. Example of False Judging, and III. Right Judging.

I. False Judging

1. “Judge not, that you be not judged. ² For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you” (Matthew 7:1-2, ESV).
2. When we remember the context, we realize that Jesus was comparing true disciples with the false teachers, the Scribes and Pharisees. The Scribes and Pharisees were the people who were considered better than everybody else, but they missed God’s standard. Their teaching fell short of God’s Law. Likewise, they worshipped God falsely. They were also false judges.
3. The word for “judge” in the Greek is the word “Krino”. It means:
   • decide, come to a conclusion (1Co 2:2);
   • prefer, to judge one thing better than another (Ro 14:5)
   • evaluate, judge based on correctness of something (Ac 4:19; 1Co 10:15)
   • hold a view, have an opinion (Ac 15:19)
   • make legal decision decide a legal question of right or wrong (Jn 18:31; Ac 23:3)
   • condemn, judge as guilty (Jn 7:51
   • rule over people, govern (Lk 22:30)^[1]

Therefore, depending on the context, it could mean many different things: from discerning truth to condemning in a legal court case. The idea is referring to the whole trial of a person and could refer to any part of the judging process. This is why there are so many places where our Lord says to judge (make a decision and discern a situation) and to not judge (condemn people unrighteously). In this context, and the context of the sermon. Jesus is saying to not judge hypocritically as the people’s ruler.

4. The reason the Scribes and Pharisees had no reason to judge was that they didn’t judge other’s by God’s standards, but by their man-made traditions. When they did judge people by God’s standards, they did not live up to God’s Law themselves. There are several cases in the gospels when they do this:

• • Then Pharisees and scribes came to Jesus from Jerusalem and said, “Why do your disciples break the tradition of the elders? For they do not wash their hands when they eat.” ³ He answered them, “And why do you break the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition? ⁴ For God commanded, ‘Honor your father and your mother,’ and, ‘Whoever reviles father or mother must surely die.’ ⁵ But you say, ‘If anyone tells his father or his mother, “What you would have gained from me is given to God,” ⁶ he need not honor his father.’ So for the sake of your tradition you have made void the word of God (Matthew 15:1-6, ESV).”
  • “The scribes and the Pharisees sit on Moses’ seat, ³ so do and observe whatever they tell you, but not the works they do. For they preach, but do not practice. ⁴ They tie up heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on people’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to move them with their finger. ⁵ They do all their deeds to be seen by others. For they make their phylacteries broad and their fringes long, ⁶ and they love the place of honor at feasts and the best seats in the synagogues ⁷ and greetings in the marketplaces and being called rabbi by others (Matthew 23:2-7, ESV).”

5. When people judge others over a made up morality, they make themselves God. This is what the Scribes and Pharisees did to Jesus. They made themselves God the judge over God. The Pharisees were going to get what was coming to them for rejecting their Messiah and making themselves judges above God:

“Therefore I send you prophets and wise men and scribes, some of whom you will kill and crucify, and some you will flog in your synagogues and persecute from town to town, ³⁵ so that on you may come all the righteous blood shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah the son of Barachiah, whom you murdered between the sanctuary and the altar. ³⁶ Truly, I say to you, all these things will come upon this generation (vv. 34-36, ESV).”

6. John MacArthur said, “Such judgement is a boomerang, Jesus says, and will come back upon the one who judges. Self-righteous judgement will become its own gallows, just as the gallows Haman had erected to execute the innocent Mordecai was used instead to hang Haman (Esther 7:10). Just as cruel Adoni-bezek had ordered the thumbs and big toes off seventy other kings, so his own were eventually cut off (Judges 1:6-7).”[2]

7. We have seen false judging and its consequences. Now we shall see Jesus’ example of false judging.

II. Example of False Judging

1. “Why do you see the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? ⁴ Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when there is the log in your own eye? ⁵ 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” (Matthew 7:3-5, ESV).
2. Like all good teachers, Jesus uses illustrations to show His point. Hypocritical judges are like people who see a small twig in the eye of a fellow Jew but have neglected to notice there is a huge wooden beam in their own eye. This shows the absurdity in the hypocrite. They are pretending to be right and able to help out their brother; however, they are in worse shape because they think they are well.
3. As hypocrites, they are like play actors who pretend to be someone they are not. They play the hero when they are really villains. Likewise, they play the godly, righteous men when in fact they are Satanic, evil men. Jesus said this about them:

“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and the plate, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. ²⁶ You blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and the plate, that the outside also may be clean. ²⁷ “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful, but within are full of dead people’s bones and all uncleanness. ²⁸ So you also outwardly appear righteous to others, but within you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness (Matthew 23:25-28, ESV).

4. The only solution to this absurd condition is repentance. They need to acknowledge they have a log in their eye, mourn over their sin, submit to God, and let God heal them. They need to turn from sin to God, and then they can help their brother get out of their own sin. That was David’s response to repenting from the sin in his life:

“Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones that you have broken rejoice. ⁹ Hide your face from my sins, and blot out all my iniquities. ¹⁰ Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. ¹¹ Cast me not away from your presence, and take not your Holy Spirit from me. ¹² Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and uphold me with a willing spirit. ¹³ Then I will teach transgressors your ways, and sinners will return to you. ¹⁴ Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God, O God of my salvation, and my tongue will sing aloud of your righteousness. ¹⁵ O Lord, open my lips, and my mouth will declare your praise (Psalm 51: 8-15, ESV).”

5. Only those who have repented of their sin and are right with God can judge the world and others. They do it from a humble posture, remembering what God had saved them from. Hypocrites, on the other hand, make up their own rules, overthrow God, and try to play God by judging others. We judge humbly, according to God’s Word, and call others to repent and trust in Jesus. That is the difference between true and false judges.

III. Right Judging

1. “Do not give dogs what is holy, and do not throw your pearls before pigs, lest they trample them underfoot and turn to attack you” (Matthew 7:6, ESV).
2. This is where Jesus gives the right balance of judging. Believers should judge if someone is ready to receive the gospel, the good news of salvation, and judge those who are not worthy. There are several instances where Jesus does not give the gospel to Pharisees that would immediately reject it.
3. Two of those examples were two wealthy, selfish religious leaders. He gave them the law and showed they could not earn their way to heaven. The first was the Rich Young Ruler who refused to give up all he had and follow Jesus, because he loved his money more than the Savior. The second was a lawyer who tied to justify himself for knowingly falling short of loving one’s neighbor. In both cases, Jesus doesn’t say to them to repent, believe He is the Messiah, and trust in Him till death. He didn’t even tell them He was going to die and rise from the dead for their sins.
4. Being called a dog or a pig would be offensive to Jews. These were scavenger animals that would attack whoever was in their way. They would eat trash, dead bodies, and anything they could get a hold of. Jews would instead call other people dogs and pigs as an insult. Here Jesus is calling the hypocrites who think they are going to Heaven apart from Christ’s righteousness and God’s pigs and dogs. That should hurt.
5. Jesus is also teaching His disciples that they will be able to tell who a true or false judge is, who is a seeker and who is a person who is closed to the gospel. The way we can do this today is to ask people how they believe they are going to heaven. When we use the Law and people refuse to humble themselves to acknowledge they are sinners, we know they are not ready to hear the gospel. It hurts, we do not judge them as if we are superior to them. Instead, we are to mourn over their stubborn pride that keeps them from life. Also, we pray for their repentance and salvation.

Conclusion

We have seen Kingdom citizens can only judge others based off their repentance and relationship with God. We do not judge hypocritically or pridefully. We judge understanding we are forgiven sinners, seeking the person’s good. How does this apply?

First, the world judges people according to its own standards and tries to make itself god. Christians should have no business judging people as the world does us. Bible believing Christians are called threats to trans people’s existence for telling them it is a sin they can repent of. Likewise, the world says that white people do not deserve to live, and anyone who is a Republican should die. Tragically a couple of months ago, a hateful man killed a Ukrainian refugee, Iryna Zarutska, on a train in North Carolina. Her crime was being white, even though she was minding her own business. September 10^th, 2025 a trans supporter killed Charlie Kirk at a college rally because he taught what God’s Word says, that men can’t be women and women can’t be men. The Left views Bible believing Christians and white people as the enemy because we refuse to believe their lies of communism, secularism, atheism, and LGBTQ+ ideology.

Biblical Christians do not judge in that way. People who believe differently than we do are not our enemies. They are lost souls that need to repent and trust in Jesus as their Savior, or they will go to Hell. Our enemy is Satan who has blinded their minds and hardened them to the truth. We need to be right judges, proclaiming the truth of the gospel of Christ, and praying that God will open blind people’s eyes.

Here is the gospel. For those who do not believe, are you morally perfect? How many lies have you told in your life? Plenty? That makes you a liar. Have you ever stolen anything, regardless of its value? That makes you a thief. The reality is. God sees our hatred as murder, lust as adultery, lies as an attack on His character, and dishonoring your parents as insulting Him. You stand guilty before a holy God. There is nothing you can do to save yourself. That is a terrible thing because of the reality of Hell.

Since we can’t get to heaven because of our lack of goodness, we need to be accredited with goodness from someone else. This is where Jesus comes in. He is fully God and fully man; one person with two natures. Here is the gospel put in a nutshell.

• Jesus died in our place, taking the punishment for the sins of all who would repent and trust in Him. He paid for the sins of believers in full. There is no more wrath for God to pour out on believers. Jesus paid it all.
• God calls all people everywhere to repent and trust in Jesus (Acts 17). What do these terms mean? It means that all people must turn from sin to God. People who repent acknowledge their sin, mourn over sin, desire to submit to God, and hunger to be made right with God. That is repentance. Faith is trusting in Jesus’ person and work on the cross to save you from sin.

If you truly are born again, I encourage you to pray something like this:

Dear God, thank you for sending your Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, so I don’t have to face your judgement. Thank you for teaching me how to judge this world rightly, and not hypocritically. I leave all ultimate judgement to You. Please save those who are lost and help me to share the gospel to those who hate me. It’s in Jesus’ name I pray, Amen!

^[1] James Swanson, Dictionary of Biblical Languages with Semantic Domains: Greek (New Testament) (Oak Harbor: Logos Research Systems, Inc., 1997).

[2] John MacArthur, The MacArthur New Testament Commentary: Matthew 1-7, (Chicago, IL: Moody Publishers. 1985), 434.

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