Season 4 Podcast 60 “The Stories of the New Testament, Matthew Ch 7: The Sermon on the Mount Pt IV “Judging Others.”

Season 4 Podcast 60 “The Stories of the New Testament, Matthew Ch 7: The Sermon on the Mount Pt IV “Judging Others.”We offer a weekly podcast, Monday thru Friday. Each Friday we discuss the New Testament, King James’ Version. We are now on Matthew Chapter 7.  In last week’s podcast, Podcast 55, we analyzed the final concepts 4 – 12 of the Lord’s Prayer. In this podcast, Number 60, we shall continue with the Sermon on the Mount by discussing Chapter 7. 1.     Judging Others2.     Prayer3.     The Golden Rule4.     The Strait and Narrow Path5.     False ProphetsIn this podcast we shall discuss Concept One: Judging Others.1.     Matthew 7: 1-5  1 Judge not, that ye be not judged.2 For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.3 And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother’s eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye?4 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?5 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. I think we may be prone to read verse one, “Judge not, that ye be not judged” and then quit. It is not humanly possible to never judge nor is it wise. We must keep in mind that it was Christ who gave the Sermon on the Mount, and it was that same Christ who revealed his word to all the Holy Prophets before him. Christ said to Satan in the wilderness that we must live by every word that proceeds forth from the mouth of God.  Therefore, for clarification, let’s do two things.  (1) Let’s look at the entire passage verses 1-5 and (2) let’s consider what Christ said about judgment to his holy prophets. It is not complete until we read all five verses. Let’s begin with verse two2 For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.4 RONWe are going to be judged, not by making judgment, but by making false judgement. Remember the Ninth Commandment, “Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor.” The first verse could read, ‘Judge not unrighteously, that yet be not judged for your unrighteousness.’ In the final judgment God will measure us by how we measured others.  In Zechariah 7:9 Christ revealed to his prophet:Execute true judgment, and shew mercy and compassion.“Execute true judgment” sheds light upon Christ’s true meaning. In addition, if we want mercy and compassion in our judgment, we must show mercy and compassion in judging others. In the Sermon on the Mount Christ comes down hard on hypocrisy. That explains the next two verses.3 And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother’s eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye?4 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?A beam would refer to any particle obstructing your vision, thus we have Christ’s harsh condemnation.5 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.That holds the key to what Christ is teaching us. To judge righteously we must first be righteous so that we can see clearly how to help our brother, in other words how we can exercise righteous judgment.