That means "in view of what God’s done in the past and for you."

In other words, we’re supposed to live a life here as a living sacrifice. Everything you thought you had, owned, felt, did, thought, etc., is really dead. That’s a concept we’ll be talking about throughout the New Testament.

That’s what we’re supposed to be doing every day.

Hear verse 2.

There is a transforming of the mind. I thought about one of our favorite diagrams as I was reading this verse:

You’re either growing in Christ or you’re not. When you accept Christ, your mind still has all the "stuff" behind it. That’s what we think is "right." That’s part of the flesh, the ego, the "old self" that we grow up with. We say, "This is the way I really think people should act together," or "This is the list of things that I need to do to feel good about myself or for others to appreciate me." It’s this "stuff" that is going to have to be transformed in the renewing of your mind to view things from God’s perspective. Your old mind must be made new. That will cause "confusion," "chaos," etc. If you really get into the Word of God, all of you will be challenged.

Last week, we talked about being as righteous as Christ. Several of you stopped me after class and said, "Wait a minute! I have to think about that." That’s a challenge to what you thought of yourself or of Christianity versus what God’s Word says. I said it but that doesn’t mean it’s right. I always encourage you to read it in God’s Word and let the Holy Spirit teach you, not me. I will being things up and if you disagree with me, fine, go to God’s Word, read it, and see what God tells you through the Holy Spirit. As a teacher, I have and will share with you what God has told me to say—to take your minds and have them renewed.

This morning, we’re going to get into judging. When we get into some of these topics, you’re going to be challenged. We all have some preconceived ideas about judging. We all do. We’re going to read God’s Word and I will explain, interpret, and discuss what I think it says. We’ll have to ask ourselves, "What does God say about judging," and "What is the ‘new’ way of judging?" If there’s something about the "old way" that’s not right, then what is the "new way"?

We’re going to get into one of the conflicts Jesus had with the Pharisees. Then we’ll get into some very tough Scripture with parables about the Kingdom of God that will cause many of you to say, "I don’t understand this. What’s going on?" You may even get to the point where we’ll read some stuff and you’ll think, "Well maybe I’m not saved. I don’t have Jesus in my heart. I don’t know what Christ is all about." Read and ask the Holy Spirit to guide you. Only you know whether or not you’ve accepted Christ as your personal Lord and Savior. You know that. The person sitting next to you, your spouse, and your friends don’t know that. They see it by what you say or what you do, but you’re the only one who knows. When we get into this tough Scripture, this is what I think Sunday School is all about—growing in Christ, growing in the Lord. So you will be challenged.

You should be uncomfortable. No one ever grows if they’re comfortable. If you want to start lifting weights, you don’t start with 300 pounds. You won’t do very well. You’ll quit and go home. But if you start with 50 pounds, progress to 60, 70, etc., it hurts. You will have some sore muscles but if you keep going, what happens? You grow stronger. So expect this. Know that this is going to happen. There’s nothing wrong with it. You will be challenged. Know that God’s Word is true. He’s going to tell you. The Holy Spirit is going to tell you.

Let’s get into "judging" in chapter 7. Remember that this is still part of the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus is talking about the Kingdom of Heaven. He’s saying, "Here’s what the Kingdom is about. Blessed are they who are meek for they shall inherit the earth. Blessed are they who mourn for they shall be comforted." Etc. It’s those kinds of things. He’s talking about the attitudes that people have in the Kingdom. He was addressing His disciples. Remember that? He withdrew from the crowds, His disciples followed Him, they sat down on a hill, and He’s teaching them. This is what He taught. We do not believe that we have everything He taught on that day or days. A lot of commentators believe (and I agree with them) that when you read all of the Gospels, these are things He said all throughout His ministry. It wasn’t just during this one "sermon."

Basically what He’s trying to get across to His disciples is this renewing of the mind. They were thinking in the "old way." We’ll see that this morning. Jesus said, "But here’s the ‘new way.’ Here’s what it’s all about." Right now, they are thinking that they are following someone who is great—He’s fantastic, He’s performing miracles, people are in awe of Him, people want to be with Him, etc. They’re thinking, "Wow! We’re one of His elite, chosen twelve! We’re up there. We’ve really got something going on here. This is great!" Jesus says, "Wait a minute. Before you get a big head about following me and before you get so far outside the bounds of really understanding what it’s going to be like to follow me, let me tell you what the Kingdom is about." We’ve been discussing this. He’s basically telling them what the Law is and isn’t.

At this time, we’re talking about Jews. Jesus was a Jew. He’s talking to Jews about Jewish religion. He’s telling them, "Your Jewish religion is based on the Law." Their "old mind" is based on the Law. He says, "I’m going to tell you something different. I’m going to tell you what God’s Kingdom is all about," and "I didn’t come to destroy the Law. I came to fulfill it." He explains that in the Scriptures, "The Law will show you that you are a sinner. You can not and will not be able to abide by the Law forever." A lot of people try to "do" everything in the Sermon on the Mount. If you read the Sermon on the Mount closely, you’ll see that the "gospel" is not in it. Christ, the crucified Savior, is not in the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus is talking about how people think, act, and live. He shows people that it is impossible to obey all the Law, that we are all sinners. Because we are sinners, we need a Savior. It’s not the Law that gets us to Heaven. What is it? Christ. That’s the "gospel." The purpose of the Sermon on the Mount is to contrast the Law (old way) with Jesus’ righteousness (new way).

We mentioned Matthew 5:48. "Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect." We talked about that. There is this holiness, perfection, and being as righteous as Jesus. This got a lot of people stirred up last week. We’re going to keep working on that. You, as a Christian, what is your attitude? We want to believe one way but Jesus says, "No. This is God’s way. This is God’s perspective." Read the Sermon on the Mount with this in mind.

If we were to stop there, what has Jesus said? He didn’t really say, "Don’t judge." He said, "Don’t judge, but if you do judge," what’s going to happen? You will be judged. If we stop there, what do we do as Christians? We don’t judge. We should bash each other upside the head when one begins to judge. Right? But then the one who hits the other one is judging. So there’s something here that says, "How can you live life without judging?" Think about that. You could have no opinion whatsoever. If you don’t have an opinion, you have to be blind, deaf, etc. The point is that it is hard to go through this world and say that you’ll never judge. So what did Jesus mean?

In just a moment, we’ll see what He means because He explains it.

Ah! Now we’re getting a little closer. There’s something about judging that Jesus is talking about here. Suppose I were looking about and judging people—who’s here, who’s not, what their hair looks like, what they’re wearing, etc. I would be judging. What does this verse say? "Well, before you look at the specks of sawdust in everybody else, examine yourself." Think about that. This is where you have to dwell on Scripture. Is Jesus saying then that there may be a time when I am to judge? If I can remove the plank from my eye, what happens? I might be allowed to judge—but we can’t say that yet. But there is a little something there about judgment.

Let’s talk about the "plank." Suppose I was one who walked around, judging peoples’ clothing. If I did that for three months, what would you think of me? You wouldn’t want to associate with me. Why not? I’m a jerk. I’m super-critical. Nothing pleases me. I’m always negative. Do you know anybody like that? Don’t answer that. Do you see what kind of negative, critical spirit that is? No matter what you do, it’s not good enough. That is what I think Jesus is talking about—where you get to the point where your judgment is like, "I’m right and everyone else is wrong."

"You will be judged the same way you judge." Didn’t that come true when I asked you how you would treat me after three months of my criticism? You judged me as a super-critical, negative spirit and said, "I don’t want to be around you." Wouldn’t you be judging me in that way? But that’s what Jesus said. Jesus said, "If you’re going to judge someone, people are going to judge you in the same way." Do you hear that? So what’s the best way to find out about yourself and your "plank"? Ask others, "What am I critical of? What makes me a jerk?" Then you’ll discover those things. Let’s keep going.

That’s good. That’s a "politically correct" word for "jerk," I guess.

Did He say not to judge? No. What did He say? He said, "There is judgment but the judgment has to come after you remove your super-critical, negative plank from yourself." Again, what did we think about judging, before? Sometime when I ask you questions, it’s to try to get you to think about where you are right now before you look at God’s Word. There is a tendency for us (as human beings) to start to see something that God is trying to tell us and the ego, the flesh in us says, "Well, rationally, I really wasn’t that way. I really thought the new way." Do you know what I mean? It’s self-protection. We twist things to make ourselves feel good. I’d rather you think about the way you are now, read God’s Word, and say, "Wow! I’m way off base from what God intended."

Can you see that Jesus is saying that there is a time to judge? Possibly.

Yes! Isn’t that something!? Isn’t that what Jesus is saying? He’s driving toward looking at you—your situation and your relationship to God. Once that is square, then you know what to do with others and you know how to approach others.

Read Galatians 6:1, "Brothers, if someone is caught in a sin, you who are spiritual should restore him gently." Gently. Let’s say we found someone in sin, today. Suppose my wife was… <doing cocaine. Ha ha.> Ok—we’ll go with that. If you heard this, what would you think? Tell me what kinds of things would come to your mind. You can’t believe it, can you? As soon as you say, "It can’t be true" or "I don’t believe that," what are you basing it on? You are evaluating, judging, and discerning. You’re doing all the things that we’re talking about here. You’re saying, "Let me think about that person for a minute and see if that agrees with what I think." If it doesn’t agree, you say, "I don’t believe it. I don’t believe that about her."

Let’s look at an example that we could believe. Let’s say that a friend starts having a "quiet time" every morning. You hear something about someone and this time it’s not that you don’t believe it but it’s like, "Hmm. That’s possible. That could be true." It’s the same judgment. You’re going back to what you know about the person and saying, "Yeah, I could see that happening." Somebody does something and we judge it. We have judged and condemned them. That’s the key word, "condemned." It’s not just an evaluation. It’s not just looking at the facts and formulating conclusions but we already condemn them. We say, "I condemn them." We don’t even have to say it with our mouths. If you believe it in your heart, you’ve done it.

Let’s keep going with the plank and the sawdust. Almost all of chapter 7 is about judging, believe it or not. There are sections where you think, "Well, that doesn’t apply." Let’s see.

That’s an interesting statement. You’re probably asking, "Huh? What’s He talking about? Where is that coming from?" It has to be about judging. That’s what He’s been talking about. As a matter of fact, He says, "Do not give dogs what is sacred." What could be sacred to us? The Word of God. You could take it literally, "Don’t let a dog tear up your Bible," but I think He means something more than that. "Do not throw your pearls to pigs." What is a "pearl" to you? Something valuable and precious. When we talk about Christianity, what is that? Our beliefs about Jesus Christ and what He’s done. Suppose you’re arguing with someone at work about whether or not Jesus was born of a virgin birth. Here comes the "judging." Jesus says, "Here’s what you need to be discerning about. Here’s what you need to know about. When you’re looking at people, you need to be able to determine where they are, spiritually, not judge them according to the world’s standards—that’s what we like to do because that’s "old" thinking.

Here’s another example. Suppose you’re watching TV with someone. I’ll bet that not 30 minutes go by until everybody’s evaluated everyone on every commercial and program. Do you know what I’m talking about? "Look at that…that’s the dumbest thing I have ever seen." What are you doing when you’re doing that? You’ve said, "I’ve evaluated it and it’s dumb." We’re judging all the time. When He’s talking about judging spiritually (and that’s what we want to look at), we need to have the Holy Spirit to judge spiritually. The first thing He said was, "Remove the plank," and that’s like "Remove your self out of it." Say, "OK, God, let me see others as you see them." God sees two kinds of people. He sees the people who have a right relationship with Him and He sees those who don’t. What Jesus is saying is that "dogs and pigs" are those who do not have a right relationship with me.

Now does that mean that we’re not to share the gospel with anyone? No. But what does it mean? It’s when you’re sharing the gospel with someone or telling someone what you believe, and they get to the point where they are a "dog" or a "pig" who is going to tear it up, trample it and turn on you. These are harsh words but Jesus is trying to make a point here. When you’re talking to someone, God has given every one of us the power and wisdom to discern people like that. He says, "Don’t do it." How do you get to that point? You have to judge—not the judgment that results in condemnation, but the evaluation, the discernment, and being able to discriminate between believers and nonbelievers. And then among nonbelievers, discerning those who are "seeking" and interested versus those who care less and are ready to tear you up. What does Jesus say to do? After you have done this evaluation, take action. Don’t cast your pearls and your sacred things to those people. From a spiritual point of view, spend time with "seekers" and spend time with your brothers and sisters in Christ. That’s what He’s saying there.

Saul/Paul was a "seeker." He was a seeker and God knew it. That’s the thing. It is not our criteria that we should be measuring with. What criteria should we use? The Holy Spirit that is within you. The Holy Spirit will tell you. You will get to the point where you’ll say, "I don’t need to be messing with this. I don’t need to be in this situation. I don’t need to be with these people." It’s not because you can identify one specific thing, but it’s the Holy Spirit within you saying, "Get out of there. Don’t cast your pearls and sacred things to these people. Get out of there."

Jerry Falwell might be doing that. This may frustrate you to no end, but you’ll hear me ask this over and over and over—what will you do in that situation? It’s not what someone else does. I want to make this as personal as can be, not hypothetical. I’m not trying to ignore the question. I don’t want to judge Jerry Falwell. If the Holy Spirit is moving… Look at Jesus. Jesus was empowered with the Holy Spirit. Tell me: During the ministry of Jesus, was He ever judgmental? Yes. He sure was! He looked at His disciples and said, "Oh, you of little faith." He called people "hypocrites." He called the Pharisees, "whited sepulchers" and "empty graves." Was Jesus judgmental? Yes. What was He judgmental about? Spiritual things. Sin. If you read it carefully, in every situation, Jesus was not doing the convicting but it was the Holy Spirit or the person’s conscience doing the convicting.

Think of the rich young ruler. Did Jesus judge the rich young ruler? Yes, He did. But how was the rich young ruler convicted? He didn’t want to sell all his possessions. Jesus presented a situation to him and said, "Here, let me help you where you are. Let me ask you a question…" The rich young ruler was trying, wasn’t he? But what was the clincher? Jesus knew where his heart was: on his treasure. When we get into the Purpose Driven Life, we’re going to see it all over the place. We’re going to find out why we do what we’re driven to do. This rich young ruler was driven by riches. The rich young ruler said, "What must I do?" So Jesus said simply, "Go and sell everything you have and give it to the poor." And the rich young ruler walked away sadly. Was Jesus discerning?

I’m going to stop using the word "judging" now. We’ve been discussing "judgment" from a spiritual perspective. But "normally" the "old way" of thinking is that judgment involves trials, lawyers, a verdict, and a sentence. There’s a condemnation to it. The spiritual side of "judging" is discernment. What you’re supposed to have is spiritual discernment. You can only get it (according to Jesus) when you get rid of self. Do you understand that? That’s what Jesus wants us to do. He’s saying, "Get rid of your self because I do want you involved in other peoples’ lives. I do want you discerning. I want you to help others grow spiritually. But some people you run into do not want to grow spiritually. They have already made up their minds. They are dogs and pigs. Don’t spend time with them. Don’t throw your pearls and sacred things to them. I have other people for you to spend time with."

This doesn’t mean that you stop praying for them or talking to them. What does it say? Don’t throw your spiritual things, your sacred things to these people. But there’s still more to it.

What does it take for you to move from the "old way" of judging to the "new way" of spiritually discerning through the Holy Spirit and love? Jesus said, "I want to minister to the prostitutes, tax collectors and lepers, not the ones who think they’re already ‘well.’ I came for the sick, not the healthy." What would it take? That’s what we read in the Scripture. That is the "spiritual act of worship" we looked at in Romans 12. That’s worshipping God, saying, "God, show me who I am so that I can become more like you. Show me where I’m not like you, in acceptance of others, in living my life, etc."

Do you see that judgment is all around? Do you see this? We’ve just touched on it this morning. God wants to deal with every one of us about our judgment. He wants to turn it from what we think it should be and is (we think we shouldn’t be judging but we do—and that’s a hypocrite) to spiritual discernment. God says, "I want you to be about spiritual business—two things: helping others grow in Christ and recognizing those who don’t want to grow in Christ and not spending time with them." That’s basically what He says in chapter 7.

We are all growing, together, in Christ. We should never look at someone as less spiritually mature than us. As a matter of fact, the Bible says that a spiritually mature Christian who meets another immature Christian who’s struggling should get on their level and work with them there, not say, "You need to come up here." We need to be down at that person’s level. Jesus lowered Himself to wash the dirty, stinking feet of His disciples and show them what servanthood is all about. It is a principle in the Bible. And it is the last thing this world will teach you to do. The last thing! The world will say, "No, that person should be ‘up here’ with you." You should meet them on their level. I’m not saying to get down there, sinning with the person. I’m saying that you should talk on their level so that you encourage, edify, and build up. That’s what the Bible calls for.

Let’s skip to chapter 12. I want to show you where we’re going. Until this time, there has been very little conflict between Jesus and the "established Jewish religion," the Pharisees, Sadducees, etc. I want you to see the initial conflict in chapter 12.

Members of the established, religious order were trying to trap Jesus. They’re saying, "Something’s wrong here. We don’t like this person. He’s saying and doing things that don’t fit the established way. He doesn’t like the way we always do things."

Remember that we talked about the Torah (Old Testament) and the Talmud (the interpreted and expanded Law). Their "Law" included not just the Old Testament but also the added interpretations by Jewish "experts." What’s implied here is that their invented "Law", the Talmud, said that you could not heal a man or help a sick man on the Sabbath. So they took "Honor the Sabbath and keep it holy" and added a slew of laws to expand on that.

They didn’t like it. You and I would rationally say, "But He healed his hand!" They would say, "Yeah, but He did it on Sunday! That’s against our Law. Even though He did good, it was against our Law. So we hate Him and we’re going to kill Him."

This is why Jesus is eventually crucified. There is a conflict over the Law.

Chapter 13 includes the parables of the Kingdom. Remember that we mentioned the "Kingdom" back in the Sermon on the Mount. I agree with many commentators that these parables reference a Kingdom of Heaven on Earth from the time of Christ’s Ascension until His Second Coming. It’s talking about sowing the seeds of the Word and how the Word has been and is treated since Christ left the Earth. That’s what it’s talking about. I told you that we would look at the "Kingdom of Heaven" in different ways (e.g., the spiritual realm of God, the Millennial Kingdom that’s coming, this kingdom between Jesus’ visits, and the Sermon on the Mount Kingdom). So there are many aspects to the Kingdom that God is trying to show us. When you read chapter 13, make sure you understand that.

What kind of ears do you need to hear God’s Word? Spiritual ears. What does that mean? A "spiritual ear" means that you deny yourself, ignore what you think you know, open your mind, and see what God has for you. Then you will hear. You may not change anything but you will hear it, probably for the first time. Your "ears" through spiritual faith.

I will dare say that all of us have asked this at some point. "Well, God, why don’t you make it easier for people to come to you? Why do you make it so hard, so mysterious, so illusionary, and so tough? Why do people have to go to church to be saved?" You can think of all these things. It’s the same question the disciples asked. Fair question?

What is He saying there? He’s saying that there are some people who have a calloused heart, a hardened heart. You’ll read those kinds of words in the Bible. What it’s talking about is that God has given these people a revelation. He has revealed Himself to them in some manner for many reasons. It may have been as a child, maybe through the death of someone, maybe financial or health problems, maybe through nature, etc. It was all kinds of ways. God revealed Himself to this person, he saw God, he said, "I don’t know. This is a 3D world." and his heart hardens a little. A layer of "hardness" builds up around the heart. But God doesn’t give up.

He reveals Himself again. And the same thing happens. And the heart gets a little harder and a little harder. Eventually, this heart is so hard and so far away from the pure, genuine heart that it cannot hear. That person cannot hear and cannot understand. That’s why Jesus said, "To those who have been given some (who accepted a little revelation), more will be given. Those who reject the revelation are hardening their hearts and it will be taken away from them." That may sound harsh and cruel. You may say, "Wait a minute. God has to give everybody a fair chance." I believe that God, in His infinite wisdom, has revealed Himself to every person, over and over. Some accepted it and some rejected it. Those who rejected it (like Pharaoh) hardened their hearts. God showed Pharaoh so many things yet Pharaoh said, "No, no, no. I don’t believe it." Pharaoh was a "pig" and a "dog." That’s exactly what’s happening today too.

Do you understand that the power of the Holy Spirit to get you from the "old way" to the "new way" is exactly what Jesus is talking about here? He says, "If you want to understand God’s Word, if you want to understand spiritual discernment, and if you want to understand how to live a spiritual life, look at your heart. Know that it is calloused. Get rid of it. Open your eyes. Hear with your ears. Understand with your heart." Listen to what God’s revealing to you. Be willing to listen and understand. As you do, the hardness goes away. It disappears. Your mind is renewed. You’re now thinking spiritually. Do you see that? That’s why He talked in parables. He said, "Those who have this heart will understand me. Those who don’t won’t."

This is so good. How can anyone disagree with that? This is what God says in God’s Word. It’s right there.

Here, Jesus is talking about the Old Testament saints: Abraham, Isaac, etc. They didn’t see what the disciples were seeing. They had faith that it would happen but now they see it.