S.O.T.M. Judgment and Discernment [Matthew 7:6]

Brian Larkin

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S.O.T.M. Judgment and Discernment [Matthew 7:6]

We come to the final statement of our Lord concerning judgment this morning as we look at verse 6 of chapter 7.

Stand for the reading of the word of God [Matthew 7:6]

Here our Lord brings to an end what He has to say concerning the difficult and involved subject of judgment. The KJV puts this verse in a special paragraph on its own; but I suggest that that is not right. It is not a statement on its own with no connection with what precedes it. It is rather the conclusion of that matter, the final statement in that connection.

It is an extraordinary statement and one which generally comes with a great shock of surprise to people. Here our Lord has been telling us in the most solemn manner not to judge, and that we should cast the plank out of our own eye before we begin to think about the speck that is in our brother’s eye; He has been warning us that with what judgment we judge, we shall be judged. Then suddenly He says, “Do not give what is holy to the dogs; nor cast your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you in pieces.”

It almost seems incongruous; it seems to come as a contradiction to all that He has said right before, but yet, as we’ve been expounding on the first five verse, it’s really no surprise at all. In fact, it seems to be the inevitable corollary to what has come before. Our Lord tells us that we must not judge in the sense of condemning; but He reminds us here that that is not the total statement with regard to this matter. In order to have a right balance and a complete statement on the subject, this further observation is essential.

If our Lord had finished His teaching with those first five verses, it would easily have led to a misunderstanding. Christians would be so careful to avoid the terrible danger of judging in that wrong sense that they would exercise no discernment, no judgment whatsoever. There would be no such thing as discipline in the Church, and the whole of the Christian life would be chaotic. There would be no such thing as exposing heresy and pronouncing judgment with regard to it. Because everybody would be so afraid of judging the heretic, they would turn a blind eye to the heresy; and error would come into the Church more than it has done.

So our Lord goes on to make this further statement here in verse 6, and we cannot fail to be impressed by the wonderful balance of scriptural teaching, its amazing perfection. That is why I am never tired of pointing out that a detailed, microscopic study of any one section of Scripture is generally much more profitable than a telescopic view of the whole Bible; while it’s good to have an over view of the bible as a whole, if you make a thorough study of any one section, you will find that you will meet all the great doctrines sooner or later.

We have done so in considering this Sermon on the Mount. It shows the importance of looking at the details, of paying attention to everything, for as we do so, we discover this wonderful balance which is to be found in Scripture. When we become unbalanced it’s generally because of isolating statements instead of taking them in their context. If we forget this addition to our Lord’s teaching on judging we will be lacking of discernment and that will lead to a readiness to praise and recommend anything that is put before them which vaguely claims the name Christian. They say that we must not judge. That is regarded as a friendly and charitable spirit, and so men and women fall unchecked into grievous errors and believe just about anything someone who claims to have an authority on the bible says. But all that is avoided if we just take the Scripture as it is, and remember that in it this perfect balance is always to be found.

So looking at this statement of our Lord, how do we discern what our Lord is saying, He tells us not to judge and then turns around and tells us to judge??? How do we reconcile that??? The simple answer is, While our Lord tells us not to be hypercritical or condemning, He never tells us not to practice discernment. There is an absolute difference between the two, and we’ve stressed that the last couple of weeks. We must avoid the tendency to condemn people, yet we must also discern what people say and teach to see if it be biblical. We do so not do condemn but to help. This is very important today, we live in a day with an enormous amount of teaching when it comes to the bible…but there is a lot, and some is very popular today, that is not good teaching…we must be able to discern between what is true and what is not in order that people may be truly helped.

So we are dealing with, in this statement, how to truly discern between specks and planks in eyes and to discern how to reach people for the gospel. We could say this is very evangelistic in nature, how is that? We are dealing with how do deal with people, how to handle different types of people, and how to distribute the gospel to them effectively. So, who is our Lord referring to in this statement? Who are dogs and swine? Is He saying we don’t present the truth of God’s word to unbelievers? Obviously that is not because our Lord Himself came preaching the good news to such people. How do we understand this?

Perhaps the best way to approach the problem is to look at it first of all in the light of our Lord’s own practice. What did He Himself do? How did He Himself implement this particular teaching? The answer of Scripture is that He very clearly saw distinction between person and person and type and type. If you read the four Gospels you will see that He does not handle any two people in exactly the same way. Fundamentally it is the same, but on the surface it is different.

Take His way of handling Nathanael, and Nicodemus, and the woman of Samaria. At once you see certain differences. Look at the entire difference in His manner and method when He was confronting the Pharisees and when He was confronting the publicans and sinners. See the difference in His attitude towards the self-righteous, proud Pharisee and His attitude toward the woman caught in adultery. But perhaps one of the best illustrations of all is the one that we encounter in Luke 23. When examined by Pilate, our Lord answered; but when He was questioned by Herod, who should have known better, and who just had a morbid, unhealthy curiosity and was looking for signs and wonders, our Lord answered him nothing, He just would not speak to him (see verses 3 and 9). Thus you see that our Lord, when dealing with people in terms of the same truth, dealt with them in different ways and accommodated His way of teaching to the person. He did not vary the truth, but He varied the particular method of presentation, and that is what you will find as you read the four Gospels.

Then when you come on to the practice of the apostles, you will find that they do precisely the same as their Lord, and carry out the injunction that is given here. Take, for instance, that statement in Acts 13:46, where Paul was preaching at Antioch and meeting the jealousy and envy and opposition of the Jews. We read that Paul and Barnabas were bold and said, ‘It was necessary that the word of God should first have been spoken to you: but seeing ye put it from you, and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life, lo, we turn to the Gentiles.’ Paul is not going to preach to them any longer; he is not going to continue presenting this holy thing to them.

But then you find exactly the same thing in his conduct at Corinth. This is what we read in Acts 18:6: ‘And when they opposed themselves, and blasphemed, he shook his raiment, and said unto them, Your blood be upon your own heads; I am clean: from henceforth I will go unto the Gentiles.’ Here, you see, are people to whom the truth has been presented; but they did the very thing our Lord prophesied. As dogs and swine, they turned again and they opposed, they blasphemed, and they stamped the truth under their feet. The reaction of the apostle is to turn away from them; he no longer presents the gospel to them. He turns his back upon the Jews who thus reject and show their inability to appreciate the truth, and he turns to the Gentiles and becomes the great apostle to the Gentiles.

So, that then, I believe is the right way to approach this statement of our Lord. Now, we’ve seen what that means in light of the whole sermon on the mount…but is there more to it than that? We can see how it pertains to Jesus dealing with people, with the apostles dealing with people…but what does it say to us and how we deal with people? How do we interpret this? I’d say it’s very practical…the outlined version of this is in your bulletins.

We must recognize different types of people and discern between them

This first point is obvious but often over looked. The church today, in an attempt to get Christians to spread the gospel has made witnessing something cookie cutter and mechanical. We have tracts and handouts and even apps to help you witness to someone…and those are good tools with good intent…but we must remember Testifying to others shouldn’t be something mechanical. Like I said these tools, like tracts, help you witness to someone are good and helpful, but if you have to read a tract word for word to someone to share your faith with them…do you really think they think your faith is a well informed and an authentic one or something mechanical and rehearsed?

Witnessing done this way often forgets to take into account or consider what the person is dealing with. It often doesn’t take the time to discover where the person is at. I’d be so bold as to say mechanical witnessing is generally quite useless. Now don’t get me wrong. There is no higher privilege in life than to be a witness for Jesus Christ. But we must be effective witnesses…not mechanical.

For example, if a salesman was trying to sell his product and he just read a pamphlet to you about the product and approached sales from a mechanical way, how likely are you to buy that product? Just as the salesman learns the psychology of salesmanship…how to approach someone, how to appeal to someone, etc. The salesman must know his product and know how to discern people to be effective…the same is true of us to be effective witnesses for Jesus.

The New Testament teaches the necessity for preparation in witnessing. Not that we need a course in psychology! No; but we need to know our New Testament. If we know our New Testament we know that people are all different; and if we really are concerned about winning souls, and not simply anxious to bear our own witness and testimony, then we shall realize the importance of discerning and understanding different people. We must not say, ‘Well; I am like this, and this is my temperament, and this is my way of doing things.’ No; with the apostle Paul we must become ‘all things to all men’ that we may by all means save some. To the Jew he became as a Jew, to the Gentile as a Gentile, to them that were under the law as under the law, to this end. i.e. he appealed and approached people where they were at.

The second principle is that we must not only learn to distinguish between one type and another;

We must learn what to give to each type of person

You do not handle a Pilate and a Herod in exactly the same way; you answer the questions of a Pilate, but you say nothing to a Herod. We must see people as they are and be sensitive to them. We have taken the plank out of our own eye, we have got rid of everything that is condemning, if we are really are concerned about helping others in the Lord. In that spirit, we try to find precisely the right thing for that person. It is curious to note how readily we become slaves to words.

I have known preachers who, when they preach on the text about becoming ‘fishers of men’, are always careful to say that we must know which bait to use; but when they come to a text like this they seem to be oblivious of the fact that the same principle applies, and is equally true, here. We must know what is appropriate for each person in each particular situation.

That is one reason why it is difficult for a new convert to be a good witness. We can understand more clearly in the light of this teaching why Paul says that no novice must be given a prominent position in the Church. How far we have departed in our practice from the New Testament! Our tendency is to lay hands on the new convert and immediately put him into some prominent position. But Scripture tells us not to push a man into prominence at once. Why? Partly for this reason, that the novice may not be an expert in the things we are considering.

We should take care in how we present the truth of the gospel

The truth of the gospel doesn’t vary…the method of presenting that truth may vary from person to person. This means, we must learn to assess people. There are some to whom certain things are offensive though they are not offensive to others. I believe we would all agree with this, we’ve seen it played out often in our world today… somethings with be very offensive to some while not offensive at all to others…it’s our job as Christians to try to discern what might offend someone or not. I never said witnessing would be easy…it’s just a high privilege.

We should be very careful not to present the truth of the gospel in a way that may be offensive. And this is difficult because the cross is offensive to the natural man, that I know…but we must be careful we’re not offensive in our presentation. For example, perhaps going to an unbeliever and asking them… “are you saved?” is not the preferred approach. There are those who when asked that question will take offense and will not be led to the truth of the gospel. If effect they’re response will be as swine or dogs, trampling or tearing. Perhaps the better approach would be, “What do you think will happen to you after you die?”. If they answer something to the fact of, “well, I like to think I’m a good person and would go on to a better place.” That then gives you an opportunity to then ask, “how did you come to that conclusion?” Those questions are much less antagonistic and may open the door for a gospel conversation. With that being said…also

We must discern which particular aspect of the gospel is appropriate in each case

For example, In the case of an unbeliever we should not be presenting other doctrines outside of justification by faith alone. With an unregenerate person we shouldn’t be discussing other doctrines than that of justification by faith in Jesus Christ alone. We’ll often be excited to discuss other doctrines but until a person is born again, justification should be the one, stick in the realm of Ephesians 2:8-10. Let me give you an example of this from our Lord’s earthly ministry.

The account given in John 4 when our Lord interacted with the woman of Samaria is a perfect illustration of this point. She wanted to discuss various matters, such as the Being of God, how and where to worship, and the differences which separated the Jews and the Samaritans. But our Lord would not allow it. He kept bringing her back to herself, to her sinful life, to her need of salvation. Look at that interaction closely Jesus is very intentional to counter and bring her back to justification when she is constantly diverting.

And we must do the same thing in our witnessing to unbelievers. To discuss election and predestination, and the great doctrines of the Church, and the present need of the Church, with a person who is an unbeliever is obviously quite wrong. The man who is not born again cannot understand these other doctrines and therefore you must not get sidetracked by discussion that will not produce regeneration and faith in an unbeliever. We are called to exercise discernment in witnessing to the lost. Stick with our need for a savior.

This applies to some extent to believers as well. Paul tells the church at Corinth that he cannot give them strong meat; he had it, but he could not give it to them because they were still babes in the faith. He says that he had to feed them with milk because they were not yet fit for meat. ‘We speak wisdom’, he says, ‘among them that are perfect.’ To give this perfect wisdom of God to a babe in spiritual understanding is obviously ridiculous, so we are called upon to exercise this discernment in all directions. If we really are to be witnesses and presenters of the truth of the gospel we must pay attention to these things.

I’d like to make a couple of

General observations

of this statement in verse 6 before we look at the last point. First, I think this statement, on the surface level, points out the obvious devastating effect of sin upon mankind.

The effect of sin and evil upon man as the result of the Fall is to make us, with respect to the truth of God, dogs and swine. That is the effect of sin upon man’s nature; it gives him an antagonism to truth. ‘The carnal mind’, says the apostle Paul, ‘is enmity against God’, the nature of the dog and the swine. Sin makes man hate God and, also, ‘hateful (or full of hate), and hating one another,’ says Paul in Titus 3:3.

What a terrible thing sin is! You can see the same reactions in the world today. Present the truth of the gospel to certain people and they snarl at it. Talk about the blood of Christ, and they laugh and make jokes about it, and spit upon it. That is what sin does to man; that is what it does to mankind’s nature; that is how it affects man’s attitude towards the truth. It is something that gets into the very depths and vitals of man’s being, and turns him into something that is not only hateful, but utterly opposed to God, and purity, to cleanness, and holiness, and truth.

I emphasize this because I feel that we are all guilty at this point. When we are dealing with others we often do not realize their true condition. We tend to become impatient with people when they do not become Christians immediately. We do not see that they are so much under the dominion of sin and of Satan, they are so deceived by the devil, they are so twisted, and perverted, and polluted—that is the world—inwardly by sin, that they really are in a spiritual sense in this condition of dog and swine.

They do not appreciate that which is holy; they do not attach any value to spiritual pearls; even God Himself is hateful to them. If we do not start by realizing that, that’s what sin does to a man, we shall never be able to help them. And as we realize the truth about them we shall begin to understand why our Lord had a great compassion for the people, and a great sorrow in His heart as He looked upon them in pity. We shall never really help anybody until we have the same spirit and mind in us, and realize that in a sense they cannot help it.

They need a new nature, they must be born again. Does this verse have anything for us? I think so! Here is a doctrine that leads directly to the grace of God; nothing but the rebirth can ever enable any man to appreciate and receive the truth. Dead in trespasses and sins, we must be quickened by the Holy Spirit before we can ever give a true response to divine instruction. You see the number of profound doctrines that are hidden away in this one little gem of a verse?

In closing we must deal with...

The nature of truth

We’ve touched on it some already. There is truth in the scripture that is appropriate for the new believer…but, as the author of the Epistle to the Hebrews says, we must not stay there, but go on unto perfection [Heb.6:1]. He tells them in that sixth chapter, in essence, We don’t want to go back again to the foundation or the first principles when you where saved…we ought to be finished with that. You don’t just build a basement and say I’m finished…no you got to complete the rest of the home. He says if you would but exercise yourselves I could take you on to this great Melchizedek doctrine, but I can’t because you’re slow to hear and learn. He’s not insulting them…he’s challenging them to grow in the Lord as every child of God should.

The question we must ask ourselves is, am I growing in my knowledge of the Lord? Am I hungering and thirsting after this higher doctrine, this wisdom that Paul has that is perfect? Do I feel that I am proceeding, as it were, from the Epistle to the Galatians to the Epistle to the Ephesians? Am I going on to these more profound truths? They are only for the children of God.

There are certain secrets in the Bible which only God’s children can appreciate. Read the introduction to the Epistle to the Ephesians, just the first nine or ten verses, and there you will find doctrine that only the children of God can understand; indeed, only those children who are exercising their spiritual senses and growing in grace. People in spiritual ignorance may argue about the doctrines of God’s calling and election, and questions like that, without having any understanding of them. But if we are growing in grace, these doctrines will become more and more precious. They are secrets which are given only to those who can receive them—‘he that hath ears to hear, let him hear’. If you find that some of these great and mighty expositions of truth which you have in the Epistles say nothing to you, examine yourself, and ask yourself why you are not growing, and why you cannot take in these truths.

As Christians, we are all called to grow in the Lord and witness to what our Lord Jesus has done. Consider this my challenge to you…two challenges…to seek to grow in the Lord…if you need some help with that hit me up I’ll gladly work with you. And seek to witness of Jesus to an unbeliever.

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