The Nonbeliever’s Favorite Verse: Discerning but Not Condemning

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Visit our website and learn more about Harvest Partners at harvest.org. to destroy. Often, the truth hurts.

Do we enjoy hurting people with the truth? Pastor Greg Laurie says we should be compelled by love, God's love. Our desire should always be to restore, not condemn, a person in sin. The Lord tells us He's not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. Yes, God judges sinners, but that's not His desire.

What's our desire? When someone is in sin, do we reflect the Lord's objective, that we should lovingly lead them back into fellowship with God? Well, today on A New Beginning, Pastor Greg Laurie takes us to important counsel from the Sermon on the Mount, the Lord's directives to His disciples on matters of faith, love, and harmony. You know, people sometimes ask me, what is your favorite verse from the Bible? That's hard for me to answer because I have a lot of favorite verses from the Bible.

A lot of it depends on what I am going through in a given moment. And then I might say, oh, I really love this verse for this kind of a situation. And I love another verse for another kind of a situation. But according to Amazon.com, the verse most commonly highlighted in the Bible is Philippians 4.

It says, don't worry about anything, but pray about everything, and the peace of God that passes all human understanding will guard your heart and mind in Christ. That verse would definitely make my top ten. But I wonder, what verse would you choose if you had to choose your favorite verse?

Well, I'll tell you this much. If you're talking to a nonbeliever, you're going to find out what their favorite verse is because basic nonbelievers may know two verses from the Bible that they like to quote. And the verse that you will often hear from a nonbeliever is, judge not lest you be judged.

Right? And when does this happen? This happens usually when we're talking to them about their need for Jesus Christ and telling them that maybe they need to turn from their sin and they get really indignant. And they say, well doesn't the Bible say judge not lest you be judged?

In other words, will you please go away now? It's their verse that they quote to make you stop talking to them. And the second favorite verse of nonbelievers is, let him that is without sin cast the first stone.

Now the problem is they totally misinterpret what those verses mean. What is Jesus saying when he says, judge not lest you be judged? Is he actually saying that a Christian is never to judge anyone or anything? Is he saying that we should never make an evaluation of a situation or of a person's conduct? That we should never in any way, shape, or form use our discernment and just sort of accept everyone and everything?

No, that's not what he's saying. So let's read the words of Jesus from the Sermon on the Mount. Matthew 7 verse 1. Judge not lest you be judged for with what judgment you judge you will be judged and with the measure you use it will be measured back to you. Why do you look at this speck in your brother's eye and not consider the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, hey let me remove the speck from your eye and look a plank is in your own eye, hypocrite. First remove the plank from your own eye.

Then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye. Do not give that which is holy to the dogs or cast your pearls before swine lest they trample them under their feet and turn and tear you in pieces. All right. So here are some takeaway truths from these verses.

Point number one if you are taking notes. As Christians we should be discerning but not condemning. Let me repeat that. As Christians we should be discerning but not condemning. Again verse 1. Judge not lest you be judged. Now before we tell you what it does mean let's find out what it doesn't mean. It doesn't mean that a Christian loves and accepts everyone in as far as we never comment on their actions or their conduct or their lifestyle. Because the reality is if you really care for someone you need to tell them the truth. And sometimes you have to confront people about the sin that maybe they are in that is keeping them from God. The Bible even says speak the truth in love.

Now the problem is some will speak the truth but not in love. They use the Bible like a weapon to destroy. If the Bible is a sword, and it is, it is not given to decapitate people. It should be thought of as a scalpel to bring healing to people.

A scalpel in a surgeon's hands to help a person. But some people weaponize the Bible and they use truth like a sledgehammer. So it is all truth and no love. But then there are those that it is all love and no truth. They will just say oh that is ok. Oh I understand. It is ok with God if you keep doing that. And that is also incorrect.

So we have to find the right balance. I mean if you really care about someone you will tell them the truth. So you are going out with one of your friends you know for dinner and they have a giant stain in the middle of their shirt. You might say did you want that giant stain in the middle of your shirt? Or by the way you have spinach in your teeth. Actually in all of your teeth.

They are covered in spinach. What happened? But you tell them for their own good because that is what friends do. Well if that is true should we not tell them if there is sin in their life? Proverbs 27 says, Open rebuke is better than secret love. Faithful are the wounds of a friend, but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful. If you have some friends that will tell you the truth those are true friends. Ok. Know that. Because a true friend will stab you in the front not in the back.

Does that make sense? See someone who is in your friend though to your face will say you are awesome. You are great.

Everything is cool. Everything you are doing is wonderful even though they know it isn't. But a true friend will tell you to your face. You know what I love you man and I have got to warn you. This could be your downfall. This could hurt you.

And because I care about you I am going to tell you the truth. Yes we have to make evaluations in judgments. So when someone says that Christians should never judge that is incorrect. You say, but we just read judge not lest you be judged.

I will get to that in a moment. Because there are many verses that actually tell us as Christians to judge, to make evaluations, and to exercise discernment. Look at verse 6. Jesus says, Now obviously he is saying that by a certain person's reaction they are like a dog. So that is an evaluation. I have to determine who a dog is.

And I will deal with this in a moment. Who is a dog? I mean what are we talking about here?

Someone wearing a flea collar. I don't know. So there is an evaluation. Then Jesus says in verse 13, Well how am I going to determine who a false prophet is? Unless I make some kind of a judgment.

You see. So there is a place for judgment. The Bible even says, Judgment begins in the house of God. 1 Peter 4 17 and 1 Corinthians 6 2 Don't you know the saints will judge the world? And if the world will be judged by you are you unworthy to judge the smallest matters? So yes I am to make evaluations in judgment.

It is very important. But having said that what does it mean when Jesus says, Judge not lest you be judged. A better translation clears this up quickly. The better way to translate the statement of Christ in Matthew 7 verse 1 is not judge not lest you be judged. But rather condemn not lest you be condemned.

There is a big difference. I am to make judgments. I am to make evaluations. I am to use my discernment. But having said that I am not to condemn a person. I judge for identification. Not for condemnation. I need to refrain from hypercritical condemning judgment. And there are people that love to just judge the whole planet. And in their mind everyone's motives are always wrong.

And they are hypercritical of every person. I heard about an old guy who went over to the preacher's house to watch him fix his roof. And the preacher is up there hammering a shingle down and he looks down at the old codger and says, What are you trying to pick up some tips on carpentry?

The old guy says, No I just want to know what a preacher says when he hits his thumb with a hammer. That is just a guy waiting for you to slip up. And to be honest there are people waiting for you to slip up.

Let me take it a step further. There are people that want you to slip up. You know they are watching, Hey man you are a hypocrite. You went one mile over the speed limit.

I saw you do it. You know they are looking for you to make a mistake that they can hang their doubt on. So the idea here is condemn not lest you be condemned. We should not be condemning other people. I like a statement of old J. Verna McGee. You know he has been in heaven for years now but he is still on the radio. And one thing I heard him say once was the only exercise some Christians get is jumping to conclusions and running down others.

I thought that is pretty good. But he said the only exercise some Christians get is jumping to conclusions and running down others. My beloved. Let's get on the Bible bus. Really bad imitation of J. Verna, but I like him.

But that is true. Pastor Greg Laurie will have the second half of his message in just a moment. So many listeners have commented on the help they receive from Pastor Greg's teachings, his books, and God's Word.

Hi Pastor Greg. I want to thank you for writing about your personal loss and hope for hurting hearts. I've read your book many times in the past two years after my dear son went to heaven three days before his 25th birthday. I continually refer to your book for encouragement and hope as you know firsthand what it's like to lose your own precious son. I also appreciate your podcasts and glean wisdom from them.

Please pray for me as I still cry. God bless you, your ministry, and your dear family. Thank you for being God's messenger. For information on Pastor Greg's book, Hope for Hurting Hearts, search for that title at Harvest.org. And if you have some words to share of how Pastor Greg's studies and God's Word have touched your life, drop them an email at Greg at Harvest.org.

In fact, do it today, would you? That's Greg at Harvest.org. Well today, Pastor Greg is offering important perspective from his Salt and Light series in Matthew chapter seven. It's a study called The Nonbeliever's Favorite Verse. Point number two, our desire should always be to restore, not condemn, a person in sin. Let me say that again. Our desire should always be to restore, not condemn, a person in sin.

We want to restore them. Here's what Paul says in Galatians 6, one about someone who has fallen spiritually. Brother, if someone is caught in sin, you who are spiritual should kick them while they are down and tell as many people as possible. You ever read that verse? No you haven't because it's not in the Bible. I just made it up.

But by the actions of some, you would think it is in the Bible. Someone stumbles, hey, kick them when they're down. And tell everybody about their fault.

No, the Bible says love covers a multitude of sins. I want to help you get back up on your feet. Remember that commercial that's still out there now. And I'm not making fun, well a little, but I'm making fun of that person that plays the role of an older person who has fallen. She's like, I've fallen and I can't get up. It's like, I'm not laughing at anyone who's fallen.

I'm just saying the way she said is, you know. Anyway, so, and so they have this device that you wear, right, and you push the little red button, which, you know, you have to walk around with that device or the red button, which is, yeah, I'm that person that falls a lot, right. But you know, I'm now seriously, there are people who have fallen and they can't get up. They don't know how to get up. They don't know how to get out of the pit they're in. They don't know how to break free from the addiction they're in.

They don't know how to leave the lifestyle they're in. That's where you come in. That's where I come in as a Christian. You who are spiritual, restore them. So it doesn't say if someone's overtaken in a fall, kick them when they're down.

Here's what it does say. If a brother or a sister is caught in a sin, you who are spiritual should restore them gently. But watch yourself, or you may also be tempted, carry each other's burdens, and this way you will fulfill the law of Christ. By the way, this phrase caught in a sin implies it was not premeditated.

It's a person who lowered their guard and they were caught like an animal in a trap. It wasn't intentional, but yeah, they messed up and it is our job to restore them. How? Gently. In fact, the word restore means to set a broken bone or put a dislocated limb back in place. So if you've broken your arm, I'm not gonna manhandle you and twist it back into its proper place. I'm gonna probably try to get you to a hospital as quickly as possible, have a professional help you, but I want to assist you.

See, this is what we wanna do, restore. The classic example of this is the woman caught in the act of adultery. She's grabbed by the religious leaders who are setting a trap for Jesus. They throw her down at his feet and they say, the law says she should be stoned.

What do you say? Jesus looks around and he says, well, and he bends down and he writes something in the sand. Then he stands up and says, let him that is without sin among you cast the first stone.

The Bible says they left from the oldest to the youngest. So there's some connection between what he wrote in the sand and them leaving from the oldest to the youngest. What do you think he wrote in the sand? I guess he may have written the name of one of the people and maybe the sin they were committing, maybe their so-called secret sin that they thought nobody knew about.

Whatever it was, it cleared the house out quickly. So all these self-righteous religious hypocrites leave and Jesus turns to the woman and says, woman, where are your accusers? He uses an interesting word for woman. It's a word of respect, like ma'am, lady.

She'd probably never been called that before. Ma'am, where are your accusers? She says, I have none, Lord. He says, neither do I condemn you. Go and sin no more. See, that's what you do when someone has fallen.

Your objective is to restore them again. Number three, I cannot see a speck in my friend's eye if I have a telephone pole in mine. And by the way, I think Jesus is using humor here. I think Jesus used humor all the time and I think Jesus smiled a lot and laughed a lot.

Well, can you prove that biblically? Well, I know children were drawn to him and I see humor in many of his teachings. Now the Bible does say he was a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief, but that's not speaking of his general demeanor all the time. That's specifically talking about that moment or period of time when he was headed to the cross of Calvary as the weight of the world was on his shoulders. But in general, I think Jesus was quick to smile and he would use humor to make a point. Certainly a camel going through the eye of a needle was a humorous illustration and this is as well.

Matthew seven, verse three. Why do you look at a speck in your brother's eye and not consider the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, oh, let me remove the speck from your eye and look, a plank is in your own eye. Now by the way, the word that is used here for plank is a very large piece of wood and the word used for speck would be like a piece of sawdust.

So let me update this translation. Why are you looking through a tiny piece of sawdust in your friend's eye when you have a telephone pole in your eye? And I think if people probably chuckled, yeah, we get it. And so he's making a point that we're so quick to go after minutia in one Christian's life when we are guilty of a lot worse in our own life. You show me a condemning, hyperjudgmental person and I don't think that's a sign of spirituality. I think that is a sign of possible sin in their life and it's interesting because the word that is used here would imply that the reason I'm so quick to see it in your life is because I have a lot more of it in mine, okay?

So careful what you're always criticizing people for. Maybe that's your issue. Maybe you're projecting your sin on them. Well, you know, that person's so proud and they're, maybe it's you.

Maybe you're describing yourself actually and maybe the reason you're so quick to see it in someone else's life is because you're so familiar with it in your own life. You see? And so that's what Jesus is saying here is don't be that person. So first remove the plank from your eye, verse five. And so the idea here is not that I should not try to help somebody who has, you know, some sawdust in their eye or a sin in their life, but before I can do it, I have to get it out of my own life.

He says first remove the plank. First confess your sin. You know, forgiven people should be forgiving people. And if you're so quick to judge others, here's my question for you. Are you prepared to be judged with the same type of judgment you give to others? Because that's exactly what Jesus says, verse two. With the judgment you judge, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you.

So be careful. Point number four, some people just don't want our help. Some people just don't want our help, verse six. Don't give what is holy to dogs, nor cast your pearls before a swine, lest they trample them under their feet and turn and tear you in pieces. Casting a pearl before a swine is giving something valuable to someone who does not care. Pigs like to live in slop and filth. That's how pigs roll. The reason they live in the slop is that's actually how they cool themselves off.

And so that's where they're comfortable. So you go up to your pig, and a number of years ago, not so much today, but pigs were very popular as pets. Remember that, some of you? People would get these little pot-bellied pigs, and it was a really great idea when they were little.

Then one day you wake up, and you have this giant hog running up and down your hallway. But if I give a pearl to a pig, a pig is not going to appreciate a pearl. I give him some fresh garbage, now we're talking, right?

So that's the point. Casting your pearls before a swine is sharing the gospel with someone who does not want to hear it. . Pastor Greg Laurie has more to come in this message called The Nonbeliever's Favorite Verse. It's practical counsel from the Lord's Sermon on the Mount today here on A New Beginning. And if you weren't able to hear all of today's program, no problem.

You can catch up by listening to the program again on the Harvest app or by going to harvest.org. Just look for the message titled The Nonbeliever's Favorite Verse. And then we're excited to have author J. Warner Wallace with us today. Jim Wallace is a retired cold case detective, and he's just finished his new book, Person of Interest, subtitled Why Jesus Still Matters in a World that Rejects the Bible. Now Jim, in the book, you examine two cases side by side. One is a real-life cold case you investigated in the latter part of your career, and the other is the case for the deity of Christ. And you do a great job of showing how the same investigative techniques can apply to each case and render a verdict. Give us one morsel from your book, one example.

Sure. Part of this is that we are able to convince juries of something that's true, even though we don't have any evidence from a crime scene. This happens all the time. The reason why cold cases are cold for a reason, because they're lame, okay? They don't have the evidence that a case that would be easily solved would have. So when I pick these cases up, I often know I'm not going to have evidence from a crime scene. I'm going to find another way to convince people that this actually occurred. And so I'm always talking about what leads up to the crime and what follows the crime.

That is as important as what happened on the day of the crime. As a matter of fact, what leads up to and what follows will often demonstrate what happened on the day of the crime. Well, it turns out the history is the same way.

What leads up to history? There's a prophetic fuse, right, of all the Jewish prophecy leading up to Jesus. There is a cultural fuse of all of the world powers that were aligned and unaligned in the wars that occurred until finally the Roman Empire begins to take over and develop a scenario to lay the foundation for the arrival of Jesus. And there's even a huge history, an ancient history, of deities in the ancient world that seem to bear some resemblance to one another. As a matter of fact, I have identified 15 ways that these ancient deities are similar to each other, yet they don't all possess all 15 attributes.

They possess, you know, six, seven, eight of these attributes. Well, then it comes along, one who possesses all 15 attributes of the ancient deities, and his name is Jesus of Nazareth. Now, why would God align history and then arrive meeting those attributes of the other, because it turns out that if you can meet the expectations of the expectors, you get a great response. And so what God does is he arrives, as Paul says on Mars Hill, you are people, you worship a lot of gods. I even see a monument here to the unknown God. Let me tell you now what you have been worshiping, kind of an ignorance. Let me tell you now about that. It turns out Jesus embodies the expectations of all humans who worship deities prior to Jesus. Why would this be the case?

Because that fuse is burning up to the appearance of God incarnate. And then, of course, all of human history that follows Jesus, from the arts, from music, you realize you can reconstruct the story of Jesus just from the painted and sculpted artwork through antiquity to the Middle Ages. If all you had, you had to destroy all of art in order to erase the story. As a matter of fact, the top artists in the history of art, any genre, any time period, Google the top three artists in that genre, and guess what? In their portfolio, you will find a painting, a sculpture, an etching, a drawing of Jesus of Nazareth.

There is no other historical figure in the history of historical figures who can claim they've been painted or sculpted by everyone. So it turns out that you have to do a lot of erasing in order to erase the impact that Jesus has had on. Now, how could this be? Well, it turns out if he's just a guy, it makes no sense. If he's God entering into his own creation, it makes all the sense in the world. So it turns out that fuse and fallout are actually really good evidence that Jesus is who he said he was. Wow, those are just some of the insights that you'll find reading this brand new book from J. Warner Wallace, a former cold case detective, and the title of the book is Person of Interest, subtitled Why Jesus Still Matters in a World That Rejects the Bible.

Yeah, it's an exciting journey looking at the evidence laid out in this book. And we'd like to send you Person of Interest to thank you for your investment so A New Beginning can continue coming your way each day. You know, we don't have any churches or large organizations paying all the bills.

It's the donations of listeners that help these studies to remain available. So thank you for your generosity. And you can send your donation today to A New Beginning, Box 4000, Riverside, California 92514. Or call 1-800-821-3300.

That's 1-800-821-3300. Or go online to harvest.org. Hey everybody, Greg Laurie here, encouraging you to join us this weekend for what we call Harvest at Home. It's worship, it's a message from the word of God.

You can watch it with your family, in your front room, or you can watch it on the go on your tablet, on your phone, or your computer. Take it with you, take the word of God with you, and join us for Harvest at Home at harvest.org. How do we respond when someone doesn't want to hear the good news and is outright hostile? Pastor Greg has some important perspective on that from the Sermon on the Mount next time here on A New Beginning. This is the day, the day when life begins. Thanks for listening to A New Beginning with Greg Laurie, a podcast made possible by Harvest Partners, helping people everywhere know God. Sign up for daily devotions and learn how to become a Harvest Partner at harvest.org.