Part one: Judging, much is said about it in Christendom, but little seems to be understood in regards to this very important subject. Questions like when should a person judge, what should a person judge and how should a person judge are constantly in the forefront. Well, like everything, the answer lies in the Bible and if we will take the time to let God reveal these thruths and then align our lives to them we can not only understanding proper judging, we can walk in obedience when it comes to judging.

Romans 2:1-6 "Therefore, you are inexcusable, O'man, whoever you are who judge, for in whatever you judge, you condemn yourself; for you who judge, practice the same things. But we know the judgment of God is according to truth against those who practice such things." And do you think this, O'man, you who judge those practicing such things, and doing the same, that you will escape the judgment of God? Or do you despise the riches of His goodness, forbearance, and longsuffering, not knowing the goodness of God leads you to repentance? But in accordance with your hardness and impenitent heart you are storing up for yourself wrath in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God. who will render to each one according to his deeds."

First of all, who is Paul speaking to? He is speaking to "whoever" which could be the Pharisee (the Jew) or the Gentile moralist. Its anyone who judges in this manner. What manner is the person judging in? He is judging in a manner that reveals he is a hypocrite, " for you who judge practice the same things." Two key words or phrases that we need to get a hold of  "practice" and "the same things." Practice, in the greek, means to be "busy in", to be "excercising in", to be an "habitual pattern of life", or to be one who is actively involved in. The second key phrase is "the same things". The meaning of this is " to be doing such things", or "to be doing things like these."

Paul, is describing that this person is a hypocrite, an unconverted person, he is not a true believer and he stands in the seat of judge, while he practices a sinful lifestye himself. His actions are inexcusable Paul says, and he should not think in anyway, that he who is condemning, will escape the condemning judgment of God. The "such things" that Paul is referring to is found in the previous chapter which lists several individual sins along with an emphasis on idolatry and sexual immorality of all sorts. Paul is saying, that although this person may not practice specifically the same sins, he still practices sin which are all going to be judged in the light of God's countenance.

To sum it up, we have an unconverted person (living in sin) who has set himself up as judge, which reveals he has a knowledge of right and wrong in God's eyes and yet, he himself carries on in sin, and he has set up a double standard for his judging. He is just as much under the wrath of God as the outright heathen in the previous passages, and perhaps even more.

What is the reason for this? Paul, gives us the answer in verses 4-5, while in his state of blind hypocrisy, he cannott see God's goodness toward him, His forebearance, longsuffering which should lead him to repentance. What a sad, and damning state to be in. This is because he has a "hardness of heart", and an "impenitent heart". The Bible goes on to tell us that in this state, he is storing up wrath for the day of wrath when the righteous judgment of God will be revealed against him.

Matthew 7:1-6 " Judge not, that you be not judged. For with what judgment you judge, you will be judged; and with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you. And why do you look at the speck in your brothers eye, but do not consider the plank in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, 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, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye. 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."

We see in these passages of Scripture some similarities to Romans 2:1-6. First of all, Jesus our Lord is saying that in what judgment you judge and with measure you use it will be judged and measured to you in the same way. The key word he uses is "hypocrite", in other words you who are doing the same things, you who have a big plank "of double standard judging" in your eye, are so blinded for your need of repentance, yet you can see the speck in your brothers. In other words you get right with God and then you will be able to make a sound judgment based on the truth of God's word and not on your double standard.

So how does this apply to a believer in Christ? Well, first of all a believer in Christ is one who is not a hypoocrite, not an unconverted person, one who is regenerated, one who has and continues to repent of sin and so in principle this passage doesn't apply to him as far as being under God's wrath, as far as not having a impenitent heart, as far as having a double standard by which he judges. However, a believer can play the hypocrite, he can allow himself through the deceitfulness of sin set up a double standard while all the time being blind to the sin in his life. So in practice this passage of text does apply to us as a warning and exhortation.

Let's look at two examples of two men of God who played the hypocrite, David and Peter.

2 Samuel 12: 7 "Then Nathan said to David, "You are the man!!!" Prior to this, David had committed adultery with Bathsheeba, had contracted it out for the murder of her husband and then took her as his wife. God sent a prophet to David with a story. It was in regards to a rich man who had many flocks and herds and a poor man who had nothing but one little ewe lamb, whom he look after, cared for and was like a daughter to him. A wayfaring man came to the rich man who then refused to give of the abundance of his flock, but took the only little ewe from the poor man. At this David's anger was greatly aroused and said that this man shall surely die and pay back fourfold. That is when Nathan said, David was the man. He went on to say that God had anointed him king, delivered him from Saul, gave him his master's house, with the wives for his keeping, gave him the house of Judah and if that wasn't enough the Lord would have given him more.

David's response was "I have sinned against the Lord." Here we see a man whom God loved and blessed incredibly, a man as the Bible says was after God's own heart and yet we see a man, who committed great and terrible crimes and was ready to stand in judgment of this "rich man" in the parable which Nathan told. We see David playing the hypocrite, being hardened by his own sin and impenitant heart and the result, a plank in his own eye.

We can fast forward to the New Testament where we see Peter being rebuked by Paul for playing the hypocrite. Peter, when his Jewish brothers showed up, went and ate with them instead of his Gentiles brothers whom before he had no problem with. This incensed Paul and thus the words to Peter, "I saw Peter played the hypocrite." We see here that Peter feared man more than God and this is another trap that one can fall in as a believer.

So how does a believer stay away from playing the hypocrite? First of all, he needs to be in prayer, Jesus said "to be watchful unto prayer." Secondly, we must be in the word, being renewed day by day. These two things will go along way in keeping us out of the trap of hypocrisy. A key scripture to look at is 2 Cor. 5:10 " For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad." This should help us examine ourselves and everyday be prepared for the return of Christ knowing we will give an account of what we have done. If we are busy taking care of our own business first, before the Lord, we will more than likely have a humble spirit, not be deceived by sin and have a repentant heart. That won't leave a lot of time to be in everyone else's business and will keep us away from the censurious, critical and self-righteous spirit.

In addition to that we must learn how to judge, when to judge and who to judge according to the truth of God's word and that is what we will look at now. Here lies the question before and that is How, What and Who are we to judge?

Part two We will be looking at this from a believer's standpoint and what is addressed to us in the pages of Holy Scripture. The context will be found in Matthew 7:1-6. most people will say when confronted with an issue in their lives, perhaps of sin, "judge not lest you be judged." However, our Lord Jesus Christ doesn't stop there He continues to go on bring into context what it is He is speaking of and that is the method, manner and motivation by which we judge. In verse two He basically says, "are you prepared to be judged by the manner and measure you are judging?'

Then, in verse 3-4, He gives us a great principle which will go along ways in causing us as believers to not fall into the trap of judging hypocritically. He uses the analogy of the plank and the speck. In other words if we will apply the same standard of judgment in our lives to the standard by which we are judging others, we may see our sin in a whole diferent light and theirs as well. We will then tend to take a good long look at ourselves first before we hastily judge another. Usually the sins we see so clear in another are sins that are prevalent in our lives. What the Lord is saying in essence is that in our fallen, but redeemed nature, we will still have the tendency to judge in this manner and we must fight to stay away from it.

We have briefly looked at the method and manner of judging which Jesus is addressing, so let's look at the motivation. James 4:11 "Speak not evil one of another, brethren, He that speaketh evil of his brother, and judgeth his brother, speaketh evil of the law, and judgeth the law: but if you judge the law, thou art not a doer of the law, but a judge." The key point is that James is saying that we are not to judge our brother with this type of "setting ourselves" up a God, which clearly shows a self-righteous attitude. Therefore, we are to stay away from speaking evil of them to anyone else, to not backbite, gossip or murder them by our words. That doesn't mean we do not make a righteous judgment about their behavior if need be (John 7:24). Please understand that we are not to censure every little thing in a person's life, but that which is flagrant and definately a reproach to Christ.

1. 1 Cor. 2:12-16. In this portion of scripture, Paul is stating to us that their is two types of spirits, that of the world and that which is of God, and two types of wisdom, that which is of the world and that which is of God. He goes on to show us that the Holy Spirit is the believers teacher and that by the Holy Spirit we can compare spritual things with spiritual things. We also see that the natural cannott do this, because he has not the spirit of God. A spiritual man then, is a man born of God's Spirit, therefore he can take form the Holy Spirit through the word of God and apply it to his life. He can judge according to the truth of God's word. The reason he can do this is becaus ehe is called to in a meek and humble spirit, but primarily because it isn't his opinion, but rather the declared words of God that he is making righteous judgments. He can judge according to truth.

2. 1 Cor. 5:9-13. In this portion of text paul has passed judgment on a immoral (sexually) man. How can we know that anyone is sexually immoral, covetous, greedy or an idolator, but by their actions. Jesus said you would know them by their fruit. Therefore, we base our judgment on what the word of God says in regard to these actions or lifestyles. We judge conduct. Why do we jusge as such? All those professing Christians that belong to a church, are putting themsleves under the authority of God's word. We judge because Christ shed His blood for His church and not for a harlot, worldly church that does not come under His authority. He shed His blood, not for a lukewarm church, but for a church that would be bright and shining for the glory of God. We judge those inside the church in love and truth and we ourselves come unde rthat same authority, God's word and are judsge accordingly to. We also judge with the idea of betterment toward our fellow man. (1 Pet. 4:17-18). A. vs. 9 "do not keep company" with the sexually immoral man or anyone who is un-willing to repent that calls themselves a brother. In other words do not protect them, associate with them and lend to the fact that they are a Christian. B. vs. 10 "not of the world", other wise we wouldn't be a good witness tot he unconverted, who think one can be a Christian and carry on in this manner. C. vs. 11 "named a brother" who is saying he is a Christian but carrying on in a sinful manner. D. vs. 12 "do not judge outside", God will handle that, we are to have compassion on them because they are only doing what they know to do, sin. Not that we excuse the sin, but we look for their netterment and share Christ with them. So then what are we to do with an unrepentant person who calls themselves a brother or sister in Christ? Do not keep company with them, do not eat with them, put them away from yourselves. Why? Do not give them any confidence in what they are doing. The reason that through these actions we might shame them and cause them to repent. Christians ought to testify more respect to loose worldlings than to loose Christians. This seems like a paradox. However, if we keep company with loose Christians, then the dread of sin wears off by familiar converse with wicked Christians, if their is such a thing. Our won safety and preservation is the reason and the fact that these sins dishonor God much more than a lost heathen. So what do we do with a sinning brother? Matthew 18:15-17, tells us in the word sof our Lord. First, go with the proper method, manner and motivation. You have examined yourself first and your very desire is for their charity not condemnation. If the brother won't hear, get two or three witnesses and approach him with the offense. He he still will not hear, then take him the offense before the church and if he will not repent, then kick him out. Summation: How to judge, method (the word of God), manner (examine oneself first), motivation (charity and love for the person). What to judge, the conduct of the person, discernment, know the facts. Who to judge, those inside the church calling themselves Christians by which then their lives must be ordered by the word of God, those outside, certainly one may attain that they are not saved, then instaed of condemning, one should have the desire to see them understand their sin and misery and that Christ can save them. May the Lord bless this to you as you honor Him in applying these principles to your lives.