What Does It Mean To Judge?

On this episode of Forgotten Jesus, we're looking at Matthew chapter 7. We're talking about don't cast your pearls before hogs and dogs. You don't want to miss this. Welcome to the Forgotten Jesus podcast, where you'll learn about the real Jesus in the Bible. I'm the host, Pastor Adam French, and we're here with Pastor Robby Gallaty and Candy Gallaty. This is our second episode in the new, warm, luxurious studio. Shout out to the creative team at Long Hollow. Yes, they did such a great job. They worked so hard over the summer. We were ready to get back. This is the longest break we've ever taken, but I'm glad we waited. And the professionalism. We launched our son. He has to grow up and go out. Our son, I say son, our spiritual son, Chris Clapp. Come on, he's out. I was about to say, wait. She's like, wait, what? No, Chris now is taking on some more responsibility. We got some new blood in the studio. That's right. We got my new right-hand man and our podcast aficionado. Mr. Caden is here with us today. Caden? Locked in. He's already professional and he's doing great. You may notice Caden, he does a lot of social media stuff for me and our church, so we're excited to have Caden here with us in the studio. We talked last week about judging. So good. This week, we're going to jump back into judging.

What does it mean to judge? Should we judge as a Christian? I will tell you, we know Candy knows a lot about judgment. Candy always says I'm the worst driver in the family. Who's the worst driver in your family, you or Josie? I can't recall. I don't think it's Josie. Yeah, Josie's a great driver. Now, Josie drives probably drive and she don't take nothing from nobody. Yeah, yeah. I don't recall. You know what I was thinking about? Think about how many shows there are about judging. You have the favorite chef. American Idol. It seems like... The voice. Exactly. You say what the world is like, don't judge me, but then every show you see is about judging. And then you have to make a judgment whether they go on to the next round. I mean, it's bizarre, but don't judge me. You did mention the best show on planet Earth right now, American Idol. Ooh, is it still on? No, well, it's coming back. It's coming back. I cry every episode. I don't know what it is. I know you do cry. It's the story of the songs. It's pulling on your heartstrings.

What I like to do if I want to get real emotional is I just go on YouTube and I find all the people who received the golden buzzer on America's Got Talent, try to not cry through those. You can't. I'm talking heart strength. They got that down to a science, man. Ian Tonga, The Monsters, when he sings a song about losing his dad died, and he sings a song about losing his dad. You want to soften your heart, you can go check that out. Let's open with a judgment story when Kandi had to go see the judge. I don't know if she's prepared to share this, but I think it'll set the tone. It's a famous story, actually. Yeah, it actually is. Now, I always get bad rap vibes. It left its mark on me, that's for sure. We know who the real criminal is. Exactly. I think it's you. I may be a bad driver, but I haven't gone to see a judge about my driver. So Kandi, inform us about the time. You probably just got out of it. She said, hun. You probably just got out of it. No, but- She's making a judgment rap. I haven't gotten anything. The Viv. Full disclosure, I've never had anybody help me in town. I try to do my own speed limit. Listen, when I got pulled over, okay, this was years ago, by the way. So, many years ago, because the boys-

Pre-Christ, or? No, no, no. No, we're not talking many years. She's already trying to distance herself from it. Let's just tell the story. Bitch, she's already distancing herself. No, we're talking out of like eight years. We're talking like eight years ago. We're talking about- This was like when the boys were little. Close, long, hollow. We came along hollow. This was like within the last 10 years, okay? Eight years to be exact, but go ahead. Yes, close to eight years ago. The boys were little, and I was homeschooling that year, Adam. Rig was 11, Ryder was nine. No, no, no, hun. Rig was like seven. Oh, seven, no. Or eight. He was like nine. He was nine, Ryder was seven. I homeschooled him in third grade. Homeschool's stressful. Because Rig was eight, nine years ago. So Rig was like 11. Eight. No, baby. He was third grade.

Yeah, he was- Third and first grade. No, he was nine. Ryder was seven or something. Okay, he was there little, but regardless. Yeah, watch this. This is a funny story, actually. So I had gone to the grocery store. We were homeschooling, so we worked on our own schedule. We're on the way home, picked up pizza for them. And so we're on the way back. Well, we had just moved to the area where we are now, so I just wasn't as familiar with the hills and the speed limit signs, okay? So I'm coming home from the grocery store- Or it could be called a speed trap. No, it wasn't. Go ahead, keep going. It's a speed trap. It was a speed trap. Publix on Long Hollow Pike. The motorcycle cop was in Copper Creek neighborhood hiding, and I was coming down that big hill in Goodlettsville. Literally, I could see the 50-mile- on our speed limit sign. That's how close I was. But I'm not even aware of what I'm driving. I'm just on the road. They're eating their pizza, you know, I'm driving home. Well, I get pulled over by this policeman.

Well, I actually thought he was trying to catch somebody else. So I pulled over to be nice and let him talk. Waving out the window, come on by, come on by. And then he pulls behind me and I'm like, are you kidding? Like, I have never been pulled over for speeding that I could remember like in my adult life. When I was like maybe a teenager. But I got out of that because of my dad. But so I get pulled over and he comes up to the car. Do you know you're speeding? I have no idea, you know. So he tells me and I'm like, oh my gosh, like I really was speeding. This is terrible. And so he ends up, you know, giving me the ticket. Okay, I'm shortening this story, by the way. And so I call Robbie and I'm like. No, no, back up, back up. Back up, you gotta tell this part because this is the best part of the whole story. So he walks up to the car and at that time, my favorite show, which still is my favorite show. One of my favorite shows of all times is Cops. Great show. Live PD and now on patrol. I mean, that's one of my favorites. Never know what's gonna happen. So when this is when Live PD was really big, this is, you know, back then.

And so we would watch it at night. And so, Rig is in the backseat. You know, he's eight, nine years old. He, mommy, mommy, mommy, roll the window down. And Kenny's like, hold on, hold on, Rig. I'm trying to talk to the policeman, you know. And so. They thought this was the greatest thing ever. Oh, they were. They were in love, dude. They were loving it. I mean, Ryder's like at a movie. He's eating his pizza. Like, this is the best thing. Ryder's like, front row seat. I can't even concentrate because I'm so nervous that I have been pulled over. They're going nuts in the backseat. So the guy, the police officer had to ask me how many kids I actually had in the car. He said, ma'am, how many kids you got in this car? Based on their commotion. And I said, only two. So she rolls the window down and Rig's first thing out of his mouth as he's got her license, about to go back. He said, excuse me, officer. Are we on Live PD? Yes, the guy, okay. And he looks at me like he's never even heard of the show.

And I was like, it's just a show. Don't worry about it. So he goes back. Gets even better, kid. He comes back. He gives me the ticket, okay. Sorry, you got a ticket. And I didn't like try to like wiggle my way out of it because I thought, well, I was guilty. I was speeding. And so he gives me the ticket. He wasn't as friendly as some of our police officers around town. And so he walks away and Rig rolls down the window again. Excuse me, officer, officer. Thank you for your service. Thank you for your service, sir. And I was like, thanks, you know, bye-bye. But now here's the thing. Pipe down, pipe down. Of course, you know. Excuse me, sir. Thank you for your service, officer. So then I call Robbie and I'm like, you're never gonna believe this, but I just got pulled over and I got a ticket. He goes, you didn't try to get out of it? And I said, no. I said, I was guilty, honey. I was speeding.

I deserved the ticket. So they told me, you have- Who thinks like that? I don't know, I don't think like that. My brain does it. You and, that's how Josie thinks. My brain does it. You're trying to find any way out. Well, obviously, you don't know the area, which would have worked because we did. Which was true, but- You just moved there two months before. I don't think he was gonna, he goes, did you tell him who you were? I said, no, I was guilty. Do you know we feed the police officers? Do you know we hold the school graduations that are to fill? She didn't do that. But regardless, so, but it was my first like infraction. So they're like, you can go to court and get it off your record if the judge agrees to give you traffic school. So I'm like, okay, perfect. Well, of course, I don't have time to go to traffic school, but I've got to make time now. But first I got to go to court. So I go to court. I've never been to court like this,

minus one time in high school. We won't go there. And so here I am in the courtroom. Before the confession. Before the confession. Before the confession. Make a note of that, Katie. I'm sitting in this courtroom and I'm looking around. There's all these people, you know, sitting. And there's this panel of people up at the front. Judge is right there in the middle. He's like, I'm gonna call you up in groups of 10 and I'm gonna tell you what you've done. You're gonna tell me and put in your plea. And then we're gonna go from there. So he calls up the group of 10. Well, I'm number nine in my group of 10. Okay, and I'm standing there and every person that gets up to the mic, he's like, da, da, da, da. This is what you were doing. Guilty or not guilty, you know? And the person would say whatever they're gonna say. And I'm like, freaking out. And I'm like, oh my gosh. This is what the judgment is gonna be like one day. We are gonna be standing in line before Jesus. And in my mind, I'm like, I am not guilty because I'm a Christian.

Like, God has forgiven me. But in this moment, I was guilty because I was fading. And so I'm like, I'm gonna have to go up to this mic. And when he asks me guilty or not guilty, I'm gonna have to say guilty. But I know in my mind, I'm really not guilty. So I'm really struggling. And so- She's not guilty based on Christ. Right, I'm like, I am free in Christ. And so I get up, I'm just dreading. I'm just dreading. And I get up to the microphone. He's like, this is how fast you were going. You know, whatever, guilty or not guilty. And I was like, guilty? You know, I'm guilty. And he's like, okay, traffic school or whatever. And so then, you know, I went to traffic school, got it off my record. But I was like, if you ever need a visual, don't go out speed. But if you've ever been to court and you've been called up to that microphone and you have to state whether you are guilty or not guilty, that is a scary moment, you know? And I knew I had done wrong. And so I did go to the traffic school, which was a whole nother ordeal, four hours, and then I was almost held in contempt of court

because they kept giving me all these Hendersonville and Goodlettsville locations and times, and I was out of town every single time. I almost had a warrant for Candy's arrest in Summer County. And I said, what do I do? We're gonna be APB for Candy. Failure to appear. I said, what happens if he said, you will be held in contempt of court? And I was like, holy fire. So then I had to go to Millersville. I went all the way to Millersville. God's country. That was where my traffic school was, and to this day, I do not speak. I'm like, I ain't going to that court again. But the apple doesn't fall far from the tree. Because next week, mom has to go with a son, I will not name, to the traffic court for speeding. Same spot? Well, no, but he takes after his mom, apparently, because dad, dad, you know, dad doesn't have a ticket. Anyway, moving on, but here's the point. The judgment seat is scary. Now, I'm not gonna use that to help you not want to fall into sin, but Jesus does give us a reason not to judge people harshly, because something will happen to us, verse three. Let's read Matthew chapter seven, verse three,

and let's get into the text. Okay. Why do you look at the splinter in your brother's eye, but don't notice the beam of wood in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, let me take the splinter out of your eye, and look, there's a beam of wood in your own eye? Hypocrite. First, take the beam of wood out of your eye, and then you will see clearly to take the splinter out of your brother's eye. Don't give what is holy to dogs, or toss your pearls before pigs, or they will trample them under their feet, turn, and tear you to pieces. Ooh, okay. So the beam is just what it is. I mean, it's not hard to figure this passage out. The beam is like a massive two by four, a massive four by two. It's a big piece of wood, okay? Think of a joist in a building that holds a building up, or a supporting beam. The other thing is, they both have to do with wood. So Jesus uses the same analogy, or same illustration. The other one is just a speck of that big board, a piece of sawdust, if you will, a piece of straw, a tiny chip off the beam that's in your brother's eye, and the speck's in your eye.

So I imagine it's like this. Let's say you're gonna go to an eye doctor, and when you get there, you realize the eye doctor is blind, okay? You sit in the chair, and you're like, hey, doc, over here, I don't think you're looking, oh, I'm sorry, I thought you were over here. He begins to look at your eyes, and before he can give you a diagnosis, what do you say? He says, oh, I think we've got a problem with your eyes. You're like, no, doc, you can't see my eyes. You're blind. You can't make a correct diagnosis on me because you're blind to begin with. That's what Jesus is getting at. He's using hyperbole. It's the same thing he used with the eye of the needle and the camel, okay? He's using the two farthest extremes from one another, and he's making a point. It's impossible. What Jesus says is, you cannot judge them, because before I judge you, I have to let the Lord judge me. Now, the best illustration of this is when Nathan goes to judge David, and here's the picture here. We talked about this in a sermon recently, but I talked about how the parallel story of Saul and Samuel and David and Nathan are a contrast.

By the way, the book of 1 Samuel is a book of the tale of two kings. That's what it is. Two gifts from God, two kingdoms, and they both sin and both turn out differently because of one thing, different response. Think about it. In Saul and Samuel, when Saul doesn't do what God called him to do, and he doesn't kill everyone, the Amalekites, Samuel comes to him, and he says, hey, you didn't do what God's, oh, no, no, no, the reason I kept these sheep, what had happened was, you don't understand, these sheep are for the Lord. I was just, you didn't know that, you know, that's for the Lord. Why didn't you give what I told you to give to the offering? Well, what happened was, Lord, I didn't, why didn't you go on that mission trip? Why didn't you share that, well, God, what? It's the same kind of sin. It's the sin of disobedience. So it's not that we're not gonna sin. We are going to sin. It's how we respond when we're confronted over our own sin. When Samuel goes to Saul, Saul makes excuses. He minimizes, he justifies, he rationalizes, and I'm gonna ask you if you're listening, what do you do when you sin?

When somebody points out sin in your life, do you point fingers, do you say, oh, but what about him? This guy, you're the pie calling the kettle black, what do you, that kind of stuff, okay? The flip side is David and Nathan. Nathan comes and says, hey, I need to tell you a story of a man who had a sheep, it was his favorite sheep, he loved his sheep, it was like a family member, and then another man came and took the sheep from him and destroyed the sheep. What do you do with the man? David says, that man needs to die, kill that man. And Nathan says, the mic drop moment, what does he say? You're that man. You are the man. He's, yeah, yeah. Now, David is the king, and you have to understand, in a kingdom, you don't question. king. You don't push back and call out a king. I mean, it would be like going to Islam and call out an imam or something. You're going to die in that culture, okay? David doesn't push back and say, who do you think you are, you little prophet? That doesn't do that. He doesn't say, well, the reason I did that was she shouldn't have been bathing on the roof. He didn't say that. What does he say? He says, Psalm 51, what he says, I have sinned against you and who? You alone. So here's the point Jesus, I think, is making here. Jesus is saying, do not harbor sin or do not harbor criticism and judgment toward another person and call out other people if you're not going to put or keep yourself in check over your own sin. He's not saying we can't see or judge people and what they're doing in life, but he's saying is we're so quick to look there that we never look inside our own soul. I remember years ago when we took the boys for the first time to the Creation Museum. If you remember the Creation Museum, we took them when they were little. Candy and I, we have become friends through the years with Ken Ham, who started a great ministry

there. Ken's a friend and he started the Creation Museum and the Ark and a few other, but anyways, I'll never forget the first time we went to the Creation Museum with our boys. Prior to going through the museum, the very first thing you enter, right, when you walk through the ticketing area is what, Candy, you remember? The planetarium. The planetarium. Oh my gosh, it's my favorite. It's our favorite place, Vivian. This is our favorite place. Okay. I love it so much. Why do you love it so much? Because it is fascinating. Like when I learned that God names the stars, like every single one of them in scripture, and then you think about the massive amount of stars that are in our universe, and that planetarium does such a good job of putting all that in perspective, and that just blew me away. And I'm like, what right do I have to worry about my life when He has placed those stars in the sky and He calls them by name? He calls them forth by a name. We're talking hundreds of thousands upon thousands. Millions. Yes, of stars. And I'm like, that's mind-blowing to me. And I absolutely love that planetarium. She loves it. She loves it. I would go back right now. We gotta take maybe Stella. I just wrote it down. It's a great homeschool trip. Yes, you totally. That would be awesome. So you go to this planetarium. Caden, have you been? Oh gosh, Vivian, you? You've been? Yes, that's right. Yeah, it was so impactful. Years ago, you weren't here. You left us and came back as the prodigal son. But anyway, no, he was gone. Let's do a redo. He's judging me. I don't judge. I tell the truth. I tell the facts. Facts are our friends, babe. Wait, wait, tell him what? Staff family. You're meddling, man. He's meddling. That's not his place. We should do a staff family redo. Yeah, maybe. I'm down. We go both of them. Yeah, well, they got the ark now. We didn't do the ark last time.

No, listen, if you've never— Oh, we haven't done the ark? You've been to the ark? No. Oh my gosh. If you're listening and you haven't been to either of these, you have to go. When we pulled through to see that ark for the first time— They take you on a bus, watch this, to see the ark, not to the royals. Film episode there. I wept. It was so amazing. Ken Hamill let us do it. He let us do it. He's got a podcast to do there. I love Ken. Anyways, it's incredible. When we came around on that bus and we saw the ark for the first time— Ken was with us. He was touring us. Ken was with us. He was giving his first tour. We wept. I cried like a baby, man. I was like, this is faith becoming sight. You can see it. The things that you learn about and it's— The stuff you've read your whole life, you see it literally right now. To scale. To scale. But watch this. So you go in this planetarium, which is basically this room, where you sit in a recliner and all of a sudden you recline where you're looking up at the ceiling. It's like rounded. It's like a sphere.

And you're looking up and all of a sudden, they do an amazing job of taking you into space. You start from the planetarium on Earth and then you start going higher and higher and higher to Alpha Centauri and all these solar systems and all these galaxies. And then he takes you way out to the far extreme and then you start making your way back to Earth. Not to ruin the whole thing, but here's what he basically shows you. He shows you how we are, like Candy said, we are a speck on a moving ball suspended in space. Yes. We're a speck on that moving ball suspended in space surrounded by the grandeur of God, the splendor of God. And God calls us, you, me, Candy, everybody. God calls us the crowning jewel of that creation. Amen. Creation. Now, why do I say that? Because I've always been fascinated with stars and planets growing up. I got a telescope years ago. I had one as a kid. Here's the point. Have you ever run a telescope? You ever looked through a telescope before? Okay. How old were you when you got your telescope, by the way? Well, my dad was always into, you know, aliens and extraterrestrials. I was in extraterrestrial and moons, and so we were always looking for aliens and spaceships. But anyway. I was 10th grade when I got my, it was a red telescope.

I mean not 10th, 5th grade. I was 10 years old in 5th grade, sorry. But it was red and black. Really? Yeah, that's my favorite color. I had a white one. Did you? Okay, now watch this. This is how a telescope works, okay? You look to a small lens on one side, and the other side is a big lens. That's how a telescope works, okay? Telescope is small to big. Now here's the problem, and the reason you do that is, the greater the magnification, the larger the planets and stars become. Now watch this. It's easy for us as Christians to turn that telescope around and look at other people's sins like that, and look at our own sin through the wrong lens. That's good, yeah. See, we're looking at your sin through the telescope of small to big, and then when we look at our sin, we look at the telescope from big to small. We're like, oh, I'm not really that bad at so and so, and that's the problem. Jesus is saying, here's the deal. You need to recognize the sin in your life, and here's how you do that. So how do we do that?

How do we recognize sin in our life? It's through accountability, friends, family members, trusted confidants, and the word of God. That's the two main ways. Remember, the Bible, as you read the Bible, if you're not reading along with us, you should. F-260 plans, you can find them on our site, longhollow.com. Search F-260, you can download the plans, go to Replicate. The Bible is not just a map to follow for direction, it's a mirror to our soul. Every time you read the Bible, it's a mirror. Like, we're reading through 1 Samuel now, and I'm just convicted about my own disobedience, and am I following the Lord like I should? Do I minimize things? Do I justify things? And so the idea is, when you read the word, and you have you, like you in my life, and Jeremy and Nate Sala, when you have trusted friends, recently, Adam, we were on a group, and somebody said, hey, am I like this? And he's asking trusted friends, or do I do this? Or, hey, am I guilty? So I'm asking, now, I wouldn't go ask some random wahoo on the internet who doesn't know me, but I'm asking a trusted friend. And that's how you look at your soul, to see if you have a log in your eye. Here's the problem, too, and I'll say it,

and then we'll move on, but until you understand what you have been forgiven from, you'll have a hard time extending forgiveness to another person. That's good. Because you forget God has forgiven, and still forgives us, from heinous sin. Let's finish with dogs and hogs, because I love the dogs and hogs, right? I love dogs, and I love a good pulled pork sandwich. You like pulled pork? Pork, park, park. Pulled pork, sorry, pulled pork. Okay, here's what Jesus says. Ken, you wanna read it again? Read the dogs and the hogs for us, and then we'll finish with this, and we'll put a bow in it, but you're gonna wanna hear this. Don't give what is holy to dogs, or toss your pearls before pigs, or they will trample them under their feet, turn, and tear you to pieces. Okay, now, clarify. We're not talking about Cookie, who is the greatest Aussie doodle you'll ever meet in your life. Cookie Phelps, we're calling her Bivenito, Adam's dog, Cookie, because that dog can out-swim all of us, even Tubby.

Tubby, my dog Tubby can swim. Tubby's pretty good, yeah. We should have him race, that'd be fun. Bring him over. Oh, Cookie ain't scared, she's ready. Okay, we got two dogs who love to swim, and he's not really, but okay, we're not talking about domesticated home animals who eat kibbles and bits and treats. That's not what we're talking about. We're talking about Jesus's day wild dogs. In fact, the Talmud I was studying this morning, the Talmud prohibits, this is crazy, I don't wanna go to town on this to offend anybody, but the Talmud, which is the Jewish commentary on the Scripture, prohibits any person from having a dog that is violent or wild and undomesticated in their home. Because, remember, and I was thinking, why is this? And then someone commented, because the Jews were big on hospitality. And if I have, no disrespect, a Rottweiler or a pit bull in my home, that's aggressive, not all of them, but some of them, they're bred to be aggressive, then you're not being hospitable, okay? But again, forget that, because you can have nice Rottweilers and pit bulls. I like that, and I'll tell you, just full disclosure, Vivian,

I've never met a dog he doesn't love. That I don't wanna pet. Ever, ever. I have never met a dog I didn't wanna pet, or a cat, but we'll get to that, that's a sore subject, but a dog I didn't wanna pet. Okay, so I love dogs, that's not these, okay? These are not animals that lounge around the home and sleep in your bed at night. These dogs were dirty, they were feisty, they were wild, they prowled around the streets, they ate animals, innocent prey for food, they were the lowest form, or lowest, lowly esteemed of society, in a sense, okay? Hogs, on the other hand, were just as bad. Not so much because they were mean, although hogs are mean. It's because. because they were unclean. So the first ones were mean, the second ones aren't clean, you could say it that way. Why are hogs unclean? Hog is another word for what? A pig. A pig, yeah. I say hogs, but it said pigs in the Bible. It says pigs. Pigs, yeah, I say hogs. Are they the same as a pig? It's got a rhyme.

Yeah, I mean a hog or a pig, yeah, basically. Well, some pigs are nice. Well, not if you're an Alabama fan like Andy Williams. Those hogs, pig suey, you know? Yeah, pig suey, yeah. Arkansas, Arkansas. Arkansas, I mean. What did I say, Alabama? You said Alabama, yeah, yeah. I just can't not think of Alabama. I'm still bitter they took David. But anyway, but anyway. We gotta get over that, honey. Come on, season's starting too. Yeah, it is. But think about hogs, okay? Hogs were unclean. Remember when Jesus, we'll get to this, but Jesus cast the demons into the pigs. It was a double punishment because one, the pigs weren't clean. Secondly, they jumped in the water and drowned, but it's a double punishment. Why? Because the pigs were unclean. So you take one unclean animal and you put another one inside of it, okay? So when the prodigal son, think about this, feasted before he came back and repented to his father, where was he eating?

Pig pens. In a pig pen, okay? So it would be the equivalent of sharing a needle with a drug addict. That's how low he sank. Like, you could do drugs and you could be addicted, but you gotta be really low and down for us to be sharing needles to share heroin. I mean, that's like the lowest, that's how, I know that sounds, that's pretty provocative, but that's the jolt you just felt. That's what you felt when you found out the son of the father found himself in the pig pen eating the scraps, okay? Now, the question then becomes, so you can't get any lower than that. So the question then becomes, what does it mean for dogs and pigs, and why is Jesus using this, okay? In the Bible, most of, not all the time, but most of the time, you could say almost all the time, anytime Jesus uses an animal to talk about something, except a sheep, it's normally the Gentiles, okay? Whenever you see an animal, a fish, okay, normally, whenever you see, or the nations, could be talking about Gentiles or the nations, okay? So when you're talking about fish, when you're talking about goats,

when you're talking about animals, most of the time, it's talking about Gentiles or people of the nation, okay? So when Jesus uses the term holy and pearls, don't cast before dogs was holy, don't cast for pigs, pearls before swine, it's the actual same terminology, it's synonymous, okay? That word pearls is an interesting word. In the Greek, it's actually the word margaritas, interesting word, margaritas, where we get the names Margaret and Rita, it's pretty interesting. Margaritas is the word pearl. These pearls, what would happen is this, why would the pigs get so mad? Here's the illustration, you have to know the context. Back then, pigs were living in a pig pen, and pearls, they would have pearls and they'd throw these pearls around, they'd find from the Indian Ocean or the Persian Gulf or the Mediterranean, whatever, the Great Sea, and then what happened is these pearls would find their way on the ground, and when the pigs would be rooting through the ground, the pigs would think they actually are finding something edible. So they put the little pearl in their mouth because it's attractive, and they realize the pearl's not edible, so it spits it out, and what does a pig do when it's mad?

It stomps it in the ground, because it's mad. It bites, ah, it gets all mad. It's a picture of anger. It tears it to pieces. Jesus is saying, now think about this, pearls and what is holy is another word synonymous with the word. So do not cast or give what is holy or cast your pearls, the word, before pigs or dogs, which is a picture of the Gentiles, but really a picture of those who are against God, those who hate God or hate Christ in this sense, okay? So the things of God should not be given to those who scorn it repeatedly, and I'll give you a perfect example of this. Our son, Ryder, I'm so proud of him because he's been reaching out to, he's got his friends he plays video games with at night. They play on his computer, Valorant, and some other games together, and he has this crew that he's been playing with for years where they had a girl enter the group, and this girl said right away she's a professing atheist, she doesn't know the Lord, her parents, you know, they don't believe in the Bible, and so Ryder at first started to try to share Christ. He and his other buddy were trying to share Christ with her, and every time he would share Christ or share the Bible or share scripture, she would say, well, what about this,

or that ain't true, and you believe this, and there's only one way, and she would constantly be attacking Ryder. And finally, and he said, Dad, I don't know what to do anymore. I keep trying to tell her and tell her and tell her, and I said, son, this is the scripture Jesus said because what happens is, over time, if you keep beating someone over the brow with the truth of the word of God, it turns from them being receptive to hardened. We know people like this, you know. That's why. I remember Kenny said something, I think in the last episode, you don't win someone, you know what the Bible says, it is God's anger that leads someone to repent, is that what it says? No. It is God's condemnation that leads somebody to repentance. No, what does it say? It's God's kindness that leads to repentance. I'm not saying condemnation or criticism won't, but I'm saying you don't win someone by beating them over the head, you win someone with leading them to the truth. So I told Ryder, I said, here's the deal, let's do a different tactic. Because you're going, you're doing ping pong with her, you know, tit for tat, you're going back and forth. And basically, you're hitting to her, she's come back. And I said, here's what you're gonna do, I just want you to just love her. And say, hey, if you want to, I don't want to debate. But here's the thing, you read the word for yourself. And if you have questions, you can come to me and ask me questions.

Well, what about? No, no, no. Because you don't, you're criticizing a book you've never read. You're arguing over a concept you've never studied yourself. Well, yeah, yeah, but my parents, I know your parents. So he changed his tactic. And then what happened was, I told Ryder, don't fight, it's kind of like a fight back in the day. If a guy gets hit in the face two or three times, like, man, I don't want to fight, and you just punch him, I don't want to, I don't want to fight. Eventually you won't fight. If you keep punching me and I don't fight back. Well, eventually what happens is she started saying, okay, tell me about this, or what do you think about that? Or what does this mean? And then she started asking Ryder. So what he did is he stopped hitting her in the head with the pearls of the word of God, and he basically became a conduit where he said, hey, I'll answer your questions if you come after reading. And so it's just a perfect example of not pushing too far with the pearls of the word of God or the truths of God's word, and not getting in a fight for no reason. You know, so many Christians want to win an argument instead of just letting the truth of the word go forward. One old preacher used to say this, my bulldog can whip a skunk any day, but sometimes it ain't worth the stink. It ain't worth the stink, you know? And that's the thing. Some of you are fighting battles, it ain't worth the, or the stank, as he said, it ain't worth the stank. Life is too short.

We don't have time to hate people. And so, and so if somebody don't want to hear the word, pull back, and I'm not saying you shouldn't share the gospel. What I'm saying is don't be Westboro Baptist where you're out saying, you know, you're going to hell if you're gay and this and that and all those things. That's not, I've never seen anybody say, oh, you know what? You're right. I think. Yeah. You know, and I'm not saying people shouldn't do that if God's called you to do that, but the reality is God, God's, I've never seen a lot of people won over, but that I've seen a lot of people through conversations and relationships and late night talks, man, you know what? You're right. Maybe I do need to, you know, not. Hey bro, you're going to hell and you're going to burn to a crisp like bacon on a stick. Nobody. Okay. That's going to work. You know, no, you have to have a spirit of love, gentleness and authority. If God's given you that for that particular person or situation and you can speak the truth with love, you know, you don't have to try to speak truth with hate or disrespect. You know what I'm saying? There's a, there's a better way to do that. Well, you said last time you got to love more than you judge. Yeah. And that's a great word for all of us because we were trying to reach somebody we knew well and, and we, and I was always like, well, they're never going to do this and they keep doing that. And well, the problem is they're doing, and Kenny said, no, that's all true, but they're

not going to come to the Lord. We got to love them more than judge them. And guess what? By God's grace, that person serves the Lord, they go to church, they have a great family. Kids are growing. I mean, it's just amazing how it works. I was thinking like, you know, how we always talk about, we become desensitized like to sin and all these things and we can't, and it's in, you know, we started out talking about the eye, like what comes in and if that's why it's so important to be in the word and surround ourselves with truth, because if you want to live a surrendered life, right? If, and that's what all you're talking about, I'm surrendering to how God wants to use me in this person's life. When I'm surrendered and I'm in the word, then the flip side of desensitized is I have a sensitive conscience, hypersensitive. We want to be, we want to have this sensitive conscience where, uh, wait, someone said they were talking about someone dying. Is this an invitation for me to, or someone, you know, like, like, so what's happened is, is now he's not trying to force judgment, right? He's waiting for that opportunity. And so when we live that surrendered life and someone, oh wait, wait, oh, you're, you're talking about the things of God. Let me, let me, you know, so it's like God, it's, God is always at work. He's not asking us to start a work. He's asking us to join a work that he's already started. So he's inviting. So, but a lot of times I miss this. That's one of the most discouraging things. is when I'm sitting with the Lord, and going, ah, I had an opportunity today, and I missed it.

I was supposed to, I needed to step into that conversation. I was too worried about my schedule or where I'm going. And I think, you know, it's interesting how Jesus starts with the I, which is what, it's how we get to our soul. It's looking into our soul, right? And it's like, if I'm in that posture of, what would you have me to do today? And then a moment comes up where God says, I want you to evaluate this situation, and I want you to be my tool that's being used in someone's life. I'm gonna miss that if I don't have a sensitive conscience, I don't have a sensitive heart, right? I'm gonna miss when God is saying, you know, hey, I'm inviting you here. And so I was just thinking, when you were talking, I was just thinking about how Christians, we get to this place of judgment because we're so caught up in our life, and our will, and our plan, and we're watching unfiltered, we're listening and watching with no filter. Because as long as we're going to church and we're reading the word, and I listen to some worship music, I can watch and see and do whatever I want. And really, we become desensitized, and that's where that harshness comes out. That's where I become beam, beam, beam,

instead of saying, we're on the same playing field. You got me thinking, I'm trying to find this for us, so I think I just said it. All right, no, you got me thinking. So here's what James says about this, it's fascinating, I preached this years ago. James says, therefore, my brothers and sisters, James 1, 19, understand this, everyone should be quick to listen, slow to spleek, slow to anger, for the human anger does not accomplish the righteousness of God. Now watch this, therefore, rid yourself of all moral filth and evil that is so prevalent, humbly receiving the implanted word, which is able to save your soul. Now here's the thing, receive there is the idea, I found this interesting, receive there can be connected to auditory hearing. So what happens is, the idea is, when we have sin in our mind, or life, or judgment, or condemnation in our heart, it's like, the idea is, it's like putting wax in a person's ear where they can't hear the word of God anymore. So sin clouds the ears, and I would say it with your saying, to even discern, so you're talking about discernment, you can't discern, you can't hear, you can't listen.

Why? Sin clouds that, and the biggest sin I think we all struggle from is judgment, criticism, condemnation, being right, belittling other people, and remember, I'll just say this as we close, we're not fighting against people. Paul remind us, our battle is not against flesh and blood, it's a spiritual battle of principalities and powers, spiritual forces of another world. So remember, we're not fighting people, and the worst thing about Christians is, we're the masters of friendly fire by shooting people in the barracks who are on the same team face-to-face. When we should be out on the battlefield, shoulder-to-shoulder, fighting a common enemy, the enemy, the world, and the devil, who's out to get us? So, I wonder how many times our anger gets the best of us when we actually should be conduits of grace and honor. All right, that's it, so. Powerful. Very good. Good stuff. Thank you so much for joining the Forgotten Jesus Podcast. We would love for you to become a part of our team. The easiest way to do that is to click the subscribe button, and so you don't miss an episode,

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