Judge Not, That Ye Be Not Judged

Introduction

It’s wonderful to be here. Wonderful to be worshiping the Lord with my spiritual family to be with you all together. This has been a truly uplifting service so far. And hopefully it will end that way. If you need an outline for the lesson, I provide outlines that have blanks for you to fill in. And I originally started that for children before I came to this congregation, and I quickly found out that the adults wanted an outline too. And so if you want an outline and you don’t have one, then we have men in the back who can hand those out. Are there those who need outlines, first of all, before they start trying to go and hand them out? Well, it looks like everybody’s got one that needs one.

Okay. We might have one or two over here anyway.

My sermon this morning is coming from a passage that starts with one of the most famous verses in all the Bible. Do not judge, that ye be not judged. And uh I actually just misquoted what I actually had on the screen, so I’m going to say that again. Judge not that ye be not judged. I’ll be reading from the New American Standard. That’s why I got it wrong. But the title is actually from the old King James, and that seems to be the one that a lot of people are very familiar with. Judge not that ye be not judged. This is a very, very well-known verse. In fact, it doesn’t really matter what background a person has or if they know anything about the Bible or not, or if they even believe in God or not.

It seems like just about everybody knows that somewhere in that Bible it says, judge not that you be not judged. And people are quick to use that to silence Christians. But I want to read the passage, beginning with that verse and going down through verse 5, which is where our text will come from, or our sermon will come from, that text. I’m reading from the New American Standard. Do not judge so that you will not be judged. For in the way you judge, you will be judged. And by your standard of measure, it will be measured to you. Why do you look at the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, let me take the speck out of your eye?

And behold, the log is in your own eye. You hypocrite. First take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye. In this passage, Jesus is instructing us on how to correct others and how not to correct others. We must not be harsh, insincere judges of others. We must have a merciful attitude in the way that we view others and deal with others who are in sin. And we must apply God’s will to our own life first before we start trying to fix the life of others. That’s really what the passage means. But before we can start digging our teeth into what the passage means, we first need to deal with how this passage is misinterpreted.

1. Misinterpreted: All Judging Is Prohibited

And then we’ll come back and spend the rest of our lesson on a correct interpretation. But this passage is misinterpreted to mean all judging is prohibited. It’s used that way by a lot of people.

You know, it really is one of the most common arguments to silence Christians. As you know, and as was mentioned in the earlier sermon, this past week, the Supreme Court made the decision to legalize gay marriage. Well, we know that the Bible teaches that homosexual acts are wrong and sinful. And what is the number one argument that the homosexual community will use if there’s a debate between a Christian and the homosexual about what the Bible says about it? The number one argument to silence the Christian is well, the Bible says, judge not that you be not, that you be not judged. And in many other areas as well, that argument is used. What do we say to that? How should we feel about that? Well, first of all, we need to recognize that Jesus did not mean when he said, judge not that ye be not judged, that we should completely ignore the sins of others.

And if you just remember that just four verses away from verse 1, Jesus says in verse 5, you hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye. Jesus didn’t say, don’t ever worry about those specks in other people’s eyes. That’s the fault or the sin of others. Don’t you worry about that at all. He said, first you just take care of your own sin, and then take the sin out of somebody else’s eye. The word judge in verses 1 and 2 is a translation of the Greek word krono, which properly means to separate. It means to come to a choice by making a judgment, either positive or negative. So just by the definition of the word itself, we see that there’s not something inherently unloving and bigoted and hypocritical about that word alone.

Do we not all come to judgments about things regularly about whether they’re right or wrong? Doesn’t everybody on the planet do that? Well, sure. So we have to understand the word judge in its context, and we’ll talk about that in a minute. The word doesn’t automatically mean the opposite of love. I saw a church sign that said, if you judge, you have no time to love. Well, wait a minute. Isn’t there a way that we can make judgments about right and wrong and do it in a way that’s loving? Absolutely. In fact, there are many scriptures that teach that judging is allowed and more than that, commanded. Jesus said in Matthew 18, if your brother sins, just love him and wrap your arms around him. He said, go and show him his fault in private.

There’s a right way to do it. If he listens to you, you have won your brother. Now, if you’re going to go and show somebody his fault, that’s essentially what judging is. It is taking a sin and laying it at somebody’s feet. Okay? Taking someone’s sin and say and exposing it. And uh in an effort to try to change their behavior. So you have to make a judgment in order to go and show somebody their fault, don’t you? He goes on to say, if he does not listen to you, take one or two more with you, so that by the mouth of two or three witnesses every fact may be confirmed. If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church. And if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector.

So the sin has got to be dealt with. Jesus was giving us the right way to do that. In Luke 17 in verse 3, Jesus said, be on guard. And that is in the context of people who are causing offense. People who are causing other Christians to stumble. That means to fall away. So Jesus said, you be on your guard about that. If your brother sins, rebuke him. Now, is that going to take judgment? Is it going to take judging in order to rebuke a brother? Yes. But Jesus commands it. And if he repents, Jesus says, forgive him. In John 7 24, Jesus said, do not judge according to appearance, but judge with righteous judgment. And we’ll come back to this passage later, but for now I want you to see that Jesus doesn’t say, don’t judge at all.

He says, when you judge, judge with righteous judgment and not according to appearance. In 1 Corinthians 5, Paul is dealing with a young man who had committed fornication with the woman that his father was now married to. And the church knew about it. Imagine if we had that situation where there’s a brother here that was do it that had done that, and we all knew about it. You know what their attitude was? They were puffed up, verse 2 says of 1 Corinthians 5. They weren’t dealing with it. Imagine if our attitude was, well, we just want to love him and hey, nobody’s perfect, and we don’t want to judge. Judge not. We just accept you the way you are. Well, that would only encourage the sin, wouldn’t it?

And Paul was beside himself about this, that they would tolerate such behavior. And he said in verse 3 of that chapter, for I on my part, though absent in body but present in spirit, have already judged him who is so committed this as though I were present. Paul says, I’m not even there, and I’ve already judged him. You’re there with him. You ought to judge him. Same Greek word that we see in Matthew 7. And the judging in this context means you make a judgment that his action is wrong, and then you deal with it by withdrawing from the man. And that was the command in that chapter. So we see that Scripture teaches that judging is allowed, even commanded, certain kinds of judging, right? So what we have to do is we have to figure out what did Jesus mean when he said, judge not.

Words mean different things in different contexts. So we have to determine what Jesus meant in context. He didn’t mean all judging is prohibited. Hey, because think of this. If that’s what he meant, then evangelism would be impossible. How can we teach the lost to get out of sin if we can’t make any judgment about what sin is? And that’s what the world is trying to do to us. We can’t let that happen. What Jesus meant in this passage, he was forbidding hypercritical and hypocritical judging. I just kind of made it easy to remember with those two words that sound the same. Now, let me give a word of caution before we move on. Don’t be so quick to defend, I can judge that you fail to see the dangers that are inherent.

2. Hypercritical Judging: Have Mercy and Fairness

Don’t be so quick to defend. I can judge. The Bible says I can judge, I can judge. That you transgress and begin to judge in a way that is not righteous, in a way that is hypocritical or hypercritical. And also don’t get so wrapped up with correcting the misinterpretation of this passage that you fail to see the practical applications that apply to each and every one of us. Sometimes that’s what we do. We just get so upset about how the passage is abused that we fail to see what application we can make from the passage to ourselves. Now, having said that, verses one and two emphasize hypercritical judging. The word hypercritical is a real word. I was impressed when I saw that was a real word.

It may not have stopped me. I may have used it anyway. Because that’s what preachers do sometimes. We want to make something fit. So, well, let’s just create a new word right here. But it’s an actual word. It is defined in the New American Oxford Dictionary as excessively and unreasonably critical, especially of small false. When you think of the word hyper, what do you think of? I think of little children that have had way too much sugar. And they have way too much energy, and they’re running around in circles and climbing up on top of stuff. And I’m surrounded by that 24 hours a day in my household. Hypercritical would be not just critical, but critical on steroids, basically. This is this is to the point where a person is totally without mercy and holds up a really impossible standard or a harsh standard, an unreasonable one.

In Matthew 18, Jesus, now let’s read this before I go to Matthew 18. Let me read the passage in Matthew 7, our main text. Do not judge so that you will not be judged. For in the way you judge, you will be judged, and by your standard of measure, it will be measured to you. So we need to be careful what standard of measure we use. Make sure it’s not a hypercritical or a harsh, unmerciful standard. Now, in Matthew 18, Jesus gives a parable about this king who is settling accounts with his servants, and one owes him a massive amount of money. It would be in the billions in today’s terms, but the king actually forgives that debt. That same servant then goes and has a fellow servant who owes him a relatively small amount of money comparatively.

And that servant is very unwilling to forgive the debt of his fellow servant. In fact, he takes him by the throat and he chokes him and he says, Pay me what you owe. And he throws him in prison until payment should be made. And when word is brought back to the king, we read this at the end of that parable that Jesus told. Then summoning him as Lord said to him, You wicked slave, I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me. Should you not also have had mercy on your fellow slave in the same way that I had mercy on you? And his Lord moved with anger, handed him over to the torturers until he should repay all that was owed him. My heavenly Father will also do the same to you if each of you does not forgive his brother from your heart.

But I want us to at least see this. The king had shown mercy, great mercy, and was willing to continue to show tremendous mercy until that servant stopped showing mercy. Then the mercy of the king ended, and all that the servant was left with was wrath. Brethren, our God will be merciful with us if we are merciful with others. I’m not saying ignore their sins. We understand the commands that we read earlier that we are to deal with sin. But we are also to remember to have an attitude of mercy and fairness. And if we do not show that, then God will not be merciful with us. And we depend wholly and completely, desperately on the grace of our God and his mercy. If we don’t have that, what do we have?

Wrath is what we have. So this is a matter of heaven and hell. The proper attitude to have is one of mercy and fairness. Do not hold up an impossible harsh standard to others, leaving no room for error, leaving no room for growth. And this applies not only in spiritual matters, but in daily matters. In our marriages. Husbands and wives. Do you hold up an impossible standard that really expects your spouse to have to just about be perfect by your standard, or you’re going to gripe and whine and complain and moan? Parents with their children. Do you really expect your children not to make mistakes? Don’t you need to kind of expect some of that? They’re going to make mistakes. It even has to do with practical matters like driving.

When somebody pulls in front of you.

I think I kind of rode kind of close to her bumper a little bit just to sort of. I’m embarrassed to say that. I’m embarrassed to say that, but hey, I’m not perfect either. We all make mistakes. And I kept following this lady, and she pulls into a church parking lot, which happens to be the same church parking lot that I’m pulling into as we go to worship God together. That moment made me feel very ashamed. That even though I didn’t pitch a fit or scream and holler, I knew that I had allowed frustration to build up within myself. But you know what I’ve learned is when somebody pulls in front of me to say, you know what, I’ve done it too. And to remember that way of thinking in life.

Well, he did me wrong. Well, you’ve done people wrong. And what do you want when you’ve done people wrong? Patience and mercy. So, mercy, but also fairness. We don’t need to make snappy judgments as we looked earlier in John 7.24. Jesus said, Do not judge according to appearance, but judge with righteous judgment. What was going on there in the context of John chapter 7? Matter of fact, let’s just turn over there briefly. John chapter 7.

In verse 19, Jesus said, Did Moses give you the law, and yet none of you carries out the law? Why do you seek to kill me? So they were upset. They wanted to kill Jesus. The crowd answered, You have a demon. Who seeks to kill you? Verse 21, Jesus answered them, I did one deed, and you all marvel. For this reason, Moses has given you circumcision, not because it is from Moses, but from the fathers. And on the Sabbath you circumcise a man. If a man receives circumcision on the Sabbath, so that the law of Moses will not be broken. Are you angry with me because I made an entire man well on the Sabbath? Do not judge according to appearance. But judge with righteous judgment.

So they were, instead of using the truth and an accurate understanding of God’s word, they were using their traditions and their preconceived notions and their bias to analyze that situation wrong. Was Jesus doing anything wrong by healing a man on the Sabbath? He was doing nothing wrong. And they should have seen the inconsistency in their thinking. And that they would circumcise a man on the Sabbath. But they didn’t see that. They were simply judging according to appearance. They were making a snappy judgment. And we need to be very careful that when we make a judgment on a fellow Christian, that it is not based on bias, that it is not based on man’s teaching, that we need to be very careful that we have a very logical reason for coming to that conclusion from Scripture objectively.

Another angle on this is what happened to Paul. Now some of you are sleeping, so let’s get with it. Okay. I’ve just learned over time. I don’t get my feelings hurt, I just say it, okay? And it happens every time I get up here. So y’all got to start staying awake. But anyway, a different angle on this is what is it started to make me wonder after a while. What am I doing wrong?

What happened to Paul after his third journey is he went to Jerusalem and the Jews, Jews from Asia, seized him and started getting the attention of the other Jews that we need to deal with this man because of what has happened, what he has done. And we read in Acts 21, 29, for they had previously seen Trophimus, the Ephesian, who was a Gentile, in the city with Paul. And they supposed that Paul had brought him into the temple. They supposed. They had no evidence. They didn’t see him take this Gentile into the temple, which would have been a big deal. They just thought that he had done that and they were ready to tear him to pieces. And they just about did.

I know an older gentleman who was giving this younger lady a ride in his car. And someone in the town of a very small town saw them together in the vehicle and assumed that that man was cheating on his wife. With no evidence. We need to be very careful not to make snappy judgments with one another. Because of what appears on the surface to be this or that. Or what we heard through the grapevine. It’s amazing to me that sometimes Christians, instead of doing what Jesus said in Matthew 18 and going directly to the individual and talking about this concern, they talk to anybody but that person. They talk to everybody else about the problem. And they come to conclusions about what they think happened. But if they went and heard it from the horse’s mouth, they might have a totally different view of things.

And they would see the truth. They would at least get what that person says is the truth, and they would be able to make a more informed decision.

3. The Proper Motive and the Proper Approach

All of this feeds into this attitude. That, well, the attitude we need to have that is mercy and fairness. Well, what is the proper motive? The proper motive in addressing somebody’s error or sin is to help people go to heaven. Brethren, if anyone among you wonders from the truth and someone turns him back, let him know that he who turns a sinner from the error of his way will save a soul from death and cover a multitude of sins. What a motivation. To save a soul from death and cover a multitude of sins. That is the only reason why we should approach somebody who is in sin. We shouldn’t do it because it’s going to make us look good or feel good or to win an argument, or because we just can’t stand it when somebody does this particular thing, and it just really gets on our nerves.

And so we just need to go straighten it out. No, we do it for one reason and one reason only, and that’s to help them go to heaven. I tell you what, a brother and a sister needs, and that is a brother and a sister, not a boss. We need to remind ourselves, I need to remind myself, I’m not the judge. James says there is one lawgiver who is able to save and to destroy. Who are you to judge another? And James is using judge in the same way that Jesus was, this idea of hypercritical, harsh judgment, arrogant, looking down on others like the Pharisees did, that kind of judging is what James is talking about. You know, there’s a real difference between a cop and a citizen.

A cop enforces the law. Can the citizen do that? No. In Alabama, North Alabama, where I’m from, sometimes when people flash their lights at you as they pass by you, it’s a good thing. I don’t know if they do that here in Orlando, but in Coleman, Alabama, if there was a cop over the hill and you’re passing somebody that just came over that hill, they flash their lights at you to let you know there’s a cop over this hill, so you might want to check your speedometer. And that’s the only kind of flashing lights at me that I like. Because they’re trying to help me. In essence, brethren, that’s all that we can do as Christians. We’re not the cop. But we can flash the lights in the sense of saying, hey, we need to check and make sure that you’re going according to the law here, just to help you not get in trouble with God’s law.

What is the proper approach? The proper approach is gentleness. Galatians 6 and verse 1, brethren, if a man is overtaken in any trespass, you who are spiritual, do you think that you’re spiritual? If you’re truly spiritual, then listen. You who are spiritual, restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness, considering yourself, lest you also be tempted. It’s true that the word of God is the sword of the Spirit, but that doesn’t mean we need to use it to hack people in pieces. Doesn’t mean that we need to use the word of God as a club to beat somebody over the head with or to beat them into submission with. We approach people with gentleness. Even if they are committing some great sin, some serious matter.

4. Hypocritical Judging, Being Corrected

We approach it with a spirit of gentleness. We look to ourselves first and foremost and analyze our own heart and our own lives and the way we’re living before we’re worried about the sin of somebody else. You see how this ties in with what Jesus taught. And this leads beautifully, I think, into the next and final point that we want to emphasize, and that is hypocritical judging, being corrected. In Matthew 7, 3 through 5. So we’re kind of going back to our main text here as our outline. Verses 3 through 5. Why do you look at the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, let me take the speck out of your eye, and behold the log is in your own eye.

You hypocrite. Oh, that’s strong language. First take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye. Jesus is teaching here not to try to go and correct the small faults of others when you have some greater sin in your life. And he gives here a really powerful but somewhat ridiculous mental image for emphasis’ sake, if if I understand it correctly. That you’ve got this one individual with a speck in his eye. Or the older versions say moat. Literally, what the Greek word there means is the idea of like a dry twig or straw. So have you ever been mowing the yard and you get just some little piece of grass in your eye, and it’s just enough to irritate you a little bit.

That’s the sort of thing we’re talking about. So you got one man standing here with this little piece of something in his eye. And you got this other individual who has a log in his eye. You know what the Greek word here means? Log. That’s what it means. I mean, we’re talking about a crossbeam. We’re talking about a piece of timber, something that wouldn’t normally fit in your eye, if I understand and interpret it correctly. The mental image that I see is you’ve got this one man with this speck, and you’ve got this other guy with this tree trunk protruding out of his eye socket. And I just picture him sort of dragging this thing up and looking over here at this fellow with this tiny thing in his eye and saying, You got something in your eye.

Well, wait a minute. What’s the problem with that? You have this, you have this giant piece of timber coming out of your skull, and you and you’re worried about that tiny speck. Now maybe, maybe that’s a little more exaggerated of a picture than what Jesus intended to depict. But the word log sounds to me like it means log. And so this is a big, big problem that this person has. Now, how does that look in real life? Let’s say, for example, that there’s a young lady that is a new Christian, for example, and she she is uh habitually dressing immodestly and she comes to church and and uh so on. And, you know, that’s an issue that needs to be addressed with gentleness, right? But the lady that chooses to go and try to correct this matter is herself living in adultery.

How’s that gonna fly? Or let’s say you have a young man that uses euphemisms on a regular basis, not necessarily profanity, but but words that are still offensive and that really you know, in wisdom you you would have to agree you probably shouldn’t talk that way. And uh you have an older man in the church that’s just irritated by this behavior, and he goes to rebuke this younger man of his euphemisms, but that man himself regularly uses profanity in his home. What would you call a man like that? A hypocrite. Or you got an alcoholic that’s really all up in arms about all these people that are smoking cigarettes everywhere. You see? It’s these those are some real life applications of someone with a log in their eye, worried about the speck in everybody else’s eye.

What does Jesus say to do about it? He says in verse 5 of Matthew 7. He says, You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye. And then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye. It’s kind of hard to see straight with a log in your eye. Kind of hard to think straight and make a good judgment. So take the log out. What does that mean in practical terms? It means repent. We have got to repent of our sin. It’s not okay to live your whole life with a log in your eye. You need to get rid of that thing. We need to turn away from evil and wickedness and purify ourselves and grow more and more like Christ as every day goes by.

Amen. Now, before we can eliminate the sin, before we can remove the log, we’ve got to first notice that it’s even there. I mean, look at verse 3. Why do you look at the spect that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log in your own eye? It’s funny to me that Jesus says you don’t even notice it. I mean, you’ve got this huge piece of wood coming out of your head and you don’t even notice it. How obtuse can a person be? A person who is living in adultery, as I said earlier, that doesn’t even recognize their own sinfulness. A person who uses profanity. A person that is an alcoholic, and we could go on, that somehow doesn’t notice his own log in his own eye.

Terrence said, the nature of all men is so formed that they see and discriminate in the affairs of others much better than in their own. Thomas Carlyle said, the greatest of all faults is to be conscious of none. We have got to look inwardly and notice the log and then remove it. And I don’t know what’s worse. To not notice the log or to notice it and not do anything about it. Are we sometimes really good at admitting our faults? I mean, kind of hiding behind a cloak of humility. Oh, I’ve got those faults, yes, but then we do nothing about it. If you’re going to notice it and admit it, if you know you’ve got a problem with something, then brethren, deal with it. Overcome it.

Through the strength of Christ. And you can do that. We must make sure not to have a double standard. This is how the Jews were. This is how the Pharisees were. Matthew deals in Matthew 23 with this idea of a double standard. At the very beginning of this scathing rebuke of the Pharisees throughout this entire chapter. He says, the scribes and Pharisees have seated themselves in the chair of Moses. Therefore, all that they tell you, do and observe, but do not do according to their deeds. For they say things and do not do them. They tie up heavy burdens and lay them on men’s shoulders, but they themselves are unwilling to move them with so much as a finger. It’s the old do as I say, but not as I do, adage.

I wonder if that comes from this. That’s exactly how the Pharisees were. Paul deals with the double standard among the Jews in his day in Romans chapter 2, after giving a stinging rebuke to the sin of the Gentiles. He then says to the Jews in chapter 2, therefore you have no excuse, every one of you who passes judgment. For in that which you judge another, you condemn yourself. For you who judge practice the same things. And we know that the judgment of God rightly falls upon those who practice such things. But do you suppose this, oh man, when you pass judgment on those who practice such things and do the same yourself? That you will escape the judgment of God? You’re not going to escape the judgment of God.

And I tell you, there’s a lot of things to be upset about in our culture. We’ve already kind of touched on some of that today. With the whole gay marriage situation. There’s a lot that we need to be really deeply affected by and I would say righteously angry about the sin that is all around us in this culture. But let me tell you. If you are living in habitual sin, you do not have the right to be upset about the sin around you. If you’re sharing in the sins around you, you are in no position to judge. You are a hypocrite for getting upset about it. You cannot get upset about it in God’s eyes until you change your own behaviors. And then you can deal with the sins of others.

If your criticism arises from God’s word, then your first concern must be whether you are living by the word of God. This passage in Matthew 7, 1 through 5 assumes that you are trying to correct the sins of others. It simply teaches the right way to go about it.

As long as you are not judging hypercritically or hypocritically. And don’t use this passage as an excuse to neglect your duty to help your brother out of sin. You just ignore everybody else’s sin. That’s a lot easier to do than trying to address it. Why? Well, I’ve got this log in my eye. I can’t do it. I can’t. Well, you know what you need to do? Remove the log. And then you will see clearly to do what? To remove the speck that is in your brother’s eye. And also realize that you don’t have to be perfect to address the sins of others. If that were the case, then none of us would ever have the right to correct anyone else. Because none of us are perfect.

Conclusion

But you do have to remove the log. And I tell you, I’m very thankful. That God does not expect me to be perfect. He commands me to strive for that in Matthew 5 48, be perfect just as your Father, your Heavenly Father is perfect. We need to strive for that. But we’re going to fall short. We’re going to sin and we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. We can make confession to him and we can have forgiveness of our sins if we are a baptized believer in the Lord. We have that right to do. What a wonderful privilege it is, brethren, that we can know that we are saved by the grace of our God. And by his mercy, we are saved.

And we rely upon that desperately, don’t we? That’s a wonderful thing. Don’t use that as an excuse to sin, however. Let us strive to rid ourselves of sin. Let us remember to use mercy and judgment towards others. In a way, we really need to become conduits of the grace of God. If he’s going to show grace to us, let us, in a sense, pay it forward and be conduits of his grace and reflect that grace upon others. Not only should we do that, we have to if we want to make it to heaven. Thank you so much for your kind attention. I’ve preached a little longer than normal. Take your song books, if you like, turn to the song that’s been selected. If you’re not a Christian, you can become one today and be saved by the grace of our God and by his mercy through the Holy Spirit.

You can become a saint set apart from the world and set apart for a holy service to God. You can do that today by believing in the Lord and by confessing that belief in repentance of your sins, being immersed in water, buried with Christ, and being raised to walk in newness of life, and continue to walk in newness of life until the day that you die. If you’d like to become a Christian, we invite you to come now as we stand and sing the song of invitation.