Day 5—Feast of Tabernacles 2018

Judge Righteous Judgment #1

Twelve mistakes people make when passing judgments

Fred R. Coulter—September 28, 2018

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Greeting, brethren! Welcome to the Feast of Tabernacles, Day 5! Let's realize that we're in the second part of the Feast. Perhaps what I'm going to bring today, I could have brought a little earlier in the Feast, because it has a lot to do with how we are going to conduct ourselves during the Millennium.

Also, it has an awful lot to do with how we conduct our lives today. God is training us to take over the world.

Rev. 20—we emphasize many times when we come here that we're to live and reign with Jesus Christ for a thousand years, which is true, and then we'll live on into all eternity after that. But let's read something that's very important concerning our duties: what will we do as kings and priests and administrators, and so forth?

Revelation 20:4: "And I saw thrones… [rulership] …and they that sat upon them, and judgment was given to them…" That's an interesting statement.

This past summer we've seen all the hullabaloo about selecting a new Supreme Court justice and the Democrats are going to 'resist,' and the Republicans are going to fight. Yet, if what they say is true, a Supreme Court judge is one of the most important things that there is.

Why is judgment going to be given to us? Because if we're going to rule, we're also going to judge! You can say you don't know how to judge. Yes, you do!

• if you know the Truth of God
• if you love God
• if you choose the Truth

What are you doing? You're making a judgment! Every choice is a judgment, and God has given us independent free moral agency. All of those in the Millennium will still have independent free moral agency.

We saw last time that when they get out of line, we're going to tell them, 'Don't go to the left, don't go to the right, here's the way that God wants you to live.' Now, there's mercy, justice and all of that with it, and all of that is part of judgment.

Let's see that this is under Christ. We know that Christ is coming as King. We know that He's going to judge the world in righteousness and in Truth. That gives you a clue as to the guideline on how we judge.

John 5:25: "Truly, truly I say to you, the hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God; and those who hear shall live. For even as the Father has life in Himself, so also has He given to the Son to have life in Himself; and has also given Him authority to execute judgment because He is the Son of man" (vs 25-27).

It's quite interesting that during the Feast of Tabernacles, Jesus made another statement concerning judgment.

John 7:24: "Judge not according to appearance… [because you may not necessarily know] …but judge righteous judgment"—based upon:

• the laws of God
• the commandments of God
• the statutes of God

All of those things are all part of it!

Let's first of all see how not to judge. Judgment also comes down to condemning and going against what people think, because we're dealing with truth and righteousness.

Look at what happens when you have judges who don't judge according to truth. Look at what's happened in the United States because they didn't judge according to the Constitution and the Bill of Rights, and the laws that are here. It's good that they're getting back to the Constitution and judging according to that, but greater than that is that the first thing that a judge has to do is to get himself out of the middle of the judgment with his personal preferences!

Matthew 7:1: "Do not condemn others, so that you yourself will not be condemned."

That's why if there's anything that is not right it has to be done according to what God's Word says is right and what is wrong.

Verse 2: "For with what judgment you judge, you shall be judged; and with what measure you mete out, it shall be measured again to you. Now, why do you look at the sliver that is in your brother's eye, but you do not perceive the beam in your own eye?" (vs 2-3).

In other words, don't let your own personality, your own personal prejudices, and your own personal opinions give you a judgment, because you may be wrong!

Get yourself out of the way. This also tells you to get your own problems solved! Don't get them intermixed into whatever you're going to do in the way of judging.

Verse 4: "Or how will you say to your brother, 'Allow me to remove the sliver from your eye'; and behold, the beam is in your own eye?" Don't we see that in the judges today? Many of them, yes!

Verse 5: "You hypocrite… [you can't be a hypocrite and make good and righteous judgments] …first cast out the beam from your own eye, and then you shall see clearly to remove the sliver from your brother's eye." That's what's important!

That's why character, the mind of Christ, how to judge, and judge rightly is important to do!

What you're not to do also reflects on what you are to do in the way of making judgments. Since judgment is going to be given to us, this becomes important from the point of view of what God wants us to do and how we are to do it. We have to make judgments in our lives every day.

Think of this way: Everything we choose to do is a judgment! When we do things that are not right, then we have chosen to do what is wrong. Therefore, we need to repent of it.

Leviticus 19:15: "You shall do no unrighteousness in judgment…." Since judgment is going to given to us:

• it has to be right
• it has to be according to the Law of God
• it has to be fair
• it has to be good
• it has to be measured

"…You shall not respect the person of the poor, nor honor the person of the mighty, but you shall judge your neighbor in righteousness" (v 15).

Also, here's part of judging, v 16: "You shall not go as a slanderer among your people; you shall not stand idly by the blood of your neighbor. I am the LORD. You shall not hate your brother in your heart. You shall always admonish your neighbor, that you may not bear sin because of him. You shall not avenge, nor bear any grudge against the children of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself. I am the LORD" (vs 16-18). What is all judgment going to be based upon?

• loving God with all your heart, mind, soul and being
• loving your neighbor as yourself

• if you love God
• if you love His laws
• if you love His commandments
• if you love His Truth
• if you love His righteousness

This is what you're seeking!

Let's see some things in Proverbs that tells us some very important things that we need to know. The Proverbs are really important for us to use to really get a handle on right/wrong, good/evil, truth/unrighteousness, so that in making our choices day by day, or in whatever we're going to do, that it will be based upon truth! Look at how awful the world is:

• basing everything on a lie
• basing everything on an illusion
• basing everything on perverted and upside down laws

Here's how individuals can cause problems, and this gets into if you have witnesses.

Proverbs 11:13: "A talebearer is a revealer of secrets, but one who is of a faithful spirit keeps the matter hidden."

There are some things that are your own business and you don't need to tell anybody else. If you tell someone else, then the one who hears is not to be slandering. You cannot have righteous judgment when you have slander.

All these are really important in understanding what we are to do and where we are to go. Here's what happens when there's a judgment made and they listen to hearsay. Look at what they've done against President Trump with all the hearsay, all the corruption, all the battles against him. Yet, he's been able to stand strong! Then what happens when it's revealed what they are, because it always will be?

Proverbs 18:8: "The words of a talebearer are as wounds, and they go down into the innermost parts of the belly."

You can't base anything on rumors, hearsay or whatever. Think about this: if you accept rumors and slander from someone against someone else, what does that do to your opinion of that person? How do you know what that person is telling you is correct? Even if it is correct, why should you know? Think on that!

Proverbs 26:20: "Where there is no wood, the fire goes out; and where there is no talebearer, the quarreling ceases."

Look at all the riots that we've been having just because Brett Cavanaugh was nominated to be a Supreme Court justice. Look at all the lies!

Verse 21: As charcoal to burning embers, and wood is to fire, so is a contentious man to kindle strife. The words of a talebearer are as wounds, and they go down into the innermost parts of the belly" (vs 21-22). All of those are things that we need not get involved in when we are making judgments.

Let's see one of the great sins and faults of the scribes and Pharisees—hypocrites and fools!

Matthew 23:23: "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you pay tithes of mint and anise and cummin, but you have abandoned the more important matters of the law—judgment, and mercy and faith…." Think about that! Notice the sequence of what they are:

• judgment—to make a right judgment concerning a matter
• mercy and faith—remember that you don't give mercy first, you give mercy after repentance

• When does God give us mercy?
• When we're in the middle of sinning? No!

His judgment is that you repent, then He will give mercy. That's a very important one. Over in Luke it's a little bit different.

Remember what it was like when you were in a church where there was no love, where everything was a hierarchy and everything was obey the hierarchy and do what they tell you. Here's the version of it:

Luke 11:39: "Then the Lord said to him, 'Now, you Pharisees cleanse the outside of the cup and the dish, but inside you are full of greediness and wickedness. Fools, did not He Who made the outside also make the inside?'" (vs 39-40).

It's not a matter of being put into the position that gives you righteous judgment. Righteous judgment comes from righteousness within, with the Word of God and Spirit of God!

Verse 41: "Rather, give alms from the things that are within; and behold, all things are clean to you. But woe to you, Pharisees! For you pay tithes of mint and rue and every herb, but you pass over the judgment and the love of God…. [notice how those are connected] …It is obligatory for you to do these things, and not to set aside those lesser things" (vs 41-42).

But what happens? People get so fixated on certain things that they need to do, or make other people do. With a hierarchy they leave out God, leave out love, and hence they have wrong judgments, wrong people in the wrong places, and everything is a mess!

So, there has to be judgment, righteousness and truth all connected together. Let's see some things that God told the children of Israel. He talks quite a bit about judges in the book of Deuteronomy.

• What happens when you have a corrupt judge? You have corrupt judgments!
• What happens when you have a judge who gives His personal preference rather than the truth of the law? Then you have perverted judgments!

All of these things are important for us in our daily choices, in dealing with other people, in getting along with other people, in choosing what is right. Another thing that's very important, too: the reason that God has chosen to call all kinds of different people is so that we learn, all of us together, to love God and not be criticizing other people because of who they are, what they are, what they look like and how they dress.

Remember what James said to the rich in James 2? If you give preference to the rich man with all the good things he's done, 'Oh, come up here and take this seat…'! And you tell the poor man to go back in the corner and shut up.

That's unrighteous judgment! You are a respecter of persons. God is not a respecter of persons! God has one thing a little greater that we do not have; God know the heart and the intention and the mind!

Deuteronomy 1:16: "And I commanded your judges at that time saying, 'Hear the causes between your brethren, and judge righteously between a man and his brother, and the stranger with him. You shall not respect persons in judgment….'" (vs 16-17). That's the biggest problem!

Look at what happens; we see this all the time. Look at the case of the man who was from Pakistan who was taking money from all of the Democrat congressman, was sending money overseas, lying, cheating and stealing, hacking the Democratic central computer, and committing many, many crimes. They arrested him when he was on his was to go back to Pakistan. They had a whole bunch of charges against him.

Well, they selected the judge that they wanted to go to, so he was given the choice of pleading for one count of being guilty. Then it was amazing, and he didn't say that he repented, didn't say he told all the truth, didn't say what he did. All of that was wiped away. That's what you call respect of persons!

"…You shall hear the small as well as the great. You shall not be afraid of the face of man, for the judgment is God's…." (v 17).

If Christ is given judgment by the Father, and He gives judgment to us, the judgment is God's! that's how we are going to conduct it during the Millennium.

"…And the cause that is too hard for you, bring to me, and I will hear it" (v 17) That's what Moses told them! Later we'll see how they were to do that.

Verse 18: "And I commanded you at that time all the things, which you should do."

This becomes important because of how we're going to deal with people during the Millennium. All the people during the Millennium are all God's people. We are going to be doing the judgment for God!

• we're going to be teaching them
• we're going to be training them
• we're going to be watching over them

There's going to be a lot of joy and happiness in doing that! There will also be judgments that we will have to make, but it's important to keep in mind that the people belong to God! We will be there to help them receive the blessings of God and the Truth of God. That's why we are going to be the teachers and the leaders.

Deuteronomy 7:6: "For you are a Holy people to the LORD your God. The LORD your God has chosen you to be a special people to Himself above all people that are upon the face of the earth."

• Is that not true of the Church?
• Has not God chosen just the few?
• Who did He choose? 1-Cor. 1; that which the world pays no attention to and rejects!

That is God's judgment so that He can teach us and train us so that we will be the kind of teachers, leaders and judges we need to be!

Here's why, v 7: "The LORD did not set His love upon you nor choose you because you were more in number than any people, for you were the fewest of all people. But because the LORD loved you and because He would keep the oath, which He had sworn to your fathers…" (vs 7-8).

Why are we here? Because of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob! Because of everything that preceded before us! Didn't Jesus tell the apostles that He was sending them out to work in the field, which other people have planted, and you're going to reap from what they planted. How about us in the end-time? Yes!

"…the LORD has brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you out of the house of bondage from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt" (v 8).

That's a type of Satan the devil; we've been redeemed from Satan the devil! Redeemed means to be bought back! You were bought with a price. What was that price? That was the death of Christ! That was the sacrifice! He wants us to know; isn't it interesting how New Testament this can be? That helps you understand why the Bible is one book: Old and New Testaments together.

Verse 9: "Therefore, know that the LORD your God, He is God, the faithful God Who keeps covenant and mercy with them that love Him and keep His commandments, to a thousand generations." There's never going to be a thousand generations, because that is type of saying that out on into eternity forever! Then God said that He would fight their battles for them.

Sidebar: God didn't want them to go to way unless He said to go to war, and He would fight the battle for us!

Verse 10: "And he repays those who hate Him to their face, to destroy them. He will not be slow to repay him who hates Him. He will repay him to his face. You shall, therefore, keep the commandments and the statutes and the judgments which I command you today to do them. And it shall come to pass, if you hearken to these judgments to keep and practice them, then the LORD your God shall keep with you the covenant and the mercy, which He swore to your fathers. And He will love you and bless you and multiply you…." (vs 10-13).

Understand this and you will see that the love from God is eternal, everlasting, but not unconditional. You must repent, love and obey Him!

Verse 13: "And He will love you and bless you and multiply you. He will also bless the fruit of your womb, and the fruit of your land, your grain, and your wine, and your oil, the increase of your cattle and the flocks of your sheep, in the land, which He swore to your fathers to give you. You shall be blessed above all people…." (vs 13-14).

• Isn't that something?
• Are not all of those who are going to be in the first resurrection going to be blessed forever?
• Being in the category of those who are the very children of God the Father?
• Yes, indeed!

Think how important learn what right judgment is, so that we do the things that are right! Now, here are some more instructions concerning judgment.

Deuteronomy 17:6: "At the mouth of two witnesses or three witnesses…"

Look at how many accusations that are politically hurled at people from one witness, who is probably lying through his/her teeth! Look what it does, and we'll see something else connected with that a little bit later.

"…shall he that is worthy of death be put to death. At the mouth of one witness he shall not be put to death" (v 6).

We'll also look at one in John 8 a little later about making a righteous judgment.

Verse 7: "The hands of the witnesses shall be the first on him to put him to death, and afterwards the hands of all the people. So, you shall put the evil away from among you."

Now, there are some very difficult things to handle, hard to solve. How do you resolve it? Well, here they had what you would call the court of appeals:

Verse 8: "If a matter is too hard for you in judgment, between blood and blood, between plea and plea, and between stroke and stroke, being matters of strife within your gates, then you shall arise… [change of venue] …and go up to the place which the LORD your God shall choose. And you shall come to the priests, the Levites, and to the judge that shall be in those days, and ask…." (vs 8-9).

• What was the type of government that God set up over Israel in the first place? Judges!
• What is He going to do during the Millennium? Judgment is given to those in the first resurrection!

So, we will be judges! Think on that!

"…And they shall declare to you the sentence of judgment. And you shall do according to the sentence, which they declare to you from that place which the LORD shall choose. And you shall be careful to do according to all that they tell you" (vs 9-10).

• that's why it has to be righteous
• that's why it has to be legal
• that's why it has to be carried out in the proper way
• that's why it has to be carried out with the proper understanding of the Word of God

Verse 11: "According to the sentence of the law, which they shall teach you and according to the judgment, which they shall tell you, you shall do. You shall not turn aside from the sentence, which they shall show you, to the right hand or the left. And the man that acts presumptuously and will not hearken to the priest who stands to minister there before the LORD your God, or to the judge, even that man shall die. And you shall put away the evil from Israel. And all the people shall hear and fear, and do no more presumptuously" (vs 11-13).

• Why that particular command?
• What happens?

Just exactly what happens when President Trump chose Brett Cavanaugh to sit on the Supreme Court. Everybody started coming against him with lies, hatred and evil. What does that breed? Lawlessness! That reminds me of Matt. 24 that in the last time lawlessness shall be multiplied. Look at all the trouble it's causing!

• wrong judgments
• corrupt judges
• corrupt politicians

That's why it's important that everybody keep the laws and commandments of God! This is what God is going to do. Isn't it interesting that Deut. 16:18 is exactly what Christ is going to do in setting up the Government of God on the earth when He returns?

Deuteronomy 16:18: "You shall appoint judges and officers for yourself in all your gates which the LORD your God gives you, tribe by tribe. And they shall judge the people with righteous judgment. You shall not pervert judgment; you shall not respect persons, nor take a bribe, for a bribe blinds the eyes of the wise and perverts the words of the righteous. You shall follow that which is altogether just so that you may live and inherit the land, which the LORD your God gives you" (vs 18-20).

Think about that, and transfer that over to us coming in to takeover the world. What is the world? All the land in the world! All of these things apply to us!

Let's look at an example of righteous judgment. It's very interesting because this helps us understand that mercy comes after judgment. We will put all of this together, that they should not do, so let's see how Jesus handled it:

John 8:3: "Then the scribes and the Pharisees brought to Him a woman who had been taken in adultery; and after setting her in the center… [there were people all gathered around Jesus] …they said to Him, 'Teacher, this woman was caught in the very act of committing adultery'" (vs 3-4).

If you were a defense attorney, what would you say? Think about that!

Verse 5: "'And in the Law, Moses commanded us that those who commit such a sin should be stoned. Therefore, what do You say?' Now, they said this to tempt Him, so that they might have cause to accuse Him. But Jesus stooped down and wrote on the ground with His finger" (vs 5-6).

Everybody wants to know what He wrote. Well, they all saw what He wrote, and it had an awful lot to do with their behavior, because He wrote it.

Verse 7: "And as they continued to ask Him, He lifted Himself up and said to them, 'Let the sinless one among you cast the first stone at her.' And again He stooped down and wrote on the ground. But after hearing this, they were convicted each by his own conscience, and went out one by one, beginning with the older ones until the last…." (vs7-9). What was it that He wrote?

"…And Jesus was left alone, with the woman standing in the center" (v 9). I imagine that all the people who were there were looking around saying, 'What's He going to do? That was quite a confrontation that He had and He sure talked pretty tough to them.'

Verse 10: "And when Jesus lifted Himself up and saw no one but the woman, He said to her, 'Woman, where are your accusers? Did anyone condemn you?' And she said, 'No one, Lord.' And Jesus said to her, 'Neither do I condemn you….'" (vs 10-11).

• What did He write on the ground?
• What would be the most obvious thing for Him to write?
• What was the sin? Adultery!
• How many does it take to commit adultery? Two! A man and a woman!
• Why didn't they bring the man?
• How could they catch her in the act of committing adultery and not bring the man?

It says in the Law that both shall be stoned! Not just the woman!

"…Go, and sin no more" (v 11). Notice that He didn't say, 'I forgive you.' Why? He said, "…Go, and sin no more." This was a righteous judgment. It couldn't be a case that could hold a conviction where the other offending party was not also brought.

So, this was a mistrial; case dismissed! He didn't forgive her, but He told her "…Go, and sin no more"—complete mistrial! A lot of people don't understand that. They think that that is an act of forgiveness. He didn't say He forgave her; He didn't say, 'Your sins are forgiven.' He asked, 'Is there anyone to condemn you?' No!

What was the requirement? In the mouth of two or three witnesses! She did something to be worthy of death by stoning! So, you have to have two or three witnesses, and you have to have the man!

That's probably what Jesus was writing on the ground, 'Where's the man? How did you catch her?' There is an excellent example of judging righteous judgment, right after Jesus said in John 7 judge righteous judgment!

(go to the next track)

We will look at 12 things that cause unrighteous judgments. As we look out and see how things are done in the world, how things have been done in the past within the Church, you can see the problems and difficulties that take place and how they come about.

Let's first of all understand that God's way is love, truth, justice, righteousness and equity! There are a lot of lessons we're going to learn in Proverbs that tell us how to avoid making the wrong judgments. Sometimes when you make the wrong judgments everything starts to collapse.

Now, think of this concerning the land, concerning this nation or any nation in the world:

Proverbs 28:2: "Because of the transgression of a land, many are its rulers… [It breaks down into tribalism, and that's the greatest problem in most of the world.] …but with a man of understanding and knowledge the state shall be prolonged."

• Who is going to be King of the world? Jesus Christ!
• Does He have understanding?
• Does He have knowledge?
• Yes, He does!
• Who is going to rule with Him? All the saints:
• Resurrected perfected
• having been tried and tested
• knowing what is right and wrong
• knowing what is good and evil
• knowing how to bring about the right
  • Is it going to be prolonged? It will be the only government to last a thousand years!

Verse 3: "A poor man who oppresses the poor is like a sweeping rain, which leaves no food." What a picture that draws. Isn't it true, the poor beating up on the poor, stealing from the poor, etc.

Verse 4: "Those who forsake the law praise the wicked…"

• Isn't that's what's happening in the world?
• Isn't that one of the great evils of politics?

Now we know why all the politicians hate Trump. Trump said that 'I've been preparing this all my life.' Here he comes in the only President not to draw a penny. There may have been some in the past who did the same thing, but Trump gave a up a lot to help straighten out the nation. There's one thing you have to say, he is keeping his word! and He is giving credit to God! He's trying to right the wrongs and put in the right judges, trying to do the right thing. We know from Jer. 18 that God will bless him in it.

"…but those who keep the law contend against them" (v 4). Here is the result of what happens when you have evil people, lawless people, taking over the government.

Verse 5: "Evil men do not understand justice… [judgment; justice is the result of righteous judgment] …but those who seek the LORD understand all things." We're going to see how true that is!

This is really something, especially when you consider it tells us in Rev. 20 that we are going to kings and priests, and we're going to rule on the earth (Rev. 5). There aren't any problems in heaven; all the problems are on earth. We've got to take care of them on the earth!

Proverbs 29:4: "The king… [ruler, mayor, senator, representative or president] …establishes the land by justice… [right judgment] …but he who takes bribes tears it down."

The only thing I can say is look at the different states in America and see where you have all the evil ones ruling. What do you have? Chaos! Confusion! A lot of homeless! There's a terrible situation with the homeless in New York City, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Chicago. Look at what's happening in Chicago because they won't enforce the law. You've got a major is so financed by the evil people in his party that he cannot do what is right. He cannot stop all of the killing.

Sidebar: I have a report showing all the countries of the world. It lists all of those that have the most violence by guns. The two leading ones are in Central America: Honduras and El Salvador. All of them have strict gun control. Guess who has the least per 100,000? Those two at the top have between 91 per 100,000, and 80 per 100,000 are killed with guns! Yet, they have strict gun control!

Here in America we have 30-million guns—probably 120-million guns—and how many people are killed with guns per 100,000? 4.2! That tells you that it's not the gun, it's one who uses it. Are they evil? or Are they good? I'll let you think on that!

Verse 4: "The king establishes the land by justice, but he who takes bribes tears it down." Think about that in relationship to where we're going with this with righteous judgment!

How many times have people been victimized by wrong judgment? You've heard of the case where President Trump pardoned this woman who was sentenced to life for a very small infraction.

The 12 Pitfalls and Errors in Judgment that People Make

This causes righteous judgment to be almost impossible. People wonder why we can't get things done. Because someone is violating some of the things that we have read! Righteous judgment can only come God's way!

• with His judgments
• with His laws
• with His commandments
• with His Truth

Let's look at the first one, and I'm sure that you can identify with this. Here's what causes bad or unjust judgment:

• Being Opinionated and having a Closed Mind

There are times when you're standing for the Truth and being assaulted with evil, and you're not giving into it. You're making a right judgment against the evil! But when there is something that comes up where there is a dispute that needs to be settled, what happens when you come up against someone who is opinionated and closed-minded and won't listen to anything; won't listen to the facts or the truth?

You're going to see that we're going to be covering a lot of these things in the Proverbs. This s why the Proverbs are so important for people to learn, especially when they're young and beginning to make their minds up concerning things. They need to learn how to think and think properly!

• How many teenagers have ruined their lives because they made a wrong judgment?
• How many have ruined their lives because they were opinionated and rebellious and wouldn't listen?

Proverbs 26:12: "Do you see a man wise in his own conceit? There is more hope for a fool than for him."

Wonder why Washington, DLC—District of Liars and Corruption—is so miserable and corrupt? They're wise in their own deceits! Opinionated! 'I don't care what you say, I'm not going to listen.'

• Being One-Sided

When you're dealing with the Truth, that's one thing. But when you're trying to solve a dispute where there's a question of what is right and wrong, you can't be one-sided for one person and against the other.

How are on earth are you ever going to solve the problem? If there's a problem, it takes more than one person to cause it if it's between two people. So, you have to be not closed-minded, not unwilling to listen to every aspect of the situation. There may be many factors involved.

I remember one time a minister told me, because of some things that had come up. He took Delores and me out to dinner, he said, 'What I'm about to tell you may not be right, but you cannot say a thing back. Do you understand that? Because I am in charge!'

Well, we sat there and listened. To make a long story short, he was wrong and God took care of him in His own way, and removed him. God can fight the battles for you. But unwilling to listen!

How are you going to understand something if you completely refused to listen? You're not!

• Believing the One Who Comes First

This is a great capital problem today. What do you have from those who want to destroy other people? Leaks! False accusations first! Why? Because the one who comes first is able to make his point! It's like the saying: if you tell a lie often enough, long enough, big enough, pretty soon everyone will believe it, and they won't listen to the truth!

Believing the one who comes first happens all the time! So, you have to be careful in making a judgment. You have to listen, be willing to listen to all sides. The person who comes first can be very convincing. He may have certain facts, but he may not be telling the whole story. Have you heard that before?

Proverbs 18:17: "The one who is first in his own cause seemsjust…" You listen to the person talking, and he giving his side of the story, telling you what happened.

• you don't know whether he's telling the truth or not
• you don't know if he has all the facts or not
• you don't know all the circumstances involved

But they come first and it sound reasonable and plausible.

"…but his neighbor… [the one involved] …comes and searches him out" (v 17). That's called investigation!

Think about that in relationship to crime. The one who gives his story first seems reasonable. But the police or the forensic experts come in and they check out the story. Then they find that the facts don't fit the story that was give.

So, just because someone comes first and says, 'Did you know….? Have you heard….? Well, let me tell you something…!'

That ties in with slanderers and talebearers that we talked about before. You can't have that, because the one who comes first really seems like he or she is right. That's why you need to think about what needs to be done. So, don't just listen to the one who comes first. Isn't that what happens to children in the family. 'Johnny did this. Alice did that.' They have all those problems going back and forth in an argument. The one who wants to get their way always goes first.

• Failing to Get all the Facts

This is the most important one of all. First of all, you have to decide what the facts are, and what are the opinions? Are those facts shaded with the prejudice of the person relating what they're telling you may be the facts.

• How did it actually happen?

Not what someone might think! But:

• What was really the cause?
• How did it occur?
• Who was involved in it?

So, if you're not getting all the facts

• What was taking place?
• What occurred?
• How are you going to solve that?

This is especially true with some 'bleeding heart'; boohoo, boohoo, and it makes it really difficult. That's how a lot of wrong decisions are made, because they don't get all the facts.

That's why the analogy of a puzzle is really one of the best. In order to get the whole puzzle put together, you need all the pieces! If you leave some of them out, you're not going to have the picture.

You will see how, in all of these things, one leads to another, which leads to another. This is how perverted judgment ends up.

• Being a Respecter of Persons

That is showing partiality. I like this one, but I don't like that one. I'll have to figure out what I need to do.'

Proverbs 24:22: "For their trouble shall rise suddenly, and who knows the ruin of them both? These things also are for the wise: To have respect of persons in judgment is not good" (vs 22-23).

Not only is it not good, it is a catastrophe! Judgment is to bring justice! There can be no justice without righteous judgment. Think of this way: Having partiality or being a respecter of persons falls into three categories:

• liking one side and not liking the other side

• you have to understand all the facts
• you have to know right from wrong
• you have to know truth from error
• you have to know good from evil

You do not show preference in judgment! Don't respect the person. Lots of times that comes in different ways.

• following the majority

Is the majority always right? No they're not! Sometimes they're wrong! Sometimes the minority is right. What is truth?

If you show respect of persons by following the majority… Look at it this way: Is Christmas a good thing or not? The majority of people do it, and they all have fun doing it. So therefore, since the majority of people are doing it, therefore, it has to be right. Same way with:

• Sabbath-keeping vs Sunday-keeping
• Holy Days vs holidays
• Truth vs error

You can't go along with the majority. Look at what happened in Sodom and Gomorrah because they went along with the majority of those who were sinning. God destroyed them! Then the opposite of that is:

• excusing the minority

'They've been downtrodden for hundreds of years, so we can't expect them to know what is right, or to do what is right. Therefore, we will not bring the penalty against them for what they have done, even though the law says you should do it. We want to go along with the minority.'

We have some things in Proverbs that tells us about this. Isn't it interesting how much is here in Proverbs.

Proverbs 18:5: "It is not good to favor the person of the wicked, nor to overthrow the righteous in judgment"—especially if it favors a fool!

Verse 2: "A fool has no delight in understanding, but only that his heart may discover itself." You can apply that to many different things!

Proverbs 17:15: "He who justifies the wicked and he who condemns the just, even both of them are an abomination to the LORD." That's why He says, 'Judge righteous judgment!'

Remember what we read about the judge cannot be favoring the wealthy or the poor, the majority or the minority. The law must be kept as written and defined!

For all of those who believe that the Supreme Court justices have to read the Constitution and Bill of Rights, etc., and interpret it according to how it was originally written. Wouldn't that be novel for all of the Sunday-keepers? Why is there Sunday? Because it was imposed upon people rather than looking into the Scriptures and rightfully understanding! You've got to rightly divide the Word of God.

What did that do? Look at all of the problems that has caused for many, many years; thousands of years.

• Allowing Gifts to Blind the Eyes

In other words, 'You give me enough money and I'll overlook it.' or 'You'll be taken care of some other way.' or if the person is blackmailed.

Proverbs 17:23: "A wicked man takes a bribe out of the bosom to pervert the ways of justice."

We've seen a lot of that! How many people have gone into politics and have retired as millionaires; sometimes ten millionaires, twenty, whatever; all the schemes that have been done, all the taking of union money and government money and rotating it around in the hands of all the corrupt people. That's all bribe taking!

Tomorrow in part two we're going to cover some of the things in the Book of the Law showing the judgments of God ahead of time for certain things. What is to be done?

Exodus 23:8: "And you shall take no bribe… [God understands human nature] …for the bribe blinds the wise and perverts the words of the righteous."

In other words, bringing about unrighteous judgment. So, you can be sure that wherever there's an unjust opinion by a judge, something has happened to cause that to be.

• don't take any bribes
• don't take any favors

Have you ever heard about different projects, such as building highways and bridges that went to nowhere! Spending all the money! Where did it go? Why did it take them so long? Why couldn't they complete it?

• Being Hasty

Rendering a judgment before really hearing the matter! We've all done that, haven't we? What does that result in? That's an easy thing to do! That comes right along with those that come first!

Proverbs 18:13: "He who answers a matter before he hears it, it is folly and shame to him." How many times have you made a snap judgment without hearing all the facts?

• that's why we're here to learn
• that's why God has given the Proverbs
• that's why we have all of these things in the Word of God

So we can learn the righteousness that we need to have!

• Looking at the Outward Circumstances and Physical Appearance Only

What is it that the prosecution wants to do for those they want to convict? They want them to come into court looking the scrubbiest, the most wretched possible that they can be, so that the jury and the judge will favor the prosecution!

What does the defense want to do for the wicked whom they're trying to defend? Make them look as normal as possible! Clean as possible! So that they can get them off.

Remember, in television there were three famous shows: Perry Mason. Matlock and Columbo. All of these were designed to show what happens when you do not get all of the facts, you get partial facts or you get things where the person has been bribed or lied, or the judge has withheld or makes a wrong decision.

All of these are designed to make the whole show around them, focusing on what they want, rather than what needs to be. Outward appearances, first circumstances end in impressions. When that happens righteous judgments can't take place.

• Not Knowing the Intentions of the Parties Involved

That's the hardest thing to get to. Why? Because the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked; who can know it?

Won't the person who has done wrong want to justify what he has done? Because of this, that or the other thing! You have to know the intentions. Then you have to test whether those intentions are really true, and what the motive really was. Otherwise, you can't make a righteous judgment on it.

Think about this: Spies do not want you to know who they are, so they will pretend and act out, and even be trained to lie so well that their lies will sound like absolute truth. That happens all the time. So, you have to know the intentions!

• What did you intend?
• How did you find out what was right and what was wrong?

This is why they have trials with interrogations. To find out the best they can what the intensions was of the one who has been accused really were. That's one of the most difficult ones to do, because God alone knows the heart!

• Doing What is Expedient, Rather than What is Right

This happens all the time. Isn't that how some disasters come about, because they do things that are expedient, rather than doing what is right?

We have a dam in Northern California where with the rain that we had last winter was beginning to erode the spillway. If that happened, it could erode back, because this was an earthen dam and it would flooded thousands and thousands of acres and driven hundreds of thousands out of their houses.

They did what was expedient and kept it from collapsing, but what is the permanent solution? To do what is right! You see this all the time on television. There are ads asking if you Mesothelioma or heart problems. If you've had this or that problem with whatever drug it may be; they rush things out and it was expedient so they could make money. But now people are suffering because it wasn't done right. Therefore, you have to have righteous judgment to collect it.

Isn't it interesting that all of these things are forewarned in the book of Proverbs? Think about that for a minute. Think about the statement that it has 'all been fulfilled.' How could it all be fulfilled unless the plan of God is complete, because they're still on-going!

Proverbs 28:20[transcriber's correction]: "A faithful man shall overflow with blessings, but he who makes haste to be rich shall not be unpunished. To have respect of persons is not good; yea, for a piece of bread a man will transgress" (vs 20-21).

Look at all of these Proverbs that help us understand how to make righteous judgments!

• Getting One's Personal Vanity Involved

This is something that a lot of sports people do, and a lot of other people as well. Every way of a man seems right in his own eyes!

Prov. 16 is good chapter on how people think, and also getting to the intentions, and so forth.

Proverbs 16:2: "All the ways of a man are clean in his own eyes, but the LORD weighs the spirits." In other words, what is right and what is wrong.

Murderers say, 'Well, he deserved it, so I just did it.' How do you know he deserved it? You can't get your own vanity involved! You can't say that you're in charge and you'll tell others what to do, and don't bother me with the facts.

• How does that go over?
• What does that lead to?
• A lot of trouble!

Verse 5: "Everyone who is proud in heart is an abomination to the LORD; though joined hand in hand, he shall not be unpunished."

• Applying an Over-Generalized Solution

Example: a person is having problems, and you say, 'You need to pray more.' If you don't tell them how to pray, what good has it done? 'You need to overcome.' If you don't help them overcome, how is it going to happen? So, over-generalized solutions won't work at all!

These are the common things that lead to unrighteous judgment!

This is going to be the basis of what we're going to cover in part 2 on how to make righteous judgments. God says:

• What have I done to you?
• Why don't you return to Me?
• How come you go after all of these pagan gods who amount to nothing?
• I'm the One Who created you and blessed you!

Now you've sinned so grievously that I'm going to send you off into exile. But I'll give you a chance.' Here's the chance!

Jeremiah 4:1: "'If… [choice] …you will return, O Israel,' says the LORD, 'Return to Me…. [not to your ways or self] …And if you will put away your abominations out of My sight, then you shall not be removed, and will swear, "As the LORD lives," in truth, in judgment, and in righteousness; then the nations shall bless themselves in Him, and in Him they shall glory'" (vs 1-2).

The Bible has an awful lot to say about justice and judgment, and how that right and proper judgment is necessary for people to have peace and understanding. You can't have all these errors in judgment take place! You can probably see all of these errors in judgment taking place right before our very eyes today.

Psalm 85:7: "Show us Your mercy, O LORD, and grant us Your salvation. I will hear what God the LORD will speak; for He will speak peace to His people, and to His saints, but let them not turn again to folly" (vs 7-8)

Just because blessings come from God doesn't mean that you can quit being diligent; doesn't mean that you're so favored that you can just ignore Truth and righteousness and things like that.
Verse 9: "Surely His salvation is near to those who fear Him, so that glory may dwell in our land. Mercy and Truth have met together; righteousness and peace have kissed each other. Truth shall spring out of the earth, and righteousness shall look down from heaven" (vs 9-11).

That is talking about the righteous judgment during the Millennium going to be carried out by Christ and the sons and daughters of God the Father.

Verse 12: "Yea, the LORD shall give that which is good, and our land shall yield its increase…. [to the whole world] …Righteousness shall go before Him and shall set us in the way of His steps" (vs 12-13)—with judge righteous judgment!

Scriptural References:

• Revelation 20:4
• John 5:25-27
• John 7:24
• Matthew 7:1-5
• Leviticus 19:15-18
• Proverbs 11:13
• Proverbs 18:8
• Proverbs 26:20-22
• Matthew 23:23
• Luke 11:39-42
• Deuteronomy 1:16-18
• Deuteronomy 7:6-14
• Deuteronomy 17:6-13
• Deuteronomy 16:18-20
• John 8:3-11
• Proverbs 28:2-5
• Proverbs 29:4
• Proverbs 26:12
• Proverbs 18:17
• Proverbs 24:22-23
• Proverbs 18:5, 2
• Proverbs 17:15, 23
• Exodus 23:8
• Proverbs 18:13
• Proverbs 28:20-21
• Proverbs 16:2, 5
• Jeremiah 4:1-2
• Psalm 85: 7-13

Scriptures quoted, not referenced:

• James 2
• 1 Corinthians 1
• Matthew 24
• Jeremiahs 18
• Revelation 20; 5

FRC:bo
Transcribed: 7/23/18

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