Day 6—Feast of Tabernacles 2018

Judge Righteous Judgment #2

Seventeen things we need to do to make righteous judgments

Fred R. Coulter—September 29, 2018

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Greeting, brethren! Welcome to Day 6 of the Feast of Tabernacles!

This is something we really need to learn; I've given Judge Righteous Judgment several times in the past during the Feast of Tabernacles, because it tells us in Rev. 20 that 'judgment was given to them'—those in the first resurrection!  

Remember, when God first put the children of Israel into the 'promised land' He set up over them judges. That's what we will be doing:

• judging
• teaching
• helping
• showing

It comes from learning from the Word of God!

• this is why we have our trials and difficulties
• this is why have choices to make.
• this is why we need to learn, from the Bible, what to do that right

As well as learn from our own mistakes and from the mistakes of others so that we can judge righteous judgment!

After Paul had them put out the man who was committing sexual immorality with his step-mother, then he told them concerning judging. There were those in the congregation who were taking others to court—Greek courts—to settle their disputes. So, Paul wrote this:

1-Corinthians 6:1: "Does anyone among you who has a matter against another dare to go to a court of law before the unrighteous, and not before the saints? Don't you know that the saints shall judge the world? And if the world is to be judged by you, are you unworthy of the most trivial of judgments?" (vs 1-2). This is why we need to:

• know the Word of God
• know what is right
• know what is wrong
• know how to apply these things in our lives
• know how to make right choices for us
• know how to help people make right choices for themselves

Verse 3: "Don't you know that we shall judge angels? How much more then the things of this life? So then, if you have judgments concerning the things of this life, why do you appoint as judges those who have no standing in the Church?" (vs 3-4).

In other words, get someone who doesn't know what he's saying or doing, get them all emotionally involved, get them on your side, and have them make a judgment so you'll be right! NO! that's not how it is! Paul says that it's a shame if you do that. Jesus tells us how to handle matters in the Church! And it's not handled by a hierarchy!

Matthew 18:15: "So then, if your brother sins against you, go and show him his fault between you and him alone…."

How do you solve problems? On the lowest level possible between the two principals! Work it out; it can be worked out. Notice that it says that you go to him alone!

It doesn't say to talk about it first with everyone in the congregation and then go to him alone after everybody knows everything. That won't work! It says alone!

"…If he is willing to hear you, you have gained your brother. But if he will not listen, take with you one or two others, so that in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established" (vs 15-16).

That's exactly what we saw in the Old Testament in part one: two or three witnesses! Most things will be solved at the one-to-one level. Then you take one or two with you, so that with two or three witnesses everything will be established.

Verse 17 is the one that most churches fail on: "And if he fails to listen to them, tell it to the Church…. [that's the brethren in the Church] …But if he also fails to listen to the Church, let him be to you as the heathen and the tax collector." All of this has to be done according to the Word of God. That's what's important!

How do you tell it to the Church? Those who are involved have to go to the minister and say, 'We have a matter that has to come before the Church; we can't solve it!' The minister can be the chairman of the meeting with the brethren, and then everybody listens to what the problem is. Then everybody involved can add what they need to add to it, and the minister announces the decision of the brethren. He does not impose his will upon them.

Generally, it will never get to a congregational meeting because everyone wants to solve it at the lowest level possible and as quick as possible. So, if a problem comes up, work it out! That will solve it.

In order for us to be educated in how to make judgments, Prov. 2 tells us why we need to study, how we need to study and if we apply ourselves to the Word of God! Let's see the conditions we need to have so that we can learn to make righteous judgments and right decisions, and what does it take?

Proverbs 2:1: "My son… [we're all going to be sons and daughters of God, so apply this spiritually] …if you will receive my words and treasure up my commandments within you."

Notice that knowing the commandments of God give us the structure and the basis for understanding what's right and wrong.

Verse 2: "So that you incline your ear to wisdom and apply your heart to understanding."

We're going to see the ifs and thens, and that's why growing and overcoming takes time. That's why experience takes time.

Verse 3: "Yea, if you cry after knowledge and lift up your voice for understanding."

• that's why we study and pray
• that's why we learn the Word of God and how to apply it to our lives
• that's why we learn to think

Verse 4: "If you seek her as silver and search for her as for hidden treasures." That's how we are to study the Bible!

I can tell you that the more that you study and go back and re-study and go over things—this is why we have the Sabbath every week and the Holy Days every year—we learn more, even when we go over Scriptures we already know. We bring to it, every time we study, all of the other things that we have learned and studied before we come back to it again.

This gives us greater understanding! If we do these ifs, v 5: "Then you shall understand the fear of the LORD… [that's the first thing you do, you love and fear God] …and find the knowledge of God."

How can you make a righteous judgment unless you fear and love God and have the knowledge of God? Think on that!

Verse 6: "For the LORD gives wisdom… [How does He give wisdom? Through His Spirit and His Word!] …out of His mouth… [it's written down for us] …comes knowledge and understanding. He lays up sound wisdom for the righteous…" (vs 6-7).

When you're loving God and keeping His commandments, studying, praying and overcoming you are constantly learning, learning, learning! How long are we to learn? Until we give up our last breath! Is that not true? Then when we're resurrected and judgment is given to us, and we're given spirit minds and bodies and understanding with the Spirit of God in its fullest measure, then we will be able to judge and rule the world.

Verse 7: "He lays up sound wisdom for the righteous; He is a shield to those who walk uprightly. He keeps the paths of right judgment and preserves the way of His saints" (vs 7-8).

• that's why it is 'here is the way, walk in it'
• that's why Jesus said, 'I am the Way, the Truth and the Life'
• that's why Paul wrote, 'Have the mind of Christ,' and 'Christ be formed in us'

This how we're going to have the ability to judge and rule the world!

Verse 9: "Then you shall understand righteousness and judgment and equity, every good path." To make the right choice for the right thing, at the right time. That's what righteous judgment is all about!

Verse 10: "Wisdom shall enter into your heart, and knowledge will be pleasing to your soul; discretion shall preserve you and, understanding shall keep you, to deliver you from the way of the evil man…" (vs 10-12).

• wrong judgment
• unrighteous ways
• unrighteous acts

"…from the man who speaks wicked things" (v 12). Being able to discern right and wrong, good and evil; all of that comes with it.

Every single one of these things here in Prov. 2 is a development of knowledge and understanding for judgment so that you live the right way and you're not a hypocrite. That's important! Just look at the things that passes judgment from many of the judges of this world. They all have 'an axe to grind.' What we do, we have no 'axe to grind,' but we have the way of God by which we judge and evaluate everything we do.

Did you know that Psa. 1 contains most of the plan of God? Ever thought of it that way? Tie Psa. 1 with Psa. 150. If you start with the first Psalm and go through all of them, and learn all of the things that are there, then the last Psalm has to do with the resurrection and rejoicing in the Kingdom of God.

Psalm 1:1 "Blessed is the man… [and woman] …who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked… [judge righteous judgment] …nor stand in the way of sinners, nor sit in the seat of the scornful. But his delight is in the Law of the LORD…" (vs 1-2). How can you make judgments unless there are laws.

"…and in His Law does he meditate day and night" (v 2). What does that mean? He learns to think with the Word of God! And now we have the whole Bible. Think with the Word of God!

Verse 3: "And he shall be like a tree planted by the streams of water that brings forth its fruit in its season…" That goes clear to Rev. 22 and the Tree of Life on each side of the river.

"…and its leaf shall not wither, and all that he does shall prosper. The wicked are not so… [tat just brings out about the plan of God] …but they are like chaff, which the wind drives away. Therefore, the wicked shall not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous; for the LORD knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked shall perish" (vs 3-6).

That's why we are to learn how to judge righteous judgment now! We do it with the smaller things in our lives, then bigger things as they come along. and That's how it all works out.

Let's see the opposite of that. Of course, the first few verses of Matt. 23 are, in many cases, misunderstood, because they're not understanding what Jesus is saying.

Matthew 23:1: "Then Jesus spoke to the multitudes and to His disciples, saying, 'The scribes and the Pharisees have sat down on Moses' seat as judges'" (vs 1-2).

That was to be the Judgment Seat, and whenever they sat there, they were bound to go by the Word of God, the Laws of God. That's important, because when they made a judgment it had to be based on the Word of God. This is why:

Verse 3: "Therefore, every judgment that they tell you to observe, observe and do…. [according to the Law of God] …But do not do according to their works; for they say and do not."

What were the works of the scribes and Pharisees? None other than their traditions! So, you don't base judgments on traditions. That's where they would make their mistakes if they deviated from going right by the Law of Moses. That's why it says that they 'sit in Moses' seat.' Actually, the Levites and priests were to do that.

But the Pharisees sat themselves down in the seat of Moses. Yet, it was so important and binding that they only followed the Laws of God. That's why Jesus said what He said here. In part one we covered:

• by righteous judgment the land is established
• by righteous judgment the Church of God is established
• by righteous judgment your life is established.

We all have choices to make and all of those choices—independent free moral agency (IFMA)—are all judgments, mini-judgments. This is why we need to make right judgments, right decisions, etc.

Proverbs 21:3: "To do righteousness and justice… [the result of judgment] …is more pleasing to the LORD than sacrifice." Think on that one!

Verse 15: "It is joy to the righteous to do justice…"—judgment—and that's what we're all doing to get ready for the Kingdom of God.

Proverbs 20:8: "A king who sits in the throne of judgment scatters away all evil with his eyes." That's what's important to understand! That means that the king, the judge, the ruler, whoever is involved:

• cannot be a hypocrite
• cannot live a double-standard
• cannot have his life in one way, but profess and preach another way

That doesn't mean he won't have problems, difficulties and trials to overcome, because we all do. When we get down to these things, because:

• we are to walk in the way of the Lord
• we are to keep in mind His commandments
• we are to love them and do them
• we are to love God with all our heart, mind, soul and being

Whenever a decision comes up that you could say would be a judgment…

17 Things We Need to do to
Maintain Righteous Judgment

We can do this on an individual basis, on a group basis, etc.

• Remember the Judgment is God's, Not Yours

What does that mean? We need to do it according to God's Laws, commandments, statutes and judgments, and according to faith, love and hope! That's how we get involved in these things, and that's what we need to do.

• everything comes back to God
• everything comes back to His way
• everything comes back to His judgments, statutes, commandments
• everything is based on loving God

Think what that's going to be like during the Millennium! When Hezekiah setup the judges, here's what he told them:

2-Chronicles 19:6: "And he [Hezekiah] said to the judges, 'Take heed what you do…'" You can never, never really render righteous judgment if you are being hypocritical and have:

• one standard for yours
• one standard for others
• another standard for your friends
• another standard for your enemies

"…for you do not judge for man, but for the LORD…" (v 6).

There's always been this, and we've seen it with the confirmation of this new judge this summer, which is Roe vs Wade. This law was enacted—one of the most unrighteous laws that have come—legalizing murder for mothers. It is so skewed with the laws of the land and God.

Everyone has, with the Constitution, the pursuit of life, liberty and happiness. That's what the Constitution is supposed to do, preserve life. But with this—Roe vs Wade—since the early 1970s there have been 55-million killed in the womb! The most innocent, not even having a chance for life or liberty or the pursuit of happiness. Crushed right out of their mother's womb.

Yet, there are those who want to have it, because they want to live promiscuous lives. That's what it's all about! That was done because the daughter of the justice who wrote the opinion influenced him to do it. Look at that far reaching effect of that, and how permanent it has become in spite of more and more knowledge of how children develop in the womb and then are born.

The judgment is God's, not ours!

• Know Yourself and Get Sin Out of Your Life

We've already touched on some of this, but let's look at it in a little more detail.

• don't give into your weaknesses
• don't give into your lusts
• know what your weaknesses are and stay away from them

How do we know our weaknesses? This is one of the things that we do every Passover. We are told to 'examine ourselves'; very important. This is why God is molding us in the image of Christ so that we will be able to be the sons and daughters of God, and to be able to execute righteous judgment, regardless of what our responsibilities will be during the Millennium.

Think about that! A whole vast army of spirit beings to run the whole world, and to run it in righteousness and with righteous judgment! That is going to be really a fantastic thing. That is our calling!

Now, I'm going to make a statement here that's important: It is impossible to live in sin and make righteous judgments, unless you are an absolute hypocrite!

That's why we have got to be putting sin out of our lives every day. That's why we need to do what Peter says, 'We're to grow in grace and knowledge' so that we can develop the kind of character that we need.

• think about why God is calling us
• think about why we are learning these things
• think about why we keep the Feast of Tabernacles, Passover, etc.
• think about our calling to rule with Christ
• think bout our calling to rule the whole world

God's plan is so great and so magnificent. It's not that He calls us so we can be nice little people. He's calling us to rule the world! In order to do that, Peter tells us why we need to strive and overcome and what we need to do in our lives. This in itself could be a whole sermon, but I'm going to just get the overall broad picture of what we need to do so that we can judge righteous judgment!

2-Peter 1:1: Simon Peter a servant and an apostle of Jesus Christ, to those who have obtained the same precious faith as ours… [the same as the apostles] …by the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ: Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord" (vs 1-2).

Think about what an introduction that is! What a calling that is! That's amazing!

Verse 3: "According as His Divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and Godliness, through the knowledge of Him Who called us by His own glory and virtue;  through which He has given to us the greatest and most precious promises…" (vs 3-4).

We're involved in the greatest and most precious thing that God has given, the promises of God:

• to be in His Family
• to be spirit beings
• to rule the world
• to help bring millions and millions—during the Millennium—into the Kingdom of God

That's why God wants us to love Him with all our heart, mind, soul and being. To learn His laws and commandments and the way of Christ.

"…that through these you may become partakers of the Divine nature…" (v 4).

• that's why we are called the sons and daughters of God
• that's why we are going to be given a spirit body fashioned like Christ's

Of course, much less in glory, but nevertheless, even Jesus said to the people, 'The one who is least in the Kingdom of God is greater than John the Baptist.'

"…Having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust" (v 4). Then Peter gives all the steps on how to overcome and add to that. That's our calling!

Remember that what God has called us to is to learn righteous judgment in our lives!

• Hear all the Facts

When something comes up, when a problem develops, get all the facts!Without all the facts it's impossible to make a righteous judgment or decision! In some cases it's going to take a lot of hard work to get there and get all the facts.

Of course, this what we try to do with everything that we do with the Christian Biblical Church of God.

• The Truth, the Truth, the Truth!
• Your Word is the Truth!
• We are to live by every Word of God!

When something comes up we base it on this, getting all the facts. Sometimes you have to question and ask God to help you to discern whether all the truth is being told by those involved in the problem or not. People come in with their side, their bias, whatever it may be. What you need to do is:

• you question
• you think about it
• you ask about it

Then you pierce to the heart of the matter and find out what the difficulty really, really is! Lots of times you're dealing with a problem, that the source of the problem that you're looking at, is caused because of another problem unresolved behind it. That takes a lot of discernment and understanding.

When you're asking questions, remember that no question is out of bounds regardless of how embarrassing that it may be to the one you're asking! You've got to know the truth!

How are we going to rule in righteousness if we don't know the truth and have all these things for ourselves that we need to grow in grace and knowledge in. That's why we are to develop all the aspects in our lives, day-by-day, through our choices so that we can be getting all the facts in various things that we do. Whenever something comes up, get all the facts!

Example: There was a man who wanted to buy an electric go-carts, because he had a hard time getting around. He saw this ad on a local Facebook, and it showed this nice little electric cart that he could use. It said, 'Six hundred dollars or the best offer.' That was used.

He wanted to get all the facts about it, and in getting the facts he went online and found out that he could get a brand new one for $70 more. So, he made the decision to get the new one rather than the old one—or second hand one—and who knows what kind of work it may have needed? Who knows how long it would have lasted?

There's an example of getting all the facts. On cars today they call it CarFax.com. Today that's very important, because remember the many cars were caught in all the hurricanes last year. How many of the late model used cars on sale this year are really, really low in price? Could it be that some of those were under water and then restored.

That might be the best you could do, but it might be that it will have more problems in the long run. Who knows? So, you have to get all the facts!

• Always be Open-Minded

Hear all aspects of the situation! This ties right in with getting all the facts, they go hand-in-hand. That always begins with the Truth of God.

Listen to all aspects of it, that way you will be able to understand if they're really trying to seek God:

• What is the problem here?
• What has caused it?
• How are you going to overcome it?
• What are you going to do to repair it?

Help the other person to do it! With that, remember that every person is going to try and put his best face forward. Even the best liars in the world can sound very convincing.

So, you've got to get all the facts and be open-minded. In being open-minded you're not to be gullible and stupid and just believe everything that is said.

• question it
• analyze it
• think about it
• pray about it

This way you'll be able to help people and keep them from getting themselves in trouble, or help them avoid doing something that isn't right. That way everyone will be happy all the way around.

This also adds into what we covered in part one, the one who comes first and presents his case first, may seem to be the most right. But then with other people involved you have to find out what all the facts are with the other people.

Another very important part: most liars like to get there first and then come against the real facts of the case. But it says that the one who comes afterward will test him and prove him.

This is the only way you can make a decision that is not one-sided. Sometimes a person is absolutely wrong. Other times they're absolutely right. But most of the time it's in between. There are degrees of right and degrees of wrong, so you need to be able to have the wisdom and discernment to see that.

(go to the next track)

Number's 3-5 all tie together:

• Never Render a Judgment Without Hearing the Entire Matter

Just think about all the miscarriages of justice because not all of the facts were given. Since they've been able to have DNA testing, there's a special group that helps those who have been put in prison unjustly, and pays for the DNA analysis in rape cases. Eighteen percent of all men who have been convicted of rape were unjustly and improperly convicted, because it wasn't them. So, with the new DNA procedures they have, they can get all of the facts that were missing previously and sending men to prison unjustly.

Get all the facts; never render a judgment without hearing the entire matter!

Proverbs 18:13: "He who answers a matter before he hears it, it is folly and shame to him."

An account occurred, 'I know who did it!' and it wasn't him! You've got to get all the facts!

Proverbs 14:29: "He who is slow to wrath is of great understanding, but he who is hasty of spirit exalts folly."

Whenever you're in a situation that needs to have judgment and it needs to be right, don't answer anything until you get #s 3-5 all firmly together, which are:

3.  Hear all the facts
4. Always be open-minded—hear all the aspects of a situation
5.  Never render a judgment without hearing the entire matter

All of three of those together will help a great deal in being able to come to a right conclusion.

• Never Look Only on Circumstances and Outward Appearances

Some of the most handsome men and most beautiful women turn out to be some of the great pretenders and liars that have ever been.

You never, never, never go on the outward appearance. Does God go on the outward appearance? No! God judges the heart! That's something we can't do. But what we can do is discuss the matter and go over the facts and reconfirm them until the understanding comes out. That way then you will be able to hear the entire matter.

Example: A family came home from a trip, and they saw that one of the windows of the house was opened, and there were mud-tracks. They thought that someone was here and robbing the house. They tippy-toed around and looked in every room. What happened was, their older son was locked out, and he had to come in and change his clothes because he was out there playing football, was all dirty and tracked mud in. He was not a thief.

So, what you see first may not necessarily be exactly correct. You have to look at all the circumstances and not just to the outward appearance.

Same with counterfeit money. They can make it almost perfect. They're getting better at detecting it. However, too many people take the 'almost perfect' counterfeit money. Now they have counters at the bank that will reject it.

I went into the bank one time and got some money and one of the bills was a counterfeit. I took it back and said, 'This is a counterfeit.' They said, 'That's tough!' I just got it from you. 'No, doesn't make any difference. We don't know if you went out and put a counterfeit bill in there and come back to the bank and demand to have an authentic $20 bill.'

You have to get all the facts, you have to know all the circumstances, and never look to just the outward appearance. Sometimes the outward appearances are deceiving, so you have to be careful with that. That will keep you from making an unrighteous judgment!

• Discern the Attitudes and Motives of Those Involved

That is if it's possible! It's important to understand that when you get into things like this, the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked!

You've got to know. Even some of those who may the be the nicest looking, may be the best dressed, may be show themselves to be more kind and understanding. Maybe they're the ones who are perpetrating the problem!

The other person is reacting, and lots of times you think the other person is wrong because of the reaction. So, you have to take your time with these and discern the attitudes and motives of those involved!

The quality of discernment for these things can come with the Holy Spirit, that we ask God to help us understand and discern what the attitude and motives really are. Think about what the motive might be if it's going to be the advantage to the one who is bring the accusation.

This is what they do in all family murders: they want to know who has the life insurance policy, who are the beneficiaries of it, when was it taken out, how long ago was it, what were the circumstances of the death and the problems that are involved in it. It's true that men will be more violent and cause harm, whereas, women tend to poison. So, there you go!

Discern the motives and attitudes of those involved, and then you have to understand how you can solve the difficulty.

• Never Be a Respecter of Persons

God is not a respecter of persons. We find that in Rom 2 and also in other places. You can't be a respecter of persons; whether the person is:

• well-known or unknown
• liked or unliked
• loved or unloved
• a friend or an enemy

Exodus 23:2: "You shall not follow a multitude to do evil…." Even though it may be legal in the land.

What are confronted with today that fits that to a tee? Legalizing 'pot'! Drugs! The one who gets involved will say it's not against the law. That may not be the question. The question may be:

• Is it against God?
• Is it against your body?
• Is it against your health?
• Is it against your mind?

It's going to be very interesting in Los Angeles with all of the freeways, when they get their winter storms they have a lot of wrecks. Think what it's going to be like who are pot-smokers. Will that increase the number? Probably will!

Verse 2: "You shall not follow a multitude to do evil. Neither shall you testify in a cause in order to side with many so as to pervert judgment."

Again, 'pot' is a good example. 'Pot' is illegal, but everybody smokes it. Then, in order to get a push to get it legalized, they have a 'smoke-in' in the park—hundreds of thousands of people—and they all start smoking 'pot.' They're directed to all smoke at once and blow the smoke into the air. I remember the news report, here's all of this 'pot' smoke and all of these thousands of people out there. Some will look at that and say, 'You know, they may have a point. They're not hurting anybody. They're just having fun!'

Verse 3: "Neither shall you be partial to a poor man in his cause"—just because he is poor and downtrodden.

In some cities what they're trying to do to get rid of the homeless instead trying to help them, they're going into where they are—especially if they're in a park or something—and they're tearing everything down and even some cities are providing money to go to another city.

Well, they're making a wrong judgment. What has caused the homelessness? Then you have to start working on each individual, what the problems were and why it came out that way. In South Bay, below San Francisco, the average wage is $110,700/yr. With that the prices of rent and houses is going up, up, up!

They don't know what to do. Some people who have good jobs cannot make enough money to even rent a room, because a room—a single room—would cost $1200-1500 a month! Let alone an apartment or house! That's because with all the high-tech industry there, they are overpaying the people who are working there. The government is not equalizing the taxes!

My personal opinion is that the big corporations like Amazon, Facebook, Google and those who have power everywhere, there are no government regulations to help throttle them in. Perhaps they should be taxed 75%, because they are creating a lot of the homeless. Prices for places to live are going out of sight! What happens is that greed and evil enters in with everything!

We're going to think about those things when we're ruling the world. How is the economy going to be? What is a job worth?

Leviticus 19:15: "You shall do no unrighteousness in judgment. You shall not respect the person of the poor, nor honor the person of the mighty…"

You can't do that! How can you get around that? You have to understand what are their fruits, the result of their actions! Not because they were the son of 'so and so' or that they may have known a person you know, or you've known them for a long time. Maybe they were a drinking buddy or a card-playing buddy. Or they built a house for you or whatever.

You can't respect persons. You have to look at whatever the problem is, see what the problem is and apply the solution to the problem.

• Never Accept a Gift

Think about that! Some of these things that have been going on with the FBI is that they have been taking reporters out to lunch and to dinner to get information. That's not how to do it! Then the FBI gets good reporting for the job that they are doing.

Today with all the fake news and with all the lies that are going on, you have to have a lot of discernment and so forth, because everybody is paying everybody off. Sooner or later the corruption is going to be so bad. Never accept a gift, also called a bribe!

Exodus 23:8: "And you shall take no bribe, for the bribe blinds the wise and perverts the words of the righteous." This can come in many, many forms!

Remember McCabe, #2 in the FBI, his wife was running for State Representative or Senate seat in Virginia. Terry McAuliffe, the governor got $700,000 from the Hillary gang, and that went to McCabe's wife's election campaign. But the truth is that was payment to McCabe for not pushing the case against Hillary.

How deep does it get? Look what it does: it comes in loans, gifts, food, clothing, meals, work or services. Too many people at high levels get themselves into problems because they higher the wrong people, or people come and want to curry their favor, and they give them jobs and things like this.

It doesn't work! Especially if someone is minister! He should not have the brethren waiting on him hand and foot, waiting on his wife hand and foot: mowing their lawn, cleaning their houses and doing all of these things. That has happened.

I remember when I was ordained, there was man who was ordained because he was a contractor and built the home for the local minister in Seattle. Very convenient arrangement!

Bribes, loans—all of those things—always takes away from righteous judgment! We will see that's one of the sins that God talks about that was against the people of Israel. They were taking bribes! They were rendering unjust judgments!

Amos 5:11: "Therefore—because of your trampling upon the poor, and because you take tribute of grain from him—though you have built houses of carved stone, you shall not dwell in them; though you have planted desirable vineyards, you shall not drink wine from them, for I know your many transgressions and your many sins. They afflict the just, they take a bribe, and they turn aside the poor in the gate. Therefore, the prudent shall keep silent in that time; for it is an evil time" (vs 11-13).

Think of that! So much going on the people don't want to bring it out, don't want to 'rock the boat.' Look what they've done with 'whistleblowers' because of those things.

Verse 14: "Seek good and not evil…" What is good? That's why you need the Ten Commandments of God!

"…that you may live; and so the LORD, the God of hosts, shall be with you, as you have spoken. Hate the evil, and love the good…" (vs 14-15). That's exactly what needs to be in relationship to judging righteous judgment!

You can't call evil good, and good evil like it is in Isa. 5. That's where we are today. They're trying to close down people by enacting laws if they're against the perverted sex habits of those who want to destroy marriage and destroy true love and everything like that. That will get to a point where they'll try to outlaw the Bible.

It "…blinds the wise and perverts the words of the righteous." (Exo. 23:8). Even they are affected!

• Always be Totally Fair and Impartial

This means that whatever the judgment is that needs to be made, it needs to be right, righteous, fair and impartial. Even though in the final analysis it's a totally condemnation of evil. You can't give a little 'slap on the wrist' to evil and say that you have judged righteous judgment!

This is why you have to do all of the things leading up to it here. Unless you do, you can never be totally fair and impartial.

• Educate Yourself in God's Laws, Statutes and Judgments

How do we do that? Let's see the qualification that God gave to the king, so that he could judge righteously and lead the people and not take advantage of them. Not ingratiate himself and make himself wealthy and all that sort of thing.

Here's what God says, and notice that this will help us even today if we look at the spiritual aspect on how that applies for us today.

Deuteronomy 17:14:"When you come to the land, which the LORD your God gives you, and shall possess it and shall live in it and shall say, 'I will set a king over me, like all the nations that are around me,' you shall surely set a king over you, whom the LORD your God shall choose…." (vs 14-15).

Not someone by popular… 'He such a great speaker' but he's an empty-headed fool!

"…You shall set a king over you from among your brethren. You may not set a stranger over you who is not your brother" (v 15). Why? Because of the difference in understanding of law!

Verse 16: "Only he shall not multiply horses to himself… [first sin of Solomon] …nor cause the people to return to Egypt, so as to multiply horses because the LORD has said to you, 'You shall not return that way again.' Nor shall he multiply wives to himself… [another great sin of Solomon] …so that his heart does not turn away. Nor shall he greatly multiply silver and gold to himself" (vs 16-17).

Those are all the things he's not to do! Notice what he was to do so that he could be a good king, and that will apply to us so that we can be good kings, priest and administers.

Verse 18: "And it shall be, when he sits on the throne of his kingdom, he shall write for himself… [and study] …a copy of this law in a book…" He was to make his own Book of the Law! His own personal possession. He was to sit down and write it himself!

"…from that which is in the custody of the priests the Levites" (v 18).

How would he do that? He would go to the tabernacle or the temple and they would have the scrolls there! He would go into a room and have a new scroll for himself, and start writing all of the first five books that we now have in the Bible! So that he would:

• know them
• understand them
• realize that he had to rule by them

Verse 19: "And it shall be with him, and he shall read it… [meaning study] …all the days of his life… [Why?] …so that he may learn to fear the LORD his God, to keep all the words of this Law and these statutes, to do them so that his heart may not be lifted up above his brethren, and that he does not turn aside from the commandment, to the right or the left, to the end that he may prolong his days in his kingdom, he and his children, in the midst of Israel" (vs 19-20).

Today that covers a whole lot more, because we're preparing to rule in the Kingdom of God. This is how we are to do it, and educate ourselves with it. God tells the same thing to Joshua:

Joshua 1:6: "Be strong and of good courage, for you shall divide for an inheritance to this people the land, which I swore to their fathers to give it to them."

What are we going to do when the Kingdom of God is here? We're going to help people resettle in the land! God is going to tell where they are to go.

Verse 7: "Only be strong and very courageous so that you may observe to do according to all the Law, which My servant Moses commanded you. Do not turn from it to the right hand or to the left, so that you may prosper wherever you go. This Book of the Law shall not depart out of your mouth, but you shall meditate therein day and night, so that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it, for then you shall make your way prosperous, and then you shall have good success. Have I not commanded you? Be strong and of good courage. Do not be afraid, neither be dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you in all places where you go" (vs 7-9).

That's fantastic! Let's see what else we are to do. All of this is to educate ourselves, develop ourselves to learn—always learn—to grow in grace and knowledge and understanding!

• In Difficult Cases Seek Counsel

Find someone who knows more about the circumstances or subject, whatever it may be so that you can get right input.

Proverbs 11:14: "Where there is no wisdom, the people fall; but in the multitude of wise counselors there is safety." If they're dumb counselors, you've got a heap of big problems!

Proverbs 15:22: "Without counsel purposes are frustrated, but in the multitude of counselors they are established." That is if they are wise!

We don't know all the problems and difficulties surrounding different thing, and we need input from other! That's why when doing investigations, they have special people who have specialized in various aspects of technology to be able to figure out what to do.

• Think of the Long-Term Consequences

Not just what takes place right away! That's really true concerning abortions. Who thought that 50 years later there would be the murder of 55-million unborn? Think of that in relationship to the immigration problem! Same way with the trading problem!

How come that many of the things that we've imported have no tariff on them, but the things we exported to those various countries, they had tariffs of 10, 15, 20 percent, sometimes 100% or more. That can't work out, because the long-term consequences are that we lose jobs, we have lower salaries, our factories close, and the government has to borrow money to pay and keep these people going. Then the whole thing collapses because the people are left with the burden of the debt because there wasn't sense enough to have proper trading.

That's what we've been involved with for the past year or so.

• Always Make Your Decisions and Judgments Specific and Clear

Someone says, 'What am I to do?' You do what I tell you. 'What did you tell me to do?' I don't know, but you just do what I tell you.

Write it down: do this, do that, do the other thing. This is what you are to do. Write it down!

• Why do you think that God has given us the Ten Commandments written?
• Why do you think we have the Word of God written?
  • So that we would know!
  • So that everybody can come and read it!

• The Element of Timing in Judgment

What happens when it drags on and on and no judgment is given? Hillary is waiting for the statute of limitations to run out so she will be home free with her hundreds of millions in the Clinton Foundation! Because they haven't exercised right timing in stopping it!

Proverbs 13:12: "Hope deferred makes the heart sick…" that's why people get disgusted with those in charge if they don't know how to make proper judgments and choices and don't enact them in a timely manner.

Verse 23: "Much food is in the tillage of the poor, but there is that which is destroyed for lack of judgment." Slowness in coming to a judgment!

That's exactly what it is! Look at what has happened because we have avoided eliminating Roe vs Wade. Look at the whole immigration problem!

Ecclesiastes 8:5: "Whoever keeps the commandment shall feel no evil thing; and a wise man's heart discerns both time and judgment. Because to every purpose there is time and judgment, therefore, the misery of man is great" (vs 5-6).

That's why God has His Holy Days, and that they are timed the way that they are. To show how the plan of God is going to unfold.

• 'Lord, what are you doing.' Read the Bible and obey it and you will understand it!
• 'No, I don't want to do that, but You tell me what you're doing.' No, I'm not going to tell you what I'm doing unless you apply yourself!

• Mercy in Judgment

Here's another great problem! The truth is that mercy comes after judgment and repentance!

That's a big fault of a lot of the judges today, especially those who are of the lawless philosophy. They will let people go almost scot-free, rather than apply the law! That's a misplacement of mercy.

Mercy is not a replacement for judgment! You don't come out with mercy first, you come out with mercy after judgment! How does that work in our lives? Does God give us mercy? Yes! When? When we understand that we have sinned and we repent! Then we go and don't live in sin any longer.

God is not going to give mercy unless we have learned our lesson, and unless we have repented and unless we have set our course to be right.

In all of these cases:

• You Must be Filled with God's Spirit and have the Mind of Christ

That all comes from God! It doesn't come because of who we are or what we are. Or who our father or mother was, or anything like that. In order to have righteous judgment you must have God's Spirit so that you make righteous judgments.

Proverbs 8:14—God's Spirit is personified as a person: "Counsel and sound wisdom are mine; I am understanding; I have strength." All of this comes from God!

Verse 15: "By me kings reign and princes decree justice. Princes rule by me, and nobles, and all the judges of the earth. I love those who love me…" (vs 15-17).

You've got to love righteousness, truth and God, and the work of God's Spirit!

"…and those who seek me early shall find me. Riches and honor are with me; yea, enduring riches and righteousness" (v 17-18).

• you're doing what is right
• you're seeking what God is providing
• you're asking God to give you the Holy Spirit so you can do what is right

Verse 19: "My fruit is better than gold, yea, than fine gold; and what I give is better than choice silver. I lead in the way of righteousness, in the midst of the paths of justice" (vs 19-20)—judgment!

When we look at ancient Israel, they had 70 elders representing all of the tribes, and they were the ones who also received of the spirit of Moses to help do the judgment that was necessary.

We're told by Paul that with the Spirit that we have, 'we do not have a spirit of fear, but of love, power and a sound mind.' We're to stir that Sprit up!

• to love God even more
• to love God's way even more
• to see the rightness and goodness of God's way

And how we are going to be able to serve the people after we're resurrected in the Kingdom of God, as well as those right now. That's important to understand. This is why God wants us to develop:

• the character of Christ
• the mind of Christ
• the way of thinking
• with His laws
• with His commandments
• with His love
• with His mercy
• with His Truth
• with all of the factors necessary for judging righteous judgment

Proverbs 29:4: The King… [Christ] …establishes the land by justice…"—the result of judgment!

That's exactly what the Kingdom of God is going to be like. This is why we need to learn how to have righteous judgment now in preparation for the coming Kingdom of God and the resurrection to put us in there as spirit beings, sons and daughter of God! Judge righteous judgment!

Scriptural References:

• 1 Corinthians 6:1-4
• Matthew 18:15-17
• Proverbs 2:1-12
• Psalm 1:1-6
• Matthew 23:1-3
• Proverbs 21:3, 15
• Proverbs 20:8
• 2 Chronicles 19:6
• 2 Peter 1:1-4
• Proverbs 18:13
• Proverbs 14:29
• Exodus 23:2-3
• Leviticus 19:15
• Exodus 23:8
• Amos 5:11-15
• Exodus 23:8
• Deuteronomy 17:14-20
• Joshua 1:6-9
• Proverbs 11:14
• Proverbs 15:22
• Proverbs 13:12, 23
• Ecclesiastes 8:5-6
• Proverbs 8:14-20
• Proverbs 29:4

Scriptures quoted, not referenced:

• Revelation 20
• Psalm 150
• Revelation 22
• Romans 2
• Isaiah 5

FRC:bo
Transcribed: 7/23/18

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