Feast of Tabernacles 2006 – Day 4

Greetings, brethren! We are going to cover Judge Righteous Judgment and there is a booklet that we have to go along with this series.

Why is that important? I think this is one of the most key things that we need to understand! Let's see that that's what is going to be given to us.

• How are we going to judge the world, if we don't learn how of make righteous judgments now?
• How is that possibly going to be?
• How is God going to give us the rulership of the world if we don't have a clue as to what we are supposed to do?

We realize that when we're resurrected, and are spirit beings, we're going to have added abilities and added things given to us, but the basic character we need to build now and the basic decision-making process needs to be formulated now, before the resurrection!

Revelation 20:4: "And I saw thrones…" Remember that Jesus said that He 'sat down in His Father's throne' and if we overcome, we'll sit down with Him in His throne! That doesn't mean we'll all be sitting in His throne. That means, we will be under the judgment jurisdiction of Christ and we will administer—based upon His authority that He gives to us—judgment for the whole world.

Verse 4: "And I saw thrones; and they that sat upon them, and judgment was given to them…" This becomes a very important thing for us to understand:

• how we need to exercise judgment
• how we need to put it together today

Let's see what Jesus said concerning judgment during the Millennium and on into all eternity, because we're still going to have to continuously do judgments. Let's see how this also explains what I said that whatever we do is going to be under the judgment throne of Christ!

He's going to delegate it to us, just like the rulership of the world, where it says 'well done good and faithful servant'; you be over ten cities and you be over five cities and you be over two cities. We have to learn:

• how to rule
• how to judge
• how to make right decisions

We also have to realize and understand that all of this comes under Jesus Christ.

John 5:27: "And has also… [the Father] …given Him authority to execute judgment because He is the Son of man." Of course, the final day of judgment comes upon everyone. Those of us who endured to the end now—accomplished our mission and are put in the grave to await the resurrection—the final judgment has been rendered on us. God is the Great Judge and there are varying degrees of judgments that He uses:

• on the world
• on nations
• on individuals
• upon His saints

Here's a mistake that a lot of people make: they say that because God is love—especially under the doctrine of eternal security—that there's no such thing as the unpardonable sin, and there is no such thing as conditional security. But when you read the Bible and you read the New Testament and you look up all 1200 ifs in the Bible you're going to see that everything is conditional upon our response to God.

• That's why Jesus told the young man, 'If you will enter into life, keep the commandments.'
• That's why Jesus said, 'If you love Me keep My commandments.'

So, a lot of people make the mistake that God will not execute judgment. God has to execute judgment. Yes, there is mercy and when there is forgiveness, and when there is the blotting out of sins then God will suspend the judgment.

Let's take, for example, Manasseh—the worst king of all the kings of Israel and Judah—he reigned for 55 years and got involved in demonism, spiritism, the occult, sacrificing children to idols, building idols in the temple of God, and everything.

What happened? God sent the Assyrians and they carried them off into captivity into Babylon! There he repented, and God brought him back to the throne. But after he repented, God's judgment was: though you come back and are on the throne, you are going to be a vassal king under the Assyrians. And what he did with that repentance: he went in and he destroyed all the idols that he made, he took out all the things that he had made to pollute the temple and the whole area.

Even though God executed judgment, when he extended mercy there was still a penalty upon Manasseh in God's judgment so that he would not sin again. Likewise, when David sinned, when he orchestrated the thing with Bathsheba's husband Uriah the Hittite and had him killed in the battle and got Bathsheba pregnant, remember what happened: God forgave the sin, but he gave a disciplinary thorn in the flesh for the rest of David's life, which was that 'your whole household will be against you.' And it began that very day with Absalom and Tamar, even though he repented deeply. So all of those things are part of the judgment of God.

Today, the whole church is living under the judgment of God! But part of the things that God has done for good and for punishment is that He has scattered the Church, and there are many, many, many Churches of God with varying degrees of understanding of doctrine and understanding of the Bible, and different things like this, because free choice is an important part of judgment!

But, because of that and because of God's judgment—though He has given mercy, kindness and forgiveness to those who have repented—there is still the judgment that God has determined that the churches are going to remain small so that we can all learn the lesson; our relationship is with God the Father and Jesus Christ:

• not in an organization
• not in a corporation
• not in a social setting
• not if you belong to this corporate church you're guaranteed salvation
• No!

The only way that anyone is guaranteed salvation, is with a 'humble heart and contrite spirit' and 'loving God with all your heart, mind, soul and being, and keeping His commandments.' That's the guarantee! That's what God wants us to learn because of the circumstances we find ourselves in. That's why, that even though the heavy hand of God's judgment has come, we need to realize this in everything that happens:

• whether in the world
• whatever nation we live in
• whatever is with our family
• whatever is in our lives

'all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.' God is the Judge!

Let's see about God being Judge. Psalm 75:7 is a very important verse to understand; let's really put this all together and sharpen our pencils and by that I mean our minds!

Psalm 75:4: "I said to the arrogant, 'Do not boast'…" Here's a very important thing today, everyone is 'dealing foolishly' (KJV). And one of the things is that you are going to see how absolutely devoid of right judgment that most people in the world are!

"…and to the wicked, 'Do not lift not up the horn; do not lift up your horn on high; nor speak with a stiff neck.' For promotion comes neither from the east, nor from the west, nor from the south" (vs 4-6).

Everyone wants a promotion. Human nature likes to be uplifted, and when you get uplifted in vanity, in pride, and in everything like this, witness Nebuchadnezzar and what happened to him. When he got lifted up in pride and he looked around and he saw this great Babylon and he said, 'Oh, look what I have done' (Dan. 4). God struck him down and said, 'The proud are going to be brought down.' That's God's judgment!

Verse 7: "But God is Judge; He puts down one and sets up another." That's why it is foolish to put yourself forward—any of us—to exalt ourselves. Think about how the ministry has done that with the brethren, and think of all the damage and problems that have come because of that. God is Judge!

Psa. 96 is one of the Millennial Psalms, so this tells us about judgment that God is going to do! Psalm 96:13: "Before the LORD; for He comes, for He comes to judge the earth; He shall judge the world with righteousness and the people with His Truth." That's really very profound!

This is why the whole process of our growing and changing and overcoming—the process of conversion:

• is a spiritual thing that takes place
• is a spiritual education that takes place
• is a spiritual thing that occurs in your mind to build the character of God

It is based on faith, hope and love, and then we grow and we develop in the way that God wants us to. God has called us to rule the world! So, the Apostle Paul also said that 'He [God] is judge of all.'

Now let's see that that involves the resurrection, involves our eternal spiritual life, in coming before the throne of God, God is judging! When we understand it, God is judging everyone—everywhere, in all places, in the whole world—for what their conduct is; varying degrees of it. Those who know the Truth of God are going to have the severest judgment because they know. Those who reject the Word of God are going to have an even more severe judgment upon them. Those who do not know the Word of God and sin, it says, 'The one who knew to do good and did it not will be beaten with many stripes. The one who did not know to do good and did it will be beaten with few stripes.' The judgment and the penalty still comes! We need to understand that.

Heb. 12 shows that God is judging us all the time. You don't need to be in fear of that. You don't need to sit back and say 'Oh, God is judging me. How am I going to make it?' NO! Don't do that because God gives mercy, God gives grace, and if you are in a relationship with God the way that you ought to be, through:

• prayer
• study
• keeping the commandments of God
• living by every Word of God
• loving God with all your heart, mind, soul and being

your judgment is going to be for eternal life!

Hebrews 12 22: "But you have come to Mount Sion, and to the city of the living God, heavenly Jerusalem; and to an innumerable company of angels; to the joyous festival gathering; and to the Church of the Firstborn, registered in the Book of Life in heaven; and to God, the Judge of all…" (vs 22-23)—everyone!

Leading up to Pentecost—go through day 49 again—you will see the whole message to the seven churches is one of:

• encouragement
• repentance
• judgment

all the way through. We need to realize that is how God deals with us in all of our lives.

Psa. 50 tells us about God in judging the world, in judging the earth, and so forth. We're going to see a little bit later on that God made us so that we must make judgments.

Psalm 50:3: "Our God shall come, and He shall not keep silent; a fire shall devour before Him…" Note Rev. 16, seven last plagues: What does it say there? All of those horrible and devastating plagues that are going to come upon the enemies of God! What have the angels said, 'Righteous and Holy are Your judgments O God, for they are worthy, for they have shed the blood of the Saints.' God is going to render His judgment:

"…a fire shall devour before Him, and it shall be very tempestuous all around Him. He shall call to the heavens from above, and to the earth so that He may judge His people" (vs 3-4)—and also judge for His people.

When Christ returns, after the resurrection—judgment is on the house of God, as we know—He is going to judge the enemies of Israel, for Israel on their behalf. And then He's going to judge all of those nations that refuse to repent, if they don't come up to the house of God to learn of His ways; He is going to judge them!

So, it is very important that we understand that. It's important that we understand just how God judges and what forms the basis of His judgment. Since He is Judge, how is God going to do it? Well, let's look at it this way, since God is Judge of all the earth, as God His way is perfect! He's got a perfect standard to measure by.

Psa. 18 is important for us to understand and this is what we need to realize, concerning God's way, and this is a judgment that every person needs to make when they approach the Word of God, when they approach how to interpret the Bible, whatever they do.

Psalm 18:30: "As for God, His way is perfect; the Word of the LORD is tried…."

Psalm 12:6: "The words of the LORD are pure words, like silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times." So the Word of the Lord is tried.

Psalm 18:30: "…He is a shield to all those who take refuge in Him, for who is God besides the LORD? Or, who is a Rock except our God? The God who girds me with strength and makes my way perfect" (vs 30-32).

The Spirit of God is going to lead you into the perfection of Christ. Of course, that's what Jesus said back there in

Matthew 5:48: "Therefore, you shall be perfect, even as your Father Who is in heaven is perfect." That is the whole overarching goal of everything that we do.

I need to emphasize again, because I see a time when the Word of God is not going to be here. As a matter fact, it is prophesied that there is coming 'a famine of the hearing of the Word.' And when we have it, when we understand it, when we have got all of God's word, and we have the opportunity to put it together:

• What are we going to do with it?
• Are we going to become lazy?
• Are we going to go to sleep at the switch?
• Are we going to be so involved in the world and things of the world, that we slack up on growing in character and grace and knowledge?
• What is it that we're going to do?

He wants to make your way perfect! Now, think about that, and righteous judgment is part of the perfection of God!

Psalm 18:33: "Who makes my feet like hinds' feet, and sets me on my high places. He trains my hands for battle..." (vs 33-34).

We have a spiritual warfare today. When we're resurrected and we come down and fight with Christ, He is going to teach us how to fight.

"…so that my arms can bend a bow of bronze. You have also given me the shield of Your salvation; and Your right hand has held me up, and Your gentleness has made me great" (vs 34-35). That's the judgment to God! When we understand, first of all, His way is perfect.

Let's see something else concerning the Law of God. This is the standard that He uses. God does not give some kind of judgment that He has not already declared in His Word. We need to understand that because where no law is there is no sin!

Psalm 19:7: "The Law of the LORD is perfect, restoring the soul…" When you go back and read about the laws of God in the Old Testament, those are perfect for a carnal society. When you go to the New Testament and read how Jesus amplified the Law—

• magnified it
• made it honorable
• made it spiritual
• giving it a higher standard

—it is perfected even more!

"…the testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple" (v 7). This is how we begin to understand how to make righteous judgments.

Verse 8: "The precepts of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart; the commandments of the LORD are pure, enlightening the eyes. The fear of the LORD is clean, enduring forever; the judgments of the LORD are true and righteous altogether" (vs 8-9).

Notice how important that it is, v 10: "More to be desired than gold, yea, much fine gold; sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb." It's just like Jesus said, 'If you come to Me you'll never hunger and you'll never thirst.' That's why it's important that we keep coming to Jesus Christ in everything that we do.

We need to realize that God is Isaiah 57:15: "…the high and lofty One Who inhabits eternity; Whose name is Holy…"—yet, He dwells with the humble.

Here's something we need to understand about the very character of God. This is important to understand. Not only is God love, but love brings out all of these other things. Before we get into how to judge righteous judgment, we need to have the basis and the foundation of how God does it, because that's the way He wants us to do it, and then He gives us more detailed information on how we carry it out and we'll look at many of the things there.

Jeremiah 4:2: "And will swear, 'As the LORD lives'… [God lives forever, eternity] …in truth, in judgment, and in righteousness."

Those are the three pillars upon which everything hangs that God does. You have God is love and from there comes:

• Truth
• judgment
• righteousness
• mercy
• grace
• forgiveness

In going through these things, we don't have one Scripture fighting the other Scripture, but we put it all together to get the whole picture and understanding of it.

So Truth, judgment and righteousness are actually expressions of God's love, and this becomes the substance or the basis for the criteria of righteous judgment. So therefore, since:

• God is love
• God is true
• God is merciful
• God is just

all of His judgments are just! We need to understand that with our relationship with God. When we come before Him in prayer, we have direct access to God the Father through Jesus Christ, and our prayers go directly to God the Father.

God loves judgment. One of the Psalms says, 'It is joy to the just to do judgment.' Why? Because you have the knowledge of God and the Spirit of God to make a right and a proper judgment.

Isaiah 61:3: "To appoint unto those… [all that come out of the Tribulation] …who mourn in Zion, giving to them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the mantle of praise for the spirit of heaviness; so that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that He might be glorified."

Let's add to that Psa. 11 and put this together, because that's God's judgment when He comes back. That's what He is going to do. His judgment is going be one of forgiveness, grace and mercy, especially after the punishment that He extracted and brought upon all mankind. Then He's going to give mercy and judgment. He's going to change their heart, mind and soul so that they will be converted.

Psalm 11:4: "The LORD is in His Holy temple; the LORD'S throne is in heaven. His eyes behold; His searching gaze tests the children of men."

Note sermon: Spirit of God, Spirit of Man, Seven Spirits of God, and how God judges the world, what He's doing, how He's communicating with the world. And this ties right in with that.

Verse 5: "The LORD tries the righteous…" Yes, that's why we have tests, decisions to make and things to overcome. He wants to perfect our character.

"…but His soul hates the wicked and the one who loves violence. Upon the wicked He shall rain snares, fire and brimstone; and a scorching wind shall be the portion of their cup, for the LORD is righteous, He loves righteousness; the upright will behold His face" (vs 5-7). In other words, we are righteous in that, and we read that all of His judgments are true and righteous today.

Now let's see something else that is important, because we will come down to judgment of individuals, but since God is looking down upon the whole world, let's see how God weighs in the balance the things that He's doing.

Let's put Jer. 18 in conjunction with what were doing today because this is important for us to understand. This renders God's judgment:

Jeremiah 18:7: "If at any time I shall speak concerning a nation…" So, God is involved in all the nations of the world. Let's understand what God is doing right now, because Satan wants to develop his whole world government, his whole world religion, and, of course, that's prophesied that it would take place so we know it's going to happen. God is going to let them raise themselves up, and in doing so all the way along we are going to see lack of righteous judgment.

We're going to see corruption, greed, killing, all of these things, because that is the way of Satan. Then when he finally gets it where he wants to get it, then he is going to raise up the beast, who will come in with a great peace plan for whole world, be declared the savior of the world, and the false prophet will have miracles. Right now, as God has done all the way through history, He judges the nations! When you read the history of the world, the history of different nations, you will see that through it, all of that is a result of God's judgment. And what are the sore judgments that He uses?

Verse 7: "If at any time I shall speak concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to pluck it up and to pull it down, and to destroy it."

Think about what is going on in the world, and realize that all of it is the judgment of God. And realize that God is going to take care of the final judgment of this, through the Great White Throne Judgment, in the second resurrection, as we will see on the Last Great Day.

Verse 8: "If that nation, against whom I have spoken, will turn from their evil, I will repent of the evil that I thought to do to them."

We have a perfect example of this, with Jonah and the Assyrians and the capital city of Nineveh, Jonah was sent there and he preached 'Repent because God's destruction is coming upon you.' And, lo and behold, greater than this is a Gentile nation and its repentance is in the Old Testament in the book of Jonah to show and to use as an example against Israel. Very rarely did Israel repent with this kind of repentance. So what happen?

The king said to declare a fast; everyone—every human being, man, woman—and beast: 'do not eat anything, do not drink any water, dress in sackcloth and ashes and petition the Lord that He would take away the punishment that He said.'

What happened? God was merciful and He held off His judgment—that's an action here—that He would repent of the evil He thought to do.

Verse 9: "And if at any time I shall speak concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to build it and to plant it; if it does evil in My sight..." (vs 9-10).

• based upon His righteous laws
• based upon His righteous judgments
• based upon the things that He has given

He judges all the nations according to the letter of His Law, because in reality God expects all the nations of the world to keep His laws in the letter of the Law. This would give them God's blessing, this would give them peace and security. But because they don't, then death and destruction comes, as He says here.

Verse 10: "If it does evil in My sight, that it not obey My voice, then I will repent of the good with which I said I would do them good."

Now let's see how God executes His judgments. Look at any war, look at any nation that is brought down, plus couple that with when God gave the blessing. Then you couple that with what God promised Abraham, where He said, 'I will bless those that bless you,' and that means all of his descendants, 'I will curse those that curse you.'

Of course, those that hate us God is going to mete out His correction and His destruction upon them. Let's think about this in relationship to the war on terror, and let's think about this concerning some of the events that have taken place. Who has hated us the most? The radical Muslims! And one of the nations that has caused the greatest trouble, has been Indonesia, and the next one is Pakistan because they've cursed us, even though we're not righteous before God as we ought to be.

But because of God's promise to Abraham He said He would 'curse those that curse us.' What happened to them? Look at the tsunami that took place, and look at the problems and difficulty still going on in Indonesia! Look at the earthquake that took place in Pakistan. Where did it take place? Right up in the high mountains, where all of the radical Muslims and those of al-Qaeda are! And it makes you wonder, how many of the enemy died because of the hand of God, which was much more perhaps then we could do through our munitions. So, let's think upon that.

God always offers repentance. That's what we need to understand. God offers a way out before judgment comes. So, this is why it's very important when you're going through an experience a difficult thing, do not harden your heart to God!

The men of Israel came before Ezekiel and said, 'Oh we want to hear to hear of the Lord.' God said to them, through the prophet Ezekiel, 'Why do you come to Me? You that have idols in your minds and in your hearts.'

• God is interested in the heart
• God is interested in the repentance

Here's what God says, because the idols estranged them from God. As we're going through here, use some of this as some correction upon yourself, ask yourself:

• What are the idols I have?
• How can I get rid of those?

Ezekiel 14:6: "Therefore, say to the house of Israel, 'Thus says the Lord GOD, "Repent and turn yourselves from your idols, and turn away your faces from all your abominations. For every one of the house of Israel…'" (vs 6-7). What we're seeing is individual judgment and national judgment. Let's see how God does it:

"…or of the stranger who lives in Israel, who separates himself from Me… [going away from God] …and sets up his idols in his heart… [which can be anything] …and puts the stumbling block of his iniquity before his face…" (v 7). People sin, make wrong judgments, it's just like laying stumbling blocks out there. You're destroying and ruining your way.

"…and comes to a prophet to ask of him concerning Me… [listen to what God says]: …I the LORD will answer him Myself" (v 7).

If there is not repentance, then you're going to fall to the harsh judgment of God. If there is repentance, then the judgment of God—based on truth, righteousness and mercy—is forgiveness. That's how God always works.

But if not, He says, v 8: "And I will set My face against that man, and I will make him for a sign and for a proverb. And I will cut him off from the midst of My people; and you shall know that I am the LORD. And the prophet, if he is deceived, and he speaks a word..." (vs 8-9)—anyone who preaches.

• if God's way is perfect
• if God's way is righteous
• if God's way is righteous judgment

What can man do to add to it to make it better? That's kind of a ridiculous thing—isn't it?

When man, who is sinful by nature, inadequate by himself, is facing death, what can he add to God? Nothing! But through repentance, and a contrite spirit, and a humble heart, and loving God, God can add to him or to her.

God says, "…I the LORD have deceived that prophet. And I will stretch out My hand upon him and will destroy him from the midst of My people Israel. And they shall bear the punishment of their iniquity… [judgment] … the punishment of the prophet shall be even as the punishment of him that seeks unto him" (vs 9-10).

One of the judgments of God is this: if you want evil, lies and deceit, you will have them! If you come along and try and add to the perfect way of God the lying and deceitful things of human nature and false teachings, you will have them! Those will become a snare and a stumbling block to you, just like He says here. He's going to do this to the false prophets and of those who seek Him.

Verse 11: "'"So that the house of Israel may never again go astray from Me, nor be defiled again with all their transgressions, but that they may be My people, and I may be their God," says the Lord GOD.' The Word of the LORD came to me, saying, 'Son of man, when a land sins against Me… [keep in mind what we just read in Jer. 18] "…by trespassing grievously, and I stretch out My hand on it, and break the staff of its bread, and send famine on it, and will cut off man and beast from it" (vs 11-13).

Now this is getting right down to the utter destruction of the nation because of sin. We don't know how greatly the sin is going to be, or how much more magnified it's going to be, but we know in Rev. 18, it says the sins of Babylon the Great have reached unto heaven. So that shows you what's going to happen at the end-time.

Verse 14: "'And though these three men, Noah, Daniel, and Job, were in it, they should deliver only their own lives by their righteousness,' says the Lord GOD." That's important for us to understand. This is seeing the judgment of God in action.

(Part 2)

We're going to see, that what God is talking about here is part of the four judgments that He has which are called My four sore judgments!

• famine (v 13)
• noisome beasts (v 15)

Now remember in all of these if Noah, Daniel or Job were there, they wouldn't deliver but only their own lives.

• a sword

Verse 17, God says: "Or if I bring a sword upon that land, and say, 'Sword, go through the land'…"

• pestilence (v 19)

In each case He says that Noah, Daniel or Job were there, the three most righteous men this side of the Flood.

Verse 21 gives us a summary of it: "For thus says the Lord GOD, 'How much more when I send My four evil judgments against Jerusalem, the sword, and the famine, and the destroying beast, and the pestilence, to cut off man and beast from it?" There's going to be a remnant that He says is also part of the pattern in judgment of God, which is whenever He brings correction and judgment there is also a remnant that fear God, and He is merciful to them.

Verse 22: "'Yet, behold, there shall be left a remnant in it that shall be brought out, both sons and daughters. Behold, they shall come out to you, and when you shall see their ways and their doings, then you shall be comforted concerning the evil that I brought on Jerusalem, for all that I have brought upon it. And they shall comfort you when you see their ways and their doings. And you shall know that I have not done without cause all that I have done in it,' says the Lord GOD.

None of the judgments of God are arbitrary; we need to understand that! Whether it's for an individual, for a nation, a state here in America, or a city.

Now we'll just summarize some of these things. When God announced to Abraham what He was going to do to Sodom and Gomorrah, and this was the final judgment upon it, let's understand that God probably had Lot—who was witnessing to them all the time—because it says there in 2-Peter that Lot was frustrated with the behavior of the wicked when he saw what was going on. Apparently Lot was the one who warned them.

So, the Lord and two angels came, and Abraham met them, and God said, 'We're not going to withhold what we're going to do from our servant Abraham.' He told them what they were going to do, and then Abraham bargained with Him from 50 down to 10. But the way that he approached God was this: 'Oh Lord God the Judge of all the earth, shall You not do righteously?' That was a good way to petition God.

Now let's understand a very important thing concerning our life and our existence, our creation as God made us. God made us to make personal choices. Personal choices are a matter of judgment and apply all the way down through from a nation, to a King, to individual, to groups of people. What we need to realize is that when we understand it, life involves choices, and choices are judgments. So, life is filled with discernment, decisions, and judgments.

A lot of people don't like the word judgment, but the truth is that those who don't like the word judgment, judge everyone else for judging them in their evil; that's how it goes. We have been made to judge, to choose, to decide. In our daily life we have to make a judgment, a decision:

• when to get up
• when to go to work
• what to wear
• what food we buy
• what to eat
• what we are going to read
• what we watch on television?
• when to pray
• when to study

All of those things are individual judgments. Then you have financial judgments that you need to make and so forth:

• purchasing things
• buying a home
• renting a home
• buying furniture
• buying a car
• paying bills

All of those are all choices or judgments that we have to make.

Of course, one of the most important or the greater, as it were, financial matters that we do, we determine our increase and what we render to God and what we render to Caesar. That's all a part of it. Likewise with our family, we're always making decisions and judgments in husband/wife relationships, child-rearing and things like this.

How about in our spiritual life, we make judgments concerning our relationship with God. We must choose to love God. Remember this: every choice or decision is a judgment, because God made us to function by choices, decisions and judgments, whether we have the Spirit of God or not. But having the Spirit of God, the first choice is that we love God with all our heart, mind, soul and being. That's key to our relationship with God. So, we need to really understand that and realize how that is.

Here's a very important part of how God explains this. Let's understand that no person alive can live or function without choices, decisions, and judgments, whether they know God or they don't know God. This is important for us to realize so that when we come before God in our relationship with Him that we always remember that:

• God is perfect
• His way is perfect
• His laws are perfect
• His salvation is perfect
• His grace is perfect

When we come before God, we make the decision:

• to love God
• to pray to Him
• to worship Him
• to exalt Him His son Jesus Christ
  • His way
  • His laws
  • His commandments
  • His Truth
  • His faith
  • His hope
  • His plan for all mankind

God sets this before every human being. Let's see what else God has said; He has not made it difficult. That's why there are so many Bibles in so many languages.

Let's go through Deut. 30 and again see something very important: repentance is always involved in God's consideration of judgment, in our relationship with God!

That's why the model prayer tells us that we're to ask God to forgive us our sins daily as we forgive others. That is also a matter of judgment in both cases: God forgiving us and us forgiving other people. God does not like it when you come to Him and boo-hoo and ask Him to forgive you your sins; then you get up off your knees and you go out and you are self-righteous, judgmental and condemning the people; giving no grace, no mercy, no understanding or anything like that. You have just defeated the very thing that you pleaded God to give to you! There has to be repentance.

Deuteronomy 30:8: "And you shall return… [after you've gone through all the curses, the enemies and the judgment of God] …and obey the voice of the LORD, and do all His commandments which I command you today" (vs 7-8). You can add to that everything in the New Testament.

Verse 9: "And the LORD your God will make you abundantly prosperous in every work of your hand, in the fruit of your body, and in the fruit of your livestock, and in the fruit of your land, for good, for the LORD will again rejoice over you for good as He rejoiced over your fathers"

If! It's conditional what we choose in our judgment, decisions, and choices to do.

Verse 10: "If you shall obey the voice of the LORD your God to keep His commandments and His statutes which are written in this Book of the Law…"

If!—two of them right in a row!

"…and if you turn to the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul" (v 10). That's important to realize. When we do that, that is an attitude of repentance, because whenever it says, 'If you return' (KJV) in the Old Testament that means, if you repent and come back to God.

He makes it very simple, v 11: "For this commandment which I command you today is not hidden from you, neither is it far off." Not like they have today, not like the book on Jesus papers, the Gnostic Gospels or the Da Vinci Code where they have got to go find it. Hidden away some place, in some dark little corner, the super dungeon four stories below the castle, and you find a little box that contains the secret of God, and you've got to have someone find it and decode it for you. Nor is it buried in the desert of Egypt because God hates and despises the things of Egypt, so what makes you think any good can come out of there? No! God hasn't done it this way!

The thing that is obvious in the whole world that everyone is overlooking, how many billions and billions of Bibles are there in the world? And it has remained the #1 best selling book, almost forever. Why? Because God promised that it would be published in all the world! It's not hidden from anybody. If a person doesn't happen to have a Bible at home they can go buy one. If they can't afford to buy one, then they can go to the library and they can read one there. It's available to everyone.

"…is not hidden from you, neither is it far off. It is not in heaven…" (vs 11-12). Just think of all the work, and money that would happen if it was said 'Ah, it's on Mars! God has hidden His Word and His purpose. Now we've got to develop this great rocket. We've got to develop men and machines to go up there, to search, to explore and to find it.'

"…that you should say, 'Who shall go up to heaven for us, and bring it to us, so that we may hear it and do it?' Neither is it beyond the sea that you should say, 'Who shall go over the sea for us to bring it to us, so that we may hear it and do it?' But the Word is very near you, in your mouth, and in your heart, so that you may do it" (vs 12-14).

In other words, it's in the language that you speak. That's a judgment God has given so that when He sets it before every human being, they're going to say, 'God, why didn't You ever tell me about this?' He's going to say, 'I did!'

Verse 15: "Behold, I have set before you this day life and good…" And that's what God set before Adam and Eve, all those people before the Flood, that's what God set before Abraham, and then Isaac and Jacob, and then the children of Israel, and before us and before every human being on earth.

"…and death and evil; in that I command you this day to love the LORD your God…" (vs 15-16). The commandment to love, becomes the primary one from which everything else that God does flows.

"…to walk in His ways, and to keep His commandments and His statutes and His judgments so that you may live and multiply. And the LORD your God shall bless you in the land where you go to possess it" (v 16).

Now today it's not the land that we're going to inherit, it is the Kingdom of God, and inherit a position in the Kingdom of God to rule on the earth. That's the choice. First of all God says, love Me, keep My commandments, My statutes, and My judgments and I'll bless you! Add to that everything contained in the New Testament.

Verse 17: "But if your heart turn away so that you will not hear, but shall be drawn away and worship other gods and serve them, I denounce to you this day..." (vs 17-18)—a warning! God gives warning—doesn't He? What does He say?

What did He say to the prophet Ezekiel? 'If I give a warning, you are to tell the people. And if you don't tell the people, I'm going to judge you accountable for not telling them, and their blood shall be upon you. But if you warn, the wicked men to turn from his way, then you shall save your soul, and his blood shall be upon him.'

So, here we have the same thing. God says 'All right, you want to go your way, you want to worship other gods, you want to add all the pagan religions to My way, and create yourself a pagan way of god, and a pagan Christianity':

Verse 18: "I denounce to you this day that you shall surely perish; you shall not prolong your days on the land where you pass over Jordan to go to possess it."

Here's what God sets before every human being, and there is no doubt. Even atheists recognize that there is the earth and there is the heaven. Meaning you're without excuse. God didn't have witnesses, like the Mormons say, where it's all written down on tables of gold, and then that was translated and put on paper, and then revised and revised. No one has ever found the golden tablets claimed by Joseph Smith. The reason is because they didn't exist. God doesn't operate that way. He lays it all out front, lays it out in the open, and He uses the heaven and the earth as a witness against all human beings. What He says here:

Verse 19: "I call heaven and earth to record this day against you…" Meaning you have no excuse. You're free to choose what you want to do: 'to love Me, or to do evil!'

"…that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing. Therefore, choose life, so that both you and your seed may live" (v 19). How did He start out? I command you to love God! How did he end up? He says:

Verse 20: That you may love the LORD your God, and may obey His voice, and may cleave to Him; for He is your life…" Not only physically, but eternal life.

Everyone wants eternal life, no one wants to die. Yet, they don't realize there's only one way to eternal life and that's through Jesus Christ. And since that is true, you can't have it both ways. It's either going to be God's way or no way. And if you go your way, which is no way, then all these things are going to come upon you. But notice His appeal:

Verse 20: That you may love the LORD your God, and may obey His voice, and may cleave to Him; for He is your life and the length of your days, so that you may dwell in the land…" and you can put in there, in the Kingdom of God and live forever.

"…which the LORD swore to your fathers—to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob—to give it to them" (v 20). Let's understand a very important thing as we connect this to God's judgment with the people of God today. We're being judged all the time, but you need not fear that, because God is merciful, loving, kind, forgiving and gracious.

Now let's see that upon the Church, it says it very clearly, the judgment is now upon the house of God. 1-Peter 4 will give us some understanding of what we're doing, where we're going, and so forth.

1-Peter 4:17: "For the time has come for judgment to begin with the household of God; and if it first begins with us, what will be the end of those who do not obey the Gospel of God?" Yes, with great difficulty we enter into the Kingdom of God that is true.

• we have to overcome self
• we have to overcome sin
• we have to overcome Satan
• we have to overcome the way that this world is

Verse 18: "And if the righteous are saved with much difficulty..." The reason that God wants it that way is so that we come to really love God when we see how futile our ways are, which is a judgment. That we come to see how much we need God, His mercy, kindness, forgiveness and His Spirit. How much we really desire eternal life and that's what the judgment is for; the judgment is for life if we continue in the way that God wants us to go.

"…And if the righteous are saved with much difficulty, what will become of the ungodly and the sinner? For this reason also, let those who suffer according to the will of God commit their souls to Him in well doing, as to a faithful Creator" (vs 18-19).

Let's see how God works. Much to the chagrin of a lot of people, at the only thing that comes out of the book of Romans is God's graciousness, God's grace, mercy and forgiveness. Once we have that done and everything is all accomplished, you have eternal security. No! Let's see what God says here for Jew and for Gentile both. Then we'll see something very important in the way that God operates and the way that God judges.

Romans 2:4: "Or do you despise the riches of His kindness and forbearance and long-suffering, not knowing that the graciousness of God leads you to repentance?"

That's the first of God's judgment! When a person sins, God's judgment is not to come in and punish and destroy immediately, unless the sin so grievous that that requires it the first thing. What does He do? He leads you to repentance so it can be forgiven! He does that to draw you to Him. God leads you to repentance.

Now, if you don't, v 5 is consistent with what we read in the Old Testament. So, what Paul is doing here is laying out the judgment of God on a spiritual basis. Just like we read in 1-Peter 4, the judgment now is on the house of God! So, Paul is making the difference here.

Verse 5: "But you… [I'm speaking primarily to the Jews in this particular case, but it applies to anyone] …according to your own hardness and unrepentant heart…"

• if you keep resisting God
• if you're stubborn against God
• if you don't do the things that you need to do
• if you don't maintain a relationship with God
• if you just set your jaw
• if you just set your mind

to go against God, what are you going to do?

"…are storing up wrath for yourself against the day of wrath and revelation of God's righteous judgment" (v 5). There it is, right there, judge righteous judgment!

Verse 6: "Who will render to each one according to his own works." God is going to do it on what you do:

• not what you intend, but what you do
• not what you think, but what you do

because all of your actions are a result of choice, a decision or a judgment. Some may be impetuous, whatever they be, but nevertheless according to his own works.

Verse 7: "On the one hand…" Now Paul gives the comparison. Notice how this follows along with Deut. 30, about setting before you life and death, blessing and cursing, and so forth.

"…to those who with patient endurance in good works… [you have to keep doing it] …are seeking glory and honor and immortality... [He's going to give them] …eternal life."

But you have to seek it God's way, of course, with all your heart, mind, soul and being. What did it say here for those who are seeking glory, honor, immortality and eternal life? He says, 'Seek and you will find, knock and it shall be open, ask and you shall receive.' Everything you need to change, grow and over come:

• with the help, strength and power of God
• with His Spirit in you
• with His love and mercy and forgiveness that He wants to pour out upon you

which is the judgment that He wants to give to you,
then He's going to give you eternal life.

I want you to think about this, not only in relationship to the world, but I want you think about this of those in the Church who many have attitudes in degree, that have some of this, which needs to be repented of, because they've made the choice to do these things.

Verse 8: "On the other hand, to those who are contentious and who disobey the Truth, but obey unrighteousness—indignation and wrath, tribulation and anguish—upon every soul of man who works out evil..." (vs 8-9).

God is judging everyone on the earth everywhere, all the time, one degree or another. He's judging His people after one standard; He's judging the world after another standard, which is by the letter of the Law.

Verse 10: "But glory and honor and peace to everyone who works good, both to the Jew first, and to the Greek, because there is no respect of persons with God" (vs 10-11).

What happened for those who really didn't want to believe Jesus Christ, didn't want to obey the Truth, what did they say. 'Oh, we're Abraham's seed, therefore, God has got to respect us. We're his descendants, how can God do anything to us? Even though our works are as evil as they are.' No! "…to everyone who works good, both to the Jew first, and to the Greek, because there is no respect of persons with God."

Verse 12: "For as many as have sinned without law shall also perish without law; and as many as have sinned within the Law shall be judged by the Law"—which is perfect, righteous, Holy and good. That's how God judges righteous judgment!

How NOT to Judge:

Let's move into the area of how to judge righteous judgment. First of all, we need to look at how we are not to judge. This is an important thing to understand that there are times to make judgment and there are times not to make judgment. Then we are going to see the greatest sin that people do, and you see it every night on the television news:

• What do you think?
• What did you hear?
• What is the latest from the grapevine?
• What is the latest from your leak?
• Tell us!

Matt. 7 starts out with the attitude. You've got to have the right attitude for judging in the first place.

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

Let's understand something that happens with all people, all the time,. You've done it! I've done it! Everyone has done it! In particularly women do this more than men. They look at people, see what they're doing, and immediately condemned them in their mind. 'Oh look at what this person is doing.'
What happens is that you go shopping and you see someone, and you look at them and you make a judgment. If you're overweight and you look at some one thin and you say, 'Oh boy I wish I could be like that.' If you're someone thin, you see they're overweight and say 'Oh, look at those overweight people, they don't have any control or anything about them.' What are you doing? You're judging their heart!

I'm firmly convinced that every person who has access weight doesn't want it. And you need to, rather than condemn them in your mind to exalt yourself, which is what you're doing when you do that, feel sorry for them, and realize they don't want to be that way. But unfortunately, because of the things that they do and some of the choices that they make, and the inheritance that they have, they're that way. But you don't know the heart and the mind—do you? No! That's important to understand.

Verse 2: "For with what judgment you judge, you shall be judged…" And there's another Scripture that says 'If you desire mercy, you give mercy.' Because the merciful man will receive mercy, the unmerciful man or woman will not receive mercy. Too many times in our judgment of people we want mercy for us, but not for them, because we know better and we have repented, and these people are rotten and nasty. You let God judge them. Is God capable of judging them? Yes! So, He gives this:

"…and with what measure you mete out, it shall be measured again to you… [never forget that] …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). That's the biggest stumbling block in judgment, the perception of self. Rather than:

• God's way
• God's Truth
• God's love
• God's mercy
• God's law

All that should come first! Not your condemning perception of other people of who they are, what they are and what they are doing.

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?" You know, you can just imagine that, 'Oh, I see a sliver in there,' and you've got this big beam, and you go BONG! hit him on the head and you knock him out, 'Oh, oh I'm sorry, I'm trying to get the sliver.' BONG! You hit him again. And you bend down to get it out and BANG! you hit him right on the forehead and almost blind him! That's what Christ is talking about. Before you approach any kind of judgment with other people, He says, 'Examine yourself.'

Verse 5: "You hypocrite, 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 to do.

What happens when people don't do that? I want to cover something very important here that we find listed not only in the Old Testament but it is also in the New Testament. When you see or perceive a problem, when not to judge! We might not get to it until part two, but hold on, we'll get there.

Leviticus 19:16, here is a command: "You shall not go as a slanderer among your people..." That's one of the greatest problems between brethren within the Church.

• Have you heard?
• Did you know?
• Guess what I saw?
• Guess what so and so did?

And you have no basis for understanding why they did it, what the problem was, what their state of mind was, and so forth.

Verse 17: "You shall not hate your brother in your heart…." That's what happens when a lot of these things come up. When people start condemning as Jesus said here in Matt. 7, 'They judge and hate the brother in their heart.'

We're going to see a little later on, because God is a God of love, mercy and truth! He always leaves the door open for repentance! What happens is that we all want it for ourselves, but rarely do we desire it for the other person. We want to slam the door and cut them off. If there's total evil that's going on, then that's what should be done.

Let's see what else the Bible tells us about tale-bearing, and what it causes. We also need to realize, that within the Churches of God there is a lot of tale-bearing, gossip and things going on. When we we're finding out about all the evil that was going on within the Church, it wasn't a matter of tale-bearing necessarily, but it was a matter of an underground conveyance of truth so that we would know what's going on. In that case you need to differentiate from that.

Proverbs 11:13—this applies to other things too: "A talebearer is a revealer of secrets..." If someone confides something to you, you are never to repeat it to anyone else. I make that an absolute rule in what I do in counseling people. I do not discuss my counseling with any of the brethren, with anyone else, unless I need wisdom from one of the elders. I do not discuss it with my wife, I do not discuss it with anybody else in the Church, because if a person has a problem and difficulty they need to overcome, they need the encouragement of understanding that when they come to a minister they are not going to be embarrassed to have someone else tell it back to them, because the minister has a big blabbing mouth.

"…but one who is of a faithful spirit keeps the matter hidden" (v 13)—while you are overcoming the difficulty. This doesn't mean that you are condoning sin. This means that it is a matter that needs to be solved and you don't go blab it to everyone on earth. Today with the telephone, with the Internet, with everything we have, everything can be out there and it can gain a life of itself, and it can burn and destroy. You need to understand that. I've been through all of these things myself. I know what I'm talking about with it, and I know what it is with people and the things they have, and the things that they do.

Once you say it, you can't take it back! What does it do? This is all a part of getting rid of the beam that is in your eye, to help someone who has the sliver in his eye.

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

How many relationships have been destroyed because people are tale bearers? They just can't wait to run up and down in the camp, with the phone:

• Did you know?
• Did you to hear?
• I've talked to so and so.
• Oh, did you see this?
• Did you see that?

What does all this cause, in addition to hurt feelings and difficulties?

Proverbs 26:20: "Where there is no wood, the fire goes out; and where there is no talebearer, the quarreling ceases." I've seen this and experienced it in the Church

Some talebearers, not only being gossips, become very contentious. I know when I was dealing with a very severe matter that there were people who were so impatient that they couldn't wait They wanted their judgment, rather than letting me take my time to get all the facts, which we'll talk about later.

What did they do? They had to get on the phone, and they had to call people in Canada, and they to call people in other states.

• Did you know?
• Did you hear?

They didn't have all the facts. They may have had some, but you see what happens when you do this?

• you close the door for repentance
• you close the door for a person to come back
• you create strife and contention

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. Burning lips… [can hardly wait to talk] …and a wicked heart are like a broken piece of pottery with silver dross. He who hates and disguises it with his lips stores up deceit within himself. When he makes his voice gracious, do not believe him, for seven hateful things are in his heart" (vs 21-25). And we've also seen that too!

• How many times have tale-bearing been lying?
• Do you know all the facts?
• Were you there?
• Did you see it?
• Did you understand it?
• Did you know what was going on in the mind of the person?
• Did you assume it?
• Did you make a judgment against it?
• What did you do?

We're going to see, there are times not to judge.

Verse 28: "A lying tongue hates those afflicted by it, and a flattering mouth works ruin." They do not have righteous judgment!

All Scriptures from The Holy Bible in Its Original Order, A Faithful Version by Fred R. Coulter

Scriptural References:

• Revelation 20:4
• John 5:27
• Psalm 75:4-7
• Psalm 96:13
• Hebrews 12:22-23
• Psalm 50:3-4
• Psalm 18:30
• Psalm 12:6
• Psalm 18:30-32
• Matthew 5:48
• Psalm 18:33-35
• Psalm 19:7-10
• Isaiah 57:15
• Jeremiah 4:2
• Isaiah 61:3
• Psalm 11:4-7
• Jeremiah 18:7-10
• Ezekiel 14:6-14, 17, 21-23
• Deuteronomy 30:8-20
• 1 Peter 4:17-19
• Romans 2:4-12
• Matthew 7:1-5
• Leviticus 19:16-17
• Proverbs 11:13
• Proverbs 18:8
• Proverbs 26:20-25, 28

Scriptures referenced, not quoted:

• Daniel 4
• Revelation 16
• Ezekiel 14:15, 19

Also referenced:

• Booklet: Judge Righteous Judgment by Fred R. Coulter
• Sermon: Spirit of God, Spirit of Man, Seven Spirits of God

FRC:bo
Transcribed:12-18-15