Message 12 - By
Jerry D. Green
Thou
Shalt Not Judge?
Introduction
This message was written in the 1990’s shortly after the attempt by
congress to impeach then President Clinton for his affair with the intern. I
had never before been so perturbed with our congressional leaders; Watching
them as most seemingly saw no wrong in what had been done. How, I asked myself, can this be? Then I
realized that a person cannot condemn someone else for something when they
would, or would like to do, the same thing. And then it really hit me. These
people were of the world, so how could they possibly see any wrong in what they
were doing when many of the church leaders of the day were doing the same
things. Some of the prominent church leaders of the day had previously had
their own scandals which were equally as bad, or worse. So as I pondered these
things the Lord gave me this message for the church; because it is the church
which must set the standard for the world, and not vice versa. I sincerely hope
and pray that God will use this message to enlighten all those who call
themselves Christians, to the truth of this message. JDG
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Thou Shalt Not
Judge?
Is there an “Eleventh Commandment”? To hear many in the church
today one would surely think so. This new commandment seems to be the “in”
quote for today’s church. When anything comes up in the church which calls for
discerning, decision making, or taking a stand for right, or against wrong,
the scripture is quickly quoted, “Judge not that you be not judged” (Matthew 7:1; Luke 6:37). If the devil ever smiles, it must be when he thinks of
the “shenanigan” he has put on a gullible, naive, irresponsible church. Rather
than to take a stand for or against anything, the church has used
these scriptures for a copout to evade its God given responsibilities; while
the devil’s messengers are busily going about spreading and establishing this
erroneous teaching in the minds of a listless, sleeping, uncaring church. How
could the church have gotten to such a low ebb of thinking and teaching which
is so much like the WORLD? It is because the church is filled with preachers,
teachers, and church joiners who are “…of the WORLD…” (I John 4:5). Jesus never told anyone
not to judge, that is, not to discern. He simply tells us to “…judge righteous (just) judgment” (John 7:24).
To better understand what Jesus was really saying in Matthew 7:1 and Luke 6:37, let’s look at the meaning of the Greek word which was
translated judge in both of these scriptures. Perhaps there is no equivalent
English word, for it is #2919 in
Strong’s Greek Dictionary, and means “properly, to distinguish, i.e., decide (mentally or judicially),” all which is
good, but “by implication, to try, condemn, (and) punish,” which is not good. In short, we’re not to be the whole
judicial system. That is, we are not to try
(judge), condemn (pass sentence),
and punish (carry out the sentence).
“Vengeance is mine saith the Lord” (Romans 12:19). God will judge all of us with righteous judgment by His Son Jesus
Christ. That is to say, not according to
(outward) “…appearance…” (John 7:24), i.e., not by the seeing of
the eye and/or the hearing of the ear, and He (God) will mete out righteous
punishment in due season (John 5:22-27).
The condemning (the sentencing to
death [or other punishment]) and the punishing
(the carrying out of the sentence) phase is
not our job; but the trying
(judging, or discerning) phase is our
job AND responsibility. Trying,
condemning, and punishing is what the law of Moses was about. According to the
law of Moses the woman caught in the act of adultery could lawfully have been
stoned to death. But Jesus said to the woman, “Neither do I CONDEMN thee: go, and SIN NO
MORE” (John 8:11). Thank God
for grace! “For God sent not his Son into the WORLD to CONDEMN the
WORLD; but that the WORLD through Him… (*) be saved” (*Might in the New
Testament, KJV, is always a translator added word; John 3:17). The answer to sin
under the law of Moses was to
destroy the sinner. But the answer
to sin by the gospel of Jesus
Christ, is to destroy only the SIN that is within the sinner, thus saving the soul of the sinner from eternal damnation. Jesus
continues in Luke 6:37, “CONDEMN NOT and
ye shall NOT be CONDEMNED.” The Greek word here is Strong’s #2613, and means to “adjudge against,
i.e., pronounce guilty.” Again, it is not our job to condemn (pass judgment or pronounce guilty of death [or any other
punishment]), for the “…condemnation…” (the sentence of death; Romans 8:1) is already passed upon all those who have “…NOT believed in
the name of the only (physically) begotten Son of God” (for) “…he that believeth NOT is CONDEMNED ALREADY…” (John 3:18). The “…CONDEMNATION…,” or sentence of
death was, and still is, upon all those who are of the WORLD (Ezekiel 18:20). The very purpose of the
coming of Jesus and of Calvary was to make an escape for the WORLD (lost
humanity) from, the sentence of
death. Contrary, however, to what many believe, it does NOT take away the penalty of death; it takes away the source
and the reason of death, which is sin.
As long as there is sin in a person,
there must of necessity be death; for “…by one man (Adam) SIN entered into
the WORLD, and death (entered) by SIN; and so death passed upon all
men, for…all have (sin, and
therefore have) SINNED” (Romans 5:12). “The sting…,” “…the wages…,” the result of sin and sins, is still death regardless of what many
would have us to believe (Romans 6:23;
I Corinthians 15:56).
“But now (since Calvary, and since you have
repented of your sin and sins, and have believed the gospel) being MADE FREE
from SIN, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the
end (the result, the outcome, is) everlasting LIFE.
For the wages of SIN is death; but the gift of God is eternal LIFE through
Jesus Christ our Lord” (Romans 6:22-23). The gospel of Jesus is a complete
(finished) work. “Being justified freely (without cost to us) by His (God’s) grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: Whom God hath set
forth to be a propitiation (an atoning victim; a sacrificial
offering) through FAITH in HIS (Jesus’) blood, to declare HIS (God’s) righteousness (justice) for the remission of SINS THAT ARE PAST, through the forbearance of God” (Romans 3:24-25).
God first deals with past
sins. Past sins, that are truly
repented of, are forgiven (remitted; pardoned) through faith in the blood of
Jesus. God forbears (pardons) past sins and we are justified freely (without cost to us). There
are no vows, no money, or anything else of earthly value exchanged. We are “…washed… FROM our (sin, and) SINS IN His own
blood (Revelation
1:5) and we are “…sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ (which He
offered) once for all (for all mankind, for all time, and, for all eternity);” (Hebrews 10:10). We are
given a clean new start. But just
as, or even more importantly, we are also given a clean new heart (a new spirit, a new divine nature) without
which, we will revert back to doing the same old sinful things we
have always done. But praise be to God, He makes “…all (*true believers) new…” (*THINGS is
another word in the N.T., KJV, which is always
a translator added word; II Corinthians
5:17; Revelation 21:5). “To declare, I say, at this time HIS (GOD’S) RIGHTEOUSNESS (or, JUSTICE) that HE (GOD) might (would) be JUST, and THE JUSTIFIER of him (whosoever that
wills) which BELIEVETH in Jesus” (Romans 3:26). God remits (forgives, forebears,
pardons) our sins that are past, and makes us partakers of the
endless, sinless LIFE of His first
and only physically begotten Son, Jesus Christ (I Peter 1:3; I John 5:1,
5:18). And to all those who truly believe that which He accomplished
through His death, burial, resurrection, and ascension, “there is therefore now NO CONDEMNATION (no death
sentence) to them which are IN Christ Jesus, who walk NOT after (according to) the flesh (the old man with all of the old religious laws and religious works
thereof) but (who walk) after (according to) the (new; the law of the) Spirit…of LIFE (the new divine
nature, which is) IN Christ Jesus (and) hath made… (us) free from (both the old fleshly nature, and the
old written) …law of sin and death” (Romans
8:1-2). LIFE, which for us can
only be had, by and in Jesus, the Christ, and which can
only be obtained by faith in the true Gospel of Jesus, the Christ, is the only means of escaping the condemnation
of death (the death sentence) which is upon all sin and all sinners.
Now to address the trying
phase. Many think we should never try;
that is, to test, distinguish, or
make any kind of judgment concerning
anyone or anything in the church or even in the WORLD. Well I must tell you, this
is one of the reasons sin is so
rampant in the church today. We are told by many “we are all sinners and always
will be”; and, that “we could never do anything that would keep us out of
heaven if we have ever believed in
and/or on Jesus.” This kind of thinking eliminates the need to seek an answer
for sin. With sin so tolerated and condoned, and being told that sin doesn’t matter, the devil has
lulled the church into a deep sleep (I
Thessalonians 5:58). How wrong and dangerous this kind of thinking is; for
John says, “…believe NOT every spirit, but TRY (test, prove,
discern) the spirits whether they are of God (or not. Why?) because many false
prophets are gone out into the WORLD” (I John 4:1). Here is testing, distinguishing, or judging, and John
tells us how. The entire epistle (letter, or book) of I John is concerning the trying, testing, or judging of false
brethren, teachers, preachers, and prophets, so that we could know whether they
are of God or not. In fact, the entire epistle is just an in depth version of
what Jesus said in Matthew 7:15-16. “Beware of false prophets, which come
to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.” So how shall we
know them? “Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes
of thorns, or figs of thistles”? Certainly not! How desperately we need to try the spirits of the ministries of today. “…Every spirit that confesseth not (assents, agrees,
acknowledges not) that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God. And every spirit that
confesseth (assents, agrees, acknowledges) NOT that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is NOT of God: and this is
that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even
now already (in John’s day) is it in
the WORLD (I John 4:3), … even now (in John’s day) are there many antichrists; whereby we know that it is the last time” (I John 2:18). Please notice that it is the
confession of the spirit of the person, and not necessarily that which the
person says with their mouth, which defines the antichrists (plural). Even as it was in John’s day and much
more so today, the WORLD is flooded with antichrists. Antichrists are
everywhere. Perhaps through ignorance, or maybe just to draw attention away
from themselves, they, the antichrists (plural) have come up with the doctrine
of THE antichrist (singular) which
is not mentioned in the scriptures. Yet the sin filled church staggers drunkenly onward, oblivious to the
antichrists (plural), “…sleep(ing) in the night…” (I Thessalonians 5:69), enjoying “…the pleasures of SIN for a season…” (Hebrews 11:25), and waiting for THE antichrist (singular) to come when
they will go flying sinlessly
off to heaven while the old sinful WORLD which has not believed in, or on,
Jesus, stays behind to suffer the wrath of God for their unbelief (I Thessalonians 5:67; Hebrews 11:25-26). Brother and Sister,
it will NOT happen that way. All sinners will suffer the wrath of
God no matter what they have professed to believe.
Other judgments we (the church) are to make are spoken of by Paul
to the Corinthians (I Corinthians
chapters 5 and 6). A church which considered itself very spiritual indeed,
yet, like so many churches today, it was filled with much wickedness, including
fornication: even to one who had taken his father’s wife. Like so many churches
today, the Corinthian church was “…puffed up…” (proud). They
were “…glorying…” in their toleration of this sin. But Paul tells them, “Your glorying is not good. Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth
the whole lump?” (I Corinthians 5:6).
Sin in the church which is not dealt
with will soon increase to the point where there is no difference between the
church and the WORLD. Sadly, this is the case with much of the church today.
Paul’s judgment was that the church should have “…rather mourned…” (been grieved)
concerning those things which were being done among them and that such a one be
put out of the church, not as a punishment, for that is not for the church to
do, but that such a one be delivered “…unto (turned over to) Satan (whom they have chosen to serve) for the destruction of the flesh (the physical body) that they
might come to a “…godly sorrow (for their sin, which) worketh repentance (un)to salvation…” (II Corinthians 7:8-10), that the spirit (their soul) may be saved in the day of the
Lord Jesus” (I Corinthians 5:5).
He goes on to say however, that it is NOT
the church’s business to judge the WORLD, but for the church to judge itself. “Therefore put away from among yourselves that wicked person” (I Corinthians 5:13).
Concerning trivial and/or other matters pertaining to this life,
Paul also says that the church is not
to go before the unjust courts of the WORLD, but for the church to judge these matters itself. Is there “…not a wise man among you? No, not one that shall be able to judge
between his brethren?” Don’t you “…know that the saints (the true
children of God) shall judge the WORLD…,” and even “…angels…” (with Jesus,
after He returns; Revelation 20:6).
Also, a better way in many cases is “Why do ye not rather take wrong? Why
do ye not rather suffer (allow or permit) yourselves to be defrauded (I
Corinthians 6:17; Proverbs 20:22)?” This would
settle many matters in the church as well as gain a brother or sister in many
cases.
What should those in authority do if they discern a person with an
unclean spirit, or see those who are obviously doing wrong, holding an office,
and/or having a place on the platform of the church (i.e., deacons, teachers,
singers, those who play instruments, etc.)? It’s not enough just to preach
strongly against that which they are doing, or even go to them and tell them
they shouldn’t do those things and hope that they will repent and change, or
that God will move them out? No! God didn’t put them in those offices and/or
positions and He’s not obligated to move them out. And if the matter is
something obvious, God is not obligated to warn the person in authority
concerning that person; but He will hold those in authority responsible for
moving them out of those positions, whether they do it or whether they don’t.
Eli rebuked his sons concerning the evil things they were doing in the house of
God, but God still made an end of his house because he did not restrain them
(because he was weak in his correction; I
Samuel 2:22-25 and 3:12-13).
It’s not enough just to tell a person they should or shouldn’t be doing
something. They must be restrained (stopped or removed) from those positions.
The same applies to children. The parents are responsible to God for the soul’s
of their children, not just to rebuke them, but to train them up, initiate,
dedicate, discipline them in the way they should go as the need warrants (Proverbs 22:6). It is extremely
detrimental to the church Jesus suffered and died for when the world sees them
doing anything that is wrong while claiming to be a child of God.
The conclusion is this. There is
a judging we must NOT do, but there is also a judging we MUST do. So, as a member of the body of
the Lord Jesus Christ (His true church), let us not shirk our just duty and
responsibility. But rather, let us preach the true gospel of Jesus Christ, “…rightly dividing
the word of truth,” and judging those things we should judge. Only let our
judging be “…righteous judgment…,” worthy of the children of God.
Message 12 - Thou Shalt Not Judge?
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