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All right the part of Leviticus chapter 19 is actually one verse We're gonna focus in on this morning, and we're starting off in the Old Testament, which yes, I know we are New Testament believers, but you know what the Bible talks a lot about all scripture being by inspiration of God And it's profitable for doctrine for instruction and righteousness So there's things that we need to learn from the Old Testament and in fact There's a lot of things that still are in effect throughout the New Testament even though it's written in the Old Testament But the topic that we'll be looking at today is actually not found as much in the Old Testament as it is in the New Testament which is often the case we find concepts that are brought up in the Old Testament that expounded upon further in a New Testament and this is one of those where you get the main teaching Here in the law of the law of Moses law of God and Leviticus 19 And we're gonna see a couple other places in the Old Testament brought up, and then we're gonna go to all the applications In the New Testament that that kind of helped apply this truth look at verse number 15 there in Leviticus 19 the Bible says you shall do no unrighteousness in judgment Thou shalt not respect the person of the poor nor honor the person of the mighty But in righteousness shalt thou judge thy neighbor and the title my service morning is a respecter of persons And this is a really important concept that that spans all time This is a great truth in the Bible Are we looking at this morning and we want to make sure that we do things right? And this is extremely important because this is what's bringing up respect to our persons It has to do with your judgment has to do with you making judgment cause it has to do with you determining right and wrong It's gonna impact the way you deal with people the way you deal with things the way you deal with events Do you know things that happen we need to have righteous? Judgment and let's face it. You know people say oh, I thought we're not supposed to judge you make judgments all the time Okay, don't get deceived by the by the Oh judge not judge not you always make a judgment The people who tell you don't judge are making a judgment and telling you not to judge, right? I mean that that inherently is a judgment and I'm not gonna get off into the whole, you know Teaching in Matthew 7, but there's a lot more to that chapter than just judge not Right was a judge not that you be not judge for with what judgment you judge. You shall be judged It's talking about being a hypocrite in judgment Okay and that's also an extremely important aspect of making a judgment on things on morality and on what's right and what's wrong that We are not just pontificating and being hypocrites Because no one's gonna respect your judgment if you're a hypocrite. No one's gonna want to listen to you, right? It's gonna ruin your testimony And Similarly if you're a respecter of persons in your judgment It's similar to being a hypocrite and no one's gonna want to listen to what you have to say if you're just a Respector of persons and you care more about who's the person saying it than what's being said We need to understand this concept it is very important concept, but there's a balance that's going to come with this I'm going to get in that in just a little bit But this is talking about when we make a judgment the Bible is just clearly laying out in the law Thou shalt not respect the person of the poor nor honor the person of the mighty What's all mighty is this all about someone who's in a position of power? They're wealthy, you know, whatever. So you've got two extremes someone who's really poor and someone might said it doesn't matter Whether the poor or not, it doesn't matter at all in righteousness shalt thou judge thy neighbor So when there's a matter to judge, it doesn't matter what their background is a matter how much money they have that means nothing It doesn't matter how much clout they have how much influence they have if you're gonna judge a matter if someone did something wrong if there's A transgression if someone sinned against somebody else you have to look at the facts You have to look at what actually happened and it doesn't matter who the person is I mean just because someone may be real powerful and really respected and everything else if they did wrong Then they ought to be found guilty of whatever, you know If they're being brought up on charges of some crime and the facts show that they did what they what they're being accused of Then you don't go. Oh, but we really like this person. So we're not gonna judge against them. No, we need to judge righteously Righteously flip over if you would to Deuteronomy chapter 16 This is extremely important in God's law because part of God's law when God gave the law is he's establishing judges To judge God's law to determine. Okay. Well, here's what God said. How does this apply in our daily life? So when people break God's law when people transgress against someone else the judges are there to determine guilt as well as punishment Right, what is appropriate what needs to be done? Well, what does God's law say? There needs to be a judge to determine these things So God explains how you need to be a judge How to judge verse number 18 in Deuteronomy 16? Excuse me Bible reads judges and officers shalt thou make thee and all thy gates Which the Lord thy God giveth thee throughout thy tribes and they shall judge the people with just judgment Thou shalt not rest judgment so rest means like the twist to Pervert justice right or judgment thou shalt not respect persons neither take a gift for a gift doth blind the eyes of the wise and Pervert the words of the righteous and this is this goes into then You know taking bribes so it's all about receiving a gift and saying oh, yeah You know think about a you know An important case coming up and some some rich guys being accused of some crime and then he's going to the judge going. Hey You know, I got I got these these tickets to that. I know you're a basketball fan, aren't you? Right? Well, I've got these tickets to the finals here I thought you might want to have those or what whatever it is trying to butter them up trying to get on their side so That way they view you as being oh, this is a nice guy This guy's not so bad. I mean look at these nice things. He's doing to me. You can't have your judgment clouded That's gonna pervert justice because as a judge as a righteous judge, you need to just be worried about well, what are the facts? What does the law say if your personal feelings or what someone does to benefit you should have nothing to do with with the judgment? And this is the only way that you can have righteous Judgment flip back to chapter 1 in Deuteronomy So In order for this to work in order for the system to work you have to have judges that have integrity Right in God's law he sets up. Okay, here's the law and you need to have people to judge law look every Society has some method of doing this right? They may not all be following God's law But you need to have someone to say well, here's the law But someone needs to interpret the law understand the law and apply the law And In order to have a righteous to have justice going forward to have righteous judgment You need to have people with integrity that aren't going to be taking bribes. They're not going to be corrupt They're not going to just be doing the will of other people They're actually going to be concerned about what's right and doing righteous judgment Verse number 15 in Deuteronomy chapter 1. This is Moses talking to the children of Israel Explaining what he did verse number 15 says so I took the chief of your tribes wise men and known so people who had a Reputation people who are already known to be you know, they're intelligent. They're wise. They've got good wisdom They've got good understanding It says it made them heads over you captains over thousands captains over hundreds captains over fifties and captains over tens and officers among your tribes and I charged your Judges at what time at the human at that time saying hear the causes between your brethren and Judge righteously between every man and his brother and the stranger that is with him You shall not respect persons in judgment But you shall hear the small as well as the great you shall not be afraid of the face of man For the judgment is God's and the cause that is too hard for you Bring it unto me and I will hear it So basically Moses sets up this system that he gets this wisdom from his own from his father-in-law Instead of him just hearing every single matter he says you know what we're gonna pick out other judges to be able to help me in this burden of Discerning right and wrong and who's guilty and who's innocent according to God's law what you know? And you have all these people selected but he says we chose wise men We chose people that had a reputation there already had integrity they already were people that that other people are listening to they're already these leaders and That we're gonna be able to judge Righteously and he explains you can't be a respecter of persons. You need to hear all matters. You can't just just pre judge Right, that's being prejudiced when you're when you prejudge somebody and say oh Well, this person's poor So they must have a bad character and they must be into drugs or just some criminal Anyways, because they're poor so, you know, yeah, the evidence is pointing towards the other guy but I'm just gonna say this guy did it because He's just not the type of per, you know, he just seems like the type of person that would do it And it's just based on you know, his economic status and that's wicked as not righteous Judgment to have just because you have someone that can dress up real nice and has a lot of money Doesn't mean that they're a righteous person Just because they may be polished and they be able to speak well and may be educated It doesn't mean they're not wicked or haven't done something. That is wicked You know the Bible explains us that Satan is transformed into an angel of light So if you're just going based off of appearances you can say well Satan must just be this perfect awesome righteous angel, right? I mean, he looks beautiful God created him beautifully and he's got a great voice and he's got you know, God created magnificently. He's an angel of light No, he's wicked And that's the easiest example to see and how far wicked is Satan I mean Satan is the great adversary and deceiver, you know He's the father of lies There there is you know, it's hard to come up do you think of someone who's more wicked than Satan? Yet on all appearances. He's gonna look like He can be trusted and that's how all con men are people who want to deceive you They're gonna make themselves appear to look like they're great Even though they're really not because they don't want you to uncover the truth, but the judges job Is to be able to uncover the truth and be able to judge righteously and only care about The facts only care about what's right and what's wrong and like it says here don't be afraid of the face of man You know people who are really powerful have influence and that's why there's so many members of you know Like like mafia people or politicians are able to get away literally with murder Because they use extortion on you know people and juries and on judges and things like that Like well, hey if you if you convict me Then you're gonna be killed or I'm gonna do something bad to your family or whatever and God say, you know What the job of a judge it's not to be afraid of the face of man For the judgment is God's saying you are acting as a judge for the Lord And you just need to do what's right? And and he says and the cause is too hard for you bring it up to me and I'll hear it So Moses is saying hey if you get some things some areas where it's too hard I will help judge that now It's important and I really want to bring up this concept not being a respecter of persons is so important So it doesn't matter who it is at all a Righteous judgment is a righteous judgment. It's just based on facts all the time, right? But We have to understand the difference between having respect for people and Being a respecter of persons in judgment right, I mean For example Just because someone may be a pastor that's gonna break it down right? Someone might be a pastor and Has a good reputation and has worked hard You know There's nothing wrong and I preach an entire sermon about respect and respecting people You know and showing respect and honoring people who deserve honor and things like that You know you can respect a person but when it comes time to let's say there's a judgment matter Right an accusation is brought forth an accusation is brought forth between two or three witnesses The Bible says against an elder received on accusation before two or three witnesses You need to be able to separate just well, what are the facts? Right did did did this actually happen and examine the witnesses and stuff like that and you can't be a respecter of persons And just assume well this person would never do that Right, you need to be able to me if you're gonna make righteous judgment You have to be able to just deal with well what actually happened? what's the truth of the matter and it is what it is and You can't sweep things under the rug and if someone's guilty of something. It doesn't matter who they are And you can't just like I said, you can't just assume. It's not right to just assume Well, they would never do that so that they didn't do that But you don't want to take that to the extreme then of not Dealing and having appropriate respect for people where it's due Right there is a there is It is appropriate to show respect for people to show respect for elders to show respect for certain people Bible talks about having respect for even if you're dealing with an area where an accusation is made you're trying to discern truth you still respect the person and their position While you're going through the process, but the judgment is not being a respecter of persons Does that make sense so so you don't get just because an accusation is out there Just because an accusation is out there doesn't mean you start treating people with no respect Especially when they're in a position of respect that you ought to be be humble and show that But the judgment itself Needs to be done without emotion without concern about who the person is and just say this is right and this is wrong and You know you don't get a pass just because you're this person you wouldn't get a pass if you're not that person or whatever That's being a respecter of persons, and that is not righteous judgment, and if we're gonna have integrity we need to apply The Word of God the same to everybody everybody gets the equal treatment of God's Word and look we're all human beings and We're all sinners and no one is better than anyone else now I'm not saying that character doesn't have anything to do with things because you know someone who doesn't have a Pattern or whatever you know it's something to consider But at the same time the facts are ultimately what's going to determine Guilt or innocence and in any given matter I know I'm kind of speaking a little bit vaguely here But I don't have a specific situation that I'm you know I'm talking about But just any judgment that you make though it needs to be done based on effect the Bible says in 1st Timothy chapter 5 Verse number 1 you have to turn there turn if you would To Proverbs 24 First Timothy 5 1 says rebuke not an elder But entreat him as a father and the younger men as brethren the elder women as mothers the younger as sisters with all purity So this is how we ought to be dealing with people in general anyways. You know the elders. Hey treat him as a father and That doesn't that goes beyond whatever there they may be accused of So you're showing respect you're showing honor to an elder you're showing honor. You're treating elder women as mothers Right and that's regardless of how much money they have That is just showing respect where respect is due But at the same time you don't change the judgment because of who they are right I just want to be real clear about that because we ought to have both And you know you don't want to let people get just just Too much like get like let people getting away with stuff that they shouldn't get away with Because of a position, but at the same time You don't you shouldn't be mistreating people because hey you say well. We're all in the same playing field anyways Well, no you still show respect where respect is due make sense Like Leviticus 1932 and I preached this on my sermon on respect a month a couple months ago Leviticus 1932 says thou shalt rise up before the hoary head and honor the face of the old man and fear that God I am the Lord so you need to be able to keep both in balance being able to respect the hoary head Hey when an old man comes in you get up out of your seat, and you show some respect to that person But at the same time if they're involved in some matter that requires judgment The judgment is still just based on facts and evidence, and that's it Proverbs 24 verse number 23 The Bible reads these things also belong to the wise it is not good to have respect of persons in judgment He that saith unto the wicked thou art righteous Him shall the people curse Nations shall abhor him But to them that rebuke him shall be delight and a good blessing shall come Upon them now. This is a little bit of an application of the concept of you know having respect the persons in judgment So the person that is going to say in the wicked. Hey, you're righteous so someone's guilty. They're wicked. They've done wrong But they're perverting judgment because of who the person is Right and they're saying oh, you're righteous The people see through that And this is where you know the wise person isn't gonna have that respect of persons because then you lose all credibility That's what I saw about earlier You lose all credibility with the people of being some judge when all you're doing is just deferring to oh well This is this person so There's no way they could have done anything wrong or just knowingly they're wicked But because you care about their what they say or what they may do You're just gonna call them righteous anyways this happens in the world all the time People just getting away with things and then other people in power or other judges. Oh this person's righteous. They're so good No, they're not they're wicked, and you know what the people are gonna see right through that and it says here him Shall the people curse who's a him the one that's saying that the wicked is righteous You're gonna be cursed when you make that bad judgment and just calling wicked people good. You're gonna be cursed and You're gonna be the one that the nation's are gonna have whore And it says but to them that rebuke him shall be Delight people love it when judgment it when justice is served when real righteous judgment exists You get praise for that you're gonna get honor for that and a good blessing shall come upon them so Now look you may not have the nation's abhorring you because you may not be in a position of being a judge that has that much Power of judging matters. It doesn't matter though the concept still holds Even going all the way down to the smallest matters of judgment. I mean small even within your own household right Your parents need to understand you know being not being a respecter of persons even within your house Maybe you have a child who is Kind of known for doing some bad They have a bad pattern and another one is a good pattern you still need to be able to remember to judge Righteously within your house Of what may or may not have happened right? I mean and you say like what's a big deal? Well, it has an impact on the lives of those little ones and you want to be known for someone who can judge Righteously all the time and has that integrity and doesn't just rely on You know being a respecter of persons Because it is important just to be righteous and the judgment is the Lord's At the end of the day even in the smallest of matters now Let's look at some of the applications of this same principle in the New Testament turn if you would to Acts chapter 10 The first one I'm gonna bring up here is an application We're literally it's brought up that God's not a respecter of persons and in this case it has to do with salvation and Specifically with the mindset that the Jews had at this time and and you know I'm not can't I can't comment on how long they had this mindset, but Definitely during the time of Jesus Christ on this earth when you read the New Testament you're gonna see example after example, especially just read the book of Acts and You'll see over and over again that the Jews of that day had the mindset that They were better than other nations the people in other nations Then the heat of nations up that that like that they were special and they were different to the point of Of just just being wrong and sinful. This is not right judgment on their part the amount of separation. They think they had now Obviously there was separation and God separated Israel to be a light and in a dark world and for him to reveal the Word of God to and things like that, but at the same time he never segregated them and Isolated them to the point to where no one else can become like part of Israel In fact all throughout the Old Testament you see the laws saying hey, you're gonna have one law in the land It's the same law for the foreigner or the stranger as it is for yourself And if people wanted to join themselves on Israel then they get to join themselves on Israel and they're gonna be one people and they're gonna gonna join a tribe and have their inheritance and everything else because God wasn't concerned about their physical genealogy and their physical line to be one of his people as he was about them being a child of God and serving the Lord And we're gonna see this this is this truth is revealed unto Peter in Acts chapter 10 in Acts chapter 10 prior to where we're reading Peter is up and a hot on a housetop and and he's praying and fasting and God gives him that vision of All these animals coming down And he's and God says, you know Peter take sleigh and eat and he says not so Lord because there's these unclean beasts He sees this three times and God says hey what I've cleansed that call not thou commoner and clean and So he's pondering this and then these guys show up and God said hey, there's gonna be some people that show up Just go with them. Don't ask any questions. Just go they're sent from me go with them. So he's sent unto Cornelius and this is where we pick up in the story in chapter 25 The Bible reads and as Peter was coming in Cornelius met him and fell down at his feet and worshipped him But Peter took him up saying stand up by myself Also, I'm a man and as he talked with him he went in and found many that were come together So Cornelius is an Italian Okay from Italy. He's not from Judea. He's not a Jew Okay, but God is answering his prayer and look at what Peter says in verse 28 and he said unto them ye know How that it is an unlawful thing? For a man that is a Jew to keep company or come unto one of another nation now Peter stating that this is the law and This would be a law for the Jews. This isn't going to be like a Roman law or something like that He's referring to a law that the Jews had at that time. But here's a question. Is this God's law? Can you find this law in the Word of God in the law of Moses and you know, you can't answer no Look for it all you want. You will not find this law in the Bible saying you cannot come unto one of another nation Like these guys are asking for wisdom and they're asking for Peter to preach to them and reveal truth to them And he's saying you know what? It's not lawful for a man is a Jew to go keep company here to come unto one of another nation And here's the thing they had a law it was a bad law it was a wrong law It's not righteous, but look what he says, but God has showed me that I should not call any man common or unclean Say we had this law, but you know what God told me something different So God explained yeah, don't call anyone common or unclean and that's what we get in Romans You'll see, you know Bible saying hey God's convicted can convince all of us of sin, right? Whether Jew or Gentile Jew or Greek we're all sinners We all fall short and we all come sure the glory of God. We're all sinners So you can't just call their common unclean and I'm not Not not based on what your physical lineage is that doesn't matter So they had this law and this was in their mindset and again You can see this all throughout the book of Acts and you know If you if you really think about you could start to understand maybe a little bit why especially with people who? Were unsaved why they would think this way because all were chosen people God loves us God God shows us out of all these people and everything else you start to feel real special But taking that to an extreme that is that is not righteous, right? There's nothing wrong with feeling special about being a child of God right, there's there's a lot of great things that go along with that and And what a great blessing it is but at the same time then that doesn't give you the right to be looking down on other people and Thinking that somehow you're better than they are Just because you were born in a certain nation in a certain area and who your father is I'm descended from Abraham look the people who you know Like Jesus said many times, you know, the you don't do the works of Abraham, you know If you were Abraham seed you do the works of Abraham. You're of your father the devil So he was talking to people who physically were descended from Abraham like physically where they were born and they could trace their genealogy back But Jesus says you're not of Abraham you're of the devil the devil is really your father Because he cares about the spirit not the flesh and it's the same way today and you know what that's the way it's always been and We'll see this here in a minute. So let's let's keep reading here verse number 29 By reads therefore came I unto you without gain saying as soon as I was sent for So the reason why he went is because God told him God said it's okay. God told me to go God said not to call anyone common or unclean I asked therefore for what intent you have sent me for and Cornelius said four days ago I was fasting until this hour and at the ninth hour I prayed my house and behold a man stood before me in bright clothing and said Cornelius That prayer is heard and thine alms our hand remembrance in the sight of God Send therefore to Joppa and call hither Simon whose surname is Peter He is lodged in the house of one Simon a tanner by the seaside who when he cometh shall speak unto thee Immediately therefore I sent to thee and now as to well done that thou art come now Therefore are we all here present before God to hear all things that are commanded thee of God? Then Peter opened his mouth and said of a truth. I perceive that God is no respecter of persons Right he's saying he's bringing up that phrase that we already saw in the law Not that we shouldn't be respecter of persons and judges that you know, God's not respecter of persons God doesn't see any man as being common or unclean in the sense of one nation over another which is why he says then in Verse 35 but in every nation He that feareth him and worketh righteousness is accepted with him. You think God all of a sudden just changed No, that's the way God has always been God doesn't change He's always been not a respecter of persons going back to as is evidenced in the Mosaic law Where he's teaching man not to be a respecter of persons. God is not a respecter of persons It doesn't matter where you were born. It doesn't matter what the color of your skin is It doesn't matter, you know, none of those things matter to God Because he's not a respecter of persons and what we see here are these Italians these people who were who were Gentiles or they're heathen But they're seeking the truth. They want to know what's true. They want to know what's right and God sees in art So God sends a messenger to bring them the truth because God wants them to be saved just like he wants everybody to be saved As God's not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance not just all Israel But all he what God wants everyone to be saved. We're all of this earth of one blood God made originally Adam and Eve and Of those two the entire earth has been populated So When you boil it down, you know, it may sounds cliche But there really is only one race the human race that God created with Adam and Eve Now separate nations have formed and different traits and genetics have changed as people have split off into different areas But we all are God's creation and God love for God so loved the world That he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish would have everlasting life God loved the world all the nations enough that Jesus Christ died and paid for the sins of the whole world Not any one group of people So having respect of persons, you know goes into race, you know, if you're racist you're respect of persons and you're wicked and you're wrong because That's not what God let that's not how God looks on people. God looks at the heart He says here in every nation. He that feareth him and worketh righteousness is accepted with him And say well what color is Or who his father was or their father or their father their father doesn't matter It doesn't matter We are not to be respecter of persons that regard to if you would the first Peter chapter 1 So We already saw starting with the Old Testament law being a respecter of persons in judgment based on their position Right based on who they are just as an individual should make no impact on the actual judgment It's based on fact its righteous judgment We also shouldn't be a respecter of persons in the sense that You know when it comes to someone's race or when it comes to where they were born or where they grew up Like how about this because this influences and impacts people in the United States of America people who are born in the Middle East Brown-skinned people that are born maybe in a Muslim country where there's they have a false religion in general a high percentage They're not any less human And they don't deserve any less love in the sense of hey, we ought to bring them the gospel We ought to want that you know Try to get them saved too because hey there are people that God that Jesus Christ died on the cross to save as well We don't view people no matter where they were born as less than human But unfortunately when you have governments that that wage wars and they want to you know, they have wicked gains that they want to get in conquest then It's important for them to try to convince people that these people, you know need you need to be viewed as something less than human and You know as you've seen as we see have seen with You know people who have waged wars in other areas where you got military just trying to train people Into degrading other people that you mean you've seen it in Vietnam Where the racism comes in and in the training of trying to teach Oh, well these people and they start using all the slanderous words and names to define these people. It's like Wait, they never came and invaded us that you know, that's not a righteous war for for you know America does go get involved in someone else's business and and what you know things are going on in other parts of world. Look That's not righteous judgment first of all to go in there and then second of all You know You're training people To go in and view people as being less than human because that's the only way you're gonna try to get enough people to kill other people when it's already not a just cause and Then you end up with people who are damaged as a result because they know deep down inside that what they're doing wasn't righteous And then they got to live with that for the rest of their lives and you know It just causes problem after problem after problem, but I don't want to get too far into all that We need to as individuals be able to apply not being a respecter of persons You know, there's gonna be outside influences all the time But you need to make sure that you are righteous in your judgment and not allowing that respect of persons To cloud your judgment so that you judge unrighteously about people First Peter chapter 1 look at verse number 13 the Bible reads wherefore gird up the loins of your mind Be sober and hope to the end for the grace That is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ as obedient children Not fashioning yourselves according to the former lusts in your ignorance, but as he which hath called you is holy So be ye holy in all manner of conversation because it is written be ye holy for I am holy And if he call on the Father who without respect of persons Judgeth according to every man's work past the time of your sojourning here in Fear now before I continue on here. We're gonna see you're gonna see a little bit more We're seeing another reference that God is not a respecter of persons And you know what everyone's judged on their own work now Why is this even brought up I think it's because people have a tendency and then some people have a tendency Especially when they get in certain positions. They kind of ride on being respected by people and Can get away with that for a long time? Instead of reminding themselves Hey other people may be respecting you and your position your authority or whatever else, but God's not a respecter of persons It's a thing about it doesn't matter to God let's say that I'm a pastor and that you're not At the judgment seat of Christ when he's giving out rewards He's not just gonna be like oh, well you didn't really do any work But you held this position and you were a pastor and a lot of people respected you and thought really highly of you So I'm gonna give you some extra rewards God doesn't care about that at all in fact if you're not doing any work in that position You're probably gonna lose. You know lose it more than more than anything but He's saying you know God has no respect a person just do what you need to do you know think about just just Taking care of yourself, and I don't you know I don't mean not think about other people. I mean you know don't be worried about Having This respect of other people right because ultimately what matters is is the way that God Is gonna deal with you and no no amount of respect that you have here on earth is going to carry any extra weight with? God It's it's based on your own work, and what you do if people respect you for the work you do great Nothing wrong with that, but we need to live By being holy Right and that's that was one of the biggest problems that the Pharisees had is that they would say to do things and they wouldn't do them themselves like they were these big hypocrites, and they would come across as being these super holy people and Man, oh you know they would get all the respect and they'd get the uppermost rooms at the feast And they had all this on or laid up on them, but they didn't do anything And they were just within themselves as big respecters of persons Right oh, and it's and you see the same thing today with the hyper religious people even among like like there's lots of denominations That do this lots of different religions, but the easiest one that that probably everyone's familiar with is like the Catholic Church, right? Where they've got father so-and-so or the Pope or whatever and they this elevate these people to the status It's like they don't even do anything And the Bible saying you know you need to be holy because I'm holy and remember that God's not a respecter of persons and Everyone around you might think you are some super holy righteous person But you know what God knows the heart and God doesn't care what position you have because he's gonna judge you based on your works He looks at you and and makes a righteous Judgment so he says you know without respect of persons judging according every man's work past the time of your sojourning here in fear So no matter what position you may have no matter how much respect you may have Keep yourself humble and still have a fear of the Lord Keep yourself grounded for as much as you know that you were not because you know I I think part of the reason why some people end up becoming wicked when they achieve these positions of power is Because there's that element of being able to get away with more Because of their position because there are so many people who are respecters of persons And then it opens up the door to be able to become more wicked without having the repercussions At least that's the way it's perceived. I think right And you see this happening frequently in in the political world Where people may get involved for the right reasons at the beginning and then they become corrupted You know it's like this become part of this game because it's just a way they're surrounded by a bunch of other people are corrupted and this this concept of them being in this other class and And being among the respected crowd to respected a person's crowd right that they can get away with so much more But here's the thing is that God's a righteous judge You may get away with some things in this in this world Or you may think you're getting away with some things in this world, but God doesn't just let that stuff slide God sees the heart God sees everything that's done, and you need to pass your sojourning here in fear and Keep yourself level-headed verse number 18 for as much as you know that you were not redeemed with corruptible things as silver and gold from your vain Conversation received by tradition from your fathers But with the precious blood of Christ as of a lamb without blemish and without spot Who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world? But was manifest in these last times for you who by him do believe in God that raised up Raised him up from the dead and gave him glory that your faith and hope might be in God Seeing you have purified your souls and obeying the truth Through the spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren see that you love one another with a pure heart Fervently being born again not of corruptible see but incorruptible by the Word of God which liveth and abide it forever turn a few of Ephesians chapter 6 It It's easier for people not to be a respecter of persons When you're on the poor end of things when you're not holding authority when you're not, you know, it's easier to see more clearly. I Think now some people are still blinded and they have that they elevate people higher than they should and can still Have a respect or a person's mindset but Normally, I think it's it people are more grounded because they're more humble When you're on the lower end of the spectrum Right and you may have if you're in that that position you probably have already experienced respecters of persons in judgments against you right so it's so those people that fall into that category It's not as it's it, you know, this is kind of like duh, right like yeah this happens It's happens all the time But it's as you get into different positions This is one of the reasons why I'm preaching this is because it's important for everybody You know whether you maybe throughout your lifetime start to gain wealth or maybe you you you attain different positions even within your workplace Right you become a manager you end up being promoted some position This is a principle that applies everywhere this isn't just well I'm never gonna be a judge in the you know, I'm the Supreme Court or whatever. So who cares? No, this judgment happens all the time in our lives So we want to make sure we have righteous judgment no matter what that may be in Ephesians chapter 6 we're actually gonna see an example here of Someone who's you know, the Bible calls your masters and servants you get we can think of it as boss and employee Right because that's really what it is there's someone answering to someone else someone's in a position of authority They're the ones that determine, you know, what what's going on with their with their servant or their employee And God tells us how to deal with that as On both both sides of the spectrum look at verse number five in Ephesians 6 Bible reads servants be obedient to them that are your masters according to the flesh With fear and trembling and singleness of your heart as unto Christ so saying hey, you know what if you're on the lower in there You're serving Be obedient serve right as if you're serving the Lord Serve them like you're serving Jesus Christ, you know be content Don't don't be bitter or you know, not appreciative of just where you're at in your life Hey, just be a servant and be a good servant and and you know, what God's gonna have respect to that Instead of you being full of pride and thinking you you know I deserve so much more and I shouldn't be a servant everything else Look, just just be the servant and let God let someone else elevate you and let someone else give you honor Let someone else lift you up Verse number six not with I service as men pleaser So he's still talking to the servant, you know, don't be the guy that's just I'm only gonna work hard when someone's watching me You work hard all the time Don't worry about when the boss watch you not you should be able to just always be doing a good job And you have to worry about anything but as the servants of Christ doing the will of God from the heart With goodwill doing service as to the Lord and not to men you mentioned it's like three times Look, it's like you're working for God. Remember this when you go to work as a servant work like you're working for the Lord That's the way that you ought to be working. That is the Christian way. That's gonna give you a good testimony and You know what if you're if you're doing that type of work There's nothing more that you can do So if someone's gonna be a respect to a person say at least you know I have integrity and I'm doing righteousness and if someone's gonna give a righteous judgment Then I know that I've done right but see if you're working as a man-pleaser as you're just for eye service It's a window working. You know what then maybe if you get if you get judged Be like, oh, well, he's only working when the boss is looking he's not working He's slacking off and taking naps or whatever, you know when someone's not around and abusing the time then you know you're gonna get judged and and don't complain when When you when you get a judgment coming down and Because you're not doing we're supposed to be doing But then he's gonna flip the script here that not flip the script He's gonna turn to the other side and look at it from the other perspective Where did I stop reading here verse number seven with goodwill doing services Lord not to men knowing that whatsoever Good thing any man do it the same shall he receive of the Lord whether we bond or free That's another important point. You know what when you work as if you're working for the Lord. God will take care of you So even if your employer is not taking care of you, even if you're you know, quote-unquote masters not taking care of you God will see your work and God sees. Hey, he's doing what he's supposed to be doing. He's working in integrity of heart He's working as he's working for me. So I'll pay him if he's you know, if their employer's not paying I'll make sure he's taken care of I'll make sure that that there's a righteous judgment for this person And that's the way we ought to be living our lives But now he says here on the other side verse number nine and ye masters do the same things unto them for bearing threatening Right saying, you know if you're in charge of people, you know, you don't have to threaten as as a boss Knowing that your master also is in heaven Neither is their respect of persons with him. So again be Use righteous judgment if you're using righteous judgment with people. You don't need to threaten them and And and you know try to scare them. It's just like look this is You do good. You'll receive good. You don't do your job. Then, you know, there's a problem there, but it's not it's not a threat It's just I'm gonna judge righteously So if you're doing a good job, you're doing what's right, then you'll be blessed and if you're not doing a good job, you're not doing what's right then you won't and It's it's cut and dry and people just know where you stand and it doesn't matter who you are Doesn't matter what your interests are doesn't matter what your likes are It doesn't matter if you get along well with each other because you would listen to the same music and you and you like the same Things doesn't matter. You got a job to do and you're gonna get judged according to the job that you do So that's the and that's the righteous way of dealing with that turn if you go to James 2 it's the last place we have you turn Not being a respecter of persons and James 2 brings up You know being a respecter of persons even within the church with people who have money right There is a problem with this with leadership in church and churches Where and this is this is part of the big problem with churches apostatizing is When you have preachers or pastors that care more about the money and they're so concerned about their own well-being Or you know, like they're being supported by the church Oh, well, you know, I need this money to come in. So they start censoring the messages are catering to people who have money And become a respecter of persons because you know who the people are that are putting in the most money in that offering plate So I want to make sure I don't offend them because I want to keep them in church as long as possible But when you start neglecting just preaching the truth of the Word of God regardless of who may be offended Regardless of what the outcome is going to be for any particular person Right. That's the right thing to do is just preach the Word of God It is what it is And if someone gets offended and leaves then they get offended and leave but it's not because you know you it's because they get offended at God's Word, that's you know Preachers need to do the job of preaching the Word of God If God says hey, this is the truth and this is what you need to preach then you preach it And you know what? He said that in here You don't need to wait for some special revelation well God didn't tell me to preach on it You know what if it's in here Then he's told you to preach on it And don't skip over anything because you know someone that that may not like that you know, we don't withhold and what the problem with that is you think about this and this that you can see this happening is When you start trimming the message anywhere Nothing's going to get better When you start overlooking sin and say well this person might get offended by that So I'm not going to do that you start doing that too much. You're never going to preach you become Joel Osteen And then there's just never any sin brought up ever and he's trying to tell everyone that they're good and great and we'll pass the Offering plate around five times and I'll keep telling you how good you are And we'll pat you on the back five times and and you know great keep coming back. Keep bringing your money As You have a huge congregation of people who continue to live in wickedness and are going to end up being cursed of God and not blessed of God That's the person who doesn't care about the people or that's the false prophet that's the guy that's only focused on money now That's an extreme example But unfortunately you also have pastors who may have gotten started for the right reasons They're not in it for the money, but they they kind of get to this point where they lapse in their faith And they're thinking oh man, you know What am I gonna do because our church isn't that big and this is my only source of income I can you know Yeah, you know that they've got this issue, but maybe if they stay in long enough, you know, they could come around But then it's they start trimming the message and staying away from certain topics Once you open up that door To be in a respecter of persons like that you you pervert first of all you pervert judgment It's not right. You you are not judging because now you're starting to judge God's Word as Opposed to just preaching God's Word But then the people who may have a particular problem or particular sin that you don't want to touch on There it's gonna get worse because that's what happens with sin is it continues to get worse and it's gonna destroy people's life Which means you don't really love them. You love yourself and God's gonna remove your candlestick then and then your church is gonna die God's looking for people to preach his word Not to placate a group of people Not to just tell people what they want not to teach lies You know what? God wants someone who's gonna just tell the whole word and this is what this is what it is And if you love the people you're gonna say hey thus saith the Lord. This is God's judgment. This is what God said You know if you if you have you know People don't want to preach on homosexuality because there's so many families now that have somebody or know someone or work with someone That has that and they don't want to offend people. It's like look. This is what God said is God's judgment. It hasn't changed It's the same way that it's been Okay, and if I love you, I'm gonna tell you what God's judgment is So, you know God's judgment how God feels about it because at the end of the day my feelings don't really matter But you know what God's feelings matter a lot When God views something as wicked as sin is abominable that matters That matters tremendously and you could try to look the other way and you could try to ignore it But you know what you can't ignore God And it's better to know the truth Than to just be ignorant or willingly ignorant and just not want to deal with it You know what when the God's Word says something. Let's just deal with it head-on And let's make the appropriate changes and just get right with God because God's not going to change his mind So I went a little bit of rabbit trail, let's look at James chapter 2 It's the last passage we're gonna look at here James chapter 2 verse number 1 Bob reads my brethren have not the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ the Lord of glory with respect of persons again Remember this really isn't brought up that much in the Old Testament But it keeps on being brought up in the New Testament and being applied in multiple ways of having respect of persons And he's saying here. You know what your faith The way that you that you you know worship and the way that you just you act out on your faith it ought not to be with respect of Persons for he explains it further verse 2 for if there come unto your assembly a man with a gold ring and goodly apparel And they're coming also a poor man in vile raiment And you have respect to him that where at the gay clothing and say unto him sit thou here in a good place and say To the poor stand out there or sit here under my footstool Are you not then partial in yourselves and are become judges of evil thoughts about saying, you know That's an evil thought and that's a wicked thought For you to start with someone comes in here and you know that and there's nothing wrong with this when people come in They're well-dressed they may you know me I have a man dressed in a suit and a tie and they've got their Bible in hand and they come in and they've got a Nice firm handshake and they look in your eyes and say good morning, brother. Hey Great Right. We're not saying disrespect people that come in and maybe and maybe they have you know They're showing that they have some wealth and they're wearing some jewelry or something like they have some money Whatever right we're not gonna we're not gonna be a respecter a person think about this We're not gonna be a respecter of persons and go. Oh look at it. You think you have so much money Oh and then treat them poorly But we're also not gonna go oh You've got a lot of money. Hey come up right here. We've got the VIP. Okay get the rope off of the seat Here We go for the rich guy, but then the poor guy comes in and goes, yeah I know we got some open seats here, but you know you stay over there. I Mean, that's basically what's happening. You know someone come in and they're not as well-dressed and well-kept or whatever and they're poor God's saying that that's wicked and you're a judge of evil thoughts What you need to have is you just treat people equally When they come in here we're not why would we care about how much money they have and And how they're dressed unless you care about them just being in sin or not right that's but but you still don't treat them Different you know people are gonna come into this church in all different manner of condition All different manner of wealth all different manner of sin in their life We don't treat them Different based on those things they're gonna come into the church and receive a Impartial treatment and the same amount of respect and love and care as anyone else That's right, that's that's being righteous and your judgment and not being a respecter of persons and We don't oh, I'm no one's gonna talk to this person because they live on the other side of the track Or whatever Right and that's not gonna happen here because you know we've got people of all manner of life in our church And it's really even that big so it doesn't matter we know that our church doesn't care about this But you individually what he matters for is how you treat people how you think about people how you judge people okay, we need to have righteous judgment and That goes on both sides whether you know to the poor to the rich doesn't matter that should make no bearing on your actual judgment Verse Number five harken my beloved brethren hath not God chosen the poor of this world rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom which he hath promised to them that love him But ye have despised the poor do not rich men oppress you and draw you before the judgment seats And this is this is a great point here because he's talking about people who are gonna respect the rich people oh And they're gonna they're gonna do all this stuff for these rich people saying you know what? Isn't it really the rich people anyways That are in these positions of authority and power that are perverting judgment and and bringing you know Persecution on you anyways like why are you gonna respect those people? You know you get this politician. It's gonna show up the stronghold Baptist Church, and they're like Telling us we can't have church. We're telling you I was like look. I'm not gonna have respect just because they're you know Oh, they have this reputation or whatever We're gonna deal with them as with Anybody else and have a righteous judgment, and he says it's just it's kind of silly to think of oh Well, just because they have money like look people with money are the ones that are that are persecuting anyways Why would you why do you even care about that? Why should that even be part of your judgment process? Oh, they have money who cares Do not rich men oppress you and draw you before the judgment seats do not they Blaspheme that worthy name by the which you are called and he says earlier in verse 5 You know isn't it the poor that are rich in faith, and don't we see that when we go out? So and isn't it to see when you preach the gospel of Jesus Christ that it's mostly the poor people who are receiving Christ And are born again and become children of God it happens a lot more among the poor people than it is among the rich Now God's not saying to be respected persons either way But the way that people are most drawn to do it is to give favor to the rich and not to the poor and you Say if anything it's backwards. You've got it completely opposite If you're gonna give favor anywhere, I mean shouldn't you be giving it to the people who are rich in faith? Instead of to the people who are drawing you before judgment seats Like it's just it's like hello wake up Verse number eight if you fulfill the royal law according to the scripture thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself you do well But if you have respect to persons you commit sin and are convinced of the law as transgressors And that's the bottom line. You know we're closing on that If you can love your neighbor as yourself It doesn't say what kind of neighbor rich or poor you love your neighbor as yourself. You're gonna do well Right if treat people equally Treat people with respect, but not being a respecter of persons Because if you have respect to persons you commit sin so when we make judgments on people You know don't be quick to judge don't base your judgment on on anything other than just what the facts are And that's the bottom line, and you know what I'll tell you this. I don't expect a free pass in judgment if I do something wrong if I'm just in error or in transgression or sin I Deserve to be treated the way that anyone else Should be treated that would be guilty of the same thing Right and that there should be no respect of persons in judgment Now it doesn't mean that that that you know people should just be just disrespectful in Someone who has a position that that does command respect according to scripture, but at the same time hey That doesn't mean you change the judgment, or you know you treat it differently than Anyone else would be guilty of the same thing so I mean that's That's the bottom line You know we need to have integrity with all that we do and have integrity for the Word of God because at the end of the day What other people think doesn't matter? What God thinks is what matters so we need to live our lives and the judgments that you make? With in the in the in your mind as God is watching you and God is the one who's gonna care about the judgment call that you make And if you do that you're gonna do well, it's about rides. Have a word of prayer dear Heavenly Father Lord Thank you so much for the instruction that you've given us in the scripture I pray to please just help us to to have integrity and to and to know Righteous judgment help us to know right from wrong so we could make good judgment calls and be able to Make righteous judgments that we wouldn't let our decisions be influenced or clouded by the wealth of a person has or their or their background or whatever Lord, but that we would be able to Simply be able to apply your word As it stands and and regardless of who the actual person is that's involved in Jesus name. We pray amen