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["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You I have a song You You Should be awake now, let's sing it out on the last See You Amen all right well we want to welcome you to Verity Baptist Church this morning We're glad you are here today, and we're glad that you survived the storm I don't know how bad it was at your place, but last night. We didn't have power for like seven hours. I think and We had a big old limb that fell on our arm Our offense didn't hurt the fence, but I was pretty pretty bad, so we're glad You're here, and let's begin the service with the word of prayer. Let's fire heads together. Heavenly Father Lord We do thank you for the safety. You've given us through the night Lord And we thank you for everybody that's here and Lord we pray that you would bless the service today We pray that you would bless the time that we have set aside for singing for preaching and of course for fellowship Lord we love you in Jesus name we pray Amen Go to song 264 264 once more 264 on the first Oh Good on the second Oh Oh Oh Amen all right well Let's take our bulletins this morning And we'll look at some announcements if you did not receive a bulletin on your way in just raise your hand and one of our ushers can get one for you if you need a bulletin just put your hand up and we will get one for you the verse this week Proverbs 21-3 to do justice and judgment is more acceptable to the Lord than sacrifice And that's a good Verse there we like that if you open up your bulletin you'll see our service time Sunday morning service 10 30 a.m. And we are glad that you're with us of course on Sunday morning on the Lord's day for church We're back into our regular schedule We're past the holiday schedule So we invite you to be back tonight at 6 p.m. For the evening service and the evening service is different than the morning service different songs that are sung different sermon That's preached just one more opportunity to be in God's house with God's people Under the preaching of the Word of God and then of course we have our Wednesday evening Bible study at 7 p.m. If you look at our soul winning times our main sewing times on Saturday mornings at 10 a.m. And then we have additional sewing times on Thursdays and Fridays and Sundays at 2 p.m. So if you'd like to go out soul winning this afternoon There'll be a time and an opportunity for you to be able to Do that if you're a first-time guest if it's your first time here at Verity Baptist Church. We're glad you're with us We have a gift We'd like to give you as you walk out of the church building this morning as you go through our main foyer Or if you go out our secondary foyer, you'll see a little table set up and on that table You'll see these little gift bags. Please grab one on your way out as a gift from us to you for being our guests this morning There are several resources in this bag that we'd like you to have But the one I like to highlight is this documentary called being Baptist it's a documentary that our church made It's very well made very interesting We tell people that it's entertaining. It's enjoyable. It's educational and we think you'll like it want to give this to you as a gift So, please make sure you don't leave here this morning without grabbing one of those gift bags on your way out And if you are a guest we'd ask that you please take a moment and fill out the communication card Which is inserted in your bulletin If you need a pen just raise your hand and one of our ushers can bring you by a Verity Baptist Church pen and you're Welcome to keep the pen as a gift from us as well. We're not gonna do anything odd with your info We would just like to have a record of your attendance We actually would like to send you a little gift, but we need your information to do that So, please take a moment to fill the card out when we're done with the announcements We're gonna sing a song when we're done singing We're gonna receive the offering and as the often plate goes by you can drop that card in the offering plate or you can hand It to me after the service. I'll be standing at the main door greeting people on the way out If you look at the announcements there, of course, we are a family integrated church What that means is that children and infants are always welcome in the church service We do not separate children from their parents for any reason But we do have mother-baby rooms and daddy rooms available for your convenience All of the rooms have comfortable seating. They have monitors set up so you can watch the service and listen to it So if you have a child that's been Distracting during the service or if you need some privacy We would encourage you to use the mother-baby rooms in the daddy room If you're not sure where those are at You can look at the back of the bulletin and you'll see a layout of our church building It'll show you where the mother-baby rooms are with the daddy room It'll show you where the restrooms are. If you need to be baptized, please let us know We'd love to baptize you. The baptistry is filled, the water is warm, and we've got everything you need Shorts and shirts and robes and hairdryers and whatever you need. We've got it and we haven't of course We just started our brand new year. So we'll see who the first baptism of the year is But if you'd like to be baptized, we'd love to take care of that If you'd like to speak to somebody about baptism on your communication card You can actually check off on the back that you'd like information about baptism and we'll follow up with you or if you've already spoken to somebody then all you need to do is at the end of the service after the preaching while we're Singing the last song if you step out that door One of our staff guys will meet you there and we'll get you situated for baptisms If you look at the announcements and upcoming events, of course, it's the beginning of the year So we are starting a brand new sermon series this entire week So this morning we're starting a brand new series called judgment and we'll be looking at and studying the subject from the Bible over the next several weeks and Then on Sunday nights we are Restarting our declaring doctrine series and if you're familiar if you remember our declaring doctrine series It's kind of a series that we have been on and off in for I think Two or three years and we'll do it for a little bit and then we'll take a break and we'll go back to it and we are systematically studying through all of the Major doctrines of the Bible and we're taking them in sections and we're gonna restart tonight So we encourage you to be here of course for that and then on Wednesday night We're starting a brand new Bible study a verse by verse study through the book of Amos And we encourage you to join us for the book of Amos. This is an Old Testament minor prophet and If you are not familiar with the book of Amos Then we encourage you to be with us on Wednesday nights as we take time to study through this book together Nine chapters a day challenge. I hope you are with sticking with it. Don't give up don't quit and Even if you've gotten behind you can you can make up for it And look in the next few days You're gonna get through the book of Acts and you're gonna get into the book of Romans and even really kind of past Romans once you get into those church epistles, the chapters get a lot smaller and Reading nine chapters takes a less time. So that's that's a benefit for you if you're on track But if you're behind maybe you've already used a couple of grace periods and you're still behind you can plan to catch up Towards the end of the New Testament because you can read 12 chapters 15 chapters. The chapters are a lot shorter So don't give up. You'll be glad that you read the New Testament Just make sure you stick with it teen activities coming up on Friday, January 27th at 6 p.m All the teens and parents are invited for an evening of laser tag and the address is there for you And if you'd like to join you can sign up on your communication card the laser tag cost is covered for all teens that are at the activity siblings not included and one parent so The other parent can come but they'll have to pay for themselves, but we want to make sure that all the kids are chaperoned During laser tag, so we invite all of you to join for that Choir practice begins today at 5 p.m For I love my church Sunday. If you are part of the choir make sure you are here for that at 5 p.m. Homeschool group. They've got a PE class scheduled this Thursday January 12 at 10 a.m We'll kind of have to play that by ear with the weather but Lord willing they can have PE class this coming Thursday Upcoming cleaning crew you can check for your name there. There's other things there for you to look at Please don't forget to turn your cell phones off or place them on silent during the service So they're not a distraction to anybody if you look at the back of the bulletin birthdays and anniversaries for the month of January Tomorrow is brother Keith Rosenberg's birthday on January 9th, and so be praying for him and of course be praying for miss Katie as well and then also Casey Chandler has a birthday on January 14th, my parents are in Venezuela right now They're gonna be there for a couple of months and I was talking with my mother this morning And she reminded me that today is my grandmother's 84th birthday. I think they might be watching on live stream So happy birthday to my grandmother I don't not I didn't I don't know her as well as I'd like to I've lived here most of my life and she lived In Venezuela most of her life, but the one the one Really great memory that I have of my grandmother was when she was visiting here a few years ago I was already a pastor and she was here at our church. Of course. She doesn't speak English. So I was preaching a sermon series on things that attack Salvation and I was talking about, you know defending eternal security and defending. Well the Sunday she happened to be here I was preaching on James 2 and I was explaining about James 2 how people will say that faithful that works is dead and what that really means and how it's not teaching work salvation Well, we were at lunch after church and I was explaining to her what I was preaching But before I explained to her what I was preaching I was telling her how you know how people say in James 2 that it you know They try to use that to prove a work salvation Well, she misunderstood and she thought I was preaching a work salvation and you know here's my elderly grandmother and with her her and by the way, my grandfather was a Baptist preacher and And and and and you know, I'm her grandson I'm a Baptist preacher and she looks at me and she says now listen you are wrong about that James chapter 2 does not teach them. I'm like, no. No, I know I know grandma. I know you know and But praise the Lord for that. That's a great memory to have praise report money matters All those things are there for you. So happy birthday for watching if there's money matters all that's there for you To take a look at we're gonna go ahead and sing the chorus of the week Which is the insert in your bulletin and we'll sing I know who holds tomorrow As we prepare to receive the offering this morning. I don't know about tomorrow. I just live from day to day singing out on the first Oh What Jesus said and today I'll walk beside Many things about tomorrow Oh Oh Amen good singing what the guys come up and help us with the offering at this time And let's go ahead and bow our heads and have a word of prayer Emily father Lord, we do. Thank you for allowing us to gather together today Lord We pray that you'd bless the offering the gift and the giver and we ask that you'd meet with us as we take time to Open up your word in Jesus name we pray. Amen You You You You You You You Please open ropes to first Kings chapter 3 First Kings chapter number 3 if you'd like about you put your hand up in a new Bible first Kings chapter number 3 If you'd like about keep your hand up or she'll come by First Kings chapter 3 we were in the entire chapter as our custom First Kings 3 meaning verse number 1 and Solomon made affinity with Pharaoh king of Egypt and took Pharaoh's daughter and brought her into the city of David Until he had made an end of building his own house and the house of the Lord and the wall of Jerusalem round about only the people sacrificed in high places because there was no house built unto the name of the Lord until those days and Solomon loved the Lord walking the statutes of David his father only he sacrificed and burnt incense in high places And the king went to Gibeon to sacrifice there for that was the great high place a thousand burnt offerings did Solomon offer upon that altar in Gibeon the Lord appeared to Solomon in a dream by night and God said ask what I shall give thee and Solomon said thou showed unto thy servant David my father great mercy according as he walked before thee in truth and in righteousness and an uprightness of heart with thee and Thou has kept for him this great kindness that thou has given him a son to sit on his throne as it is this day And now Oh Lord my God now it's made thy servant king instead of David my father And I am but a little child I know not how to go out or come in and thy servant is in the midst of thy people Which thou has chosen a great people that cannot be numbered nor counted for a multitude Give therefore thy servant an understanding heart to judge thy people That I may discern between good and bad For who was able to judge this so great a people And the speech please the Lord that Solomon had asked this thing and God said unto him Because thou has asked this thing and it's not asked for thyself long life The other has asked for riches for thyself nor has asked the life of thine enemies But has asked for thyself understanding to discern judgment behold. I have done according to thy words Lo, I have given thee a wise and understanding heart so that there was none liked before thee neither after thee shall any arise like unto Thee and I've also given thee that which thou hast not asked both riches and honor So there shall not be any among the kings like unto thee all thy days And if I'll walk in my ways to keep my statutes and my commandments as thy father David did walk then I will link in thy days and Solomon awoke and behold it was a dream and he came to Jerusalem and stood before the ark of the Covenant of the Lord and Offered of burnt offerings and offered peace offerings and made a feast to all his servants Then came there two women that were harlots unto the king and stood before him and the one woman said oh my lord I and this woman dwell in one house and I was delivered of a child with her in the house And it came to pass the third day after that I was delivered that this woman was delivered also and we were together there was no stranger with us in the house say we too in the house and This woman's child died in the night because she overlaid it and she rose at midnight and took my son from beside me While I'm handmade slept and laid it in her bosom and laid her dead child in my bosom When I rose in the morning to give my child suck behold it was dead When I had considered it in the morning behold It was not my son, which I did bear and the other woman said nay But the living is my son and the dead is thy son and this said no But the dead is thy son and the living is my son thus they spake before the king Then said the king the one saith This is my son that liveth and my son is the dead and the other saith nay But thy son is the dead and my son is the living and the king said Bring me a sword and they brought a sword before the king and the king said Divided living child in two and gave half to the one and half to the other Then spake the woman who's the living child was unto the king for her bowels yearned upon her son And she said oh my lord give her the living child and in no wise slate But the other said let it be neither mine nor thine but divided Then the king answered and said give her the living child and in no wise slate She is the mother thereof and all is heard of the judgment Which the king had judged and they feared the king for they saw that the wisdom of God was in him to do judgment Let's pray Heavenly Father. Thank you for this morning. God. I thank you for our church for everyone that's here I say, please give us all tender hearts at the message Please be the pastor to strengthen them and from the spirit. We love you and just think pray. Amen Amen All right, well, we're there in first Kings chapter number three and we are starting a brand new sermon series this morning and sermon series we are starting is entitled judgment and Every new year here at Verde Baptist Church. I like to always start off the new year with a sermon series In the subjects or under the category what I would refer to as a spiritual growth sermon series So sometimes I preach Bible studies. Sometimes I preach what may be called an attraction series. I usually do those after a big day But at the beginning of the year I like to do what I refer to as a spiritual growth sermon series and right in January and February and March I like to spend time studying things that are gonna help us grow as Christians and this January the Lord is later on my heart to preach on the subject of judgment and You may find that odd or you might think it's odd to preach an entire sermon series on judgment and I want to start here in first Kings chapter 3 because the importance and value of judgment is really highlighted in this story of Solomon and just by way of introduction I'd like you to notice the story if you're not familiar with it Of course, if you are familiar with it, you know that Solomon was given an opportunity by God He was pretty much asked by God To give him a request. I mean really God just pretty much said to Solomon I'll give you one wish whatever you ask for you can have it notice there in first Kings chapter 3 in verse 5 The Bible says in Gibeon the Lord appeared to Solomon in a dream by night and God said ask what I shall Give thee this is a very unique situation where God comes to Solomon It says just ask it and I'll give it to you whatever you want Whatever wish you want whatever request you can have it And of course we see here in verses 6 7 & 8 that Solomon acknowledges something about himself in verse 6 The Bible says and Solomon said thou has showed unto thy servant David my father great mercy according as he walked before thee in truth and in righteousness and in a brightness of heart with thee now is kept for him this Great kindness that thou has given him a son to sit on his throne as it is this day And of course if you're familiar with the context here David has died and Solomon is now the new king of the nation of Israel notice verse 7 Notice what Solomon says and now Oh Lord my God thou has made thy servant King instead of David my father and Notice what he says. He says I am but a little child He says I know not how to go out or come in and I want you to notice that when God comes to Solomon and asks him Make one request ask what I shall give thee Solomon begins by acknowledging his inexperience He's a new king He's a young king and he acknowledges the fact that he does not have the experience that he needs to be able to do this Job, he says I am but a little child I know not how to go out or come in verse 8 and thy servant is in the midst of Thy people I want you to notice not only does Solomon acknowledge his inexperience But he also acknowledges the magnitude of the job that has been given to him He says there in verse 8 and thy servant is in the midst of thy people Which thou has chosen a great people that cannot be numbered nor counted for multitude So I want you to notice here Solomon's heart and of course we know that Solomon's a sinner like anybody else and he sinned and there was things in his life that he I'm sure regrets and is ashamed of but here's what we do know about Solomon is that at this point? He's right with God and he was a good leader for the nation of Israel I want you to notice for those of you that are leaders We should learn from Solomon that he'd not come into a brand new position thinking I've got all the answers In fact, he came into a brand new position thinking. I don't have the experience that I need I am but a little child I know not how to go out or come in and he realized the magnitude of the job that was given to him He says thy people which thou has chosen a great people that cannot be numbered nor counted for multitude and because of this Solomon is of course famously known for if you were to just ask the average person What is Solomon in the Bible known for they would probably tell you this story. Solomon is famously known for Making a request for wisdom now We know that Solomon ended up being the wisest man who ever walked on earth other than the Lord Jesus Christ We've got the Proverbs of Solomon in the Song of Solomon in the book of Ecclesiastes Ecclesiastes these are poetic books and they're known as wisdom literature We know that Solomon was a very wise man and Solomon is known for Asking in fact, he became famous for asking and making a request for wisdom The interesting thing is though. I do agree that he asked for wisdom. I want you to understand that he literally Actually did not ask for wisdom Now we say that he asked for wisdom and I don't have a problem with that He what he was asking for definitely required wisdom, but that's not actually the request that Solomon made I always think it's interesting that the one thing he's known for asking for wisdom is actually not the thing he asked for me And again, I'm not making a big deal about it It definitely was wise and wisdom was a part of it But I want you to notice specifically what it is that Solomon requested first Kings chapter 3 verse 9. Here's his request He says give therefore this is Solomon speaking to God making his request he gets one wish from God and here's what he says give therefore thy servant notice these words and understanding heart to judge thy people When Solomon asked and made a request what he asked for was the ability to judge the ability to Understand the ability to judge this great people because he says I am but a little child He says I don't know how to do this job and he says this is a great people I can't do this and he says give therefore thy servant and Understanding the heart to judge thy people that I may discern between good and bad Notice what he says at the end of verse 9 for who is able to judge this This thy so great a people now notice God's response verse 10 and The speech pleased the Lord want you to notice that Solomon asked for the ability to understand the ability to discern the ability to judge and in the story we see the value and the importance of judgment and I want to begin here because I hope that you will see the value and The importance of judgment and learning to judge and that you'll make a commitment to come over the next several weeks to church and learn about judgment because it pleased the Lord when Solomon asked for the ability to Understand to judge the people to be able to judge this so great a people notice verse 10 and the speech pleased the Lord That's all I'm gonna ask this thing and God said unto him notice the importance and value of judgment Because thou has asked this thing and has not asked thyself for long life. Isn't this what you and I would ask for? if we got one wish if You rubbed a lamp and a genie came out and said you get one wish These are the type of things that we would ask for long life He says because thou has not asked thyself long life Neither has asked riches for thyself nor has asked the life of thine enemies, but has asked for thyself Understanding to discern judgment. Here's what's interesting Solomon God says you didn't ask for a long life. You didn't ask for riches You didn't ask for the life of thine enemies You asked for the ability to discern to make good decisions to understand and to judge Yes He asked for wisdom and God says here's the interesting thing because you ask for judgment and the ability to judge The wisdom and discernment to make good decisions with that request will come a long life with that request will come Riches with that request will come victory in the life of thine enemies He says but has asked thyself understanding to discern judgment. Look at verse 12 behold I have done according to thy word slow. I have given thee a notice what God says wise He didn't ask for wisdom He asked for understanding and the ability to judge but God says you know what you need for that wisdom So God says I have given thee a wise and an Understanding heart so that there was none like thee before thee neither after thee shall any arise like unto thee and I have also Given thee that which thou has not asked both riches and honor so that there shall not be any among the kings like unto thee all thy days I Want you to notice the value of judgment the importance of judgment the word judgment Maybe you haven't thought much about it But the word judgment is defined as the ability to judge to make a decision to form an opinion objectively authoritatively and wisely We're gonna spend the next several weeks here on Sunday morning studying this subject of judgment You might be surprised how much the Bible speaks about the subject of judgment and we're gonna look at this and we're gonna study this and over the years I Have been frustrated from time to time With this idea of judgment and honestly people's inability to judge Over the years, of course our church and churches like ours have had enemies Who have made? judgment calls Against us they've made judgments against us unbiblical judgments and I I often find myself frustrated like Really? That's the argument you're making There are enemies trying to use the Bible against us and it's like that's the Bible don't say that They'll make some argument and you know, sometimes we're like, what do you say to this argument? And I think myself like my response is so So what? The Bible doesn't say that but I don't say that's wrong. The Bible don't say that's right They'll make these judgment calls and they're unbiblical judgment calls and it can be a little Frustrated frustrating when your enemies are attacking you using the Bible But not realizing that the judgments that they're making are unbiblical now, that's frustrating But you know, it's even more frustrated and frustrating is when our friends When our own church members and please listen to me god bless you and I'm not I'm not speaking about anybody specifically right now And I appreciate anybody who will defend me or defend our church or defend any church like ours But you know, sometimes I find myself frustrated because people will come to our defense in order to Defend us against maybe an unjust attack But then the argument that they themselves use to defend us is an unjust argument and I think to myself, thank you very much, but that's not biblical I Appreciate your heart your hearts in the right place and thank you, but that's not what the Bible says I've seen both friend and foe make unbiblical judgment calls both against and in defense of us I've seen people destroy relationships as a result of bad judgment calls and probably the most frustrating to be honest with you is this and I shared this with my wife and I was talking about this and I use these words and she said those are the right words to use What seems to be to me in ministry as a pastor and for my wife as a pastor's wife Maybe the most frustrating thing is that we've seen so many and here's the words I want to use Self-inflicted wounds Self-inflicted wounds Because of a lack of knowledge a lack of judgment a lack of inability to understand what the Bible says and what we're supposed to Do in that situation or this situation and here's what happens and here's my job And I'm not mad at you if this is you but people will make these choices and they'll take all these Self-inflicted wounds. I mean nothing happened to them. They did it to themselves Then they show up at my office just bleeding all over saying okay. Now you deal with it Now you fix it Now you help me with my children Now you help me with this big issue and problem I have and I and what I think and I'm happy to do it I mean, this is a spiritual hospital. We're happy to help but I think to myself. I wish you would have asked me three months ago Six months ago a year ago When it was still a small problem and we could have kept it enclosed and we could have helped you deal with it In a more discreet way now, you're just kind of just bleeding everywhere and destroying everything and fighting with everyone And it's a little more difficult and what I've learned is that No judgment you will notice as we study it in the Bible It's probably the most common-sense thing in the Bible common sense is not very common and What seems to just be very simple to understand seems to be the hardest things for people to grasp When they're making decisions so I want to try to help you understand this idea of judgment and This morning what I'm going to do and this is what I often do when I begin a series is I'm just gonna give you A biblical overview on the subject of judgment. I'm telling the sermon a theology of judgment I want to just give you some thoughts just to help us over the next several weeks We're gonna be talking about judgment and learning about judgment But I want you to understand what judgment is biblically and I'd like to do this as quickly as possible I'd like to give you three thoughts regarding judgment And maybe you can write these down on the back of your course the week There's a place for you to maybe take some notes. Here's point number one Let's talk about the meaning of judgment the meaning of judgment. What exactly is judgment and What when we're talking about judgment, what is judgment now, let me give you a word I'm gonna give you two words That are really synonymous with the word judgment and we can use a lot more words than the two. I'm gonna give you But I think these two pretty much cover the subject pretty well The word that you and I because the word judgment in our culture is a bad word, right? People will often attack us and say you're judgmental stop judging But the word judgment here's here's a word that maybe doesn't carry that same emotion But it's synonymous with the word judgment and it'll help you understand judgment when we're talking about the meaning of judgment or what? Judgment is here's the first word to help you understand it justice Judgment is justice You say what is justice? Justice is having the ability to figure out who is right and who is wrong Justice is the ability to figure out from the Word of God who's right Who's doing the right thing who's making the right choice and who's wrong? Who's doing the wrong thing who's making the wrong choice? I want you to notice here in our story with Solomon Solomon asked famously for the ability to discern to understand to judge this great people and God said I'm gonna give you wisdom in an understanding heart and then the Bible tells if you Skip down to verse 16. We see that he gets his first ability. And again, this is a famous story Regarding a Solomon his first ability to show off his ability to judge to give Judgment to make justice he had to figure out who is right and who is wrong Notice what's brought to Solomon if they she said she said situation In 1st Kings chapter 3 and verse 16 the Bible says then came there two women You're always in trouble when you got two women coming to you. Let me just say Then there came two women that were harlots unto the king and stood before him and one woman said oh my lord I and this woman dwell in one house dwell in one house And I was delivered of a child with her in the house and it came to pass the third day after that I was delivered that this woman was delivered also and we were together and there was no stranger with us in the house safe to In the house, so here the story is you've got two harlots and living in one house one has a child and then a little while Later another one has a child. They both have babies. They both have newborn babies verse 19 and this woman's child died This is a harlot speaking to the king She's came for judgment or justice and this woman's child died in the night because she overlaid it and she arose at midnight and took my son from beside me while thine handmaid slept and laid it in her bosom and later dead child in my bosom and When I arose in the morning to give my child suck behold it was dead But when I had considered it in the morning behold It was not my son which I did bear and the other woman said nay, but the living is my son and the dead is thy son and They said no and and excuse me and this said no But the dead is thy son and the living is my son. Thus they spake before the king So here's the story two women two harlots. They both had babies both had newborns Living in the same house a bait one baby dies in the night One woman wakes up and says this isn't my baby. This dead baby is not my baby You you your baby died and while I was sleeping you took my baby that was alive and you gave me your baby That was that does not my baby the other woman says no the opposite is true the dead baby is yours and the living baby is mine and you've got the Situation presented to Solomon and he is to make judgment He is to figure out who is right and who is wrong and it's really a she said she said situation There's really no way for Solomon to know the difference and we see that Solomon has the discernment to figure out who is right and who is wrong And let me just say this and I'll spend an entire sermon on this at some point Let me just highlight this as we're here I Want you to notice that when you have a situation where you have two people saying this is what happened and this is what happened First of all realize that in both of those situations. Usually neither one is telling the complete truth Let me just help you understand something. I know I'm gonna hurt everybody's feelings right now, and you're gonna think I'm a respect or persons You know, you're you know You're not a respect or persons when everybody's accusing you of being a respect or persons because you don't take anybody's side Let me just help you out with something. Usually both sides are wrong and Usually both sides are right to an extent What I've learned over the last 12 years of ministry and I would tell you this that inch in ministry I didn't know this before I became a pastor But I'm very aware of it now my wife and I are aware in ministry Probably the number one thing we do around here is judge Is give make judgment calls What are you this situation? What do you do about it? This happened? What's gonna happen here? These people are fighting How do you deal with that? This is probably the number one thing we do around here, honestly and And often you make decisions and nobody's happy. I Figured out a long time ago. You can't make anybody happy or everybody happy. So I just don't try to make anybody happy I'm the happiest when everyone's pissed off When everybody walks out of my office mad, here's what I think myself justice has been served Then said the king the one saith This is my son that liveth and thy son is dead and the other saith nay But thy son is dead and my son is living verse 24 and the king said bring me a sword they brought a sword before the king and the king said divide the living child in two and Give half to the one and half to the other. I want you to notice. Here's a principle adjustment of judgment And again, I'm not even necessarily preaching on this right now I'll preach on this another time But let me tell you something you do not decide who's right or wrong based solely on what they say That is dumb That only works in a world where people don't lie Notice that Solomon didn't say well I think you're being more honest and I think you're not being honest and your tears seem more sincere than her tears Don't seem as is here. He didn't base off what they said he said bring me a sword and They brought a sword before the king and the king said divide the living child in two and give half to the one and half To the other he said here's what we're do bring me a sword where you can't beat you you guys are fighting You're saying you're it's your baby. It's your baby. Not your baby. Here's what we'll do Let's cut the baby in half You can have half you can have half and then we'll be done with it then spake the woman Who's the living child was unto the king for her bowels yearn upon her son? And she said oh my lord give her the living child and a no I slay it See Solomon wasn't gonna actually kill this baby, but here's what he understood with threat making this thread He understood that the real mother the one who actually loved this child would not allow him to be put to death and The real mother actually says forget it forget. We even had this conversation. Just give her the child let her have the child She can raise him But don't slay him and no I slay it notice the response from the other woman But the other said let it be neither mine nor thine but divide it That callous response not what she said But her response to his judgment is what told Solomon who was actually the mother Verse 27 Then the king answered and said give her referring to the woman who said no don't slay this child Give her the living child and a no I slay she is the mother thereof notice verse 28 and all Israel heard of The wisdom is that what it says? Now they did hear about the wisdom But they heard about the judgment Which the king had judged notice how God is highlighting this and all Israel heard of the judgment Which the king had judged and they feared the king for they saw the wisdom of God was in him notice to-do judgment You say what is the meaning of judgment? What are we referring to when we refer to judgment? We are referring to justice Being able to figure out who is right and who is wrong? Oftentimes It's interesting to me that oftentimes and look and if this is if you've done this or this is you I'm not pick I'm not picking on anybody right now. I hope you understand this I'm speaking very much generally because this has happened multiple times over 12 years of ministry Where a decision is made and people will say I don't think I agree with that It's always funny to me how people are always very confident to talk about how they disagree with me not in my presence It always comes from somewhere else someone else And then I will go and do what a judgment person supposed to do it. Maybe go approach that person say I heard you had a question about My decision here, but here's what's interesting sometimes when you just take the time to explain to people Well, here's why I made that choice because the Bible says this and Bible says this and Bible says that and based off these principles Here's the gym and then people go. Oh, wow, that makes sense And I think to myself yeah, that's why I'm the judge Because justice is To figure out who is right and who is wrong and that is not based off your relationship with that person That is not based on how much you like that person Here's my judgment is terrible in most people's eyes because most people's make judgment calls based on how much they like someone that's not justice That's corruption Justice is saying here's what the Bible says thus saith the Lord God and I may love you or I may dislike you It doesn't matter because what the Bible says is what the Bible says and that's all that matters Justice is the ability to say this person is right and this person is wrong And if I like them praise God and if I don't doesn't matter what's right is right period end of story Doesn't matter how much you like him doesn't matter how much you spend how much time you spend with him doesn't matter what relationship you? Had with them none of that matters. None of that is justice Justice is deciding who is right and who is wrong Go to do to keep your place right there in first Kings We're gonna come right back to it go to Deuteronomy 25 if you go backwards from first Kings you have second for Samuel Ruth Judges Joshua Deuteronomy Deuteronomy 25, by the way, if you say I don't I don't know what I feel about judges and justice Well, let me tell you something. There's an entire book of the Bible called the book of Judges Which might tell you a little bit about how God feels about judgmental people Who make judgment calls? God says what do you call a judge who makes judgment calls? He says call him the leader Deuteronomy 25 look at verse 1 If there be a controversy between men right we just had a she said she said but don't misunderstand me there's also the he said he said and the he said she said it all happens if there be a controversy between men and They come unto judgment That the judges may judge them doesn't God's to sound like this judgmental person Notice what the Bible says what is the judge supposed to do then they will justify the righteous and condemn the wicked Because what is justice? What is judgment? It is to figure out who is right and who is wrong so that you can justify the righteous and condemn the wicked That is the meaning of judgment, but there's another word. I want to share with you go back to first Kings chapter 3 There's two words that define the word judgment for us. What is the word justice? What does it mean? I hope you're writing this down justice. What does it mean who is right and who is wrong? Here's another word That is synonymous with the word judgment and is this word discernment Discernment I'm gonna spend an entire sermon on that one word discernment But let me just help you understand. What does the word discernment mean first Kings chapter 3 look at verse 9 notice what Solomon said? His famous prayer to God give therefore thy servant and understanding heart to judge thy people Notice what he says that I may discern there's our word That I may discern notice it between good and bad See judgment is not only justice, which is who is right and who is wrong, but judgment is also Discernment, which is what is right and what is wrong? Do you understand that? Because you might be here this morning saying well, I'm not a pastor. Nobody ever comes to me. I'm not a pastor's wife I'm not a judge. I'm not of the boss at work Nobody ever comes to me and makes me make a decision and make a judgment call. Do I really need to know judgment? Yes, you do because here's what judgment is. Judgment is not only Justice figuring out who is right and who is wrong You definitely leave that in a position of leadership But judgment is also discernment figuring out what is right and what is wrong and let me tell you something every Christian needs that You need in your life what Solomon realized that he needed the discernment to discern the ability to discern What is good and what is bad? I don't care if you're a leader a pastor or a layman it doesn't matter every Christian needs to be able to discern Is this right? Or is this wrong? Maybe you never get asked who is right and who is wrong Every single person in this building makes decisions every day. What is right and what is wrong? So when we talk about judgment What is the meaning of judgment two words justice and discernment? Justice who is right and who is wrong? Discernment what is right and what is wrong? Keep your place there if you would in first Kings And go with me to the New Testament book of first Corinthians First Corinthians chapter 6 in the New Testament you have Matthew Mark Luke John Acts Romans first Corinthians I hope you understand why you need judgment Why do you need judgment because you need to be able to sometimes you will need to be able to discern who is right who? Is wrong if you're a parent and you have more than one child you better believe you need the skill Because every day multiple times a day children are coming up to parents saying she said this Okay, the only she know she said this and I'm like let's take that baby doll and divide it in half right now It's like no as I give her the doll Her heart did yearn in it Justice is the ability to know who is right and who is wrong When they were fighting over dessert like we're not getting that thing in half just give it to me The Sermon is the ability to know what is right and what is wrong in life You need to know that the word discern or discernment is defined as to perceive the site To perceive by sight or some other sense or by intellect To be able to look at a situation and make a decision. No, that's not right That's not something we should do That's not something I should do or that is right. That is what I should do Those are the steps I should take Talked about the meaning of judgment Let me give you a second point this morning Not only do we see the meaning of judgment as we see an overview on this idea of judgment But here's the second point. Let's talk about the mandate of judgment The mandate of judgment. You say what does that mean? Here's what it means. Here's why you need the sermon series. Here's why we need it It's because you as a Christian are actually commanded by God you are mandated by God to judge The bible says here in first corinthian six, it uses a little term set them to judge referring to all christians So i'm a new christian. That's actually who he's referring to. He said let's have the newest christian to judge notice first corinthian six in verse one Paul is speaking to the church of corinth and he says dare any of you having a matter against another go to law before the unjust Paul is dealing with a situation where there are christians within the church of corinth that are literally suing each other Taking each other to court over an argument And paul says dare any of you having a matter against another go to law meaning you're going to court You're going to where the law is pronounced. You're going to be judged. You're going to see a judge Notice what he says before the unjust The unjust here is referring to the unsaved I want you to notice that the unsaved is the word unjust is used synonymously with the word unsafe Please understand this the unsaved are inherently unjust I didn't say they're bad people. I didn't say they're all reprobates I did not say that but you need to understand something that justice is an attribute of God justice Equal justice comes from God and when you are rejecting the lord Jesus Christ when you are rejecting God when you are not saved you are inherently unjust It's just part of it and i'm not saying that every unsaved person is a criminal or or or a reprobate or anything I'm not saying that but i'm just saying you cannot get justice from unsaved people Because you can only get justice from God the holy spirit and you can barely get it from saved people But at least there's a chance that you can get it from saved people because hopefully if they're actually saved They've got the holy spirit of God and they know what the bible says Dare any of you having a matter against another go to law before the unjust and not before the saints notice He's rebuking them. He's saying you're going to law to be judged by the unjust and not the saints who are the saints the saved Look at verse two dare ye not Excuse me. Do ye not know now here's what Paul is making the point He's like it's so silly that you're you're going to the unjust to be judged by the unjust Instead of going to the saints and he says do ye not know that the saints shall judge the world What is that a reference to the millennial reign during the millennial reign of christ those that have the Privilege to rule and reign with christ the bible says that they will sit on seats of judgment The ruling part means it's You you get to be solomon. You're the king you make you make the judgment calls you judge Look, do you know you realize in a millennial reign? We're going to be judging Know ye not that we shall judge angels Look at verse two again. Do ye not know that saints shall judge the world so we're going to be judging unsaved people And if the world shall be judged by you Are ye unworthy to judge the smallest matters? No, you're not that we shall judge angels. He's like look in the millennial reign We're going to judge the world we're going to judge angels if the world's going to be judged by you You should be able to make judgment calls Look at the last part verse three how much more things that pertain to this life Here's what he's saying. If you're going to be making judgment calls during the millennial reign, then you should be able to make judgment calls to things that pertain to this life like verse four If then ye have judgment of things pertaining to this life Notice the words set them to judge You know, most the average christian today thinks the bible teaches to not judge ever anyone for any reason But the bible says no no set them to judge Who the most spiritual no, no who are the least esteemed in the church Here's what paul's saying If you are the least esteemed, what does that mean? That means you are the the person people think the least of You're the newest christian. You're the most worldly christian. You're you're a christian That's no one's looking at you saying there is a specimen of maturity No, you're you're the christian with the worst reputation in the church god says you should be able to judge Because why because every christian needs to be able to judge That's why i'm preaching this to an entire i'm not preaching this to at a pastor's conference To a bunch of pastors, although i'm sure all pastors would need it too obviously You said why are you preaching into a church because even the least among us should be able to judge Set them to judge who are the least esteemed in the church. I speak to your shame Is it so that there is not a wise man among you? No, not one that shall be able to judge between his brother paul's rebuking them He's saying is there really not one wise man in the church that you can set to judge? And you have to literally sue each other and take yourself to court For the unjust to judge you He says what brother goeth to law with brother and that before unbelievers Now therefore there is utterly a fault among you because you go to law One with another why do you not rather take wrong? Why do you not rather suffer yourself to be the product? He said he said it would be better for you to just take the wrong than to take your brother to court By the way, the bible teaches the christians should not sue each other. Did you know that? By the way, here's a judgment call that I make that sometimes people don't like if you ever bring a lawsuit against anybody in this Church, we will throw you out I don't understand that we just read it Verse eight nay you do wrong in the fraud and that your brother Are you telling us we can't bring a lawsuit? I didn't say you can't bring a lawsuit I said you can't bring a lawsuit and be part of this church There is a mandate to judge The bible commands us to judge The bible says set them to judge now Let me answer the question because I know some of you are thinking it the only verse you have memorized in the bible Wait a minute pastor the bible says judge not that ye be not judged Right And there is more to that verse Let me say this i'm not going to spend time on it i'm going to preach an entire sermon On that one concept. Okay, so just hang tight. It's coming. Let me just give you you know spoiler alert When god when jesus has judged not that you be not judged. He's not saying to not judge In fact, jesus said that we should make righteous judgment. What he's saying is to not be a hypocrite in your judgment And to not make hypocritical judgment We'll come back to that and I will develop that and we will cover all of that But just understand when the bible says judge not it's talking about make not hypocritical judgment All throughout the bible were commanded to judge uprightly to judge righteously to judge according to the law of god We are to set them to judge So we see the meaning of judgment what is it justice who is right and who is wrong discernment what is right and what is Wrong, we see the mandate of judgment Not judge not but set them to judge Judge not is in the bible, but it's in the bible in reference to hypocritical judgment When I was 16 years old I Went on this little kick Where I decided to read Every book that I could get my hands on By pastor jack hyles Pastor jack hyles wrote many books and I decided i'm going to read every jack house book that I can find So I read Teaching on preaching I read how to build an evangelistic church, you know, i'm 16 years old I don't know why I read how to build an evangelistic church But there you go. Maybe that's why i'm a pastor I read the house church manual I read Pardon my poetry. I read everything that jack howells had but there was one book every time I would research jack howells books more jack howells books. I was on this kick I was reading all the jack house book. There was one book that kept coming up And it was called justice by jack hyles And I remember thinking to myself like I will never read that book I remember thinking to myself think about this 16 year old kid judging a 72 year old giant of the faith, right? That should have told you something And I remember thinking myself like Who would read that book? Why would you even write that book? What is the point of that book? I'll never read that book And I went years and years and years and years. I never read that book justice by jack. I read everything else. Jack house wrote Justice by jack house never read it. I thought that sounds boring I don't even know why you would write that. What is the point of that? A few months ago pastor thompson. I can't remember if he was coming here or I was going there But we were seeing each other and he brought me a little gift a little basket with little different things in it It was very kind of him And in that basket, he gifted me this book called justice by jack house And I remember picking up the book and I kind of Chuckled within myself i'm like man the one jack house book I never read, you know, jack house must be sending this from heaven And keep in mind When I was 16, I said, I don't need that book Now i'm a 36 year old man 20 years later i've been a pastor for 12 years I've grown and matured in my christian walk a lot. I remember picking up the book by That pastor thompson gave me justice by jack house And I did what I normally do with the book. I turned around I read the back cover To see what it's about. I want to read this to you Here's what it says justice Often when we think of justice, we think of the gavel and the judge's desk But justice goes beyond the courtroom True justice is judging only the areas in which we have been given authority by god Judging outside our area is unjust Listening to an accusation or repeating one is unjust Believing what someone tells you about another is unjust Deciding guilt based on hearsay is unjust Our churches are full of injustice Our christian homes suffer with injustice our media thrives on injustice. Our nation has been damaged by injustice Micah 6 8 says and what does the lord require of thee but to do justly And to love mercy and to walk humbly with thy god The bible answers every problem we face we know that justice is the great attribute of god and we are To be like jesus justice should be the utmost priority to god's people and we as People as we strive to balance the scales in justice and in every area of life And I remember reading that and thinking to myself like this is a great book And here's what I thought to myself oh Now I get it Now I get why jack house wrote this book on justice because he's a pastor And he probably literally thought to himself i'm gonna write this book and I hope all my church people read it Because he was probably dealing with a bunch of problems in his church because people did not understand biblical justice I just think it's funny that the 16 year old me was like, why would you ever write that book the 36 year old pastor? Me i'm like I need to read this book. I need to make all the men in the church read this book I need to preach a whole series about this subject judgment And obviously I don't endorse everything jack house says, you know, let me just say that because you'll probably accuse me of something Because you didn't get to that chapter in the book Go to exodus if you would exodus chapter 18 second book in the bible genesis exodus We're talking about judgment in this sermon i'm giving you just an overview We talked about the meaning of judgment. What is it justice who is right and who is wrong? What is it discernment? What is right and what is wrong? We talked about the mandate of judgment. We are mandated and commanded to judge Paul said set them to judge referring to the least among us And judge not is not a command for christians To never judge. It's a command to never judge hypocritically And we'll talk more about that at a later time Let me give you the third point We talked about the meaning of judgment. We talked about the mandate of judgment. Here's the third Point if you'd like to write this down, let's talk about the maturity of judgment the maturity of judgment Notice there in exodus chapter 18 and verse 13 The bible says and it came to pass on the morrow That moses I want you to miss don't don't miss it You might be surprised how much this comes up in the bible that moses sat to judge That moses had to judge the people And the people stood by moses from morning until evening. What does that mean? It means it took all day. It took a long time What's going on here? Look at verse 14 and when moses father-in-law saw all that he did to the people He said what is this thing that thou doest to the people? Why sittest thou thyself alone and all the people stand by thee from morning unto even here's what happening Here's what happened. Moses would come to work every morning And as soon as he started work, there'd be people would start showing up And before long there was a line of people and they were all coming to moses asking him to judge Just like with king solomon He said this she said that he did this she did that. What do you think? Tell us what's right? Tell us what's right and moses is spending his entire day judging the entire congregation And his father-in-law who's a wise man is visiting and he says to moses. He says what is this thing that thou doest to the people? Why sittest thou thyself alone? Skip down to verse 17. Notice what he says And moses father-in-law said unto him the thing that thou doest is not good I want you to notice here you have moses who's a judge being judged by his father-in-law His father-in-law saying hey what you're doing is not good You shouldn't be doing that Notice what a wise judge does when somebody judges him They listen In case there's some truth verse 18 That will surely wear away Both thou and this people that is with thee for this thing is too heavy for thee Thou are not able to perform it thyself alone You know the bible calls in the book of acts the bible calls moses and the children of israel in the wilderness It calls them the church in the wilderness They were a congregation in the wilderness You know that a congregation needs more than one or two people to be able to judge Hey Now in this congregation I do most of the judging my wife does a lot of judging when it comes to matters dealing with ladies You can call it counseling call whatever you want, but it's really just judgment. It's telling people. No, that's not right. You shouldn't do that No, that's wrong. You shouldn't do this do that It's biblical. It's what the bible says But you know the congregation needs more More than just one or two people to be able to judge Here moses father-in-law is telling moses like hey you can't carry this burden on your own So notice what he says verse 21 Moreover thou shall provide out of all the people notice these words able men What does able men mean? It means they're talented Such as fear god, what does that mean? It means they're spiritual Men of truth, what does that mean? It means they have character they have integrity. They're honest Hating covetousness. What does that mean? It means they're not greedy. They're not covetous. They don't give in to their lust He says and place such over them to be rulers of thousands And rulers of hundreds and rulers of 50s and rulers of tens You say well, wait a minute. I thought you were looking for judges. Now you're telling us you're going to set them as leaders Please understand something a leader is a judge Amen He says I want you to find able men such as fear god men of truth hating covetousness verse 22 and let them judge And let them judge the people at all seasons and it shall be That every great matter that they shall bring that every great matter they shall bring into thee, but every small matter they shall judge So shall it be easier for thyself and they shall bear the burden with thee If thou shalt do this thing and god command thee so Then thou shalt be able to endure and all this people shall also go to their place in peace See a congregation not only needs more than one or two people to be able to judge But a congregation needs christians that are growing and maturing in order to be able to judge Pastor why are you preaching the serpent series and you're trying to teach everybody how to judge because if you learn biblical principles If you learn that we are to be loyal to the word of god and to biblical principles not people not relationships Not institutions. Our loyalty is to be by the way. I learned that from jack house Just if you're curious That we are to be loyal to principles not institutions Say what does that mean? Here's what that means if verity baptist church God forbid ever becomes an niv liberal church. Then you take your loyalty with the word of god not with the institution You understand that we're not to be loyal to relationships We're not to be loyal because well, that's my uh pastor and that's my uh, brother and that's my best friend That doesn't matter Loyalty is to be given to principles from the word of god period and the story And if I can teach you to have biblical principles And if I can teach you to live your life in such a way where you understand and you've got An arsenal of biblical principles and you know what the bible says in this situation and that situation And while that's supposed to be dealt with and how to deal with that then you can stop having so many self-inflicting wounds You can come to a situation and you've got to make a choice and you can say well Here's what I want to do. Here's what my flesh wants to do. But you know what the bible says the bible says i'm gonna do this You know what the bible says the bible says your children come to you There's a problem and you say you don't just say well i'm not you and i'm no no it's here's what the bible says kids Amen Let's do what the bible says Here's what the word of god says Go to ezra chapter seven last verse. We'll look at we're done Ezra chapter seven if you kept your place in first kings if you go back from first kings you have uh Excuse me. If you go back to first kings or from first kings You have first and second kings first and chronicles ezra ezra chapter seven You say pastor Why are you preaching this can I let you in on a little secret Let me give you my ulterior motive can I do that now keep this quiet between you and I okay Don't let this go out of the room Here's what i'm hoping Since so many of you do not have the judgment and discernment to come to somebody who knows what the bible says before the problem That little problem you're dealing with becomes a big problem Since so many of you are so hell-bent. Yes. That's the word I want to use On never going to the pastor of the pastor's wife for any reason until you're almost dead until the relationship is almost Gone until you're just a bloody mess Since there are so many of you like that you said well, why are you saying that because that's human nature Human nature is to hide by the way Let me give you another principle for judgment The person who doesn't want to bring things out to light is usually the person that's wrong So when you got two people and you're like hey, well, you know, let's just talk about it Let's bring everybody together. Let's talk about it. And everybody's like sure let's talk about it. Sure Let's talk about it. No, I don't want to talk about it I mean, I don't know i'm not god I'm, just going to use some biblical principles to discern some things but here's what I do know The bible says that men love darkness rather than light because their deeds are evil So a biblical principle that I can just use a discernment to judge is the person who doesn't want to come to the meeting Is probably wrong You say I don't like you saying that I know so here's what i'm going to do i'm going to teach you to do it Because you don't want me saying it or my wife saying it So i'm just going to teach you to do it so that you can do it on your own So that you can stop having so many self-inflicted wounds and when you do self-inflict some wounds you can care for them on your own Not because I don't want you coming to me. I wish you would come to me, but you won't Because you don't have the discernment to So i'm going to try to help you Here's my ulterior motive I want to make you a bunch of judges So that you not not so you can be judgmental and critical we'll talk about that in another sermon as well But so you can discern and say no, wait a minute So when your friends say I think we should do this you say no, wait a minute The bible says You know what I love to hear come out of our very baptist church members mouth the bible says I love that The bible says this and the bible says that and the bible says that this is how we're supposed to deal with that situation And here's how we're supposed to deal with that situation. So let's do that And you know what happens when you do that you are now a biblical Judge My ulterior motive Since you won't let me judge you and most of you when I do judge you you just go do whatever you want anyway My ulterior motive is to help you learn how to do it So maybe at the very least you can do it for yourself Ezra chapter 7 verse 25 and now ezra After the wisdom of thy god That is in thine hand That's what he says set magistrates and judges Which may judge all the people That are beyond the river Who are we supposed to set to judge all such as know the laws of thy god? That's the requirement to judge because remember we do not judge based off relationships. We do not judge based off feelings We do not judge based off emotions We do not judge based off what I think we do not judge based off how I feel We do not change judge based off what I heard that is ridiculous We do not judge based off hearsay. We do not judge based with no evidence. We don't make judgment calls like that That's not justice. That's corruption And here's what I think is funny is if a judge i'm talking about a physical literal judge in a courtroom said I'm going to make a decision based off what I read on facebook You and I would think you're unjust you are corrupt you need to be removed yet. That's how most christians make judgment calls They never go to the person they never talk to the person they never confront the person they never go and talk to them Well, I heard this and I heard that and I heard these things you are corrupt Call it whatever you want. It's not justice So, what are we who we're supposed to judge we are to find all such as know the laws of thy god And then if you're if you're a pastor and you're listening to the sermon, here's the question you're asking Well, what if we don't have any of those? What if we don't have many of those That's the problem these people they don't know what the bible says that's why they're making so many mistakes last part of verse 25 And teach ye them that know them not Amen You say why are you preaching on judgment? Here's why so that those of you who know what the bible says Can have confidence in righteous Unhypocritical unbiased rightly dividing the word of god justice And those of you who don't I want to teach ye them that know them not I want to teach you how to judge I just believe it'll help your marriage I believe it'll help your relationships. It'll help you with your kids. It'll help you at work. It'll help you at church It'll help you to realize. Oh wait. No That's not I know I feel bad about but that's not my place to judge that Oh, wait. No, that's not right. No, that's not that's wrong. No, we're not supposed to do that. We're not supposed to go there I primarily want you to become a judge why so you can judge yourself Amen I hope you understand I hope you understand the importance of judgment I hope that you will commit. I hope that you will make a judgment call right now I hope you make the right one to say i'm going to show up every sunday morning I'm going to learn about judgment I'm going to learn about justice I'm going to learn about how to figure out who is right and who is wrong I'm going to learn about discernment to figure out what is right and what is wrong for myself I'm going to realize that I have been set to judge in situations as a christian I should be able to judge judge not does not apply to all christians at all times. It applies to hypocritical christians I'm going to grow in my maturity I'm going to learn and understand the bible I'm going to live my life loyal to principles and guided. Please don't miss this loyal to principles and guided by principles So that no matter who says what and what is done no matter what the relationship is How much I like them how much I don't like them no matter any of that What's right is right? And what's wrong is wrong that's What the bible says? Let's bow our heads in that word of prayer Heavenly father Lord I have done my best And I realize that i'm a feeble man So Sometimes when I preach things are misunderstood Sometimes when I preach I miscommunicate I get that But lord I have done my best this morning To try to help this congregation understand Why they need to learn to biblically judge To rightly judge To justly judge And lord I pray you'd help us I pray you'd help us over the next several weeks as we Dissect these judgment principles from the bible As we learn to judge ourselves and in places of authority When we've been given the authority to righteously judge others Lord I pray you'd help us We love you In the matchless name of christ we pray Amen We're gonna have brother matt come up and lead us in a final song. Just want to remind you that We have the sunday night service tonight at 6 p.m And we'd love for you to join us for the sunday evening service The sunday evening service is different than the morning service different songs We take favorites and I like to call the sunday night service the most exciting service of the week And I think you'll enjoy it we'd love for you to join us at 6 p.m We're gonna be in a new series or coming back to an old series called declaring doctrine and we're going to be looking at some Theological doctrines from the word of god and we encourage you to be with us tonight as we begin that study And of course on wednesday night We'll start the book of amos verse by verse study through the book of amos and we're going to spend one Week in every chapter in amos. So I want to encourage you to read amos chapter one before wednesday night And be ready to learn it and study it together And if you've got some great insight, then let me know so that I can add that to my sermons All right, so we appreciate you if there's anything we can do for you Please let us know we'll have the matt come up and lead us in a final song Turn to song 190 Wonderful wonderful jesus 190 sing it out on the first Oh wonderful There is There is So There is Is So good, let's sit out on the last Oh Amen good singing before we leave here if anybody has questions about salvation church membership or baptism pastor will be at the door He'd love to talk to you or direct you to someone who's trained to talk about that Brother george, would you close a prayer for us? Amen So So