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So now, please fill in with your spirit, help us to understand your word, and we bless the sermon. Jesus, can we pray, amen? Amen. Okay, we're in 1 Corinthians chapter number six this evening, or this morning, excuse me, 1 Corinthians chapter number six. The title of my sermon this morning is We Shall Judge the World. We Shall Judge the World. Look down at your Bibles at verse number one. It says, dare any of you, having a matter against another, go to law before the unjust and not before the saints? Do ye not know that the saints shall judge the world? And if the world shall be judged by you, are ye unworthy to judge the smallest matters? Know ye not that we shall judge angels? How much more things that pertain to this life? Now, excuse me, let me give you, I'm sorry, excuse me. My throat got kind of dry there. Let me give you a little bit of a context of what the apostle Paul is talking about here in 1 Corinthians chapter six. The issue at hand that he's addressing is the fact that Christians are basically going before unbelievers in order to resolve conflict. We would often say, maybe this chapter's referring to the fact that Christians are suing other Christians. They've defrauded them, whether financially, for property, whatever it may be. There's some sort of conflict, strife between brethren within the local New Testament church, and instead of actually resolving it at the church, thank you, instead of resolving it at the church, they're actually going before unjust judges, before unbelievers in order to resolve those things. And obviously, what Paul the apostle is doing here is he's shaming them for that. He's basically saying, look, God has given you discernment. Not only that, but he's given you the word of God, all things that pertain to life and godliness, and aside from that, he's already bestowed authority upon the church, upon the church leadership to be able to resolve those conflicts. You don't need to go to a judge, some unsaved judge that doesn't understand the Bible, that doesn't understand biblical morality in order to resolve those conflicts. That's what he's telling them there, but that's not what they're doing. Now, isn't it obvious that when it comes to the church at Corinth, they had a problem judging, period, right? I mean, here we see that they didn't want to judge between brethren, they wanted to take that conflict to unsaved people, but even in the chapter prior to that, chapter number five, you have a man who is involved in fornication with his stepmom, right? And he's involved in fornication with his stepmom. Obviously, his father has passed away by this time, and she might not be necessarily attending the church, but he does, and the Bible tells us here that it says in 1 Corinthians 5 that it is commonly reported among you that there is fornication, and it's referring to this man, and they weren't judging this man. They weren't disciplining him and excommunicating him from the church. Why? Because they failed to judge. You know, they're like, well, maybe that's not our area of jurisdiction. You know, that's not for us to say, but the fact is that Paul's telling them, your glorying is not good. You need to remove the leaven so it doesn't leaven the entire church. You need to make sure that you give that man over unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh. What is that called? Judging them. Pronouncing judgment upon them, casting them out of the church in order for Satan to destroy that man's flesh in hopes that he would repent, get right with God, come back to the fold, et cetera. But that is a judgment that God has actually given those at this church, or even any local New Testament church, to do, right? He says, look, I've deputized you to make that judgment. Now, today in churches, you don't have that. You know, churches have actually relinquished that responsibility to someone else, actually to nobody. You know, when you have fornication taking place in the church, drunkenness, you have extortion, idolatry, the pastor just completely stays out of it. He's like, we shouldn't judge. What are you talking about? The Bible says we should judge. And in fact, you know, why are you steaming yourself to be unworthy to judge such matters when you're actually going to be one of the people who judges the world? Okay, we'll get into that in just a bit. You can see the tie in there, the parallels that he's making. And then the very next chapter is like, not only that, but you're struggling to even judge amongst brethren who are having conflict one with another. You're actually going outside of the local New Testament church to unbelieving people who don't believe the Bible, not saved, in order to resolve these conflicts. You are a babe in Christ who can't seem to judge these matters. And in fact, we see that he actually calls them babes in Christ, right? So he's shaming them for doing it. Look at verse number four. It says, if then you have judgments of things pertaining to this life, set them to judge who are least esteemed in the church. Now, what is he talking about? Well, Christians have everything that pertains to life and godliness. They have the Bible. We have the Holy Spirit, we have the Bible, and he's telling them, hey, look, if God has already given you judgments, he's already made the decision for you, in a sense, right? Then set them to judge who are least esteemed in the church. You know, the least qualified individual in the church is still better to judge a situation like that than some unjust judge out there in the world. It's basically what he's saying. And look, here's the thing is, we're not making up judgments. We are basically executing judgments that God has already set forth. We're not the ones that said fornication is a sin that is worthy for an individual to be excommunicated from the church. God is the one who said that. We simply carry that out. You know, we're not the ones that said, well, if you're a drunkard, you can't be in the local New Testament church. No, God said that. We're simply repeating what he said. He's already made that judgment, and all we're doing is carrying it out, okay? But you have people that, well, don't judge. Well, okay, I'm not judging. God has already judged. Gotcha, right? Don't judge, I'm not. God is the one who's judging. I'm just carrying out that judgment, okay? Now, by the way, I agree 100% with what God says, right? Look at verse number four, or verse five, it says, I speak to your shame. Is it so that there is not a wise man among you? Are you guys all idiots here? No, not one that shall be able to judge between his brethren. You can't resolve a little conflict between your brethren. But 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 yourselves to be defrauded? Nay, you do wrong and defraud, and that your brethren. So here's the thing. They're actually guilty of two things, right? Number one, they're guilty of not being able to righteously judge within the local New Testament church, going before unbelievers. Number two, they're suing their brothers. You know, they're not suffering themselves to be defrauded. In other words, you know, if you have a conflict with another brother in church, and maybe that person did you wrong, or you know, whatever it may be, some sort of financial gain that they got from you, and you try to resolve it, the money's gone, you can't do anything about it. What he's saying is like, well, just suffer yourself to be defrauded. Just walk away. It's better to gain your brother than to gain your money and lose your brother, right? Better to just resolve, forgive, and forget, allow yourself to be defrauded, and move on, and still serve in the same church, same industry, and not have ill will towards that individual than to have them to be bitter towards them, to leave church because of that individual. So they're guilty of two things. One is that they're not judging these things righteously within the local New Testament church. God has sanctioned them to do that, but number two is that they're actually not allowing themselves to be defrauded. They're acting like children. Look at verse nine. Knowing not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God. Be not deceived, nor the fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abuses themselves with mankind, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God. Now, why is he bringing that up after what he said in verses one through eight? Well, he's saying that because of the fact that we shall inherit the kingdom of God, which means that we shall inherit that millennial reign, which means we're gonna judge the world. But these unrighteous judges of today, these unsaved, wicked individuals out there in these court systems and whatnot, they're not gonna inherit the kingdom of God. So if they're gonna burn in hell for all of eternity, they can care less what the Bible says, why are you going to that individual to help you with spiritual matters, or just things pertaining to this life? Now, this isn't the sermon, but I do wanna address this in verse number nine. It says, be not deceived, neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abuses themselves with mankind. And people try to pull this out to say, well, see, this shows us that homosexuals can be saved. Because later on it says, and such were some of you. Well, first and foremost, abuses themselves with mankind, you can't just slap a definition on there and say, well, that's referring to sodomy. It's not referring to sodomy. It says, nor effeminate. Now, the word effeminate simply means someone who is soft, right? Now, I'm not trying to go back to the Greek here, but this is a good time to actually do that. You know, effeminate in the Greek is malakis, which simply means soft. And in fact, it's used another time in the gospels when it's referring to kings who wear soft clothing. Whereas these modern versions, when you go to these modern versions, they actually translate effeminate and abuses themselves with mankind. They lump them in together and say, well, it's referring to a sodomite. It's referring to a homosexual. And then they put a footnote that says in the Greek, this is what it says, and the word as they define it is a sodomite. False. You know, someone who is effeminate is not someone who's a reprobate. Someone who's effeminate is not someone who's a homosexual. It's just someone who's just light on their toes. They're just a little soft. They're not very manly, okay? And the abuser of themselves with mankind, I honestly don't see how people can extract homosexual from that. They just kind of add that definition there. What this is actually referring to is like a woman whore. Not a woman whore, just a whore, right? I'm thinking of a man whore, but that's actually defined also in First Timothy chapter number 10. Now this word here for abuses of themselves with mankind is only used twice in the New Testament. Here in First Corinthians 6, 9, and then in First Timothy 1, 10, and it's defined as someone who is basically defiling themselves, sleeping around, being a whore, being a whoremonger, okay? So this is not referring, and here's the interesting thing is that you see nor effeminate, comma, nor abuses themselves with mankind. Modern versions just lump them together. I said, well, the effeminate is actually referring to the passive member, a person who's in that homosexual relationship. Wrong, you pervert. But here's the thing. People who want to say that sonomites can be saved, this is their key verse right here. Oh, just forget Romans 1. Forget what the Bible says in Romans 1. Forget what the Bible says in Genesis chapter 19. Forget what the Bible clearly states in all these other portions of scripture regarding sodomites. Let's go to First Corinthians 6, 9. Well, here's the thing. That's not a proper use, you know? And let's say this did say that it was referring to sodomites. Well, here's the thing. It says that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God. He's referring to these people, okay? And though such were some of you doesn't necessarily have to be the abusers of themselves with mankind, it could be referring to adulterers, idolaters, those who are effeminate. But I don't believe that's what it's saying at all. I believe the abusers of themselves with mankind is referring to a woman who is just sleeping around. And the proof of that is that later on in the text, he focuses on this matter of fornication and harlots. He says in verse number 15, knowing not that your bodies are the members of Christ, shall I then take the members of Christ and make them the members of an harlot, God forbid? What know you not that that which is joined to an harlot is one body, for to say he shall be one flesh, but he that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit, flee fornication, so on and so forth. So I just want to address that real quick because people like to pull that out. That's like their favorite card to pull out. And it's funny. They want to use the most obscure scripture to try to prove their point. We have dozens of scriptures that prove what the Bible actually says in regards to sodomites, okay? So let's go back to the sermon here. So he makes the contrast between unbelievers not inherit the kingdom of God, whereas believers will. And this is what gives us the right to judge. So think about this. In other words, what he's saying here is that the judgments that we make today are kind of like a precursor to the judgments that we will one day make in the millennial reign. He says if you then have, verse four says, if then ye have judgments of things pertaining to this life, set them to judge who are the least esteemed in the church. Now what does it mean to judge? Well to judge simply means to form an opinion, to conclude a matter, or to pass sentence. But it's also a word used to describe someone who is ruling over someone, right? And that would make sense because an individual who rules over another individual is passing judgment upon them. You know, they're the ones who are in charge, okay? I'm the judge of my house, for example. I pass judgment, I pass the sentence, I form the opinions, I conclude the matters in my household. And here in this church, I'm the judge of this church, so to speak, okay? I'm the under shepherd that is passing sentences when it needs to be done, you know, forming opinions, making judgments, making calls. Therefore, I am a judge or a ruler of some sort. But here's the thing, in order to be a proper ruler, we need to learn how to properly judge. Which the Bible would talk about righteous judgment, okay? He says in verse two, do ye not know that the saints shall judge the world? And if the world shall be judged by you, are ye unworthy to judge the smallest matters? So what is this kind of hinting at here? Well, I don't want to get ahead of myself, but obviously I believe that this is referring to the millennial reign where we're going to be judging. And the parallel that he's drawing there is that, hey, if we're going to judge in the millennial reign, don't you think you're able to judge the smallest of matters? What does that tell us? Well, potentially what this means is that in the millennial reign, we're judging matters between people. Because if we can't judge small matters in the local New Testament church, how are you going to judge your portion of the earth in the millennial reign? How are you going to help resolve conflict in the millennial reign? He said, well, what conflict are you talking about? I thought we were saved and there's not going to be any conflict. Well, not between each other. We have glorified bodies, but there's going to be unsafe people in the millennial reign that we have to rule over and judge. And they're going to have conflicts and we have to be able to resolve those things, right? Now, a good example of this, go to Exodus chapter 18. Exodus chapter 18, hold your place there. And make no mistake about it, I believe that we need to be experts in judging. We should be able to judge. And we receive that wisdom to judge from the Bible, from experience, from other leaders. This is how we're capable of judging. And in fact, if you remember, Solomon, before he, or when he became king, what did he ask the Lord for? Judgment, to be able to judge his people. You know what? God saw that as a good thing. You know, today people are like, well, don't judge. You know, that's wrong to judge other people. You shouldn't judge them. Hold on a second. Solomon asked the Lord for wisdom to be able to judge his people. And God said, man, that's a good prayer there. Not only am I going to give you wisdom, I'm going to give you riches and honor. I'm going to give you the things that you didn't ask for because you asked for that which is most important. So what does that tell you about judgment? It's important to God. It's like a virtue, right? Where God says, that's what I want you to learn how to do is to judge. Look at Exodus 18, verse 19. It says, harken now unto my voice. I will give thee counsel and God shall be with thee. Be thou for the people to Godward, that thou mayest bring the causes unto God. And thou shalt teach them ordinances and laws, and shalt show them the way wherein they must walk, and the work that they must do. Moreover, thou shalt provide out of all the people able men, such as fear God, men of truth, hating covetousness, and place such over them to be what? Rulers of thousands and rulers of hundreds, and rulers of fifties, and rulers of tens. So it was Moses' job to deputize a group of men to rule over people. Now what does that ruling look like? Look at verse 22. And let them what? Judge the people at all seasons. So the one who's ruling over thousands, what is he doing to them? He's judging them. No, you're wrong. That's sinful. You're breaking the law. You're wrong in this situation. Oh man, you shouldn't judge, man. What's wrong for him may not be wrong for you. What's sinful to me may not be sinful to you. No, there's only one truth, folks. So yeah, when we pronounce judgment, we're pronouncing it based upon God's word. And these guys, their responsibility was to judge between the thousands, the hundreds, fifties, and tens, and let them judge the people at all seasons. And it shall be that every great matter, they shall bring unto thee, but every small matter, they shall judge. So shall it be easier for thyself, and they shall bear the burden with thee. So this is kind of like a foreshadowing of what we're gonna see in the millennial reign, right? Because Jesus, Moses is a symbol of who? Jesus. So he's gonna appoint men over thousands, tens, fifties, et cetera, which are the saints who are gonna be ruling over cities. And what are we doing? We're gonna be judging the people at all seasons. That's what our job's gonna be. Now turn with me, if you would, to Matthew chapter number seven. Judgment is a very important virtue unto the Lord, and we as God's people need to learn how to judge people at all times. Now, not take it overboard. We need to make sure that we do it moderately and when it's needed, right? Not judge outside of your area of jurisdiction, so to speak. If you're a dad and you're married, you have children, that's your area of jurisdiction to judge over. You have no right to be able to judge someone else's family and say, hey, you should be this type of husband. You need to take your wife out on this day and spank your kids this way. That's not your role. It's not your role. There's a lot of single guys that think that that's their position, right? Like, hey, this is how you run a family. It's like, you're not even married yet. What are you talking about? It's really easy to know how to, raising kids is super easy when you don't have kids. How to treat your wife is super easy if you're not married. It's a separate thing when you're actually married you actually have kids, okay? But we need to rule within our area of jurisdiction and then in light of that, rule well. Be able to judge well. I'm gonna read to you from Psalm 37, verse 30. It says, the mouth of the righteous speaketh wisdom and its tongue talketh of judgment. Proverbs 2 nine says, then shalt thou understand righteousness and judgment and equity, yea, every good path. When wisdom enterth into thine heart and knowledge is pleasant unto thy soul, discretion shall preserve thee, understanding shall keep thee. Proverbs 21 15 says, it is joy to the just to do judgment, but destruction shall be to the workers of iniquity. You know, when you are able to discern between good and evil and make a proper judgment, that brings us joy. Because where there is no judgment, there is confusion. If you don't have an individual saying, this is right, this is wrong, this is the decision that we need to make, guess what, there's gonna be frustration and confusion. Let me give you a practical example of this, okay? When a husband and wife are trying to choose where to eat for their dates. You know, if you don't have a good judge, if the man is not ruling well, you know, there's gonna be a lot of frustration and confusion, right? Because often, women have a hard time choosing. Whereas we, we have like our top three spots. You know what I mean? But what if the guy doesn't and he says, well, you choose. No, you choose. And then there's frustration, there's no conclusion to the matter. Proper ruler says, we're going to Raising Cane's. We're going to Wingstop. We're gonna go eat tacos. We're gonna, you know, what's another spot? We're gonna go eat Mediterranean food. We're gonna have Turkish food. This is where we're gonna eat, okay? You're just like, well, the sentence has already been passed. You have relinquished your privilege to choose. The ruler has spoken, okay? Small example, but it proves the point, right? It's joy to the just to do judgment. Now, in spite of the abundance of evidence in the Bible telling us to judge and saying, hey, you need to judge, judge, judge, it's a joy to the just to judge. You need to make sure that you judge righteous judgment, just constantly driving home this point. You still have believers today saying what? Don't judge. And often it's in context of sin, which is an area that we need to judge in the most, especially when God has already pronounced judgment on those things. But look what the Bible says here. You're in Matthew seven, I'm gonna read to you from Proverbs 28 five. Evil men understand not judgment. But they that seek the Lord understand all things. See, to us it makes sense when God pronounces judgment upon sin, when we think about church discipline, church excommunication, all these things, you know, that makes sense to us because we're seeking the Lord. We have the Lord's agenda as our own agenda. That's what we wanna do. But you know, people are like, well, don't judge. Well, stop acting so evil. Gain some understanding. Evil men understand not judgment. Why do you have to throw people out of your church like that? That's not right. God loves people. He loves everyone. Give them a second chance. Stop being so evil. You're being evil right now. Don't judge me like that. Well, you know, evil men understand not judgment. So you don't understand the judgment that I'm passing, the judgment that I'm bringing forth unto the church or to an individual, and the Bible says if you don't understand that, you're behaving like an evil person. Evil men understand not judgment, but they that seek the Lord understand all things. This is basically what the Bible says in 1 Corinthians chapter two, where it says the spiritual judgeth all things. The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God, neither can he know for they're spiritually discerned, but the spiritual judgeth all things. Why? Because we have the mind of Christ, the Bible says. That's why. Don't judge. Look at Matthew seven. Verse number one. By the way, to these individuals, this chapter only has one verse. It's actually the smallest chapter in the Bible. You know, the only chapter smaller than this one is Romans 11. You'll catch that later when you read it later on. Judge not that ye be not judged. In fact, just remove that ye be not judged. Just keep the judge not, period. Okay? Judge not that ye be not judged, for with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged, and with what measure ye meet, it shall be measured to you again. So what is it that God is saying here? This is actually the only time that we shouldn't judge, which is when? When you're actually guilty of that which you're judging. It's called hypocrisy. So when you're judging someone, but you're actually guilty of that same action, that same ideology, that same sin, at that point, you should just keep your mouth shut and not judge that individual because you're guilty of it. Not because it's wrong to judge that individual, because that sin is still wrong. That action is still wrong. The difference is is that you're guilty of it, therefore you have no room to talk. That's what he's saying. So he's not saying that that judgment is wrong, it's that you making that judgment is wrong because you're guilty of that same action. Let's further prove it. Look what it says in verse three. And why behold the style of the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but consider'st not the beam that is in thine own eye? Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, let me pull out the mote out of thine eye, and behold, the beam is in thine own eye. The example that he's giving here is just like, you're trying to remove the speck from your brother's eye, but you have a log in yours. You have a massive piece of wood, a tree, in your eye, and yet you're judging your brother for the little bonsai tree in theirs. Now, here's the thing. Here he's saying, don't judge if you're guilty of it, but then he says this, this is how you fix it. This is how you can clear yourself in order to make that judgment. Look at verse five. Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye, and then thou shalt see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother's eye. So just look, if you are sincerely trying to help your brother, okay, then you make sure that you're not a hypocrite, you've removed the beam, you've removed the mote, so that you can clearly see, not be a hypocrite, and then judge your brother accordingly, understand? So, you know, these people, well, don't judge. Oh, why? I'm not guilty of what you're doing. You shouldn't judge. Yes, I can, because I'm not guilty of fornication, I'm not guilty of drunkenness, I'm not committing adultery, I'm not committing idolatry, I'm not committing extortion, I'm not guilty of these things, therefore, I have the right to judge, according to the Bible, and I find it interesting that people outside of our local church are trying to tell me that I can't judge here. You don't even go to church, and if you do, you don't go to this church. You understand, isn't that hypocrisy? You know, oh, you shouldn't judge people like that, but they don't even attend a church, hypocrite. I don't even have a mote in my eye, but they have a beam in theirs, saying you shouldn't judge people. Well, it's like, first of all, can you even go to church first? How about you go to a local New Testament church first, how about you put yourself under someone else's authority, and then we can talk, and then I can tell you that you're wrong. It's ridiculous. Now, go back to 1 Corinthians 6, and the reason I'm preaching this sermon is because of the fact that I want to emphasize the fact that in our church, judgment is a very necessary attribute and virtue to have, not just in my personal life, dealing with the church, but how about just amongst you? We need to make sure that we do righteous judgments. You know, we need to make sure that we're able to discern between good and evil, that we are able to use the word of God, know what it says to pronounce judgment, because if not, then this church will become a cesspool of sin. We just tolerate everything, anything can come through, any type of sin, any type of false doctrine can come through, you know? And here's the thing, this is what irritates me sometimes, it's like, well, you know, that difference that you and that person have doesn't have to do with salvation, so you should let them stay in your church. You know, because they believe in like the flat earth or something. Well, you know, I pronounce judgment and God's giving me the liberty to pronounce judgment and say, I don't want that person in my church. Why, because people who believe in flat earth are often troublemakers at a local church, that's why. You know, and look, if there's a flat earth in our church, I don't know of a flat earth in our church, but if there is, they're probably gonna keep quiet from now on, either that or they're gonna roll out. And no, I'm not interested in debating you, because I already know you're wrong. Duh, there's no purpose in debating you or trying, because obviously there's enough information out there, enough sermons, enough videos debunking it, and look, this one individual told me on social media, oh, you know, I know we differ on this, but just know, yeah, I've already seen Pastor Anderson's video on it, okay, so you're still not convinced I don't want nothing to do with you then? Right. Plain and simple. And it's not like the flat earth is just some, this damned-able heresy, it's just that for some reason, those who believe it act like complete idiots. And they're often troublemakers in the local church. They have a problem with authority. I've made that judgment. So, you don't like it, go to a church that believes in the flat earth then. Go to a flat church. Flat line church. Go to 1 Corinthians 6, look at verse one. Dare any of you having a matter against another go to law before the unjust and not before the saints. Do you not know that the saints shall judge the world? So, why are we worthy to make judgments in the church? Well, because one day we will judge this earth, okay? Now, what I want to do is go through that, go from the very end and make our way all the way back to 1 Corinthians 6, so go with me if you would to Revelation chapter 20. Revelation chapter 20. We are deputized to make judgments in the local church because of the fact that one day we will judge the world during the millennial reign, okay? I'm excited about the millennial reign. That's something that I look forward to greatly. Now, think about what he's saying here. He's drawing the parallels between these two. And he obviously is specifically referring to that millennial reign, that thousand year reign. Now, what is the millennial reign? Well, when you study end times Bible prophecy, you have a period of seven years, not seven year tribulation, but three and a half years of beginning of sorrows and great tribulation, and then three and a half years of God's wrath. At the conclusion of those three and a half years of God's wrath, you have the inception of the millennial reign. Jesus Christ comes with his saints to execute judgment upon the Antichrist, his false prophet and their armies. He basically decimates that army and he establishes his reign here on this earth, physically speaking, okay? Now, obviously Jesus Christ is reigning in our hearts. He's ruling and reigning in our hearts, but you know what? That's not the only way he's gonna rule. One day he's gonna physically rule on this earth, okay? Where he is, the government, the Bible says, shall be upon his shoulders. Now, there's gonna be unsaved people in that world and the world's gonna be completely different at that time because if you think about it, God has had three and a half years to just destroy the world. So it's not necessarily gonna be like a utopia of beautiful greenery and everything. I mean, a lot of the greenery is actually just burned up. So here, in my opinion, the millennial reign, the reason it's a thousand years is because it's probably gonna take that long to reconstruct the world once again from the damage that God did to it, okay? And we're gonna be ruling and reigning over cities. I mean, in fact, Babylon will not be inhabited. That's not gonna be reconstructed. It will never be inhabited, according to the Bible. But during these thousand years, we are judging different areas. We are ruling over people. We are a sentencing judgment upon unbelievers who are guilty of crimes worthy of death. Murder's still gonna be taking place. Kidnapping's still gonna be taking place. Sodomy will be taking place. But here's the difference, is that the government of that day, that's why I vote Jesus, amen, the government of that day, you know, the elect, those who were elected, right, they will be executing God's laws upon the land of that day. It'll be a great time to live in, as a Christian, obviously, or as a regenerated believer. So this is what's known as the millennial reign, the thousand year reign. So look, he establishes that millennial reign, but here's the thing, I mean, there's a lot of people, we're talking about people who have resurrected. So people who've resurrected from the beginning, and people who have died in the Lord from the beginning of time up until now, I mean, we're talking about probably billions of people. Not including, I mean, if we include also, how about unborn babies, you know, babies who were aborted or just never made it, you know, they had a still birth or whatever it may be. I mean, these children will be inhabiting the millennial reign as well. They'll be resurrecting. This is why there will be no more sea, right? Because we need real estate in order for people to inhabit. Okay, children, people, all types of individuals. So if you think about it, what Moses did in his day with a million people, the children of Israel, that's what Jesus Christ is going to do with us. He is going to deputize us to be able to rule and reign over these areas, and that's based upon the works that we do here on this earth. This is why we go soloing. This is why we serve the Lord. This is why we do good into others, and we seek to have our fishing pole in different ponds in order to gain a reward when we reach that millennial reign. That's why we shouldn't chase after vanity, folks. That's why we shouldn't chase after covetousness and vanity and sin and things that just don't matter in this lifetime because of the fact that there's a thousand years waiting for us, where we get to just chill and be with Jesus and rule and reign and enjoy rewards, you know, enjoy that glorified body and be able to walk through walls and stuff. No, I'm just kidding, I don't know. Maybe you might be able to do something like that. We don't know yet. We see through a glass darkly right now. Let me read to you from Revelation 11, verse 14. It says, the second woe is past, and behold, the third woe cometh quickly. And the seventh angel sounded, and there were great voices in heaven, saying, the kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign forever and ever. It goes on to say in verse number 18, and the nations were angry, and thy wrath is come, and the time of the dead that they should be judged, and that thou shouldest give reward unto thy servants, the prophets, and to the saints, and them that fear thy name, small and great, shouldest destroy them which destroy the earth. So the Bible's specifically telling us that there's gonna be a time where God, Jesus Christ, he gives rewards unto his servants. Now, what does that reward look like? Ruling. It's in the form of authority. Be thou over 10 cities, be thou over five. This is the reward that he's referring to. Look at Revelation 20, verse four. And I saw thrones, not just one, thrones, plural, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them. And I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus and for the word of God, and which had not worshiped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads or in their hands, and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years. Look at verse six. Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection. On such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years. So look, the reigning in verse number six is synonymous with the judging in verse number four. And this is what the Bible means when it says that we shall judge the world. Now, in my personal opinion, I believe that we shall enter into the millennial reign with as much Bible knowledge that we have today. That's what I believe. I don't think that glorification will change, will just give us all Bible knowledge. Because here's the thing, isn't the Bible inexhaustible? Right? We just keep learning the word of God throughout all of eternity because the Bible's inexhaustible. Therefore, I believe God, when we are resurrected, we go into the millennial reign, we're gonna keep the knowledge that we have. So that should be a motivation to us all to learn the Bible well, to learn God's judgments well. Because here's the thing, aside from the fact that he gives us authority for the things that we do here on this earth, how is he gonna set someone over 10 cities who just doesn't know what he's doing, doesn't have the judgments of God, doesn't understand what the Bible says? Oh, but they did bus ministry. Oh, but they handed out 10,000 tracts. We know that's all great and everything like that, but here's the thing, God emphasizes his word. And there's a reason why God says, study to show thyself approved unto God. Approved, approved for what? To be able to make judgments. A workman that needeth not to be ashamed rightly dividing the word of truth. So this should be a motivation to us to study the Bible, to read the word of God, to make it an important aspect factor in our lives. Because we're gonna need it when we go into the millennial reign, when God is deputizing people and saying, I know he knows what he's talking about, he knows my law, he knows the word of God, be thou over 10 cities. Execute judgment in this special area, okay? Now go to 1 Timothy chapter three, let me give you an example of what this might be like. Because as I mentioned, the judgments we make today in church are like the precursors to the judgments that we will one day make on a worldwide scale. That's why it's important that we judge. That's why it's sad to see churches that don't judge. Because they're not putting in the work, they're not exercising their senses to discern between good and evil, right? Now in 1 Timothy three, we see the qualifications of a pastor being mentioned, okay? And in order for a pastor to be able to rule over a church, what does he need to rule over first? His family, his home. Look at verse four, one that ruleth well his own house, having his children in subjection with all gravity. For if a man know not how to rule his own house, how shall he take care of the church of God? Now what's the parallel we can draw there? Well, if we can't rule the smallest of matters in our church, how shall we rule over the whole world? Right? So the same thing that we see with the pastor where he's just like, hey, you need to make sure you rule over your children, you lead your wife, you spank your children, and you love your wife as Christ loved the church, they follow you in like manner, that's kind of like your resume to be a pastor. By the way, that's a resume that a lot of pastors don't take into consideration anymore. It's like pastors today can just, their household can just be in disarray, and their children are not following them, they don't respect them, they're out there fornicating, committing drunkenness, their wives don't even follow them, and it's just like, well, they can still be a pastor though. Wrong. Wrong. You know, and by the way, it says rule his house well, not perfectly. You know, it doesn't mean that our children are not going to make mistakes, they're not gonna fail at some times, they're not gonna sin, you know, obviously they're gonna do those things because they're human, okay? And it doesn't mean that the wives are perfect either. And by the way, there's no such thing as a pastor's wife in the Bible. They're just wives of those who are pastors. That's not like a position in the church. You understand? Only a pastor. And so you can see the parallel that we were drawing there, right? You know, he's telling them, if you can't rule your own house, then how are you gonna rule over the church of God? Well, the same thing can be said in First Corinthians chapter six. If you can't judge the smallest of matters in the church, how are you gonna be able to judge between thousands of people in the millennial reign, okay? Now go back to First Corinthians six, First Corinthians six. So what's the point that I'm trying to get across in this sermon? Hey, learn how to resolve conflicts between one another. Don't be bitter against one another. You know, if you have issues with another individual, learn how to resolve that. Hey, man, if someone looked at you cockeyed or they made some sort of comment to you that you're too fat, you're too tall, you're too skinny, you're too short, you're too ugly, you know, then do something about it, right? No, I'm just kidding. You know, if they make some sort of comment like that and you get offended, don't just sit on it and not say anything. Go to that brother. Look, one thing that I love doing is confronting people. Not because I just like conflict, but because I like resolving conflict. So if you've known me for any length of time, you know I have zero issue with going up to you and saying, hey, what's your problem? Or what's going on with this? Because I'd rather just resolve it. I don't like having tension between brothers or sisters in Christ. I'd rather just address it immediately. Number one, because I want to live peaceably with all men in our church. But number two, because of this. Because if I can't resolve conflicts biblically here, how are we going to do it on a worldwide scale? Now look, I will say this. There's certain things that if they take place in a church that it's not that we can't judge. Obviously we can judge, but we have a lid, so to speak. What do I mean by that? You know, if someone is guilty of murder in our church, the most we can do is cast the person out of the church, but we also have to go to the authorities with that information. You understand? It's not like, well, let's just judge it here. He's worthy of death, close the doors, lock them. We're going to have execution here at our church, you know? We're not living in those days yet, okay? We're not putting anybody to death. We're not executing that type of judgment. Obviously that individual cannot be in our church, right? But we have to turn them into the authorities according to Romans chapter 13. Hey, if there's a pedophile, if we know of pedophilia in our church, for example, let's say I find out about an individual in your family or something like that that is involved in pedophilia, and that information comes to me, I legally have to go to the authorities with that information, okay? Legally. It's not like, whoa, we have to judge. And here's the funny thing. You have churches, you already know where I'm going with this. You have churches that refuse to judge, right? They refuse to judge, pass judgment on fornicators and drunkards. Oh, we shouldn't judge, we should be merciful. Oh, but when it comes to pedophilia, oh, let's go ahead and just keep it in here. We shouldn't take that to the authorities. Cameron Giovanelli, Mike Zachary, that's like, well, let's not let that leak out. We should judge inside the church. Even though he's molested multiple people, multiple children, it's backwards. Folks, if there's pedophilia going on in here, in the sense of there's someone who's involved, some sort of pedophile, hopefully that guy can get to the door before we kick his rear end, first and foremost, beat him down. I don't believe it's ever gonna happen in our church, but if it does, lock the doors. But let's say that happens, well, aside from the fact that obviously that person gets excommunicated, we have to go to the authorities with that information. You understand? So there's certain things that obviously we still have, we're deputized to be able to judge, but there's a certain level of crime or sin where we literally have to go to the authorities with that. We don't just keep it in here. Now I wanna address something in 1 Corinthians 6. Look at verse number two. I'm sorry, verse three. It says, know ye not that we shall judge angels? How much more things that pertain to this life? Now this is a verse that has perplexed a lot of people throughout the years about judging angels. And I'm gonna give you the two schools of thoughts here of what this could potentially mean. Now I've heard for years that basically what this means is like we are gonna judge the angels, the demons that have been tempting us and fought against us, and we're gonna be able to cast them down to hell, this Pentecostal, charismatic type of interpretation. And they'll often use 2 Peter 2 in Jude to be able to prove that. They'll say, hey, they're reserved into judgment to the last days, and we're gonna be the ones judging them because we shall judge angels. I don't believe that's what it means at all. I think that's kind of ridiculous. And that judgment is for God, obviously. He's the one who's casting people to hell, not us. We just help them get there faster, amen? Go to Hebrews chapter one in the millennial reign. Go to Hebrews one. I'm gonna give you my interpretation of what this means. So I don't believe this is referring to us judging demons. You know, I remember like back in the day, I had a friend who was just like, he had a pastor, or his dad was a pastor. He was like, yeah, my dad slays demons in his sleep, and he sends them to hell and all these things. I'm just like, what is he eating? What kind of meals is he having before going to sleep? Good night. That's obviously poppycock. It's nonsense. It's not real. Now, here's the thing is, remember in context, judging obviously means to be able to discern between one, be able to judge matters, okay? But to be a judge, as I mentioned, it also means to be a ruler. You're ruling over individuals. And what I believe this is referring to is the fact that we shall rule over angels as well. Now look at Hebrews one, verse 13. But to which of the angels said he at any time, sit on my right hand until I make that an enemy's thy footstool. Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation? Now, when you think of someone who's ruling over another individual, the recipient of that rule is like a servant to the ruler. And a synonym for a servant is what? A minister. Now, here in Hebrews one, 14, it's telling us that there are angels who actually minister to those who shall be heirs of righteousness, to us, right? We've had guardian angels, so to speak, that's what we would call them, prior to salvation. But we also continue to have them even throughout our Christian life. We see examples of that in the Bible. So why would it be far-fetched to think that their ministering extends all the way even to the millennial reign and the new heaven and new earth? You see, now we're made a little lower than the angels. But when it comes to us being glorified, at that point we become rulers. I believe they continue to minister unto us, okay? Now, to what extent, I don't know, like, hey, fly me to the moon or something like that. I don't think that's what it's referring to. I think, because if you think about an angel, an angel is a what? A messenger. So maybe in the millennial reign it's just like, hey, can you go tell you, Lisa's in Asia real quick, that he needs to keep those people in Asia or whatever. We don't know exactly. We see through a glass darkly. But I don't think it's far-fetched to think that angels continue to minister unto us, because there's no indication that angels disappear in the millennial reign. I think they're everlasting beings, right? These creatures that are everlasting. And if they're ministering to us prior to salvation, when we're saved, I don't think it's preposterous to think that their ministry extends all the way even to the millennial reign. And look, there's a lot of work to do in the millennial reign. I mean, it's a thousand years worth of work that we have to do. I don't think it's crazy to think that they continue to minister unto us, helping us carry out certain decrees and messages and work, okay? So that's what I believe it's referring to. If you have a different interpretation, let me know after the service. Now, I gotta finish up here. So we judge the world, obviously, on a worldwide scale. But today, we're still judging the world through preaching. And what I'm trying to get across here is that we need to recognize that we need to embrace this matter of judging and not look down upon it, not see it as some character flaw. Oh, you're just being judgmental. That's a good thing to have, to be able to discern. Now, obviously, there's people out there that judge and they don't make a righteous judgment. It's like they're just completely wrong on everything, okay? We're not talking about that. We're talking about people who know what they're talking about and they're simply regurgitating what the Bible says. That's a proper judgment. Go with me, if you would, to 1 Corinthians, chapter one. 1 Corinthians, chapter one. Today, we continue to judge people. Now, we're not judging them on a worldwide scale where we're literally, we're the law, and the government is on his shoulders and he's deputized us. But you know what? We're judging spiritually. So look, we're not judging. In fact, the Bible says, they that are without, God judgeth. And what is that referring to? It's referring to the fact that people who are cast out of church, those who are fornicators, drunkards, the ones who are railers, who are cast out of church, God is going to judge them physically because they're given over to Satan for the destruction of the flesh. We are not going to destroy their flesh. It's Satan who's doing that and God is the one who sanctions that. But today, we are passing judgment upon a wicked world. Oh, you should just mind your own business. Absolutely not. We are to judge nations. We're to pass judgments upon nations, upon wicked individuals. Hey, if there's something going on in the news, if there's wicked individuals out there being exposed, we need to judge them publicly because the church is the house of God, which is the pillar and ground of truth. And it should be that people can come to the local church to see what God has to say about it. Not like, well, come to church. I don't know. I think we should just stay out of it. I think I don't really, can't really form an opinion upon that. I don't really know what God says about it. Folks, the Bible has everything that we need that pertains to life and godliness. We have the wisdom of the word of God to be able to judge every situation, to tell you this, thus saith the Lord, this is what God says. And people get mad, oh man, you guys are violent. You guys want to put sodomites to death. I'm not putting them to death. I'm just saying they should be put to death based upon what God says. Pedophiles, murderers, adulterers, this is what God says. To give you that opinion, to give you that sentencing based upon the word of God is a proper judgment. It's not saying that I'm going to do it. The Bible says in Jeremiah 28 verse seven, nevertheless, hear thou now this word that I speak in thine ears, and in the ears of all the people. The prophets that have been before me and before thee of old prophesied both against many countries and against great kingdoms of war and of evil and of pestilence. He's telling this false prophet, oh, you're saying peace, peace. You want to give a message of peace, just to let you know, me and the real men, the real prophets, we prophesied against all these things because that's what the man of God does. Not this limp-wristed, sissy, sissified, effeminate, soy boy preaching out there that's just like, well, we just want to stick to the book of Proverbs and just talk about the love of God and mercy of God. I'm all for those attributes, but folks, there's a lot more in the Bible that God wants us to make judgments on. And talk about what's wicked and what's not. You know, discern between good and evil. There's people out there who are simple-minded that don't know what God has to say. You'd be surprised how many times people will say, man, I didn't know the Bible talked about that. I didn't know the Bible opinionated on that. It's like, yeah, it has everything that pertains to life and Godliness. The reason you don't know is because your pastor is whack. That's not like talking about those things. Because you don't really want to be controversial. Folks, did you know that in the millennial reign, none of these sermons will be controversial? It's just normal. It'll be controversial to preach like a limp-wristed little faggot. That'll be controversial. You're in trouble at that point. You know, it's controversial now because the government is not upon its shoulders. You understand? Look at 1 Corinthians 1, 19 says, For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent. Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer of this world? Hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? Hey, don't go to Fox News. Don't go to social media to figure out what God says about a specific topic. What are the Bible? That stuff is foolishness unto God, the Bible says. For after that, in the wisdom of God, the world by wisdom knew not God. It pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. Look at verse 25. Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men. You know, if we can scale God's wisdom from one to 10, one being the lowest, even if that were possible, the one is still better than any wisdom of the world. You know, the foolishness of preaching is still better than the smartest individual in the political realm. Especially now. Verse 26, for you see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble are called, but God hath chosen the foolish things of this world to confound the wise. Yeah, call me foolish. I'm a fool for Christ's sake, amen. That's what the Bible says. Foolish things of this world to confound the wise and God has chosen the weak things of this world to confound the things which are mighty and base things of the world and things that are despised hath God chosen, yea, things that are not to bring to naught the things that are that no flesh should glory in his presence. And you know what the formula is to be elevated in the eyes of God is to be abased. And you know what, the world throughout the years has constantly just talked down on Christianity, based Christianity, and it's for a reason. You know why? Because God will one day elevate us beyond any kingdom of this world. He will promote us to authority. And of course, go to Matthew chapter 18 and I'm done. I'm going a little long today, but it's okay. Go to Matthew 18. So look, because we're gonna judge the world, we should be able to, on a physical level, we should be able to judge the world on a spiritual level today. We should be able to preach sermons and give what God opinionates on specific topics because that's what we're gonna do for all of eternity anyways. And therefore, if we're gonna be judging on a physical level in the millennial reign, if we're judging today on a spiritual level when it comes to the world, hey, we should be able to judge the smallest of matters here in our church. Right? So look, if you have some legal problem with another brother, here's your options. This should be your options. One, allow yourself to be defrauded. Or two, just resolve it. Right. That's it. Now we'll say this, like, if you don't want to be defrauded and the counter individual does not want to be defrauded either and he's the one in the wrong, okay, at that point, you bring it to the main judge, and the main judge, which is the pastor, pronounces judgment on that person. Look what the Bible says in Matthew 18, verse 15. Moreover, if thy brother trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone. If he shall hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother. He's like, hey, man, you owe me 50 bucks. You said you were gonna pay me 50 bucks. What is that money at? So, oh, man, my bad, I forgot about that. Here's your 50 bucks. All right, you've gained your brother and your 50 bucks, amen? But if you will not hear thee, then take with thee one or two more than in the mouth of two or three witnesses, every word may be established. So if he's saying, no, I don't owe you anything, then what you do is you go grab two other brethren to confront him once again so that there's witnesses that is establishing the fact that he refuses to repent and reinstitute that, $50 of that money that he owes you. And if he shall neglect to hear them, if he's just like, no, I don't care how many witnesses you bring, I'm not paying up, period. Tell it unto the church. Now, what does this mean? Let me tell you what it doesn't mean. It doesn't mean go gossip around everyone and is like, hey, I just want to let everyone know, Moses owes me 50 bucks and he doesn't want to pay me. You guys have a good night, all right? It's like, that's not what it means. By the way, Moses does not owe me 50 bucks. What it means is this, is you go to the pastor and because he refused to repent, the pastor will go to him and if he refuses to repent of that, then I bring it before the church and excommunicate him out of the church. Look what it says. If he shall neglect to hear them, tell it unto the church, but if he neglect to hear the church, let him be unto thee as a heathen man and as a publican. Now, let me ask you, are heathens and publicans allowed to just be members of our church? No. So the implication there is that you excommunicate that individual out of the church. Man, so is he like, are you saying he's not saved? I don't care, I just know that I'm supposed to treat him as a heathen and as a publican. By the way, this is not just for financial reasons, how about just for heretical reasons? We cast him out of the church because they're not showing doctrinal integrity within the church, they seem to be spreading their doctrine in the church. Okay, then we throw that individual out and if someone comes to me and says, hey, you think that guy's a reprobate? I would say, I don't care, I'm supposed to treat him as a heathen and as a publican. So basically, I treat him as though he's unsaved, whether he's saved or not. So even if he is saved, the Bible's telling me I'm to treat him as a heathen and as a publican. Powerful stuff there. What gives you the right to do that? You don't have a right to just say that to people. Let's keep reading. Verse 18, verily I say unto you, whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven. Jesus speaking here. But whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loose in heaven. What is Jesus saying? We got your back. If you pronounce that judgment in the church, you bind that in your, at First Works Baptist Church, it's bound in heaven as well. So if he goes to God, Lord, Pastor Mejia was wrong. He cast me out of the church. God's like, I agree with Pastor Mejia. You better get right. That's what that means. So he can pray all he wants. He can pray as many imprecatory prayers as he wants. God is on my side. He's not gonna listen to that individual. Unless he repents. Look at verse 19, and again I say unto you that if two of you shall agree on earth as touching anything that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father, which is in heaven, where two are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them. What is he saying? I've given you the authority to do that. Now let me ask you this. If an individual, a pastor, just has zero knowledge on how to judge, how can you do this? He's not gonna be able to do it. He will not be able to execute Matthew 13 because he's not able to judge even the smallest of matters before it becomes big. See, the small matter is when the brother trespasses against the other brother, then they resolve it. But if they're not even able to do that, how are they gonna take care of it when it gets bigger? You understand? So what's the sermon of today? Simply this is that, hey, we need to take judgment seriously. And you need to pray, as Solomon prayed, Lord, give me wisdom to judge thy people. Give me the wisdom to be able to make judgment calls when needed, to be able to discern, to judge as you've called me to do, because judging is a biblical virtue, amen? Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer. Father, we thank you so much for your word. Thank you for your judgments. And I pray, Lord, that you'd help us to learn as many judgments of the Bible as we possibly can so that decisions can already be made for us. We don't have to make decisions if we already know what the Bible already says. You've made the decision for us. I pray, God, that you'd help us to judge the smallest of matters, that you would find us worthy to judge the world when it comes time to. And I pray, God, that you bless us. May your hand be upon us in Jesus' name, amen.