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Right and Wrong Judgments
This is written as a warning to those of us who attempt to complain or find fault with another person when we are doing the same thing ourselves or something else that is just as wrong or more so than the person we are finding fault with. This kind of fault finding is not judging a righteous judgment, neither is it fruitful. It usually causes trouble and hurt feelings rather than godly correction. Many times the person we are finding fault with is not present so in that case, it is backbiting and does no good for the person being criticized. A good example of this is King David, when Nathan the prophet came to him telling him of a man who had only one sheep and another man having many sheep but the man with the great number of sheep took the only lamb from the man that had only one and killed it for food. David was very angry at that and commanded that such a one be put to death. Nathan said to David that he was the man. No, he didn’t take someone’s lamb but he did take someone’s wife when he himself had many wives but the man he took the wife from, had only one. This is an example of judging someone for something that we ourselves are guilty of. This is a huge hindrance to the gospel of Jesus Christ and is close to murmuring and complaining which God shows us by His word that He is very displeased with it. I’m not speaking here about anything that I myself have not been guilty of on occasion.
I want to examine from the scriptures the right way and the wrong way to speak out against something that is wrong. Many use the above scriptures to avoid correcting sin and having the “Live and Let live, “ attitude. We know from other scriptures however, that Jesus never intended for His followers never to receive correction or speak out against the sins that are destroying our families, our church and even our nation. There is a place for fault finding but we must be very careful to judge a righteous judgment.
To wrest judgment is to pervert it to give a wrong sentence or to be wrong in judgment. Judges are to judge fairly and not judge with respect of persons. We are not to favor one over another. We may tend to find fault and speak out against one person but avoid speaking against a more favored person that may be guilty of doing the same sin. We must not judge with respect of persons, favoring the rich over the poor, the influential over those who we may judge to be unimportant etc.
One way we can determine whether or not we are making a righteous judgment is to examine our motives. The Pharisees were constantly trying to find fault with Jesus over trivial matters. They didn’t realize that they were agents of Satan trying to hinder the work of God. Their motives were envy, anger, and self-righteousness. They probably felt conviction because of their own sin and it made them angry so they tried to find fault with Jesus to make themselves feel justified in their sins. They often found fault with Jesus for healing a man on the Sabbath day caring more about the letter of the law then seeing a person that was miserable set free from his sickness. Here we see clearly a wrong motive for fault finding. Jesus preached the spirit of the law. Our motives must be to save not destroy. I’m reminded of the story of the woman who was caught in the act of adultery by some men. They wanted to stone the poor woman but Jesus said the word, “ He that is without sin among you, cast the first stone.” Not one was without sin so they could not stone the woman. Jesus forgave the woman but told her to go and sin no more. He didn’t condone her sin but gave her a way out of it. Here we see the right motive. The motive of the fault finders was to kill the woman and rid themselves of one they thought unworthy to live. The motive of Jesus was to save the woman and offer her the gift of eternal life. This my dear brothers and sisters in the Lord, should be our motive in all we do and say. Our speaking should be for the edification of our fellow believers. Is what I’m about to say going to edify or is it going to destroy the work of God. Is what I’m going to going to be fruitful or is it going to be harmful. This doesn’t mean that we only say nice things and tickle the ears with compliments and false flattery.
All through the scriptures I see balance. I see positive and negative and all things working out for the good of those who hear and do the teachings of the word. There is a right kind of judgment but there is a wrong kind. This should be our prayer.
Our words are very important. We can use
them to bring glory to God and teach sound doctrine or we can use
them to do evil and be a tool that Satan can use to deceive or harm
the body of Christ.
I’ve used these scriptures from Titus before but I want to emphasize verse 15. These things speak, exhort, rebuke with all authority. There is a place for judging when it is for the benefit of healing, correcting and saving rather than tearing down and destroying a precious soul for whom Jesus Christ died.
The hardest thing to control is our tongue. I wonder sometimes if that is the reason for the sign gift of speaking in other tongues when one is baptized with the Holy Spirit. Maybe it is God’s way of saying to us, “From now on we need to use our tongues for the word of God and things that edify.” Tongues could also be a sign that the gospel is meant for people of all nations, tongues and people, not just the Jews to whom the gospel was first given; but I wonder too if just maybe it is a sign that our tongues must be controlled and not given to evil. It may simply be a sign that the Holy Spirit has come within us or a sign to unbelievers that something supernatural is happening. Just my speculation here. I do know from experience that many times we speak by the Holy Spirit in intercession for things we do not always know we are praying about. Some times is a message to be interpreted and sometimes I believe it is interceding for something God has placed on our hearts. Sound speech is teaching right doctrine. There are many doctrines going around that are not according to the written word. I believe however that we should major on correcting a false teaching rather than try to destroy someone's ministry by speaking out against the person who may be teaching false doctrine. The reason being that we may just be going by rumor and not 100% truth. You Tube videos can be spliced and changed to show just part of what someone says without hearing the whole message which might contain an explanation that would show the person speaking is in reality not speaking falsely. I've seen the news media do this to those they oppose politically. Why seek to destroy rather than restore. My motive counts. That determines whether or not what I say is fault finding or whether what I say is fruitful. If I come in tears and strong crying warning and pleading for souls to hear the right doctrine, caring whether or not the listeners are saved or lost, then that is not judging but trying to get people to turn their lives over to Jesus Christ, accept the free gift of eternal life, and turn away from false teaching.
Yielding to the spirit of God is the best way to speak things that edify and bear precious fruit. Speaking the truth in love is what will edify.
So first the bible says not to judge and
now Paul rebukes the Corinthians for not judging. So there has to be
a right way and a right place and a wrong way. Motive is a good key.
It has to be by the spirit and in truth not in tale bearing and
backbiting. The love of the truth is another good motive.
So we see here another apostle telling us not to judge after I just read Paul telling us to judge. All these things must be studied and taken in context. It will balance out if we all do things according to the leading of the spirit and with the right motives.
Here we see an example of the right way. In the spirit of meekness. A meek spirit is a good sign that one is judging a righteous judgment. Holier than thou, self-righteousness is not the spirit of meekness.
Our motive is the save, restore, help, bless, exhort, comfort correct in love.
So we see that the same James who said not to judge our brother is now telling us to convert the sinner and save the soul from death. Motive makes the difference. We must examine our motives. Let us be determined to use our tongues for edification and not for destroying the ones for whom Christ died. I know sometimes bad happens to us and we sound off about someone who we are mad at. I realize we sometimes have to share things when we feel we have been wronged but these things are usually temporary problems that we talk about to someone who may be able to reason with us and help us see another side of the big picture. This is not necessarily judging or fault finding but trying to overcome a bad situation but even if this is the case we must choose wisely the person we direct our words to. If it is someone who also dislikes the person we are angry at, it is the wrong person to talk to. This is backstabbing. If it is a person that is impartial and desires the good of both parties it is better. Yet the perfect way is to walk in love, joy and peace in the Holy Ghost which God gives to those who obey Him. It is not judging to correct error and lies. It is not judging to speak out against false doctrine. We are not guilty of touching God’s anointed if they are teaching error and that could cause someone to be lost. If we continue in error and agree with error we may be in danger of being given over to believe a lie.
This is mainly talking about the coming of the future anti-chirst who is to deceive the whole world. Notice that those that will be deceived are those that rejected the truth of God’s word. Continually desiring to hear lies over the truth may cause us to believe a lie and be lost. We must love the truth and seek to know the truth. If we desire to believe lies, we may be turned over to it. Those who love the truth will not be deceived. It is not judging to point out things that are in error. It is not judging to see someone about to make a serious mistake and we in love and in the spirit of meekness try to show them the right way. There are many false doctrines endangering the church today. I wish that all we had to do was to preach the gospel and tell people how to be saved. I wish we didn’t have to keep warning against false teaching. We need to warn about the extreme prosperity doctrine that is selfish and greedy. We need to warn against easy believism and “Once saved, always saved.” Yet, there are many other doctrines that can endanger our souls or the souls of those that live around us. Two such doctrines involve the Jewish people. One false teaching is the replacement theology. That is the false teaching that the church replaces Israel and God no longer has any dealing with the Jews. That is a lie that causes hatred against the Jews and resulted in massive persecution against the Jews throughout church history. Another doctrine is just as deadly and that is the dual covenant teaching. That false teaching states that there are two covenants and the Jews that are under the covenant that God made to Abraham do not need the gospel of Jesus Christ. Some have signed agreements not to preach the gospel to the Jews. Dearly beloved, who do you think gave the Gentiles the gospel? Jews. Who were the first converts to Jesus Christ? Jews. Who were the apostles? Jews. In fact Jesus Himself was born a Jew. Who started the first church? Jews. Who was Jesus speaking to when He said, “You must be born again?” Nicodemus, a Jew. Who was Jesus talking to when He said, “I am the way, the truth and the Life, no man comes to the Father but by me?” His disciples, Jews. Who did Jesus instruct to go into all the world and preach the gospel? Jews. To whom was Jesus talking to when He said, if you do not believe that I am He, you shall die in your sins? The Jews. Speaking of Jews also, we must realize that the gospel was first given to them. When they rejected the gospel, it was given to the Gentiles. Now we see the days coming to pass when the gospel is being given back to the Jews and we should rejoice it that. There is no such things though as a dual covenant. The first covenant was made null and void at the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus. There is no different way of salvation for Jews and Gentiles. We all have to come the same way. If that is not the case then Jesus would have died all for nothing. The blood of Jesus cleanses us from all sin. Without Jesus there is no salvation whether we are Jew or Gentile. If there had been another way to be saved, God would not have allowed His Son to suffer and die in such agony if there would have been another way. Someone had to take on human flesh and live among us yet without breaking the law of God in any point. This someone had to be spotless and without sin or else He could not have been worthy to die for the sins of someone else. In order to reverse the curse that Adam’s sin caused to come upon all human beings, only a spotless, sinless person could die for sin to reverse that curse. Jesus was God that came into human flesh for the sole purpose to take the penalty for sin on Himself when He didn’t deserve to suffer any penalty since He had never sinned. The first covenant was given to Jews and the second covenant was given to Jews.
A land covenant with the nation of Israel must not be confused with the gift of eternal salvation through Jesus Christ. The nation of Israel is promised the land of Israel. Nothing can change that, but as individuals each Jew has to obtain salvation through Jesus Christ in order to be saved from sin and be granted eternal life.
This passage tells us that Israel shall be saved but what are they saved from? Sin. There shall come out of Zion the Deliverer. This deliverer is none other than Jesus Christ. What is this deliverer to do? They shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob or Israel. In order for Israel to be saved, they have to turn from their sins and believe in the same Jesus Christ and be cleansed by the same shed blood that cleanses the Gentiles.
How awesome is that? All who come by way of Jesus Christ will know the Lord, walk with the Lord, be filled with the Holy Spirit. So many good things.
This is taken from writing to the Hebrews. Hebrews are Jews. The gospel for the Gentiles is the exact same gospel that is for the Jews. There is no difference.
No dual covenant theology is taught in scripture. That is a lie to keep Gentiles from giving the gospel freely to the Jews that they might be saved from sin. If someone asks us the question, "Do we all have to come through Jesus to be saved even if we are Jews?" Our answer should always me a definite yes. The Jews even more so because the gospel went to them first. It was given to the Gentiles after the Jewish nation rejected Christ. To persecute Israel is to touch the apple of God's eye. To forbid the gospel to the Jew is also a grave sin because it was first given to them and they need it to enter into the kingdom of heaven just like the Gentile or non-Jewish people need it to enter into heaven. To teach otherwise is to label Jesus a liar and also Paul and many other apostles. To the Jew first and also the Greek. To conclude this message, I will remind us to be careful about our speech and in judging according to the flesh. We must speak with a motive to love the truth and not encourage any lies. We must be careful about making judgments in haste or with wrong motives but we do have a right to judge by the spirit and judge righteously. We have to determine the truth from the false always examining our motives as we seek to edify and encourage one another to work for the eternal salvation of all the souls God allows us to meet and worship with. It is a heavy responsibility but if we desire truth, and love to see people serving God, avoid gossip and foolish jesting and hate lying and falsehood, we are on the right track. I mentioned the dual covenant theology here to make the point. It is not Judging to give the gospel to any group or religion that does not have the gospel. It is not judging to say that all must come through Jesus Christ to be saved because Jesus Himself said those exact words. True. God is the judge and in His word, He says that there is no other way to be saved. To share this truth is not judging. We can't judge people's hearts to determine whether or not they go to heaven or hell but we can say clearly that in order to obtain eternal life we must believe that Jesus is the Christ who came to take away the sins of the world. Jesus said that those who believe in Him shall receive rivers of living water. To give forth the truth of the word is not making judgments against people but warning them of the coming judgment when we all will be judged by the word of God. I didn't say this, Jesus did. -Dorna
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