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Vol. XIX No. 4
24 October 2021

JUDGE RIGHTEOUS JUDGMENT (II)

Rev Nguyen Gia Hien

When the Lord Jesus healed the paralysed man on the Sabbath, the Jews persecuted Jesus, and “sought to slay him, because he had done these things on the sabbath day” (John 5:16). The Lord Jesus said to them, “If a man on the sabbath day receive circumcision, that the law of Moses should not be broken; are ye angry at me, because I have made a man every whit whole on the sabbath day? Judge (krínō) not according to the appearance, but judge (krínō) righteous judgment” (John 7:23–24). Thus, the Lord commands us to use our judgment to determine, decide and choose what is right as well as to say and do what is right according to God’s righteous standard, even His holy Word. How then can we judge righteous judgment?

Be Born Again

The Lord Jesus said to Nicodemus, a Jewish ruler and teacher of the law, “Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God…he cannot enter into the kingdom of God” (John 3:3, 5). God is righteous, and His kingdom is the kingdom of righteousness for the righteous, “Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God” (1 Corinthians 6:9–10). Many are deceiving themselves or being deceived by others into thinking that they will enter into the kingdom of God while they are not truly born again to fulfil the righteousness of the law in their heart by the Holy Spirit (Romans 8:4). What about you and me? Do you want to enter into God’s kingdom? Repent and receive the Lord Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Saviour today.

Meditate on God’s Word to Know

God is holy and righteous, and “the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good” (Romans 7:12). If we do not know His righteous law and judgment, how can we judge others with righteous judgment? We ought to meditate on His Word to know His righteous law and commandments as well as His righteous judgments upon this world, upon His people of Israel, and upon His servants and children so that we may fear Him and judge righteous judgment (Proverbs 1:2–3).

Do Not Judge according to the Appearance

The Lord commands us not to judge others according to the appearance nor after the flesh, nor before the time. We should not judge others after human standards, thinking, prejudice, or worldly values. God sent Samuel to Jesse to anoint “a king among his sons” (1 Samuel 16:1). When looking at Eliab, Samuel said to himself, “Surely the LORD’S anointed is before him” (v6), but his judgment was wrong. The LORD said to Samuel, “Look not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature; because I have refused him: for the LORD seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the LORD looketh on the heart” (v7). The Jews judged the Lord Jesus wrongly because they judged Him after the flesh. They were not born again to know that He is their Creator and Messiah. Saul (later the Apostle Paul) used to persecute Christians because he judged the Lord Jesus after the flesh, but after his conversion, he did not judge the Lord and others after the flesh anymore (2 Corinthians 5:16). When looking at the appearance of others like their clothing, their hair, and so on, we should not judge them as bad people. We should not quickly judge others either, but wait until the Lord comes as He is the righteous Judge, and He will judge everyone according to what he or she has done, without any partiality and with full transparency (1 Corinthians 4:5; Romans 2:11).

Judge according to God’s Word

The Lord Jesus commands us to “judge righteous judgment” (John 7:24) according to His Word, even His righteous standard. We love our children, and we do not want them to be deceived by false religions, beliefs, and teachings; so we have to warn them of all the deception around them. We also expose false “Christian” groups, doctrines and practices to our children and teach them how to use their judgment and discernment so that they may not be deceived. Out of His love, the Lord does not want us to be deceived by false Christs, false prophets, false apostles, false pastors, false doctrines, false beliefs, and so on. That is why He commands us to look at their life, beliefs, and teachings to see whether they are true or false. That is the proper use of our judgment. The Lord Jesus says, “Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves... A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit... Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them” (Matthew 7:15, 18, 20). When we expose the wrong doctrines and beliefs of other religious groups and false “Christian” groups so that our brethren may not be deceived, others may accuse us of being judgemental, without love. However, God’s agape love is holy and righteous and does not rejoice in iniquity and falsehood but in God’s truth (1 Corinthians 13:6). A good doctor shows his patients their serious illness so that they may know their illness and be willing to receive his treatments. The Lord Jesus exposed the iniquity and hypocrisy of the Jewish leaders so that they might see their sins, repent, and be saved, but they hated the Lord and wanted to kill Him (Matthew 23)! The Lord commanded His disciples to beware of “the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy” (Luke 12:1). We do not condemn others, but we ought to use our judgment and discernment properly so that we may not be deceived.

Be a Helper and Not a Judge

The Lord Jesus knows that no human beings are righteous and that they will be judged and condemned in the lake of fire due to their sins. Thus, the Lord humbly came to this world the first time, not to judge the world but to carry out God’s plan of salvation for the world through His death and resurrection, “For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn (krino) the world; but that the world through him might be saved” (John 3:17). We ought to do the same. The Lord has saved us and put us here to be His witnesses (Acts 1:8). Through God’s Word, we also know that human beings have their sinful, deceitful, wicked, and rebellious nature and that they all need God’s salvation in Christ; so we should follow the Lord Jesus’ example to tell them about their sins and God’s salvation for them in Christ.

Judge Yourself First before Judging Others

The Lord Jesus teaches us how to help others, “Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye; and, behold, a beam is in thine own eye? Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother’s eye” (Matthew 7:4–5). The Lord Jesus said to the Jewish leaders, “Ye blind guides, which strain at a gnat, and swallow a camel” (Matthew 23:24). They only paid attention to the material things, but ignored the more important spiritual things for they “omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith.” We cannot help others to take the mote out of their eye when we still have a beam in our own eye, even our own double standards, self-righteousness, pride, prejudice, and sins. We need to repent of our sins and to be cleansed first before we can help others see their sin and be cleansed by the Lord Jesus and His blood.

Be Not Annoyed When Judged by Others

Paul did not care much about the judgment of others, saying, “But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged of you, or of man’s judgment: yea, I judge not mine own self. For I know nothing by myself; yet am I not hereby justified: but he that judgeth me is the Lord. Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come, who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts: and then shall every man have praise of God” (1 Corinthians 4:3–5). Judgments from others are changeable. The people in Lystra saw Paul heal a lame man, and they called Paul “Mercurius” (Mercury), a messenger and interpreter of their heathen god. However, later they followed the Jews to stone Paul (Acts 14). When the inhabitants of Malta saw a viper fasten on Paul’s hand, they judged that he was a murderer who could not escape the divine judgment. However, when they saw that no harm came to him, “they changed their minds, and said that he was a god” (Acts 28:4–6). Thus, we should not be annoyed when others misjudge us. We should follow the example of our Lord Jesus, who was misjudged but committed Himself to His Father’s righteous judgment (1 Peter 2:23).

Conclusion

We thank God for creating us with the faculty of judgment. Due to our sinful human nature and our limited knowledge and lack of righteous discernment, we often misjudge others unawares, and it is a sin. May God help us repent and fill us with His love, understanding, and knowledge of His righteous judgment so that we may judge righteous judgment, and be a blessing to others. May God also help us remember that He is the righteous Judge without partiality so that we may fear Him and commit everything to His righteous judgment when we are misjudged by others. Amen.

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