Here Comes The Judge

P Preliminary Points
v God is the only acceptable judge of right and wrong.
v We live in a time of no discernment—everything that is called Christian, and everyone who claims to be Christian—all are accepted as Christians—against all reasoning.
v How then can man ever judge anything? Doesn’t the Bible, in fact, tell us directly not to judge?
v If this is so, it has grave implications, from our personal lives all the way to our legal system!
v But, does this passage teach the absolute unacceptability of human judgment?


1. Human based Judgment is wrong

a. Our Guilt—
(1) If we judge according to our own standards and in our own authority, we are judging ourselves, because we are guilty too—
(2) Rom 3:9-12, Rom 3:23
b. Human religion is useless, because we are all morally and spiritually bankrupt.
c. Man’s ethical systems don’t work
d. Neutral moral codes will not work
e. There is no religious solution to man’s sin
f. There is no political solution to society’s ills

g. What does all this mean in practical terms?
(1) Does this destroy our legal system and make it invalid?
(2) Does this mean that we are never in any circumstance to judge at all?
(3) Judges and police have offendedèAre their judgments and verdicts therefore invalid?
(4) IN every case, NO!

2. God’s judgment is according to Truth—Rom 2:2 But we know that the judgment of God is according to truth against those who practice such things.

a. This does not prohibit judgment, it regulates it

b. The key—judgment must be in the authority of the Lord and in His wisdom, not ours.
(1) The Contrasts— “…thou judgest…”, “…thou art inexcusable…” (verse 1) “…We are sure—…” “…the judgment of God…” (verse 2)

(2) First, with reference to the legal system:
(a) A properly constituted government is one which has been instituted by God and is responsible to Him to judge and deal with evil doers—Romans 13:1-8.
(b) When the legal system makes judgments, it is doing so under God’s authority, whether that system recognizes the authority of God or not, and whether the officers of the system recognize Him or not. God calls the officers of the government “ministers of God.”
(c) Legal systems have been and are perverted from this standard, but the systems are established by God and they act in His authority. Remember, Paul wrote of the legal system of imperial Rome, which was hardly flawless!
(d) You will never have any officer of any court who is personally qualified to judge in his or her own right—all have sinned—but regardless of the integrity of the people involved, when exercising the authority of the state, they stand in the place of God.

c. Judgment under God’s authority
(1) “…The judgment of God…”—this is the key. We do not personally judge sin, nor do we personally judge sinners—God judges—but He has committed to us the authority to reprove, rebuke, and exhort, to be discussed shortly.
(2) “…Is according to Truth—…”
(a) An absolute Standard—God’s Word—John 12:47-49, Heb 4:12
(b) An all-knowing Judge—Heb 4:13
(c) An Authoritative Judge—Dan 4:34-35
(3) “…them which commit such things…” The word “commit” has to do with practice, lifestyle, habit.

d. The judgment of God is against people who habitually live in the ways depicted in 1:18-32, and even in corrupt legal systems, all or most of the things mentioned there are considered illegal and are prosecuted by the system.

3. What is Valid Judgment

a. Valid judgment is God’s judgment applied by God’s people, using God’s standards and judgment, not our own

(1) Do the “judge not” passages mean that the church may not judge, and that Christians are not allowed to make distinctions between good and evil, right and wrong? Are we to forever remain silent in the face of evil and “just let God take care of it?”

(2) No—First of all, we are commanded by God to judge within the church, among God’s people, and outside the church, among those who preach and teach false doctrine—Mat 18:15-20, 1 Cor 5:12 - 6:6, 1 John 2:18-23, 4:1-6, 2 John 7-11

(3) Secondly, we are commanded by the Lord to reprove and rebuke evil, wherever we find it. When we reprove evil, we are obeying orders.

b. We are not judging according to our reckoning, but we are applying God’s Word according to His reckoning.
c. Some Reproof Verses—Luke 17:3, 1 Cor 5:1-11, Eph 5:11 , 1 Tim 5:20, 2 Tim 4:2, Titus 2:15. These verses clearly show that the Bible tells us we MUST judge. In fact, in the 1 Corinthians passage, Paul severely reprimands the Corinthian church because they are NOT judging a particular individual!

d. When an evildoer tries to put off reproach by reaching for the verse, “Judge not, lest you be judged,” they are trying to divert attention from their evil deeds. When a believer tells another believer to “butt out,” they are asking their brother to disobey Christ’s very instructions in Mat 18:15-20
(1) The phrase, “Judge Not” does not mean that a Christian cannot make personal judgments and apply discernment to a situation; it does NOT mean that the Christian can never reprove evil. This phrase from Matthew 7 tells the Christian “When you judge and make distinctions, do not put yourself in the place of God, and use only His standards.”
(2) Matthew 7 tells us that we must judge everything in accordance with God’s doctrine, not our ideas, and we must judge everything with a right motive.
(3) In fact, Matthew 7 is not telling us to never judge, it is telling us HOW, when, and in what attitude to judge correctly: 5 "Hypocrite! First remove the plank from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye.” It does not say—“never judge,” it says, check your attitude and your standards first, “then” deal with the situation.
(4) In the same passage as the “judge not” verse, we are commanded to make a judgment about individual people! In fact, we are commanded to make a judgment of utter importance, and we are to make it on the basis of comparing God’s Truth with the lives of individual humans—Mat 7:15-20
(5) In carrying out our daily lives, we are instructed by the Bible to make all kinds of judgments about people, but we are to do it God’s way, with a humble attitude, and by using God’s Word as our guide.
(6) See also—2 Tim 3:1 –5, 2 John 1:9-11
(7) Personal judgment guidelines
(a) If we judge in the authority of the Lord and according to His standards, we know that we are right, because we know He is right.
(b) There usually does not need to be any soul-searching to discover what Truth might be. In most cases, it is clearly lined up for us in the Bible.
(c) There does not need to be any great contemplation to discover in some hidden place a great set of moral absolutes—they are plainly written in the pages of the Bible, and they work!
(d) A society governed by the moral absolutes taught in the Holy Bible, and permeated with the Person and Presence of the Holy Spirit would be a society that worked.

e. The Bottom Line—The key is to judge according to God’s way of judgment—not by appearances—and to check our own motives through self-examination—John 7:24 "Do not judge according to appearance, but judge with righteous judgment."