Judging Sin (part 2)

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JUDGING SIN (part 2)

Dear friends, I ended Part 1 of this series with the statement -

Honestly, the unScriptural doctrines being ’taught’ in so many churches today... "God doesn’t see our sin, because He sees us through Christ"... " We can never be worthy"... "God only gave us His commandments to show us we couldn’t keep them, so we would need a Savior"... "Jesus did it all, and there is nothing righteous I can do"... These are the complete opposite of God’s Word.

Let us delve into the Word to see what the Spirit of God actually does say...

"He who has ears to hear, let him hear..."

Indeed, God sees all that we do.

"The eyes of the LORD are in every place,
Watching the evil and the good."
- Prov 15:3

I’ve actually heard ’taught’ that if we accept Christ God no longer sees the sins we commit. He now sees us through "Jesus glasses". So that even if a Christian were to, say, lie on a contract, or cheat on his wife... God wouldn’t see it as sin, because He would see this person only through Christ and His righteousness.

The God of my Bible says -
"For My eyes are on all their ways; they are not hidden from My face, nor is their iniquity concealed from My eyes."
- Jer 16:17

"The LORD is in His holy temple; the LORD’S throne is in heaven;
His eyes behold, His eyelids test the sons of men.
The LORD tests the righteous and the wicked,
And the one who loves violence His soul hates.
Upon the wicked He will rain snares;
Fire and brimstone and burning wind will be the portion of their cup.
For the LORD is righteous, He loves righteousness;
The upright will behold His face."
- Psalm 11:4-7

Oh, yes, He definitely sees all that we do.

For those who would say that the New Covenant somehow changed that Truth of God, the New Testament, which was written to Christians, tells us clearly that it is by our deeds, our behavior, that we will be judged. Our Savior Jesus declared that all we do and say, including that which we think God doesn’t see or hear, will be revealed before all...

"There is nothing covered up that will not be revealed, and hidden that will not be known. Accordingly, whatever you have said in the dark will be heard in the light, and what you have whispered in the inner rooms will be proclaimed upon the housetops."
- Luke 12:2-3

"But I tell you that every careless word that people speak, they shall give an accounting for it in the day of judgment. "For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned."
- Matt 12:36-37

The Word of God judges our words. Our deeds. Our very thoughts...

"For the Word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of Him to whom we must give account."
- Heb 4:12-13

"For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad."
- 2 Cor 5:10

"we must all..." means just that. All. Everyone. Christian and pagan alike. No one is exempt. And as we know... these passage of Scripture were written to Christians, to God's elect.


Why am I writing all of this? Why do I seem to rail against modern teaching so much? Honestly, there are many other things my flesh would rather be doing right now, friends... but the Lord God has given me a burden for sharing the Word and a desire to know His Truth. And I know that it is only as I obey Him, and do what He has commanded me, that I will be found abiding in Him, and receive from Him: Life. I have chosen to believe the words, all the words, of the Bible. I have chosen to obey the Living Word, rather than yield to the doctrines of man made religion.

"He who believes in the Son has Eternal Life; but he who does not obey (yieldeth not to) the Son will not see Life, but the wrath of God abides on him."
- John 3:35 (NAS, Rotherham)

Jesus said -
"If you want to enter Life, obey the commandments."
- Matt 9:17b

Somewhere we’ve gotten away from the teaching of Jesus and His Apostles. As a whole, Christianity has become a religion of forgiveness, which allows it’s members to remain "sinners saved by grace", rather than the relationship with the Living Son of God it is supposed to be, in which we judge rightly the sin in our lives, are overcoming daily by the blood of the Lamb, and are being made new and perfected in Him. How is it that many teach that God no longer sees our sinful behavior once we have verbally ’accepted Christ’, when the Holy Scripture clearly says otherwise??

"From heaven the LORD looks down
and sees all mankind;
from His dwelling place He watches
all who live on earth-
He who forms the hearts of all,
who considers everything they do."
- Psalm 33:13-15

He considers all we do, not what we believe in. He judges us according to our works, not according to our doctrine. He is looking for those who will truly be His disciples, who will walk in His ways, who will obey what He says, whose hearts are hearts are fully committed to Him.

"For the eyes of the LORD range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to Him." - 2 Chron 16:9


The confusion in the churches today, seems to have arisen from the "Faith alone" doctrine. Martin Luther, in protesting the churches abuse in requiring indulgences of people in order to buy their way to Eternal Life, grabbed hold of the Apostle Paul’s use of a partial verse from the Prophet Habakkuk in his letter to the Christian church in Rome.

"For in (the Gospel of Christ) the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, "The just shall live by faith." - Rom 1:17

Now, Paul was using this verse to stand against the Jewish leaders of his day who were saying it was only by the Law of Moses which a man could be justified. This is obvious in his epistle to the Christian church in Galatia -

"Now that no one is justified by the Law before God is evident; for, "The righteous man shall live by faith."

However, the Law is not of faith; on the contrary, "He who practices them shall live by them."

Christ redeemed us from the curse of the Law, having become a curse for us--for it is written, "Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree"-- in order that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we would receive the promise of the Spirit through faith."
- Gal 3:11-14

Paul never meant we could continue to allow sin to remain in our lives, and that God wouldn’t see it because of our proclaimed faith in Christ. We were freed from the Law of Moses, so that, by faith, we could receive the Holy Spirit, who will teach us the ways and will of God. We are free from the Mosiac Law only when we are following the Law of the Spirit of Life. (Rom 8)

The writer of Hebrews also uses this verse from Habakkuk in explaining that those who have believed in the Name of Jesus Christ, yet continue in their sin, will not enter into Life. (Heb 10:26-39) In fact, he writes that the promise of Eternal Life comes to those who endure (reminds me of Jesus’ word in Matt 24:11-13), and who do the will of God.

"Therefore do not cast away your confidence, which has great reward. For you have need of endurance, so that after you have done the will of God, you may receive the promise:
"For yet a little while,
And He who is coming will come and will not tarry.
Now the just shall live by faith;
But if anyone draws back,
My soul has no pleasure in him."
But we are not of those who draw back to perdition, but of those who believe to the saving of the soul."
- Heb 10:35-39

Taking a look at the original use of this statement of the Lord, in context, in a response to Habakkuk ~

"Record the vision
And inscribe it on tablets,
That the one who reads it may run.
"For the vision is yet for the appointed time;
It hastens toward the goal and it will not fail
Though it tarries, wait for it;
For it will certainly come, it will not delay.

"Behold, as for the proud one,
His soul is not right within him;
But the righteous will live by his faith."
- Hab 2:2-4 (NAS)

An alternate reading in the NIV lead me to study this verse further, and I found that it actually speaks of God’s pleasure with, and protection upon, those who live righteously in deed to show their faithfulness to God.

"Look at the proud; his soul is not straight or right within him, but the [rigidly] just and the [uncompromisingly] righteous man shall live by his faith and in his faithfulness."
- Hab 2:4 (Amplified)

"Behold, he whose soul is not upright in him shall fail, but the righteous shall live by his faithfulness."
- Hab 2:4 (RSV)

God was telling Habakkuk of judgment to come upon His people because of their lack of faithfulness to Him. But to those who lived righteously, and obedient to Him: they would live. And I believe He was talking here about Eternal Life, not merely sustaining our temporal, Adamic life through tribulation, but obtaining Everlasting Life through remaining faithful to Him even in the midst of the judgment to come.

Tackling another passage that is often used to support the "By faith, not works" doctrine, we take a look again at the book of Romans ~

"What then shall we say that Abraham our father has found according to the flesh? For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. For what does the Scripture say? "Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness." Now to him who works, the wages are not counted as grace but as debt.

But to him who does not work but believes on Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is accounted for righteousness, just as David also describes the blessedness of the man to whom God imputes righteousness apart from works:
"Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven,
And whose sins are covered;
Blessed is the man to whom the LORD shall not impute sin."
- Rom 4:1-8 (Psalm 32:1-2)

On the surface, it would seem to contradict the plethora of passages we’ve been looking at recently in this series, and the "What it means to be a Christian" series. But when we remember that Paul was writing to former Law abiding Jews, we realize that he was talking about the works of the Law of Moses. Paul knew, and wrote often about it, that righteous behavior and obedience are required by God, and essential if we are to remain in His love, and enter the Kingdom of God.

James sets this straight in his epistle.

"Are you willing to recognize, you foolish fellow, that faith without works is useless? Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up Isaac his son on the altar? You see that faith was working with his works, and as a result of the works, faith was perfected; and the Scripture was fulfilled which says, "AND ABRAHAM BELIEVED GOD, AND IT WAS RECKONED TO HIM AS RIGHTEOUSNESS," and he was called the friend of God. You see that a man is justified by works and not by faith alone."
- James 2:20-24

There is no contradiction in the Scripture. Luther meant well, and was correct in standing against the false teachings of his day, but he was wrong when he added to the Scripture the word "alone" at the end of Paul’s quotation of God’s word to Habakkuk.

As James wrote, Abraham was justified (made right in the sight of God), by his works, by his obedience to do what God commanded of him. The author of Hebrews also addresses this necessary connection between faith and works, and using Abraham again as an example writes -

"By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going."
- Heb 11:8

"By faith Abraham, when God tested him, offered Isaac as a sacrifice. He who had received the promises was about to sacrifice his one and only son."
- Heb 11:17

As we read earlier -
"You see that faith was working with his works, and as a result of the works, faith was perfected" - James 2:22

Almighty God, Himself, made this undeniably clear when He said that His promises would come to Abraham, not because he merely believed what God had said, but because he OBEYED, and DID the works required of him.
"because Abraham obeyed Me and kept My requirements, My commands, My decrees and My laws." - Gen 26:5

Yes we have the Scripture that says God called Abraham righteous because of his faith (and indeed his faith & trust in God was a righteous thing) but then we see in several other places in both Testaments the complete picture of Abrahams relationship to God, and the conditions of God's blessings.

"For I have chosen him, so that he may command his children and his household after him to keep the way of the LORD by doing righteousness and justice, so that the LORD may bring upon Abraham what He has spoken about him." - Gen 18:19

"So that..." If Abraham didn't DO what the Lord commanded him, and teach his children to behave in a righteous manner, he would not have remained in right standing with God and the blessings of the Lord would not have fallen upon him. Believing in God, and believing He loves us and will bless us does us absolutely no good if we do not obey Him and do what He commands us. This is why James can say that "Faith without works is dead". Not works of the Mosaic Law (which is what Paul was talking about), but the works of obedience and righteous behavior. This God requires from all men (see Micah 6:8, Isaiah chap 56)

God's own Word to Abraham said that His blessing would come upon Abraham because of what he had done. The promises came to him, not because of faith, but because of obedience to what God had commanded him. The passage we looked at from James chapter 2 is often ignored by those teaching the 'faith alone' doctrine, but it is taken from the very words of God, Himself, as to why He blessed Abraham -

"By Myself I have sworn, declares the LORD, because you have done this thing and have not withheld your son, your only son, indeed I will greatly bless you, and I will greatly multiply your seed as the stars of the heavens and as the sand which is on the seashore; and your seed shall possess the gate of their enemies. In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice."
- Gen 22:16-18

Dear saints, when Paul writes that we are to have the "faith of Abraham", this is the type of faith he is talking about.

"For this reason it is by faith, in order that it may be in accordance with grace, so that the promise will be guaranteed to all the descendants, not only to those who are of the Law, but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all."
- Rom 4:16

The verse I hear often quoted as a rebuttal to what I teach is from Paul's letter to the Christian church in Rome - "There is none righteous, no, not one." (Rom 3:10)

Regarding that verse... actually Paul himself was quoting from the Psalms of King David, as David despaired of the iniquity that was all around him (Psalm 14:1-3). Paul used that verse for emphasis in his letter to the Christian church in Rome. It in no way negates the literally hundreds of other verses in the Bible that tells of those who were righteous. And it in no way excuses our sinful behavior here in the 21st century. God has always commanded us, and fully expects us, to be righteous in our behavior and our deeds.

God counted many people righteous who acted righteously in both the Old and New Testaments.

Abraham, Moses, Noah, Zacharias & Elizabeth and many others were all deemed righteous before God because of what they did. Modern teaching has gotten way off. Some churches have made a doctrine out of a single verse taken out of context and preach that nobody can ever be righteous, and that we will always sin as long as we are in this world. According to the Holy Scriptures both of those beliefs are false. And we are warned against believing such heresy -

"Little children, make sure no one deceives you; the one who practices righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous."
- 1 John 3:7

God, Himself, speaking through the prophet Ezekiel, says that those who obey Him and do what is right, are righteous in His sight -

"But if a man is righteous and practices justice and righteousness...

God then mentions several deeds and behaviors, saying nothing about a mental belief system, and concludes -
"if he walks in My statutes and My ordinances so as to deal faithfully - he is righteous and will surely live, " declares the Lord GOD."
- Eze 18:5, 9

Oh, yes, dear saints... God commands us to be righteous, and holy, in all we do. And I for one choose to believe His Truth rather than the empty words of those who teach contrary to the Word.

"Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience."
- Eph 5:6

Selah

One last passage of Truth that will lead into the next part of this writing, that I fully believe the Spirit of God is speaking loudly to the Church today...

"LORD, who may abide in Your tabernacle?
Who may dwell in Your holy hill?"

Is it "he who believes in God"?, or "He who has "accepted Christ."?, or even "He who has righteousness imputed to him by faith."? No. Rather, God's Word says it is...

"He who walks uprightly,
And works righteousness,
And speaks the truth in his heart;
He who does not backbite with his tongue,
Nor does evil to his neighbor,
Nor does he take up a reproach against his friend;
In whose eyes a vile person is despised,
But he honors those who fear the LORD;
He who swears to his own hurt and does not change;
He who does not put out his money at usury,
Nor does he take a bribe against the innocent.

He who does these things shall never be moved."
- Psalm 15


Yes, we absolutely are charged to judge the sin in our lives, and turn from it. We are to judge rightly the sin in the body of Christ, address it, expose it, and remove it. Only then will we be able to stand and not be moved. Only then we will be able to abide in Him.


Lord Jesus, give us ears to hear clearly what the Spirit is speaking to us in this day. Lead us into all Truth. Grant us wisdom and understanding. Praise Your Holy Name.

Peace & blessings,

Michael


... to be continued...

Judging sin (part 1)

...

JUDGING SIN (part 1)

Dear saints,

I often use the term ’saints’, as the Apostle Paul often did, because that is what we are called to be.

Appearing over 100 times in the Scripture, the word "saint" means "a godly one", "a holy one", The Greek term Hagios "fundamentally signifies separated, and hence, in Scripture in its moral and spiritual significance, separated from sin and therefore consecrated to God, sacred." (Strongs)

Separated from sin. Not living in it, and believing that somehow God doesn’t see our sin because we call ourselves "Christian."

"Come out from among them
And be separate, says the Lord.
Do not touch what is unclean,
And I will receive you."
I will be a Father to you,
And you shall be My sons and daughters,
Says the LORD Almighty."
- 2 Cor 6:17-18

"come out...", "be separate", "touch not the unclean thing." If we do these things, we who name the Name of Christ, then we can claim the promise... then God will receive us as His sons & daughters. For then we are truly saints in His sight.

And not only saints, for He also is looking for priests who will rule with Him on the earth. (Rev 1:6, Rev 5:10) And of God’s priests it will be as it was with the Levites whom He chose even out of His people to be His voice, and His judgment.

"Moreover, they shall teach My people the difference between the holy and the profane, and cause them to discern between the unclean and the clean."
- Eze 44:23


Oh, how we’ve strayed from the Path, how we’ve blocked our ears from hearing the Truth.

"For this is a rebellious people, false sons,
Sons who refuse to listen
To the instruction of the LORD;
Who say to the seers, "You must not see visions";
And to the prophets, "You must not prophesy to us what is right,
Speak to us pleasant words,
Prophesy illusions.
"Get out of the way, turn aside from the path,
Let us hear no more about the Holy One of Israel."
- Isaiah 30:9-11

The God preached from many pulpits across this nation each week, is not the God of the Bible. The "Holy One of Israel" has been forsaken for a God who is more like a politically correct, Santa Claus in the sky who changes with the times, and is begging people to accept His Son, so He can cover them with eternal forgiveness even though they continue to sin.

No, God has not changed. God, Himself, is separated from sin. Sin will never dwell in His Presence, lest it, and those in whom it rests, be consumed, "for our God is a consuming fire." (Heb 12:29)

The question to God’s people is this ~

"Who among us can live with the consuming fire?
Who among us can live with continual burning?"

Contrary to much current teaching, the Truth of God’s Word is this~

"He who walks righteously and speaks with sincerity,
He who rejects unjust gain
And shakes his hands so that they hold no bribe;
He who stops his ears from hearing about bloodshed
And shuts his eyes from looking upon evil."
- Isaiah 33:14b-15

Brothers & sisters, if we are to live with the consuming fire, the Holy One of Israel, then we must learn to discern good from evil. And we must judge.


I began writing on the topic of judging as it seems to have become a hot topic lately. Professing Christians, who get involved in fornication, substance abuse, pornography, and even homosexuality make excuses for their actions saying ’everyone sins’, ’God sees me through Christ’, or claiming that the Bible says we are never to judge. Recently I read a thread in a Christian forum with a topic on judging where the majority of those who posted were taking a stance that it doesn’t matter if we live in a sinful lifestyle, as long as we say we believe in Jesus. One response said, in effect, that we should never judge anyone, and that if we say we are following God and loving Him, then that’s all that matters. How we behave doesn’t really matter, because we all sin.

hmmm....

According to the Bible... It is obedience that matters. Obedience to God. Proven by our adherence to His commands to us. If we are truly following God and loving God with all that we are, then we will judge rightly against the sin in our own lives, and also against sin within the body of Christ.

I’m truly amazed that the Christian church, as a whole, has ceased from obeying the commandments of our Lord, and the charge of Jesus and the Apostles to judge with righteous judgment... all because they are afraid of hurting the feelings of others.


Let me ask...

Are we really showing love to someone when we don’t share with them about the eternal consequences of what they are doing because we don’t want to hurt their feelings??

If we have a little child who we see is doing something that they think is fun or harmless, but that will hurt or may even kill them, if they continue doing it... do we hesitate to yell out to them to STOP, because we are afraid that their feelings might be hurt? Do we not tell them the truth, because we’re afraid they might not like us anymore?? Of course not, that would be ludicrous. Their life is far more important than their feelings.

Likewise, when we see spiritually immature people in the churches engaging in activities that are abominable to God, and we know that if they continue in them they will suffer spiritually and possibly even face eternal separation from God... do we hesitate to yell out to them to STOP, because we are afraid to hurt their feelings? Do we not tell them the Truth, because we’re afraid it might drive them out of the church?? Are their feelings really more important than their life?? How about their chance at Eternal Life??

When we truly love people, we tell them the Truth. Sometimes, in fact often, things that will bring us Eternal Life, are going to be painful, or discomforting, to our human nature.

"Faithful are the wounds of a friend,
But the kisses of an enemy are deceitful."
- Prov 27:6

When we see someone we love (or more importantly - God loves) in bondage to sin, do we coddle them which only enables them to sin more, or do we faithfully wound their selfish Adamic nature in order to bring them spiritual Life, enabling them to be set free from that bondage. Jesus never enabled anyone to remain in their sin. He didn’t then, doesn’t now, and never will tolerate sin. When He forgave the woman caught in adultery, Jesus told her - "Go, and from now on do not sin any more." (John 8:11) After healing a lame man, our Savior told him - "Stop sinning or something worse may happen to you." (John 5:14)

Paul knew this well, and admonished believers even then who were mis-interpreting the Gospel message of forgiveness and grace, writing to the Christian church - "Become sober-minded as you ought, and stop sinning; for some have no knowledge of God I speak this to your shame." (1 Cor 15:34)

God will never allow sin into His Kingdom. Contrary to public opinion - Tolerance is NOT a Biblical principal.


One of the purposes of the body of Christ is to make us judges. Righteous judges. (see Is 1:26, 1 Cor 6:2 Matt 19:28) We are never to tolerate sinful behavior in ourselves, or in the church. The Scripture is undeniably clear on this. The Apostle Paul addressed this when he rebuked the Christian church in Corinth for not dealing righteously with a sexually immoral man in their congregation. And in his letter, he addresses also the difference between judging those outside the church, who have not yet come to Christ, and those in the church, who have called on the Name of the Lord, and received initial salvation -

"I have written you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people - not at all meaning the people of this world who are immoral, or the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters. In that case you would have to leave this world. But now I am writing you that you must not associate with anyone who calls himself a brother but is sexually immoral or greedy, an idolater or a slanderer, a drunkard or a swindler. With such a man do not even eat.

What business is it of mine to judge those outside the church? Are you not to judge those inside? God will judge those outside. ’Expel the wicked man from among you.’"
- 1 Cor 5:9-13

We are to exercise righteous judgment. Especially those who are in positions of leadership, or as we have opportunity to minister Truth to our brothers & sisters in Christ. When God spoke to Ezekiel, addressing him with the same name the Lord Jesus would use to describe Himself, He told him to warn - not the sinners in the world - but the sinners in the family of God. (Which is where judgment begins - 1 Pet 4:15-19)

"So you, son of man: I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel; therefore you shall hear a word from My mouth and warn them for Me. When I say to the wicked, ‘O wicked man, you shall surely die!’ and you do not speak to warn the wicked from his way, that wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood I will require at your hand. Nevertheless if you warn the wicked to turn from his way, and he does not turn from his way, he shall die in his iniquity; but you have delivered your soul."
- Eze 33:7

I’ve often heard (far too often) the phrase - "Hate the sin, but love the sinner". Dear saints, it’s not in the Bible. And any application it might have is the attitude we should have toward those in the world who do not yet know the Truth. Sadly, I usually hear it used to excuse wicked behavior among those who call themselves ’Christian.’ But, the Truth is, Christ will not only remove all sin and offenses from His Eternal Kingdom when He returns, but also all those "who practice (or commit) lawlessness", or "who do evil" (Matt 13:41) Sexual immorality, pornography, murder, hate, lying, stealing, covetousness... these have no part in the Kingdom of God and of Christ. If we choose to allow these things to be a part of our lives, then as those "who do evil", we too will be barred from His Kingdom. Grace and mercy will not work in that Day. God would be defiling His own Kingdom if He were to allow any sin to enter in.

The Lord is bringing judgment against the modern Christian church today for their tolerance of, and in some cases encouragement of, sinful behavior. The Scripture gives stern warning to those in the church who engage in activities and lifestyles that God has condemned (including all sex outside of the man-woman marriage covenant). By the Spirit of God, Paul judges these harshly because they who know "the righteous judgment of God, that those who practice such things are deserving of death, not only do the same but also approve of those who practice them." (Rom 1:32)
The commission to the church was, and still is to "go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you." (Matt 28:19-20)

Since then, countless have been baptized, and forgiven of their past sins, but precious few have actually become disciples who are being taught to obey all that Jesus commanded. Yes, great strides have been made in the advancement of the Gospel (at least in part) these last few decades, but along with that has been a steep decline in morality all over the world, and a passive attitude toward sin among Christians. Entire doctrines have been developed which make excuse for sin, and separate anyone who has "made a profession of Christ" from being accountable for behaviors that God condemns. These are the doctrines of man, not God.(Is 29:13, Mark 7:6-7)

"And to the angel of the church in Thyatira write: The Son of God, who has eyes like a flame of fire, and His feet are like burnished bronze, says this: ’I know your deeds, and your love and faith and service and perseverance, and that your deeds of late are greater than at first.

But I have this against you, that you tolerate the woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess, and she teaches and leads My bond-servants astray so that they commit acts of immorality and eat things sacrificed to idols.

I gave her time to repent, and she does not want to repent of her immorality. Behold, I will throw her on a bed of sickness, and those who commit adultery with her into great tribulation, unless they repent of her deeds. And I will kill her children with pestilence, and all the churches will know that I am He who searches the minds and hearts; and I will give to each one of you according to your deeds."
- Rev 2:18-23

"Unless they repent..." Pretty harsh words from our loving, gentle, shepherd Jesus. But it is He who uttered them. The Lion of the Tribe of Judah, whose sword is in His hand, whose eyes are like fire, whose judgments are righteous and true... He spoke them, And they are True. And for our time. Indeed each one of us will give an account for our deeds. By our works we shall be rewarded, and by our works we shall be condemned. (John 5:28-29, Matt 16:27, Rom 14:12, 2 Cor 5:10)

Honestly, the unScriptural doctrines being ’taught’ in so many churches today... "God doesn’t see our sin, because He sees us through Christ"... " We can never be worthy"... "God only gave us His commandments to show us we couldn’t keep them, so we would need a Savior"... "Jesus did it all, and there is nothing righteous I can do"... These are the complete opposite of God’s Word.

As we continue this study, we’ll take a look at what God’s Word says concerning these doctrines.

God’s wisdom and understanding to all,

Michael

Judges

preface...


Judges.

God is looking for judges in this day, as we approach The Day of the Lord.

Speaking to His people, God foretells of a purging to come. A purging of unrighteousness from the earth, and also from among the household of God.

"Therefore the Lord GOD of hosts,
The Mighty One of Israel, declares,
"Ah, I will be relieved of My adversaries
And avenge Myself on My foes.
"I will also turn My hand against you,
And will smelt away your dross as with lye
And will remove all your alloy.

"Then I will restore your judges as at the first,
And your counselors as at the beginning;
After that you will be called the city of righteousness,
A faithful city."
Zion will be redeemed with justice
And her repentant ones with righteousness.
But transgressors and sinners will be crushed together,
And those who forsake the LORD will come to an end."
- Is 1:24-28


Judges, in the Hebrew - שֹׁפְטַ (shaphat) - meaning to judge, deliver, rule... maintain law & order, teach the Truth. These are those whom the Scripture call ’saviors’ or ’deliverers’ who will judge mankind in the Kingdom of our Lord. (Ob 1:21), who will sit with Him on His Throne to judge & rule the nations (Rev 2:26-27, Rev 3:21, Luke 22:28-30).

This blog series is not for everyone. Most will dismiss this teaching as heresy or irrelevant. But some will find a stirring in their hearts as they read these words, and will inquire of the Lord: wisdom and understanding. It is to that remnant I share what the Lord has deeply impressed on my heart.

Shalom,

Michael