celebration. And the list of things that they do goes on, and on, and on.

Transcription

1 Pastor Scott Velain Judging As we move into the topic of judging this morning, I m sure that if you have been a Christian for any length of time, you have probably been told by another professing Christian not to judge. Judge not lest ye be judged they will so proudly proclaim. We ve all heard it before, and we re very likely to hear it again. Christians don t judge they will proudly proclaim! Christians are not supposed to judge one another!, And on, and on, and on the wrongful rhetoric it goes. Hot air, bloviating from the ignorant and the unstudied, once again is more than abundant in these last days. As we all know, today s corporate Christianity is a far cry from the true Christianity that our Messiah came to teach and to preach. Today s modern-day corporate Christianity teaches their own man-made festivals, traditions, holidays, and myths that are not found anywhere within the pages of the 66 books of our Bibles. They have literally destroyed, and hidden the true seventh day Sabbath of the one true God of Abraham Isaac and Jacob. They have literally destroyed and hidden the very anniversary of the death of our Messiah on Passover day. They have literally destroyed and hidden the very day that he was resurrected on firstfruits, and replaced it with their Roman Catholic pagan Easter 1

2 celebration. And the list of things that they do goes on, and on, and on. And I would submit to you my friends that this idea that a Christian cannot judge is nothing more than another man-made, modern-day corporate Christian façade that they love to keep going so that you will not judge them for doing what they are clearly doing. You see my friends, that s what it s all about. It s not about the truth of God s word anymore. It s about the idea that you re not allowed to judge them. Because they know that if you read your Bible for yourself, and you judge whether their fruits are good or bad you will clearly see that their fruits are clearly rotten. It s an easy sermon to preach judge not lest ye be judged. It makes a pastor s job extremely easy, because now instead of telling his brothers and sisters that they should be judging him their pastors are now telling them that they have no right to judge him, or each other for that matter. And so, what s the end game here? The endgame is that the pastor gets to say whatever he wants without being judged, and every sinful thing that the devil wants to bring in among the assembly can just walk right through the door without being judged by anyone. Today my friends I would submit to you that we have just as many abominations inside today s modern-day churches as we do outside today s modern-day churches. Many women who come into today s modern corporate Christian churches dress as provocatively as they would if they were going to a nightclub. A large portion of today s modern-day corporate Christian churches will now openly marry homosexual couples without question. We now have homosexual pastors, and transgender pastors. Today s modern-day churches have become nothing more than country clubs for their communities. And within these country clubs, if you don t fit in, you re not given the right hand of fellowship, you re given the left boot of fellowship. And God forbid if you start asking questions. Many of us within our own assembly can tell you how fruitful that s been for many of us. In today s modern-day corporate Christian churches, questions are primarily forbidden, especially if asked publicly. And so today, I d like to clear the air concerning the ability of a Christian to judge, and especially the ability of a Christian to judge another Christian. Today we re going to examine the Scriptures that much of today s modern-day corporate Christianity uses to pull the wool over the proverbial eyes of God s people. And then we re going to look at what the Torah says. I cannot tell you how many times these modern-day Seminary pastors, (especially the young ones) will literally cherry pick a couple of Scriptures out of the Bible, and then sew them together in a nice quilted patchwork, and then present them as some newfound theology to 2

3 God s people. Not very long ago we had a very good brother, who sent out a video of a young pastor preaching and teaching on this very subject. This young pastor seemed to be wearing blue cords on the corners of his hips, and so I think this lends credence to who our brother thought this young pastor was. Naturally when you see blue cords hanging from the corners of someone s hips, you know you have a Christian who is at least a little enlightened concerning what God s word says. But I would submit to you my friends, that there are many men wearing blue cords from the corners of their hips who are still teaching and preaching corporate Christianity, or corporate Judaism. This brother who sent me this video proclaimed that he was astonished at this video, and that he learned so much from this particular video. And so, I was inclined to spend about an hour of my time viewing it. As I watch this very young pastor begin to teach on the topic of judging, I knew within the first 20 minutes into the video that this young man should have spent more time reading his Bible than preaching from behind a pulpit. And this is often times the trap that very young pastors fall into. And this is exactly why we read in first Timothy chapter 3 verse six, that a pastor must not be a recent convert, or he may become puffed up with conceit and fall into the condemnation of the devil. Often times we find these brand-new, very young pastors that have rolled off the bus coming out of seminary school thinking that they know everything about everything. And in the end, they know very little about anything. They have no experience in life, they ve barely lived long enough to even be able to shave, let alone do battle with principalities in high places, or to learn how to overcome an addiction, or how to walk through the trials and tribulations of life. And so, I m not making excuses for these young pastors, but what I am saying is that it s wrong for us to put anyone in the place of being a pastor who isn t even old enough to shave. Because when we throw these young naïve men in a pen with those evil principalities in high places, they often times get torn to shreds because they have no experience in spiritual warfare, let alone what the truth of God s word says because they have put their faith in the wisdom of men and their institutions, rather than putting their faith in the one true God of Abraham Isaac and Jacob and his God breathed Scripture. Moving forward, this extremely young pastor immediately jumps to Matthew chapter 7 versus one and two. 3

4 At this point in time, this young pastor begins to go on a rant about why it is that Christians are not to judge Christians. And he wrongfully proclaims that our Messiah is completely and utterly against Christians judging Christians. I might also add that the young pastor in this particular video only used three Scriptures during his hour-long sermon. We ll first look at James chapter 4 verses 11 and 12, and we ll come back to Matthew chapter 7 versus one and two in just a moment. Now at first glance, I would have to admit that this sounds like the end of the story doesn t it? 4

5 But once again, I would submit to you my friends that those who cherry pick Scripture out of the 66 books of the Bible, and think that they know something without reading the book are often times misled. And why are they misled? Because they are destroyed for lack of knowledge because they have rejected knowledge. Once again my friends you can not cherry pick scripture out of the Bible, without reading the book. What this young pastor had no concept of, is the difference between righteous judgment, and unrighteous judgment. Righteous judgment judges righteously, where unrighteous judgment judges un-righteously. In order to test the spirits one must be able to judge the spirits. How can you judge the spirits without knowing the word of God which is the measuring stick used when judging a spirit? If we are unable to judge then we are unable to test the spirits, and will therefore be over run by the deceptions of these evil spirits, and not only will we be over run by these evil spirits because we are unable to judge them but so will our children and our children s children be overrun by them because we failed to judge rightly between them. Let me ask you a question my friends Did our Messiah come to preach his Father s word or his own word? Because I would submit to you that our Messiah says in his own red-letter words, that he did not come on his own authority, or to do his own will but the will of his Father, and he came to say, and speak what his Father told him to say and speak. Here are just some of the things that are Messiah said he came to teach and preach in his own red-letter words: 5

6 And so, if this is indeed the case, and our Messiah did not come on his own authority to preach his own teaching but rather to teach his Father s word Then it should be very clear to us that our Messiah would not have spoken against what his Father had already said in his Torah or through his prophets, or the patriarchs of the house of Israel. And so, the next question then becomes, what did our Father in heaven tell us in his Torah, and through his prophets? What did his chosen patriarchs tell us? Well, let s take a look at what they told us: And so here in the book of Proverbs we find that we are to open our mouths and to judge righteously, and to defend the rights of the poor and the needy. Was our Messiah teaching 6

7 against this? What do we find in the New Testament? How can one reprove, rebuke, and exhort someone without judging whether or not they need reproving, or rebuking? We must remember that the word of God is truth. And so according to our Scripture, the word of God is truth. The sum of God s word is truth. And if the word became flesh, that it would also be fair to say that truth became flesh, because 7

8 the word is truth. And so, when we see in John chapter 1 verse 14 that the word became flesh, it should be understood that the truth also became flesh. Who was the truth that became flesh? The truth that became flesh is indeed our Messiah who always preached the truth. Therefore, how is it that we could possibly believe that our Messiah is telling us not to judge, when the Torah and the prophets tell us that we are supposed to judge? Once again my friends, I would submit to you that you cannot understand the Scripture without reading the book. Too many modern-day professing Christians love to pick and choose the Scripture that they want in order to prove their agenda. And the idea that a Christian is not to judge is indeed the agenda of those who do not want to be judged. So, let s go back and read the rest of the Scripture that this young pastor was incorrectly interpreting, and let s see what our Messiah was truly teaching and preaching concerning whether or not we should judge each other. And to do that I want us to return to Matthew chapter 7 versus one and two, but this time I d like to read down through to verse five in the proper context. As we read through the Scripture, it s clear to see that we can now see the rest of the story. If we examine versus four and five closely, we ll see that our Messiah was not chastising anyone for judging. What our Messiah was chastising them for was being hypocrites! How can you say to your brother let me take the speck out of your eye, when there s a log in your own eye? Notice in the very next verse in verse five he says and I quote, you hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye and then what does he say? Dose he say don t judge after you take the log out of your own eye? No! He says, and I quote, Then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother s eye. 8

9 In other words, if I were to come to you as your brother, and tell you that you need to stop profaning the Sabbath, because your breaking the law of God by profaning the Sabbath and yet I myself am profaning the Sabbath what are you going to think? You re going to think that I need to go fix myself first. If I can t even keep the Sabbath, then what makes me think that my brother is going to be able to keep the Sabbath? And this is why he calls them hypocrites. And I want us to understand the definition of a hypocrite. According to our Messiah the Pharisees and the scribes were hypocrites. Let s turn to Matthew chapter 23 and count how many times our Messiah called the Pharisees and the scribes hypocrites: Mat 23:13 But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you shut the kingdom of heaven in people's faces. For you neither enter yourselves nor allow those who would enter to go in. Mat 23:15 Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you travel across sea and land to make a single proselyte, and when he becomes a proselyte, you make him twice as much a child of hell as yourselves. Mat 23:16 Woe to you, blind guides, who say, If anyone swears by the temple, it is nothing, but if anyone swears by the gold of the temple, he is bound by his oath. Mat 23:17 You blind fools! For which is greater, the gold or the temple that has made the gold sacred? Mat 23:18 And you say, If anyone swears by the altar, it is nothing, but if anyone swears by the gift that is on the altar, he is bound by his oath. 9

10 Mat 23:19 You blind men! For which is greater, the gift or the altar that makes the gift sacred? Mat 23:20 So whoever swears by the altar swears by it and by everything on it. Mat 23:21 And whoever swears by the temple swears by it and by him who dwells in it. Mat 23:22 And whoever swears by heaven swears by the throne of God and by him who sits upon it. Mat 23:23 Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cumin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness. These you ought to have done, without neglecting the others. Mat 23:24 You blind guides, straining out a gnat and swallowing a camel! Mat 23:25 Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and the plate, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. Mat 23:26 You blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and the plate, that the outside also may be clean. Mat 23:27 Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful, but within are full of dead people's bones and all uncleanness. Mat 23:28 So you also outwardly appear righteous to others, but within you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness. Mat 23:29 Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you build the tombs of the prophets and decorate the monuments of the righteous, In the 16 verses, our Messiah calls the Pharisees and the scribes hypocrites seven different times. Why? Because they didn t practice what they preach! They were running around judging God s people, while they themselves were doing the exact same things. And I want us to notice that our Messiah did not chastise them for judging God s people. What he chastised them for was doing the same things themselves. They were not practicing what they preached. Let s scroll up to the top of Matthew chapter 23 versus two and three: Mat 23:2 The scribes and the Pharisees sit on Moses' seat, Mat 23:3 so do and observe whatever they tell you, but not the works they do. For they preach, but do not practice. And so, our Messiah tells us that the scribes and the Pharisees sit on Moses seat. What does that mean? When you sat on Moses seat in the synagogue, you could only recite the law word for word. Moses seat was also known as the bema seat. And when a scribe or a Pharisees sat in the bema seat of Moses, they could only recite from the law word for word. They could not expound upon the word, they could not explain the word, they could not give their interpretation of the word, they could only recite it word for word. 10

11 You see our Messiah had them trapped at that point in time. And our Messiah tells us very clearly that while they were seated in Moses seat reciting from the law word for word, we are to do, and observe whatever they tell us. And I want us to think about this for just a moment. What word were they reading from? They were not reading from the New Testament. There was no New Testament at that point in time. The New Testament had not even been written yet. The New Testament wasn t written and canonized until 90 years after the death burial and resurrection of our Messiah. And so, the only word that they had to read from was the Torah and the prophets. And what does our Messiah tell us to do and observe right here in Matthew chapter 23 verse three? The Torah. His Father s word. Which was and is the truth, that our Messiah was in the flesh. But notice what he says at the end of verse three. He says and I quote, but not the works they do, for they preach but they do not practice. Once again my friends, it s not about whether or not we are supposed to judge each other. It s about being hypocrites when we do judge each other. If you re doing the exact same thing that your brothers doing, then you have no right to judge him for what he s doing. Now how do we know that we are correct in our interpretation? Once again my friends, I would submit to you that it all goes back to reading the book instead of the Scripture by itself. You cannot read Scripture, and think in any way, shape, or form that you have any understanding without reading the book. And I don t mean half of the book from the middle to the end like most modern-day Christians do. I mean, you have to read the whole book from the beginning to the end. Then, and only then, will you properly understand the Scripture. Consider this: In other words, if you re trying to cherry pick Scripture and then figure it out on your own 11

12 through your own interpretation of the Scripture then you are indeed a blind guide. No prophecy of Scripture comes from someone s own interpretation. You see my friends it s not about how we personally interpret the Scripture. It s about how the Scripture interprets the Scripture. How does the book, the Bible, and all 66 books of the Bible interpret the Scripture? When you can reconcile the Scripture with the rest of the book then you can rest assured that you have properly interpreted the Scripture. If your personal interpretation of the Scripture does not line up with the rest of the book then you can rest assured that your interpretation of Scripture is broken and flawed. Our Messiah was in no way telling us not to judge one another, he was telling us not to judge hypocritically. Let s see if we can properly answer these two questions: I want us to listen to what the apostle Paul has to say about Christians judging Christians, because both of these questions can be answered within this scripture. We can find that in first Corinthians chapter 6 versus one through six: 12

13 The apostle Paul tells us very clearly that we better get used to judging each other. He tells us very clearly that the Saints will indeed judge the world, and he asks that all-important question If the world is to be judged by you, are you incompetent to try trivial cases? Paul then goes on to proclaim that we will indeed judge Angels! And so, unless the apostle Paul was preaching and teaching against what his Messiah taught it should be clear to us that anyone who interprets Matthew chapter 7 versus one and two as saying that we should not judge is clearly misunderstanding the Scripture. I want us to clearly understand what Paul told the church at Corinth. A man there at the church of Corinth was found with his father s wife. But the rest of the assembly was afraid to judge the man, and so the apostle Paul thunders a very damning judgment upon this wicked man, and I want you to listen to what he says in first Corinthians chapter 5 versus one through 13: 1Co 5:1 It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and of a kind that is not tolerated even among pagans, for a man has his father's wife. 1Co 5:2 And you are arrogant! Ought you not rather to mourn? Let him who has done this be removed from among you. 1Co 5:3 For though absent in body, I am present in spirit; and as if present, I have already pronounced judgment on the one who did such a thing. 1Co 5:4 When you are assembled in the name of the Lord Jesus and my spirit is present, with the power of our Lord Jesus, 1Co 5:5 you are to deliver this man to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord. 1Co 5:6 Your boasting is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the 13

14 whole lump? 1Co 5:7 Cleanse out the old leaven that you may be a new lump, as you really are unleavened. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. 1Co 5:8 Let us therefore celebrate the festival, not with the old leaven, the leaven of malice and evil, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. 1Co 5:9 I wrote to you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people 1Co 5:10 not at all meaning the sexually immoral of this world, or the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters, since then you would need to go out of the world. 1Co 5:11 But now I am writing to you not to associate with anyone who bears the name of brother if he is guilty of sexual immorality or greed, or is an idolater, reviler, drunkard, or swindler not even to eat with such a one. 1Co 5:12 For what have I to do with judging outsiders? Is it not those inside the church whom you are to judge? 1Co 5:13 God judges those outside. Purge the evil person from among you. Now for those of you who believe that Christians should not judge Christians, you ve got a lot of explaining to do here in first Corinthians chapter 5. According to the apostle Paul not only were they to properly judge this man, but according to verse two they should have removed him from among their assembly. Now I want to stop right here for just a moment. How many modern-day corporate Christian churches do you see today removing wicked men from their assemblies? Are today s modern-day corporate Christian churches removing wicked men from their assemblies or are they welcoming wicked men into their assemblies. Let s face it, when you can have a homosexual pastor heading up the leadership in your church, I d have to say that pretty much anything goes wouldn t you? And there s a long laundry list of modern-day corporate Christian churches that will now Mary homosexual couples. Because you see it s been written into their charter that it s okay to do so. Once again proving what we ve always said from the very beginning of this ministry the majority of these modern-day corporate Christian churches are nothing more than country clubs that keep the commandments of men, rather than keeping the commandments of the one true God of Abraham Isaac and Jacob. It s all about what their denominational charter of men says, and what God says means literally nothing to them. Paul continues on and tells the church at Corinth that they are to deliver this man to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord. And Paul goes on to warn them in verse six that even a little sin in the assembly will spread throughout all of the assembly. And the apostle Paul even gives us more insight as he continues in versus nine and 10. He says I wrote to you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people, not at all 14

15 meaning the sexually immoral of this world. He s not talking about staying away from the sexually immoral of this world because he knows in order to do that you would have to go out of the world. So much for that old excuse, I m in this world but I m not of this world. According to the apostle Paul we are indeed in this world and he knows full well that we have to deal with the people of this world. The apostle Paul goes on to explain to them not to associate with anyone who bears the name of brother who is guilty of sexual immorality or greed or is an idolater a reveler a drunkard or swindler. So, in other words, if someone claims to be part of the assembly, and they are doing these wicked things, we re not even supposed to be breaking bread with that person. Why? Because that one wicked brother will cause the sickness of sin that he has, to infiltrate the rest of the assembly just like Paul tells us in verse six. Sin is a sickness. Sin is like the flu or a bad cold. It can be spread very easily, and this is exactly why those who are of a sinful nature should not be tolerated within the assembly. They are to judged correctly and if found guilty of sin and refuse to repent they are to be set outside of the assembly. Paul goes on in verses 12 and 13 to give us even more information concerning the topic of judging. Paul says and I quote, what have I to do with judging outsiders? Is it not those inside the church whom you are to judge? You bet it s those inside the church that we are supposed to be judging. My friends if you are not judging the people within your own assembly, including your pastor, then you are not fit for the assembly. How did our Messiah tell us that we would know a Wolf in sheep s clothing? He said we would know them by their fruits. How do you know someone by their fruits? You must judge whether their fruits are good or rotten. What is the fruit that they bear? Is there fruit full of lies in hypocrisy? Or is there fruitful of truth and light? These things my friends must be, and let me say that again in capital letters MUST BE Judged by every Christian! How do we think that today s modern-day corporate Christianity has become so lost in the first place? Because these men have taught their congregations that they are not to judge. They teach their congregations that they, and only they alone can properly understand the Scripture. They teach their congregations that they, and only they alone are exempt from the judgment of others. Today s modern-day Christian is to come into the church, sit down, shut up, and listen to what they are told. They are not to ask questions, they are not to challenge the doctrines, or the theology, or the dogmas of their denominational charters of men, and they are not to forget to obey the Levitical law of tithing. They will almost all agree that the Torah and the laws of God are all nailed to some tree and done away with except for that beloved Levitical law of tithing. Don t ask any questions about where a first day of the week Sunday Sabbath is found anywhere in your Bible. Don t ask any questions about the biblical fact that our Messiah died on Passover day and not some Roman Catholic Good Friday. Don t ask any questions about the biblical fact 15

16 that a Christian has been grafted into the house of Israel. Don t ask any questions about why God was grafting Gentiles into the house of Israel way back in the book of Exodus. Just sit down, shut up, listen to the funny little sermon for 45 minutes, put your money in the Golden plate, and be sure to be there for the potluck. According to the apostle Paul we should be looking for wicked men inside the assembly so that we can set them outside of the assembly. And we are indeed to judge those who are inside the assembly, because if we don t, sin will run rampant like a cancer all throughout the assembly. God judges those outside of the assembly. God judges those who are part of the world. But our Messiah who dwells within us, judges his people. Now my friends, I want to apologize if this particular teaching seems a little bit harsh and hard to swallow for some who are still part of today s modern-day corporate Christianity. But what I m telling you here is what is written in the word of Yahovah the one true God of Abraham Isaac and Jacob. What I m telling you here today has nothing to do with any denominational charter of men. What I m telling you here today has nothing to do with any Council of men. What I m telling you here today has nothing to do with what some prestigious Bible commentator says. What I m telling you here today has nothing to do with any man s so-called early church father. What I m telling you here today comes from your Father in heaven and his only begotten Son and the Ruach Hackodesh of God that dwells deeply within the hearts and minds of his people. Today s Roman Catholic church wants nothing more than for all Christians to join together and hold hands and sing: Kumbyah. But our God breathed Scriptures tell us to set the evil man outside of our assemblies. Our God breathed Scriptures tell us to judge those who are inside of our assemblies. Our God breathed scriptures tell us not to add too, or take away from his word. 16

17 Let me ask you this my friends, if you re not going to judge your brother properly, how are you even do know that he needs brought back? If you re not allowed to judge your brother properly, how are you going to help him? My friends if you don t know how to righteously judge your brother, then you don t have the tools necessary to bring your brother back. And if you re doing the same thing that he s doing, then what you have there is the blind leading the blind. One of you better get a clue. One of you better wake up. And until one of you takes the beam out of his own eye, he s not going to be able to help the other one. It s important to note that even in the days of Moses, heads of the assembly were set up to judge the people. Let s turn to Exodus chapter 18 versus 15 through 27: Exo 18:15 And Moses said to his father-in-law, Because the people come to me to inquire of God; Exo 18:16 when they have a dispute, they come to me and I decide between one person and another, and I make them know the statutes of God and his laws. Exo 18:17 Moses' father-in-law said to him, What you are doing is not good. Exo 18:18 You and the people with you will certainly wear yourselves out, for the thing is too heavy for you. You are not able to do it alone. Exo 18:19 Now obey my voice; I will give you advice, and God be with you! You shall represent the people before God and bring their cases to God, Exo 18:20 and you shall warn them about the statutes and the laws, and make them know the way in which they must walk and what they must do. Exo 18:21 Moreover, look for able men from all the people, men who fear God, who are trustworthy and hate a bribe, and place such men over the people as chiefs of thousands, of hundreds, of fifties, and of tens. Exo 18:22 And let them judge the people at all times. Every great matter they shall bring to you, but any small matter they shall decide themselves. So it will be easier for you, and they will bear the burden with you. Exo 18:23 If you do this, God will direct you, you will be able to endure, and all this people also will go to their place in peace. Exo 18:24 So Moses listened to the voice of his father-in-law and did all that he had said. Exo 18:25 Moses chose able men out of all Israel and made them heads over the people, chiefs of thousands, of hundreds, of fifties, and of tens. Exo 18:26 And they judged the people at all times. Any hard case they brought to Moses, but any small matter they decided themselves. Exo 18:27 Then Moses let his father-in-law depart, and he went away to his own country. 17

18 Once again, I would submit to you my friends that we see the importance of judging and we see exactly how it is that we are to judge in verse 16. Moses tells his father-in-law that when the people have a dispute, he makes them know the statutes of God and his laws. This is how we bring the brother back. This is the measuring stick that we are to use to judge each other. But in order to bring a brother back, we must already be there ourselves. Let s turn to Leviticus chapter 19 verse 15: You see our Messiah was not going against what his Father had already said in his Torah. Our Messiah was certainly not telling us not to judge one another. What our Messiah was telling us to do is to not be hypocritical in our judgment. Hypocritical judgment is unrighteous judgment, because we ourselves are guilty of the very same thing that we are accusing someone else of. Righteous judgment, without being hypocritical, means that we ourselves have already put these things behind us, and by doing so, we have become well-equipped to now help our brother put those same sins behind him as well. Let s take a look at Romans chapter 2 verses 1 through 4 18

19 Once again my friends, the truth leads us back to the same word over, and over, and over again. And that one word is, hypocrite. It s not that we cannot, or should not judge, it s about righteous versus unrighteous judgment. Once again my friends, a blind man cannot lead the blind man. Both will indeed fall into the pit. There s no way that we can take a speck out of our brother s eye, when we have a log in our own eye. Once again, in verse 42 we see that word, hypocrite. But I want you to notice what it says we are able to do once we remove the log from our eye. What is it that we re able to do if we are able to remove the log from our own eye? It says very clearly and I quote, then you will 19

20 see clearly to take out the spec that is in your brother s eye. In other words, once you can see clearly, you are then able to help others. But if you re still wallowing in your own sin, then how will you help others out of theirs? It s impossible. And I want us to also notice a very important part of this particular Scripture in verse 38. For the measure you use, it will be measured back to you. Now this scares a lot of modern-day Christians because they know full well that they haven t gotten rid of the sin that they are still wallowing in. But if you have defeated that sin through the Ruach Hackodesh of Yahovah and his only begotten Son, then you have no fear, because the measuring stick that you re using is indeed the law of Yahovah that you yourself have used to defeat your own sin. Therefore we have no fear of being measured by the same measure that we use. In the end, we are all measured using the same measuring stick. The same tape, the same word, the same truth, which is the same law of Yahovah our Father in heaven. Some misguided and wrongly taught modern day Christians will try to use this scripture against us, and I want us to be aware of it. This verse has to do with a woman that the Scribes and Pharisees brought to our Messiah and had accused her of adultery, and our Messiah simply told them that he who was without sin was to cast the first stone. Why did he say that? The first thing we need to understand is that this was a trap that the Scribes and the Pharisees were trying to lay for our Messiah. Number one according to the Torah in Leviticus chapter 20 verse 10 both the man and the woman found guilty of adultery were to be put to death, not just the woman. Number two the Torah commands that there be at least 2 or three witnesses which were not present. Number three, the guilty parties were to be taken to the Elders, which 20

21 they had not done. You see these Scribes and these Pharisees were guilty of sin, and full of iniquity. They themselves had sinned by not following the commandment of the Torah concerning this woman, and our Messiah knew it. Therefore all our Messiah had to say is let he who is without sin cast the first stone, because he knew that these Scribes and these Pharisees had already broken the commandments of the Torah by even bringing the woman before him unjustly. Once again my friends you can not just read scripture, without reading the book. What we have to remember that it is written in Deuteronomy chapter 4 verse 2, and also again in Deuteronomy chapter 6 verse 32, that we are commanded not to add to the word of God, nor take away from it. Let me give you an example: If I see my brother, or my sister rolling a cigarette to smoke, and I say Don t smoke that, because I know it s not good for them or for their children, is it wrong for me to say Don t smoke that!? 21

22 There is no way to restore someone in a spirit of gentleness without first judging whether or not they are doing wrong. Some will say that we are all sinners, and because we are all sinners we have no right to judge our brothers and sisters, but I would submit to you my friends that they once again have not read the book: Our Messiah commands us in his own red-letter words to, and I quote, be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect. This is a red-letter commandment that comes directly from our 22

23 Messiah. And so, we must ask ourselves would our Messiah command us to do something that we were not able to do? Knowing that he would have to judge us if we did not do it? I can not tell you how many times I have heard the lost and the misguided proudly proclaiming that you can not be sinless, but that s not what our Messiah or his Father in heaven ever said. We re clearly told in 1 st John that if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. And so my friends don t let them lie to you and to your children. Because according to our Father in heaven it is not to hard for us! If our Messiah were to have told us not to judge one another, he would have been taking away from the word of his Father and would have thereby been for all intensive purposes a sinner. And so there should be no doubt in our minds because we know that our Messiah was indeed sinless, according to second Corinthians chapter 5 verse 21, that our Messiah most certainly did not add too, or take away from his Father s word, by telling us not to judge one another. He was simply telling us not to judge hypocritically like the Scribes and the Pharisees were doing. 23

24 What is written in Proverbs chapter 31 verse nine still stands. Just like what is written in Leviticus chapter 19 verse 15 still stands. And so, my hope and my prayer is that we ve been able to put some truth in your hearing here this morning. There is simply no way that a modern-day Christian who has put on the full armor of God, and who has fastened on the belt of truth can possibly make it through these last days without using truth as their compass. Without the truth, we have no compass, we have no direction, and the path of righteousness will in no way, shape, or form be found by those who do not have the 24

25 truth. In order to find that narrow path that few will find, we need to have the compass of truth so that we can judge which way to turn. And let me end by saying this my friends If by some unimaginable, demonic force I ever lose my way I m counting on my brothers and my sisters to be able to use that compass of truth to judge me righteously so that I too may have a light that I need that shines from them, to find my way back. We as an assembly are indeed one body. We as one body do indeed need each one of our members. Without the ability to judge between good and evil, we are finished. Without having the ability to set the evil man outside of our assembly, we will be consumed, and our children and our children s children will be consumed by the cancer of sin. It s up to each and every single solitary one of us to not only know the truth, but to live the truth, walk the truth, and to be the truth made flesh. Our Messiah would not have commanded such a thing, if it were not so. My hope and my prayer is that we have given you something to take to your prayer closet this Shabbat morning. And as I always ask, I will now ask again Please... Please, take what you have heard here today to your prayer closet. And bow your head, and bend your knee, and face the holy promised land of Jerusalem, and ask in the name of Yeshua Hamashiach if what you ve heard here this morning be true Or not. Ask, seek, and knock, and the door will be opened to you. 25

26 And if you will do that, you and I will indeed walk hand in hand through the Gates of his soon coming kingdom. I m pastor Scott Velain with holy impact ministries, and like to thank you for sharing your time with us here this morning. We d also like to it right you to join us for this next Wednesday evenings live Bible study as we venture into the 44 th chapter of the book of Genesis. That s Wednesday evening October 24 th 2018, at 7 PM Eastern standard time right here at holy impact ministries.com. Next seventh day Sabbath on October 27 th, 2018 we d also like to invite you to join us again at 9 AM Eastern standard time as we talk about the abominations of all Saints day also known as, Halloween. Don t dress your children up like the walking dead and present them to the world without seeing this most important teaching! 26