 Hey man, so John chapter 5, we're in our second week in John chapter 5, so Jesus is in Jerusalem. We're going to pick up things after the story of the man that was at the pool of Bethsaida. We're going to look at verse number 17 going forward. Jesus is in Jerusalem and he begins to speak kind of a mini sermon here to the Jewish leaders, the people that were accusing him of working on the Sabbath. I'm not going to really go into that Jesus claimed to be God so much because I've already preached on that in previous chapters, but again they're getting upset that he's claiming to be equal with God. Let's look down at verse number 17 and see what Jesus has to say here when he begins to speak to the Jews here. Verse number 17, Jesus answered them, says, My Father worketh hitherto and I work. So we talked about the Sabbath the last week. He says therefore the Jews sought the more to kill him because not only had he broken the Sabbath, but he said also that God was his father making himself equal with God. So again not to preach that sermon, but everyone knew exactly what Jesus was claiming. Everybody knew that Jesus, I mean that's actually why they ended up killing him because of blasphemy that he was making himself equal with God that is easily shown from the Bible in many places. Verse number 19, then answered Jesus and said to them, Verily, verily I say unto you, the Son can do nothing of himself. But what he seeeth the Father do, for whatsoever he doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise. So now we're going to start to see this Jesus kind of equating himself with the Father here and I want to explain the context of this and that's not really the point of the sermon tonight, but there is a very big similarity to these next few verses in John 10, 28 through 30. So I want to look at that real quickly. Look at verse 20, it says the Father loveth the Son and he showeth him all things that himself doeth. So it says the Father loveth the Son and the Father shows the Son everything that he does and he will show him greater works than these that ye may marvel. Whereas the Father razeth up the dead and quickeneth them, even so the Son quickeneth whom he will, saying the Father is able to make people alive and the Son is also going to have that same power. Verse number 22, now this is different, verse number 22 is different, it's going to be the context or it's going to be the subject of the entire sermon tonight. So we're going to keep our place, we're just going to come back to verse number 22 in a few minutes. Verse 22 says for the Father, judgeeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son. So just keep that in your mind for a second. I want to go to verse number 23 real quickly. It says that all men should honor the Son even as they honor the Father. So here we see more equivalents. They're going to honor the Son, they're going to honor the Father. He that honoreth not the Son, honoreth not the Father. So we see anyone who honors the Son, honors the Father. Anyone who doesn't honor the Son doesn't honor the Father, which hath sent him. And then look at verse 24, it's really going to be the focus here for the next couple minutes. Verily, verily I say unto you, he that heareth my word, and believe on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and he shall not come into condemnation, but his path from death unto life. Now, people have been confused on that verse before because they're like, what? Believeeth on the Father? I thought I needed to believe on the Son. I mean John 3.36 says, he that believeth on the Son. And here the Bible is saying, he that believeth on the Father. So which is it? Is the question. And the answer is this, is belief, what Jesus is explaining is exactly what he's explaining in John 10.28 through 30, and we'll go there in just a minute. But what he's saying here in the context of belief, believing the Father is the same as believing the Son. He's saying because the belief of the Father contains, if you just think of a belief box, okay, I mean I'm a visual person, think of a belief box. If you truly believe the Father, the belief of the Son is in there. That's what he's saying. Okay? He's saying that belief of the Father is belief of the Son. So when you're out soul-winning, when you're out soul-winning you're going to hear this answer a lot. When you ask people, do you know for sure if you're going to heaven? And they're like, some people are going to say yes, I'm sure. And it's like, what does it take? Well, faith. They'll say, well faith, and some people will say, well faith in God, they'll say. But you need to dig a little deeper on that because you need to, look, that's true. That's true. If they just, look, it is a true statement to say faith in God in your saved. That's true. Because you understand who God is, you know, if you say, I have faith in God the Father, I believe on God the Father, you're saved. If you understand what that means, but what that means is that that, what Jesus is saying is that comes with the Son. Because if you honor the Father, you honor the Son. If you don't honor the Father, you don't honor the Son. And vice versa, switch them around all you want. But those things come together is what Jesus is saying. And that's what he says at the end of this chapter, he's like, you didn't believe the Father so you don't believe me. He's saying, so there is no, there is no, oh we believe in the one true God, but we just don't believe in Jesus. There is none of that. That's a false, that's a, that's a, that's a false paradigm right there. No, I believe in the one true God, I just don't believe that Jesus was his Son. False. You do not believe the one true God. That is what Jesus is explaining here. And who's he explaining it to? He's explaining it to the Jews who claim to believe the Bible. This is the problem. So he's saying, you don't believe the Father. Turn to John 10, John chapter 10 in verse number 28. John chapter 10 in verse number 28. One of my favorite verses in the Bible, one of the, just a clear proof of eternal security, John 10 28 where Jesus says, and I give unto them eternal life and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. But then in verse number 29 he says, my Father which gave them me is greater than all and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand. So in verse number 28 Jesus talks about his hand. So he says, your salvation is in my hand. Because then Jesus says in verse number 29, your salvation is in the Father's hand. So which is it? Both. You see what I just did? It's exactly the same thing that he's talking about in John chapter 5. And then he says in verse number 30 he says, I and my Father are one. In what context they come with each other is what he's saying. They're inseparable. You cannot believe in one and not the other. Both keep your eternal security. Who keeps my security? The Father or the Son? Yes is the answer. Because I and the Father are one. Does that mean Jesus is the Father? I mean no. It's in the context of John chapter 5 is talking about belief in the Father. True belief in the Father will contain belief in the Son. So when you're out there soul winning and somebody says, well faith in God, you need to dig a little deeper and be like, well does God have a name? Who is God? And you know if they start just well God and then you know some people think that God is like just some being that just everybody calls God a different name. No. Wrong. The one through God sent his son Jesus to die for the sins of the world. And you cannot believe in that God without believing in Jesus. It's inseparable. That is all Jesus is saying in John chapter 5. He is equating himself with God but he is saying the exact same thing that he is saying in John chapter 10. He is saying that these beliefs in the Father and belief in the Son, they are inseparable because I and the Father are one. In the context that they are both God. They are both God. You say, I don't understand that. I don't understand how that works. Ask Jesus when you get to heaven. You don't have to understand every tiny little thing in the Bible. And any analogy that you come up with for the you know the trinity like the egg yolk or whatever you want to say is got some kind of problem with it. So you just kind of got to, it's kind of one of those things where you kind of realize that God is higher than us and we don't necessarily maybe have to understand everything. We just have to believe what Jesus said. Right? Like, oh I don't understand the exact mechanics of the Godhead. Well, you know, I mean it's God. I mean so, I mean there are certain things about God that we are probably not going to understand because he is higher than we are. Alright? So that's all Jesus is saying there. He's just saying belief in the Son comes with belief in the Father. So it is a true statement to say, he that believeth on him that sent me hath everlasting life because if you truly believe on the God the Father, you believe on the Son. That's all Jesus is saying. Alright? It's not super complicated but just wanted to get into that. Alright? Now let's go to verse 25 and get to the point of the sermon tonight. Verily, verily I say unto you, Jesus continues, the hour is coming and now is when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God and they that hear shall live. For as the Father hath life in himself, so hath he given Son the Son to have life in himself. More of that equivalence there. But verse number 27 matches verse number 22 here where it says, and hath given him authority to execute judgment also because he is the Son of man. So one thing that is different though about the Son versus the Father, so are they exactly the same? No, they're different persons, if you will, of the Godhead, alright? And the Son is given some responsibility that the Father does not have. And verse number 22 explains what that responsibility is. It says the Father, and look, it clearly says the Father doesn't do this but the Son does. The Father judges no man but hath committed all judgment unto the Son. So this is something that the Father is, I guess you could say he's delegating to the Son. In verse number 27, it's what? What is that delegation? It is to execute judgment because he is the Son of man. Look at verse 28. Marvel nodded at this, for the hour is coming, so not only does he equate himself with God, he's literally saying God the Father has given me, he's telling the Jews this. Can you imagine? There's a boiling over, I'm sure, at this point. Because he's saying that not only am I equal with God, but God has given me the authority to execute judgment on you. And I'm sure they're just like steam coming out of their ears, right? Look at verse 29. He says, and shall come forth, and they that have done good at resurrection of life, they that have done evil unto the resurrection of damnation, I can of my own self do nothing, as I hear, I judge, and my judgment is just, because I seek not my own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me. So the point of the sermon, or the title of the sermon, the focus of the sermon tonight is Jesus the Judge. That is another thing that Jesus is, we look at Jesus the light, we look at Jesus the Word, Jesus is the Judge. Turn to Isaiah chapter 11. It is a main role of Jesus Christ is to be the, not a judge, the judge. Look at Isaiah chapter 11 in verse number one. So here we have a Messianic prophecy prophesying Christ in verse number one of Isaiah chapter 11. Look what the Bible says. It says, and there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots, and the spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, that's a key there, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge, and of the fear of the Lord, and shall make him quick, of quick understanding in the fear of the Lord, and he shall not judge after the sight of his own eyes, neither reprove after the hearing of his ears. But with righteousness shall he judge the poor, and reprove with equity for the meek of the earth, and he shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked. So what is the Bible saying that Jesus, this Messiah, whoever this is going to be in Isaiah chapter 11, who we find out that it's Jesus, it's saying that he's going to be of quick understanding, he's going to have wisdom, he's going to have knowledge of the fear of the Lord, which we're going to see how important that is in just a few minutes. But what is the point? He's going to judge. He's going to be there to pass righteous judgment. That's what he's there to do. And he shall not judge after the sight of his own eyes, neither reprove after the hearing of his ears, but with righteousness shall he judge. And he's going to smite the earth, and he's going to reprove with this judgment. So Jesus is the judge. Look at Romans chapter 2. Actually, you go to John 12, I'll just read for you Romans chapter 2 in verse number 16 where the Bible says, you're going to John 12. In Romans 2.16 the Bible says, in the day when God shall judge the secrets of men, how? It says in Romans 2.16, by Jesus Christ, according to my gospel. So the Father is using Jesus as the judge of the world. Think about that. Think about that. You say, well who is Jesus to judge? Is he to judge the saved people? Is he to judge the unsaved people? Who is he to judge in the world? Is it just people that have believed on him or people that have not believed on him? Everyone is who Jesus will judge. Look at John 12, verse number 30. Jesus will judge every man that has ever lived. Look at verse number 30. It says, Jesus answered and said, this voice came not because of me, but for your sakes, now is the judgment of this world. Now shall the prince of this world be cast out. And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me. So Jesus is kind of saying there in verse number 31, he's like, now is the judgment of the world because the judge is here. Now is the judgment of the world because I am the judge. God sent me here to judge. Look at 2 Timothy chapter 4. And he will judge everyone. He will judge everyone that has ever lived. And I'll show you that clearly from the Bible. Look at 2 Timothy 4, verse number 1. So God the Father sent the son to be the judge. And he's going to judge everyone. Verse number 1 of 2 Timothy 4 says, I charge thee before God and the Lord Jesus Christ. What? He shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom. Preach the word. Be instant, in season, out of season, reprove, rebuke, exhort with all long suffering and doctrine. So Jesus is going to judge the quick and he's going to judge the dead. That means he's going to judge the alive is what that means and the dead. That means he's going to judge the saved and the unsaved. Jesus is going to judge me if I'm saved? Yes. He's going to judge you. Turn to 2 Corinthians chapter 5. I told you he's going to judge every single person that has ever lived regardless because he is the judge. It is one of the jobs that God the Father gave him to do. He delegated this to Jesus. God the Father is not going to do this. He delegated it to Jesus and I'll show you why he did that in just a few minutes. Look at 2 Corinthians 5. You say I'm saved. I thought I'm good. I thought that I'm good to go and I'm not going to be in trouble for anything and I'm not ever. You're not going to go to hell but Jesus is going to judge you. Look at 2 Corinthians 5 verse number 10. It says we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ that everyone may receive the things done in his body according to that he had done whether it be good or bad. This is how you're going to be judged. You're going to appear to turn back to 1 Corinthians chapter 3. You're going to appear at the judgment seat of Christ and you are going to answer for the good things that you did and the bad things that you did in your life. You're going to answer, you say what's good and what's bad. It's all going to be according to this. It's all going to be according to the Bible. You say well what if I did very little for the Lord in my life? Look at 1 Corinthians chapter 3 and look at verse number 11. Look you're not going to hell but you are going to be judged by your life and the things that you did in your life. Look at 1 Corinthians 3 verse number 11. It says for other foundation can no man lay than that is laid which is Jesus Christ. So that's your salvation right there. Your salvation is that foundation. That's what's been laid to every Christian that is saved. Every person that is saved has that foundation of Christ. The problem is that many saved people are not going to build anything on it. Many saved people are just going to put a bunch of trash on it and maybe even forget that it's there. They're just going to let weeds go over it, put a bunch of dirt on it and they're going to use it for nothing in their life. It doesn't mean it's not still there. It just means that you're not using it to build anything. It says now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble. It says every man's work. So here's a bunch of things you could build on there. It says every man's work shall be made manifest. That means that every man's work is going to be made known. So this is like, if you go do a bunch of good things, like if you go out and you do a bunch of good things for Christ and you go out and you go and you get some people saved and you do some good works in your life, it's like you don't have to go tell everybody. I mean you don't have to like go shout it in a YouTube video or put it over Facebook or whatever because it's going to be made known and it's going to be made known to the person that it matters to, which is the judge, which is Jesus Christ. Okay, so it's going to be made known for the day shall declare it because it shall be revealed by fire and the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is. So Jesus is going to reveal by fire. It's kind of a, you know, it's a picture here. It's a picture of, you know, a bunch of worthless hay, a bunch of worthless stubble, a bunch of worthless works that you did in your life. If any man's work abide, which he had built upon, he shall receive a reward. So if you do good works, you go out and you get a bunch of people saved with your life and you go out and you raise a family, then you have saved children and your children are passing, you know, the Gospel of Jesus Christ onto their children. It's like these are all things that are not going to burn up. These are all very valuable things. They're not going to, they're going to survive the fire. But the things that are worthless, the wood, hay and the stubble is just going to burn up all the things that you pursued in your life, the money, the property, the, you know, whatever it is, not to say that you shouldn't have money and you shouldn't have a car or whatever, but if you just use your life to pursue these things that all those things are going to burn up, you know, all those things are going to burn up. And it says if man's work should be burned in verse 15, he shall suffer loss. Now there's the key right there. Now I don't know what that's going to be like. I mean you're in heaven and, you know, you're in heaven and you're never going to be in hell but the Bible does say that you will suffer loss like you will know, you will know that, oh man, you know, I should have, I should have done more with my life. I should not have wasted my life on these carnal things of the flesh. I should not been involved in all that sin that pulled me out of the spiritual life and made me a worthless Christian. I mean I don't know what that feeling is going to be but the Bible says you will know. You will know that you will suffer that loss. You will know that you should not have done those things and you should have built on that foundation, all right. But he himself, look, here it is, right, he himself shall be saved. So the Bible is just reassuring us there in 1 Corinthians 3 that, okay, this all sounds pretty bad. You're going to suffer loss but you're still saved. You're still going to be in heaven. You're not losing your salvation. But this is just, you know, it's another proof here in 1 Corinthians 3 that works and salvation are not connected there in verse number 15, all right. Works and salvation are not connected. Works are important for the Christian. Works are important in your life but it's just, it's just not connected to salvation. Look, you can't make any sense of the Bible if you connect works and salvation. The Bible is so confusing, I've tried it. If you connect works to salvation in any way, the Bible is the most confusing thing you could ever read but they're not connected and that's why it's confusing. Now, so we're going to be judged by our works. Jesus Christ himself is going to lay out all your works of your life and judge the ones that are worthless and the ones that were good and he's going to reward the good and you're going to suffer loss for the worthless works that you had. He's also going to judge the dead. Turn to Revelation chapter 20. You know, I've preached on this extensively but the dead are going to be the dead like the people in hell, the people that have not believed on Jesus, that died and went to hell, they are going to be judged and they're going to be judged by Jesus. You know, where the Bible says every knee shall bow, I mean imagine being in hell for a thousand years, 2,000 years and then being brought out of hell and stood in front of Jesus, you're going to bow, you're going to beg, I mean you're going to be like there's nothing that can be done at that point but every knee will bow. Look at verse number 11 of Revelation chapter 20. The Bible says, and I saw a great white throne and him that sat on it from whose face the earth and heaven fled away and there was no place found for them, no, there was no place for them and I saw the dead small and great stand before God and the books were opened and another book was open which is the book of life and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books according to what? According to their works. So the books are the Bible, are the law and the book is whether or not they were saved. So if you're not in the book of life, if you've been removed from the book of life, everybody starts in the book of life, if you've been removed and you die and your name has been blotted out of the book of life, whether it was blotted out while you were still alive, this is the reprobate doctrine, or most people I believe will have their name blotted out when they die physically and they have not believed, they've died unbelieving on Jesus. At that point they're in hell, at that point their soul goes to hell, their body goes in the ground but this here is the resurrection of damnation is what the Bible is talking about, this great white throne judgment where Jesus Christ will judge the unsaved by their works. So God's going to take the Bible, Jesus is going to take the Bible and he's going to get it, like you think you were so great, well you broke this one and you broke this one and you broke this one, I mean how can you cover for that? That's the thing that makes no sense at all. Nobody in Fresno that you would talk to today would think that you could cover up a crime by being nice to somebody. Nobody would believe this, this is what all the churches today are teaching. Not one single person, I always say this out soul-wining. I give this analogy of stealing somebody's car and then wrecking their car and then standing in front of a judge in Fresno. I've done this for years. Standing in front of the judge in Fresno and say, yeah, a judge, I did steal the car and I did light it on fire and I did destroy it but I'm really nice and people always laugh because it doesn't make any sense because even, look, I'm sure there are some people that you and I, this is Romans 4-4 and Romans 4-5, I'm sure there are some people, and look, it makes me sad to say this, I'm sure there's some people that you and I would look at that are pretty nice people. There may be people that are nicer than you. I mean, I think about the nicest person in this church, I'm not gonna name any names, okay? But I think if I take the nicest person in this church, just the friendliest person, the person who's in the best mood all the time, she's just got a good spirit, I don't even know the name, you're all nice. But the point is this, I'm sure there are nicer people out there, but if they do not believe on Jesus Christ, they're going to hell. And you're like, well, that doesn't sound right. That's because you've been taught workspace salvation your entire life. That's because you've been raised by a wicked Catholic church or a wicked Protestant church, pick one, that is teaching this works intertwined with salvation, but it makes no sense logically. Not only does the Bible not say it, it just doesn't compute up here because no matter how good or nice you are, everyone would admit that they've sinned and no one would think that goodness can cover up a transgression of the law. No one would think that. No one would think that in a regular court of law where there's an actual human judge. What makes you think a perfect judge is gonna make a silly mistake like that? It's not gonna happen. Jesus is the judge. There's not gonna be any mistakes. There's not any, oh, I made a bad call that day. The books are opened. He is the books, by the way. We'll get there in a minute. But he's the judge. He's not gonna make any mistakes. People are gonna be judged by their works and they're gonna be thrown into the lake of fire. This is the resurrection of damnation. And look, they're gonna beg to not be thrown, but that is justice. That is perfect justice. You may not like that because you have a skewed version of justice from what people have been taught, but that's it. They were already dead. They just weren't judged by Jesus yet. And at this point, they're gonna be judged by Jesus. So the point is this. Jesus is the judge. He is the judge of the earth. He's been delegated, had this responsibility delegated to him by the father. The question is this. How can we apply this to us? What does this mean? You turn to 1 Timothy chapter six. What does it mean for us? So Jesus, he has all these different responsibilities. This is a big one, to be the judge of the world, the judge of every single man. Say, why would the father? Here, ask yourself this question. I'm gonna answer it for you in 1 Timothy chapter six, but why didn't the father just judge? Why did the father, because clearly this is the difference between the father and the son, the father delegated judgment of the earth to the son? So the question is why? And the answer of why he delegated to the son is also why it's important for us, which is interesting how the Bible works that way. But look at 1 Timothy chapter six and look at verse number 14. Here's why the father delegated judgment to the son. First Timothy chapter six, verse number 14. So Jesus is what? Jesus is the word. Jesus is the word become flesh. Jesus is the light we looked at. Jesus here is the judge, but here's something else that Jesus is. Look at verse number 14, it says that thou keep this commandment without spot, unrebukeable until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, which in his times he shall show who is the blessed and only potentate. So it's kind of gonna give away the answer of what a potentate is here, but it says again, it says the king of kings, the Lord of lords. So potentate, like a potentate is, it's a king. I mean, it's another word for a king, but it's basically an autonomous authoritarian ruler is what a potentate is. But the point is, is Jesus is the king of kings. So this is why he's the judge because it's up to the king to judge. It's a king's job to judge who only have immortality. So he's the king of kings. So there's been many kings and many leaders in the earth, but Jesus is the king of all of them. And he's the only one that will ever and has ever been immortal and has immortality. He's the only immortal king. Turn to 1st Kings chapter three. So it's the king's job to judge. And that's, look, that's a normal responsibility. Even Solomon knew that that's the main responsibility of a king is to judge, right? That's why Solomon, when God asked Solomon when he was just a kid, when he was just a young man, I should say, you know, somewhere, I mean, probably somewhere south of 20 by a few years, he asked God for this. Look at verse number five of 1st Kings chapter three. So it's the king's job to judge. And everybody knows this. Even kings know this. In Gibeon the Lord appeared to Solomon in a dream by night and God said, ask what I shall give thee. And Solomon said, thou has showed unto thy servant David my father great mercy. According as he walked before thee in truth and in righteousness and in uprightness of heart with thee. And thou has kept for him this great kindness that thou has given him a son to sit on his throne as it is this day. And now, O Lord my God, thou has made thy servant king instead of David my father. And I am but a little child. I know not how to go out or to come in. So he's saying, I am now king and God's like, what do you want? Ask me something and I will give it to you. And thy servant is in the midst of the people which thou has chosen a great people that cannot be numbered or counted for a multitude. So he hasn't asked for anything yet. But in verse number nine, he makes his request and this is what he requests. He says, give therefore thy servant an understanding heart, why? He says, give me a certain heart that understands things, why? To judge thy people. Solomon knows that the main job of a king is to what? It is to judge. And since Jesus is the king of kings, he is the judge. Now it doesn't even tells us what judgment is. I mean, if you don't know what judgment is because that's been skewed today, what is judgment? Like everyone's telling me today not to judge. What is judgment? Here it is, look at verse number nine of first Kings chapter three. It says, give me an understanding heart to judge thy people. What is judgment that I may discern between good and bad? For who is able to judge this so great a people? So judging simply means it's really complicated being able to tell what's good and what's bad. That's it. So imagine somebody telling you to not have judgment. Turn to Proverbs chapter nine. Oh, actually read God's answer real quick. Before we move from there, let's read God's answer and then we'll go to Proverbs nine. But here's what God tells them. He says, behold, I've done according to thy words. Low, I've given thee a wise and understanding heart so that there is none like thee before thee, neither after thee shall any arise unto thee. So in order to have judgment, in order to be a good judge, God says I'm giving you wisdom and understanding. Look at Proverbs nine. This matches perfectly with Proverbs nine and Proverbs one say, but we'll just look at Proverbs nine for sake of time. So wisdom and understanding. So God says I gave you wisdom and understanding. So you say, okay, well, I should just pray to God and then God should speak audibly to me and give me wisdom and understanding. But no, because God tells us. So wisdom and understanding, here's the connection. Wisdom and understanding is what we need to be able to judge properly. To be able to tell good from bad correctly. Wisdom and understanding is what we need. Even Solomon knew what he needed. He's like, I need an understanding heart. I need understanding. He's like, I just don't have it. I'm just a kid. God just gave it to him, just boom, just like that. Just handed it right to him. But Proverbs nine tells us how we can get it. It says the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom and the knowledge of the holy is understanding. So guess where we get that? We can have exactly what Solomon had from the Bible. That's what the Bible is saying. So the question is, see, this is where it really comes full circle. So as we are kings and priests in our Christian life, in Revelation chapter one, the Bible, I mean, it sounds like, since we are kings, we should have judgment. We should be able to judge. And we get that wisdom and understanding that is needed to judge from the Bible. And here's where it comes full circle. What is the Bible? The Bible is the word of God. The Bible is the word of God. Jesus is what? Jesus is the word become flesh. See how it comes full circle like that? This is how it applies to us. We get judgment from the Bible because the Bible is the judge. I mean, it's poetic. I mean, it's just perfect. I mean, yeah, a man wrote the Bible. A bunch of fishermen wrote the Bible. I mean, think about how perfect this is. Turn to John chapter seven. Turn to John chapter seven. You say, yeah, well, judgment. See, judgment's complicated, folks. Like judgment is complicated. To be a judge that never makes a mistake is a hard thing to do. I mean, that's a complicated thing. You as a man, you as a husband, you as a leader of your family, you as a wife leading your children, you will never be a perfect judge. It will never happen. Look, you should study the Bible. You should read the Bible. You should know the Bible so you can be as close to correct all the time. If, look, if you do everything the Bible says, you're not gonna make any bad judgment. But we're not Jesus. We are going to make mistakes in judgment. Look at John chapter seven of verse 24. This is kind of a profound verse, in my opinion, talking about judgment. The Bible says here, it says, judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment. Now, many times we look at this verse, I really focus on the back of that verse where it says, judge righteous judgment. But the front of that verse is saying, don't judge according to the appearance. This is kind of like Pride and Prejudice, part one right here. Because if you judge just, you know what this is saying? It's saying that how things look on the surface may not always be what they really are. It's saying that you could make bad judgment if you go with your gut and you say, well, that guy seems trustworthy or that guy seems really nice or that lady seems really nice because she says she's nice or he says he's good at this or he says he's whatever. But the Bible is saying, judge righteous judgment. It's like, no, no, no, no, no, no. You must judge by the Bible. You must verify with what? What did we talk about as the example in Pride and Prejudice, part one? You must verify with witnesses. You can't just take what one person says and comes to you and says, oh, this and just take that as the truth. No, you must go by the Bible. You must go by the Bible. You must go by the methodologies that the Bible lays forward for you. And then you will have a much better track record of judging righteously. That is what the Bible is saying because John 7.24 is saying, don't judge according to the appearance because looks are deceiving. It's saying people will try to deceive you. This is the wolf in sheep's clothing. He's like, he looks like a sheep, but it's a wolf. It looks like, again, Satan doesn't knock on the front door and say, hey, Satan here, he goes through the window in the back and he pretends to be something that he's not. Righteous judgment comes from following what the Bible says. Judgment according to the Bible, not according to the culture of the day. Thank goodness, thank goodness. I mean, 80% of men in Gen Z could think that they're zebras and I'm still gonna have proper judgment if I follow the Bible. It doesn't affect us if we follow the Bible. I mean, there's an entire don't judge movement in Christianity today. It's like the second thing a liberal Christian will tell you. Maybe if they find out where you go to church, maybe it's the first thing they'll tell you. But there's this massive movement. I'm just trying to get you to see how anti-Jesus it is tonight. Don't judge, but Jesus is the judge. What are you talking about? I mean, think about just a secular judge that wouldn't judge. Would that be a town that you would wanna live in? I mean, would that be victimless? Think about it. Think about if a murderer came before a judge in Fresno or wherever and the judge was just like, well, you know, I just can't make the call here. You know, he's on video. He's clearly a murderer. He admits he's a murderer. He's like, I like to murder people and I'm gonna murder some more people and the judge is just like, well, I just can't come down on one side or another on that one. I just wanna be loving. You're just like one in the world. I mean, it's not victimless. You know, this is a real thing too. 1% of the population is a psychopath. This isn't me or the Bible. This is secular science that admits this. 1%, do you know 100 people? You have met a psychopath. If you know 100, well, if you know 100 people, you probably don't hang around with psychopaths. But the point is this. You don't realize that they're psychopaths because you know why most psychopaths are their corporate psychopaths or they're psychopaths that don't, they're not like Ted Bundy's. Not every single psychopath. Even though they have that capability, they have that seared, scarred conscience, they have that capability. You know what stops them from being the Ted Bundy? Judgment. The fact that they don't wanna go to prison or they don't wanna get executed. They don't want the consequences that would come. So they take the fact that they have no feelings, no conscience, no ethics, no morals, none of that and they use that in business. Or they use that to get themselves ahead financially or somewhere else in their life, scamming or whatever, doing things that most people would never do because why? Because they wouldn't be able to sleep at night because they're conscience, that law written in their heart, whether you're saved or not, you have that. But the psychopath, 1 in 100 people. Secular scientists will admit this. Some people say it's more than 1%. But you can recognize it. You can recognize it if you're looking for it. Because you'll see people that even that, I've worked people in the past where you're just like, man, they could just do things that like nobody else would be able to do. But the only thing stopping all of those people from just being like these people just would kill people is judgment. Judgment makes the world function, folks. Judgment is the only thing that makes the world function. Think about like bad military judgment. Is this victimless? Think about some of the worst military decisions in just the past couple of hundred years. Like think about Pickett's charge at Gettysburg. Like General Lee is just like, let's march two miles across this open field and we're gonna win. And all his generals are like, don't do it. That's a bad idea. But he's just like, he had bad judgment. What'd he do? He killed thousands of his own men. And they lost the battle and ended up losing the war arguably maybe because of that battle. But the point is this, that bad judgment is not, it's not victimless. Think about Operation Barbarossa where Germany decided to, Hitler decided to split his army and take one army and invade Russia in the winter time. It's like one of the worst military decisions, the worst judgment in the history of military decisions. Tens of millions of people died. And he, I mean, thank God he lost the war. But I mean, it was a terrible, a terrible judgment. Little, little big horn. I grew up kind of studying this one. You know, General Custer, he went into, in Montana, there was this battleground, and he thought that he was up against, he had bad judgment. He was gonna, he didn't take all the weapons he should have taken with him because he thought that this wasn't gonna be a problem. There was just a couple hundred Indians. It turns out he was up against thousands of Lakota Sioux and other Indians. And they were slaughtered. I mean, just bad judgment. The point I'm trying to get you to see is that judgment makes the world go round. And bad judgment destroys. That's all I'm trying to get you to see. I mean, even the simplest thing of having somebody come to your house to fix something. You have a plumber come over to your house. I don't know what's wrong, this thing's not working. And they're just like, I can't make the call. I can't, you know, I just, yeah, I think I might know what it is, but I just don't wanna make the call. You know, I mean, it just, lack of judgment society would completely fall apart if we just said, hey, let's not judge. So when somebody says don't judge, you know, like, they're not just against you. This is the whole point tonight. When somebody says don't judge, they're not just against you and where you go to church. They're not just against, they're not just against your family because don't judge as a father, don't judge as dangerous to your family. They're not just against your family. They're not just against, look, they're not just against the Bible. Ultimately, and this is the irony of how Christian churches could say this, they are against Jesus because he is the judge. It's one of the things that God, the father delegated to him because he's the king of kings and he's going to judge every single person who has ever lived, saved or unsaved. So it's a church that teaches that for or against Jesus. I mean, that's what I would ask if people were like, why, why, why, you know, we don't judge here, I'd be just be like, why are you against Jesus? Why is there a cross on your building? Why do you call yourself Christian if you're against Jesus Christ? That's how silly it is because he is the judge and it's full circle for us. We use the Bible for judgment. We're commanded to and the Bible is judgment and the Bible is Jesus and Jesus is the judge. It's perfectly, it's a perfect circle. Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer.