Episode 58: Permitted to Judge

In the name of the glorious Trinity, Father and Son and Holy

Spirit forever. Amen.

Glory be to the everlasting mercies which sent you to us, O

Christ, the Light of the world and the life of all.

Give us wisdom by your law and enlighten our impulses by your

knowledge. Sanctify our souls by your

truth, and grant that we may be obedient to your words and may

fulfill your commandments at every hour.

O you who enlightens the rational with the knowledge of

your greatness, do enlight, O my Lord, our thoughts that we may

meditate upon your holy and divine Scriptures at all times,

O Lord of all, Father and Son and Holy Spirit forever.

Amen. In EU 1970, the American singer,

guitarist Glenn Campbell released his song titled Try a

Little Kindness. You've got to try a Little

kindness. And the first stanza goes like

this. I remember because we used to

sing it. And in primary school or

elementary school, if you see your brother standing by the

road with a heavy load from the seeds he's sowed.

That means the burns of his, the fruits of his deeds or you know,

pertaining to sin. And if you see your sister

falling, by the way, just stop and say you're going the wrong

way. What he's telling us is that

stop and make that kind, that loving, that non condemnating

judgment or correction. That's what I'd like to discuss

in this episode, and I've preached this in a Syrian, and I

believe there are live streamings on there on Facebook

and YouTube and in the English language as well.

But I put in my heart that I'd like to share it with you.

The the podcast world out there, are we permitted to judge?

And what is judgment? Because when you speak to

someone in loving kindness and you try to correct or point out

something that is flawed, the first respond is you can't judge

me. Only God can judge me off the

bat. Judgment is different to

condemnation. Judgment de anta is different to

Khaya uta, condemnation to eternity to hell.

We are not permitted to make that final judgment.

We are not permitted to condemn people to hell or gift them with

a bliss of the Kingdom of heaven.

We don't know that is God's final judgment because he sees

everything non partial. He sees everything righteous.

He is a righteous God. And Saint Paul instructs us in

his first letter to the Corinthians, chapter 4, verse 5.

And he writes, therefore you should judge nothing before time

until the Lord God, that is Maria Mar, Lord Yeah, God Iliya,

the name of God. Yeah.

So when the scriptures referred to Jesus as Maria Ishamshiha, it

is the Lord God Jesus Christ. Praise be to his name.

So judge nothing before the time until the Lord God Maria will

come, who shall illuminate the secrets of darkness and reveal

the imaginations of the hearts, And then there shall be praise

to each one from God. So we are not permitted to make

that final condemnation. St.

Ephraim the Assyrian circa 306373 rights.

Do not mock or judge someone who has fallen into sin.

If we stop there, you may be saying, well, there it is.

The Church Fathers are not permitting us to judge, but he

goes on to say, but rather pray lest you fall into sin.

Do not mock or judge someone who has fallen into sin.

How do you know? How do you make that judgment?

How do you come to that conclusion that someone has

fallen into sin? So when you see someone who has

fallen into sin, and you have made that conclusion, you have

made that righteous judgment. Well, St.

Ephram tells us that we should not mock that person, We should

not judge that person. To condemnation St.

Ephram is not deterring and and disallowing us to judge a tree

or know a tree by its fruit, as Christ has commanded in Luke.

644 So St. Ephram the fathers and the song

and judgment that we people claim that we pass is not that

final judgment is a correction. It's that loving correction,

that loving conclusion that we make when we see someone in that

is fallen in sin. We do not mock.

We do not hate, we do not condemn.

Let's examine what God is telling us in the Holy

Scriptures. Leviticus chapter 19, verse 15.

Leviticus 19:15

You shall not do evil in judgment.

So when you do judge, don't do it evil.

You should not. You shall not do evil in

judgment. You shall not accept the face of

the poor, neither the face of the great, but in righteousness.

Listen to this. Stop your washing of the dishes.

Stop your vacuuming. Pull, pull over to one side.

Take heed. This is God speaking in the book

of Liverticus. But in righteousness judge your

fellow man, correct your fellow man.

Rebuke your fellow man in righteousness, in love, in

mercy. Now that verse is about not

showing partiality. Yes, Saint Jerome, circa 33340.

Three 47420. Rights for each individual is to

be judged not by his personal importancy, is to be judged not

by his personal importance, but by the merits of his case.

He's commenting on liberty because 1915 his wealth need not

stand in the way of the rich man if he makes a good use of it.

Just because he's wealthy doesn't mean he's an evil person

and he continues. And poverty of itself can be no

recommendation to the poor if in the midst of squalor and want,

he fails to stay away from wrongdoing.

So just because someone is poor doesn't make them a St. if they

do not stay away from wrongdoing.

And just because someone is rich doesn't make that person evil if

the person does good with his wealth.

So he's commenting on Leviticus 1915 that let's not show

partiality in our judgment, but in righteousness.

God the Father, Creator of heaven and earth.

When we claim that only God can judge me, well that God that you

permit and accept His judgment, that same God is instructing and

commanding us that if we pass judgment make it righteous, not

in partiality. And Jesus expands on this in

John Chapter 7, verse 24. Do not judge with partiality,

John 7:24

but judge i.e. Correct rebuke, just justly

righteously judge a just judgment.

Correct justly, rebuke justly. Now by what measures can we

judge correct rebuke? Jesus gives us that in John

1248, whoever rejects me and does not receive my words that

are in the Scriptures, has one that judges him, the word that I

have spoken that shall judge him in the last day.

There is the means of our judgment when we see, when we

comment, when we conclude, when we rebuke, when we judge,

etcetera, etcetera. We are instructed to do it

righteously by judging according to the standards, Standards of

Christ according to Christ, standards found in the

Scriptures and incorporated in the Church cannons and laws.

We don't always need to quote scripture.

We can also encourage and remind each other of the Church cannons

and laws. But let us be careful if we're

going to judge. We do not judge to condemn to

hell or eternal judgment or hopelessness.

We do not write people up. We have not been given that

permission, that encouragement, that right in the holy

scriptures or the church itself. Now you may be saying, Robbie,

let me give you some verses where I'm going to derail this

episode now and I will say bring it on.

You may be saying, On the other hand, Jesus commands not to

judge. Amen.

Matthew 71 You shall not judge lest you be judged, right?

I think the the my reply would be the second-half or second

part of that verse. You shall not judge lest you be

judged. Why is Jesus telling us?

Do not judge, it continues. For with the judgment that you

judge, you will be judged, and with the measures that you

measure, it will be measured to you as well.

So if I want to point my finger at someone, and correct and

rebuke and judge, and make a conclusion come to a conclusion,

I must have passed that judgment upon myself.

If I fail miserably, then I dare not judge my friend because the

blind will be leading the blind. You know Jesus gave that

parable. If 2 poor blind men are leading

one another, they will both both fall in the pit.

So if we not show pity, if we not do in love, if we not

express mercy in our judgment, in our correction, then we too

will be judged with that standard.

James chapter 2, verse 13. The judgment is without mercy

James 2:13

against him who does not practice mercy.

But with mercy you have dominion over judgment.

Christ rebuked, Christ made made a judgment.

He came to a conclusion because he is God praising glory to his

name, and he was done in love. He came to correct man.

He came to bring man back, reinstate man back to the state.

He was in the same state when he was created.

He came to reconcile man with God.

So if we want to pass judgment and rebuke and make comments,

our intention, our motive should be only to bring back that

brother and that sister back to the righteousness of the truth

of Jesus Christ. And as I mentioned last Sunday,

the truth of Jesus. Listen up, everyone, Listen to

this very, very carefully. Okay, listen very carefully.

The truth of Jesus Christ found in the scriptures, in the

Church, canons and laws will not be at all defaulted or or or

affected by politics, by tolerance, by philosophy of the

world. The truth of Jesus Christ will

not be affected at all by any politics, any tolerance or any

philosophy, psychology, whatever you want to call it.

The truth of God will remain. The truth of the scriptures will

remain until the Lord returns. Because Jesus said it is by

those truths which is in the word, that He will judge you and

I and and if you missed it, go back a little bit, go back a few

10 seconds intervals and you will hear it again.

The brother and the sister, meaning our Christian brothers

and sisters, members of the household in particular, we are

to look out for and to make that judgment.

To correct, to rebuke, to bring back to morality.

To bring back to the light of Christ the the truth of the

Scriptures. To bring back to the new life

that is with Jesus Christ. To bring back to God the Father

through Jesus Christ. Because we are not only made in

the image and likeness of God, we are the children of God.

Because we believe in Jesus Christ, because we have been

baptized in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the

Jesus Christ and of the Holy Spirit, which is the baptism of

Jesus Christ. We've been put to death, We've

been clothed. We become the children of God.

Listen to this very carefully, intently.

We become the children of God only when we have believed in

Jesus Christ and have been baptized in his holy name.

So in particular of the household, our brothers and

sisters, we are to look out for and to judge.

Saint Paul instructs the Corinthians in his first

epistle, chapter 5, verses 12 to 13 for business.

Have I to judge outsiders outside of the faith judge the

There it is. There it is.

You can't judge. Only God can judge me.

Only God and Jesus Christ can judge me.

I mean to that, that eternal damnation, of course, but the

scriptures are telling us, instructing us, oh, Saint Paul

was a mere man. Saint Paul was a sexist.

Saint Paul was biased. You know all these blasphemies.

Why? You know why?

Because Saint Paul said it as it is.

He didn't sugarcoat it like some preachers are sugarcoating

today. He didn't sugarcoat.

He said it as it is. Judge the insiders, Let me tell

you, Saint Paul on the road to Damascus, Jesus Christ, the only

Son of God, God Incarnate, appeared to him and called him

his chosen vessel. You love Jesus.

You need to love Saint Paul. You need to listen to Saint

Paul. Jesus says he who receives you

receives me. Saint Paul says imitate me

because I imitate Jesus Christ. He is instructing us not to

worry about the outsiders, just to pray that they come to the

light of Jesus Christ. But the insiders judge the

insiders, but God judges the outsiders.

That's why I said pray that they come into the light of Jesus

Christ, the truth of the true one, true God through Jesus

Christ. Remove the evil one from your

myths. We are stick.

We are to stick to one another, beloved.

We are to worry about one another.

We are to stress about one another.

We are to lose sleep about one another as children of God.

As Christians we have to look out for one another.

Galatians chapter 6 verses one to two Saint Paul writes.

Galatians 6 · chapter mention

My brethren, if any of you should be overtaken by a fault

or a sin, you who are in the Spirit do not compromise, do not

be loving and and and encourage. No, you who are in the Spirit

should restore him in the spirit of humility, because you've made

that judgment that this brother is in fault.

He is in sin because of his deeds, his or her deeds, or the

words that come out of the mouth or the lifestyle.

You who are in the spirit should restore him in the spirit of

there it is humility. Love, mercy, kindness, kindness,

not condemnation. And be cautious lest you also be

tempted. Be cautious, lest you also begin

to compromise and tolerate. Be very careful and bear the

burdens of one another, for in this way you fulfill the law of

Jesus Christ. This is how we honor and love

and respect Jesus Christ by fulfilling by obeying his laws.

Proverbs 2717 Iron sharpens iron, and a man sharpens the

person of his neighbor. Look out for one another, rebuke

one another, judge one another, in loving, in kindness, in

humility, to bring back one more time and this again the

righteous judgment. However, we need to be very

careful to avoid hypocrisy, hypocrites, Jesus says in

Matthew 75. First cast out the plank from

your own eye and then you will see to cast out the chip from

your brother's eye. When you have passed the

judgment on yourself and your conscience is clear, then you

may dare in loving kindness, mercy.

I keep repeating this because people twist words nowadays in

loving kindness, in mercy, with the only motive and intention is

to bring back and to restore that brother to to to cause that

brother grief and sorrow, not joy and happiness.

Because when you cross cause the brother and sister grief and

sorrow who are in sin in this world, you will then gain them

that eternal joy in the Kingdom of heaven.

You want people to be joyful and happy in sin, in error on this

earth. Then you are paving the way for

eternal sorrow distant from the presence of God.

And to conclude, I'd like to share with you some of the some

of the hymns of the Church of the East, and in particular the

liturgy of the burial of the deceased.

We sing those who have been rejected by their deeds, the

door of the wedding feast will not be open onto them.

Now we're going to dare to say, well, the church fathers are

judging and they have no rights to do that.

Well, read Matthew chapter 25 before you pass, before we pass

Matthew 25 · chapter mention

any judgment. See, that's not a righteous

judgment. Matthew Chapter 25.

Matthew 25 · chapter mention

Those who have been rejected by their deeds, because their deeds

are evil, the door of the wedding feast will not be open

onto them. Abraham will not refresh those

who are burning in the flames of fire.

Luke 161931, Parable of Lazarus and the rich man.

The judge will not forgive those who have not repented.

These are this is 1000, probably 1400 year old liturgy beloved.

The Church Fathers wrote this inspired by the Holy Spirit and

quoting Scripture. The judge will not forgive those

who have not repented Luke 13 three to five, unless you

repent. You also shall perish for this

reason. This is the correct thing that

we need to we need to begin to to pass on to our brothers and

sisters in sin. This is the judgment.

This is the rebuking. For this reason take refuge in

repentance. Owe my soul and say I have

sinned against you. O Lord, have pity and mercy upon

me. Now themes are judging words to

me, that the door will not be open, there will be no

forgiveness, the flames will not be this thing, this thing

extinguished. And we sing in one of the hymns

of the the hymns of the communion.

While while the the faithful are being receiving communion, we

sing the clan Sora. We have hope, we sing it.

But I know we don't even know what we're singing at times, but

we sing it. We like to hear it because of

the tune and it's sad, but but this is what we're saying.

Anyone who is intoxicated by the cup meaning the blood of Christ,

anyone who approaches the cup and thinks that they're going to

have a a sip of wine and make a mockery of it fire will be seen

as refreshing to him. You work that one out.

I'm not going to expand on this. Anyone who is intoxicated by the

precious blood of Jesus Christ, that it be that is being served

in the cup fire, will be seen as refreshing to Him.

So yes, we have been permitted, we are encouraged through the

Scriptures to judge, to correct, to rebuke, to bring in order, to

bring into repentance, but in love, in mercy, and not in

hypocrisy and in what order? Here it is.

Judge righteously through the Scriptures, through the Church

canons, through the liturgical sacraments, through the Church

Fathers judge in pity, in love, in care and mercy.

Be sure to have judged yourself first.

Be sure to have looked in the mirror 1st and then do not judge

to condemn to eternal hell. But our righteous judge is Jesus

Christ. And when we want to pass that

judgment we want to correct, we pray that the Lord will grant us

the prudence, the love, the mercy that He possesses.

We pray to the Lord that He will grant us the knowledge of the

righteous judgment that He passes, and that we too may,

through His grace and through His mercy, by his permission, by

His direction, make that judgment to bring our brother or

sister from death to life, from a state of being lost in a state

of being found in Jesus Christ. Praise and glory be to His holy

Name, now and at all times and forever.

Amen. We hope you enjoyed this week's

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Link TR EE forward slash Double edged sword until next time.

God bless you all.