(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

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Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] The Old Testament, it won't take you any more than 10 or 15 minutes to read every day. You've got several grace period days, if you notice there, at the end of December, several grace period days that you use through the year. We want you to have this chart. We want you to be reading the Word of God this year. All right, if you look at the announcements there, we've got a special movie night tonight, and we kind of just, I decided to do this kind of last minute and have a lot of announcing of this, but we want you to join us tonight at 6 p.m. for a special service, and I'm going to be preaching a short sermon tonight. We're literally going to get in here tonight. We'll sing a song, do some announcements. I'm going to preach a short sermon, and then we're going to be watching a brand-new documentary that's coming out. I think it's coming out Tuesday. It's a documentary called The Preserved Bible that Steadfast Baptist Church made about the King James Bible, early, so you get to watch it tonight if you'd like. It's a two-hour movie, so I'm literally going to preach for like seven minutes, okay? I'm going to preach for seven minutes. We're going to sing, do announcements. I'll preach for seven minutes, and then we're going to watch the movie together, so special movie night tonight for the evening service, and we've got a popcorn machine, so the ladies will be making popcorn. I think probably the ladies will usually help with that. If you want to talk to my wife, she would appreciate the help. We'll have sodas. We'll have popcorn. We'll have the movie. It'll be a fun night, so some of you might want to show up, even if you don't normally show up. It'll be a fun night for a movie night tonight at 6 p.m., all right? We'll still have preaching, but I'll preach a very short sermon, and then we'll watch this King James Bible documentary, so make sure you are here tonight for that. Married Couple Sweetheart Banquet is coming up Friday, February 10th at 6.30, and of course, this is in honor of Valentine's Day or around Valentine's Day. It's only for married couples. We had a nice, catered Italian dinner that night, and they'll be preaching from God's Word, of course, and then we're going to play the Not So Newlywed Game. It's just a fun game. We'll ask you some questions about your spousie. Who knows their spouse the best? The couple that wins gets a $50 gift card to the Cheesecake Factory, so you get a date on us, so make sure that you sign up. It is a catered event, so you need to sign up by February 5th. You can sign up on your communication card. I Love My Church Sunday is the same weekend. That's Sunday, the Sunday before Valentine's Day. You should have one of these cards in your bulletin, and of course, we want to encourage you to invite a friend or a coworker or a neighbor or somebody to I Love My Church Sunday. Make sure you use this card as a tool to do that. If you look at the back there, you'll see that we'll be giving out bags of pink, vanilla, and caramel Valentine's Day popcorn for every family in attendance at the Sunday morning service. The VBC Choir is going to be singing. A special choir and orchestra have special music, and then that Sunday night, we're going to have a potluck, so make sure you are aware of that Sunday, February 12th. Just a little spoiler alert. I'm pretty sure it's Super Bowl Sunday, and that should tell you how much I care about Super Bowl Sunday, which is not at all. We hope you'll choose God over a silly game, but anyway. I Love My Church Sunday mailers. We've got mailers that need to be assembled in the fellowship hall on Sunday evening, February 5th. That was supposed to be tonight, but since we're doing the movie tonight, we're going to move that to next week, so just be aware of that. If you can help us with the mailers, we would appreciate that. And then the Next Generation Youth Rally. The Next Generation Youth Rally is a youth conference we're putting on for teenagers in the new IFB. It is March 7th through the 8th. It's just right around the corner, and we've got some volunteer opportunities. You should have one of these cards in your bulletin as well. If you'd like to volunteer to help us with the Next Generation Youth Rally, we would really appreciate it, and there are several things there. If you just look at them real quickly, one thing we need is a volunteer to help us build a wooden structure. There's a game that the kids are going to be playing, both evening services called Balls and Buckets. It's a game that they'll be playing, and we need to build a wooden structure for that, so if there's some guy out there that can help us with that, we would appreciate the help. You can check off. Make sure you write your name and check that you can help us with that. We need some help with decorating the building. That's for ladies on March 6th at 12 p.m. My wife will be leading that. The Youth Rally has a gladiator theme, so we're going to have gladiator decorations, have this place looking like a gladiator arena, I guess, or something like that. If you could help with that, the ladies, we would appreciate it. There's going to be a day of park activities and grilling at the park, so we could use some volunteers to help with either bringing a grill and or grilling at the park, and you can check that off if you'd like. If you can bring a grill, if you can grill at the park, if you can do both, we'd appreciate that. Also, for both evening services, at the end of the service, we want to have a cookie fellowship after the service, so if you'd like to volunteer to bake or bring cookies, you can do that on Tuesday, March 7th, Wednesday, March 8th. And just so you're aware, the Youth Rally is for teens, but the evening services will begin at 7 p.m. Tuesday and Wednesday night, and those are open to the entire church family. Pastor Anderson will be preaching on Tuesday night, so you're not going to want to miss that. And then volunteers to help clean the building, we could use help with that on Wednesday morning, March 8th at 830 a.m. Volunteers to help assemble sandwiches for the teens on Wednesday, March 8th, that'll be at 10 a.m. So if you would not mind considering where you could maybe volunteer and help, we would appreciate the help with that. Choir practice and orchestra is today at 5 p.m. Of course, they're practicing for I Love My Church Sunday. Homeschool group, they've got P.E. class this Thursday, February 2nd at 10 a.m. Valentine's Day party coming up on Tuesday, February 14th, and you can sign up on your communication card if you're going to attend the Valentine's Day party for the homeschool group. If you're part of the homeschool group and you're coming to the party, make sure you sign up on your communication card. Upcoming cleaning crew, you can check for your name there. There's other things there for you to look at. Please don't forget to turn your cell phones off or place them on silent during the service so that they're not a distraction to anybody. If you look at the back of the bulletin, birthdays and anniversaries for this week, we have John Bakulczyk's birthday on February 1st. Brother Oliver and Ms. Melody Gonzalez have an anniversary on February 1st. Owen Beville has a birthday on February 3rd. Caitlin Tina has a birthday on February 4th. And Brother Rusty and Ms. Abby Santos have an anniversary on February 4th. Praise report, money matters, all those things are there for you to look at. I've got a baptism certificate to hand out just real quickly, and we'll go ahead and I'll read this. It's a certificate of baptism. This certificate is awarded to Angelika Hoffer in recognition of her baptism on the 22nd day of January of the year 2023, presented by Verity Baptist Church with the verse there, Romans 6.4, Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death, that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we should walk in newness of life. And we've got some pictures here for Ms. Angelika to remember the day of her baptism. Let's go ahead and give her a round of applause. And all right, I think that's it for all of the announcements. So let's go ahead and we're going to sing the chorus of the week as we prepare to receive the offering this morning. If you've got the insert there in your bulletin, we'll sing, He is mine, as we prepare to receive the offering. And let's go ahead and sing this out on the first. Long before the fall of man, God designed a master plan. He exchanged the sinner for the sinless one. Jesus left his throne on high, came to earth to bleed and die. Peace and Father, not dry will, I cry. He is mine, He is mine. I am blessed beyond the treasury it's mine. I am bought, and full, and free through the blood, who shed him on me. Save whatever I shall be, He is mine. Through God's mercy and His grace, He's prepared for us a place. Words cannot describe the matchless beauty there. He will praise the perfect Lamb, be the King so great I am. He has made hearts to share. He is mine, He is mine. I am blessed, He is mine. I am bought, and full, and free through the blood, who shed him on me. Save forever, I shall be, He is mine. I am blessed, He is mine. I am blessed, He is mine. I am blessed, He is mine. I am blessed, He is mine. I am blessed, He is mine. Turn your Bibles to Deuteronomy chapter 19. Deuteronomy chapter 19. If you do not have a Bible, please raise your hand and I shall bring you one. Deuteronomy chapter 19, we will read the entire chapter as is our custom. Just keep your hands up and I shall bring you a Bible. Deuteronomy chapter 19, the Bible reads, When the Lord thy God hath cut off the nations, whose land the Lord thy God giveth thee, and thou succeedest them, and dwellest in their cities and in their houses, thou shalt separate three cities for thee in the midst of thy land, which the Lord thy God giveth thee to possess it. Thou shalt prepare thee away, and divide the coasts of thy land, which the Lord thy God giveth thee to inherit into three parts, that every slayer may flee thither. And this is the case of the slayer, which shall flee thither, that he may live. Whosoever killeth his neighbor ignorantly, whom he hated not in time past, and when a man goeth into the wood with his neighbor to hew wood, and his hand fetches the stroke with the axe to cut down the tree, and the head slippeth from the health, and lighten upon his neighbor that he die, he shall flee unto one of these cities and live. Lest the avenger of blood pursue the slayer, while his heart is hot, and overtake him, because the way is long, and slay him, whereas he was not worthy of death, inasmuch as he hated him not in time past. Wherefore I command thee, saying, Thou shalt separate three cities for thee. And if the Lord thy God enlarge thy coast, as he hath sworn unto thy fathers, and give thee all the land which he promised to give unto thy fathers, if thou shalt keep all these commandments to do them, which I command thee this day, to love the Lord thy God, and to walk ever in his ways, then thou shalt add three cities more for thee, besides these three. That innocent blood be not shed in thy land, which the Lord thy God giveth thee for an inheritance, and so blood be upon thee. But if any man hate his neighbor, and lie in wait for him, and rise up against him, and smite him mortally that he die, and fleeth into one of these cities, then the elders of this city shall send and fetch him thence, and deliver him into the hand of the avenger of blood, that he may die. Then I shall not pity him, but thou shalt put away the guilt of innocent blood from Israel, that it may go well with thee. Thou shalt not remove thy neighbor's landmark, which they of old time have set in thine inheritance, which thou shalt inherit in the land that the Lord thy God giveth thee to possess it. One witness shall not rise up against a man for any iniquity, or for any sin, in any sin that he sinneth. At the mouth of two witnesses, or at the mouth of three witnesses, shall the matter be established. If a false witness rise up against any man to testify against him that which is wrong, then both the men, between whom the controversy is, shall stand before the Lord, before the priests and judges, which shall be in those days. And the judges shall make diligent inquisition. And, behold, if the witness be a false witness, and hath testified falsely against his brother, then shall ye do unto him as he had thought to have done unto his brother. So shalt thou put the evil away from among you. And those that remain shall hear and fear, and shall henceforth commit no more any such evil among you. And then I shall not pity, but life shall go for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot. Let us pray. Lord God Almighty, thank you for this day. Thank you for this opportunity to come together. Please bless Pastor in the message. Let it bring glory and honor to you. In the name of Jesus Christ, I pray. Amen. Amen. Alright, we're there in Deuteronomy chapter number 19. And, of course, on Sunday mornings, if you've been with us, we've been going through a series called Judgment. And we've been learning from the Word of God what the Bible teaches regarding judgment. If you remember, several weeks ago, we began this series together, and I began with a sermon that I preached called A Theology of Judgment. And that was really kind of laying the foundation. We looked at the Biblical idea of judgment. And if you remember, in that sermon, I gave you two words that kind of help us understand this idea of judgment, two words that are used synonymously with the word judgment throughout the Bible. One word was justice. And if you remember, we talked about justice is knowing who is right and who is wrong. The other word was discernment. And discernment is knowing what is right and what is wrong. Then I preached in the second part of this series a sermon called Developing Discernment. And I taught you some principles to be able to develop this idea of discernment and to be able to know what is right and what is wrong in your personal life. Last week, we talked about areas of authority, and we talked about where you should judge and when you should judge, and we dealt with that. This morning, I'm going to preach a sermon called Judgment Calls. And in this sermon, I'm going to give you some guidelines. In fact, I'm going to give you ten guidelines or principles for justice to help you make good judgment calls. The term judgment call, or when someone makes a judgment call, it's defined as a decision that you have to make to determine who to side with. And oftentimes, we have to make judgment calls. And I will tell you this, as a pastor, this is something that I have to do all the time. My wife, of course, as a pastor's wife, often is involved in things like this with the ladies, and I'm involved with men. But oftentimes, we are called upon to make judgment calls. And these are principles, these ten principles I'm going to give you this morning, are principles that we have used personally in this ministry over the years, and I hope that maybe you will jot them down and you will learn them and internalize them and use them in your life. I'm going to give you ten principles this morning. We'll go through them as quickly as we can, but I want to give you ten thoughts regarding judgment calls. Now, you're there in Deuteronomy chapter 19, and I'd like you to notice there in verse number 5, this chapter is about, the majority of the chapter is regarding this idea of justice and being able to make some judgment calls. I'm not necessarily preaching on this that I'm going to show you right now, but I just want to highlight this for you so you'll see it. In Deuteronomy chapter 19 in verse number 5, the Bible says this, As when a man goeth into the wood with his neighbor to hew wood, and his hand fetcheth a stroke with the ax to cut down the tree, and the head slippeth from the helve, and lighteth upon his neighbor that he die, he shall flee unto one of these cities and live, lest the avenger of blood pursue the slayer, while his heart is hot and overtake him, because the way is long and slay him, whereas he was not worthy of death, inasmuch as he hated him not in time past. Skip down real quickly to verse number 10, That innocent blood be not shed in thy land, which the Lord thy God giveth thee for an inheritance, and so blood be upon thee. Notice verse 11, But if any man hate his neighbor, and lie in wait for him, and rise up against him, and smite him mortally that he die, and fleeth into one of these cities, then the elders of his city shall send and fetch him thence, and deliver him into the hand of the avenger of blood, that he may die. That I shall not pity him, but thou shalt put away the guilt of innocent blood from Israel, that it may go well with thee. I want you to notice that here in this passage, God through Moses is teaching the children of Israel that they need to have some discernment, even in criminal law here. God differentiates between what we would call manslaughter and murder. And he says when somebody, someone dies as a result of an accident, they didn't set out to do it, that that should be treated. Now that is still a major thing obviously, and it's going to change that person's life. Even in the Old Testament, they had to go live in a certain location, and kind of be under house arrest in a certain city for a while, but that was to be treated differently than murder. And this is what justice is about. Justice is being able to discern, not just for us personally, what is right and what is wrong, but oftentimes it is to discern who is right and who is wrong in a situation. Now we're going to come back to Deuteronomy 19. There's actually a lot of other things I want to show you there. But go with me if you would to Deuteronomy chapter 16, if you just flip back a few chapters, Deuteronomy chapter 16. And in your life, you might find yourself one day in a situation where you have to decide who is right and who is wrong. If you have children, you probably find yourself in this situation all the time. And in any sort of leadership position or role, you might have to decide what is right, what is wrong. So I'd like to give you some principles from the Bible to help you make these decisions. And I hope, like I said, you'll write these down. On the back of the course of this place, you'll write down some things. Ten principles, ten guidelines for justice. Number one, here's guideline number one for justice. The same rules of justice apply to everyone. The same rules of justice apply to everyone. The Bible teaches very clearly that we are not to be respecter of persons when it comes to justice. Deuteronomy 16 and verse 18, notice what the Bible says. Judges and officers shall thou make thee in all thy gates, which the Lord thy God giveth thee throughout thy tribes, and they shall judge the people with just judgment. I want you to notice that here Moses is telling the people, look, the judges and officers, the leaders, they need to judge the people with just judgment. What that tells us is this, that not all judgment is just. In fact, there is a lot of injustice, unfortunately, in judgment. And he says, look, you need to make sure that they judge the people with just judgment. Verse 19, he says, thou shalt not rest judgment. That word rest means to twist. It's the same word that we get the word wrestle or wrestling. And it's this idea of twisting or making something fit. The Bible says thou shalt not rest judgment. You're not going to twist it and make it fit into whatever area you want it to fit. He says thou shalt not respect persons, neither take a gift. He says, I don't want you to have respect of persons. I don't want you to go easier on somebody because you like them or go harder on somebody because you don't like them. He says, neither take a gift. Obviously, that's like a bribe. For a gift doth blind the eyes of the wise and pervert the words of the righteous. Verse 20, that which is altogether just shalt thou follow, that thou mayest live and inherit the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee. He says, you need to follow that which is just. If you're going to make judgment calls, you need to be just yourself. And the first guideline for justice is that the same rules of justice need to apply to everyone. You're there in Deuteronomy. Do me a favor, put a ribbon or a bookmark or something there because we're going to be coming back to Deuteronomy throughout the entire sermon. And I'd like you to be able to get there quickly, specifically Deuteronomy 19. But go with me if you would to Leviticus chapter 19, Leviticus chapter 19 and verse 15. If you go backwards from Deuteronomy, you've got the book of Numbers and then the book of Leviticus. Leviticus chapter 19 and verse 15. The first guideline for justice is this, that the same rules of justice apply to everyone. God made a big deal about this in the Old Testament with the nation of Israel where he said, I don't want you to have a separate set of laws for the stranger or the foreigner and for the citizen. He says everybody should be judged by the same laws. Leviticus 19, 15, the Bible says, you shall do no unrighteousness in judgment. Remember that's what we talked about in Deuteronomy 16, the just judgment. He says, I don't want you doing unrighteousness in judgment because oftentimes people do do unrighteousness in judgment. He says you shall do no unrighteousness in judgment. Thou shalt not respect the persons of the poor nor honor the person of the mighty, but in righteousness shalt thou judge thy neighbor. And here the Bible says, look, and we talked about this on Wednesday night in our Amos Bible study because Amos actually, the theme of the book of Amos is justice and equity and treating people right. And he says you should not have respect of persons. He said not respect the persons of the poor nor honor the person of the mighty. You shouldn't have this inclination where well if somebody's poor then I kind of tend to side with them and I kind of tend to lean with them. Or if they're mighty or if they're wealthy or if they're popular or if they're a celebrity then I kind of lean in that direction. When it comes to judgment you and I should never lean in any direction. We should not be respecter of persons. We should have the same rules of justice that apply to everybody and we should not have respect of persons. Meaning we should not esteem one person better than another. And look, this might seem very simple. And by the way, I'm going to give you ten rules for judgment this morning. And in my opinion all of them are simple and all of them are common sense. But what I've learned over the last twelve years of ministry that common sense is not very common. And this idea that the same rules of justice apply to everyone seems like it shouldn't even have to be said out loud. But then I constantly find myself in situations where people are just making an excuse or making an exception for somebody or expecting me to make an exception for somebody. And let me tell you something, the Bible teaches that we should not be respecter of persons. Our loyalty should be to principles not people. And when it comes to judgment we should judge people based off biblical principles not who they are. I don't care who they are. It doesn't matter who they are. They could be my best friend or they could be my worst enemy when it comes to judgment we should judge people based off the principles of the Bible. And look, I can tell you this, in this church over the last twelve years of ministry I've had to make judgment calls. I've had to use judgment to decide on church discipline and things like that. And I'll be very honest with you, I have kicked people out of this church who I really liked. Who I personally considered a friend. And I kicked them out of the church. You say, why? Because I can't make decisions based off people. It must be made off principles. There are other people that I did not like. There are other people that I wish I could have kicked out. And I didn't. Why? Because we make our decisions based off principles. The same rules of justice must apply to everyone. We cannot be respecter of persons. Go back to Deuteronomy 19. Guidelines for justice. Number one, the same rule of justice applies to everyone. Here's guideline number two. And this should be also common knowledge. And in fact, what I'm about to say, you've heard this many times and you expect this from the government. What I think is interesting is we expect it from the government. But in church life or in our personal lives we usually do not afford people this. The second guideline for justice that is a biblical guideline is this. That people are innocent until proven guilty. People are innocent until they are proven guilty. Deuteronomy 19, look at verse 15. Notice what the Bible says. One witness, and we're going to get a lot out of Deuteronomy 19 this morning. So we're going to look at this passage in a lot of different ways from a lot of different angles. But let me just begin with this one. The Bible says, one witness shall not rise up against a man for any iniquity or for any sin and any sin that he sinned. One witness. What does that mean? Somebody makes an accusation. Somebody gets up and says, so and so did X, Y, and Z. I saw so and so do X, Y, and Z. Or so and so did X, Y, and Z to me. One witness stands up. What are we to do at that point when an accusation is made? What is the biblical guideline? Deuteronomy 19 and 15. One witness shall not rise up against any man for any iniquity or for any sin and any sin that he sinned. What does that mean? That means that if somebody rises up, if there's an accusation against somebody, if you hear an accusation against somebody, the process that we are supposed to take, and please understand this because this is the part of common sense that people don't get. Even if you believe it may be true, if only one witness arises against that individual, then we are to proceed as though they are innocent. Why? Because the Bible teaches that people are innocent until they're proven guilty. Now that's true in the court. You expect that from the court. But you know what I found in church life? Because the Bible, if you remember our first sermon on the theology of judgment, the Bible expects a church to be able to give judgment as well. The Bible expects every believer to have the wisdom to judge in matters and to be a judge in situations. And you know what I found in church life? Is that usually in the minds and the hearts of the people, the opposite is true. As soon as somebody hears anything, they're guilty until proven innocent. That's wrong. That's wicked. The Bible says, you say, well I heard somebody say this, what should I do? You should proceed as though they are innocent. Because biblically, the Bible teaches that people are innocent until proven guilty. Keep your place in Deuteronomy. Go to 1 Timothy chapter 5. 1 Timothy chapter 5. In the New Testament, if you can find the t-books, they're all clustered together. 1 Thessalonians, 1 Timothy Titus, 1 Timothy chapter 5. We should give people the benefit of the doubt. We should choose not, please listen to me. If you're going to be a just person, you should make a choice to not make a judgment call on somebody until whatever they did is proven. You should not decide, well somebody said this, so therefore that person is XYZ. And it hasn't been proven. There's no evidence. There's nothing that proves that they have or have not done. You say, well what should you do? If an accusation is made and it's not been proven, then what should be your process? Your process should be to proceed as though they're innocent until they are proven guilty. And you should choose to not make a judgment call, even in your own mind and in your heart. You should not just decide, well I know they're guilty. Well are you God? I'm sorry, did I miss something? Your omniscient all of a sudden? You're all knowing, all powerful, and you just know everything about everything because you can just look at somebody and know they're guilty. No you don't. No you do not. Some of us need to take a humility pill and realize that people are innocent until they're proven guilty. 1 Timothy 5 verse 19, this is about pastors, but it's the exact same rule that we see in Deuteronomy 19. Against an elder, this is a pastor, and of course Paul is applying this to pastors because the book of 1 Timothy is written to pastors. But also because of the fact that as a pastor you often find yourself as the target of accusations. Because we stand up and we preach against people's sins and preach about stuff so then people will often try to retaliate and accuse us of things that are not true. So here's what Paul says against an elder, receive not an accusation, but before two or three witnesses. The word receive means to take something. The idea is that you should not even listen, you should not receive, you should not allow an accusation to enter into you unless there are two or three witnesses. So if somebody comes to you and says, let me tell you something about Pastor So-and-so, the first thing you should be asking yourself, you should be asking them is are there two or three witnesses? Are there multiple, oh no, no, I just read this on a blog somewhere. Then I don't want to hear it. Because against an elder, the Bible says, you should receive not an accusation, but before two or three witnesses. And it's not just elders, the Bible says one witness, Deuteronomy 19, it's not about pastors, it's about everybody. One witness shall not rise up against a man for any iniquity or for any sin and any sin that he sent him. So people are innocent until proven guilty. We should give people the benefit of the doubt. We should choose not to make a judgment call on somebody until whatever they're being accused of is proven. Go back to Deuteronomy 19. Here's guideline number three. And honestly, I'm going to give you ten guidelines and I've kind of outlined them in such a way where I feel like they build on each other and you need to understand these, they're important. But I would say this, that what I'm going to tell you right now, guideline number three, in my opinion is probably the most misunderstood guideline of justice among Bible believing Christians. So I hope you'll pay attention. Guideline number one is the same rules of justice apply to everyone. Guideline number two is that people are innocent until proven guilty. And you should not, just because somebody says something, you should not accept that as truth. You should not even receive it against an elder. And you should proceed as though they are innocent because we should proceed as though anyone and everyone is innocent until they are proven guilty. Guideline for justice, biblical guideline for justice number three is this. Two or three witnesses do not convict. Did you hear what I just said? Because I think this is a big misconception that people have in Bible believing churches. Where they think like, well if I can just get two people to say the same thing then they're guilty. The Bible does not teach that. Two or three witnesses do not convict. You say, I thought we needed two or three witnesses. Deuteronomy 19, look at verse 15. Notice what the Bible says. One witness shall not rise up against a man for any iniquity or for any sin and any sin that he sinneth. So if we just have one witness rise up, we don't even start. Nothing even gets started. The rule is that they shall not rise up against a man. No one's going to get up and testify and we're not going to listen to it because people are innocent until proven guilty. Notice what the Bible says, verse 15. At the mouth of two witnesses or at the mouth of three witnesses shall the matter be established. Now that phrase is quoted in the New Testament multiple times at the mouth of two or three witnesses shall the matter be established. You don't have to turn there. Let me just read this for you. 2 Corinthians 13, 1. Paul says this. This is the third time that I come to you in the mouth of two or three witnesses. Let every word shall be established. This is quoted in Matthew 18. I'm going to preach an entire sermon on Matthew 18 in this series and we'll deal with that at that point. But here the Bible says that at the mouth of two or three witnesses shall the matter be established. And here's what I want you to understand. People assume that when the Bible says shall the matter be established, that means that's how we figure it out. Now we've convicted them. Now we know they're guilty. That is not what the Bible says. You've got to read the Bible and in its context you say what does it mean at the mouth of two or three witnesses shall every matter be established. Well keep reading. Notice what he says. Verse 16, if a false witness rise up against any man to testify against him that which is wrong, then both the man between whom the controversy is shall stand before the Lord, before the priests and the judges, which shall be in those days. We're going to come back to those two verses later on in the sermon. Verse 18, and the judges shall make, notice those words, diligent inquisition. They shall make diligent inquisition and behold if the witnesses be a false witness and have testified falsely against his brother, and then he goes on to tell us what to do. But here's what I want you to understand. When the Bible says that at the mouth of two or three witnesses shall every matter be established, that does not mean that okay now we've got two witnesses so it's settled then. They're guilty. That's not what it means. When it says that at the mouth of two or three witnesses shall the matter be established, it means that once you have two or three witnesses, once you have two or three witnesses, now you can establish the matter or now it is set up for you to begin an investigation. Do you understand what I'm saying? So you say what if one witness rises up? Then we dismiss it out of hand. We don't even listen to it. One accusation, we do nothing with it and we proceed as though the individual is innocent because everybody should be given the right of being innocent until they are proven guilty. You say what if two or three witnesses arise? Then at that point the matter is settled or established enough that the judges can make diligent inquisition. The word diligent means to work very hard at. The word inquisition means to question or investigate. So two or three witnesses does not convict. It simply opens up an investigation. And here's probably the biggest injustice that I see people do who are trying to be good Bible-believing Christians. One witness rises up and makes an accusation. So then they decide, oh let me go find another witness because if I can get two witnesses then we can convict them. No, no, you need two witnesses to start the investigation. And if you have one witness and you decide to go out and make diligent inquisition to find another witness, you know what you've done? You've started an investigation with only one witness. Do you understand what I'm telling you? Maybe you don't. I don't know because I find myself having to explain this to people. Somebody said this, so I think we should make a video and try to see if anybody else. No, no, no, no. We're not going to make any videos. We're not going to ask any questions. Somebody rose up and somebody said one thing. We're going to assume, we're going to proceed as though they are innocent. And when two witnesses of their own accord materializes, or three witnesses of their own accord materializes, then the matter is established enough for us to not convict, begin an investigation. Have diligent inquisition. But if your attitude is, well one witness said this, so let me go ask around and see if I can find another witness. You've started an investigation. And that's wicked. It's wrong. Two or three witnesses is not convict. It simply opens up an investigation and if you have only one witness, you do not seek another witness. That is opening up an investigation. The whole point that God is saying is that there needs to be enough witnesses or enough evidence that just comes up on its own to justify, to establish us looking into the situation and trying to figure out, did this person actually do X, Y, and Z? So two or three witnesses is a statement that is often used by Bible-believing Christians and I believe in it. But you need to understand, two or three witnesses does not convict. It merely settles. It doesn't settle. It merely sets up or establishes the matter so that we can now begin an investigation. We can now begin to ask questions. We can now begin to interview people and say, and ask, well what happened? Go to 1 Kings chapter 21. 1 Kings 21. And look, if you don't like what I'm saying, I don't care because I'm not a respecter of persons. This is what the Bible says. And if I'm showing you, if we just went through the Bible, I just read, I don't know if you noticed, I just read the verses and explained them. It says, one witness rise up shall not rise up. We're not going to listen to him. If two or three, then the judges make diligent inquisition. So we're talking about guidelines for justice. Number one, the same rules of justice apply to everyone. Number two, people are innocent until proven guilty. Number three, two or three witnesses do not convict. Two or three witnesses simply establish a matter enough so that we can begin an investigation. Number four, I've got 10 of these so I'm going to try to move quickly. Guidelines for justice, number four. This is another one that, I mean, you hear this all the time. And you think, I'm going to say this and you're going to kind of roll your eyes like, yeah. Okay, but then you'll be a pastor for 10 years and you won't be rolling your eyes because you realize, wow, everybody says this but nobody really follows this. So here's a guideline for justice for you. Don't believe everything you hear. Don't believe everything you hear. You say, why does God make the threshold for even investigating, for even asking a question, why does God make the threshold two or three witnesses and if just one witness rises. And look, even if you believe the one witness, even if you know the one witness and you believe in their character and you believe in their integrity and you say, I think they're telling the truth. If you only have one witness, you are not to investigate and you are to proceed as though the person is innocent. You say, why does God make two or three witnesses the threshold not to convict but to begin to ask questions, to begin to investigate, why does he do that? Why does God do that? Here's why. Because you cannot believe everything you hear because here's what you need to understand. And this is the part that I just think to myself, did you really grow up? Are you really an adult and you don't understand this? Let me help you understand this. False accusations are common. False accusations are extremely common. And by the way, this is the same reason why two or three witnesses cannot convict. This is actually highlighted a lot in the Bible and let me just give you some examples. This is probably a pretty famous example that if you've read the Bible, you'll remember this. 1 Kings 21. Are you there? Look at verse 9. The Bible says, and she wrote in the letters. Now just to give you the context because I don't have the time to read the whole story. The she there is referring to Jezebel who's the queen of the northern kingdom of Israel. Her husband is Ahab. They're both wicked people. Ahab has gone to a man by the name of Naboth and he has offered to purchase his vineyard. Ahab went and asked Naboth, can I purchase your vineyard? He offered to purchase it for money or he offered to trade it for another vineyard. But he wanted Naboth's vineyard because of the location. Naboth said no, which was his right. He doesn't have to sell to anybody if he doesn't want to. Naboth had his reasons why he did not want to sell the vineyard. He said no. So what does Ahab do? Ahab does what a bunch of you guys do when you get off of work. He goes home and throws a fit to his wife. Naboth, he told me he wouldn't sell me the vineyard. So Jezebel, this wicked woman, devises a plan. 1 Kings 21, 9. And she wrote in letters saying, proclaim a fast and set Naboth on high among the people. So she writes a letter telling people, here's what I want you to do. I want you to proclaim a fast and set Naboth on high among the people. Verse 10, and set two men sons of Belial. Now what is a son of Belial? I don't have time to preach to do this. I've preached other sermons on it, but that is a reprobate. She says, set two men sons of Belial before him to bear witness against him, saying, thou didst blaspheme God and the king, and then carry him out and stone him that he may die. And the men of the city, even the elders of the nobles who were the inhabitants in the city, did as Jezebel had sent unto them, and as it was written in the letters which she had sent unto them, verse 12, they proclaimed a fast and set Naboth on high among the people, and there came in two men, children of Belial, and sat before him, and the men of Belial witnessed against him, even against Naboth, in the presence of the people, saying, Naboth did blaspheme God and the king, then they carried him forth out of the city and stoned him with stones that he die. Now, did Naboth blaspheme God? No. Did Naboth blaspheme the king? No. These two sons of Belial stood up as witnesses and they lied. It was a false accusation, and they convicted him and stoned him and killed him, and then what happens? Jezebel confiscates Naboth's vineyard and gives it to Ahab, wicked people. Look, you need to understand, false accusations are common. That's why you can't just believe everything you hear. And to me, it's crazy because I deal with, people will literally come to this church and they're like, I read this on the internet, and then they'll proceed as though what they read is true, and it's like, well, did you ask anybody about that? Did you seek to understand? Did you ask the other party? I mean, you just heard it and you just believe it? Are you an idiot? I don't understand. How are you a grown adult and you've lived this long in your life and you don't understand that, hey, let me let you in on a little secret. False accusations are common, especially if they have something against you. If Naboth wouldn't sell the vineyard to Ahab and he upset Ahab, if Pastor so-and-so preached against X, Y, and Z and throw them out of church for being bozos, and then those are your witnesses that are going to accuse him of something, you need to wake up. You say, well, that's just one story. Okay, let's look at another one, Matthew 26. Matthew 26, the New Testament. Matthew 26, verse 59. Matthew 26, 59. Now the chief priests and elders and all the council, don't miss this, Matthew 26, 59. By the way, just to give you some context, this is the judgment of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. This is when he was on trial. Now the chief priests and elders and all the council sought false witness against Jesus to put him to death. Do you know that Jesus was literally put to death on the account of two false witnesses? Now obviously, Jesus said that he laid down his life and he came to be a sacrifice and we understand all that. But they sought false witness against him, verse 60, but found none. Yea, though many false witnesses came, yet found they none. And I want to just explain that. I don't want to spend a lot of time on this. But when it says there that they found none, that's clarified in Mark 14, 56, when it says that their witnesses agreed not together. So though many false, notice there verse 60, but found none, meaning they could not find any that matched. Yea, they couldn't find any that matched, they found none, though many false witnesses came. Notice the emphasis. Lots of people were willing to give a false witness against Jesus. Why? Because they hated him. Yet found they none. At the last came two false witnesses that they were able to kind of make their stories match. And look, we could go on. I'm not going to go back to Deuteronomy 19. We could go to Acts and look at the stoning of the first martyr, Stephen. And when you look at that story before he's put to death, you know what the Bible says? That the Jews in the synagogue, because of their envy, sought false witnesses against him. So please understand something. Don't believe everything you hear. Let me just say it the way maybe your grandparents said it, but don't believe everything you hear on TV. Don't believe everything you read on the newspaper. Don't believe everything you hear on YouTube. You say, why? Because false accusations are common. But two witnesses rose up, so therefore they must be guilty. No, no, two witnesses rose up, so let's investigate and make sure that he is guilty because it may be possible that these two witnesses are lying. False accusations are common. You go to Deuteronomy 19. While you turn there, let me just read to you from Proverbs 14. Here's what Proverbs 14 says. Proverbs 14, 15, the simple believeth every word. You know what the word simple is talking about? Someone who's dumb. Someone who's not smart. You know what the Bible says? The simple believeth every word, but the prudent man looketh well to his goings. You know what a prudent man does? They look well into it. They don't just believe it because they heard it. False accusations are common. And let me say this, false accusations need to be dealt with harshly. This is what the Bible teaches, Deuteronomy 19. Look at verse 15. We've been looking at this passage, but I just want you to see it. One witness shall not rise up against any man for any iniquity or for any sin, and any sin that he sinneth, at the mouth of two witnesses or of the mouth of three witnesses shall the matter be established, verse 16. If a false witness rise up against any man to testify against him, that which is wrong, then both men, between whom the controversy is, shall stand before the Lord, before the priests and the judges, which shall be in those days, and the judges shall make diligent inquisition. And behold, if the witness be a false witness, and hath testified falsely against his brother, then shall ye do unto him as he had thought to be done unto his brother, so shalt thou put evil away from among you. I don't want, don't miss that. Here, God is telling us, hey, if one witness arises, ignore it. Two witnesses arise, you must do a diligent inquisition. But if in your diligent inquisition, you find out that the two witnesses were lying, he says, then here's what you need to do. You need to deal with it harshly. Ye shall do unto him as he had thought to do unto his brother. Verse 20, and those which remain shall hear and fear, and shall henceforth commit no more any such evil among you. You say, what does that mean? Here's what it means. That if somebody rises up and accuses somebody of something, that if they actually did it, would carry the death penalty. Somebody rises up and says, they did X, Y, and Z. And then, if they are actually convicted of that, the punishment would be they get put to death. But in the course of the inquisition, it becomes clear that not only did they not do it, but these witnesses are lying. Then the Bible says that the punishment that that person was going to get should be given to the false accusers. So the person who's lying to try to get somebody put to death, they should be put to death. The person who's lying to try to get somebody locked up for 20 years, they should get locked up for 20 years. The person who's lying to get somebody to have a beating, because in the Bible they would beat them as some of the punishment for some of those things, then they should receive that beating. And you say, that sounds harsh. No, that sounds just. That's justice. God says, look, you have to deal with false accusations harshly. Why? Here's why. Because false accusations ruin people's lives. And here's the honest truth, and if I sound angry about it, it's because I am. But you know, I deal with this a lot as a pastor, and it pisses me off. Because this is what I've learned, is that people are stupid. The simple believeth every word. Don't get mad at me for saying that. That's what God said. People are stupid, and they believe everything. Let me explain something to you. Just because somebody gets sued for something, doesn't mean they did anything wrong. Because you can accuse anybody of anything. You can sue anybody. Here's how most people think. Oh, so and so got sued for something? They must be wrong. You're an idiot. You're a bad person. You're a wicked person. Because you know what you should think to yourself? You should think, hey, people are innocent until proven guilty. Let's look at the evidence. Let's let justice play its course. But the unfortunate thing is that anybody can get up and just say anything about you, and people will just run with it and believe it. Because they're idiots. Because they're dumb. You say, you're being kind of harsh. That's what I'm trying to do. You say, well, that's the Old Testament Israel. What about the New Testament Church? Because the New Testament Church is supposed to judge. Okay, go back to 1 Timothy 5, 19. Keep your finger there in Deuteronomy 19. 1 Timothy 5, 19. 1 Timothy 5, 19. Against an elder received on accusation, wherever you saw this verse, but before two or three witnesses, verse 20, them that sin rebuke before all that others also may fear. Now, I've heard people preach this verse saying, hey, when somebody sins, we're supposed to rebuke them before all. That is not what that verse is teaching. Because here's the truth. Everybody sins every day. There is no such thing as sinless perfection. Here's what I know about you, and I don't have to know you. You sin every day. Every day you sin. Let me humble you a little bit. You sin every day. Because, you know, we've talked about this in our doctrinal series. There are sins of commission where you do what you should not do, but there are also sins of omission when you don't do what you're supposed to do. What you're supposed to do. The Bible says, but to him that doeth to do good and doeth it not, to him it is sin. So here's what I know about you. You and I sin every day. And if God expected us to get up and then that sin, rebuke before all that others, rebuke everybody's sins, that's all we would do all day long. I would get up here and say, let me read the list of everybody who didn't show up to soul winning, because that's a sin. Let me read the list of everybody who didn't read the Bible this week. You know, Sunday morning we're just covering all the things you didn't do. Now Sunday night, let's talk about all the things you didn't do. Friday night, this is a long one. Then that sin, rebuke before all that others also may fear, is not saying rebuke everybody's sin. Look, private matters should be dealt with privately. Public matters need to be dealt with publicly. You say, well what is this talking about? Well notice, it's a quote from Deuteronomy 19. Keep your finger there in 1 Timothy 5, go back to Deuteronomy 19. The Bible says, Then shall ye do unto him as he had thought to have done unto his brother, so shalt thou put the evil away from among you and those which remain. Notice these words, Deuteronomy 19 20, shall hear and fear and shall henceforth commit no more any such evil among you. You say, why were you supposed to, when you found somebody made a false accusation, give them the same punishment that they were trying to have inflicted on the other person? Why were you supposed to do that? Here's why, to scare everyone else into never giving a false accusation. And those which remain shall hear and fear and shall henceforth commit no more any such evil among you. Verse 21 is for you bleeding hearts who always want to side with all the false accusers, and thine eye shall not pity, but life shall go for life. Eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot. People don't like that, that's the Bible, and by the way, that's justice. 1 Timothy 5 19, Against an elder received not an accusation but before two or three witnesses, then that sin rebuked before all that others also may fear. What is the verse talking about? It's in the context and it is a quote from Deuteronomy 19. The sin there, then that sin, is the sin of a false accusation. Because against an elder you're supposed to receive not an accusation but before two or three witnesses, and then that sin, those that accuse a pastor or anybody, really, falsely, should be rebuked before all that others also may fear. So you say, what do you believe here at Radio Baptist Church? Here's what we believe. That if you bring up an accusation against me or against anybody in the church, really, I'm talking about what you're trying to, I'm not talking about gossip. Now gossip is wrong and I've got a whole sermon on gossip, so you gossips out there, just give me a couple weeks, I'm going to get to you. Might want to get all the gossip in you can in the next couple weeks, so I'm coming for you. We're not talking about gossip, we're talking about where you accuse somebody and you're trying to ruin their lives or destroy their lives or get them kicked out of church or get them out of the ministry or something like that. When you do a false accusation, if you are found to be lying, then our job is to stand up publicly, then that sin, rebuke before all that others also may fear. Our job is to stand up publicly and say, this person lied, this is what they were trying to get accomplished. You say, why? That others also may fear. That's what the Bible says. You say, why? Because false accusations are common and they should be dealt with harshly. Go to 2 Corinthians. Now look, years ago, I had a guy who came to our church and we were dealing with a lot of things and situations and it was during the protests and all these things and he went around telling people what to do, all these things, and he went around telling people that he had offered me a certain, I'm not going to get into all the details, but he had offered me a solution to a problem we were having that he never offered me. That conversation never happened. But he went around telling people, oh yeah, I told pastor, we can do X, Y, and Z, that will solve this problem. And he said, no. And he was going around telling people this to try to make me look bad. And I had several people come to me and kind of confront me about it, like, hey, did Brother Sozo say that you said no to this? You know, that would have been the, I'm like, he never said that. He would have said that. I would have said yes. I don't want to be dealing with these issues either. So, you know, I went to that individual and I said, hey, I've had several people say that you said to them X, Y, and Z. Did you say that? And he admit, you know, I mean, I'll give him that. I think he was kind of stuck. What else am I going to say? And I just told him to say, you are a liar. You and I never had that conversation. He said, I know. And you went around telling these people that to make me look bad. Yeah, well, I was upset about, I don't care what you're upset about. That's wrong. So I said, look, here are your options. You're going to go to every single person that you said that lie about and you're going to go to them and tell them I lied about pastor or I'm going to stand up on Sunday night and I'm going to expose you to everybody. You say, I don't think you should have done that. So you know what he did? What everybody does when I give him that option? He quit. Because he's a coward. But I'm here to tell you something. False accusations are common and they are wrong. Because of the fact that people are naive and the simple believeth every word, oftentimes when you give a false accusation, you destroy someone's reputation and if they were, if that person was a just mature Christian, us mature Christian, they wouldn't have accepted. But the truth is this, the vast majority of Christians are not just, are not wise, are not mature and they're simple, unfortunately. So God says because of that, we have to deal with these things harshly. Number five, guidelines for justice. Number one, the same rules of justice apply to everyone. Number two, people are innocent until proven guilty. Number three, two or three witnesses do not convict. Number four, don't believe everything you hear. Number five, the punishment should fit the crime. The punishment should fit the crime. You're in 2 Corinthians, let me just read to you from Ecclesiastes. You stay there in 2 Corinthians. Ecclesiastes 8 and 11 says this, because the sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of man is fully set in them to do evil. That's like the justice system of the United States of America. You're supposed to be given like a speedy trial, but that does not happen. At least that's not been my experience, not in California. Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of man is fully set in them to do evil. Because guys who commit murder and rape and molest children, and these serial killers just end up on death row for 40 years, and sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, evil people are just set in their ways to do evil. So you know, punishment should fit the crime, and the punishment should not be too soft. And here's what I've learned as a pastor. I'm just going to give it all to you. I'm not going to be a respected person. I'm going to tell you everything I think, and you can do what you want with it. But you know what I've learned as a pastor? One of the reasons that God has made a pastor, a judge, and a church to execute church discipline is because sometimes I have to execute the harsh punishment that a husband refuses to exercise upon his wife, or that a mother and father refuse to exercise upon their kid. So because people are just weak, and some guy doesn't have the backbone, doesn't have enough hair on his legs to tell his wife to shut her stinking mouth, when she's a stinking gossip, then Pastor Jimenez has to do it. In love. Because it's my job. I'm the judge. I don't say it like that. Sometimes I do. But the punishment should fit the crime. It should not be too soft. If the punishment is too soft, it's not going to get the point of crime. By the way, let me say this. Your parents spanking your children, it's supposed to be the punishment for an infraction. If you do it too soft, that's why they're a brat. I mean, sometimes I just, your kid's laughing at you while you're spanking them, and I'm laughing at you while you're spanking them. You've got this kid, you're like, he's got a pull-up on, you've got jeans on and a pull-up, and you're like, and they're like, ah, do it again! You're going to raise a psychopath! Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in their ways to do evil. You're supposed to spank them. That's what the Bible says. That's a sermon for another day. And when you spank them, it's supposed to hurt. So not too soft. But then, not too hard. Okay, let's go to the other stream. When you spank them, it's not supposed to be child abuse, like you're beating your children. I mean, I have to say it all, because common sense is not very common. 2 Corinthians 2. But if any have caused grief, let me give you the context. 2 Corinthians 2, Paul wrote an entire letter called the Epistle of 1 Corinthians. He dealt with a lot of stuff, but the main thing he was dealing with was their lack of judgment and allowing a man to live in fornication within the church. 1 Corinthians, he said, you're not judging this properly. You should not glory in this shame. And he told them, you need to kick him out. So then they did it. Praise the Lord. But then they were being too harsh with him. And in 2 Corinthians, he's now telling them, you've got to forgive them. He repented. You know, do right. Love them. Accept them back. 2 Corinthians 2, 5. But if any have caused grief, he has not grieved me, but in part that I may not overcharge you all. Sufficient to such a man is the punishment which was inflicted of many. So here Paul is telling them, hey, don't be too harsh. Once you've inflicted the punishment, once it's over, then it's over. And same with your kids. Look, if they do something wrong, spank them. And then once they've been spanked, it's done. Don't be this parent that's just like constantly just bringing up to like, remember 17 weeks ago when you? That's ridiculous. Man, I'm thankful God doesn't treat us like that. God forgives and he just lets it go. Sufficient to such a man is the punishment. But by the way, let me just show you this, because common sense is not common. I don't like it that you say this, then don't make me say it. 2 Corinthians 2, 6. Church discipline. This is church discipline. What is church discipline? Kicking people out of church. Sufficient to such a man is the punishment which was inflicted of many. You know that there's an expectation by God that when we church discipline and kick somebody out, that that discipline is not carried out by pastor and the pastor's wife and the staff only, but it should be inflicted by many? And you know that when I kick somebody out of church and you continue to fellowship with them and talk to them, you are unjust and you're not right with God? And when they go around saying, pastor's mean and brother Oliver's mean, but so-and-so's nice because they keep talking to me, you're wicked. You're unjust. You need to get right with God. Because church discipline is supposed to be inflicted of many. And you say, well, I don't like that. Well, I don't care if you like it. That's what the Bible says. See rule number one. The same rules of justice apply to everyone. The punishment should fit the crime. Not too soft, not too hard. Okay, Goldilocks? It's supposed to be a balance. Justice is often represented in a courthouse by a statute of lady justice. It's a woman holding a scale, the scales of justice. She's blindfolded. She has a sword. What does this represent? Well, the scales represent that justice is supposed to balance the scales. That's why if somebody went out to hurt someone, not an accident, they went out to hurt them maliciously and they caused them to lose their eye, this is why the Bible says eye for eye, tooth for tooth, foot for foot. Look, if you're going to get in a fight with somebody and you're going to beat them up so badly that they lose their eye and you know that the judges are going to come and take your eye out as a punishment, you may hold back on that. Do you understand what I'm saying? That's what the Bible says. It's supposed to be a balancing of the scales. That's why she has the scales of justice. Why does she have a sword? Because that's how you institute punishment. The sword is used to carry out the punishment up until the death penalty. Why is she blinded? She's blinded because she's not supposed to be a respecter of persons. She's not supposed to make exceptions for her friends. Justice is supposed to be blind. It's supposed to be balanced. It's supposed to be executed speedily. The punishment should fit the crime. Deuteronomy 19. Go back to Deuteronomy 19. I'm giving you guidelines for justice. The same rules of justice. And let me just answer all the questions because people are going to ask me the questions, so let me just answer the stinking questions. You saw I'm not in the greatest of moods. It's good we're having a movie tonight. I'm eating my part. Don't talk to me. But Pastor, you didn't actually say that they were kicked out of church. Okay, well, did you know that they're kicked out of church? Then why are we having this conversation? Look, if you come up to me and you're like, hey, I stayed in communication with so-and-so, but I can tell you before the Lord, Pastor, I can tell you before God, I did not know that they were kicked out of church, then no problem. You know what the Bible says? Where there is no law, there is no transgression. But if you knew, and everybody else knew, and the whole stinking church knew, and you're just trying to catch me on some technicality, get right with God. If you knew they were kicked out, then do what the Bible says. So don't ask me the question, that's the answer to the question. You know what the answer to the question always is for me? What does the Bible say? Do what the Bible says. End of story. I'm not mad. I want you to be just and not a respecter of persons. The punishment should fit the crime. Number six, guidelines for justice. Before you make a judgment, you must hear both sides or all sides of the story. Again, common sense, right? Common sense is not very common. Come do my job for a while. You'll see that this is not common. Before you make a judgment, you must hear both sides or all sides of the story. Do you know what I mean, 1917? Then both men, then both men between whom the controversy is shall stand before the Lord, before the priests and the judges which shall be in those days. When there was a controversy, both men were supposed to stand before the judges. Why? Because you cannot make a judgment until you've heard both sides or all sides of the story. Go to John chapter 7. John chapter 7 verse 51. I don't even know why I'm upset. I just didn't sleep well. John 7, because it helps you remember is what it is. John 7 51. Doth our law judge any man before it hear him and know what he doeth? And this is obviously, the answer is no, it doesn't. So you know, before you make a judgment call, you must hear both sides and all sides of the story. And look, it's crazy to me. It's crazy how many times people make decisions. They make judgment calls. They decide to start treating somebody a certain way based off of what one person told them. And then you go to them, you're like, well, but did you ask the other side to get their sides? No, no, well, they just told me. Okay, and they're the Lord Jesus Christ? I don't understand. Are they, you just believe everything you hear? Is that what you're saying to me? You're simple? Before you make a judgment, you must hear both sides or all sides of the story. Our law does not judge anyone before it hear him. And look, oftentimes I sit in a room with somebody and they tell me something, and you know, this is what I often say to people. Well, I'm not saying you're lying, but you know what? There's another side to the story. And look, here's what I've found over 12 years of ministry is that even when people are not lying to you, oftentimes you need to hear both sides of the story because here's what I've learned. There's one side of the story, there's another side of the story, and the truth is actually somewhere in between. Because even if they're not trying to have a false accusation, people tend to interpret things, they tend to see things their way, they tend to remember things only in the light in which makes them look good. So they'll tell you, they're like, well, let me tell you what happened, X, Y, and Z. And then you go to the other person, like, what happened? They said X, Y, and Z. And they're like, well, yeah, X, Y, and Z, but they also did A, B, and C. It's like, oh, well, that kind of change. Well, did you do A, B, and C? Well, I did do A, B, and C, but you didn't mention that. This is why you don't hear a controversy unless both parties are there. Or if you're counseling or helping somebody, you just say, well, look, I can't deal with that. They're not here to deal with that, so let's just deal with you. I got enough work just right here, sitting in front of me. Before you make a judgment, you must hear both sides or all sides of the story. Look, this is probably 90% of the problems in church. Somebody is told something by someone, they don't investigate it, they don't ask questions, they just assume that the person, everything they say to them is gospel, is going to be true without a doubt. And they just carry on and act as if what they've been told is true. That's wrong. Before you make a judgment, you must hear both sides or all sides of the story. And until you have, you should not make a judgment call. You don't have to call the person a liar. You can say, hey, I'm sure that's true, and if that's true, I'm sorry, but I can't sit here and act. I can't proceed as though it's true until we talk to the other side. And oftentimes when I say that to people, they're like, oh, let's not talk to them, let's not talk to them. Well, why? What are you hiding? Look, oftentimes when there are matters, when there are matters of judgment, my first move is, let's just get everybody together. Let's just bring everybody in, let's just bring everybody, and then immediately people are like, no, no, no, let's not do that, let's not do that, let's not, then get out of my office. Let's bring everybody in or get out of my stinking office. Because look, when people accuse me, when they accuse my wife, literally people have falsely accused us of stuff over and over again in this church. And I just love it, because they accuse my wife of something, and you know what the next move is? They get called into my office and my wife's there. Hey, I thought we'd just have a conversation now that everybody's, now that the whole crowd's together. You said my wife said X, Y, and Z. Well, she's here, let's, whoa, whoa, whoa, well, actually, now that I even, my memory has dried a little bit. Oh, really, yeah, you owe her an apology. Get out of my office. This is judgment. And literally, people, I've just, people are unjust. You cannot make a judgment based on what it looks like someone did. I'm sorry, that's the next point. Go to John chapter seven. I said that like it was a review, but it's not a review. Point number seven, you cannot make a judgment based on what it looks like someone did. I've got to finish up, we're on seven and it's already an hour. I'm not preaching tonight, though, so just keep that in mind. Point number seven, you cannot make a judgment based on what it looks like someone did. John seven, verse 24. I think you were in John before. John 7, 51, look at John 7, 24. Judge not according to the appearance. This is what Jesus said, judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment. You know what the Bible says? That you are not to judge according to the appearance. You cannot judge based off what something looks like someone did. Please listen to me, you cannot judge if you're going to be a just judge based off what it looks like someone did. You can only judge based off what you know someone did or what you have proven that someone did. Do you understand that? I mean, literally, this happened recently. Somebody gets up with bank statements. They fraudulently get bank statements This didn't happen to us, but it's happened. And they're like, look at these charges. This person must be spending all this money on themselves. But wait a minute. What does the, because you're using these bank statements as evidence, okay. What does the bank statement actually say? Let me help you out. You know what a bank statement says? It says where something was purchased. It says where something was purchased. It says how much it was purchased for and it says when it was purchased. You know what it doesn't say? It doesn't say what you purchased unless you have a receipt. Which is, by the way, in a non-profit organization bank statements are not the end all of a financial statement. You need bank statements that are matched up with receipts and even the receipts have to be documented what they were for. It doesn't tell you what was purchased. It doesn't tell you why it was purchased. So people want to make these accusations so and so about $200 worth of round table that was in a Friday night. That was a personal. You're an idiot. And literally, because if you got our bank statements, you know what you could accuse Pastor Jimenez of? Purchasing hundreds of dollars worth of round table last Friday night. We literally had a youth activity on Friday night where we took all the teenagers and bought round table pizza. And somebody could have bought us a round table pizza. And somebody could get my bank statement and say, look, my pastor, he managed it. And yeah, he ate 20 round table large pizzas. That's what you expect us to believe. Him and his wife who doesn't even eat pizza. But people will, they'll look at evidence and then they'll tell a story. Look, you cannot make a judgment based on what you think someone did or what it looks like someone did. You ask the question. They make an accusation. Well, look, this purchase, this is a Starbucks purchase. There's no way it was a church event because it's only for $12. That must have been personal. I mean, literally, literally this week we had a guest speaker here on Wednesday night. The guy gets off the plane. He's picked up by Brother Oliver and he goes and gets some coffee before he preaches. Goes and buys him coffee, which by the way is biblical. The Bible says muzzling off the ox and treading off the corn. Which all of those things, but look, somebody could take that bank statement months from now and be like, look, Pastor Jimenez bought himself Starbucks. I wasn't even there. You can't base evidence off of what, look, you say, I'm gonna use these bank statements. Okay, well, we're gonna use the bank statements to the extent of what they tell us. They tell us something was purchased at a certain time for a certain amount. But you can't sit there and then spit a whole story about and it was for X, Y, and Z. How do you know that? Have you asked for receipts? Have you asked? Am I supposed to believe that you're God? All knowing, all powerful, all my, you just know everything. That's what I'm supposed to believe? Because you sound like a bozo to me. You cannot make a judgment based on what it looks like someone did. You cannot judge according to the appearance. You can only judge based off and what you've proven somebody did. Don't judge based off the appearance. And ask the question. And look, and to me it's silly because literally at this church, our church has like 200 people in it. We've got several staff and charges are being made every day around here. I mean, they were saying like, well, if it was Costco, then I can understand that that was for the church. But if it's Walmart, that must have been a personal, what does that even mean? We buy stuff all the time everywhere. We have a harvest party and I tell Brother David to go buy 20 pounds worth of cut up onions for our harvest party, which somebody could one day accuse me of, look at all these onions Pastor Jimenez ate all by himself. And Brother David's like, hey, I went to Costco, I bought all these things but they didn't have onions, so I stopped at Smart and Final and picked them up. But somebody would look at that and be like, you don't know that. You don't know that. He said, why are you saying this? Because people are dumb. Because people are simple. Because they watch stupid YouTube videos and the simple believeth every word. Let me tell you something, you cannot make a judgment based on what it looks like someone did. You can only judge based off what you know someone did, what has been proven. And why don't you ask the question? What were you doing exactly Pastor Jimenez? On October 30th with 60 pounds worth of onion. Were you eating those all by yourself? And I might say, hmm, I don't recall, but let me go back and look at the, oh, harvest party. You cannot make a judgment based on what it looks like someone did. Number eight, the knowledge of the law should be considered in the judgment. Let me just read this. I had a verse, I'm not gonna do it, but let me read this. We've actually looked at this a lot lately. Luke 12, 47, And the servant which knew his Lord's will and prepared not himself, neither did according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes. The servant which knew his Lord's will shall be beaten with many stripes. Verse 48, But he that knew not and did not commit things worthy of stripes such as given of him so much be required and to whom men have committed much of him shall they ask the more. The Bible says that he that knew the Lord's will was beaten with many stripes. He that knew not was beaten with few stripes. Why? Because the knowledge of the law should be considered in the judgment, in the punishment. I won't take the time to go through it. If you wanna jot this down, 1 Samuel 14, there's a story where Saul makes a man battle fighting with his army and he says, nobody eat. And the Bible says that his son Jonathan did not hear him say that and he ate some honey. And Saul was trying to put him to death. And by the way, this was after Jonathan had brought a great battle, a miraculous battle from the Lord. And the people had to step in and say, no Saul, that's unjust. So the knowledge of the law should be considered in the judgment. If somebody doesn't know something, they might still get punished but we should take that into consideration. Number nine, go to Proverbs 25. We gotta finish this up. In fact, you go to 2 Corinthians. Go to 2 Corinthians chapter two. Let me just give you, number nine. Try to resolve issues at the lowest level possible. I love this one. People hate this one. Proverbs 25, nine, debate thy cause with thy neighbor himself and discover not a secret to another. I'm not gonna spend a lot of time on this because I'm gonna preach an entire sermon on Matthew chapter 18 which is in a lot of detail. But let me just say this. A guideline for justice, try to resolve issues at the lowest level possible. So you have an issue with your coworker. Don't go to the boss before you've talked to the coworker. And then sure don't go to the head of the regional office. Good night. That's why people hate you. You should try to handle issues at the lowest level possible. You should try to handle issues at the lowest level possible. Debate thy cause with thy neighbor himself. Now go to them. Now if they're not willing to work things out, then you do go to the next level. But you don't go to the next level before you've tried to deal with it at the lowest level possible. Try to resolve issues at the lowest level possible. That's a judgment principle. 2 Corinthians 2, I gotta finish up. Let me, guidelines for justice. Number one, the same rules of justice apply to everyone. Number two, people are innocent until proven guilty. Number three, two or three witnesses do not convict. Number four, don't believe everything you hear. Number five, the punishment should fit the crime. Number six, before you make a judgment, you must hear both sides or all sides of the story. Number seven, you cannot make a judgment based on what it looks like someone did, only what you know someone did or what you can prove someone did. Number eight, the knowledge of the law should be considered in the judgment. Number nine, try to resolve issues at the lowest level possible. Number 10, we'll be done right here. We must treat people right after judgment. Second Corinthians 2, seven. So that contra-wise, they were being really mean to the young man that was church disciplined. Now, while he was under church discipline, they should have not talked to him, not fellowship with him, not had a meal with him. That's what the Bible says. But after he got right with God and he came back to church, they were still being, not fellowshipping with him and not talking to him. That's wrong. Here's what Paul says, so that contra-wise, ye ought rather to forgive him and comfort him. Lest perhaps such a one should be swallowed up with overmuch sorrow. Wherefore I beseech you that ye would confirm your love towards him. For to this end also did I write that I might know the proof of you whether ye be obedient in all things to whom ye forgive anything I forgive also. For if I forgave anything to whom I forgave it for your sakes forgave I it in the person of Christ. Here's the point, once someone has been punished, then you should treat them right. And look, at this church, we do believe in church discipline and we have church discipline people out of here, but you know, we've also had situations where people made their sin right and they were welcome back. And when they came back, we don't treat them like some second-class citizen or just, well, remember when you, no, no, no, no, we love them. And look, when somebody comes back after church discipline, you ought to love them. I'm not saying you need to be their best friend, but you shouldn't despise them in your heart. You ought rather to forgive him, lest perhaps such a one should be swallowed up with overmuch sorrow. I beseech that ye would confirm your love toward him. Galatians 6, 1, brethren, if a man be overtaken or fall, ye which are spiritual, that's the key, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness, considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted. So you know, when we have to do judgment and bring judgment upon people and punishments upon people, we have to do judgment and bring judgment upon people and punishments upon people. If they get it right or once the punishment is over, you know what, we must treat people right after judgment. And look, even in our criminal, I'm against all these, like, someone's just gonna be a felon for the rest of their life because some stupid thing they did when they were 19, just the rest of their life, they're gonna be a felon. That's not right. If they commit a crime, make them pay the time. And then once it's over, it's over. Just forgive them and let them do it. Just forgive them and move on. And you know what, that's the criminal justice system, but let's not be like that as church people. Somebody's done something wrong, then they need to be punished, they need to be excommunicated, they need to have church discipline. But once they've repented and they come back, then we should accept them, we should love them. Obviously that doesn't mean that we just embrace, you know, everything and whatever. I mean, if you don't feel comfortable, that's your prerogative. But in your heart, you should not despise anybody. As a member of the church and as a brother or sister in Christ, we must treat people right after judgment. Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer. Heavenly Father, Lord be, thank you. And Lord, I know that this is a lot, but I feel like, I feel like these common sense judgment calls are just not so common. It seems like the most common thing is for people to make exceptions for their best friend. The most common thing is to be a respecter of persons. The most common thing is to not diligently seek out the truth, but to just believe everything you hear. The most common thing is to be unjust. And Lord, I pray you'd help us with that. I pray that you would help us to be a church full of people that would say, I want to be just, I want to have justice, I want to be righteous. And I pray that these 10 principles of justice would help us to live that way. Help us not to be a church that makes decisions based off who the person is. Help us to make decisions based off principles, not our relationship with people. We love you. In the matchless name of Christ, we pray. Amen. We're going to have Brother Matt come up and lead us in a final song. Just want to remind you a couple of things. First of all, the main thing is tonight we've got a movie. And I'll be preaching for like seven minutes and then we're going to watch the movie. We're going to watch this movie, The Preserved Bible. If you don't like my preaching or you don't like my sermon this morning, then good news, I'm not preaching that long tonight. So, documentary on the King James Bible. I have not watched it. It's put out by Steadfast. Obviously I trust them. But I've not watched it. I think I'm in it, but it doesn't really matter. I think it's going to be a great documentary. So we'd love for you to join us. We're going to have a popcorn machine, we're going to have sodas, we'll have a big screen up and it's going to be a great time. We're going to have the volunteer opportunities for the next generation youth rally. We'd really appreciate that. If there's anything we can do for you, please let us know. I hope you'll leave here today deciding in your heart I'm going to be a just person. I'm going to have these principles of justice in my life because God talks a lot about judgment and justice and we should try to be righteous. If there's anything we can do for you, please let us know. My brother Matt, come up and lead us in a final song. Turn to song 319. 319. Sing it out on the first. I am weak when thou art strong And Jesus keep me from all wrong I am dissatisfied as long As I walk and you walk close to me Just so close to walk with me Pray to Jesus, use my need And you will be fast for me Let it be, dear Lord, let it be In this world of toil and snares If I falter, Lord, who cares Go with me while beauty shares Let that be, dear Lord, done with ease Just so close to walk with me Pray to Jesus, use my need And you will be fast for me Let it be, dear Lord, let it be In this world of toil and snares Life for me will be the Lord Every journey sacred o'er To thy kingdom sure, to thy shore Just so close to walk with me Pray to Jesus, use my need And you will be fast for me Let it be, dear Lord, let it be Amen. Good. Singing before we leave here. If anybody has questions about salvation, church membership, or baptism, the pastor will be at the door. He'd love to talk to you or direct you to someone who's trained you to talk about that. That's Brother Matt. He should close a prayer for us. Dear Heavenly Father, I tell you a few things for the Summit. You've given us this morning, Lord, and we've made it, Lord, and we've applied the rules that we were taught of judgment. Be just in our judgment and live a just life, Lord, and do this all as you keep us safe and bring us all back to life. Amen. Amen.