Judgement Foe or Friend

****guest contribution by none other than the hubby******

Judges 2:16-18


Then The Lord Raised up judges who saved them out of the hands of the raiders. Yet they would not listen to their judges but prostituted themselves themselves to other gods and worshiped them. Unlike their fathers, they quickly turned from the way in which their fathers had walked, the way of obedience to the Lord’s commands. Whenever the Lord raised up a judge for them He was with the judge and saved them out of the hands of their enemies as long as the judge lived: for the Lord had compassion on them as they groaned under those who oppressed and afflicted them.


Comparison points :

1) Judges led people back to the right way to live.

2) Judges saved the people from their oppressors.

3) The Lord had compassion on them as long as the judge lived.


John 5:22

Moreover, the Father judges no on. But has entrusted all judgement to the Son.



Comparison Points:

1) Jesus was raised up by God to bring us back to the right way .( Back to God)

2) Jesus saves us from our oppressors (Satan, sin , self)

3) Jesus is still alive and will live for ever , therefor God’s compassion is limitless



Why do people say”Don’t judge me.”? Why do people fear judgement?

What does a judge do ? A judge is there to to decide what is right and fair. When an injustice has been done a judge is supposed to make it right. When an injustice has been done to us we want judgement. We scream out “That’s not fair. Make it right,” but when we do something wrong we don’t want to be judged. We want it to go unnoticed and just hope it slides, and if someone says something about it it’s “Hey, don’t judge me..”

People say “don’t judge me “ because if they were they know they would be found guilty. When Jesus said “ Judge not lest ye be judged,” He wasn’t talking about saying “that’s wrong” or “that’s right.” He was talking about the condemnation That follows. Look at the adulteress that the pharisees want to stone. Everyone knew that she had done wrong. They did, She did, Jesus did. Her guilt was not in question. She was wrong. She had sinned. The judgement came when she was dealt out mercy. By law they had the right to stone her. However when Jesus said,” Let he who is with out sin cast the first stone.”, he put it back in them. We are to be careful how we judge because we will be judge in the same manner.

Speaking of mercy and judgement brings on the next point. If we never submit ourselves to judgment then we can never receive mercy. Mercy is given when we are guilty and deserve punishment , the sentence is commuted., and we are given a second chance. You see, we present ourselves before the throne of God for judgement , and God makes it right: not only for the victims but for the condemned(you and me). Instead of an eternity in hell , we get community service with Jesus as our counselor to show us how to do it right It’s kind of like a Judge Hatchet episode. She Tries to point these messed up kids in the right direction with tough love. I.e. She puts them in jail for a day so they know what it’s like and they don’t want to go back. If we had one day in hell just to see what it’s like, would we fail to take advantage of the second chance Jesus offers.

Now if we don’t present ourselves for judgement, that doesn’t mean we get away with our sin. We are enslaved by it. It’s like sitting in a jail cell with a four hundred pound man named Tiny waiting to come to trial. Paul could sympathize, he waited years to plead his case before Ceaser. And the longer we sit in there with Tiny (a.k.a...our sin ) the more comfortable we get with him and the deeper we fall in to sin, and the harder it becomes to hear Jesus. The bible says,” Today if you hear His voice , do not harden your hearts.” ( Heb. 4:7 b) If you harden your heart , you may reach a point where you can’t hear Him at all, and he is the only one who can commute your sentence.

We all need to hear Him and turn our selves in for judgement, because we all need to be shown the way out of sin and how to stay out of the Big House that’s down below.