I preached my first sermon on the second Sunday of August in 1959. If I had the choice to make again, I would most assuredly make the same one again. The privilege has been granted to me to meet and associate with the very best people in the world – New Testament Christians, and I do not blink when I say that. This does not say nor imply that there are not many good people in the world who have good morals and ethics. It does say that there are no better people inhabiting this planet than those who through faith, have obeyed from the heart the glorious Gospel of Christ and were added to God’s Book of Life and to His church. It is true, however, that some of these have chosen to renounce their kingdom citizenship and have become entangled again in the evils of the world.
We sincerely ask the question, “If this world continues for yet many thousands of years, will there be a better people than those who are true children of God, those who have submitted to the authority of God, Christ and the Holy Spirit?” Without hesitation I would reply with a resounding, “No!” In the ranks of these righteous ones are those of great education and of great influence among men and women. Also in these ranks are those that we generally refer to as “common folks.” These are those who labor every day among their fellow men, and as they do so, they leave the sweet aroma of a true follower of Christ. Like all other true Christians, they are “the light of the world.” I humbly and thankfully place myself among such who, too, are depending upon the promises of God.
In these years of preaching I cannot recall the many times that I have been in one way or the other asked the question that serves as the title to this article. On one occasion, as I was later told by a very large man who asked me this question about his grandmother, that if I had given him the answer that another had given him he fully intended to “throw you [me] through the window.” My answer was, “I could answer your question, but you would not understand why I answered it in the way that I did.” I then asked him to allow me to study with him, and he agreed to do so. About six or seven months later I had the privilege of baptizing him into Christ, and I didn’t get thrown through a window. He later became a deacon in the church.
In examining this question in the context that it is usually asked, let us notice a few things.
- Is it within any power given by God to me or to any others to make such judgments? No. Neither I nor any other person be he “Pope” or peasant has been given such authority.
- If when I am asked this question, and should I give a judgmental answer such as judge would give in a court of law, does this mean that such answer will be accepted by both the one asking it and by God in heaven? In other words, is this the final answer, or will the final answer be given at that time when all men stand before the Great White Throne?
- In my personal experience, I have never been asked this question for the purpose of getting a scriptural answer, but always it has been posed in an attempt to put me in a “Wrong if you do, and wrong if you don’t” type situation.
That the Lord has given to each of us the right to make certain judgments is biblical. In John 7:24 Jesus Himself said, “Do not judge according to appearance, but judge with righteous judgment.” The only way that any man can give righteous judgment is to use the “righteous” authority that is the Bible. By this rule, we do not give righteous judgment if we tell anyone that he is saved by faith alone, or by anything alone. One does not give righteous judgment when he promotes any unscriptural role for women in the church, when he defends the use of mechanical instruments in worship to God, when he promotes the “one church is as good as another” idea or a host of other inventions of men.
Righteous judgment is to give an appropriate Scripture reference to questions that come our way. These Scriptures tell us, “When the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with His mighty angels, in flaming fire taking vengeance on those who do not know God, and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. These shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power…” (2 Thessalonians 1:7-9.) Such judgment will be without partiality.
