Hermeneutics Lesson 05
Judgment is coming.
These lessons are based upon Isaiah 28. While this lesson does not directly reference these verses, it deals with the judgment found in these first verses of Isaiah 28.
Within the Hermeneutics Lessons, this is the first of two lessons where we consider the character of our God. Yes, there could be lots of lessons on God's character but we will highlight only two points that directly affect how we interpret God's Word. This first is that God does not change. Therefore, we see the same characteristics of God all throughout the Bible. These factors that never change are what our chapter calls precepts
.
The problem is that some preachers find verses to support their claims of God giving His blessings to people and avoid the ones telling about judgment. The people that they preach to look at the verses referenced and don't verify what is preached. Therefore, they do not realize that the character of the god preached to them is not the character of the God of the Bible but is a half-truth lie. This leads them to think that they do not have to stop sinning and, eventually, God has to bring judgment upon them.
Preachers have a responsibility of presenting all of the truth in the Bible and to tell people about all of God's characteristics. In addition, God's people have a responsibility of finding all of God's truth in the Bible. One of the most basic truths is that God blesses the obedient and curses the disobedient. Another truth is that God brings greater judgment upon leaders who lead God's people into error than God brings upon the people. So while people are responsible for their own life and the error and sin within it, the preacher is held responsible for his influence that causes God's people to live in error and sin.
Anyone taking this class is assumed to be a leader and needs to be aware of the warning that God started our chapter with. This warning is part of the basic character of the God Whom we are suppose to present to God's people in complete truth.
Woe to the crown of pride, to the drunkards of Ephraim, whose glorious beauty is a fading flower, which are on the head of the fat valleys of them that are overcome with wine! Behold, the Lord hath a mighty and strong one, which as a tempest of hail and a destroying storm, as a flood of mighty waters overflowing, shall cast down to the earth with the hand. The crown of pride, the drunkards of Ephraim, shall be trodden under feet: And the glorious beauty, which is on the head of the fat valley, shall be a fading flower, and as the hasty fruit before the summer; which when he that looketh upon it seeth, while it is yet in his hand he eateth it up. In that day shall the LORD of hosts be for a crown of glory, and for a diadem of beauty, unto the residue of his people, And for a spirit of judgment to him that sitteth in judgment, and for strength to them that turn the battle to the gate. But they also have erred through wine, and through strong drink are out of the way; the priest and the prophet have erred through strong drink, they are swallowed up of wine, they are out of the way through strong drink; they err in vision, they stumble in judgment. For all tables are full of vomit and filthiness, so that there is no place clean.
(Isaiah 28:1-8).
The word Woe
appears 106 times in the Bible. Sometimes this word is directed at the lost and sometimes it is directed at the people of God. Isaiah 28:1-8 says that it is directed at the religious leaders of God's people. This lesson is dealing with the judgment of God's people and not of the lost.
There is a good chance that what this lesson identifies as Biblical doctrinal error will turn out to be something which you have believed for a long time. Most peoples' first reaction, to such a situation, is to deny the truth and ignore the evidence. You will also be told that there are some really nasty consequences of ignoring a warning from God. Therefore, you personally will have the possibility of having those consequences come upon yourself and/or the people that you are responsible for. That, of course, leads to the question: 'How do I know that you are right?' In order to tell which claim, of opposing claims, is truly from the Bible, you will need to know how to tell which doctrine is right: what is presented here or what you have been taught and have believed for a long time.
In the prior lesson we saw some rules for identifying doctrinal error. We did not go into the details of those rules like we will do in later lessons. However, In Lesson 2 we learned that the 'Primary Way to avoid false doctrine' was to try the spirits whether they are of God
. That was covered in enough detail that all should be able to use it. Hebrews 11:6 says 'for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him
. John 14:6 says Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.
Combine the two and you have a promise of God's reward
to those people who diligently seek' the truth
using the way
that is defined by God in His Word. Other places promise God's judgment upon those people who accept doctrinal error because they refuse to be diligent
. I urge you to diligently' try the spirits
behind the doctrine presented here and any doctrine which disagrees with what is presented here.
We are going to deal with a doctrine that says:
- 'The only consequence of sin by saved people is on this earth. Therefore, you do not have to stop any sin that you can accept the consequence while you are alive.'
We are going to contrast that with a doctrine which says:
- 'The worst consequences of sin by saved people occur after they leave this life. Therefore, Stop your Sinning for all the sins that you can identify.'
Now, which doctrine would come from a devil and which would come from a righteous
and holy
God? You prove which spirit you personally follow by the doctrine that you personally hold onto and teach others to follow.
- God has Two legal systems.
- This is discussed in the Basic Study of Romans, the Basic Study of 1John, the Basic Study of Colossians, Basic Study of 2Timothy, and other places on LJC1611kjv.com. Those Studies will provide details that are not presented here. All of the Bible references supporting the following statements are presented there and will not be repeated here.
- All sin is a violation of God's Law (1John 3:4). Therefore, all sin is recorded in one of God's Legal Systems.
- God's First Legal System is the
great white throne
(Revelation 20:11) System that is used to judge the lost. This is God's criminal legal system and anyone who is charged with a sin ends up in God's 'jail' (lake of fire
) for criminals. - When someone is saved God blots out their criminal record and adopts them as His children. This moves them to His
judgment seat of Christ
Legal System (Romans 14:10; 2Corinthians 5:10-11). Since they are no longer under thegreat white throne
Legal System, the sins done after their initial profession are not recorded there but are recorded in thejudgment seat of Christ
Legal System. Since there are no more sins (violations of God's Law) recorded in His criminal Legal System, they are not judged as a criminal when they are judged. This is how we can have all of our sins blotted out (in one Legal System) and still have sin recorded (in another Legal System) as 1John 1 tells us does happen. - God is
righteous
. Therefore, His Legal Systems arerighteous
. That means that Legal Systems will implement allrighteous
legal principals in arighteous
way. This means that the Legal principal of 'jurisdiction' applies. That means that God's Legal Systems handle everything that is in their 'jurisdiction' and do not interfere with the 'jurisdiction' of other Legal Systems. Neither do they allow interference from outside. For example, there is doctrinal error believed in a lot of 'good godly Bible believing fundamental' churches. When two saved people get married, they swear an oath before God, which is a legal contract (covenant agreement) that is administered by God's Legal System. They also sign a marriage license, which is administered by man's Legal Systems. If they get divorced in man's Legal System, that sets aside the marriage license but does not affect the oath (covenant agreement) that was sworn in God's Legal System. Therefore, a divorce in man's court does not make them free to remarry. They also have to get a divorce according to God's Legal System before they can remarry. The Bible makes this clear by the use of the termsdivorced
andremarried
as well as by other things found in the Bible. Search the LJC1611kjv.com site for these words and read the notes identified for more details on this distinction. Also, see the Word Study on Adultery, which shows that the Bible definition of this word is different than what is taught in many 'good godly Bible believing fundamental' churches. Basically, the Bible says that a virgin who has never touched anyone in a sexual way can still be anadulteress
. Likewise, a virgin male can be declared to be anadulterer
, according to God's Word. - There is confusion because 1John 1:8 says
If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.
and 1John 3:9 saysWhosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God.
While these two appear to be in conflict, they are not. 1John 3 is talking about God's Legal System called thegreat white throne
System. 1John 1 is talking about God's Legal System called thejudgment seat of Christ
System. Once someone isborn of God
(1John 3:9) they are no longer under thegreat white throne
Legal System, because God's Legal Systems obey the principal of 'jurisdiction'. Therefore, theycannot sin
in that Legal System even though theyhave'sin
in thejudgment seat of Christ
Legal System. I realize that this statement might cause a lot of questions, but that discussion is too large and complex to cover here. The simple expanation is that trhe principal of 'diplomatic immunity' is being applied. However, the important thing to understand is that God has divisions within the Bible. The same thing, such assin
, can be handled different ways within the different divisions. A lot of what people call conflicts within the Bible are actually not conflicts but only appear to be conflicts when people ignore God's divisions (2Timothy 2:15). A lot of confusion, and so-called conflicts, are eliminated once we use God's divisions and keep what is said about one side of a division separate from what is said about the other side of the division. - While there is much more that could be said about several subjects touched so far, we will limit further discussion to the judgment that saved people face.
- There are three groups of people facing God's judgment, not two.
- There is a lot of doctrinal error and controversy based upon people not
rightly dividing the word of truth
(2Timothy 2:15) when it comes to salvation. The Bible lists theGodly
, theungodly
and theunjust
. (These same groups are identified ashot
,lukewarm
andcold
in Revelation 3:14-22.) This is discussed in the Basic Study of Romans, the Basic Study of 1Peter, the Basic Study of 2Peter, and other places on LJC1611kjv.com. Please use the search function on that site to find where this is discussed beyond the three Book Studies mentioned. - The
Godly
claim to be saved and have a life that displays the truth of their claims. Theungodly
admit to being lost and have a life that displays the truth of their claims. Theunjust
claim to be saved but have a life that displays that they are liars. They live like theungodly
while claiming to beGodly
. These relate to thehot
,cold
andlukewarm
of Revelation 3:14-22. The reaction to thelukewarm
gives us a pretty simple explanation of what God thinks about theunjust
. - There are many other places in the Bible which teach this doctrine, but God's people miss it because they have been taught to see error in the Bible. God's people have been taught that there are only two categories: the saved (
Godly
) and the lost (ungodly
) All of the controversy overworks
versusfaith
, when it comes to salvation and sanctification, is due to people trying to fit theunjust
into one of the other two categories. Once we see the third category, which is in the Bible, we eliminate most of those arguments because theungodly
have noworks
and nofaith
while theGodly
have both. Thus, neither of these two groups cause conflict. However, theunjust
cause all of the conflict because thefaith
that they claim does not match theworks
from their life. There is a lot more in the Bible which teaches that there is no conflict between these two doctrines. However, as soon as we recognize that theungodly
are in a separate group, according to the Bible, we eliminate a lot of doctrinal problems for most people. - 2Peter 2:7 tells us that Lot was a
just
man. People have problems with this because he stopped being ajust
man and lived like theunjust
. This problem with Lot, and a lot of other problems with Bible doctrine, are due to people being taught a half-truth about what the Bible says aboutjustification
. Of course, when the devil tempted Jesus he correctly quoted the part of the Bible that he quoted. The problem wasn't what he quoted but what he left out. Likewise, the problem with what people believe aboutjustification
is what is left out. - The true meaning of
unjust
can be seen in the Third Commandment. Exodus 20:7 saysThou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain; for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain.
When we call ourselvesChristians
we aretaking the name of the LORD thy God
. When call we ourselvesChristians
and live like the lost we are literallytaking the name of the LORD thy God in vain
. The doctrinal error taught by these people is that cussing is the only way to violate this commandment and foolish people believe this lie which does not match what this commandment literally says. - By the way (outside of the main point), our First Precept was 'Use God's Way to understand (interpret) God's Word'. The First Commandment is
I am the LORD thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. Thou shalt have no other gods before me.
It isother gods
who tell us 'another way' to understand our Bible. Our Second Precept was 'Remove the source of error from consideration'. The Second Commandment isThou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in Heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me;
The main source of error is false religion. Now we find the same match for our Third Precept. Our Fourth Precept was 'God is Lord. He said what He meant and meant what He said.' The Fourth Commandment isRemember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.
Thesabbath day
was created to remind God's people to seek God's face on a regular basis for their instructions in life. Yes, worship is part of thesabbath day
, but that is to remind us that He is above us and we should listen to Him. We could continue but this should be enough for this rabbit trail. - In the Bible, God
justifies
us when He saves us. This is accepted. However, what is left out is that the Bible also teaches thatGodly
peoplejustify
God saving them by letting God cause them to 'Stop their Sinning' and do His work in and through their life (Ephesians 2:10). The devil not only accuses men before God but falsely accuses God before men. The devil points to theunjust
and to theungodly
. He then says that God isunjust
because God saves theunjust
while refusing salvation to theungodly
, even though they both live the same way. The devil can not do this with theGodly
because, even though the change happens after their initial profession, their changed life doesjustify
God saving them. - God reserves judgment of someone's salvation to His role as
Lord
and tells us to keep our nose out of what He handles in that role. There are verses which people say prove that theunjust
are lost and verses which people say prove that they are saved. We are to leave the question of their salvation to God, tell them that we have to treat them according to how they live even if we do not call them liars, and warn them that the Bible saysFor it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than, after they have known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto them.
(2Peter 2:21) - The
judgment seat of Christ
is God's legal System for saved people. - There is a lot of doctrinal error taught about the
judgment seat of Christ
in a lot of 'good godly Bible believing fundamental' churches. We will only touch the surface of these errors in this lesson. - The note for Romans 3:31 lists 16
laws
(law of Christ
,law of faith
, etc) which the Bible says apply to saved people. It explains that we are not 'lawless'. For example, step off the side of a 30 story building with nothing more than what God gave you and nothing between the top of the building and the cement on the ground. See how well you can prove that God set aside the laws of gravity for saved people. Everybody that's still alive, after that test, should agree that there are laws of God that apply to saved people and that there are consequences for violating them. Even though most people probably did not know of all of the laws which are listed in the note for Romans 3:31, their ignorance does not set aside these laws any more than the law of gravity can be set aside by ignorance. - Where there is a
law
, there must be ajudgment
for keeping or violating thatlaw
. Thejudgment seat of Christ
is where saved people arejudged
for keeping, or violating, thelaws
which apply to them. The laws enforced and the consequences of obeying or disobeying those laws are different than what we find in other Legal Systems, (such as thegreat white throne
Legal System). However, the principals which apply to all legal systems also apply to thejudgment seat of Christ
. - God's
judgment
always has rewards for obedience and punishment for disobedience. There are so many examples in the Bible that I shouldn't have to list them for this fact to be accepted. Malachi 3:6, Hebrews 13:8 and many other places teach us that God does not change. Therefore, a claim that God will judge anyone differently than He has done in the past is a lie of the devil and an attack on the character of God. A lot of 'good godly Bible believing fundamental' people believe that saved people cansuffer loss
(1Corinthians 3:15) at thejudgment seat of Christ
, but they also believe the lie that there is 'no punishment'. 1Corinthians 3 does NOT say that nor does any other place in the Bible. To claim that Jesus Christ gives punishment in this world but does not do so is a claim that the Bible lies when it saysJesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever.
(Malachi 3:6; Hebrews 13:8) - You prove yourself to be a lying hypocrite to say that there is no punishment given by Christ ('timeout only') and the call yourself a
Christian
(Christ like) and then to spank your children. By spanking your children, and claiming to be aChristian
, you are testifying (by your life) thatChrist
punishes His children.Christ
isfaithful
and teaches us to display His character by telling us to befaithful
in our life which is supposed to display His character and influence. To claim that He treats us one way all of our physical life and then treats us different after we get to Heaven is to proclaim that He is NOTfaithful
. That is a lie of the Devil and an attack on His character. - While there is much more evidence based upon the character of
Christ
, and upon other principals, we will move on with a simple statement that God is consistent andfaithful
. Therefore, thejudgment seat of Christ
is like any other judgment by God. It has rewards for obedience and punishment for disobedience. - The
judgment seat of Christ
provides blessings but there are conditions that have to be met. - God is not a communist or a socialist. Nor does God support any other social system which is similar. Simply put, God is a capitalist Who gives variable rewards based upon variable obedience. He also gives variable punishment based upon variable sin. Once more we run into confusion and doctrinal error because God's people are not
rightly dividing the word of truth
(2Timothy 2:15). We go to Heaven, or thelake of fire
based upon if we have a personal relationship with God (are saved) or not. However, that is totally separate from God's judgment of our obedience. Any parent understands that sometimes you reward your kids and sometimes you punish them, based upon their obedience and their being your child does not prevent punishment nor does their disobedience make them stop being your child. The existence of a relationship, and the results of what is done within that relationship, must be separated if we are torightly divide the word of truth
. - Many people preach that 'God's retirement program is literally out of this world'. They leave out the fact that it is a '401k'. If you don't put anything into a '401k', you don't have anything for a retirement. If you put it in and then take it back out, you don't have anything for a retirement.
- The only place in the Bible that we find any form of the word
mansion
is in John 14:2. Jesus had taken His leaders to a private meeting where He excluded over 99% of the people who came to His 'church'. There he saidIn my Father's house are many mansions
. However, He did not promise one to them but saidI go to prepare a place for you
. Each of the people who were still there spent their lives in His service and died as martyrs. Yet He only promised thema place
. I am not denying that there aremany mansions
and I am not denying that people living today may get one. However, it is absolutely impossible for all of us to get amansion
. Again, I will not go into the details here but while some people will get amansion
, I believe one preacher was right when he preached about 'Being Homeless in Heaven'. Now, I have lots of Bible to back my mouth so find your proof in the Bible (not in erroneous Baptist doctrine) before you come to disagree. - Matthew 6:19-21 says
Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: But lay up for yourselves treasures in Heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.
God would not tell us to do this if we didn't need to do it. We see in these verses the warning aboutmoth or rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal
. Neither of that will happen if you do not have anytreasures
. Further, these verses tell usFor where your treasure is, there will your heart be also
. Just a little further (in Matthew 6:24 and Luke 16:13), we readNo man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.
If we are notlaying up for ourselves treasures in Heaven
then we arelaying up for ourselves treasures upon earth
,serving'mammon
and disobeying a direct commandment from our God. In addition, to these verses, we also findtreasure
andHeaven
found in Matthew 13:44, 52; 19:21; Mark 10:21; Luke 18:22. - The parables about the
pounds
(Luke 19) andpenny
(Matthew 20) both teach variable rewards. There is much more doctrine in these parables which is related, but which I will not go into, except to point out a critical truth taught by Luke 19. Luke 19:13 saysAnd he called his ten servants
. At the time of judgment, one was toldhave thou authority over ten cities
. One was toldBe thou also over five cities
. One was toldTake from him the pound, and give it to him that hath ten pounds
. We are told about the other 7But those mine enemies, which would not that I should reign over them, bring hither, and slay them before me
. Therefore, the last 8 went into Hell and the one who had notreasure
, for his retirement, went to Heaven. - 1Corinthians 3:12-13 says
Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble; Every man's work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is.
This section very definitely teaches variable rewards. Thegold, silver, precious stones
are due to our letting Christ do His work through out lives. Thewood, hay, stubble
are due to our own religious works. Bottom line: let Christ work through your life. - At the time of writing this lesson, I was also doing the detailed part of the Book Study on Romans. Within that Study I deal with our
inheritance
. As pointed out there, there is always some difference between theinheritance
received by multipleheirs
and that difference is based upon how eachheir
maintained their personal relationship with the person leaving theinheritance
. Once more we see that we want to let Christ work through our life if we want to increase our personalinheritance
. - The
judgment seat of Christ
provides punishments. It does not give 'time out'. - We have already covered how the consistency found in the Bible and in the character of God require there to be punishment for disobedient people at any
judgment
that is done by God. Those points will not be repeated here. - Romans 14:10 says
But why dost thou judge thy brother? or why dost thou set at nought thy brother? for we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ.
The last sentence in this verse starts withFor
, which means 'Here's why'. Thejudgment seat of Christ
is 'why' we should notjudge thy brother
and we should notset at nought thy brother
. It is not just because we will get some 'time out' in Heaven or not receive some toy but we willsuffer loss
, which means that people who do the first two sentences of this verse will be hurt when our God gives saved people the just results for deliberately hurting another child of God. - 2Corinthians 5:11 says
Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord'
. The Bible usestherefore
to indicate a result (for
) that is only after what came before it (there
). This is opposed to the use ofwherefore
which tells us a result (for
) that existswherever
you look. 2Corinthians 5:11 follows 2Corinthians 5:10 which saysFor we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad.
Thus,the terror of the Lord
only occurs afterthe judgment seat of Christ
. Since only saved people will be atthe judgment seat of Christ
,the terror of the Lord
is only applied to saved people. In addition, since saved people will not be atthe judgment seat of Christ
until after they get to Heaven, and sincethe terror of the Lord
is applied after that,the terror of the Lord
must occur in Heaven. Now you will hear a lot of distractions from 'good godly Bible believing fundamental' preachers such as 'Well,the terror of the Lord
is because of lost people'. That may be true but it does not affect who it is applied to or when it is applied. Another preacher told me that if I could not prove conclusively what the Bible said thatthe terror of the Lord
was then he could ignore it. We've already covered the foolishness of claiming that ignorance negates the promises and laws of God. Drop your new descendent off that 30 story building before they learn about the Law of Gravity and prove for yourself how well ignorance sets aside the laws of God. Bottom line, if you don't want to receivethe terror of the Lord
atthe judgment seat of Christ
thenpersuade men
and realize that you will bemade manifest unto God; and (the) consciences
of other men. ('Stop your Sinning' if you do not want your sinsmade manifest
to all of Heaven.) - God does not
wipe away all tears
until Revelation 21:4. That is at least 1,000 yearss afterthe judgment seat of Christ
. God can notwipe away all tears
unless some exist and the only people left at Revelation 21:4 are saved people. Again, we find distractions presented by 'good godly Bible believing fundamental' preachers such as the claim that there will be 'no tears in Heaven' until this one instant. That does not match what is found elsewhere including the fact that the judgment of God which can cause tears occurred 1,000 yearss earlier and there is not another judgment of saved people after that. While I could show verses which support this claim, I will not do so here. Simply put, people who ignore the warning of 2Corinthians 5:11 are risking having a personal experience with 1,000 yearss of tears. - The Bible clearly teaches that
the fear of the Lord
is given to God's people to make them 'Stop their Sinning'. (Please see the Subject Study called Fear The Lord for details.) Neitherreverence
notrespect
will do this. In addition, both of these words are in the Bible and a doctrinal truth is that no two words in the Bible have the same meaning. (That will be covered later.) There is a lot of error taught about what the Bible says aboutfear
with the end result being that our God given motivation to cause people to 'Stop their Sinning' has beenmade the commandment of God of none effect by your tradition
(Matthew 15:6). - While I could go on I will stop here. As already covered, there will be variable punishments at
the judgment seat of Christ
. A lot of people will not experience these things but some people will. The wise will heed the warning of God and fools will ignore the warning.
Please also see the Subject Study called Fear The Lord for more about God's judgment of His people. A lot of God's people ignore the warning about judgment coming because preachers are preaching doctrinal error about the Biblical interpretation of fear the Lord
. They teach that we only must have 'deep abiding respect' for God. This leads to the doctrinal error of justifing sin because 'God will understand my weakness'. Our Bible tells us that the frar of the Lord
is given to cause us to 'stop our sinning'. The doctrinal error teaces people that there is another way to God's blessings besides obedience. This is a sin unto death
(Romans 6:16) and can result in God bringing punishment upon the preacher that is up to and including death. One 'good godly Bible believing fundamental 1611 KJV only preacher' was removed from that pastorate and another buried his adult son. You are warned of the consequences. Your actions prove what resuly you want from God.