Proverbs 20:8-10
8 A king who sits on the throne of judgment
Scatters all evil with his eyes.
9 Who can say, “I have made my heart clean,
I am pure from my sin”?
Can you say it?
Most cannot.
The throne of judgment is too high to ascend. (Solution = Christ pulls us up to heavenly places.)
The scrutiny too difficult. (Solution = judge the sin. Not yourself. Scatter it with your eye of disapproval. Not yourself.)
The first step alone up the staircase to the throne of judgment is jarring.
Awareness.
My stomach flip flops when I remember moments when I became aware of my wickedness.
It usually involves my conscience giving me a good talking-to.
Sometimes awareness only came when I was confronted by a friend to let me know that I hurt them, lied to them, or crushed them.
I remember once shrinking down, my face in the carpet, my body hot with embarrassment, wishing that I could sink into the floor because I was so ashamed at what I had done.
Ignorance is bliss.
But it doesn’t help you climb up to your thrown.
If you don’t get to the throne, you can’t judge. If you don’t judge, you lose power.
If you lose power, evil takes over.
“The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.”
—Edmund Burke
And that’s why the transformation that occurs when one believes in Jesus Christ matters.
The transformed man can climb, will climb, can judge, and will judge.
But he will not judge himself, for he is redeemed. He is no longer the thing being judged.
2 Corinthians 5:21
21 For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.
1 Corinthians 4:3
But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged by you or by a human court. In fact, I do not even judge myself.
If the redeemed in Christ do not judge even themselves, what are they to judge on their throne?
Evil.
It is to be scattered. Banished.
Not you.
You are not evil if you are in Jesus.
And that is how you ascend the stair.
The weight of your guilt doesn’t keep you on the floor anymore. It has been removed.
If you know deep inside that you cannot be judged because Jesus already bore your punishment, being made aware of mistakes, sins, failures, hypocrisies, and deficiencies, won’t cause you to lie or hide.
You’ll ascend the stairs, sit on the throne, and scatter the evil.
Is there anything that you are hiding because you fear judgment?
Who could you confess your hidden shame, sin, or mistake to today?
How might that remove the power it has over you?
Pastor Joshua
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Such a helpful perspective, stated so well. Very practical help. Thank you.
Thanks!