Alright, let's take our Bibles
and turn with me to the book of Proverbs, chapter 24. Proverbs 24. I'd like to look at one verse
of Scripture, verse 23. Proverbs 24, 23. And I want to
consider, let me tell you what I'm I'm going to be considering this
morning out from that passage of Scripture, and it's this truth. Believers walk by faith and not by sight. I'll just read this in 2 Corinthians
4, verses 17 and 18. Paul, under the inspiration of
God's Spirit, said, For our light affliction, which is but for
a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight
of glory, while we look not at the things which are seen, but
at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen
are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal. Let's remember that verse of
scripture. We don't look, we don't consider, we don't see
any weight in the things that we see. But the things we don't
see, we walk by faith. Now, from that thought, let's
look for just a few minutes at Proverbs 24, 23. These things also belong to the
wise. It is not good to have respect
of persons in judgment. Now, here we have a word spoken
from the Lord. A word that is heard by faith
that's known and believed by a believer in the Lord Jesus
Christ. Those that have been made wise
unto salvation. This is what this says. Now I
want you to look again at that verse. Notice in that 23rd verse
some of these words are in italics. That means that they weren't
there. And I'm just going to look at the words that were there
originally, and I'm just not going to read. I mean, many times
these words are added and they are a help. Sometimes they're
not. But, listen, this is what the original said. Not good to
have respect of persons in judgment. The whole verse says, these also
to the wise. Not good to have respective persons in
judgment. Now, the Lord, by His Spirit,
moved upon Moses to set forth this truth when it came really
to the judges that were set up in Israel. Deuteronomy 1.17,
Ye shall not respect persons in judgment. But you shall hear
the small as well as the great. You shall not be afraid of the
face, man, for the judgment is God's, and the cause is too hard
for you. Bring it unto me, and I will
hear it." Now that Moses was speaking, but he was relating
what God had said concerning judgment. making a judgment call. So in
Proverbs 24 in verse 23, the first thing I want us to remember
is this. There's one judge. There's one
judge and it is the Lord Jesus Christ. Now I do know that men
are appointed as secular judges in this society to maintain obtain
order among people, and it's good. The Lord has raised up
the authorities that be. And we are to be in subjection
to the authority, because all authority is of God. Now, I mean,
somebody said, well, He's just a wicked so-and-so. Well, that may be. But it doesn't change the fact
that whoever God has raised up in authority, the Lord put him
there. Now that's one thing that I need
to be reminded of, you know. We got an election coming up
and I know who's going to get elected. I'll tell you that for
a fact. Whoever God puts there, that's
who's going to be elected. But whoever it is, that was the
best man for God's people. Now whether I understand that
or not, that's, you know, but I can tell you this. This is
the way it is. We are not to have respect of
persons in judgment. James said, and I'm going to
say something about this in a few minutes. James 2.1. My brethren,
have not the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory,
with respect of persons. Why? Because we don't know the
heart. When the Lord was going to raise
up another king after Saul, after he had rejected Saul from being
the king of Israel. I want you to see this. Turn
to 1 Samuel 16. 1 Samuel 16. Saul was rejected and God was
going to raise up another king. And so the prophet Samuel was
sent to a man's house named Jesse. And so being sent to find the
man of the Lord, the man of God. 1 Samuel 16.6. Now here Samuel
gets to Jesse's house. And picking up in verse 6, we'll
read through verse 13. 1 Samuel 6. It came to pass when they were
come that he, that is Samuel, looked upon Eliab and said, Surely
the Lord's anointed is before him. But the Lord said unto Samuel,
Look not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature,
because I have refused him. For the Lord seeth not as man
seeth, For man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord
looketh on the heart. Then Jesse called Abinadab, made
him pass before Samuel. And he said, neither hath the
Lord chosen this. Here was Samuel, he was looking
at him, looking at these sons, you know, that Jesse was bringing,
got my boys here. It wasn't the first one over,
let me show you the second one. And the Lord told Samuel, that's
not him. Then Jesse made Shema to pass
by. And he said, neither hath the
Lord chosen this. Again, Jesse made seven of his
sons to pass before Samuel. And Samuel said unto Jesse, the
Lord hath not chosen these. And Samuel said unto Jesse, are
here all thy children? And he said, there remaineth
yet the youngest, and behold, he keepeth the sheep. And Samuel
said unto Jesse, send and fetch him, for we will not sit down
till he come hither. And he came and brought him in.
Now he was ready, and with all of a beautiful countenance, goodly
to look to, and the Lord said, arise, anoint him, for this is
he. Then Samuel took the horn of
oil and anointed him in the midst of his brethren, and the Spirit
of the Lord came upon David, From that day forward, so Samuel
rose up and went to Ramah. Here's what happened. Samuel
started looking on the outward. He looked how tall they were,
how broad they were, how fit, according to the eyes of man.
These boys looked. God said, that's not him. Here's
the truth. When I said at the beginning
of this message, we walk by faith. We're taught, we don't possess
the wisdom to know one man or another, one situation over another. And therefore, we're exhorted
concerning judging others or respect of persons toward others.
We don't know. How can we look at someone according
to the flesh and know the heart? We don't. But the Lord knows
His own. The Lord knows His will, He knows
His pleasure, and we often form a mistaken judgment of characters. But the Lord values only that
which He gives. I've told you this before. I
thought about doing it, and I said, no, I'm not going to say that
again. But I'm going to say it again. I told you, I know, when I came
here. And of course, I'd been here
about five years, something like that. And I was talking to Brother
Don Fortner. And Brother Don, that I love dearly now, he's
our precious, precious friend. And he told me, he said, Marvin,
he said, I'm going to tell you something. He said, obviously,
you were the man to go to Katy. He said, but you would have been
my last choice. You'd have been the last one I'd have picked.
He said, I'd have chose everybody else before I chose you. And
I said, well, you know. He said, not because of what
you preach. He says, not that. He said, the
gospel you preach is the gospel. He said, but your character is
so different from Scott's. He said, Brother Scott was one
way, and he said, you're another. He said, you're just two different
people. But he said, that just shows you how stupid I really
am. He said, how do I know? How do I know? And I thought,
that's as good. This is the one thing I knew. I'm supposed to go to Keggy.
That's where I'm supposed to go. That's what I know. And so I came here. And the Lord, I'm so thankful,
was pleased to bless it. He blessed it to my heart. I
pray he did to you. We don't know. The Lord Himself,
He has a will. He has a purpose. His counsel. And it's going to stand. And
that which He imparts, fear toward Him. Respect toward Him. A love for Him. A love for His
gospel. That which He gives, that's what He sees. He sees
that heart that He's given. And we have no earthly idea what
the Lord is doing. He honors and blesses those who
have been least regarded. You know, David was the youngest. He was the youngest. You got
any more boys? Oh, well, I got that kid out
there in the field out there tending the sheep. He's the only
one I got left. That's all I got. Let's see him. And he walked
in, and God said, that's him, right there. Can you imagine
Jesse? What about these others right
here? I mean, these boys right here,
I mean, these boys are grown up. They're mature. They're this,
that, and the other. That's the one. David. His name means loving or beloved. And here was the one of God's
choice that was a beautiful picture and type of the Lord Jesus Christ. God chose a little boy that was
a shepherd. Taught him something about shepherding.
That one that could truthfully say, now the Lord is my shepherd. Back in this day right here,
the folks knew something about shepherds. The responsibility
of a shepherd. The need of a shepherd. The sheep's
need of a shepherd. And they don't even know it.
But God raised up this boy, and though all of the others appealed
to Samuel's natural senses, God chose the one that nobody
else would have chosen. Raised him up. We're admonished. It's not good to have respect
of persons in judgment. That is the Lord. The Lord doesn't.
I'll tell you this. Acts chapter 10 verse 34, then
Peter opened his mouth and says of a truth, I perceive that God
is no respecter of persons. You know what? You know when
he said that? When Peter said that? When God
sent these Jews, Peter and some Jews, over a man's name, a house
named Cornelius. Cornelius was a Gentile. Gentiles, according to the Jews,
were dogs. I mean, subhuman. You know, they're just... Gentile? The world? And here, now, the
Lord manifested His grace and mercy through Cornelius. Peter beheld the evidence of
God's grace and mercy in these Gentiles. That's when Peter said
of a truth, I perceive God's no respecter of persons. We thought
they were dogs. The world, subhuman. God will
never save one of those. You ever seen somebody and you
cross paths with them, you know, biggest rebel you ever met in
your life and you say, It's not even use telling him
to come hear the gospel. I know God's not going to save
him. He saved me. He saved you. Are we any different? Hold your
place there and turn to 1 Corinthians 1. 1 Corinthians 1. 1 Corinthians chapter 1, verse
26 to 29. Listen to the words of the Apostle
Paul. By the Spirit of God through
the Apostle Paul. For you see your calling, brethren. Here's what Paul is saying. He said, consider that you are
called. That's what he said. Consider your calling. Brethren,
how that not many wise after the flesh, not many mighty, not
many noble are called. But God has chosen the foolish
things of the world to confound the wise, and God has chosen
the weak things of the world to confound the things which
are mighty, and base things of the world, and things which are
despised have God chosen, yea, and things which are not to bring
to naught things that are. Why? That no flesh should glory
in his presence. But of Him are ye in Christ Jesus,
who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification,
and redemption, that according as it is written, he that glorieth,
let him glory in the Lord." Brother Henry Mahan made a comment on
that passage of scripture there when there's not many wise. Some
really wise men, not many mighty, not many noble. I don't remember
the queen, queen of England. Somebody said she was so thankful
for the word many, many, because it said not many noble. It didn't
say not any, but Brother Henry said this. He said, look around,
look around. He said, just notice those in
our midst that the Lord's been pleased to show mercy. He said,
there's not many, really, really. Not that there's none, but there's
not many real, real, highly influential people. He made a statement. He said, you don't see many just
strikingly handsome or beautiful people. He said, you know, there's
not some, but not many. Abraham Lincoln said, he said,
God must have truly been pleased with common people. There's so
many. But then somebody said, you know, that sounds good until
somebody considers, you know, calls you common. You know, we
don't, you know, we're so proud. But the thing about it is, is
that the Lord has been pleased to call the base things of this
world. The things that, you know, the
world considers less than. Look at Psalm 147. Psalm 147. Psalm 147, verses 5 to 11. 147, verse 5. Great is our Lord and of great
power. His understanding is infinite.
The Lord lifteth up the meek He casteth the wicked down to
the ground. Sing unto the Lord with thanksgiving.
Sing praise unto the harp. Unto our God, who covereth the
heaven with clouds, who prepareth rain for the earth, who maketh
grass to grow upon the mountains. He giveth to the beast his food,
and to the young ravens which cry. Now listen to this. Now
here's God. This is God that made all of
this. Created everything. Put it into existence. sustains
it by the word of his power. Listen to what he says in verse
10 and 11. He delighteth not in the strength of the horse.
He taketh not pleasure in the legs of a man. The Lord taketh
pleasure in them that fear him, in those that hope in his mercy. We look around and I'm telling
you, I'm telling you by nature what we're drawn to. able, in our opinion. Those who
can get the job done. Influential people got power.
You need something done, I got a friend. Let me make a phone
call. You know what I'm saying. I can help you out here. I'll
get that done right there. The Lord says He takes pleasure,
verse 11, in them that fear Him. And the fear, the respect of
the Lord that is given from above, that's what God takes pleasure
in. This is what our passage says
today. These things belong to the wise.
This is something that is the evidence of one made wise. Not good to have respect of persons
in judgment. The Lord is pleased to show mercy
and compassion to whomsoever He will. But it wasn't anything
in any of us that God saw that moved Him to make His choice. And you know that. Psalm 14 verse
3 declares, here's all of us, here's all of us. While I'm reading
this, turn to Deuteronomy 7. Deuteronomy chapter 7, I'll read
this passage then we'll read. Psalm 14, 3. All are gone aside. We're all together become filthy. And there's none that doeth good. No, not one. Now it would appear from that
passage of scripture right there that we realize There's nothing
in anybody that causes God to have respect to one over another. Well, there's Marvin. I'm telling
you, he's just so much more faithful than everybody else. He's just
so much more studious, consistent. No, here's me by nature. I'm always going aside. I'm altogether
in myself filthy. I don't do good. I don't do good. Whenever God was pleased to set
His affection upon Israel. Deuteronomy 7, verse 6 to 8. The Lord said concerning His
people, For thou art an holy people unto the Lord thy God.
The Lord thy God hath chosen thee to be a special people unto
Himself above all people that are upon the face of the earth.
Now, you think, Boy, there must have been something about those
Jews, the Israelites. Verse 7 says, The Lord did not
set his love upon you, nor choose you, because you were more in
number than any people. For you were the fewest of all
people. But because the Lord loved you, because he'd keep
the oath which he had sworn unto your fathers, hath the Lord brought
you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you out of the house
of Bondman from the hand of Pharaoh, king of Egypt. You know why the
Lord has shown mercy and compassion to anybody? Because He chose
to. We're all dug out of the same
lump. We're all sinners by nature. We're sinners by choice. Sinners
by practice. But Almighty God has mercy upon
whom He will. So therefore, having respect
of persons, That's not wise. To have respect of persons, if
it's in judgment, as far as a judge is concerned, concerning the
rights or dictates of his mind, to have respect of persons, one
to another, is not wise. And we would resent it. If there
was a judge that showed respect to somebody, just one of the
good old boys or something like that, what if one of his best
friends is caught? What's the right thing to do? Justice. He's a judge. Do the right thing. But if we have respect of persons,
like even Samuel, the prophet did when he first saw Jesse's
oldest boys, right on down. What we're doing is, if we have
respective persons, Neil, what we're doing is we think we know
more than God. I think, you know, I've seen
this, you have too, where you have situations in churches where
we'll get a professional football player come in here. I mean,
you know, somebody's got some clout. Let him come over here
and talk to the kids. I tell you what, that'll get
them to straighten up and fly right. Do we think we know more than
God? What are we to do? Preach the gospel. Preach the
gospel. Preach the gospel to Him. One
thing the Lord is going to bless, not our looking at others and
respect one another. We hear what God has to say and
to have respect of person one over another is to think ourselves
wiser than the Lord, and is to disregard His Word and His wisdom. We obey, we fear, we regard men
rather than God when we do. Let's remember we are what we
are, who we are by the grace of God and we walk by faith,
led by God's Spirit and we're not to look to, look upon, or
to judge our brethren according to our standards or the dictates
of men. In closing, turn back to, I said
I was going to say a little bit more, turn back to James chapter
2. Now I'm going to close with this scripture. James 2. I'm
going to read verses 1 to 9. James 2, 1. My brethren, have
not the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with
respect of persons. For if there come under your
assembly a man with a gold ring and goodly apparel, And there
come in also a poor man in vile raiment. And you have respect
to him that weareth the gay clothing, and say unto him, sit thou here
in a good place. And say to the poor, stand thou
there, or sit here under my footstool. Are you not then partial in yourselves,
and become judges of evil thoughts? Hearken, my beloved brethren,
hath not God chosen the poor of this world rich in faith?
and the heirs of the kingdom, which he hath promised to them
that love him. But ye have despised the poor. Do not rich men oppress
you, draw you before the judgment seats? Do not they blaspheme
that worthy name by the which you're called? If you fulfill
the royal law according to the scripture, thou shalt love thy
neighbor as thyself, you do well. But if you have respect of persons,
you commit sin, and are convinced the law as transgressors. What
he's saying is if you do have respect for persons, you're disobeying
the Word, the Law of God. Brother Henry also said that
found among the saints. They're no rich or poor. Somebody in this congregation
this morning has got more than anybody else. Somebody does. Somebody in this congregation
has got the least of all. But you know who we all are in
the Lord? We're brethren. Important, influential, not important. We're brethren. Great or small, black or white,
male or female. To brethren, Christ is all and
in all. We're going to leave all this
behind. And in that day, you know what we're going to have
in that day? Him. Him. We have no right, and truly by
our new man, we don't desire, we don't want to have respect
of person. Now we war against the old man,
I understand that. But we war against showing partiality, favoritism,
because of any kind of physical or material differences. Believers
are all chosen, redeemed, called, and directed children of the
same Father. We have one Father, all of us.
We believe and we trust the Lord Jesus Christ. And we've been
all rescued out of the slough of despond by the same spirit. We worship God. It's not wise,
it's not good, it's not good to have respective persons. May
the Lord keep us, direct us, teach us that for his glory and
our good.