Proverbs 18, 13, he that answereth
a matter before he heareth it, it is folly and shame unto him. Now, this exhortation and warning,
I suppose, is clearly given because we're prone to that. There are
several reasons why people do this. They answer a matter, or
that is, Judgment concerning a matter Before they hear it Why would somebody do that well
a lot of people make poor judgments based on appearance The Lord said don't judge things
based on the way they look but judge righteous judgment People have been assumed to be
guilty because they just look like criminals to me or to you. Judging books by their covers
is very common. And so a matter might be judged
before it's even heard based on that. Maybe you know something else
about somebody that makes you assume something in a completely
different matter. You're judging a certain matter,
and because you know something else, you assume something in
this matter. That's not necessarily true.
That's a common way that a matter is answered before it's heard. You might believe slander concerning
somebody, Maybe it's even repeated by many. It may be false. Or even if it
is true, it may not have any bearing on the matter to be answered. And so you answer the matter
in your heart before you even hear it. One way people are guilty of
answering a matter without hearing it is just to go along with what
everybody else thinks. You haven't really heard anything
specific about it, and yet, since the consensus of opinion is all
in one direction, you just sort of jump on the bandwagon. Old
prejudices, personal hunches, Foolish assumptions can all cause
bad answers to a matter. And as our text says, make fools
of us and bring shame upon us. I can think of examples of this
that I've been guilty of and I imagine you probably can as
well. Our Lord addressed this principle
in John 7.23, if you'd please turn there. Look at it with me John 7 23 This is what we just quoted a
moment ago Judge not according to the appearance
of John 7, 23, if a man on the Sabbath day received circumcision
that the law of Moses should not be broken, are you angry
at me because I have made a man every whit hole on the Sabbath
day? Judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment. Don't judge, well, this is the
way I see it. judge righteous judgment. Now this passage is significant
to our text, not only because of the simple principle stated
in verse 24, but also because of the source from which our
Lord reasoned in verse 23, the word of God. Remember what Moses did. Remember
what the scripture says. If we are to judge righteous
judgment, how are we gonna do that? Who will determine what
is righteous and what is not? Men like to form misinformation panels and get a group of people
together to decide what's true and what's not true. I guess,
especially in religion. They have these councils and
things to decide what's true and what's not true. How are
you gonna do that? Only God can do that. We have
one source of righteous, perfect truth and judgment in this world. It's the source that all of our
laws are based on, some of them very loosely and very foolishly, but all moral law, all civil
law, all criminal law, all law is based on what God says is
right and what God says is wrong. You can't follow your conscience
because it's as depraved as the rest of you. One man can feel guilty about
taking a pencil from the storeroom at work, while another man murders
his mother-in-law and never misses a wink of sleep. You can't follow
your conscience. We have one source. And according
to this book, there's really just one matter that needs answering. One thing is needful. What think
ye of Christ? Don't answer that until you've
heard the matter. Don't answer based on hearsay.
Don't answer based on the opinions of men. Don't answer based on
the consensus of the majority. You've got to hear the matter.
You've got to hear it. There's a problem with that. And the problem is that almost
all of the people that claim to present this matter of Christ,
who he is and what he did, misstate the matter. Just about every one of them.
I have friends sometimes friends in Texas where I'm from and friends
in other places. And they'll ask me, I'm interested in what you preach,
but where can I hear that? Where can I go? And what are you gonna tell them? Somebody that lives in a city
where there's not gospel within 300 miles. What are you gonna say? You've
got to listen online. You've got to find somebody that
speaks according to the word of this prophecy. Because if the matter is misstated,
how are you gonna answer it? If you hear the matter from them,
from the religion of this world, you haven't really heard the
matter. And we're warned about this in
the word of God. First John 4, one, beloved, believe
not every spirit, but try the spirits, whether they are of
God, because many false prophets are gone out into the world. And if you look at the context
of that verse in 1 John 4, 1, you'll see that the basis upon
which it says to try those spirits is the person of Christ. Who is he? Where'd he come from? What did he accomplish? as he's revealed in this book.
And it's vitally important now. It's vitally important. It's
of eternal life and death consequence to find a man that God has sent
to preach the gospel of Christ right from the word of God. Isaiah
8.20 states the plain truth concerning this, to the law and to the testimony. That's this. to the law and to the testimony.
If they speak not according to this word, it is because there's
no light in them. Don't answer a matter based upon
false information. Don't answer the matter until
you've heard it as it is written from God himself. Listen to Matthew 4, 4, and think about it in light of
our passage, our verse of scripture and Proverbs. The Lord said,
it is written, man shall not live by bread alone. Now that doesn't mean that bread
doesn't have all the nutrients in it to sustain life. It's talking
about food. Man doesn't live by just food, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth
of God. If you believe God, faith is not believing in God.
If you believe God, you believe Every word of God, all of the
word of God, everything he says. Don't believe that God loves
everybody just because a bunch of men in suits are saying that. Don't believe that Christ died
for everybody just because most people do. Hear the matter before you answer. And there's another problem. Not only are most people misstating
the matter, but even if somebody states the
matter as it is from the very word of God, you have no way of hearing it. Our scripture says, hear the
matter before you answer it, before you make a judgment. And
you don't have spiritual ears to hear. But the wonderful gospel, the
good news of the Lord Jesus Christ is that God has always somebody
telling the matter like it is. And through that means he'll
give you faith, he'll give you ears to hear if he's pleased
to, to judge righteous judgment. If you hear from God, the one
matter that matters is one that you must and shall
answer. You're going to answer this matter now. You're answerable
to God. He's not answerable to you. But you're answerable to him.
If you hear from God himself, who Christ is, you'll fall in
love with him. And you're going to bow to him. You're not going to try him.
Like religion said, isn't it time to try Jesus? No, it's not.
It's time to fall on your face and beg him for mercy. That's
what it's time to do. It's high time for that. If you hear from God himself,
from his Holy Spirit, as the gospel goes forth, What Christ
did for sinners like you, you're gonna trust him. Your judgment on the matter by
the very grace of God himself is gonna be this. Christ is my
righteousness. Christ is my sin offering. He's
my all and end all. So here, Do you see that in our,
hear the matter. Hear the matter. Keep hearing
the matter. No matter what, hear the matter.
Prioritize everything else in such a way that you hear the
matter. Hear the matter until. The scripture
says, hear until. Until what? Take heed. as unto a light that
shineth in a dark place until. How long, how many times? How
often do I have to go to church? You know, the way people talk.
Until. Until the day dawn. Until the
sun comes up in your heart. Until the day star arise in your
black heart. and gives the light of the knowledge
of the glory of God in the face of his son. And answer. Answer, hear and answer. Don't
just agree or disagree, answer. That is, make judgment based
on your hearing of the matter. By the grace of God, if you hear
with an ear of faith, answer. The believer's whole life is
an answer to this matter. For the love of Christ constraineth
us because we thus answer, we thus judge. That if one died for all, then
we're all dead, and that he died for all, that they which live
should not henceforth live under themselves, but under him which
died for them, and rose again. What's your answer? Have you
heard the matter? Answer. Answer. May our every judgment on everything be what it is because by the
grace of God, we've heard the matter. We know who he is. We know what he did. We know
why he did it. And we know where He is now by
His grace. Let's pray.