Righteous Judgment

In Adventism and other Sabbatarian circles, the heart is judged according to the works; works of the law such as the Sabbath.

With God and righteous judgment, works are judged according to the heart.

(1 Samuel 16:7) 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.

Christ Jesus, God Incarnate, commanded the people to judge righteous judgment and not according to appearance in relation to His working on the Sabbath, performing works of love and compassion, which are attributes of the Holy Spirit, in relation to those afflicted and suffering.

Knowing full well how big Adventists are on following the commandments of God, I reiterate this commandment of God Incarnate that “we” are commanded to judge righteous judgment, looking to the heart and intent of heart, and not according to appearance. Which, in Jesus’ example, He was being judged by the religious elite and others as guilty of sin for having worked on the Sabbath, doing good works He declared lawful on the Sabbath; good works as contrasted to evil works.

Sabbatarians not only neglect to judge righteous judgment when it comes to the Sabbath, they adamantly refuse to do so. In Adventist theology, the heart is defined by the work where to transgress the Sabbath commandment by working on the Sabbath is to sin due to how they interpret sin, that being the transgression of the law, citing the flawed English translation of 1John 3:4 that they embrace, tenaciously, and to the exclusion of all other passages of Scripture that deal with and define sin.

You know them by their fruits, and judging others according to appearance is not categorized by God as good fruits. Doing so is an evil fruit; unrighteous judgment. It is disguised as good fruit by claiming the Sabbath law to be a “moral” law; a moral imperative, where a “good” work is interpreted to mean an approved work that meets their approval, where they judge the work and not the heart of the person producing the work. A work not meeting their approval is an evil, sinful work, regardless of motive, seeing as the Sabbath is a moral law.

God commanded the Hebrews, the legal party to that older covenant law, to keep the Sabbath by refraining from doing “any” work on the Sabbath… this from God who says He judges according to the heart. And when it came to the hearts of those Hebrews, He had this to relate:

(Jeremiah 17:9) The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?

(Jeremiah 32:30) For the children of Israel and the children of Judah have only done evil before me from their youth: for the children of Israel have only provoked me to anger with the work of their hands, saith the LORD.

God’s righteous judgment, based on the heart, meant that any and all their works were evil in His sight.

Hence, the restriction against “any” work they might have done on the Sabbath.

Then Jesus comes on the scene in the flesh and proclaims good works lawful on the Sabbath; good works they were incapable of truly performing, due to their evil, wicked hearts.

I reiterate here that those with this deceitful and desperately wicked hearts judge others, and even themselves, according to appearance; outward shows with no regard for what lays within, such as those with good hearts provided to the believers and followers of Christ Jesus how have responded positively to the Gospel declaration, being in receipt of a “new heart” from God.

They see — they witness people, Christians with the “new heart”, working on what they believe to be the Sabbath, and automatically conclude those people, those Christians, sin by doing so, based solely on outward appearance. You work on their Sabbath, and you sin. Period. Because “sin is the transgression of the law”, and you transgressed the law; the Sabbath law. The sign of that older covenant God made with the Hebrews with the evil hearts of unbelief whose works were all evil in the sight of God.

Adventists have to ignore much of Scripture in order to embrace the Sabbath of the old covenant, such as what Paul wrote in 1Timothy:

(1 Timothy 1:9-11) Knowing this, that the law is not made for a righteous man, but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and for sinners, for unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers, for manslayers, °For whoremongers, for them that defile themselves with mankind, for menstealers, for liars, for perjured persons, and if there be any other thing that is contrary to sound doctrine; °According to the glorious gospel of the blessed God, which was committed to my trust.

Who are these righteous ones? Those whose righteousness was derived through faith; those who were given the “new heart” by God, that is a “good heart”, that results in good fruits ONLY, even if done on what Adventists believe to be the Sabbath, which has been rendered obsolete by Christianity and the New Covenant.

(Hebrews 8:13) In that he saith, A new covenant, he hath made the first old. Now that which decayeth and waxeth old is ready to vanish away.

(Hebrews 10:9) Then said he, Lo, I come to do thy will, O God. He taketh away the first, that he may establish the second.

The Adventist / Sabbatarian proof text drawn like a gun to “prove” sin is the result of transgressing the law states in the first half of that verse that sin also transgresses the law. Any sin, any evil or iniquitous act, in turn transgressed the law, resulting in a charge of sin, with the attendant punishment prescribed as a result: a death sentence. That law was a blood covenant law, where the death was prescribed by the law, where one’s blood was to be spilled out upon the ground, was met, was satisfied, was paid in full, through the sacrifice of Christ for sin.

So why are Sabbatarians invoking the law that has already been satisfied; the sin-debt paid for?

Their twisted sense of justice remains unfulfilled. They want others to join them in their dissimulation where righteousness through faith is derailed, replaced with a righteousness derived through outward appearance - "keeping" the Sabbath - regardless of the inward condition of one’s heart. Righteous judgment is dodged, avoided, replaced with unrighteous judgment, according to appearance; according to how carnal man judges others and himself. And using the law as the means to do so.

This is why the (their) Sabbath day is so rabidly defended. It is their religious yardstick they use to judge and deceive others with, and even themselves. Desperately wicked hearts trying to appear morally upright while sating the need to denigrate others perceived as inferior to themselves with the Sabbath being the determining factor in this comparison of the self with others.

It is appearance over substance of heart.

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It is important that you understand; Everything on this blog is based on the current understanding of each author. Never take anyone's word for it, always prove it for yourself, it is your responsibility. You cannot ride someone else's coattail into the Kingdom. ; )

Acts 17:11

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