Go ahead and turn your Bibles to Daniel chapter 5. Alright, so I've finished seven lessons on this subject of human rights and now I'm going to do an advanced lesson or two, maybe this one and then one more, that will be a deep dive on a couple of things that pertain to this subject. And today's lesson is an advanced lesson and it's going to require some thinking. The lessons that I'm going to do here and perhaps next week are going to be some things that I found through my study of this subject on human rights and what the Bible says about it and some notes that I took while I was studying these subjects and now I'm gonna kinda go into some in-depth stuff here. So to begin I want to draw your attention to these scales of justice again. The scales of justice like I had from last week and the Bible says that God weighs everything in scales or in balances And if you'll see there in Daniel chapter 5 verse 27, the Lord said to Belshazzar, Thou art weighed in the balances, and art found wanting. Alright, so God was weighing Belshazzar. The Bible says in Proverbs 16 verse 2, All, all the ways of a man are clean in his own eyes, but the Lord weigheth the spirits. The Lord weigheth the spirits. How do you even weigh a spirit? I don't know, but God does it. He weighs the spirits. God weighs things. All these weights have to do with a balance, a proper balance, and has to do with justice and scales and things being equal. Okay? Alright, so God records every single thing and evidently has scales that weigh all things and He will bring all things into judgment. And the Bible says in 1 Samuel 2.3, "...Talk no more, exceeding proudly. Let not arrogancy come out of your mouth. For the Lord is a God of knowledge, and by Him actions Actions are weighed. Actions are weighed. Now, I've got a lot of verses here today. There's not going to be time for you to flip to every one of them, so I'll give you the reference. We'll turn to a few of them, but I've got a lot of scriptures, so we'll have to move through these. Now, the Bible says that God weighs actions. So the other thing the Bible says is that He weighs words. The Bible says in Matthew 12 verse 36, But I say unto you that every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment. So when we deal with justice, we talk about the scales of justice even in our society, and justice is supposed to be equal for all men. And so when we're dealing with the subject of justice and scales and weights, we're dealing with judgment. And the Bible says, as Jesus said, every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give an account thereof in the day of judgment. They're going to give an account to God for the words that they spoke. Furthermore, God doesn't only weigh actions or judge actions and judge words, but he also weighs and judges thoughts. The Bible says in Hebrews 4.12, For the word of God is quick and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing of sunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts, thoughts and intents. of the heart. Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight, but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do." The Bible says in Ecclesiastes 12.14, ìFor God shall bring every work into judgment with every secret thing, whether it be good or whether it be evil. So the lesson today is an advanced lesson on the subject of the Great White Throne, the Great White Throne Judgment. So God weighs everything, which makes sense because God's nature is that of a just judge. That's what Abraham asked God, shall not the judge of all the earth do right? He absolutely will. God is a just judge. He is not a corrupt judge. If God were a corrupt judge, then He would not do right. God is a just judge, so He will always do the right thing. Furthermore, every action, every word, and every thought that is contrary to God's nature must be judged. Because God is who He is, and God's nature, God is supreme, God is omniscient, God is omnipresent, God is omnipotent. And so every action, every word, or every thought that is contrary to His nature must be judged. If one of his creation has a word, thought, or action that is contrary to God's nature, that action must be judged. God's scales are not balanced according to political correctness. God's scales are not balanced according to society's moral relativism. Nor does God weigh you in a scale with another person. Everybody likes to think, well I'm not as bad as Hitler. That's usually the thing you hear. But God doesn't put Hitler on one side and you on the other. That's not how that works. God's scales are not calibrated according to the righteousness of Adolf Hitler. God's scales are calibrated according to his righteousness. own righteousness and anything less than that, anything less than God's righteousness, anything less than action, word, or thought will unbalance the scale. So perfect balance on this scale is God and God's nature and God's righteousness and anything less than that from you will unbalance the scale. And that's a problem. Now it's important to understand this and view this entire subject of justice from the perspective of God's scale or God's balances. It'll help you understand this whole thing. And justness, justice really, you think of the word justice, same with righteousness, it's kind of like this. Justice is simply just-ness. It's just. It's what's just. Just like righteousness is like right-ness. So justice or just-ness is associated with equality or equity. And that's why we have the scales of justice. They're supposed to be an equal scale. Now, just for the record, when I say equality, I don't mean social equality in the sense that everyone in society has to have an equal income and equal possessions and equal benefits. That's communism, which is anything but equality. What I'm talking about is equal justice as far as law being applied equally and fairly regardless of race, gender, creed, or class. Think about this. Now when it comes to the subject of justice and right judgment, it has to do with equality or equity or a thing being balanced. The Bible says in Colossians 4 verse 1, Masters, give unto your servants that which is just and equal. See how those two words go together? Knowing that ye also have a master in heaven. Turn to Proverbs chapter 1. Proverbs chapter 1, while you're turning there, I'm going to show you Psalms 98. So equal, when we're talking about justice and equality, equal is a good word, but because of the butchering of that word in our modern society these days, I'm primarily going to use the biblical word, or a similar biblical word, of equity. Equality is a biblical word, but equity is also a biblical word and it's similar So Psalms 98 verse 8 says let the hills be joyful together before the Lord for he cometh to judge the earth with righteousness shall he judge the world and the people with equity equity justness justice and truth In Proverbs chapter 1 verse 3, look at the words that the Bible strings together here. To receive the instruction of wisdom, justice, and judgment, and equity. You see how that word equal, equity, a proper balance, equal balance, those type of things come with that word justice a lot in judgment. So God's nature is that of perfect balance. I don't think any of us would disagree with that. God's nature is that of equity. Perfect balance has to do with equity. And God's nature is that of justice. Judgment and justice are called the way of the Lord in Genesis 18-19. Genesis 18-19, judgment and justice are called the way of the Lord. And so since God weighs and judges all things, and since perfect justice in all things has to do with perfect equity in all things, and perfect balancing in all things, we can conclude this. God's nature, okay, this is where we start getting into this advanced aspect of this lesson that you need to understand. God's nature requires that all things be balanced. God will never leave anything like that. Because God is a supreme God and a just God, and every action, word, or thought, ultimately, is accountable to Himself. He is not going to leave anything in this universe like that. everything has to be balanced because God's nature is that of perfect balance. So anytime one of his scales become imbalanced through a word or a thought or a deed or something like that, God is obligated to, God must rebalance it. because that is His nature to do so. The rebalancing of the scale doesn't have to be instant, and the rebalancing could be delayed for a long time. But anything that causes an imbalance must be rectified, and as far as God is concerned, all things must be balanced eventually, because He is a just judge. And a just judge is not going to leave things like that. He has to balance all things because that is His nature to do that. In Genesis 1-1 all things were balanced. In Genesis 1-1. And by the time we get to Revelation 21 with the new heaven and the new earth all things will be rebalanced. In Genesis 1-1 it was like this. And then something happened in Genesis 1-2 and basically the world has been like this ever since. But in Revelation 21 you know what you have? perfect rebalancing of all things. There will be no scale, so to speak, in the New Heaven and the New Earth that is out of balance. Because you remember, the thing that precedes the New Heaven and the New Earth is what? The Great White Throne Judgment. That's where all the scales will be balanced out. So any action, word, or thought that is contrary to God causes an imbalance and must be rectified. Hence God's law of sowing and reaping. If you sow evil, or if you sow sin, God will see to it that you reap evil. You sow evil, you reap evil. And that will balance out the scale. But the opposite is also true when it comes to good deeds. And this is something that is important for you as a Christian to understand. If you sow good works, let's say, for God, you sow righteousness, God will see to it that you reap rewards. He's got to balance out that scale. And that will balance out the scale the other way. Turn to Colossians chapter 3. Colossians chapter 3. This is an important thing for Christians to understand, and a lot of times this gets overlooked and ignored, frankly. But this is a Bible truth that you should understand and God wants you to understand. Colossians chapter 3 verse 23 says, And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men. Knowing that of the Lord ye shall receive the reward of the inheritance, for ye serve the Lord Christ. But he that doeth wrong shall receive for the wrong which he hath done, and there is no respect of persons. So you see that? Knowing that of the Lord ye shall receive the reward. You do good, God will reward you. You do wrong, he that doeth wrong shall receive for the wrong which he hath done. It's that simple. Whether you do evil or whether you do good, it unbalances the scale and God has to see to it that it be rectified because He is a just judge. So when you understand God's nature of justice or justness, if you will, you can properly fear the Lord, knowing that every sin is noted and slated for judgment or slated for chastisement. It has to be dealt with. Whether you can deal with it yourself by asking God to forgive you and confessing it to him and having it be cleansed by the blood, so to speak. Or you can just not repent and then judgment and chastisement has to be executed in order to balance the scale out, right? Because your sin causes it to be unbalanced. So now what are you going to do about it? Are you going to confess and forsake your sin? Or are you just going to hang on to that thing and let God balance out the scale with chastisement? Something like that. But you can also equally, if you understand God's nature of justness, you can also equally rejoice in the fact that God will reward you for your service for Him. Because every time you do something for God, it unbalances that scale. As far as God's concerned, He's not going to leave it like that. He's going to reward you for it. Knowing that of the Lord, you shall receive the reward of the inheritance. So, by the way, there's nothing arrogant about what I just said. That's just simply believing in who God is, which is what God wants you to do. The Bible says in Hebrews 11 verse 6, But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he that cometh to God must believe that he is No problem. All Christians believe that. But what about this next part? And that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him. Do you believe that God will reward you for your service for Him? A lot of Christians think it's humble to say, oh no, he's not going to reward me, I don't deserve anything. Well of course you don't deserve anything, but that's beside the point. The Word of God says that God's going to reward you. And He wants you to believe that. Because he that cometh to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him. God wants you to believe in both. Look at this, 2 Timothy chapter 4. 2 Timothy chapter 4. I don't know if you ever picked up on this, but in 2 Timothy chapter 4 Paul is writing his last epistle to Timothy right before Paul is facing his own execution. And in 2 Timothy chapter 4 verse 8 Paul says this, as he's reflected on his life, you know, and he's getting ready to be offered. He knows that his time is at hand to depart out of this world. He says, Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness. Alright, a crown, a reward, so to speak. And he says, Which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give, shall give me at that day, and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing. You see, Paul expected a reward. Paul had spent his life serving God, and those scales were like this in his service for God. And Paul expected a reward. He wasn't being arrogant. He wasn't being puffed up or anything like that. He just understands the nature of God. He understands he spent his life serving God, and so God's going to reward him. It's not that hard to figure out. He says, God is a righteous judge, and so he's going to reward me. And the implication is, if God didn't reward Paul for his service for him, God would be an unrighteous judge. Do you think God is going to be an unrighteous judge and just let someone serve God their whole life and then at the very end, the judgment, have nothing to show for it whatsoever? There are some Christians that preach like that. You serve God your whole life and you get before the judgment seat of Christ and your whole life goes up in flames and you're lucky if God flicks a nickel in your direction for your service for Him. What kind of God is that? That's not just. That's not even just. You say, well, I don't deserve anything. That's beside the point. None of us deserve anything. But the fact is, God has essentially hired us, in one respect, to be his servants, to go forth and serve him, and he's going to reward you for your service. So pretending that it is unspiritual to expect and anticipate rewards is essentially calling God a liar and a thief. Do you understand that? God hired you to serve Him and He said there would be a paycheck at the end, but you refuse to believe it? Well, that's not humility. That's a lack of faith clothed in pseudo-humility. That's fake humility. Cut it out. Look at Galatians chapter 6 verse 7. The Bible says, Be not deceived. God is not mocked. For whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. Period. The implication is that God would be mocked if someone, if anyone, got away with any sin. You realize, you understand that if a man sins in action, words, or thoughts, and then God never rectifies that in any way, at any judgment, at any time, then that man could, in essence, say, ha ha, I got away with it. I did something that the God of the universe didn't see me do. I got away with it. Ha ha. mock, making a mockery of God. And the other thing is if you are a Christian and you serve God and you do good and you sow to the Spirit, right, but then you don't get rewarded, well how is God being mocked in that respect? Well basically God's enemies can basically say, see Christian, you know the devil can tell the Christian, see Christian, I told you it was vain to serve the Lord. I told you that, ha, ha, ha, God didn't reward you. You know what that is? It's calling God a liar. If you understand this, and you understand that God's nature requires that it be like this, any sin God will deal with, and any good work God will reward. something done for him. Now the problem with the Pharisees, you remember that, they did good works, but it wasn't for the Lord. It was to be seen of men. And so when men would praise the Pharisees, he said, verily I say unto you, you have your reward. It's settled. You're not going to get any rewards at any kind of judgment for what you did, because all the good works that you're doing, you're doing to be seen of men. So when men reward you and clap their hands for you. Okay, well, the scales are balanced. That's it. That's all there is to it. So, Christian, you want to make sure that when you do good, you're doing it as unto the Lord and not unto men. Because if you do it as unto the Lord, then the Lord will reward you like we talked about last week. The whole thing you want as a Christian, you want the reward from your Father, because He's got some good rewards waiting for you. All right? So, all imbalanced scales must be rebalanced as far as God is concerned. And I'll come to that later, or come back to that later, but let's move on for now. to something else. I've also demonstrated in these lessons that God himself acknowledges that there is such a thing as rights for his created, sapient beings. What I mean by that is Cherubim are sapient beings. They are self-aware. They have knowledge. They have consciousness. I'm distinguishing these beings from things like animals and plants and bacteria. Cherubim, sapient beings, Men and angels. Cherubims have rights. Angels have rights. Man has rights. Humans. Now, there's a huge difference between these beings here, angels, cherubim, and men, and I want to point this out. Cherubim and angels are spiritual beings within the spiritual realm, and humans are physical beings within the physical realm with a soul in the spiritual realm. So, naturally, there's going to be a little bit of difference between these two realms, and as I've shown you over the last seven weeks, there are four universal human rites, and there are four sapient beings rights, universal rights for sapient beings if you will. The four universal rights for humans is as we've looked in these lessons I won't go in depth on all this again because we've hit it all before but you have a right to your life which hearkens to the commandment thou shalt not kill and then you have a right to your wife which hearkens to the commandment thou shalt not commit adultery then you have a right to your possessions which hearkens to thou shalt not steal. And then you have a right to a fair trial, which is connected with thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor. All right? And we've looked at all that before. And then there's four universal rights for all sapient beings, cherubim, angels, and man in the spiritual realm. You have a right to life, and I'll explain a little bit of this as we go. You have a right to liberty, and you have a right to choice or free will and you have a right to a fair Now, this is part of this advanced study that we'll be getting into on this stuff right here. I've spent a lot of time focusing on human rights within this world, but now I want to spend this lesson on the rights that extend throughout the universe and involve all sapient beings. So, try to think of these things, primarily these things right here, try to think of these things from the starting point of Genesis 1-1 when God created the heaven and the earth. At that time, in Genesis 1-1, there was no sin. God was not separated from His creation. Heaven was not separated from the earth. And the only beings in existence were God, cherubim, and angels. And by all indications, the inhabitants of the earth at that time, in Genesis 1-1, were the angels. Now, God gave all of His creation at that time. This is not hard to figure out. But at that time, the beings that God created, the angels and cherubim, He gave them life and liberty. Genesis 1. And as a matter of fact, I should also throw choice in there, but we'll deal with that in a minute. He gave them life and liberty. And that's perfectly reasonable and consistent with God's nature because the Bible says, where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is what? Liberty. Genesis 1.1 Creation, the Spirit of the Lord was there. Absolutely. There was no deep separating the heaven and the earth. They were together. And where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. And God's Spirit is life. It is the essence of life. So in Genesis 1.1, it is easy to see that there was life and liberty. I will just put those two up there for now. Life and liberty. There without life, think about it, without life there is what? Death. And without liberty there is what? Bondage. And there was no death and there was no bondage in Genesis chapter 1 verse 1. It was a perfect creation. Everything was perfectly balanced and there was life and liberty for God's creation. It was life and liberty for all because that is consistent with God's nature. And the same will be true of the new heaven and the new earth. There will be no boundaries and you will have eternal life and be free to move about the universe. Life and liberty. Now observe the progression of concepts that we have here with the four sapient beings' rights. If God creates a sapient life form, like a life form that has self-awareness, self-consciousness, then it should have liberty to live its life. Because life without liberty Life without liberty is not truly life. If God gives a thing life, then he should. It stands to reason that God would give that sapient being liberty. Because life is not truly life without liberty. And Patrick Henry even recognized this when he said, give me liberty or give me death. And he wasn't being melodramatic, okay? He wasn't just using some kind of, what do they call it, a shock title, you know, to get hits for his Twitter, YouTube stream, you know, give me liberty or give me death. He wasn't being melodramatic. He recognized that life without liberty is nothing more than just animated death. What's the point in living if you don't have liberty? A living person in a cage has no significant difference from a dead person in a coffin. What's the difference? Life is pointless without liberty. Your body needs freedom of direction. So God gave life and liberty. But in order for a sapient being to truly live its life in liberty, this would require freedom of choice. or free will. Now like I said, you're going to have to think with this lesson. If you're the type of person that likes to think, this lesson will be good for you, okay? Because this requires a little bit of thought. It's not hard to figure out, and it follows a pattern of thought, but these things are worth considering. God gave life and liberty, and for a being to truly live its life in liberty, this would require freedom of choice, or as we would call free will. Because liberty without free will is not truly liberty. Liberty is pointless without free will. Your mind needs to have freedom of decision. You say, oh, I have life and liberty, but I don't have freedom of choice. I'm controlled like a robot. Okay, well, you don't really have liberty and you don't really have life. So the nature of God is such that if He gives life to a sapient being, it follows according to His nature that that being would have liberty, and it also follows according to His nature that God would give that being freedom of choice or free will. But if God gave His creation the freedom of choice, then within that is the intrinsic possibility that God's creation could Choose or could will or could desire something that is contrary to God's will because that comes with free will, the possibility that one of his creations could choose something opposite than what he would choose. The intrinsic problem with free will is that it is at least possible that God's creation could desire something that is contrary to God's desires. In other words, when you have free will, this becomes a possibility. It doesn't have to happen, And it's not necessarily inevitable, but it is possible. Adam and Eve, for example, in the Garden of Eden, their eating of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil was not inevitable, it was just possible. So now consider this. If one of God's created beings did, one day, desire something that was contrary to God's desires, and chose to will something contrary to God's will, okay, let's say way back in Genesis 1-1 even, let's just say one of his beings chose something that was different from God. You would then have a dilemma, because you would have God's will essentially being this, we'll just make it very simplistic, And you would have one of his created beings will, essentially being this. Okay? They're opposites now. And the question that arises then is, who is right? Who would be right if God created His beings and gave them life, liberty, and free will, and then one of His beings decided something that was contrary to God's nature, was opposite from God, and God's will was this way, and the created being's will was this way now. They should all be this way in accordance with God's will, but what if one of them decided the opposite? Who would be right? Is God right simply because He is stronger than His creation? Is God right simply because He could zap that being with lightning and destroy it? Does might make right? Would God be just if He did that? See, this is a question worth considering. Would an earthly king be just if he simply destroyed any of his subjects that had a disagreement with him, simply because he had power to do so? Would his power and his ability to kill prove his righteousness and moral purity? No. It would just make him a tyrant. Well, in like manner, God is a just judge and God is not a tyrant. So if one of his created beings disagreed with him, then it would mean that the created being thinks that he is right and that God is wrong. All the while, God thinks he is right and his created being is wrong. But who is actually right? Who is really the one in the wrong? You say, oh well, God is right. Okay, well humor me here, but how do you know? Who gets to decide that? We know that Lucifer sinned against God and he had a desire and will that was contrary to God's will. Way back in Genesis 1-1, Genesis 1-2. Who gets to decide who is right and who is wrong? It's an interesting question. The Creator insists this, while the creation insists that. You say, well, why does this matter? Does it really matter if the creation has a will contrary to the Creator? Why is that such a big deal? I mean, if He has freedom of free will, why does it matter if one of His created beings desires something opposite from God? Isn't that okay? Isn't that okay? Well, when it comes to God who is sinlessly perfect in all things, that does matter. When the will goes contrary to God's will, that's a problem. Because by deliberately choosing a thing contrary to God's will, that being is stating that it is more right, i.e., more righteous than God. In other words, when a created being chooses something contrary to God's will, it's essentially saying, God's righteousness is pretty high, but he is wrong about this particular thing, and I am right, which means my righteousness, my rightness, I am right on this matter. I know God says this, but I think it's this way, and I think I am right. In other words, my rightness My righteousness is more than God's rightness. I am more right than God, i.e. I am more righteous than God. And this amounts to you being 100% righteous and God only 99% righteous because these two wills are opposites and they can't both be right. So when a created being chooses something contrary to God and insists that the created being is right, I am right. Even though this is not what God wants, I am right. You are saying that you are 100% righteous and God, he's a little lower than you. He's only 99% righteous. It amounts, when you do that, when you choose a will or a created being chooses something contrary to God's will, it amounts to you being righteous and God having some unrighteousness in him. because he's obviously wrong about this one little thing. That's what you're saying. It amounts to you being perfect and God being close to perfect, imperfect. It amounts to you elevating yourself higher than God. And by insinuating that God is wrong, you have accused God of folly. All of this simply comes from choosing a will contrary to God's will. That's essentially what you're doing. You've accused God of folly because you're right and you're insinuating that He's wrong. Because you can't both be right. And what that amounts to is condemnation of God. You have condemned God. That's a problem. So what we would have then is a controversy between God and His creation that required just judgment. And in a sense, God has been brought into judgment. He's been brought into court with His creation. Romans 3, 4, where we have, God forbid, yea, let God be true, but every man a liar, as it is written, that thou, God, mightest be justified in thy sayings, and mightest overcome when thou art judged. When thou art judged, when God is judged, who is judging God? Who is condemning God? Well you are when you sin and don't repent and you insist that you are right. You are condemning God when you reject Jesus Christ and insist that God lied when He said that Jesus is the only way. You're calling God a liar. You're condemning God. And now He has to overcome your condemnation of Him in judgment. in a court. The verse that Paul was referring to in Romans chapter 3 verse 4 is David's prayer of repentance after his adultery with Bathsheba and murder of Uriah. And in Psalm 51 verse 3, David says this, he says, For I acknowledge my transgressions. and my sin is ever before me. And David says, against thee, thee only, have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight. And then he says that, I'm saying all of this, David is saying, I'm admitting my fault, I'm acknowledging my sin, I'm saying all this, quote, that thou, God, mightest be justified when thou speakest, and be clear when thou judgest. In other words, David knows that he chose something that was contrary to God's will, and now there's a controversy as to whether David was right or if God was right. David committed adultery and murdered Uriah. And God said, thou shalt not commit adultery and thou shalt not kill. Who's right, David or God? That's essentially, God has been brought into controversy and to judgment with David. And David readily acknowledges that he's the one in the wrong. And by so doing, he is justifying God. He is clearing God. He is basically declaring God not guilty and declaring that God is right and I'm the one that's guilty. and that was the right thing to do. But, if David had held on to his sin, and let's say he didn't repent of it after Nathan had rebuked him. Let's say David held on to his sin, didn't repent of it, then he would be essentially insisting that he is right for what he did, and God was wrong for writing the Ten Commandments. And God got it wrong and David got it right, and thereby David would be condemning God. David would be judging God. God has now been accused by David of being wrong, being unjust, and being a liar. And now God has to have a trial, so to speak, so as to overcome when He is judged. That's what happens when people cling to their sin and don't repent. You are stating, I am right and you, God, are wrong. You've condemned God. And now, that's quite a crime. Now there's going to have to be a judgment. There's going to have to be a trial to figure out who's right and who's wrong. Listen, you want to know how you can unseat God Almighty from His throne? All you have to do is beat him in judgment. Beat him in court. If you can pull that off, you will be higher than him. You will be more righteous than him. But good luck with that. Job said this, Job chapter 9 verse 2, How should a man be just with God? If he will contend with Him, he cannot answer Him one of a thousand. He is wise in heart and mighty in strength, who hath hardened himself against Him, against God, and hath prospered. nobody, not one. Transgression against God and refusal to repent is condemnation of God whether the sinner is smart enough to realize it or not. But if God is the plaintiff, He's the one who claims to have been sinned against. And the created being with a contrary will is the defendant. He argues that he was the one that was right for going against God's will. Then again, the question arises, who gets to decide who is right? Who gets to decide in that trial between God and his creation? Who decides who is just? Can a judge rule in his own favor if he is part of the controversy? It's an interesting question. We would say absolutely not. I mean if Hitler was on trial for war crimes, but then Hitler was also the judge, how would that work? So how does this work? Can a judge rule in his own favor if he's part of the controversy? Can God rule in his own favor if he is part of the controversy? Interesting. It's an interesting question. Like I said, this is an advanced lesson, so this is going to require some thinking. As I've said many times before, if you'll study the Bible from the standpoint of a legal courtroom proceedings, it will deepen your understanding of the Bible. You see, because free will allows for the possibility of controversy between God and His creation, Free will, therefore, requires one more thing. It's not enough that you have a right to life, that God, now, it's not because you deserve these things, it's because God in his nature gives these things. You have a right to life, you have a right to liberty, and you have a right to free will. But because you have free will and you can choose to go against God, which if you do, you bring God into controversy with you, because of that, there's a requirement God's nature requires. If His beings are going to have free will, then there has to be a fair trial. Because free will without a fair trial is not truly free will. Free will is pointless without a fair trial. You see? You see how these things go together? Liberty is pointless, or I'm sorry, life is pointless without liberty. In other words, if you have life but you don't have liberty, your life is vanity, as the Bible says. But then again, liberty without free will is pointless, or vanity, as the Bible says. Liberty without free will is vanity. Choice and free will without a fair trial is also pointless. It's vanity. And the things that God does are not vanity. They're not pointless. They are verity. They're truth. The Bible says in Psalms 117, the works of His hands are verity and judgment. Okay? All His commandments are sure. They stand fast forever and ever and are done in truth and uprightness. Okay? So God has never created anything. Let me say this. Had God never created anything and just existed by himself forever, then obviously there would be no need for any rights or any kind of a fair trial. But his nature of being just and righteous requires that if God did decide to give life to sapient beings, he would have to then give them liberty and he would have to give them free will and culminate life, liberty, and free will with a fair trial. It's interesting to consider, but all of time, all of life, all of everything in existence in heaven and earth is vanity, is completely pointless unless there is such a thing as a fair trial with God, because this all culminates here. This is pointless, this is pointless, and this is pointless if there's no such thing as a fair trial, if God just condemns something willy-nilly. Therefore, I think it can be argued that a fair trial is the most fundamental right in the universe, which would explain why at the conclusion of all things there is a judgment, the Great White Throne Judgment. Revelation chapter 20 verse 11 the conclusion of this universe the conclusion of all things is a judgment a trial and it's going to be a fair trial. Revelation chapter 20 verse 11, And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away, and there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God, and the books were opened. And another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books according to their works. and the sea gave up the dead which were in it, and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them, and they were judged every man according to their works. A person's works are enactments of a person's will. And so the question raised at this judgment in essence is, was the individual's will in accordance with or contrary to God's will. That is basically the essence, the fundamental question of all things of that judgment is, was this man's or this angel or this cherubim, was this sapient being's will in accordance with mine or was it contrary to my will? That's basically the question that God will deal with at that judgment. If it is in accordance with God's will, then it is righteous. Because everything that is in accordance with God's will is righteous. But if it is contrary to God's will, then it is sinful. You see it has to do with God's nature. If it's in accordance with God's nature, then it's right. But if it's contrary to God's nature, then it's wrong. So even the question of salvation comes down to your will versus God's will. God says, this is the way, choose my son, Jesus Christ. And being in accordance with God's will is receiving Jesus Christ as your savior. But another person might say, no, I think this is the way, and I'm going to go my way. Well, that's going contrary to God's will because He told you what His will is, and rejecting Christ is sin, sinful. So, the question is, was the individual's will in accordance with or contrary to God's will? This question has to be determined in a fair trial. It has to be determined in a fair trial. And the great white throne will be a fair trial because God is a just judge. And allow me to emphasize something right here one more time. A fair trial is the most fundamental right in the universe. You have a right to a fair trial with God. Not because you are special. You have a right to a fair trial because God is just. That's why. If God denied you a fair trial, God's nature would be an unjust tyrant. if he denied you a fair trial. But God is not an unjust tyrant. God is a just judge. You have a right to a fair trial, not because of you or because you're special, but because of God and who He is. That's why you have a right to a fair trial. But if you have a right to a fair trial, then guess what that means? It means that you do have rights. And the statement by some Christians of, you have no rights, is not true. You most certainly do have rights. If you didn't have rights, then you wouldn't be reading about a great white throne in Revelation 20. You have a right to stand before God and have a fair trial. Otherwise, what's the point? Right? So you do, in fact, have rights with God. You have four of them. And it's not wrong to acknowledge those four universal, sapient beings' rights. It's against God's nature to deprive your soul of life and give you death unjustly. It's against God's nature to deprive your soul of liberty and give your soul bondage unjustly. And it's against God's nature to deprive your soul of free will and take your mind unjustly. And it's against God's nature to condemn your soul without a fair trial. That's against God's nature. These things are in accordance with God's nature. That's why they're your rights. It has nothing to do with whether you deserve it or not. It has to do with who He is. So this stuff about Christians don't have any rights is not true at all. Don't believe it. You do have rights. And you don't have to worry about God depriving your soul of rights. He can't because it's against his nature. Now listen, when it comes to the horizontal bodily human rights in this world, in the earth, God can violate your right to physical life. These rights have to do with man versus man. But God can violate your right to physical life because He gave you life. He can take it away. And He can violate your right to wife even. Now this isn't something that God does other than an exceptional instance with Mary. But think about this, Mary was Joseph's wife and God did not ask Joseph for permission to use Mary's womb. He violated his right to wife, but it's because in the horizontal realm, these are human rights among humans, and God is above, and he can violate these things, okay? So if any other man tried to violate the right to wife, then that would be a violation, but since God made, you know, in the case of Joseph and Mary, since God made Mary and God gave Mary to him, you know, the Bible says a prudent wife is from the Lord, God can do what he wants and not be in the wrong, all right? So the virgin birth, You know, Joseph could have said, hey, I've got a right to my wife. You can't do that. You know, but actually he can because God created her. So these these things pertain to man and man, not man versus God. These have to do with man and God. OK, so these are man and man. God can violate your right to your possessions. Because everything you have, He gave you. But then there's this last human right, and it's kind of interesting, thou shalt not bear false witness, which when I showed you before, when boils down, harkens to the right to a fair trial. And God Himself won't violate a fair trial, because He's a just God. And so once again, we come back to that. That and that. which is why I think that the right to a fair trial is the most fundamental right in the universe. The universe began with the creation of life and the universe will end with a judgment. In other words, it all starts with life and it all ends with what? A fair trial. The Great White Throne trial. The Great White Throne judgment. The Great White Throne will be a fair trial. The books will be opened and every man will be judged according to their works. Now let me quickly mention this. If the church, and what I mean by that is saved, born again Christians, if the church stands before God at this judgment, the Great White Throne, it would be nothing more than an official formality for us. And the reason why I say that is because, number one, our names are already in the Book of Life, so we don't have to worry about that. So if you're watching this and you're thinking, oh no, I've got all kinds of sins in my life, even though I've asked Jesus to save me, I'm not perfect, what's going to happen when I stand before God at that judgment? You don't have to worry about it. Your sins have already been judged by Jesus Christ on the cross when you accepted Him as your Savior. He took your place, and you acknowledge that by trusting Him as your Savior. All my works as an unsaved person were counted as judged by God and punished in the person of Christ on the cross. So, my name is already in the book of life, my judgment's already been paid for, and all of my works after salvation will have already been judged at the judgment seat of Christ, which took place a thousand years before this ever happens in Revelation 20. So there's nothing really left for the Christian to be judged over. There wouldn't be any rewards here. We've already gotten that at the judgment seat of Christ. My sin has already been dealt with at Calvary. So for me to be brought into actual judgment with God here again at the great white throne would be double jeopardy. which would be unjust. So once you're declared just or not guilty, you cannot be brought into judgment again for the same crimes. So like I said, if Christians do stand before God at this judgment, which I don't think they will, but if they do, it would be nothing more than a formality to state for the record that our names are in the Book of Life. Is his name in the Book of Life? Matt Crane's name in the Book of Life? Yes, he asked Jesus Christ to save him when he was 13 years old. Alright, next. Nothing to deal with here. It's all been dealt with already. But I don't think we'll appear before God at the Great White Throne because this judgment is primarily for the dead. It's said there, right? Well, we Christians won't be dead. We will have already been given new bodies that live forever and we will be very much alive. So it doesn't appear that the church or the body of Christ is going to be standing before this great white throne judgment. But it does seem like we might be sitting with God at the judgment. Now that's interesting. We might be sitting with God at this judgment. Not standing before Him, but sitting with Him. Bear in mind that Jesus in His full glory is the one on the throne here in Revelation 20, in case you've wondered. The Bible says in John 5.22, For the Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son. Acts 10.42 says, And he commanded us to preach unto the people, and to testify that it was he which was ordained of God to be the judge of the quick and the dead. Acts 17.31 says, Because he hath appointed the day in which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man, Jesus, whom he hath ordained, whereof he hath given assurance unto all men that he hath raised him from the dead. Now if you look at Revelation chapter 3, we're getting close to wrapping up here. Revelation chapter 3 verse 21, there's a peculiar verse here that says this, To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne Even as I also overcame and am set down with my father in his throne All right now that throne that he's referring to there might be a reference to Jesus's earthly throne in the Millennium But it might include the great white throne also because look at what Paul says in 1st Corinthians chapter 6 1st Corinthians chapter 6 He says in 1 Corinthians 6, verse 2, Do ye not know that the saints shall judge the world? And if the world shall be judged by you, are ye unworthy to judge the smallest matters? So the question is, when does that happen? When do the saints judge the world? Is this judgment the battle of Armageddon? Maybe. Is this judgment the judgment of the nations after the battle of Armageddon? Maybe. Is this referring to judging the world as rulers during Christ's millennial reign? Maybe. But then look at what He says next in verse 3. 3. Know ye not that we shall judge angels? How much more things that pertain to this life? He says, know you not that ye shall judge angels? It's funny how Paul will often say something and take for granted that he knows what you're talking about. And as the reader, I'm like, Paul, no, actually I was not aware of that. Could you please elaborate? Right? So this judging of angels implies judgment of the fallen angels. And it would seem that this is a final ultimate judgment, which would match the great white throne judgment. Maybe we'll be judging angels and judging the world at the Great White Throne Judgment. That's kind of what I'm getting at here. All of the dead will be judged there. Anyone who hasn't been judged already will be judged at the Great White Throne. Satan will finally be judged there. And evidently the angels will be finally judged there too. And what's interesting about this is, the Great White Throne Judgment is the final conclusion to the original controversy of wills. Those created beings freely chose to do opposite of the Creator's will and now is going to be settled with a fair trial. God is the judge, certainly. But it appears, remember there was the conflict of interest problem with who gets to decide who's right in the controversy between God and His creation? It appears that the issue of him being the sole judge in his own controversy will be resolved by having millions of saints to sit with him in judgment. And they will serve as the jury, so to speak. Even in courtrooms today, when the judge makes his final decision, he makes his final decision based on the conclusion of what? The jury, right? The judge will say, has the jury reached a verdict? Not, has the judge reached a verdict? Has the jury reached a verdict? And the foreperson says, yes. And then the clerk says, the jury finds the defendant guilty or not guilty. Who finds the defendant guilty or not guilty? The jury. the jury. It's as though God has solved his conflict of interest issue by having a jury of millions of redeemed people who have been made pure by the blood of Christ. They can judge the world, because they themselves were in the world too. And now that they're glorified, sinless beings, they can judge justly. They can judge fallen angels even, because at one time they were a little lower than the angels, but as glorified saints are equal unto the angels according to Luke 20.36. So it's like at the Great White Throne, evidently God judges and His saints judge. And the judgment will be just. All of the evidence will be presented and it will be perfectly obvious at that time who was right and who was wrong. The Bible says in Proverbs 22.12, the eyes of the Lord preserve knowledge, and he overthroweth the words of the transgressor. Even though the sinner will have an opportunity evidently to speak for himself, he will probably be speechless because the evidence will be so overwhelming that the sinner will have no choice but to acknowledge his own guilt. The Bible says in Romans 3.9, Now we know that what thing soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law, that every mouth may be stopped. and all the world may become guilty before God. Like Jeremiah, those poor souls of the great white throne judgment who chose their will contrary to God's will and insisted that they were right and that God was wrong. Like Jeremiah, they will confess, The Lord is righteous, for I have rebelled against His commandment. the evidence is going to be so overwhelming that they were wrong and that God was right that like David they will have to acknowledge righteous art thou oh Lord and upright are thy judgments and like Daniel those poor sinners those poor Wretched souls those wretched angels those read that wretched cherub Satan will have to confess like Daniel we have sinned and Committed iniquity and have done wickedly and have rebelled even by departing from thy precepts and from thy judgments Neither have we hearkened unto thy servants the prophets which spake in thy name to our kings our princes and our fathers and to all the people of the land O Lord righteousness rightness belongeth unto thee Even though my whole life I was saying that righteousness belongeth to me, and I'm right and you're wrong. At that time, at the judgment, they'll say, oh Lord, righteousness does belong to you. You were right, I was wrong. Righteousness belongeth unto thee but unto us. Confusion of faces, as at this day. And then they'll bow and confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. They'll admit God was right. And as they're cast into the lake of fire, they'll feel the fury of those flames and they will have the awful, complete recognition that they are there because they do indeed, truly deserve to be there. They will all know, without a shadow of a doubt, every being in the lake of fire for all eternity, they will know that God is just and that they themselves are not. They will know that God is righteous and they themselves are not. They will know that God is good and they themselves are not. And they will understand and agree that their condemnation is just. There will not be one being in that lake of fire that will think that God is wrong for putting me here. That was settled at the judgment. They'll all understand I deserve to be here. Let God be true and every man a liar. Right? They'll understand that God is righteous and He is right for putting me here. Even if I spend eternity here, which they will, they'll understand that God is right. Let me just say this. If you're not saved, if you're still choosing to not receive Jesus Christ as your Savior and you are choosing to go your own way and to follow your own path, let me just say this. You better be right. Because if you're not, you are in big trouble with God. If you're still breathing, God is still extending the opportunity to you to apologize to Him for your transgressions against Him, and to repent and turn from your stubborn unbelief, and to receive His free gift of righteousness and salvation in Jesus Christ. But if you put it off, and you go your own way, and you do your own thing, and you do you, and you die and exit this world without having received Jesus Christ as your Savior? Well, the Bible says it is appointed unto man once to die, and after this, the judgment. And thou wilt be found, thou wilt be weighed in the balances, like Belshazzar, and wilt be found wanting. And God's got to do something to even out those balances. The eternal Son of God died on a cross for your sins so that you could be saved and not have to go to hell. He offered you eternal life and you rejected it. So what's the proper judgment do you suppose? I suppose the only way you're going to weigh that balance out and make it proper is to give you what you wanted. Eternal death. You didn't want eternal life. So, you're choosing death. By rejecting life, you're choosing death. By rejecting liberty, you're choosing bondage. By rejecting righteousness, you're choosing sin. And by rejecting salvation, you're choosing damnation, whether you realize it or not. Thank God for those of us who have accepted Jesus Christ as our Savior. It's all settled for us. Thank God. We're saved, we're secure, and I hope you're serving and sacrificing for the Lord because He is worthy of it. I hope this lesson was a blessing to you. We'll see you next week.