Judg 11:27, 'I therefore have not sinned against you, but you are doing me wrong by making war against me; may the Lord, the Judge, judge today between the sons of Israel and the sons of Ammon.'" 
We continue this morning with the consideration of some of the fullness of what Jephthah was detailing in his argument against the sons of Ammon in his effort to prevent bloodshed. He was telling the king of the sons of Ammon that only the Lord could decide between the issues that afflicted mankind. As much as the sons of Ammon felt they were in the right, it was the decision of the Lord God Almighty that would reign supreme in all the course of human history. He is the Judge of all, and His Righteousness and His Holiness and His Justice are eternal and sovereign, no matter what other gods or idols mankind may worship.
In this course of understanding, let us proceed to that which the Psalmist highlights in Ps 94:1-11. In this passage, the Psalmist sees the ills of humanity in all the seeming success and triumph of the wicked. The righteous ones are being abused and murdered with seeming impunity. There is a prideful and arrogant stand taken by the evil ones against even the existence of God. It will be that vaunting up of self which will ultimately be the eternal damnation of those depraved men and women when they come before the Judge of all creation and receive their doom.
Ps 94:1-11, O Lord, God of vengeance; God of vengeance, shine forth! Rise up, O Judge of the earth; Render recompense to the proud. How long shall the wicked, O Lord, How long shall the wicked exult? They pour forth words, they speak arrogantly; All who do wickedness vaunt themselves. They crush Thy people, O Lord, And afflict Thy heritage. They slay the widow and the stranger, And murder the orphans. And they have said, "The Lord does not see, Nor does the God of Jacob pay heed." Pay heed, you senseless among the people; And when will you understand, stupid ones? He who planted the ear, does He not hear? He who formed the eye, does He not see? He who chastens the nations, will He not rebuke, Even He who teaches man knowledge? The Lord knows the thoughts of man, That they are a mere breath. 
	As the Psalmist considers this reality of God manifold worship of the Sovereignty and salvation of God bursts forth. To dwell on the fact that the Lord God will show forth His Righteousness and His Holiness and His Justice in the course of His full and eternal judgment of every man, woman, and child brings absolute praise and adoration. 
Consider the entirety of Psalm 98 as one example. As the Psalmist’s heart revels in the reality that eludes those who are so set on their own exaltation in their wickedness, he can only proclaim the glory of the Eternal and Magnificent and Supreme Lord of Heaven and Earth.
	Ps 98, O Sing to the Lord a new song, For He has done wonderful things, His right hand and His holy arm have gained the victory for Him. The Lord has made known His salvation; He has revealed His righteousness in the sight of the nations. He has remembered His lovingkindness and His faithfulness to the house of Israel; All the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God. Shout joyfully to the Lord, all the earth; Break forth and sing for joy and sing praises. Sing praises to the Lord with the lyre; With the lyre and the sound of melody. With trumpets and the sound of the horn Shout joyfully before the King, the Lord. Let the sea roar and all it contains, The world and those who dwell in it. Let the rivers clap their hands; Let the mountains sing together for joy Before the Lord; for He is coming to judge the earth; He will judge the world with righteousness, And the peoples with equity. 
The Preacher in the Book of Ecclesiastes, Chapter 11, details the full wisdom of our hope and our expectation and our reliance upon the Justice of God to carry us forth within the course of our lives. We are to count on Him as the Judge of all creation, and to live our lives in the complete reality of that reveled glory of God’s Essence. 
To do so is the manifested wisdom of God, Himself, being brought to the conscious knowledge of those who trust and rely upon Him day by day by day. We are to live in the full reality that God is the Judge unto Whom we will all be called to witness the manner in which we lived before Him. It will either be shown that we lived out of His great and endless supply of wisdom and strength and understanding, or that we lived for ourselves in the paltry futility of our human feebleness and sin-filled self-centeredness. 
Eccl 11, Cast your bread on the surface of the waters, for you will find it after many days. Divide your portion to seven, or even to eight, for you do not know what misfortune may occur on the earth. If the clouds are full, they pour out rain upon the earth; and whether a tree falls toward the south or toward the north, wherever the tree falls, there it lies. He who watches the wind will not sow and he who looks at the clouds will not reap. Just as you do not know the path of the wind and how bones are formed in the womb of the pregnant woman, so you do not know the activity of God who makes all things. Sow your seed in the morning, and do not be idle in the evening, for you do not know whether morning or evening sowing will succeed, or whether both of them alike will be good. The light is pleasant, and it is good for the eyes to see the sun. Indeed, if a man should live many years, let him rejoice in them all, and let him remember the days of darkness, for they shall be many. Everything that is to come will be futility. Rejoice, young man, during your childhood, and let your heart be pleasant during the days of young manhood. And follow the impulses of your heart and the desires of your eyes. Yet know that God will bring you to judgment for all these things. So, remove vexation from your heart and put away pain from your body, because childhood and the prime of life are fleeting. 
	The Preacher then in the next Chapter of Ecclesiastes, continued with the course of this manifested life that God has given each to live before Him. We are to know, in all the fullness and the grace and the mercy of the Sovereign and Holy Majesty of God, that our lives have their purpose only as we live for Him. That is the only true and eternal value that is found for any person on this earth. That is what will be evaluated in our lives by the Almighty Judge of all. Everything else is vanity of vanities.
	Eccl 12, Remember also your Creator in the days of your youth, before the evil days come and the years draw near when you will say, "I have no delight in them"; before the sun, the light, the moon, and the stars are darkened, and clouds return after the rain; in the day that the watchmen of the house tremble, and mighty men stoop, the grinding ones stand idle because they are few, and those who look through windows grow dim; and the doors on the street are shut as the sound of the grinding mill is low, and one will arise at the sound of the bird, and all the daughters of song will sing softly. Furthermore, men are afraid of a high place and of terrors on the road; the almond tree blossoms, the grasshopper drags himself along, and the caperberry is ineffective. For man goes to his eternal home while mourners go about in the street. Remember Him before the silver cord is broken and the golden bowl is crushed, the pitcher by the well is shattered and the wheel at the cistern is crushed; then the dust will return to the earth as it was, and the spirit will return to God who gave it. "Vanity of vanities," says the Preacher, "all is vanity!" In addition to being a wise man, the Preacher also taught the people knowledge; and he pondered, searched out and arranged many proverbs. The Preacher sought to find delightful words and to write words of truth correctly. The words of wise men are like goads, and masters of these collections are like well-driven nails; they are given by one Shepherd. But beyond this, my son, be warned: the writing of many books is endless, and excessive devotion to books is wearying to the body. The conclusion, when all has been heard, is: fear God and keep His commandments, because this applies to every person. For God will bring every act to judgment, everything which is hidden, whether it is good or evil.   
   	Now, we proceed into the New Testament and to the words of our Lord Jesus Christ in John 5:19-27. He made known the reality that He could do nothing of Himself. Everything had to be judged against the will of the Father. In accordance with that fulfillment, The Father has given the Son the place of judgment. He will separate those who are choosing for themselves eternal damnation through their vile and wicked self-centeredness, from those with whom The Father is honored and glorified and blessed. Just as Jesus could only do the will of the Father, so does He show that those, through whom He lives, also honor and glorify God, and God Alone!
John 5:19-27, Jesus therefore answered and was saying to them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, unless it is something He sees the Father doing; for whatever the Father does, these things the Son also does in like manner. "For the Father loves the Son, and shows Him all things that He Himself is doing; and greater works than these will He show Him, that you may marvel. "For just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the Son also gives life to whom He wishes. "For not even the Father judges anyone, but He has given all judgment to the Son, in order that all may honor the Son, even as they honor the Father. He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent Him. "Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears My word, and believes Him who sent Me, has eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life. "Truly, truly, I say to you, an hour is coming and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God; and those who hear shall live. "For just as the Father has life in Himself, even so He gave to the Son also to have life in Himself; and He gave Him authority to execute judgment, because He is the Son of Man. 
    	The Apostle Paul details this reality of how the way in which we live on this earth will be judged by a standard far beyond any human measure in His Letter to the Church at Rome. Please open to Rom 14:7-13, in which is highlighted the reality of what must be manifested course of how we honor Jesus Christ through the way that we have dealt with our fellow believers. We are to seek to be a loving encouragement to one another in the truth that we do not want to be a stumbling block to anyone. We want only to please the Father as we please the Only Begotten Son.
Rom 14:7-13, For not one of us lives for himself, and not one dies for himself; for if we live, we live for the Lord, or if we die, we die for the Lord; therefore whether we live or die, we are the Lord's. For to this end Christ died and lived again, that He might be Lord both of the dead and of the living. But you, why do you judge your brother? Or you again, why do you regard your brother with contempt? For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of God. For it is written, "As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to Me, And every tongue shall give praise to God." So then each one of us shall give account of himself to God. Therefore let us not judge one another anymore, but rather determine this — not to put an obstacle or a stumbling block in a brother's way. 
	The Apostle then, in 2 Cor 5:6-10, echoes the Preacher in Ecclesiastes with the truth that in the course of our walk on this earth, the only thing of eternal value is the relationship that we have with the Lord God Almighty through the Only Begotten of the Father. In Jesus, we are to be completely pleasing and honoring, not because of what we will receive on the Day of Judgment, but because of the honor and the reverence and the joy and the blessing that the Lord receives through the obedient service that is the course of our walk on this earth.     
2 Cor 5:6-10, Therefore, being always of good courage, and knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord — for we walk by faith, not by sight — we are of good courage, I say, and prefer rather to be absent from the body and to be at home with the Lord. Therefore also we have as our ambition, whether at home or absent, to be pleasing to Him. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad. 
	There will be a Judgment Day, as the Psalmist and the other writers of the Word declared. But to those who are found in Jesus Christ, to those who are the called of God, to those whose entire focus on this earth is to honor and to obey and to bring glory and honor to His name, that day will not be one to dread, but one to anticipate with all worship and praise. It will be a day in which, as was earlier pointed out, "As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to Me, And every tongue shall give praise to God." We will be there, on that day, giving all glory to God for the great work that He has done through His tremendous and free gift of salvation in His Only Begotten Son. 
	Please keep in mind and let it be embedded in our hearts, we are not saved by our works! All the good that man does is nothing in the terms of being able to earn salvation for oneself. The only way of salvation is through the gift that is freely bestowed upon those who choose to accept it. It is the belief in Jesus as the Son of God, Who took upon Himself our sin and our shame and our utter and just sentence of death. He nailed that all to the cross through the perfect and eternal sacrifice of Himself for you and for me. He was crucified because of our horrendous nature of sin and depravity. He was killed for our transgressions. He was buried for our iniquity. 
	Then, He was triumphantly raised from that grave in order to become our righteousness, our holiness, our glory before the Judgment Seat of God. We are raised with Him in all His Splendor. In Him, we are made to be the very members of the Family of God with all the rights and privileges and joy and peace that is found only in Jesus Christ for all of eternity. That is what will be fully and gloriously revealed on that Day for all those who are saved by the precious blood of the Only Begotten Son of God!
	We close this morning with the encouragement of the Apostle Paul as written in his second letter to Timothy, 2 Tim 4:7+8. Herein is detailed what will be the course of our coming into the presence of the Most Holy Judge of all. 
Apart from Christ, there will be the horrible and anguished gnashing of teeth and abject horror in the deserved and perfect justice meted out by the supreme judgment of the Most Holy Lord God Almighty! But to those who belong to Christ, to those whom the Lord has redeemed, we will rejoice and be glad in Him! We will be the recipients of the bright and wondrous crown of righteousness in Jesus!
	2 Tim 4:7+8, I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith; in the future there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day; and not only to me, but also to all who have loved His appearing. So be it!
'I therefore have not sinned against you, but you are doing me wrong by making war against me; may the Lord, the Judge, judge today between the sons of Israel and the sons of Ammon.'" Amen. 

This morning’s benediction is Heb 12:1+2. Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance, and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Amen.