cleanliness and trespasses - who is the judge?

John chapter 8, verses 15 through 17 –

You set yourselves up to judge according to the flesh – by what you see; you condemn by external, human standards. I do not set Myself up to judge or condemn or sentence anyone. Yet even if I do judge, My judgement is true – My decision is right; for I am not alone in making it, but there are two of Us, I and the Father Who sent Me. In your own Law it is written that the testimony (evidence) of two persons is reliable and valid. [Deut. 19:15]

Psalm chapter 51, verses 1 through 4 –

Have mercy upon me, O God, according to Your steadfast love; according to the multitude of Your tender mercies and loving-kindnesses blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly and repeatedly from my iniquity and guilt, and cleanse me and make me wholly pure from my sin! For I am conscious of my transgressions and I acknowledge them; my sin is ever before me. Against You, You only, have I sinned, and done that which is evil in Your sight; so that You are justified in Your sentence and faultless in Your judgement.



There are times when God uses people to bring us to repentance. When we refuse to listen to the still small voice of the Holy Spirit, or when we refuse to obey what God has set out for us in His Word, then there are times when God will use a person to come to us and in a Godly manner point out our sins to us. It happened to King David, just before he wrote the 51st Psalm.

But, when a person has already recognized their mistake, has asked for God’s forgiveness and has been forgiven by God, and has changed their ways afterwards, does God then send somebody to berate them and challenge them and throw past mistakes in their face? Does God send somebody to scream at them in rage and accuse them of things they have never done?

As it says in the first quote above, we as people judge by the flesh, by what we can see. But God is the only true judge of us.

I do not profess to be perfect. Far from it, actually. But, I am forgiven. I know the wrong that I have done, and have had to live with the consequences of it in my life. “My sin is ever before me,” as King David said. God is a God of tender mercies and steadfast love, a God of forgiveness and a God of righteousness and justice.

Once forgiven, always forgiven.

Those who attack me, for things I have done and for things I have not done, are wrong. I do not need to point fingers at them, God’s Word clearly states that they are wrong. So, I leave it in God’s hands. That is good enough for me.