"Established In Judgement"

"In whose eyes a vile person is contemned; but he honoureth them that fear the LORD. He that sweareth to his own hurt, and changeth not." (Psalms 15:4) You might be thinking from this title that I am going to speak about being free from judgement, as in to be justified in Christ; in case you have not gotten the message, we are beyond that point, and are speaking about the character of a citizen of heaven. The judgement we are talking about here, is the right judgement made in the heart and mind of those who judge rightly; which means that they make right choices regarding how they treat others, and how they hold themselves accountable to their own mistakes. This is something that should not be taken lightly, because we are all going to answer for the choices that we make; sooner or later, depending on the wake of our distruction, we will be accountable for the way that we treat others, and the way that we hold ourselves to be true to that which we preach; I pray that it be sooner than later! There are two basic points to this verse today: the first is concerning the judgement we use in our treatment of others, and the second is regarding the judgement we place upon ourselves. But wait a minute; you might be wondering why we should be judging ourself if we are free from judgement? Yes, it's true that once we have forgiveness, Jesus has forgiven us of all our sin; however, we are not free to sin, nor should we think that we are free from judgement; because we will all be judged! The difference is whether we stand before 'The Great White Throne Judgement', or before 'The Judgement Seat of Christ'; there is a big difference in these two judgements: one deals with those who's names are not written in the Book of Life, while the other deals with those who are! Okay then; now that we have settled that, let's get to the heart of judgement! The first thing to consider is the meaning of a vile person, and why they are despised or rejected. A vile person is one who makes light of his manner of living; as in, "I am free to do whatever I wish, because I am my own person". The reason for such a person to be despised should be obvious, because they have rejected having their lives ruled by God, and have chosen to rule themselves according to their own desires. On the flip side of that, we have those that fear the Lord, and who walk accordinly. I have to admit, this is a very touchy subject, and I know that somewhere along the line, I have done this myself; but how often have you seen someone who is totally dependent upon God for every move they make, being put down by a brother or a sister in the presence of those that are vile? Especially if that vile person is successful or important; it seems that there is a double standard for who is given the right to voice an opinion, or to stress the importance of waiting on the Lord. Anyways; I pray that if I have been guilty of such things, that God would show me, and that I can make amends! Which brings us to the second part of this verse, and that of holding ourselves accountable for our actions. When we are talking about "he that sweareth to his own hurt", it speaks to a determination of our heart to do what is right, and if not, that God would hold me accountable. In other words; it is a lot like the oath taken in court, which is actually really meant to mean something when you say, "So Help Me God"; because it actually means, that if I do not tell the truth, then God hold to the truth, and the truth be known. You know that old saying, "As God is my witness", well, it is much like that, except with consequence! And finally, we have the last three words of this verse, "and changeth not", which basically means that you do not take back what you have promised to do; which means that you do not violate an oath, or exchange it for something else; like, Lord, I know I said everthing, but I really meant everything that pertains to church and stuff like that...