Turn with me in your Bibles to:

Proverbs 11:1 A false balance is abomination to the Lord: but a just weight is his delight. 2 When pride comes, then comes shame; but with the humble is wisdom.

Opening: Since the 9-11 terrorist attacks, our government established the TSA. With the body searches and bag inspections you need to get to the airport about 3 hours before your flight. A woman was at the airport, and had gone through all the checkpoints. As she was early for check in she decided to get a little something to eat. Then she saw the Cookie Stand. Five freshly baked cookies for about $5.00. She couldn’t resist. Paying her $5.00, she put her brown bag of cookies in her carry on. At her gate she sat next to a nice looking, well dressed man.

Rummaging through her purse for her phone, she looked up and saw that the nice young man had her bag of cookies in his hand. Unfolding the top of the bag, he opened it, and fished out a cookie as she glared at him. He notice she was watching him, so he put the bag between them and said, “Help yourself”!

“How rude”, she thought. She pulled a cookie out of the bag, and he reached over and grabbed a cookie, too. As she ate her cookie she wondered who had raised this man. What utter gall he had. She reached in the bag, and got the next to the last cookie. The man finished eating a cookie, and reached in the bag. It was the last cookie, so he broke it in half, and gave her half.

She started to chew him out when the airline began boarding. As they got on the plane, she was relieved to see he sat several rows down from her. She certain didn’t want to sit next to that hateful fellow. As she found her seat, she went to slide her carry on bag under the seat when she smelled chocolate chip cookie. Her bad was in her carry on all the time! She felt herself shrink down to just a few inches tall as she realized the rude and ugly person was herself.

A false balance is abomination to the Lord

Every day we make judgments. You can’t live without making judgments. The world loves to quote the passage:

Matthew 7:1 Judge not, that ye be not judged.

They usually quote this text when they want to do something that God has said is evil, be it

drunkenness and wild partying (Galatians 5:21)
sex outside of Biblical marriage (Hebrews 13:4)
sex outside of God’s design (Romans 1:26-27; 1 Corinthians 6:9)
drug use (1 Corinthians 6:19-20)
racism and hatred (James 2:8)

and so forth. Anytime people want to walk in darkness they will say, “judge not, that you be not judged”. Yet the Bible does not forbid judging. Jesus said right after He said “Judge not that you be not judged”,

Matthew 7:2-6 … For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again. 3 And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother’s eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye? 4 Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye; and, behold, a beam is in thine own eye? 5 Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother’s eye. 6 Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn again and rend you.

We are to judge ourselves FIRST, and make sure that we’re not guilty of what we are telling others not to do. Jesus went on to say “Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before swine”. This is, in itself, a judgment. Jesus equated those who were unsaved, who did not believe in Him, as DOGS or SWINE.

We are not to be hypocritical judges, but we must be able to discern swine and dogs from those who are not so. One commentary notes:

“In His sermon, Jesus uses dogs and pigs as representative of those who would ridicule, reject, and blaspheme the gospel once it is presented to them. We are not to expose the gospel of Jesus Christ to those who have no other purpose than to trample it and return to their own evil ways. Repeatedly sharing the gospel with someone who continually scoffs and ridicules Christ is like casting pearls before swine. We can identify such people through discernment, which is given in some measure to all Christians (1 Corinthians 2:15–16).”

As Christians, Children of God by faith in Christ Jesus (Galatians 3:26) the Holy Spirit is given to us to “guide us into all truth” (John 16:13). We are furthermore given the Word of God, the Holy Bible, which is always true. Jesus prayed:

John 17:17 Sanctify them through Thy truth {o Father}: Thy Word is truth.

The Psalmist (33:4) said “the WORD OF THE LORD is RIGHT; and all His works are done in truth”.

We who are Christian are to avoid “false balance”. We are not to have one standard for ourselves, and another standard for everyone else.

The Pharisees judged Jesus to be evil because He healed people on the Sabbath Day. The Pharisees openly condemned Jesus (see Mark 3:1–6, Luke 6:6–10; 13:10–17; 14:1–6; John 5:1–18), and said that “he had a devil” or operated “through the power of Satan” because He healed on the Sabbath. The problem was that the Pharisees did not condemn Jesus because He violated the Law of God (which He did not do). They condemned Jesus because He broke their traditions and additions to the Law of God. When they accused Jesus of violating Sabbath by healing people, Jesus told them:

Luke 13:15 (ESV) You hypocrites! Does not each of you on the Sabbath untie his ox or his donkey from the manger and lead it away to water it?

Jesus told these religious hypocrites:

John 7:22-24 (ESV) you circumcise a man on the Sabbath. 23 If on the Sabbath a man receives circumcision, so that the law of Moses may not be broken, are you angry with me because on the Sabbath I made a man’s whole body well? 24 Do not judge by appearances, but judge with right judgment.

We Avoid False Balances When The Bible Is Our Standard

Proverbs 11:1 A false balance is abomination to the Lord

Word Study: God calls a “false balance” or poor judgment an “abomination”, the Hebrew tôʿēḇâ (pronounced to-ay-baw) means “something disgusting, whether ethically or ritually”. God uses this word in the context of:

Leviticus 18:22 Thou shalt not lie with mankind, as with womankind: it is abomination (tôʿēḇâ) .

Deuteronomy 7:25 The graven images of their gods shall ye burn with fire: thou shalt not desire the silver or gold that is on them, nor take it unto thee, lest thou be snared therein: for it is an abomination (tôʿēḇâ) to the LORD thy God.

A false balance in a butcher’s shop will rob a client of meat that they rightfully paid for. A false balance in truth will rob a person from God’s best.

God had Israel cast Canaan out of the land because they participated in ABOMINATIONS (see 2 Chronicles 33:2). God wants us to judge righteous judgments. We are to measure all things by the Word of God.

Proverbs 11:1 … but a just weight is his delight.

Word Study: The word translated “just” is the Hebrew šālēm (pronounced shaw-lame’). This word means to be “complete, peaceful, perfect”. What is interesting about this particular word is that when Lot was taken captive by the enemy, Abraham in faith went out with 318 trained servants and defeated the foe. The Bible says:

Genesis 14:16 {Abraham} brought back all the goods, and also brought again his brother Lot, and his goods, and the women also, and the people.

Abraham was met by Someone special. We read:

Genesis 14:18 And Melchizedek king of Salem brought forth bread and wine: and he was the priest of the most high God.

Melchizedek is the King of “Salem” [šālēm (pronounced shaw-lame’)], the King of Peace. Melchizedek ministered to Abraham and his men. Melchizedek is both a King and a Priest. Some believe that Melchizedek is an Old Testament appearance of Jesus Christ. This is possible. We are told in

Hebrews 6:20 …. Jesus, made an high priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek.

Melchizedek is a King and a Priest, and

our Lord Jesus Christ is a King (Revelation 19:16)

and a Priest (1 Timothy 2:5; Hebrews 4:14-16).

Jesus told the Pharisees,

John 8:56 (ESV) Your father Abraham rejoiced that he would see my day. He saw it and was glad.

As Abraham met Melchizedek face to face, I believe that this was the event Jesus was referring to. Abraham met Melchizedek, an Old Testament manifestation of Christ, and gave tithes to Him. God delights in a just [šālēm (pronounced shaw-lame’)] judgment. If we practice judgment, let us do it as Jesus did. Let us judge based on what the Word of God has said. Let that be our standard.

Let us judge our lives by the Word of God.
Let us judge right and wrong by the Word of God.
Let us judge ourselves first, knowing:

1 Corinthians 4:2 … it is required in stewards that a {person} be found faithful.

Let us, like Jesus, live so as to please our God. Let us not have pride in our abilities, but in what God has said. Our lives are borrowed from God. Judge righteous judgments. Judge like Jesus judged, according to the Word of God. Judge as one who will “one day give an account of yourself unto God”.

Amen and Amen.