John 16:14 "13 However, when the Spirit of truth comes, He will guide you into all truth. For He will not speak on His own, but He will speak what He hears, and He will declare to you what is to come. 14 He will glorify Me by taking from what is Mine and disclosing it to you."
Notice when it is the Holy Spirit Who speaks to us, what we say and do will glorify God. When man gets the glory, it is usually the flesh from which he speaks.
1 Corinthians 2:10-13 "But God has revealed it to us by the Spirit. The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. For who among men knows the thoughts of man except his own spirit within him? So too, no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. We have not received the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we may understand what God has freely given us."
When someone uses frequently the phrase "only God knows the heart" to justify intimidating someone into "not judging" you can be sure they do not understand the concept that the Holy Spirit knows the heart and He communicates to us.
I also notice that the mantra "don't judge" only comes when we judge sin. Most people who say "don't judge" are those who judge people to be good all the time without reservaiton. If we are not to judge a person's character then we shouldn't judge them as good either, based on the humanistic logic that "only God knows the heart."
We are able to discern attitudes, actions and words, we are not able to know who goes to heaven or hell because we don't know if someone is authentically born again or a faker. The couterfeit can look as good as the real thing.
Matthew 12:29-30 "…29‘No,’ he said, ‘if you pull the weeds now, you might uproot the wheat with them. 30Let both grow together until the harvest. At that time I will tell the harvesters: First collect the weeds and tie them in bundles to be burned; then gather the wheat into my barn.’”
There are many who will hear those terrible words, "I never knew you."
Matthew 7:21-23 "21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22 On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ 23 And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’"
It would not be possible to "judge righteous judgment" except by the Holy Spirit and the Word of God.
John 7:24 "24 Stop judging by outward appearances, and start judging justly.”
