Feast of Tabernacles 2006: Day 4-Part 2

Now let’s continue on in Ezekiel 14, and, we’re going to see, that what God is talking about here is part of the four judgments that He has which are called My four sore judgments. The first one is noisome beasts. Now remember in all of these if Noah, Daniel or Job were there, they wouldn’t deliver but only their own lives. The next one, verse 17, is the sword, and God says, “Sword, go through the land.” And then the next one is pestilence. And again, in each case He says, though Noah, Daniel or Job were there, the three most righteous men this side of the flood. Then let’s come down here to verse 21, which gives us a summary of it. “For thus saith the LORD GOD; How much more when I send my four sore judgments upon Jerusalem, the sword, and the famine, and the noisome beast, and the pestilence, to cut off from it man and beast?” Now there’s going to be a remnant that He says, yet He says, verse 21—now this is also part of the pattern in judgment of God—which is this, whenever He brings correction and judgment there is also a remnant that fear God, and He is merciful to them. Verse 22, “Yet, behold, therein shall be left a remnant that shall be brought forth, both sons and daughters: behold, they shall come forth unto you, and ye shall see their way and their doings: and ye shall be comforted concerning the evil that I have brought upon Jerusalem, even concerning all that I have brought upon it. And they shall comfort you, when ye see their ways and their doings: and ye shall know that I have not done without cause all that I have done in it, saith the LORD GOD” (Eze. 14:17, 21-23, KJV). So none of the judgments of God are arbitrary. Now we need to understand that, whether it’s for an individual, whether it is for a nation, whether we can say, a state here in America, and so forth, or a city. Now, we’ll just summarize some of these things. When God announced to Abraham what He was going to do to Sodom and Gomorrah, and this was the final judgment upon it. And let’s understand something here, which is this, God probably had Lot who was witnessing to them all the time, because it says there in II Peter, that Lot was frustrated with the behavior of the wicked, when he saw what was going on. So apparently Lot was the one who warned them. So the Lord and two angels came, and Abraham met them, and God said well we’re not going to withhold what we’re going to do from our servant Abraham here. So He told them what they were going to do, and then Abraham bargained with Him from 50 down to 10, remember that? But the way that he approached God was this, he says, “Oh Lord God the judge of all the earth, shall you not do righteously?” See, so that was a good way to petition God.

Now let’s understand a very important thing concerning our life and our existence, our creation as God made us. God made us to make personal choices. And personal choices are a matter of judgment. And personal choices apply then, all the way down through as we have seen, from a nation, to a King, to individual, to groups of people. So what we need to realize is this, that when we understand it, life involves choices. And choices are judgment. So life is filled with discernment, decisions, and judgments. Now a lot of people don’t like the word judgment, but the truth is, those who don’t like the word judgment, judge everyone else for judging them in their evil, you know, that’s how it goes, see. So, the truth is, we have been made to judge, to choose, to decide. Now in our daily life we have to make a judgment, decision, when do we get up? When do go to work? What do we wear? What food we buy? What do we eat? What we are going to read, what we watch on television. When we pray, when we study, all of those things are individual judgments. Then you have financial judgments that you need to make and so forth, purchasing things, buying a home, renting a home, buying furniture, buying a car, paying our bills, and all of those are all choices or judgments that we have to make. And of course one of the most important or the greater, as it were, financial matters that we do, we determine our increase and what we render to God and what we render to Caesar. That’s all a part of it. Now likewise with our family, we’re always making decisions and judgments, and husband and wife relationships, child rearing and things like this. Now how about in our spiritual life, we make judgments don’t we concerning our relationship with God. We must choose to love God. Now remember this, every choice or decision is a judgment, because God made us to function by choices, decisions and judgments. Now whether we have the Spirit of God or not, but having the Spirit of God, the first choice is, that we love God with all our heart, mind, soul, and being, right? And that’s key to our relationship with God, is it not? Yes indeed. So, we need to really understand that and realize how that is. Now here’s a very important part of how God explains this. And let’s understand this, no person alive can live or function without choices, decisions, and judgments, whether they know God, or whether they don’t know God. So let’s come back here to Deuteronomy 30. Now I know we’ve covered this many times in the past, but you see, this is important for us to realize so that when we come before God in our relationship with Him that we always remember that God is perfect, His way is perfect, His laws are perfect, His you salvation is perfect, His grace is perfect. And so when we come before God, we make the decision to love God, to pray to Him, to worship Him, to exalt Him and His son Jesus Christ, and His way, and His laws, and His Commandments, and His truth, and His faith, and His hope, and His plan for all mankind, you see. Now, God sets this before every human being. Now let’s read it here, and let’s see what else God has said. He has not made it difficult. That’s why there are so many Bibles in so many languages. Now let’s pick it up here in verse 8, and go through, and let’s again see something very important, repentance is always involved in Gods consideration of judgment, in our relationship with God. That’s why the model prayer tells us that we’re to ask God to forgive us our sins daily as we forgive others. Now that is also a matter of judgment isn’t it, in both cases. God forgiving us and us forgiving other people, you see. God does not like it when you come to God and boo-hoo, boo-hoo and ask God to forgive you your sins, and then you get up off your knees and you go out and you are self-righteous and judgmental and condemning the people, giving no grace, no mercy, no understanding or anything like that. You have just defeated the very thing that you pleaded God to give to you. Very important, so there has to be repentance. Now He says here, verse 8, let’s begin in verse 8, “And thou shalt return…” That is after you’ve gone through all the curses, the enemies, and the judgment of God, “…and obey the voice of the LORD, and do all his commandments which I command thee this day.” Now you can add to that everything in the New Testament, alright. “And the LORD thy God will make thee plenteous in every work of thine hand, in the fruit of thy body, and in the fruit of thy cattle, and in the fruit of thy land, for good: for the LORD will again rejoice over thee for good, as he rejoiced over thy fathers:” If! See it’s conditional what we choose in our judgment, decisions, and choices to do. “If thou shalt hearken unto the voice of the LORD thy God, to keep his commandments in his statutes which are written in this book of the law…” “If” again. So there we have two of them right in a row, don’t we? “…and if thou turn unto the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul.” That’s important to realize. Now, when we do that that, is an attitude of repentance, because whenever it says “If you return,” in the Old Testament that means, if you repent and come back to God. Now then He makes it very simple, verse 11, “For this commandment which I command thee this day, it is not hidden from thee.” Not like they have today, not like the book on Jesus papers, or the Gnostic Gospels, or the Da Vinci Code, where they have got to go find it. Hidden away some place, in some dark little corner, the super dungeon four stories below the castle, and you find a little box that contains the secret of God, and you’ve got to have someone find it and decode it for you. Nor is it buried in the desert of Egypt because God hates and despises the things of Egypt, so what makes you think any good can come out of there, you see? No, God hasn’t done it this way. The thing that is obvious in the whole world that everyone is overlooking, how many billions and billions of Bibles are there in the world? And it has remained the number one best selling book, almost forever. Why? Because God promised that it would be published in all the world. So it’s not hidden from anybody. And if a person doesn’t happen to have a Bible at home they can go buy one. They can’t afford to buy one, then they can go to the library and they can read one there. It’s available to everyone. It’s not hidden from you, neither far off, it’s not in heaven. Just think of all the work, and money that would happen if it was said “Ah, it’s on Mars. God has hidden His word and His purpose. Now we’ve got to develop this great rocket. We’ve got to develop men and machines to go up there, to search and to explore, and to find it.” “It is not in heaven, that thou shouldest say, Who shall go up for us to heaven, and bring it unto us, that we may hear it, and do it? Neither is it beyond the sea, that thou shouldest say, Who shall go over the sea for us, and bring it unto us, that we may hear it, and do it? But the word is very nigh unto thee, in thy mouth.” In other words, it’s in the language that you speak. Now that’s a judgment God has given so that when He sets before every human being, what we’re going to read here in just a minute, that they’re going to say, “God why didn’t you ever tell me about this?” He’s going to say “I did.” Verse 15, “See, I have set before thee this day life and good…” And that’s what God set before Adam and Eve, all those people before the flood, that’s what God set before Abraham, and then Isaac and Jacob, and then the children of Israel, and before us, and before every human being on earth, right? “…Set before thee this day, life and good, and death and evil; In that I command thee this day to love the LORD thy God…” So that’s the—you see, the commandment to love, becomes the primary one from which everything else that God does flows. “…To walk in his ways, and to keep his commandments and his statutes and his judgments, that thou mayest live and multiply: and the LORD thy God shall bless thee in the land whither thou goest to possess it.” Now today it’s not the land that we’re going to inherit, it is the Kingdom of God, and inherit a position in the Kingdom of God to rule on the earth. So that’s the choice. First of all God says, love Me, keep My commandments, My statutes, and My judgments. I’ll bless you. Add to that everything contained in the New Testament. Verse 17, “But if thine heart turn away, so that thou wilt not hear, but shalt be drawn away, and worship other gods, and serve them; I denounce unto you this day.” And God gives warning, doesn’t He? And what does He say, what did He say to the prophet Ezekiel? He said, “If I give a warning, you are to tell the people. And if you don’t tell the people, I’m going to judge you accountable for not telling them, and their blood shall be upon you. But if you warn, the wicked men to turn from his way, then you shall save your soul, and his blood shall be upon him.” So here we have the same thing here. God says “Alright, you want to go your way, you want to worship other gods, you want to add all the pagan religion to My way, and create yourself a pagan way of God, and a pagan Christianity, “…I denounce unto you this day, that ye shall surely parish, and that ye shall not prolong your days upon the land, whither thou passest over Jordan to go to possess it.” Now here’s what God sets before every human being, and there is no doubt, even atheist recognize that there is the earth and there is the heaven, right? Yes. Meaning you’re without excuse. God didn’t have witnesses, like the Mormons say, where it’s all written down on tables of gold, and then that was translated and put on paper, and then revised and revised and revised and no one is ever found the golden tablets claimed by Joseph Smith. The reason is because they didn’t exist. God doesn’t operate that way. He lays it all out front, lays it out in the open, and He uses the heaven and the earth as a witness against all human beings. What He says here, “I call heaven and earth to record this day against you…” Meaning you have no excuse. You’re free to choose what you want to do. “… That I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live.” Now notice again, how did He start out. Command you love God. How did he end up? He says that “…Thou mayest love the LORD thy God, and that thou mayest obey his voice, and that thou mayest cleave unto him: for he is your life…” Not only physically, but eternal life. Everyone wants eternal life, no one wants to die. Yet they don’t realize there’s only one way to eternal life and that’s through Jesus Christ. And since that is true, you can’t have it both ways. It’s either going to be Gods way or no way. And if you go your way which is no way, then all these things are going to come upon you. But notice His appeal, “That thou mayest love the LORD thy God, and that thou mayest obey his voice, and that thou mayest cleave unto him: for he is thy life, and the length of thy days: that thou mayest dwell in the land…” and you can put in there, in the kingdom of God and live forever. “…Which the LORD sware unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and Jacob, to give to them” (Deut. 30:8-20, KJV). Let’s understand a very important thing as we connect this to Gods judgment with the people of God today. See we’re being judged all the time. Now you need not fear that, because God is merciful and loving and kind and forgiving and gracious.

Now and we’ll see that in just a minute, but let’s come here to I Peter the 4th chapter, and let’s see that upon the church, it says it very clearly, the judgment is now upon the house of God. So let’s see that, I Peter the 4th chapter and this will give us some understanding of what we’re doing, where we’re going, and so forth. I Peter 4, and let’s pick up here in verse 17, “For the time has come for judgment to begin with the household of God; and if the first begins with us, what will be the end of those who do not obey the gospel of God?” And yes, with great difficulty we enter into the kingdom of God that is true. Because we have to overcome self, we have to overcome sin, we have to overcome Satan. And the way that this world is. Now notice, verse 18, “And if the righteous are saved with much difficulty...” Now the reason that God wants it that way is so that we come to really love God when we see how futile our ways are, which is a judgment, isn’t it? That we come to see how much we need God, His mercy, kindness, forgiveness and His spirit. And how much we really desire eternal life and that’s what the judgment is for. And the judgment is for life. If we continue in the way that God wants us to go. Now, “…if the righteous are saved with much difficulty, what will become of the ungodly and the sinner? For this reason also…” Verse 19, “…let those who suffering according to the will of God commit their souls to Him in well doing, as to a faithful Creator” (I Pet. 4:17-19, FV).

Now, let’s come back here to Romans the 2nd chapter, and let’s see how God works. And of course, much to the chagrin of a lot of people who they that the only thing that comes out of the book of Romans is Gods graciousness, Gods—how shall we say—grace and mercy and forgiveness, and once we have that done, everything is all accomplished, and you have eternal security. No, let’s see what God says here for Jew and for Gentile both. And then we’ll see something very important in the way that God operates and the way that God judges. Now let’s pick it up here in verse 4, “Or do you despise the riches on His kindness and forbearance and longsuffering, not knowing that the graciousness of God leads you to repentance.” Now that’s the first of Gods judgment, isn’t it? When a person sins Gods judgment is not to come in and punish and destroyed immediately, unless the sin so grievous that that requires it the first thing, but what does He do? He leads you to repentance so it can be forgiven. He does that to draw you to Him. God leads you to repentance. Now if you don’t, verse 5, as we have seen, this is consistent with what we read in the Old Testament isn’t it? So what He is doing here, He is laying out the judgment of God on a spiritual basis now, right? Yes. Just like we read back there in I Peter the 4th chapter, the judgment now is on the house of God. So He’s making the difference here. “But you…” I’m speaking primarily to the Jews in this particular case, but it applies to anyone. “But you, according to your own hardness and unrepentant heart…” Now if you keep resisting God, and if you’re stubborn against God, and if you don’t do the things that you need to do, if you don’t maintain a relationship with God, if you just set your jaw, and set your mind to go against God, what are you going to do? “…Are storing up wrath for yourself against the day of wrath and revelation of God’s righteous judgment.” There it is, right there, judge righteous judgment, that’s what we saw yesterday that Jesus said. Now we’ll cover that a little bit later when we get in more detail in how to judge. Now notice this, “Who will render to each one according to his own works.” So God is going to do it on what you do, not what you intend, but what you do. Not what you think, but what you do, because all of your actions are a result of choice, or a decision, or a judgment. Now some may be impetuous, so forth, whatever they be, but nevertheless according to his own works. “On the other hand…” Now he gives the comparison. Now notice how this follows along with Deuteronomy 30, about setting before you life and death, blessing and cursing, so forth. “On the other hand, to those who with patient endurance in good works…” you have to keep doing it, “…are seeking glory and honor and immortality...” He’s going to give them “…eternal life.” But you have to seek it Gods way, of course with all your heart, and mind, and soul, and being. Now, what did it say here, for those who are seeking glory, and honor, and immortality, and eternal life, now what did Jesus say? He says, “Seek and you will find, knock and it shall be open. Ask and you shall receive.” And everything you need to change and grow and over come, with the help and strength and power of God, with His spirit in you, with His love and mercy and forgiveness that He wants to pour out upon you, which is the judgment that He wants to give to you, you see, then He’s going to give you eternal life. Now on the other hand, so we have the one hand, verse 7, verse 8, on the other hand. “On the other hand…” Now I want you to think about this, not only in relationship to the world, but I want you think about this of those in the church who many have attitudes in degree that have some of this, which need to be repented of because they’ve made the choice to do these things. “On the other hand, to those who are contentious and who disobey the truth, but obey unrighteousness—indignation and wrath, tribulation and anguish—upon every soul of man who works out evil.” God is judging everyone on the earth, right? God is judging everyone on the earth everywhere, all the time, one degree or another. He’s judging His people after one standard; He’s judging the world after another standard, which is by the letter of the law. “But…” verse 10, “…glory and honor and peace to everyone who works good, both to the Jew first, and to the Greek...” Verse 11, very important “…because there is no respect of persons with God.” like we saw yesterday, what happened for those who really didn’t want to believe Jesus Christ, didn’t want to obey the truth, what did they say. “Oh, we’re Abraham’s seed, therefore God has got to respect us. We’re his descendants, how can God do anything to us? Even though our works are as evil as they are.” No! “To everyone who works good, both to the Jew first, and to the Greek, because there is no respect of person with God.” Verse 12, “For as many as have sinned without law shall also perish without law; and as many as have sinned within the end the law shall be judged by the law” (Rom. 2:4-12, FV). Which is perfect and righteous and holy and good. That’s how God judges righteous judgment, we need to see that.

Now, let’s move into the area of how to judge righteous judgment. So first of all we need to look at how we are not to judge. Now let’s come here, first of all to Matthew 7. We’ll begin here in verse 1. This is an important thing to understand, there are times to make judgment, there are times not to make judgment. And then we are going to see the greatest sin that people do and you see it every night on the television news. “What do you think? What did you hear? What is the latest from the grapevine? What is the latest from your leak? Tell us!” We’ll see that in just a minute here. Alright, Matthew 7:1 starts out with the attitude. You’ve got to have the right attitude for judging in the first place. Verse 1, “Do not condemn others, so that you yourself will not be condemned.” Now let’s understand something that happens with all people, all the time, you’ve done it, I’ve done it, everyone has done it, and in particularly women do this more than men. They look at people, see what they’re doing, and immediately condemned them in their minds. “Oh look at what this person is doing.” And what happens is this, you think about it for just a minute. Say you go shopping and you see someone, and you look at them and you make a judgment, see. Now if you’re overweight and you look at some one thin and you say, “Oh boy I wish I could be like that.” If you’re someone thin, you look and see the overweight and say “Oh, look at those overweight people, they don’t have any control or anything about them.” What are you doing? You’re judging their heart, you see. I’m firmly convinced of this, every person who has access weight doesn’t want it. And you need to rather than condemned them in your mind, to exalt yourself, which is what you’re doing when you do that, you feel sorry for them, and realize they don’t want to be that way. But unfortunately because of the things that they do and some of the choices that they make, and the inheritance that they have, they’re that way. But you don’t know the heart and the mind, do you? No, that’s important to understand. Let’s continue on here, in Matthew 7, “For with what judgment you judge…” remember this “…you shall be judged…” And there’s another scripture what says “If you desire mercy, you give mercy.” Because the merciful man will receive mercy, the unmerciful man or woman will not receive mercy. And too many times in our judgment of people we want mercy for us but not for them, because we know better and we have repented, and these people are rotten and nasty. Now you let God judge them. Is God capable of judging them? Yes. So He gives this, “…and with what measure you mete out, it shall be measured again to you.” Never forget that. “Now why do you look at the sliver that is in your brother’s eye, but you do not perceive the beam in your own eye?” That’s the biggest stumbling block in judgment, the perception of self. Rather than Gods way, Gods truth, Gods love, Gods mercy, Gods law, and all that should come first. Not yourself condemning perception of other people of who they are and what they are, and what they are doing. Now notice, verse 4 “Or how will you say to your brother, ‘Allow me to remove the sliver from your eye’; and behold, the beam is in your own eye?” You know, you can just imagine that, “Oh, I see a sliver in there,” and you’ve got this big beam, and you go bong, hit him on the head, you know, and you knock him out, “Oh, oh I’m sorry, I’m trying to get the sliver.” Bong, you hit him again. And you bend down to get it out and bang you hit him right on the forehead and almost blind him, you see. That’s what Christ is talking about. So before you approach any kind of judgment with other people, He says do this, “Examine yourself.” That’s what He’s saying. Verse 5, “You hypocrite, first cast out the beam from your own eye, and then you shall see clearly to remove the sliver from your brother’s eye” (Matt. 7:1-5, FV). That’s what’s important to do. Now, what happens when people don’t do that? I want to cover something very important here that we find listed not only in the Old Testament but it is also in the New Testament. Let’s come here to Leviticus 19:16. Now when you see or perceive a problem. Now we’re going to talk about this in just a bit, when not to judge. Now we might not get it until tomorrow, but hold on, we’ll get there. Leviticus 19, and let’s come here to verse 16. Now here is a command, “Thou shalt not go up and down as a talebearer among thy people.” That’s one of the greatest problems between brethren within the Church. “Have you heard? Did you know? Guess what I saw? Guess what so and so did.” And you have no basis for understanding why they did it, what the problem was, what their state of mind was, and so forth. “Neither shalt thou stand against the blood of thy neighbour: I am the LORD.” Now notice verse 17, “Thou shalt not hate thy brother in thine heart” (Lev. 19:16-17, KJV). And that’s what happens when a lot of these things come up. When people start condemning as Jesus said here in Matthew 7, “They judge and hate the brother in their heart.” Now, we’re going to see a little later on, because God is God of love and mercy and truth, He always leaves the door open for repentance. And what happens is this, we all want it for ourselves, but rarely do we desire it for the other person. We want to slam the door and cut them off. Now if there’s totally evil that’s going on, then that’s what should be done. Let’s come here to proverbs 11:3, let’s see what else it tells us about this, about talebearing, and so forth. And what it causes. Now we also need to realize, that within the churches of God there is a lot of talebearing, gossip and things going on, which, when we we’re finding out about all the evil that was going on within the church, it wasn’t a matter of talebearing necessarily, but it was a matter of an underground conveyance of truth so that we would know what’s going on, so in that case you need to differentiate from that. Let’s come here Proverbs 11:3. Let’s come down to verse 13 instead of 3, I misread my notes. Proverbs 11:13. Now notice, this applies to other things too, “A talebearer revealeth secrets.” Now if someone confides something to you, you are never to repeat it to anyone else. And I make that an absolute rule in what I do in counseling people. I do not discuss my counseling with any of the brethren, with anyone else, unless I need wisdom from one of the elders. I do not discuss it with my wife, I do not discuss it with anybody else in the church, because if a person has a problem and difficulty they need to overcome, they need the encouragement of understanding that when they come to a minister they are not going to be embarrassed to have someone else tell it back to them, because the minister has a big blabbing mouth, you see. Notice what it says, “But he that is of a faithful spirit concealeth the matter” (Prov. 11:13, KJV). While you are overcoming the difficulty. Now this doesn’t mean that you are condoning sin. This means that it is a matter that needs to be solved and you don’t go blab it to everyone on earth. And of course today with the telephone, with the internet, with everything we have, wammo, everything can be out there and it can gain a life of itself, and it can burn, and it can destroy. You need to understand that. I’ve been through all of these things myself. I know what I’m talking about with it, and I know what it is with people and the things they have, and the things that they do. Let’s come here to Proverbs 18:8. Now remember this, once you say it, you can’t take it back. And what does it do? Now this is all a part of getting rid of the beam that is in your eye, to help someone who has the sliver in his eye. “The words of a talebearer are as wounds, and they go down into the innermost parts of the belly” (Prov. 18:8, KJV). Right into the innermost part of your being. And how many relationships have been destroyed, because people are tale bearers? They just can’t wait to run up and down in the camp, with the phone, “Did you know? Did you to hear? I’ve talked to so and so. Oh, did you see this? Did you see that?” Now we’ll talk about that a little bit later when we come to it.

Let’s come here to Proverbs 26:20. Something else that is also important. Now what does all this cause, in addition to hurt feelings and difficulties? Now verse 20, Proverbs 26, “Where wood is, there the fire goeth out: so where there is no talebearer, the strife ceaseth.” And I’ve seen this and experienced it in the church, right? Yes indeed. See, because some talebearers, not only being gossips, become very contentious. And I know when I was dealing with a very severe matter, that there were people who were so impatient that they couldn’t wait, and they wanted their judgment, rather than letting me take my time to get all the facts, which we’ll talk about later, you see. What did they do? They had to get on the phone, and they had to call people in Canada, and they to call people in other states. [Whispering] “Did you know? Did you hear?” And didn’t have all the facts. Now they may have had some, but you see what happens when you do this? You close the door for repentance, you close the door for a person to come back, and you create strife and contention. Now let’s read the next verse, “As coals are to burning coals, and wood to fire; so is a contentious man to kindle strife. The words of a talebearer are as wounds, and they go down into the innermost parts of the belly. Burning lips…” Can hardly wait to talk. “…And a wicked heart are like a potsherd covered with silver dross. He that hateth dissembleth with his lips, and layeth up deceit within him; when he speaketh fair, believe him not: for there are seven abominations in his heart.” And we’ve also seen that too, haven’t we? And how many times have talebearing been lying? Do you know all the facts? Where you there? Did you see it? Did you understand it? Did you know what was going on in the mind of the person? Or did you assume it? Did you make a judgment against it? What did you do? Now we’re going to see, there are times not to judge. Now remember this, “A lying tongue hateth those that are afflicted by it...” Verse 28, “…and a flattering mouth worketh ruin” (Prov. 26:20-25, 28, KJV). Because they do not have righteous judgment. Now we’ll continue tomorrow and understand when we are not to judge.

Feast of Tabernacles – Day 4 – 2006

Judge Righteous Judgment #1

Scriptural References