September 30^th 2018

9:30 am Bible Study & 10:00 am Message---------------------------------Messages by Mike Walker

Wednesday: 7:00 pm ---------------------Together With The Lord Forever – 1 Thessalonians 4:17

Be Strong In The Lord – Ephesians 6:10

The victory lies not with us, but with Christ, who has taken on Him both to conquer for us and to conquer in us. The victory lies neither in our own strength to get it, nor in our enemies’ strength to defeat it. If it lay with us, we might justly fear. But Christ will maintain His own government in us and take our part against our corruptions. They are His enemies as well as ours. Let us therefore be ‘strong in the Lord, and in the power of His might’ (Eph. 6:10).

Let us not look so much at who our enemies are as at who our Judge and Captain is, nor at what they threaten, but at what He promises. We have more for us than against us. What coward would not fight when he is sure of victory? None is here overcome but he that will not fight.” –Richard Sibbes, The Bruised Reed (1630/1998)

Judge Not – Matthew 7:1

Those who do not know the scriptures wrongly interpret this passage as they do nearly all that is written. We cannot take one verse alone, but scripture must be compared with scripture. In Leviticus 19:15, the Lord said, “In righteousness shalt thou judge thy neighbor.” In John 7:24, the Lord said, “Judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment.” Wickedness and ungodly behavior must be judged and condemned by those who love truth and righteousness. Sin must be called sin and exposed for the evil that it is. This is what false prophets and their followers refuse to do, because their own deeds are evil, saying, “Judge Not!”, to keep from offending anyone and losing members and money. So you see, the Lord most certainly did not mean that we should never make judgments. He was speaking to His disciples (and to all believers), telling us not to look down on someone as their superior, condemning and passing sentence as if we were their judge, for if we do not show mercy, we will not find mercy, and if we pass unbending judgment or censure upon someone, with the same judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged. Let me illustrate…

Years ago a passenger was traveling on a sailing vessel which had a harsh and cruel captain. One of the sailors was about to be whipped unmercifully by the captain, and the passenger asked him to show mercy. The captain replied: “I never show mercy!” The passenger then replied: “You better hope then that you are without sin, for if you ever need mercy from God, you will find none!”

The Lord led the apostle Paul to expound this subject more clearly, when he said concerning our brethren: “Who art thou that judgest another man’s servant? to his own master he standeth or falleth” (Rom.14:4). God is the absolute and final Judge of His people, not us. He alone looks on the heart and has perfect knowledge. While judgments are to be made, let them always be righteous, without partiality, bias or prejudice, and always according to truth. And let our judgments never be without mercy. May we always consider ourselves, the beam in our own eyes, our gross sins and terrible shortcomings, before we censure our brother for his sins.

“If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.” — Galatians 5:25