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| SERMON #163 Judge not, that ye be not judged. For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again, MAT 7:1-2. We have dwelt on the first two words of MAT 7:1, "Judge not..." in previous messages. Now we want to continue with "...that ye be not judged. For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again." These are very solemn words; the Scriptures teach us that God will reward every man according to his doings. The Lord rewards everyone according to the judgment wherewith he judges. As we unfold this, I hope we begin to understand and realize the solemnity of these words. Our Saviour's teaching pertaining to judgment can be illustrated by an echo. An echo is the reflection of sound waves from a surface; if you are speaking loudly near a mountain, your speech hits the mountain and bounces back to you. That echo illustrates our text beautifully. Let's use an illustration of a little child who was standing where his voice would echo back to him. After hearing his echo, he complained to his mother that another boy was mocking him. This child told his mother "When I said, `Ho!' this boy said `Ho!'—when I said `Who are you?' this boy said `Who are you?'—when I said `You are mocking me!' this boy said `You are mocking me!'" That exact reproduction of who we are illustrates our text. The mother told her son, "If you had told the boy, `I love you!' he would have told you `I love you!' If you had told the boy `I want to be your friend!' he would have told you `I want to be your friend!' Now if you grow to be a man, you will learn that whatever you say to others, they will, by and by, say back to you. If you are contentious and hateful to others, they are going to be hateful and contentious to you. If you reflect a smile, they will reflect a smile to you. God will echo the judgment you show toward others back to you." Our text says, "Judge not, that ye be not judged. For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again." In other words, God will use the judgment with which you judge others to judge you, just like the echo. God's judgment toward us will be as an echo of our judgment toward our fellow man. If our judgment towards others is generous and filled with mercy, if we always look at our brother in the best possible light in judging his attitudes and actions, then that is the measure with which we will be judged. 1PE 1:17 says, "And if ye call on the Father, who without respect of persons judgeth according to every man's work, pass the time of your sojourning here in fear." In fear means in holy reverence for God's will. His will is that we love God above all and our neighbour as ourselves. We are to spend our sojourn here on earth in holy reverence for God's law of love. God rewards us according to what we do. The Scripture teaches this principle of God's judgment as an echo of what we do. What we do to a person reveals how we judge them. Adonibezek passed judgment that seventy kings were not worthy of their thumbs and toes when he had them cut off. Now see the Lord's echo of that judgment in JDG 1:7, "And Adonibezek said, Threescore and ten kings, having their thumbs and their great toes cut off, gathered their meat under my table: as I have done, so God hath requited me. And they brought him to Jerusalem, and there he died." Here we see a heathen king preaching this gospel. In effect what he was saying was, "As I have done to my fellow man, i.e., as I have passed judgment upon my fellow man, `so God hath requited me.' i.e., He has paid me according to what I have done." God rewards every man according to his deeds. Do you think that means just on the Judgment Day? Oh, no! A thousand times, NO! Within this life the Lord is going to pass judgment upon us, and He is going to reward us exactly according to what we have done. After seeing this principle in Scripture, watch and you will see that people who have committed certain sins are almost always rewarded in this lifetime with that very sin being committed against them. The sad commentary of David's sins of lust, adultery, and murder illustrates what Jesus meant, "...and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again." The Lord rewards us according to our doing. That does not mean in eternity alone; it includes this life. The prophet was sent to reprove David; watch to see David's reward for his sin. Uriah was killed in an instant, but think of how grievously the sword in David's house rewarded him for his sin. For a lifetime the Lord rewarded David with the grievousness of that sword. 2SA 12:9-11 says, "Wherefore hast thou despised the commandment of the LORD, to do evil in his sight? thou hast killed Uriah the Hittite with the sword, and hast taken his wife to be thy wife, and hast slain him with the sword of the children of Amnon. Now therefore [See the connecting word, i.e., to say this is the echo of your doings.] the sword shall never depart from thine house; because thou hast despised me, and hast taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be thy wife. Thus saith the LORD, Behold, I will raise up evil against thee out of thine own house [which was fulfilled in Absalom, David's son], and I will take thy wives before thine eyes, and give them unto thy neighbour, and he shall lie with thy wives in the sight of this sun." It is so very grievous when the Lord rewards us by raising up evil in our own house to repay us for our cruelties. David's own children were used to reward him for his foolishness. Do you remember how that was fulfilled? Absalom, David's own son, rose up against David, taking his father's wives up on the house top and went in unto them before all Israel. "And Ahithophel said unto Absalom, Go in unto thy father's concubines, which he hath left to keep the house; and all Israel shall hear that thou art abhorred of thy father: then shall the hands of all that are with thee be strong. So they spread Absalom a tent upon the top of the house; and Absalom went in unto his father's concubines in the sight of all Israel," 2SA 16:21-22. Oh, think how grievous it was to David when the echo of his sin reached his ears! If his heart was right before the Lord, he had to accept this as the Lord's reward for the foolishness of his sin. The words of our text, "For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again," are a most awesome reality when we see these Scriptural examples which are written for our learning. See how the evil the Lord raised up against David out of his own house began by leaving Amnon over to the power of the very sins David committed, i.e., lust and adultery. He allowed the power of that sin to come against one of David's own children. The power of lust for Amnon's own sister caused such grief. Oh beloved, see how awesome it is when the Lord sends our judgment back home as an echo in such a grievous way. Tamar did not understand that she was the victim of her father's sin when she told her brother, "There is no cause!" She couldn't understand it; she couldn't understand her brother's mentality. Why would he do such a thing. She didn't understand what the prophet, Nathan, had told her father; the Lord would raise up evil in David's own house. 2SA 13:15-16 tells us, "Then Amnon hated her exceedingly; so that the hatred wherewith he hated her was greater than the love wherewith he had loved her. And Amnon said unto her, Arise, be gone. And she said unto him, There is no cause: this evil in sending me away is greater than the other that thou didst unto me. But he would not hearken unto her." See the power of sin the Lord allowed in his children as the reward for David's sin. These are solemn realities; they are enough to make our hearts tremble when we see how the Lord rewards us. The grief in our own lives should cause us to fall on our face before the Lord, saying, "I have sinned. I have sinned!" We cannot point a finger at Amnon or Absalom; this was the echo of the judgment David had passed upon Uriah. David was rewarded with the measure he meted; he received the "...good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over...," LUK 6:38. It is so remarkable that David did not understand how the Word of the Lord, "I will raise up evil against thee out of thine own house," was being fulfilled when Absalom sat at the king's gate stealing the hearts of Israel. Nathan, the prophet, had told David these things would happen. 2SA 15:2-4 says, "And Absalom rose up early, and stood beside the way of the gate: and it was so, that when any man that had a controversy came to the king for judgment, then Absalom called unto him, and said, Of what city art thou? And he said, Thy servant is of one of the tribes of Israel. And Absalom said unto him, See, thy matters are good and right [How did he steal the hearts of the children of Israel? He sympathized with every man's cause. Then he went on to complain]; but there is no man deputed of the king to hear thee. Absalom said moreover, Oh that I were made judge in the land, that every man which hath any suit or cause might come unto me, and I would do him justice!" Absalom stole the hearts of the children of Israel by telling each person coming for judgment that their cause was right and just. He was saying that if he was the judge of Israel, he would give them justice. No matter what the cause was, Absalom promised him favorable judgment. He went on to say there was no one deputed by the king to hear them. That brought reproach upon the king; it said the king wasn't listening, and he was negligent by not giving the people justice. So Absalom stole the hearts of Israel; Absalom desired to be the judge of Israel and promised them justice. This was the echo of the Lord's judgment for David's sin. It was not until Absalom was killed that David really understood that he was being rewarded according to his sin. When Absalom was slain, David's eyes were opened to see that this was the fulfilling of His judgment: the measure he meted to others was now meted to him by the Lord. "And the king was much moved [when he heard that Absalom was slain], and went up to the chamber over the gate, and wept: and as he went, thus he said, O my son Absalom, my son, my son Absalom! would God I had died for thee, O Absalom, my son, my son!" 2SA 18:33. Why did David say, "would God I had died for thee"? When Nathan came to David with a parable to convict him of his sin, David had said that whoever was guilty of that sin would surely die; yet Nathan said, the Lord had forgiven David and would spare his life. Yet David would hear the echo of his sinful judgment the rest of his life; the sword would not depart from his house. Now David understood that his son, Absalom, had died as an echo of David's sin. This was why David's cry, "O my son Absalom, my son, my son Absalom! would God I had died for thee, O Absalom, my son, my son!" was such a grievous cry. The history of David herein teaches how the Lord gives good measure when He repays. Think of the bitterness of receiving a good measure for what you give; it is such a solemn reality. Now David felt the full force of what Jesus said in LUK 6:38, "Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom. For with the same measure that ye mete withal it shall be measured to you again." Now David understood; he was receiving from the hand of the Lord, "good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over...," into his bosom of the judgment which he had passed upon Uriah. The solemn reality of this is present today. If people only had the eyes to see, they would know their woes are the fruit of their sins. If David had seen it was the reward for his own sin, he would have handled the matter of Amnon differently and Absalom would not have had to flee. It was not until the Lord had "pressed down, and shaken together, and running over," the measure that David had given unto Uriah that David's eyes were opened to see that the Lord had filled David's cup with grief. Those who pass judgment without mercy shall receive judgment without mercy, "For he shall have judgment without mercy, that hath shewed no mercy; and mercy rejoiceth against judgment," JAM 2:13. This reward of hearing the echo of our own judgment will also apply to the Judgment Day for those who remain outside of Christ's atonement. MAT 16:27 says, "For the Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father with his angels; and then he shall reward every man according to his works." Those who are in Christ on the Judgment Day shall be able to say with ISA 38:17, "Behold, for peace I had great bitterness: but thou hast in love to my soul delivered it from the pit of corruption: for thou hast cast all my sins behind thy back." Stop and analyze this; for David it was something for him to receive the reward of his doing in this life. Now think of those who are unregenerate and have never been brought into salvation by the blood of Christ. For all eternity they shall hear the echo of the judgment they passed on others as the judgment God passes on them. What a solemn thing it is to pass judgment upon our brother. If we try to sit in the seat of God, passing judgment here and there, we are in danger of spending all eternity with that judgment passed on us. "He shall reward every man according to his works." The words of our text, "For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again," teaches us that God will be both justified in His judgment, and all flesh will be put to silence. When the Lord opened David's eyes to see that He was rewarding him for his own sin, he had no more stones to throw at Absalom. When the Lord comes in judgment, and He passes judgment exactly as you and I have judged, our eyes will be opened to see clearly. Think how that will stop every mouth. How could we have one stone to throw when our eyes are opened to see that the judgment we receive of the Lord is exactly the same judgment we showed toward our brother. "If any man have an ear, let him hear. He that leadeth into captivity shall go into captivity: he that killeth with the sword must be killed with the sword. Here is the patience and the faith of the saints," REV 13:9-10. This is exactly the same message as our text. This is so awesome, and yet so beautiful! "Here is the patience and the faith of the saints" for they shall be avenged of their adversaries. When the Lord comes in the Day of Judgment, the righteous shall also hear the echo of the judgment they passed upon their brothers. Then the righteous will say, "...Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink? When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee? Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee? And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me." MAT 25:37-40. All those who sit as judge of the motives of others will have their hearts revealed unto all. In that Day of Judgment, every thought and intent of our hearts will be laid naked and bare before those whom we were judging. That is something to think about now. 1CO 4:3-5 says, "But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged of you, or of man's judgment: yea, I judge not mine own self. For I know nothing by myself; yet am I not hereby justified: but he that judgeth me is the Lord. Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come, who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts: and then shall every man have praise of God." When it is revealed what is in our heart, and there has been generosity for other people, there will be praise of God. They may have been condemning us or trying to destroy us while we were being generous in our judgment of them. Then we will have praise of God. What will it be for those who have judged others without mercy? They will likewise receive judgment without mercy. If we are puffed up with a judgmental spirit, we demonstrate a total lack of self-knowledge. The more we learn to know our heart, the more generous we become in judging others. In 1CO 4:6-7 we read, "And these things, brethren, I have in a figure transferred to myself and to Apollos for your sakes; that ye might learn in us not to think of men above that which is written, that no one of you be puffed up for one against another. For who maketh thee to differ from another? and what hast thou that thou didst not receive? now if thou didst receive it, why dost thou glory, as if thou hadst not received it?" If the Lord has given us grace to be loving, should we pass judgment on one who has been given less grace? If we have been given grace to have a Christlike spirit, what would we have that we didn't receive. What is there left to glory in? Who makes us to differ from another? As we learn to know ourselves, our judgment of others becomes more generous. We must use a sympathetic judgment; if we see a grievous sin in another person, we begin praying for them rather than passing judgment on them. We ask the Lord to be gracious to them as He was to us because everything we have is of the Lord. When the Lord gives us but a glimpse of our own heart we, like the Pharisees, have not one stone left to throw at the woman taken in adultery. Jesus tells us what the judgmental, pharisaical hypocrites see in their hearts when the Lord gives them just a glimpse of true spiritual light. It was just a glimpse, not even enough to bring them to repentance or a conviction to bring them to salvation. MAT 23:25-28 says, "Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye make clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full of extortion and excess. [We must understand what is in our own heart which is filled with extortion and excesses. If we are blind to this, we fall into such sin. How can we pass judgment on the adulteress if we get but a glimpse of our own heart?] Thou blind Pharisee, cleanse first that which is within the cup and platter, that the outside of them may be clean also. Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men's bones, and of all uncleanness. Even so ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity." The Lord Jesus Christ was speaking to the Pharisees, but if we understand the Pharisee in our own heart, we wouldn't have a stone to throw at others. When we start passing judgment on our fellow man, we will be judged with the same judgment. As we understand our own heart, our judgment will become more generous. We will be judged by the same judgment we meted to others. If we see the sins harbored in our own heart, it doesn't matter how sinful another person is; we will know that we need very generous judgment. What kind of judgment do we want in the Judgment Day? What kind of judgment do we want in this life? That is the kind of judgment we must pass upon others. Our hearts will tremble if we begin to understand what the Lord Jesus is telling us in this verse. The Apostle Paul, the Pharisee of Pharisees, understood his own heart when he said in ROM 2:1, "Therefore thou art inexcusable, O man, whosoever thou art that judgest: for wherein thou judgest another, thou condemnest thyself; for thou that judgest doest the same things." Paul was a man in whom the Lord had worked grace; he was a Pharisee, and he was the very man Jesus was describing in the above verses. He was the whited sepulchre who was persecuting the church, thinking he was doing God's service. How often we have such a Pharisee in our own heart. Regardless of how corrupt the person is, we, like the Apostle Paul, are "inexcusable" when we judge another person because we are guilty of the very things we pass judgment upon. When we see a man taken in a fault, we must counsel him and restore him considering our own weaknesses. We are capable of falling in the same fault. GAL 6:1-3 says, "Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted. Bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ. [How? By being patient with another's weakness. Isn't that precious?] For if a man think himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceiveth himself." We are to be patient with another person's weaknesses; we all have weaknesses. I may not mock another person's weaknesses, nor may they mock me if they are walking in the commands and law of Christ. If we can slight another person's weaknesses, we are telling people that we do not know ourselves. "Judge not, that ye be not judged," teaches that those who usurp the bench get called to the bar. Those who take upon themselves the position of judge are summoned to the bar to be judged. They are judged of men as well as of God--commonly none are more censured than those who are most censorious. People who censure and condemn others will be censured by society. Everyone will have a stone to throw at them. Those who move their hand and tongue against every man will, like Ishmael, have every hand and tongue against them. They will be censured by man as well as by God. "And he will be a wild man; his hand will be against every man, and every man's hand against him; and he shall dwell in the presence of all his brethren," GEN 16:12. Scripture is teaching us that we will be censured by man as well as by God; we will be judged by the judgment we used to judge others. No mercy shall be shown to the reputation of one who shows no mercy to the reputation of others, yet this is not the worst of it! They shall be judged of God according to the judgment which they have judged others. If we use slander to harm the reputation of another person, our own reputation will sink lower than the one we are condemning. We will be judged by God by the same judgment we meted to others. JAM 3:1-2 says, "My brethren, be not many masters [don't lord over each other], knowing that we shall receive the greater condemnation. For in many things we offend all. If any man offend not in word, the same is a perfect man, and able also to bridle the whole body." If you and I were perfect, we would never slander anyone, but if we slander, we only reveal the corruption of our own heart. We all must appear before God and He will relieve the humble sufferer, but He will judge the haughty scorner. Those who suffer slander and condemnation by their fellow man will find relief from the Lord, but the arrogant attacker will be rewarded according to what he did to others. If we are charitable in our censures of others, and decline judging them, rather judging ourselves, we shall not be judged of the Lord. Let's ponder this concept. If a woman is seen taken in adultery, it should immediately throw a light into our heart. We, too, are prone to lust; if it were not for the grace of God, we would fall in the same sin. This causes us to pass judgment upon our own heart, and the Lord will be generous in His judgment of us for that corruption in our heart. LUK 6:37-38 says, "Judge not, and ye shall not be judged: condemn not, and ye shall not be condemned: forgive, and ye shall be forgiven [Oh, beloved, that is powerful gospel! What an assurance of being able to come righteous before the judgment seat of Christ!]: Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom. For with the same measure that ye mete withal it shall be measured to you again." When our judgment is generous and we are forgiving, we can help restore those who are taken in a fault into the bond of love with the gospel of Christ, pleading with them, convincing them that they are walking in the snare of Satan! Our desire must be to snatch them from the snares of Satan and restore them into the bond of the Spirit of Christ. Do you see the difference between trying to snatch someone from Satan's snare and passing condemnation upon the person? Our text teaches that we are judged by God and man with the judgment wherewith we judge. The sin of judging is a gross transgression of the second table of the law. The second table of the law commands us to love our neighbour as ourselves. ROM 14:10 says, "But why dost thou judge thy brother? or why dost thou set at nought thy brother? for we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ." When you and I stand before the judgment seat of Christ, we will have enough on our own fork without heaping judgment upon our brother. Do we want to be pardoned for our sins? If so, we must be forgiving. If we want to find mercy when we come before the judgment seat of Christ, we must first give mercy. If we do not want to become condemned, then we may not condemn others. Christ's command in our text, "Judge not, that ye be not judged. For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again," is given as a deterrent against all severity against our brother. It is a command, but it is also a warning. This Scripture not only tells us what not to do, but also the consequences if we do it. Let's look at JOB 31:13-14. "If I did despise the cause of my manservant or of my maidservant, when they contended with me; What then shall I do when God riseth up? and when he visiteth, what shall I answer him?" Isn't it precious how Job considered the causes of his servants because he would have to answer to God? Job confesses that his reverence for God and His law of love was a deterrent to sinning against the second table of the law. Job looked at his fellow man with the eye that they were both created by the same God. JOB 31:15-23 says, "Did not he that made me in the womb make him? and did not one fashion us in the womb? If I have withheld the poor from their desire, or have caused the eyes of the widow to fail; Or have eaten my morsel myself alone, and the fatherless hath not eaten thereof; (For from my youth he was brought up with me, as with a father, and I have guided her from my mother's womb;) If I have seen any perish for want of clothing, or any poor without covering; If his loins have not blessed me, and if he were not warmed with the fleece of my sheep; If I have lifted up my hand against the fatherless, when I saw my help in the gate: Then let mine arm fall from my shoulder blade, and mine arm be broken from the bone. For destruction from God was a terror to me [Such holy reverence for God is a deterrent against sin], and by reason of his highness I could not endure." Job had a holy reverence and respect for the judgments of God. He did not dare pass judgments that were contrary to God's will because he knew he would be rewarded accordingly. There was a two-fold bond between Job and his fellow man. Job acted out of love for his neighbour, and out of a holy reverence for God under the first table of the law. Both tables of the law constrain us to love our neighbour. What would become of you or me if God would be as severe in judging us as we are in judging others? That gives us something to ponder. If we think back on our lives on how we have passed judgment here, and here, and here on our brother, our fellow man, then we must sink in holy awe and amazement of when God judges us. Oh beloved, this must cause us to fall prostrate before the Lord to seek mercy. As we grow in self-knowledge, we become more gracious in our judgment of others. There was a man in the community who was renowned for foolishness; his favorite saying about others was, "God help the poor fool!" The man who is destitute of true charity is most likely to exclaim, "There is no love among Christians!" Many hunt out those sins in others which they gladly shelter in themselves. In the Day of Judgment the righteous and the wicked shall have the full realization of the words of our text, "...with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again." Now let's look at HEB 6:10 for the other side of this principle, "For God is not unrighteous to forget your work and labour of love, which ye have shewed toward his name, in that ye have ministered to the saints, and do minister." That becomes the echo of our judgment when we have a loving spirit, a ministering of love, serving our brothers, and doing that which is right. Those who truly minister to His saints do it out of love, not to merit anything. We do not minister to others in order to earn heaven. The other side of this principle which lays very heavy upon my heart is shown in MAT 25:33-46, "And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left..." We read in V:34- 36, "Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in: Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me." The righteous shall be overcome by the echo of the judgment they rendered under the law of love saying, "...Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink?" V:37. Now let's fit our text in here. How did He pass judgment? "...With what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again." V:40 continues, "And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me." Do you see that that is passing judgment? The Lord will give us the same measure as we have measured. The law of the gospel was the law of the Old Testament as well. PRO 14:31 says, "He that oppresseth the poor reproacheth his Maker: but he that honoureth him hath mercy on the poor." There is no difference; the Old Testament preaches the same gospel as Jesus preached. "He that hath pity upon the poor lendeth unto the LORD; and that which he hath given will he pay him again," PRO 19:17. This verse does not mean that one gives to the poor with the expectation of receiving it back from the Lord. That is not to be our motive, but it is the reward. We help the needy, and reach out our hand in love to the fatherless or those who are taken in sin. We go to them to plead with them. The Lord has a reward: "that which he hath given will he pay him again." It is so remarkable that in the Day of Judgment our blessed Saviour will reveal what so pleased Him; holy submission to His law of love will echo back to those who entered His kingdom during their lifetime on earth. My mother told me one time that it would be such a dreadful thing when we came in the Day of Judgment and every thought and intent of our heart would be laid naked and bare before the Lord. I asked her if she ever thought about ISA 38:17 which says, "...for thou hast cast all my sins behind thy back." In the Day of Judgment Jesus will say nothing to the righteous about their sins; they are eternally behind His back into the sea of everlasting forgetfulness. All He will mention is the judgment wherewith they have judged their brother from a heart of love. A most beautiful illustration of how God's dear children will appear on the Judgment Day without one word of reproof is made by our Saviour in MAT 25:34-40, "Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in: Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me. Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink? When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee? Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee? And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me." What did Jesus mention? He echoed their judgment of love and those things they did in His favor that pleased Him. They were looked upon according to the judgment they had used. They judged those people worthy of a cup of cold water and granted it. They judged the people worthy of the things they needed and gave them those things. The Lord said, "that which he hath given will he pay him again," Amen. |
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