Bible For Foreigners

Judging Ourselves

In judging ourselves, we need to come to the Lord and ask

for cleansing and forgiveness as often as needed. We need to confess

our faults to Him and others. (James 5:16: Confess your

faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may

be healed. 1 John 1:9: If we confess our sins, he is faithful and

just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all

unrighteousness.) In confessing to other members of the body of

Christ, we should have the Lord’s guidance as to whom we should

reveal our sins. Some people are unable to receive a confession,

and it can do more harm than good. This is especially true if that

person is not walking in the same spiritual light that you are. It is

enough to confess those particular sins to God. Let the Holy Spirit

guide you in these areas, as there are Christians that do not have

Christ’s nature of mercy formed in them yet, and they could use

the confession against you, instead of receiving it as unto the Lord.

We should not confess to those that are outside Christ, as they do

not understand God’s love and forgiveness.

Looking again to 1 Corinthians 11:31-32, we see that if we

judge ourselves, we shall not be judged; and if we are judged we

are chastised of the Lord. How does the Lord chasten us? Does

He do mean things to us? Does He send sickness, tragedy, etc. to

straighten us up? No, He does not; the Father chastens us by

His Word. Let us look at John 12:47-48; And if any man hear

my words, and believe not, I judge him not: for I came not to

judge the world, but to save the world. He that rejecteth me,

and receiveth not my words, hath one that judgeth him: the

word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last

day. As Christians, when we do wrong we are immediately chastised

by the Spirit of God convicting us. If we lie, we hear the

Word of God in our spirit say, Thou shalt not lie. We feel guilty

and experience the Holy Spirit’s disapproval. If we immediately

repent and make things right with God and man, then we are restored

to fellowship with God. If we refuse to repent and choose

to continue in our sin, we add sin to sin and end up with a broken

relationship with the Lord. He cannot fellowship with those that

are in sin. He is a holy God. As long as this breach exists, we are

not right with God and it leaves the door open for Satan to attack

us. Satan then has a right to come and put sickness on us, bring

accusations, send evil tidings, create fear in our hearts, etc., because

we are in his territory. Our own sins and backsliding bring

the problems. Our Lord does not send them to teach us some27

thing. (Jeremiah 2:19, Thine own wickedness shall correct thee,

and thy backslidings shall reprove thee: know therefore and

see that it is an evil thing and bitter, that thou hast forsaken

the Lord thy God...)