DO NOT JUDGE!
Matthew 7 vs. 1- 2
“Judge not, that ye be not judged. For with what judgement ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.”
The Bible rightly said we should not judge.
Truthbetold; Judgment is for God, for God is the righteous judge. However, that does not mean that we must close our eyes and let evil continue without rebuking the evildoer. That is unscriptural. It is sad to say that many are capitalizing on the scripture that says we should not judge to attack anyone who rebukes them when they go wrong.
We should however remind ourselves that though the Bible says we should not judge, the Bible does not forbid us from rebuking ourselves when we do the wrong thing.
Rebuke is different from judgement. Rebuke simply means caution. So to rebuke someone is to give caution against doing what is not right.
Judgement on the other hand is the act of giving a sentence on someone for committing a crime. Judgement could be in favour or against someone who is accused of having
committed a crime. In dealing with sins which people commit against God, none of us has the right to pass judgement on the other for committing a sin since we all sin
one way or the other. Only God is qualified to judge people for their sins.
On the other hand, as children of God, we have the right to rebuke one another. In this sense, rebuke simply means to caution someone of the dangers involved in what
the person is doing. The Bible makes it clear that when we know what is right and refuse to do the same, then it becomes a sin to us. This means that it is a sin not to
rebuke someone who commits sin because that sin could lead him or her to hell. We are asked to help those falling into sin to come back to the path of righteousness.
And this can be achieved by rebuking the sinner. This must be done with love, so the person does not feel judged.
Truthbetold; every sin has a consequence. So we rebuke to caution someone about the consequences of his or her action. This is by no means judgement.
But it is obvious that some carnally minded people who are bent in living in sin hate to be rebuked. To such people, rebuke has become judgement. It is sad to say that many people in church today have no problem living in sin. But they have a serious problem with being rebuked.
Their new defence mechanism is, “Don’t judge.”
They think it is wrong to rebuke a sister or a brother living in sin. So they want to shut up those who care to speak out by reminding them that God says not to judge. But they never remind themselves that it is wrong to sin.
Truthbetold; Jesus rebuked sinners, Paul rebuked sinners. The prophets of old rebuked sinners. Even the apostles cautioned the leaders who misled the people. Every
child of God has the right to rebuke someone living in sin in order to save the person from going to hell.
Truthbetold; To rebuke is to stop one from doing the wrong thing. Rebuke is not judgement. We have the right to rebuke one another, but God alone has the authority to
judge. I will be failing in my duty as your brother in the Lord to watch you do what is wrong and not rebuke you according to the word of God. By rebuking you, I save
you and save myself as well. The Bible says that if a man is sinning and we refuse to warn him, if he dies in his sin, the Lord will require his blood on the us. Do
you understand that at all?,
If you are stealing or fornicating or committing any other sin, will it be judgement to ask you to stop and live rightly to avoid going to hell as the Bible said? Does
that mean that I have judged you? Didn’t the Bible say that sinners will go to hell?
Truthbetold; people want to live their life in the flesh, yet they claim to be Christians, which is sad. They are tired of being reminded all the time that their sin
will send them to hell. So they have found this ridiculous way of telling people to shut up by telling them not to judge.
You live in sin and don’t want to be rebuked. Are you serious at all? Judge yourself by doing the right thing, and no one will dare rebuke you. Stop twisting the word of
God to cover your sins. Sin is sin. Nothing can turn sin to righteousness.
But if you think no one has right to rebuke you when you are wrong, you can go ahead with your sin. You will surely be judged accordingly on the last day by the Lord
himself. But stop mistaking rebuke for judgement by defending your evil deeds with that phrase, “Don’t judge.”
This message is for everyone who feels like God has forgotten him or her. No matter your situation and difficulties, no matter how long you have suffered pain and shame, or how much you have been mocked, please don’t conclude that God has forgotten you. God knows the situation you are in, and He is always with you to make sure that you are never consumed.
Beloved, I know that you are in pain. I have been there before, and I know how painful it is. It could be that you have no child after five or ten years of marriage and your husband blames it on you every day, accusing you of having aborted all the children in your womb before you married him, when you did no such thing. It could be that you are nearly forty years old as a woman and not yet married, and everyone is laughing at you. Furthermore, it could be that you have no job despite your degrees, yet those who do not have your qualifications are gainfully employed.
It could be that you have failed several times such that fear has taken hold of your spirit and paralysed your will power. It could be that you can’t afford to put food on the table or send your children to school, and your wife calls you a good for nothing man every day. Not only that, but it could be that the business you borrowed money to establish has collapsed and the people you owe are chasing you about everywhere. Likewise, it could be that you have been accused of being the witch or wizard of the community. And you have concluded that God has forgotten you because he has not intervened and dealt with the enemy as you expected, knowing that you are a child of God whose portion is progress and success. Yet you are living in shame, pain and agony.
The enemy will come to tell you that it is your sin. Fine. You know you’re right. God promises to forgive our sins whenever we ask, that he forgives us genuinely. You have confessed your sins many times, fasted and prayed many times, yet you are still in that situation. You have therefore concluded that God has forgotten you. No. That is not true. God does not forget any of his children, and you are one of them.
In order to prepare us for the glory ahead, God will always take us through the wilderness.
The wilderness is a place where God subdues our carnal nature in order to bring the spirit alive. In this place of wilderness, the flesh suffers as it is brought in submission to the spirit. This is to let our spirit glow and connect with the Spirit of the Father in order to bring us to the true understanding of our relationship with the Father.
This place of wilderness is where the Father refines and purifies us until we become like gold in his presence. This is a place of discovery of who we really are. It is a place of serious pain, frustrations, failure, disappointments, rejection, hatred, setbacks, confusion and all that can make us want to give up on our walk with the Lord and go back to the world.
This place is a tough place where we could feel like God has forgotten us, but he is always with us. It is in this place of wilderness that we experience the greatest love of the Father, though we may not know it. This is true because the wilderness is where the enemy is given full authority to tempt us like he tempted our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. His job is to constantly ask us to disobey God with all kinds of negative ideas. The enemy does this because he knows the glory that comes after the wilderness is so much. But the mercy, grace and love of the Father will never let us fall.
The wilderness experience differ from person to person. The higher the anointing, the longer and heavier the pain. This however is not for us to decide. It is as the Father wills it.
My wilderness experience lasted over 20 years. I just came out of it a few weeks ago. During this period, nothing I ever did succeeded. My life was full of frustrations and failures. I was mocked at and called all derogatory names. I contemplated suicide four times, but the Lord did not allow it because his Grace was sufficient unto me.
He gave me the grace to hold onto his promises upon my life. Today, things have changed. The Lord has turned my life around. I am now walking in his Glory.