Monday, March 28, 2011

“Judge not, that you be not judged. For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you."


[This verse] is one of those passages of Scripture, which we must be careful not to strain beyond its proper meaning. It is frequently abused and misapplied, by the enemies of true religion. It is possible to press the words of the Bible so far that they yield not medicine, but poison.

Our Lord does not mean that it is wrong, under any circumstances, to pass an unfavorable judgment on the conduct and opinions of others. We ought to have decided opinions. We are to "prove all things." We are to "try the spirits."--Nor yet does he mean that it is wrong to reprove the sins and faults of others, until we are perfect and faultless ourselves. Such an interpretation would contradict other parts of Scripture. It would make it impossible to condemn error and false doctrine. It would debar any one from attempting the office of a minister or judge. The earth would be "given into the hands of the wicked." (John ix. 24.) Heresy would flourish. Wrong-doing would abound.

What our Lord means to condemn is a censorious and fault-finding spirit. A readiness to blame others for trifling offenses, or maters of indifference--a habit of passing rash and hasty judgments--a disposition to magnify the errors and infirmities of our neighbors, and make the worst of them--this is what our Lord forbids. It was common among the Pharisees. It has always been common from their day down to the present time. We must all watch against it. We should "believe all things," and hope all things" about others, and be very slow to find fault. This is Christian charity. (1 Cor. xiii. 7.)

These are some find words from Bishop Ryle. What a deep and humble pastor of our Savior he must have been. You can surely see he was such a fine Christian man from the way he expounds upon the truth of God. I look forward to meeting John Charles one day, so that I might thank him for his diligent work in the study of God's truth, and for taking the many, many hours of writing down his teachings and lessons. Surely he did all this for he was called to do so, and he surely longed to obey his Lord. And I'm sure his heart was also steadfast to teach the Word to all his sheep as a under-shepherd of Christ, the One Good Shepherd of all.

9 comments:

donsands said...

Nope. You seem like a coward though being anonymous and all.

Ron (aka RealityCheck) said...

Hmmm…

Probably never have been educated past the eight grade level

Shouldn’t that be… past the eighth grade level?

used to get you tail kicked on a regular basis

Shouldn’t that be… get your tail kicked…?

IOW, Anonymous, before you go around calling someone else an idiot, you might want to run your own sentences through some kind of grammar checker first.

donsands said...

Thanks brother.

Ron (aka RealityCheck) said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Ron (aka RealityCheck) said...

I do not go back and proof read to make sure I wrote everything correctly.

That’s fascinating but who asked?

I am presuming that you have actually read a book.

Actually, I was reading several books just this morning because you made me think of them.

First, I took a look at Webster’s definition of idiot and found this:

a foolish or stupid person.

Then I read in the book of Proverbs this:

The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge; Fools despise wisdom and instruction.” Proverbs 1:7

Then I read in the book of Romans this:

Professing to be wise, they became fools,” Romans 1:22

Then I thought about how you intended to be disruptive but actually drove me to the bible and that reminded me of this from the book of Genesis:

As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good” Genesis 50:20

And then I thought just how great God is that He can use even the “Anonymous” to prove the accuracy of His word. Thanks!

donsands said...

Thanks for the good word brother.

donsands said...

I decided to "spam' this Anon guy. He is one of those our Lord talks about, methinks:

" “Do not give dogs what is holy, and do not throw your pearls before pigs, lest they trample them underfoot and turn to attack you."-Jesus

Ron (aka RealityCheck) said...

I often wonder if I was to start a blog just where I would draw the line. I always think that if there was at least some sincere interest in having a discussion, even one with disagreement, I could let a lot go. Unfortunately, this fella showed zero interest in anything of the sort. Sorry if I encouraged him by engaging him.

I think you did the right thing to shut him down.

donsands said...

I prayed about it a little. He called me an idiot right of the bat. And that was okay, but this guy, or gal, doesn't have a profile, and did not tell me his name. So, I can't dialog with a person who seems to hate me, and won't tell me who he is.
No big deal though. God is sovereign, and so he came here because God sent him.

I hope he finds his way to Christ, and sees the light, so his dark heart will be exposed, and so he repents and trusts in Christ's death and resurrection.
God loves to have mercy on sinners RC, doesn't he.
Thanks for your encouragement.