Don't Judge Others, Judge Yourself - Zac Poonen - September 15, 2019

[Music] so we thought about whose greatest in God's kingdom I want to tell you something else that's I've understood for many years of trying to understand more and more as to how can we be an effective member in a local church in the body of Christ without being a nuisance to others without being a problem in the church and really being a useful member of the body of Jesus Christ's the local body of Christ there are many requirements from whether I'm thinking of one particular requirement and that is 1 Peter chapter 4 it's very simple really but yet I've discovered through the years that many have not understood it 1 Peter chapter 4 there are two or three was sincere I want to read verse fifteen onwards make sure that none of you suffer as a murderer a thief an evildoer or a busybody in other people's matters here is called a troublesome meddler but in the margin of my Bible it says one who oversees other people's affairs that's a literal Greek translation the margin of my Bible it says one who tries to oversee other people's affairs now when you look at that verse I don't think anybody here is in danger of becoming a murderer or a thief or an evildoer there are four groups of people mentioned here its murderer thief evildoer any of you chance of becoming a murderer or a thief or an evildoer close to 0 but being a busybody in other people's affairs the body is Christ as full of people who are doing that passing opinions on other people's affairs you got nothing to do with you overseeing other people's affairs I can only do with it why do I have to have an opinion about them and that is what hinders your own spiritual growth and that's what can make you an absolute first-class nuisance in the body of Christ or of nuisance in society leave alone the church when you try to oversee the affairs of other people when your God is not a point it was you're not appointed to oversee their affairs but human nature is such that we always want to have an opinion about a whole lot of things we have nothing to do with and very often our opinion is wrong because we don't know all the factors concerned I've had numerous people give opinions about my own doctrine and teaching in our church that I've heard through the years and I know so much of it is totally wrong because they don't know we never do things like that so many things I don't defend myself I just keep quiet in the early days when we you know when it became known that we believed in the baptism in the Holy Spirit and speaking in tongues and people in our church for receiving the gift of tongues and they knew that brother Zack and his wife speak in tongues they spread a rumor just to prevent people from coming to our church by saying this is way back in 1975-76 that I was pulling people's tongues and making them speak in tongues what did I do write an article that I didn't do that no I won't waste my time replying to such false accusations I often quote that verse in Matthew 27 when Pilate questioned Jesus he said nothing I said that's my answer you believe whatever you like okay if you're scared that I'm doing that you don't want to come to our church you don't come all that the father gives to me will come to me that I'm sure others will be turned off by all these false accusations etcetera the Christian world and these accusations all came from so-called born-again Christians a busybody in affairs of others when we don't know anything do you know why we should not judge others let me first of all show you Isaiah chapter 11 we all want to become like Jesus Christ well here is one aspect of Christ I would encourage everybody here to seek to follow a wonderful example Isaiah chapter 11 he spoke speaking in verse 1 about a stem of Jesse a branch from his roots Jesse is the father of David and from David seed came Jesus Christ as referring to Jesus Christ in verse 2 the Spirit of the Lord will rest on him the spirit of wisdom understanding counsels strength spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord seven fold Holy Spirit like you read in Revelation the Sevenfold Holy Spirit is mentioned here spirit of Jehovah through the wisdom understanding counsels strengths knowledge and the fear of the Lord and then out of all those one particular aspect of the Holy Spirit is picked out in the next verse the fear of the Lord especially it's the beginning of wisdom and so in verse 3 it says out of all these seven the last one the fear of the Lord is picked up and says Jesus will delight in the fear of the Lord in reverence for God and one mark of this reverence for God is he will not judge other people by what he sees he will not make a decision by what he hears who imagine if everybody in this church decided I'm not going to judge from today onwards by what I see or take a decision by what I hear because I may not have known the full truth there may be other aspects to it which I don't know it is absolute arrogance to make a decision as soon as I see something or I hear something I remember many years ago an incident happened in our one of our conferences in India shall never forget you see in India the lots and lots of mosquitoes and mosquitoes can spread malaria and they bite and so in between the sessions if it's late in the evening people would sit outside outside the hall in a garden or in the under grass before love mosquitoes so we'd have a little type of coil which we burn which releases a certain smell which drives away the mosquitoes it's an anti mosquito coil that lasts for a long time he just light it and it burns and it there's no fire but there's a smoke it drives away the mosquitoes so there were a group of people young brothers from our church sitting outside the hall and had this smoke going up there and there was another young boy there at some distance away it was dark you know he saw these young brothers from CFC Church to the smoke going up so what are they doing smoking CFC brothers smoking cigarettes and he went and told his mother mom I saw some people after the conference smoking cigarettes and mom stupid woman that she was she's no longer in the church by the way I'm not surprised when Dan told others and finally it's like they say through the grapevine it goes person person person and finally it comes to me so I asked one of my sons I say hey were you in that little group versus some young men were sitting there he said young dad we were sitting out there what's this accusation I hear he said we had this thing called a coil it's called a tortoise coil in India with we were driving away the mosquitoes aha don't judge by what your eyes see or like that foolish mother Bywater little boy said by what your years here the Lord more explanations to something than you think there is I hope you will never forget that because tomorrow what you say man what you see may not be smoke it may be some other thing but you have a tendency to judge it's a tremendous lust in the flesh of Adam to pass judgment I want you to learn a lesson from the judges of the High Court and they called him here different federal federal courts and appeals court and Supreme Court do you know that when a case is brought up before a court the judge hears it he doesn't pass a judgement immediately he hears this side he hears that side and it goes on for days I know cases which go on for years and then finally when the judge writes a judgement is sometimes 500 pages I heard this I heard this I heard that person that this this is this and I thought about this and I thought about that and here is my conclusion they don't take it lightly it's Christians who don't bother about finding out anything III passed my judgment what does it prove such Christians have zero fear of the Lord it says about Jesus because he feared the Lord he would not judge by what his eyes saw or make a decision by what his ears heard because he wanted to pass judgment verse 4 in righteousness and with fairness see those two words in verse 4 righteousness and fairness that means the underprivileged poor person this was mentioned about the underprivileged poor in verse 4 should not be taken advantage of the influential rich people have got power to influence judgment but the poor the poor person without influence he can influence the judgment and Jesus was concerned that the poor person should not be taken advantage of there must be fairness and righteousness it is not that Jesus had no opinion you read the Gospels he had a lot of opinions he says you Pharisees you hypocrites you serpents you generation of vipers of course he had an opinion but it was after years and years of observing when he was a twelve-year-old boy Jesus went into the synagogue he never said a thing for the next 18 years he observed observed observed observed observed carefully sought his Heavenly Father's discernment and finally when he was thirty years old he tells him you're a brood of vipers you're hypocrites and he gave them example after example example like this Judge writing this long judgment he says you take advantage of poor widows and turn them out of their houses and then you come to the church and make long prayers many many examples so that's why I say you're a bunch of hypocrites and many examples like that it's a very important quality that we must covet not to judge but to have discernment see in 1 Philippians in chapter 1 and verse 9 Philippians 1 and verse 9 Paul says I have a prayer for you Philippians you're a wonderful bunch of people I want to tell you something do you know that the Apostle Paul never took any money from the Corinthians even when they gave him he said no I won't take any money from you in Ephesus Ephesus is a very good church he was there for three years at the end of three years he says I did not take a single pipe from you sent from you I took care of myself I didn't receive any clothes from you I didn't receive anything we provided for it not only for my knees Jesus for Timothy and others are with me took care of ourselves but from the Philippians when they sent him money he took it he was not dependent on them Paul was not dependent on any man he earned his own living but occasionally when people gave him a gift like people would give Jesus a gift he would receive it you read that in Philippians for when you sent a gift to me again again I received it and even when I received it he says I was not thinking what I need I was thinking that God will bless you because you gave something to his servant so I received it so that you will prosper even there his motive was that they would be blessed that he would not insult the Philippians but from the Corinthians he somehow hesitated I can't take from these people the true servant of God like that is like that he's got discernment but to the Philippians his wonderful church he says that's something I pray for you Philippians 1 9 you must love people sure but you must love must have bound in discernment don't be fooled by all the people don't your love be so blind that you get fooled by everybody no no no you must have discernment you don't judge people that's why I'm trying to give a balance here you don't judge people but you discern and it's very important to know the difference between discerning and judging if you don't discern you'll be like a zombie you know what a zombie is a man whose brain has been taken out he just wanders around the earth like a robot and does not think we're not supposed to be mindless zombies who don't even think we must think God has given us a mind to think we must not be fooled jesus said be harmless as doves doves never harm anyone they are not like Eagles but he said be wise as as what serpents snakes Genesis 3 says the serpent was the wisest of all of God's creation wiser than everything God created and Jesus took that example you know when the devil wanted to come in the Garden of Eden he didn't take the line he didn't choose the lion the lion only scares people he would have run away he chose a serpent beautiful sermon is so beautiful and clever and Jesus used that example and said be as wise as a serpent you believers but don't harm like serpents no be harmless like a dove and be wise as serpents be discerning that means don't go through this world like a zombie not knowing what's happening everybody fool deceives you know I try my best to not let people deceive me about their spirituality in my younger days I have been fooled I must say and I allowed but God does something to protect the church I you know I you know some of these military institutions military camps and all there's a check post and they have a bar that goes up like this they check your identity okay they lift the bar you can go so I think of myself as an elder sometimes like that people come to the church and I try to discern them and sometimes they fooled me and I've lifted the bar and let them go but they don't realize that there's another check post over there where the Holy Spirit is and he does not lift the check post he sends them back and they come right out back threw me out of the church thank God I am NOT the ultimate protector of the church Jesus Christ is so I always tell people even if you fool me remember there's another check post coming up you won't get past that one and I've seen that happen how God finally exposes them and drives them out of the church I've actually seen it happen Judas Iscariot could fool those other 11 disciples for three and a half years but finally he got exposed so you may fool some people for some of the time but not all the time you can't fool people although they can't fool God and you God will preserve his church but we must grow in discernment in the beginning we don't have I must say the early days I did not have much discernment but I've sought to grow in discernment and I'm not perfect but I want to encourage all of you to grow in discernment don't be fooled by anybody who comes to you and comes with a story and tells you something we must be wise and everything so but we don't judge we don't condemn a person we don't pass a judgment that this is like that that he's like that I'll tell you the reason why 1 Corinthians chapter 4 it says here verse 5 here's another verse about judgment don't go on passing judgment before the time wait until the Lord comes when has he come yet the Lord has not come can you please wait you who are itching to pass judgment on somebody all of you who are itching to give an opinion about your opinion your very important opinion about somebody just hang on God says I'll give you time to give your opinion just wait till I count Jesus says after that you can give all your opinions because then your opinion may change and I'll tell you why because when the Lord comes he's going to reveal the motive verse 5 with which this man did something which you thought was evil and it was not evil I heard a story of a believer in some church was seen going into a bar drinking saloon sure enough some believer saw that and circulated the news to discover later that he had gone into that bar with a number of tracts to witness to people there to give out the tracks and that's all he did he didn't touch a bit of alcohol he's just witness to people and got thrown out and he came out but think of those people who judged him not knowing the full story if you see a believer walking into a bar you say ah I thought he was a spiritual man there's so much like this my brothers and sisters what you see you cannot believe and I believe that's one reason why God has allowed the Sun to rise in the east and go to the west to tell you every day you cannot believe your eyes and if you had not studied geography like you human beings thousands of years they would really believe that the Sun goes round the earth and it goes like that I remember hearing that story of those two little boys in the garden and the older boy 12 years old told his 7 year old younger brother hey the Sun is moved it was there in the east and now it's here in the West and the seven year old said no the Sun hasn't moved is the earth that's rotating on its axis and he under our feet the earth is moving and the older boy said I believe what I see and I saw the Sun moving I believe what I feel and I don't feel the earth moving under my feet and the little boy said I believe daddy who was right that's what I save and so many people say thing I see I believe my heavenly daddy you can believe whatever you see or I see the earth rotating under our feet you know at what speed the earth rotates at the egg at the equator it is 1,000 miles an hour 1,000 miles an hour the earth is rotating under our feet and you feel it share felt nothing don't believe your feelings it's happening it's been happening every day since you were born but you didn't feel it even for one second and the Sun you see moving moving more it's not moving at all don't trust your senses it says about Jesus he would not judge by what his eyes saw as yours hurt because he would say well it may be a good motive with which that person did it I don't know the motive we have a tremendous temptation the more spiritual you are the less you want to give your opinion to people and I'll tell you I preached this for nearly 40 years and in our own CFC churches I'm sorry to say so many brothers and sisters still judge pass their opinion make a nuisance of themselves everywhere see for years I was only a father then some years ago I became a grandfather 13 years ago our first grandchild was born and then now you have many grandchildren and I became a father-in-law over the last 14 15 years so when I go to the homes of my children I see them doing things which I may think hey that's not the way to bring up children and the Lord tells me you had your turn to bring up children now let them do it their way thank you lord and I keep my mouth shut and I say that's not the way we did it in our home the Lord said you had time to do it in your home now let them do it their way but there's a tremendous lust in the flesh of Adam to express my opinion I want to stand before God and say I have never done it in these 15 years in any of my children's homes and I will never do it till Jesus comes because I have learned don't be a busybody in other people's matters it's a it's a mark of the devil is those who are inspired by the devil because the devil is called the accuser of the brothers in Revelation 12:10 and there's a spirit of accusation when we are giving an opinion to somebody the way this the way I did it who said are you God or something that your way is only perfect way No so I'm telling you what I I just decided that and so I have a wonderful relationship with all my children and with all my daughters-in-law every one of them they love me because I don't interfere in their life I pray for them before God stop fourth period full stop and if they ask me for advice of course I give it and I've discovered the more I keep myself out of their way they're more they come and ask me for advice because I don't intend interfere and I say if there's something wrong I pray for them do you believe in prayer I'm not talking you may not be a father-in-law you may be but this last to interfere is there in the flesh and I tell you this if you've been in this church and you hurt me I've come to this church for 14 years we have 14 years we have at conferences here many of you have been here many years but I'm telling you from my experience of 40 years in India there are people who have heard me for years and have not changed in this area they make a nuisance of themselves everywhere now I'll tell you why I want to show you this other verse the same 1 Peter 4 where it says don't be a busybody in other people's matters it says something more of how we can avoid being a busybody in other people's matters 1 Peter 4 and it says in verse 17 mark a mark of the people who belong to God's family I want to be a part of God's family the household of God it is called here it is time for judgment to begin with the household of God and it must begin with us first so the judgment must begin with me first I must judge myself first Lord in what area should I judge myself just some things he has mentioned earlier verse 15 am i a murderer jesus said anger is equal to murder do I get angry he said that in Matthew chapter 5 the Pharisees limit the Pharisees sin was murder in the New Covenant the equivalent is anger like he said in the Pharisees Old Covenant standard was adultery the New Covenant equivalent is dirty sexual thoughts so am i a murderer and there are no words in terms of New Covenant do I get angry with people let me judge myself judgment must begin verse 17 with me first before I pass opinions others secondly it says a thief now I don't think we steal money I don't think anybody here steals money do you steal a person's reputation testimony by saying something negative about him so that that person has got a bad opinion you have stolen his reputation by the way you've spoken about that person you're a thief as much a thief as the fellow who stole somebody's wallet you don't see thief is not only money I tell preachers do you steal people's time I see if you get up in the pulpit and you've made no preparation for what you want to speak you haven't waited on the Lord you've not sought God's will you have not studied the scriptures and you get them ramble on and ramble on from Genesis to Revelation and waste people's time you're a thief of their time ask yourself how much is the wages hourly wages $15 an hour okay they said that for 15 if they sat there for one hour listening to you rambling rambling or even half an hour seven and a half dollars per person sitting there You've stolen already four hundred dollars from those people that day by wasting half an hour of their time I say it's like I remember a board in front of a manager's table it says if you have nothing to say don't say it here I like that I like to put it in a pulpit if you got nothing to say don't say it here if you've got something you say it'll help people then say it otherwise don't say it dear brothers we can think we're not thieves evildoer don't suffer as a murderer or thief as an evildoers that arms another person do you harm somebody's reputation and afterwards discover I never realized that person did it with a very good motive or what I heard was not absolutely right I had made mistakes I remember some years ago there was a brother who's in charge of the audio equipment in our church in Bangalore young brother very fine young brother capable person using younger than my youngest son but a very good person in something went wrong that day which I felt was a serious mistake not just a minor error but something more serious than that and I went up to him and I said you should have been more careful you should not have done that and afterwards I realized he never did it it was somebody else who did it boy can you imagine how I felt somebody had told me that this guy did it and I did not even check it up so I'm not being guiltless I've been guilty and I went to him immediately as soon as I heard it I went to him and I put my arm around and said brother I'm really sorry really sorry that I judged you without knowing the truth please forgive me I want to be very much more careful next time so I'll tell you I have learned by making mistakes I don't apologize let me ask you do you apologize when you discover that you judge somebody wrongly and you told him something and afterwards you discover you were completely wrong have you ever gone to that person and say oh I'm really sorry have you felt a remorse about it have you repented before God and gone to that person and say boy I'm so sorry brother and so sorry sister that I judged you at the wrong what a arrogant person I am to think of that I'm not God holy God is the right to judge but I judged you and not thought about the reasons I didn't even inquire I didn't make inquiry I just judged you you know there's an Old Testament law which God gave let me see if I can find it in the book of Deuteronomy yeah Deuteronomy 13 it's a beautiful verse which I've quoted to myself many times and to others also you know it says here and you're trying to meet thirteen you must know this verse very very important verse twelve you tryna meet thirteen verse twelve if you hear you heard something then in one of your cities some worthless man verse 13 have gone out and done something wrong taught something wrong and gone out and told people to worship idols or something like that that was it those days it may be something else today but you heard something what must you do now listen to this count on your fingers number one you must investigate number two search out number three enquire number four inquire thoroughly number five see if it is true number six Eve the matter has been established and number seven see that it has been done then where's fifteen going strike he's not saying don't take action but do these seven things before you take action boy I'm so thankful for scripture that teaches me how to pass judgment judge yourselves first otherwise you'll be holding hands with the accuser of the Brethren Revelation chapter 12 and verse 10 the accuser of our brethren has been thrown down I want you to see what the devil is called the devil is called the deceiver of the whole world in verse 9 revelation 12:9 the whole world he deceives but he does not accuse them he does not accuse them because they belong to him you don't accuse your son and daughter do you how many of you have gone around spreading tales about your son or your daughter tell me your son and daughter are not perfect but when you when they do something wrong you know your son or daughter did something wrong how many people have you gone and told about it hey do you know what my son did do you know what my daughter did and go to somebody else's do you know what my son did you know what we never do it why don't you speak about your son and daughter like that because you love them what do you speak about somebody else because you don't love them it's a plain truth I'm telling you the truth you just don't love them you can say you're a Christian you're a Christian too that belongs to a New Covenant Church it's all garbage if you really were a true Christian belonging to a New Covenant Church you would stop judging people like that you would seek to love them more and it says you're the devil deceives the whole world but he does not accuse them because they belong to him all the world belongs to him he deceives them but he doesn't accuse them but when it comes to the believers in verse 10 he's called the accuser he accuses those whom he hates do you know that that you always accuse those you hate you may say no I don't hate you do hate that person otherwise you would not accuse that person you may say with all these superficial talk about I love that person but it's all rubbish you hate him like the devil hates God's children so he accuses them he loves his own worldly people who belong to him and he deceives them he doesn't accuse but he's called the accuser of the Brethren and it says here read verse 10 a loud voice is salvation and the kingdom of God and the authority of Christ has come because the accuser of the Brethren has been thrown down who accuses them before God at day and night and I'll tell you something salvation and the Kingdom and authority of Christ will come in your life when the Spirit of accusation is thrown out from your life and you stop accusing others daylight do you want worst end to be experienced in your life that is written about your life the salvation of God has come to me the power of God has come to me the kingdom of God has come into my life the authority of Christ and come into my life you want all that sure get rid of the accusing spirit that's what that word says it's a great verse I've sought - I didn't start like that I started just like all of you like all human beings like Adam it's not me it's my wife she is the one who picked the fruit and gave it to me I was born of that Adam and I had that same spirit but I said Lord I belong to you now I've to cleanse myself I've tried to cleanse myself and cleanse myself and cleanse myself like it says in 1 Peter what judge myself and judge myself and judge myself with many mistakes little by little by little I've gradually got rid of that I don't know whether I'm a hundred percent free but my aim is 100 percent I pressing on to perfection in this area and I'll tell you one wonderful result that has come from it that when I stopped always suspecting the worst about people and try to think well there must be a good reason and think something good about that person instead of always thinking that must be everything is good about me that's how Adam says about everything is bad about the other person now if you're like that you need to be cleansed from that spirit and consider the possibility that's probably a lot of evil in you and a lot of good in the other person I think of how Jesus sat at the woman at the well in Samaria and looked at this woman five times divorced and now sleeping with a man was not even her husband in John chapter four and he talks to her you know what he talks to her about who worship he should be talking to her about divorce he should be talking to about adultery but he talks about worship in the spirit or he had discernment he didn't think the worst about that woman he must have thought she's messed up her life poor woman she never heard the truth living in Samaria where the Jews never went never got the opportunity to hear the truth poor woman I have compassion on her why did she divorce five times maybe it's her fault maybe she's stubborn maybe she's evil but maybe her husband's caused her problems why is she sleeping with somebody man nah man without getting married we don't know how would you look at a woman who you knew has divorced five times and is now sleeping with somebody how quick we are to pass judgment but he would not judge by what his eyes saw or his hairs hurt that's why sinners came to him and he saved them and maybe brother sister that's why sinful people don't come to you maybe that's why you've never brought anybody to Christ in your life have you brought people to Christ in your life holy persons who don't bring anybody to Christ you know Jesus said I did not come to call holy people I came to call sinners to salvation God has placed us as witnesses to bring others to him and we will be able to bring people to him if we stop judging others a little more stop passing your opinions about every Tom Dick and Harry you see and everyone you know and just mind your own business don't be a busybody in other people's matters God can deal with them you're you're not appointed by God as a judge yeah one last verse Jane James chapter 4 James chapter 4 verse 11 if you fear God take these words seriously right now take it seriously read them in your Bible do not speak against one another brothers do not speak against one another because when you speak against a brother or judge your brother you're speaking against the law of God and judging the law of God but if you judge the law of God you're not a doer of the law you're a judge there is only one lawgiver and judge that's Almighty God have you heard that there is only one judge who is able to save or to destroy who do you think you are to judge your neighbor who do you think you are to judge that person are you Almighty God that's the question the Holy Spirit is asking you in that verse that has followed Jesus example repent of all the years when we have passed opinions and been the accuser of brothers and sisters and find fault with them and speak evil about them behind the back and say didn't you know this person is like this this person like this person like this person like this and spread evil of that that person and one day at the judgment seat of Christ when the person's entire life was revealed it's your Lord I never even knew that person did so much good in secret and here I was going around judging a saintly child of God who had one or two weaknesses and now with the light of Christ judgement seat I see I had ten times more weaknesses than that person if you don't want any regret that the judgment seat of Christ I would say don't judge don't condemn discern if you feel that someone is not a good person to associate with don't associate with that person that's fine there are many people I don't associate with there are many people I warn my children don't associate with those people but I don't go around talking about them it's not my business I don't want to have any regrets at the judgement seat of Christ yeah I forgot this one more verse I must show you two more verses actually 1 Corinthians 11 very important 1 Corinthians 11 verse 31 it's a verse that many times it's written in my mind I wanted to share it and I slipped up my mind till now 1 Corinthians 11 31 if we judge ourselves rightly we will not be judged when Christ comes back I want that you know I picture many times in my mind I pictured the judgment seat of Christ Christ sitting on the throne judging people and one by one the believers coming up and he's exposing their whole life like on a video screen all their life from their memory and pointing out the things they did they did it and he asked them why did he do this why you do that and here it says if I've repented of all that I have done and instead of judging other people I judge myself in that day when I stand before the Lord to look at my record and say okay Zack nothing you're free because whatever you did wrong you judged yourself repented and from the time you got light on your life you stopped judging other people even though you've discerned and avoided people who were not good I want to hear that I want to hear well done my son well done my daughter do you want to hear that from Jesus one day I want to hear it is it greatest longing in my life so to hear Jesus tells me at the judgment seat of Christ well done you did not go around being a busybody in other people's matters you did not judge others you saw so many things wrong and you said if I can help I offer help but I'm not here to interfere and what other people did let them run their life the way they do it I go into some homes where everything is a mess you know they don't keep it tidy it's a mess and I tell you before God I do not judge them I don't say boy I don't keep my house like this I say maybe this foremothers got a lot more work than I have to do maybe she was not brought up in the same type of cleanliness sure I was maybe they don't have enough money to spend to throw away the useless things and keep only the good things I won't judge because I say tidiness is not holiness holiness is in the heart and tidiness depends on you know if you have only one child you can keep the home tidy the child is grown up if you have ten children the mess of the place we can judge so easily according to our standards you have basically we are unmerciful so we need to judge ourselves and we will not be judged and then I want to show you one of ours in James chapter 2 James chapter 2 and verse 13 is a very important verse James 2:13 God's judgment of you will be merciless without mercy if you have not shown mercy in the way you assessed and judged other people please take that seriously God's judgment of you will be merciless in the final day if you have not shown mercy to other people God will treat you in that day exactly like you treated other people today today other people are at your mercy and you treat them so hard one day then you will be at God's mercy he will treat you exactly like you treated other people I remember that I say Lord even if I am the most selfish person on earth I selfishly want you to be merciful towards me and for that reason at least I will be merciful to others is not the best reason but that's the second best reason to be merciful to others that God will be merciful to me in the day of judgment but the best reason is that's where Jesus is he looks at this woman caught in adultery tells the Pharisees he who is without sin throw the first stone that's a long way he made and then he's the only one without sin and according to his old statement he should throw the first stone but he doesn't he says I didn't come here to throw stones at people he is without sin according to his own word he has a right to throw stone because he said he was without sin cast the first stone and he did not do it and Here I am with so many sins sins still not eliminated from my life and I my pocket is full of stones who in the world do I think I am to throw stones at people when there so many sins in my own life and the one who was without sin who had a right to throw stones never threw one he said to that woman I don't condemn you go and live a better life from now on I say Lord Jesus make me like you the passion of my life is to be like you you never accused anybody you came to set the captive free not to put one more bar in his prison and by accusing him what should I say at the end to everyone sitting here he who has years to hear she who has years to hear let them hear amen let's pray Heavenly Father has such a strong tendency in our nature to judge everyone around us including the loved ones in our own family so much of this corruption and evil from Adam has come down in our flesh and you came to set us free you came to save us from sin your name is Jesus because you're a savior save us from this terrible sin of accusing others judging others help us to change our habits to fear you so that we don't judge by what our eyes see or our years here but with righteousness and fairness like you did all your days on earth you did it help us to be merciful to others just as you be merciful to us Lord Lord helped me be merciful to others just as you been merciful to me hear me when I call help me lest I fall into the pit from whence you set me free Lord I know that it was thy great mercy that caused me thy salvation to see Lord helped me to be merciful to others just as you be merciful to me amen you [Music]

Channel: River of Life Christian Fellowship

Views: 28,039

Rating: 4.8627787 out of 5

Keywords: judge, yourself, others, zac, poonen, sermon, rlcf, river, life, christian, fellowship

Id: tpuAO_AeynE

Length: 52min 0sec (3120 seconds)

Published: Mon Sep 16 2019