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Date Posted: 08:33:32 03/13/07 Tue
Author: Joan
Subject: Judgment

Dear Saints,

In the wee small hours of the morning I posted a response to a dear sister in Christ in regards to judgment and her presenting Luke 11:42 as proof that we were to not overlook judgment in our dealings as did the Pharisees. As the Lord has been revealing other than this to me, I sought Him all the more.The following response is what He spoke in this regards:

March 13, 2007

Dear Sister .....,

have read your response and reread it several times. I have taken it's contents before the Lord, laying awake, seeking Him for understanding. There is a place deep within me that knows what I shared was truth, but yet, what you shared brought questions, knowing I do not know it all. Joy, I love you and respect you so I pray that you know it is not personal. You have raised questions that I'm sure many of us are pondering about. We all want to do His will and glorify Him, amen? Lord, please give us understanding.

First. let me share what the Holy Spirit gave me. One was the 2 Timothy 2:15 "Study to show yourself approved unto God, a workman that doesn’t need to be ashamed, correctly handling the word of truth." Thus, I know that His Word can be mishandled, not used correctly. Then He brought me to John 12:47. "And if any man hear my words and keep them not, I do not judge him for I came not to judge the world, but to save the world." Jesus mission while on the earth was to save it, not judge it. When He walked upon the earth over 2,000 years ago it was as Savior. It was not His appointed time to come as the Judge. This coincides with correctly handling the word of truth. For everything there is a season. We are in the season of mercy and grace, which explains Jesus coming to save the world. 1 Corinthians 4:5 reads: "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." We are to judge nothing before the appointed time, when our Lord comes again and then He will reveal the hidden things and reveal the inner motives of men's hearts. Who are we to judge when we don't know what is in a man's heart? I don't even know myself all that well. How can I judge another man's heart?

The last Scripture that was given to me was John 8:7 "So when they continued asking him, he lifted up himself, and said unto them, He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her." Well, though I know I am covered by His blood and made righteous through Christ Jesus, yet I still have sin in my life. I am not perfect yet. I am a work in progress and one who is so grateful for His mercy and His grace. How can I cast a stone at another when sin still abides in me? Thus, the mercy and grace extended to this woman in Scripture by Jesus should also be extended to others by me, is that not so?

But Joy, even though the Holy Spirit gave me all these Scriptures, I had to wonder at what you shared, for it is found in God's Word. This is what you quoted, "Luke 11:42 "But woe to you Pharisees! For you tithe mint and rue and all manner of herbs, and pass by justice and the love of God. These you ought to have done, without leaving the others undone.(NKJ) How does this verse fit in with all that the Lord showed me? I believe it fits in perfectly, when we see it through new understanding of how it is implied. Here are a few other translations of that verse in Luke 11:42:

"How terrible it will be for you Pharisees! You give God a tenth of your garden plants, such as mint and rue. But you have forgotten to be fair and to love God. You should have practiced the last things without failing to do the first." New International Readers Version

"But woe to you Pharisees! For you pay tithe of mint and rue and every kind of garden herb, and yet disregard justice and the love of God; but these are the things you should have done without neglecting the others." New American Standard Bible

What is what the Lord was saying here was, "Hey, you Pharisees, you pay the tithe, you do part of what you should. But you forget about judgment/justice that is coming upon the earth. Remember, God loves mankind, He wants people to repent. But you're all so busy looking for the best seats around, making yourself look good. You're not doing the Lord's work!!!" Would that not better fit with why Jesus came, not to judge the world but to save it?

I can only share what I believe the Lord has shown me. Please consider it. The Lord would not have us divided in our understanding of His Word. We are responsible to rightly divide it, putting everything in it's right place. There are things in the Old Testament for our learning but much of it does not apply to the Dispensation of Grace that we now live in. When the door of Grace is closed, then comes Judgment and Jesus will come as Lord of lords, King of kings and He will reign as Lord of all. With Him comes the judgment. While John 12:47 tells Jesus did not come upon the earth to judge it at that time but to save it, there is a time when judgment will come. It follows the verse after verse 47. Verse 48 reads: "He who rejects Me, and does not receive My words, has that which judges him -- the word that I have spoken will judge him in the last day." The last day is not yet but it is coming quickly. Until then we have work to do, to bring the lost to eternal salvation through our prayers and our actions. Those who do not follow Jesus' words is already judged unless they change. Do we truly know who these people are. Was there ever a time in our lives when we might have appeared as did those Pharisees, not caring about the justice that was to come through the hand of God, forgetting about His love and desire that none be lost and rather being more interested in our own goals and needs? Lord, You have been so good to us, wretched creatures that we are. Help us to be as loving and merciful to them as You have been to us, in Your name we pray. Amen.

Submitted for your consideration and discernment,
Joan

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