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THE KING’S BUSINESS
fact that he did not know anything against himself, for the one who judged him was the Lord and the Lord might know some thing against him, though he knew nothing against himself. We too, each of us, ought to be able to say “I know nothing against my S e l f t h a t is to say, we ought to live without conscious violation of God’s law; but, even when we can say this, it does not prove that God may not know something against us, even when we know nothing against ourselves. Even when we have a conscience entirely void of offense, even when we know nothing against our selves, God may know something against us. Let us ever remember that God is an infinite judge and Walk humbly before Him. And it is well for us at the close of each day to get alone with God and ask Jfim to search us through and through and to point out anything in us that is displeasing in His sight and often times when we have not consciously sinned, God will point out to us things that we ought not to have done and that we ought to have known were wrong and, we must confess them as sins at once and put them away (cf. John 1:9) Sunday, October 7 . 1 Corinthians 4 : 5 - 7 . As the Lord, and not we, is the final judge we ought to be very much on our guard against judging others. God is their judge, not we. We do not know all the facts in the case, “therefore judge nothing before the time.” Oh that believers would bear this in mind in their relations to one another and keep their judgment of one another in abeyance, knowing that the Lord is the judge, and not we. Our judgments of fellow believers would be far different if we only knew all the facts in the case. But when is the time to judge? Not “until the Lord come.” When He does come He “will both bring to light the hid den things of darkness, and make manifest the counsels of the heart.” In that day when the Lord does come and “bring to light the hidden things of darkness and make manifest the counsels of the heart,”
“then” and not until “then” “shall every man have his praise (that is, whatever of praise is due him) from God.” Let us then keep our judgment of one another in abeyance until that day. Paul and Apollos were just illustrations of these different principles which Paul was setting forth, and Paul would have all saints to learn from what he said about himself and Apollos “not to think of men above that which is written”. The Revised Version reads “that in us ye might learn not to go beyond the things which are written.” It would be well if we would learn not only in our own judgment of men, but also in every other matter “not to go beyond what is written.” So often in our speculations on all sorts of questions we go beyond what God has seen fit to write in His Word and thus we g£t into error. In the matter immediately before us, in our judgments of men, we are constantly looking for some man to praise. Today it is one man, tomor row it is another, and so we become “puffed up for the one against the other.” Let us cease this. Who made one man to differ from another? • Who gave gifts to one man that another does not possess? God. Let us then give God all the praise. What has any man to boast of in the way of gifts or anything else that he did not receive as a free gift from God? What right have we, then, no matter how many gifts we may have beyond what some others have, to glory over others who have not received the same gifts that we have. Our gifts should not puff us up, but humble us in the dust. We indeed have much to be thankful for, but nothing to boast of. Monday, October 8.. 1 Corinthians 4 : 8 - 15 . There were those in Corinth who were rejoicing in the ministry of Apollos who had seen the work of Paul in that city (cf. Acts 18:1-17 with Acts 18:27-19:1). They were talking about how much more they were getting out of the teaching of Apol los than they had gotten out of the teach ing of Paul. To this Paul referred in his
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