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All Must Appear in the Judgment, November 20
But why do you judge your brother? Or why do you show contempt for your
brother? For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ.
Romans 14:10
, NKJV.
We are nearing the end of time. Trials will be abundant from without, but let
them not come from within the church. Let God’s professed people deny self for the
truth’s sake, for Christ’s sake. “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of
Christ”.... Everyone who truly loves God will have the spirit of Christ and a fervent
love for his brethren. The more a person’s heart is in communion with God, and
the more his affections are centered in Christ, the less will he be disturbed by the
roughness and hardships he meets in this life. Those who are growing up to the full
stature of men and women in Christ Jesus will become more and more like Christ in
character, rising above the disposition to murmur and be discontented. They will
despise to be faultfinders.
The church at this time should have the faith once delivered to the saints, which
will enable them to say boldly: “God is mine helper”; “I can do all things through
Christ which strengtheneth me.” The Lord bids us arise and go forward. Whenever
the church at any period have forsaken their sins, and believed and walked in the
truth, they have been honored of God. There is in faith and humble obedience a
power that the world cannot withstand. The order of God’s providence in relation to
His people is progression—continual advancement in the perfection of Christian
character, in the way of holiness, rising higher and higher in the clear light and
knowledge and love of God, to the very close of time. Oh! why are we ever learning
only the first principles of the doctrine of Christ?
The Lord has rich blessings for the church if its members will seek earnestly
to arouse from this perilous lukewarmness. A religion of vanity, words devoid of
vitality, a character destitute of moral strength—these are pointed out in the solemn
message addressed by the True Witness to the churches, warning them against pride,
worldliness, formalism, and self- sufficiency.... But to the lowly, the suffering, the
faithful, the patient, who are alive to their weakness and insufficiency, are given
words of encouragement: “Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear
my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he
with me”....
Our Lord delays because of His “longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any
should perish, but that all should come to repentance.” But when we, with all the
redeemed, shall stand upon the sea of glass, with harps of gold and crowns of glory,
and before us the immensity of eternity, then we shall see how short was the waiting
period of probation. “Blessed are those servants, whom the lord when he cometh
shall find watching” (
Luke 12:37
) (
Testimonies for the Church 5:483-485
).
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