“These clumsy feet, still in the mire,

Go crushing blossoms without end;

These hard, well-meaning hands we thrust

Among the heartstrings of a friend.” {MB 124.2}

How accurately do these words describe church relations?

Do not cut off any man’s hands. I once read of a drowning man who was making desperate efforts to get into a boat close beside him. But the boat was full, and as he grasped the side, those in the boat cut off his hand. Then he grasped the boat with the other hand, and that hand was cut off. Then he grasped it with his teeth, and those inside had mercy on him, and lifted him in. But how much better it would have been if they had taken him in before they had cut off his hands. {RH, April 14, 1903 par. 23}

My brethren, do not cut a man to pieces before you do anything to help him. God wants us to have hearts of pity. He wants us to have reason and judgment and the sanctification of his Spirit. He is in earnest with us. We are but his little children, and we should ever be learning of him. Do not stand in the way of others. Do not lose your first love. You may have much knowledge and much intelligence, but if the love of God is lacking, you are not prepared to enter heaven. {RH, April 14, 1903 par. 24}

We can have much knowledge and know all about the principles of reform, but if the love of God is lacking, then we will be left out.

This message is a message for every single one of us and particularly me. I set a bad example sometimes. The problem that I have and every human being has is that by nature we are Pharisees.

But the principles cherished by the Pharisees are such as are characteristic of humanity in all ages. The spirit of Pharisaism is the spirit of human nature; and as the Saviour showed the contrast between His own spirit and methods and those of the rabbis, His teaching is equally applicable to the people of all time. {MB 79.2}

Our nature is of the Pharisees. You give me the law of God, I can’t help it, I will seek to do it in my own strength. I will try to do the minutiae of it.

The effort to earn salvation by one’s own works inevitably leads men to pile up human exactions as a barrier against sin. For, seeing that they fail to keep the law, they will devise rules and regulations of their own to force themselves to obey. All this turns the mind away from God to self. His love dies out of the heart, and with it perishes love for his fellow men. A system of human invention, with its multitudinous exactions, will lead its advocates to judge all who come short of the prescribed human standard. The atmosphere of selfish and narrow criticism stifles the noble and generous emotions, and causes men to become self-centered judges and petty spies. {MB 123.1}

We might work out that it is hard to keep some of the commandments of God So we will take some of the minutiae and we will bury our disobedience to those harder points of the commandments of God under the outward forms. As long as I’m going to church on the Sabbath day then I’m okay. The mind plays tricks like that. We try to sweep things under the forms of religion. The heart is not right but we put on the dress reform and eat so that outwardly I appear pretty good.

The Pharisees were of this class. They came forth from their religious services, not humbled with a sense of their own weakness, not grateful for the great privileges that God had given them. They came forth filled with spiritual pride, and their theme was, “Myself, my feelings, my knowledge, my ways.” Their own attainments became the standard by which they judged others. Putting on the robes of self-dignity, they mounted the judgment seat to criticize and condemn. {MB 123.2}

The people partook largely of the same spirit, intruding upon the province of conscience and judging one another in matters that lay between the soul and God. It was in reference to this spirit and practice that Jesus said, “Judge not, that ye be not judged.” That is, do not set yourself up as a standard. Do not make your opinions, your views of duty, your interpretations of Scripture, a criterion for others and in your heart condemn them if they do not come up to your ideal. Do not criticize others, conjecturing as to their motives and passing judgment upon them. {MB 123.3}

“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.” 1 Corinthians 4:5. We cannot read the heart. Ourselves faulty, we are not qualified to sit in judgment upon others. Finite men can judge only from outward appearance. To Him alone who knows the secret springs of action, and who deals tenderly and compassionately, is it given to decide the case of every soul. {MB 124.1}

You may have condemned someone for a grievous sin and God is saying you are guilty of the same thing. In condemning others they are passing sentence on themselves.

Thus those who condemn or criticize others, proclaim themselves guilty, for they do the same things. In condemning others, they are passing sentence upon themselves, and God declares that this sentence is just. He accepts their own verdict against themselves. {MB 124.1}

Even the sentence, “Thou that judgest doest the same things,” does not reach the magnitude of his sin who presumes to criticize and condemn his brother. Jesus said, “Why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother’s eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye?” {MB 125.1}

Those who are swift to condemn others are so swift because they have a beam in their eye, it’s their own problem.

According to the figure that our Saviour uses, he who indulges a censorious spirit is guilty of greater sin than is the one he accuses, for he not only commits the same sin, but adds to it conceit and censoriousness. {MB 125.2}

How subtle is the devil today especially in the church?

Christ is the only true standard of character, and he who sets himself up as a standard for others is putting himself in the place of Christ. {MB 125.3}

If I have an accusation against any other human being in this world, I am setting myself up as God. I am saying I am like the most high. We do it all the time but don’t realise it.

Whoever presumes to judge the motives of others is again usurping the prerogative of the Son of God. {MB 125.3}

It’s not just setting ourselves up as a standard. If we see someone doing something and we say they are doing it because of this, we are judging motive. We are thinking that I can read their heart when only God can do that.

These would-be judges and critics are placing themselves on the side of antichrist, “who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshiped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God.” 2 Thessalonians 2:4. {MB 125.3}

I’ve been through the book Thoughts on the Mount of Blessing so many times yet that has not really jumped out at me. Things jump out at you because you are guilty of it. That’s why it jumps out. That’s why I shared this today, it is for me.

The sin that leads to the most unhappy results is the cold, critical, unforgiving spirit that characterizes Pharisaism. When the religious experience is devoid of love, Jesus is not there; the sunshine of His presence is not there. No busy activity or Christless zeal can supply the lack. There may be a wonderful keenness of perception to discover the defects of others; but to everyone who indulges this spirit, Jesus says, “Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother’s eye.” He who is guilty of wrong is the first to suspect wrong. By condemning another he is trying to conceal or excuse the evil of his own heart. It was through sin that men gained the knowledge of evil; no sooner had the first pair sinned than they began to accuse each other; and this is what human nature will inevitably do when uncontrolled by the grace of Christ. {MB 126.1}

Are you a Pharisee? Are you guilty of these things I’ve just read? How important is it that we be honest? Pharisees don’t want to admit they are Pharisees but when the grace of God comes there is confession and a breaking upon the Rock.

He who looks often upon the cross of Calvary, remembering that his sins placed the Saviour there, will never try to estimate the degree of his guilt in comparison with that of others. He will not climb upon the judgment seat to bring accusation against another. There can be no spirit of criticism or self-exaltation on the part of those who walk in the shadow of Calvary’s cross. {MB 128.2}

Has the law brought me to Christ or not? Have I met it as I should have met it? If we have met the law as we should have met the law, it should have brought us all to Christ and we wouldn’t be judging and criticising each other. There would be no Pharisaism.

Not until you feel that you could sacrifice your own self-dignity, and even lay down your life in order to save an erring brother, have you cast the beam out of your own eye so that you are prepared to help your brother. {MB 128.3}

Are you willing to do that to the one who crosses your path all the time? Who is a stumbling block in your life? You think if they weren’t in my life, I’d come along better spiritually. But would you be willing to die for that person?

Confession

A lot of people will read the testimonies and they will stop reading them as it keeps cutting and it hurts. I remember I did that last year. I was reading through the testimonies and halfway through I thought it really hurts and it was twelve months before I came back to them.

When I came back to it with the attitude of being willing to receive every testimony as written to myself personally, they became the sweetest words. That’s why even these rebukes the Lord gave me today, I can come to prayer meeting with joy I rarely have. When we are willing to be honest with the word of God, there is freedom and forgiveness and peace with god.

In His promises and warnings, Jesus means…{DA 390.5}

The persons next to me? Jesus means me.

…me. God so loved the world, that He gave His only-begotten Son, that I by believing in Him, might not perish, but have everlasting life. The experiences related in God’s word are to be my experiences. Prayer and promise, precept and warning, are mine. ” {DA 390.5}

Prayer and Promise

God be merciful to me a sinner. That man went home justified.

We read the warnings and we think they are for the Pharisees, not for me. But the spirit of Pharisaism is the spirit of the human nature so it’s for me as well.

When you read the Bible and the experience of an individual, you are to receive that story as though you are that individual. When you read the letters of rebuke and warning in the testimonies, everything written there is for you. You are sister A, B, you are every single one of them. When we read the Bible, do the same thing whatever the story is.

If we don’t understand this we are not saved.

Galatians 5:19 Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are [these]; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, 20 Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, 21 Envying’s, murders, drunkenness, revelling’s, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told [you] in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.

What are they the works of? What is it called? The Flesh. It doesn’t say male or female flesh. Every single person has this flesh. Every single one of us male or female. There is only one flesh.

God’s law reaches the feelings and motives, as well as the outward acts. It reveals the secrets of the heart, flashing light upon things before buried in darkness. God knows every thought, every purpose, every plan, and every motive. The books of heaven record the sins that would have been committed had there been opportunity. {ST, July 31, 1901 par. 3}

If that is the works of the flesh and if in your flesh there is the potential to do that, what would you do if you had opportunity? You would do all of that whether male or female.

We are judged as having committed every single one of those sins. If that is our potential, the only reason we don’t do it is because the opportunity is not there and we are guilty of it all. Can you see how it is we have no right to judge one another? The very thing we want to condemn them for we are guilty of the same.

God will count it worse as we have already confessed it shouldn’t be done. There is so much that God keeps us from. So many consequences of failings but if we had opportunity we would do it.

There is an experience in the Bible we are to take as ours. We are to receive the experiences that are related in God’s word as our own. Nathan said to who? Nathan said to ME thou art the man.

2 Samuel 12:7 And Nathan said to David, Thou [art] the man. Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, I anointed thee king over Israel, and I delivered thee out of the hand of Saul;

Are you ready yet in your spiritual experience to receive those words? Are you ready to stand before God guilty of murder and adultery? It’s a good question because the experiences related in God’s word are to be my experiences. Jesus means me not David or Solomon. Not my brother or sister, He means me. Every single thing that was written is for me. Because the works of the flesh is adultery and murder. The potential for you to do it is there, and you are judged for what you would have done if you were given the opportunity.

It is important that you understand that. If you will do that, then the promise will be yours. What is the promise? Here he is caught in adultery. If I will receive this warning and rebuke and confess the guilt of his sin, then what is the promise?

John 8:10 When Jesus had lifted up himself, and saw none but the woman, he said unto her, Woman, where are those thine accusers? hath no man condemned thee? 11 She said, No man, Lord. And Jesus said unto her, Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more.

Who is He talking to? He is talking to an adulterer and unless you are an adulterer, unless you are willing to acknowledge before the Lord you stand guilty of adultery, these words are useless and will have no meaning whatsoever to you. As the promise is given, only as I am willing to confess my need of that promise in the situations that the promise applies to, then the promise becomes mine. But it’s hard because who wants to be guilty of everything? There was one man who was guilty of everything. What was his name? his name was Jesus and you know what he said?

Matthew 20:22 But Jesus answered and said, Ye know not what ye ask. Are ye able to drink of the cup that I shall drink of, and to be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with? They say unto him, We are able. 23 And he saith unto them, Ye shall drink indeed of my cup, and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with: but to sit on my right hand, and on my left, is not mine to give, but [it shall be given to them] for whom it is prepared of my Father.

What was He guilty of? The guilt of the sins of the whole world. What does He say? You will share that with me. We are called to be partakers of His sufferings and how often Christians think it is only to be persecuted for rightness sake yet those who have that attitude don’t make it as when Jacobs trouble comes, when all their sins come upon them, they miss Christ in that experience. He has just told the Laodiceans what they don’t have and are in a very bad state. You need to come to me as you’re pretty bad He says.

Revelation 3:20 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.

Those who open the door, what will be their experience? They will confess the sins of the whole world and repent of them. Can you see how many people haven’t opened the door yet? Do you think we are just to confess a little sin here and there and Jesus is going to drink the cup with me as I go through that repentance? No. We are to drink of His cup to be partaker of His suffering.

Everything that was placed upon Him, are we going to be honest and own up to it? We don’t get off scot-free. We do have to die for our own sins, He has not set us free from the consequences. We have to pay the price. If we will do that and be honest and say I am guilty of all of that, it is in me and what a wretched creature I am because if I was given opportunity, there are some terrible things I would do. If we will do that, we drink with Jesus Christ.

One of my most favourite subjects is drinking with Christ.

The human heart longs for sympathy in suffering. This longing Christ felt to the very depths of His being. In the supreme agony of His soul He came to His disciples with a yearning desire to hear some words of comfort from those whom He had so often blessed and comforted, and shielded in sorrow and distress. {DA 687.3}

What is He longing for? Sympathy in His sufferings. What is He suffering? The guilt of the whole world. To drink that same cup with Him.

Lamentations 1:12 [Is it] nothing to you, all ye that pass by? behold, and see if there be any sorrow like unto my sorrow, which is done unto me, wherewith the LORD hath afflicted [me] in the day of his fierce anger.

What’s He enduring? Your sins? The sins of the whole world are your sins and if you had the opportunity to do it, you would and you are judged as though you did. How much deeper can we go? How much more humble do we need to be? What room is there to make any judgment on anyone? There is none whatsoever.

In these last days there are those who are a very special people. Do you know who they are? The 144,000, the ones who will sing the song of Moses.

What sustained the Son of God during His life of toil and sacrifice? He saw the results of the travail of His soul and was satisfied. Looking into eternity, He beheld the happiness of those who through His humiliation had received pardon and everlasting life. His ear caught the shout of the redeemed. He heard the ransomed ones singing the song of Moses and the Lamb. {AA 601.2}

What sustained the Son of God during his life? He heard the ransomed ones singing the song of Moses and the Lamb!

And they sing “a new song” before the throne, a song which no man can learn save the hundred and forty and four thousand. It is the song of Moses and the Lamb–a song of deliverance. None but the hundred and forty-four thousand can learn that song; for it is the song of their experience–an experience such as no other company have ever had. {GC 648.3}

What sustained Christ? Jesus saw there would be those in the last days who would drink of that cup and say yes Lord I am guilty. He saw that there would be those who would make the same experience as His own, and he was comforted and sustained.

Will you do that in your life? Drink the cup that Jesus drank? If you will, then all criticising, all offense will be gone.

We are weary of earth aren’t we? Can we all open up our hearts to God and confess I need thee very precious Jesus for I am how poor? Very poor. Peace, forgiveness and eternal life. It is my prayer that those clumsy feet still in the mire will cease to crush blossoms and these hard wearing hands will no longer be thrust among the heartstrings of a friend.

Amen.