Judge Not

I would like to say a few more words about the absolutely, exceptionally marvelous light that I have recently received. For years I have preached and written that the fundamental law of salvation, from start to finish, is humility. Now, that has been intensified to the point where it is not just the fundamental law, but in the deepest sense, it is everything—absolutely everything. The principal scriptures are found in James and in 1 Peter.

James writes about being a judge of the Word, and not a doer of the Word. That’s a common practice for many dear brothers and sisters, not least for the sisters. They allow themselves to judge everyone, including the elders—even the chief elders, and they are unashamed. If one were humble, it would be impossible to permit oneself to do such a terribly outrageous thing. To think that one is competent or able to discern and judge everyone and everything, demonstrates that one has incredibly great thoughts about oneself. When in reality, one is nothing more than a poor, pathetic creature. It has become very clear to me that this has to be the most important thing of all to shed light on. People are in darkness; they don’t understand anything. They act in a dreadfully wrong way and don’t have the slightest idea that it’s wrong!

People are, humanly speaking, hopeless. They see or hear what others do, and when others do something, then they (being incredibly human) think it’s all right for them to do it, too. Every human being is either proud or high-minded or arrogant or wise in his own eyes or puffed up; it’s the same stuff, all of it. People are self-certain, self-confident, and self-willed—self, self, self, self. They can conduct themselves as described above, yet not be a bit ashamed, and not even have the slightest idea that it is wrong in any way. It’s an old, ingrained habit. Added to this is the fact that they know many others who behave in the same way. These people have a way of finding one another, (“birds of a feather flock together”) and they have such good rapport with one another.

We have the words of Jesus: “Judge not.” It doesn’t say, “don’t judge too harshly” or “don’t be so prone to judge” or “don’t be so quick to judge.” Nothing like that is written there. It says: “Judge not.” NOT! Period! Not at all, no exceptions, it is the Word of God—these are the words of Jesus Himself. In Romans 2:1 it is written that by judging your neighbor you condemn yourself! Even a word like that doesn’t manage to wake such people up. No fear comes over them—no fear of being condemned. They carry on brazenly. It is very significant that exactly what is written in 1 Peter 5:5, is also written in James, so this is no printing error. In James 4:6, it says exactly the same thing: “Therefore it says, ‘God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.’” In other words, there’s no other possible way of improving our condition, except by humbling ourselves. Anything and everything else that we are capable of and diligent at cannot compensate for a lack of humility. When other things are weighed in the balance, they don’t even tip the scale. The only thing that registers in the balance, and brings results, is humility.

It is inappropriate for one who regards himself as being very lowly, to be occupied with judging and criticizing everything and everyone. It’s a dreadful thing. As sure as God lives, this is the reason why such people never make any proper progress, or for that matter, any progress at all. They remain exactly the same from meeting to meeting, from conference to conference, from day to day, from month to month, from year to year, and from decade to decade. Yet they live with the delusion that they are making progress. It isn’t true! It’s not hard to put this matter to the test. If I imagine that I am making progress, then I must ask myself what the progress consists of. Write down on a piece of paper everything that you have made progress in, everything that has gotten much better than it was a short time ago.

These are things that can be seen and heard, but you have to have ears to hear with and eyes to see with—spiritual ears and spiritual eyes—otherwise you won’t be able to see it and hear it. Because humility is a law of life—indeed, the principal law of life, the law that determines everything—all else is inconsequential. We need love; we need faith; we need all the virtues that exist; we need everything. But we won’t get anything without humility. The greatest degree of humility is demonstrated by humbling yourself, and that means humbling yourself of your own accord—voluntarily to take a lower place.

To humble oneself of one’s own accord is something that the majority never do. On the contrary, they try to maintain their image. They give it all they’ve got in defending themselves, and use every trick in the book to that end. If you give them a personal exhortation, you immediately encounter self-defense. Humility is the exact opposite of this. Humility brings self-acknowledgment—acknowledgment that the word of exhortation is true; it brings a desire to set things in order and to improve things. But this isn’t how it is here: One grasps, so to speak, at every straw in an attempt to defend oneself. In such a case, one is working against one’s own salvation.

In light of this, there is only one single thing that demonstrates wisdom, and that is to humble oneself and go down. This is a fitting speech for a celebration because it is so festive to become more humble. Then you make progress, and there isn’t anything more worth celebrating than making progress in God. There can’t possibly be anything more festive than that, can there? Can there? With the grace that the humble receive, everything succeeds, on every hand. You make non-stop progress. You partake of more and more salvation in every area, and the result is that you come to a deeper and deeper peace, and a deeper and deeper rest in God, and a greater and greater joy and happiness. As a result, you become happier and happier—always rejoicing, always thankful, always radiant, always free from anxiety, always in rest. And if you keep on in this way, your progress will continue until the end. It is written that the path of the righteous is like the light of dawn, which shines brighter and brighter until full day. [Prov. 4:18.] That’s here on earth, here in the time of our sojourning. Because it is true, it can be observed and substantiated. When you don’t make progress, it is clear to everyone who has anything to do with you, that you are proud and that God is your opponent. It isn’t just that it doesn’t succeed. It can’t succeed; it’s not intended to succeed; it would violate the laws of life if it were to succeed. On the other hand, the laws of life determine that if we are humble, and are becoming more and more humble, it will succeed tremendously, to a staggering degree, a degree that you could never even dream of. Then you will always be happy, always content, always thankful, always glad. You’ll never judge others, but always judge yourself as quickly as you receive new light. This is a blissful way, leading right to heaven. We attain a heavenly life here during the time of our sojourning, right in the midst of this sinful world, right here with people of all different sorts. It doesn’t matter how far off they are. That doesn’t have anything to do with me, that’s none of my business. My business is to be saved, and that is a matter between God and me. That is a matter between each individual and God. It doesn’t have anything to do with other people at all. You can’t excuse yourself by talking about how someone else is or what they have done. The fact that someone else has done something, and you, of course, haven’t done anything like that, has nothing to do with the matter. What you do is what makes you either happy or unhappy. What others do has nothing to do with the matter, nothing at all. Even Socrates, who didn’t know even one scripture, and who didn’t have one single person to instruct him or exhort him, understood this. He sought God to such an extent and was so humble that God revealed Himself to him tremendously. As a result, he got light and came to a life that was in harmony with that light. One time someone asked him: “Don’t you also agree that, that was a very offensive thing that so-and-so said to you?” “No,” said Socrates, “that is none of my business at all.” I have the explanation for such an answer. It was someone else who had said what had been said; it wasn’t Socrates. It is when we ourselves do something wrong that we become unhappy. The one who had spoken offensively to Socrates was the one who was unhappy. “It doesn’t concern me at all,” he said. That is true to the letter, and he understood it. Who among all of the brothers and sisters has understood this? And how many have understood it? How many of you who are sitting here understand that the crazy things people say to you don’t need to concern you—are none of your business—at all? The one who has said the bad things is the one who is unhappy. What someone else has said about me has nothing at all to do with my connection with God! Certainly what he or she says has nothing to do with my connection with God, does it? Such a thing would cause many of the brothers and sisters great difficulties. That’s terrible! Especially when it’s over nothing. God gives grace to the humble, regardless of what all the others say and think. God will take care of the matter and then things will go exceedingly well for me. Then I will be happy. Those who judge and criticize me (or whatever) are not happy. Judging and criticizing others does not bring any happiness. It is strictly forbidden, and therefore it cannot bring us any happiness. But to receive grace from God makes us happy. Grace is the same as help; it is the same as salvation; it is the same as new light; it is everything that you need. It will succeed for you constantly. You will make uninterrupted progress. Things will always be getting better, and if they don’t, the reason is that you have all too high thoughts about yourself. There is only one way out, and that is to humble yourself. Then you will have occasion to celebrate this evening, and occasion to celebrate every day for the rest of your life. Think about humbling yourself, and carry it out—more and more humility, lower and lower thoughts about yourself. Above everything, stay totally, entirely, and carefully away from judging and criticizing others and from setting yourself up as judge over others. Some people are so deranged that they aren’t the least bit bashful about judging even the chief elders. They take the liberty of having opinions about all manner of things, and yet they themselves say, “I just don’t understand that.” In that case they really should keep quiet. The fact that you don’t understand something is no basis for expressing yourself on the matter. That’s when you need to keep quiet and listen closely.

Best wishes for success on this blessed and happy way. I have walked on it for many, many years, and now I am so happy that I don’t know how much further this can go, unless it goes straight up to heaven. I am totally, indescribably happy. Nothing bothers or annoys me, nothing causes me difficulties, nothing—absolutely nothing, no matter what it is or who it is—because it isn’t possible to interfere with my relationship with God. Everyone put together couldn’t manage to cause any interference there. Best wishes on this way, and be fully assured that no other way of making progress exists; it’s impossible, but this way is open both day and night.