MAINTAINING SPIRITUAL JUDGMENT
Walter M Patterson
1 Samuel 7: 15-17
The teaching and application of this passage is well known among the brethren but it is good to be reminded often of how Scripture speaks to us for our help and guidance. The apostle Paul said to some that “to write the same things to you, to me is not irksome and for you safe”, Phil 3: 1. So there is safety for us in going over the truth together, and in understanding that God is not moving from the principles that He has set out in Scripture.
The matter in view in this passage of Scripture is judgment; having spiritual judgment. It is quite remarkable that it should be said of this prophet Samuel that he “judged Israel all the days of his life”; every day he had a right spiritual judgment. I am sure that would test all of us, dear brother and sister. You might question how it can be possible to be maintained in spiritual judgment given all the circumstances of our lives here, the pressures and sorrows and distractions that come in, household exercises, personal exercise - but this man was! So this scripture shows us the way to it. It shows us that there are certain fixed matters that were in his life, and that are to be in my life and your life, if we are to be maintained here on this line, not being diverted or being on a divergent line from what is according to right judgment.
So he begins in Bethel, which means the house of God, Gen 28: 17-19. We are about to read of the house of God in Genesis locally; what a great matter that is; what a great regulating matter for me and for you in your life as a Christian with the Holy Spirit. We know that as believers we are never out of the influence and thought of what the house of God is - the dwelling place of God here. The apostle Paul reminds us of that when he speaks about how to comport oneself, or “conduct oneself in God’s house, which is the assembly of the living God, the pillar and base of the truth”, 1 Tim 3: 15. So the sense of that is to govern our thoughts and our minds in all that we take on either individually or in our exercises collectively here in this city. We would have in view that there is what belongs to the house of God. It says in the psalms, “holiness becometh thy house”, Ps 93: 5. So that is a sobering thought, but you see how my judgment is to be affected by that and formed by that thought that there is what is suited to the divine presence, what is suited to God Himself.
And as we are affected by that, I believe that it would have its own influence in our souls and affect us in our spiritual judgment. What is suited to His house would be the first thing that I might start with if a matter presents itself before me. Is this the way that I am going to think? Am I going to think of what is for God, to think of what the assembly is to the Lord Jesus, and what is proper to the area where the Holy Spirit is operating? The Holy Spirit has got full liberty in the house - do I then accord Him that liberty in my soul and in my thoughts?
And then Samuel proceeds to Gilgal, which is where Israel were circumcised, Josh 5: 3-9. How sobering that is too! As we find ourselves in relation to what is for God here, we see that man after the flesh has no place. God has had to say to the order of man that has so offended Him, and He has had to say to it in His own beloved Son. So when the apostle speaks about circumcision in relation to the Christian he says that it is “the circumcision of the Christ”, Col 2: 12. So, dear brother and dear sister, that is the standard, it is not my standard of what I think circumcision is, because we know sadly only too well what we might tend to allow in ourselves, and it has often been said that we are keen to judge in others what we allow in ourselves. How valuable then that the Holy Spirit is available to help us to judge rightly, to have to say to the flesh, to have the power to deal with it in ourselves. We can thank God for the wonder of that sacrifice, and the power and glory of that work that Christ has accomplished in removing the first man from His sight forever by going into death and into the grave, and coming out of it triumphant, victorious, so that you and I can be here in victory at the present time.
Samuel goes on to Mizpah; you can see that in all of this the thought of watchfulness is important (see Gen 31: 48, 49) and I would say humbly, watchfulness in relation to myself, that I might be watchful that I might not handle or taste things that are not for my spiritual benefit, not for the gain of my soul. I think there is a great danger of that in the present world in which we are with technology and all that it might bring into the home, bring into your hand, bring into your pocket! We need to be watchful. And then watchful in relation to one another. Think of how we are exhorted in Scripture, “but by love serve one another”, Gal 5: 13. I think a watchful person is like that; they are watching out for what may come in that might hinder and limit right judgment, but they are watchful also in relation to one another that they might be preserved together in relation to what is for God here in His house and its representation in this place.
And then it says of Samuel’s house, “and there he built an altar”. Well, dear brother and sister, if I am to be maintained in spiritual judgment I need to maintain my personal links with the Lord, I need to maintain my personal links with the Holy Spirit, and my personal links with the Father. I think that is a great preservative to my soul and I would commend it to us.
For His Name’s sake.
Word in a Ministry Meeting - Glasgow
7th June 2016