The Spirit of Judgment W N ATCHMAN EE Christian Fellowship Publishers, Inc. New York Copyright ©1984 Christian Fellowship Publishers, Inc. New York All Rights Reserved ISBN 0-935008-63-2 Available from the Publishers at: 11515 Allecingie Parkway Richmond, Virginia 23235 PRINTED IN U.S.A. TRANSLATOR’S PREFACE People do not like to think of judgment, but “the Lord is known by the judgment which he executeth” (Ps. 9.16 AV). The psalmist “sing[s] of mercy and judgment” (Ps. 101.1 AV). He asks the Lord to teach him of His judgment (Ps. 119.108 AV), and to quicken him according to His judgment (Ps. 119.149 AV). He considers those blessed who keep judgment and do righteousness at all times (Ps. 106.3 AV)., May we therefore be corrected in our mental concept and enter into the spirit of judgment so that God may be justified and we may be perfected. The present volume is composed of three parts. The first comprises notes of the messages on the Spirit of Judgment which Watchman Nee delivered in February, 1942 at a seven-day conference in Shanghai, China. Their full text has never been published and is now lost. However, these notes—taken by Dr. C. H. Yu—have been miraculously preserved and are now being translated and published into English. The second part offers three of the now well-known 52 basic lessons for believers which the author gave during a series of training sessions for workers held at Mount Kuling, near Foochow, China, in ∗ 1948 These three lessons (on the Kingdom, the Lord’s Second ∗ The reader should be aware that besides the three lessons alluded to above, one lesson (Sickness) was translated into English and incorporated into the chapter entitled Sickness (Volume 3, Part 10, Chapter 2) found in Watchman Nee, The Spiritual Man, 3 vols. (New York: Christian Fellowship Publishers, 1968); while almost all of the 52 lessons (48 in number), have previously been translated into English, re-arranged and variously grouped together into six volumes, and published under the general title of the Basic Lesson Series (New York: Christian Fellowship Publishers, 1972-75). The six individual volume titles in this series are as follows: A Living Sacrifice (1972), The Good Confession (1973), Assembling Together (1973), Not I But Christ (1974), Do All to the Glory of God (1974), and Love One Another (1975).—Translator Coming, and Occupation) had not been translated and published into English earlier because of their potentially controversial nature due to wide differences of opinion held among believers concerning these three subjects. Yet we feel these views should now be presented to all who love the truth of God. Their inclusion here is not aimed at forcing upon but rather at stirring up believers to at least consider them seriously before the Lord. The third part of the volume gathers together a number of messages given by the author at different times and places during his fruitful ministry and which have not been translated and published in English heretofore. They cover a wide range of subjects—from the righteousness of God to the helpmeet of Christ, yet they all unite in presenting the fullness of the salvation of our God. May God use this book to bring all who read it into a deeper knowledge of, and more consistent walk with, the Lord Jesus Christ. CONTENTS Part ONE: THE SPIRIT OF JUDGMENT 1 Known by His Judgment 9 2 Redeemed with Judgment 13 3 Judgment unto Victory 19 4 Loving-kindness and Judgment 25 5 Judgment in the House of God 29 6 Keep the Judgments of God 35 7 Judge Them Who Are Within 41 Part TWO: THREE BASIC LESSONS 1 The Kingdom 51 2 The Second Coming of the Lord 59 3 Occupation 69 Part THREE: THE FULLNESS OF GOD'S SALVATION 1 The Righteousness of God 85 2 The Word “Sin” in Romans 95 3 Original Sin 103 4 The Battle Between the Old and the New 107 5 The Reason for Believer’s Defeats 113 6 Faith 119 7 The Condition for Spiritual Growth 125 8 The Condescension of the Lord Jesus 129 9 The Helpmeet of Christ 135 Scripture quotations are from the American Standard Version of the Bible (1901), unless otherwise indicated. P A R T O N E ∗ THE SPIRIT OF JUDGMENT ∗ Being notes-taken down by Dr. C. H. Yu—of the author’s messages spoken at a February 1942 conference in Shanghai, China. 1 Known by His Judgment 1 Jehovah hath made himself known, he hath executed judgment. (Ps. 9.16) When thy judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world learn righteousness. (Is. 26.9) In the day when God shall judge the secrets of men, according to my gospel, by Jesus Christ. (Rom. 2.16) And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat upon it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne; and books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of the things which were written in the books, according to their works. And the sea gave up the dead that were in it: and death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works. And death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death, even the lake of fire. And if any was not found written in the book of life, he was cast into the lake of fire. (Rev. 20.11-15) Ordinarily we do not like to hear the word “judgment” for it does not seem to connote any spiritual help and appears to be too negative. Yet aside from creation, God has not undertaken a work greater than judgment. The first thing He does is creation; but the last is judgment. Without judgment God’s purpose of creation cannot be arrived at. So that in His plan His judgment is constructive, not destructive. Future judgment enables God to achieve His goal of creation. As we know, creation is to manifest God’s purpose; but the devil, sin and the flesh soon thereafter came in. How, then, can His purpose ever be realized if there is no judgment? Why is judgment necessary? Let us see that the very last work of God is judgment, after which He has no need to do anything else. On the seventh day God rested, for the work of creation was finished. After judgment the tabernacle of God, we are told, shall dwell among 10 The Spirit of Judgment men forever (Rev. 21.3ff.). Whereas the work of creation does not insure that sin will never enter again, judgment guarantees that sin will forever be gone. While the work of creation fails to prevent the world from rebelling, judgment makes certain that hereafter there will be no more rebellion. God’s judgment guarantees no more sin. Judgment has the power to drive away sin. So judgment has subjective uses in relation to us. At least in three areas God will accomplish His will through judgment: (1) Judgment glorifies God himself. The judge is glorified according to the judgment he gives. The way sin is judged expresses the kind of person handing down the judgment. The deeper the hate for sin, the severer the judgment. Hence God’s judgment reveals what kind of God He is. Through judgment God sanctifies himself. Moses was the meekest of all men. The children of Israel murmured against both God and Moses. Moses might have appeared to have had every right to lose his temper at that time by his having said, “You rebels!”, and by his having struck the rock with the rod for water. Yet let us recall that God had said to Moses to speak to the rock for water. So God said to Moses, “Because you do not sanctify Me before the eyes of the children of Israel, you cannot enter Canaan.” Why in this instance was judgment executed upon Moses? Because otherwise, the children of Israel would never have known whether it had been God or Moses who lost the temper. But through this judgment upon Moses, all Israelites knew that it was Moses and not God who lost his temper. It seems ironic that the murmurers could enter Canaan, but the reprover could not. Nevertheless God was glorified. By Moses having been judged, God’s glory was thus preserved. Let us see that God hates sin. Cheap forgiveness may cause people to forget He is holy. If He were always lenient towards the children of Israel, the latter might never know God. When Moses was judged, everybody realized that God is holy. For God can