True Self-judgment shuts out the adversary.
The more we exercise ourselves in Self-judgment, the more will
the flesh in us be discerned _by ourselves_, and the less will
it be seen _by others_.
In our exercise of Self-judgment, we should keep our eye upon
the Advocate with the Father, else we shall have a self-vexing
conscience which profits not.
Self-examination is a solemn and profitable business it should
mainly consist in this, "My soul, believest thou? lovest thou?"
(Heb. 11:6; 3:12.13; John 13:34.35; Rom. 13:10; 1 Cor. 13)
The custom of Self-judgment is among the best of spiritual habits.
"The Lord is a God of knowledge, and by Him actions are weighed"
(1 Sam. 2:3). Because God tries the _heart_, therefore, in instances
innumerable, God's judgment condemns where man may approve and
praise.
The oftener we invite Him with whom we have to do to use the
keen edge of "the sword of the Spirit" in our own consciences,
the less will there be in us for Satan's fiery darts to fix upon.
If we better considered that "we have an Advocate with the Father"
(1 John 2:1), we should not go far from the paths of the Lord
and the presence of God. This Advocate speaks to the pity and
love as well as to the holiness of the Father. It was the Advocate
who said, "The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak" (Matt.
26:41). He knows all our circumstances, and the power of temptation
and trial. Let it be the _first_ business of the conscience to
think of this "Advocate with the Father;" then what child of
God will be slow to make confession whenever it is due?
Each one of us has in himself some especially besetting evil
-- a weight to be laid aside. (Heb. 12:1.)
Let _me_ ask the Lord to give me self-knowledge; for self-knowledge,
though a painful, is a necessary thing, worth all the trouble
of the search, and all the mortification it may cost me.
When Israel suffers defeat before Ai, it is time to do what should
indeed have been done before: to search out the Achan in the
camp. (See Joshua 7)
When I see a brother overtaken in a fault, let me beware of my
own besetments, and seek to restore him in the spirit of meekness.