"Would I be doing right," asks a brother, "to sit side by side in the worship with a man whom I know to be a sinner and a hypocrite, and take the Lord's Supper with him?" There are several things to say in answer to this. First, it is mighty hard to know a man to be a hypocrite. It is very hard to get conclusive evidence as to that. Not every sinning Christian is guilty of hypocrisy, and we can not know the hearts. Secondly, a brother who walks disorderly should, indeed, be withdrawn from by the church. But in case that is not, or can not, under the circumstances, be done, the man is responsible for himself before God. (Rom. 14:12.) But, thirdly, I know that in and of myself I am as weak as he is; and if I stand, it is by the grace of God alone. Why, then, should I become self-righteous and exalt myself? For I have nothing whereof I can boast. Israel was not stronger, but rather weaker, than the hostile nations; and they won their victories only by the grace of God. The people of Jacob who lived in Egypt were not in themselves better than the surrounding nations, but God had mercy on them and claimed them for himself. They deserved to die as well as the firstborn of the Egyptians; but God in mercy interposed the blood of the passover lamb between them and the doom that fell on that awful night. And how could they then boast, save in their God? So am I not a whit better in myself than my sinning neighbor; only that God's grace hath set my feet upon a Rock and led me in the way of victory. We were both in the flesh, and could not please God. "But," says Paul, "ye are not in the [180] flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you." If that is my happy case, it is not because of my superior merit, but because of the exceeding kindness of God, my Savior, his unmerited grace toward me in Christ Jesus. I can but praise him, and can in no wise feel too good to sit side by side with any sinner, whether in the church house or elsewhere.

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