So bold to Thee, and Thine to
us so great, come Holy Spirit, Okay, thank you, Sherry. Let's
go back to the book of James, if you will. James chapter 3. James chapter 3. Mindy and I were riding along,
we were going somewhere Sunday afternoon, and she was relating
to me her Bible lesson, which was from the book of James, and
she had my father's commentary with her and was reading to me
from that commentary. She just read the comments on
verse 17 of this chapter, and it made me want to study it with
you. James 3, look at verse 17. The wisdom that is from above
is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be entreated,
full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and without
hypocrisy. Let's read the next verse. And
the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace of them that make
peace. Wisdom from above, that is our
topic, our text tonight. Heavenly wisdom, that is spiritual
wisdom, true wisdom. That's what we want and that's
what we need. The Scriptures speak so very
much about wisdom, don't they? Those of you who know Scripture. They speak so much about wisdom,
especially in the Proverbs. There are whole chapters that
deal with wisdom, the subject of wisdom. Proverbs 8, as you
may know. Listen as I just quote one verse
from there. And every verse is about wisdom.
It reads, Wisdom is better than rubies, and all things that may
be desired are not to be compared to it. Wisdom. Listen to Proverbs
4, verse 7. Wisdom is the principal thing,
that is, the primary thing, the one thing needful. Therefore,
get wisdom. Get it. And with all thy getting, get understanding of wisdom."
Get wisdom? That's what it said, didn't it?
Get it. It's there for the taking. How? Look back at chapter 1. Where do we get wisdom? We just
read in verse 17, wisdom from about Chapter 1, verse 5, if any of
you lack wisdom, who in here would not admit to that? Lacking wisdom. That we lack
the wisdom we need. Alright, what does he say? Let
him ask of God. That giveth to all men liberally. He giveth liberally. According
to what you ask for and how much you ask for it, he giveth. And
upbraideth not. I like that. He upbraideth not.
That means he doesn't scold you for wasting what he's
given you thus far, or not using it. He upbraideth not. And it shall be given him. That's
what it said. That he may ask of God. and it shall be given
him." If any of you lack wisdom. So Solomon said, get wisdom. Get it. Where are you going to
get it? Well, it's from above. This is the wisdom we're seeking.
From above. You've heard me say before, and
I'm not old by any means. I'm getting older. Some of you
are older than me. A lot older. I've learned really about all
I need to learn in this life. You think so? I do. I've experienced sorrow, death,
going without. I have been around the world
back. I've worked hard. I've had much. I've been without.
What I'm saying is the lessons that this world has to offer.
And God takes many people that took my sister at 42 years old.
She learned all she needed to learn here, didn't she? And I
can give you many examples of that. Spiritual wisdom is what
I don't have enough of, though. Things in this world It's one big continuous cycle
of the same old, same old, same old. You understand what I'm
saying? I didn't mean that I know everything there is to know.
I didn't mean that. And if I continue to stay here, the Lord will teach
me more things. But it's spiritual wisdom that
we're being taught. This is what we need to know.
I know how to do some things. I know this and that and the
other. But it's spiritual wisdom that I need and I want. These
are the lessons that we need so desperately. True wisdom. True wisdom. And that comes only
from above. That comes from above. Who is
wise? He said here in chapter 3, verse
13, who is a wise man and in doing with knowledge? The world
likes to think it is. People think some folks are wise,
don't they? There are various, there are
a lot of scientists, doctors, lawyers, people all over this
world who are deemed to be wise people, but I tell you from this
book, they're fools. Romans 1 says, professing themselves
to be wise, they became fools. Anyone who doesn't acknowledge
God is a fool. The fool hath said, Know God. No matter how
much stuff they learn about in this life. If they don't know
God, they're a fool. If they've spent their whole
lives learning about things and stuff, it's wasted time. Wasted time. Who is a wise man? Who is a wise man? There are
men, whom I know, with very little education, who would not be deemed
by this world to be wise by any means. Men who did not get past,
well, did not even have high school education, who are head
and shoulders above the people of this world in wisdom, true
wisdom. Wisdom. Who is a wise man? and
endued with knowledge." Who is? Well, James says, let him then
show us. Let him show us. This whole book
of James is about show me. You know what? You say you have
faith. The whole book is about this.
Here's the thing. You say you have faith without
works. James said, I'll show you my faith by my word. That's
what this whole book's about. So James asks the question, who
is a wise man? Who is endued with knowledge
among you? Let him or her show. Show it. Show it. Reveal it. Show it. Prove it. He says it's not the hearers
of the word It's not even those who can quote
it. It's the doers. It's the doers. Talk. The longer
I live, the less impressed I am with talk. The old saying is,
talk is cheap. It sure is, but everybody got
a lot of it spent. It's not the hearers, but it's
the doers. It's not the sayers, But it's
the doers. And what I'm finding out is generally
the doers usually aren't big sayers. The doers generally aren't big
sayers. They're just doers. They let
their actions speak louder than their word. That's wisdom, is
it not? That's wisdom. Let him show me,
James said, let him show out of a Let him show out of a good
conversation. Now, whenever you see the word
conversation, it generally means the whole department or attitude
that you have. Your whole attitude. That's not just your conversation,
your speech, but it's everything. Your attitude, general attitude,
as well as your speech, and so forth. Your life. Let him show
out of a good conversation or attitude or way of speaking and
doing his works with meekness of wisdom. Let him show his works
with meekness of wisdom. Now here's the first sign of
wisdom. And this is one undeniable proof that the world does it.
is not wise. Meekness is the first sign of
true wisdom. A truly wise man or woman is
very meek. Would you not say, Moses, the
Lord's... When you read God's Word, John,
when you read God's Word, when you read through Exodus and Leviticus
and so forth, There's no record that Moses wrote all that down
on pieces of paper. The Lord did it later on so that
people could have copies of it. What a man! This man was the
wisest man on earth, was he not? What does it say about him now?
What did the Lord say about Moses, his character, his attitude?
Gave him the highest compliment. He was the meekest man on the
earth. The meekest. Though the wisest.
He was the meekest. Why? Meekness, you see, now the
scripture says the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.
The fear of the Lord. And fear of the Lord will make
a person Never want to take credit for
anything. Never want to take honor for
anything. Right? Realizing, it makes a
person realize that everything they are, everything they have,
everything they know is by the grace of God. Everything, every,
and James said this, every good and perfect gift cometh where?
From where? From above. We are what we are
by the grace of God. We know what we know by the grace
of God. We have what we have by the grace of God. We can do
what we can do by the grace of God. There's nothing in us, nothing. Paul even said this, we're not
even sufficient to think right. Think right thoughts. So the
meekness, this meekness is the first sign of true wisdom. Wisdom
is meek. It realizes we have nothing to
glory in. True wisdom realizes we have
nothing to glory in and nothing to boast of. But God alone gets
all the glory. And we boast in Him. He is our
wisdom. If we have any wisdom, He gave
it to us. He imparted it to us. It comes from above. And only God's people acknowledge
that. So that's true wisdom. Alright, now here he describes
earthly wisdom to us. Earthly wisdom. Verse 14. The
product of this so-called earthly wisdom. If you have bitter envying
and strife in your hearts. Verse 14. If you have bitter
envying and strife in your heart. Glory. Life. It's lying against
the truth. Envy and strife in the heart. And this is where it is. This
is the seat of all things, the heart. Out of the hearts are
the issues of life. Right? And that's what the Lord
looks on. That's what the Lord looks on.
What we want and what we need is wisdom within. Wisdom within. The root of the
matter within us. Not just in the head, but truly
in the heart. Now he's writing to professing
believers. Throughout this book he's writing
to professing believers. And for a believer to have envy,
in any shape, form, or fashion, to envy anybody or anything,
is a lie against the truth. For a believer to envy anyone
or anything is to deny God's sovereign right to distribute
as he will, to whom he will, what he will. Right? For us to envy. Envy, that is,
is seeing something someone else has, whatever it may be, beauty,
strength, intelligence, possessions, whatever it may be, and envy
that, want that. And that's to deny God's sovereign
right to distribute as He will, sovereignly. To envy is to deny. Well, to envy is to really not
believe that we're unworthy. To envy. To want more, to want
something we don't have, is to deny that we're unworthy of the
least that God gives us. Envy. Envy. It's self-love is
what it is. Envy is self-love. Jealousy goes
hand-in-hand with that. Jealousy, despising the good
and prosperity of others. Now, I'm dealing with this because
it's here. Right? I am so thankful, and
God gets all the glory and the credit, that I don't see much,
if any, of this in this congregation. Each of you know your own heart,
and you know that there are times when some of that crops up. But really and truly, this spirit
doesn't prevail here, of envy. It's not there. There are times
when we all have it, but it's not the spirit of this people,
and I'm so thankful for that. But we're dealing with it in
contact, okay? Envy, and it's a warning not to ever let it
happen. Envy. Self-glory, self-love, lying
out against the truth. It's a denial of the truth, the
gospel, to envy and to fight. Envy and strife. That's what
he says in chapter 4. He starts dealing with that.
From whence come wars and fighting among you, bitter quarrels and
all this thing? Because verse 2, you lust and
you have not. That is, you want to have, you
want to have this and you don't have it, and you do whatever
it takes to get it. That's speaking to unbelievers,
but it's a warning to us, is it not? Alright, he says in verse
15, this wisdom, now he's saying this sarcastically, It's not
wisdom at all. But this is what the world does.
The world has bitter envy and strife. The world which professes
itself to be wise. The world, the educated, especially
now, today, the educated society we live in, which thinks that
education's the answer to everything, and we're just going to educate
all the problems out of our society. Is it working? Let me ask you
honestly, is it working? Not one percent is it working. Things are just getting worse
and worse and worse. This is a reprobate society is
what it is, a void of good sense and judgment. Truth, equity,
judgment has all been thrown out the window. Oh, but we are
wise now, we are enlightened. This wisdom, James says that
in sarcasm, this wisdom We don't have that here. You don't look
around, you won't see doctors and lawyers and so forth. Well, that comes from above.
That true wisdom. But the wisdom that the world
is supposed to have is earthly. Read on. This wisdom descendeth
not from above. It's not of God. Everybody's
religious though, aren't they? But it's a dog-eat-dog world.
and run over top of your world. But it's earthly. Earthly, that
is earthbound. Most of the wisdom people have,
they, so-called wisdom, they got it from sight. This is the
reason I said a while ago, and you took it wrong. The reason
I said I've learned all I need to learn this life. The wisdom
that's in this world is what people see. Whatever they see,
you say, well, that must be so. That's the way it is. Everything
they do, they do it by sight. Everything they've learned and
all the principles, all the things that they believe is by sight.
We're told not to believe everything you say. As a matter of fact,
we're told that which is seen is temporal. It's not, there's
nothing true about it at all. It won't last at all. Nothing
you say. Especially don't believe things
you say, because Scripture says God sends strong delusions. God
sends strong delusions. Because people don't receive
the love of the truth. See, people don't believe this.
This is the Word of God. We take God at His Word. We don't
say, show me, and I'll believe. God says, believe, and I'll show
you. So we believe, we take Him at
His Word, but the world says, no, show me, and I'll believe.
God won't do it. He said, no sign will be given.
They have Moses and the prophets. Oh, but if one rose from the
dead. No, they have Moses and the prophets. They have my word. Well, that's not good enough.
I want to see something. All right, I'll show you something. And
God shows them. Signs, visions, things happen,
phenomena and so forth. And that's what they base everything
they believe on. And it's all a lie. You understand? It's earthly. It's bound by the
things of this earth. Sight. Feelings. Oh, I know I'm
saved. How do you know you're saved?
That service I was in one Sunday night. Listen, that feeling went
over me. I mean, the feeling, I can't
describe it. It's the greatest feeling that
ever happened. And I was an alcoholic, and now I have no desire whatsoever
for to drink. It's all gone. I mean, it's completely
gone. Feelings. Earthly. Feelings. Circumstances. The Lord healed, saved my daughter.
She was drowning and she was dead for 30 seconds. I've heard
that. I've heard these very things. And we prayed and the Lord raised
her and I know, I believe now. I know. Circumstances. Events. Things. Earthly. Bound by what
you see, feel, hear around here. Earthbound. Earthbound. Earthly. Sensual. The next thing. Wisdom of this world is sensual. Sensual. Really no better and
higher than an animal's. Sensual. Natural. Animals react to feelings and
sight, and that's all they believe according to their sight. He talks about this strife and
envy, you know, that dogs growl at each other, fight over bones. Devilish, read on. Devilish,
it's devilish. Wisdom from above, it's of the
devil. And I've said this before, and some of you know it's so.
You are in religion. And they're the meanest people
on earth. I mean to tell you, if you've
ever been in a business meeting, where there's
some decision to be made around the church house, they're meaner
than their neighbor. And you call sweet old Mrs. Johnson,
and she'll fire you, have you fired. That's what the Jews did. It says they raised up the devout
women against Paul and the apostles. It doesn't say that at Thessalonica.
They raised up the devout women. Sweet old Mrs. Johnson. And got the preacher fired and
run out of town. Devilish. Devilish. Where envy and strife is, there's
confusion and every evil work. God's not in it. These places
that call themselves God's house, if there's envy and strife and
so forth, God's not there. That's what he said. God is not
there. If that went on here, I wouldn't be here. I wouldn't
stay here. I would conclude that God's not
here, because God is the author of peace. It really should not
be a wonder to us that everything is going smoothly. That's the
way it ought to go. If all of us think like we ought
to think, if we're true believers, then we'll all be meek, think
on things of others, not have envy and jealousy. Envy. Oh my. We don't envy our children having
things better than we've got, more things. being prettier than
we are. Smarter, having more hair. We
don't envy those things. Of course not. We don't want
them to do without, as maybe we did. We don't want them to
suffer as we did. We don't want that. We want the
best for them. Our parents, we don't envy our parents' good
things. Big houses, whatever, not do
it. Not at all. Those you love, you want them
to have it all. If the Lord sees fit to give,
don't you? So and so, the Lord really blessed him, gave him
this and that and the other. Wasn't that wonderful? Now here
I am, not doing very well, but I'm sure glad they are. If somebody
is, I'm glad it's them. Huh? Really, that's what God's
people think. Examine your heart. Can you really
think of anybody that you're envious of? God's people. Not
at all. No sir. No sir. God's not in that. That's just
confusion and every evil work, that is, everything snowball
and worse things start happening until it all blows up. Right? Until it all blows up. Now here's
true wisdom, and I took too long to get to it. Here's true wisdom,
and it gives eight things, eight characteristics. I'll take 20
minutes per thing, and then, well, let's try to see if you
were listening. How about two minutes per thing? Eight things that he lists here
that are characteristics of godly wisdom. Wisdom from above. The
wisdom that is from above is first pure. Wisdom from above. That is, it comes from God. Now
this wisdom is what we want. We sing the song, things that
are higher, things that are nobler. lost to your thoughts, huh? I
want to think higher thoughts and earthly thoughts, sensual
thoughts, like an animal. All right, this is verse pure,
pure. Now all of chapter 3 deals with the tongue. You read that
with me, didn't you? You've read it before. All of
chapter 3 has the tongue in mind. Envy and strife. Strife is caused
by the tongue. That's where it starts. I believe
if you could trace all wars that have ever
been started down to something somebody said, somebody else.
The old saying is, and this is worldly wisdom, but it's just
not so. Sticks and stones can break my bones, but words will
never hurt me. Bones will mend. But the scripture
says, a brother offended is harder to be won than a city. Isn't this that? Tell me, you
who have broken a bone in your life, do you think about it very
often? Does it come to mind all the
time? What about something somebody said? Or something somebody did
to offend you? You see, it's more hurtful. It
lasts much longer. It creates bitterness and a root
of bitterness, a root that's hard to dig out and be done with.
Only God can do it. And it lasts. It stays there.
So he warns us about the term throughout this chapter. Look at verse 5 and 6. Let's
go back there a minute. The tongue is a little member
of most great things. Behold, how great a matter a
little fire kindleth. And the tongue is a fire. So
he's speaking principally here about pure speech. Endeavoring not to offend with
the tongue, being peaceable with the tongue, gentle with the speech,
and so forth. Believers now are pure. Yes, they are. Listen to the
language of Scripture. See, and you have purified your
souls and your hearts, your minds in believing the truth. Know what James said? See that
you love one another with a pure heart. I've written unto you,
brethren, that I might stir up your pure minds. Titus says this, Christ redeemed
us that Christ gave himself for us that he might redeem us and
purify unto himself a people. Unto the pure all things are. God has given believers a new
heart. You can see how. Don't sit there and fret because
the old man raises his head up every now and then. But it's
the new heart I'm talking about, the new man. The old man, that
old heart, the natural heart that every man has is deceitful
above all things and desperately wicked. Who can know it? But
God said, I'll give them a new heart, didn't He? Believers don't
have a deceitful heart. They're led by the Spirit of
God. They have a new heart. The heart of God. God has shed
abroad in them his love. Right? Isn't that what the scriptures
say? Yes, it is. And like I said a while ago,
a believer has a true and pure motive. A heartfelt desire is
the good and prosperity of my brethren. Right there. He had
a business for sale. Let's give you an illustration.
He had a business for sale years ago. And he'd worked hard all
his life. He and his wife worked hard all those years. I was there. Saw some of it.
Worked hard. One of the most honest businessmen
anywhere around. Right? Yes, sir. And it was time
to get out. It was time to retire. It was
time to retire. He still hadn't done it. Anyway,
he had his business for sale. I was hoping he'd get $4.3 million
for it. Really? Aren't you, Stan? Wouldn't
it tickle you to death? You didn't get quite that, did
you, Brother Henry? Not quite. But, you know, I was hoping that,
but, isn't that everybody's feeling here? For Brother Henry? Sure
it is. Pure. Pure. Pure heartfelt motives, a desire
for the good and prosperity of their brethren without envy. Rather preferring their good.
Pure. And pure speech, oh my. Look
at the next thing, I've got to hurry. This wisdom from above
is peaceable. Peaceable. That's the opposite
of strife. David, now, was called a man
after God's own heart. That's what God said about David.
I sought me a king after my own heart. And God said that about
David. So you see, Barbara? God's people.
There's the salt of the earth. David had a good heart. Yes,
he did. God said so. A pure heart. True motive. God's glory and
the good of his people. Self-effacing. David said this. David said, I'm for peace, but
they're for war. Isn't it? He said, I am for peace,
but when I speak, they want to fight me. He wasn't talking about
God's people. He was talking about the world
out there. I am for peace, but when I speak, they want to argue
and fight me. Now, that's so of every one of
God's people. Yes, it is. Oh, they're not God's people.
They're peaceable. Peaceable. Blessed are the peacemakers. They'll be called the sons of
God, the children of God, peacemakers. True wisdom understands that
strife never accomplishes anything. We've all tried. We've all gotten
into fights, one way or another, verbal or even physical. Nobody
wins, does it? Nobody ever wins in a fight,
no matter who's between. Nobody ever wins in a fight.
It doesn't accomplish anything, does it? I'll get even with you. Nobody ever gets even. do that. Retribution never knows,
never ends. So true peace is gentle, true
wisdom is peaceable. Gentle, that's good, it's gentle
and peaceable. Like old brother Bruce Crabtree,
you remember him coining that word, perseverance? Well, you hear it, perseverance
of the saints. That's a good word. They persevere and they're
preserved. It's perseverance. So, gentle. Peaceable and gentle. Peaceable. God's people are peaceable. Better to seek peace than revenge. I mean, the older you get, I
believe, the more you realize that just give in. Just give in immediately. Fight never comes. Just say you're
right, even if you know they're not. Just go ahead. Make peace. Because fight never, argument
never, nobody ever wins. Strength of sin, you know, is
confrontation. True wisdom is gentle. True wisdom is gentle. Mild,
courteous, kind. It's gentle. Gentle. Oh, I want to learn this. I want
to learn this. True wisdom is gentle. Acts gently. Calmly. speaks gently. Oh, this is hard
to do. And in context of chapter 3 about
the tongue, and it runs in my family, but that's no excuse.
That's no excuse. I want the Mayan hand in me dead.
I'm not proud of it, but, and it comes across too hard. in
speech, so that people are, you know, abrasive in speech. Anybody else here has a problem?
I don't know if anybody in here has a problem like I do, but
I've got a real problem with that, just being real talk—my
daughter, whoever, everybody. But true wisdom, the older you
get, the more gentle you ought to be, and not only in word,
in speech, but in your actions and reactions to things. Reaction,
not react violently, but gently. Gently. Gentle persuasion is
wisdom, is it not? Gentle persuasion. Isn't that
what works? Ted Kelly, they'll tell you, that back years ago
the old cowboys knew one way to train a horn. Beat the fire
out of him until he just laid down and quit. Well, he'll tell
you that they're a scared animal. They're just scared to death.
They're scared of humans, and they ought to be. Humans have abused them for years,
and they've served humans all those years, and what do they
get in return? Mostly abuse. And they're scared
to death. They're flight animals. All they
want to do is run from And if you can just earn their trust
a little bit. Isn't that right, Brother Kent? Just earn their
trust. If they're just not be afraid of you. Not be afraid
of you. Not to say that every now and
then they don't need a good whack upside the head, and so do we.
But the fact is, gentle persuasion works more than Like your kids,
you don't, you know, as far as the rod is for the child, the
parent who never uses a rod is going to raise a wild ass as
colt. But you don't go around with
a rod. I saw that. I have deep problems. I know
you do. Boy, they'll run then, won't
they? They'll be gone just as quick
as they can. They need it every now and then when all else fails.
But gentle persuasion is the best avenue to take. I want to learn that. Gentle
persuasion. Speak gently. Gently. Act gently. Be a gentle man, gentle woman. The next thing, easy to be entreated. True wisdom is easy to be entreated. And I like that. I want to quote
to you what my pastor wrote in his commentary, verbatim. He said true wisdom is easy to
be entreated. That is, it's willing to, now
listen carefully. True wisdom is willing to listen
to any word of reason. To listen to any explanation
or exhortation. Let me repeat that. True wisdom
is willing to listen to any word of reason. We ought to be the most reasonable
people on earth. Somebody comes to us with an
explanation. We ought to be willing to listen
to reason, right? Willing to listen to reason.
Or an explanation. Or an exhortation. From anybody,
an exhortation. We can learn. We can learn something
from everybody, can't we? Even children. Yes, we can. So true wisdom is easy to be
entreated. It is quick to forgive and forget.
Isaiah 30 verse 18 says, The Lord waits to be gracious. He waits to be gracious. That's
the way we should be. Wait to be gracious. Not wait
to get even, but wait to be gracious. Wait to be gracious. Easy to
deal with. Easy to deal with. I'm so glad
you're easy being treated, Ron. I'm going to tell on myself.
He and I went fishing in a canoe. You ever done anything stupid?
I have. Many times. We went fishing,
he and I. And what you do is you take one
car and you take it down to where you get out. You're going to
take the canoe out of the river. And you park it there. And then
you go upriver where you're going to put the canoe in, you know,
and take that car. And park it there. You got me? See, I have trouble with this.
Anyway, so when you get in the canoe and canoe down the river,
you get out and you get in the car that's parked there, put
your canoe on it, and drive back and get the other car. That's
easy, isn't it? Okay. Ron kept trying to explain
to me what we were doing. Couldn't get this concept through
my head. It's 5 a.m., you see. Oh, okay, I've got to park my
car here, all right. So we went down, so we, we, all
right, we took my car, I'm still confused, we took my car down
to where we were going to get out, or the boat where we'd end
up, and parked it there. Okay, I'm responsible for that
car. I was supposed to have the keys to that car. All right,
we took his car up, put the boat out and fished, oh, five hours
or more. Kept slayin' em, slayin' em. I was catchin' more than rocks.
Anyway, let me go on. His fish was bigger than mine. God damn, we've got, oh, this
is a good day. What a great day, Ron. I thoroughly enjoyed it.
Oh, we've had a good time. Okay, let's get the boat out
of the water. Let's get your car. Ron, I put my keys in your car. Now, if that had been me, if
Ron had been me, I don't know if I'd have reacted like Ron
did. I'm so thankful. He is entertaining. He's easy to be intrigued. He
just looked at me like... All he said was, That's all I
needed said to me, because I felt bad. I felt stupid, dumb, ignorant. I thought he'll never go fishing
with me again. It turned out all right, though, didn't it? Anyway, we thought we were going
to have to walk five miles to his car. Easy to be intrigued. Easy to be in truth. That's wisdom.
If he'd have jumped on that, I wouldn't have gone back fishing
with him again. And he still might not want to.
Anyway, easy to deal with. That's what it means. Easy to
deal with. True wisdom is easy to deal with.
You know, it'll go better for everybody if you just do unto
others as you'd have them do unto you. It'll go better with
you. If you deal with people as you want to be dealt with,
they'll deal with you that way. That's the way it works. That's
what the Lord said. True believers, I ought to say, ought to be, true
believers are the best customers that businesses have. The least
complainers. True believers ought to be, and
I believe they are, go in a restaurant Somebody waits on them, they
order steak and they bring them chicken, ought to just be so
kind and understand, honey, I don't see how you'd get any of these
orders straight, you know. And if I like chicken, thank
you, I'll just keep it, don't worry about it. Right. The biggest tippers, and let
me just tell you this, if all of us go somewhere together,
I want a pile of money left on that table. It's the Central
Baptist Church. And they know it. And I want
them to know that we appreciate servants. They're the greatest
in the kingdom of heaven. Servant. All right? I know you do that. I mean a
pile of money. My own daughter waited tables
before. That's the way we ought to tip
people, like as our daughter waiting on us. Yes, sir. How
do you think the Lord Jesus Christ treated the servants that waited
on him? Huh? Just think about it for a minute. Servants would
wait on his table wherever he would go. How do you reckon he
treated them? So kindly, so gently, so easy
to deal with that they were hopping to deal with him, to wait on
him. Couldn't wait on him to come
back. That's right. Easy to be entreated. Easy to—approachable. That's a good word, isn't it?
Approachable. I don't want to be unapproachable, do you? Approachable. I don't want anybody to be able
to come up to me with whatever's happened. All right. You ever done anything stupid,
Ron? Okay. Appreciate you forgiving. Full
of mercy. True wisdom is full of mercy.
Mercyful, full of mercy. True wisdom doesn't seek revenge,
but mercy. True wisdom does not hold grudges,
but forgives and forgets. True wisdom doesn't dig up bones.
True wisdom, oh, it's got to come from above, doesn't it?
It's hard for us to forget things. The Lord, who cannot forget,
has all our iniquities. And we've trespassed against
him daily. And he forgets it. Just forget.
It's as if it never happened to our Lord. Honestly. I believe we ought to be able
to forgive our brother and be merciful to those who just every
now and then mess up. True wisdom is full of good fruits,
that is, works. And in context here, the tongue,
speech, is a subject. You know what we ought to expect
out of brethren? We get enough of this out in
the world. We get sharp tongues and, you know, just hear murmuring
and complaining and griping and bugging and snapping back at
you and envy and strife. We hear enough of that out in
the world. What you'll get from a believer, and that's why you
come here, that's probably why you come here, isn't it, Barbara?
You come here because these are peaceable people. You're going
to get a kind word, you're going to get a smile, you're going
to get a pat on the back, you're going to get an embrace, you're
going to get a compliment, you're going to get a hug, you're going
to get some kindness. That's what you're going to get
from God's people. Fruits. Good fruits. fruits of mercy, grace, and so
forth. Fruits, plural. Read on. And it's without partiality.
True wisdom is without partiality. True wisdom doesn't prefer one
over another. True wisdom doesn't play favorites.
True wisdom does not favor this person over that person
because of whatever. true wisdom doesn't favor whatever,
family, whoever it may be, over any of God's people. Because
true wisdom realizes, now this is what we realize, that when
this is all said and done, that she's not going to be my wife. She is not, she's going to cease
to be my wife. They in heaven Or as Paul said,
the time remaineth that those that have wives be as those that
have not. There is angels in heaven. There are no relationships
like that. My daughter's not going to be
my daughter. She and I are there. We'll be brothers in Christ.
Brothers and sisters. I'm not going to be, it's not
going to be that way. I'm going to, she's going to be my family as
much as she's my family. So the time to learn that, the
true wisdom, is now. Now. This will enable you to
leave family and truly esteem others as your family. Uh-huh. Without partiality. True wisdom
is without partiality. If anything, preferring God's
people over all else. True wisdom is without partiality
in that it does not judge by—listen, I'm almost through. True wisdom
does not judge by appearance, color. True wisdom is without partiality.
It does not judge by appearance. Or, it does not judge, no this
is good, true wisdom does not show partiality to those only
who can reimburse them. Favoritism and so forth, and
good things to those that only can do things for you. Do you understand what I'm trying
to say? See, the world courts, patronizes,
courts the favor of those who can return the favor. Those that
can get something out of it. Those that can do things for
them. The rich, the famous, or whoever. True wisdom doesn't
do that. Who did the Lord favor, so to
speak? Well, his friends were those
that couldn't do anything for him. I had nothing to give him. He didn't court the rich. I remember
this. Let me give you an illustration
there. I remember this so well. My pastor, my father, was such
a living example to me. And I went with him somewhere when I was just a young man in
my early twenties. Where was I? We were over in
England, we went to England, Ireland. And we went to Ireland,
and he was preaching over there, and someone invited us to their
house for dinner. And this man, as it turned out,
was what you call a filthy rich. really rich. This place was a
mansion. I mean, it was a mansion. He
had an estate, an Irish country, Irish estate, rolling hills,
thousands of acres. He was rich, and he knew it. This man was somebody in the
world. This man had pull. This man had What's the word? This man had,
he carried weight. He was somebody. And we were
invited to his house. And now this man had a lot of
money to toss around. And he acted it too. He wanted
to show us. He took us on a tour. He wanted
to show us his vast holdings. and show us what all he'd accumulate,
about like Nebuchadnezzar. And my father was the most rude
man that day I have ever seen. At the time I thought, why is
he acting like this? He wouldn't even look at the
man, he wouldn't even speak to the man. The man would show him
something, this is my, and dad wasn't even looking, he just
got to it. Like he wasn't the least bit
interested. Look at this plate, look at this
silverware, look at this, look at this. And that really struck a chord
in me. Later on I realized, that's exactly what our Lord did. Exactly. The rich and the famous. heard
about him, and they had him in their house, Simon. You remember
the story of Simon? The Lord came in. Now, I'll tell
you who was somebody, and that man didn't realize it. That man
that owned that plantation didn't realize that he had the likes
of the Apostle Paul eating dinner with him and didn't know it. If anything, he should have took
my dad's shoes off and just made over him. Huh? Acted like a servant
to him. I'm telling you, there was a
great man over there, and it wasn't the man that owned the
place. It was the visitor. Someday that man will know it.
Maybe he's dead now. But that made such an impression
on me, to this day. It sure did. Without partiality. Not courting
the favor of anybody. The rich and the famous. People
that you can get things out of. The power to reimburse. No respecter of persons. That's it in a nutshell. No respecter
of persons. I've taken too long, but this
is the last thing. Without hypocrisy. True wisdom
is without hypocrisy. God's people And I wish the world
realized this and knew this if they were really looking for
the truth and looking for peace and joy and love and kindness
and about as close as you can get to perfect here on earth. God's true church. They're not
hypocrites. This is the good thing about
it, isn't it? It's what we were talking about, wasn't it? I think,
Kelly, you and I were talking about how you don't have to act
apart with God's people. You don't have to act like something
you're not. Isn't this the good thing about it? You can be yourself.
We can all act like humans. Confess your faults to one another.
You think like, you have those problems? Yeah, sure do. Well,
they're not a bunch of super pious, victorious Christians,
you know, like the world is. Without hypocrisy. We're not
play-acting. Not play-acting. No, no, no.
We're honest. Honest people. Believers aren't
hypocrites. The word hypocrite, we get the
word actor from that. That's where we get the word
actor. From the Greek word hypo-something. Hypocrite. They're real people. real people. You'll find more
peace and rest and comfort and be at more ease around God's
people, especially the preacher. That's what people can't believe
when they go to a true church, that the preacher is actually
like they are. And that's wonderful. He even
likes bluegrass. And here's our motive and our
example. Christ is wisdom. The scripture says of him, he
doesn't have wisdom, he is wisdom. It's not that he just has these
characteristics, this is him. We get it from him. He is made
unto us wisdom. Christ, you're talking about
pure. Everything he did was a pure
motive, purely for the glory of God, purely for the love of
the brethren, huh? Not what he could get out of.
You're talking about peaceable. He's the peacemaker. He's the
one who made peace, was he not? See, this is our motive. We want
to be like Christ, don't we? He's our supreme example. You're
talking about gentle. He's really the only gentle man
who ever lived, a gentleman. Oh, Kelly, he's gentled us all
our lives. Every now and then he's taken
a ride to us, and we needed it, but oh, how gentle he's been
with us. Hasn't he not? Hasn't he, Deborah, been gentle
with you? Easy to be entreated. Easy to
be entreated. Oh, I don't want to tell him
about this. He's going to get mad at me. Oh no. He's never
gotten what you call mad. Easy to be intrigued. You can
go to him with the worst thing imaginable. And he's easy to be intrigued.
Easy to deal with. Easy. Full of mercy. Full of
mercy. I beseech you, Paul said, by
the mercies of God. How merciful has God been to
them? Full of mercy. Good fruits? He's the tree. Without partiality? No, he doesn't court the rich
and famous, he courts the lowly and the beggars. without hypocrisy,
oh my. And the fruit of righteousness,
here's the fruit, the fruit of righteousness, that is right
doing, that's what righteousness means, right doing, the fruit
of all this is sown in peace. Keep saying peace, peace, peace,
peace, peace. It's sown in peace, and he's
talking about the church now. There's no peace out there with
the world and all.