Open tonight's service with hymn
number 103 in the hardbacked hymnal. And if you've got a pencil
or a pen handy, there's one word that we need to change in this
hymn. Number 103. If you'll notice on the second
line down, the fifth verse, second line now where it says, wonderful
day my, cross out that my and put his with a capital H. And
that'll just make this tune just right. Let's all stand together.
Number 103. One day when heaven was filled
with His praises, one day when sin was as black as could be,
Jesus came forth to be born of a virgin, dwelt among men, my
example is He. Living, He loved me. Dying, He saved me. Married, He carried my sins far
away. Rising, He justified freely forever. One day He's coming, O glorious
day. One day they led Him up Calvary's
mountain, One day they nailed Him to die on the tree. Suffering anguish, despised and
rejected, Bearing our sins, my Redeemer is He. Living, He loved
me. Dying, He saved me. Buried, He carried my sin far
away. Rising, He justified freely forever. One day, He's coming, a glorious
day. One day they left Him alone in
the garden. One day He rested from suffering
free. Angels came down o'er His tomb
to keep vigil. Hope of the hopeless, my Savior
is He. Living, He loved me. Dying, He saved me. Buried, He carried my sin far
away. Rising, He justified freely forever. One day He's coming, O glorious
day. One day the grave could conceal
him no longer. One day the stone rolled away
from the door. Then He arose, over death He
had conquered, Now is ascended, my Lord evermore. Living He loved me, dying He
saved me, Buried He carried my sin far away. Rising He justified, freely forever,
One day He's coming, O glorious day! One day the trumpet will
sound for His coming. One day the skies with His glory
will shine. Wonderful day His beloved one's
bringing. Glorious Savior, this Jesus is
mine. Living, He loved me. Dying, He saved me. Buried, He carried my sin far
away. Rising, He justified freely forever. One day He's coming, O glorious
day. Please be seated. Y'all ever get a hymn stuck in
your mind and you can't get it out? Well that one was in my
mind all last week. And I finally got it out. Now
I guess it's back. That's a good hymn. Open your
Bibles with me to Proverbs chapter 8. Proverbs chapter 8. I want to read the first 11 verses. I think it's safe to say everybody
here understands that this passage of Scripture is talking about
Christ. He is our wisdom. Doth not wisdom cry an understanding
put forth her voice? She standeth in the top of high
places, by the way, in the places of the paths." Wherever we are,
whatever path we're on, the Lord Jesus Christ continues to speak
to his people. She crieth at the gates, at the
entry of the city, at the coming in at the doors. Unto you, O
men, I call, and my voice is to the sons of man. O ye simple,
understand wisdom, and ye fools, be ye of an understanding heart. hear, for I will speak of excellent
things, and the opening of my lips shall be right things."
He's going to tell us about the excellency of his work, the glory
of his person, the right things of his accomplishments, and he
continues to speak, and I'm so thankful. His voice is never
quieted. All the words of my mouth are
in righteousness. There is nothing forward or perverse
in them. They are all plain to him that
understandeth and right to them that find knowledge." God's people
hear his voice and they follow him. They won't listen to another. Receive my instructions and not
silver. and knowledge rather than choice
gold, for wisdom is better than rubies, and all the things that
may be desired are not to be compared to it. I got a message from Pam just
a little while ago, and she said the doctor said that they were
going to send Brian home tomorrow. So I want to continue to pray
for him. And we want to. I think most
everybody here knows that Donnie and Mary Wiginton's daughter,
Callie, had a nine pound baby boy last night, little Bradley. And we're so so thankful for
that safe delivery and for the miracle of life and that family.
So let's let's pray together. Our merciful Heavenly Father,
we're thankful that you have made Christ to be for us our
wisdom. We pray, Lord, that you would
that you would open our eyes, that you would unstop our ears,
that you would give faith to our hearts. We might have a good
understanding of who he is, and what he's accomplished for the
salvation of his people. Lord, that you would move us
by your spirit, that holy unction that only you can do in our hearts,
causing us to flee to him, to cling to him, to rest in him,
to trust him for all our righteousness and for all our salvation. Thank
you for your blessed word and We pray, Lord, that it would
be a blessing to our hearts tonight. We pray for Brian. We ask, Lord,
that you would give comfort and peace. We thank you for the testimony
of grace that he and Pam are both giving in the midst of this
trial. We ask, Lord, that you would be merciful to him. Thank you for the fellowship
encouragement that you've given us in them. Thank you for the miracle of
life, Lord, for the birth of this child. We ask, Lord, that
you'd be pleased to be merciful to little Bradley and that you
would cause him, Lord, to to find thee. We ask it in Christ's
name. Amen. Number 249 from the Hardback
Temple. 249, just as I am. Let's all
stand together. Just as I am without one plea,
But that Thy blood was shed for me, That Thou bidst me come to
Thee, O Lamb of God, I come, I come. Just as I am and waiting
not to rid my soul of one dark blot, to Thee whose blood can
cleanse each spot, O Lamb of God, I come, I come. Just as I am, though tossed about,
With many a conflict, many a doubt, Fightings and fears within, Without,
O Lamb of God, I come, I come. Just as I am poor, wretched,
blind, Sight rich is healing of the mind, Yea, all I need
in Thee I find, O Lamb of God, I come, I come. Just as I am, thou wilt receive,
wilt welcome, pardon, cleanse, relieve. Christ is thy promise,
I believe, O Lord of God, I come, I come. Please be seated. I'll tell you all the story behind
that hymn. Well, if you didn't hear, I'll
tell it again. Charlotte Elliott, I think she lived in England
in the 19th century. She was having dinner with a
friend who had invited the pastor in hopes of being able to witness
to her. And he tried to engage her in conversation, and she
let him know that she wasn't interested in talking about her
soul. He asked her if she was a believer
and if she had come to Christ. Well, the next day she saw that
pastor in town, a day or two, a few days later maybe. And she
said to him, she said, I haven't been able to get that question
off my mind that you asked me. And she said, if I was to come
to Christ, how do I come? How do I come? And he just said
to her, just like you are. Just like you are. That's how we come, isn't it? We'll try to fix ourselves up
before we come. Come just like we are. Open your Bibles with me to James
chapter 3. James chapter 3. Wisdom from above. We just read in Proverbs chapter
8 that this personification of wisdom is none less than the
Lord Jesus Christ. The scriptures make it clear
in 1 Corinthians chapter 1, of Him, of God, are you in Christ
Jesus? You're not going to get in Christ
Jesus lest God put you there. whom God has made unto us our
wisdom, our righteousness, our sanctification, and our redemption. Everything we need for our salvation
is found in Him. And James has given us a description
of the Lord Jesus Christ in verse 17 when he says, but the wisdom
that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, easy
to be entreated, full of mercy and good fruits without partiality
and without hypocrisy and the fruit of righteousness is sown
in peace of them that make peace. The Lord puts it like this in
Colossians chapter three, chapter two, verse three, he says, in
Christ are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. If we're
to know God, and that's what wisdom is, wisdom is to know
God, then we have to know Christ. And if we're gonna know Christ,
then we'll have all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge revealed
to our hearts in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, how
do we get to know Christ? Turn back with me to James chapter
one, and we'll begin reading at verse
five. If any of you lack wisdom, if you don't know Christ, you
lack wisdom. If you know Christ, you want to know him better.
And so you're still lacking wisdom. If any of you lack wisdom, let
him ask of God that giveth to all men liberally and upbraideth
not, and it shall be given him." Ask God for Christ. Ask God to
reveal the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ in the
power of His Spirit to your heart. But let him ask in faith, nothing
wavering. For he that wavereth is like
the wave of the sea, driven with the wind and tossed. For let not that man think that
he shall receive anything of the Lord. A double-minded man
is unstable in all his ways." Does that mean I have to have
perfect faith? No. We're always crying, Lord, help
thou mine unbelief. Our faith is always, it's always
mixed with unbelief and with our flesh and we feel double-minded
all the time, don't we? The spirit warring against the
flesh and the flesh against the spirit. Here's what it means.
We have perfect faith. We do have perfect faith and
we don't waver and we're not double-minded. when we confess
that Christ alone is all the hope of our salvation. We're
not hedging our bets. We're not holding out for something
other than Christ. It's not Christ plus my works
or Christ plus my wisdom or Christ plus my will. It's not Christ
plus anything. When we ask in faith, nothing
wavering, we're not being double-minded. When that Ethiopian eunuch, when
Philip asked that Ethiopian eunuch, when he told him, the Ethiopian
said, what doth hinder me to be baptized? And what did Philip
say? If thou believest with all thine heart, all thine heart,
thou mayest. And he said, I believe that Jesus
Christ is the son of God. Nothing wavering about that.
I know that's who He is. I know that the only hope I have
of ever standing in the presence of God is based on who He is
and what He's accomplished for me. He's all my salvation. Now that's faith. And that's
the faith that only God can give a man. Otherwise we'll mix Christ
with something else, won't we? We'll say, what can I do? What
can I do to bring Christ down from above? What can I do to
bring him up from the grave? What work can I perform to work
the works of God? Here's what the wavering is. What can I do to make what Christ
did work for me? And that's what everybody thinks. What can I do? to make what Christ
did work for me. Let not that man think that he
will receive anything of the Lord, nothing. No salvation there. But if we ask in faith, not being
double-minded about who Christ is and about what he's accomplished,
trusting him alone for all our salvation, then we have the blessed
promise of God that says, he giveth to all men liberally and
upbraideth not, and it shall be given unto him. Ask God to give you wisdom. If any of you lack wisdom, if
you've never asked him before, ask him. If you have asked him,
I know you're continuing to ask Him, because you want to know
more about Christ, don't you? You want to know more about Him.
Turn with me back to Proverbs chapter 9. Proverbs chapter 9. Well we'll begin reading in verse
27 of chapter 8. When he prepared the heavens,
I was there. when he set a compass upon the
face of the depth, when he established the clouds above, when he strengthened
the fountains of the deep, when he gave to the sea his decree
that the water should not pass his commandment, when he appointed
the foundations of the earth, then I was by him, as one brought
up with him, and I was daily his delight. rejoicing always
before Him, rejoicing in the habitable parts of the earth,
and my delight were with the sons of men." This is Christ
speaking. Still wisdom's talking. So I
was right there with God, and I was His delight, and my delight
is with the sons of men. My delight is to save my people.
My delight is my bride. Now, therefore, hearken unto
me, O you children, for blessed are they that keep my ways. What is it to keep his ways?
It's to look to Christ alone for all your salvation, to rest
in him, looking unto Jesus, the author and the finisher of our
faith. That's what it is to keep his
ways. Hear instructions and be wise, and refuse it not. Blessed is the man that heareth
me, watching daily at my gates, waiting at the post of my doors.
For whoso findeth me, findeth life, and shall obtain favor
of the Lord. That word's grace. You find Christ,
you found grace. You found life. Christ, who is
our life. But he that sinneth against me
wrongeth his own soul. All they that hate me love death." Haven't diminished him at all.
If a man doesn't believe Christ, if he doesn't trust Christ, if
he doesn't look to Christ for all his righteousness and all
of his justification before God, he hasn't injured Christ. He's
injured himself. He's injured his own soul and
he loves death. Wisdom hath builded her house. She hath hewned out her seven
pillars. Oh, this house won't fall. Seven
is the number of perfection. The church of the Lord Jesus
Christ is sure. It's steadfast. Every one of
his sheep are going to be saved, and they're all going to be with
him in glory. She hath killed her beast. She hath mingled her wine. She
hath also furnished her table. She hath sent forth her maidens.
She crieth upon the high places of the city. Whoso is simple,
let him turn in hither, as for him that wanteth understanding,
she saith to him, come, eat of my bread, and drink of the wine
which I have mingled. The body and the blood of the
Lord Jesus Christ. My body is meat indeed. My blood is your drink indeed. That body of the Lord Jesus Christ
lived out in pleasure to the Father, accomplishing everything
that the law required. He's our righteousness. His life,
His perfect life, is our life before God. His substitutionary,
sacrificial death on Calvary's cross, the shedding of His precious
blood, is the only hope that we have to have our sins covered
and have acceptance before God. And so the Lord says, are you
simple? You don't have wisdom? Ask it
of me. I'll give it to you liberally.
I upbraideth it not, but ask in faith, trusting me only for
all your salvation. Don't be double-minded. Don't
mix something else with Christ. Come, eat of my bread and drink
of the wine which I have mingled. You know, you say, well, how
do I know he did it for me? Your warrant for coming is His
command to come. If you can hear His voice and
come, then come, come. The Spirit and the bride say,
come, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. Forsake the foolish. and live and go in the way of
understanding. Everything contrary to the gospel
in this world, God calls foolishness. And that's all it is. And all
the pursuits of worldly wisdom are done in the power of the
flesh and have one thing as their chief end, and that is gratifying
the flesh. Go back with me to James chapter
3. James chapter 3. Look at verse 13. Who is a wise
man? Now he's talking about worldly
wisdom. He's talking about wisdom that's contrary to Christ. The anti-Christ wisdom of this
world and everything apart from the gospel. Everything apart
from God's saved people and God's elect and the preaching of the
gospel, God calls it all foolishness. Where is the wise? Where is the
prudent? God hath made foolish the wisdom
of this world. All the pursuits of worldly wisdom,
the child of God says, that's not going to help me. Not going
to help me. I've got to have Christ. I've
got to have him. He's my only hope. And so he
says, who is a wise man and endued with knowledge among you? Let
him show out of good conversation his works with meekness of wisdom. Let him speak of Christ. That's
what he's saying. If there's a wise man among you,
then he'll speak of Christ as his wisdom. But if you have bitter
envying and strife in your hearts, glory not, and lie not against
the truth. If you have this double-mindedness, this contrary spirit to grace
in your heart, don't lie, don't tell lies against the truth.
Say, well, yeah, it's of grace, but you know, we've got to prove
our works also. I want my life to be a reflection
of Christ. I do. But if I'm looking to me for
that, if I'm looking to the evidence of that in my life, hypocrisy,
self-righteousness, I'm not looking to Christ. Before we read on,
hold your finger there in James and turn back with me to 2 Corinthians
chapter 3. We looked at this Sunday. 2 Corinthians
chapter 3. Verse 17. Now, well, verse 15,
you remember the veil is still upon their face? But when the
heart is turned to the Lord, then the veil is removed, and
we see Him. Now, verse 17, the Lord is that
Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. There's freedom from the wrath
that is to come. There's freedom from the fear
of judgment. There's freedom from condemnation.
There's freedom to love Christ. There's freedom from unbelief.
All the things that we're held in bondage to, where the Spirit
of the Lord is, there is liberty. When he came, when he inaugurated
his ministry in Nazareth, remember in Luke chapter 4 when he opened
up the book to Isaiah 61 and he read, the Spirit of the Lord
is upon me, he has anointed me to preach the gospel and all
the things he says in that verse and then in the last verse he
says, and to preach the acceptable year of the Lord, that's the
year of Jubilee. That's the year of liberty. That's when all the
prisoners went free. That's when all the debt was
erased. That's when all the land went
back to its original owner. Everything that we had lost as
a result of the fall of our father Adam is restored in the year
of Jubilee. Somebody asked me Sunday, they
said, well is there any evidence in the Old Testament that the
Jews ever practiced that year of Jubilee? There's no evidence
that they ever did. No evidence. Why? Because the
people who held the debt were the leaders. The people who owned
the land and had the slaves. They were the decision makers.
They're not going to turn loose of all that. So it was the ones
who had lost everything. The Lord Jesus Christ came and
gave liberty. There is liberty where the Spirit
of the Lord is. And where is the Spirit of the
Lord? Where two or three are gathered
together in my name, there I am in the midst of them. You think
there might be two or three here tonight? He inhabits the praise of his
people. Have we been able to praise him
from our hearts? Scripture says he walks among
the candlesticks. He delights in showing mercy
to his children. This is where the Spirit of the
Lord is, where his word is being preached. And so he says where
the Spirit of the Lord is. There's liberty, oh Lord, I want
to know about that liberty. I want to be set free from the
debt that I owe God because of my sin. All that I've lost because
of my sin, I want it to be restored. but we all with open face beholding
as in a glass. Now that's a mirror, the glory
of the Lord. So we look into this mirror and
we see a reflection of the Lord Jesus Christ. And perfectly speaking,
that's who we are. We're perfect in Christ. As He
is, so are we. He that sanctified, they that
are sanctified, all is one. If we're in Christ, we're perfect
before God. And now look at the rest of this.
And are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even
by the Spirit of the Lord. It is Christ that works in us,
causing us to will and to do of His good pleasure. Looking
to Christ, looking at His good works, looking at His character
and His nature will have a reflective effect on the people of God.
We're following after Him. He's going to put into our hearts
a desire to be like Him. But as soon as we look, to the
evidence of salvation in our lives. As soon as we start talking
about, well, you know, if we're saved, we gotta have this and
that and the other in our lives. And we've looked away from Him.
So this reflection is from glory to glory, even as in the Lord
Jesus Christ. All right, go back with me to
our text in James, in James chapter four. The wisdom, the wisdom,
I'm sorry, we stopped in verse 14, look at verse 15. This wisdom,
the wisdom that lies against the truth, the wisdom that mixes
works with grace. That's worldly wisdom. That's
man's wisdom. What can I do to make what Christ
did work for me? It's lying against the truth.
This wisdom descended not from above, but is earthly, sensual,
devilish. It's from the pit of hell. As
soon as we start mixing works with grace, as soon as we start
looking at the evidence of salvation and our obedience to God and
all those sort of things, we're looking away from Christ. We're
mixing works with grace. And God says it's earthly, it's
fleshly, it's sensual, it's devilish, and it's a lie against the truth.
For where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every
evil work. Now we know that in our human
relationships, don't we? Where there's vain glory, there's
strife. And where there's envy, there's
strife. And it just gets to be a mess, doesn't it? I mean, we've
all experienced that in our relationships with one another, that the Lord
would deliver us from that sort of thing, give us grace to be
peacemakers as best we can in those situations. But here he's
talking about envying over Christ. This is the lying against the
truth. This is looking for something
other than the Lord Jesus Christ for our wisdom. And it's envying
His glory and wanting some of that glory to ourselves. That's
what's devilish, isn't it? And where that is, there's strife. There's no assurance of salvation. If I'm mixing works with grace,
I can't be sure that I've done enough. I can never have confidence. Tom and I were talking about
this before the service, and he was talking to somebody this past
weekend. He said, but you know, there's got to be evidence of
salvation in your life. There's got to be good works.
Well, yeah, of course there will be. But as soon as you start
looking at those things, you've lost all assurance of salvation
if you're an honest person. Envying and strife, there is
confusion. Confusion to the gospel. confusion
to the simplicity that there is in Christ. And all it brings
up is evil works, because whatever evidence of grace there might
be in the outward behavior of our lives, it's it's still mixed
with our with sin, isn't it? And it's it's God calls it an
evil work. You see what I'm saying? It can't
be looked at as something that's pleasing to the Lord if we're
mixing what we've done with what Christ has done. But the wisdom
that is from above is first. First. First and foremost. The word there is proton. We use it to describe that little
positively charged particle in the nucleus of an atom, don't
we? It's the first part of an atom.
It holds everything together. And that's the word here. And
he says, first, he's pure. Pure, sinless, perfect. Who can stand before God? Psalm
24, who's going to stand in His holy place? They that have clean
hands and a pure heart, who have not lifted up their soul to vanity? Who's that described? It's the
Lord Jesus Christ. Now I want to be I want to have
wisdom in my life that evidences itself and a hatred for sin. But if I'm looking to myself
for purity, Christ is the only one that's got pure hands. He's
the only one that's got a pure heart. And the word here actually,
look at The wisdom that is from above is first pure. There's actually two words there
for pure. It's the word truly, verily pure,
perfectly pure, immaculate, free from all carnality. Now that's something that you
and I can't produce. We can't produce anything that's free
from all carnality. Why? Because we're in this carnal
body. As long as we're in this carnal, that's what I was trying
to say a minute ago. As long as we're in this carnal body,
any evidence of wisdom is going to be, is going to have this
flesh involved in it, isn't it? We're looking to Christ as the
one who is pure. And then what's the second thing
it says about him? Peaceable. peaceable. We have peace with God through
our Lord Jesus Christ. I want you to have peace with
God. I want to have peace with God. If you've got peace with
God, if God be for me, send the devils. Who can be against me?
If I'm dying, God's for me. It's okay. It's good. It's good. if God before me. If I've got
Christ interceding on my behalf, if His shed blood has made peace
with God for me, and my sins are covered, then all's well. All is well. He's peaceable. He's called the Prince of Peace. When the angels announced his
birth, what did they say to the shepherds? Fear not, fear not,
for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy. This one has come in order to
put away your sin and give you peace with God. There's no fear
of wrath. Death has lost its sting. The
grave can no longer hold me. Sin's been put away. I've got
peace with God. What more can one ask for? What
more can one ask for? Tie me to a stake and light the
fires. If I have to, if I've got peace
with God, God will give me grace. to rejoice in that. He's first pure and then He's
peaceable. He's gentle. That's what I need. I want to
be peaceable. I want to have a hatred for my
sin. But you know what? Here's a description
of the Lord Jesus Christ. I want to be gentle. I want to
be a gentle person. I want to be a kind person. But,
you know, only in looking to him as the one who's gentle can
there be any hope of that character looking into the glass, into
the face, in the reflection of Christ. This word means to be
mild-spirited, to be patient, to be kind. There's a lot of
preaching. that's done, that's been done,
particularly in the past, that's been very mean-spirited preaching.
And the Lord doesn't preach like that. He said, comfort ye, comfort
ye my people, speak ye comfortably to them, speak to their hearts.
As a sinner to sinners, show them the gentleness of the Lord
Jesus Christ. Isn't it amazing how the publicans
and the sinners and the harlots were drawn to the Lord Jesus
Christ? They were drawn to Him. There
was something magnetic about Him. What was it? It was His
gentle and kind spirit. It was His love for His people
that broke their hearts and drew them into His presence. Who was He not gentle with? The
self-righteous. the Pharisees, those who lied
against the truth, those who asked God for wisdom, but they
ask it double minded, thinking that they had some contribution
to make to the gift of God. And the Lord won't be gentle
with those people. But to his people, he's first pure and then
peaceable and then gentle and easy to be entreated easily obeyed, compliant. And here's what the Lord Jesus
Christ said to the Father, I delight to do thy will, O God, for in
the volume of the book it is written of me. It wasn't a burdensome
thing for the Lord Jesus Christ to obey His Father. He obeyed
Him willingly. He was easily entreated by His
Heavenly Father. He loved pleasing His Father. He loved obeying His Father.
It wasn't a chore for Him to walk in obedience. It wasn't
like the heat lamp of the law was bearing down on him all the
time and he was having to struggle in order to be obedient. And
when the scripture says that he was tempted in all ways that
we are, and yet without sin, it doesn't mean that he had to
grit his teeth and pull himself up and work hard against the
temptations of the devil. No, he delighted in doing the
Father's will. He was always easily entreated. compliant to the Father, rejoiced
in obeying the Father perfectly from the heart. Oh, Lord, give
me some of that. Give me some of that. I want
to delight in walking after Christ. His word is not burdensome to
us. We want to look to Him. We want
to follow Him. We're going to have to look to
Him. We'll have to look at him and
see, see what kind of life he lived before the father and,
and trust him. He's being treated full of mercy,
full of mercy, withholding all wrath. He's a God of mercy. He delights in showing mercy
and he makes of his people mercy beggars. I got an email from
somebody this week, and they were making a comment about,
they listen to our services, and they said, you're always
talking about mercy beggars. He said, I like that. I like
that term, because that's what I am, a mercy beggar. And when
God makes you to be a mercy beggar, He makes you that way so that
you can receive the mercy that He has for you. He's full of mercy, full of it. good works." His works were perfect. His works were good. Full of
mercy and good fruits. Good fruits. Turn with me to
Galatians chapter 5. Verse 22, now we know that the
Lord Jesus Christ was anointed with the oil of gladness above
his fellows. That means that he had the full
anointing of the Spirit of God. He came as the Messiah, the anointed
one, the Christ, in the full power of the Spirit of God to
accomplish what God had sent him to do, the salvation of his
people, the honoring of God's law, and the faithful obedience
to his Father. And so when these verses talk
about the fruit of the Spirit, they were brought to their perfect
degree in the life of Christ. He's full of good works. That's
what we just read. Wisdom is full of good fruits. And the
fruit of the Spirit is love. Love. Oh, he's loved. There's never been a time he
hadn't loved his people. He loved them with an everlasting
love, and he loves them perfectly. And he loves them joyfully. Look,
the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, and peace, and long-suffering,
and gentleness, and goodness, and faith, and meekness, and
temperance, And as soon as you start trying to manufacture those
character traits in your life, you're going to do it under the
law and you're going to make yourself to be a hypocrite. I was thinking about it. I almost
asked somebody recently, they were just seriously religious. You know, you've been around
people like you're just, and I wanted to say, I wanted to
say to him, what are you covering up? What are you trying to cover
up? Being like that. You know, trying
to convince everybody that, you know, I've got the fruit of the
Spirit and this is the way I am. Against such there is no... These
are the fruits of the Spirit. The fruit of the Spirit. This
is the work of the Spirit of God. And they were brought to
their perfect... There's no law that's going to
bring these about. See, as soon as you start looking for these
things in your life, then you're going back to the law. And you
have to use the law to monitor and to measure and to motivate
and to see what sort of degree of these things. No, these are
the fruits of the Spirit given to Christ. And when we look in
that mirror, then from glory to glory, we'll become like Him. where the Spirit of the Lord
is, there is liberty. Go back with me to our text real
quick. We got one or two more here. Full of mercy, full of
good fruits, without partiality. Now it's not, you know, Parents
love their children. They love their children as equally
as they possibly can. And I mean, I know that's my
heart with my children. And yet, you know, there's times
when we, you know, may favor one child over another. The Lord
loves all of his children exactly the same. He can't deviate in
love. And, you know, you might think,
don't you know that when that prodigal came home, that he was,
in his mind, he was comparing himself to his elder brother,
who had always respected his father and always done everything
his father did and thought himself to be something far less than
his elder brother was? You know, sometimes we get that
impression. We think, well, you know, there's
some believers that got it all together, and I'm just a mess. Have you known families that
have special needs children? I've known several over the years.
Those special needs children get special attention, don't
they? It's not that they're loved more, but it's just that they
need more. attention from the parents and
from the whole family. And, you know, consider yourself
a special needs child in the family of God. Don't compare
yourself to the elder brother. Don't think that, well, you know,
God loves, there's believers that got it all together and
I don't. No, they don't. No, they don't. He loves without partiality. He loves every one of his children
the same. And if you've got special needs,
you express those to him and you'll get his attention. He'll show you his impartiality
toward you. You know, believers are to be
that way as well. And here's the thing about it.
God makes you to be the chief of all centers. Listen to this
very carefully. God makes you to be the chief
of all centers. You will find yourself speaking
up to everyone. Everyone. The servant that serves
you at the restaurant, you'll speak up to them. You'll speak
up to everybody if God makes you to be the chief of all centers. Without partiality. and without
hypocrisy. The Lord didn't have to pretend
to be something that he wasn't, did he? He didn't pretend. He knew exactly
who he was. And he didn't have to show any hypocrisy. There was no attempt on his part. What is hypocrisy? What's the
motivation behind hypocrisy? Trying to achieve the approval
of men, isn't that it? We, we love the praise of men. And so we pretend to be something
that we're not in hopes of, of influencing someone to like us
better. The Lord never had to do that. Not for a second. He
knew exactly what he was, who he was. He was here to please
God. He was here to save his people.
And there wasn't an ounce of hypocrisy in anything that he
ever did or said. He walked in the light of truth. He had no need to impress men,
no need to try to win the approval of men. He knew nothing of the
lust of the eyes. We're full of it, aren't we?
We've got the lust of the eyes. We want the approval of men.
He knew nothing of it. When Satan tempted him and told
him to cast himself off the pinnacle of the temple and the angels
would catch him and he wouldn't dash his foot against a stone,
what did the Lord Jesus Christ say to Satan? Thou shalt not
tempt the Lord thy God. I'm not going to tempt God. I'm
not here to impress those people down there. I'm here to please
God. And he was never, ever a hypocrite
in any way. We got plenty of that, don't
we? Verse 18, and the fruit of righteousness
is sown in peace of them that make peace. How do we make peace? Preaching the gospel. I was naked and you clothed me. That's what the Lord is going
to say to his children. I was hungry and you fed me.
I was in prison and you came and visited me. I was a stranger
and you took me in. And what are you going to say?
Lord, when did we do those things? In that you did it to the least
of these, my brethren, you did it unto me." You, as a part of
the church of the Lord Jesus Christ, participate in everything
the church does. And the church is declaring peace
to men and righteousness to men. Everything we're doing. What? That's wisdom. It's wisdom. We're participating in wisdom
in the preaching of the gospel, not just for the salvation of
our own souls, but for the salvation of the rest of God's lost sheep. Our Heavenly Father, we're very
thankful that Your promises are never taken back. You've said that if we lack wisdom,
that we're to ask it of Thee. Oh, Lord, we do lack wisdom. We want to know more and more
about Thy dear Son. The one who's pure and peaceable
and gentle and kind and without partiality and without hypocrisy
and full of mercy and good fruits. Lord, speak to our hearts about
him. Cause us to find our hope and our life in him. For it's in his name we ask it.
352, let's stand together. Jesus, lover of my soul, let
me to thy bosom fly. While the nearer waters roll,
while the tempest still is high, Hide me, O my Savior, hide, Till
the storm of life is past. Safe into the haven guide, O
receive my soul at last. Other refuge have I none, hangs
my helpless soul on Thee. Levi, leave me not alone, still
support and comfort me. All my trust on Thee is stayed,
All my help from Thee I bring, Cover my defenseless head With
the shadow of Thy wing. Thou, O Christ, art all I want,
more than all in Thee I find. Raise the fallen, cheer the faint,
heal the sick, and lead the blind. Just and holy is Thy name. I am all unrighteousness. False and full of sin I am. Thou art full of truth and grace. Plenteous grace with Thee is
found, Grace to cover all my sin. Let the healing streams
abound, Make and keep me pure within. Thou of life, the fountain heart,
freely let me take of Thee. Spring Thou up within my heart,
rise to all eternity. Thank you.