What is it that you think about
when you think about works of faith? Some of you may think about works outside of the realm of the church, of one
another, being with one another, things you do in your community,
benevolent deeds, things of that nature. Whenever God creates
a peaceable heart in a sinner, He begins to teach us by painful
experience that works of faith, like everything else about our
experience of grace, works of faith aren't what we thought
they were. James was a Jew who lived in
the nation of Israel, and he had been brought up all his life
under the law and taught the law. And so were many of the
Jews who had been taught the law, been taught what works of
righteousness were, in error. And when God saved them, His
elect among them and separated them from those who were merely
the natural descendants of Abraham, He gave them a new heart like
He does when He saves a sinner. And He began to teach them what
it is to not only be a hearer of the
Word, but a doer of the Word. And what it involved was the
whole realm of His providence of bringing them into a great
trial of affliction. And the trial of affliction was
this. They once exercised a magisterial
dominion over any so-called brother or sister that they saw that
was in error. They had a lot of rules for them,
and they had a lot of regulations for them, and they would be pretty
rough with them. But now they're learning that
the way of grace is to deal in peace. to deal in mercy and not
in judgment. And the trial that they were
facing, the elders of Israel, the Jews of Israel scattered
abroad, the trial they were facing was when they would encounter
brothers and sisters who were being taught that they were no
longer under the law but under grace. And they would behold
these brothers and sisters yet leaning towards the law and leaning
towards this strict disciplinary dealings with one another. The
trial they were in was to bear that trial and be peaceable towards
that erring brother and sister, be merciful toward them, keep
their tongue bridled, and teach them Christ. Now that's a trial. That's a
trial. He tells us several things in
the book. In James 1, he talks about bearing
the trial with patience. And he says, if you lack wisdom,
in James 1, 5, ask God. And this is how he describes
God. He gives liberally. That's the opposite of the fleshly
spirit of man. And look what else he says about
him, and he upbraideth not. That's the opposite of that magisterial,
masterly spirit that we love by nature. It's the opposite
of it. He says, and ask in faith, don't
waver. Then on down the chapter, in
the chapter, he tells us this in verse 13, let no man say when
he's tempted I'm tempted of God. Let no man say that when he fails
in the trial and he goes out of the way and he begins to upbraid
and to be stingy and to hold back the gospel and instead whip
with the law and those things. Don't say, look, don't say that's
of God. Verse 14, every man's tempted
when he's drawn away of his own lust and enticed. And when lust
is conceived, it brings forth sin, and sin, when it's finished,
brings forth death. Don't err, my beloved brethren.
Every good and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh
down from the Father in lights, with whom is no variables, neither
shadow of turning." Now, how did He begat us? If you've been
born of God, how did that come about? He says here in verse
18, of His own will, begat He us with the word of truth, that
we should be a kind of first fruits of His creatures. He said,
to Zerubbabel, it's not going to be by might or by power that
my house is built. Not going to be by your might
and your power, not by your striving and your power and your might,
your knowledge and your wisdom and your envying and strife.
That's not how it's going to happen. It's going to be by my
spirit, he said. The way God's going to receive
all the glory is through the preaching of Christ and Him crucified. In the very first hour, that's
how He begets His people. They're born again through the
Word of Truth. And that Word of Truth doesn't
come like a rain of wrath upon you. The Gospel that these men
have preached to you, the Gospel that I've preached to you, have
you been whipped since we've been preaching this Gospel to
you? Or have you heard the words of comfort? The words of Christ
Jesus, the captain of our warfare, who's accomplished the work,
who says, speak peaceably to my people. Tell them their warfare
is accomplished. Tell them I've rewarded them
double for all my sin. This is how He breaks the hard
heart. This is how He creates a sinner
anew in spirit and in truth. This is how He draws you to Himself
and causes you to walk after Him. constrained by the love
of Christ for poor, worthless, helpless sinners like you and
me. Now, do you think after you've begun that way that you're going
to be matured and grow in grace another way? Do you think now that you began
with the Word of Truth, now that you're going to be Allowed now
to take that Word and to become hot under the collar and to stand
up with might and power and speak to one another as if you ought
to be God over them? No, not at all. And a work of
faith is not to do that. This is the work of grace in
the heart that constrains a man not to deal in that judgment
anymore. That's how we were dealt with
by hucksters and charlatans that took advantage of us and used
us and abused us and tried to pad their pockets and make us
their little obedient pawns so they could say, look what we
got them to do. God works effectually. God works in power. God works
great grace in the hearts of His people and brings them to
the feet of Christ to behold that the King of glory is the
one who is ruling and reigning. And He, just as He first started
that work of grace in your heart, is there anybody here that's
ever had this work of grace worked in their heart? If you have,
you know how this came. You know how it came with power.
You know how it brought you down. You know how it made you to look
up to Him and behold Him in awe and fear and trembling and say,
this is the one who speaks in power and it is. This is the
one who doesn't try to get something done. This is the one who does
it, and it is. This is the one who speaks and
says, let there be light. And just as God created light
in the beginning at the foundation of the world, there's light.
And you behold the glory of God in the face of Christ Jesus.
He's the only lawgiver. He's the only one that can do
this. Contrary to what you might think about yourself, anybody
here that wants to be a god, you got that in the garden. That's where you got it from.
And anybody that thinks that and wants to reign that way,
contrary to what you think, you're a pawn in the hand of God, a
puppet in the hand of God, and even your rebellion is being
used for the furtherance of his gospel whether you like it or
not. That's so. This is the God we're talking
about. Now, He will rebuke with all authority you, and He commands
His apostles, His disciples, His ambassadors to rebuke with
all authority men who want to try to rebuke with no authority. But to his saints, he says, speak
ye comfortably to my people, speak ye comfortably to my people.
And that's how his messengers come forth speaking. That's how
brethren speak to one another. That's how brethren encourage
one another. That's how brethren point each
other to Christ. They don't come with with a bitter
tongue and a harsh word, self-exalting themselves, setting themselves
up and telling others why they ought to be above the other.
They don't do that. Paul told the Galatians, if you
bite and devour one another, be careful that you're not consumed
of one another. That's legalism. That's free
willism. That's Arminianism. That's the
lie spawned in hell by Satan himself and brought forth into
the world in the garden. That's the lie. That's what God
saves his people from. And the works of obedience that
a man of faith has is the work whereby he will not anymore deal
with his brethren in that spirit. There'll be times when he fails.
There'll be times when he stumbles. There'll be times when he speaks
a word he wishes he had never said it, but that won't be the
tenor of his way. God's bridled him. God's brought
him down, and God's reigning now, and that's how it'll be.
Now, after he said about that word of truth, look at the very
next word in James 1, 19. Wherefore, my beloved brethren,
let every man be swift to hear. Slow to speak. Slow to wrath. Why is that? For the wrath of man worketh
not the righteousness of God. Just doesn't. Just doesn't. Wherefore lay apart all filthiness
and superfluity of naughtiness. That means that overflowing excess
that me and you are in our flesh. It's the same as saying put off
the old man and put on the new. Leave all that old way and that
old man and everything he desires at the door. Check him at the
door and deal with one another in grace. Receive with meekness
the engrafted word which is able to save your souls. But now listen,
brethren. God is going to bring his children
into bitter trials to where... We've gone through this book
in New Jersey. The trial is going to be this.
The trial is not going to be the brother who's erring and
the brother who is, he's in a trial, there's no doubt about that.
But the trial James is dealing with is you who feel like you
have some ability to correct him and some ability to turn
him and try to use some fleshly authority to turn him. The trial is going to be to you,
because if you don't consider yourself, and if you don't receive
this word with meekness, and think on what James is teaching,
you're going to find yourself in a far worse place than that
erring brother. You're going to take the great
pearls of this gospel, and rather than putting them on the neck
of that brother, to assist you to adorn them with this gospel,
you're going to take them and you're going to throw them at
Him and try to kill Him with them. With that which ought to
be words of grace, that very thing that is words of mercy,
words of peace, words of how our King and our Lord came and
served us in mercy rather than judgment. And yet you'll take those very
words and use them like an axe. Use them like a knife. Use them
like a dagger. Use them like a weapon. And he
says here, so, verse 22, Be ye doers of this word, and not hearers
only, deceiving your own self. For
if any man be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like
unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass. He beholdeth
himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner
of man he was. Do you know what kind of man
you are? Do you know what God has saved you from? Don't straight away forget it
and think you're something when you're nothing. What do you have
that you didn't receive? What do you have that you didn't
receive? We're going to forget that? But he that looketh into
the perfect law of liberty, that perfect law of grace, that perfect
law of love. The perfect law of liberty is
not the Ten Commandments. The perfect law of liberty is
sin shall not have dominion over you because you're not under
the law, you're under grace. You've been redeemed. You've
been bought with a price and you're not your own. And the
perfect one who looks into the perfect law of liberty realizes
the one lawgiver who is the judge and the lawgiver and the king
who came and fulfilled his own law and wrought justice and honored
and glorified his law and perfectly fulfilled it for For me, that
same God that brought me into this perfect law of liberty and
constrained me by His grace is able to constrain my brother
or my sister who's in error. And all I need to do is remind
them that their warfare is accomplished. Is that how your pastor dealt
with you before? Or did he put you on church watch? Did they
kick you out? They tell you, I know how they're
dealing with you because I know how they're dealing with you. That's a lie. That's legalism. That's works. That's death and
hell is what that is. If you've been saved from it,
depart from it. If you haven't, go on in it.
But don't try. to go on yoking and beating and
whipping those who have been brought out from under it and
brought into the perfect law of liberty and who are trusting
God to deliver them. Look down and he says, who looks
into this perfect law of liberty and continues, he being not a
forgetful here but a doer of the work, dealing mercifully,
dealing in patience, bearing these trials that are going to
come about, that man's going to be blessed in his deed. Now
here's a word we need to consider. If any man among you seem to
be religious, that's easy. It's easy to learn the five points
of Calvinism. It's easy to learn some Presbyterian
creed or some Baptist creed or some Methodist creed or some
Pentecostal creed. It's easy to learn religion and
to seem real religious. But it's sure difficult to hide
that heart that's inside that ain't been made new. It's an
impossibility. And sooner or later it's going
to come out. And you're going to be exposed if he hadn't made
you new. This is what he says. If any
man among you seem to be religious and bridleth not his tongue,
but deceiveth his own heart, this man's religion is vain.
It's vain. Pure religion. And undefiled
before God and the Father is this, to visit the fatherless
and widows in their affliction and to keep himself unspotted
from the world. You know who the fatherless and
widows are? That's what I am in my flesh. I'm a fatherless orphan. I'm
a one without a husband in my flesh, and when I err, I'm in
my flesh. And I'm like a widow without
a husband. I'm like an orphan without a father. You visit one
another, with the words of Christ our Husband, who came to where
we are and laid down His life and fulfilled. And now that old
husband, that old strict taskmaster called the law is dead, that
we might be married to another, and we're married to Him. You
come with these words about how faithful a husband He is. You
come to that orphan, that fatherless one who's in his flesh become
lost and undone and has no one to lead him and guide him because
he's looking at his own flesh. And you come to him and you tell
him about the everlasting father, the last Adam, the one who has,
who creates his people anew. And just like a faithful father,
he will not leave his children. And by doing that, rather than
using that yoke of the law and that whip and coming and beating
them and putting them on church watch and telling them, now if
you'll repent, as if you can, without God's grace, to do what
I just told you and visit them with the word of grace, that's
what it is to keep yourself unspotted from the world. Because this ain't how the world
deals with folks. Those that seem religious and
haven't had their tongue broddled by the almighty, effectual, sovereign
grace of God, this is not how religion deals with folks. They
don't come and visit. When they find somebody who's
an orphan and a widow, They treat them like somebody,
like you see these stories of somebody like Little Orphan Annie
that's abused in an orphanage. That's what they treat them like.
How could you know what it is to have a faithful father if
you've never been in a church where you've had a faithful pastor
that dealt with you as Christ has dealt with him and taught
you and led you if all your lives, all you've ever been in is an
orphanage? You ever seen a child who's brought out of an orphanage
and you try to, I have a sister-in-law who keeps foster children. And
some of those children have been so badly abused in those various
foster homes, in those various places, that when they come in
and she's being so kind to them and wanting to love them and
show them some love, they're scared to death. They think they're
fixing to get whipped and beat. I'll tell you, I'll tell you
an interesting story. When I first came to New Jersey and started
pastoring the congregation, I pastored. When they would miss a service,
I found it really odd that I'd get a phone call. By the time
I walked in the door, I'd get a phone call from them telling
me why they missed. And at first I thought, that's
nice that they're calling me and telling me why they missed.
But then after a while, it kept on and on. And I really, it hit
me. They'd been in the Church of
the Sabbatarian. They've been in the church where
if you don't show up, you better have a good reason. And you're
going to get some serious discipline if you don't have a good enough
reason. God's messengers don't deal with his people that way.
Christ is our Sabbath. He's our rest. If we've been
brought out and seen the perfect law of liberty and continue therein,
it's because he's bridled us and that's how we deal with one
another. That's how we deal with one another. Well, this is what
he's talking about throughout the book and he gets here to,
he goes down through James chapter 2 and he talks about don't have
a respect of persons. Don't look on those who are rich
and all those things and that's what we do. Not just in temporal
things, although that's what preachers who are after filthy
lucre do. They try to get somebody who's
got some money on their side, but also Religion looks at those
who seem to be rich in works. Rich in works. And those are
the ones they put on a pedestal. That's short of respect. And
that poor, orphaned sinner who comes in and doesn't have the
gay clothing of self-righteous religion, and he comes into the
meeting place, they tell him, now we got our eye on you. You need to sit over there. Do
they not? Have you experienced that? You
know anything about that? That's how religion, self-righteous
religion, deals with foes. Christ Jesus the Lord came to
this earth without any pedigree, any education, anything about
Him that would make you look on Him with a natural eye and
say, there goes a religious, righteous man. And you know what
religion did to Him? They treated him just like they
treat sinners in our day. You know who I want to come in
our assembly? I want harlots and publicans
and sinners and folks that everybody else in religion says you're
not fit to be in this place. I want sick sinners. I want folks
who know what they are and who can't hardly even lift up their
eyes to heaven. And those folks who want to exalt
themselves and say, I'll be God and this is why I ought to be.
There's the door. We won't miss you. Don't let
it hit you when you leave. That's exactly how I feel about
them. Those that are not sick, those
that are right, they don't have any need for a physician. Go
get in a hospital where there is no sick people. There's plenty
of churches around the world that's like that. This is one
for sick people. This is one for folks who are
sin sick and have nothing about them to commend themselves to
you or anybody else. When everybody finds out that
they're worms and everybody finds out that they're little slithering,
stinking, ugly maggots. That's when you quit fighting
with each other. Somebody said, well, you won't
catch many flies. You catch more flies with honey
than you do with that kind of message. I've said to our people
before, that's giving yourself way too much credit. You need
to go back before it ever turns into a fly and look at it when
it's just a maggot. That's what we are. I'm not trying
to catch flies. I'm trying to find out who's
a maggot before you ever get to be a fly. Is there any here
there, any maggots here? Is everybody big, big, colorful,
plumed out monarch butterflies? These are the works of grace
that he's talking about that accompany faith. You know, he
talks about two folks here. He talks about Abraham in the
end of chapter 2. He tells us Abraham's an example
of these works of faith. He tells us Rahab is. Has it
ever occurred to you that Abraham didn't have the law and what
he did involve no morality whatsoever? What he did involved him totally,
thoroughly trusting that God is able to raise up even from
the dead. And that's what James is teaching.
When you're in this trial, and you want to break out that whip,
I know how that is. I have it. The church is not
like at the house. And we ought to learn how to
deal with our sons and daughters at home like we deal with folks
in the church. And deal graciously and mercifully.
But the church is not, you cannot just tell folks, you got to do
this and stop doing that, do this and don't do that anymore,
and if you do this, we'll accept you, and if you don't do that,
we'll reject you. You have to preach the Word of God and wait
on God to raise from the dead. of his own will begat he us with
the word of truth. That's how you're born the first
time. And if you're going to be turned from error, it's going
to be through the same word of the gospel of Christ Jesus, the
King of kings and Lord of lords. And that's the only way that
he's going to receive all the glory and you're going to receive
none. The only way. That's a work of faith. And have
you noticed that the second example he gives here is Rahab The harlot. I like that. He picked out a
whore and said, now let me tell you about a work of faith. She didn't do anything that involved
morality. She didn't do anything that involved
whipping and binding and coercing folks and casting out devils
in the name of God. She didn't do anything like that.
You know what she did? She received some people into her house and
hid them and sent them out another way when it could have meant
she could have died for doing what she did. She laid down her
life for those spies. That's a work of faith. That's
a work of faith. Now, we're about out of time,
but I'm going to get to my text now. James chapter 3, verse 13. Who is a wise man and endued
with knowledge among you. Let him show out of a good conversation
his works with meekness of wisdom." Meekness of wisdom. It takes
much more boldness, much more boldness to have a bridled tongue
and to not try to make something happen and make people follow
you and make people admire you and make people adore you, it
takes much more boldness to sit down and rattle your tongue and
wait on God to do the work. And that's the boldness, the
meekness of wisdom that God gives to His people. But, verse 14,
if ye have bitter envying and strife in your hearts, end being
is you want something that you think somebody else has got that
you think you deserve. And when you have that, you're
going to strive to get it. Now he says, if you have that
in your heart, glory not and lie not against the truth. This
wisdom descended, descendeth not from above, but is earthly,
sensual, and devilish. It didn't come from God. Every
good and perfect gift comes from God. These works of faith we
talk about. Being able not only to be a hearer
of this word, but a doer of it. God's going to make a liar out
of those who are liars. He's going to prove it. But there
must needs be heresies that they which are approved might be made
manifest. And he approves them. He makes
them righteous in the blood of his son. He calls them by his
grace. He gives them power. He bridles their tongue. He makes
them sit down. He leads them. He guides them.
He does everything to make them completely, totally trust him
to do the work and to build his church. And he's going to make
it manifest that he's approved them. He's going to make it manifest
through heresies. That's how he's going to do it.
That's how he's always done it. And that's how he's going to do it.
Now, where this is, verse 16, this earthly, sensual, devilish
wisdom, where it is, here's what's going to be the result. Here's
how you're going to know it's what's permeating through the
person and through the whole body. This is how you're going
to know. For where envying and strife is, there is confusion. tumult, unquietness, and not
only that, but every evil word. Think of it, you think of it,
it's there. Lying, false accusing, whatever it takes. You know,
I'll tell you what we are by nature. We'll do whatever we
gotta do. If there's something we want,
and we envy that thing, and we're gonna strive to get it, we'll
do whatever we have to do to get it. Now he began this work, he began
this chapter, and he said, My brethren, be not many masters,
knowing that we shall receive the greater condemnation. And
the word here is the same word over there. It's not so much
that about being a teacher, it's good
to desire the work of a bishop. It's good to desire the work
of one that's been broddled and desires to be an ambassador for
Christ. That's not a bad thing. It's
this evil in-being strife that's in the heart. Here's the word.
The Lord said about the Pharisees, they loved the uppermost rooms
at feast, the chief seats in the synagogues, greetings in
the markets, to be called of men rabbi, rabbi, that means
master. teacher. Be not ye called rabbi,
for one is your master, even Christ, and all ye are brethren. It's what the Lord told Peter
and the rest of the apostles. Don't desire to usurp dominion
over one another. Call no man your father upon
the earth, for one is your father, which is in heaven. Neither be
ye called masters, for one is your master, even Christ. But
he that's greatest among you shall be your servant, and whosoever
shall exalt himself shall be abased. And he that shall humble
himself shall be exalted. That's what we're talking about,
the spirit, that bitter envying and strife. And when you have
that spirit about you, you're going to forget that in many
things we offend all. We're all offenders in many things. And if you have that spirit of
being one who's able to correct and overly censor others, and
the one that has that deserves that right and that authority,
you're not going to make a good leader. You're not going to make
a good brother or a good sister. Because what you're going to
do is you're going to forget what you are. You're going to forget
what you are. And you're going to deal unjustly,
not in mercy. You're going to rejoice in judgment,
not mercy. That's just how it always is.
So, you know when the Lord said in His Sermon on the Mount, Judge
not that you be not judged, for with what judgment you judge,
it's going to come back again. Alright men, let me ask you a
question. Just normal things that go on
in the house. When you come in the house, and
you say to the wife, I told you I wanted that mess picked up
back there, now why isn't it picked up? I'll bet your wife
just say, oh, honey, I'll get to it right now. I'm June Cleaver,
and I'll get right to it right away, right now. You might lie
to me and to everybody else and say, well, my wife does that.
And she might do it on the outside, but I guarantee you she ain't
doing it on the inside. But with that same harsh judgment
you dole out, Nine times out of ten, you get the same harsh
judgment right back. Were you sorry, rascal? What
are you coming in here acting like you? Hmm? If we're honest. Now, if we're self-righteous
and, you know, we really are pretending and we have deceived
ourselves, we probably aren't that way. But the Lord said, with the same
harshness you deal it out, you're going to get it back. I think
he knew what he's talking about. I think I've learned it by experience
that he knew what he's talking about. But when you deal peaceably,
gently, easy. Now let's get to the next part.
Let's just close this up. We're getting close to the end
here. Verse 17. Verse 17. But the wisdom that is from above,
now this is what I want to know about. How does that wisdom deal
with one another? Clay, are you sure that's what
this book's about? I'm 100% sure that's what this
book's talking about, what this letter James is dealing with.
Here is the wisdom that's from above. It is first pure. It's not of man. It's not earthly,
it's not carnal, it's not sensual, it's not devilish. God puts a
pure heart within his people. And we know that no good thing's
in us. We know that. Every good and
perfect gift is from him. It's first pure. And then it's
peaceable. It's peaceable. Christ said the
believer's a peacemaker. Blessed are the peacemakers.
Christ has given us peace. Peace with God and peace with
our brethren. And the believer delights not to uncover the sins
of his brethren, but to cover them. That one son
of Noah went in and said, everybody come in here and look at daddy.
He's drunk and naked. And the two boys that loved him
Backwards so as not to look on his nakedness and they took a
blanket and they covered him up And they told the other boy
get on out of here And leave our father alone. We love it.
We're not gonna mock him Uncover his sin. It's peaceable This
is the fruit of righteousness. It's peaceable Then it's gentle
and easy to be entreated It's the opposite of an arrogant spirit.
It's the opposite of a self-righteous spirit. It's not obstinate. It's
not overbearing. James said, our Father doesn't
upbraid us. He deals mercifully with us.
That's the spirit we're talking about. It's full of mercy, not
judgment. Full of mercy. It's one thing to say, When you
see somebody say, but for the grace of God, there go I, that's
easy to say. That's easy to say. But the person
that's full of mercy might not say that, but they say, come
on in here, brother, you have a seat. Here, have a drink of water. What's bothering you? You know, I don't want to come
to you and act like I'm a master, like I'm a teacher, like I know
everything. I don't know everything. Just talk to me. Talk to me like
you would your wife. Be honest with me. And let me be honest with you,
brother, I'm the same way. I'm exactly the same way. Everything
I've been saying here today about this masterly, magisterial spirit,
I'm full of it. And I hate it. I hate it. And I pray God continually deliver
me from it. Bridle me. Fill me with this peaceable fruit.
Fill me with this, fill me full of mercy. Brother, I'm just like
you. You know what? Come back to services
tomorrow. Nobody there is going to, nobody
there is even looking at you. We're all trying to look at Christ.
Look, today it's you stumbling, tomorrow it'll be me stumbling.
Today it's you, tomorrow it'll be me. Just don't, don't let,
don't let what we are hinder us from coming to the throne
of God's grace. We got liberty because of what Christ has done
for us. Come on, come on back to services tomorrow. We love
you. We miss you. We want you to be there. Well, we'll think about it. We'll
look at you for a while and decide if we think you've brought forth
fruits, meat for repentance. The man who says that needs to
bring some forth. The man who thinks that way needs
to bring forth some fruit, meat for repentance. He hadn't left
the Pharisees. That's why John the Baptist told
the Pharisees, you hadn't left your company. Bring forth some
fruits, meat for repentance. Show me a heart full of mercy. You can't fake that. You can't
fake it, Christine. You can fake this other stuff
and seem religious, but you can't fake this. Not the spirit of
grace God gives. And it's full of good fruits.
Good fruits. Fruits of righteousness which
are by Jesus Christ to the praise, the glory of the Father, Paul
said in Philippians 1. Without partiality. That means it's not respecting
persons, not because of their standing in life, not because
of their race, not because of their class, not because of what
they appear to have done that was righteous or appear to have
done that was sinful. What did Christ do for you? How
did you appear when you were yet ungodly? Christ died. When you were yet sinners, dead
in trespass. If he'd have had respect to persons,
he wouldn't have died for anybody. He's saved by grace. Without hypocrisy. Saying one thing and meaning
another. Acting one way, just trying to put on a cloak of maliciousness
and a disguise to get your way and get what you want. I despise
it. I despise it. Every time that
I'm preaching this gospel, trying to give out some food for sheep,
I'm trying to goad those goats in the butt and get them out
of here as fast as I can. I really am. I detest it. Now look at this verse 18. And
here's the whole point of the whole book. The fruit of righteousness. You really want to see that brother
or that sister bring forth fruit of righteousness. You want to
see them have some good fruits, this being peaceable and gentle
and full of mercy and these good fruits without part. You want
to see that fruit to come forth in them? The fruit of righteousness
is sown in peace. of them that make peace. All
this is description of the Savior. Every bit of this. How did He
come and how did He bring forth fruits? His children who are
the first fruits. How did He bring them forth?
How did He bring forth fruits of righteousness? How does He
create them in you? He came forth as a lamb before
the slaughter A lamb before her shearers is dumb. He opened not
his mouth. When he was reviled, he didn't
revile again. He didn't come telling anybody
why he ought to be accounted the greatest. He didn't. He went about doing righteousness
and he fulfilled the law and he paid the sin of his people.
He laid down his life for them. Even when they were spewing out
hatred upon him, he laid down his life for his sheep and he
brought about this fruit of righteousness and peace. You know, really,
when you think about it, even when Christ was hanging on the
cross, He still only did that which was peaceable. All the
hell and wrath that was going on around Him was due to self-righteous
men. That's who brought forth the
wrath. Everything He did was peaceable, even on the cross. And He came to you in the time
of His love, and He sold this into our hearts, not by might
nor by power, but by His Spirit through the preaching of the
gospel. And this is what He said through Isaiah, The work of righteousness
shall be peace, and the effect of righteousness quietness and
assurance forever. Do you have assurance? You can't
have assurance without quietness, and you can't have quietness
without assurance. If you're tossed to and fro, you've got
no quietness and no assurance. But if you're anchored in Christ
Jesus, you've got quietness and assurance. You've been made to
be still. You've been bridled. There's
a new fountain created in you. It's not bringing forth salt
water and bitter and sweet water. Out of the abundance of the heart
the mouth speaketh. This is the effect of righteousness.
I want to show you something. Let me just read these to you.
There is that speaketh like the piercings of a sword, but the
tongue of the wise is health. That's Proverbs 12.18. Proverbs
15.4 says, A wholesome tongue is a tree of life, but perverseness
therein is a breach in spirit. Proverbs 25.11 says, A word fitly
spoken It's like apples of gold in pitchers
of silver. Isn't that a pretty image? Apples of gold in pitchers of
silver. As an earring of gold and an
ornament of fine gold, so is a wise reprover upon an obedient
ear. Now that's how peace is sown. That's how fruit of righteousness
comes about. I pray, if I came over here and
I preached to you, just, I'm looking for something that
you need. I'm praying to God for something
you need. Lord, give me a message for this
people. My people are here, and maybe
there is something here for them. But I'm praying, Lord, give me
something for this congregation right here, for this hour, for
this trial, for this situation that you're in. And it's not the message I was
going to preach to you. It's not the message I was going to
preach to you. But this is the message I think
the Lord would have for you. Brethren, go home to your closet and ask God in honesty to create in you this fruit of
righteousness, to bridle you to make you behold
Christ, that pure, peaceable, merciful sower that came forth
sowing and has brought forth righteousness, and ask Him to
make you to know how to sow in peace, to bear the trial, when you see a brother trying
to usurp authority. He's at a trial, but the trial's
for you. He's teaching you, you can't
stop that. You can't fix that. You can't
do anything to fix it. I can't fix it in myself. I have
to depend on God to do it. But what you can do is deal gently
and peaceably. How would you deal with your
child? Every one of you here has got
children. How would you deal with your child if they were
laying in a bed in intensive care in the hospital and they
were right on the verge of death? How would you draw up a chair
next to their bed and deal with them? The brother who is in error
A sister who is in error in every situation is just like your child
laying in a bed on the verge of death. Deal with them like
you would your own flesh and blood. Because they are. If you're God's, if you're Christ's,
they are. And he says, as much as you've
done it unto one of these, the least of my brethren, you've
done it unto me. I pray God will bless that. I
pray for you. I pray for you. I've told you
often, many of you sitting here, I've been in a situation that
you all have come out of and that you all are in. And I do
pray for you. I do. But I know this. I know
our God is able. He is able. He's able to raise
even from the dead. Trust Him. Trust Him. And know
He's able. Amen.