I mentioned Brittany right now.
Terry told me that Brittany has a shingle. And that's a terribly
painful thing, even for an adult. So we need to think about her. That's sad, but it's according
to God's purpose. All right, we just read from
Colossians 3. We all know the heart of Colossians
chapter 3 could be found in verse 11. We looked at that Sunday
in depth. Christ is all and in all, which
is founded upon the gospel of Christ Sunday morning. and showing
what all Christ is to us. Let me ask you how many are acquainted
with Colossians 3.12, Colossians 3.1 through 10. There's a lot more to Colossians
3 than Colossians 3.11. That's right in the middle of
that chapter. Now, to be sure, most of us, if not most of us
in this room anyway, at least in our heads, We believe that
Christ is all in salvation, and he is. It's a mark, it's a evidence,
it's a true evidence of God's electing love and his effectual
gospel call to see and believe and know that Christ is all your
salvation. That's a mark. That's an evidence
of his election, that Christ is your justification, your only
acceptance with this holy God. That's a mark. The whole world
doesn't know that. A remnant, according to the election
of grace, knows something about electing grace, saving grace. Only a remnant. You're blessed. Blessed are your ears. They hear
this gospel, the true gospel of Christ, our righteousness
before God. Blessed are your eyes. They see
the light of the glorious gospel of God in the face of this one
Jesus Christ. We have this remnant here according
to the election of grace. And we saw Sunday night how that
our justification, our righteousness is dependent upon the bloody
price that Christ paid upon that cross. His body was for our justification. His blood obtained that peace
that we need, righteousness and peace, righteousness and peace. Look at Psalm 85. See if this
doesn't ring a bell, this talk of righteousness and peace. Do
you remember us talking about that Sunday night? Righteousness
and peace. Psalm 85 is a beautiful passage
of scripture referring to these two things that we have in Christ. Look at it. Psalm 85, verse 7,
"'Show us thy mercy, O Lord, and grant us thy salvation.'
Well, while we're here, See, salvation, faith, comes by hearing. I'll hear what the Lord will
speak. He will speak peace unto his people and to his saints. But here's a word of warning
and admonition. Let them not turn again to folly.
That is, another gospel or to their sin or whatever it may
be that's folly. Surely his salvation is nigh
them that fear him. That's a mark of a believer,
that glory may dwell in our land. Now, here it is. Mercy and truth
are met together. The mercy of God and the truth
of God are met together where? In Christ. And righteousness
and peace have kissed one another. In the cross, we see in Christ
and him crucified, we see how that God can be just That is,
honor his righteous, his holy character, and yet justify and
declare peace with us. Why? Through the blood of Christ's
cross. Truth shall spring out of the
earth, and righteousness, look at this, truth, that is the true
gospel, will come out of the earth. A man, good news, unto
you is born this day in the city of David, a man. Behold, a child
is born. Truth springs out of the earth,
and righteousness, though, A son is given. The righteous Lord
comes down from heaven. Righteousness shall look down
from heaven. Yea, the Lord shall give that which is good. The
Lord gave himself. And our land shall yield her
increase. His increase of his gospel. Righteousness shall go before
him. You see that? And shall set us. And here's
the effect of that righteousness. It'll set us in the way of his
steps. All right, righteousness and peace. Now turn over to James
chapter 3. The gospel of the Lord, our righteousness,
of Christ, the gospel of Christ is the wisdom that comes from
above. Did you see that? Have we read
that there, how that God gives this, this gospel? It comes by hearing, hearing
by the Word of God. Well, how are they going to preach
except they be sent? God sent the preacher. That's
the wisdom that comes from above. Christ or the gospel is the wisdom
of God, the power of God, the wisdom of God that comes from
God. Okay? Are you with me? That's the wisdom
that comes from above. Paul talked about it in Romans
10, how some people were ignorant of it, and they didn't have salvation. But you are blessed people. Now,
do you know what the certain results of this wisdom that comes
from above is? the certain results or evidence
of this saving gospel, this true gospel, true saving faith in
Christ, the certain results and evidence of that. Now, let me
lose you now. Stay with me. Certain results
are a loving, peaceable, charitable, Christlike disposition and attitude
toward other people, especially the brethren. This is what James
is talking about here. Anybody who's devoid of these
Christ-like characteristics is a hypocrite. No matter how good
their testimony is concerning that gospel, these are certain
sure evidences. All right? Now, let's look at
it. James chapter 3, look at verse 17. The wisdom that is
from above. Now, we just talked about what
true wisdom is, okay? True wisdom. It's Christ. It's the gospel of Christ. All
right? That's the first wisdom that
we need, saving knowledge. Okay, the wisdom that's from
above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, easy to be entreated,
full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and without
hypocrisy. Now, you could relate every one
of these characteristics to Christ himself, Christ who is wisdom.
This is the spiritual meaning of this passage right here. Christ
who is wisdom is pure. Christ who is wisdom is peaceable.
Oh, he made peace, full of peace, gentle, easy to be entreated,
approachable, full of mercy, good fruit, without partiality,
that is, no respect for a person, without hypocrisy. That's Christ,
isn't it? That's a perfect picture of Christ.
This is a picture of us, though, when Christ dwells in us. This
is the context of what James is talking about. All right? Now, I'm going to come back to
this in a moment. Keep your place there in James 3. What I'm talking
about tonight, what I'm going to talk about for a little while,
I won't keep you long, but this is vital. It's vital to the glory
of God and the welfare of your soul and to this body as a whole,
this body of belief. I want to talk about tonight
peace and unity. I want to talk about peace and
unity as opposed to strife and discord. I want to talk about
unity and divisions. This is the title, Terry, the
title of the message is unity and divisions, its causes and
its cures. Unity and divisions, causes and
cures. Now look at Colossians chapter
3. Keep your place there in James. Look at Colossians 3. Let's read
verses 12 through 15. Colossians 3. Let's read this again. Verses
12 through 15. Put on, therefore, as the elect of God, that is,
the holy and beloved of God, bowels of mercies, bowels of
mercies, kindness, humility of mind, meekness, longsuffering,
forbearing one another, forgiving one another. If any man have
a quarrel against any, even as Christ forgave you, so also do
you. Above all these things put on
love, which is the bond of perfection, fraturity. Let the peace of God,
there it is, the peace of God rule in your hearts to which
you're called, commanded, ordained by God in one body. And be ye thankful that you're
in that body. Okay, Peter Paul talks about
in Colossians, they're putting on these things. You see that? Put on these things as elect
of God. Put them on. Now, he's not telling
us here to be a put-on. You can put on, you can be a
put-on. You can endeavor and strive to do these things, but
really you're just forcing yourself to do them. That's not what Paul's
calling us to here. If you have to force yourself
to do these things, that means they're not within your heart
to begin with. We need to be reminded. We need
to be encouraged and so forth. But if you have to force yourself
to love somebody, that love doesn't dwell there. That makes sense.
Look at verse 1 of Colossians 3. He says, now, since you then
be risen with Christ, seek these things which are above. Verse
3, for you are dead. Your life is hid with Christ
and God. See that? You are. It's a certainty,
a certainty. Look at verse 7, in which you
also walked in some time when you lived in these things, that
is, disobedience, but now you also put off all these, anger,
wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth.
Why not one to another, seeing that you have put off? See that? That's in the affirmative. That's
in the positive. That's positively you have. Believers have. We're
exhorted to put on these things and to put on these other things.
But he said it's a certainty. It's an absolute certainty that
you have these things. I mean, it's not something you
can do in yourself. It's not something you can just
drum up. It's got to be put there by the Holy Spirit. All right? Because you've been made a new
creature. Christ is in you. That's the only way these things
can be there. Now, the exhortations he goes on to give here in Colossians
3, these are to those who have tasted that the Lord is gracious.
These are to those who have received his grace and are themselves
gracious. You know nothing of saving grace
if you are not yourself gracious. This is the thing that I'm looking
for more and more in people. More and more in people. I'm
not looking, I'm not listening to what they say so much. I hear
some good theologians. I hear some people who talk the
good talk. You remember Hannah's prayer in 1 Samuel 2? She said,
talk no more so exceedingly proudly. God weighs action. Out of the abundance of the heart,
the mouth speaketh. I know that. You know nothing of saving grace
if you're not yourself gracious. We're to grow. The scripture
says of a certainty, positively, that we will grow in grace and
the knowledge of our Lord. Grace and knowledge. I do go
hand in hand, but grace is the first mark of saving work. The grace of God. Grace bestowed
upon someone. Saving grace, pulling you out
of the muck and the mire. That'll make you a gracious person,
Violet Byrne. If it hadn't, you hadn't received
grace. Absolutely. No doubt about it. Now, there's nothing to appeal
to in a man or woman who doesn't have the grace and the love of
God shed upon their heart. You can't appeal to them to do
this thing. There's nothing to appeal to.
But you can't appeal to somebody, call on and exhort somebody to
peace. Be peaceable. When they don't have any peace
with God, when that man's a rebel with God, you can't call him
to peace with other people. He's a rebel. He's got to lay
down his arms first before God, and God's got to declare peace
in his heart. You can't exhort somebody to love if the love
of God's not shed upon their heart. There's nothing in there.
There's nothing to work with, you see. There's no raw material.
The carnal man is full of hate and enmity. You can't exhort
somebody to unity. Somebody in the visible church,
a so-called member, you can't exhort them to unity, to unite,
and not to strive, and so forth, if they're obviously living for
themselves, if they seek their own things, if their God is their
belly, if their God is their own, and not seek the things
of Christ, if they're not seeking the welfare of the church, the
glory of God. You can't exhort that person
to unity. They're not going to have that. You see, the love
of Christ is what constrains people. The letter of the law, or that
is the word, the gospel, let's put it in gospel terms. The theology
of the gospel, the letter, in the letter, it
may manipulate you through guilt. It may manipulate somebody through
guilt for a while to do some certain thing, but it won't last
for long if it's not in the heart. He won't last for long, but that
person will go right back to their evil and unchristlike,
pernicious way. Look at the believer's motivation
here, verse 13. For bearing one another and forgiving
one another, if any man have a quarrel against any, even as
Christ forgave you, so also do you. You're not going to forgive
somebody unless you've experienced the forgiveness. I'm talking
about mercy and grace from Christ on your sinful, wretched, wicked
soul now. Not back then when you made it
a profession, but as you realize that you are now a no-good, wretched
bum, and you see how that Christ is daily forgiving you of your
sins, that's the only way you're going to forgive your brother,
isn't it? And you keep that in mind, right? Certainly. All right, verse 12, he says,
now, put on therefore, let's just go through here, verse by
verse, put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved,
and bowels of mercy. Put on. Now, this is used in
the, I looked that word up, put on. It means submit yourself
to. It doesn't mean that this is
something you actually put on and wear, although, you remember
us looking at talking about the exercise of the graces there
in Solomon 5. Well, we do exercise these graces. We are exhorted, but this is
in the sense of being really just submissive to the work of
the Holy Spirit, asking for it, calling for it, seeking it out.
Lord, put this on me. I'm not capable in and of myself
of loving my brother. I'm not capable of showing mercy.
I'm a merciless person by nature. Lord, put it on me. Put this
yoke upon me. Yoke me with mercy. Let me take
your yoke upon you and learn of you. The bowels of mercy,
he says here. Do you have a merciful heart? A merciful disposition? That's a work of Christ. It's
a work of the Holy Spirit. Yes, it is. Do you, or are you
full of wrath and malice and vengeance? Do you rise up at
the slightest little bit of confrontation or contention, or do you have
bowels of mercy? Put it on. Put it on. Remember, Christ said that the
merciful are the ones who are going to get mercy. Didn't He?
Didn't He? Blessed are the merciful, for
they shall obtain mercy of the Lord." Now, boy, have you obtained
mercy? Oh, my, have we? His mercy endures
forever, doesn't it? His mercies are new every morning.
They've got to be. I wake up with my head and my heart full
of sin, the most wretched, ungodly thoughts. If His mercy quits,
He'll drop me in hell in a minute, wouldn't He? Do we need it? Have
we obtained mercy? He hath not, I love Psalm 103,
he hath not dealt with us according to our sins, nor rewarded us
according to our iniquities. Has he? Oh no. And he tells us
to do the same under the sentence of judgment without mercy upon
them that show no mercy. He said there'll be judgment
without mercy on them that show no mercy. Besides, when we consider this
thing of mercy upon one another, what is somebody else guilty
of doing that we are not guilty of ourselves? Zero. There's not one thing we
can think of that anybody has done that we haven't at least
thought it or done it or maybe done it worse. Or what we're
looking at, well, I'm getting ahead of myself. We're looking
at a toothpick in their eye, and we've got a telephone pole
in our eye. He says, put on kindness. 1 Corinthians
13 talks about love being kind. Christ has been so kind to us. Well, we ought to respond in
kind. Christ has been kind, we ought
to respond in kindness to one another. That's what he tells
us. Kindness. That word means more
than the outward, what you think it does. It means usefulness.
Kindness. It means to think on things of
others. It means to be helpful. It means
to be useful. It means to be subservient. It means to seek
out someone's good. It means to speak to them. That's a kind thing. Everybody
loves a kind word, don't they? A good word. A pleasant word. A word in season. Hello is a
good word in season. Every time I see you, it's a
good word. A word in season. Fitly spoken. Very needful. I need to hear
it. I need to know that you love me still and there's not a breach
between us. Right? And that generally gets
rid of that. Any thoughts of any problem.
Hello. It's not too tough. How are you doing? Kindness, kindness, humility
of mind, look at it, humbleness of mind, meekness. If we truly
believe, if we truly believe we're the
chief of sinners, now everybody in here quotes that, don't we? Everybody in here, don't we say
that about ourselves? Yeah, I'm a chief of sinners. If we would truly believe we're
the chief of sinners, that we'd be the meekest of sinners. If
we truly believe we're the chief of sinners, what would we think
about old Stan there? We'd esteem him better than me,
right? If I'm the chief of sinners, and he's a sinner, yeah, but
he's better than I am. I'm the chief. I'm the worst.
That means he's cut above me. Why should we? The Scripture
says, But we're to esteem others better than ourselves. Why should
we? Because they probably are. The fact of the matter is that
they probably are. Isn't that right? Yes, it is. I look at somebody and say, oh,
it's the people I just think the world of. We talk about somebody,
how we'd love to be like them, how they're just so sweet and
kind, and I esteem them so much better than myself. Why? Because
they are. They are. I see them as being
more Christ-like to me, and I want to be that way. You know, if
we'd take a—we'd never have cause to get mad at, talk about, look
down upon, castigate, alienate, or cut off anybody else if we
really esteemed ourselves in the proper light that we are.
If we'd just take a casual glance at our own lives, our own thoughts,
our own heart, we would never, ever look down upon or judge
or talk about any of our brothers or sisters. Never. Never. Because
our mouths would condemn us, wouldn't it, immediately? Joe
Parks, this is a common saying, old Joe Parks, he's a man of
few words. I like that. A fool's voice is no more, most
it'll work. A wise man studies to answer.
Joe always says, he says this about his children when there's
some strife and somebody's talking, one of the kids is talking about
Joe. Joe says, go look in the mirror. I love that. You know, Sammy
or whatever, they were bickering back and forth. He doesn't do
this. She didn't. He said, go look in the mirror. That would be good advice, doesn't
it? An empty bucket generally rings
the loudest. All right, he says, humility
of mind here and meekness. The order there is first in the
heart. In the mind, we're to think low
thoughts of ourselves. This is the reason people hate
the gospel of grace, because it shows us what we really are,
and it tells us, it reminds us, it constantly reminds us that
we're to think low thoughts of ourselves. Why? You know, the
humanistic gospel out there is think high thoughts of yourself.
You're somebody. You're worth it. God loves you. You're somebody.
But the gospel says you're nobody. Think low thoughts of yourself.
Why does it tell us that? Because we are low. It just tells
it like it is. Tells it like it is. And he says,
humility of minds is meekness. That is, actually be meek. That
is, we're to think low thoughts of ourselves and then we're to
be lowly. Meek and lowly like Christ. Let me hurry. Long-suffering. He says long-suffering. Put on
long-suffering. This goes hand-in-hand with meekness. You know, if the truth be known, if the truth be known, you know,
we have problems among ourselves, whether it be husband and wife
or brother and sister or whatever. We have problems. If the truth
were known, though, it's us that folks have to put up with, not us them. Right? It's us that folks have to suffer
long with, not vice versa. Besides, how long has the Lord
put up with us? How long will the Lord suffer
us? Long, long suffering it's called. We better do unto others as we
would have the Lord do unto us, right? He says forbearing and
forgiving. Look at this. Oh my. Forbearing
one another and forgiving one another. Forbear. This word forbear means to hold
it in. Bite your tongue. It means to
control yourself. Control your emotions. Surrender
your rights. That is, hold on to your tongue,
your emotions, yourself, your reactions. Hold on to yourself.
Put up with. Endure with it. Sure, we'll be
wrong. There are times when we are wronged.
And it hurts. But you have not endured such
contradictions of sinners against yourselves like the Lord himself
has. Consider him, Hebrews 12.3 says. We're to forbear it, we're to
take it, we're to patiently suffer, even pray for those which despitefully
use us. Now, he's talking about everybody,
but it goes much more. It goes without saying that this
applies much more to our brothers and sisters. Doesn't it? And we will, we'll despitefully
use one another. Why? Because we're sinners. It doesn't excuse it, it just
explains it. Forbearing and forgiving. He says to forgive. Now what
does it mean to forgive? That means to forgive. We all know what forgiveness
means. That means to actually forgive. Forgive. Don't sulk,
don't pout, don't boo, don't make somebody suffer. Drop it.
Drop it. Forgive. Go on as if it never
happened. We do that with our children,
don't we? We do that with our spouses. We do that with those
that we love. I mean, we're not going to go
repeat a matter to somebody about our children or our spouses,
are we? We wouldn't for a minute. Why? We don't want to defame
their character or do anything to hurt them. We love them too
much. Lord, cover it. Forgive it. We drop it in a minute.
Somebody does, our children do something to us, our spouse do
something hurtful, we forgive them in a minute. forgive them
in a minute. We go on as if it never happened.
I've heard some awful things about some brothers and sisters
in Christ, some terrible things. But I can honestly say, so what? They're still my brother and
sister. God forgives them. Whom am I not to? I better forgive them, Christ
did, for whom the blood of Christ was shed. We ought to do it a
hundredfold with the body of believers. As Christ forgave
you, do you see that? Do you see the motivation there?
Then you have a quarrel against any. Even as Christ forgave you,
so also do you. Whatever quarrel you have with
somebody, God has a thousandfold more quarrel against And we're guilty of doing something
against these people that we have a quarrel against. It takes
two. It always takes two. Nearly all of them. None of us
are so holy and righteous as Christ to suffer wrongdoing without
something in us to cause it or some problem with it. Verse 14,
above all these things put on love, which is the bond of this
maturity, this spiritual maturity. That's what he's talking about
here. This putting on, this robe of Christ that he talks about
so much over in Ephesians, put on love, the bond of spiritual
maturity. I've got to hurry through this.
This is the bond of perfection. This is the mark of true discipleship.
Didn't Christ say, this is the way men are going to know you're
my disciple? Not if you go out preaching on the street corner.
That's a good evidence, yeah, what comes out of what you speak
concerning your Lord. That's a good evidence, yeah.
But if you turn right around and have not loved, you're a
sound and brass and a tinkling cymbal. You know what I'm saying? True love to God, to Christ,
true appreciation for His love, His mercy, and His grace will
most assuredly manifest itself in love for one another, most
assuredly. and in a Christlike spirit and
attitude. Love covereth a multitude of sins, 1 Peter 4, 8 says. Speaking of this covering, look
at verse 15, this covering of others' sins. Verse 15, it says,
Let the peace of God rule in your hearts to the which you
are called. You see your calling, brethren.
What is our calling, brethren? Didn't I say that? You remember
the illustration I always give about England, how that any breach
of any broken law, no matter how small it is, no matter how
seemingly insignificant it may be, it's called a breach of the
Queen's peace? In other words, the Queen has
ordained, has decreed that there be peace in her kingdom. No strife, no division, no problems,
no strife. No thievery, no murdering, nothing
to disturb the peace and well-being of her kingdom. Well, God has decreed peace,
too, in his church. You're not going to have peace
in this world. The only one place you're going to find peace, that's
in Christ. Well, where is Christ? He's to be found in the midst
of the church, and God has decreed we're called to peace in one
body. You're called in one body. Now
turn over to Ephesians 4. Back to Ephesians 4 there. Called
to peace in one body. Let's read this in Ephesians. Purpose, that is the glory of
God, the good of one another. Now, look at Ephesians 4, verse
3. He says, Endeavoring to keep
the unity of the Spirit. Look at verse 1. I, therefore,
the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that you walk worthy of the
vocation wherewith you are called. What's that? Peace and unity,
helping, striving together in the faith of the gospel. With
all lowliness and meekness, long-suffering, forbearing, there it is again,
with one another in love, endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit.
It's in the bond of peace. Endeavoring, that means doesn't
sit back and just not cause any problems. It means striving to
help create peace, provoking to love. Isn't that it? You can create a problem just
by not saying anything. That's what I was talking about
a while ago by not speaking. See? That creates a problem.
What's wrong with him? Is he mad at me? What do I know? No way. All of us automatically
think that. Why didn't he speak to me? We automatically think something's
wrong. We can eliminate that. Hello? Ephesians, verse 3, endeavoring
to keep the unity of the Spirit. I know we don't always feel like
saying hello. Oh, folks, I tell you, if you
knew how moody I really am. All right, boy, and I got to
stand up here before you. I don't always feel like it.
But boy, if I'm not going to set an example, who is? And I look out upon sour faces, and I feel like growling back.
Maybe I do. I do sometimes. I know I do.
I get mean sometimes. Sorry. We've got to watch against that.
We've got to guard against that. Endeavoring to keep the unity
of the Spirit. Endeavoring, striving together. Remember Christ said, He that
gathers not with us, scattereth abroad. If you're not working
with us, you're hindering, you're just dragging back there, right?
We're pulling you in. I've got to say this. I can't
go on unless I get it out of my mind. Donnie said an old preacher
tried to preach on that text, and he kept saying, you know
what Scripture says, he that gathers not with us, scratches
the board. I'd say that. Scratches the board. Don't be scratching the board. That's a good illustration. Don't
be scratching the board. Don't be scattering the brow.
rustling dry leaves. Scott said doctrine without grace
is like a dog walking through dry leaves. Irritating to your
ears, you know. And a life, a sovereign gracer
without grace in his life, sovereignly ruling his life is like a dog
walking through dry leaves. I mean, he's a snake. I've run
into many of them, and I'm tired of them. Turn back to James chapter
3 with me. I want to be patient with them,
though. I want to consider my own self. James chapter 3. Turn back there.
Do you remember the connection between righteousness and sin?
It's back here in James 3. Look at verse 17 and 18 again. Here's the connection. between
righteousness and peace, the wisdom that's from above is first
pure, then peaceable, gentle, easy to be entreated, full of
mercy, good fruits without partiality and without hypocrisy, and the
fruit of righteousness. It's sown in peace of them that
make peace." Blessed are the peacemakers, Christ said. Why?
They're called the children of God, peacemakers. Peacemakers, endeavoring, striving
together, is what it says, doesn't it? Endeavor, peacemaker. What is the opposite of peace?
Strife. What is the opposite of unity?
Division, right? What do these things, where do
these things come from? All right, we've been talking
about peace and unity, things that make for peace and unity.
and dwelling character of Christ in this endeavor. Look at verse
fourteen here in James chapter four. Verse fourteen. If you have bitter envy and strife
in your hearts, you've got a problem. Verse sixteen. Verse 15, this
wisdom descendeth not from above. This isn't Christ-like. This
is earthly, sensual, devilish. Where envying and strife is,
there's confusion and evil works. It's the work of the devil. All
right, what did Paul call the work of the devil on 1 Timothy?
He talked about a young man being lifted up with what? Pride. That's the root of it all, isn't
it? Couldn't you directly trace our lack of all of these characteristics
back to our own sinful pride, huh? Couldn't you? Envy. Pride is the root of it all.
We think we deserve better than others. We deserve more. And then envy
sets in. We become jealous of other people.
I tell you, this is a root of bitterness, this envy thing.
I don't care what it is. I don't care if it's talents.
I don't care if it's looks. I don't care if it's possessions.
I don't care what it is. If you're envious or jealous
of another person, it's just going to gnaw at you until you
hate that person. Why? Who made Cathedra differ? And this root of bitterness will
always come out. It will always spew forth this
poisonous gas. It'll always, this envy, this
jealousy, this rock from pride about ourself, it'll always spring
up and it builds up a head of steam until finally this pop-off
valve, this is the pop-off valve right here, lets off its steam. Hissing like a snake. And they
call it the poison of asps. Tongue. Look at the connection
here James talks about. You can trace so much of the
problems and the division and the strife right here. Look at verse 5. The tongue is
a little member, O boast of great things, but behold how great
a matter a little fire can spark. Well, you know what I heard?
I really don't mean to be talking about somebody, but fire, and
it's rich like wildlife. And it may not be an ounce of
truth to it. And you set the house on fire. Verse 6, And a tongue is
a fire, a whirl of iniquity. So is the tongue among our members.
It defiles the whole body. It sets on fire the course of
nature. Verse 8, "'The tongue no man can tame, either. It is
unruly evil, full of deadly poison.'" Like I said, spiritually speaking,
the tongue is the source of most strife and division in the Church,
most misunderstandings, things you thought were said. The tongue begins its work and
begins to tear apart. Turn back with me to Proverbs
16. The tongue begins its work, and it begins to tear and rip
and destroy. The tongue can be a good thing
if it's used to edify. The only way this tongue can
be any good is if it's used when grace comes out of its mouth.
Right? That's the only way. Look at Proverbs 16, verse 27. Look, I want every eye to look
at these with me. Verse 27, an ungodly man diggeth
of people. And in his lips is a burning
fire, a forward man seweth stripes. Did you hear what I heard? And
a whisperer separates his chief friends. Oh, my. Look at Proverbs 17. Look at
verse 9. He that covereth a transgression,
though seeketh love. Remember that in 1 Corinthians
13? 1 Peter 4. Look, cover us. He that covereth a transgression
seeks love. Why? Because he loves that person.
He loves them too much to talk about. But he that repeateth
a matter, separate that very friend. Look at verse 14. The
beginning of strife is like one letting out water. I tell you,
a little crack in the dam and it will all break loose. Oh,
it does. Have you ever played that game
of gossip, you know, to whisper something? I heard one time that
if you repeat something, if you tell something to two people,
and each one of them in turn tell it to two people, that that
news will be heard around the world by every single person
for seven hours. Why do we hear things on the
grapevine? We've got 45 here. How long does it take to get
things around that way? It doesn't take long, just like water. Believe me, water can cause a
lot of damage in no time at all. Didn't it, Vicki? Just a little
leak, flood the whole house. Yeah, it will. A little leak.
Verse 17, a friend loves at all times. A brother is born for
adversity. Did you hear about so-and-so?
No, I'm not sure I did. I want to. I tell you, look at Proverbs
18, verse 8. Boy, I'll go through sometimes and say Proverbs what
it says about the time. Proverbs 18, verse 8. The words
of a tail-bearer are as wounds that go down into the innermost
parts You know that stupid, that silly
old saying, sticks and stone might break my bones, but words
may never hurt me. No, it's the other way around. Wounds, they cut deep, don't
they? When you hear somebody, oh, there's nothing hurts them
worse, you know. Especially a brother, somebody
you think loves you. You feel like maybe they're talking
about you. Oh, it cuts you to the heart. And it will divide and separate
very friends. Slander, gossip, tail-bearing,
the tongue can wound like nothing else, and it can divide a church
like nothing else. And this is a needful message. It can divide a church like nothing
else if God will allow it. But thank God, God won't allow
it in His church. He won't allow it. You know, all the trouble, if
you go back, you go back through the history of the church, look
at the old patriarchs, the saints, children of Israel, all of their
trouble came. Every source, every problem that
came about was when the people started getting together and
talking among themselves. Every time. Especially, and I'm not
saying this for my sake, I'm just telling you what it is,
especially when they started murmuring against that man standing
up there. Now, he didn't place himself up there like Moses.
He's the meekest man on the face of the earth. Whenever he was
confronted with anything, the people said, Moses, they came
to him. Who do you think you are? You know what he did? Fell
on his face. Every time. Look at that. Every
time they came to him. He was so meek. He fell on his
face and he cried out, Oh, Lord, I didn't want this job. I didn't
want this job. And now they're again, I'm just
doing what you told me to do. I'm just doing what You've led
me to do, and now they say, Lord, that's for me. And God, you know
what God said? He did that to Samuel. He did
that to David. He did that to every one of God's leaders. And
you know what God said every time? He said, It's not you they
hate. It's me. Why? Because all authority
comes from God. Don't we have to admit it. We
don't like authority. I don't care where it comes from.
If it's our superintendent on a job, if it's a law, I don't
care what it is. The carnal mind is not subject
to law. We can't stand it, can we? Especially
if I appear. But, as Paul said in Hebrews,
remember them which have the root of all things. And I'll tell you what though,
in case we're on this, my conscience is clear. I can really say before
God Almighty, like Paul did, you know what manner of man I've
been among you. I've not sought your things, but you. I'll say that in all honesty. Every
move I make, every decision that's ever been made here, I can say
this in all honesty. The thing I want foremost, it's
foremost in my mind and my heart. It's the good of this church.
The good of this church collectively. Things that might be done might
not suit one particular person so well, but I hope, I want it
to be the best for the body. You can't please everybody at
the same time. No way. And I always seek it from this
right here. If I ever stop, you'll know it.
Why? Because it'll fail. like the
false prophets in the Old Testament. How could you tell if they were
false ones? Their words failed. How can you tell if God's in
something? If God's not in something, it
fails. But if it works out to be good? Well, to strive with whether it be
the powers that be, that God ordained, or to strive with one
another, is to strive with God. Why? Because God has called us
to peace. See, it's not against one another
we sin. We sin against God when we talk
about our brother or sister. We sin against them or whatever.
We're not sinning against them. We are hurting them here. We're
sinning against God. We're sinning against the body.
We're sinning against the church for whom Christ died. Why destroyest
thou thy brother with thy meat for whom Christ died? Striving with one another is
striving with God. It's saying you don't like your
lot in life. It's being envious of others,
thinking you're better than others. You don't like the way God's
handling things. I'm talking about strife and
discord here. I won't be long. Turn back to Proverbs 6 with
me. I'm talking about strife and discord. I hope everybody
hears this tape. And it's caused by the tongue
mostly. And read these with me. Read these solemn passages that
talk about strife and discord. God's solemn warnings. Verse
16, Proverbs 6. These six things doth the Lord
hate, yea, seven are an abomination unto him. And here's the granddaddy
and the starting point of it all. Proud Luke. A lying tongue, hands that shed
innocent blood, a heart that deviseth wicked imaginations,
feet that be swift in running to mischief, a false witness
that speaketh lies, and he that soweth discord among the brethren."
God said He hates it. It's an abomination. Romans 14. Turn all the way over
to Romans chapter 14. I read this to you. Well, no,
I read Romans 16. Romans 14 verse 12, if we keep this in mind, my boy,
it would put a watch over our lips. Romans 14 verse 12, So
then every one of us shall give an account of himself to God. Let us not therefore judge one
another in I'm not preaching to you or you
or you. I'm preaching to us. I'm preaching
to me. Let us. We're going to give an account
of myself before God. I'm not going to have to answer
for Terry Kensley because I don't like the way what he's done and
so forth. What's that to you, Christ said? Remember when Christ
said that to Peter? What's that to you? What business
is that of yours? Let us not, therefore, judge
one another any more. Judge, judge. The only reason
we could ever judge any of our brothers is because we think
we're a cut above. The judge is... Right? You've got two levels. You've
got a judge, and then you've got an accused. Who's on the
high pedestal here? Judge. Judge this, rather, that no man
put a stumbling block on our occasion to fall. in his brother's
way. Look at Romans 16. Now, here
it is. Romans 16, verse 16. Oh, my soul. Read this with trembling. Salute
one another with a holy kiss. Not a Judas kiss. Not a Judas kiss. Don't tell
me you love me if you don't love me. Oh, God, I'll turn you into
a wreck to me. Pray to God he'll create that
love in me. Kiss one another with a holy kiss. The churches
of Christ salute you. Now I beseech you, brethren,
he said, mark them which cause divisions and offenses contrary
to the doctrine which you have learned. What's that doctrine?
Love. The doctrine of Christ is love. And he says, avoid those people. And 1 Corinthians
3.3 says this. He says that you're yet carnal
because there's envy and strife and divisions. Are you not carnal
and walk and talk as men? Ladies and gentlemen. Ladies, let me talk to you all
first. And don't, I'm not trying to offend you, this is just the
way it is. You see, if you look at the scripture, very plainly,
very honestly, very candidly, if you look at the aroma, its
nature, you'll have to agree with this. Ladies are more prone
to gossip. Ladies are more prone to gossip.
When they get together, they're more prone to talk about folks. I know it from experience. I
get with men, I rarely get with any men. I don't talk about other
men. I never had it happen to me. I've been with some ladies,
and I've heard some talk about people, you know. Ladies are
more prone to do this, and Paul addresses it. Paul addresses
it. He said that the young women
be not disobedient gossipers and so forth. He talks about
wise people. It's just the way it is. It comes
from the fall. Why? Because she wasn't submissive
and obedient to her husband. She didn't listen to her husband.
She went out of her, and she was deceived in the transgression
of Adam, so therefore she's to keep silence. Ladies, watch it. Watch it. If you know God, fear
God, want to be obedient to God, then you'll cease any divisive
talk among yourselves. It just ceases. Husbands, men,
let's not do it either. Men, we're all guilty of this.
Every one of us are guilty of this. Men aren't immune from
this. But husbands, those of you who have wives, don't let
it happen. I'm not trying to be a father
figure here or anything. I'm just telling the way it is
from the Scripture. If it rises up in your family, put an end
to it. You're the spiritual leader of
your home, Terry Kinsler. You're the head of your home.
You're a man of this church. Don't let any talk, divisive
talk, about this church, about anybody in this church, come
up in your household. Isn't that good advice? Isn't
that God-led advice? Don't let it happen. Here's the good threefold examination
of our talk anyway. Is it true? Let's examine everything
we say about somebody in the light of these three things.
Is it true? Can we undoubtedly prove beyond a shadow of a doubt
that what we're about to say about so-and-so is absolutely
true? And you better call that person up, though, to find out,
because they need to witness the thing, too. One side of it,
you always got the counsel for the defense and the counsel for
the prosecution, right? Nobody's going to be convicted
without counsel for defense. Is it true? That'll probably eliminate 99.9%
of what's in it. Secondly, is it kind? That'll
eliminate 100%. We all say this, oh, we need
to pray for so-and-so because Oh, cut the hypocrisy. Is it kind? Thirdly, and this
most definitely will relieve it for all time, is it necessary? Is this going to benefit, going
to edify, be good for the glory of God and the good of the body?
Well, I'm preaching to me too here, aren't I, Mindy? We're
guilty. Let's make a vow right now. Let's just stop it right now,
okay? Let's start right now. By God's grace and God's mercy,
let's start right now, okay? I wish we all could strike hands
right now. If you love Christ, love this church, love the gospel,
and you'll truly love your brothers and sisters. I mean love them
fervently, the Scripture says, actively. You'll put a watch
over your mouth. You'll even call the hand of,
like Paul said there in Romans 15, you'll call the hand of somebody
who's causing a problem. I don't want to settle for anything
less than perfect unity here in this church. That's not so
much to ask for, is it? It's really not. And I'm not,
I didn't bring all this up because I think there's a problem. I
think we've got a blessed fellowship here that's unlike Unlike 900
out of 901 churches. I remember, I think we've got
people that come here, they sense it. Somebody, an unbeliever,
a non-member of this church, said that to one of our ladies,
said, the thing I notice about your folks is that they seem
to really have a genuine love for one another. When I heard
that, oh, I loved to hear that. I thought that's great. Maybe
we are Christ's disciples. Maybe we are. I've got my doubts
about myself, and I've sure got my doubts about you at times. I don't want to settle for anything
less than perfect harmony and unity. Is that too much to ask?
Why no? God demands it. And there's no reason at all
why we can't have it. No reason at all. I love you, Deborah Huff,
and you claim to love me. Why can't we act like that? I
got no names written down here. No malice or forethought in doing
this. Barbara, do you love Nancy Hudson? Do you really love Barbara? Why can't we act like it? I'm
not saying you don't. Virgie, do you love Viola? I
know it's tough. And you love her? Sherry? Let's be not sayers, but hearers, be
doers. That's what the Scriptures call
us to. It really does. Let's read Psalm
133 together in closing. Psalm 133 together. I tell you, this is the taste
of heaven. This is heaven on earth. It's all you got, isn't it? I
mean, those of you who have problems at home, every one of us ought
to go to work, and we've got problems. We work around the
world, and it just brings us down. World links, don't they? We all got the same thing. Every
one of us face the same thing at our jobs. Every one of us. We all want to do the same thing.
So when we come here, this is all, this is the time. It's the
only time you're going to get any peace in this world, isn't
it? The only time you're going to get any love, right here.
Let's nurture it. That's the reason we need to
deliver it. It's all we've got. It's all we've got in this world
is each other and Christ. Psalm 133, verse 1 says, Behold,
how good How pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in
unity. It's like that precious ointment, that holy anointing
of the Holy Spirit upon the head of our high priest. It runs down,
the beard runs down and assimilates through the body to his people,
Christ's people. It went down, it flows down to
the skirts of his garment. It's like the dew of Hermon.
I read that that Mount Hermon, the dew there is like big old
quarters, drops of dew, full of dew that is ascended upon
the mounts of Zion. For there the Lord commanded,
he commands the blessing, even life forevermore." Well, let's, Sherry, come up
here and let's sing Blessed Be the Tide. We don't need the piano.
Blessed Be the Tide, 187. Let's stand and sing a verse
of this. I believe we can enter into it
after that message. 182nd. Staying with me. The fellowship of kindred minds
is like to that above." Look at verse 3 and think about the
word here. We share our mutual woes, our
mutual burdens bear, and often for each other flows the sympathizing
tear." Well, I hope so. When we asunder part, it gives
us inward pain. But we shall still be joined
in heart and hope to meet again.