I am fully aware that you who
are here for our midweek services week after week are here because
you make a special effort to be here. And it's not always
easy to work all day, rush home, get here and be alert. And I
beg of God that he will give me for you a fresh message. And I made you this promise long
ago. Midweek service will never be something I take lightly. I've sought and I believe I have
from God a message for your souls. Listen carefully to this question. Is your religion pure religion
or pretend religion? It's one of the two. Is my religion
pure religion? or pretend religion. Let's open
our Bibles to James chapter 1 and pray that God the Holy Ghost
will give us the answer. Pure religion or pretend religion? That's my subject tonight. James
chapter 1, verses 21 through 27. God the Holy Spirit, by his mighty
operations of grace, always lays the sinner in the dust before
the throne of God. God the Holy Spirit, in his mighty
operations of grace, always lays sinners in the dust before the
throne of God. He stops the mouth, exposes guilt,
and causes us to do business with God with our face in the
dust. This is what James declares in
this first chapter. Once the Lord has made you poor
in spirit, he will enrich you with his grace. When he strips
you of your own imaginary righteousness, he will enrich you with the perfect
righteousness of his dear son. Look at verse 9, James chapter
1, verse 9. Let the brother of low degree Rejoice in that he's
exalted but the rich in that he's made low Because as the
flower of the grass He shall pass away Come back to Lamentations
chapter 3 you remember what mark read to us in this third chapter
of Lamentations Sunday night Lamentations chapter 3 verse
26 It is good that a man should
both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the Lord. It's
good to hope for God's salvation and quietly wait, wait for God's
salvation. It is good for a man that he
bear the yoke in his youth. Oh, blessed are those to whom God grants grace to take
the yoke of Christ in their youth. He sitteth alone and keepeth
silence, because he hath borne it upon him. He putteth his mouth
in the dust, if so be there may be hope. He giveth his cheek
to him that smiteth him. He is filled full with reproach,
for the Lord will not cast off forever. But though he cause
grief, yet will he have compassion according to the multitude of
his tender mercies. The rich young ruler had a problem. You're familiar with the story.
But the rich young ruler's problem was not that he had too much
gold. His problem was not that he had too much money in the
bank. His problem was not that he had too much property, too
many possessions. That wasn't his problem. Money
doesn't keep a person out of heaven. Riches won't keep a person
out of the kingdom of God. If it did, Abraham and David
and Solomon would all be in hell. They were rich men, very rich
men. The rich young ruler's problem
That which kept him out of the kingdom of God was the fact that
he thought he was rich in goodness and righteousness. He thought
he had everything God could require of him. He thought he was a good
man, an upright man, a righteous man. He measured himself by the
law, and measuring himself by the law and what other men told
him concerning the law, he measured himself a righteous man. And
when the Lord Jesus spoke to him, and commanded that he go
and sell his possessions and give to the poor, and thereby
demonstrate that he loves his neighbor as himself, and thereby
demonstrate his submission to God as his ruler, the man walked
away and was sorrowful because he had much riches. And the Lord demonstrated to
him that he wasn't as rich as he thought. The fact is, God
will never lift you up until he lays you low. He will never
fill you until he empties you. He will never give us peace until
he troubles us. He will never exalt until he
abases. He never makes alive until he
kills. Read the scriptures and understand
when the scriptures speak in a specific way, they speak in
a specific way with good reason. Never in this book does the scripture
say that God makes alive and God kills. It says God kills
and God makes alive because he will never give life in Christ. He will never give life eternal
until He slays you before Him by His holy law, until He causes
your mouth to be stopped and your guilt to be owned by you
before Him. Is that not what our Savior taught
us in the Sermon on the Mount as it began with the Beatitudes?
He said, blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the
kingdom of God, Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be
comforted. Blessed are they that hunger
and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled. This
is the universal doctrine of scripture, but it's a doctrine
no one will receive, no one will embrace, none will cherish it
until they've been born again and taught of God and learned
by the Scriptures according to the commandment of the everlasting
God and the obedience of faith. Saving faith, saving faith is
not merely agreeing with God's truth about His Son. Saving faith
is not merely embracing the facts revealed in Scripture no matter
how They are embraced in thorough orthodoxy. Saving faith is not
simply saying what God says about His Son is true. Faith is acting
upon that belief. Faith is acting upon the revelation
of God in Scripture. I'll give you an example. Abraham
believed God. And he staggered not at the promise
of God through unbelief, gave no consideration to the fact
that his own body was dead and his wife's womb was dead, but
rather he believed God would give him a son. Abraham, believing
God, took Isaac up to Mount Moriah and sacrificed his son to God
at God's command, believing confidently that God would raise him from
the dead. That's the doctrine of faith. as far as Holy Scripture
is concerned. Saving faith is not merely believing
the record God gave concerning His Son to be true. Faith is
acting upon that belief. Therefore, in our text, James
1, verse 21, God the Holy Ghost says, Wherefore, lay apart all
filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness, and receive with
meekness, with humility, the engrafted Word, which is able
to save your souls. But be ye doers of the Word,
and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves. For if any be
a hearer of the Word, and not a doer, he is likened to a man
beholding his face in a glass. For he beholdeth himself, and
goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man
he was. But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and
continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a
doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed. 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.
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." Hearing the Word of God and agreeing
with it is not salvation. Salvation is doing the Word of
God. Salvation is the obedience of
faith. Let me show you. I'll show you
four things that Jane here teaches us. First, God the Holy Ghost,
by His servant James, tells us that there's something that must
be laid aside. You just consciously lay it aside. Lay it aside. I had to go out
to Lowe's last night, pick some things up, and in order to make
room for what I was going to put in my truck, I had to take
some things out of my truck. And James is here telling us
you've got to lay something aside if you would receive with meekness
the engrafted word that's able to save your souls. Wherefore,
lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness. Now let me be crystal clear,
lest anyone imagine otherwise. Without question, we must ever
say no to the filth of our flesh, our lust, our pride, our vile
hearts, our corruptions, denying ungodliness and worldly lust. Children of God, denying ungodliness
and worldly lust, let us who are saved by God's grace live
soberly, righteously, and godly in this present evil world. Put away from you those things
that are contrary to godliness, righteousness, holiness, and
the glory of God. You just don't need them. You
just put those things out of the way. But that's not what
James is talking about here. What is he telling us to lay
aside? The filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness he tells us here
to lay aside specifically has to do with pride, arrogance,
and self-righteousness. that which stirs up a man's wrath
against God's Word. Pride, arrogance, self-righteousness. Pride, arrogance, self-righteousness. People who are angered and enraged
by the Word of God, by the preaching of the Gospel, are angered, they're
enraged because of their pride, their arrogance and their imaginary
goodness and righteousness. Men who think they are good can't
stand to be told they're not. Men and women who think they
are holy can't stand to be told they're sinners. People who think
they are righteous cannot stand the fact that someone tells them
they're as corrupt and vile as any harlot or any pedophile or
any rapist or any murderer who ever lived this side of hell
or who's in hell today. The heart of one is the heart
of all. Sometimes you will say to me,
most of you have one time or another, Brother Don, you look
like you've been reading my mail. And I'll tell you why. Because
your heart's just like mine. And I know what goes on inside
you, because I know what goes on inside me. There's no difference. There's no difference. Corruption
rules us all. James is talking about laying
aside the filthiness that carried the Pharisees to hell. But the Pharisees were good folks.
Who wouldn't admire Pharisees? The Pharisees dressed like Christians,
they acted like Christians, and they had a wonderful testimony.
Everybody said they were Christians. Everybody did. Read about them
in the book of God. Find something wrong with them.
Find something wrong with the way they behave, the way they
talk, the way they handle things in the world as far as their
appearance before men is concerned. They had wonderful testimony
for men. If two people make it to heaven,
one will be a Pharisee and the other will be a Sadducee. No, they were highly, highly
regarded by men. Highly, highly regarded by the
religious world. Highly, highly regarded by folks
who were irreligious. They admired them and said, there,
that's a boy. Boy, did you hear how he prayed?
I could tell the Holy Ghost was on him. Did you hear how he prayed? He's so eloquent in prayer. Did
you hear that man preach? I could tell God was speaking
by him. Did you hear that? Men are impressed with lots of
things, but the filthiness of the Pharisees is what carried
them to hell. The superfluity of naughtiness that caused that
rich young ruler, when he heard the word of Christ, to turn and
walk away from the Lord Jesus. That's what James tells us to
lay aside. The word superfluity means excess. The filthiness
of the flesh, the superfluity of naughtiness, I'm confident
has specific reference to the Jews' right of circumcision. The removing of the superfluous,
unneeded filth of the flesh, the foreskin of the flesh, the
superfluous, unneeded filth of self-righteousness and works
religion is what James says we got to lay aside. You will never
receive what God says in his word as long as you think yourself
something. It's not going to happen. It's
not going to happen. If you would be saved you must
cast off your own righteousness. and casting off your righteousness,
your excess of the flesh, confessing our sin, we receive the righteousness
of God in Christ Jesus. Hold your hands here and turn
back to Jeremiah chapter 4. Jeremiah chapter 4. This is what God commands by
his prophet. Circumcise yourselves to the
Lord, verse 4, and take away the foreskin of your hearts,
ye men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem. But wait a minute. I can't do that. I can't do that. No, you can't. This circumcision
of the heart is the work of God the Holy Spirit, and yet It is
something that involves the believer in faith. Cast off this superfluity
of naughtiness. Turn to 1 Corinthians 5, 2 Corinthians
5, verse 17. Let's look at a lengthy passage
here. 2 Corinthians 5, 17. Therefore, if any man be in Christ,
he's a new creature. Old things are passed away, and
behold, all things have become new. And all things are of God,
who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given
to us the ministry of reconciliation, to wit that God was in Christ,
reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses
unto them, and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation.
Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, As though God did
beseech you by us, we pray you in Christ's stead, be you reconciled
to God. We beg you, lay down your weapons
against God, for He hath made Him to be sin for us, who knew
no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him.
Verse 1, chapter 6. We then, as workers together
with Him, as workers together with God, as workers together
with Christ, beseech you also that you receive not the grace
of God in vain." Don't hear the gospel for nothing. Don't hear
the gospel for nothing. Don't allow yourself to be unprofited
by the word that you hear. Read on. The apostle then goes
on to describe his earnestness with regard to preaching the
gospel. Look at verse 11. O ye Corinthians, our mouth is
opened unto you, our heart is enlarged. Ye are not straightened
in us, but you're straightened in your own bowels. Got any hardness,
it's your own fault. Got any resentment, it's your
own fault. Got any hostility, it's your
own doing. Now for a recompense in the same,
I speak as unto my children, be ye also enlarged. Be ye not
unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship
hath righteousness with unrighteousness? And what communion hath light
with darkness? Now, I know how this passage
of Scripture is commonly used by men. You don't have any association
with unbelievers. Don't join anything that unbelievers
are in. Don't mix up with unbelievers.
Now, that's a good idea. As much as possible, it's very,
very wise for you and I as believers to avoid the influence of unbelievers. It's very, very wise for you
and I as believers to choose for our friends folks who are
going in the same direction we are. Folks who worship our God. Folks who follow our Redeemer.
Folks who serve our Savior. But the text something far, far,
far deeper than that. He's talking about false religion. He's talking about self-righteous
works religion. Now let me show you verse 15.
And what concord, what agreement hath Christ with Belial? What
part hath he that believeth with an infidel? And what agreement
hath the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the
living God. As God has said, I will dwell in them and walk
in them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
Wherefore, come out from among them, and be you separate, saith
the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing, and I will receive you."
Everywhere in Scripture that command is given, every single
place, it has connection with coming out from, departing from,
denying altogether false freewill works religion, coming out of
Babylon, coming to the Savior. Read on. Verse 18. You come out of Babylon, you
come out of darkness into light, you come out of works into grace,
and I will be a father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters,
saith the Almighty. Look at verse 1, chapter 7. Having
therefore these promises dearly beloved, Let us cleanse ourselves
from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit. That's just what
James is talking about, isn't it? Back in James chapter 1.
Having these promises, let us cleanse ourselves from all works
religion, from all sense of confidence and acceptance with God because
of our goodness. Push that out of your mind. and receive with meekness the
engrafted word. Watch this, perfecting holiness
in the fear of God. This is the perfecting of holiness,
embracing Jesus Christ alone as the Lord our righteousness.
This perfecting of holiness is Christ our righteousness, Christ
in you, the hope of glory, and he is yours when God convinces
you that you have no righteousness of your own. By this we receive
with meekness the engrafted word which is able to save our souls.
All right, here's the second thing. Look at verses 22 through
25, James chapter 1. Here the spirit of God tells
us that we must be doers of the word and not hearers only. Doers of the word. and not hearers
only. But be ye doers of the Word. What does that mean? What does
that mean? What does that mean? Doers of
the Word are those who spiritually understand it, who gladly receive
it, and from the heart obey it. What's that mean? Doers of the
Word are those who trust Jesus Christ alone for all acceptance
with God, for all grace, for all righteousness, for all life.
The Apostle Paul tells us in Romans 2.13, not the hearers
of the law are justified before God, but the doers of the law
should be justified. Well, Merle, that shuts you out.
That shuts me out. You can't obey God's law. I can't
obey God's law. Nobody here can obey God's law.
But only the doers of the law are justified before God. That's
what God said. That doesn't shut me out. That
doesn't shut you out. Because we who believe are doers
of the law. Doers of all that God commands. Do we then make void the law
through faith? God forbid. We establish the
law. Christ is our righteousness.
Christ is our satisfaction. Trusting Him, we obey everything
God commands in His Word. Oh, I would to God I could communicate
this like I want to. I say it almost every time I
stand in this pulpit. And I don't do so because I'm
just repeating myself. I do so because I deliberately
repeat myself. I say it because I want you to
understand it. I want you to know the blessedness
of it. I want you to walk in the confidence of it. Such is
the union of our souls with Christ if we believe God, if we are
born of God, that while Christ walked on this earth in obedience
to God, You and I, who are his, perfectly obeyed God's holy law. He's our representative. He's
our substitute. He's our surety. When he died at Calvary, we were crucified with him. When God buried the sword of
His justice in the heart of His Son. God buried the sword of
His justice in my heart. When Christ suffered all the
wrath of God until justice was satisfied, you who are His suffered
all the wrath of God until justice was satisfied. This is the very
language of Scripture. I'm crucified with Christ. Nevertheless, I live. Yet not
I, but Christ liveth in me. And the life that I now live
in the flesh, I live by the faith of the faithful obedience unto
death of the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. James
is not telling us to show men and women how much we love God,
how righteous we are, how devoted we are, or how careful we are
to have a good testimony before me. That's what the Pharisees did.
That's what the Pharisees did. Some time back, it's been a year
or two ago, I was out in California preaching and some of us sitting
around the table outside chatting, had been several days, and some
smart aleck came up, a man I guess about my age, maybe a little
younger, a little older, And I guess he pursued that I was
the preacher in the group, and somebody must have been doing
something he didn't like. And he said, don't you care what
people think about you? You're Christians, aren't you?
And I looked at him for just a minute, and I said, well, sir,
to be frank with you, I really don't care what you think about
me. You talk about hushing. I wasn't
expecting that. You don't care what I think about
you? It's totally irrelevant to me. Unless you know God, worship
God. Totally irrelevant to me. I want
to live in such a way that my neighbor has no reason to speak
ill of me. But I can't stop him from it.
I can't stop him from it. Folks in the family, folks in
the neighborhood, they're watching you. They're watching you. I'll
tell you what they're watching for. If your neighbor knows that
you worship God, if your family knows you worship God and they
don't, and they are watching you, they're watching for you
to mess up. That's what they're watching
for. I told you they were all fakes. I knew they were all charlatans. I knew they were all hypocrites. That's what religious folks are.
Well, I just don't give a flip what you think. I'm just as serious
as I can be. No, no, I'm not interested in
impressing you. That's what the Pharisees did. In fact, our Lord
Jesus tells us as plainly as the nose on your face, don't
try to show men how godly you are. It can't be done. Don't you think believers ought
to fast? When you asked me that question,
you said too much about it. When you raised the question,
what you said was, I fast, why don't you fast? Don't you think
believers ought to do this? When you raised the question,
you said too much about it. Our Lord said, when you fast, wash
your face and go about your business, and don't even tell your wife
you fasted. Read in Matthew chapter 6. You give alms. There's some
beggar on the street. He's gonna use it for buying
him something to drink. Well, maybe, maybe. But I think
I'll give him something this time. You said too much about
it. Either do it or don't. Either
do it or don't. But don't say a word about it.
Don't say anything. When you pray, when you pray, don't call
attention to yourself. Don't tell anybody you did. Don't
go out in public on the street corner and get all dressed up
in your Sunday, go to meet in apparel and have your pocket
stuffed full of tracks and get in a restaurant and pray and
everybody look at you. Just don't do that. Just don't
do that. Don't do it. Don't do it. Well,
what are we supposed to do? Live for God. Just live for God. Now watch this next slide. and
not hearers only. Hear the word swiftly, readily. Receive it with meekness, with
humility, with gentleness. But don't be content just to
hear it. Obey it. This is the midweek
crowd. You folks come to church on Tuesday
night. Man alive. Come to church on Tuesday night.
Oh, they must be real devoted folks. Maybe you are, and maybe
you're not. Don't be content just to hear
the word. Hearing it is not salvation. Admiring it is not salvation. Preaching it is not salvation. Defending it is not salvation. Believing it, that's salvation.
Believing the word. Salvation is doing what God commands
in His Word, what God commands in the Gospel. It is the obedience
of faith that's described by the Apostle John when he says
this is His commandment, that we should believe on the name
of His Son, Jesus Christ, and love one another as He gave us
commandment. Now look at verses 23 and 24. James compares the Word of God
to a mirror. If you look into a mirror, you
see yourself. And thankfully, you can soon
forget it. You see yourself and you, oh man, what a mess I am. Oh. And then you go your way
and forget it. Just like that. Don't ever hear
the word or read the word and then just walk away from it.
How quickly we forget. Look at verse 23. If any man
be a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is likened to a man
beholding his natural face in a glass. For he beholdeth himself,
and goeth his way, and straightway, that's just right away, forgetteth
what manner of man he was. How quickly, how quickly, how
quickly. We forget what we see ourselves
to be in this book as the sons and daughters of Adam. How quickly. And how quickly, how quickly
we who do indeed believe God forget what we see ourselves
to be in this book. in Christ the last Adam. You are complete in Him. You are the righteousness of
God in Him. You who are His are holiness
in Him. You are the perfection of holiness
in Him. You know that He was manifested
to take away our sin. And in Him is no sin. And as
He is, so are we in this world. How quickly we forget what we
behold in the book. Now look at the third thing.
The Spirit of God tells us ever to be gazing into the revelation
of God, to ever be trusting the Lord Jesus. That's what it is
to be a doer of the Word. And that brings with it the assured
blessing of God upon our lives. Look at verse 25. But whoso looketh... Now, if you haven't done so already,
somewhere make a note of the ending of that word. It is not
whosoever looks, it's whosoever looketh. The idea,
David, is to gaze relentlessly. Whosoever looketh into the perfect
law of liberty and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful
hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in
his deed. Much has been said about the
perfect law of liberty. Some guess one thing, some another.
But it's obvious in the context. As James uses this phrase, he's
talking about the Word of God you have right here in your hand,
the Book of God. This blessed book is for believing
sinners the perfect law of liberty. for the self-righteous legalist,
for the worksmonger. This is a tomb of darkness with
chains and prison doors you can't get out of. Ask folks. Just talk. Listen to them talk.
Listen to them talk. Go to church most anywhere. I
know folks are tolerant as they can be about everything these
days. put up all kinds of stuff, and nobody dares to offend anybody.
But they use everything in the book to control you, to control
your life, to control your family, to control the way you dress,
to control what you give, to control where you go, to control
what you eat or don't eat. It's just bondage. People talk
about Sabbath keeping. When they talk about Sabbath
keeping, I try to be nice, but I'm laughing all the time inside.
I hear people talk about, oh, oh, I'm so looking forward to
the Sabbath. Baloney. Baloney. Folks who pretend to keep a Sabbath
day, I didn't say folks who do. Folks who pretend to keep a Sabbath
day, it's torturous to them, because it's all about what you
can't do. About what you can't do is bondage. For the religious
legalist, for the self-righteous legalist, this is the black book
of bondage. For the believer, it's the perfect
law of liberty. It delivers us from curse, from
condemnation, from fear. Deliver. It's perfect. You've
got to be a doer of the word. A doer of the word. Have you
fulfilled all the law? He that doeth the law is justified. What we read in Romans 2.13.
The doer. The doer. Oh well. I got a ways
to go then. Not me. Not me. This is liberty. This is liberty. God commands us to look on ourselves
as we look, as He looks on us in His Son. This book leads us
into the liberty of grace and teaches us to approach God with
liberty. The person who looketh into the
word, not beholds and goes his way, but gazes into the gospel
of Christ, gazes into the word of God, receiving the testimony
of God, trusting Christ, is blessed in the totality of his life. He shall be blessed, look at
what it says, in his deed. Reckon why he didn't say deeds?
He said deed. He said deed. He will be blessed
in his deed, in the totality of his life. You turn to Ecclesiastes
9. We won't take time to read it
now, but I would urge you to read the 28th chapter of Deuteronomy.
where God makes promises to his people and says, all these blessings
shall come on thee. The Lord will command the blessing
upon thee in thy storehouses in all that you set your hand
to. The Lord shall establish thee and holy people to himself.
The Lord shall open to thee the good treasures. You will be the
head and never the tail. And look at chapter 9 of Ecclesiastes,
verse 7. Go thy way, and eat thy bread
with joy, and drink thy wine with a merry heart. For God now
accepteth thy works. Let thy garments be always white. Let thy head lack no ointment.
Live joyfully with the wife whom thou lovest all the days of thy
life, the life of thy vanity, which he hath given thee under
the sun, all the days of thy vanity, for that is thy portion
in this life, and in thy labor which thou takest under the sun."
What's he saying? Brother Don, if we read that
text just like it stated, it looks like Solomon is saying
that God accepts us in the totality of our lives
in the perfection of holiness in Christ the Lord. Isn't that
amazing? Isn't that amazing? You men and women come from a
hard day at work, have no idea what all of you had to deal with
at work, but you have a job to do and you do it and you think,
well, now I'm gonna go worship God. No, no, no, no, no, no. Worship God while you're having
your first cup of coffee in the morning on your way to work,
pushing hard to get there on time. And worship God while you're
meeting with the folks in the factory or meeting with folks
on the job or dealing with employees or dealing with bosses. Worship
God! Whatsoever your hand finds to
do, do it with all your might for the glory of God. Because
God accepts you. God accepts you in the totality
of your life in Christ Jesus the Lord and blesses you. in
the totality of your life, according to the perfection and the righteousness
that's yours in Christ Jesus. Now look at this fourth thing,
back in James chapter 1, verse 26. James puts his doctrine into
shoe leather, showing us the difference between pure religion
and pretend religion. If any man among you seem to
be religious, pretends to be, folks think he is, and bridleth
not his tongue, precise in his doctrine, orthodox
as he can be. Boy, I tell you, he's a five-point
Calvinist, and you're not going to get him on anything. Oh, he's
precise. He's precise. He only hears good
preaching, only reads good stuff. But he's a gossip, a slanderer,
a backbiter, mean-spirited. Well, he deceiveth his own heart. And that man's religion is vain.
It's just pretend. It's all show. 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. What's he telling us? Grace makes
people gracious. Grace makes people gracious. Forgiveness teaches folks to
forgive. Mercy causes people to be merciful. Long-suffering causes people
to be long-suffering. Forbearance causes folks to be
forbearing. That's just the way it is. That's
just the way it is. That's kind of like the characters
of a child. My dear daughter, bless her heart, for better or for worse, there's
just certain things about me she's got. There's certain things about
me that are hers. Stuck with her. Gonna have them till she
dies. And bless their heart, their
son and their daughter. Much as you might try to resist
it and turn it the other way, there's just certain things about
me they got. They got them. Whether you like them, whether
you don't, they got them. Because they're born after my image. And David Coleman, if you and
I are born after the image of Him who is the image of God,
we have the traits of the Savior. What's that? Loving, caring for,
ministering to, and meeting the needs of others. This is not
all that pure religion is, but pure religion certainly involves
this. Let's turn back one more time to Ephesians 4, and I'll
wrap this up. Verse 17, This I say therefore, and testify
in the Lord, that ye henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk,
in the vanity of their mind, having their understanding darkened,
being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance
that is in them because of the blindness of their hearts, who
being past feeling have given themselves over unto lasciviousness,
to work all uncleanness with greediness. But ye have not so
learned Christ. If so be that ye have heard him,
and have been taught by him, as the truth is in Jesus, that
ye put off concerning the former conversation, your old way of
life, the old man which is corrupt, everything about it corrupt according
to the deceitful lust and be Renewed in the spirit of your
mind. Oh God renew me now And that you put on the new man
put on the new man When I did some work this morning
had a suppose and I came home and took off this dirty clothes
and took a shower and got as spiffed up as I could getting
ready to come here. Put off the dirty old man. Put off the dirty
old man. Say no to him. Say no to him. And put on the new. Look what
it says. Put on Christ Jesus. The new
man which is after God is created in righteousness and true holiness. What's that mean? Wherefore putting
away lying. Speak every man the truth with
his neighbor. Don't be deceitful and cunning
and crafty, be truthful and honest. For we are members one of another.
Be ye angry and sin not. Now it's not saying get mad every
time you want to. But the fact is, you do. You just get angry. I mean, like that, get angry.
And nothing, just like that. Just get angry at nothing, at
nothing. When you do, sin not. Brighten your passions. Brighten
your lips. Brighten your mouth. Brighten your tongue. Be angry
and sin not. Watch this now. Let not the sun
go down on your wrath. Neither give place to the devil.
Let him that stole steal no more, but rather let him labor working
with his hands the thing that is good. Now what's the reason?
Oh man, I want to save up a lot of money. that he may have to
give to him that needeth. That's the best reason I know
to work. Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but
that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister
grace to the hearers, and grieve not the Holy Spirit of God. What
a tender word. Grieve not the Holy Spirit of
God, whereby ye are sealed unto the resurrection day, the day
of redemption. Let all bitterness and wrath
and anger and clamor and evil speaking. Man, that takes in
most everything you hear. That takes in most everything
you say. Does it? Doesn't it? All wrath, all bitterness,
all anger, all clamor, all evil speaking, let it be put away
from you with all malice and be ye kind one to another. tender-hearted, forgiving one
another, even as God, for Christ's sake, hath forgiven you. Is your religion pure religion
or pretend religion? Only God can answer that question
for you and for me. I pray he has. Amen.