Latest / INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living / The Wise, the Unwise, and the Otherwise (Part Two) │ Msg 916 - Pastor Chuck Swindoll Insight for Living

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The Wise, the Unwise, and the Otherwise (Part Two) │ Msg 916 - Pastor Chuck Swindoll Insight for Living · INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living

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  Speaker 1: Without the Savior, our lives are like a parched, unproductive desert.
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  Speaker 1: A desolation exists deep in our own souls that ruins
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  Speaker 1: rather than rejuvenates. James describes this desert like condition of
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  Speaker 1: our natural wisdom in the third chapter, verses fourteen through sixteen.
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  Speaker 1: For he writes these words, but if you have bitter
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  Speaker 1: jealousy and selfish ambition in your heart, do not be
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  Speaker 1: arrogant and soul lie against the truth. This wisdom is
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  Speaker 1: not that which comes down from above, but is earthly, natural, demonic.
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  Speaker 1: For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there is disorder
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  Speaker 1: and every evil thing. You may remember that we looked
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  Speaker 1: at that passage in our previous message. Today we want
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  Speaker 1: to begin the second part of our message on the
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  Speaker 1: subject of the wise, for we will learn that in
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  Speaker 1: order for divine wisdom to take root in our lives,
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  Speaker 1: something very unnatural to our hearts must be channeled in
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  Speaker 1: by faith, the living water of the Savior. He refers
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  Speaker 1: to that in John chapter seven, verse thirty eight. Under
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  Speaker 1: the Holy spirit supervision, our lives can blossom like a
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  Speaker 1: rose with a divine wisdom we could never produce out
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  Speaker 1: of the desert condition of our own souls. In my
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  Speaker 1: last message, we learned that the tests of true wisdom
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  Speaker 1: are good behavior and gentleness. In a word, good behavior
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  Speaker 1: means change and inner willingness to obey God and his word.
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  Speaker 1: And the word gentleness refers to strength under control. Think
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  Speaker 1: about those words, strength under control. It's like what we
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  Speaker 1: would find in a high spirited horse that has been
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  Speaker 1: broken and then well trained, strong but now under control.
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  Speaker 1: Few places are more barren and desolate than the deep
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  Speaker 1: deserts of the Middle East, except the recesses of the
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  Speaker 1: human heart apart from God. But as range can give
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  Speaker 1: life to the desert, so God, in his grace can
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  Speaker 1: cultivate a garden of divine wisdom in us through the
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  Speaker 1: living water of His Holy Spirit. In today's message, in
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  Speaker 1: this series on James, which I'm calling hands on Christianity,
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  Speaker 1: we have come to the third chapter. Only two verses there,
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  Speaker 1: verses seventeen and eighteen. If you have a Bible handy,
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  Speaker 1: why don't you turn to that passage I mentioned earlier
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  Speaker 1: so we can look at the words together. When I
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  Speaker 1: finished reading these verses from the New American Standard version
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  Speaker 1: of the Scriptures, I want to read the verses to
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  Speaker 1: you from the Amplified Bible, because it is so rich
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  Speaker 1: with word pictures. But first listen closely to the New
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  Speaker 1: American Standard rendering of James three seventeen and eighteen. But
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  Speaker 1: the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, reasonable,
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  Speaker 1: full of mercy and good fruits, unwavering.
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  Speaker 2: Without hypocrisy.
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  Speaker 1: And the seed whose fruit is righteousness is sown in
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  Speaker 1: peace by those who make peace. And now those same
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  Speaker 1: verses from the Amplified Bible. But the wisdom from above
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  Speaker 1: is first of all pure, undefiled. Then it is peace loving, courteous, considerate,
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  Speaker 1: and gentle. It is willing to yield to reason, full
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  Speaker 1: of compassion and good fruits. It is wholehearted and straightforward,
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  Speaker 1: impartial and unfeigned, free from doubts, wavering and insincerity. And
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  Speaker 1: the harvest of righteousness, of conformity to God's will in
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  Speaker 1: thought and deed, is the fruit of the seed sown
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  Speaker 1: in peace by those who work for and make peace
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  Speaker 1: in themselves and in others. That is that peace which
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  Speaker 1: means concord, agreement, harmony between individuals with undisturbedness in a
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  Speaker 1: peaceful mind, free from fears and agitating passions and moral conflicts.
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  Speaker 2: One of the most unattractive and desolate places in all
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  Speaker 2: the world is a section in North Africa known as
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  Speaker 2: the Libyan Desert, in case you need to be brushed
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  Speaker 2: up a little on your geography. It is bordered on
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  Speaker 2: the northern side by the Mediterranean, on the southern by
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  Speaker 2: the Vast Soudan, on the eastern portion by the United
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  Speaker 2: Arab Republic, and on the western side by Algeria, a
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  Speaker 2: portion of which is the Great Sahara Desert. This is
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  Speaker 2: a desolate, unproductive, barren, scorched portion of the earth. It seldom,
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  Speaker 2: if ever, receives ten inches of rain an entire year,
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  Speaker 2: more often much less than that. It has come to
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  Speaker 2: the headlines on several occasions because it is in that
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  Speaker 2: stretch of land that has now become a famine territory.
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  Speaker 2: It's really fit for very little more than wandering nomads
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  Speaker 2: that go from one oasis to the next, driving these
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  Speaker 2: little scraggly herds of theirs and living off of very
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  Speaker 2: little from the land, because the land frankly does not produce.
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  Speaker 2: I was watching a documentary not long ago on the
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  Speaker 2: Libyan Desert, and the plain that was holding the camera
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  Speaker 2: to show us something very interesting took off from Benghazi
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  Speaker 2: and flew south right into the middle of this great
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  Speaker 2: vast wasteland of the Libyan desert. As you watched the
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  Speaker 2: land pass beneath you, it was nothing more than miles
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  Speaker 2: and miles of miles and miles sands, scraggly old bushes,
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  Speaker 2: really a wasteland. But in the distance, the narrator said,
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  Speaker 2: please watch closely, because you will notice something that will
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  Speaker 2: seem incredible. And it was. You began to detect with
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  Speaker 2: your eyes an area of green right in the middle
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  Speaker 2: of the desert. And the closer you got, the more
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  Speaker 2: believable it became, because the plain went down low and
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  Speaker 2: grazed the top of the most luxurious green plants produce fruit,
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  Speaker 2: trees of all kinds, right in the middle of the
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  Speaker 2: Libyan desert. And in fact, it turned around and went
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  Speaker 2: up much higher and showed you this vast square of
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  Speaker 2: a number of miles in the middle of the desert,
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  Speaker 2: now producing fruit. In fact, the narrator said, perhaps you
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  Speaker 2: didn't know it, but there is a verse in the
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  Speaker 2: Bible that says the desert will blossom like a rose,
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  Speaker 2: and he referred to this as as a living example
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  Speaker 2: of the blooming desert. Now in order for something to
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  Speaker 2: grow in the middle of the desert, something that is
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  Speaker 2: very unlike the desert must be brought to it, right,
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  Speaker 2: and what is that water? In fact, the ones that
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  Speaker 2: carried out the experiment, believing that it would work, put
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  Speaker 2: a lot of money into the sinking of a number
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  Speaker 2: of very deep wells and pumps and pipes so that
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  Speaker 2: they could fill vast reservoirs with water. They believe that
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  Speaker 2: if you would bring water into this parched, unproductive land,
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  Speaker 2: it would bloom and blossom like any other part of
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  Speaker 2: the globe. And indeed it will. Now you might wonder
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  Speaker 2: why in the world would we begin a message on
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  Speaker 2: James three in the middle of the Libyan desert. And
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  Speaker 2: I want to show you why. As I watched that documentary,
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  Speaker 2: it came to my mind as a crystal clear illustration
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  Speaker 2: of the person in himself as the desert and the
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  Speaker 2: marvelous hand of God. As the water, unlike us, unnatural
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  Speaker 2: to us, comes a new life, a source of life
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  Speaker 2: that brings from within us produce and fruit that is
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  Speaker 2: absolutely rare according to man's standard. As a matter of fact,
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  Speaker 2: if you want to examine the desert of your life,
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  Speaker 2: James three is a good place to look because verses fourteen, fifteen,
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  Speaker 2: and sixteen describe the desert. Fourteen says, if you have
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  Speaker 2: bitter jealousy selfish ambition in your home, don't be arrogant
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  Speaker 2: and lie against the truth the wisdom. This wisdom is
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  Speaker 2: not that which comes down from above, but is earthly, natural, demonic.
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  Speaker 2: We could paraphrase desert like for where jealousy and selfish
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  Speaker 2: ambition exist, there is the arid, dry problems, a problem
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  Speaker 2: of disorder. There is the terrible, desolate problem of every
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  Speaker 2: petty thing that's man in the raw, that's human nature,
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  Speaker 2: that's earthly wisdom. Now, in order for this kind of man,
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  Speaker 2: which really is the kind of man and woman you
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  Speaker 2: and I are, in order for us to produce a
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  Speaker 2: different kind of fruit, there must come something from above
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  Speaker 2: that is unnatural to us. God must pomp into or
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  Speaker 2: pipe into our lives, the life giving water, who is,
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  Speaker 2: of course the person of the Holy Spirit. When the
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  Speaker 2: Spirit of God goes to work and waters the desert life,
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  Speaker 2: it is remarkable how this very same unproductive body can
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  Speaker 2: produce luxuriant, beautiful specimens of life and fruit. Now, that's
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  Speaker 2: what we're dealing with in the seventeenth and eighteenth verses
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  Speaker 2: of this third chapter. You will probably remember that verse thirteen,
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  Speaker 2: which we looked at earlier. Verse thirteen describes the seed,
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  Speaker 2: the inward seed that later blooms produces. The real test
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  Speaker 2: of wisdom from above is twofold good behavior and gentleness.
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  Speaker 2: You will probably remember we pointed out that good behavior
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  Speaker 2: has as its root word the idea of change, and
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  Speaker 2: this word gentleness has in mind the idea of control.
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  Speaker 2: Wisdom when it comes down from above. And that's just
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  Speaker 2: another way. That's Jane's way of saying, when the fruit
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  Speaker 2: of the spirit is produced, when the spirit of God
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  Speaker 2: controls the life, then the seeds are planted that will
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  Speaker 2: bring forth luxuriant fruit. The seeds are the willingness to change,
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  Speaker 2: and this willingness to be under control or gentle. Now
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  Speaker 2: drop down to verse seventeen and you will see the crop.
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  Speaker 2: We've looked at the seed. Let's examine the crop. James
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  Speaker 2: could have mentioned seventy different pieces that produce, but he
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  Speaker 2: mentions only seven. Let's just quickly work our way through
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  Speaker 2: them verse seventeen. But the wisdom from above is first
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  Speaker 2: pure all right. Now, let's understand what this means. The
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  Speaker 2: word first does not only mean first in an order
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  Speaker 2: of or first in a list. It means first in importance.
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  Speaker 2: The wisdom, when it comes down from above, produces in
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  Speaker 2: primary importance purity. The word means freedom from defilement. It
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  Speaker 2: means without pollution. It means cleanliness, and it has to
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  Speaker 2: do with more than just moral cleanliness. It has to
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  Speaker 2: do with more than just moral purity. It has to
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  Speaker 2: do with motive purity. When the spirit of God waters
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  Speaker 2: the life of his child, he produces a purity of motive.
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  Speaker 2: You can examine right down to the heart of something
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  Speaker 2: that is said and you will find purity. But it
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  Speaker 2: does include moral purity as well. Ludwig Richter was a
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  Speaker 2: German painter of some renown. He loved to tell with
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  Speaker 2: a great deal of emotion, his mother's formula that she
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  Speaker 2: passed on to him, explaining how to handle temptation when
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  Speaker 2: it would come to him. She said, this, my son,
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  Speaker 2: repeat the beatitudes and repeat one of them seven times
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  Speaker 2: when temptation comes. And the one that she wanted him
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  Speaker 2: to re pete seven times was Blessed are the pure
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  Speaker 2: in heart, for they shall see God. Now I've thought
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  Speaker 2: about that beatitude as i'm sure you have, and I've
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  Speaker 2: wondered what does it mean. The Bible says no man
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  Speaker 2: has seen God at any time. He is a spirit.
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  Speaker 2: Not even in heaven will we see God visibly. He
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  Speaker 2: is a spirit. Our God that we are able to
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  Speaker 2: see is the visible manifestation of the Father in the spirit,
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  Speaker 2: the Lord Jesus. Well, what does it mean he shall
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  Speaker 2: see God? I think it means that he will practice
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  Speaker 2: the presence of God, the pure in heart, will walk
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  Speaker 2: with God in such a way that he and God
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  Speaker 2: will be in that kind of intimate friendship. He will
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  Speaker 2: see God come to his rescue when tempted. He will
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  Speaker 2: see God has his clothes us this brand when under trial.
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  Speaker 2: That's what it means, I believe. Now the first produce
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  Speaker 2: of the spirit is purity. James goes on to say,
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  Speaker 2: then there will come peace or a peaceable attitude. This
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  Speaker 2: is the second characteristic that James mentions, and it is
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  Speaker 2: so unlike our natural tendency. We are, by nature people
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  Speaker 2: who lack peace. If a person wants to get a
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  Speaker 2: book published these days, he can write on peace and
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  Speaker 2: sell them by the thousands. I know of no book
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  Speaker 2: that has in its title the word piece that hasn't
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  Speaker 2: sold and sold in great numbers. People are seeking, longing
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  Speaker 2: for peace. James says, when wisdom comes from above and
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  Speaker 2: dwells the heart, then there comes a desire to guard
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  Speaker 2: against alienating people working up ill will. There will be
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  Speaker 2: a peaceableness about the life, so that the individual will
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  Speaker 2: want to patch up quarrels rather than create them. He
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  Speaker 2: will not want to be abrasive. He will want to
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  Speaker 2: be healing and soothing in his life. When the spirit
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  Speaker 2: of God controls the life, then this individual is peaceable.
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  Speaker 2: Now some of you may hear those words and say, well,
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  Speaker 2: I'm not by nature peaceable. That's the whole point. You're
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  Speaker 2: not by nature pure either. James is saying, I know
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  Speaker 2: that we are not by nature peaceable. Remember we are
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  Speaker 2: the desert, and apart from the water, the living giver
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  Speaker 2: of life, we will never be peaceable people. That's the
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  Speaker 2: whole point of the passage. So let's just review for
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  Speaker 2: a moment. When wisdom comes from above and waters the life,
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  Speaker 2: then there is produced first purity and then peace. Next
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  Speaker 2: there will be gentleness. Now we read of gentleness in
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  Speaker 2: verse thirteen, but this original Greek word is a different word.
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  Speaker 2: In verse seventeen. This word is extremely hard to explain
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  Speaker 2: in English terms. If you know other languages, you know
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  Speaker 2: that there are certain words that simply cannot be in
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  Speaker 2: one word translated into English. There is a color in
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  Speaker 2: the original word that you know, perhaps your mother tongue,
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  Speaker 2: which may not be English, which cannot be reproduced in
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  Speaker 2: English adequately. This is that kind of word. Some have
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  Speaker 2: rendered it tolerance, and that's fair. It has the eye
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  Speaker 2: idea of being equitable, moderate. But all of those words
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  Speaker 2: seem to fall short. So let me call to your
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  Speaker 2: attention the thoughts of a man who has spent a
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  Speaker 2: great deal of time on this word, and I'll just
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  Speaker 2: capsulize his thoughts. The man who does not possess this
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  Speaker 2: quality of gentleness is the man who stands up for
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  Speaker 2: the last tittle of his legal rights. But the one
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  Speaker 2: who is gentle knows that there are times when a
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  Speaker 2: thing may be legally completely justified and yet morally completely wrong.
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  Speaker 2: Now listen careful. The man who is gentle in this
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  Speaker 2: sense of the word knows when to relax the law
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  Speaker 2: under the compulsion of a force that is higher than
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  Speaker 2: the law. He knows the time when to stand on
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  Speaker 2: his rights would be unquestionably legal, and would just as
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  Speaker 2: unquestionably be completely un Christian. I emphasize that word because
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  Speaker 2: we are living in a day in which people are
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  Speaker 2: declaring their rights the letter of the law. These are
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  Speaker 2: my rights. You have crossed them, I'll sue you. Perhaps
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  Speaker 2: some of the most common words heard in businesses today.
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  Speaker 2: A great deal of thought is being given to this
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  Speaker 2: particular problem in our day by those in high places
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  Speaker 2: of administration, because people are on the cutting edge of
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  Speaker 2: exercising their rights. What does that have to do with
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  Speaker 2: our word? This person who is gentle will not at
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  Speaker 2: all times declare and stand upon his rights. He's tolerant,
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  Speaker 2: Well give in, he will willingly acquiesce. Now let's go
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  Speaker 2: to the next word, because they seem to fit together.
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  Speaker 2: The next word is reasonable. I think the words go
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  Speaker 2: together in this way. The first one, gentle, is really
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  Speaker 2: written for you that are in authority over people. The
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  Speaker 2: word that is following that, reasonable, is especially planned for
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  Speaker 2: you that are under someone else's authority. Okay, now why
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  Speaker 2: do I say that? Well, this word reasonable appears only
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  Speaker 2: here in all the New Testament. The original word it
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  Speaker 2: comes from two words that mean, when put together, easily persuaded,
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  Speaker 2: it has in mind the opposite of one who is
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  Speaker 2: obstinate and stubborn, one who is impervious to change. It
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  Speaker 2: means the opposite. It means that this individual is conciliatory.
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  Speaker 2: He is amenable. You can reason with him, you can
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  Speaker 2: work with him. I think perhaps it would be good
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  Speaker 2: to use the word open and teachable. Those two words
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  Speaker 2: would apply when the spirit of God really captures the
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  Speaker 2: heart and does an in depth job down inside. He softens,
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  Speaker 2: he opens the heart. He makes it teachable, willing to learn,
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  Speaker 2: if you will, for just a moment, turn back to
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  Speaker 2: Genesis thirteen. I'll show you a classic example of one
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  Speaker 2: who was reasonable, and he didn't have to be. Genesis
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  Speaker 2: thirteen is the story of Abraham and his nephew Lot,
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  Speaker 2: and they had a very wonderful problem, the problem of prosperity.
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  Speaker 2: It's fun to work through problems like that. Now, in
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  Speaker 2: this case, this good problem was having some bad results.
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  Speaker 2: These men were so rich, so wealthy, they had so
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  Speaker 2: much live stock that it was causing a problem among
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  Speaker 2: the herdsmen. Verse two of Genesis thirteen begins, Now Abram
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  Speaker 2: was very rich in live stock, in silver, and in gold.
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  Speaker 2: Verse five, Now, Lot, who went with Abram also had
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  Speaker 2: flocks and herds and tents, and the land could not
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  Speaker 2: sustain them while dwelling together, for their possessions were so
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  Speaker 2: great that they were not able to remain together. By
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  Speaker 2: the way we have the word today, heavy, this word
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  Speaker 2: heavy is commonly used with reference to one who was wealthy.
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  Speaker 2: It is a picturesque word of having heavy purses, heavy pockets.
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  Speaker 2: So they had a heavy problem in a very real sense.
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  Speaker 2: They had too much cattle for the land. So what
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  Speaker 2: are they gonna do? Well, Abram is the granddaddy in
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  Speaker 2: this case, age wise, Lot is this young upstart. I mean,
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  Speaker 2: Abraham had every reason in the world to say, Lot,
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  Speaker 2: you go there. I'm staying here. But I want you
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  Speaker 2: to notice how Abram handled this. Look down at verse eight.
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  Speaker 2: Abram said to Lot, please let there be no strife
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  Speaker 2: between you and me, nor between my herdsman and your herdsman,
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  Speaker 2: for we are brothers. It is not the whole land
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  Speaker 2: before you. Please separate from me. If to the left,
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  Speaker 2: then I will go to the right. If to the right,
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  Speaker 2: then I will go to the left. That's being reasonable,
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  Speaker 2: Abram said, Lot, you make the choice. Whichever place you prefer.
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  Speaker 2: I'll take the other. That's all I want to illustrate,
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  Speaker 2: but I do want to apply it. Are you a
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  Speaker 2: reasonable person when coming up against an individual that has
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  Speaker 2: an argument with you, or even an area of rights?
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  Speaker 2: Or I could go to the other side and say,
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  Speaker 2: he doesn't have rights? Can somebody reason with you? Is
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  Speaker 2: there an open, teachable spirit in your life? James says
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  Speaker 2: in verse seventeen, when there is wisdom from above, you
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  Speaker 2: will have that not only a tolerance, but that flexibility
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  Speaker 2: to say, hey, I'll think about that, I'll look into that.
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  Speaker 2: In other words, it is the opposite of being so
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  Speaker 2: strongly opinionated that you won't be swayed by the facts.
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  Speaker 2: Don't confuse me with the facts. My mind is made up.
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  Speaker 2: Type of thing, James says, when wisdom comes from above,
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  Speaker 2: you're willing to say, look, let's reason this out. Now.
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  Speaker 2: There's a fifth area. We've gotten four now, purity, peacefulness, gentleness,
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  Speaker 2: willingness to cooperate. Now fifth, When wisdom comes down on
• 26:31
  Speaker 2: this desert life of ours, it brings full of mercy
• 26:37
  Speaker 2: and good fruits. It brings that particular produce. Notice it carefully.
• 26:45
  Speaker 2: I put them together because they are a twin blessing
• 26:50
  Speaker 2: neither one is natural to us. When the wisdom comes
• 26:55
  Speaker 2: from above, it brings the condition of being full of
• 27:01
  Speaker 2: mercy and good fruits. By nature, we are cynical, we
• 27:07
  Speaker 2: are hard, and we are harsh. But this writer says,
• 27:13
  Speaker 2: when the new nature is in control, there is a
• 27:17
  Speaker 2: mercy that comes. In the days of the Greeks in
• 27:21
  Speaker 2: the first century, this word mercy was commonly used to
• 27:24
  Speaker 2: describe the feeling of person head toward one who had
• 27:29
  Speaker 2: fallen into a bad situation, completely innocent. He did not
• 27:35
  Speaker 2: cause his problem, but he had fallen into it, and
• 27:39
  Speaker 2: his friends had mercy. This word was used to describe
• 27:44
  Speaker 2: their feelings. But you know, in the New Testament this
• 27:47
  Speaker 2: word is used many times to describe the attitude a
• 27:51
  Speaker 2: believer is to have when someone has caused his problem
• 27:56
  Speaker 2: and suffering the consequences of it. Did you hear that
• 28:02
  Speaker 2: anyone can feel pity for someone that didn't mean to
• 28:05
  Speaker 2: cause this and innocently fell into it. That's a human emotion.
• 28:12
  Speaker 2: But only the child of God, burnt by the spirit
• 28:17
  Speaker 2: under that fuel, can look upon one who really deserves
• 28:22
  Speaker 2: punishment and say, you know, my heart goes out to him.
• 28:25
  Speaker 2: He's suffering. In fact, mercy is an attitude. The good
• 28:31
  Speaker 2: fruits mentioned here in verse seventeen would be the actions
• 28:36
  Speaker 2: after having that feeling of genuine pity that it is
• 28:40
  Speaker 2: followed up with good fruits. One writer put it this way,
• 28:44
  Speaker 2: we can never say that we have truly felt mercy
• 28:48
  Speaker 2: towards someone until we have somehow tried to help him.
• 28:56
  Speaker 2: I run across an article, not an article, but a
• 28:58
  Speaker 2: cartoon in the Newsweek magazine. I wish you could see it.
• 29:02
  Speaker 2: It's a picture of a starving man sitting on his
• 29:05
  Speaker 2: haunches in front of an empty pan. Obviously the pan
• 29:10
  Speaker 2: is for food. And here on the other side is
• 29:14
  Speaker 2: a very fat gentleman with a big bag. And he's
• 29:19
  Speaker 2: this gentleman that's got his hat on, he's got a
• 29:22
  Speaker 2: big cigar sticking out of his mouth, and he's dumping
• 29:24
  Speaker 2: out of the bag into the pan. Words. And at
• 29:31
  Speaker 2: the bottom of the cartoon it says, too many words,
• 29:35
  Speaker 2: not enough deeds. The Christian ranks are filled with people
• 29:41
  Speaker 2: with big bags of words, dumping them into the empty
• 29:46
  Speaker 2: pans of the needy. As if James would say in
• 29:50
  Speaker 2: his other passage, we dealt with earlier, be warm, be filled,
• 29:58
  Speaker 2: the Lord bless you, and nothing is done to help
• 30:02
  Speaker 2: alleviate the problem. When the water of the spirit of
• 30:07
  Speaker 2: life comes upon us, he brings mercy and attitude, and
• 30:14
  Speaker 2: with it good fruits actions. I'm pleased that the sixth
• 30:21
  Speaker 2: quality or characteristic is not missing. Because James says this
• 30:25
  Speaker 2: person is also unwavering, sounds like a contradiction. Having just
• 30:31
  Speaker 2: dealt with gentleness and reasonableness like we did. It sounds
• 30:35
  Speaker 2: as though when we get to the word unwavering, we
• 30:38
  Speaker 2: have a contradiction. But the word unwavering suggests a person
• 30:43
  Speaker 2: with fixed principles. He will never violate biblical principles regardless
• 30:52
  Speaker 2: of the situation. He will not live by the prominent
• 30:57
  Speaker 2: word of our day. When in Rome do as the
• 31:01
  Speaker 2: Romans do, the believer lives under the principle. When in
• 31:05
  Speaker 2: Rome do as the believer should do. The same is
• 31:10
  Speaker 2: true in any other city or any other situation. The
• 31:14
  Speaker 2: man mentioned in James three point seventeen as being unwavering
• 31:19
  Speaker 2: is one who is not afraid to make a decision
• 31:22
  Speaker 2: on the basis of scripture and stand by it. The
• 31:25
  Speaker 2: scripture is always the safest guide. And finally, he mentions,
• 31:31
  Speaker 2: without hypocrisy, you see true wisdom never claims to be
• 31:37
  Speaker 2: something it is not. The Greek word hypocrisy comes from
• 31:41
  Speaker 2: the term that was used to describe a person who
• 31:44
  Speaker 2: was an actor, and he played two parts. If you're
• 31:48
  Speaker 2: familiar with the Greek theater, you know that it was
• 31:51
  Speaker 2: not very interesting, at least to the American observer. A
• 31:55
  Speaker 2: person played different parts, and he would come out with
• 31:58
  Speaker 2: a mask, and he would play the part of a comedian.
• 32:01
  Speaker 2: So the mask would be a nice, big smile, and
• 32:03
  Speaker 2: he would jabber his lines behind this mask and everybody, Oh,
• 32:07
  Speaker 2: and he'd run off to the side and get another mask,
• 32:09
  Speaker 2: come back on tragedy, and he'd give these sad lines
• 32:12
  Speaker 2: to everybody. Oh, it's terrible, you know. He would play
• 32:16
  Speaker 2: two parts. He was called a hipocritas a hypocrite, meaning
• 32:24
  Speaker 2: what the same person was playing two parts, that's a hypocrite.
• 32:31
  Speaker 2: Esop's fables have been read by all of us, I suppose,
• 32:34
  Speaker 2: and not a great deal of scriptural truth is hidden
• 32:37
  Speaker 2: in those lines. But at times you run across a
• 32:39
  Speaker 2: real good moral. I ran across one not long ago.
• 32:44
  Speaker 2: It's an interesting satire on two men that meet on
• 32:46
  Speaker 2: a road. They've never met each other before. One man
• 32:50
  Speaker 2: is from one direction. One man from another, and it's
• 32:53
  Speaker 2: a cold, wintry day, and so they meet, and as
• 32:56
  Speaker 2: they start talking and working up a friendship, the first
• 32:58
  Speaker 2: man begins to blow his hands. Second fella says, oh,
• 33:04
  Speaker 2: what are you doing? He says, I'm warming my fingers
• 33:08
  Speaker 2: because the day is cold. A little later on, they
• 33:13
  Speaker 2: have lunch together and they're served two bowls of soup,
• 33:17
  Speaker 2: and so the first fellaw lifts his spoon with a
• 33:20
  Speaker 2: spoonful of soup up to his mouth and he goes
• 33:25
  Speaker 2: and the fella says, what are you doing? And he says,
• 33:28
  Speaker 2: I'm blowing on my soup. It's so hot, I'm blowing
• 33:32
  Speaker 2: to cool it off. And the other fellow stood to
• 33:35
  Speaker 2: his feet and he said, in no way will I
• 33:37
  Speaker 2: be your friend. I renounce your friendship. Said Why, says,
• 33:42
  Speaker 2: I will have nothing to do with one who blows
• 33:44
  Speaker 2: hot and cold with the same mouth. Sure, it's a silly,
• 33:54
  Speaker 2: childish illustration, but it is precisely what hypocrisy is all about.
• 34:00
  Speaker 2: I'll have nothing to do with ones with those who
• 34:05
  Speaker 2: blow hot and cold friend an enemy with the same mouth.
• 34:10
  Speaker 2: James says, what will be produced as a result of
• 34:13
  Speaker 2: the plants that have been grown? The plant of purity
• 34:18
  Speaker 2: and peacefulness, gentleness, reasonableness, mercy with good fruits. This principled
• 34:26
  Speaker 2: person that will not waver from those standards, and one
• 34:29
  Speaker 2: who is not hypocritical. Well, it says in verse eighteen,
• 34:32
  Speaker 2: and it's a very highly compressed sentence. The seed whose
• 34:37
  Speaker 2: fruit is righteousness is sown in peace by those who
• 34:42
  Speaker 2: make peace. Look at the verse in the letter of James.
• 34:48
  Speaker 2: The word peace most often means horizontal harmony. If I
• 34:53
  Speaker 2: could coin the word, James has in mind a peace
• 34:58
  Speaker 2: that is maint pained by being rightly related to one another.
• 35:04
  Speaker 2: His peace is not a theological piece. It is a
• 35:07
  Speaker 2: human peace, that is peace between human beings. He's saying.
• 35:13
  Speaker 2: The person who disturbs the peace between himself and another
• 35:16
  Speaker 2: individual will know nothing of living a righteous lifestyle under
• 35:21
  Speaker 2: God's eyes. A person who really maintains a peaceful relationship,
• 35:27
  Speaker 2: of course, without violating his standard, is a person who,
• 35:31
  Speaker 2: in the eyes of God, produces the fruit of righteousness.
• 35:38
  Speaker 2: The real test that comes upon every Christian group is
• 35:42
  Speaker 2: right along the lines we have mentioned. I was away
• 35:45
  Speaker 2: from you for a number of hours, as you know,
• 35:47
  Speaker 2: this past weekend. Left on Friday and returned the middle
• 35:52
  Speaker 2: of the afternoon today was with a group, a sister
• 35:55
  Speaker 2: church of like doctrine and like interest and in our
• 36:00
  Speaker 2: same situation, growing and enjoying God's blessing. We were away
• 36:05
  Speaker 2: in a little area known as Alpine up in the mountains.
• 36:11
  Speaker 2: There were about one hundred to one hundred and fifty there,
• 36:14
  Speaker 2: and I was pleased to see that there were there
• 36:17
  Speaker 2: a few who didn't know the Lord. In fact, there
• 36:22
  Speaker 2: was one couple there that had been there the year
• 36:24
  Speaker 2: before at the same conference, that didn't know the Lord then,
• 36:27
  Speaker 2: and during that same year they had not met the Lord,
• 36:29
  Speaker 2: but they came back and at this conference they met
• 36:34
  Speaker 2: the Lord. They shared this particular morning when we had
• 36:40
  Speaker 2: sharing time, that there was one thing that drew them
• 36:44
  Speaker 2: back to this particular conference, and that was the love
• 36:51
  Speaker 2: relationship that existed in this group and flowed over toward them.
• 36:59
  Speaker 2: Andrew threw them in, as one fellow said, happened to
• 37:02
  Speaker 2: be a black couple. The black fellow said, as he
• 37:04
  Speaker 2: stood up and tears were coming down his face, he said,
• 37:08
  Speaker 2: I have never in my life been loved like this,
• 37:15
  Speaker 2: even among fellow blacks. And I thought, what a super attitude,
• 37:23
  Speaker 2: what an atmosphere. And it's true, it was there because
• 37:30
  Speaker 2: that particular group has its one of its goals the
• 37:34
  Speaker 2: maintenance of the life of Jesus Christ as much as
• 37:38
  Speaker 2: is possible under His power during this day and age.
• 37:44
  Speaker 2: When one would share a need, there would be two
• 37:46
  Speaker 2: or three that would wish to pray and to help,
• 37:49
  Speaker 2: if possible, in meeting that particular need. You see, this
• 37:55
  Speaker 2: is not something that is New Testament first century good
• 37:58
  Speaker 2: for James and his congregation. This is something that is
• 38:02
  Speaker 2: alive and able to work today. I wrestled with how
• 38:07
  Speaker 2: it might be the best way to close this particular message,
• 38:10
  Speaker 2: and God directed me to a prayer that all of
• 38:13
  Speaker 2: you have read and even heard sung. Perhaps tonight it
• 38:17
  Speaker 2: will mean even more to you than it has before.
• 38:20
  Speaker 2: It's the prayer of Francis of as c C. Who asked, this, Lord,
• 38:29
  Speaker 2: make me an instrument of your peace. Where there is hatred,
• 38:36
  Speaker 2: Let me sow love where there is injury, pardon where
• 38:46
  Speaker 2: there is doubt, faith where there is despair, hope where
• 38:54
  Speaker 2: there is darkness, Light where there is saidness. Joy, Oh
• 39:05
  Speaker 2: Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek
• 39:10
  Speaker 2: to be consoled as to console, to be understood, as
• 39:15
  Speaker 2: to understand to be loved. As to love, for it
• 39:23
  Speaker 2: is in giving that we receive. It is in pardoning
• 39:28
  Speaker 2: that we are pardoned. It isn't dying, meaning dying to self,
• 39:37
  Speaker 2: that we are born to eternal life. Maybe a bow together.
• 39:47
  Speaker 2: Perhaps you have come into this place and, like my
• 39:52
  Speaker 2: friend at the conference, you have been around Christians a
• 39:55
  Speaker 2: long time, But honestly, in your soul have to admit,
• 40:02
  Speaker 2: I don't know Jesus Christ. How do I come to
• 40:06
  Speaker 2: know God? How do I become a member of his family?
• 40:14
  Speaker 2: Listen very carefully. Eternal life is a gift. Jesus Christ
• 40:23
  Speaker 2: died for you for your sins that you might have
• 40:30
  Speaker 2: that gift. Sin had to be judged, and God took
• 40:36
  Speaker 2: out all of his judgment upon sin upon his son.
• 40:45
  Speaker 2: So the real issue tonight is not what do you
• 40:49
  Speaker 2: do with your sins? They've been covered by the blood
• 40:55
  Speaker 2: of Christ. It's what will you do with Jesus Christ.
• 41:04
  Speaker 2: It's easy for us to take for granted in our
• 41:06
  Speaker 2: church of so many believers, that everyone here is a Christian.
• 41:11
  Speaker 2: I don't think that's true if you've never accepted the
• 41:16
  Speaker 2: gift that God offers you in Christ. The simple procedure
• 41:23
  Speaker 2: to follow is this search your heart, This evening. Realizing
• 41:33
  Speaker 2: the fact that you are a sinner, therefore separated from God,
• 41:41
  Speaker 2: tell God that you accept His son as your personal savior.
• 41:50
  Speaker 2: Tell him right where you're sitting in a simple prayer,
• 41:57
  Speaker 2: Heavenly Father, at this moment, I acknowledge my need for
• 42:03
  Speaker 2: Jesus Christ. My only hope for eternal life is in him.
• 42:12
  Speaker 2: He died for me, he rose from the dead for me.
• 42:18
  Speaker 2: I accept him personally into my heart. Thank you, Lord
• 42:26
  Speaker 2: for coming in to my life.
• 42:31
  Speaker 1: Our Father, we pause at the end of our time
• 42:33
  Speaker 1: together to thank you that the truths you have caused
• 42:37
  Speaker 1: us to examine today have not flowed from the lines
• 42:42
  Speaker 1: of fables or emerged from some fairy tale. Now these
• 42:48
  Speaker 1: truths come from the living, abiding, penetrating pages of your
• 42:54
  Speaker 1: inerrant word. That is why they cannot be ignored. We
• 43:01
  Speaker 1: simply are unable to overlook the significance of what you
• 43:06
  Speaker 1: have spoken and preserved in writing for us to regard
• 43:10
  Speaker 1: as to the importance of bringing our lives into full
• 43:14
  Speaker 1: unswerving submission to You and to your sovereign perfect will.
• 43:22
  Speaker 1: We've heard of the desert of the soul. We have
• 43:25
  Speaker 1: been reminded that there cannot be produced in the old
• 43:28
  Speaker 1: desert like soul of ours, any good fruit from the flesh.
• 43:34
  Speaker 1: That is why I ask today, dear Father, that you
• 43:38
  Speaker 1: might personally and in a direct way, make your son,
• 43:43
  Speaker 1: the Lord Jesus Christ, the most pre eminent one in
• 43:47
  Speaker 1: our minds, in our hearts, in our entire lives. Maybe
• 43:53
  Speaker 1: give ourselves fully to him and him alone, walking in
• 43:58
  Speaker 1: the spirit, that we might not fulfill the desert like
• 44:02
  Speaker 1: unproductive works of the flesh. And I also remember, Lord,
• 44:08
  Speaker 1: those who have heard your word and now have come
• 44:12
  Speaker 1: to know the Lord Jesus Christ, or they wish to
• 44:15
  Speaker 1: know him as Savior, may Your Spirit deal directly and
• 44:20
  Speaker 1: permanently in their lives. I conclude with great delight that
• 44:26
  Speaker 1: this responsibility of producing fruit eternal is not ours. It's
• 44:33
  Speaker 1: yours and yours alone to work in us. Giving ourselves
• 44:39
  Speaker 1: humbly and willingly to your control. We do so now
• 44:44
  Speaker 1: in the name of Jesus Christ, our Savior, our Friend,
• 44:48
  Speaker 1: and our God. We pray these things through Christ alone.
• 44:53
  Speaker 2: Amen.
• 44:56
  Speaker 3: The preceding message, The Wise, the Unwise and the Otherwise
• 45:01
  Speaker 3: Part two was copyrighted in nineteen seventy four, two thousand three,
• 45:07
  Speaker 3: and twenty sixteen, and the sound recording was copyrighted in
• 45:11
  Speaker 3: twenty sixteen by Charles R. Swindall, Inc. All rights are
• 45:16
  Speaker 3: reserved worldwide. Duplication of copyrighted material for commercial use is
• 45:22
  Speaker 3: strictly prohibited