Now let's turn in our Bibles to the epistle of James. James chapter 2. The epistle of James, the second chapter. We're reading the first nine verses together. James chapter 2. My brethren, have not the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with respect of persons. For if there come unto your assembly a man with a gold ring in goodly apparel, and there come in also a poor man in vile raiment, and ye have respect to him that weareth the gay clothing, and say unto him, Sit thou here in a good place, and say to the poor, Stand thou there, or sit here under my footstool, are ye not then partial in yourselves? and are become judges of evil thoughts. Hearken, my beloved brethren, hath not God chosen the poor of this world, rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom which He hath promised to them that love Him? But ye have despised the poor. Do not rich men oppress you and draw you before the judgment seats? Do not they blaspheme that worthy name by which you're called? If ye fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself, ye do well. But if ye have respect to persons, ye commit sin and are convinced of the law. as transgressors. Amen. The Lord will add His blessing to these verses from His own precious Word for His name's sake. Let's bow together briefly in prayer. Father in Heaven, still us now in Thy presence. We cry again that Thou wilt give a word for the people. Save us from sermons. Give us a message from Heaven. a word from God to every soul. Speak to the lost to bring them to saving faith in Christ. Speak to the backslidden of heart to restore to them the joy of thy salvation. Speak to every saint of God with every struggle and every burden of life and every distraction of the world And Lord, give us a word that will set us on our way rejoicing in Christ, stronger than ever in our commitment to Him. We ask in Jesus' name. Amen. This morning I want to turn your attention to a text of Scripture that the Lord blessed to my own heart as I was reading His word this week. It's a text that you've heard Many, many times, I have no doubt. Texts I have read, I couldn't tell you how many times. And yet I have to confess that in over 50 years of preaching, I have never preached on it. It's the first verse of James chapter 2. My brethren, have not or hold not, you can translate it either way, have not the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with respect of persons. When you read the epistle of James, you have to be struck with the number of memorable and remarkable phrases, turns of phrase, and outstanding expressions that James uses. Some of them are not unique to him, and others are. Time forbids that we go through the book underlining those remarkable and memorable expressions, but I commend them to you to have a look at them when you're reading through this little epistle. But of all those remarkable words and phrases, I think there's nothing more remarkable really in this book than this particular text that we have chosen this morning and the words in it. You have here the expression, the faith of the Lord Jesus Christ. I always like to point out to people that, and this slows you up a little bit, makes you think when you're studying the Bible. The little word of in English is a very simple word, and since we use it in our daily language, it's a word that's in the living language of a living people, we don't really stop to think of the variety of meanings in it. But it's a little word that has a vast meaning. I don't want to get technical at all, but behind that word in English is a particular form of Greek words. And if you were to look up a book of advanced Greek, when they study that form of the word, the variety of its meanings takes up over 100 pages. of a major textbook. So it's always good to stop and figure out exactly what does it mean. The faith of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now that could well mean, when it speaks, say, of the faith of Alan Kearns, that means normally what Alan Kearns believes. What my belief is. I'm doing the believing. That's not what it means here, what the Lord Jesus believes. It may well mean, and in most cases this phrase does mean, what we believe about Him. It is the Gospel. So, you could read this, my brethren, do not hold the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with respect to persons. But it also means, in parts of Scripture, Our actual believing. Have faith in God, the Lord Jesus said in Mark 11, verse 22. Have faith in God. And it's the same verb here, and it's the same construction of language here, when it's talking about having faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. There is a command here to have faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus said, John 14, you believe in God, believe also in Me. That is the command of Scripture. Acts 16.31, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. This is the command of Scripture, that we believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. If you do not believe in Jesus Christ as your Savior, you are committing sin. When the Holy Ghost was sent into the world, He was sent to convince or convict the world of sin. Why of sin? Because they believe not. Now, that's not the only sin that men commit. But I want to tell you, that is one of the most grievous things. When God speaks that you don't believe Him, you, the creature, dare to call God a liar? When God sets His Son before you to be believed in, to be trusted, and you say, He is not trustworthy, He is not worthy of my trust. What a crime that is! This is a command to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. But it is a command to believe in Him, as we shall see as we proceed, in a particular way. Do not believe in Him with respect of persons. We'll get to that in just a moment. Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. That raises the question for you, for me, do I have faith in Jesus Christ? And it raises a second question. The faith that I profess in Jesus Christ Is it the kind of faith that James is talking about? Because this is a major theme in this little epistle. James says there's a faith that even the devils have. The devils believe and tremble. There's a faith that is not right with God. There's a faith, and I don't have time to relate this in detail if you go back into the first chapter, that lets you do all the works of religion. But James says that man's religion is vain. There's a faith that is dead. There's a faith that produces nothing but presumption and false assurance. So there is a question, do I believe in Jesus Christ? And is my profession of faith a biblical profession? Is it a Spirit-born profession of faith? Is it the kind of faith that is a living faith in Jesus Christ? Have faith, but do not have it with respective persons. With respective persons, that's an interesting turn of phrase as well. It's a very telling one. Literally, the word means holding or the holding of faces or appearances. The basic word behind this is the Greek word for face or appearance. Holding faces or appearances. Now what's that mean? What it's talking about is treating people according to earthly or worldly appearances or circumstances. Without regard to their real and substantial worth, and especially regarding people because of their appearances, usually because of wealth, or position, or power, for personal gain. Now obviously, from what James says, this was a problem in the people he was writing to. Many in the church were fawning on the rich and powerful people, just because they were rich and powerful, and they were despising the poor and the weak brethren, just because they were poor and they were weak. And it was all without regard to their personal spiritual worth. Now that was a sin that was taking place in the church. James is writing to my brethren. This was happening among Christians. And let me tell you, it still happens among Christians. And it still happens in churches. And I have to be honest, it still happens with preachers. Nothing sickens me more. Now, I have to be careful what I say here. I don't know a lot of rich people, but I have known a few. And some of them have been very, very godly people, very gracious people, to whom the work of God has been greatly indebted. I have known others, and they were worth nothing, no matter how much their bank balance was. But if there's one thing that has sickened me, it always has, it's to see preachers slobbering over people just because they're rich, or because of their position, or because of the power that they have. One of the most uncomfortable experiences I ever had was I was invited by a preacher, and I'll be very vague here. You wouldn't know him at all, so I'll still be vague anyway. I was invited by a preacher to preach in his pulpit. I knew it was going to be tough, because first of all, everything ran by the clock. And if he had gone one second over the hour, he would have been in trouble. Well, you see, that's not my style. I do not believe that people who can spend three or four hours watching a football match, or a tennis match, or a cricket match on television, or spend hours shopping, or whatever, and they suddenly get to God's house and time matters so much. If you go a second over 60 minutes, I don't know where they get that in the Bible, by the way, the 60 minutes. suddenly you're in trouble. I knew it was not going to be my type of place. But what really struck me is this. This man, who was a good man in his way, was really a paid lackey. He was a paid mouthpiece of a few rich men who lavished things upon him. but who pulled all the strings so that whatever was done, whatever was said, was all choreographed by a few rich and powerful men. I would not have lasted one week in that church or else they wouldn't have lasted. That's the type of thing that James is talking about here. To fawn over some people because of an apparent worth, their power, their position, their possessions, and despise other people despite their real spiritual and actual worth runs contrary to the faith of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory. I want you to get something here. Notice, hold, now this is I realize more in English than in Greek, but the thought holds good. Hold the faith. Holding the faces. And there's a contrast there. These two things don't go together. If I'm holding the faith of the Lord Jesus Christ, and I've got my eyes on Him, the Lord of glory, then how can I be holding the faces of man in such a way that I sin against God and against His people? by cow-towing to the great of this world and despising saints of God. There's no particular virtue in being poor, but there's no vice in being poor either. And James is saying here, And we'll get to this if time permits, but I'll say it now in case we don't. James is saying, you deal with people through Christ with your eyes on Him. You get your eyes on Him and as you're looking at Him, that's how you deal with other people. Not because of their bank balance or their position or their job or their fame or anything else. It's because of Christ. Oh, brethren, if we could learn to deal with each other because of Christ, if we could learn to relate to each other because of Christ, you know, we would get over one of the most difficult things that it is for Irish people north or south to get over. And especially among Christians. And that is, where you differ from somebody. We have this notion that if you differ from somebody and you're not ugly about it, then you're not being faithful. That's the prevailing thought among so many. I disagree with you in anything unless I'm in your face about it. I'm not being honest. I'm not being faithful. Rubbish. Absolute rubbish. Let's get our eyes on the face that really counts, that of Christ. And in the light of that, let's deal with all our brethren and indeed everybody else. Now, James emphasizes this point by the next words that he uses because he says, the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory. Now, if you look at it very carefully, you'll see the words, the Lord. before the words of glory. They're in italics. In other words, what James simply said was strange sounding, but very, very meaningful. The faith of our Lord Jesus Christ of glory. The faith of our Lord Jesus Christ of glory. Now those words have been variously understood and variously translated. That phrase tells us who the Lord Jesus Christ is. That's His deity. He is the Lord of glory. He is of glory. Remember I said the word of can have many various significances. Well, He's of glory in the sense He's from glory, down from His glory, ever loving and lasting story, the Savior came. Listen, He's from glory. He's the Lord over glory, for He's the Lord of heaven. He's the God of glory. You see, this word glory emphasizes the essential deity of the Lord Jesus Christ. In the Old Testament, the word glory refers, and I'm going to quote here the words of a very eminent modern Bible scholar, when he said it refers to the reality of God's presence manifested in power, splendor, and holiness as the supreme ruler of His people. What is the glory of God in Scripture? The glory of God is the reality of His presence manifested in power, splendor, and holiness. Jonathan Edwards put it this way. He said, God's name and His glory, at least very often, signify the same thing in Scripture. So when we read He's the Lord of Glory, He is not what the Unitarians say He is, a mere creature. He's the Lord of Glory. He is truly, essentially, and eternally God. So this text then is stating The Deity of Christ, the Lord of Glory. That little phrase parallels others like Ephesians 1.17, the Father of Glory. That speaks of the Deity of the Father. We read in Acts 7, the God of Glory. Read in Psalm 24, the King of Glory. Very, very close to the Lord of Glory. The King of Glory. And the psalmist asked the question, Who is this King of Glory? And he gives the answer, He is the Lord. He is the Lord of Hosts. He is the Lord Almighty. He is the King of Glory. And so this is a wonderful and a glorious title that James is using. Our Lord Jesus Christ. of glory. It tells us who He is. It also tells us where He is. This is His victory. Where is He? He is the Lord of glory. Psalm 68 quoted in Ephesians chapter 4. He hath ascended up on high. He hath led captivity captive. You see, the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ presents us not with a Christ on a cross as in a Roman crucifix. He does not present us with the Christ of the modernist whose body moldered in some unknown grave. The Gospel of Christ presents to us a Savior who is risen from the dead. He rose in the body in which He was crucified, risen from the dead, glorified, exalted to the right hand of the Majesty on high, a Savior who lives and reigns in grace from the throne of glory. Our Lord Jesus Christ of glory tells us who He is. It tells us where He is. And it tells us what He is. Here's His glory. You see, when you read of the Word of Power, get back to that little word, of, and the variety of its meanings. When you read of the Word of Power, that phrase means the powerful Word. When you read the Lord Jesus Christ of glory, it means the glorious Christ. So this tells us what He is. And I want us to think of that today particularly. What He is. There's a wonderful message here we've got to get. This is the message of the whole text. The Lord Jesus Christ is altogether glorious. I want you to take that home with you today. The Lord Jesus Christ is altogether glorious. And this conviction governs both our faith and our practice. He's altogether glorious. Now, I want to be very simple about this today. I want us to get it to our hearts. Everything about Christ is glorious. Everything about Him is glorious. Now, this goes right to the heart of what James is arguing here in this portion of Scripture. We shouldn't judge according to people's faces. We shouldn't judge by worldly appearances. or worldly circumstances. Why? Well, judged by that standard, judged by worldly appearances, judged by worldly circumstances, the Lord Jesus Christ wouldn't have been glorious. The world has never recognized His glory. Didn't Paul write in 1 Corinthians chapter 2 that if they had known, then they wouldn't have crucified the Lord of glory. They didn't recognize Him. According to the world, there was nothing glorious about His birth, His life, His station in life, His career, His death, or anything else about Him. But appearances can be deceptive. He is altogether glorious. He came from glory. He went back to glory. He is dwelling in glory. He will return in glory. And He will reign in glory. So everything about Him is glorious. He is the all-glorious Christ. And at every step of His earthly ministry, the Lord Jesus Christ shows His true identity and His glorious sovereignty over heaven, earth, and hell. His birth was glorious. I was just thinking this morning as I was praying about this message and this meeting, Luke chapter 2 verse 14. It'll be read probably here next Sunday evening. I have no doubt when the young people are taking part, if they're going to read, they'll read Luke 2. All around the world this will be read again. The angels came and they cried, glory to God in the highest and on earth peace, goodwill toward men. Glory to God in the highest. Do you ever stop and think of that? This was now announcing a birth of which most of the world's population then was in ignorance. It was a birth that took place in such obscurity that the babe was laid in a manger. And though that sounds very romantic as singing around a Christmas tree, there's nothing romantic about A girl giving birth to a baby, wrapping it in the poorest of garments and placing it in a cattle feeding trough. Nothing romantic about that. And yet about this birth, the angels of heaven are singing, glory to God in the highest. And that word that's translated in the highest, it means very, very simply, glory to the Most High God in the highest reaches of heaven, among the highest order of His creatures, the angels and the archangels. But it means glory to God in the highest possible degree. Now let that sink in. What does that tell you about this birth? James is saying He's our Lord Jesus Christ of glory. Forget about mere earthly appearances. As I say, there's no royal crib. There's a cattle feeding trough. There's no glory there in the world's eyes. Forget about appearances. This is worthy of the highest praise that can ever be given to God. Glorious birth. A virgin birth. Unto us a child is born. Unto us a son is given. My, what a glorious thing. shall be called wonderful, counselor. What names, but best of all, God with us. Glorious in His birth. Glorious in His life. Glorious even in His death. I remember preaching on the glory of the cross, and one of the points I made was the glory of the shame of the cross. We don't usually associate those thoughts, but the Bible does. In John 12, verse 23, the Lord Jesus said that the hour has come Oh, that's a focal point in the ministry of Christ. He'd always been saying my hour has not yet come. Now He says the hour has come. It's arrived. Now He's going out to die, but He said that the Son of Man should be glorified. Oh, there's a glory in the death of Christ. A glory because there He sacrificed Himself a sinless, spotless offering unto God. A sacrifice of propitiation, that means a sacrifice satisfying the law of God that appeased and put away the wrath of God that was our due. A sacrifice of expiation, that means a sacrifice that dealt with the guilt of our sins and eradicated it. A sacrifice of reconciliation that bridged the gulf between us and our God and brought us out of enmity into friendship and acceptance with our Creator. A sacrifice of precious blood, atoning blood. Oh, the glory of the death of Christ. When God shrouded that cross in darkness, And Jehovah bade his sword awake against him who was his fellow, laid our sins on him, the spotless Lamb of God, and purchased our eternal redemption. Oh, there's a glory in his death. He was glorious in his resurrection. For up from the grave, I love that old Easter hymn. Well, I say an Easter hymn personally. I don't ever limit hymns to seasons. My wife sometimes makes wry comments about the noises I make about the house, usually whistling. I whistle when I'm not even aware that I'm whistling. And in the middle of July I'll be whistling Christmas carols, which you'd say sounds very seasonal or something sarcastic like that. But this Advent hymn is good any time of the year, and this Easter hymn is as well. Low in the grave he lay, Jesus my Saviour. He tore the bars away, Jesus my Lord. could not keep its prey. And up from the grave he arose. You know, that's what sets the Savior apart from every other claimed Savior, Deliverer, Prophet, and religious leader. Muhammad came and went. He went to his grave and he's there still as to his body. He's there still. The Buddha died and he's dead still. All the philosophers died and they're dead still. But there was one who said, no man can take my life from me. I have the power to lay it down and I have the power to take it up again. There was one man who could challenge his adversaries who were threatening to kill him, and say, destroy this body, and in three days I will raise it up again. Now anybody could say that and be written off as a crank, but only the Son of God could say it and then actually do it. and up from the grave he arose. All glorious in his resurrection, glorious in his session at God's right hand. He's ascended to the right hand of God where he intercedes for us. And thank God his coming will be a coming in glory. You see, everything about our Savior is glorious. And that leads me to say that Everything that He does in and with us is glorious. You take His dealings with the saints. The Lord Jesus always shows His people His glory. Didn't John say that in John chapter 1? We beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. We beheld His glory. Now, John was very much aware that he was writing to people who hadn't seen Christ in the flesh. That comes out clearly in 1 John chapter 1. We got to see Him. We got to behold Him. We got to hear Him. We got to handle Him. But he went on to say, now I'm writing to you who didn't have those personal privileges. But you have the same fellowship with the same Christ because He always reveals His glory to His people. Do you remember when Saul of Tarsus was on the road to Damascus? What happened? The Lord Jesus revealed His glory to him. And the wonderful thing is this, He blinded him to all around him in the world. Saul no longer could see what was going on in the world. He was no longer taken up with the faces of men, but he was filled with the glory of the Lord, the glory of the Savior dawned upon him. And there's a sense in which the Lord Jesus does that for every person He saves. God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, has shined in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. That's the testimony of every Christian. Believer, go back to the day you were saved. What happened that day? You were in darkness. We know that. Paul wrote to the Ephesians in chapter 5, verse 8, you were sometime darkness. Darkness ruled our minds. Darkness ruled our hearts. Darkness was the pathway we were treading. Eternal darkness was the destiny to which we were going. But God commanded the light to shine out of darkness. The glory broken upon us. We saw Christ in a new way. And in His light we saw ourselves in a new way. We saw how wretched and vile and hopeless we were. But thank God in Him we saw God's provision, God's answer, God's given Redeemer. And so we believed on Him as the Lord of glory. There is a heresy going about it. It gained great traction in the United States and caused great controversy. still does to this day, about what they call Lordship Salvation. And there were some people who wanted you to believe that you could accept Jesus Christ as your Savior from hell while consciously rejecting Him as your Lord in your life. Now once I put it in those stark terms, you realize how stupid that is. When you come to the Savior, it's not a half a Christ. It's not a truncated Christ. It's not some schizophrenic Christ you're coming to. It's a whole Christ. He is our Lord Jesus Christ of glory. That's who He is. So when Christ revealed Himself to His people, they believed in Him as the Lord of glory. And therefore, He brought them out of darkness. And He brings us out of darkness. in order to live in the light of the glory of God in Him. Peter said in 1 Peter 2 verse 9, that He hath called us out of darkness into His marvelous light. Now why did He call us into His marvelous light? Well, Paul puts it like this in 1 Thessalonians 2 verse 12, that ye would walk worthy of God who hath called you to His kingdom and glory. God called us to walk in the glory of Christ. Now at every step, therefore, the Savior's dealing with us is glorious. I will simply leave it with you. He gives us a glorious life. You know, it's good to be saved. Now you wouldn't think that to look at some Christians when they get bitter in their heart and they run around. You hear the faces like Lurgan Spades I'm not a gardener. I don't dig. I have a holy hatred. If it's not H-O-L-Y, it's the other kind of holy. It's a whole hatred of gardening. And if you're a gardener, don't be insulted. You have my blessing. I married a gardener, and she can do it all with my blessing. The donkey work I do, but I don't like spades. I couldn't tell you a Lurgan spade from a Belfast spade. I don't know why it's a Lurgan spade. But you know what the saying means, don't you? Dr. Paisley used to talk about Christians who would get so bitter, they would make buttermilk sour. You've heard that, haven't you? And that's a shame. Because it's a great thing to be saved! I've quoted before from this pulpit the words of the late Dr. Ken Connolly. Many of you will, I hope, remember him. One of the greatest preachers I've ever had the privilege of knowing and listening to. I had the privilege of being with Brother Ken just a number of weeks before he died. He wasn't expected to die, but as you remember, he had Parkinson's disease and it was progressing. Ken preached in my church in Greenville. His hands were trembling. He was on the drugs to try and control it. And it would wipe out his memory at times. And this was a preacher who had a photographic memory and depended on his memory so much. Ken dealt with it. And he'd put the hand in the pocket. He'd make a few jokes about his Parkinson's disease and tell the people, don't worry. First of all, the good news is it's not contagious. And the second bit of good news is I'm not dangerous. And then he would say, Something like this. He says, a woman asked me, Dr. Connolly, how are you? And she was expecting him to give her a 15 minute rundown on his health condition. And he looked at her and he says, Madam, I'm saved by the grace of God. I'm washed in the blood of Christ. God is my Father. Jesus Christ is my Savior. The Holy Spirit is my Comforter. My sins are forgiven. I'm under the blood. I'm on my way to heaven. I'm a child of God, a son of the King, a joint heir with Christ. And you ask me how I am? What a testimony. And this was not glib. This was a man who was facing real problems, real troubles in life. This was not from somebody who was cruising through without anything to worry him. This was a man who had everything, humanly speaking, at stake. But this is the reality he was living in. It's a great thing to be saved. Never let the devil rob you of that, my friend. It's a great thing to be saved. It's a glorious life that he gives us. It's eternal life. He gives us a glorious love, His love for us. Let it lead to our love for Him and our love for each other. He leads us into a glorious liberty, the liberty of the sons of God. He makes us partakers of His glory and assures us of a home in glory forever, so that now and forever He'll be glorified in us. Everything he does for his people is glorious. And let me tell you, everything he does with us is glorious. I want you to understand that. I don't understand many of the things the Lord is doing with his people. In the early church, they could not have understood why God had Stephen as the first martyr. That's what we would call counterintuitive. That would be, he'd have been the last man. I don't want to go into theological reasons for what I'm about to say, but as I read the Scriptures, I have come to the conclusion, theologically speaking, grasping the Gospel, understanding where it was all leading, Stephen was miles ahead of Peter, James, John, and the whole bunch of the apostles at that point. At least he was the one speaking it. He had grasped this. He was totally filled with the Spirit of God in such a way that he was completely victorious in every public dispute, debate, or discussion. They couldn't withstand his words. He knew where the gospel was leading. Have a look at the accusation against him and then see why it was said. This man was a magnificent preacher. And suddenly, first to die. Did that make sense? Not to man, but it did to God. I think it would be true to say it was at least partially through that God began to deal with Saul of Tarsus. to raise even a greater than Stephen. I don't know why you're suffering the things that you're suffering. And anybody who comes to tell you he does know why, dismiss him because he's a crank or a lunatic. He doesn't. The secret things belong to the Lord our God. I don't understand by a young man I first had sing for me in my church in Dunmurray, who had the loveliest singing voice of any man I ever heard in this country, and maybe anywhere else for that matter. Beautiful voice. A trophy of grace himself, and he sang with such humility, such beauty, and such a presentation of Christ. When I visited him in hospital and that big six foot two or three frame was reduced to a skeleton and the forearms were just the thickness of my two fingers and the agony was excruciating. I couldn't say why. Except even so, Father, for so it seemed good in thy sight. Let's understand the Lord has not turned against us when we are facing things we don't understand. Everything he does is right because he's doing it. Everything he says is true because he's saying it. Every dealing with us is glorious because he is all glorious. Everything he does for us is glorious. Everything he does with us is glorious. Someday, somewhere, we'll understand. What I do now, thou know'st not, but thou shalt know hereafter. Burdened believer, look up and take heart. For if you don't know why, remember, He knows. He's glorious in His dealings with sinners. But what a glory that will be when He judges them. The glory of His justice. He's the all-glorious Christ. And that leads me to close with this. My time is gone. The glory of this Christ in whom we believe must govern and shine through all our lives. Remember this text is part of an argument against partiality. Holding people's faces and appearances to be more important than reality. Kowtowing to the great and despising the poor. That's the argument. Remember that. And if there's one thing that comes out, jumping out of this text, it's this. We learn from looking at Christ and his life on earth that true glory has absolutely nothing to do with human position, human power, or human possessions. Nothing. Look at that thesis. And in the light of that face, deal with other people, deal with the world around you. I've closed the book because if I were to deal with that, it would be another sermon. Let me tell you, there's only two things, well, three things really can happen when you look out at the world. Either you can look out at the world and be so taken in by its appearance that you're dazzled by it. And if you're dazzled by it, by its glitz, its glamour, that's an attraction. And that will lead you to compromise with the world and with sin. Another way when you look out in the face of this world and its circumstances and its glitz and its glamour, you can be intimidated by it. And that will lead you to be fearful. Unmute your testimony. Soft pedal. And this is what James is saying. Neither of those things. Don't be entranced by the world. And don't be intimidated by the world. How do you accomplish that? Get your eyes on Him. Let the only face we look at and react to be the face of our Lord Jesus Christ of glory. And if I react to that, my reaction to the world will be the right one. I'll be in it, but not of it. I'll seek to win people from it without myself going into it. and I'll deal with God's people right. I finish with the point that I made a little earlier. Brethren, sisters in Christ, let us honestly get such a sight of Christ and let's learn to look at each other as people who are in Christ and start dealing with each other as Christians ought, governed by a sight of our Lord Jesus Christ of glory. Let's bow our heads in prayer. Let's all pray. In a moment the meeting will be over. We'll have no closing hymn as time has gone. Let's just take a moment and ask the Lord first to give us a thankful heart for a glorious Savior, the all-glorious Christ. And then ask the Lord to forgive us for ever being either entranced by or intimidated by the face of the world. And ask the Lord then to give us grace to live in such a way that we reflect the glory of our glorious Savior. Father in heaven, bless Thy Word to every heart. Give fruit for it, we pray. Encourage the burdened among Thy people. Give vision, a vision of Christ and a Christ-like vision of the lost. Give us, O God, we pray, a sight of the face of our Redeemer that we will not fear the face of man. Give us, O God, the grace to treat our brethren as those who are beloved of Christ. We do ask Thee in Jesus' name to cut out from among Thy people this species of worldliness that has us so enamored with worldly appearance that we lose out in spiritual reality. Bless Thy word to our hearts. Speak to any who are not saved. Lord, Thou hast commanded them to have faith in Christ. We ask in Jesus' name that Thou will bring them to the Saviour. O God, call men out of darkness into light from the power of Satan unto God. warm the hearts that have grown cold. O Lord, we ask Thee, turn every eye upon our Saviour. Hear our prayer and part us with Thy very richest blessing. Grant that the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God, our Father, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, our Comforter, may be the abiding portion of all God's people both this Sabbath day And until our Savior either calls us home or comes again in all His glory, we pray these things, giving Thee our thanks. In Jesus' name, Amen.