So you are the salt of the earth, and according to Jesus, we're to be the light of the world, and that's why we've been studying counseling. Our mission, yours and mine, is to give godly counsel. That's where we started, and then we went and spent time on the superiority of Christian counsel, what makes it the ultimate in counsel. And then the last time we were together, our subject was where does Christian counseling begin? And of course, we learn that the preparations in the heart of man and the answer of the tongue is from the Lord. So preparation begins with getting our heart ready. Now today, our subject is this one. What is Christian counseling? How do we define what it is? If that's in fact our mission, it's certainly important for us to be able to answer this question of all the questions, what is it? What do we talk about? We talk about Christian counseling. What is it? So that's our subject today. Join me now. It's not going to be too long, I don't think, but you never know. And so, let's talk about what is Christian counseling. So, the first thing we want to understand is that Christian counseling is counseling that represents Christ. Look at the scripture. All things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, now watch this, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation to wit that God was in Christ Reconciling the world unto himself, right now he's trying to get the wicked world to come together with him and be right and proper and righteous. So he was in Christ, that's what Christ was doing here, reconciling the world unto himself. Now watch this phrase, not imputing their trespasses unto them. Oh my goodness, this is a loaded statement. He decided that if he's going to win, he wouldn't count up their trespasses because reconciliation, all that's going to do is produce escalation. And so it is with us when we try to represent Christ in dealing with somebody. We can't go in there holding their sins against them. Now, why is that? I think this is the most stunning thing I know about God, and I know a bunch, because the Bible is full of indications of what God is really like. By the way, how do you know what God's like? You know what He's like by the things which He's made. You know what God's like by the things he has said. You know what God is like by the things he has done. That's what the cross is all about, see. So, so this is, the amazing thing to me about God is he, he loves sinners. And I have to, I gotta get on board with that. I gotta love sinners. Christian counseling represents Christ and he never approaches people throwing dirt in their face. They're already dirty enough. He puts that out of the way and says, let's have a talk. He lays aside their sins for the moment to see if reconciliation is possible. And then he says, and the scripture says, and has committed unto us the word of reconciliation. Watch it now. Here it is. Look at this now. Now then, now then, we, you and I, are ambassadors for Christ. Ambassadors for Christ, what is that? An ambassador is someone who has the legal right and ability to represent another. We send an ambassador to each country of the world, et cetera. They act on behalf of our country while they're in the other country. We are represented, we are his, I think J.B. Phillips calls it, we are his fixed representatives. We have been authorized to represent Jesus Christ. Can you imagine that? We are ambassadors for Christ. Now watch this. As though God did beseech you by us. Because we're representing him now and he is wanting to be reconciled to you and we are the mediators of the source. We are the ambassadors. So we pray thee in Christ's head, be reconciled to God. And I don't want you to miss this. We pray you, we are acting in Christ's stead to bring people to God. So, Christian counseling is, first of all, that which represents God. Here's the translation. We are the representatives God uses to persuade men and women to drop their differences with God and enter into God's work of making things right. So, number one, Christian counseling, by definition, is counseling that represents Christ. Secondly, it's counseling that represents the Holy Spirit. So, him that hath the ear to hear, let him hear with the Spirit. We represent Jesus and we represent the Holy Spirit. Look here now. When he, the spirit of truth has come, don't you love that name, the spirit of truth? Our website is nothingbutthetruth.org. So we want to stick with Jesus and the Holy Spirit. When the spirit of truth has come, look at this, he will guide you into all truth. So Christian counseling is allowing the Holy Spirit to guide us into truth, not some truth, all the truth. Nothing but the truth. So Jesus goes on to say, for he shall not speak of himself, But what shall ever he hear, that shall he speak, and he will show you things to come. He shall glorify me. So these two, the Spirit and the Son, work very closely together. He shall glorify me, for he shall receive of mine, and he's gonna show it unto you. Christian counseling represents Christ, and Christian counseling represents the Holy Spirit. Remember the scripture. In fact, let me put it on the screen for you. It's not by might nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the Lord of hosts. So, Christian counseling represents Jesus. It represents the Holy Spirit and gives the Holy Spirit full play to help us in the delivering the counsel of God to others. Number three, Christian counseling not only represents Jesus and it represents the Holy Spirit, but it also represents The Word of God. This is a landmark scripture. Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God. This is important, every word. Not just some of the words, but all of them, that proceeds out of the mouth of God. Christian counseling represents Jesus, the Holy Spirit, and the Word of God. In fact, I love what David said. Look what he said. Thy testimonies are my delight, and they are my counselors. Make me to understand the way of thy precepts, so shall I talk of thy wondrous works. When you are delivering the counsel of God, that is, the counsel that represents Jesus, represents the Holy Spirit, and represents the Word of God to somebody else, you are talking about wonderful things, solutions. We're talking about, we're talking about, it can't get any better, you speak of wondrous things to others. So, Christian counseling is counseling that represents Jesus, it represents the Holy Spirit, it represents the Word of God, and fourthly, it represents love. Love. But this is the message that you have heard from the beginning, that we should love one another. Any counsel that is not delivered lovingly is not Christian counseling. Uh-oh. That's what this is about. Counseling that represents Jesus. Counseling that represents the Holy Spirit. Counseling that represents the Word of God. And counseling that represents genuine love. Love. That's the stuff of God. It is His core. In fact, Scripture says God is love. If you had to find one word to describe, that would be it. So, here's a good definition for love. Love is the unrelenting pursuit of the highest good of another person until it becomes a reality. Hey, get in your notes. It is the unrelenting pursuit of the highest good of others until that highest good becomes a reality. That's what love is. So Christian counseling represents love. So back to the scripture. This is a message we heard from the beginning that we should love one another. Beloved, let us love one another. For love is of God. Any Christian counseling that doesn't have love is not love that comes from God. For love is of God. And everyone that loveth is born of God and knows God, but he that loves not does not know God because God is love. So, Christian counseling means counsel that represents Jesus, represents the Holy Spirit, represents the Word of God, and represents love. Any advice to others that isn't motivated by love is not Christian counseling. Any advice given to another that is delivered in such a manner that's not a loving manner is not Christian counsel. because Christian council represents Christ, his spirit, his word, and love, because that's what God is really like. So fellow ambassador, let's get to it. So what does it mean, and how shall we represent Christ, his spirit, his word, and love? So I'm gonna give you a couple of tips on this, and get ready for the next time we get together, but this is really important. We represent Christ, the Holy Spirit, the Word of God, and love, number one, by our attitude towards sinners. Remember a moment ago, I told you God loves sinners? Look at this. When the scribes and the Pharisees saw Jesus eating with the Republicans, no, excuse me, the publicans and the sinners, they said unto his disciples, Why is he doing this? How is it that he eats and drinks with Republicans and why is he with sinners? And when Jesus heard it, he said unto them, they that are whole have no need of a doctor, a physician, but they that are sick, I did not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance. Watch this now. He befriended sinners, not because he wanted them as friends particularly, because it wasn't a matter of fellowship, it was a matter of mission. He said, I've come to call these people to change. but he associated with them. I'm not suggesting in any way that you seek out fellowship with sinners, because fellowship is a different thing. That's why the scripture says, make no friendship with an angry man, no friendship, lest thou learn his ways, get a snare to your soul. I'm not talking about a friendship motivated thing, we're talking about a friendship relationship with the purpose of helping them come to repentance. So, Jesus goes on to say, and he says, you've heard, thou shalt love thy neighbor and hate thine enemy. But, watch this now. But I say unto you, love your enemies. Oh, really? Bless them that curse you. Do good to them that hate you. Pray for them which mock and despitefully use you and persecute you, say all manner of evil against you." Such a radical idea, it seems. However, I think it was Abraham Lincoln that learned this. He said, the best way to deal with your enemy is to turn him into a friend. And why is Jesus saying, love your enemies? Like if he's your enemy, why don't we do back to him what he does to us? Here's the reason. Evil can never be overcome by more evil. If someone is evil and you're evil back, and we don't, we justify ourselves. Oh, he said this to me, so I said that to him. That is not a Christian thing at all. That's a worldly thing at best and demonic at worst. See, we don't return good for good and evil for evil. We return good for good, and we return good for evil. We love our enemies. We bless those that curse us. Because evil can only be overcome, not by other evil, continued evil, adjusted evil, any other kind of evil. Evil can only be overcome by good. Isn't that what the plain teaching of Scripture is? Overcome evil with good. Now, I want to go back and let you see this again. Because I want you to really, I want you to grasp the import of this. And Jesus is saying, you've heard it said you should love your enemies, hate your enemies, love your friends. But I'm saying, love your enemies, bless those that curse you, do good to them that hate you, pray for them that's faithful to you. Now watch this, watch it now, watch this. that ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven. If we really are the children of our Father which is in heaven, it shows because we love our enemies. If we're doing back to others what they do to us, if they sneer at us and we sneer back, if they mock us and we mock back, that's not the children of the Father in heaven. I know there are some scriptures that just kind of jerk the slack out of you. This is one of them, isn't it? That the proof that we are children of the Heavenly Father is that we love our enemies. He goes on to say, for if you love them which love you, big deal. The Republicans do the same. The sinners do the same. If somebody's nice to you and you're nice back, big deal. Everybody's like that or ought to be. I mean, there are some who, when you do something good to them, do evil back. That's possible. But if you love those that love you, there's no reward for that. Everybody does that. And if you salute your brother only, if you say, hello, how are you? Have a nice day. What do you more than anybody else? Everybody does that. Now, I don't want you to miss this next verse. In this matter of which the text is speaking about loving your enemies, blessing those that curse you, Jesus ends up by saying in this issue of loving your enemy and doing good to those that hate you, watch it now, I don't want you to miss this. In this matter, I want you to be perfect towards everybody, all the time, every time. I want you to be perfect about this. Even as your father, which is heaven, is perfect. He has a perfect attitude towards sinners. And his attitude is always loving, and it's always redemptive, it's always about recovery, it's always about imitation, come unto me if you're weary, I'll give you rest, come on, come to me, come to me. He doesn't let the sinfulness of the sinner dictate his emotional response to them. He loves sinners. I don't know, I love Jesus. You remember John chapter five, verse 40, I think it is. Then we see Jesus aching with disappointment, and this is what he said. You will not come to me that you might have life. Catch the pathos. Catch the feeling. He thinks we have forgotten that God has feelings. Just because he's big and powerful and smart doesn't mean, in fact, it doesn't mean he doesn't have feelings. It means his feelings are even more exaggerated. You will not come to me that you might have life. Do you remember when I stood in the same place where Jesus said this in Jerusalem, overlooking the city? I stood there one time and he said, how oft I would have gathered thee in my arms like a hen doth gather her chicks, but you would not." And he was talking about this Jerusalem that killed the prophets. So if we're going to represent Jesus, the Holy Spirit, the Word of God, and love, it begins by representing Christ by our attitude towards sinners. Secondly, by our attitude towards the needy. So Jesus comes and says, let your light shine before men that they may see your good works, do good stuff, do good stuff. Now don't make a mistake about this. You're not saved by doing good works, uh-uh, but because you're saved, you do good works. Ephesians chapter 2, 10, for we are created in Christ Jesus unto good works. Good works don't get you, only Jesus, only the cross, only the blood of Jesus get you there. But once we're there, once we're saved, now we do good works. Let your light so shine before men, let them see your good works. Because if they see that, they'll glorify your Father, which is in heaven. So our attitude to needy is really important. Now, here comes a lawyer or a legal expert. Because Jesus has just said, thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, soul, strength, and mind, and love thy neighbor as thyself. And then this guy says, willing to justify himself. He said, well, who's my neighbor? He was trying to weasel out having to love a neighbor who wasn't very loving so he asked the question in order to justify himself to get out of this he said who is my neighbor and so Jesus tells the story I'm gonna do it rather quickly gonna show it to you in a translation so Jesus answered by telling a story there was once a man traveling from Jerusalem to Jericho this is a story of the certain Samaritan remember on the way he was attacked by robbers and and And they took his clothes, they beat him up, and they left him half dead on the side of the road. Unfortunately, a priest was on his way down the same road, but when he saw him, he angled across to the other side of the road. It had nothing to do with him. Then a Levite, a religious man, look at that, showed up. He also avoided the injured man, right? You know the story. But a Samaritan who had no dealings with the Jews, they were animosity, nationally, racially. The Samaritan traveling the road came on him, and when he saw the man's condition, his heart went out to him. He gave him first aid, disinfecting and bandaging his wounds. Then he lifted him up on his donkey, led him to an inn, and made him comfortable. And then, in the morning, he took out two silver coins and gave them to the innkeeper. And this is what he said, take good care of him, because if it costs more, put it on my bill, and I'll pay you on my way back. So, Jesus tells a story. And this is how he concludes it. What do you think? Which of the three became a neighbor to the man attacked by the robbers? Answer, the one who treated him kindly. The religion scholar responded that way. And Jesus said, now watch this. This is really the core of it. Go and do thou likewise. Go and do the same. So, the purpose of the story is to let us know that a Christ-like representation, that is, a representation of Christ as Spirit, as Word, and in love, is shown by our attitude towards sinners and is shown by our attitude towards those who are in need. And most people don't know this about God. I rarely talk about this in public. I'm not just sure of the reason why. I learned it from a good friend of mine years and years ago. It's called the hurt of God. You remember, God looked down and saw the imagination of man's heart was only evil. Continue 11, six of Genesis. pen of the Lord in man and looked at grieved him at his heart. Oh, look what they're doing. Do you remember when they wanted a king? They had a meeting and they told Samuel the prophet, go to God, tell him, we want to be like other nations. We don't want God to rule over us. We want a king that we might be like other nations. So Samuel goes to God, meets with God and he is embarrassed. He's been 40 days getting ready for the meeting. And he said, God, they want a king. And God said, Samuel, I want you to go back and hold a meeting there and I want you to tell them, it won't be good. If they get a king, they're gonna have to pay taxes. He's gonna take their sons and their daughters and turn them into servants of God. The government, tell them it won't be good. He's going to take their crops and their fields and go tell them it wouldn't be good. Tell them I'll be their king. So Samuel leaves the mountain and goes back down and he calls the people together and he says, here's what God says. And you know what the people did? They started ranting, shouting, lifting their fists. We want a king. We want a king. Go tell God. We don't want him. We want a king. We want a king. With fists lifted towards heaven, voices echoing, Samuel returned to God. And this is what happened. Samuel embarrassed. Says, God, they don't want you, they want a king. And God says to Samuel, Samuel, they have not rejected you, they have rejected me, that I should rule over them. Let me ask you the question. Where are you at in this storyline? You want somebody other than God telling you what to do? Advising you? Leading you? I don't suspect so. I hope not. Few people think about the feelings of God. You know, one time God said this, how have I wearied thee? Testify against me. Somebody stand up and tell me where I've gone wrong. Imagine. It leads us to the shortest verse in the Bible that everybody seems to know, and it's this one. And Jesus wept. Oh, we need to tell about that. Because this is what God is like. He's touched with the feelings of our infirmities. So the Jews, when they saw Jesus leaving, they said, behold, how he loved him. So we represent Christ by our attitude towards sinners, by our attitude towards the needy, and by the content of our counsel. What we say, does it represent God, or we've got some human idea, or demonic idea, or selfish idea? Representing Christ, the Holy Spirit, the Word of God, and love means the content must be such as meets the approval of God. So Peter said to the Lord, thou hast the words of eternal life, where shall we go anywhere else? And we believe and we're really sure about this. The content, by every word that proceeded out of the mouth of God. And long ago, when I was just a young guy, as a new Christian, I learned this. God said it, I believe it, that settles it. So I am determined, I hope you are, that when you give counsel, the content will be that which is representing Christ, the Spirit of God, His word, and represents love by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God. And then we represent Christ, the Spirit, His word and love Not just by the content, but by the manner in which we speak. Watch now. If any man teach otherwise, and consent not to wholesome words, even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, and watch to the doctrine which is according to God. Now watch this. Three qualifications right here for the manner in which we speak. Number one, do we use wholesome words? or are we okay with vulgarities and all the trashy stuff that everybody else has? Wholesome words. Secondly, even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, do we say it the way he would say it? And then look at this, and to the doctrine, which according to God, is our speech Godly? Do we sound God-like when we communicate? That's the question. And so, We represent the Lord in our attitude towards sinners, our attitude towards the needy, the content we deliver, and by the manner in which we speak. Now I'm gonna show you some more verses that follow this one, only because they are antithetical to how we should be speaking. So those who are not speaking wholesome words, and the words of Jesus, and the words according to God in us, Why is it? What are they like? What's their problem? Here it is. Number one, they're proud. Number two, they don't know the facts. They know nothing. Instead, they dote about questions and strife supports, they wanna argue. And out of that argument comes envy and strife and railings, yeah. Accusation, evil surmisings, perverse disputings of men, corrupt minds. lacking the truth, destitute of the truth, and they speak, they suppose that the only proof of Godliness is how much money you got. And we're told from such, withdraw thyself. The manner in which we speak must be wholesome words, Christ-like, and according to Godliness. And then we represent Christ. By accepting the yes or no, the positive or the negative, once we bring good counsel, you have to leave the results with the other person. For example, from that time forward, many of the disciples went back, walked no more with him, in fact, Then said Jesus unto the 12, will you also go away? You see, being a Christian requires repentance, faith, baptism, and continuance. Not enough to have something happen years ago, but are we walking with the Lord now? Are you still on board? Are you still all in? What does it mean to do Christian counseling? It means to represent Christ, represent his spirit, represent the word of God, represent love. And we do that by our attitude towards sinners, by our attitude towards the needy, by the content of our counsel, by the manner in which we deliver that counsel. and by accepting the results and leaving it with someone else to decide will they follow or not. It's up to them. I hope this has been helpful to you. We've really got a very exciting time coming up. And the next time we're together, this is our subject, Christian counseling, dealing with the roots. That's not the symptoms. We don't just treat symptoms. You can do that with a drug, I guess. You have to get to the root of the matter. Christian counsel has to deal with the real issues of mankind. And so, till next time. My hope, my prayer, is that you and I together will realize that our mission is delivering godly counsel we realize the superiority of Christian counseling, that it begins in our heart and that the definition of Christian counseling is representing Christ, representing the Holy Spirit, representing his word, representing love by our attitude towards sinners, by our attitude towards the needy, by the content of our counsel. by the manner in which we deliver the counsel so that it's godly by accepting the results. God wants you, God wants you to be on this mission, the personal representative, the ambassador for Christ delivering godly counsel. When you look in the mirror, what do you see? David L. Johnston's book, How You See Yourself, changes lives with a new perspective to live as God intended. Life can seem like looking in a distorted carnival mirror because we do not see ourselves accurately. We are hindered by iniquity. How You See Yourself, by David L. Johnston, gives you God's perspective for a sound mind and freedom from fear and regrets. Take action. Order today. Visit nothingbutthetruth.org forward slash c. That's nothingbutthetruth.org forward slash s e e.