We've been praising God. That's a great thing to do. I'm glad to see a happy congregation praising God. He deserves the best. Every time we come together, there ought to be a celebration of praise. I re-think this that way a great couple of whole lot of times. I hope it gets better and better and better. I'm going to share just a few words, and then Andrew is going to come speak to us in Biladi. I probably went too fast this morning on something I said. I don't want to let that go. Just a few tidbits that I think will be a blessing to you and a great blessing to me. The gospel cannot be told You know, the Queen of Sheba said, the half had not been told, and it had not been told, but half hadn't, even when we tell it lots of times. So, when I can find new ways to say something about the Gospel, I want to do it, or if I read something new, it just excites me. So, this week, I read an article about righteousness or justification. Now, remember, righteousness is the opposite of condemnation. You're either guilty or not guilty. You're either justified or you're condemned before God. All people who are not covered by the blood of Christ are condemned, they're guilty. But if we are hit covered by the blood, we're not guilty, even though we actually are guilty, but yet legally we're not guilty because of sin, death, and pain. That's the truth. It's hard to believe that because we know, and now the bad news is, I'm going to tell you something, you're never going to get any better than your old man. See, when you've been born again, you've got an old man and a new man, and your old man is not going to get any better. You can just count that down. The Bible teaches that point. It's not going to get any better. You need to learn how to be sanctified and learn how to control it better. and they'll put on the new man, but the old man is there. Don't forget that. It doesn't get any better. You're a rotten sinner. You're going to be a rotten sinner until you die. You're going to mess up and stuff you think you have got covered, it's going to come back and hit you again if you don't watch it. That's what happened to David, the man that's got no heart. The devil blindsided him. He got caught in adultery and murder. Peter got caught until he had cowered. Abraham one time was faithless. These are godly men. But the good news is, hallelujah, We've been sent by the blood of Christ and we're on our way to heaven. So, the one I shared this morning, let me do it again, I know I went too fast. I read this in an article I wrote, this paper I think called The Standard Bear, and this guy talked about righteousness, and we can imagine the courtroom, the righteous judges in the courtroom, that's God. And he's so righteous, let's read a minute how righteous he really is. It's over in 1 Timothy chapter 6. This is how righteous he is. In 1 Timothy chapter 6, He talked about the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, which in His time He shall show to the blessed and only potentate, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who only hath immortality, bloody and the like, which no man can approach unto, whom no man hath seen nor can see, to Him be honor and power everlasting. Amen. And you know, I've never been in a courtroom where I was the accused, and I hope I don't ever get in one like that. Can you imagine being in a courtroom, you're guilty as you can be, as it's real stern, righteous judge speaking to pronounce a verdict on you. Now here you are, you're guilty. You know you are. And there's this righteous judge, he gets this big imposing face on him, and this demeanor that just secures you to death. Your knees are shaking. And so the judge, when it comes time to give a gift, he gives you a big smile. He says, I'm not guilty. And then he adopts you. He says, I'm going to adopt you in my family. You're my son. I'm going to give you, I'm going to make an heir to everything I've got. How about that? That's what happened, folks. That's what happened. that we cannot even face him. He said, you're not guilty. And we're not because Jesus has paid for our sins. And then he said, I'm going to adopt you to my son and to my family. You're my adopted son. You're an heir and a joint heir with Jesus Christ. That's how good it is. And another picture similar to that, I got this from Thomas Floyd many years ago. And you've heard me use this lots of times. I never get tired of this. Thomas Floyd said this, and I like this a lot, too. This is over 1 John chapter 2, verse 1. My little children, these things write unto you that ye sin not. And if any man sin, have an advocate with his father, Jesus Christ the righteous. An advocate is like a defense attorney. So here I come to this courtroom again, another scenario, and I guess this advocate is my defense attorney. And he said, here's the good thing about this. He said, you got it made because the defense lawyer, his daddy is the judge, and he's already paid you fine. How about that? In the days of the judge, he already paid the fine. You're guilt-free. So therefore, in Colossians it says, you who are sometimes alienated, and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now have he reconciled you to be holy, unblameable, unreprovable in his sight. That's the gospel right there. Andrew Colm, that's good news. And that's the truth. It's not a fairy story. I didn't make it up. I didn't embellish it. I didn't have a good reward. I just did the best I could. That will free you. You're a sinner, but if you know Jesus Christ, you're a forgiven sinner. Your nature won't get any better. You hate yourself, you ought to take some time. Paul said, O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death. But he'll stop there and say, thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. I get so mad at myself, I make resolutions to do better, and we can do better. But basically, the flesh lusts against the spirit, the spirit against the flesh, that are contrary one to the other, you cannot do the things you would, because you want to be perfect. God put that in you to be perfect. Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness, they shall be filled. Come on, Andrew. The gospel is good news. If we can, let's pray one more time, please. Lord, I pray that you would meet with us this evening, that you would open our hearts to understand your word. I pray that your word would come in power and that you would use it to show us yourself, to be a expression of your salvation for your people tonight. It's in Christ's name I pray, Amen. James chapter 1. We'll start in verse 18. Speaking of God, of his own will begat he us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of first fruits of his creatures. Wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath. For the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God. He's told us that His word is used by himself to consecrate his people, to make them first fruits of all his creation. They would be the closest image to God, of God, that you will find on this earth. So speaking about this word, he then tells us what should our, how should we hear this word? Be swift to hear, be slow to speak, and slow to wrath. Our approach to the word of God will indicate what kind of value we place on it. And this is primarily speaking of the public presentation of the word. And that could be the preaching of the word, that could be counseling, the teaching of the word, the authoritative delivering of the word of God. This is the approach that we need to have when we're under the sound of the word of God. So I have a few questions. that we ought to ask ourselves. First, let's turn to Second Timothy 316, which we know well. It explains to us that all scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, for proof, for correction, for instruction and righteousness, that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works. Do you believe that the Word of God is that to you, that it has that power, that when God applies it to your life, when you internalize it and it becomes powerful, that it can do those things that we just read, that it is a thorough furnisher unto all good works? Isn't that what we desire? Well, that is the Word of God. It's here. And so if we believe that, that would result in us seeking after it actively, not just taking it when we can get it, but looking for it, pursuing it, pursuing this Word of God that can perfect us, mature us as Christians and bring us to a closer image of God through Jesus Christ. So first of all, this is the word that we are encountering, so we should be seeking after it. We do not need to have a take it or leave it attitude. It's not optional for the child of God. This is his way of revealing himself to us, to those who whose eyes he has opened. He's revealed himself in some ways, in some, shall we say, preliminary ways through creation that all men can see and are without excuse because they can. But we are the children of God. And he has given us this toolbox. And as we heard so well expressed by Brother Sergei, You can know what the apple is but you can't know the apple at its core without God's power. So it's not take it or leave it for us. It's part of the program. And so he says be swift to hear. Be swift to hear this gospel. This is swift. excludes lackadaisicalness. It excludes the take it or leave it. It excludes when I get a chance. If we are going to be swift to hear it, okay, we're not talking about a, you know, running literally. But in our minds, our mindset is that we are pursuing actively the word. We're looking for it. We're swift. That is our mindset. Let's turn to Job 23.12 in which Job says quite an amazing thing considering he is an Old Testament figure. For one thing, he didn't have the gospel as we have it today. He didn't understand God like we do today, thanks to the word of God that he has given us, given to us. Yet he was clearly a righteous man. And in chapter 23, verse 12, he says, Neither have I gone back from the commandment of his lips. I have esteemed the words of his mouth more than my necessary food. More than my necessary food. Now, you may notice that food is actually italicized. So there's no Hebrew word food in this verse. But this is the best way we can describe something that is essential to our existence. Food is essential. I don't have to go any further about that. And if you started getting hungry, if you became starved, you would be swift to find some food, would you not? And Job is saying, I have esteemed the words of his mouth, I've esteemed the word of God more than this essential part of my life. I think that's applicable to us. And furthermore, let's think about this food. Food is essential. Why do we need food? We simply need food because we don't have it, right? If you had it, you wouldn't need it. But let's transfer this to the Word of God. Let's make the comparison. So, food is an essential part of our being. We need it, and so we have to seek after it because we don't already have it. Well, in the Gospel, in the Word of God, as we read in 2 Timothy, it provides all these different aspects, these tools, to us as Christians, as followers of God. But we aren't there yet. We're on the track. We're on this journey. We're sojourning. So if we don't have it all together, have you got it all figured out? Any hands? Because if so, you should be up here, not me. We don't have it all figured out. We're still looking for the perfect Christian, but God does have it all figured out. And he just said that in his word, he has given us the resources. He's given us the ability to become mature in the ways of Christ, to be perfected, to be thoroughly furnished and to all good works. So make the comparison. I've esteemed the words of his mouth more than my necessary food." That's how intense our search for the Word of God should be. Our desire to engage it, our desire to read it, our desire to hear it, our desire to apply it, because it is essential. And then he says, after saying that we should be swift to hear, that we should be slow to speak. Now I can think of several ways where I am quick to speak when I'm under the sound of the gospel. Sometimes it's, most of the time it's internally, sometimes it can be out externally. So one, I will tend to be quick in my mind when I'm thinking, I'll be quick to defend myself when I get my toes stepped on. I'll be quick to start thinking of some excuses or getting my way out of, you know, weasel my way out of the guilty party. So when I hear the gospel, when I hear some correction, some instruction and righteousness, I'm quick to speak in my mind. I'm quick to have an answer. I'm quick to get out of it, maybe. And secondly, maybe I'm well, I am quick to apply what I've been hearing to everybody else and think about if only Brother Nathan had been here tonight. This is a really good message for him. I say that because he is here, so I'm very glad about that. But I'm guilty as charged, especially to those that I'm related to because I feel like I have a right to be my brother's keeper or something. So I'm quick to speak in my mind and say, oh, I'm hearing this really good message. This has some convicting stuff in it. This sure would be convicting to so-and-so. All right, so I'm quick to speak then. And also, this is where the external part comes in, I'm also quick to exhibit my own wisdom. So I hear some, I don't know, maybe a circle of brethren talking about some good doctrinal conversation or even some, you know, convicting conversation. And I may be quick to put in my two cents and, you know, show I'm up there with you all too. In all of those cases, whether it's externally or internally, I've engaged the word of truth. I've heard it. But the first thing I'm really interested in is saying something about it, one way or the other. But James says be slow to speak. So what's the principle? When we're under the sound of the gospel, when we're being counseled, when we're being taught, we have to approach the word of God with a spirit of humility. We have to be swift to hear, eat it up. Get as much as I possibly can. My arms are not big enough to fill the vacancy, the need, the essentialness of the word. And so I'm just. But we also have to be slow to speak because it's not what I'm thinking that's really the important thing, it's what God's saying. So we have to approach the word with humility. The first concern we have to have when we're under the sound of the gospel is personal application. And that requires humility because it's easy to apply it to my brother. But it's not necessarily easy to apply it to ourselves. But that is our first concern. That is the point of the gospel, is to bring us to Christ, is to consecrate us. It's for me. So apply it to me. You need to be consecrated too, but you can do that. You can apply it to yourself. And then I like to think in this idea of receiving the word and humility and just taking your time with it, not being in a hurry to do something with it. I like to think about Grandpa's rule, which is you have to chew your bite 20 times before you swallow it. And I don't even know if I have successfully done that one time in all the times I've taken a bite at Grandma and Grandpa's house, and I've taken many. And that is a lot of chewing. And I imagine my stomach would appreciate it if I would apply that principle more often, instead of, you know, two bites. That's grandpa's rule. But that's really good for digesting the Word. I just like that idea. It's like chewing the cud. Take some time with it. Consider it. Meditate on the gospel, whatever it is you're hearing on Sunday morning today, next week, whatever in this particular this particular engagement with the gospel. Take the time to consider how can I apply this? What does it mean? Don't let it go in one ear and out the other. Don't bounce it off and, you know, bounce it off to go to Brother Timothy. Colossians 3.16 says, let the word of Christ dwell in you richly. And dwelling is not a passing by, right? It's not a visitor. If I'm dwelling, that's my place. That's my abode. I'm sticking around. So let the word of Christ stick around for a while. Think about it. Figure out where it can fit into your sphere. And I have a really good example for you in the scriptures, but it's an example of the opposite. Sometimes that can be the most effective way of getting the point across. So let's think about the scribes and Pharisees. The scribes were the people who wrote, so obviously they knew the law really well. I'm sure they probably wrote... I can't imagine how much of the law they had written in their lifetime. The Pharisees, they were like Paul before he was regenerated. I mean, he was a Pharisee of the Pharisees, right? He had it all together. He did have it all together. He knew the law backwards and forwards like the back of your hand? Why would you, if you knew and had it all figured out, why would you have any reason to be swift to hear and slow to speak? I already know it. I've got it figured out. Well, that's how the scribes and Pharisees were. They were self-righteous to the nth degree and they were Trailing Jesus 24-7 it seemed like. Jesus was teaching the gospel. He was giving the full meaning of the law. He was explaining it to the nth degree. But the scribes and Pharisees, they already knew the law. They already had it figured out. So they weren't interested in listening to Jesus to see what he had to say. They were busy trying to accusing they were busy trying to find fault with him. But think about this if they had been swift to hear Jesus. And they've been slow to speak. Which they were just the opposite of those two things. Imagine what they might have learned from Jesus Christ. But that is who we should be. We don't have it all together. And by God's grace we can learn of the straight and narrow way through the gospel. But we have to approach it with a spirit of humility. Let's turn to Ecclesiastes 5, verse 1. Ecclesiastes 5, verse 3. Keep thy foot when thou goest to the house of God, and be more ready to hear than to give the sacrifice of fools, for they consider not that they do evil. Be not rash with thy mouth, and let not thine heart be hasty to utter anything before God. For God is in heaven, and thou upon earth. Therefore let thy words be few. for a dream cometh through the multitude of business, and a fool's voice is known by the multitude of words." Now let's follow that one up with Proverbs 10 verse 19. In the multitude of words there wanteth not sin, but he that refraineth his lips is wise." How often do we sin with our speech? That is a big one. So, we're sinners. That's like the foundation of our existence, right? We can't get away from that. So the more, if you just spoke 10 units of speech, it would be a lot less likely that you're going to sin with your mouth and act like a fool if you spoke 200 units of speech. So that's the principle, right? We're sinners and we have to be very careful about that tongue spoken of later in James. And then Proverbs 17, verse 27. He that hath knowledge spareth his words. And a man of understanding is of an excellent spirit. Even a fool, when he holdeth his peace, is counted wise. And he that shutteth his lips is esteemed a man of understanding. A man of understanding is of an excellent spirit. That sounds pretty good, but I don't really understand it. What is an excellent spirit? Well, this Hebrew word is only used two or three other times in the scriptures, and in other places it is translated cool. as in a cool stream of water. So, a man of understanding is of a cool spirit. What would the opposite of a cool spirit be? A hot or a boiling spirit. And that is the epitome of wrath, a boiling spirit. So, if we turn back to James 1, keeping this in mind, the demand of understanding is of an excellent spirit. And how do we become men of understanding? By being swift to hear and slow to speak, as these verses have described to us. So, back to verse 19 of James 1, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, and slow to wrath. Now, I can think of two main areas where I might have a response of wrath when I hear the gospel preached. First of all, If I have not been swift to hear and slow to speak, but instead I have been slow to hear and swift to speak, I'm clearly looking out for myself. And I'm not that interested in applying the gospel to myself because I have not approached it with a spirit of humility. When I hear something in that frame of mind that really turned my toes blue, that really puts me in the doghouse, what is my response to that going to be? It will not be a Christ-like response. It will not be a humble response, but it will probably be a spirit in a spirit of rebellion or denial. And so I could very quickly, if I approached the gospel in this frame of mind, build up a spirit of wrath, of building up anger towards the gospel or towards the truth, because I'm not receiving it in humility. So there's one way that we can be quick to wrap, but I think from what I've read, the main application of this idea is when we hear the truth preached, and it is very precious to us, salvation by the grace of God, When we hear the truth preached and then we hear, maybe it reminds us of those who do not preach that truth. Or maybe we've heard something in error preached at another time. People who love Jesus Christ may subscribe to some error, but they love Jesus Christ. They believe the truth, accepting those errors, right? But they're not against Jesus Christ. But there are others who hold the truth in unrighteousness. There are others who call good bad and bad good that would desire to completely ignore God. But they don't actually. They would not just want to ignore him. They would like to punch him in the face or something. And we're starting to see that a little bit more in our culture so we can very quickly build up an attitude of resentment and anger and as that builds and grows we're not checking it we can have a spirit of wrath towards any in those categories and he's saying to be slow to wrath So, he didn't say, he didn't use an absolute term, and I'm not going to go into that, but he did say be slow, and that indicates to me that we ought to be very careful about it. So, in the professional world, by and large, there's some, tools that can be used to improve processes. And one is called value stream mapping. Value stream mapping. And so you take the process of whatever you're doing. In my business, we make paper. So we have to start at one side, we get in a order from the customer, then we have to make the paper, then we have to put it in a rail car, then we have to ship it to the customer. Oh, the whole process, start to finish. So you take a process and you map it out, and you figure out which actions add value to the process and which do not add value to the process. Now, some that don't add value to the process are still necessary. But some are just waste completely. So, if we did a value stream mapping of the Christian, you know, the Christian walk, the Christian purpose, the goal, the end would be to expand God's kingdom in our lives for his, for the footprint of Christ to grow. So anywhere that we are being Christ, that footprint is growing or adding value. But anywhere we're not doing that or doing the opposite, we're not adding value. We're wasting. And I would, I think that when we react to the gospel or react to those who do not agree with the gospel. And we allow ourselves to get into that mode of just being radical. It's not constructive. There's no good coming of it. We have to understand truth and error. We have to hold fast that which is good. We have to be very strong. We have to preach out very loudly. and make it very clear what is right and what is wrong. And we can do it even at the top of our lungs. But there's a difference between being aggressive and strong in engaging error, engaging people that are against God, and having this spirit of hate that just builds up and you just, oh no. That is not constructive. And that is not, I think we would agree, is not adding value to the blueprint of the, adding value to Jesus Christ's expansion in this world. What would add value is if we approach those situations in a Christ-like spirit, which brings us to an interesting question. What is the example of Christ when approaching these types of situations? And I believe, well I know generally, he had a very steadfast, unmovable, but not rambunctious attitude when he, in his three and a half years of ministry, he wasn't always fighting and clawing, never fighting and clawing. He never had that kind of attitude. He was actually very confident in himself and as much as he was God. And that would be a reason not to worry so much about being wrathful. But there was one time, I believe, when he, maybe the closest he got to being wrathful was when he cast the money changers out of the temple. That seemed to be a pretty big deal. Is that right? But even that, he had a base of righteousness by which he could implement whatever motive he had in doing that. And we do not have that. So, here's where we want to make a distinction. First of all, building up resentment and wrath only impedes the declaration of the gospel. When someone speaks to you in a wrathful spirit, are you inclined to listen? And when we defend the truth and we do it in a wrathful spirit, same question, same answer. So, Jesus Christ did not, he presented the truth and he defended the truth very strongly, but he didn't do it in a wrathful spirit, so neither should we. So, it should be our policy as Christians to, instead of building up energy to be wrathful towards people, is that we would use that energy in a more constructive and Christ-honoring way. Let's go back to Ecclesiastes 7. And this would give us an indication of the value added part. Ecclesiastes 7 verse 9 says, be not hasty in thy spirit to be angry, for anger resteth in the bosom of fools. That is not a description, you know, that the gifts, the graces of Jesus Christ, love, mercy, peace, anger, longsuffering, no, okay. So, let's consider this and be careful about how we approach engaging those who are against Christ. Which leads us to the question of righteous indignation. And I'm not going to give you a great theological message on this, but I just have a couple of thoughts. As we said, Jesus Christ is God. He is righteousness. He is good. God is righteous. And so, first of all, wrath is this boiling of anger. Righteous indignation is not that. It is a response to injustice, recognizing this difference between unrighteousness and righteousness and being indignant about it. But we are sinners. Christ is not. And the idea of righteous indignation is valiant. But we are sinners and we have to be careful. It is probably not our best policy to run to righteous indignation as a way to fight injustice. Whereas God, who is righteous, He is very well equipped to be indignant to be righteously indignant. We are much less so. So. Let's be careful. We do want to defend Christ. It's OK. It's right to be upset. It's right to be. To feel offended. when we see Christ being offended and what he represents. It is right. It is good for us to have that response. But Christ is very well equipped to avenge himself. Christ is very well equipped to handle that situation. And so we don't need to worry so much about feeling like, if I will apply righteous indignation to this situation, then I will, you know, take care of this injustice. We don't have that strength. Romans 12, 19, which speaks classically of vengeance. Romans 12, 19 says, dearly beloved, and this is in context of, in verse two he says, be not conformed to this world, but be you transformed by the renewing of your mind that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. And then he goes through the chapter and really outlines how we become transformed. What does this look like? So down to verse 19, he says, Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath. For it is written, Vengeance is mine. I will repay, saith the Lord. Therefore, if thine enemy hunger, feed him. If he thirst, give him drink. For in so doing, thou shalt keep coals of fire on his head. Be not overcome with evil, but overcome evil with good." That is our prescription in fighting evil. Righteous indignation should not be our go-to answer. Overcome evil with good. Because we, especially when it's toward one another, we can easily fall into the trap of thinking that we're doing something right, but just get this little total depravity twist on it and we just mess it all up. And it's easy for us to do that. So we have to approach these situations in humility. and look for the Christ way of doing things. So back to James 1, the summary of what we just said is the next verse. He says, Be slow to wrath, for the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God. The righteousness of God is that end goal. That's the end of the value stream map. So, what can we do to propel the expression of the righteousness of God in our lives in this world? It's not to be quick to wrath. So, we hear the gospel. We're under the sound of the gospel. We have to approach it knowing that we do not have the answers. We don't have it all together. But God does have it all together and he does have the answers. So we should approach the source of life, the source of salvation swiftly. And we should not be quick to respond. We need to let it dwell in us. And then we need to have the right response as we engage the world to perpetuate this truth. We have to be careful to do it in a spirit of humility in a way that honors Christ and not in a wrathful way that brings shame and doubt upon his name. All right, I just want to spend a couple of minutes here with you and thankful to be here and worship with you tonight. The passage in James that Brother Andrew was talking from and expounding on and the passage in Job, passage in 2 Timothy are some of the most, in my mind anyway, some of the most familiar passages that I remember and have been acquainted with from a very child as if she was talking. I was letting those verses just roll around in my mind. I don't know, I bet we were just babes when we were taught, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to rap. That's the guest theme verse, and we took it out of context and tried to talk slower, but that's not what it's talking about. It didn't work for some of us. But that was, you guys remember that, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath, of course referring to, as he very rightly applied it, to the Word of God. Job, let the words of his mouth be esteemed as more necessary than my food, as he brought out the necessity, the absolutely essential nature of food. And of course, 2 Timothy 3, 16, that I have, what God is saying is that I have given you, tangibly, I have given you that which has directly come from my heart, from my mind. The mind of God. Somebody I heard today was describing the power and the energy of the sun. I'm going to mess this up, but the sun consumes, consumes enough mass in one second. I'm totally messing this up. Something like this. I'll take it later. The sun consumes enough mass as it's making its energy in one second to feed the United States for something like 13 billion years. That's incredible. And God said, let there be light. So, a God with this mind has given me that right into my hands, something that He has said will throughly furnish you unto all good works. So, therefore, be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to rap. Therefore, is staying the words of my mouth is more than unnecessary food. As I was thinking about that, I had to agree with Brother Andrew. Every single time, whether it's in the house of God or away from the house of God, but every single time that I have not been swift to hear, it's had the same root. And he mentions it all throughout his message. the lack of humility. Now, I've cloaked it in different ways. If they would cut toward the song surface, I'd have more time to preach. That's just pride, right? I'm swift to speak, right? If they would do this, I would have an easier time understanding. That preacher would talk slower or whatever it is. But those thoughts in my mind are just shrouded in pride. when I have decided to make a different course than when I knew the Word of God the same. It was resistance to the Word of God, the Word that's inspired by God. And so I just remembered another verse from James 4. He was speaking and it says, God resists the proud. So I am resisting God through his Word by however I want to think of it. As I am resisting God for His Word, God says, don't worry, I am actively resisting you as well. God resists the proud, but He gives grace to the humble. The idea of James 4 of God resisting the proud is a declaration of war that God has made. God is advancing His troops against those who are proud. That's a pretty strong thought. God says, I'm not just sitting here waiting to get vengeance, I want you to know that I am actively called up to troops, they're on active duty, they're coming against you because you are proud, but I give grace to the humble. The same God that created the sun, that consumes all this energy says, I will help, I will strengthen, I will support, I will give you grace to the humble. So, the thought of my mind tonight was, God give me humility. Give me humility, I need humility. In three or four minutes here, let's just think, I'm going to think from 1 John, as to how we can have an area that is conducive to humility. I think 1 John 1 is a great passage to give us thoughts that will produce humility. The first thought is, as John says so powerfully here, he says, you need to know this. If you're going to fellowship God and fellowship us, you need to know that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all. Now, that's easy to say. And again, it's one of those things that just blows our mind, kind of like the sun consuming enough mass to feed the earth, the U.S., for 13 billion years. It's something that we can't fathom. What is it meant to do? When it tells us that God is light, And in him is no darkness at all. It's not meant to give us an understanding of who God is. Okay, I'm going to be light too and we'll have good fellowship. No, it's saying you need to have an elevated, exalted view of God. A realistic view of God is essential to my humility. That's what 1 Peter says. Peter says, humble yourself. How? How do I humble myself? I try. Humble yourself under the mighty hand of God. You need to behold God. You need to see God as He has revealed Himself. You need to believe what God says about Himself, that He is light and in Him is no darkness at all. So, if you want to have humility, if you want to live a humble life, if I want to live a humble life, I've got to behold God regularly. I've got to see God as He is. I'm going to share. Andrew's wife is about to have birth. I'm sure he's going to be as healthy as possible. So I'm going to drink this sanctified water right now. We have to see God as he is. And the next message I see then in verse John 1 is this. If we say that we have fellowship with him and walk in darkness, we lie and do not the truth. So I guess there's two ways that we would walk in darkness and say we have fellowship. One of those ways is probably a little bit more forgiving. And that is because we're deceived. We think that we're walking the right way. And so we think that we're doing OK when in actuality, we're walking in darkness. So what do we need? We need a a continual surrounding ourselves with truth. That's why the Church of God is so essential. That's why the Gospel message being poured into our minds is so essential. That's why reading the Word is so essential. That's why a prayer, as we read the Word, and say, God, here's your Word. It's not like magic. It doesn't just come into my mind and come out of my pores. God, you're going to have to open my eyes while I'm reading your Word. You're going to have to open my eyes. You're going to have to give me real vision. You're going to have to expose myself to me. You're going to have to clean the mirror of your Word, God, in order for me to be able to see and see how I'm really walking. And then, God, you're going to have to give me the spirit of obedience, which is synonymous with the spirit of humility to obey. And so if you want to live a humble life, you're going to have to live a life that is prayerful saying, God, you're going to have to teach me. I don't just get it. Listen, we have a lot of people who have arrived theologically to some degree of satisfaction in their minds and they just turn off the whole mirror feature of the Word of God. They know what they know. They're satisfied with what they know. They're steadfast with what they know, but they're not going to keep looking. It's a horrible spirit of pride. So we have to have a spirit of prayer saying, God, open my eyes. And then a spirit that says, God, I want to obey. It's a spirit of obedience. We say we have fellowship with Him, we're going to walk in the light as the light is revealed to us. And then I guess I'll just give one more, well, two more. Verse 8, if we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves. And the truth is not in us. So the spirit of pride here is manifested in a resistance to instruction. A resistance to criticism. Proverbs 17 verse 10 is a good life verse. Proverbs 10 verse 17 I mean. Proverbs 10 verse 17 is a great life verse too. Proverbs 10 verse 17 says He is in the way of life. He is in the way of life. What does that sound like? He is healthy. He's on the pathway to life. He's in a good place in life. He is in the way of life that keepeth, not deflects, but keepeth instruction. But He that refuses reproof erreth. You know what he's saying there? He's saying, if you value lie, you will then learn to also value criticism. First time, when it says, I have no sin, he says, you're deceiving us. You're a liar. Well, why is he deceiving us? Because he has learned to deflect criticism. And you know what? You know what? My attitude toward that is, I'm not defensive. If you would come in the right spirit, with the right tone, and have your act together, and know both sides of the story, I would receive your chrism just fine. And nobody yet, at least initially, has had the right tone, or come in the right season, and had all the facts together, at least initially. You know what is true of you as well. None of us naturally receive or enjoy or value criticism. And yet, John says, he said, listen, if you don't do it, if you don't value it, you can say, I don't have any sin. I'm not wrong. If you don't value criticism, you don't value life, you don't value God, you don't have a view of yourself or of God. Daddy tells a story many times, I've used it many times, of Brother Don Ellis who was a So what was he in his past life? Green Beret. The Green Beret. The tough, tough dude. And he, one time, had somebody in church. He was a preacher, but an honest preacher. This man, after church, came up to him, was angry, grabbed him by the lapels, and accused him of all sorts of horrible, egregious things in front of the whole congregation. And none of them were true. So, years later, it's on this story. Daddy said, how did you keep yourself from knocking his block off and hiding the evidence? And he said, well, he said, as I was talking, I thought to myself, none of these things are true. But there are things that are true that are far worse than what he's saying right now. And so, if he really knew the real truth, that would really, really look bad. You know what that was? That was a man who valued life. So he had learned to value Christ. And the truth of the matter is, every bit of Christ you ever receive will probably not have all the facts together, will probably not come in the right tone, will probably not come from the right source, will always come from another center towards you. You can always turn the tables and look at their big log in their eye. Or, you can be humble. And you can learn and receive and instruct. And he said that's the person who's strictly humble. And then finally, if you want to be humble, if you want to be humble, we must live a life of regular confession before God. There's nothing that humbles the soul better than to confess, not just, Lord, I'm a sinner, forgive me my sins, but confess the real sins that I really commit. Some of the transgression where I knew exactly where the stop sign was and I ran right past the stop sign. and some of ignorance, some of anger, some of what I thought was righteous indignation, some of whatever. If we live lives that regularly confess, we are going to have a spirit of humility. The word that's been inspired by God Himself can push through this shell of resistance, what He called the old man. It's always going to be as bad as it is today. and live a life that's pleasing to our great God. God bless you.