Let's turn there quickly this morning. We're going to go to James 2 now. We're actually in the third lesson of our study of this book. Now, we've got 12 lessons. We've got 12 lessons total. We've got another 9 lessons to go. And there's enough material probably in here to take us through the entire year. And so, I've heard John 3.16, my former pastor priest John 3.16 for an entire year. One year, just a verse, John 3, 16. Amazing. The Bible's amazing in the depths of it, unfathomable. And so, as we study from James, let's look at these truths here. Shall we pray this morning, Father in Heaven, as we come and we look into the perfect law of liberty as was so aptly described by James? Lord, we're so thankful this morning, first of all, to be here. God, that you've called out a day when we can cease from our labors, when we can come and hear the Word of God. taught and preached and understood. But Father, we need you today. We need you to do something for us, Father. And that is the power of God would be evident in this place. Father, be felt, be known, be seen. We could not deny when we walk out of here we've met with God today. And so, Father, I pray Thy Spirit would have free reign here and Lord, the proud would humble themselves Father, they would seek Jesus Christ before it is eternally too late for their souls. And I praise you now, Father, for the lesson before us. Thank you in Jesus' name. Amen. Now, James chapter 2, and we're going to begin reading in verse number 1, and we're going to go all the way down to, we're actually going to go to about verse number 15 or 16, and I'll just stop and then we'll just be seated after that, okay? And I'll let you know when we're done reading there. James, chapter 2, verse 1. The Bible says, My brethren, have not the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with respect of persons. For if there come into your assembly a man with a gold ring and 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 you not then partial in yourselves and become judges of evil thoughts? Hearken, my brethren, 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 the which ye are 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. For whosoever shall keep the whole law, yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all. For he that said, Do not commit adultery, said also, Do not kill, now thou commit no adultery. Yet if thou kill, thou art become a transgressor. of the law, so speak ye and so do as they that shall be judged by the law of liberty. Amen. Thank you. You may be seated now. I pray God would add His blessing to the Word. We've begun in James, and I just introduced briefly James from week one when we talked about James, and it's called the practical epistle of James. James, the Lord's brother, the brother of Jude. I can imagine that core group, you know, after the Lord was resurrected and They were gathered there in Jerusalem. And then the Bible says some of those were scattered abroad into other places. But we see James here as just a practical book, a practical lesson in Christianity and what ought to be our thoughts when we're facing temptation, which all of us will face. Every one of us. Life is a trial. That's what it is. And you're going through that trial every day of your life, whether you know it or not. Whether you want to acknowledge it or not, life is that trial, and it's something that God is trying us to see what manner of persons we are. What manner of persons we are, it doesn't take, you know, take, for example, angry, the Bible says about wrath. It doesn't take somebody to get you mad. It takes what somebody does to reveal the wrath that's in you, the anger. the unbridled frustration and so on. But God had told us, or James had told us through the Holy Spirit, how to deal with this temptation, how to deal with these trials. And he told us many things there about we've got to face temptation. No, it's source. Where does it come from? A lot of people want to remember back in the 70s, you know, the term was the devil made me do it. You know, that's not always the case. Because the Bible says that we are tempted when we are drawn away of our own lusts. And then when lusts have conceived, it bringeth forth death. And so we see the source of temptation and we see how we ought to face temptation with wisdom. If any of us lack wisdom, and that's a prayer of mine daily, God, I need your wisdom. I need your help in this situation and these deals and the relationships and so forth. I need God's wisdom. Unlike Solomon said, I'm but a child. I don't know how to go out. I don't know how to come in. I don't know my right hand from my left at times. But when I go to God, the author of wisdom, I can understand some things. And see, this is the key to Christianity is humility. Go low. That's what that's what James is talking about. Let the brother of low degree rejoice in that he is exalted. And then he said the brother, the rich man, and that he is low. He's made low. So there's a balance in the Christian life. There's some balance here that we ought to realize and understand. And then is dealing with temptation, with humility, with endurance. You know, these days, impatience sets in. So many people are impatient. I want it now. You know, we live in the Burger King religion. You know, have it your way. Go to whatever church you want. Let me tell you something. You are seated in a New Testament Baptist church that goes back to the time of Jerusalem, of Jesus Christ. That's right. And this church, remember something about the book of James. You know, when we read the first verse, he says, James and the twelve tribes were just scattered abroad. But it wasn't just the Christians. A lot of people think that, oh, this is a this book was written to just Christian. No, it was it was written to assemblies, because he says later on here in chapter two, he talks about how somebody comes into your what into your assembly. You see, a lot of folks don't realize and understand the authority and the practicality of God's invention of the New Testament Baptist Church. And see, some people can flit around and, well, I'm going to go to this church today and, well, I'm going to go over here and, you know, God, that's not what God intended. It's not. God intended for you to be rooted and grounded in the truth. And what is the pillar and ground of the truth? The church. And so we need to realize this and acknowledge this and understand this. And then just by way of review, we need to recognize that where the gifts are, where this wisdom comes from, it comes from above, from the father of lights with whom is no variableness, nor need a shadow of turning. Just again, now I'm going to catch up here on verse chapter two, excuse me, lesson two and how we discussed in the last part of that chapter about our listening skills. He said, let every man be swift to hear. We talked about that last week. Hearing, why do we have two ears, Johnny? That's right. Why do we have one mouth? So we listen twice as much as what we hear. And we listen twice as much what we speak, I mean to say, and swift to and slow to wrath and slow to speak. The Bible talks about this. Let every man. So these are the keys to communication. And he talks about these things. He says, now, listen, there is a part there that I miss and I want to just Go back and and show you this verse, but he says in verse 21 a chapter 1. He says wherefore lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness So James tells us here. We ought to separate ourselves from some things now all things are lawful to us you know the comedy channels and the thing but we are but James is tell us to lay apart this badness and This superfluity of naughtiness and filthiness, and he says, receive with meekness. Now, what is that? That's meekness. Just receive with meekness, humility. Receive this, the engrafted word, which is engrafted into us, he says, what the last part of that, he says, which is able to save your soul. See, the word of God is so much importance. And I hope you're reading your Bible. I hope you're studying your Bible on a daily basis. Job said this, I esteem it more than my necessary food even. How about that? I've heard some families say, no Bible, no breakfast. You don't read your Bible before, then you're not getting any breakfast. And that's, you know. But see, these are the things that James is talking about. This engrafted word, which is what? Able to save your souls from a multitude of things, of problems that creep up in life. And just the Bible that gives us the wisdom to understand life and what it's all about. And so, he goes on to talk about more here in James that we ought to be slow to speak. Of course, we talked about that last week and slow to wrath. We talked about those types of things of of laying those things apart. But then he goes on and he talks about the looking glass, the mirror of God's word. See, if if we have the mirror of God's word before us, then we're going to be able to judge ourselves better. Now, a mirror, the mirrors help us to what? How what is a mirror? It helps us to not only look at ourselves, but it helps us to look backwards at the past. Now, think about this. Think about this now. He says where we've made some mistakes in life, where we've where we failed sometimes in life and child rearing. You know, you can go on and on and talk about these things. But he says, look back and then learn from those things and then press forward. Now, Paul said this. He said, I don't look back. I'm pressing on to the prize. And and the point is this. We don't want to dwell back there. We don't want to stay back there in the past. Learn from it. Move on is what Paul is telling us. But this mirror of God's word, it shows our faults. It shows our immaturity. It shows our sins and it shows us our selfishness and all these things that that we need to understand from God's word. But not only that, now in verses 26 and 27, James kind of changes the subject a little bit here. And I want you to notice that he says in verse 26, he said, if any man among you seem to be religious. And bridleth not his tongue. Now, he just talked about this bridling the tongue. And in chapter three, he deals with this extensively, which will be a whole nother lesson. But he says, if any man bridleth not his tongue and he but deceiveth his own heart, this man's religion is vain. OK, so what James is telling us, listen, you can have a religion that is vain, that is empty, that is worthless. It's possible. And there's a lot of people walking around these days like that, just like that. And we so we need to be careful because it starts with the with, of course, the heart and out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speak it. And James says, put a bridle on it. James says, put a put a put a guard on our tongues. Be careful what you say. Now he goes on and tells us pure religion and undefiled before man, before God. And the father is this to visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction and keep himself unspotted from the world. Now, again, he talks about laying apart some things, keeping yourself unspotted from the world. You know, so many Christians these days, I think, You know, they're spotted. You know, they got spots on your garments. We've got things on our on ourselves that says that's worldly. I'm not judging anybody. I'm not trying, but I want you to judge yourselves from the perfect law of liberty. So we got it. So we need to be careful about what spots are Christian garments. Separation. God tells us in his word, if any man loved the world, then the love of the father is not in him. And so we need to be careful about these are worldly entertainments, our worldliness, our worldly speaking and so forth. I had a man the other day who I don't know him. He just met me for the first time, cussing up a storm. And then he looks at me, said, oh, I'm sorry for the French. I didn't sound like French to me. But the idea here is that when we keep ourselves separated, people are going to recognize that. People are going to see that and understand that. So pure religion is practical. What James is telling us here in James, chapter one, and we'll see in verse two, that Christian religion is practical. It's a practical life. It is a lifestyle. And so it works, pure religion works, and so I want you to notice something else, what James is talking about here, pure religion. James just didn't say religion. He said pure religion, because I want to show you this in a second, but James is talking about the difference between religion and pure religion. All right, now follow me. We're going to go in our second lesson. We've already read the portion of Scripture, but we need to understand, first of all, is that the title headings, the chapter headings, were never found in the original. James didn't write this book down. Okay, let me see. Chapter 1, verse 1. That's not how he did it. He just wrote. And then he finished the book. Later on, man put the chapter divisions in and the verse settings in so that we would make them easy to reference. Okay, it was James chapter 2, verse 1. And then we know, okay, that's what he's talking about. We need to turn there. Not page 255. At the middle of the page, down below, that's not a good reference. But they did that for reference purposes. But if we take the chapter heading out, chapter 2, wasn't divinely inspired that I know of, then we can read and we can get the idea what pure religion is. And actually, the entire book is talking about the difference between this pure religion and what is the false religion. So he uses the word religion in this in this in this verse, in verse number twenty seven and twenty six. And then he goes on and he mentions what it is. So what is so what do we think of today when we say the word religion? What comes to your mind immediately when we say the word religion? What does it mean to you? Some would say, well, it's keeping a set of rules down at the church. The church has rules. And so we have to keep those rules. That's religion. Well, is it? Or some would say, well, and if we walked outside these walls, we'd probably meet many who would say, well, it's the church. It's the Catholic Church. That's what they're referring to. It's all the rules and all the set doctrines and the and the genuflections. And this is religion. This person is very religious. But when somebody says says that to me, I kind of courage to say not really. I'm a Biblicist. See, there's a difference here that Paul that James is telling us and Paul told us. But we can be a religious Baptist. and not have the pure religion. I was a religious Baptist for 15 years of my life. That's right. I made a profession in Grand Forks Air Force Base, North Dakota. I lived 10 years up there, drove the Sunday school bus, taught Sunday school class, went to Bible college. And yet I was lost because I didn't really understand some things about the Bible. I didn't understand repentance. I didn't understand these things. I had religion, Baptist religion. It's like so many folks do without really understanding what does the Bible say about salvation and what it means to be saved. But Paul had this religion in Romans chapter 10. Remember what he said? He says, Brother, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they might be saved, for I bear them record that they have a zeal of God. There's a religion. So religion is not necessarily just having a zeal. That's not religion. It's not necessarily having a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge. See, what Paul is telling us in Romans chapter 10, that zeal has to go with knowledge. And where are we going to get this knowledge, John? And the reason why I had Johnny Sengstock, because he was in my Sunday school class, so I feel like, I don't know where Ben is, but I got Johnny in my Sunday school class, and so I have to ask him questions every now and then just to see. But where are we going to get the knowledge? The Bible, amen. And so here it is. We get the zeal of God. And if we get it according to the knowledge of the Bible, of the word of God. See, Paul described himself as this, he said in Acts 26, 5, he said, he said this in his testimony, he said, which knew me from the beginning, if they would testify, he said this, that after the most straightest sect of our religion, I lived a Pharisee. He said, so I had my own religion. You see, so many folks have that today. They have their own religion. You have a religion that they conjured up in their mind, but it's not according to knowledge. Make sure that your religion goes by the book. And so Galatians chapter one, verse 13 and 14, Paul said this, he said, But you have heard of my conversation, my behavior, my lifestyle in times past in the Jews religion. OK, so here's another religion. James is making a perfect contradiction to what is or a balance here to what is true religion, what is pure religion. He Paul said that I had my conversation time passed in the Jews religion, how that beyond measure I persecuted the Church of God and wasted it. So Paul said I was doing what I thought was right, man. This was what this is what I had conjured up in my mind. about what religion is. So he goes on to say that whatever your definition of James is writing in the Bible says that pure religion is to bridle your tongue. He says, don't deceive yourself. This is another part of pure religion. Don't deceive yourself. He said, do not err, my brethren, don't err to make no mistake about it. See, that's that's when that's when delusion sets in. People get awful delusional about, well, I had this vision. I had this experience. But is it according to God's Word? Does it go according to knowledge? See, that's when we've got to line ourselves up. When we line ourselves up with... How many of you know what a plumb is or a plumb bob? I remember in shop class in high school, we went out to a site, we built a house in high school, and I was one of those who would go out there. And we did everything, Mike. We did the electrical, we did the sheetrocking, but I just goofed off the whole time we were there. You know, I was a young high school kid and wasn't really interested. But I did learn some things. Amen. And one of the things I learned was when they use the plum, it shows true. What does it show? True square. Is that it? There's some builders in here. Is that right? Center. OK, it shows where the center is or where the squareness is of that of that particular portion of the building, a plum. And that's what God's word is. It shows the true where the true square is. might look it might look good by the eye once you get all that done it's a little crooked or hey wow that's different I was laying out some boards to stack some wood on and I laid it down and it looked it looked awful it looked like it was there up there but I checked it with the level another type of a plum and it was true but my eyes deceived me we went up this summer up to New Hampshire and there's a cog train that goes up to the White Mountain. How many have ever been up to the White Mountain? You've ever seen that up there? Well, there's a train that goes up. You can drive up there. But we took the train and the train goes up like this. I mean, it's at an angle. And when you get up to a certain point, there's some buildings there and the buildings look like they're like this. But your eye deceives you because you're looking at it from your viewpoint, your perspective. And it's that way with God's word. It may look good. But when you compare it with God's word, how does it look? What is what does this look like? Pure religion he's talking about now. I got to hurry because I didn't mean to go into that long of an introduction, but that's what happens sometimes. So chapter two, James, chapter two, verses one through 13, describes what this pure religion is, goes on to describe not only not only to visit the fatherless and the widows and their affliction, which should be practice. It should be. It ought to be. We ought to go and visit the widow. How are you doing? You doing OK? Is there anything I can do for you? You know, and I know some of us practice this in the church and we ought to be practicing this in the church, be practicing pure religion. But James goes on to explain that it's not only that, he said, my brethren have not the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory with respective persons. So he's talking about faith now. So he's talking about he's talking to his brothers, his brothers in Christ, he says, don't have respective persons. So pure religion, first of all, is a faith in the person of our Lord Jesus Christ. So first, you've got to start with a relationship with Jesus Christ, that's where pure religion starts. He says the faith is in the person of our Lord Jesus Christ. Look at verse one. My brother have not the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ. So he's telling us how to have faith in Jesus Christ. Acts chapter six tells us that the faith is a system of beliefs. What do you believe? And does it line up with the Bible, Acts chapter six, verse seven, in the word of God increased and the number of the disciples multiplied in Jerusalem greatly and a great company of the priests were obedient to the faith. And so when the Bible, when you see that term there, the faith, he's talking about a system of beliefs. Based upon the word of God, based upon the apostles doctrines. based upon their teachings. And so, Acts 16, verse 5, and so were the churches established in the faith. And so, it's the system of doctrines and the system of teaching based on the Word of God. 1 Corinthians 16, verse 13, Watch ye stand fast in the faith, quit you like men, and be strong. And so again, we see that term used as the faith. It is the system of beliefs. And so that's what pure faith is. Pure religion is a system of doctrinal beliefs found in the Bible, found in the word of God, the looking glass, the the the pure word of God and pure religion starts with this faith. It starts with. A trust in Jesus Christ. It starts in a belief. It starts in a personal relationship. Now, listen to me now. Hebrews chapter 11, verse six, he said, But without faith, it is impossible to please him. For he that cometh to God must believe that he is and that he is a rewarder of those who diligently seek him. Romans, chapter five, verses one and two, therefore being justified by half by faith. We have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. And in Romans, chapter four and verse three, for what's at the scripture, Abraham believed God. Now, listen to me. This is faith. Well, how is Abraham justified? He by faith, because of what he believed God. See, there's there's so much. Again, if I can use this word delusion going around these days about what is faith and what is faith is just simply believing. It's it's receiving the the word of God and what the Bible has to say about Jesus Christ, but it's a little more than that. You see, pure religion is in a person. It's not only in starts with faith and is a system of belief, but pure religion is in a person. See, we read that in verse one. It says the have not the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ. It starts with the Lord Jesus Christ. That's where religion starts. See, until you've been to the foot of the cross, you've humbled yourself and repented of your sins. You don't have faith. You don't have true faith. You see, that's where the faith begins. Acts chapter 4 and verse 12 says, Neither is there salvation in any other, for there is none other name given, none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved. And so, Acts chapter 5 verse 31 says, Him hath God exalted, Him, Jesus Christ. You see, so many so many people these days looking for salvation is looking for an it. Well, I have to have faith. I have to have this. They're looking for an it. If I can put it that way, are they looking for the system of beliefs, this belief system that I can put my faith? It's not that. It's a faith in a person named Jesus Christ. It's a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. That's what the faith is. See, if you don't have a personal relationship, I was talking to somebody the other day, I said, and it was a young man. And he said, I said, do you have a relationship with your mom and dad? Oh, yeah. I said, do you talk to them? Do you share things with them? He said, yes. And I said, well, that's the same kind of relationship God wants to have with you. Do you talk to God? I remember this made such an impact in my Christian life, early Christian life, was that pastor told me this. He said, Randy, he said, I talk to God about everything. About everything. And I said, amen, I said, that's that's faith. That's the way that's the Christian life, talking to God about everything and then waiting for God to talk to us through his word. You see, this is the faith that God wants us to have, and this is the understanding that God wants us to have. And the Bible says in 1 Timothy 2 5, for there is one God and one mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus. So the relationship, the faith is a relationship with Jesus Christ. And he walks with me and he talks with me and he tells me that I am his own. The joy we share, we tarry there. None other has ever known. You see, if you can't say that, you can't sing that song, that old song, that old hymn with confidence, then question your repentance. Question whether you are in the faith or not. Now, let's go on. Let's move on here. Realize what James tells us what pure religion is is that the next thing he says That pure religion is without partiality so first of all it's in a person named Jesus Christ and Then he said secondly pure religion is without partiality He said it has no respect of persons, but if they're coming to your assembly now look at that word assembly again That's the church That's the assembly. These 12 tribes scattered abroad went and guess what they did? They started churches, assemblies. And he taught and he said to him that he did not have respect of persons. Now, does that mean we're not to respect one another? No, I respect Bernie. I have a lot of respect for him. I have a lot of respect for Brother Jeff and I have respect for him. But we're not to prefer one over another. OK, so here we're not. We're not to respect somebody who's well off, as James tells us, somebody who's very wealthy above somebody who comes in and buy all Raymond. Now, you know, the 70s was kind of, hey, come dressed any way you want to, you know, and torn blue jeans and, you know, sandals, the church. We ought to wear our best to church. I believe that. And I'm a firm, but I'm going to I'm old school when it comes to that. We ought to wear your best to church and there's no reason to come in that way. But James says that if there's somebody does come in that way, we're not to have respect one above another for them. Now, he's talking to brothers here because he says, my brethren have not the faith. So he's instructing this church. He's instructing these 12 tribes scattered abroad. And the the word here respect is the word word for partial is a negative connotation. Don't have this this partiality negatively. And it's used elsewhere in the Bible as doubt or contention. Well, you know, you know, you know, you know that feeling when you see somebody who's just not we're not to have not dressed properly. Not dressed right, vile raiment. We're not to have respect for one person over another. Second Corinthians, chapter five, verse 15, verse six through 16, says that he died for all. He didn't die just this summer, the well-dressed, but he died for all that they which live should henceforth not live unto themselves. Now notice, he says, but unto him which died for them and rose again, wherefore, henceforth, know we, Paul said, know we no man after the flesh. He says, I don't, I'm not, he says, when I put my spiritual glasses on, my goggles on, Paul says, I don't see the flesh. Paul had the ability, I believe, to look right into the soul, the character of a man. I like what Martin Luther King Jr. said, where someday where we'd have the, we look on the content of a character rather than the color of the skin. And you could take that and apply that to anything. the content of the character rather than the clothes they're wearing and so forth. I like that, what he said, because it shows no partiality. Paul went on to say, he says, yea, though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now henceforth know we Him no more. But he's, what he was saying that we should know no man after the flesh. Now, your reputation is going to follow you around what you do in the flesh, but that's your spirit, that's your soul, that's your heart with those works that follow you around. So the partiality that he's talking about is the judging after the outward appearances and not looking at the grace in the heart. So we need to just we need to distinguish that we need to make those differences. Now, look how James describes this in this inequity. Look how James describes this difference. He's not talking about having class warfare, the rich against the poor, you know, all the rich. But he does mention some things in here that talk about that. Now, notice, he says, first of all, that he that the poor, rich in faith, look in James, chapter two. Chapter verse number three, and if you have respect to him that wears the gay clothing and saying to him now that's back when the word gay meant vibrant and It has no connotation to homosexuality or anything like that. I just thought I'd point that out. I know you knew that, but he says, you have respect to him that wears the gay clothing and saying to him, sit thou here in a good place and say to the poor, stand out there or sit here under my footstool. James said, that's wicked, that's evil. We understand that. We know that. Amen. And so he goes on to say, are you not then partial in yourselves and are become judges of evil thoughts? Now, notice what he says in verse five. Hearken, my beloved brethren. Listen up. I've got something to tell you. He says, hearken, my beloved brethren. Hath not God chosen the poor of this world rich in faith? Now, isn't that the truth? Now I don't know if all of us have been where poor at one time or another. I know I had my father abandoned my mother when we left my mother with four four children. And so I can say that we came from very humble background. We came from a very humble place. But I know that my mother was able to get a job. She remarried and so forth. But she's living very comfortably on her retirement now. So I know what it means to be poor, but God has chosen the poor to be rich in faith. Now, not all poor people are like that. Not all poor people are rich in faith. Some poor people have the mentality, gimme, gimme, gimme. And I've seen that. I walk by New York City and I see the homeless sitting and I say, what in the world is wrong with this guy that he couldn't go and get a job? John knows I'm talking about. Why couldn't why couldn't this guy go and work? And I pass him up and I look at his sign and he had enough smarts to go and make a sign and put a little cup out there and sit out there and look poor. Now, that's not what the Bible is talking about. Because he goes on to explain. Jesus taught about that on the Sermon on the Mount, the most famous sermon of all. Jesus said, blessed are the poor in spirits, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. He goes on to say God wants us to consider the poor. God wants us to think about the poor. Deuteronomy chapter 1511. God gives us instruction for the poor shall never cease out of the land. Jesus said that. He said the poor you always have with you. Always going to have poor people. And he says this. Therefore, I command these saying thou shalt open thine hand wide unto thy brother, to thy poor and to thy needy. in thy land. And so, the Bible instructs us here, the attitude, the mentality we ought to have toward the poor and not be judges, say, well, you know, this guy here, he's able-bodied to work. And I think that God instructs us here because look at the next verse that I had written down here. Well, I'm going to give you this verse, Psalms 41 and 1. Blessed is he that considereth the poor, the Lord will deliver him in a time of trouble. So we ought to consider the poor. Amen. And so Proverbs 21, 13, whoso stoppeth his ears at the cry of the poor, he also shall cry himself and shall not be heard. So the Bible gives us instruction about our attitude toward the poor, but God also wants us to have the right attitude. Toward the poor and that right attitude is there. Proverbs chapter 10, verse four, he becometh poor that dealeth with the slack hand, lazy hand. You know, he's not really putting his hand to it. But if I know somebody who's really working hard and who's poor, there's nothing wrong with lifting them up a little bit. Nothing wrong with that. And that's what the Bible teaches us. And so, back in James, again, he says that we ought to consider these poor. In verse 6, he says, But ye have despised the poor. In his day, evidently, there were some people, the rich people, bringing the poor to the court system and suing them, knowing they couldn't pay, knowing they had to be delivered to a prison. But I want you to look at this. This is the attitude that God wants us to have toward the poor and towards money. Now listen to this. 1 Timothy chapter 6, verse 6 through 8. If you're not there, turn there, because I want to show you this. 1 Timothy chapter 6, verses 6 through 8. And what he's talking about here is Timothy, or excuse me, Paul is writing to Timothy, a preacher, a young preacher, and he's telling him how to have a good attitude towards money. Now look at verse number 6. He says, but godliness with contentment is great gain. So what's the emphasis in this verse? Contentment, being be content with such things as you have, for hath he not said, I will never leave thee nor forsake thee. That verse has brought me tremendous comfort so many times in my life that God would never leave me nor forsake me. And I am to be content with such things. I might not have everything I want, but I've got everything that God wants me to have and my contentment. See, listen to me now. This is pure religion. It's contentment in Christ. Now, if God makes you rich, praise the Lord. Amen. I say amen for that. Like I said before, I've never been that way, but I just want to try it for a while. You know, but it's OK. But he says, Godliness with contentment is great gain. He says, for we brought nothing into this world and it is certain we carry nothing else. You're not getting out of the world with anything. I heard about a man who was on his deathbed, very wealthy man. called his wife and all his family in and said, I want you to bury me with my money. And he had millions of dollars. He said, bury me with the money. I don't want anybody to have it. I'm going to take it to the grave. Just put it in my coffin and bury it with me. So came the day of his funeral and his wife was there. She had a big envelope and she puts it in the coffin before they close it. And they said, you really put all that money into? He said, oh yeah. She said, I wrote him a check. And that's sometimes the way it goes. But you see that we're not going to carry anything out of this world. Now, notice he says in verse 8, having food and raiment, let us therewith be content. Let us be content with food and raiment and such things as you have, Matthew 6, 33. You know, all these things shall be added unto you. But notice in verse number nine, our attitude that Paul told Timothy, he said, now here's the right. He said, they that will be rich, they that set their hearts and their life and their ambitions and everything in their heart to be rich, they that will be rich, what? They fall into temptation and a snare. The Bible says that's a snare. So he says, first of all, be content. And don't have the will, the ambition to be to be wealthy and rich, he says, because into many foolish and hurtful lusts which drown men in destruction and perdition. Now, it goes on to tell us we've all heard this verse and we've heard it misquoted, the love of money is the root of all evil. Right. It says the love or money. We've heard to say money is the root of all evil, but it's not the money is the root of all evil. It's the love of money. It's the following after is the root of all evil, which while some coveted after they have erred from the faith. Now he's going back. Paul is telling him exactly what James is telling us. Do not err. Don't make a mistake. Don't be deceived. Don't be delusional by this fleeting thing called money. And so he goes on to say, he says, what some have coveted after they have erred from the faith and pierce themselves through with many sorrows. But he says, but thou, O man of God, flee these things and follow after righteousness and godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness. He said, fight the good fight of faith. Amen. And, you know, there's no reason for us to, you know, hunker down and and be on the defensive where it'd be where to fight the good fight of faith. This relationship with Jesus Christ, and he's talking about and he goes on to talk about holding on to eternal life, hold on to eternal life, hold on to eternal life. You know, it's far more precious than silver or gold. Really, it is. And I've said it before. I wouldn't trade my salvation for a trillion dollars. I wouldn't trade it because that's eternity. See, you're not rich until you have what money cannot buy. You're not rich until you have what money cannot buy. And so that's pure religion. Now, I'm going to stop here because I'm at an important juncture and then I'm going to I think I'll cover this next week, the rest of this lesson. And so what we'll do is we'll stop right there and we will continue on and pick it up. We have about 10 minutes left before the 11 o'clock hour. So let's all stand and we'll pray and ask God to bless the rest of our time together. Our Father, I pray now this morning that God you would have taken these words and use them, Lord, to deliver to whatever you want to accomplish with it. And I pray Your blessing now, and I pray Your power and Your presence in this place. I pray that Christ be exalted, lifted up, glorified, honored. And Father, we do love You today. Lord, we worship before You today. Father, we give You Your glory because Thou art worthy. And Father, I pray now Your blessing. In Jesus' name, amen. We've got about 10 minutes, so let's enjoy each other for a few. Hey, Barnes. How you doing, brother? Good. Yeah, good. Good, good, good. Did Pastor talk to you when he said he wanted to get together? He went up to Rochester and had some, and went to a legal course on churches and stuff. I know, I didn't tell him. He said he got a little book or something. He wanted to get together and talk. Hey, Bruce. How you doing? Yeah, so I don't know when. He might mention it to you. I don't know if he talked to you about it. Good, good. Hi, Jerry. How are you, dear? Good, doing good. Oh, she's still so sick. She got, I think she got maybe a relapse of her, she had Lyme disease before. And so I think maybe she had that again, or, oh, just achy. She can't hardly bend up. And she's been to the chiropractor and seen them. But that's another thing I want to ask Bernie about. Hey, Bernie, let me ask you a question. Mary's been really sick lately. And the pastor said that I ought to bring her to you to see her, because her legs will just seize up, just tighten up when she gets up. And she said, I can't move. And her arm was just. shaking the other day. So I don't know if there's a. Let me see. OK, I'm going to maybe I'll make an appointment to come over this week. Hey, how are you doing, Ben? We're in Plum. Wow. Level Square in Plum. You can't forget any one of those. Otherwise, you know who's a genius at that? Yes. Carlos. Oh, really? Concrete guys amazed me my whole life. I watch them. They take a foundation. Yeah. It's within a quarter of an inch to put the framing. Yeah. It's nuts. Yeah. Oh, wow. I like that. That's a good quote. Thank you very much.