Turn with me this morning to the book of James, the second chapter. Brother Jerry said he was guessing about how he was. I said, I didn't know. myself exactly how I was. So we're in about the same shape. It's kind of fair to middling, right? You don't know what that is. That's an old cotton grading term. Us cotton picking and beginning folks know that. It's fair to middling. It's kind of in the middle, you know. Always kind of puzzled me, though, all them samples they took. and nearly all was about the same thing, 20 cents a pound. Book of James, the second chapter, he said, my brethren, have not the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with respect, of persons. For if there come unto your assembly a man with a gold ring and goodly apparel, and there come in one also, a poor man in vile raiment, and you have respect to him that weareth the gay cloth, and then say unto him, Sit thou here in a good place, and say to the poor, Stand thou there, or sit here under my footstool? Are ye not then partial in yourselves, and are become judges of evil thoughts? Hearken, my beloved brethren, hath not God chosen the poor of this world rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom which he hath promised to them that love him? But ye have despised the poor. Do not rich men oppress you and draw you before the judgment seats? Do not they blaspheme that worthy name by which ye are called? If ye fulfill the royal law according to the scripture, thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. Ye do well. This is a thing you ought to do. But if you have respect one person, respect two persons, you commit sin and are convinced of the law as transgressors. For whosoever shall keep the whole law and yet offend in one point, he is guilty. of all, I read this again this week and something caught my eye in the first verse. And I began to wonder at that. I've read this time again and all of a sudden something was different. It said, my brethren, have not the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with respect of persons. And I thought about this having faith. And I finally concluded, it was kind of puzzling to me at first, and finally I concluded he was a sovereign grace fellow. That's his faith. No, it was like this. We have the mind of Christ. We know what we ought to do if we study the scripture. They are written that we might know how we ought to act in the church of God. And this whole book that we have we call the Bible is the law. From beginning to end, it tells us what we ought to do. how we ought to judge. Christ was no respecter of persons. We ought not be respecter of persons in the sense that this fella had a nice gold ring and goodly apparel. We certainly ought not judge by the outward appearance of men. And this whole thing that we've read down to this point is concerning the love of the brethren. Love one another as you ought to. Have love one to another. And that's what the Lord's talking about here through James. We ought to be careful. as to how we judge, but we ought to judge. Be careful that we get those things in their proper order. If you don't have any judgment, then you're without Christ also. He had a perfect judgment. He knew all things. Never made error. And we have that mind of Christ. in the scripture back in the book of Romans in 13th chapter. I guess verse 7, render therefore to all their dues tribute to whom tribute is due, custom to whom custom, fear to whom fear, honor to whom honor, O no man anything but to love one another. This is what you're obligated to do. Now here's the question, can you do it? He said, for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law. For this thou shalt not commit adultery, thou shalt not still thou shalt not bear false witness, thou shalt not covet. And if there be any other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying, namely, thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. And this is how we all die. And if a man be in Christ Jesus, he will Act that way. It is in the law. That was the main point of the law. Yeah, love one another. That fulfills the law. It's done what is required, if you can do it. But we also need to know that, and I'm afraid people don't know that for the most part nowadays. But we go back again to the book of Leviticus, the 19th chapter of the book of Leviticus. In verse 15, it said, ye do not do no unrighteousness in judgment. Thou shalt not respect the person of the poor, nor honor the person of the mighty, but in righteousness shalt thou judge thy neighbor. And this kind of goes back to what I was telling you, that you must judge, but you must judge right. You must judge with love in your heart for your neighbor. But there must be judgment made. Lord is a righteous judge. And if we are to judge, we are to judge righteously. In other words, by the mind of Christ. This is how you ought to act. And it's set forth here in the book of Deuteronomy then, the 16th chapter. Verse 18, he said, judges and officers shalt thou make thee in all thy gates which the Lord thy God giveth thee. So we've got to have some judgment. And they shall judge the people with just judgment. Thou shalt not rest the judgment. Thou shalt not respect persons Neither take a gift for a gift. The gift for a gift doth blind the eyes of the wise and pervert the words of the righteous. That which is altogether just shall thou follow, that thou mayest live and inherit the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee. It's all about judgment, but it's about judging in righteousness. And the Lord, being a righteous judge and not showing any partiality in the very beginning, chose you and I in love and called us out, not respecting the person of any. It doesn't matter who you are. It didn't matter who you are. And we ought not judge by outward appearance, but go back to what James is talking about, the doer of the law. What are you judging by? Is he a Christian? Well, you judge him as a Christian. Did he keep the law? Yeah. If he'd be a Christian, he'll do his best, too. And he'll also look into the law to see how he ought to act. In the second Corinthians, The 8th chapter. Verse 7, he said, therefore, as you abound in everything, in faith, in utterance, in knowledge, and in all diligence in your love to us, see that you abound in this grace also. I speak not by commandment, but by occasion of the forwardness of others, and to prove the sincerity of your love. For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that you through his poverty might be rich. And herein I give my advice, for this is expedient for you who have begun before, not only to do but also to be forward a year ago. And therefore, perform the thing of it, that as there was a readiness to will, so that there may be a performance also out of that which you have. Well, it doesn't ask more than you have, and you can't love more than you have. But you do love. And the pattern that's set before us is the Lord Jesus Christ himself. which had a perfect love. There wasn't anything lacking in that. It was above everything else in Book of Philippians. the second chapter. Verse one, he said, if therefore any consolation in Christ and any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any vows and mercies, fulfill ye my joy that ye be like minded. having the same love, being of one accord, and of one mind, having the mind of Christ. Till we come to the unity of the faith. And let nothing be done through strife or vainglory, but in lowliness of mind, let each esteem other better than themselves. Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others. Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus, who being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God, but made himself of no reputation and took upon him the form of a servant. and was made in the likeness of men. And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. He goes on to say, but God hath exalted him. He sits. in a place of exultation. The things about him had no glory in respect by the reason of glory that excelled. There wasn't any comparison between the two. And there's no comparison of the love of man to the love of God. But we strive to love one another. In the third chapter of Philippians, in the third verse, he said, for we are the circumcision which worship God in the spirit and rejoice in Christ Jesus and have no confidence in the flesh. So how do we judge? By the flesh? No, by the spirit. By the spirit of love. Last Lord's Day, we were talking about the glory of God again. talking about those things that we do as Christians that cannot be done by a non-Christian. And this is one of them. The world talks about love all the time. I mean, but they haven't got a clue. They cannot have a clue because there is no spirit of God there, no spirit of Christ. to guide them. The Lord himself tells us again that this is the way that the world will know that we are his. If we have love, one, and I still insist upon that one little word in there, He doesn't say if you have love one for another. He says if you have love one to another. As Christ said himself in the Sermon on the Mount, you know, what have you gained? What is there if you love them that love you? What are you better for? But if you love them that don't love you, that's a different thing. But the highest love is for the brother. If we have love one to another, you don't wait to see, well, Dale loved me. Well, I'll love you back then. I love you because I love you because of the Spirit of Christ that abides within. Have not respect one for another. All right, that's a very good lesson. Thank you.