Address—H. Short
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Be fair, all things fresh.
Are dead with mercy.
And children.
And lazing on your hair.
But.
Just in for him.
Ye hard not smiling.
Yes, Brother Sarah will rise.
I'm holding every.
Hour.
But we will.
Be the Lord.
The line on daily is.
Your turn.
And.
Stand his work and bring me.
God is.
Here for.
Interpreter.
And he will.
Bring the plan.
For our God and Father, we thank Thee for faith, and we thank Thee our Father.
That is a gift from Thee to thy dear children. And now our Father, We thank thee too for thy holy Word, which we are about to open. And our Father, it would cause us a fear and trembling, and does cause us to tremble at thy Word. And yet our God and Father, it's there we discover Thee and our Lord Jesus Christ and Thy counsels of grace.
So as we open it tonight, we pray.
We may do so with opened ears and open hearts. O our God and Father, we have to bless us as we're together. We pray, Father, for the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ and for the establishment and building of of my dear beloved people. We ask your Father and his precious men.
Well, let's turn back to the book of James.
I think next week will be our last week here, so.
We might not make it too, unless I go along a little faster, but that won't matter.
James, Chapter 2 again.
And we talked a little bit last week about the rich man coming into the synagogue and the poor man coming in and and we gave the poor man a low place and said, I just sit here under my feet.
Now I would like to make a few more comments, beginning from verse six of chapter 2 about that subject. But you have despised the poor. Now that could be translated the poor man in in our account it only supposes one rich man coming in and one poor man, and they despise the poor man.
00:05:11
I you know, I don't suppose we've done that in our life. You know, when when we had our other meeting room, lots of poor men came in to the meeting room. And I they did that because.
I guess they found out we were pretty soft touches or pretty dumb or something, but we didn't despise them. When they came in and asked for money, it was always money or something.
But anyway, I want to make a little different application.
Of this poor man. I would like you to think of this poor man as the Lord Jesus.
And in a special character of the Lord Jesus, the Lord Jesus, in the midst of his gathered sin.
Truly, he is a poor man in that aspect. I think of a story a brother told me from another assembly. Quite a ways from here, but he told me this story about himself.
He went to Florida for the winter. He had a sister that lived down there and this brother was gathered to the Lord's name. He went to this place in Florida and and he went with to see his sister and she belonged to a very very large denomination.
Church. And it was around the later latter part of December and she invited him to come to her church and he went and he said, oh, he said it was impressive, I don't know, maybe 1000 people. And he said the choir is beautiful And he said it was really impressive.
Well, later they were talking, I guess, and the family members were together talking, got talking.
And why his sister had not gone with him to the meeting. Now the meeting where he went, the assembly gathered to the Lord's name, it wasn't quite so impressive. I think it had four people, and I think when Agnes and I were there, we were probably the youngest of those there.
And kind of what we call a weak assembly, but I think the more numbers you have, you just got a lot more weakness. But anyway, the subject came up to the sister, why She hadn't gone with this brother. And she said, well, he'd never asked me to go with him to his church. And his brother told me this himself. He said, you know, after seeing where she went, I guess I was ashamed.
I like the same.
But beloved, there was the Lord Jesus in the midst of those few older Saints.
A poor man, most of his children, most of his redeemed, hadn't given him that place as the gathering center in his life. They have they had despised him as that poor man.
I remember when we were in Atlanta the first time at the vast city and doctor Billy Graham was holding the Crusade when we were there. And again the the meaning isn't that big. I think there was about six of us there too.
And I thought, I wonder what would happen. And I don't know, Mr. Graham, I wonder what would happen if I went over to one of his crusade meetings and after meeting went up and said, Doctor Graham, I'd like you to come with me tomorrow night. We're going to go over where the Lord Jesus is in the midst. And I wondered and fancy in my mind what would he think when he came with me and sat down there again with this, these two or these three, He would say.
Oh, there's something wrong with me.
He would say you can. You're deceived. If you think the Lord Jesus is in the midst of this company, why they couldn't even usher the group where I live so beloved? Why? Because the Lord Jesus is poor in the midst of this gathered Saints. Now I asked you, dear ones, where does the Lord Jesus in this character as a poor man, and where the two or three are gathered together into his name? What place have you given him?
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In that character in your life, have you built your life around?
The assembly where the Lord is in the midst. You know, when I was about to marry this lady over here, I was a young man.
And my spiritual father, Mr. Chapter Brown, at the time, he said to me, Henry, the subject never came up in our house. Are we going to meeting tonight? He said it was assumed if there was an assembly meeting that we would go to it unless we absolutely could not go to it.
Well, here's a poor man with two or three gathered together around him.
In what place do you give him in your life? Where is there another rich man in your life that has a higher place in your life that gets more attention in your life that you're more careful about taking care of than this poor man?
I think we understand what is on my heart tonight. Then it goes down and speaks about the law. If you have verse 9 respective 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. Have you ever noticed in your life how that the sins in your brother's life or your sister's life?
Are a lot much, a lot more worse than they are in your life.
Yeah, I, I Oh yeah, I've done some wrong things. But I'm not like brother Kurt has and he's really bad. No. Beloved, beloved, think of this now. If you offend in one point of the law, you're guilty of it all. You've broken the whole lot. Isn't even 10 chains and breaking one link. It's one length, one big link and you break it. You break the whole thing, beloved.
We're not better than our brother, we're not better than our sister, and I was at occasion to visit with a brother.
Recently, and he got a little look at the gathered Saints, and it wasn't, you know, in the days of Solomon.
That dear queen, she and she was a clean mind. Yes. She was used to the niceties of life, and she was used to the Queen's court and all the royal palaces of her land. She came into the presence of Solomon and Solomon's servants, and she took her breath right out of right away from her. She had no more spirit in her as she looked at those gathered in the present of King Solomon.
Well, this brother was looking at those gathered in the presence of the Lord Jesus.
For he, he had some things that he had noticed that weren't too good about us. And I said, listen brother, if you that's what you're looking for, I could give you a lot higher stacks than that. I really could. This breath wasn't taken away from us, from him by looking at those around the Lord. No, we were just a poor, poor people lot. Well beloved, that's the kind of people.
That are gathered to the Lord's name. And we mustn't think that we're better than one another, We're better than anyone else, I said to this brother. I said brother.
I said to him, Why did the Lord Jesus die?
Oh, that's a hard question to answer, isn't it, for someone who's been all their life nearly a Christian? He said He died for my sins.
I said which sins did he die for, brother?
The ones you committed before you were a Christian, or the ones you committed after you were Christians?
He said. Why of course all my sins, even the ones I've committed after I was a Christian.
I said. Now I want to ask you a question.
Are those sins that you committed after you were Christian? Are they a lot better sins than those of the gathered Saints that you have difficulty with?
You see what I'm saying, beloved? How can we look down on one another? We can't look down on one another. I called the Lord Jesus to die on Calvary's cross tonight. Say, well, he commits adultery, but I only steal and that was only a cookie. No beloved was guilty. Verily, if it all we've caused the death of our Lord Jesus Christ. Well, there goes down. He talks again about the poor man who doesn't have something to eat.
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What does it in verse 15 if a brother or a sister be naked and destitute of daily food for that looks like us, doesn't it? It looks like this company is a poor you know, we have that and David and David's life. When the Discontinued and all the outcasts I can imagine in one way saw the thing. One thing nice about David Clean is they took all the riffraff out of my Kingdom.
And there they are out there, gathered to David in the tape of a Dome. Oh, we may be poor in destitute. Maybe you're looking at the gathered things that way tonight. Maybe you look at you rather than that way you might think of them. But they lost their eyes with one brother. He's just talking about it. I said Well.
We're just a new brother Brown, Brother Brown used to tell us. We're just a bunch of crooked sticks and yells.
If you have 10 crooked sticks, like, you only got 10 crooked things. But if you got 100 crooked sticks, you've multiplied the crookedness 10 times. And so numerically, it doesn't matter, it doesn't improve, it doesn't straighten any of us out. So maybe we're looking at each other that way. And said, boy, that brother is destitute, he really is. He's spiritually bankrupt. Well, what are you going to do about it if a brother or sister be naked and destitute of daily food?
Then why are you saying to them, depart in peace and be warmed and filled? Notwithstanding, you know that? Can you imagine that Lazarus There he was outside.
And that rich man, he came home that day from his business and he saw Lazarus and he said I'll be warmed and be at peace. Lazarus have a good day. And he walked in and there was left Lazarus outside. There his gate longings were just a crumb.
That was falling from his table and he wouldn't give it to him. He loved it.
Do you think the assembly here in Cedar Rapids is poor? Maybe it wouldn't be so poor if you would take what the Lord has given you off of your pantry shelf and brought it here and deposited into the assembly. You come to the assembly to get something, come to give something. You know the Lord has made us members of the body and and maybe you're an eye and I might be a nose or a tongue.
But what good am I if I don't, if I'm not able to see well, come on and support and help and contribute to the assembly. What the Lord has given you for the assembly, beloved, He has given you something for the assembly. I don't care who you are. If you know the Lord Jesus as your Savior, Christ has given you something for the assembly. Where is it?
Where have you put it? What have you done with it? Have you taken it out somewhere else and used it? Maybe it's energy. Have you taken those energies and spin it on the advancement of the world? You know, later to see it? She said. We've got it all together. And the Lord Jesus was outside of it all. They had kept it all for themselves. They hadn't bestowed it on the Lord and bestowed it on the Lord's people.
Oh, beloved, let's come as contributors. Let's come as dearest. You know, of course, you're not going to get a lot from me, but I hope something that the Lord has given me, I would be willing to not keep it for myself. Aching. You know he took those bars of gold and silver. Those belong to the Lord. They belong to the Lord's house. What'd he do with them? Took him home to his tent. Buried him in the earth. And beloved, he lost his White Horse and telling it tonight.
If you're using what the Lord has given you for this little gathering in Cedar Rapids.
00:20:00
If you're using that for your own advancement, your energies, your time, whatever it is, if he's giving you time and you're wasting it on yourself.
Is going to end in your death. It's going to be a worthless life. You're going to find out at the end when you come before the Lord Jesus, you saved your life and it cost you that life that you saved. And all beloved, use what the Lord has contributed to the poor Saints and they might find a little warmth out being. Think about that. You know, we've heard that lots of times and I hope we don't forget it. No love in the assembly. Welcome on.
And bestow it. Go ahead and bestow it. Bring that love that you've got all stored up in your closet. Bring it and put it into the assembly. And maybe you can melt some of us who are icicles and cold hard. Well, beloved, let's contribute to the poor Saints. I love it that big. You know, there is an awful lot about the poor Saints. And that contribution for the poor Saints. There is a lot of passages that have to do.
With giving money to the poor, saying to Jerusalem, God valued it. There were some plural Jewish Saints up there in Jerusalem. Nathan James is talking about some of them. And these believers contributed in God so valued it. He's written many, many passages in the New Testament about that act of service. You won't regret it, loved ones, we won't regret anything we've contributed.
To God's assembly. Well, now we come down to verse 20.
He had spoken about the devil's believing in Tremble. There are no unbelieving demons sayings not unbelieving. But what good, what good did their belief do? Satan. I don't know how he fell or when he fell. But when he fell he knew God was God and he knew he wasn't God and he knew God was his creator. But what good did it do him? He fell. I don't know how he fell, but he fell.
And he fell, and these demons fell too. But they know there is a God. If you don't think there is, Sometimes things act that we act like we don't know there is a God, or that he may be at least.
Isn't paying too much attention to us. But he is beloved. He is well, they they believe, but it didn't do them any good. And now James is going to say you think you're any better.
But he said in verse 20. But wilt thou know vain man that faith without works is dead? And we mentioned that in Hebrews works with all faith. Is that so? You got to keep these two things together. One without the other is dead. It's dead and dead is dead. Beloved, don't deceive our hearts. If Christ isn't moving in our souls, we better get before the Lord and find out if we have life or not.
Well, he says, Abraham our father was justified by works, when he had offered Isaac his son upon the altar. Now notice and the Scripture which was fulfilled, which saith Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness, and he was called the friend of God. Well here this was said of him, and I think chapter 15. But his his faith wasn't perfect.
Until he offered his son up in chapter was it 22.
It was a long period of time where Abraham's confession of faith wasn't proved. It wasn't perfect. It it wasn't made complete. He didn't have that act that worked in his life that confirmed that what he was saying he believed Brother Carl and I had a mutual friend and Brother Charles Whittaker, and he was the first contact with my family.
And my father gave that man one of the highest compliments, a compliment I would cover being able to have said about me. He he called Mr. Whitaker in him, but now he is my my father was a peer of him, he said.
Oh, Charlie. One thing about old Charlie, he practices what he preaches. Well, Abraham confessed faith in God and when God put him to the test.
And pass the task and pass the test. And you know something else about Abraham? Here, James, we say, show me thy faith. But there it says When he offered up Isaac his son, God said now. Or the Angel of the Lord said now I know. Now I know. Well, it's kind of frightening, isn't it? We say, well, we're trusting the Lord sometimes. I remember as a young man I said I, I, I.
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I want to trust the Lord.
Well, that is a nice declaration. They love it. But the proving of it came maybe quite a while afterwards, and you might have said it with purpose of heart, to follow the Lord. And somewhere down the line, who is going to test you, to discourage, you know, to strengthen you, to perfect that faith, but trust the Lord. You can trust the Lord and enjoy what the brother said back home.
He said, Apostle Paul said, My God shall supply all your need. You know, that's that's a pretty glib thing, isn't it? I can tell Lyle he's got some humongous thing ahead of him. No way to me. And I don't worry, brother. I lawyer said he meet your name. You meet your need. That's pretty easy to say. But you know, beloved, the Apostle Paul could say it because he had proved it in his own life.
He wasn't talking from going to Bible school and having a lesson.
On the book of Philippians and reading that he learned.
Rich our lives with because he's going to perfect the faith. So years later Abraham perfect faith was perfected by this tremendous trial of offering up his son. Now there's another one here. You know how that in verse 20. And I want to speak a little bit about the end of verse 23.
For he was called.
The friend of God.
Oh.
Have any friends in your life? I knew a brother once, he said to me.
I've never had a friend. He wasn't talking about the Lord. Besides, never had a real friend of my heart ached for him. My heart ached for him. He'd never had a friend in his life. And I asked you tonight, between you and God, does God have a friend?
Is God friendless in your life? What is a friend? I enjoy the words Mr. Darby spoke about Abraham, the friend of God, he said with a friend.
I commune with what's upon my heart with an acquaintance. I stayed only my business. God came down to earth, and he found Abraham, his friend, and he was able to tell Abraham what he was going to do. And Abraham was interested. Are you interested in what's going to happen to this earth? I am. You know, I I'm very interested in the millennial reign. The Jews are going to, the believing Jews are going to be interested, but they're going to be interested for a different reason than I am.
They see the judgment as necessary for them being saved.
And I see the judgments on this world which I don't look forward to happening.
Except this. I know they have to come before my Savior can be exalted to his rightful place in this world. I'm interested in the exaltation of the Lord Jesus. I just. I just love to look at the mess. This world's in it every day. They're running out of headline space for the tragedies, calamities. I don't mean I love these things, but I mean I love the fact there's only one man that can straighten it out.
It's a hopeless, doomed world. It's a condemned, judged world, and there's only one man that can straighten it out. And he's my savior. He is my Lord. But more than that, beloved, we're going to be his wife for that thousand years. What does that mean? It means you look at your family, your children, look at mom and dad, and you say they're the same. They both have the same authority over me.
We're going to rain, rain and help the Lord Jesus. I draw back from using the word help. No, we're going to share in his reign over this world. You're going to give us something to do in the way of administration. That's what the church as his Hawaii is going to be for eternity. Beloved for eternity. Monarch looks bad as his wife or licked that as his bride. And what's that?
00:30:23
You know what it is you you men, who have that wedding day. You know what the pride is? The difference between the bride and the wife. I was looking at my beloved to see me, I thought.
Maybe she had sticks and supper.
I try. I figured it out. 4000 meals or 40,000 meals. I don't know. She's done all that for this poor thing she's done for me as my wife.
But nothing eclipses the day when she came down that aisle dressed in white. To be calm, she was my bride and bride. And for eternity, beloved, we're going to be the bride of Christ. We're going to satisfy his heart. Isn't a wonderful brother, Carl. We're going to satisfy the Lord Jesus heart for all eternity. And we should do it tonight. We should try to do it in our day.
Let's give this poor man.
The Lord Jesus Christ his rightful place in our lives. And so now we come that Abraham was a friend of God. Oh, don't you covet that in your heart to day that the Lord Jesus talked to you as a friend? We all want a friend, don't you? You want a friend the Lord Jesus wants a friend to. And Abraham was the friend of God. Ye see verse 24.
How by works a man is justified by faith only. Well.
Sister Abraham was a man, all right, but here's a woman. Likewise. Also was the Rahab, the harlot, justified by words when she had received the messengers and had sent them out another way. Here she's receiving messengers. In Hebrews, she's receiving spies. The spies are those who give view a situation and go back with a true report.
Is a condemned city. Miracles. A condemned city has been judged by God. That's what the spies in our whole city was, shut up and afraid. But here they have received messengers. Now Messenger is something other than a spy. A messenger comes with a message for you and they told Rahab Rahab.
I love it, they said. They have you take the scarlet cord and put it in your window and you're going to be saved and all who come into your house.
To what joy do you know what she did? And she received them in peace, I think in Hebrews. But here she sends them out another way. Lord, you might say, came in. Those spies and those messengers came in as her enemies. And there was this fear in the whole city. But they didn't go out her enemies, they went out her friends, They had brought a message of peace, and she sends them out in peace, all beloved.
As the Lord and brought peace into your life. As the Lord. Is he real in your life? Oh, you know, I enjoy that about Samuel.
And Eli said. Now you say.
Lord thy serve and speaking. And you say, I'm not going to say it because I don't know him as my Lord. And he just said speak and speak, and I enjoy that, honestly. Samuel went on to know the Lord.
He knew the Lord as one who would communicate with him and commune with him. Do you know the Lord in that way? Has he changed your life? Has he changed your thoughts about him?
They have only saw that company crossing Jordan as those who were certain judgment to her. But they went out another way as those who were certain salvation to her and those with her old beloved. It's a wonderful thing to know the Lord, to have him come into your life and change your life, give you new desires, new hopes, free from this poor judged world.
And set your holes.
Oh, beloved. In him, well, we have, you know, she's called the harlot. She's mentioned three times in the New Testament and twice she's identified as harlot. And I like to think it's because the Lord is telling you, you know?
00:35:17
They might have said at one time, there's.
Any of the junkers, they can't say it anymore.
And when you see who Rahab was in the first in the first book of the New Testament, she's now called a harlot there. She's the preserver of the royal line, beloved 3 women there, Tamar, Rahab and Ruth. And Tamar and Rahab took the character of Harlot and these two women preserved.
Tamar, by giving birth to pairs, preserved the royal wine and Judah, and then you have dear baths fever.
What more women in that genealogy? No, they're fine. I like to think of the 1St 4. You know, they might not have been the finest specimens of womankind, but you come to marry and what a beautiful, beautiful woman she is. And I like to think of her as.
Like ourselves, you know, you look at us now what we are in nature now. Very nice because not done with this beloved. And then there was Rahab then first chapter of Matthew. She's not called a harlot. Oh beloved, we're not such were some of you. That's not what we are now. Let's accept that place that the grace of God has brought us into and walked in the dignity.
Of being.
Not becoming, but being, you know, sons of God, you know, beloved.
You're never going to be more a son of God than you are right now.
You've been born of God, your son of God. You're a child of God. You're never going to be more of a child of God than you are tonight. Well, let's walk. And the dignity, Oh, Rahab, I just love it. She gave up that life she valued. She came into the royal line and she preserved it when Israel it would have been extinguished. And then comes Ruth.
With the most beautiful women in the host scriptures. I just finished their book. That's why I'm so kind of.
Every time I read that book, my heart falls more in love with that woman.
'S sisters. They preserve that precious royal line. Well, that's what Faith does, beloved. That's what faith does. It raises up a name.
Where that means would have perished without them. And so now we come to Chapter 3.
My brethren being out in any masters or teachers.
And there's another headset. It's the natural. I forget the word propensity, I think to teach. What that means is it's the little boy or the little girl sitting in the front row of the Sunday School. And the person talking to him said, can you say your verse today? And the verse is God is love.
Oh, who wants to be first And all the hands shoot up? It would have been Ezekiel 3628. If there is such a verse. It might not have been those hands through it. But I know the answer and I want. I'm anxious to be the first one to say that's in our hearts. Beloved, you know very well in a group where there's a lot of questions who you would like to be. You wouldn't like to be the one asking the question. You'd like to be the one at the head of the class. You'd like to be the one that was able to give all the answers.
No, beloved me, not many teachers. I don't don't want to be a teacher. Why? For in many things we offend all. You know the new translation, how that's translated? I think you know it, but it's translated reason. You don't want to be a a teacher. You don't want to be too anxious to take the head of the class. For we all.
Often offend.
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Not translated. Let's take that verse, look at it in your Bible and tell me the truth.
How is it translated in your Bible? Is it translated, my brethren? I know verse 2, for in many things we offend all.
Now tell the truth. Is it translated that way, or is it translated this way? For in many things ye offend all.
Tell me, is it AW or is it AY?
Is that we or is it you? Oh, I know you. I know you. You guys, you often offend. Yes, Sir, You know.
In the last year or half or so?
Brother who I was close to.
And and he laughed. He was disciplined, went away. But.
Many years have passed and he called a brother in our gathering. We love this man.
And he told his brother, You know, he said. I made a list.
He said. On this list, I put the name of everyone that offended me.
Denominator. I know who was #1 in that list. At least I would be shocked if my name wasn't number one. I remember I'd gone to him and I said I'm sorry for what I've done.
He said You're forgiven.
But don't forget the story.
Of the.
Brother and the pillow and the brother shook the pillow and the feathers flew all over and he turned to the other brother and said you're forgiven.
Go gather up the pattern I knew, beloved.
I can't gather up the feathers.
When they are working in a late home, she had cleared her room out for me to clean her carpet and put a little stand alongside the stairs.
As vacuuming or stairs in my hose and I didn't have it sat properly in there and the aluminum stairpiece fell. She had gone shopping, hit the top of her night stand and.
Oh, I was horrified. I went down and I looked at the top of that stand and sure enough.
There was a dance where my tool had fallen. I thought, I'm glad you wouldn't have thought this, but I thought maybe I could put a doily over it or something.
No, that wouldn't do. My conscience only got worse.
I don't know what I'm going to do. I remember Mr. Saddened Sharp when I was in 7th grade, he said. If you put water on top of a piece of wood with a dinner, it'll swell it and take the dent away. But even I was smart enough to know it wouldn't work here.
I was trying to think of all things and I I couldn't do anything.
I looked at peace over and I concluded she must have got it. This beautiful piece must have got it yesterday for a birthday present or something. And she came home and I said, Missus Smith, I've had a bad accident.
I said I heard a piece of furniture and I told her what I did. She came in like, oh, that old thing she said got involved, Get rid of it anyway. Well, I was relieved. But I know today, beloved, that whole thing, wherever it is, you still got that danger. And I put it there. And so there are things we can't do. But I told this brother.
You know, he made this list and I and he told us, but he made this list. He said I forgive them all. And I said, you know, I'm glad, but it would have impressed my heart much more.
If that brother had said, you know, brother, I made a list.
I couldn't make this list too long. I made a list of everybody that I have offended.
00:45:09
And I'm as condemned to forgive me.
Oh beloved, as your Bible read, ye all often offend. Or does it read I often offend all? Oh beloved, faith of God, you don't need to think that you need to forgive your brother, and if they don't have to forgive you.
All those who I've offended, they're so big and my left is so big. When anybody ever feels like they have to tell me I'm sorry, I feel ashamed.
I think don't don't even say it to me. Who would I be to need to forgive anyone All beloved? We, you, I, we all often open and let's not take the place as teachers of others. We all often offend. Put it.
You know, I was thinking of that little Grimm that in Zechariah.
When the Lord is done working in their hearts, what it's saying?
That we've had this pointed out to us, but it's good to be reminded Nathan isn't saying to David Thou art the man they are repenting, beloved. The House of Nathan apart. The House of David apart. And you know something else? It says and.
Their wives apart. You know that's in the Bible that wives have things to repent of to oh you know as an unfortunate for you because you're surrounded by those of husbands. We husbands who.
I don't know. We're so crooked that we make anything look straight. But God said the wise had to repent to we all often offend, and if this place hold upon our hearts, are we going to continue in criticism of one another?
Can we? We can't, Can we? We can't. We all often offend and then it says behold.
We put bits and horses, mouths that they may obey us and we turn about their whole body. I never like to get on a horse. I've always been afraid of anything that's bigger than me and all horses. I fact, I only know maybe I've been on two horses in my life. There was a ***** man lived across the street from us and he had an old plow horse. Neighbor boy. I don't know, maybe Shane me into getting enough courage to get on that big old fall horse.
And ride it to the cornfield. But I was scared all the time. But we can put bits and big horses, miles and all that power that the scripture speaks of the horse having. It can be controlled and we can direct it this way and that way, but, he says.
Behold also the ships which no lady so great and are driven by fierce winds, yet they are turned about with a very small helm. I I think the helm I have to check out with the sailor brothers, but it's just that little I guess. I would probably call it a rudder bound.
That's what it is. That little piece that makes that boat go wherever you want it to go. Just a little thing, but it turns out great big boat, wherever you want it to go. But then it says here.
Verse 5 Even so the tongue.
Is a little Member and boast with great things. Behold, how great a matter a little fire, timless. You ever said anything with this little tongue of yours that you regret?
Oh, oh, below. Sometimes you think, oh, I should cut it out.
How much we said I have one deep regret in my life.
There's a young man going on smoke gathered Saints is the carelessness of this evil tongue of mine. And speaking about the wrong of my dad and oh, I would beg forgiveness, beloved, This tongue is so uncontrollable and so it's fair. The tongue is a fire world of iniquity. So is the town among our members.
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Is it describing the tongue?
Inside of your mouth? Or is it describing the tongue inside of mine? Does it say your or does it say our? Oh beloved, that's not falsely translate the holy word of God. God is speaking to our hearts tonight. He wants us to judge these things in our lives that we tend not to judge so that we can prosper in our souls.
Whether they call me, then I eat down. I said, well, it's all right to get down, but don't stay there. I mean, James doesn't want us to stay in. James, Yes. Who doesn't want us to leave it very far, But he doesn't want us to stay there, Wants us to judge these things so we can grow and get occupied with the Lord, so that we can eat that new corn there in heavenly places. But we'll never get there to eat it. I.
Speak spiritually in our souls now.
Unless we're willing to face these issues, square on and you can say this book of James was written for me.
I'm not interested in what it says to anyone else, but I know it was written to me. It's my tongue God is talking about. And then he speaks of being able to team all these other animals but in verse 8 but the tongue to no maintain.
Is unruly evil, full of deadly poison, there with blessed we God, even the Father. Or it could read the Lord.
The Father. It is 2 Persons here, but we bless them both.
It isn't singling out one person of the Godhead, it's two persons, the Lord Jesus.
And the Father James addresses himself as a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ.
But we blessed them both, and I think of the apostles. Words to the Philippians sayings, he said, fulfill you my joy, Be like minded. They love Paul, but they were fussing with one another. You can't talk about loving the Lord and how much you enjoy the Lord and you're fussing with one another. Joseph said Don't fall out, by the way, Don't fuss with each other, by the way.
And the Lord doesn't want us fussing with one another. And so we can bless the Lord. We can't have a fountain send forth at the same time, same place, Sweetwater and bitter. And these trees, they can't produce two kinds of fruit. And then it says in verse 14, But if you had bitter envying and strife in your hearts, notice it didn't come out yet. Just inside your heart, somebody said something about.
Me being unique or something, I know. Wow, they didn't know me when I'd ride on my mower the other day. And this neighbor boy he'd take and he got his nice car and got a job at the hospital and they don't have room in this driveway to park it. And on their side of the street there's no parking. On my side of the street, there's parking. In old Patrick, you come and park on my size Jeep and he'll know my lot lines are two or three feet under his car.
And parking in my yard and neat. Oh no. How how many times I said things to Patrick in my heart. Oh, I'm trying to win him to the Lord. Fortunately, they haven't come out of the mouth of mine. But, beloved, the Lord is looking at our hearts. You know, I deceived by what we try to hide. You know he's looking right down. And you know it doesn't make much difference what your brethren think of you.
What does the Lord think of you? And I sometimes told the young parents, You know, it doesn't matter. It doesn't matter.
What your brother and think your family's life. What is it like at home with no one looking? What is it like at home when no one's looking? That's what comes below it. And God is always looking. He sees those thoughts in my heart. You know I love it because that's when he let the tree limbs hit me on the head and cracked me up a little bit. But I'll be loud. We need this correction and let's watch what's going on in our hearts. And we can't bless God.
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When we're allowing in our hearts these things glory not and lie not against the truth, wisdom they send us not from above. This wisdom descendeth not from above, but is firstly sensual and devilish. For where envying its strife is there is confusion in every evil, where your God strengthen your heart, your envy in your heart, and not happiness and peace in your heart toward your brethren.
To love it. I, you know, there's this this issue. She doesn't say. She doesn't say very long.
She came to me and she said what? I don't like this lady. She used to be my best friend, but she's not saved and she's such an evil lady. I just.
You're doing this, but she just knew, she said. Well, it was like the Lord was sitting there twiddling your stones. Are you done now?
Said. I felt like a fool.
You see a brother here tonight, You got something again. You really a bad brother? And he?
Go home tonight and tell the Lord how bad he is and how much better you are.
And see see what happens to that prayer. Beloved, you can't come out of the presence of God.
But a humble man or a humble woman? 01 moment in the presence of God stop our nose.
We're not going to be fining. Call the mourn every man apart all he is the standard beloved, oh let's get these things out of our lives and how profitable for us. They're not. They're not going to. They're going to hinder our spiritual growth. So let's just judge them and go on with our God well.
Our Father and our loving God. We marvel at Thy patience with such things as we are. And yet, O our God and Father, we love to think of the last chapter.
Perfect did forever.
Can O Father yet that doesn't satisfy our hearts while we're waiting that moment.
He would desire.
Thy working in our soul that the Lord Jesus might be glorified and magnified in our bodies, help us, Lord, to go on together as brethren redeemed by the precious Blood of Christ. Oh Father, help us give us that wisdom which is from above pure and peaceable. Oh Lord, help us to judge ourselves, and so much to judge.
But we thank you for our Lord Jesus.
We thank you for our beloved brethren. We thank you for giving them to us, to walk home with, to help us along the way, to pick us up when we fall, or God and Father. We thank Thee and our Lord Jesus, worthy man and.