Books of James & Jude - Hearing, speaking and anger in a Christian life -...
James 1:19-21 · Bob Eckel · Mar 10, 2013
James & Jude, No. 09
Holly Hills Bible Church
https://hollyhillsbiblechurch.org/teaching/messages/49261728306926

Transcribed from the recording by SermonAudio, so expect the occasional misheard word.

Alright, so I think we'll start in verse 13 and read through 21 and then focus in on 19-21 today. So who wants to read James 1, 13-21? When tempted, no one should say, God is tempting me. For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone. But each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed. Then after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin. And sin, when it is full grown, gives birth to death.

Don't be deceived, dear brothers. Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly light, who does not change like shifting shadows. He chose to give us birth through the word of the truth, that we might be a kind of first fruits of all he created. My dear brothers, take note of this.

Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to become angry. For man's anger does not bring about the righteous life that God desires. Therefore, get rid of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent and humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save you. So then, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath. For the wrath of man does not produce the righteousness of God, Therefore lay aside all filthiness and overflow of wickedness, and receive with meekness the implanted word which is able to save your souls. So then, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, and slow to wrath. So the question to the class is, how is every man among us, women not excused, doing here? How are we doing at this? I think men are accused more so of women than in fact not listening, right? Nobody's saying anything.

It must be true. I don't know. Ultimately swift to hear. That's kind of an oxymoron, isn't it? Describe being swift to hear. I wonder if it's not more anxious to hear. Especially with God's word, right? Shouldn't we be anxious to hear what he has to say? Saying, oh no, the word has that to say. more of the anxious, well he has something to say. I think maybe he has more of the thought of being swift to understand rather than being swift to be understood.

Okay, alright. B here is present imperative, that means do it. I mean this isn't kind of let's see, maybe I will, maybe I won't, and the word says pay attention to this. Tahir is aorist, active, and definitive, which means aorist, we'll come back to this again, but I think people often say aorist is always past tense. But it's not. It's kind of a one point in time deal. So I think that doesn't mean you're swift to hear once, but each time you do it, it's a definitive act. And active means we're responsible to do this.

So I think this is best stated as listen now and carefully and to the word. It's really to the word that we're talking about. And the word here, I think, could be interpreted indwelling or written word. I mean, this is logos, which, broadly interpreted, could mean this or, in fact, the living word who indwells each one of us. And this leads us to being slow to speak and slow to rap. By the way, the term swiftly, or be swift to hear. It actually does mean speedily. Again, like I said up here, it means to listen now, not tomorrow, and listen carefully. Margaret, you missed the last slide where I said, how's everyone doing here? How's every man? Which is what the verse says. I said women aren't excused here either. No, but I said men listen poorly, more poorly than women do. You think so? Yeah.

Selective hearing is what I call it. So this whole slow to speak and slow to wrath, I mean, I guess if we listen carefully and through the power of the word in us, ultimately we will be slow to speak and slow to wrath because the word says we need to be. But secondly, the Lord Jesus in each one of us, the new creation in Christ Jesus is slow to wrath, right? I mean, Christ did reveal wrath, but it was wrath directed to sin, right? Or unbelief.

And the Pharisees, woe is ye, all the Matthew kind of 25, 26 passages. So I used a couple of examples. And Exodus, let's turn to Exodus 4, 10 through 12. And Moses provides a good example of this. And in verse 12, particularly, I put here in your handout. We're going to look at the Old Testament a few times today, because there are a few verses there that really relate to the principle of God as applied to those to whom James was writing. So whoever gets Exodus 4, chapters 12, go ahead and read it.

And Moses said unto the Lord, O my Lord, I am not eloquent, neither heretofore nor since thou hast spoken unto thy servant, but I am slow of speech and of a slow tongue. And the Lord said unto him, Who hath made man's mouth? or who maketh the dumb, or deaf, or seeing, or blind? Had not I the Lord, now therefore go and I will be with thy mouth and teach thee what thou shalt say. Okay, so Moses is put in a very dependent position here, isn't he? In verse 12, the Lord says, now therefore go and I will be with your mouth and teach you what you shall say.

I mean, that's kind of very relevant today. It's not like we're robots, but we're put in a position ultimately of listening carefully For this reason we also thank God without ceasing because when you receive the word of God which you heard from us. You welcomed it, not as the word of men, but as it is truth, the word of God, which also effectively works in you who believe. The word of God is working in us to effectively carry out his ministry through us.

I think that's again being swift to hear and slow to wrath and slow to speak. OK, any other thoughts about that part of verse 19? Because slow to wrath is, I'm going to continue that on into verse 20, because I think it relates more to 20. Slow to speak, slow to wrath, I've included here, but now we're going to continue the theme. For the wrath of man does not produce the righteousness of God. Seems self-evident, doesn't it? Well, it seems like the Lord wants us to be quick on the intake, but kind of slow on the outtake. I'm at fault too many times. I'm not saying you are, I'm just identifying with what you're saying. I'll speak up sometimes. Fine, we can talk privately later. But many times we'll speak, maybe we should have just not said anything. It would be better if we didn't say anything.

A perfect example of the real world today is email. If something crosses your path, it's in your face, you can be reactionary or you can be responsive. I think that's what that is. I mean, in a sense, how many times, and by the way, email is legally a documentation, and I've been in a court on a jury where, in fact, email was used to really bring, you know, guilt to the party who's being accused.

Anyway, all that aside, reactionary is not of the new man. It's really of the old man. Slow to wrath would be, if you're going to respond in wrath, ultimately, as the Lord Jesus Christ did, it was after deep, serious consideration of what he was dealing with. So reactionary responses is of the old nature and being responsive. And slow to speak and slow to wrath is really of the new nature. OK, so let's continue with the idea of the wrath of man. Wrath means anger. Vengeance, indignation. You can go and find probably a few other definitions of this Greek term that's used for a rat.

So a couple of examples. It's kind of interesting that everything's been transferred as a bold type on here where it's not here. Anyway, all those. That's my engineering nature. Roger, sorry. OK, so Proverbs 15, 18, a wrathful man stirs up strife. But he who is slow to anger allays contention. Proverbs has its place. We don't live under law, but there are certain practical principles that are there for the believer that's there of God. Here's another Proverbs.

Proverbs 16.32. He who is slow to anger is better than the mighty, and he who rules his spirit than he who takes a city. I'm not sure you're interested in taking a city this afternoon, are you? Take over Morrison or Conifer. So, being slow to anger is a good thing, right? It's part of the new nature.

New Testament truth, Colossians 3.8. But now you yourselves are to be put off all of these anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy language out of your mouth. man and the law in the Old Testament. And by the way, there are numerous verses in the New Testament that talk about putting off wrath and anger. In Ephesians, Paul deals with this three or four times.

But the only way we can do that is by being in Christ. Well, we're going to get there. So the old nature is manifested when we're not controlled by the Word. That's the issue. If the Word is not in us and through us and working by the power of the Spirit to reveal who we are in Christ, in fact, the old nature is capable By the way, the old nature never changes. The old nature is always the same, like it or not.

But we are to reckon ourselves indeed unto death, and alive unto Christ, as Romans 6.11 repeatedly tells us. And the Lord is entirely of a different nature. The new creation is a different nature, a different sort, who is swift to hear, slow to speak, and slow to wrath.

Psalms 103.8 we are going to look at the Lord being of a different nature and there are multiple verses that deal with this as you well know. The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in mercy.

And then in the New Testament 1 John 2.29 if you know that he is righteous, you know that everyone who practices righteousness is born of him, if you will, the exchanged life.

Now I don't think we're in a position of examining every thought and every deed and everything. We say, gee, was that of the new man or the old? No, it's a life lived by faith. And when the life is lived by faith, we're not paying attention to who's living the life.

It's the Lord living through us. and here we fall short, confess it, move on, but we're not here to examine every little thought, every little deed, is that the new man or the old man, it simply says if you know he's righteous and you believe that you practice righteousness because you're born of him so that's kind of again the exchange life.

I like it when you think of confession or in like, biblical terms. It's not like, oh I have to just like, you know, confess my sins, and you know, that's, it's, like when you're confessing, you're agreeing, it's like an agreement with God. You're acknowledging. You're saying like, yes, God, I was wrong. So that's where that, it's like if you know He is righteous, where you come to that acknowledgement, like, I'm the wrong, then you know everyone who practices righteousness is born of Him, because that's where God forgives you. I like what you said about confession.

It's acknowledging that in, you know, in the old man, the old nature, the sin nature, ultimately our fellowship falls short, right? And we confess and rejoin that fellowship. It's a relationship, a permanent bonding that's never damaged by our falling short. But what we do lose is that fellowship. The confession is simply that we've lost that fellowship, we restore it immediately. Christ isn't going to die again for us. The sins have been dealt with. So it's a foundation that never ceases, but when we fall short, we confess we've fallen short, we're restored in fellowship and we move on.

That's the neat thing about the security of our salvation. Good point. And how do we work out this righteousness that's by him? Well, we kind of just dealt with that. How do we work out this righteousness that we have in Christ? Do we study harder? Do we think more about it? We intellectualize it?

We reckon it. We reckon it and we trust. Well, what's the reckoning based on? It's based on what's been revealed to us. That the Lord died for our sins and we reckon that that's true and He's in us. Do you believe it? Sure. Well, so what's that called? Faith. Faith, thank you. Okay, alright.

Romans 3.21.22 But now the righteousness of God, apart from the laws revealed, be witnessed by the law of the prophets. The law of the prophets set the stage for all of this. Even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ. to all and on all who believe, for there is no difference. It's faith. The principle is faith. And again, for some reason, I made changes in the bold of faith. Anyway, we can move forward.

Philippians 3.9, And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is from the law. The law of buying Christian is living by a series of principles or legalities that ultimately makes him or her feel good about keeping it.

That's your own righteousness. The law is there to bring men to Christ. It's our schoolmaster. So that's not what we're talking about here. But it's that which is through faith in Christ. The righteousness which is from God by faith. So that's what we're talking about here.

We're talking about faith. Do we believe what God's revealed? What's He revealed? That we're in fact being transformed and conformed to His image by faith, based on the written word and the indwelling word led by the Spirit. Faith, believing what God's revealed. Any further thoughts before we go on to the more in-depth verse which will take the rest of the time?

Well, I think the other half of the law that you said, Chris, if you feel good if you keep the law, I think the other half is you'll feel bad if you don't keep the law. Yeah, that's right. And neither one of those is in view. And if you're getting your own self-worth or self-value from what you do or don't do, that's falling willfully short of the adequacy you have in Christ. And I think that's not what God has in mind. God has a much better mind for you.

And what's the response we have when we're in that kind of mindset? It's discouragement, it's disappointment, it's failing, it's falling short. As William Doole very nicely in his commentary to Romans 6 says, to be disappointed with yourself is to have trusted yourself. No room for disappointment when we are living by faith in the new man. If things fall short, it's God's great purpose of driving us increasingly into confirmation and transformation into the new man that we are in Him. So, no room for disappointment, no room for discouragement.

Think about people that are, Christians that are depressed, what's that all about anyway? I mean, medically we have to say, well, depression is this chemical imbalance. Well, yes, I see it in medicine, people that are very depressed and when you give them antidepressants they get better a bit, but in terms of Christianity and who we are, of course there is no room for this. And that doesn't mean people can't be helped. There are Christians who in fact probably do respond to antidepressants, but do they enter into this new understanding of the process by which God allows depression into our lives.

Depression is totally self-focused, isn't it? I mean, it's entirely thinking, woe is me. Well, again, you might be able to have less woe is me by an antidepressant. Ultimately, the exchange like this, there's no room for depression. For me to live is Christ and die is gain. Either way you win. There's no room for depression. Bob, you know what's interesting?

Being around our brother Hal for many years, ministering to people, believers that were depressed. Actually, Christians can go down that path. It's not where God would have them, but they can go down that path. And Hal's ministry was much of that ministry. He would have to teach them, well, this is what you have in Christ.

So he would start out with what we call the identifications. That would be his beginning point to help a person who's depressed, a believer who's depressed. Well, what do you have? What's your resources? compare what you have with where you believe you are. And he was very helpful to many people in that. I'm sure he was.

And the question is depression entirely spiritual or entirely medical or a mixture of both? Probably, I mean, there's clearly both. But to blame it entirely on medical illness would be inappropriate. And I think to blame it entirely spiritually would be a misnomer. But in fact, depression is really self-focused. People kill themselves. What's that all about? They're so down because they're feeling so helpless, so incapable, so worthless.

And spiritually, there is a message. The believer has this wonderful resource, but he's You know, Hal had a picture where he had this cloud. Hal loved pictures. He had this cloud that would be, in the pictorial sense, blocking seeing who God is. And he would show that in one of his classes. See, this cloud is pictorially blocking you from... You have this wonderful resource, but this cloud of doubt and concern is blocking what you have in Christ.

I'd say it's very much a coping mechanism for us. how people, you know, deal. I mean, it's not necessarily the problem itself. I mean, maybe in the medical terms, it is a problem itself, but it can definitely be more of a coping mechanism to what is actually the problems that are going on in people's lives compared to you. And then it's funny when you think of the verse, like, you can give all your concerns and cares to God, and it's just like, almost every psychological disorder starts with anxiety, worry, and it's like, don't give that to God.

It's interesting. Alright, good. Now, the big challenge before us today is the next verse, which actually leads into next week's verses. The doers, right? Therefore, lay aside all filthiness and overflow of wickedness, and receive with meekness the implanted word which is able to save your souls. Complicated verse. Therefore. Well, what's it there for?

Why is therefore? because he's already laid out ahead of time what what you need to do and so this is this is who you are this is where you are therefore well and it deals with you know be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to rap, I mean all this and by the way therefore that's what we're gonna deal with here lay aside second airs middle voice okay filthiness relates to defiling, to dishonor.

I think the second, superfluity, superfluous, kind of like you're full at the dinner table and have had sufficient but not superfluous, not too much. Anyway, superfluity, naughtiness is what's used in the old King James and not in the New Testament. Abundance, superabundance, superiority, preeminence, gain, profit, evil, residue.

I like this last part which is bolded in your hand but not in the screen. remains the abounding wickedness remaining ever in a Christian from his state prior to conversion. So fluidity of naughtiness is ugly. I hate that super fluidity of naughtiness. Give me a break. But the abounding wickedness which remains in the Christian from a state prior to conversion I think kind of speaks to it.

That would be the same nature basically. now some people don't like to call it, for the believer to call it the old man because the old man has been crucified so what do you call it? you call it the sin nature, I still I'm okay with the old man, I know the old man has been crucified but the old man defines the sin nature right? you can call it the sin nature but you know in Romans 6, 3 and 4 we've been crucified with him, buried with him in baptism unto death and risen with him in newness of life so if the old man has been crucified We don't want to call it the old man because by faith the old man has been taken care of, right? Well, call it what you want.

When I say old man, I know we're talking about the sin nature. Roger, your thoughts about this? The picture you can draw that the old man actually encompasses the sin nature. So, and also you think about the fact that, you know, the sin nature of the old man is not annihilated, right?

I mean, he's still hanging, he's still around. He's still around and we're to reckon him dead, right? We're separated from him. So that's kind of the bottom line, that he's still around, but we've been separated by Christ's work on the cross and we're to count upon that.

It's kind of like the voyage across the ocean where in fact the captain of the ship has been declared guilty of some sin and put downstairs and has no longer power. The new man, a new captain has been elected. But the former captain is down behind bars downstairs to be executed on the other side but ultimately he's still shut in that order. So you're going to listen to him anyway.

I mean in a sense his power has been removed. but he's still there to be heard, so who are we going to listen to? It's a simple, not a perfect analogy, but God only sees us in the new captive that's been appointed. And that's the indwelling Lord Jesus Christ during the new creation we are in Christ Jesus. Anyway, this remains of the abounding wickedness of Adam and Ollie's work is what we're talking about here.

Hebrews 12.1 Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside, same verb, every weight, and the sin which so easily besets us or ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us." That's kind of what we're talking about here.

Lay it aside. Get rid of it. It's no longer relevant. It's no longer the power in which we live. Romans 13, 12 and 13, the night is far spent, the days at hand. Therefore, let us cast off, same Greek word, the works of darkness, let's put on the armor of light, let's walk properly as in the day, not in revelry and drunkenness, not in lewdness and lust, and not in strife and envy. So you see this kind of repeatedly dealt with. Paul in Ephesians 4 deals with this all kinds of ways, the old man and the new man. What I like about Ephesians 4, we'll not necessarily turn there, the reason for this behavior in the church at Ephesus was what? I love this, and nobody hardly ever deals with this.

It's not that I have special insight, but it's what's written in the word of God. It's because they had not learned Christ. That was the explanation for their behavior. And I think it's true of the Christian body, is it not? Not that we don't fall short, all of us in this room. We fall short all the time, and I think as the light gets brighter in terms of who we are in Christ, the more we see the darkness for what it's really worth. But not learning Christ is really a critically important explanation for walking in this, if you were, superfluity of naughtiness, or this wickedness and evil.

And receive with meekness. Meekness. Mildness of disposition, gentleness of spirit. Hard to define meekness. It's really a tough term to really define perfectly. I heard it described as great strength under control. I like that. Well it's the same Greek word, I mean Christ defines himself as meek and lowly, right? And so I like that, Ingrid, in terms of great strength under control, right? Same Greek word, praetis, is that's used to describe the Lord Jesus himself. So same Greek word, meekness, meek, he describes himself as meek.

1 Peter 3.15.

But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, And always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that's in you with meekness and fear. So I think that really points it. Isn't that neat? Be ready always to share who we are in Christ with meekness and fear. So describe that. What's that look like? Sharing in meekness and fear. Always be ready, always to be ready to share in meekness and fear. It's not slamming the gospel down somebody's throat. Right? It's sharing in meekness and fear. So what's the meekness? Strength? Without power? I mean, it has power, but it's... What was your definition? Great strength under control. Yeah, okay. So meekness, okay.

And what about fear? When we're... When we shuggle over somebody, we share in fear. What does that mean? I think like reverence. Like reverence to Christ. Just being like... who he is. This is not like my life. And that humbleness, it's not saying like, oh I'm so meek, oh I'm so lowly, no one cares about me, that kind of thing. I have to be down on myself and say bad things about myself, but it's more just sharing like, no, this new life isn't mine. It's been what's given to me.

I think meekness and humility are often confused as a kind of false modesty, and that's what we think of as. Like you saying, oh I'm so dumb, I don't know anything, but you're a smart man. I think humility is not thinking less of yourself, but thinking of yourself less. That's what C.S. Lewis said. Yeah, that's good.

I think it's putting us into the perspective about how Christ sees us. The thing about the cross is we're all made equal there. There's no room for confidence at the cross. We're all made equal. totally inept and inadequate at the cross. That's an atmosphere of humility, is it not? That's where it all begins, is how the cross sees us.

This is neat, because it makes sharing the Lord a privilege, and it makes us relax, and it makes the spirit lead in terms of sharing the Lord. Again, it's not a forceful kind of thing, but it's strength under control. But yet, the fear and reverence of who God is, is to bring the message correctly. to others who want to hear about it. Effective evangelism begins with being asked questions about what we do and who we are. When that's the beginning of sharing with the Lord, it's an effective sharing. It's done truly with meekness and with fear.

I keep in this little table right next to our front door a couple of gospel tracts, just in case somebody comes to the door. And somebody came for the first time in years. Usually nobody comes knocking on the door. Not many Halloweeners out there either. No, no. Well, just in case. A couple of days ago, two nice little young men with white shirts came knocking on the door.

And so I was kind of ready for them. But I didn't engage in any conversation because I knew they weren't here to understand what I believed. So I just told them I wasn't really interested in what they came to tell me about. But I said, oh, I have something for you. So I went over to this little drawer and got out a little gospel tract and just gave it to them and said, well, I'd like you to just read this and I'll be praying for you. And this is what I believe. So that's really all I said. And what did they say? I didn't really say anything.

It was probably their first day out. They didn't look very good. It was just kind of fun. Is there anything else we can do for you? Can we shovel? project and I probably could have given them a huge list, but I said, just read this. And that was really all that happened.

And they laughed in weakness and fear. I don't know, they probably ripped it up, but you never know. I mean, those guys are young and they're deceived and you never know how the Lord can work. Good, thanks for sharing that. So I said, what does this look like? And I think we just kind of talked about that.

Okay, the implanted word. which is able to save your souls, is kind of really the literal translation. Implanted means engrafted, inborn. We're all engrafted or inborn into the word. So if we're saved, it's there. By definition, we've been engrafted. Notice, what is able to save the souls of you, logos, the word. The word's what's able to save the souls. Now, what's the application here?

So the same word that is mentioned by the way in James 1.18 which is why we read that section.

Somebody read James 1.18 again just to make sure we put it in context. In the exercise of his will he brought us forth by the word of truth so that we would be a kind of first fruits among his creatures. So the word of truth.

Believers, non-believers or both? Who is being saved here? So this word of truth is capable of the saving of souls. This implanted word, capable saving of souls. We're talking about believers being saved? Well, aren't we... Believers are already saved. Well, but we're being saved. And we will be saved, right? Or is this bringing unsaved to salvation? Or could it apply to both? Well, it talks about birth, so that sounds like unsaved. Unsaved? Okay. Let me talk about birth. Aorist tense, I said we'd come back to this.

One point in time, which could be past, present, or future. We usually think of aorist tense as past, with potential application of future, although perfect tense is something that has a continuing action. So this could be past, present, or future. It's active, meaning that the word is ultimately in the business of bringing this salvation to occur. Could this apply to being saved then, now, and in the future, or all of the above? It could.

James is writing to believers here, right? 1 Peter 1, 22 and 23, Since you have purified your souls and obeying the truth through the spirit and sincere love of the brethren, love one another firmly with a pure heart, having been born again, not of corruptible seed, but incorruptible through the word of God which lives and abides forever. So are we in fact being saved through this process of allowing the word to act out fervently and effectively through us? Or is the word living out effectively through us to bring others to salvation? I think since this is a one-time event, I'm thinking more it's extending salvation to someone else. Could it be applied to the believer?

Nobody really deals with this in the commentaries, Macaulay or anybody. Roger? My first thought is, looking at the context here, he's kind of talking about the sanctification of the believer. That's kind of what occurred to me. That's my first thought. But you kind of brought on another aspect, which it seems like he's talking about our Christian walk. The implanted word is the very life of Christ. That's kind of where I came down on. If this were perfect tense, I'd feel very comfortable. This applies to the believer predominantly. Since it's Aorist tense, I don't think we can be overly restrictive here.

We're in the business of sharing the word of Jesus Christ in our walk. Remember the Great Commission isn't going abroad and sharing the word, it could, but it's in our lives as we walk daily bringing about the word of truth. So it could be our own sanctification process as Roger just said. And or it could be applied to someone coming to the Lord.

I don't think we need to be overly restrictive here. It could be applied, but it's aorist tent. Once. Happening once. And that doesn't mean you're against it. I'm not sure this is the case I have looked at, but there's a thing called it, there's successive occurs of aorist.

And it could be, and I'm not a Greek guy that good, so it could be that kind of deal where you have one, it's particular events, but they occur, It's not just one only, it's successive events. If Roy were here, he'd sure put us straight on this. And Roy suggested I get this Greek grammar, and I got this book, and it's that thick. And every time I go into those, I said, oh my goodness gracious, somebody else can deal with all these details.

But anyway, I don't think this is an example of being overly restrictive. And it could be the process by which we, in fact, again, through the word, is ultimately enacting these truths out in our own lives. Or alternatively, it could be as we walk and see the unsaved world beyond us where someone comes to salvation through this. I don't think we can be overly certain about it here.

Because the commentators, everything I looked at, I looked at about eight commentaries here. I don't get any feeling about this. It's mostly getting somebody else saved. But I don't think most commentaries have the identification process really wrapped up. Macaulay is good, right? And he doesn't deal with this in terms of what we're talking about. All right. And this against the exchange life played out by faith, isn't it? By those who seek it.

Second Corinthians 3.18, anybody have that memorized? If not.

For we all with unveiled face, reflecting as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are transformed into the same image, reflecting as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are transformed into the same image, reflecting as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are transformed into the same image, reflecting as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are transformed into the same image, reflecting as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are transformed into the same image, reflecting as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are transformed into the same image, reflecting as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, We now by faith believe that you have this power. Let's make sure that there's no necessary eternal credit in this, but anyway, wonderful. The word of the Lord is living through you, so that's good. Incredibly important.

So what's the bottom line? Let's keep looking down, right? And again, I've got a downward arrow. What happens on this thing anyway? Well, we need a new program here a lot of times. Keep looking down, I think that's an arrow, doesn't it? It does. Anyway, what you have doesn't matter.

Last night I responded to someone who I used to know when I was at Southern Gables, this was many, many years ago, who has a ministry of foreign students. They've now relocated to Oregon and they're living out there. I guess about a month ago they sent out a series of pictures of the family and everything and I didn't respond, all wonderful and good. I used to participate a little bit in this with Sharon, my late wife, and I when the kids were young, were involved. Anyway, so she sent out another message, Dottie did, and it came, and I responded, gee, what a wonderful family, praise the Lord, I'm glad he's continuing to write, whatever I said. And then I said, keep looking down, parenthesis, Colossians 3, 1-3. Did you see her response this morning? I haven't been on the computer today. She said, gee, I never thought of it that way. I haven't looked at that. What an inspiration. I'm sure John and Dottie and family are not into identification.

They're fine people, they love the Lord, they've got a great ministry, but this keep looking down concept, I can't believe how many times I use that when I'm communicating to other believers and suddenly there seems to be a little light that's evidence that's occurring on the other side. Sherita Gold, a wonderful woman in academic medicine, Hopkins, black woman I've gotten to know very well. When I'm at meetings we pray together, we meet together, we fellowship together. I gave her the Hungry Heart series.

And this Keep Looking Down concept that Miles originally originated, but I don't know, it seems like it has a lot of application. Anyway, she's starting to understand why keep looking down means. And I think it takes the truth of who we are in Christ, it starts to illuminate lives as we think about it. Praise the Lord, I've been miles, I've learned it from him, learned it from Mike, but I think this concept of looking down is really what the identification of life is all about, isn't it?

Buried with him, with baptism among the dead, risen with him, in newness of life. And where is that life extending from? The right hand, right? So as we see ourselves in Christ, To me, to live is Christ and die is gain. It all begins from looking down. Thanks. Second Corinthians 3. You pass. Go and get the gold ribbon. David, let's listen to a prayer, please. All right.

Dear Heavenly Father, we thank you so much for your word and just building us up through it. Lord, we thank you for continually sanctifying us. Until we meet you one day face to face, Lord, and we always wait for that day. Again, thank you for your time together in this body. Please edify us for the rest of the day. In your name we pray. Amen.