Untitled Sermon

a lot going on take your bibles and turn with me to james chapter 3 james chapter 3 we're talking about two kinds of wisdom two kinds of wisdom that are dispensed by us daily two kinds of wisdom that that can be available to us to be received daily and we'll talk about that a little more as we get into today two kinds of wisdom beginning at verse 13 in chapter 3 of james who is wise and understanding among you let him show it by his good life by deeds done in humility that comes from wisdom but if you harbor bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts do not boast about it or deny the truth such wisdom does not come down from heaven but is earthly and

unspiritual and of the devil for where you have envy and selfish ambition there you find disorder and every evil practice but the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure and then peace loving considerate submissive and kind and kind and kind and kind and kind and kind and kind and full of mercy and good fruit impartial and sincere peacemakers who sow in peace raise a harvest of righteousness two kinds of wisdom james is dealing in chapter 3 with our tongues and what our tongues can do the influence that you and i have with the power of speech we influence other people either towards the lord or away from the lord it's amazing how many people have been discouraged from coming to jesus christ by what they see

and hear in supposed christians the tongue is a powerful tool it has as we saw in the last couple verses verses 10 through 12 it has the power to dispense just like a fountain and spring or a tree dispenses water and fruit so our tongue dispenses it it's it puts out things and one of the things it puts out is a wisdom we speak from wisdom of one of two places either wisdom of the world or the wisdom that comes from god now i do admit i i saw this past week that there evidently are three uh areas of wisdom it was in the uh the comics uh this week in bc kitty if you wouldn't mind hitting that uh wiley's dictionary this week showed the definition of acknowledge if you want to pull that sheet on down uh acknowledge is and go ahead and grab that

mirror and pull it up there you go well let's see here good set that down well just raise this up like that there we are knowledge is a total accumulated wisdom of an act acknowledge acknowledge is a total accumulated wisdom of an act so evidently there are three sources of wisdom really that would probably have to come under worldly wisdom worldly wisdom as we saw in uh verse 15 james says it doesn't come down from heaven but it's earthly unspiritual and of the devil or worldly sensual and devilish as we saw last time the reason it's necessary for us to understand uh the origins of wisdom and their operations and their outcome is because even though you are a christian you can

still walk in the wisdom of the world it makes no difference how long you have been saying you can still walk in the wisdom of the world worldly wisdom is what i want to call soulish litter soulish litter an article i read this past week as from yosemite national park it has in its monthly magazine uh recently encouraged campers to quote pack it in and pack it out end quote that is if you bring things into the park take them out because litter lasts a long time specifically here's the figures that they've given on how long some litter lasts and these are things that campers can normally go in when they camp somewhere and especially here at yosemite they've accumulated these things this is what they tend to leave and

how long that takes to biodegrade orange or banana peel takes two to five weeks uh wool socks from you campers and hikers who leave a pair there it takes anywhere from one to five years for those things to biodegrade cigarette butts just take one to five years to biodegrade and then you have five years plastic coated papers maybe wax text you wax text around a sandwich or something takes five years nylon fabric your tent flap is torn off there and so you just go ahead and cut it off and you pitch it off into the bushes takes 30 to 40 years rubber boot soles you got them waders on and a toe peels and you just cut that thing off and flip it off takes 50 to 80 years aluminum cans or

the the tabs on the aluminum cans you just play with them pop off play with for a while and pitch it off and put it back on and put it back on and put it back on and put it back on and put it back on and and glass bottles they have down there take take a million years that's still being researched i guess the article goes on to say it's bad enough to litter the environment god's created world but it's even more disturbing to litter our souls the temple of the holy spirit amen and yet you and i even as believers in jesus christ can we we take in everyday soulish litter the wisdom of the world that wisdom becomes part of our character it becomes part of our attitude and it can reflect more the worldly wisdom than the

heavenly wisdom and that provides listen to me that provides a door for the enemy that provides an opportunity for the enemy to gain a foothold in our life or a stronghold wait a minute are you saying that christians can be demon possessed i don't think so i don't i don't believe that i don't think the bible teaches that i think it's not a matter of possession when you come to christ you have been bought and paid for with the price the blood of christ and you are now non non fundable non-transferable he bought you with the precious blood of of his son jesus christ but we are warned in scripture as believers not to allow satan to get a foothold in our lives ephesians

chapter 6 verse 13 all rights therefore you know this just listen therefore put on the full armor of god so that when the day of evil comes you may be able to stand your ground literally that that phrase means not give up any ground so that when the enemy comes you don't give up any ground four times in those verses from verses 10 through 14 in ephesians chapter 6 we are told to stand stand therefore and having done all stand having your the armor on and and then again it talks about making that stand four times so it's important that we understand that we don't give up ground which implies that we can give up ground to the enemy in second corinthians chapter 10 verses 1 through 6 paul is talking to believers to the church at

corinth about the attack of the enemy and he says to the church at corinth about the attack of the enemy and how to tear down the strongholds that the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty unto god for the tearing down of strongholds that the strongholds that the enemy has set up now i don't know how you look at that how you picture that as to if you picture that as i'm a christian and i'm running out over to this area and i'm tearing down strongholds maybe there's a somebody that you would like to see saved and so in prayer you're attacking the stronghold that the enemy's built around them and praying for them to be saved and so you're attacking the

god will tear down that stronghold that's fine that's good that's what we need to pray is that god will allow the eyes of those that don't know him to be open so they can see who he is and and respond to that truth but if you look in context in second corinthians chapter 10 it's talking about believers and i believe it's talking about the mind of the believer and the stronghold that can be built up in the mind and we are to use the weapons that god has given us namely his word and prayer and directed by his spirit to tear down those strongholds and to bring every thought captive unto christ is what he's talking about in context and the rest of that section so he's

talking about our minds and the strongholds that can be built up in our minds by the enemy worldly wisdom allows that to happen and so we're warned about that i mentioned uh to first service that it doesn't make any difference again how long you have been a christian how old you are in the lord we are i i don't know how you see the triunity of god and the tri part if you will the tri well the triunity of god and the tri part of god and the tri part of god and the tri part of god and the tri unity of man not tri partners but the tri unity of man you and i are body soul and spirit and i don't know if you picture you know this is my body and over here is my soul and over here is

my spirit and they're neatly put together separated from each other is that how god is is god the father here and god the son here and god the spirit over here no that would be tri part that would be three part they are one in this three persons yet one one of the three persons are the same essence and so are you and i and our flesh and our soul and our spirit are somehow intertwined with each other they don't function separately they function together the only time there'll be a separation is when your body dies and your soul and spirit are removed from it otherwise it's together and so your spirit within you is intermeshed with your soul and your flesh as well and that's why i believe that the writer of the hebrews talks about the

the word of god being sharper than a two-edged sword able to divide to the putting asunder of soul and spirit it's able to separate to pull out the things that are soulish that are susceptible to the wisdom of this world and only the word of god is able to do that that's why it's so powerful because you and i are daily duped by worldly wisdom you and i as believers are daily being duped and deceived and following worldly wisdom you and i as believers are daily being duped and deceived and following worldly wisdom we've looked at the origins of wisdom here in james 3 that they either come from the earth worldly or they come from the lord heavenly now i want to look today begin looking today at the

operation of these characteristics mainly so that as you and i understand how they operate we'll be able to discern which one they is each one has certain special characteristics that define it and james gives us those characteristics in these verses so let's look at worldly wisdom first there are four characteristics that he shows us here of worldly wisdom in verse 14 he says but if you harbor bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts do not boast about it or deny the truth four things mentioned in that verse bitter envy selfish ambition boasting and a denying of the truth let's look at those individually see it's so easy for us to read over there and go yeah that's part of okay that's fine what does that mean what

does that mean see the enemy would love for us to just read over all of that and not even think about what it means what does it mean bitter envy first characteristic listed here of worldly wisdom dictionary defines bitter envy as a a desire for self-promotion and recognition which is seen being given to others. A desire for self-promotion and recognition which is seen most often as being given to others. Practical level. You have a particular need in your life. Finances. A material possession or function. A

vehicle. A relationship. You want a husband or wife or a child. A job. You want a job. You want a promotion in a job. You want a specific job. Education. You have these particular desires in your heart that you want to obtain and somebody around you gets that need. Desperate need of finances. We've got car tax coming up. We've got property tax coming up. We've got income tax

coming up. I need some finances Lord and I don't know how I'm going to get them and somebody around you is blessed of God. With finances. And you go thank you Lord. Praise God that you've blessed that individual. Right? We can easily weep with those who weep. It's more difficult for us to rejoice with those who rejoice. Why? Because we envy them. That's worldly wisdom. Part of worldly wisdom. Why God? I mean

I'm grateful you gave it to them but look at my need. I've got my need in there. Have you not heard? Aren't you hearing what I'm saying? Marriage relationship. Another example. You see a wonderful marriage relationship. Around you. Godly couple. What a blessing. And inside you're going oh thank you Lord for that godly couple. What a godly wonderful blessing they are. Right? Or are you going why can't my husband

be like him? Why can't my wife look like her and do the things that she does? Why can't we do those things together that they do? Right? That's envy. That's worldly wisdom that does that. We're all susceptible to that. It comes from the attitude that that the squeaky wheel gets the grease. That's a worldly attitude. That's an attitude that says unless I squeak and squeak loud

enough I'm not going to be noticed. I'm not going to have anything done. So my idea is I've got to get in there and do this and squeak loud and make a lot of noise and I'll finally see what's going on. I'll finally get this thing changed. And what does that do? It robs God of his sovereignty. It robs God of his glory. And it makes you the one who's trying to work these things out apart from

that. As if God can't do it without your help. Brother gave me and I wasn't going to use this. It just came and gave me an article that talked about when President Reagan early in his in his first term was speaking at an agricultural function. He told the story of a of a farmer who had gotten some ground and and really worked it for several years and and was being awarded for his working for his all the tilling of the ground

and all the crops and stuff that had been raised. And it was in his church. And so the pastor said we just thank God for for Farmer Jones and and how the Lord's blessed him. And and the farmer kind of nodded and and and he said and and how God has just given him all of these wonderful crops. And the farmer said you know well yeah before there was you know these crops have just multiplied in

size and in production. And and the pastor said and isn't that great how God has has provided so wonderfully to multiply all of this. And he's just going on about how great it was that God had had done all of this. And he said well you know I've got to do this. And he said well you know I've got to do this. And and the farmer finally says you know gets up and says well yeah I do praise God

but you should have seen it when he was the only one working on it. There's a real tendency to want to take credit for what happens. There's a real tendency for for us to think that unless we squeak unless we make these moves that things aren't going to happen. And so when someone else is blessed we feel like well I have to do something. I'm envious of what they're doing so I have to do

something. When Psalm 75 verses 6 and 7 says Promotion does not come from the east nor from the west nor from the south. What does that mean? It means that whatever happens whoever is raised up or whoever is put down whatever situation opens up or seemingly closes whoever seems to receive or not receive it isn't just chance it isn't just fate. That promotion doesn't come from the east or the west or the south it says. Verse 7 says

But God is the judge. He puts down one and he sets up another. God's the one who does it. It's not us. Are you saying well we shouldn't do anything? I'm not saying that. God has commanded us to work. It's part of the fall. It's part of the well actually it's before the fall. Adam was tilling the garden. He was working the garden before the fall. You and I are going to work in

heaven. We're going to work in the kingdom. Work is a blessing of God. It's the fall that's made it a curse. So we are to do. We are to move. We are to be about his business but to trust him for the results. Jesus was standing before Pilate and Pilate was asking him questions and Jesus was semi-answering and Pilate said to Jesus don't you realize that I have the authority and the power

of life or death over you and Jesus said in John chapter 19 verse 11 you would have nothing over me except God except my father gave it to you from heaven. You don't have any power at all but God's given it to you. Worldly wisdom denies that. Worldly wisdom envies the things that others have and in that we seek to exalt man and deny the power and the glory of God. That's bitter envy.

That's worldly wisdom. Second thing he says here is also not only bitter envy but selfish ambition. Selfish ambition. If you're reading King James you have the word strife. Literally it's a political word. It's one who has a party spirit. One who is a campaigner. Who's seeking to gather personal support for himself in any way that he can. Like inviting people to the White House for a coffee. That's a

visible illustration. To garner support. Seeking to. Garner support for himself is a selfish ambition. That's what the word itself means. It's self seeking. It's wanting to have others think you're great. Selfish ambition. I had an illustration for this that just came while I was sharing and it's not coming this time. I didn't have a chance to write it down. We'll go on. Look at boasting. Look at boasting. Boasting is mentioned there. If

you have these things. If you have a bitter envy and a selfish ambition. Don't boast about these things. Boasting literally is pumping ourselves up. I'm going to pump me up. Pride loves to boast. Self loves to glory. Boasting about what I know or what I have. Jay Vernon McGee writes in his commentary, knowledge is proud that she has learned so much. Wisdom is humble that she knows no more. Knowledge is proud that she's learned so much. In other words

I want to share with you what I think. I want to share with you what I think. I want to share with you my opinion is a form of boasting it's a it's a form of worldly wisdom it's part of selfish ambition they build on one another i want to do whatever to seek your favor and so part of that is to let you know how much i've learned how much i know where wisdom it says mcgee writes is humble that she knows no more wisdom is strong enough to know that there's more to a particular circumstance more to a particular situation than maybe what i've heard and so i really need to know more than i've already heard more than i've than i already seem there's more to know there's more

to learn let me give you a practical application of this in in just the terms of conversation when you meet someone and seek to talk with them very often we want to let others know something about us something where we've been you know you have you been and and we want them to say fine so that we can tell them how we've been often and often that takes a precedent you know we we want the other day it happened we were in mcdonald's and and uh i met a friend and i hadn't seen for a while and and how are you doing fine how are you fine and then off off they went to the races and it it was it's easy for us to do that you see and to want to tell others our opinions

on things instead of seeking to draw them out one of the one of the best things you can do as a believer as an encourager is seek to just draw others just give them an opportunity to talk give them you be the sounding board let them share the things and you can do that you can you know it's it's often easy for us to just want to talk rather than saying so how are you how are things you know you know a little bit about somebody how how's the family how are uh the kids how's work and and seek to draw them out and let them talk because that's what we are is ambassadors for christ we are not there to you just specifically let others hear our knowledge and the things that we know but we want to hear

where their need is so we can pray for them or so that maybe maybe the lord maybe the lord will let us share something that will be an encouragement to them but often it's just to be there to be a sounding board to listen be quick to hear james said in chapter one swift to hear but often in our own wisdom that begins with envy that moves to selfish ambition that moves to this area of boasting we will cover them and actually leave a leave a situation not knowing a thing different other than we saw so and so somewhere well how are they doing well they said fine you know oh well how so well they really didn't say well why didn't they say well because i was talking all the time you know i was telling all the stuff that was

going on with me and you can you can tell when a person starts to leave what you're saying you know their eyes kind of fade off and they look at something else and shut down when that happens and go back to saying so how are things with you because they have just now lost everything that you've been talking to them about and it's just kind of fallen on deaf ears fourthly you know that they deny the truth they deny the truth king james says they lie against the truth if you're reading it if you're reading in king james and again this is a progression there's an envy something happens and you envy someone that leads to a selfish ambition which i want to be liked i

want people to appreciate me which leads to an area of boasting i i build up and that's actually moves right into denying the truth or literally lying against the truth it's denying the truth of the matter that you have bitter envy and selfish ambition if you harbor bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts do not boast about it or deny the truth that you have envy and bitter bitterness and selfish ambition don't deny that fact i'm literally ignoring but usually we want people to like us we want to maintain some kind of an image where that's concerned let me ask you a question the things that you do why do you do them specifically why do you do them specifically why do you do them specifically why do you do them specifically

dress like you do when you go to church um we have at calvary we have a relaxed we don't have a dress code per se we just have a relaxed atmosphere you can wear virtually anything here um but why and we can get hung up on that we can really get hung up on that when i was uh when i was first saved it was i was raised in a suit and tie uh church era in a church environment and when i got saved the church that i started going to with the guy that led me to the lord was a lot like calvary chapel calvary wasn't there yet wasn't wasn't in denver yet and uh so we started going and it was a great type service and there were a lot of a lot of coats and ties but a lot of people in jeans

and and uh casual shirts and i was i wasn't offended by that i just i couldn't do that and and then i finally after six months of of going to church there i found that the most i could do was take off my tie i still had i wore my coat you know and suit pants and all that but i still had to take off my tie and i had to really i went through a time of really asking myself why because who was i dressing for let me ask you that who are you dressing for you see well and you hear all of the things about if the president of the united states were coming and you'd be we're going to go meet the president of the united states then you put on your best clothes and you're going to meet god okay let's back that up a little bit where does god reside well he's in

heaven that's good that's a kindergarten answer where else is he well he's in my heart good where can you go then that he isn't nowhere so when are you not in the presence of the lord never so when you're in your skivvies at home cracked back on the chair god is there so who are you dressing for come to church oftentimes it's for other people oftentimes it's to fit in that's part of the other idea on selfish ambition that i lost earlier see we do things we have a tendency to do things for the approval of other people and that's part of selfish ambition that's part of the worldliness we want to keep up a certain image we want people to think of us a certain way and that leads us

right into lying to denying the truth of who we really are and it's real easy to end up dressing a certain way and thinking about it and it's really easy to end up dressing a certain way and thinking that we're you know okay because we put the coat and tie on or whatever but it's the same kind of false security that you get if you just walk around in blue jeans and sandals and come to church and that you've got your liberty what's a what's righteous about that absolutely nothing who are you doing it for you're doing it in your own rebellion or you're doing it because you know you have the freedom to do it here the freedom to do that under the lord and you you're coming

to worship the lord and that's great but let me encourage you brothers and sisters if you go somewhere else to worship and you know that they're probably not going to worship you're going to be talking about this other thing question on that you're one of the most spoken about yourself but 즉 why you feel my freedom in Christ. So watch it. An article I read there is, for the past year, this brother writes, I've been personally meeting one-on-one with a man who has a reputation in the Christian community as a successful Christian businessman. I can remember on many occasions leaving our time together feeling God was wonderfully changing our lives, only to learn recently from outside

sources that his marriage is in crisis and his business practices are notoriously unethical and exploitative of others. I have also become aware that sincere Christian friends attempted to approach him over these issues, only to be rebuffed by acrimonious self-justification. Yet in certain Christian circles, this successful Christian businessman is known to be generous with his time and resources for the cause of Christ. What is going on here? Why the contradictions?

He goes on to write, the issue is image. Here is a man who desperately wants to be viewed around town as a successful Christian businessman. Therefore, maintaining a certain public image is more important than any serious quest for holiness. By his actions, it's become obvious that he loves the praise of men more than the praise from God. In retrospect, what was lacking in our times together, he writes, was a brokenness

over sin, a transparency over failings, a surrender of the mind and will to the lordship of Christ and his word. The fact is that God despises our efforts to impress others in order to garner their approval, since what is highly valued among men is detestable in God's sight. So what motivates you? Is it a desire to please God, to walk and serve him no matter what anybody thinks? That's

a tough one, because we have a desire to want to fit in, even in our rebellion. The rebellion of the 60s wasn't a rebellion, it was a real time to try and fit in. Everybody started growing their hair long. Everybody started wearing bell-bottom jeans. Today, man, I got the gangster clothes. Rebelling? Be different? No, I want to fit in. Everybody wants to fit

in. It's hard, it's hard to say, Lord, I just want to please you. Jesus, in John chapter 6, after he had fed the multitudes, he told them that unless you eat of my flesh, communion today, unless you eat of my flesh and drink of my blood, you will have no part of me, no part with me. And down about verse 65 or 66, it says, and from that time on, many of the disciples left. Jesus had a whole flock of them, man. Think of what he could have

done with all of those people if he had just developed them right, if he had just used the right PR, the right practice, the right practice, the right practice, the right practice, the right marketing techniques. He could have really developed this thing. But he was not seeking public approval. He was seeking to do the will of his Father in heaven. And that's a tough line to draw. But it's the difference between worldly wisdom and godly

wisdom, heavenly wisdom. The four things of worldly wisdom, bitter envy, selfish ambition, boasting, and denying the truth. Quickly, we'll go through the first two, the first two of heavenly wisdom. There are nine characteristics in heavenly wisdom, coincidentally corresponding to the nine fruit of the Spirit listed in Galatians chapter 5. Look at verse 13 here.

Who is wise in understanding among you? Let him show it by his good life, by deeds done in what? In humility that comes from wisdom. The first characteristic in the operation of heavenly wisdom is humility. If you're reading King James, it says meekness, meekness. And meekness is simply defined as power under control. We've talked about that before, power under control. But often, I think we get a

misunderstanding of that. God has given you power, tremendous power. We've already talked about that in the tongue. I'm not talking about how strong you are. Maybe there is a power in your strength. Maybe you have a power in your strength. Maybe you have a power in a physical ability that gives you a strength that's stronger than most people. Maybe you have a power in your monetary situation. Maybe you're very strong financially. Maybe you

have a power in the authority at your job. You are a high-ranking employee with a position and people under you. That's a power that you have. Humility or meekness here means a power under control, not under your control or mine, but under the control of God, under the control of the Holy Spirit. When Paul says in Ephesians to be filled with the Spirit, he means to be under his control.

That's a daily thing that we do, is yield ourselves to the control of the Spirit. That involves humility. That's what humility is, is our power under God's control. That's what meekness is, our power under God's control. And he infuses it with his power, but it's under his control. The word itself means chaste or free from defilement. It indicates a holiness or a

set-apartness. You and I have been bought with a price. We've been set apart unto God by God. But God calls us to be holy. That means in our minds, in our actions, in our life, we have to set ourselves apart daily, moment by moment. You have to realize you've been set apart unto God. You have to set yourself apart unto him in your mind. That's a humility. Worldly wisdom says

I've got to get what I can get for me. I've got to grab what I can grab for me. Ain't nobody going to take care of me but me. I've got to do it myself. That's worldly wisdom. Worldly wisdom starts with, I am yielded unto you, Lord. I am yielded unto you. You are in control. I am not my own man. I belong to Christ. And that results in a purity. Let me give you three things that results in a purity. First of all, a purity in your thought

life. A purity in your thought life. That's what he's calling for. Humility unto God results in a purity. Down in verse 17. For wisdom that is from above is, first of all, pure. This humility, this yieldedness to God manifests itself in a pure life. This holiness, this life that's set apart unto God. And it results, first of all, in pure thoughts. Romans chapter

12, verses 1 and 2, that we would present ourselves to God, a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable unto him, which is our reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world. Have you ever thought about the world conformed, con-formed, that you've been conned into forming yourself into the ways of this world? But be transformed by the renewing of your mind, the renewing of your mind in Christ. It's a setting of our minds aside humbly unto the

Lord that they might become chaste and pure, that his thoughts might become our thoughts. And that's tough. That's tough in a world that seeks retribution. A time to kill. There's a time to kill. Man, you see what that's building into the lives of people? Society can't take care of it. I can take care of it. This person did that. To my kid, I'm going to get an M16

and blow him away. That's the attitude in the world. That's worldly wisdom manifesting itself. Godly wisdom is what happened to the 19-year-old girl that was killed in Wichita, shot brutally in the back of the hill. For no reason at all. And what did her parents do? Get an M16 and go seek to mow the guy down? No, they came and they prayed with his parents. They've extended forgiveness to the

guy. You want to talk about something that's going to go a whole lot longer way than the other one, than the retributive. People think, well, that's weakness, man. I want to be Chuck Norris. I want to know 15 different kinds of martial arts so I can tear somebody's head off. That's worldly wisdom. And that will get you killed. So there has to be a transforming

of the mind. There has to be a yielding to the power and the authority of God because God is powerful. God will work some mighty ways through this incident in Wichita. Change of thoughts. Purity of thoughts. Secondly, purity of habits. Paul tells Timothy in 1 Timothy 5.22, keep yourself pure. Excuse me. Keep yourself pure. Let me ask you, what habit do you have right now

that you know is something that God doesn't want you to have? Because we all have them. What particular habit do you have that God doesn't want you to have and you know he doesn't want you to have it? So let me ask you, why do you keep it? It's because in that particular area. It is God. In that particular area of your life, it is God. And you want to coexist with

God and with the gods of this world. You want to coexist with Molech, the god of pleasure. And so you want to go ahead and give everything to God and I'll follow God except for this one little thing over here. I smoke a little dope every now and then. Well, it's not harming anybody. I do these things with my mind and the internet and in those dark areas, but

it's just me. Not hurting anybody. It's killing you. That area of purity has been broken between you and the Lord and your ability to receive. Worldly wisdom now has clicked off because where it says here, first purity, it means that none of the other characteristics will work if there's not first purity in your life and purity doesn't come until you are willing to humbly submit before the Lord. That's where

humility and purity are linked. The humility to say, God, you're in control. I lay myself before you. I seek to set myself pure before you to follow your ways. I will no longer allow my thoughts to go the way they go. I'll bring them captive unto Christ. I'll let them be transformed. I will no longer. Let my habits have control. Let my habits be God. I'll keep myself pure. I'll bring

those unto Christ and flee those things. What about your motives? Why do you do the things that you do? Getting back to that again. Paul tells Timothy in Colossians 317, something that we've been studying on Wednesday nights, whatsoever you say or do, whatever you do in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord. What does that mean? When you pray and you pray in the name of the Lord, how do you do that? You just go and bless this

Father and bless that and give me that and that in Jesus name I pray. Is that what you do? Hack it onto the end of your prayer and that's praying in Jesus name. How do we live in word and deed doing it all in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ? How do we do that? Because that's what we're supposed to do and that's part of purity. That's part of the pure walk that

we're to have. We've talked before about back in Exodus where Moses wanted to see God and God put him in the cleft of the rock and passed by him and put his hand over his face as he passed by and declared his name. Remember something about that? His name was the Lord, the Lord, the compassionate God. The faithful one, full, abounding in mercy, abounding in faithfulness, forgiving rebellion,

forgiving wickedness, forgiving sin, yet judging those who are willfully disobedient under the third and the fourth generation. That's the name of God. So when you and I pray in the name of the Lord Jesus, what literally we're saying is, Lord, do these things as they represent your name, as they will reveal your name, the Lord, the Lord, the compassionate God, abounding in mercy, abounding in faithfulness. Forgiving rebellion, forgiving wickedness, forgiving sin. You see, this incident that

happened in Wichita is an opportunity for the name of the Lord to be revealed, which it is being revealed in that family. We need to pray for them. Please keep them in prayer because the name of the Lord is coming out, not just on TV when they get to say the name Jesus, but his name, the Lord, the Lord, the compassion, the compassion that's coming out of this family, the faithfulness to pray for the killers, the forgiveness, et cetera. It's there for wickedness is the name of the Lord. And that's what God calls you and

I to do. Everything that we do, everything that we say, that we do it in the name of the Lord. You say, wow, it's tough. You bet. He didn't say it was going to be easy. That's why it's so necessary for us to have an understanding of the two wisdoms and their sources and their characteristics so that when we see a particular situation, you and I are going to respond

in one of two ways, one of two wisdoms. We're going to say something that's from one of the two sources of wisdom. And you and I are going to respond in one of two ways. One of two wisdoms. We're going to say something that's from one of the two sources of wisdom. We're going to say something that's from one of the two sources of wisdom. We're going to say something that's from

the characteristics. Immediately, if it's envy, bing, the light goes off. Lord, forgive me for that. Let me truly rejoice with this brother. If I begin to say something that's wanting people to like me, I have a real tendency for that. I don't like it when somebody doesn't like me. I have to fight that, especially in a marriage. You wives that have a husband

maybe who's like that, you're just in a certain way. And I've been this way with my wife for 26 years. Honey, what's wrong? Nothing. What's wrong? Something's wrong. Nothing. I can tell she's not happy. I want her happy. I want to make her happy. So what do I do? She wants space. What do I do? I want her to like me. I want her to be happy. She doesn't like me

right now. I want her to like me. So I start prodding. What's wrong? Let me do something. She says, just leave me alone. And I keep going. Why? Because I want her to be happy.

That's a worldly wise technique. That's worldly wisdom. So that we can identify those things. And I still, you know, after 26 years, I've been walking with the Lord that long. I still find myself wrapped up in that. And lights go off, you know. And when I'm spending time with the Lord, they do. When I'm not spending time with the Lord, I keep prying and digging until she says,

just leave me alone. And I go, oh yeah, I should have known. I should have known. I should have known. It's that important. Leads to selfish ambition. Leads to a denial of the, to boasting, really. Which leads to a denial of the truth. A denial of the truth that God's in control. A denial of the truth that envy and bitterness and selfish ambition are really there. And it always, we'll see

what the outcomes are. But I can tell you in advance, you know what they are. The outcomes are always destruction. Always destruction. Always broken lives. Always confusion. Always anguish. We'll talk about that more next time. But the results of walking with the Lord. The results of seeking to walk in humility, to walk in impurity. The outcomes of that are going to be the reaping of the righteousness

that was sown. Verse 18. We'll talk about that more next week too. Today's the day we go to the Lord's table. The way we do it here, the way we've been doing it here for a while, we do it different ways. But the way we're doing it today is there are three tables set up in the different sections of the sanctuary. We're going to bring the kids in in just a minute and have them come to you. And then it's just up to

you. You can sit and have some time of prayer. You can get up and pray. You can get up and move to the tables and take the elements and go off to the side or come back to a pew and just take some time to pray together and partake together. There's wastebaskets at the entrance so that you can drop your little cups in the wastebasket as you leave. But the length of time that you pray and spend before the Lord before you partake is up to

you. And there's a purpose in that. So that we don't get so routinely down in our time of communion that all it is is popping a piece of bread and taking some juice. And we forget the significance. It represents the life that you and I have in Christ. And apart from that, it represents the life that we have in Christ. And apart from that, it represents heaven. There's an infinite amount of joy in living likebilons with breathing life

in that bound. And the opposite of that is having the spiritual resources within you for that条 and it will make your life look different and more tän requirement. Linda Thorn�d. Linda Thornwah. Linda Thornwah. Linda Thornwah. Linda Thornwahx. Linda Thornwahx. Linda Thornwahx. on his body that hung on the cross and his blood that was shed for us. As you take time to reaffirm

that in your own life and recommit yourself to following after him, to walking in humility, to walking in purity, the first two characteristics of heavenly wisdom, to confess a time to take and just sit before the Lord and go, God, I've been walking in envy. I've been walking in selfish ambition. I've been walking in boasting, wanting people to know about me rather than really being concerned about them. I've been denying the truth that that's the way that I am. Lord, forgive me

and cleanse me. Maybe it's in a marriage relationship. Maybe it's in a father or mother, son or daughter relationship. Maybe it's brother, sister. Maybe it's somebody at work and you just need to take some time to confess that attitude towards them, an attitude of envy, that the Lord might allow the door to be open for you to reach out and minister his grace and his mercy to them.

That's what the table is all about, just to take time before the Lord to do that and then renew and realize the commitment of love that God has extended to you through Christ. Father, we thank you for this morning. We ask your blessings. On your word, as we hear it, that it does more than just kind of pass through the cerebellum, but that it would rest, that it would stay there, that it would move down to our hearts and move out into the actions of our lives. Father, we thank you for the sacrifice of your son for us

that gives us life, that gives us the power now to walk in the ways that you've called us to walk. We seek to walk in those ways. In Jesus' name, for his glory, to represent him correctly, Lord, we ask. Amen.