[0:00] A wee word to the young folk before we sing again. When you're young, when you're very young, you play with toys.
[0:12] And I remember even as a boy, I was always playing with, I didn't have a lot of toys, but always playing with little toy cars and little toy boats. And I remember I used to have different sounds.
[0:25] A car was very much like a car. The boat was more chugging along. And I would spend hours playing with these things, happy as Larry.
[0:36] And that's what children do. But, you know, if I went in visiting to somebody's house and they said, and I would ask how the children are, and if they said, oh, they're playing with their toys, I would expect that.
[0:49] But if they said, ah, he or she, playing with their food today, you'd say, oh, my word, that's not very good. But sometimes that's what we do.
[1:00] We play with our food. And I'm not just talking about little, little children who've come to the stage where they're in the high chair.
[1:12] And you know how sometimes we once, when they start themselves and they're for the first time trying to get the spoon up to their mouth, sometimes they miss their mouth, because then to their nose and where not.
[1:23] And then they start playing with it. That's part and partial of it. But I'm talking of older children. And, you know, sometimes it's not just children who play with their food.
[1:35] There's two reasons why you will play with your food. One is if you don't like what you've got in front of you. And the other is if you're already full.
[1:47] If I went to a house and I got macaroni and cheese, I would be playing with my food because I don't like it. But sometimes you can get good food in front of you.
[1:58] But you know this, if you came in and there's your dinner ready, and you'd been stuffing yourself with sweets and crisps and juice, you would probably play with your food because you've got no room.
[2:14] And that good food which helps you to grow, you can't eat it. Because you've eaten, I shouldn't say it's not eating rubbish, but you've eaten things that don't help you to grow.
[2:25] And, you know, it's the very same with this book with the Bible. Because Jesus tells us that the Bible is like food. It is food for our soul.
[2:37] And we have to read the Bible and listen to the Bible and study the Bible. That's what we do when we come to church and when we go to Sunday school and all the different things.
[2:48] We study the Bible. And Jesus tells us that if we fill ourselves up with other things, we won't be interested in the Bible.
[3:03] We'll come to church and we'll be bored. Go to Sunday school and we'll be bored. Because we've so filled up with other things that we don't want the good food.
[3:16] So that's why it's very, very, very important that we ask Jesus, Lord, give me every day to want to know you.
[3:28] To want to know you in your word. Help me every day, Lord, to trust you. And help me every day to grow a little, little more like you.
[3:40] As I learn from the Bible. And, you know, Jesus will answer that prayer. So you ask the Lord every day to help you to grow. As you listen and as you learn to read his word.
[3:53] I'm going to sing again from, this time it's Sing Psalms, Psalm number 19. Psalm number 19. From Sing Psalms.
[4:04] And the tune of St. John. Psalm number 19. And that's on page 23.
[4:21] We're going to sing from verse 7 to the end. The perfect law of God revives the soul of man. His statutes which are sure make wise the simple one.
[4:31] The precepts of the Lord are right and fill the heart with great delight. God's radiant commands shed light on what we see. The fear of God is pure and lasts eternally.
[4:43] The standards of the Lord express his perfect truth and righteousness. Of far more worth than gold than much pure gold they are. Than honey from the comb.
[4:55] Than honey sweeter fire. They warn the servant of the Lord. And keeping them as great reward. Psalm 19 from verse 7 to the end. And the tune of St. John. That's on page 23.
[5:06] St. John. The perfect law of God revives the soul of man.
[5:20] St. John. The perfect law of God revives the soul of man.
[5:43] The brilliant commands shed light on what we see. The fear of God is pure and lasts eternally.
[6:02] The standards of the Lord express His perfect truth and righteousness.
[6:14] On one more worth than gold, than much pure gold they are, than money from the cold, than money sweeter fact.
[6:35] They warn the servant of the Lord, in keeping them His great reward.
[6:49] And if service falls, forgive my hidden sin.
[7:00] Keep me from willful deeds, may they know true within. And then I shall be free from sin, and guiltless of transgressions shame.
[7:22] Lord, let the words I speak be pleasing in Your sight.
[7:33] And may my inmost thoughts be in Your judgment right. O Lord, You are all to me, You are great in the setting free.
[7:59] Let us turn to read in the epistle of James, the letter of James and chapter 3. The letter of James, chapter 3.
[8:12] In the pulpit Bible, that's 1, 2, 1, 7. The letter of James, chapter 3.
[8:26] Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness. For we all stumble in many ways.
[8:38] And if anyone does not stumble in what he says, he is a perfect man, able also to bridle his whole body. If we put bits into the mouths of horses, so that they obey us, we guide their whole bodies as well.
[8:55] Look at the ships also. Though they are so large and are driven by strong winds, they are guided by a very small rudder, wherever the will of the pilot directs.
[9:07] So also the tongue is a small member, yet it boasts of great things. How great a forest is set ablaze by such a small fire!
[9:17] And the tongue is a fire, a world of unrighteousness. The tongue is set among our members, staining the whole body, setting on fire the entire course of life, and set on fire by hell.
[9:31] For every kind of beast and bird, of reptile and sea creature, can be tamed and has been tamed by mankind. But no human being can tame the tongue.
[9:44] It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse people who are made in the likeness of God.
[9:57] From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers, these things ought not to be so. Does a spring pour forth from the same opening both fresh and salt water?
[10:10] Can a fig tree, my brothers, bear olives, or a grapevine produce figs? Neither can a salt pond yield fresh water. Who is wise and understanding among you?
[10:24] By his good conduct let him show his works in the meekness of wisdom. But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast and be false to the truth.
[10:38] This is not the wisdom that comes down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic. For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there will be disorder and every vile practice.
[10:54] But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere.
[11:05] And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace. Amen. And may God bless to us this reading of his holy word.
[11:16] Go and sing again from Psalm 14 and sing Psalms. Psalm number 14. Psalm 14. Psalm 14. Psalm 14. And that's on page 15. Psalm 14.
[11:30] The fool speaks in his heart. There is no God, he says. They are corrupt, their deeds are vile, none walk in godly ways. The Lord looks down from heaven upon the human race, to see if any understand, if any seek God's face.
[11:46] They all have turned aside, corrupt they have become. Not one of them does any good, no, not a single one. Will sinners never learn? My people, they've devoured.
[11:58] As if they were consuming bread, they never seek the Lord. Struck down they are with dread, for God is with the just. You evildoers shame the poor, but in the Lord they trust.
[12:10] May help from Zion come, the Lord his captives bring. And then let Jacob's tribes rejoice. Let Israel gladly sing.
[12:20] Psalm 14 on page 15. The fool speaks in his heart. The fool speaks in his heart.
[12:34] There is no God, he says. They are corrupt, their deeds are vile, none walk in godly ways.
[12:54] The Lord looks down from heaven upon the human race, to see if any understand, if any seek God's face.
[13:22] They all have turned aside. For all of them have become.
[13:35] Not one of them does any good, no, not a single one.
[13:50] Will sinners never learn? My people, they've devoured.
[14:03] As if they were consuming bread, they never seek the Lord.
[14:18] God, they are with dread, for God is with the just.
[14:32] You leave the doer, shame the proof, but in the Lord they trust.
[14:46] May help from Zion come. The Lord his countenance bring.
[14:59] Amen. Amen. Let's turn again to the letters that we read in James chapter 3.
[15:23] James chapter 3. That was from verse 13. Who is wise in understanding among you?
[15:36] Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.
[15:47] This is not the wisdom that comes down from above, but is earthly and spiritual, demonic. For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there will be disorder on every vile practice.
[16:01] But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere. And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.
[16:18] As we know, this letter of James is an incredibly practical book. And in fact, Martin Luther himself had a bit of a problem with it because at first, Martin, who had always tried by his own works to get himself right with God, when he discovered, when he came to a realization of the amazing freedom that is found in Jesus Christ by faith alone, in accepting Jesus by faith alone, he struggled with his book to begin with because there was so much emphasis upon our own efforts, our own works.
[16:54] But of course, as time went on, he came to realize that this was simply a very practical book that is based upon spiritual teaching. The Bible itself is a very practical book, and sometimes people don't fully realize that.
[17:08] And the Bible places huge importance upon wisdom. There's a lot of the chapters in the Bible, particularly the wisdom. So if you go to the book of Proverbs, you will find there that probably the main theme running through that book is on wisdom.
[17:26] And God puts huge emphasis in the Bible upon us being wise. Now, the biblical wisdom, the wisdom that God speaks about, has nothing to do with a person's IQ or abilities in academia or anything like that.
[17:44] Because you can have somebody who has maybe quite a IQ, who could be in God's sight very wise, have the wisdom that is from above.
[17:56] On the other hand, you could have people who have very, very high cues, brilliant minds, and yet don't believe in God.
[18:08] And God would term such a person a fool, because that's what we sang about in Psalm 14. The fool hath said in his heart, there is no God.
[18:20] And so we know that into that category of those who say that there is no God are some brilliant minds, people with extraordinary abilities of reason and learning.
[18:32] Some of the greatest minds this world have known will say that they're atheistic in their thinking. And God will say, well, I'm afraid over you, I would have to say you're a fool.
[18:43] Because the fool hath said in his heart, there is no God. Now, when James asks here, who is wise and understanding among you? He poses that question.
[18:56] But the wonderful thing is that often, as we go through life, and I'm sure, like myself, you have often asked the Lord for wisdom. Because you often face situations and you're not just too sure what to do.
[19:11] And you say, Lord, help me here. Give me the wisdom. Give me the understanding of what is right, of what's the right thing to do, of where to go in this particular situation.
[19:22] We often face things like that. And the Lord wants us to ask for wisdom. Because back in chapter 1, in fact, we have this, if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given to him.
[19:43] That's an amazing promise that's given. The Lord says, look, if any of you lack wisdom, come to me. Ask me for that wisdom. And I will generously give that to you.
[19:57] So, again, sometimes we say to ourselves, do we really take the promises of God seriously? Because how often do we say, I must go to the Lord and ask for this wisdom?
[20:09] Because that's what the Lord is saying to us. Look, you've got to do that. You've got to come and ask for this wisdom. But then James goes on to highlight that it will be known by a person's life whether they're ruled by the wisdom that is from above or whether they are ruled by the wisdom of this world.
[20:29] Now, I'm not saying that every person in this world who does not have heavenly wisdom doesn't know how to make a correct decision. Not for one moment are we saying that. But James is applying particular principles here.
[20:42] And the thing is that if there is heavenly wisdom within a person, the way that they conduct their life at home, at work, in church, in community, in the neighborhood, in all the different things, that will be evident one way or another.
[21:05] Because there is an evidence within the life of what is actually there. As we say, the Lord loves to give wisdom.
[21:16] You'll remember how the young Solomon, when Solomon took over from David, and Solomon was so apprehensive about how do you follow. He was following in his father's footsteps and he was apprehensive in the same way as Joshua was when he took over from Moses.
[21:31] The Lord came to Solomon by night and he said to Solomon, Ask me what you wish. And the Lord was so pleased with Solomon's answer because Solomon asked for wisdom to govern and to rule a right.
[21:52] And he said, You've set me over your own people, Lord. And I don't know how to come in and I don't know how to come out. I don't know how to conduct myself in the right way. I really don't know how to govern.
[22:03] Lord, give me the wisdom. Give me the understanding so that I will govern your people in the right way. And it tells us that the Lord was so pleased with Solomon's request that he said, I will give you more wisdom than any.
[22:17] I will make you the wisest person. But I'm going to do more than that. I'm going to give you what you didn't ask for. And I'm going to give you riches and honor, wealth.
[22:28] And I will give you everything. Which again, we have a picture of the great rule of the kingdom. Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all the other things will be added to you.
[22:42] This is the way that God works. So we see here that there are two wisdoms. And that's what I want to stress very briefly to reflect on this morning.
[22:53] That there are two wisdoms. There is one wisdom, unfortunately, that does not look to God or seek God or put any trust in the Lord, whatever.
[23:05] And this ends up this way that banishes God out of the thinking. We find that often in this wisdom that there is bitter jealousy and selfish ambition.
[23:20] And that if there is bitter jealousy and selfish ambition, it leads to disorder. And you know, so often when you look around in this world, and it doesn't matter whether it's in government or in institutions or whatever, whenever we see disorder, where things have become disorderly and where there is resulting chaos in whatever way, very often it comes about because there is selfish ambition and because there is jealousy.
[23:53] So many of the squabbles, so many of the fights, so many of the problems of this world come about because of these two things. of selfish ambition and of jealousy.
[24:05] Ambition, don't get it, mustn't be wrong, get us, misunderstand this. Remember the word, what it's saying is selfish ambition. Ambition in and of itself is not wrong.
[24:16] It is not wrong to get on in this world. It is not wrong in any way. In fact, it's quite a positive thing for a person to try to do well. What is wrong is where a person is prepared in order to get on to trample others into the ground where they will do anything and everything for their own benefit, for their own good.
[24:41] And it doesn't matter who gets hurt, it doesn't matter who gets pushed to the side, as long as they get on. That is selfish ambition and that is wrong. But just for somebody to get on and to prosper in this life, that is not a wrong thing at all.
[25:01] And as we say, many of the problems in this world come about through these two things, of this selfish ambition and of jealousy. I'm sure we could look at the financial crisis that hit this world.
[25:16] And that came about simply through these things, through selfish ambition, through jealousy, through greed. All these things where so many lives, so many families' lives were destroyed just by the greed, the selfish ambition of people.
[25:33] The fallout from these things is quite extraordinary. But God takes note of all these things and God will judge all these things. You know, sometimes we're bad for categorizing things and categorizing sins and we say, oh, that's a terrible sin.
[25:51] But then we don't think too much. This selfish ambition and jealousy are two of the worst sins and they cause so much heartache and there's so much breakup within society.
[26:08] The Lord is warning us against them and he says, they've got nothing to do with me. Selfish ambition and jealousy has no place in heaven and it does not come from God at all.
[26:21] This is from the earth. It's earthly, it's unspiritual, and it's demonic. Its roots are in hell. It comes from hell and it leads to hell.
[26:33] That's where it's at. You know, jealousy is one of the worst sins where a person cannot bear to see somebody else get on.
[26:45] They cannot bear to see somebody get ahead of them. Jealousy is like a cancer that eats and eats and eats away in a person.
[26:56] And if ever there is a trace of it, if you're ever aware of, and you have to say to yourself, well, maybe I do have a jealous, but ask the Lord to help you in it because it'll cripple your life.
[27:09] And it's murderous. The end of jealousy and envy is murder. I think we've often mentioned that before because there's loads of examples in the Bible right from the very start.
[27:23] Cain murdered his brother Abel simply because he was jealous of him. The Lord Jesus Christ was put on the cross. He was delivered up. That's one of the verses in the Bible.
[27:33] He was delivered up for envy. That's why I'm telling you, it is murderous in its intent. And so jealousy cannot bear for anybody to be thought of a little better, to get on a little better.
[27:51] And I say it's one of the worst cancers that you can find within the human heart. It's a story. I think I might have told this before. I read this. I don't know whether it's a kind of a legend.
[28:02] It probably is. In a city, there were two men who were known. One was the most jealous person that was in the whole city.
[28:16] Everybody knew as the most incredibly jealous person. And there was another man who was unbelievably covetous. They were both known for these particular weaknesses.
[28:28] And the king called them both together one day and he said, I'm going to ask you something both, right? I'm going to offer one of you anything you want, right?
[28:45] Anything you want. But whatever you choose, the next, the other person is going to get twice what you got. And he said to the jealous man, right?
[28:58] You're going first. Do you both agree to this? And they both totally agreed to it. So the jealous man, the man who was just riddled with jealousy, he began to think, what do I want?
[29:09] And he began to think of property and land and wealth and all the things he could have. But what was eating into him was the thought that if he got all this property and all this land, the other man would get double it.
[29:27] And he just couldn't bear that. And it didn't matter what he thought of, which seemed so appealing initially. He thought, no, I can't. Because I cannot bear that he would get twice.
[29:39] And then he said to the king, I know. You said that whatever I get, the other gets double. The king said, yes.
[29:51] We've agreed on that, yes. So he said, take out one of my eyes. Which meant that the other man would lose both eyes.
[30:03] Now, whether that's a legend or not, that shows what jealousy is really like. I mean, that's an extreme example. But that is the nature of it.
[30:16] So that's why there is this warning against jealousy. And we see that we're told that this wisdom, that it's earthy.
[30:28] In other words, it never goes beyond this earth. The horizons, its boundaries are this earth. It's unspiritual. Here are people who live, and they never, ever, ever look beyond this world.
[30:41] They never think of God. Everything they think about in this life concerns this life, their temporal well-being, their prosperity at a temporal level.
[30:52] They never, ever think of their soul, spiritual matters. But we're told that it is demonic, that this is where it all comes from. My friends, we have to guard against this, because this, unfortunately, is natural to us.
[31:12] These things, that is how we are by nature. There is within us this rebellion against God, and we are so governed in our hearts by these things. Guard against worldly wisdom.
[31:24] It is so opposed to God. I think one of the classic examples is in the Pilgrim's Progress. Remember a Christian? And he had this fearful burden on his back, weighed down by all his sins.
[31:37] And he was desperate to get rid of it, and he didn't know how to. And then he met evangelists, and evangelists said to him, Oh, he said, you have to go to the cross. And he pointed him in the direction of the cross.
[31:49] And as Christian was on his way in the direction of the cross, he met this man called Mr. Worley Wiseman. And Mr. Worley Wiseman said to him, What's wrong?
[32:00] And oh, he told him about the fearful burden of his sins, and of how evangelists told him to go to the cross. Worley Wiseman said, Oh, don't listen to that rubbish.
[32:11] Yes, you need to get that burden off you. But not that way. That's an, oh, he said, that's so stupid. And he began to explain to him other ways.
[32:24] Well, my friend, nothing has changed. It's exactly the same today. It was the same in Paul's day. As Paul preached the cross, he tells us that many people thought it was foolishness.
[32:39] For some, it was a stumbling block. For others, it was foolishness. And that's where the world's wisdom will point you. And if you're not seeing the cross today, if today it appears foolish to you, my friend, unfortunately, there is still a sense of this worldly wisdom.
[32:56] You need the Lord to open your mind, open your heart, so that you will see, and so that you will understand. But thankfully, as we see from here, there is another wisdom.
[33:08] There is not just the worldly wisdom, but there is a wisdom that comes to us from above. And just as the characteristics of worldly ambition, worldly wisdom will manifest in the selfish ambition and in jealousy and in disorder, so the heavenly wisdom should be obvious within a person's life.
[33:35] And we see here about this, this wisdom from above. And let us say that initially, this wisdom comes to us. In a passion.
[33:46] This wisdom comes in the passion of the Lord Jesus Christ, because he is wisdom personified. And Jesus, when we ask the Lord, Lord, give me the heavenly wisdom.
[34:02] Bring the passion of wisdom into my heart and make me wise. We are really asking that the Lord will come into our heart and give us that wisdom.
[34:13] And so we find, we see what this wisdom is. First of all, it is pure. That's what we're told. That there's no defect within it.
[34:25] And that's so true of God. God is utterly and altogether holy. There is no blemish. There is no fault. There is no defect within it. And when God's wisdom comes within our heart, there ought to be a purity of motive about what we do.
[34:45] Our lives should be clear. Our lives should, like, when we think of purity, we think about it in loads and loads of different.
[34:59] We could spend the whole time. We're not going to on this. But our whole motive, the whole way of how we conduct ourselves. For instance, in our dealings one with another, that a person who is pure in their heart is never trying to get one over another.
[35:19] There is an honesty. There is an integrity. There is a sincerity about all their dealings, one with another. Pure motives.
[35:30] You can look at it in loads of ways. But we know the great blessing, as Jesus in the Beatitudes says, Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. Then again, we see, not only is this pure, it's also peaceable.
[35:48] Again, reflecting God. God is a God of peace. That's one of the things about God. His whole being is peace. There is nothing within God that will ever, ever cause us a moment's disruption of that peace.
[36:06] He is at peace with every decision that he has ever made and everything that he has ever done. We cannot understand that. Because that's never true of us.
[36:18] We could never say, you know, I'm at peace with everything that I've ever done, everything I've ever said. All my, because we sometimes get it wrong. There are often things that trouble us.
[36:29] But that's never, ever true of God. He's a God of absolute peace. And Jesus is termed the Prince of Peace. And that is one of the great things about, it's a very opposite of the worldly wisdom.
[36:43] Remember that the result of that is disorder. The result of heavenly wisdom is peace. It's your aim to promote peace.
[36:55] Where peace exists, you want it to remain. You're seeking peace to remain. You're seeking to promote peace.
[37:07] Blessed are the peacemakers. They should be called the children of God. So that's one of the great questions you have to ask yourself. You'll know a lot about where you are. Do you bring peace or disorder?
[37:20] That's a searching question. Is it peace or disorder the result of your dealings or of how you do? That doesn't mean, when it talks about peace, that you never, ever disagree with anybody.
[37:37] You can still disagree and retain peace. You can still, that's the beauty of true peace. Is that you can, I think one of the great examples of that was in the life of two of the greatest preachers that in Britain that have ever been known, John Wesley and George Whitefield.
[38:02] And as we know, George Whitefield was a very staunch Calvinist in his style of preaching, whereas John Wesley had more, what we might term, Arminian leanings.
[38:15] They were both men who were hugely used to the Lord and many, many, many people were converted through their ministries. But John Wesley published a sermon entitled Free Grace.
[38:31] And George Whitefield was so disturbed by some of the, what he felt, the doctrine and the theology of that sermon that he wrote a very strong and a very firm letter to John Wesley highlighting what he believed was error in his teaching.
[38:53] But this is also what he wrote. And I think it's quite wonderful. He says, Nothing but the single regard for the honour of Christ has forced me to write this letter to you. However, this is what I find beautiful in, However, I love and honour you for Christ's sake.
[39:11] And when I come, this is what he says, when I come to the judgment, I will thank you before men and angels for what you have been under God and what you have done for my soul.
[39:32] Now, you see, there's somebody disagreeing. But he's doing it in absolute love, retaining the peace. While he's pointing out to John Wesley why he's writing and how obviously upset he was by what was said, he also is highlighting the high regard and the love that he has for him.
[39:56] And that love is so great that he was saying, I will thank, in the face of the whole universe, I will thank God for you and for what you have done to my soul.
[40:08] And in fact, when George Whitefield died, he left instructions for John Wesley to conduct his funeral. So there's the spirit of peace, there's the spirit of love, the spirit of unity, even when disagreeing.
[40:21] And that is a wonderful picture of the heavenly wisdom of how it should be. We also see that it's gentle, it's open to reason.
[40:33] Now, this isn't a gentleness that allows a person to be trampled under the dust, into the dust. Jesus was gentle. In fact, we're told in the Bible that gentleness makes you great.
[40:47] It is having that spirit of compassion, of being considerate towards people. And that should be part of this. It's gentle, open to reason.
[41:01] There's nothing more frustrating than meeting somebody who will not listen to reason. You know, some people say, people say, don't try and make me change.
[41:11] Don't bamboozle me with facts. My mind is made up. A lot of people are like that. They won't listen because they've made up their mind. Even although the truth is telling them something else, they won't listen to it.
[41:25] Very frustrating when you meet people like that. Well, when there is heavenly wisdom, there shouldn't be. A person should be open to reason. And say, oh well, all right.
[41:35] I'll think about it. I never saw it like that. There should be this. That is part of what heavenly wisdom is. Full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere.
[41:49] Full of mercy. And I think when a person, a heart is full of mercy. You know, one of the things, mercy is really compassion in action. And you know, if you are aware of God's mercy to you, you in turn will be merciful to others.
[42:08] If your heart today is full of how merciful God is to you, do you know the one thing you cannot do? You cannot be harsh and judgmental on other people.
[42:21] The two things don't go together. If you are harsh and judgmental towards others, it means you do not understand yourself, God's mercy towards you.
[42:33] Jesus gives that example of that warning in the Bible of this man who owed so much. And he says, I have no way of repaying it. And then the person who, he owed the money to, forgave him.
[42:47] But in turn, then he went to somebody who actually owed a little to him. And he wouldn't in turn forgive that man. And Jesus is highlighting how awful, how abhorrent that was.
[43:00] But that is often us. We have received the greatest forgiveness, the greatest mercy from God. And yet so often we're not merciful to others.
[43:12] God is saying, that's awful. But this heavenly wisdom directs our hearts so that in turn, as we have received mercy, we in turn are seeking to be merciful to others.
[43:26] And so we are impartial and insincere. That is, there's an integrity, there's an honesty about us in all our dealings. And as a result of all that, a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.
[43:44] Isn't that beautiful? This harvest of righteousness. righteousness. There will be, you are sowing, you know that in our life we're always sowing. We're sowing one way or another.
[43:56] Here is a, here is where, if your life is one of seeking to promote peace, wherever you are, it doesn't matter whether it's at school or whether it's in your home or in the church or in the community or in your leisure, wherever, even if there's disagreement, that you're, you're trying to promote peace.
[44:17] You are, in fact, sowing a harvest of righteousness. Because, you see, this is a great work that Jesus came into this world to do.
[44:28] We are justified by faith in Jesus Christ, which is, which, the result of which is peace. It's a great thing. Probably, there's two great things this world cry for.
[44:40] One is love and the other is peace. I think if you were to go around the world and you would say to people, what two things do you most crave in society?
[44:52] It would be love and peace. And the amazing thing is, both love and peace are found in Jesus. And yet, society, by and large, don't want to know the one who is the source of love and of peace.
[45:10] Well, may we seek to know Jesus. And as Jesus comes into our heart, may we seek by his grace that we will be those who sow a harvest of peace.
[45:23] Let us pray. O Lord, our God, we give thanks for your word and for the challenge that it is, for the way that it speaks into our soul. We pray that we may look to the word and measure ourselves against it.
[45:42] We pray that if we find any root of bitterness or of selfish ambition or of jealousy or causing disorder, any of these things within our lives, Lord, help us to be open about it and ask for your forgiveness and ask for your help in order that these things will be rooted out.
[46:00] Help us, Lord, to focus upon you. May we be peacemakers in this world. May we be those who are gentle in spirit. May we be merciful in our dealings one with another.
[46:11] Take us to our home safely, we pray. We pray to bless a cup of tea, coffee in the hall after and grant us grace in everything, taking away our sin in Jesus' name. Amen. Our concluding psalm is Psalm 133 from the Scottish Psalter.
[46:27] Psalm 133 from the Scottish Psalter. And we'll sing the whole psalm. Psalm 133 Behold how good a thing it is, and how becoming well together such as brethren are in unity to dwell, like precious ointment on the head that down the beard it did flow, even Aaron's beard unto the skirts did of his garments go, as Hermon's Jew, the Jew that doth on Zion hills descend, for there the blessing God commands life that shall never end.
[47:07] On page 424, the whole of Psalm 133. Tune us. of Psalm 133. Behold how good a thing it is, and how becoming well, together such as brethren and how in unity to dwell, like precious ointment on the head, but down the beard it flow, in section and how ca ид corpus door, who is from
[48:20] Burn a cùng through you that on hills descend, for there the blessing of Romans like God shall never end.
[48:50] Now may the grace, mercy, and peace of God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit rest and abide upon each one of you now and forevermore. Amen. Amen.