The General Epistles - Part 5

So good evening, everyone! Welcome to the Bible study this evening. As we usually do, we're going to do a quick review of the chapter. We just concluded the chapter 3 of James on the tongue, the mouth, and the word spoken. The Hebrew word tongue is used 117 times in the Old Testament and 50 times in the New Testament and the admonition is be slow to speak and quick to hear and be slow to volunteer to teach because teachers are going to receive the greater judgment. And also, the teachers are called didaskalos and it's from the word didacti and a didactic teacher is one who sets the premise and then tries to fill in and prove everything that is been said in premise. So teachers will receive the greater condemnation. That means judgment. Teachers will be judged more strictly than other people will be. So every person should be quick to listen slow to speak. We should hold our tongues saying the right thing is one of the keys to going on to perfection. And another key to going on to perfection is meekness. Time after time, the apostle James, I call him an apostle. He's not one of the original 12. It seems to indicate that he is in Galatians 2 and verse 19. But James says that we should be very careful with the active use of the tongue and also we should not be hesitant to speak up when the time calls for it. I think that most of us are guilty of not speaking up when we need to.

We say something to somebody else and not to the teacher. We're always encouraged to speak to the teacher and to the minister and not to someone else. Satan is the accuser of the brethren, and we don't want to be accusers of the brethren. So we need to be bold and courageous when necessary. Speak carefully but courageously when the situation warrants it. We need to exercise the weightier matters of the law, which are judgment, mercy, and faith. Matthew 23, 23. So those three judgment, mercy, and faith stems from the law because they are weightier matters of the law. Listening to gossip can be just as dangerous as the one who is saying it. Humankind, and one of the reasons why time after time in Scripture you'll find that we are not to speak evil of one another because we are made in the image of God. When you read the description in Revelation 1 of Jesus Christ, he has hair, he has arms, legs, feet, and so on. All the things that human beings have, so we are made in the image of God, and we are not to speak evil of one of another. The wisdom of Satan is contrasted with the wisdom of God, and the basic contrast is where in being strife is there is evil and every evil work. We really emphasize that. The result of Satan's wisdom is strife. The result of God's wisdom is peace. That's a quick review of chapter three. Now I want to ask anybody, can you quote the Scripture, which we did not quote last time, which I think is the most important Scripture with regard to the tongue. Can you quote it? Is there a Scripture you can think of that should have been quoted with regard to the use of the tongue? Going once, going twice, going three times. It's Proverbs 18, 21. Death and life are in the power of the tongue. Death and life are alive and dead, or in the power of the tongue. You can say something that will change something positive. And we talked about how God hates flattery. That doesn't mean that you shouldn't give compliments and that you shouldn't give encouragement to people who need it and who deserve it and who have done a good job.

You can say words of encouragement that lift a person up, and he or she will be a new person as a result thereof. Okay, we're going to go into chapter four now. Chapter four of James.

In chapter four and verse one, from whence or where do wars and fightings come among you? Do they not come hence or from here out of your lusts that war in your members? Now, lust, of course, is we're told to avoid the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life in first John chapter two. And so it is that we are to avoid lust.

And the word members here, I want to take some time there and just briefly with lust and talk about it. The word members, talk about members. The word members is M-E-L-O-S in the Greek, melos. It means members of a body. It can be the physical body, or it could be a larger body. Now, there were not civil wars going on among the Jews that we know of during this period of time.

That is, when James wrote this epistle, which was probably somewhere in circa 45-46 AD in the Christian era. So, the word members here can apply to your own body. A lot of times, what is going on in our minds and in our hearts, how we feel, how we respond, how we view other people, determine to a large degree how we're going to be. So, we want to be, we want to put on the best that we possibly can.

And we also want it to be from the heart. And God wants it to be from the heart. He does not want us to just put on a front, and not the way we seem to be when someone else is around. It is often said that the best judge of a person is members of his own family. To a large degree, that can be true. The members of your family can determine to a large degree whether you are really with it or whether you're not, what you're really like. And so, we are to try to present ourselves in every setting.

Now, listen to this carefully. We are to try to present ourselves in every setting in the best way that we possibly can. Now, the greatest motivating force in the universe, of course, is love. And out of love and out of pure heart, we are to communicate and to do whatever it is that we do. So, please remember that to a large degree, the trouble that we have has to do with the wars that are fought in your own mind. And then there are lust and wars that you may have trouble with your spouse or spouses. And you may, on the other hand, have lust toward other people.

You wish that you had what they had or covet what they have. One of the Ten Commandments is, thou shalt not covet. So, James says that the wars that we are fighting, the wars that are among us, don't they come from our own lust? And I believe that it comes from the mind, first of all. And you remember how sin is conceived, that an idea comes into our mind.

It can come from the subconscious, which we talked about it, or it could come from the conscious mind. And we are tempted, and then we mull it over and decide whether or not we're going to do it. And God holds us responsible for what we do with the conscious mind. Now, the members, as I said, at the particular time that this was written, there's no record of a civil war that's going on among the Jewish people. And it says to the 12 tribes scattered abroad. And we talked about, in our first session, that this had to do with the 12 tribes of Israel that were converted, that they were Christians.

They were not practicing the Jewish law, so some of them may still have been practicing them, and we might get to that a little bit later. In James 4, verse 2, you lust and have not. You killed. So that indicates so much as murder, and what murder is a terrible thing the news is filled right now. I think it is a diversion from what is really going on in the world.

The situation between Ukraine and Russia continues to fall. And the situation in the Middle East continues to as well. And domestically, we are in dire trouble with the various murders and shootings, mass killings that we're having. What a terrible time. We don't know where the next few will drop. You lust and have not. You kill and desire to have, and cannot obtain. You fight and war, yet you have not, because you ask not.

You ask, verse 3, you ask and receive not, because you ask amists. Now, we want to talk about right here what we should do in prayer, and how our prayers should be. Of course, Jesus Christ gives us the model of prayer.

In Matthew chapter 6, our Father, which are in heaven, how would be your name? So we praise God. We praise His name, recognize Him, and He is the giver of every good and ever perfect gift, as it says in James 1, 17 and 18. Every good and perfect gift comes down from the Father of Lights, where there is no bearableness, neither shadow or turning. So we want to ask in the right way, and we want to recognize God up front. And then we want to praise God. Now, in the model prayer, it is a model of prayer. It doesn't include everything. One of the things that I do after I praise God's name is to thank God for everything He's given that day. And I always thank Him for food, clothing, shelter, and the things He's able to pay the bills, able to have transportation, able to get about, able to go here, there, wherever. So to thank God for all the blessings that we have, and one of the main things we have in this country, of course, is freedom. One of the things that you'll see on YouTube now are all the surveillance cameras that are extant all over the world. And there are surveillance cameras in the U.S. at most intersections and in many other places as well, in business places, have surveillance cameras up. And even homes have surveillance cameras up. And in China, basically every move that every person makes is photographed on film. So we have to be very careful with what we say and what we do. So we want to thank God, praise His name, and give thanks. And then we want to be reconciled if there's anything standing in the way we want to be reconciled. Remember in Matthew 23, verses 24, 23 and 24, it says, if you come to the altar to offer your gift, and of course one of our spiritual sacrifices, is that a prayer? So if you come to offer your prayer at the altar, and you kneel down to pray, and you realize that your brother has ought against you, or you think that he does, it says, go and be reconciled to your brother, then come offer your spiritual sacrifice to God. And with spiritual sacrifices, God is well pleased. So reconciliation with God, confess your sins, and then be reconciled to everybody that you think that there is any kind of difficulty with. Then you want to pray in faith, not double-minded, not really not believing that what you're asking is going to come true. And then you want obedience, and you want to God's will. So you may be asking for something that is not God's will. I think I've already mentioned the country song in which he says, thank God for unanswered prayer.

Then you want to bring, you want to pray fervently. You want to be humble. Daniel, you know, in his great prayer in Daniel chapter 9, was fasting, and you want to persevere in prayer. And you want to address the prayer directly to the Father, our Father who art in heaven. And Christ, of course, is making intercessions for us according to the will of the Father. You read about that in Romans 8 verses 27, 28, 29, along in there, that Christ also makes intercession for us. He is our High Priest seated at the right hand of the Father. He has the Father's ear. So we pray in Christ's name. And we want to pray, we want to close our prayers in Christ's name. During our prayer, we want to pray for the kingdom to come, thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. And to pray that God would give us the spiritual gifts necessary to fulfill His will for us. I think that's one of the things that people do not remember or don't ever ask. We will ask God to give you the spiritual gifts that are needed for Him to fulfill His will, His plan for you. And we all have gifts that we don't even oftentimes recognize. So be sure to thank God and ask God for spiritual gifts. And I ask God for a new mind and a new heart and to increase His Spirit within me and pray for protection. And, of course, as we've already said, pray that God's will be done and to pray in Christ's name. If you do those things, you won't be asking a miss. So it says here that you ask and receive not because you ask a miss that you may consume it upon your lust. Of course, there's nothing wrong for God for you to ask that God would heal you, that God would bless you, that God would do this, that, or the other for you, but in the right spirit, the right heart, the right motivation. Motivation and right heart is, in one sense, everything with God. You, Adultery, verse 4. You, Adultery and Adultriches. Now, this is speaking first and foremost about spiritual adultery and spiritual hoardom. Adultery, the Greek word there is for male and adultresses is the feminine word for females. So males and females, you can be in spiritual adultery by straying away from God, setting up idols in your mind and in your heart. Remember, Hosea chapter 1, in which Hosea talks about how Israel had strayed as they had gone a whoring after other gods and other doctrines and other practices that were not of God. Not practices that God had revealed to them, but practices of the heathen.

So, the spiritual adultery, it can include physical adultery. Physical adultery is a sin that generally is never forgotten or out of the mind of a person who commits it, so it's a very serious matter. Your adulterers and adultresses know, you know, that the friendship of the world is enmity with God. Now, the friendship of the world, he's talking about the societal structure, the culture of the world. Don't love the societal structure of this world, the things of this world, the lust of the eyes, the pride of the flesh, and the pride of life. Don't go after those things, place those things as your number one object. God wants to be number one in our lives. He is a jealous God. It doesn't mean that he is jealous in the wrong sense of the word. Sometimes we read from the Old Testament that it says, or I am a jealous God. That doesn't mean he's jealous in the sense that we might be jealous of another person or covet what another person has, jealous of it, or even jealous of our mate or what our children now have. But it has to deal with the frame of mind that he is the word jealous comes from the word zeal. That you are a zealus, you're a zealus, you're fired up for God. So God is a jealous God in that sense.

So he doesn't want you to be an enemy of God. If you love the world, if you're filled with zeal for the things that this world offers, this fashion, this culture, it's want to be in the end crowd, and all the things that the world has to offer, then that is not a God. I'm amazed as I walk around in the stores and streets of what is considered a small town here, Tyler, Texas, of 110,000 plus thousands that come in to do their shopping here. You can just tell by their look on their face, the way they dress, the way they act, the way they do things that they think. Some think that they are just better than you are. We don't want to be guilty of that, but we want to do to dress the best we can and behave the best we can behave. Verse 5. Do you think that the Scripture says, in vain, the Spirit that dwells in us, lusts to envy? Now, one of the commentators, most of the commentators will say, well, there's really no Scripture that says that. But yes, there is a Scripture that says that that is Romans 8-7. If you want to turn to Romans 8-7 and read it, the carnal mind is enmity toward God, not subject to it, not in it, nor it cannot be. The carnal mind is not subject to the law of God, neither can it be. It cannot be subject to the law of the carnal mind, the fleshly mind, what we call human nature. Now, we talk about the Spirit and man, and I oftentimes wonder about the Spirit and man. The Spirit and man, does it give us consciousness and allow us the freedom to choose? How can we be held guilty for something we don't choose to do? But we have here a verse that says that the Scripture does not say in vain that the Spirit that dwells in us, less to envy. I take that to be human nature as Paul writes in Romans 8-7. The carnal mind is enmity toward God, not subject to it, neither envy can be. And one of the things that we say at baptism, the reason that we baptize and immerse, is symbolic of death. That you're putting the old man, the flesh, to death. You're raised a new man, a spiritual man, that is raised to newness of life, and you'll keep the old man under the water. He will be dead the rest of your life. And Paul writes, we are dead to sin. It doesn't mean we can't sin, but we are dead to sin in that the old man has been put down. And if we do sin, then we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous, and He does intercede for us. And we go to God's throne of grace, and we ask for forgiveness, and He's faithful and just to forgive us. Then we have... So let's read that last part again. The spirit that dwells in us lusts to envy. And we see that from Romans 8-7, that the carnal line is enmity, but we do have freedom to choose which way we're going to go. After we were convicted by the Word of God and Spirit of God, we choose to go in the right direction. But He gives more grace, whereof He says, God resists the proud, but gives grace unto the humble. Now, the word grace in the Greek is carous. It's a word you should know inside out, backwards and forwards, because it is the verse that is quoted by the nominal Christian world over and over again. By grace are you saved, that not of yourselves, it is a gift of God. That not of yourselves magnifies faith.

That, I'm sorry, that not of yourselves magnifies the gift of God. The gift of God is a free gift, but it is traditional, and we are saved by the gift of God and through faith. And we have to exercise our own faith. We cannot do otherwise, as I've said a million times, God would be, God and Christ would be guilty of being the ministers of sin if we didn't have to have faith, our faith, and believe in God and Christ in the way that we should.

So God gives grace to the humble, those who choose the right way, who are willing to come before God and say, Father in heaven have mercy on me, a sinner, and he's faithful and just to forgive us and to give us grace, divine favor. Now, I look on grace more in the sense of the method, the whereby. We still have to act, even though grace is apparent. Grace is not some force like the Spirit convicts. The Spirit lays something on our hearts and minds. The Spirit will teach you. It will reveal things to you. But grace provides the way.

God and Christ have provided a great plan of salvation whereby Christ humbled himself, gave up his glory, humbled himself, took on the form of a man, and by grace, we have the opportunity to embrace God and Christ. We can confess our sins and have our sins forgiven.

So he gives grace to the humble, and those who are lacking in grace need to pray for grace. We have to humble ourselves under the mighty hands of God and do season. He will lift this up. That verse is in 1 Peter. Humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, and in do season he will lift you up. So humility is a great key to prayer and receiving grace. Grace in the ultimate sense is divine favor, and it provides the method whereby you can be forgiven, you can be saved, you can be whatever, because Christ died. Now, if you, if Christ had not died and provided the method, you cannot be a recipient of grace.

So God and Christ provided the plan, the way, and we have to act on the word and the conviction and the spirit that dwells within us from God. He lays it on our mind, the spirit and word of God. Now, verse 6, but he gives more grace, whereof he said, God resists the proud. So if you're proud and haughty, there's no need to come before God because he is not going to answer your prayers. But he gives grace unto the humble who realizes that he is made out of clay, just like everybody else. Everybody else, the only thing that you're going to take with with you are the clothes that you're wearing when they bury you and your flesh and bones. Flesh and bones and the clothes on you, they may put something else in your casket, it may put something else on you, but when it comes down to it, all you have is flesh and bones. Bones, outlast, the flesh, so basically in the grace, you know, bones. And God is going to, like it talks about in Ezekiel 37, at some point, those who have never heard are going to be raised to newness of life and be given an opportunity. And those that die in the faith, flesh is going to come upon them that are in their graves, they will come out of their graves, they will be clothed, they will be spirit beings, but yet at the same time, they can appear as fleshly beings. Christ appeared to the disciples in the upper room and he had doubt in Thomas and says, doubt in Thomas, thrust your hand into my side. And so we can put on flesh after we are spirit beings, but in the grave, we are just bones, eventually. Now just verse 7, submit yourselves therefore to God, resist the devil, and he will flee from you. So if you give place to the devil, even the little symbols and signs that the fortune tellers use and the necromancers, those who try to communicate with the dead, that they may use or not use in their rituals of what they go through and say, oh, I have powers that you don't know of. They do have powers, some do have powers, and the devil has powers, but you do not want to flirt with those powers at all. You don't want to see if you walk under the ladder. I just walk under ladders. It doesn't bother me. Some say, well, if you walk under a ladder, it brings bad luck. Thirteen is a number of a bad number because this evil is associated with bad things that happened on the 13th. However, there were 12 apostles and Jesus Christ that traveled together. That traveled together. That's 13. They traveled together. But you resist any symbol or sign that the devil has to offer and draw an eye to God. If you feel like you're being attempted, a lot of people have come to me with various sexual problems, masturbation, or whatever it might be, and say, can you help me? I say, open the songs, especially Psalm 119.

Draw an eye to God. It says in Psalm 119, verse 10 or 11, I think it's 11, your word have I hidden in my heart that I might not sin against you. So hiding the word of God, going to the very source. And you remember what Jesus Christ says in John 663, the words that I speak, they are spirit and they are life. So if you hide the word of God in your heart, you are not likely to sin. The more that you can hide God's word in your heart, the more likely you are not to sin. And if you are having trouble, feel like the spirit is after you and having trouble. Rebuke that spirit in the name of Jesus Christ. Remember when Markiel, an archangel, was disputing with the devil over the body of Moses. He said, the Lord rebuke you. You see, if the devil could have gotten Moses' body, he would have probably made a shrine out of it and told people to come and worship at the feet of Moses. Orthodox Jews still, we should hold Moses in high regard because he needs to be held in high regard. But Moses is a human being like all of us are. And he is not God, only God is God. And he is not to be held in high esteem as God is. So resist the devil and he will flee from you. Verse 8, draw nigh to God and he will draw nigh to you. That's similar to what I said in about resisting the devil. You draw nigh to God by going to the source. The words I speak to your spirit, their life. You're going to the source. You're asking, you're pleading with God to help you in the time of need. So draw nigh to God and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands. That means repent. You sinners. Purify your hearts. You double-minded.

I think a lot of us, and I struggle with this, you know, I ask God for certain healings and I wonder, well, will God really answer my prayer? And as we always say, we pray in God. That it is God's will. See, God knows what he's doing with each one of us. Remember what he says in Isaiah 63 or 4, I am the potter, you are, Jesus, God says, I am the potter, you are the clay, mold me, shape me after your way. So God knows what he's doing for each one of us. God knows what is best for each one of us. And believe it or not, God always has our best interest at heart. You say, well, why am I in this situation? I'm in. Well, God is trying to teach you whatever it is that he's trying to teach you. And you may be a victim of time and chance. You may be in the wrong place at the wrong time. God does not put a shield around you and protect you from everything that comes along. We're giving the example of the tower that fell on the people. Jesus Christ gives the example. The tower that fell on the people and they were killed. And the judgment, are they more sinners than some of you are? Speaking to the people who were there. God knows the heart of each person and he knows what's best for every person. So it says, be afflicted. Now, the word afflicted is oftentimes used with fasting. The first time that fasting is used in the Bible is in 2 Samuel 12 and verse 16, where David fasted for the child, the child that was born out of wedlock, the child that he got Bathsheba pregnant and then killed, had really, he set the stage for her husband to be killed so that he could take Bathsheba as his wife. But he prayed for the child. He fasted and prayed, but it was to know that the child died and David had to pay a great price for his sin. And oftentimes we pay a great price. Now, there are times in which various leaders, we have done it in the Church of God. I know the Council of Elders back when I was chair of the Council, we called a church fast. And some people might say, well, who are you to call a fast? If you'll notice in Ezra 8 and verse 21, Ezra 8 and verse 21, that he proclaimed a fast, Ezra proclaimed a fast among the people. Jehoshaphat also, when he was king, proclaimed a fast, and others did so as well. So, you may fast, of course, individually, or you may fast collectively.

You remember when Esther was challenged with, go before the king in Darius and make your petition known to spare the Jews, that she called all of her handmaids to her and asked them to fast for three days and three nights. And so they did. And then she went before the king, and he heard her petition, and the Jews were spared. So, afflicted is oftentimes used in the sense of doing without food. Now, in the Old Testament, I assume I didn't check as carefully in the New Testament, like here, the Greek word that is being used for fast is tele...

Tele... Tele... Tele... Telei... Telei... Telei... Telei... Telei, it means to... To pray, to study, to obey, to meditate, to fast, to cleanse, to be reconciled before God and Christ. So there's another word in the Old Testament that is used for fasting. And that word that you can look that word up in Leviticus 23 and 29, it says, afflict your soul.

And we know that it means to fast, to do without food for the sunset to sunset on the day of Atona. Of course, some people at times fast more than one day.

So humble yourselves in verse 10. Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He shall lift you up. Now, that fasting, of course, is one of the... one of the best ways to humble yourself because you are doing without everything that Satan has to offer. The only thing that Satan has to offer is to hear and now. He can offer you food, He can offer you clothing, He can offer you whatever you want to name. Remember, He kicked Jesus Christ up on the mountain and said, all of these things, all of these kingdoms, I'll give you if you bow down and worship me. And Christ responded with Scripture and says, it is written, you shall worship the Lord God and Him only shall you worship. And so we should do the same thing. We respond to temptation as we already noted quite thoroughly of turning to the Word and Spirit of God.

So humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, He will lift you up. Verse 11. Speak not evil one of another, brethren. He that speaks evil of his brother and judges his brother speaks evil of the law and judges the law. Now, it could be that there were Jews who were converted that were still doing the rites of the temple, but James says he's writing to the 12 tribes scattered abroad. You know, even when Paul came to Jerusalem, James Medeman said, you need to go to the temple and go through the rituals, the washings and oblations, and he did because they are saying here that you teach against the law. So Paul did go through the washings and the oblations, as James asked him to do. He read about that in the book of Acts. Now, when it came down to the to the final thing of whether Paul would go free or not, later on it came down to the resurrection.

And there accused Paul of too much learning as Medeman and other charges they made against him, but he held fast. Eventually he appealed to Caesar, and so they were good and glad to get rid of him. And they said to Caesar, you shall go. And he wound up in the house, in a household, and he was able to have the people in the court to communicate with him.

And so a lot of people heard the gospel there, would not have heard it otherwise. Now, verse 11, speak not evil one of another, brethren. He that speaks evil of his brethren, and judges his brother, speaks evil of the law, and judges the law. But if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law, but a judge. Now, we are told to judge righteousness, and we are to keep the law of God. Now, I think we should turn to Leviticus. I always get these confused. 1917 or 1719. So let's turn to Leviticus 1915, first of all. Leviticus 1915. Please turn to Leviticus 1915.

Leviticus we'll start in 1914. You shall not cause the deaf nor the put a stomach like before the blind, but shall fear the dear God. I am the Lord. You shall not do no unrighteousness in judgment. You shall not respect the person of the poor, nor honor the person of the mighty. Now, this is Moses writing on an inspiration of the Holy Spirit, but in righteousness you shall judge your neighbor. So, the commentators say that this word, speak evil, has to do with you should not slander your brother when he is there, when he is not there to defend himself. We are to judge our brother in righteousness and we are to stand in the gap for him. And let's continue here with reading this.

And so we go to the next verse.

I turn the page. Verse 16. You shall not go up and down as a tailbearer among your people, neither shall you stand against the blood of your neighbor, I am the Lord. You shall not hate your brother in your heart. You shall in any wise rebuke your neighbor and not bear sin for him. That is the correct translation. You can go to the interlinear or whatever you want to go to and look it up. If we don't confront those who are doing wrong, we mentioned this last time, and rebuke him, then we're as guilty as he is. And that's why you shouldn't listen to gossip. Speak not evil, one of another, brethren. Either speaks evil of his brother and judges his brother. Speaks evil of the law and judges the law. But if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law, but a judge. There is one lawgiver who is able to save and to destroy. Now, the lawgiver, the ultimate lawgiver, is God the Father. Now, some of the commentators say that the ultimate lawgiver is Jesus Christ. Well, I do not believe that. But God the Father works through an agent, and he is given it says in one place in the New Testament in the Gospel of John that all judgment is given to God to Christ. All judgment is given to Christ. But that doesn't mean that God is not the ultimate judge. Let's take, for example, Matthew 10, 28. Fear not him who can destroy the body, but fear him who is able to destroy body and soul, your life potential in the lake of fire. And, of course, we know it's the second death, and from the second death there is no resurrection. So God is the one that decides, in the ultimate sense, who lives and who dies in the total sense, in the ultimate sense.

But Christ is the one who carries it out. I won't go into a sermon about in the Gospel of John where Christ gives his great prayer. He says to the one true God. I gave a sermon not all that long ago about that. You might want to listen to that sermon, the one true God.

So there is one Lawgiver who is able to save and to destroy. Who are you that you judge another? So we'll leave off there tonight, so we have gone about 59 minutes, and so we will open it up to questions and comments that you might have.

Dr. Ward, you mentioned in Leviticus 19 that we're to judge our neighbor in righteousness, but since God is the only true righteous being, then doesn't that mean that we're to judge by the Law and the Word of God? That's the basis in which to judge people's actions, not the person, but their actions. But the basis you judge that is by God's Law, because God is righteous. Yeah, I said that several times, I thought.

Maybe I missed it. I'm sorry. Yeah, I said that several times that how do we judge righteous judgment? We judge it through the Word of God, and I quoted John 663, the words I speak, their spirit, their life, and like John 1717 says, your Word is truth. So you'll judge them in truth and in righteousness. Judge righteous judgment. The Word is righteous. The Spirit is righteous. Christ is righteous. God is righteous. And where to become righteous? Through them. Through all of them. The Spirit, the Word, Christ and the Law. I mean Christ and God the Father.

Any other, you have a follow-up? Any other question or comment?

Really appreciate all of you who have attended here this evening, and we'll see you two weeks from now, and 17 and 14 is 31. 31st. 31st. Until then, say goodnight.