James 1:2-12 My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations; Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing. If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him. But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed. For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord. A double minded man is unstable in all his ways. Let the brother of low degree rejoice in that he is exalted: But the rich, in that he is made low: because as the flower of the grass he shall pass away. For the sun is no sooner risen with a burning heat, but it withereth the grass, and the flower thereof falleth, and the grace of the fashion of it perisheth: so also shall the rich man fade away in his ways. Blessed is the man that endureth temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him.James 1:18-25 Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures. Wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath: For the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God. Wherefore lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness, and receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save your souls. But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves. For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass: For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was. But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.
But that is wrong.
The CONTEXT says that the mirror we must look into is the PERFECT
LAW OF LIBERTY.
The law of COMPLETE LAW the ONE OF LIBERTY!
And it is a mirror!!!!!
That means that what you see is GOOD and POSITIVE.
And what many people do when they turn away from this mirror and
forget what manner of persons they were, is they see HOW THE WORD EXPLAINS
THAT WE ARE CHANGED AND ARE NO LONGER THE PEOPLE WE USED TO BE, but find
it is too good to believe after they stop reading the WORD, and they FORGET.
They revert back to OLD-THINKING.
They revert back to what the carnal mind thinks of.
I said this morning that so much happened when you were saved from sin,
and died with Christ, that you will NEVER understand it all until you are
TAUGHT by preachers and teachers called of God.
Theres just too much that happened.
Recall the SHULAMITE in Song of Solomon.
She said she was black , but comely. She was a goat herder
not worth looking at.
And the King had to tell her who she really was in His eyes.
Chapter 4 has the King telling her who she really is.
She speaks negatively and He has to reveal to her who she is.
She is not disgusting.
In the same manner, believers think they are no-good, with the same
no-goodness they felt before they were saved.
And it takes the WORD OF GOD TO SHOW THEM WHO THEY REALLY ARE.
It is a mirror.
And if its a mirror, then a mirror is showing them WHAT THEY LOOK
LIKE.
But their carnal minds are so full of unbelief and cannot really
grasp that Jesus MADE US INTO NEW CREATURES to the extent that after we
are done looking into the mirror, we walk away and forget what the Word
says we are.
Now, the devil doesnt help matters.
He feeds that negative feeling.
Peter tried to say the same thing.
2Peter 1:9-10 But he that lacketh these things is blind, and cannot see afar off, and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins. Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure: for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall:Peter said that people forget they were purged from their old sins.
And James spoke about being double minded.
You know what the word says and you rejoice for a minute.
Then you revert back to carnal mind and you feel down again.
TWO MINDS.
MIND OF CHRIST AND CARNAL MIND.
ADAM-THINKING and CHRIST-THINKING.
Such people are unstable.
Not solid.
What is it that we must stand on that makes us stable and solid?
THE WORD... .not the carnal mind.
The carnal mind is the sandy foundation.
The fool builds his house on there.
The fool says there is no God.
And to think carnally about yourself as though there was no God and
there was no change, and that you are still the carnal person you used
to be, is to BUILD ON FLESH sand.
The wise builds on the ROCK.
Matthew 7:24 Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock:A wise man builds on a rock.
James 1:5 If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all [men] liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.James and Jesus speak of the same thing.
WHAT IS IT THAT WE MUST DO????
BELIEVE THE WORD.
Think of yourself based upon what the WORD says.
Behave like somebody who is what the WORD says you are.
James spoke about looking into the mirror.
Paul also spoke about the mirror, and Paul proved that the image in the mirror MIRROR is not a negative thing.
2Corinthians 3:18 But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.Notice it calls the image in the MIRROR the GLORY OF THE LORD.
Stop seeing DOUBLE.
Stop thinking double.
Feel like losers, but come to Church and hear the preacher say we
are one with Jesus.
Well, let me tell you that I am right and you are wrong.
Gods Word I am giving to you says that youre NEW CREATURES.
James said
James 1:21 Wherefore lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness, and receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save your souls.SAVE YOUR SOULS.
1Peter 1:7-14 That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ: Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory: Receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls. Of which salvation the prophets have enquired and searched diligently, who prophesied of the grace [that should come] unto you: Searching what, or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify, when it testified beforehand (1) the sufferings of Christ, and (2) the glory that should follow. Unto whom it was revealed, that not unto themselves, but unto us they did minister the things, which are now reported unto you by them that have preached the gospel unto you with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven; which things the angels desire to look into. Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ; As obedient children, not fashioning yourselves according to the former lusts in your ignorance:Peter speaks about the trial of our faith.
You see, God saves you and changes your spirit.
So much was done that the SOUL cannot grasp it all, and because it
is still filled with a lot of OLD thinking, it will invariably GET IT WRONG
and think negatively.
YOUR SOUL needs to be rescued.
He talks about trials of faith and about rescuing your mind because
the devil is not going to sit there and twiddle his thumbs because he knows
he cannot CONTROL YOU.
He did not control Adam and Eve.
So how did he destroy them?
Picture yourself as the devil.
You do not control christians, and you are in the world they are
still in.
How do you destroy them?
If you were the FATHER OF LIES, how would you destroy them?
LIE TO THEM.
Dont let up on your lying to them.
You are actually seeing your SOUL SAVED the more you LOOK INTO THE MIRROR OF THE WORD, and stop forgetting what you see there.
Peter spoke about LOOKING INTO this salvation and the glory revealed
AFTERWARD.
The suffering of Christ saved us.
The glory revealed afterward is what that cross accomplished.
Were not angels, nor OT prophets.
They cannot look into this and understand it.
Angels cannot wait for Church service.
They cannot LOOK INTO THIS.
They cannot get revelation of it.
WE CAN.
They seek to hear us speak of what we have looked into!
Prophets could never get it.
They knew it was not for their day.
But they so much wanted to see it.
And Peter said WE MUST LOOK INTO IT.
1Peter 1:9 Receiving the end of your faith, [even] the salvation of [your] souls.THE SALVATION OF THE SOUL.
1Peter 1:13-14 Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ; As obedient children, not fashioning yourselves according to the former lusts in your ignorance:Get hold of your mind.
The mirror says you are not the former one you usedto be.