under the topic of meekness. And the first of those will be in James chapter 1. As we think about some of those definitions in the Old Testament, for example, the idea of humility comes through both in the Old Testament and the New Testament. And then also the mindset of gentleness. a very important one and one that is carried into the New Testament references as well. So as we then move to these other verses, well, before we do that, let me, I want to read that one exposition on meekness. for your hearing one more time. Meekness towards God is that disposition of spirit in which we accept his dealings with us as good, and therefore without resisting or disputing. And that particularly, that thought, carries over into the first verse that we'll look at this afternoon, which is in James chapter one. And so thinking about that again, meekness toward God is that disposition of spirit in which we accept his dealings with us as good. Now those dealings sometimes, I particularly am thinking now of his dealings with us through the word of God. So that disposition of mind when we stand before the word of God or when we hear the word of God, that we receive it in that spirit, that God is dealing with us for good. And we receive it that way. We accept his dealings with us as good. So it's not just things that happen to us, but when we encounter the word of God to accept it with that mindset, and therefore don't resist it or dispute it. You say, oh, I would never do that. Well, we do it all the time. And all we have to do to check up on how we are doing with that is to ask ourselves the question, what things has the Lord commanded me to do that I don't do, or don't do them all the time, or don't pay attention to them? And so what we've done is we've resisted them, haven't we? James says, when we move to James chapter one now, let me turn there, because I know I can't do it while I talk, but he deals with receiving the word of God, and all of us have received it to some degree, and others perhaps to a lesser degree, And I'm trying to talk and turn and I just can't do it. But I keep trying. So we're, particularly in verse 21, we've all received the word, we've all heard the word of God, studied the word of God, read the word of God, but that's not quite the same as receiving the word of God. And so this thought, That meekness is the way that we should receive the Word of God. When we read it, when we hear it preached or taught, when we are studying the Word of God, however we are exposed to it, this is the proper state of mind. And so let's look at the verse. Let's start with a little context. Wherefore my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath. We're so often a lot quicker to speak than to hear. And certainly when it comes to the word of God, admonition is important. He goes on to say, for the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God. Wherefore, lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness. Now, that's a cumbersome phrase. I'm going to take a little minute to look at that a little bit more, make it more clear. And receive with meekness the engrafted word which is able to save your souls. 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 or mirror, and 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. If any man among you seem to be religious. I like that phrase and maybe like is not the right word. Maybe I'm pinched a little bit by that. If any man among you, if any person among you seem to be religious and bridle if not his tongue, but deceiveth his own heart. This man's religion is vain. Now a lot of us have a lot of trouble with our tongue, don't we? Notice what the Word of God says, and I haven't gotten off topic. This has to do with receiving, really receiving the Word of God, doesn't it? So if any man among you seem to be religious, seem to be religious, appear to be religious, act religious, goes to church, prays, sings songs, has a Bible, if any man among you seem to be religious and bridleth not his tongue, but deceiveth his own heart, this man's religion is vain. Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this. to visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world. Let's pray. Father, we thank you in Jesus' name for the good day you've given us thus far. We thank you for the sweet fellowship we've enjoyed and the blessing to have considered your word this morning and lifted up our voices together in song. We thank you for it all and bless us now as we consider a few more aspects, a few more verses that deal with this all important character trait of our Lord and Savior. A character trait that should be ours as followers of Jesus. Thank you for speaking to us about this trait. May we lay it to heart and do something with it to your glory. to the magnification of Jesus Christ in our own lives, each of us, and for our own good, and that we might be a better blessing to those around us. And so, we thank you in Jesus' name. Amen. So, the proper state of mind. There's a state of mind for receiving the Word of God. And notice what verse 21 is where we kind of want to focus. The other is good context. having to do with it, but wherefore lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness. What on earth is he talking about there? That sounds like Greek to me. It was never translated. We recognize a couple words in there, but it just doesn't seem to register with us. So I'm going to read what Weymouth, a good Greek scholar, how he translates it, and this is much easier to digest. and you might understand a little better what the sense of it is. Weymouth translates it this way, ridding yourselves of all that is vile and of the evil influences which prevail around you. Now you can get it, right? It makes more sense. And we can understand that what he's saying is that the evil in our world, which is waxing worse and worse, is constantly impinging on our thinking and altering our response to the word of God. And so ridding yourselves of all that is vile and of the evil influences which prevail around you, Welcome in a humble, meek spirit the message implanted within you. So there's a way to receive the Word of God. And that way is in conflict with, in contrast with, the influence, another influence on us all the time in this ungodly world in the things that we see, in the things that we read about, in the things that we watch, the people that we see and how they're acting. And all of these things, more and more, are the spirit of Antichrist. and anti-word of God. And it just quietly sometimes just kind of eats away at our processes. I listened to a very powerful message that was sent to me by Vance Havner recently, who was a very pithy preacher of an earlier era in the 20th century. And his message was about getting used to the dark. And he talked about, you know, maybe you notice when you're in a real dark room, the longer you stay in that room, you begin to see a little bit better. And he made the analogy about the darkness of this world and its influence upon us. And one of the things he said is that this is the work of the power of darkness. And it is slowly corrupting the minds of God's people, a degree at a time, a degree at a time, a degree at a time, so that we get further and further away from the clear teaching of the word of God. And so now we can come back to this text about the proper state of mind. So ridding ourselves of all that is vile and of the evil influences which prevail around you. If you think about it, you'll notice that those influences in our society, and in the lives of people, and in the things that we read, and the movies that we watch, and all these things, the evil of the world is being portrayed in one way, shape, or form, and it's coming through, and it's impinging on through your ears, and on your mind, and in all of it, or much of it, is against the word of God. And therefore, To the degree that we're influenced by it, it impacts our willing reception of the Word of God, the teaching of God. And so we end up pushing back from it, maybe quietly, maybe without even thinking about it too much. We don't receive it, and we don't respond to it as God would have us. And so Weymouth again says, ridding yourselves of all that is vile and of the evil influences which prevail around you, welcome in a humble and meek spirit the message implanted within you, which is able to save your souls. And so approaching the word of God in humility. and allowing it to have its way with you. You can't do that under the influence of the antichrist influences of the world. They help your old nature resist what God is trying to change in your thinking and in your behaving and in your submission to him. And so As you sit down, maybe prayerfully as you enter into the sanctuary to hear the word of God, it would be appropriate to pray, Lord, help me to receive the word of God with a meek and humble spirit and allow it to change me in ways that glorify you and conform us more to our Savior, Jesus Christ. That way you'll have a consciousness of this idea of standing before it, sitting before it in a meek spirit, letting it change you. That's what the Word of God is intended to do, to change us. And I didn't take time, you know, do this, and I wish I maybe had and might come back to it at another time. But I've been reading a book lately about the book of James, and on this particular passage concerning the Word of God, the author made some profound statements about the effect of not receiving the Word of God. It's not that we don't know it. He wasn't talking about not hearing it, not even memorizing it. We've talked on that before. A lot of us have a lot of scripture memorized, and most of us have heard a lot of scripture for years, for decades, for most of our life in many cases. For me, nearly 50 years, I've been hearing or preaching or teaching the word of God. But the really important question is, how much of it have I really received? Has it become engrafted? into who I am because that's really all that matters. It doesn't matter that I've heard it, that I know it, that I've even preached it. You know, I remember that Paul said he worried, he was concerned that having preached to others, he himself might be a castaway. That thought is unnerving to me as a preacher. But evidently, it's entirely possible. And so how could that happen? Well, one of the ways that that could happen is that you could be preaching a lot of messages, but those messages that you're preaching to others have not changed you. But this author, the thing that really grabbed my attention, because I'd never heard it dealt with before, is he said, when we hear the word of God, but we don't yield to it, we don't obey it, it doesn't become a part of us, After a time, we began to get cynical. In other words, it affects us negatively. And we began to be a little bit hateful. and unloving, and unkind, and resentful of others, and just a lot of negative things start to take place, become a part of who we are, because we have not yielded to the influence fully of the Word of God. And so this receiving, notice he said that the Word of God is engrafted, which is, how did Weymouth put it? Implanted within you. which is able to save your souls. And that's not only, he's talking to save people in large measure. So we've received the word of God. It's in, you know, we know it, it's in our memory banks, perhaps a lot of it, a lot of what the verses like this morning's verse, but has it changed us? Or have we resisted it so long that we're becoming those unhappy Christians that don't really have the joy of the Lord And we are critical and just a lot of other things that are not very Christ-like in our attitude, deportment, and demeanor. And so it's interesting when you think about some of these things, what is said here about receiving the word of God in meekness, not resisting it. Let it have its way. Be the passive party. understanding that God is working with us to change us more into the image of Christ. It might have a radical impact on how effective the Word of God is in changing who we are. The next verse is in James chapter 3 and verse 13. And I think some of you are a little sleepy, so I'm going to try to hurry through this. And I think the preacher's sleepy, too, because his mind is getting a little fuzzy. And it's probably coming through in my words. So it'll be for my sake as well. James chapter 3 and verse 13. You know, we talked in the Corinthian letter some months back about heavenly wisdom versus human wisdom, the wisdom of the world versus the wisdom of God. Maybe you remember some of those contrasts from those messages. But here, James reminds us that meekness is a characteristic of godly wisdom. And godly wisdom is found in the word of God. And so, the influence of the word of God on our character, on our person, on who we are, should, is designed, heavenly wisdom in the word of God is designed to form meekness. in us. And so this is what James says in verse 13. Who is a wise man and endued with knowledge. He's talking about God's knowledge among you. Let him show out of a good conversation, a good behavior. That word conversation in the Bible is really talking about behavior, not words. So who is a wise man and endued with knowledge, knowledge of the scripture, knowledge of God, knowledge of Jesus Christ? Who is a wise man and endued with this heavenly knowledge among you? Let him show out of a good behavior his works with meekness of wisdom. And so what are we reading here? that wisdom of God manifests itself in meekness while doing our good works. And so affecting everything, how we receive the word of God, the good works that we do if we do them. But another truth embedded in this verse is that A wise man in the things of God is not one that just knows the word of God, but is one that proves that he has wisdom from God by good works that are done with the spirit of meekness. So not just the good works, but also the spirit in which those works are done. That's heavenly wisdom. meekness just keeps coming up, doesn't it, through the scriptures. In the Lord Jesus, in his teaching, in his life, from the pen of the Apostle Paul to the churches, and here we have the brother of the Lord speaking about the importance of meekness in a couple of important places. And then we go to yet another apostle. Oh, you know, I don't want to get completely away from that. Still in James chapter 3 and 13, I just glanced down to two other translations. Well, one is just kind of a summation. The wise and godly wisdom work the works of God with the knowledge given them from God's word in the spirit of humility and meekness. Mr. Weymouth says it this way, which of you is wise and a well-instructed person? Let him prove it by a right life with conduct guided by a wisely teachable spirit. And so that's another translation or another thought of what meekness means, to be teachable. Teachable. to receive with meekness, teachability, willing to be changed, willing to be changed. I remember preaching an early message in my ministry, maybe, probably even before I surrendered to the ministry, with the title, If Nothing Changes, Nothing Changes. And I think that's so with us a lot of times, because we do not receive the engrafted word with a spirit of teachableness, as Weymouth puts it, the spirit of meekness. So let's move on to another writer for a couple of verses, and then we'll be done for this afternoon. The first of those is in 1 Peter chapter 3, verses one through five. And I know that, don't be sensitive about this, I just took them as they came, and I have no real ax to grind here. But, you know, in our society, probably all societies of all time, shortly after they outgrew the skins that God provided way back in the book of Genesis, in the garden to cover their nakedness. Apparel has taken on a larger-than-life place in human society and culture, and most people are concerned in varying degrees, some extreme, about how they deck themselves out. And I won't go into that too much, but Peter, the apostle of the Lord, very plain spoken here about apparel. And he said that there is a much more powerful clothing than any fancy or expensive or impressive or chic, chic, chic, chic apparel or branded apparel, or the new vogue apparel, what's in style, all of those things that oftentimes apparel is purchased and worn for. But notice what Peter says to Christians here in chapter three, verses one through five. He turns to the wives, women, wives, likewise ye wives be in subjection to your own husbands, that if any obey not the word, they also may without the word be won by the conversation that is the behavior of the wives. Now that, you know, as I read that, I'm thinking, boy, you know, that flies in the face of a lot of what I want to say rigid doctrine exposition that I've heard about the word of God being absolutely necessary to the conversion of the soul. Notice what Peter, the apostle, said. Likewise, you wives, be in subjection to your own husbands. Now, you have to receive that, women, don't you? You have to receive that with a meek and teachable spirit, because not a single one of you, by nature, are going to be meek and submissive to your husbands, are you? No, you're not. Let me answer for you, since you're hesitant to answer. God knows that. We're not submissive to the Lord either many times as husbands. So I'm not picking on you. I'm just expositing a little bit what Peter is saying. And don't misunderstand me. I'm not doing it gleefully because I'm talking about the other gender. I'm just trying to ferret out the depth of what he's saying here a little bit. Likewise, you wives be in subjection to your own husbands. That's something that doesn't come natural to you. And so you have to receive that with a spirit of teachableness, a spirit of meekness, and be willing to do it simply because God's word says it. You'll never do it, you'll never do it without submitting to what the Lord says do, because it's not natural to you. Now we have our own set, like I said, I'm not isolating you, I'm just dealing with this passage. And we can make application to it to the men too, because God is just as clear in telling us certain things that are not natural for us as well. But he goes on to say, be in subjection to your own husbands, because that's God's order, be submitted to the authority of your own husbands, that if any obey not the word, if any husbands obey not the word, they also may without the word be won by the conversation, behavior of the wives. So what's he saying? Sometimes a godly woman might be married to a lost man. That's unfortunate, but it happens. Sometimes it happens because after marriage, one of them gets, the wife gets saved and the husband didn't. But what he's saying here is that if you will be willing to receive the engrafted word in meekness with a teachable spirit, And even though it's harder than the Dickens to submit to this one teaching, if you will do it for Christ's sake, as Mark taught this morning, with a submissive or with a humble, meek spirit, and do it for Christ's sake, that it is very possible that those unbelieving husbands would be won to the Lord Not by what you say, but what you do. And many times in Christian work and influence, it is the deeds which are the effective thing more than the words, which is why Jesus preached so much about love being the most important thing. Love is an action, not a word. We have a word to describe it, but you don't love in word, you love in deed, don't you? And so, that's the idea here, the importance of it, but I'm not even really getting to the word, because I'm half asleep, just like you. While they behold your chaste conversation, your chaste behavior, verse two, coupled with fear, fear of the Lord. A holy reverence for God who has spoken to us through his word. Who's adorning, let it not be, now he goes on to the apparel that I talked about decades ago as we entered into this text. Who's adorning, let it not be that outward adorning of plaiting the hair, fancy hairdos, and of wearing gold or of putting on of apparel. But let the adorning, that's the context, isn't it? Let the adorning be the hidden man of the heart in that which is not corruptible, like the clothing and everything else will burn up, but it all goes away. But let it be the hidden man of the heart in that which is not corruptible, even the ornament, the apparel, the adorning, of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price." You know, more and more, with each passing year, that spirit in a woman is seen less and less, isn't it? It is. How come? Because we're not receiving, we're receiving less and less the Word of God with a meek spirit, a spirit of teachableness. We're being influenced more and more by the corruptible influences, corrupt influences in the world, just like James said in our last text in James chapter one. So we can put these things together and see this is a beautiful passage of scripture that the spirit of a godly woman is to be a meek and quiet spirit, a submissive spirit. And we're seeing less and less of that even among Christian women. And so we can see how far away and how important this spirit or this idea of meekness is. Not just for women, and I'm not picking on you, it's just one of the verses, but it is something of great cultural modern day relevance, and we can see the departure from it. So the final verse for this afternoon is also in 1 Peter. It's the final word on meekness in the Bible. 1 Peter chapter 3 and verse 15. And here again, we might pick up just a little bit of context in verse 14. But and if ye suffer for righteousness sake, Happy are ye. Mark, I think about what you taught this morning or what you quoted this morning from the thoughts of another, that tribulation, trouble, suffering should be seen as part of our heavenly inheritance. Is there anyone here that has ever thought about your suffering or your tribulation or your persecution as part of your inheritance in Christ? Probably not. Probably not. But notice what Peter says about it. Verse 14, but and if ye suffer for righteousness sake, happy are ye, and be not afraid of their terror, neither be troubled. But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts. and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear. Having a good conscience that whereas they speak evil of you as for evildoers, They may be ashamed that falsely accuse your good behavior in Christ. But this idea of sanctifying the Lord God in your hearts, when we are being troubled for following Christ, when we are suffering for Christ's sake, when we are willing to sacrifice for Christ's sake, and maybe being ridiculed or punished by others as our forebears have and perhaps we will before Jesus comes too if we stick close to the Lord Jesus. But Peter calls upon us to sanctify the Lord, to give Him our heart and be willing for Christ's sake always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear." I want to ask you a question if you're following me up to this point. When he said, be ready always to give an answer to every man that asks you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear. When he says do that, when he says about meekness and fear, is he talking about give your reason with meekness and fear? Or is he talking about giving them, them questioning you about the reason for the hope that is in you demonstrated in meekness and fear? In other words, being willing to suffer for Christ's sake because of the hope that you have in him and your reward in heaven. And so when they look on you, do they see you submitting without protest to the suffering? And they are questioning that. and ask you, you know, why are you willing to suffer for Christ's sake like that, for what you believe? Why are you submitting to it in meekness and in fear of the Lord? I've never quite thought about it that way, but as I read it through and studying it here lately in the last day or so, You know, I question myself, well, you know, I could read it either way, couldn't I? And maybe we should take it either way. Maybe, you know, it would really be a more, it would be more provocative of question, wouldn't it? Those looking upon us, they want to know this hope that you have that encourages you or enables you to be meek. to show this meekness in suffering for the Lord's sake. Not resisting, not fighting back, just taking it as Christ took it when he was here. So, how many people have asked you about that lately? Or ever? How come? See, these are provocative thoughts, really. They could be, should be. I think that's why they're in the Bible. So it's interesting, but I also think that a lot of times, you know, when we talk to people, they ask us about our faith. We don't share our faith with them in a spirit either of meekness and fear. We might have a different spirit. We might be a button-holer. We might be, you know, kind of, you know, a militant about it. We might talk down to them, you know, and, you know, kind of critical of them, you know, their beliefs or unbelief or whatever. Might have the whole wrong spirit about it, you know. So be sure that when we do give a reason for our hope to give it in the right spirit. And that spirit, once again, is the spirit of Christ, the spirit of meekness. Spirit of meekness. But I also see something different in here. That because we receive ill treatment, from unbelievers or the world for taking a stand for Jesus Christ and his word and his way. If we do it in meekness, take our stand in meekness in fear of the Lord, it might provoke questions because that's just not the way people do things in a sin-cursed world. The spirit of meekness, the concept of meekness, 29 times in the scriptures, Half and half in the Old Testament and the New, Jesus said, come unto me all. All ye that labor and are heavy laden. That covers a lot of people, doesn't it? He invites them all to come to him and learn about him. And what he wants us to know most of all is that he is meek and lowly. Are we meek and lowly of heart? Well, you answer that, and I'll do the same. May the Lord bless us. Thank you for your patient endurance, especially in the last half after a belly full of food, and putting up with a half-asleep preacher who was having trouble keeping the sauce together. What y'all been saying about it? Page 343. 343.