So this morning I'd like to begin a new series that I'll probably be preaching over the next
several weeks and it's going to be a series that deals with the analogies or the comparisons
of the scripture within the scripture.
So when I say analogies of the scripture, I don't want us to misunderstand.
We're not going to be looking at the analogies that the Bible uses about many things.
We understand that if we read through, often the Bible will use analogies and comparisons,
parables to help us to understand heavenly things and so on and so forth.
But I want to begin a series where we're actually going to talk about or show us ourselves where
Bible actually talks about itself in the form of an analogy.
So it's analogies of the scripture about the scripture.
We're going to start, first of all, with the analogy, you might've caught it there in James
chapter one and verse 22, go ahead and keep a bookmark there.
I might have your, you might have to be a little bit more dexterity this morning.
If you want to put a bookmark there and then maybe be ready to mark a few other places
this morning, we will be back in James later, but you might've caught the first analogy
there in James chapter one, where it says in verse 22, be 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.
So it says there in verse 23 that when we look into the word of God, or if we are a
hearer of the word of God, whether it's through preaching or when we open up the Bible and
we read it for ourselves and the spirit of God begins to speak to us through the word
and we hear the word, we are like a man that is beholding his face, his natural face in
a glass.
Now, he's not talking about a drinking glass.
You know, don't let the liberal churches, you know, twist this and say, oh, this is
a refer, you know, this is a pro drinking type of thing or something like that, right?
That's not the case.
The word mirror isn't really something you see in scripture, but you do see this word
glass and that is what it's referring to.
And if you want to go over to 2 Corinthians chapter 3, 2 Corinthians chapter 3, a proof
of the fact that this beholding his natural face in the glass is speaking of, it's using
is the analogy of a man looking in a mirror is can be confirmed by Exodus 38.
And I'll read to you there when they were making the labor of brass, when Moses is preparing
the ark and the tabernacle and so on and so forth, he says he made the labor of brass
and the foot of it brass of the looking glasses of the women assembling.
So when they were gathering, remember, they were bringing all the different things for
the building of the tabernacle, one of the things that they brought were the looking
glasses.
You say, well, maybe it's talking about binoculars, right?
Maybe.
But here's the thing.
It says the looking glasses of the women, right?
And we all know how women like to look in the glass, probably, you know, maybe men could
be a little bit better about that, right, taking a little bit more time to really examine
how things are before we walk out the door.
I don't think this was women giving up their bird watching hobby here, right?
This wasn't them, you know, saying here, take my binoculars.
This is them turning over their mirrors, their looking glasses, taking a look at themselves
in the glass.
So I believe that's what James and several other passages that we're going to look at
this morning are referring to when it's talking about the fact that when we look into the
word of God, it is like looking into a glass or a mirror.
It reflects something that we either see about ourselves or also what we might become one
day.
And we'll get into that here in a little bit.
So the meaning of the mirror of looking into this looking glass of the word of God is,
is that it shows us what we really are for better or worse, right?
There's a lot of things we might look in the word of God and say, oh, that doesn't look
so good.
You might look in that mirror and say, you got a little schmutzen on your punum there.
You know, you got to clean that up.
You got a little crusty mayo there in the beard or the hair is not right.
You might want to fix that, right?
Sometimes when we look in the word of God, we see things that show us what we really
are for the worse, but also, you know, sometimes we can look in the word of God and as we'll
see here, especially in second Corinthians chapter three is that when we look at that,
it also shows us what we are in the sense of what we are spiritually or what we are
going to become in Christ.
But I want to begin by looking at what the mirror shows us.
Now, of course, just briefly, if an unsaved person were to look into the word of God,
there's a lot of things they're not going to understand.
The Bible says that that natural man receiveth not the things of the spirit of God, neither
can he know them for they are spiritually discerned, meaning without the Holy Spirit
of God, they're present.
When the sinner looks into the word of God, they don't understand it.
They don't understand everything that's written in there.
Now they can, I believe, and one of the first things we do when as a spirit filled believer,
when we're preaching the word of God to a sinner who we're trying to get saved is that
we show them that they're a sinner, at least I hope that's what we're doing out there.
We open up the word of God and we say, for all have come short of the glory of God.
For all have sinned.
There is none righteous.
There's none that do good.
No, not one.
We show them all these passages and when we begin to show them that the sinner looks into
the word of God and what do they see?
They see that they are condemned.
They look into the word of God.
We hold up the word of God and we show them and it says, you're condemned.
You're going to hell.
You're a sinner, right?
And we see that all through scripture, Romans chapter three, and we know that whatsoever
things the law sayeth, again, the word of God speaking here, it sayeth to them who are
under the law that every mouth may be stopped and all the world may become guilty before
God.
Therefore by the deeds of law shall no flesh be justified in his sight for by the law is
the knowledge of sin.
Isn't it ironic so many people today look into the mirror of the word of God and try
to measure up to it when in fact, uh, that is what condemns them.
They say, oh, we need to keep the law, but the Bible says that we all come short of law,
that we are condemned by the law knowing this, that the law is not made for righteous man,
but for the lawless and disobedient for the ungodly and for sinners for unholy and profane.
So who was the law made for when the, when the, when the, we open up the law of God and
hold up that mirror and say, this is the law of God, who is that made for?
Is it made for the saved?
No, it's made for, it's not made for a righteous man.
It says in first Timothy, it says it's made for the lawless.
It's made for the disobedient.
It's made for the ungodly.
It's made for sinners.
It's made for unholy and profane.
It's made for those who do not know Christ so that when they look into the word of God,
they look into the mirror.
That is God's word that looks back at them.
They see the reflection.
They see a sinner that needs to get saved and we could go to several other passages
to make that point.
I think we all understand that, but let's talk a little bit more about what might apply
to us this morning.
And that's the fact that when we look into the word of God as God's children, when, when
a Saint picks up the Bible and begins to read it, what do they see?
They see, first of all, that they are transformed by God's power, at least you should.
And maybe we have a hard time seeing that, you know, sometimes we, we, we, we understand
now one day I'm going to be in heaven, I'm having a glorified body, so on and so forth.
Maybe that's not giving us the hope that we should have.
Maybe we're not, we don't have the joy of the Christian life.
Well, maybe it's because we haven't spent enough time looking in the mirror.
Maybe we need to spend a little more time actually opening up that book and taking a
long look at it.
Because I'll tell you, you know, maybe the tendency might be, well, I don't want to look
in there because I don't like what I see.
Well, if we clean that up and we look back again, you know, it's going to show us some
other things too.
It's not all, it's, let's face it, using this analogy of a mirror, sometimes when we get
cleaned up, we don't mind taking that second look.
Right?
When we got, we got the duds on, everything's in right place, we walk by that, that, that
glass, you know, that window, like, oh, hey, looking pretty good there, you know.
Right?
You slow down and take pause and maybe turn and, oh, yeah.
Man, you got a good haircut, whatever, you know what I'm saying?
Well, you can do that with the word of God too.
You know, when we start to clean up our lives and we start to get the sin out, again, not
to be saved, we understand that salvation is by grace through faith.
But if we want to look into the mirror and not go, huh, or just try to avoid looking
at it all together and we start to clean up, then we can look at it and say, that looks
pretty good.
I like what I'm seeing there.
And that's what we can do when we as God's people begin to look into the word of God,
we can see that we are transformed by the power of God.
If you're there in second Corinthians chapter three, look at verse 17, it says, now the
Lord is that spirit and where the spirit of the Lord is, there is Liberty, but we all
with open face, beholding as in a glass, the glory of the Lord are changed into the same
image from the glory, from glory to glory, even as by the spirit of God.
So it says there that we are, we look into the glass of the word of God again, right?
There's that analogy of the word of God being likened unto a mirror, a looking glass, and
we behold it with open face.
We look in it and we see what?
The glory of the Lord.
We should be able to look into the word of God and see God, see our own reflection in
the scripture and that reflection that we should be seeing is the glory of God.
Now that, you know, that's a very biblical concept.
The Bible does say that the glory of God is going to be revealed in us and I want to get
ahead of myself, but it's clearly showing us here that in verse 18 it says we all with
open face, excuse me, but with all, we all with open face, beholding as in a glass, the
glory of God are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the spirit
of God, the spirit of the Lord.
So we look into it and we see that we are going to be changed into that same image.
We open up the word of God and say, wow, the glory of God.
What Paul is trying to get us to understand is here that we are changed in that same image.
That is a reflection of our spiritual nature that's already there in the word of God.
And just sometimes we don't see it, one, because we don't look or maybe there's some other
things we have to see.
So it says there we're changed from glory to glory and that can be a little bit of a
confusing passage, but really when we get it in the context and we're gonna take the
time to read it, we understand what he means by glory to glory.
Okay.
And if you want to back up there in second Corinthians three, and by the way, keep something
there.
We will come back again later.
We have you turn away.
It should be in James one and have something in second Corinthians three, but it says in
verse six, I'm trying to get an understanding of what does he mean?
Glory to glory.
What do you mean we're transformed from glory to glory?
It says in verse six, who also hath made us able ministers of the new Testament, not of
the letter, but of the spirit.
For the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life.
So what is the letter there?
That's talking about the law, right?
Like we read about in Romans, as we read in first Timothy's, or I read to you that the
law is not made for righteous men, but for the ungodly and for sinners for unholy and
profane.
Okay.
That's what the, that's what kills is the letter of the law, but the spirit giveth life,
right?
Now, does that make the law a bad thing?
No, it makes it a good thing because I had not known sin except the law had said thou
shalt not covet, right?
So it's good.
The law is good.
But if the ministration of death written and engraven in stones, talking about the law
that was given to Moses was glorious, right?
Now to the Bible saying here that that law was glorious, and that's important to understand
today when you're living in a time where a lot of Christianity just wants to dismiss
the Old Testament, they just want to say, well, none of that matters because we're all
free in Christ.
Well, it does matter.
The Bible in fact says that it was glorious.
It says then that if the ministration of death written and engraven in stones was glorious
so that the children of Israel could not steadfastly behold the face of Moses for the
glory of his countenance, which glory was to be done away.
So what is the Bible calling the Old Testament covenant?
What is it calling the law written and engraven in stones?
It's calling it glorious, right?
It's calling it a glory.
So that's that first glory.
We're changed from glory to glory, right?
Which was for it to be done away.
How shall not the ministration of the spirit be rather glorious?
If the letter kills and the spirit makes alive and look, the letter kills, but it's
still glorious.
How much more glorious is the spirit then?
Because it makes alive and says in verse 11 for if that which is done away was glorious,
how much more that which remaineth is glorious.
Seeing that we have such hope, we use great plainness of speech and not as Moses, which
put a veil over his face, that the children of Israel cannot steadfastly look to the end
of that which is abolished.
They didn't get a full picture.
They couldn't see all of it.
There was a veil there.
But even unto this day when Moses is read, the veil is upon their heart.
Nevertheless, when it shall turn to the Lord, the veil shall be taken away.
Now the Lord is that spirit and where the spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.
But we all with open face beholding as in a glass, the glory of the Lord.
We're not looking into the ministration of death and trying to wrap our head heads around
it.
We are with open face beholding it.
We're not seeing through it darkly.
We see the big picture.
Back then they didn't have a full understanding of the big picture.
Now, again, we know you're memorizing Romans 4.
We understand that Abraham was justified by faith.
People have always been saved the same way in the Old Testament as in the New.
It's all by faith.
But they understood that God was going to provide himself a lamb.
They understand that the Son of God was going to come, but they didn't fully understand
how and when.
A lot of these details, right?
A lot of the details that we as New Testament believers are privileged to have.
We behold those things with an open face.
There's no veil there.
We see it plainly, right?
That veil's been taken away, 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.
We with open face, we open up the Bible, we read I'm a sinner.
Jesus Christ died for my sins, and I get saved, right?
We're changed from this glory, the ministration of death, under the glorious law of liberty,
the freedom that is in Christ, that we are no longer under bondage.
So that is the reflection that we can see in scripture.
Why is the word of God likened unto a mirror?
So that we can see ourselves for what we really are.
Whether it's a sinner condemned, or whether it's a child of God set free to the glorious
liberty in Christ Jesus.
And we can look into it, and we can see our glorious reflection in the scripture.
The sinner can't see that.
They don't get to see that.
You know, they get to look in it, and they see the morning hair, and say, oh, I was drooling
last night.
It's time to brush my teeth and clean up, right?
So on and so forth.
The child of God looks into it, and everything is just the way it's supposed to be.
It's put together.
That's the glorious reflection that we get to see.
Look at Romans chapter 8.
Go to Romans chapter 8.
It says in verse 19 of Romans chapter 8, for the earnest expectation of the creature waited
for the manifestation of the sons of God.
For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly.
So this is talking about creation, right?
It was made subject to vanity, not willingly.
You know, the creation, the creatures that are here, they all had to kind of go along
with the curse, didn't they?
They didn't say, oh, yeah, let's bear thorns and briars.
You know, they were subjected to that by reason of him who had subjected the same in hope.
When God cursed man, he cursed the ground.
We know that story.
It says in verse 21, because the creature itself also shall be delivered from what?
From the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God.
That's what we look into in the word, and this is our glorious reflection right here.
This is an example of us looking into the word of God and saying, wow, that's what we're
going to be.
What are we going to be?
We are going to have the glorious liberty of the children of God.
We need to, you need to look into the word of God this morning and see your reflection
and see what you're, you're free.
You're free from the bondage of sin.
You have the power to have victory over sin in your life.
It's there if you want it.
The sinner can't say that.
The sinner can't say, well, you know, I'm done with this and now I understand they can
clean up and they can go to their 12 step programs and I don't have anything against
that.
That's good.
But even if they manage to clean up their life, they're still in bondage.
They're still in bondage.
You know, the, the, the, the analogy that I often think of is, is, you know, we're all
prisoners to sin.
We all start out that way.
It's like we're jailed in a cell with sin and we got the shackles on and then one day,
you know, we, we hear the word of God, we hear the gospel, Jesus comes along and the
shackles fall off and the door is thrown wide open and he says, follow me and he goes down
the hallway and he'll, he'll lead us right out of that jail cell and no one will touch
us on the way out.
We're that free.
But so many times, you know, that, that, that's not the case for the sinner.
That's the case for the, those that have been made free and the glorious Liberty, which
is in Christ.
But so many times I feel like we as Christians, we can say, well, I like, I've gotten kind
of used to these shackles.
I've been in this cell so long, I'm not sure I want to leave.
I don't know what's around the corner.
We might even pick that shackle up and just keep trying to, yeah, it keeps falling off.
Well, I better just hold it right there then and make sure it doesn't hit the floor.
That's just you holding onto some sin that you just need to let go and just walk out
that door and follow Christ.
That is the glorious Liberty that we have as the children of God to just walk right
out that cell door, leave those shackles behind and follow Christ wherever he leads us.
It says in verse 22, for we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth and
paying together until now.
And not only though, but we ourselves also, which have the first fruits of the spirit,
even we also grown with ours within ourselves, waiting for the adoption to wit the redemption
of our body.
I remember a while back, I had a, I knew a guy, older Saint, and one day he just kind
of, and he was very charismatic, chipper, you know, a very positive person, right?
I remember I looked at him one day and I just said, man, he just seems a little down.
I hunched over and just, one of these, I said, are you all right?
He said, I'm just groaning within myself.
And I didn't fully understand, but he's what he's talking about.
I said, look, if you ever catch me feeling like that, he's like, I'm just ready to go.
I'm waiting for that adoption.
And look, this is the reflection that we should see as God's children.
We look into the word of God.
It might cause us to do this.
We can say, wow, I'm going to be like he is.
I'm going to have a glorified body.
The curse is going to be lifted.
These are all real.
This isn't some Baptist fairy tale.
This is scripture folks.
This is what the Bible says is going to happen.
The more we lay hold on eternal life, the more we wrap our minds around these things
and the more real they become to us, the more we might find ourselves just kind of groaning
in our own spirit, waiting for that adoption.
That is, this is an example of our glorious reflection in scripture.
The word of God is likened unto a mirror, meaning, so when we open it, we should be
able to see ourselves for what we really are.
And as the children of God, we can look at it and see that we have been made free, that
we are simply here waiting for the adoption, waiting for the adoption or the, excuse me,
the redemption of our body.
Go over to first Corinthians chapter 15, first Corinthians chapter 15, I'm just going through
some of these examples.
We look into the mirror of the word of God and it shows us what we really are.
Well, what are we really then as the children of God?
We're free.
We are adopted.
We're waiting for the redemption of our body.
That's what you can look in the word of God and see this morning if you'll take the time
to look at it.
It says in first Corinthians chapter 15 verse 51, behold, I show you a mystery.
We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed.
Some people are not going to sleep, they're going to be raptured.
Not everyone's going to sleep, right?
We shall not all sleep, right?
But we shall all be changed.
Whether we take the dirt nap, whether we meet the undertaker or the upper taker first, one
thing's for sure is that we're all going to be changed.
In a moment, the Bible says, in the twinkling of an eye at the last Trump, what is he talking
about?
He's like, it's going to be like that, that fast in a moment in the twinkling of an eye.
That's not talking about the first time your dad saw your mom.
It's talking about like blinking in the blink of an eye.
That's how quick it's going to happen.
At the last Trump, for the Trump shall sound and the dead shall be raised and corruptible
and we shall be changed.
This is your reflection tonight or this morning, folks.
We're looking to the word of God that this mirror and what are we seeing?
The fact that we are going to be changed, that we are going to be adopted, that we are
at liberty already in Christ.
For this corruptible must put on corruption and this mortal must put on immortality.
So when this corruption shall have put on incorruption and this mortal shall have put
on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, death is swallowed
up in victory.
Oh death, where is thy sting?
Oh grave, where is thy victory?
What is the reflection of the child of God when he looks into the mirror of God's word?
It's victory over death and over the grave.
That's a pretty big victory.
Who could say they're going to beat that?
The child of God can through Christ.
I'm just giving us some examples of why the word of God is likened unto a mirror this
morning.
What can we see?
If the word of God proclaims itself to be a mirror, what should we expect to see then?
Well, it's a pretty good look from what I'm seeing.
I like what I'm seeing when I look in the word of God.
I like what I'm seeing when I see incorruption, when I'm seeing incorruptible, when I'm seeing
us being changed in a moment, when we have victory over death and the grave, I like the
look that God gives us when we look in the mirror.
Go over to 1 John chapter 3.
But does that mean, does that all God's trying to do here with the word of God just make
us feel good about ourselves, boost our spiritual self-confidence?
Or is there a purpose behind it?
Is there a, is there a need for us to look into the mirror of the word of God this morning?
You're in 1 John chapter 3, he said, behold, now are we the sons of God.
What's your reflection?
A child of God.
Not everyone gets to say that this morning.
There might be a lot of things you are this morning that maybe you don't like and that
you wish you could change.
But one thing I can guarantee you that you can lift your head up high about is the fact
that you are a child of God if you've been born again.
That's a pretty good reflection.
It says, we are the sons of God right now.
Now we are the sons of God and it does not appear what we shall be, meaning it hasn't
happened yet, you know, and we don't need to look much further than around the room
this morning to realize that and say, oh, glorious body, it's not what I'm seeing.
That's cause it's to come.
We understand that in a moment and tweaking the vibe, then we shall be changed at the
last Trump, right?
It says it does not yet appear what we shall be, but we know, we know this, that when he
shall appear, we shall be like him.
How do we know that?
How do we know that when he appears, we're going to be like him?
Because we see the reflection in the word of God, because we read the word of God and
it shines back and says, saved child of God, blood bought, you're, you have the glorious
liberty in Christ.
You're going to be changed.
We understand all that, but is that all it's there for?
Is that all the mirrors there for just again to boost our spiritual self-confidence, just
put us a pad on back and say, well, don't worry about it.
No.
Verse three, and every man that hath this hope in himself purify at himself, even as
he is pure.
If you're the child of God this morning, you're looking at the word of God and you could see
this glorious reflection, this glory that's going to be revealed in us, then what you
need to do is purify yourself.
That is the need or the motive, the purpose for this analogy, for the mirror of the word
of God.
It ought to affect our behavior.
We ought not just look at it and say, oh, I'm going to be like Christ one day.
This incorruption is going to put off, or excuse me, this corruption is going to put
off and it's going to put on incorruption, so I might as well just enjoy the corruption
while I can.
Is that what he's saying?
No.
He's saying because of the fact, when I look into the word of God and I see this glorious
reflection that I am going to put off this corruption anyway, let me just go ahead and
start putting it off now.
Let me just start cleaning it up now and getting ready for that big change so it doesn't come
as quite as a shock.
Now it's going to come to us as a shock no matter what.
We can't even begin to comprehend what it's going to be like to have a glorified body,
to have the mind of Christ.
It's beyond comprehension.
Paul said there are things that he saw in him that are not lawful for him to speak,
probably because we couldn't even begin to comprehend it.
But we do see that we are going to be changed.
What exactly, it does not yet appear what, but we know it's going to happen.
And for that reason, we ought to purify ourselves.
We ought to might as well just go ahead and start cleaning things up right now, even as
he is pure.
It affects our behavior.
Did you keep something in 1 Corinthians 13?
I hope I had you keep something there.
I probably didn't, but I lose track up here folks, so bear with me.
Go to 1 Corinthians 13.
I try.
I do.
I don't want anyone getting a paper cut and coming to me and complaining about it because
I'll just pour lemon on it.
I'm kidding.
I'd use salt.
No.
1 Corinthians 13, verse 8, it says, charity never faileth.
But whether there be prophecies, they shall fail.
Whether there be tongues, they shall cease.
Whether they be knowledge, it shall vanish away.
For we know in part and we prophesy in part.
But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away.
Look, we see in part, don't we?
We look in the word of God and we say, well, I know one day I'm going to be like him, but
I'm not there yet.
We understand in part.
But when that is come and we are transformed in the moment of twinkling by it, then that
which is in part shall be done away because we'll be complete, right?
When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child.
Now just as sure as every child in the room is one day going to grow up, if they make
it, is going to grow up and become an adult, that's the same for the child of God.
Just as sure as that, you can rest assured that you are going to be transformed, that
you are going to grow up in a sense into Christ.
It's as simple as that.
That one day that which is in part shall be done away.
Just like when a child one day will cease being a child and become an adult.
It's just the nature of things.
It's inevitable.
For now we see through what?
A glass, darkly, but then face to face.
Look, we look into the mirror of God right now and we see the reflection, but sometimes
it's a little dim.
We can't quite make out all the features of what it's going to be like to be grown up
into him completely, to have that perfection, that completeness in Christ.
But we know it's there.
Just as sure as a child is going to become an adult, but then face to face, we're going
to see it face to face.
Now I know in part, he says, but then I shall know even also as I am known.
And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three, but the greatest of these is charity.
So this glass this morning, this mirror, which is the word of God, which we look into, does
not give us a full understanding of the glory that shall be revealed in us.
It just shows us that it's there.
And because we understand that that is what we are to become, we purify ourselves.
And what does that look like?
Just meaning to make sure you take a bath every day or something.
We get the sin out.
And it's not just the things that we get rid of, but it's the things that we add.
It says there at the end in verse 13, now abideth hope, or faith, hope, charity, these
three, because the greatest of these are charity.
Look, some of these things, when we are perfect, they're going to go away.
The prophesying, it's going to cease.
You know, the tongues, they're going to cease.
The knowledge, it's going to cease.
That which we know in part is going to cease or going to be complete.
But some things are going to remain.
And these are the things that we need to focus on in this life while we wait for that adoption.
As we look into the mirror of the word of God and see this reflection, we should make
sure we're emphasizing the things that matter most.
Now, of course, prophesying is important.
Knowledge is important.
But what abides through all of that?
Faith, hope, and charity.
When we look into the word of God, it can and should give us faith, right?
Faith to do what?
To believe that it's coming.
To believe and trust and know that we are going to be changed in a moment, in the twinkling
of the mind, that we're going to put on immortality, as the Bible says.
That should give us faith.
It should give us hope.
It should give us hope, knowing that it's coming.
Look, Paul said, I know it's coming.
And John said, now we are the sons of God.
Look, we know it's going to happen.
That should give us hope.
And boy, do we need that, especially today, in the day and age, I mean, we've always needed
it.
But it just seems to me like so many people today are just, even Christians, are so worried
about everything that's going on in the world.
And I just wonder, what have you been looking at?
What have you been looking into?
Have you been looking at your reflection, or have you just been looking at what's going
on in the world the whole time?
I mean, look, I try to pay as little attention as I have to, to what's going on in the world.
You know, usually I hear about it, then maybe I'll look into it a little bit more, for something
that directly affects my life.
And sometimes you hear horrific things, just horrific things that are going on.
And you can understand why the world, why some lost sinner who has no hope, will just
live a life of despair.
You can begin to understand why the world is the way it is, and why people feel about
it the way that they do.
I'm going to go down in the dubs, because all they're seeing is all of what's going
on out there.
They're just looking at the news media, they're just looking at everything but the mirror
of God's Word.
But when we look in the mirror of God's Word, and we see that reflection, it should give
us faith to believe that it is coming, and that should in turn give us hope, because
we know it's coming.
And some of these things we can just shrug off.
Some of these things we can say, I'm not saying be calloused, but I'm saying it's
not going to drag us down like it does other people.
And it's not going to turn us into just nail biters that are just afraid of every little
thing that comes down the pike.
Last of all, it should give to us what?
What else is going to abide through this change in that which is perfect has come?
Charity.
And you know, that's love.
You know, today we use that as, you know, being generous, which of course is a loving
thing to do.
But charity really is love.
We should have charity, why?
Because of the fact that we already have been changed in part.
It's not that it's a complete change when we receive that incorruptible body when we're
resurrected or raptured, whichever comes first.
It's not like it's a complete change.
We have been changed in part already.
That's why John said, now are we the sons of God and but it does not yet appear what
we shall be.
We still have the Spirit of God dwelling within us.
You didn't have that before you got saved.
Now you have it.
And because of that, you know, there should be love in our hearts.
Love for the brethren.
I know I've talked at length about that recently.
Love for the lost.
You know, we talked about that probably every Sunday and demonstrate that that love by going
out and reaching lost.
And a love for God.
You know, we should look at this reflection and, you know, it should cause us to love
one another.
It should cause us to love each other.
But you know, it should cause us to love more than anybody is the Lord.
Because without him, there's, there's none of this.
We don't see any of that happening.
Bible says, and go to James chapter one where we started, we'll finish there.
It says, now the end of the commandment is charity out of a pure heart and of a good
conscience and of faith unfeigned.
Bible says in James chapter one, verse 22, where we started, but be doers of the word
and not hearers only deceiving your own selves.
For if any be a hearer of the word, if any man looks into the word of God and sees his
reflection, if he be a hearer of the word of God and not a doer, you know what he's
like?
He's like a man who looks into that, a natural man who looks into that glass and walks away
and forgets what manner of man he even was.
Right?
That's what he's saying.
The guy who opens up the word of God, the guys who hears the preaching, the word of
God and says, I get that, you know, that makes sense.
And the walks away and doesn't do the things that are written there, he's going to forget
all about it.
And we say, well, I, I don't, I don't, I don't feel like a child of God this morning.
I don't feel like I have that hope.
I don't feel like I have that faith.
I don't feel like I have that charity.
It's because you're not doing the work.
It's great that we can look into and God shows us this great reflection and then in turn
he says, you know what?
Purify yourself and let's do the work that he's called us to do of preaching the gospel
of living godly in Christ Jesus and so on and so forth and all the things that come
along with being a disciple of Christ.
He says, if any be a hearer of the word, a man who looks in the glass, he beholds himself
and go with his way and straight way forgetteth what manner of man he was.
Look, I don't want to forget that reflection.
I don't want to forget about the fact of everything that I have in Christ.
We should want to hold onto that.
You know, I see enough of the old man every day, literally in a mirror.
It's like, we don't want to see that.
We want to see Christ in us, the hope of glory.
I don't want to forget that reflection.
That's the look I want to get obsessed with.
That's how I want to style myself, right?
I want the word of God to be my style consultant and help me to be conformed to his image.
Okay, then you know what you have to do?
Not be a forgetful hearer.
You have to be a doer of the work.
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.
You want to be blessed by God as a child of God this morning, then you have to do the
work.
To do what?
To be blessed.
You don't have to do the work to be saved or stay saved.
You just have to do the work to be blessed.
Did you know God's blessing isn't just a given in the Christian life?
Just because, well, I'm saved, I'm a child of God, I should just get a blessing just
because of that.
But just the fact that you are even a child of God at all is a blessing.
You should just count yourself fortunate right there.
But if you want to go beyond that and have God bless your life, then we have to be a
doer of the work, not a forgetful hearer.
I mean, whose children, you know, hopefully this isn't the case with any of our children,
just get whatever they want, whatever they want, no matter however they behave.
That's bad parenting.
And God's not a bad parent.
God's a good parent.
And he rewards faithful, obedient children who do what they're told, just like any good
parent would do for their children.
So the word of God this morning, and this is a, there's a lot of other things, a lot
of other analogies that the, that for the scripture within the scripture, the Bible
is likened unto a lot of different things.
It's compared to a lot of different things.
And we're going to look at them over the coming weeks and we'll learn a lot of different things
about it.
And we can make a lot of different applications as we go.
But when we look into the, what we were studying this morning is the fact that the word of
God is likened unto a mirror, right?
And when we look and we behold that glorious reflection, you know, we should remember that
glory and we should work to be conformed to that image.
Now, are we going to, are we going to be conformed that image perfectly now?
No, but let us labor to enter into that rest.
Let us work towards that end because as I mentioned last week, you, if you're saved,
God's already got his tractor beam on you, right?
For any, any of the sci-fi folks out there, right?
You're locked in, you know, it's, you're on the hook with the Lord and he's reeling you
in one way or another and you can go ahead and wear yourself, you know, fighting against
it, but he's going to land you one day in the boat.
I say, stop fighting it.
I say, stop resisting it.
I say, go with the current that God is already pulling us in and start being conformed to
that image now, working on that.
It's our destiny to become what the mirror of God's word is trying to show us this morning.
And you know, like that physical mirror, the Bible, the word of God, that mirror this morning,
that spiritual mirror is going to help us with our spiritual grooming.
You know, we look into that mirror, hopefully, physical mirror, and we take note and we adjust
things and we fix things and we work on things to make sure that we, we look decent, you
know.
Well, we need to look in the word of God and look into that mirror and work on our spiritual
grooming too.
It's, it's far more important, you know, and, and if things are out of place, maybe we're
looking at the mirror this morning and we say, well, that, that's not looking so good.
Things are out of place.
You know, I need to tuck in the shirt or, you know, get the hair or brush the teeth.
All the things that people do when they look in the mirror.
Maybe we look at that spiritually and say things are out of place.
Well, maybe it's just because we haven't taken a look.
That's what I would challenge all of us to do is, you know, use the mirror that God has
given us, open it up and not just be reminded of the things that you have to fix, but be
reminded of the things that you already are in Christ.
There's already this wonderful reflection staring back at us in the face that is the
image of God that we are going to be conformed into.
And if we lose sight of that, you know, it is going to be a miserable, long existence.
And the Christian life is going to be a drudgery and it is just going to be dragging ourselves
through it.
But the more we look into it, the more we look into that mirror and we see Christ and
we see the fact that we're going to be conformed to his image, you know, the more exciting
the Christian life becomes.
Let's go ahead and pray.