Cast Off to Receive

I have been meaning for some time to continue our study based on the Epistle of the Apostle James. We are using this epistle as the foundation and basis for our meditations on Wednesday nights, when I am able to be here. I want to continue with the study we have been following in chapter 1, and the Wednesday before last we spoke about verses 19 and 20, where the Apostle James says:

‘…Therefore, my beloved brethren—that is, because of God’s mercy and goodness, the fact that He is so generous toward us in specific ways, which James points out in verses 17 and 18—for that reason, my beloved brethren, let every human being, every man and woman, be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath, because the wrath of a human being, the wrath of man or woman, does not produce the righteousness of God…’

Then the Apostle James continues, saying, ‘…Therefore—that is, he is developing his thought further, looking at it from another perspective, at how we must respond in this life of sanctification, of increasing surrender to the Lord, of giving Him more of our being because of how great, good, and merciful He is; so he says—therefore, laying aside all filthiness and abundance of wickedness, receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls…’

There is a contrast here between two words, two verbs: laying aside and receive. We could say laying aside and receiving. One is rejecting, and the other is taking in, receiving, drawing toward ourselves. One drives certain things away, and the other draws certain things near.

I have some notes here that I took, that I made, which must have been about 20 years ago. I was about 5 or 7 years old when I wrote them. That was a study… What are you laughing at? Did I say something you can laugh about? Well, you can explain it to me later, because I do not know what you are laughing at.

This was in Cambridge, years ago, when we did a study of the Epistle of the Apostle James, and these notes are here. There were no computers yet back then. They are on yellow and yellowed pages; they are like ancient parchments. But I wrote some notes on the verses in an expository style.

Regarding verse 21 and this idea of laying aside and receiving, I say here: as a consequence of everything said previously, we must cast far away, throw away decisively, once and for all, everything that hinders the free entrance of the Word of God into our lives. Because James is emphasizing this matter of the Word. Later on he will continue speaking about the importance of the Word. Already in verse 18 he has said that, of His own will, He caused us to be born through the Word.

And this is what I want to impress upon your minds: the importance of venerating the Word of God, the Bible, and giving it great importance. What characterizes a man or woman filled with the Holy Spirit, a dyed-in-the-wool, genuine Pentecostal, is that he or she loves the Word of God. Amen. Such a person venerates the Word of the Lord, takes it seriously, reads it, takes it in, meditates on it, and chews the cud on it like cows—not that I am telling you that you are cows or anything like that—but meditates on the Word of the Lord.

It says, day and night. There is a psalm: blessed is the person who loves the Word of the Lord and meditates on it. One of the great deficiencies and great losses of our time—and I believe this is why the Church of Christ is declining so much, veering toward heresy, and sometimes falling into errors, not specific errors but errors of attitude and posture that then prepare it for specific errors—is this lack of reverence for and continual abiding in the Word of the Lord, and of viewing the Word of God almost with awe and fear and trembling.

Until one reaches that point, brothers and sisters, of loving the Word of God, reading it, memorizing it, adoring its patterns, its selected verses, its main themes, its outstanding characters, and its fundamental doctrines, and until one knows it as a soldier knows his weapon—taking it apart and putting it back together in any situation, even with his eyes closed—that is how we must know the Word of God, brothers and sisters. Our lifelong goal as children of God must be to become experts in the Word of the Lord.

Now, later we will see that merely being an expert is not enough; one must do more. But I believe true maturity, spiritual greatness, power, and authority against demons and against life’s struggles, terrors, threats, and traps come to the fore when a man and a woman are continually grounded and founded upon the Word of God.

Sometimes we say ‘the Word of God’ and think, ‘Oh, something grand.’ No—the Bible, this thing right here, this little book that is a huge book. This is a universe: the mind of God poured into human words. And that is why it is infinitely malleable and varied. The Word of the Lord has no end. You read it, and each time it is new; it is different. You take a verse and can see it in a thousand different ways, because that is the beautiful thing. It is the Word of God; it is alive and always reveals a new facet. Every word, every letter, every verse is like a diamond with a thousand facets.

That is why the Hebrews—as I say this now—saw the Word as something almost magical, like objects, as though its words were physical. That is why the Kabbalah and other mystical doctrines of Judaism even count the number of letters and draw conclusions from all this, because… I believe that when one, like the Hebrews when they loved and adored the Word of the Lord, is inside the Word, one becomes aware of its multidimensionality and almost of its physical presence, its life. It is alive, the Bible says. And that is not a metaphor. I believe it is real. There is life in the Word; it is alive, and when you eat it, that life enters you and manifests itself through you.

That is why you have to love the Bible. Do not come to me with stories about how Mary went to do the washing and ran out of soap. Read the Bible. Study it. Know it. The Lord says to search the Scriptures, because you think that in them there is testimony about Me. So James speaks a great deal about the Word, because his letter is an eminently pastoral, practical letter about the Christian life and its fundamental foundations.

Do not expect great, mysterious theological truths from James, as you would from the Apostle Paul in Romans or Ephesians. James is bread and butter and a little cup of coffee with a little sugar, which is not bad, is it? You may leave the great delicacies to the Apostle Paul, perhaps a little here and there to Peter, and to Hebrews. But James is down-to-earth. James is meat and potatoes for the people of God.

So he speaks a great deal about the Word. And then he says:

‘…Therefore, laying aside all filthiness and abundance of wickedness, receive…’

So I was saying that we must cast far from ourselves everything that hinders the free entrance of the Word of God into our lives, every impure thing, every improper thing. Many Christians do not grow because they forget this important principle: before clothing ourselves with the new man, we must strip off the old man—and the old woman too, just in case—and the old… old whatever it may be. But separate yourself from it; move away from it.

We must even strip off the old young person too, the old child who is immature in the faith, and we must clothe ourselves anew. We must strip away everything that hinders us in the race of faith.

There is much stripping away that must be done in the Christian life, brothers and sisters. There is much dying in order to live, much taking off in order to put on, much forgetting and leaving behind in order to move forward. Romans, chapter 12, verse 1, says:

‘…Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside…’

There is that idea of casting off, getting rid of: ‘…let us lay aside every weight…’ What is the weight? All those things we drag along from the past, those bad habits, those bad attitudes, that which prevents you from running. It says, ‘…every weight of the sin that besets us—which surrounds us like an army and seeks to strangle us and prevent God’s nutrients from entering our lives, or prevent God’s blessing from going out through us to others—and let us run with endurance the race that lies before us.’

Let us lay it aside. We must strip it off. Brothers and sisters, we must continually ask the Lord, ‘Lord, strip me of everything that displeases You.’ There is much complacency among the people of God. We believe that we come to church, punch our timecard, and have already done everything we had to do. A large part of the Christian life is precisely that. The most painful part is stripping things away, even things we love and things that are very, very dear and appetizing to us. We have grown accustomed to our demons, and we like it when they are there in the morning, sitting at the table with a cup of coffee, waiting for us to get up so they can go to work with us again.

When we no longer have them nearby, we feel as though we are alone. Because one can become accustomed even to the most terrible things. Some people spend 20 years in a cell, and when you open the door for them, they do not want to leave because they are so comfortable inside the cell. That is how it is. So we often grow accustomed to our bonds, and the Lord tells us, ‘Strip them off.’

We must continually be like the psalmist: Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my thoughts; see if there is any wicked way in me, and guide me along the everlasting way. And what that means—I do not mean that you should always go around paranoid that God is going to strike you with lightning and split you in half at any moment. No. I always live within God’s grace, His mercy, His love. He knows I am mischievous, and He loves me in spite of it, but every day I must strive to be better, please Him more, and conform more closely to the image of Christ Jesus. And there is protection and satisfaction in that, so that when one suffers in life and problems come, one examines oneself and says, ‘Well, I believe I am right before God.’ Listen, that makes things easier to bear.

When one suffers as a child of God, the Word says, that is all right. Now, the bad thing is when you know that you are a scoundrel and you are suffering: ‘Uh-oh, could it be because I did something that is not right with God?’ But when you are covered and you know, ‘No, look, I am examining myself, and I know I am not perfect, but I believe I am doing everything possible to please the Lord,’ that is security. Trials come, but the trials strengthen you, lift you up, purify you, and slim down that extra fat in us that makes us run the race of faith sluggishly.

So, brothers and sisters, children of God, servants of the Most High, let us commit ourselves to being a holy people, pleasing to the Lord, which is our reasonable service. This is our true worship: presenting ourselves to the Lord as a living sacrifice.

That is why James says that we must lay aside all filthiness and every abundance of wickedness. Perhaps you are a filthy person but are malicious, so do not remove yourself from the Word too quickly. He wants to cover everybody; something applies to everyone right now. I say here that when painting a house, the old paint must be scraped off before applying the new paint, yes or no? What happens? If you apply the new paint over the old, since the old paint is peeling, the new paint comes off along with it. So you must first scrape off that old paint, leave a smooth surface, and then paint so that the new paint will adhere.

And that is how it must be in our lives. For the Lord to apply His virtues and attributes and impart His grace to us, we must first strip ourselves of many things. We must take off the old man in order to put on the new garment of Christ Jesus.

That idea of casting off is important. There is much to cast off; there is much to renounce. A good prayer is: ‘I renounce everything that does not please You, Lord. I renounce everything that has not passed through Your filter, Father. I renounce everything that does not have Your approval, whether it is a million dollars, a career that does not please You, the love of a man or a woman, a house You have not given me, a city You have not sent me to live in, an attribute of my personality that does not please You, or a friendship that does not lead to proper behavior and the kind of growth You desire in my life. I renounce it.’

‘I do not want anything that has not received Your approval.’ Always speak to the Lord that way. ‘I do not want anything in me; I do not want anything to be given to me; I do not want to receive anything that has not first been approved by the Lord. I renounce it, reject it, and cast it out of my life.’ Renounce and cast off everything that is not of God, and then receive. It says here, ‘laying aside, receive with meekness.’

Under the word receive, I say: we must open ourselves to the Word of God; we must grant it free entrance. We must receive it joyfully, generously, enthusiastically. That is why it says, ‘receive with meekness the implanted word.’ This idea of meekness means that you open yourself to it. You do not resist it, argue with it, raise objections to it, or try to escape from it, as we so often do. Like good lawyers, we try to find an escape clause in the Word of the Lord.

‘Lord, You know that I work very hard, so I need a little escape every once in a while. You know that I have behaved myself for the last six months, Father, so I am going to take a little vacation for one night or one day.’

It says here, receive with meekness; that means you have to open yourself up and go limp when the word wants to enter. Many times people stiffen up like this, and it is not going to get in. No. It says, receive with meekness. We have to welcome the word of God into our lives.

That is the idea. Where it says to be slow to speak, slow to anger, there are things in which God wants us to be slow, yielding, and soft, and one of them is this: opening ourselves to the word of the Lord. Every pore has to be wide open so that the word may enter and penetrate our lives.

So, receive with meekness the implanted word. I say here, but also with meekness, willing to obey it, without preconceptions, silencing our inner monologue. Wow, did I write that? What was I eating that day? I would like to know a little more, Lord. What I was doing was studying a lot of literature, because that concept of the inner monologue is a literary concept.

Do you know what it means to silence your inner monologue? The inner monologue is that voice that is always... You are always conversing with yourself; you are always thinking. You have to silence that and simply allow the word of the Lord... When you are having your meditation in the morning or at night before going to bed, silence the inner voices and the worries for a moment, focus on the Lord, and let the word speak to you. Take a verse, meditate on it, and let that verse speak to you. Silence for a moment the worries that tomorrow you have to leave your shoes clean for work, or that you did not wash your underwear and now you have to go do it before going to bed. No, no. Leave all that aside, just be still, silence every worry, and let the Lord speak to you.

Silencing the inner monologue, willing to go wherever the word leads us. I say here that this is the only way to approach the word of God. Or rather, to let it approach us. There are two ways to receive a person into your home. Number one, casually, informally, as an equal—that is, by saying to the person, “Well, sit down and wait while I take care of other things. I will come back later; do not worry. See to yourself however you can.” Or number two, with reverence, respect, and admiration, making sure that everything is properly arranged for the person, that the place is pleasant and clean, giving the guest your full attention and listening attentively.

Do you remember the difference between Mary and Martha? Martha was doing something good; she was serving, and it was constructive, but Mary had chosen the better part. It was not that Martha had a bad part. No, Martha had a good part because she was doing something constructive. And many times we too are doing constructive things, but the Lord likes us to give the things of the Kingdom a special place of preference. That is why He spoke of the firstfruits: those best emotions, those best thoughts, those focused attitudes. We must welcome the word of the Lord; we must invite it to come in and sit in the place of honor in our lives, receiving it with meekness.

Do you also remember Simon and Mary? Simon welcomes the Lord: “Come in, Lord, sit over there,” and leaves Him sitting there; he even gives Him a warm Coca-Cola. Mary comes, filled with gratitude for what God—what Christ—has done for her: He has set her free, He has loved her, He has given value to her life. And she comes and takes an extremely expensive, special perfume that she had and pours it over the Master, bathes Him with her tears, dries Him with her hair, and gives the Lord preference. And the Lord, seeing Simon’s thoughts and schemes, says to him, “Simon, do you remember when I came in? You invited Me, sat Me over there, and treated Me like just anybody, but this woman has preferred Me.”

And that happens with the word, brothers and sisters. You know, when you love the word and value it, that word is activated. When you love Christ with all your heart, when you give Him preference, the Lord detects that. Do not think that you can be worshiping while thinking that when you leave here you are going to go to such-and-such restaurant, what you are going to order, and how good the food was last Sunday when you went to that same restaurant. And you are singing because evangelicals sing when they come to church, but the Lord knows how to detect it. He has a worship meter that knows the exact level of your consecration and your passion for the Lord. He knows; He detects it. Do not fool yourself.

And it is the same with the word. When you receive the word, love it, value it, give it time, and give it a place of preference in your life, the word grows within you. James uses a very interesting expression. He says, “Receive with meekness the implanted word.” Another, better expression is grafted; that is my idea: the grafted word. The word of God comes from outside like a graft, but after a while it becomes integrated with us and mingles with the innermost part of our being, like a graft. Its work takes place within the human being, from the inside; it is implanted by God.

The graft causes a tree to produce fruit different from what it produced at first, for it changes the nature of that tree or plant. When you put in a graft, the genes of the new plant, or of the new branch, become integrated with the old ones. That is something strange, and then it is as though a new nature is formed. The two natures mingle, and that is why they sometimes produce flowers of a different color—very similar to the previous flowers of both, but now with a different color, a different configuration, a different fruit, a different flavor. It is a mixture. The natures mingle.

Likewise, the nature of God—when God puts His word into us through its reception by faith, there is the key. When you open your heart and your mind through an act of faith and receive it not as the word of man. That is why all those people in those strange seminaries, in those divinity schools, who do not even believe in electric light, read the Bible but do not believe that it is the word of God. They see it merely as an archaeological document, as a reflection of a culture or a period, or of a man’s temperament or his own personal mind, but not as the divine word, the revelation of God, the living and effective word that penetrates, examines, convicts, and changes. They do not see it that way, so it is like eating a piece of meat when your body is unable to process the nutrients: you simply do not process it. And it is as though you had not eaten it at all. You might as well have eaten cardboard or a banana peel—it would be the same...

But when you receive the word by faith, with reverence—this is the word of God, this is the mystery of God entering into me, interacting with my mind, my cerebral neurological system, my spirit, my recollections, my memories, my traumas, the traits of my character, even my body—and that word is acting within me, that word is circulating within me, through my veins, through my tissues, and it is doing something. And when you visualize it that way, receive it that way, and celebrate it that way, that word comes alive and accomplishes that for which it was sent.

But it has to be through a posture of faith, an attitude of faith, receptivity, surrender, and total submission to it. That word causes us to produce fruit different from what we produced at first, as with a graft, and that is exactly what the word of God does. The Bible says that this word is the only thing capable of saving our souls.

What does Second Timothy 3:15 say? Paul says here, “...But as for you, Timothy, continue in what you have learned and have been persuaded of since you were very young, knowing from whom you learned it, and that from childhood...” How good it is when we instill the word of God in our children from the time they are very young. It is so important for people to take the time. Bring your children to Sunday school, bring them to the youth classes, bring them to Awana. Do not waste opportunities to put the word of the Lord into your little children and to saturate them with a believer’s sensitivity. That word sanctifies and seals them.

“...From childhood you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus...”

The Scriptures impart wisdom. Nothing imparts more wisdom than the word of the Lord. I learned that from my mother, who always valued the word of God, and God made her a wise woman. She was not a highly educated woman, but she was a wise woman, and I learned that the word of God imparts wisdom. If you want to receive wisdom, feast generously on the word of God. That word will give you wisdom. Become a devoted student and diligent searcher of the word of God.

Paul adds, “...All Scripture is inspired by God and useful for teaching, for convicting, for correcting, for instructing in righteousness, so that the man or woman of God may be perfect—that is, complete—thoroughly prepared for every good work...”

Do you want to be ready for every good work? Let the word of the Lord have free entrance into your life and do its work in you. Love it, revere it, welcome it, receive it enthusiastically, submit to it, always see it as the living and effective word inspired by God. And that word will give you wisdom and prepare you for everything for which God may want to use you. You will be like a bullet in a revolver, ready to be fired at the necessary moment, like an arrow in God’s quiver, ready for anything for which God may want to use you.

Receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls. Interestingly, it is the same idea, the very idea we have just seen: both Peter and Paul, directed by the same Holy Spirit, have this same idea that this word can save our souls, because this word is living and effective. That is how it is, because the word of God is living and effective and sharper than any two-edged sword—Hebrews, chapter 4, verse 12.

Brothers and sisters, let us leave it there. As we strip off certain things and clothe ourselves with others, let us submit enthusiastically and meekly to the word that God is going to implant, that God is going to graft into your life. He is going to give you an injection. He is going to inject it into your life, and He is going to do something transforming and renewing in you.

Brothers and sisters, tonight let us renew our resolve to be great students of the word of the Lord. I do not believe there is anyone who understands the word of the Lord well, loves it, reads it, lives it, and receives it, who will not be blessed and have everything they need for life. Perhaps that person will not be rich in human terms, but they will have enough.

I tell you, brothers and sisters, when God enters a house, a home, and there is someone there who has spiritual authority, personally, brothers and sisters, I do not believe... It may happen for a little while, but to go hungry? No. God will bring ravens, and they will bring you food, honestly. I believe blessing comes to a house when there is spiritual authority. The order of God’s Kingdom and the light of God’s Kingdom enter. The little bit of sugar you need for the little cup of coffee you are going to drink that day—it will be there. I sincerely believe that. The blessing of God dwells where there is a person who knows how to draw blessing because they are clinging to the word of God.

Let us be a church that loves, studies, and is grounded in the word of the Lord. Amen. Bow your head for a moment and recommit yourself to that word. Young person, person new to the Kingdom of God, visitor, those of you who are just beginning the Christian walk, or if you have been in the Gospel for many years but have not acquired that joy, that enthusiasm for the word of the Lord, tonight I invite you: run and get yourself a Bible, write your name in it along with a good resolution, treasure that instrument, put it in a special place, and read it continually.

Begin. When you approach it, ask the Holy Spirit to open that word and its treasures to you. Do not worry if at first you cannot understand all of it; do not worry. With time, it will open itself before your scrutiny. Take a discipleship class; stay close to people who understand the word of the Lord. There are good meditations on television and on YouTube; there are many ways. But if you knew there was a treasure somewhere, no matter how difficult it was to reach, you would dig, you would search, and you would do everything possible to get to it.

That is how it is with the Bible. Do not worry if it is not easy at first; immerse yourself in it. It will not let you fail, but love it, revere it, study it, and read it. And sometimes, the less educated we are, the more we can enjoy it. Sometimes the intellect is an obstacle. Do not worry if you do not have much education; it does not matter. That is what is wonderful about the Bible: it can reveal itself to you even if you do not have much education. It does not matter. What matters is that your heart be open to it.

I can tell you, having read many books throughout my life, that if they threw me onto the moon and asked me, “What book do you want to have with you?” I would tell them, “Get me a Bible right now.” With that Bible, I would dare to invent a spacecraft to return to Earth. That Bible is a manual for every situation and every need. That is what is wonderful about it.

Love the Bible, love the word of God, and the next time we are together, on Wednesday, we will see that we must live it, obey it, and apply it to ourselves. We will leave that for another occasion. It is another very important part.

But now, Father, we thank You for Your Word; thank You for Your beautiful, mysterious, elusive, boundless Word. Thank You for that treasure You have left us, Lord, and thank You for Christ, who is the Word Himself made flesh.

We love You, Lord. Tonight we profess our love for You and our surrender to You, because of how good You are, Lord. Continue with this people; continue building for Yourself a people worthy of Your name; continue raising up a people who will bring honor to the name of Jesus. Thank You, Lord. We worship You; we bless You, Lord. Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Thank You, Lord.