Wherefore lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness, and receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save your souls. But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves. You need to seek to have your soul washed from the filthiness of your sins. Rend your heart, not your garments. Sin of every kind is filthiness. The atheist calls sin pleasure. The atheist is absolutely comfortable with sinning, because he is dead in his sins. If you continue to do what you will, to give your lusts unbridled headway, and you will soon be in misery and despair. Sin is sweet in the mouth, but poison in your stomach. Men willfully pursue their own destruction, and to wrong and damn their souls. They pursue after mischief, they contrive transgression, lust after filthiness, and follow after evil devices. We have turned every one to his own way. All sin is filthiness and nothing better. Spiritual filthiness such as hidden motives, impure thoughts, vain imaginings, evil lusting, sensual desires must be forsaken. Sin is a foul thing, it is abominable in the sight of God. Sin cripples the desire for purity, and paralyzes the aspiration after Christ. The cup of sin is sweet at the top, but its dregs are bitter and damnable. Sin is a hatefully and polluting thing; it is a great evil which only Christ's Precious Blood can put away and pardon.
By the help of the Holy Spirit, every sin must be confessed, forsaken, departed from and hated. By faith in Jesus' sins are washed out of your soul. When iniquity is indulged in, then Christ is despised and neglected. Filth is a debasing and offensive thing. Bodily filthiness is horrible to men, soul filthiness is horrible to the pure and holy God. God hates sin with all His being. Favorite sins, darlings lusts, hidden and secret sins must be renounced. Sin is offensive to God. Sin is dangerous. Filthiness leads to disease and death. Filth poisons. Sin is the greatest conceivable danger to a man's own soul. By nature, a sinner is dead while he lives, corrupt before he is dead. Sin is a mortal immoral disease, if you continue to love sin, you are not far from hell.
Humility is thinking and speaking the best of others, and the worst of yourself; being content with the lowest place; esteeming others better than yourself; not envying other's graces or gifts; doing works of mercy without pride; rejoicing in the blessings and happiness of others; patiently bearing shame and contempt without murmuring; not aspiring to things too high for yourself; quietly submitting to God's divine will and providence; always acknowledging your unworthiness; ascribing all you are, and have, to the grace and goodness of God.
Covetousness is the desire for unholy gain; it leads men to dirty thoughts and deeds. Covetousness is a selfish desire to get gain greedily. In the carnal mind, there is no room for anything else but foolishness, so men don't listen, hear, and take heed to the Gospel. Your bosom sin keeps you from Christ. Lustfulness is the indulgence of animal passions, drunkenness, lewdness, unclean desires. Anger is the wrath of man. Your soul is naked and filthy before God, you cannot cover your guilt and sin by your own doings. Atheist deny these things - Creation, conscience, Christ. God's holy gaze watches you at all times. Thou God seest me. The superfluity of naughtiness are the runners and stray branches which suck spiritual strength from us. Stop giving your strength to any form of wrong. Resist the old nature, put off the old man. Lay apart, shake off, break off those old carnal thoughts and habits which preoccupy your mind.
Sin is prejudice against the Gospel and and always questions it, because human nature loves immoral darkness. You cannot enjoy the Gospel and sin at the same time. What have you been enjoying all week? Worship is seeking and enjoying God's presence and communion. What flavor did last night leave in your mouth? Ahab despised Elijah because Elijah interrupted his sinful behavior and lifestyle. The pure truth of God comes homes to the carnal mind and angers it. It is invariably the case when a person grows skeptical and begins to pick at this and that, there is a secret evil in their life which they are trying to hide. The Gospel presses hard on the guilty conscience, and makes the sinner feel uneasy in his sins. Hear God's word with profit - lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness. Every day seek to help the helpless, this is God's heart. Don't get caught up in heartless religious activity, comparing yourself with one another, nitpicking, faultfinding, which is nothing but vain human glory. Point to the lost the Savior, care for the hurting and fallen, go about doing good, helping those that can't help themselves. Help, encourage, strengthen those who cannot pay you back; that's what Jesus did for you. *James 1:27*
*Receive* is a Gospel word. We are not saved by working, but receiving, not by what we give God, but by what gives gives to us in Christ. The blood and mercy of Jesus Christ shall endure forever. We must only receive from Christ at the foot of the Cross. A medicine may have healing power, but if not received inwardly, then it cannot help the inward parts. Dry soil must simply receive the rain drops. Broken up soil receives the rain drops easily. There must be a receiving of a good thing first before the goodness contained in it can be ours and help us.
Throw the doors of your soul open wide, open all the windows of your heart to God's words, the Holy Spirit, and Christ Himself. Let the word of God penetrate your inward parts. *Luke 9:44* Let your day begin with thoughts of Christ, and let your last thoughts of the day be sweetened with His presence. Let these sayings sink down into your ears. Have a meek and teachable spirit. Man wants to be the god of God, and judge His words. Humble yourself and be Christ's servant and disciple. Let Him renew your mind, your way of thinking and living. To doubt Jesus is high treason. Don't pick and choose, or cut and carve the divine Word.
Engrafted means means to be first cut and wounded by the Truth. Two wounds are needed for a graft. You first wound the good tree, and then the tree which is to be grafted in. The wounded Savior comes into living contact with a wounded sinner's heart. A bleeding Savior contacts a bleeding broken heart. Engraft means to wound and open. The word is received into the wounded, bleeding soul of man. The gash comes first, then the gardener establishes a union between the tree and the graft. The are livingly joined together. Bound together by the gardener, dirt is placed at the junctures, they soon begin to grown into one another, and suck up life from the tree, and it makes new fruit. The two slowly adhere together. The heart begins to hold to the word, to believe it, obey it, to love it, to grow to it, to grow into it, and bear fruit. Christ liveth in me. The word is able to save soul in two ways - first, by putting way your sins by the Blood and Righteousness of Christ, and then by changing your inward nature, as you daily accept Christ as your Lord and Mater, your life and your all.
The word of God really saves you personally, the word saves you daily, throughout your life, and to all Eternity. Open your mouth and drink in this living water. Be like a sponge, suck it all up. Men don't read the Bible, but they read the Christian. Don't be a waster of the word. The devil rings the bell for sin, for worldly amusement, evil gain, and vain activity. Ignore the devil's bells, resist his temptations to sin against God. Don't mock God and ruin yourself. Hear the Gospel, receive it inwardly. A willful rejection of Christ will damn your soul. Cling to Christ, desire to live His life, and breathe His Spirit. Let God be magnified.
