In this enlightening episode, Adrian Rogers intricately explores the concept of God’s Word as a mirror. He delves into the profound metaphor of the Bible as a reflective surface, revealing to us not only our true selves but the image of Jesus Christ. Through the scriptures, we embark on a journey of self-examination and transformation, where momentary glances give way to deep, contemplative gazes.
Known for his unique ability to simplify profound truth so that it can be applied to everyday life, Adrian Rogers was one of the most effective preachers, respected Bible teachers, and Christian leaders of our time. Thanks for joining us for this message. Here’s Adrian Rogers.
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Would you take God’s Word and turn, please, to the book of James, chapter 1? And I want to speak to you tonight about God’s Word as a mirror. Now, I think that most of you, before you came to church, stopped by the mirror and you looked in. A few, I think maybe you didn’t, but most of you, you stopped by the mirror and you looked in before you go out in public or you get here and the wind’s blowing, you go in and check yourself just a little bit. Now, I want us to check ourselves tonight in God’s mirror, the Word of God. James chapter 1 and verse 22, here’s a command. Be doers of the Word and not hearers only. deceiving your own selves. But if any man be a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man beholding his natural face in a glass. That is, he’s like a man looking at his physical features in a mirror. For he beholdeth himself and goeth his way and straight way forgetteth what manner of man he was.” But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, that’s just a synonym for the word of God, the perfect law of liberty. And isn’t that a beautiful phrase, the 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. Now, The Bible is so marvelous and so rich and has so much variegated splendor in all that it says and does and is that there are many emblems and many symbols for the Word of God. Jeremiah said the Word of God is like a hammer. David said the Word of God is like a lamp. Moses said the Word of God is like bread. The writer of the book of Hebrews said the Word of God is like a sharp sword. Jesus said the Word of God is like a seed. James says that the Word of God is like a mirror. I want us to think of two passages tonight that speak of the Word of God as a mirror, and then I want us to see what kind of application we can get from that. First of all, in the Word of God, because it’s a mirror, I see myself reflected. You see, not only do I read this book, this book… reads me. This book has a picture of me, and if I want to see me, I just simply look into the Word of God. I heard of one man who said, I don’t know why it is, I can’t get a better picture of myself. He’d been to many photographers. Somebody said, well, if you want to know why, just go look in the mirror. Now, the mirror doesn’t lie. The mirror is very brutal. The photographers sometimes lie because they know how to use the lighting effects and the shadows and all of that. And they have a motto, when there’s beauty, we take it. Where there’s none, we make it. But the mirror, the mirror doesn’t do that. Mirrors are very brutal. I heard of a man, an old fellow who’d lived so far back out in the woods, he’d never ever even seen a mirror. And he finally found one. He was a grown man and he looked in and he said, well, glory be, there’s a picture of my old pappy. And he was so proud of it, he took it up and put it in the attic. His wife saw him up there in the attic, and she, being quite nosy, went up there afterward, and she found it and looked at it, and she said, So, that’s the old hag he’s been running around with. Mirrors don’t lie. James has in his mind two imaginary people, two people who have a mirror. And they hold it up and they look at it. One man takes what I’m going to call a casual glance. The other man takes a concentrated gaze. Now look at the man who takes a casual glance here, if you will. Look in verse 23. If any man be a hearer of the word and not a doer, he’s like a man beholding his natural face in a glass. Now, this word beholding has the idea of a person who is just simply glancing into the word of God. He gets up in the morning. He’s in a hurry. He just runs past the mirror and then he’s gone. And he’s really forgotten what he saw. Now, we do that a lot. Have you ever looked at your watch casually and then immediately forgot what time it was? I think we all do that. We just kind of glance at the Word of God. I believe that a lot of what people call morning devotions is that kind of a glance. We open the book. We glance in it. We say, I’ve done my duty. A dose a day keeps the devil away. And then we’re on our way, but we have not really looked into the Word of God. We take only a snatch look in the book. Now, we don’t pause. One of the reasons we don’t pause many times is we don’t really want to see anything. we’re like a gnat just kind of bouncing around from place to place rather than being like a bee that pauses at a flower and just extracts that honey and draws out that nectar. Now, God doesn’t reveal much truth to the people who do that, who just glance. They just bounce in and out of the Word of God. Many times if you ask a so-called reader of the Bible what book of the Bible he read out of, he couldn’t tell you to save his life. He just sort of does a lucky dip. If you were to ask him what it says, ten minutes after he read it, he couldn’t tell you. If you were to ask him what it meant to him, if he were honest, he would say very little, if anything. That’s just sort of the casual… glance. But then there’s another man that looks into the Word of God, and this is the person with the careful gaze. Now look again, and he uses a different description here. He speaks of a person here in verse 25, 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 should be blessed in his deed. Now here in This word, looketh into the perfect law of liberty. The word look is a very interesting word. It means literally to peer into something, to scrutinize, to look intently. Now, if you were the first one at the empty tomb on Easter morning, had you been there and the stone men rolled away and you had a chance to look inside, would you look casually? No. I mean, your eyes would be big as saucers if you had a chance to look into that tomb. And you would watch for every detail. That’s exactly what happened. The Bible describes him in John 20, verse 5. And he, stooping down and looking in, saw the linen clothes lying, and yet he went not in. Now, the Bible has the idea. Watch this. He’s stooping down. He looks down. into that tomb. He is peering into the darkness. He is concentrating on whatever is there or is not there. Now that’s the word that is used here, which means in the person who has that careful gaze. Again, it’s mentioned in 1 Peter chapter 1, I think about verse 12, where it speaks of the prophecies And things that the angels couldn’t understand. And then it says there were things that the angels desired to look into. I mean the angels really wanted to know about our salvation that was prophesied in the Old Testament. And so they pondered, they looked into the Word of God. I want to submit to you that we need to do more than just take little spiritual sandwiches out of the Word of God. We need to sit down and absorb the Word of God and look into the Word of God because it is the Word of God that is a mirror that reveals us. Now, I’m sure that all of us looked into a literal mirror today. But if you looked into a mirror and you saw something on your face, a smudge or dirt or smeared mascara or lipstick or disheveled hair, what would you do? Well, hopefully, if you looked into the mirror, you wanted to see whether you were right or wrong. And if you were wrong, you wanted to put what was wrong right. Now, when you look into the Word of God, don’t just forget what you see. When you read the Bible… The Bible reads you and make a habit of writing down what things you need to correct and then correct those things as you read the Word of God. And the Word of God will burst a flame in your heart and in your life. For example, you look in a mirror, you see a dirty face, you say, well, I need to cleanse that face. Psalm 119 verse 9, Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? by taking heed thereto to thy word. When the word condemns you, when the word reveals that filth, whatever it is, take heed to it. Don’t just read it and forget it. If you do, you’re deceiving yourselves. And a self-deceived person is really deceived. Now, let’s go back to Psalm 119 verse 9. Just don’t turn to it, but listen to it. Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way by taking heed thereto according to thy word. The word way there means actually a rut. You know, sin has a way of putting a muddy rut in our lives. Sin has a way of putting a groove in your character. And many of us have lives that are like nine miles of bad road. Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way by taking heed thereto according to thy word? Jesus said in John 15, verse 3, you’re clean through the word. which I have spoken unto you. And the word clean is the word we get our word catharsis from. The word of God doesn’t just cleanse us outwardly, it gives us a catharsis as it flows through us as the cleansing tides of Calvary and the breezes of the Holy Spirit blow through our lives. So, when I look into the perfect law of liberty, first of all, I see myself reflected. If I don’t take a casual glance, but if I take a careful gaze, I’m going to see Adrian and then I’m going to do something about it. Keep that in your mind. Then I want you to turn to another passage. I want you to turn to 2 Corinthians this time, chapter 3 and verse 18. Now here again, God is speaking of the Bible as a mirror. This time it is not James, but it is Paul that is speaking. But both of them inspired by the same Holy Spirit. Paul says, but we all… with open face, that is, no veil over our face, beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord.” are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord. Now when he says here as in a glass, he means as in a mirror. Now let me tell you what God’s purpose is for you in the Word of God. Number one, to show you what you are by nature. And then number two, to show you what you ought to be by grace. Amen. That’s what the Bible is for. The Bible is to show you what you are, but also what you could be. Now, God’s purpose in the Word of God is to make you like the Lord Jesus Christ. God is so pleased with His Son, the Lord Jesus, He wants an entire race of people just like Him. And so what God is up to… by the gospel of grace is making people in the image of God, which image was marred when Adam sinned in the garden of Eden. But the Bible says those whom he did foreknow, he did predestinate to be conformed to his image. And so we are destined to be like the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, God doesn’t just wait till the rapture to start making you like the Lord Jesus Christ. God wants to make you like the Lord Jesus Christ today. He wants you to go from glory to glory. There’s stages of glory. When you first get saved, that’s glorious. But then when you learn the ministry of the Holy Spirit, that’s more glorious. When you learn death to self, that is more glorious. And God wants to lead you from glory to glory. That’s what he says here in this verse. 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. Now, you’re saying, oh, wait a minute. When I look in the Bible, if the Bible is a mirror, who do I see in that mirror? Do I see me or Jesus? Well, you’re to see both. You’re to see both. You see, when you got saved, you are a part of Jesus. And if you look in the Bible… Not only will you see what you are by nature, but you’ll also see what you are by grace. You look over there in the mirror, you say, that’s not me, that’s Jesus. And he says, that’s right. That’s right. You’re crucified with Christ. You’re risen with Christ. Christ is in you and you are in Christ. That’s the reason why we’re called Christians. A Christian is somebody like Jesus. And really, you ought to look in that mirror and you ought to see the image of Jesus reflected on the other side. Bunyan. And Pilgrim’s Progress wrote about this, and he had this in mind. Pilgrim, you know, who is the imaginary Christian, was given a mirror. And this is what was written about that mirror. And I quote, “…this looking glass was one in a thousand. It reflects the face of man one way with his exact features, yet turned another way the face of the prince of pilgrims himself.” One way you see yourself, you behold your natural face and you behold your spiritual face. And then you look this way and you see the Lord Jesus Christ. I want to tell you, dear friend, according to 1 Corinthians 3, verse 18, that God’s plan for you is to be like Jesus. Do you know the test of my ministry? The test of my ministry is not that building out there. It’s not the amount of our budget. It’s not primarily how many we have in Sunday school or how well organized our church is. The test of my ministry is, are you people who are listening to me becoming more like Jesus? That’s the test of my ministry. Now, if you’re not becoming more like Jesus, no matter what else we do, I’m failing. That is the test of any ministry. You see, that is the purpose of the ministry of the Word of God. I am to hold this book up as a mirror and show you yourself. And then I’m to hold this book up as a mirror and show you the Savior. Now, when you see yourself, that leads to confession and cleansing. But when you see Jesus Christ, that leads to consecration and it leads to sanctification. We become more and more like the Lord Jesus Christ. We go from one level of glory to another. You see, the Bible mirrors Jesus. If you read the Bible and you don’t see Jesus, you better reread the Bible because He is there. Acts chapter 10, verse 43, the Bible says to Him, give all the prophets witness. That is, all the Old Testament prophets wrote about Jesus. Don’t get the idea that the New Testament takes up and starts with Jesus and the Old Testament was about Moses or law or the history of the Hebrews. Oh, no. To him, to Jesus, give all the prophets witness. Jesus said concerning the Old Testament, ye search the scriptures, these are they which testify of me. And Luke, the 24th chapter of the Bible says, on the road to Emmaus, when he walked with those two disciples after his resurrection, it says he showed them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself. Boy, you know, I believe that it’s not the Lord’s will we have a tape recording of that or we’d have it, but I sure would like one. I mean, would you like to hear the Lord Jesus expound the Scriptures beginning at Moses and the prophets and showing us all the things in the Old Testament concerning Himself? Man, you talk about a Bible conference. I would love to have been on that road that day as the Lord Jesus revealed in all the Scriptures. It doesn’t say He revealed in the Scriptures all the things concerning Himself. It says He revealed in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself. That is, He’s in all the Scriptures. Now, you see, this book is a mirror. And when you look into that mirror, you see Jesus Christ reflected. Well, now what happens is this. As you keep looking into this book. You become like what you look at. Look again at this verse. But we all with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord are changed. Do you see the word changed? The word changed there is the same word that is translated in Matthew chapter 17 verse 2 as transfigured. When Jesus was taken up on the Mount of Transfiguration. I don’t know what mount it was. Some think it was Mount Hermon. But in exceeding a great high mountain when he was up there. The Bible says he was transfigured. That’s exactly the same word that’s here in 2 Corinthians 3, verse 18. We are transfigured by reading the Bible. Now, what is a transfiguration? Well, the word transfigured and this word is the word we get our word metamorphosis from. Do you know what a metamorphosis is? That’s what happens when that ugly caterpillar goes into the cocoon and then comes out a glorious butterfly. It goes through a metamorphosis or a change of form. Now, a metamorphosis is not an outward change. It is a change that begins on the inside. That is that that butterfly is already in that caterpillar incipiently and it just comes to the surface. When Jesus Christ, the Bible says that his face was like the sun, his clothes is raiment white. There was a glory, a Shekinah glory about the Lord Jesus. Well, you know, that glory had been in the Lord Jesus all the time. That wasn’t some glory that shone upon Him. That was glory that shone out from Him. Now, a metamorphosis is simply when the inner nature comes to the surface. The inner nature of Jesus was glory. And is glory. And so that inner nature of Jesus had been veiled by His flesh. But in this metamorphosis, in this transfiguration, that inner glory just came to the surface. And that’s what they saw on the Mount of Transfiguration. Now, the same word is used here. It says we are changed from glory to glory. We also are transfigured. We also are to go through a metamorphosis. That is, as I look into the Word of God and begin to obey the Word of God, a change begins to take place in me. What is the inner nature of a Christian? It’s Jesus. It’s Jesus. He is in you. He is in you. He is your nature. He is your inner nature. Now, as you look into the Bible and you see Jesus in the Bible Then that inner nature of Jesus in you responds to what you see in the Bible. And you’re changed from glory to glory. The more you look in the Word of God, the more you go through a metamorphosis. And the more that which is on the inside, the more you look into the Word of God, the more that which is on the inside comes to the surface. The same thing is taught in Romans chapter 12, verse 1. I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, and be not… conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Now, the word transformed there is the same word. Be metamorphosed by the renewing of your mind. Well, how do you renew your mind? Looking into the Word, looking into the Word of God. And as you look into the Word of God, you begin to see the Lord Jesus and and there comes a sympathetic vibration, the Christ in the Word and the Christ in the heart begin to work together, and you get to be changed. The Bible says you’re changed from glory to glory as you look into the Word of God and see the Lord Jesus Christ reflected there. You look into the Word of God and you see your sin and you see your unworthiness, as James says, and so So you confess that you don’t forget what you are. You say, God, I’m sorry of that. And you get cleansed and forgiven. And then you go back to the word of God. And now you see the Lord Jesus and you look at Jesus and you contemplate Jesus and you love Jesus. And the Bible says you are changed into the same image as you look into the mirror of God’s word from glory to glory. That is, you don’t stop growing. You just go from one stage of glory to another stage of glory. Do you remember the story of the ugly duckling? You remember that story? That little duckling that was really a swan, didn’t know he was a swan. And it got mixed up with a… What do you call it? A bunch of ducks. What do you call them? A gaggle of geese. What do you call a herd of ducks? Sure, I’ve heard of ducks. What do you call a bunch of ducks? Flock. I knew that. I just seen if you knew that. All right, a flock of ducks. Here’s this swan. This little baby swan, he gets in this flock of ducks. And he doesn’t look like the rest of the ducks. And so they made fun of him. He was more clumsy than the other ducks. He had a strange appearance. And all the other ducks ridiculed him because of his strange and bizarre appearance. And he finally just cut out and went over to a house where they had some pets. And in that house they had a cat and they had a chicken. He didn’t fit in there either. The cat wouldn’t have anything to do with him because he couldn’t purr. The chicken, because he didn’t lay eggs, they both ostracized him. And so he went back to the pond again. And this ugly duckling, while he was out there swimming around, he saw the most graceful and beautiful creatures he’d ever seen. He saw two ducks. Beautiful swan. Oh, he thought they were absolutely magnificent. He couldn’t take his eyes off of them. And he thought to himself, they are the most beautiful creatures I’ve ever seen. He fell instantly in love with them, had a fascination, a fixation on these swans. There was something inside of him that just vibrated when he saw them. They took off from the pond and went on their migratory flight. The winter came. The ugly duckling kept growing. Then the spring thaw came and the swans returned to the lake. You remember the story? The ugly duckling was out there and he saw the swans coming. And this time they were coming right toward him. He was so humiliated because he felt he was so ugly. He didn’t even want them to see him. He didn’t feel worthy to be in their presence. And he bowed his head and tried to cover his face with his wings. And when he did, he looked down in the water and he saw a reflection of himself. And what he saw mirrored there was a swan. He realized that indeed his inner nature that he had not known Was the nature of a swan. And the thing that he admired so much. Is what he had become. Do you remember when you first. Saw the Lord Jesus. How humiliated you felt. I mean when you really seen him. And you say oh. Compared to him. Compared to him I am nothing. But my dear friend I want you to know. That you’re going to be like him. Amen. The psalmist said, I shall be satisfied when I awaken in thy likeness. And as you behold the Lord Jesus Christ, you are changed from glory to glory. As the inner nature of that ugly duckling was not a duck, but a swan. The inner nature of you, dear friend, is not the old Adam. It’s the new Adam. The Lord Jesus Christ, listen to this verse, but we all with open face beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord. When this ugly duckling saw what he was, he lifted his head up, not straight up like an ostrich, but with a gentle curve of humility and And that’s the way he swam from there on. Now, my dear friend, there’s a principle. Did you know that we become like what we worship? It’s just a principle. If a man worships money, he’s going to become materialistic. Many people worship money. If a man worships power and prestige, he’s going to become hard and cold and callous. If he worships an idol, he’s going to become spiritually dead as a stone. Let me give you one more verse and I’ll be finished. Look in Psalm 115. Look with me in verse 4. The psalmist speaks of the idols of the heathen. And it says their idols are silver and gold, the work of men’s hands. They have mouths, but they speak not. Eyes have they, but they see not. They have ears… But they hear not. Noses have they, but they smell not. They have hands, but they handle not. Feet have they, but they walk not. Neither speak they through their throat. Now watch verse 8. They that make them are like unto them. At first the man molds the idol and then the idol molds the man. There’s a biblical principle. You become like what you worship. You want to be a great Christian? God’s given you a mirror. Each morning, look in there and see what you look like. If you’ve got a dirty face, get clean. And then continue to read. Not only see yourself, but see your Savior. Be finding Jesus in the Word of God. Praising Him. Worshiping Him. Looking at Him. And you’re going to find out something’s going to happen in you. That inner nature, who is Jesus, is going to come to the surface. And you’re going to be more and more like your Lord. And that’s God’s purpose for you, and that’s your purpose in the ministry, to make people see themselves and see their Savior in the Word of God. I have no greater joy than that. No greater joy than to take this book and help people to see themselves and to see their Savior. Just say, there’s the mirror, folks. Have a look. Have a look in the book. Let’s pray. Father, thank you for your precious word tonight. Thank you, Lord, that it’s a reliable and an accurate mirror where we can see a reflection of our sinful self. But, oh, thank you, dear Lord, that that same book tells us how to be cleansed. And thank you, Lord, that we can see a reflection of our inner nature, the Lord Jesus. And as we continue to look, that we’ll be changed. Thank you for that. In Jesus’ holy name, amen.
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