THE WART ON THE END OF MY NOSE
by Pastor Jim May
Imagine with me for a moment if you will, that you are just awakening from a long night’s sleep.
How many of you can really relate to Proverbs 6:10 when it says, "Yet a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep?" Every morning when I wake up, that’s my prayer. Lord, just a little more sleep, a little more slumber and a little more of time to relax. I suppose you can tell I’m not a “morning person”.
Take a journey now with me using your imagination. Your imagination can take you anywhere you want to go. It can help you to become anyone you want to for a while. That’s why so many people love to read novels. If the author is a good writer, the book will draw you into it so much that you forget, for a while, what reality is and immerse yourself into an imaginary world.
So today, I want to take you into that imaginary world with me and get involved in this message.
I get slowly get out of the bed, one leg at a time, open one eye and then the other, trying to bring the world into focus. Then I remember, I don’t have my glasses on and the world will never focus without them. Now where did I set them down? I finally manage to stumble across the half-lighted room, into the bathroom and turn on the light. Wow! What a shocker! Why I ever painted that room white I’ll never know. Once the blindness goes away and my eyes begin to adjust, I look into the mirror. I’ve looked in that mirror so many times before, but today I notice something very different. I rub my eyes to make sure that I’m really seeing right. There it is, big as a thimble. There’s no mistaking it. There’s a wart on the end of my nose.
My, what an ugly wart it is! How did it get there? I don’t remember it being there before and I believe I would have noticed something as hideous as a wart on the end of my nose. Nevertheless, there it is, big as day! It absolutely ruins my otherwise handsome face. How can I go out in public with something like this on my nose? Everybody will be laughing at me and pointing at me. I just have to do something about this wart on the end of my nose! I have to hide it with a mask, cover it somehow. No one can be allowed to see the real me. The real “me” is just too hideous to look at. I have to give the right appearance to be accepted in my circle of friends.
I wash my face, put on my mask and turn away from the mirror to continue on my journey for the day and out the door I go. Life is so very demanding. I have a thousand things on my mind. It’s easy to forget what I have seen and to get engrossed in the cares of life.
It doesn’t take long until I forget that there’s a wart on the end of my nose. I even forget that I’m wearing a mask. In fact, the mask has been on so long now that I have begun to believe that I actually look like that mask for real. I quickly try to wipe away all memory of the wart. I will never allow anyone to see what I really am. They might not like me anymore. They might criticize me, laugh at me or run from me.
There is a passage in the Bible that describes the condition that I have just described to you. Turn with me to the Book of James.
James 1:23-25, "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. 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."
I have set the scene for what I want to speak to you about today. I want to draw an analogy between the hearer of the Word of God who does not do what the Word tells him to do and the wart on the end of my nose.
If I were to walk into the room without my mask off, someone will come to me and say, “Hey, you have a wart on the end of your nose. I never noticed it before, but it sure is a whopper of a wart. Have you ever thought about having it removed?”
If I am like the man in James chapter 1, let me tell you what my answers would be. I think you will find them to be quite familiar.
“What are you talking about”, I would ask. “I don’t have any wart on the end of my nose.” I will never confess to having a wart. I just refuse to believe it. What’s wrong with having a wart anyway? The scripture doesn’t specifically say that we shouldn’t have warts, so leave me alone. I’m working out my own life and I don’t need any one to help me, okay!”
You see, I have looked into the mirror, but I have chosen to forget what I saw as though it was not there at all. Either I have forgotten that it’s there, or I have chosen to justify reasons for keeping it!
How many times have I seen Christians with this kind of attitude? If you don’t believe that most people act that way, just stop, look and listen! It won’t be long before you will hear them saying the same thing in so many words.
I have people come to me sometimes, saying, “I’m living for the Lord and doing the best I can to serve Him.” I look at them and sure enough, there it is, there’s a wart on the end of their nose. They can’t see it anymore. The mirror is gone now and they don’t want to accept the fact that the wart is there, so they simply live in denial. They confess that it’s gone and lie to themselves so much that they believe their own lie. You can talk about the wart on the end of their nose if you want to but you will never convince them that it’s there.
Can’t they see it in the mirror? Don’t they see the flaw in their character? Don’t they see the bad attitude; the terrible temper; the voice that grates on the nerves of everyone around them; the fact that they have so many things that take the place of God in their lives; or their bad habit of poking their nose into other people’s business, wart and all?
You see; I’m convinced that most of the world of Christianity consists of people who look into the mirror of God’s Word, but they never really “see” how it affects them. Their mind is closed, their spiritual eyes are blinded by self, their spiritual ears are deafened by the call of the things of the world, and they refuse to see or hear what the Spirit of God and the Word of God are trying to say to them.
Every sermon that is preached is for someone else, but not for me! I’m good just like I am. I’m born again. I’m saved from sin. I’m committed to Christ! I’m one of the “Good Fellows”. My name is written down in the Lamb’s Book of Life and I’m on my way to Heaven! Their personal anthem is, “And I did it my way!”
That sermon that Pastor preached last Sunday on gossiping was one powerful message. I know that it was meant for Sister Longtongue. I don’t go around gossiping like she does. Maybe it was meant for Brother Backbiter. I don’t talk about everybody like he does either. I only repeat what I know is true. I don’t want to spread lies but the truth never hurt anybody.
That message that the preacher gave us Wednesday night on meeting the conditions to be in the Rapture was really what some of those folks in the pews needed to hear!
I know that some of them aren’t living right! He needs to preach it even harder because some of them still aren’t getting the message to either get right or get left when Jesus comes. I know that I’m one of the few who will go in the rapture but I’m not sure about any of the other church members.
So very often it’s the same people who are making those statements that have looked into the mirror of God’s Word, but they didn’t see the truth. They heard the preacher but they didn’t “hear the Word”. They looked into the mirror of God’s Word but they quickly forgot what they saw.
You can’t get through to some people no matter how hard you try. They are in denial.
They deny that they are doing anything wrong.
They deny that the message could have been just for them.
They deny that they are growing cold in the Lord.
They deny that they aren’t as committed to the church and the work of the Lord as they should be.
They deny that anything is wrong at all.
They deny that there is a wart on the end of their nose, but they can see the wart on your nose just fine, and they don’t mind telling you that you have one.
Have you ever notice that people who condemn other people the most or usually the ones who have “warts on the end of their noses”? They are so full of flaws in their character and in their walk with the Lord that it is glaring to everyone else. But, in their own mind they have forgotten what they really looked like in the mirror and they think of themselves as the picture of perfection.
The Bible tells us in Matthew 7:1-5, "Judge not, that ye be not judged. For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again. And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother’s eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye? Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye; and, behold, a beam is in thine own eye? Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother’s eye."
I shouldn’t go around pointing out the wart on the end of your nose and telling you everything that is wrong about you, when all I need to do is look in a mirror and see that my whole face is covered with warts.
I must learn to tolerate your faults, warts and all. I must learn to love you in spite of the wart on the end of your nose. And I must work toward getting rid of my own flaws first of all. When you realize that you aren’t perfect, then you can learn to have more love for all the other imperfect people too.
Have you ever seen teenagers pick on someone who isn’t a part of their “in crowd”? My friend, nothing can be any crueler than the way they treat one another. They will pick out one little flaw, according to their own judgment, and they will just about destroy their targeted friends over nothing. Let me tell you that it isn’t just the kids who do this. I’ve seen and heard Christians tear one another apart with words. Nothing can be crueler than a man who has convinced himself that he is the only one right. They take on the role of the critic, and they love to zero in on some flaw in your life. God help the one they target for correction.
Such a person seems to look at everyone around them as though they were looking through a magnifying glass. They can see every little thing wrong with you. They are quick to tell you of every wrinkle, of every fault and yet the flaws in their own life, and in their own spirit, are so huge that they cover and influence their vision and everything they see is filtered through what they believe is right!
They look into the mirror every day. They can see the wart on the end of their nose every day. But unless they decide to do something about it to get rid of it, the wart doesn’t leave, it just continues to grow. Pretty soon the wart obscures their vision and everything they see is through that wart. If they convince themselves that looking through the wart is normal, then everything else is wrong. Do you get the picture here?
When we look into the Perfect Law of Liberty, God’s Holy Word, and see ourselves as we really are: fully recognizing that we have a wart on the end of our nose, that’s when things can begin to turn around.
When we know the wart is there, and we are determined to see it removed so that we can be what we really are; then we will seek out the Great Physician to have it removed.
Drug addicts, alcoholics, and such can never recover until they first confess their addition and then decide to do something about it. They must go to their source of help and confess and then seek help to overcome their addictions.
It’s no different with a Christian who is convinced that they don’t have a problem in their life and that they are perfect in all their ways.
First we have to realize that there really is a problem; then confess it’s there. Then we have to seek the forgiveness and cleansing power of Jesus to help us get rid of it. Only then, when the Perfect Law of God’s Word has had its effect upon our life and we are cleansed by the Blood, will we see real Liberty!
Yes my friend, I confess that there is a wart on the end of my nose. It may not be visible to you in the natural, but its there nonetheless. And I have more news for you. Every one of you has a wart on the end of your nose too.
In Romans 3:10 Paul says, "… There is none righteous, no, not one…" Not one of us is perfect in all his ways. Not one of us is without fault.
1 John 2:4, "He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him." Don’t try to tell me there’s no wart on the end of your nose. It’s there! We not be able to see it, but you know its there and God knows its there, and its time to get rid of it!
How do I get rid of the wart on the end of my nose?
Open your eyes and ears so you can see and hear what the Word of God is really saying to you. Don’t just let the words go in one ear and out the other. Let them dwell on your heart and mind for a while and meditate upon them.
Learn to look at Jesus as your standard and compare yourself to him alone. It’s always easy to justify our actions when we compare ourselves to other imperfect people. But when we compare ourselves to the Perfection of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, then we will see our warts a lot easier.
2 Corinthians 3:18 says, "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, even as by the Spirit of the Lord."
I want to be changed into the very image of Christ. I want to reflect Him as perfectly as I can. I want to appear as he appears, without spot, without blemishes, without warts, and with a perfect heart and a perfect spirit.
That can only happen as I recognize the warts on the end of my nose and allow the Lord to take them away, one-by-one. From one change to the next, from glory to glory, by the power of the Holy Ghost, I can be changed into the very image of Jesus.
The world needs to see Jesus in me. It doesn’t need to see the wart on the end of my nose. Let’s let the Word of God and the Spirit of the Lord to work on us and remove the flaws.
Remember, Jesus is coming soon, and the Church, the Bride, that He is coming to receive is described in Ephesians 5:27, "That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish."
If we are going to be a part of the raptured church, a part of the Bride of Christ, we must get rid of the wart on the end of our nose.
That wart will only come off if it is covered by the Blood of Jesus. It’s only through recognition of the warts, confession of the warts, and surrendering of the warts to Christ, then walking away and leaving them there, that we will be a part of the Bride of Christ.
