Two Journeys

Directions Back to the Lord Almighty

Turn in your Bibles to James 4. We're looking this morning at this incredible passage in the Book of James. Last summer, I had the joy of going on a graduation trip with my son, Calvin. And the day that we were to leave was complicated for me because I was speaking at a conference in the New Jersey area, and I had to fly back to Raleigh, Durham and I was going to meet him and we were going to drive back up the Eastern Seaboard. Kind of inefficient, but it was exciting. We were looking forward to that. However, my flight was delayed, and then delayed, and then delayed some more so we got quite a late start. And as we drove that late afternoon and on into the evening, we were to have stayed at a hotel outside Philadelphia, but we were supposed to get there around 11 o'clock in the evening and it was actually two in the morning. And when we arrived at the location, there was no hotel or a motel or anything like it in that place. And so, there we were in the dark, outside Philadelphia. And thankfully I had my smartphone with me and there was an amazing device on there called the GPS navigational system, which many of us did not grow up with. We had to stop at gas stations and get maps. Some of you will know exactly what I'm talking about. The maps that would fold out. But now all you have to do is type in a location for the nearest motel where we could stay. And though we did not know anything about where we were, though it was dark, we didn't know the road we were on, we knew nothing, the device was able to navigate us from that situation to a safe destination. Relatively safe. I won't tell you about the motel; it was an interesting place. But we spent the night and we're fine. Got started early the next morning.

For us, in the Christian life, the Christian life is a journey, and we are in the process of being sanctified. We're on a spiritual journey, and it is very likely that at some point we are going to stray from God. We're going to stray from Christ. You think about the hymn, “Come Thou Fount,” and I wrote at the lyrics while I was sitting in my seat and I remember them. So powerful. "Oh to grace, how great a debtor, daily I'm constrained to be. Let thy goodness, like a fetter, bind my wandering heart to thee. Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it, prone to leave the God I love. Here's my heart, Lord, take and seal it, seal it for thy courts above." How many of us who have been walking with the Lord a long time can say, “amen” to that line, "Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it."

But when we wander, we're going to find ourselves, sometimes, in a place that's unfamiliar. And we're going to wonder, how will we get back? Is there a GPS navigation system? Is there a way whereby we can get out of that mess that we've sinned our way into, and find our way back? In Pilgrim's Progress Christian and Hopeful got off the path because they found, they thought, a better path alongside the way. And one of the basic rules of the road in Pilgrim's Progress is: Never leave the path. Every time they did, they got in trouble. And they ended up in the land of a giant called Despair, and they didn't know where they were and it was rainy, and it was windy, and it was dark, and as they tried to get back some other individual that was a minor part of the story, they didn't even know him, was ahead and he fell into a pit and died. And so they decided just hunker down, and they ended up having the worst trial they ever had.

And what about you? If you can say, “amen” to that statement about your soul, "Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it," and you will sin your way into some great difficulty, how will you get back? And I want to commend to you the text that we're looking at today, as a way to get back to God. There are going to be specific steps James is going to tell you to take. And we are going to look at those steps today so that you can find your way back, through the grace of God, to a healthy walk with Christ. That may be your situation today. You may be saying, "Pastor, I feel like you've written this sermon exactly for me. I am in a bad place spiritually. I'm in a bad place. It's my own fault, but I'm in a difficult way. How do I get back to a healthy, joyful walk with God, where the fruit of God is at work in my life?" This text is for you.

The Journey of the Christian Faith

Now as I think about the Christian life, I think, as I said, about the journey of the Christian faith. I think about the Gospel and how privileged we are to understand the Gospel rightly, to have the Word of God unfolded for us. And for me, as a church historian, I know that a key moment in redemptive history was the moment that Martin Luther began the Protestant Reformation and nailed the 95 Theses on the door of the Wittenberg Castle, and that was the beginning of the Protestant reformation that reclaimed, that found again the Gospel, justification by faith alone apart from works of the law, which had gotten covered over by all kinds of false teachings and idolatries and superstitions. And just through the word of God. Now, the first of those 95 theses that Luther wrote, 95 theses were just concepts for debates that he wanted, and he put it up there on the door. That was a place like a public community bulletin board.

And the first of the 95 theses reads this: "When our Lord and Master, Jesus Christ said ‘repent,’ he willed the entire life of believers to be one of repentance.” You don't just repent at the beginning of your Christian life, you repent and repent some more, and then you repent even more, and you keep repenting. Your whole life is a life of repentance. Now, justification is the beginning of the Christian life, the way by which a sinner is made right with almighty God, the way by which we are forgiven of our sins. And the Gospel is clear on this, we maintain, Romans 3:28, that a person is justified by faith apart from works of the law. Not by works but by faith, we are forgiven, we are made right with God, always. But what kind of faith justifies? 

What Kind of Faith Justifies

There are lots of different kinds of faith, and the Book of James is written, uniquely, to answer that question. As we saw in the second half of James 2. It's not dead faith, or useless faith, or fruitless faith, or demon faith that justifies. But there's a genuine faith worked in us by the Spirit of God that inevitably produces works in keeping with repentance. The fruit of good works that keeps with repentance. Now, I've said many times before, I find this to be a helpful statement: "Faith is the eyesight of the soul by which we see invisible spiritual realities, past, present, and future."

Ephesians 1:18 mentions the “eyes of the heart.” "May the eyes of your heart be enlightened... " I think the eyes of the heart refers the ability of the heart to see spiritual things, that is faith. And saving faith, as I've studied it, has two sides to it. There is an attractive, beautiful side to what we see. The attractional side of faith. And there is a repulsive side to faith, and both are necessary for salvation. So, attractionally, we see the beauty and glory of Jesus Christ as the only begotten Son of God. 

We see in the face of Christ, the glory of God shining. We see his radiant beauty in his virtues and the attractions of his person. We see his love, his power, the perfection of his work and his death on the cross, we see to be glorious and beautiful and radiant. And we see his mighty resurrection from the dead. We see him, the author of Hebrews said, by faith we see him seated at the right hand of the Majesty in Heaven. All of that's beautiful and attractive. Not only that, but we see Heaven, we see the glories of Heaven, we say how beautiful it will be. That's the attractional side of faith. 

But there's also a repulsive side to faith as well. And in that, we see ourselves. When we're justified, we see ourselves rightly for the first time. You see who you really are and it's repulsive. It's wretched. Like “Amazing Grace” said, "That saved a wretch like me." We see ourselves as genuinely, to the core, polluted by sin and depraved and sinful. And in that we see that we deserve to die for our sins, and that Christ's bloody death on the cross under the wrath of God was as a substitute for us. We deserved to die that death. We see that. So, that's what saving faith is. We see both sides of that. It's the eyesight of the soul. 

And as we go on in the Christian life, we see both of those things. If we're healthy in the Lord, and we're taking in the Word of God, we see both of them more and more and more clearly. So what's going to happen is, as you go on in a Christian life, you're going to see Jesus more and more beautiful, and more and more attractive. And you're going to see the holiness of the Christian life more and more attractive. You're going to see the beauty of Heaven more and more beautiful and attractive. But the flip side is you're going to see your own sin and you're going to hate it more and more. And you're going to say like with the Apostle Paul, after years of walking with Christ, "I am the chief of all sinners."

The Reality of Indwelling Sin

So that's what's going on, and that's what I think James 4:1-12 is all about. We have the need for continual repentance displayed for us here. Now, not just Martin Luther in the 95 Theses, far more important is the Lord Jesus when he began his public ministry. And when he did, in Mark 1:15, he said, "The time has come, the Kingdom of God is near, repent, and believe the good news." So there's the negative and the positive side. Repent of your sins and believe the good news of forgiveness. Now that just begins at the moment of justification. The moment you're born again, that starts and then it continues. And why is that? Because of the reality of indwelling sin. The reality of indwelling sin. We have battling within us both beautiful good desires and corrupt evil desires. We have that indwelling sin. Paul said it most clearly at the end of Romans 7, and there Paul said, "I do not understand what I do, for what I want to do, I do not do, but what I hate, I do. And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is," listen to this, "sin living in me that does it." That is nasty. That's disgusting.

Some time ago, I read an article on the body's immune system. They had remarkable scanning electron microscope pictures of viruses, and bacteria and other pathogens, the parasite that causes the disease malaria. And you could actually see it and it was disgusting. Imagine if you were shown all of the pathogens there were in your body right now, how much that would freak you out? Isn't it better not to know? As I've said to my wife before, as she talks to me about my diet sometimes, I said, "you gotta die of something." So that's not very satisfying to her, but I don't want to know. But here, Paul says, "sin living in me." And so we have these evil desires. Look at verses 1 through 4. This is a diagnosis. On the GPS journey, you have to begin by knowing where you are. Where are you spiritually? What's going on? 

The Effects: Fights, Quarrels, Worldliness

Look what he says, "What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don't they come from your desires that battle within you? You want something, but don't get it. You kill and covet, but you cannot have what you want. You quarrel and fight. You do not have, because you do not ask God. And when you ask, you do not receive because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures. You adulterous people, don't you know that friendship with the world is hatred toward God. Anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God." So that's verse 1 through 4. And so James is writing to these local churches, and this is going on. Fights and quarrels among you. And then again at the end of the passage, verses 11-12, "Brothers do not slander one another. Anyone who speaks against his brother or judges him, speaks against the law and judges it. When you judge the law, you're not keeping it, but you're sitting in judgment on it. There is only one lawgiver and judge, the one who is able both to save and to destroy. But you, who are you to judge your neighbor?" 

So this is the kind of corruption that's going on in the hearts and minds of the people and in the church. And it comes in families, it comes between husbands and wives, between parents and children, between neighbors, between co-workers, between leaders in the church, pastors and elders and the people in the church. This is just going on, these battles, this corruption. And the root cause of all of this is what he says in verse 1, "your desires that wage war within you." We have conflicting desires. And we've already seen this in James. The reason for all temptation and then of sin, is lust, evil desires. James 1:14-15, "Each one is tempted when by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed. And then after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin, and sin when it is full grown gives birth to death."

So, it was Jesus in the Sermon of the Mount, that zeros in on the heart. What's going on in the heart? So he says, "you have heard that it was said, 'you shall not murder, and anyone murders is subject to judgment,' but anyone who is angry with his brother will be in danger of the fire of Hell.” So the root of murder, that James mentions here, is anger. A heart condition of anger. Jesus said the same thing about adultery, the root of adultery is lust, it's the internal desire of the heart. And so James says, "you kill and covet." So you're desiring, you're coveting, you're looking on your neighbor's life. Looking on your neighbor's wife, his house, possessions, his privileges, all of those things that he has, and you covet it and you want it. That's where the desire comes from. And he says, "you quarrel and fight." The bickering, the arguing, the brokenness in human relationships. It's amazing. If you look at the acts of the flesh in Galatians 5, which is right before the famous fruit of the Spirit, so many of those things are just person-to-person bickering. “Factions and divisions and dissensions and fits of rage.” There's all this relational brokenness. 

Prayerlessness

James also zeros in on prayerlessness. Look at verse 2, he says, "you do not have, because you do not ask God." That's such a great verse, isn't it? It's like prayerlessness. Prayerlessness is a tremendous diagnostic. What things do we not commit to God in prayer? In those areas, we are self-reliant. We're not inviting God's wisdom in, we're not inviting God's power in. We're on our own, we're fine. For me, a matter of sanctification is to become prayerlessness in less and less areas of my life. I don't want to be prayerless when I drive, I don't want to be prayerless when I come to work, when I go home, when I sit, when I rise. I want to bring God into everything and lose this, this self-reliance, this arrogant self-reliance. And so, James says, "you do not have because you do not ask God." And then he says, even when you do pray, you don't receive. Look what he says in verse 3, "When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives that you may spend what you get on your pleasures." So if I can just summarize verse 1 through three, James are saying, "you folks are seriously messed up." And we all are like this, we can't read that and say, "Well I'm glad that's not happening in our Church. I'm glad that's not happening in our family. Nothing like it. We are not like this at all." It just isn't so. We've got this sin problem.

Our Worldliness is Spiritual Adultery

Now we see the Spirit's deep longing for our repentance in all of this. The force taking hold of us and causing us to take that spiritual GPS journey back to righteousness is the Holy Spirit. Now, our worldliness, the Spirit is saying, is spiritual adultery. Look at verse 4, "you adulterous people, don't you know that friendship with the world is hatred toward God? Anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God." So when we talk about being a friend of the world, that's not planet Earth with its populations of human beings, that's not what the world is. God loves the world and sent his only begotten Son, John 3:16.

“The World”

No, no. He's talking about the world system, the evil, corrupt, satanic, demonic system that pulls us away from God. The reason that our hearts are prone to wander, is because of the magnetic attraction that comes to us through the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh, the boastful pride of life. That's 1 John 2, that's what the world is. And James calls it spiritual adultery. He calls them adulterous people. They're hankering after the world, they're claiming to be part of the Bride of Christ, but instead they're wandering in their minds after the world. They're a spiritually adulterous people. And he says, "you're aligning yourself with the enemies of God, those that are deeply hostile to his person.” They are setting themselves up to be God's enemies. You don't want God to be your enemy, but the people of the world think like enemies of God. “The mind of the flesh is hostile to God, that sinful mind, it does not submit to God's law, indeed it cannot,” Romans 8:7. So you're lining yourself up with that. The enemies of God. Now, Jesus one day will crush all those enemies. As the Father said to the Son, "Sit at my right hand until I make Your enemies a footstool for Your feet." You don't want to be Christ's enemy and God's enemies. At one time, we were his enemies, but we were rescued from the dominion of darkness and we have become like Abraham, God's friend, James 2:23. Well, how then can we now join in with Christ's enemies? How can we through worldliness become an enemy of Christ? 

Peter’s Betrayal

Do you remember the night that Jesus was arrested? Do remember how, earlier that evening, Peter said, "I am, of all of your followers, I am the most loyal." he didn't say those words, but effectively, he did. “Even if all fall away on account of you, I never will.” Remember? Remember the boasts he made? And Jesus said, "This very night before the rooster crows, you will disown me three times." And he swore up and down that it would never happen. We remember what happened. Jesus orchestrated the escape of all of his apostles, that they should run away, John 18, he orchestrates that they should go away. "If you're looking for Me, then let these go." he wants them to go, because they're not ready to be arrested, not part of God's plan yet, and they all run away except one person, Peter. Follows at a distance because of all of his arrogant boasts. He tries to go into the courtyard where all of Jesus's enemies are, and there is a servant girl there at the door, remember? "You're not one of his disciples, are you?" "No, I'm not," there's his first one. And once you tell one lie, you're going to double down with another lie, and there he is standing with Jesus's enemies by a fire warming his hands. Even though Jesus had orchestrated his safe escape that very night, there he was standing with Jesus enemies and it gets worse and worse to the point where finally he calls down curses on himself if he even knows Jesus. I remember one preacher was talking about Peter that night, and he said he had warm hands and a cold heart. Standing with the enemies of Christ. We don't want to be like that, we don't want to be spiritual adulteresses.

Hosea’s Unfaithful Wife

Remember that tragic story of Hosea the prophet in the Old Testament? Remember that? Where God commanded Hosea to marry a prostitute, a woman named Gomer, to model the agony that Almighty God was feeling over the nation of Israel's spiritual adultery, going after the Baals and the Ashtoreth. And so Hosea marries Gomer, and at one point God commands Hosea to go buy his wife back, to buy time with his wife, the prostitute. Hosea 3, it says, "The Lord said to me, go, show your love to your wife again even though she is loved by another and is an adulteress. Love her as the Lord loves the Israelites, though they turn to other gods and love the sacred raisin cakes. So I bought her for 15 shekels of silver and a homer and lethek of barley." It's one of the most tragic verses in the Bible. “I had to go buy her.” "And then I told her, you are to live with me for many days. You must not be a prostitute or be intimate with any man and I will live with you." So as I was memorizing Hosea, going through all that, I was like, "Lord, what are you saying to me? Who am I? Do you have to buy my affection with stuff or I will not follow you? Do I really love you, Jesus, the way I should, or am I wandering?" 

The Spirit Deeply Longs for Our Hearts

And look at verse 5, this lines up exactly with what we're talking about from Hosea. "Do you think the scripture says without reason that the Spirit," I think we should capitalize that, like the Holy Spirit, "the Spirit that he caused to live in us envies intensely, or is jealous over us." He has a strong desire over us. The Holy Spirit, the third person of the Trinity who lives within us, deeply yearns over our hearts to love him. Remember how it said of God, in Exodus 34:14, "Do not worship any god, for the Lord, whose name is jealous, is a jealous God." he actually says, "One of my names is Jealous." One of my names is jealous. And so the spirit, if you're a Christian, the Holy Spirit lives within you, and if you wander into spiritual adultery, into worldliness, you wander into that, he yearns for you and is jealous over you and wants you back. He knows your heart, he knows your mind, he knows what you are made for. And you were made to worship God in your intellect and in your mind, to understand the story of God and to see the evidence of God, and to know and to have your heart go after him so that he would be uppermost in your affections. There would be nothing you love more than God, the triune God. That's what he yearns for.

The Spirit Works in Our Hearts

But we are by corrupted nature, idolatrous, and so we reverse the order. God is not uppermost in our affections anymore, some created thing, some creature, is. And that's the essence of idolatry, worshipping and serving the created thing rather than the Creator. And so he wants us, he yearns over us, that our hearts would be on fire for him, that we would love him and go after him, but the world creeps in and pulls us away. And so the Spirit works within our hearts. He works genuine fiery repentance and jealous love, and he will orchestrate, if you're one of the elect, and your straying, he will come get you and he will do things in your life. Hosea 2, Hosea, speaking about his wife, but then by way of allegory or analogy to Israel, "Their mother has been unfaithful and has conceived her children in disgrace. She said, I will go after my lovers who give me my food and my water, my wool and my linen, my oil and my drink. Therefore I will block her path with thorn bushes, I will wall her in so that she cannot find her way. She will chase after her lovers, but not catch them. She will look for them but not find them. And then she will say, I will go back to my husband, as at first, for then I was better off than now." Blocked in, walled in, still corrupted in the mind, and then she has no choice but to turn in a certain direction.

Is that you? Does God have to buy your affections? Does your heart continually wander after the “lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh, the pride of life?” Do you act like an enemy of God? The text stands over all of us, when we sing, "prone to wander, Lord, I feel it," this is what the text is saying. Do we hate that? Do we say, "I don't want to live my life like that"? Is the Spirit filling your heart with a longing after God? So God, in his mercy, gives us the gift of continual grace for repentance. 

Look at verse 6, "He gives us more grace." Hallelujah. He gives us more grace. That is why scripture says, "God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble." To save us, God must give us more grace, and then more grace, and then after that, even more grace, and more grace, and more grace. And so we need a steady stream of that. And you need to say that in your mind, say, "Oh God, give me more grace. Fill me with grace." May there be grace to you through the ministry of the word of God. You need a steady stream of grace. Not like grace, born again, forgiven and done with grace. Not at all. You need a steady stream of God's sovereign grace every moment.

Bunyan’s “Fire Against the Wall”

In Pilgrim's Progress, Bunyan's classic about the Christian life, there is this powerful image in Interpreter's house. He goes to Interpreter, and he gives him a bunch of allegories and stories that give aspects of the Christian life, and they're acted out, and you can learn things. Bunyan thought in pictures. And so there is this one allegory of the fire burning against the wall, and he said, "I saw in my dream that Interpreter took Christian by the hand and led him into a place where there was a fire burning against a wall." So, picture like a marble wall, and a marble hearth and a fire in it. It's burning. "And one was standing by it, always casting much water upon it to quench it. Yet did the fire burn higher and hotter." So picture this fire in a hearth and there's someone just pouring water on it, but the fire's not going out. Then said Christian, "What means this?" What does this mean? The interpreter answered, “'The fire is the work of grace that is wrought in the heart, and he the casts water upon it to extinguish it, and put it out, is the devil. But then that thou seest the fire not withstanding, burn higher and hotter, thou shalt see also the reason of that. So he had him around to the back side of the wall where he saw another man with a vessel of oil in his hand of the which he did also continually cast, but secretly, into the fire.’ Then said Christian, 'What means this?' The interpreter answered, ‘This is Christ, who continually, with the oil of his grace, maintains the work already begun in the heart by the means of which, not withstanding what the devil can do, the souls of his people prove more gracious still. And then that thou sawest that the man that stood behind the wall to maintain the fire, that is to teach thee that it is hard for the tempted to see how this work of grace is actually being maintained in their souls.’"

God Opposes the Proud but Gives Grace to the Humble

So that's such a powerful picture. If you're born again, God lights a fire within you, a work of grace. And that fire is going to keep burning and there's nothing the world, the flesh and the devil can do to put it out, praise God. But the only way it doesn't get extinguished is more grace, and that's why James 4:6 says, "He gives us more grace." But he gives it to the humble. "God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble." I remember when I was teaching this verse to my kids and we used to do much more physical things that we do now. We used to play wrestling games until I broke a rib and then I retired. My kids were getting bigger and bigger and they just consistently won. The game was to get me off the couch within five minutes. That's all they had to do, just get me off the couch. It got pretty violent. Lamps were getting knocked over. It was not good. But I wanted to teach them God opposes the proud. 

So I stood in the way and I told them to go through a door, and I opposed them, and I was much bigger than they were at that point. They're much bigger than me now. But at that point. So you don't want God, Almighty God, opposing you. You don't want God, the omnipotent God, fighting you. But he gives grace to who? The humble. And so, the grace of God comes and makes you a spiritual beggar, makes you, like the beatitudes say, it makes you mourn over your sins, it makes you hunger and thirst for righteousness, it makes you humble. And so you are humbled by your sin, you're humbled by your condition, and you go toward Christ, you go toward God and you say, "Give me more grace," and he will. God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble. And here we see the nature and fruits of true repentance. 

Nature and Fruit Intertwined: What God Commands He Works in Us

When he's doing that, what does he do? He grants repentance, and he works in us repentance. God gives us what he commands. He commands us to repent, and then he works repentance in us. 

Now the commands given here could be given both to unsaved and saved people alike. If you're here today, and you are as yet not a Christian, these words can stand to you. And they say, "Submit yourself to God, take Jesus's yoke upon you and learn from him. Submit to his kingly reign, stop fighting him. Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands in the blood of Christ, trust in him and you'll be forgiven." This is the Gospel invitation to anybody to believe in Christ. And so if that's you here today, then God brought you here by his grace to hear, for this moment, that all your sins can be forgiven. All you have to do is trust in him, apart from works, just by trusting in Jesus, all your sins will be forgiven. 

But these words are written to Christians and so we need to hear this too. And so, maybe you see worldliness creeping in. Maybe you've defiled yourself through some pattern of sin this week. Maybe you're locked in some addictive pattern. Perhaps you're a married couple constantly fighting and quarreling. Maybe you're a teenager, and you're rebelling or fighting against parental authority. Maybe you see an overall pattern of worldliness in your life where you're living for the things of this world and not for the things of God. And you say, "What do I do now, how do I get home?" James 4:7-10 tells you how, tells you what to do. 

Submit Yourselves Then to God

First of all, submit to God. “Submit yourselves then to God.” Kneel before God as the king of your life. Kneel before him right now, in your hearts. Kneel before King Jesus. Take his yoke, his kingly yoke upon you, and stop fighting it. Maybe when you get home physically, literally kneel before him. Paul did. In Ephesians 3 he said, "For this reason I kneel before the Father." Sometimes we just, with our bodies, we want to say, "You are my King and I yield to you." So submit yourself to God. All salvation is of, in essence, bringing us into the kingdom of God and yielding to his kingly reign. 

Resist the Devil and He Will Flee From You

Secondly, "Resist the devil and he will flee from you." Say no to what the devil is tempting you to do. Say no to the devil's schemes of temptation. Ephesians 6, "Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand in the day of testing." In the day of temptation you've got your armor on, you're going to say no to sin. Resist the devil. And then amazingly, he will flee from you, as though he's afraid of you. Friend, he's not afraid of you. He's not afraid of you at all. He is so much more powerful and experienced than you are. Is he afraid of something? Yes, he's afraid of Jesus. He's afraid of Jesus.

We're going through men's Bible study on Thursdays. We just got to the account, you remember where Jesus drives out Legion, the legion of demons from the demoniac of the Gadarenes, remember that? And there's this demoniac breaking chains, literal chains that could not hold him. Naked, cutting himself with stones, howling at the moon, no one would go near him. He's terrifying, absolutely terrifying. And then he is terrified of Jesus. Begging Jesus, "Please don't torment us before the appointed time. If you drive us out, please send us into the herd of pigs." And Jesus just says, "Go," and they go. They are terrified of Jesus. So what ends up happening? You're resisting the devil, the devil's tempting you, the demons are assaulting you, you're being tempted and you say, "No. No, by God's grace, no." And then the Spirit of God gets around you and puts the devil to flight. I love the image and the promises in the Old Testament about Israel's armies. They will come at you in one direction and flee from you in seven. Isn’t that a great picture? And so putting the devil to flight, all you have to do is just put on the spiritual armor, and stay and stand firm in holiness, and say no, and he will put the devil to flight. 

"Come Near to God and He Will Come Near to You"

And then, "Come near to God and he will come near to you." Our sins have made a separation. That's the distance. That's where the GPS comes in. We need to get back to God. We feel distant from him, and that distance is a spiritual reality. It says in Isaiah 59:1-2, "Surely the arm of the Lord is not too short to save, nor his ear too dull to hear, but your iniquities have separated you from your God and your sins have hidden his face from you so that he will not hear." And so we feel distant from God. Well, then come near to him. Like one of the minor prophets said, "Take words with you." I love that. So what words? Psalms. "Well Pastor, do you have a Psalm in mind?" I actually do. Can I recommend Psalm 63:1-3? "O God, you are my God. Earnestly, I seek you. My soul thirsts for you. My body longs for you in a dry and weary land where there is no water. I have seen you in the sanctuary and beheld Your power and Your glory, because your love is better than life, my lips will glorify you." Say those things to God. "I feel so distant from you. Other things have crept in, and I've loved them. Now I want them out and I want the love of God in me. Your love is better than life, it's better than any created thing. I want to be close to you, oh Lord." Say that to him. Draw near to God. As it says beautifully in Jeremiah 29:13. "You will seek me and you will find me if you seek for me with all your heart." So I just commend Psalm 63:1-3 or some other passage like it, and just say that to God. And let your heart be heated up and you will find that he will draw near to you. 

"Wash Your Hands, You Sinners"

And then he says, "Wash your hands, you sinners." We come to Christ's cleansing blood. “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” So we get spiritually cleaned. But the hands are practical, they do things. The hands are attached to the heart and so we need clean hands and a pure heart, and so we purify our heart by the Word of God. But then, what about your habits? What about your behaviors? What about what you're doing? Wash. And you do that by holy resolutions and by living up to those holy resolutions. "Lord, I've been doing this, I'm not going to do this anymore. I'm going to fight that sin pattern. I'm going to wash my hands. I'm going to bring forth fruit in keeping with repentance. I'm going to put this sin out of my life. If my right hand is causing me to sin, I'm going to cut it off and throw it away. If my right eyes is causing me to sin I'm going to gouge it out and throw it away. Jesus told me to deal seriously with sin. I am going to wash my hands by the grace of God. I'm going to change the way I'm living."

"Purify Your Hearts, You Double-Minded"

And he says, "Purify your hearts, you double-minded." It ultimately comes to that. As I've already mentioned, the bottom line is, what are you doing? Double-mindedness is like, "I'm going after the world, I don't want to do that." So, what are you feeding in your mind? So feed on God's Word, meditate on scripture. Stop thinking those worldly thoughts. "Purify your hearts," he said, "you double-minded". And then, “Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom.” Long ago I stopped asking for a show of hands and sermons. I don't do that anymore, but if I were to ask for a show of hands, how many of you would say this is your favorite verse in the Bible? How many hands do you think? Well, this is my favorite: “Grieve, mourn and wail, change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom." It's nobody's favorite. Let me tell you something, it's part of the journey back. 

Grieve, Mourn, Wail

We American evangelicals, we like a kind of Christianity lite. With chipper sermons designed to make you laugh and feel good about yourselves. John Piper is speaking of churches that try to create an atmosphere of bouncy Chipper, frisky, lighthearted playful worship. Well, that's not what James is talking about here. Not at all. Now, obviously we don't want a Christianity that would be characterized by these words. Morose, gloomy, sullen, dark, heavy, solemn. Jesus did come to bring us joy unspeakable and full of glory. And we're going to a place where there will be for all eternity no death, mourning, crying or pain. We will not spend a moment in Heaven grieving, mourning and wailing over sin. None. But we're not there yet, dear friends. We're not in Heaven yet. And sometimes the healthiest thing you can do is to join the Holy Spirit in grieving over your sin. Join the Holy Spirit in grieving over your sin. 

Do you realize the third person of the Trinity grieves over sin? It says in Ephesians "Grieve not the Holy Spirit of God with whom you're sealed for the day of redemption." It says in Isaiah 63:10, concerning Israel, "They rebelled and grieved his Holy Spirit." And so what happens is, we're going along, we get tempted and we have the temporary pleasure and joy of sin, but the Holy Spirit is immediately, instantaneously grieved. So we're up here in terms of the happiness thing, and he's down here and grieving over us. Then by the power, the sovereign power he exerts over the redeemed, he pulls you down to his level of happiness, which is grief, and then together, you go back up to the joy of the Lord. "Restore to me the joy of my salvation," David said. And so he does that. But there's a process. “Grieve, mourn, wail. Change your laughter to mourning and joy to gloom.” Don't go too quickly to feeling good again after you've sinned. Take the time to go and think and pray, and say, "God, would you please show me what you felt about my sins? Show it to me. And I will join you and grieving over it." 

Do you remember when the Lord was working with Peter that very night? Do you remember? And after he had disowned him for the third time, the rooster crowed and the light went on, remember? And at that exact moment, in Luke's Gospel, Jesus was being moved from one place to another on his night of trials, and he had the opportunity, sovereignly ordained by God, to look right at Peter, right as a rooster was crowing. What do you think that did to Peter? It must have been like a javelin thrown through his heart. And you know what he did, we know what he did. He went outside and wept bitterly. And after the resurrection of Jesus, he pulled Peter aside and asked him, "Peter, do you love me? Peter, do you love me? Peter, do you love me?" And it says in the text, Peter was hurt because he asked him a third time. "Lord, you know all things, you know that I love you." he said, "Then, feed my sheep." Was he intending to hurt him? In one sense, yes, but not as an ultimate end. But to cause him to repent and to turn away, because someday he would be martyred for Jesus and he had to lose that fear of death and fear of man and preach boldly and he had to be healed from his sin. And so, humble yourself before the Lord. Humble yourself, like the tax collector. Stand off at a distance, beat your breast and say, "Be merciful to me, oh God, a sinner." And you will go home justified. You'll be forgiven, you'll be restored. And then it says plainly, "He will lift you up." Humble yourself before the Lord and he'll lift you up, he'll fill you with joy, he'll give you the peace of justification, he'll give you the joy of your salvation again.

Close with me in prayer. Father, you have taught us here in these verses, you've taught us the way back. And there are some of us here today that know immediately, they know directly what you're talking about. They feel it in their hearts, they know that they're sinning. They know that there's a pattern of sin that's corrupting them. And you are working by grace that the fire of grace would not go out in their hearts, that Satan's pouring water on it, but you will not let it go out. Father, I pray that if there's a brother or sister here that needs to just take these verses and go quietly into a room somewhere and kneel down and pray, step-by-step, until they have been restored to you, Oh God, give them strength to do it. Thank you for the Word. Thank you for its truth. In Jesus's name, Amen.

Turn in your Bibles, if you would, to James chapter 3, we're going to be looking this morning at verses 13-18, and we're going to be looking at the issue of wisdom and the contrast between earthly wisdom and heavenly wisdom. There are two kinds of wisdom that James is going to walk through. He's going to make them very clear how different they are. And the question is, which of those two, earthly wisdom or heavenly wisdom, is going to characterize us individually, and which is going to characterize our church? James is writing to a very complex context. He's writing to Jewish believers in Christ, who have been scattered throughout the Greek-speaking world. And so, they have to deal with the Greek idea of wisdom. We'll talk about that. And also there's the backdrop of Hebrew wisdom, of Biblical wisdom, and now the final complete perfect wisdom that's come to us in Christ. And so, James is writing into that situation because he is very eager that the churches of Christ would be characterized by the kind of wisdom that you just heard read about for us so beautifully. And, Ben, that was great. I don't know that there's anything more. That was one of the best prayers I've heard. That was like a mini sermon on the text. I'm not sure what else there is for me to do as we just see how perfectly these characteristics are in our savior, Jesus Christ. Now let's talk about our context. 

Our Context: The Highest Concentration of U.S. PhDs

When I first got here, I heard that the Raleigh, Durham, Chapel Hill area had the highest concentration of PhDs in the United States. And I was impressed by that, until as I prepared this sermon, I found out it wasn't true. And I was dismayed by that. I found that actually Bethesda, Maryland has the highest concentration of PhDs in the United States, and that there were four cities in Eastern Massachusetts, around my hometown where I grew up, that have a higher concentration of PhDs than the Raleigh, Durham area. As a matter of fact, friends, we're not even in the top 25. So I don't know who it is that told me that. But we are characterized by a high level of intelligence, a high level of academic achievement, academic pursuit. And as I look at how James characterizes earthly wisdom, what is it but natural intelligence combined with ego, combined with energetic ambition to produce certain effects in the world, and it is effective to produce much in the world. But Christ doesn't want to see that in His Church, that's not going to drive the Church to be what it must be. 

Now, we human beings, we are enamored with intelligence. You think about how anthropologists imbibing that atheistic evolutionary scheme, talk about the ascent of man. And the final step is to move from, I guess, Homo habilis through Homo erectus up through Homo sapiens, which they tell us is the wise man. The ability to shape our environment by intellectual analysis and by the making of tools and all that. And so, we're so filled with this sense of natural knowledge of wisdom. Now, we Christians know from the Bible how false that lie is. We've not really seen, historically, an ascent of man, but actually quite the opposite. We've seen the descent of the human race from what we were originally intended to be. That our intellectual capabilities came from creation, from the very beginning, in that we were created in the image of God. It says in Genesis 1:26-27, "Then God said, Let us make man in our image, in our likeness and let them rule over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the air, over the livestock, and over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground. And so God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him, male and female, he created them." 

A Worldwide Esteem and Quest for Wisdom

Now, all over the world, human beings have an esteem for intelligence, it's one of the things we esteem the highest. along with physical strength, the power of a warrior to win a battle, but we also esteem the power of a king, an empire builder who is intelligent, shrewd, able to make clever arrangements with other kings to plot strategies and all of this by a shrewd application of intelligence to be able to build an empire. You think about Nebuchadnezzar and how he, with the Jewish exiles, was looking for a certain kind of person who could serve with him in his court, and this what it says in Daniel 1:3-4, "Then the king ordered Ashpenaz, chief of his court officials, to bring in some of the Israelites from the royal family and the nobility," listen to the criteria, “young men without any physical defect, handsome, showing aptitude for every kind of learning, well-informed, quick to understand and qualified to serve in the king's palace. And he found Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah, and he found that their intellectual abilities far exceeded anyone else. And so, he drafted them into the service of the Babylonian empire.” So every nation on earth esteems the ability to reason, the ability to analyze and to make shrewd plans. 

James’ Hebrew Context

Now James comes from a Hebrew context. Since we're reading the book of James, we see there's a strong Jewish feel to the book. He's writing to Jewish believers in Christ and he talks about the suffering of the prophets or other examples that would just flow from a Jewish context. And James has that in mind, as well, when he writes about wisdom. There's a strong sense of the superiority of the wisdom of God, flowing through the Jewish nation. Now, before the Jews were born as a nation through Abraham, then Isaac and Jacob, then over centuries in Egypt, and then Moses and the Laws of Moses, before all of that happened, there were intelligent races and nations that were achieving great things. Think about Egypt and the things that they were able to do. It's still a mystery to many how the pyramids were built. The technology is quite remarkable and we only have theories on how they were able to attain it or how they were able to irrigate that whole Nile Delta region with foot pumps, and with irrigation techniques. But it wasn't just the Egyptians. In the orient, the Chinese were able to develop amazing skills with water, with hydrology for example, with dams that they were able to build up and metallurgy, the bronze and the tools they were able to make. So, there's intelligence flowing from the nature of man all over the world. 

The Jews however, were called out, and went through a certain experience of being lower than the dust as slaves in Egypt, and then they were brought out by a mighty hand, an outstretched arm, to Mount Sinai. And there, God descended from heaven in fire on Mount Sinai. And he spoke to them, and he gave them wisdom from Heaven, from the mouth of God. And Moses went up on Mount Sinai up into the very presence of God, and received from him the same thing that they had just heard the voice of God speaking. And they were written, inscribed on tablets of stone by the finger of God. You remember that Moses broke those tablets out of anger at the idolatry of the Jewish nation, but then after that, from then on, Moses himself stood in the presence of God and gained wisdom from God and wrote it down so the people would have the very words of God to shape their minds and their hearts. And it says in Deuteronomy 4:6-8, "Observe these laws carefully, for this will show your wisdom and understanding to the nations, who will hear about all these decrees and say 'Surely, this great nation is a wise and understanding people.' What other nation is so great as to have such righteous decrees and laws as this body of laws I am setting before you today?'" In other words, what sets the Jewish people apart is the wisdom of God's Word which has come down from Heaven through the prophets into the hearts and minds of the people, that's what set the Jewish nation apart. What other nation is so wise as this nation to have such laws? 

Then you remember King Solomon, how when he began as a king, God appeared to him in a vision and spoke to him and said, "What would you have me do for you?" And he said in 1 Kings 3:9, "Give your servant a discerning heart to govern your people and to distinguish between right and wrong. For who is able to govern this great people of yours?" And so God was pleased with this request, and told him so. And he lavishly granted this request to King Solomon, He gave him wisdom, He said in 1 Kings 3:12, "I will do what you have asked, I will give you a wise and discerning heart, so that there will never have been anyone like you, nor will there ever be." In 1 Kings 4:30, it says Solomon's wisdom was greater than the wisdom of all the men of the East and greater than all the wisdom of Egypt. And so, Solomon esteemed wisdom above every other human virtue. He said in the book of Proverbs, he wrote, Proverbs 4:7 and 8, "Wisdom is supreme. Therefore, get wisdom, though it cost you all you have, get understanding. Esteem her and she will exalt you, embrace her and she will honor you."

And so from that heritage comes a genre of writing in the Scripture called the wisdom literature. So we have the Book of Job, and we have Psalms and Proverbs and Ecclesiastes and Song of Songs, and the focus is living in light of the existence and the holiness of God. That's the essence of the wisdom that comes down from Heaven in the Old Testament, “the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom and the knowledge of the holy one is understanding.” That's the essence of Hebrew wisdom. Now, the Book of Proverbs is intensely practical. God cares very much how you live every day of your life, every detail of your life, your use of time, the way you spend your money, what you do with your tongue. The very thing we just covered in the Book of James last week, the way you talk, the way you raise your children, how you deal with your animals, how you deal with your neighbors. The Book of Proverbs covers all of this practical wisdom. So the wisdom that comes down from Heaven flows out into every area of life, but the centerpiece is the “fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.”

James’ Greek Context

Now, James is also writing in a Greek context, he's writing in the Greek language. And undoubtedly, even as a Jew, he grew up speaking Greek. It wasn't his mother tongue but it was homebase, he was the half brother of Jesus, and he wrote in polished Greek. And why is that? Well, because of one individual in particular in history, a man you may have heard of: Alexander the Great. Alexander the Great from Macedonia was zealous about everything to do with Greek culture. He thought it was the greatest culture in the world, and in trailing behind his military conquests, he never lost a battle, as he spread Greek military power over that entire region, he also spread a love for Greek culture, Hellenism, a love for Greek philosophy. Now, Alexander had been tutored by a Greek philosopher, Aristotle. And that's just part of the Greek culture, there is a love for philosophy, a love for wisdom.

The city of Athens is named after the goddess of wisdom, Athena. Now, you remember what happened when the Apostle Paul went to Athens and preached the heavenly wisdom of the Gospel and then how he went on Mars Hill, the Areopagus, and how there are a bunch of philosophers up there who gathered together and spent their whole time doing nothing but talking about and listening to the latest ideas. Epicurean and stoic philosophers. And so Paul, they gave him a hearing, and as he began to preach and talk about Christ crucified and resurrected, they said of Paul, "What is this seed picker trying to say?" Sometimes translated, “babbler” in your Bible. I memorized that, by the way, in the Japanese language. When my wife and I were missionaries, I memorized how to say that in Japanese. "What is this babbler trying to say?" I was just entertaining myself as I tried to learn the Japanese language. They never quite got the humor, but I thought it was funny. "What is this babbler trying to say?” 

But behind that was a tremendous arrogance. They believed they had the quintessential pristine wisdom, that's the Greek mentality. And so when Paul went just a few miles down the road to Corinth, and preached the Gospel there and then later wrote to the church in Corinth, he had to deal with the issue of human wisdom, Greek philosophy. And he said this in 1 Corinthians 1, "The message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved, it is the power of God. For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise and the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate. Where is the wise man? Where is the scholar? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of this world?" So James in the flow of his Hebrew heritage, but now consummated with the coming of Christ, as Christ comes as the perfection of the wisdom from God that descends from Heaven to earth, he's got to battle that Greek context of human arrogance, being so enamored with human intelligence and human ambition, and he's got to talk about the true wisdom that comes down from Heaven to Earth, and the centerpiece of that wisdom is salvation. 

The True Wisdom of God: Salvation Through Faith in Christ

The wisest possible thing you can do is to save your soul by faith in Jesus Christ. Conversely, the most foolish thing you can do is to lose your soul through sin. This is the centerpiece of the heavenly wisdom that comes down from Heaven to earth. Jesus said in Matthew 16, "What would it profit someone if he should gain the whole world and forfeit his soul? Or what would you give in exchange for your soul?" The soul. The eternality of the soul, whether you spend eternity in Heaven or Hell. It is the essence of wisdom that you spend eternity in Heaven through faith in Christ. And the most foolish thing you could do is to lose your soul for some earthly thing and spend eternity in torment, in anguish over your foolish choice. Therefore, Christ crucified, the message of the cross and of the empty tomb, is the centerpiece of the heavenly wisdom. It's the centerpiece of everything God has to say to us. In Colossians it says, "In Christ are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge." Christ is wisdom from God. As it says in 1 Corinthians 1:23, "We preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to the Jews and foolishness to the Gentiles, but for us who are being saved, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God."

Are You Wise or Foolish?

Now, Christ in his own teachings often spoke of the wise and the foolish. Remember at the end of the Sermon on the Mount, he goes through all of this magnificent teaching and he says, "Everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock, and the rains came down, and the streams rose and the winds blew and beat against that house, but it did not fall because it had its foundation on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of mine does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on the sand and the rains came down and the streams rose and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash." Are you wise or are you foolish? When you hear the words of Christ, do you take them to heart and put them into practice? Or when you hear the words of Christ, are you foolish and do not put them into practice? Wise or foolish? 

Or think also about the wise and foolish virgins. Remember? Talking about the end of the world and the waiting we all have to do, we're waiting for the coming of Christ. Second Coming. We're waiting. It's not here yet. And he likened it to five wise and five foolish virgins. And the wise virgins took oil and jars along with their lamps, but the foolish virgins did not, and their lamps flickered and went out before the second coming of Christ, and then they come later and bang on the door to try to get in the wedding feast. And he says, "I never knew you." Wise and foolish. Or think about that, that man whose crops came in like a bumper crop, and he doesn't know what to do because he doesn't have enough barn space, and he says, "I know what I'll do, I'll raze my barns, and I'll build bigger barns, and then I'll take it easy for the rest of my life. And I'll say to my soul, ‘Soul, you have lots of things stored up. Kick back, relax.’" And then comes the voice, the message from Heaven, "You fool. This very night, your soul will be demanded of you, required of you." You have no choice but to give it back. "Who then will get all the things you've stored up for yourself?"

So again, the issue of wise and foolish, it always comes down to salvation through faith in Christ. And that's why the Bible was given. This is the centerpiece of all that the 66 books of the Bible have to say. The scriptures are given to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. 2 Timothy 3:15, "All scripture is God-breathed." Its task is the same, to save you from your sins through faith in Christ. So, the issue stands before you, individually, each of you before me. Are you a wise person or are you a fool? That's what's in front of us here with this issue of wisdom, heavenly wisdom, and there are a lot of brilliant people who have done brilliant things and have achieved much. And James would say, and we're going to walk through it in a moment, but he'll say, they're doing it out of ego, out of selfish ambition. But they achieved much. And they invented things, and started companies and built empires, they did many things. Some of the greatest names in science and in human culture have ardently rejected the Gospel. Thomas Jefferson, Voltaire, Thomas Edison. Some of these great individuals, Ben Franklin, achieved great things. Stephen Hawking, who died recently, brilliant, brilliant men. Their names are engraved in stone, literally, in places around the world. But if they didn't know Christ, if they didn't find salvation through faith in Christ, then the Bible would say they're fools. I don't know the final state of any of those, don't know. But if they didn't find salvation through faith in Christ, they're fools. Conversely, the Bible would say the simplest uneducated believer in Jesus Christ, no matter what kind of life they're living economically is wiser than any of those if they didn't know Christ.

The Message of the Book of James

Alright, so let's look at the practical test of wisdom. Verse 13, "Who then is wise and understanding among you? Let him show it by his good life, by the deeds done from the humility that comes from wisdom." So this fits the whole Book of James, doesn't it? James is basically, “Show me, it's who he is. You think you're religious? Show me. You hear God's words, do you put them into practice or not? Don't deceive yourself about the state of your soul,” James 1. James 2, "Faith without works is dead." And so now we come to James 3, and he's going to say, "If you think you're wise, if you claim to be wise in the church of Jesus Christ, then you better show it by the deeds you do." That's what he's saying here in verse 13. So he's challenging some who claim to be wise. 

The Holy Spirit’s Gospel Work

Now, I think the Gospel, the Holy Spirit through the Gospel cuts through this claim for unregenerate people, whom He is working on to save. So you stop thinking of yourself as wise, you're convicted. As it says in Isaiah 5:21, "Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes and clever in their own sight." Cuts through all of that and shows you that you're not, and brings you to faith in Christ. So, what he's saying is, If that's happened, if the heavenly wisdom has come down into your soul, it's going to show in the way you live your life, by your good life, by deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom. So your daily behavior is the final test of wisdom. If you claim to be wise, but you're daily walking in what the Bible calls foolishness, then you're deceiving yourself. He wants you to show it, and not just show it, but it's going to come from a heart state, a demeanor that he's going to walk through, an attitude of soul. So the wise demeanor that he gives here is the humility that comes from wisdom. So the heavenly wisdom makes you humble. Boy, does it humble us, doesn't it? If you've been genuinely saved, you realize how much the theology of the Gospel humbles you to the core of your being.

So the Holy Spirit comes down from God and converts individual sinners. And when he converts someone, He does it first and foremost by convicting that person of his or her sins, that they're corrupted, that they're vile in the sight of God, they need a savior. Without that, you can't be saved, you're not going to repent, you don't need Christ. And so what he's going to do, and Jesus describes it so beautifully in what's known as the beatitudes at the beginning of the Sermon on the Mount. Matthew 5, "Blessed are the... Blessed are the... Blessed are... " He just walks through, but look at what he's talking about. The people the Holy Spirit's working salvation in, the people who are saved by the genuine work of God are spiritual beggars, they're the poor in spirit, they have nothing and they know it, he'll give them the Kingdom of Heaven. These are people who are meek, they are humble because they realize who they really are before such a holy God. They have nothing to commend themselves for. They mourn over their sins. In context, it's mourning over your sin, "I know who I am and it grieves me." And James is going to talk about that in the very next section in James 4. We grieve over sin, it breaks us, it hurts us, we mourn. They hunger and thirst for righteousness, they yearn to be righteous, actually righteous in themselves, they want their lives to be righteous, and they want to be with other righteous people, they yearn for a righteous world. And they're pure in heart because the Holy Spirit's worked that supernatural operation, He's taken out the heart of stone and He's given the heart of flesh, and the heart of flesh, the essence of it is that humility, that perspective realizing who you really are before such a holy God. This is what the Holy Spirit does in you when He saves you. This is what it looks like to be made wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. By contrast, James exposes and diagnoses the wicked worldly wisdom that will kill our souls.

The Origin of Earthly Wisdom

So look at verses 14-16, the origin and the motive, and the nature and the fruit of earthly wisdom. Look at verse 15, the origin of earthly wisdom, "Such wisdom does not come down from heaven, but is earthly, unspiritual, of the devil," or demonic. So it comes from below, James calls it earthly, epigeios, coming from the earth. It has its origin in the earth, the world system, its goals, its prosperity, its power, its methods, that's what earthly means. It is unspiritual, it is natural, it is sense oriented, it's tied to your five senses, the earthly wisdom is. It's not tied to the redeemed nature. Remember what Paul said in 1 Corinthians 2:14, "The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit because they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned." That's a natural man or woman, They don't get the spiritual things, can't discern them. So that's what this wisdom is like. And he calls it demonic or of the devil. At its root, it's motivated and taught by, as Jesus said to his enemies, "your father, the devil." So if you're unregenerate, you're imitating the satanic mindset or demonic mindset. What does that mean? Well you know from Isaiah 14, the Lucifer passage in the KJV, where Satan was enamored with how God made him. He was very impressed with himself and his own beauty, and his own intelligence. And he thought, "You know, I've got what it takes to rise up and topple God from His throne. I know I can do it. I'm a very smart being." Oh, did he underestimate God. The gap between Creator and creature, friends, is infinite. And yet that's the demonic or satanic arrogance and ambition, that's where it comes from.

The Motive and Character of False Wisdom: Self-Worship

Well, look at the motive and character of false wisdom, it ultimately comes down to self-worship, verse 14, "If you harbor bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast about it or deny the truth." Motivation is why you do what you do. And at the root of earthly wisdom is self-worship. You want people to think well of you to feed your ego, to feed your ambition. James mentions bitter envy or jealousy. The Greek word for bitter is pikrós. Pikrós. I get the picture of a cactus, this prickly cactus. And so this bitter envy or jealousy, it's something pointed, it's sharp, it's pungent, it's acrid, prickly. And so envy, jealousy, cuts and prickles and rankles. A person may hear of someone else being honored or someone else getting the promotion and they seethe with resentment. It comes from pride. And he said, "If that's what characterizes you, do not be arrogant and deny the truth," deny the Gospel, because that's not what a converted person looks like. Worldly wisdom is motivated then and characterized by selfish ambition, whatever advances self-interest, whatever stokes the ego, whatever elevates the person up to the level of worship, being worshipped, adored, honored. Earthly wisdom is about self-gratification, self-fulfillment, what Maslow called Self-Actualization at the top of the pyramid. As you go higher and higher, it's all about you. Selfishness. By the way, I love what Ben did just walking through. How different is Jesus? Amen? Instead of the upward journey, when he found himself in appearance as a man, “he humbled himself and became obedient to death, even death on a cross.” Very different journeys.

The Fruit of Earthly Wisdom

Well, the fruit of earthly wisdom is frequently spectacular, it really does achieve much in this present age. Empires actually are built, Nebuchadnezzar really can walk over the palace roof and say, "Is this not the great Babylon I have built by my own greatness?" And so inventions are made, 1% inspiration 99% perspiration, Thomas Edison. Companies can be built, battles can be fought between those companies, empires can rise, others come later and topple them. This is what the history of the world is. Isn't it amazing how Nebuchadnezzar's dream with the statue, in the end the whole thing ends up chaff on the threshing floor And the wind comes. It blows it all the way without leaving a trace. So all of that achievement ends up dust in the wind.

Verse 16, "Where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice." Disorder means instability, confusion. God is a very orderly being, He sets things up in a clear order, and so He's at the top, the triune God at the top, and then created beings that He puts in positions of authority, archangels rule over regular angels, all authority comes from God, and so He establishes people in positions of authority. Parents, husbands and wives, parents and children, all of that, that whole structure. There's an order. But selfish ambition seeks to topple that whole thing and you find disorder and every evil practice. And every evil thing is just a broad category for all the bad stuff. All of the bad things that happen in life, all the bad things that happen in local churches, all the bad things that happen in denominations, and in nations happen because of this. “Disorder and every evil practice.”

A Breath of Fresh Air

Now what about the origin, motive, nature and fruit of heavenly wisdom? Verse 17-18, "The wisdom that comes from Heaven is first of all, pure, then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere." Verse 18, "Peacemakers who sow in peace raise a harvest of righteousness." Oh wow. What a breath of fresh air these verses are. What a breath of fresh air. After all of that nastiness when we look around the world, then this comes, it comes down from Heaven. I can't help but think about the day that Jesus was baptized and he just quietly submitted to the will of the Father, submitted to John the Baptist's baptism. Remember John didn't want Him to, "I need to be baptized by You, and You come to me?, “Let it be so. It is proper for us to fulfill all righteousness.” And as He was coming up out of the water, the heavens were torn open, what a great image in Mark's Gospel, and the Holy Spirit descended like what? Like a dove, comes down on Him. So peaceful. And this voice comes down from Heaven, "This is my Son whom I love. With Him I am well pleased." Every good and perfect gift comes down from God. And so this heavenly wisdom has its origin in the heart of God, in the heart of God. And look at its nature. 

Motive and Nature of True Wisdom

First of all, he said, James says, "It is first of all pure. Above all things, it's pure." It's like if you don't learn anything else about this wisdom, know that it's pure, That is so beautiful, isn't it? Reminds me of 1 John 1:5, "God is light, and in Him, there's no darkness at all." That's what this heavenly wisdom is like, it is a pure light. This heavenly wisdom. It's not got any corruption in it at all, there's no defilement, there's no poison in it, there's no bitterness, there's nothing twisted or disgusting. This wisdom is first of all pure. That makes it intensely because it's intensely God-centered, it's all about knowing God. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom and the knowledge of the holy. A.W. Tozer had a book, The Knowledge of the Holy, the knowledge of the holy God. That's what this wisdom is all about. And it's so pure, it's so beautiful. And it says it's peace-loving. It doesn't create conflicts, it ends them. I love to think about our heavenly future, and how peaceful that world is going to be. What's it going to be like to be with a multitude greater than anyone could count from every tribe, language, people, and nation, of people who are totally at peace with God vertically, and God's at peace with them, and they are totally at peace horizontally with each other. What is that even going to be like? And so, this heavenly wisdom is like that, it's peace-loving. These people don't create conflicts in their families, they don't create conflicts in churches, they don't create conflicts where they go, they're peace-loving. 

The Harvest of True, Heavenly Wisdom

And then the third word is “gentle.” What one scholar William Barkley says is the hardest single word to translate in the New Testament. So let's skip it and move on to the next one. John MacArthur gives these options: equitable, seemly, fitting, moderate, forbearing, courteous, considerate. I guess I just think of it as it fits the situation perfectly, like Jesus every moment said exactly what was the right thing to say. So there's that sense it perfectly fits, like someone who's been laboring hard on a hot August day out in the field, comes in, and a friend meets them with a hot fudge sundae. A steaming hot dog. No, no, no, no, a big beautiful cold glass of water. It just fits. And so the wisdom comes and just it's seemly, it works, it fits every situation. It is therefore reasonable. These people are characterized by a reasonableness. There's that humility to this, but also a willingness to be moved by biblical reasoning. So therefore these people are readily persuaded from Scripture, they're not stubborn, hard-hearted faction builders. They don't argue and dispute. They're reasonable. And they're full of mercy. They are merciful to others because God has been merciful to them. And so, like in James chapter 2, suppose your brother or sister without clothes or daily food, they don't say "Go, I wish you well, keep warm and well fed." They show them mercy. It's actual good works that flow from this disposition. And it says full of good fruit. It's a rich harvest of fruitfulness. And it's unwavering, it doesn't flicker like a candle. 

James seemed to have no patience for double-minded people who are unstable. Be who you are, be a Christian, it's stable and strong, this heavenly wisdom. It doesn't flicker like a candle, it's just a strong wise way to live your life. And it's without hypocrisy, it's sincere, it is what it appears to be, There's not a double life, it's not a white-washed tomb, wisdom. It is what it appears to be. Look what he says in verse 18, one of the more fascinating verses, okay? "Peacemakers who sow in peace raise a harvest of righteousness." That's the translation that I use that smooths out all difficulties. Alright, let's not smooth them out. What does it actually say? It talks about a sowing. A sowing happens. What is sowing? That's where you put seeds into the ground, but if you look at the verse, what's actually sown? Fruit. That's weird, you don't sow fruit, you sow seeds. Ah, yes. But where do the seeds come from? For example, for the next generation of apple trees, where do those seeds come from? Well, they come from inside the fruit. So, I perceive a kind of a cycle that goes on here with this heavenly wisdom. So there's already a harvest in your life, you reinvest it, and you do it as a peacemaker, and the more you take the fruit you've already learned, the fruit that this heavenly wisdom is working in, you sow it back, and a bigger, bigger harvest comes. Jesus talked about thirty, sixty, a hundred-fold. Hundred times what was sown.

Look at Yourself

Alright, so applications. Begin by evaluating yourself, look at yourself. Look at yourself in light of the wisdom of Christ crucified and resurrected. Are you born again? Have you received the gift of salvation? If you have received it, there is a wisdom that comes in and just levels you, it humbles you, it makes you realize you needed Jesus to die a bloody death on the cross for your sins. If He hadn't died, you would rightly be condemned to Hell. That's the humility that the Holy Spirit works in you. Has that happened? And then you've seen the beauty of Christ crucified and resurrected, and you're yearning for that, and you want it. So like the thief on the cross, you can say, "Remember me when you come into your kingdom, there's nothing I want more than to spend eternity with Christ in Heaven." Has that happened to you? 

You've heard right now in this message, even in the last few minutes, everything you need. You're a sinner. The law stands against you. Christ came in your place, died and rose again, trust in Him for the salvation of your soul. So has that happened? But then beyond that, you say, "Well, I've been a Christian for a lot of years." James is only beginning to get busy with you. You know how James is. He's not going to say, "Oh, you're a Christian? Great! Have a great day." That's not who he is. He's going to say, "What's going on in your life? Show it by your good deeds. Do you see more of the earthly selfish ambition, faction, fighting kind of thing, or more of the fruit of the Spirit, heavenly wisdom, peaceable harvest of righteousness? What's actually happening in your life?” 

We have to especially look as leaders of the church. I'm speaking now to all you leaders because it's like he says at the beginning of the teaching on the tongue, "Let not many of you presume to be teachers." Here, he's like, "If any of you claims to be wise, I have something to say to you." So it seems like he's talking to leaders.What kind of leaders will you be? Are you going to be ego-driven dominator tyrant type leaders, or are you going to be characterized by this kind of humble wisdom? And you might not even be a positional leader, an elder, or a deacon or be a fall teacher, you just might be a leader. You might be an influencer. Yes, but which of these two is characterizing you? And so for us as elders we have to look at ourselves.. I have to look as a senior pastor, I have to look at this and say, "Which of these two is how I'm leading?" 

Godly Leadership

Jonathan Leeman wrote a book on church membership, and he's talking about when you should leave a church, especially in reference to its leadership. And so he draws out what I would call a list of toxic leadership style. And I'll close with that. I don't ever want this in my life, I don't want this here in this church and I want you wise enough for whenever you replace me and the other elders to make certain you replace us with men that are characterized by this heavenly wisdom. So he's saying that these toxic leaders make dogmatic prescriptions in places where Scripture is silent. They bind people's consciences on those things. They rely on intelligence, humor, charm, guilt, emotions or threats, rather than in God's word in prayer. That sounds exactly like the earthly wisdom I've been describing. They play favorites. They punish those who disagree. They employ extreme forms of communication, they use their temper or silent treatment. They recommend courses of action that always somehow improve the leader's own situation, even at the expense of others. They speak often and quickly, they seldom do good deeds in secret, they seldom encourage, they seldom give the benefit of the doubt. They emphasize outward conformity rather than repentance of heart. They preach, counsel, disciple and oversee the church with lips that fail to ground everything in what Christ has done in the Gospel; and they fail to give glory to God. So pray, pray that our leaders would not be that kind of toxic leader. Conversely, pray that we would be characterized by this beautiful, attractive, heavenly wisdom that comes down from God through Christ through the ministry of the Holy Spirit.

Close with me in prayer. Lord, thank you for the time that we've had in your word, thank you for what it does to us how it really exposes us, how I cannot preach a single passage in James without feeling deeply convicted to the core. Oh God, I pray, drive away from me and from my brother elders and from all leaders in the church, men and women alike, anyone that you raise up to a position of influence, help us to be characterized by the humility and the peacefulness and the purity that this heavenly wisdom is characterized by and produces. Lord, do this for your praise and your glory. In Jesus' name, amen.

This recording of Andy Davis is from a sermon delivered at and recorded by Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary on February 18, 2020. To listen to or watch the sermon at the official SEBTS website please click here.

Sermon Illustration

Turn in your Bibles to James 3. You'll be looking this morning at the text you heard read for us, James 3:1-12. In the year of 2012, I went on a mission trip to Nepal, fulfilling a dream. For many, many years, I'd wanted to go to Nepal, prayed for many years for an unreached people group there, and yearned to be able to share the Gospel there in Nepal and had the opportunity in 2012. At one point, we were driving along a road that was alongside on the verge of a raging river swollen by a month of rains, torrential downpours. The river had a brown muddy look to it. It was not attractive at all, but I had never seen such a rushing torrent in all my life. It looked like a stampede of bison back in the Old West. Not that I've ever seen that but what I imagine it would look like. A stampede of muddy bison. It was rising and falling and roaring and undulating with peaks and troughs, and unspeakable power. It was terrifying just to drive alongside it, wondering if at any moment, it might leap out of its boundaries, and swallow up the very road that we were driving on. It was ugly, it was powerful, it was threatening and dangerous. I feel certain if anyone were to have fallen into it, they would immediately be swept to their death, or pulled down under and drowned. So these words are in my mind as I think about that image. Dirty, dangerous, powerful. So as we come to this passage this morning, James 3:1-12, that picture's in my mind. An overwhelming force, a rushing torrent, a deadly power, able to sweep away whole villages in a flood and swiftly bring death. But look at what we're actually talking about today, we're talking about the tongue. That little muscle behind your teeth that has no bone to it, but how powerful it is. James zeros in on the tongue as it seems like a weapon of mass destruction. I think James wouldn't have known that expression, but if he understood it, he would say, yes, that's exactly what it is. The human race speaks an almost immeasurable torrent of words every single day.

We Speak Many Words Every Day

Estimates put the average ration of words for you as between 18 and 25,000, some of you more, some of you less. Seven and a half billion people. I know a percentage of those haven't learned to speak yet, but they will. So we're talking about approximately 150 trillion words every day spoken by the human race, and God listens to every one of them, remembers all of them, but what's really terrifying is not the sheer volume of human words, but what the Bible says about how evil many, if not most of them are, and that's exactly what James 3:1-12 is addressing, the absolute necessity of we Christians, who James calls again and again. “My brothers, my brothers. We Christians have to tame the tongue by the power of the Holy Spirit.” Now in context we've just passed through what I call the theological center of the Book of James. James is a very practical book. It seeks to address how Christianity is actually affecting your life. What's actually going on with you now that you've heard the Gospel of Jesus Christ. And he's seeking to instruct Christians on what genuine faith looks like in the real world. Now he's just made it plain at the end of James 2, that faith without works is dead. If your faith isn't actually affecting what you do, then it's a dead faith, a useless faith, a demon faith. 

But immediately after that, he addresses the tongue because there is such a powerful connection between the heart and the tongue. Who you really are as a person and what you say, and James wants his readers to know that the transformation of the tongue is essential to genuine salvation. It may be the single greatest proof that you really are a Christian, how you use your tongue. So we're going to draw out from the text today six reasons why all Christians must tame the tongue by the power of the Holy Spirit. 

The Tongue is a Clear Reflection of the Heart

Reason number one, “Because By Our Words We Will Be Judged.” Because by our words, we will be judged. Look at verse 1, “Not many of you should presume to be teachers, my brothers because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly.” Now for me as a teacher of the word of God. I must read that with fear and trembling. I was sitting over there in the seat just like all of you, were sitting in your seats but I have to get up and walk up here and talk, and I have to do so with fear and trembling because it says that “not many of us should be teachers,” and the NIV puts it, “presume to be teachers.” I think that's to take that honor on yourself. Many of you should not do that. Why? Because we who teach will be judged more strictly, more severely. Why is that because of the great danger of hypocrisy, of saying one thing with your mouth, and living a different way with your life. Richard Baxter in his classic, Reformed Pastor, said this to his brother pastors, "Take heed to yourselves lest you live in those sins which you preach against in others, lest you be guilty of that which daily you condemn. Will you preach God's laws, and then willfully break them? If sin be evil, then why do you live in it? And if it be not, then why do you dissuade men from it? If sin be dangerous then how dare you venture on it? But if it be not then why do you tell men so? If God's threatenings be true, then why do you not fear them? And if they be false then why do you needlessly trouble men with them and put them into such frights without a cause?" That's very convicting for me. “Let not many of you presume to be teachers because you're going to be judged more severely if you get up in front of people and talk about God's word, and then you don't live it out in your own life.”

We're going to be judged. James says more severely, but on the other hand, God has ordained the teaching office as essential to the completion of the salvation of the flock of Christ. So what am I supposed to do? The talents, the Parable of the Talents, five talents, two talents, one talent, the one with the five went out and put it to work and gained five more, the one with the two went out and put it to work and gained two more. But then there's that one with the one talent that was afraid of the master because he's such a severe judge and he's harsh, and unfair, and so he takes his talent, hides in the ground and he's called a, “wicked lazy servant.” So, I'm hemmed in by the word of God. It says in Romans 12, if your gift is teaching, then teach. And so those of us that have the gift of teaching, we need to venture forward and teach but this passage stands as a warning to be certain that we understand that we are going to be judged more severely even as we teach week by week. What is this link then between the tongue and judgment? 

Jesus Clearly Links the Heart to the Tongue

Well, it's because there's a clear link between the tongue and the heart. Between the tongue and the heart. We're going to be judged, evaluated by our words, and Jesus made this link very clear. You remember when he was driving out demons and his enemies claimed that it was by Beelzebub, the prince of devils that he was driving out demons? That's a filthy statement. Well, they made many filthy statements about Jesus. And at one point Jesus zeros in on that. Talk to his blasphemous enemies, and he said this in Matthew 12:33-35. “Make a tree good and its fruit will be good, make a tree bad and it's fruit will be bad for a tree is known by its fruit. You brood of vipers, how can you who are evil say anything good. For out of the overflow of the heart, the mouth speaks. The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in him. And the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in him.” So that's why there's this link between what we do with our tongue, and Judgment Day. Out of the overflow or out of the fullness of the heart, the mouth speaks. The heart then really is the issue, the heart is the storage receptacle of all manner of things. The heart does many things, biblically. There are many verbs attached or connected to the heart, biblically. So what you ponder, you ponder in your heart, what you delight in, you delight with your heart. What you ruminate over, what you fantasize about. What you covet, what you lust after, what you desire and pursue, what you love, what you hate, what you choose, what you reject, what you consider, what you plan for, the heart does all of these things. It's the core of your being. 

Now the Bible makes it plain, the basic nature of the unregenerate heart is wickedness. Jeremiah 17:9 it says, "The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?” That's where all of us starts, with a deceitful wicked heart. Do you not see the supernatural grace of salvation? Jesus said, "Make a tree good and its fruit will be good.” That's the one thing we cannot do, we can't make ourselves good, we can't make our hearts good. 

And so, as the Gospel has unfolded so clearly and so powerfully and in great detail in the Book of Romans, the first section of Romans unfolds the universality of sin. And it culminates in this crescendo in Romans 3 saying there's, “no one righteous, not even one, there is no one who understands, no one who seeks God, all have turned away, they've together become worthless. There is no one who does good, not even one”, now, listen to the next words, “their throats are open graves, their tongues practice deceit, the poison of vipers is on their lips, and their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness.” That's four straight statements about the mouth. The poison of our unregenerate mouths. The tongue therefore, is a clear tattletale to the state of the heart. What's really going on in your heart? 

Jesus Says, “By Our Words We Will Be Judged”

And Jesus says, “by our words we will be evaluated.” As he continues there in Matthew 12:36-37. “But I tell you that men will have to give an account on the Day of Judgment for every careless word you have spoken. For by your words, you will be acquitted and by your words, you will be condemned.” That's an amazing statement. The tongue is such a sure-fire reflection of the state of the heart that all Jesus, the Judge of all the Earth will need, is a full catalog of your career in words and he'll know exactly the state of your heart. Now, he'll look at more than that, but I'm just saying that all he needs are your words if he has a 100% catalogue of the words.

Now, does he? Does God keep track? Oh, he does. I remember sharing the Gospel with somebody, and I came to that verse. It’s a very useful verse in witnessing. You'll have to give an account on the day of judgment for every careless word you have spoken. Well this individual who had the great misfortune of sitting next to me on a four-hour flight, and I said, you're going to have to give an account on the day of judgment for every careless word you have spoken. He said to me, “But I don't remember everything I've said.” What would you say next to that? “That's okay, God does. He's got it all written down. Every single word.” Job said, "Oh that my words were recorded. That they were written on a scroll. That they were inscribed with an iron tool on lead or engraved in rock forever.” Don't you want to say to brother Job, be careful what you wish for? Everything has been written down. God has a perfect record, an accurate record of everything that we've ever said, and we're going to have to give an account on the Day of Judgment for all of it. Therefore we ought to tame our tongues, brothers and sisters. 

What is the Tongue Capable Of Doing?

Now what are the different things the tongue is capable of? It's remarkable the catalog of corruption linked to the human tongue. There are so many different ways that we can sin. James says in verse 2, "We all stumble in many ways.” What a self-reflective, open, honest statement that is. He's saying, “I'm not a perfect person. All of us stumble in many ways.” Alright, but when it comes to the tongue, how many different ways can we stumble? It's remarkable. When I was writing my book on sanctification, An Infinite Journey, I actually cataloged the sins of the tongue alphabetically. You're ready? Here we go: Arguing, blasphemy, boasting, coarse speech, complaining, cursing, deceit, disrespect, exaggeration, false doctrine, filthy joking, flattery, foolish talk, gossip, insults, lies, mockery, rebellion, sarcasm, seduction, slander, threats, words of unbelief. And that's just a partial list. If you're thinking, what about this or what about that? Come and tell me afterwards, I'll make the list longer and more detailed for the second edition of that book. And for all of these verbal sins, God is going to bring people into judgment, and his record of our words is perfect. Do you not see how much we need a savior? Thank God that God sent his Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, to die in our place under the wrath we deserve for such a catalog of corruption.

And I'm pleading with you, be certain that Jesus is your savior today. Don't leave this place unconverted. You don't want to stand before the perfect judge with this catalog of your own words and have to give an account for everything you've said and you don't have a savior to intercede for you whose blood was shed on the cross, to save you from your sins. So come to Christ and trust in him. On Judgment Day our words will be a perfect reflection of the state of our heart and our souls. 

Control Your Tongue, Control Your Life

Secondly, we need to tame the tongue because by taming the tongue we control our whole bodies. By taming the tongue we control our whole bodies. Look at verse 2, “We all stumble in many ways. If anyone is never at fault in what he says he is a perfect man, able to keep his whole body in check.” So what James is doing is he's telling us that controlling the tongue is a key step to controlling your whole life. James has already said if you don't bridle the tongue, your religion is worthless, you're deceiving yourself. He said that in chapter one, But conversely if you want a genuine salvation, you have to start really with the tongue, bridling the tongue will enable you to control your whole life. “Now, if you're able to do that, if you're never at fault in anything you say, you are a perfect person,” James says. 

Now, we will never be perfect in this life. We will never be perfect. There is only one man who ever perfectly controlled his tongue and that's Jesus Christ, but he did perfectly control his tongue. He made it through his whole life in this world without once saying something wrong. And never failing to say the right thing that the situation called for. I think about Proverbs 25:11, which says, “a word aptly spoken is like apples of gold in settings of silver.” Jesus had almost a countless number of those. Saying exactly the right thing to the person, what was needed for that situation. He knew how to deal with broken-hearted sinners who felt there was no hope for them. “The bruised reed, he did not break. The smoldering wick he did not snuff out,” he knew how to lift up a weeping sinner and give him or her hope of forgiveness. He also could speak like a lion to self-righteous, arrogant religious leaders who needed to have someone speak to them like a lion. He did both. 

Now James is not in any way implying that we can be perfect, but it is the goal of sanctification. After justification, after our sins have been forgiven and we've been born again, to seek perfection every day. So what do you say we start with just the rest of the day. For the rest of the day that we will be perfect in speech. What a goal. Wouldn't that be sweet, if you could put your head on the pillow tonight and say, from the time that the pastor said that on, you didn't say anything wrong. But then Monday will come, and there's another day in which you can be perfect in your speech. 

The Tongue Determines the Spiritual Course of Your Life

Now, the point that he's making here is the tongue controls the course of your life, actually. Look at verse six, "The tongue is also a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body, it corrupts the whole person, sets the whole course of his life on fire and is itself set on fire by Hell." James literally says that the tongue sets the whole course of his life on fire when it's used for evil. It's interesting. The word that he uses here is the word wheel, like the wheel of fate, or the hinge of fate, that kind of thing. For us, we might think of a steering wheel, that kind of thing. But the whole course of your life is set in motion or in direction by how you use your tongue. Now, for the unregenerate person, James, I think is speaking in verse 6 of the evil that seizes his or her tongue and sets that tongue on fire, even as though it were set on fire by Hell. The direction of that kind of life, that type of talking is Hell, eternity in the Lake of Fire. That's what he's saying. It's a terrifying direction to be on. If you want to know, "Am I on the broad roads that leads to destruction?", look at how you talk. 

Conversely and positively, when he rescues you from that highway to Hell, and brings you to that straight and narrow gate, he's going to affect by the Spirit the way you talk. So, if you want to grow in grace in the knowledge of Christ, if you want to be more and more conformed to the perfection of Christ, the way he used his tongue, then ask Christ through the Holy Spirit to change the way you talk, to control your speech patterns. So, to weed out the bitterness and complaining you reveal in trials. The way you don't consider it pure joy, but you actually start to complain and murmur against God, start there. Or perhaps kill the gossip or the slander by which you assassinate the character of people who are not even there with you, behind their backs, the things you say about them. Or putting lies and deceitfulness to death. To put an end to the exaggeration that you use when you tell that story about what you did, and you end up the knight in shining armor and the other person, the villain in the dark hat. We all do this, we twist the truth, it's malleable and we make it say what we want. To kill the habit of flattery by which you manipulate people. You say things you really don't believe good things about them, so that you can bring them in your thrall, you can control them, manipulation, that flattery. There is so much work to be done, isn't there brothers and sisters? There's so much to be done. It's like, "Oh God, I want to be a sanctified man, I want to be a sanctified woman." The Holy Spirit is saying to us through this text, “Then control your tongue. You get control of your tongue, your body will follow.” 

Two Illustrations

He uses two illustrations to prove this point. The bit in the horse's mouth and the rudder of the great ship. Look at verse three and four, when we put bits into the mouths of horses to make them obey us, we can turn the whole animal. Or take ships as an example, although they are so large, and are driven by strong winds, they're steered by a very small rudder wherever the pilot wants to go. So the bit in the horse's mouth is a clear illustration of how this whole powerful animal can be turned by a little piece of metal.

I mean, the horse outweighs the rider by 10 to 20 times. The horse, I don't think is getting up in the morning, saying, “I really want to plow your field for you.” Can I pull your wagon? Think of a wild bronco. Like, “I really am just looking for someone that will ride me. I'm just yearning to have a human being get on my back.” But instead the horse has to be broken, and then the bit has been developed somewhere along the line by horse trainers, to say, this is the way you make it turn left or right. Tiny piece of metal. James also speaks of the rudder. Think about a massive ship, all of the steel and all of the weights and all of this, and it's turned by this very tiny portion of metal left or right, whatever direction the pilot wants to go. And so, what he's saying is, the tongue is like that for you. If you can control your tongue, you can turn your whole body. If you can control your tongue, the whole ship is steered. 

Alright, thirdly, because we have to control our tongues because the tongue has such a powerful effect on others. Verses 5-6, likewise, “the tongue is also a small part of the body, but it makes great boasts. Consider what a great forest is set on fire by a small spark, the tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole person, sets the whole course of his life on fire and is itself set on fire by Hell.” So the tongue makes great boast, because it has great influence. It has great power. 

The Tongue “Makes Great Boasts” Because of Its Great Power

For me, I cannot help but think about eschatology, about the end of the world and about the Antichrist that is coming. And Daniel 7 makes it plain that he's characterized more than anything by great boasting. The little horn made great boasts, boast even up to Heaven. He's going to set himself up in God's temple declaring himself to be God and accepting worship. He's like the quintessential unregenerate human. All of us are that if it weren't for Christ. We would want to be that person, to be set up in God's temple and be up on a throne and be worshipped and making these boasts that claim up to Heaven. 

Or think about politicians that have used the power of rhetoric, the power of the tongue. I think about Adolf Hitler and his ability to just capture the heart and soul of the German nation with these nighttime rallies, like at Nuremberg, where he would use a light show and all that, and he said that the will of the people can be more easily controlled at night. And then you look at videos of his speeches and how powerful and how boastful and arrogant they were and how the entire nation was swayed by his tongue. There are so many examples of this, of politicians that have been able to capture the moment, for good or bad. Think about the Gettysburg Address, which is so short and Lincoln was able to just zero in on the issue of slavery. Yes, but the issue of representative government and will government of the people, by the people, for the people, even survive or will it break into factions and keep breaking apart and breaking apart? Or you think about Winston Churchill, what it'd be like to become prime minister in May of 1940, and have to galvanize the English nation against the kind of tyranny that had taken over all of Europe, Western Europe. And be able to say with words, we're going to fight on the seas and oceans, our goal is victory at all costs lest we submit to slavery. See, I'm not Churchill or else I couldn't do it, but I could do it right here. But that kind of passion, that speaking that galvanized the nation, the whole nation gathers around one man's tongue. And so, James likens the small tongue and the damage it can do to a spark that sets a whole forest on fire. 

A Spark Starting A Forest Fire

So I didn't know that much about the history of forest fires in the United States. Do you know the deadliest forest fire in the history of the United States? It was the exact same time as the Chicago fire, but it was a different fire. It was in the upper peninsula of Michigan and in Wisconsin, killed 1,500 people. You don't see 1,500 people dying in forest fires, they usually flee, they have time to get out. But it was just a weird combination of winds and a storm front that came down and the people were trapped and they died. The exact same time as apparently, Mrs O'Leary's cow kicked over a kerosene lantern. We've been told it's a myth, but it's really good for illustration for this sermon, right here. So, one cow and one kerosene lantern and the whole city burns up that kind of thing. But it was a myth. Anyway, preacher's story, but where I think the point's made. Tiny spark. One idea can get in and ruin everything, can destroy it, and people can be swept away.

The Satanic Origin of the Fire

Fourth reason: Because the tongue is set on fire itself by Hell. The Satanic origin of this evil fire is clear. Look at verse 6 again, “the tongue is also a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole person, sets the whole course of his life on fire and is itself set on fire by Hell.” This may be the single most devastating verse in the entire Bible on human speech. Layer upon layer of the damage the human tongue can do. “It's a fire,” it says, “burning up, destroying much good.” He calls it interestingly, a world of evil. It's a system of evil. There's a logic to the things we say. They take root in the minds and they persuade hearts, they sway wills toward evil. There's a logic to it, there's this world. 

I think about the tragedies of Shakespeare and how clear words are powerful. But one in particular, I remember this one struck me more than any of them, the tragedies of Shakespeare and that's Othello. And in that we have the power of slander. And you have Othello and he's got a friend who really isn't a friend, an evil guy named Iago who whispers in his ear that his, Othello's wife, Desdemona is committing adultery, is unfaithful to him. It's not true but he's able to turn his heart against his own faithful wife. And we know that she's faithful for the way that Shakespeare writes the play, but it's all the power of whispers into the ear and the heart can turn and he ends up killing Desdemona and then committing suicide. All of that from Iago's tongue. So James says the tongue directs the whole course of someone's life in evil. And Satan uses the tongue to do his work. Think of the role of the tongue in the crucifixion of Jesus. Think about that. The people that got together and plotted many times to kill Jesus. The way that Judas told where Jesus would be that night. The way that they slandered him when he was on trial and gave false witnesses against him. The way that they persuaded Pontius Pilate who wanted to set him free to kill him.

More Wild Than Untamed Beasts

The fifth reason that we need to control the tongue is because the tongue is so wild. Look at verses 7-8, "All kinds of animals, birds, reptiles and creatures of the Sea are being tamed and have been tamed by man but no man can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil full of deadly poison." So James likens the tongue to a wild animal, barely, it's just untamable. Now, every kind of animal has been tamed. Some of you have actually been to the circus. I remember when we were first here, 20 years ago, we got tickets to the circus in Raleigh. And it was quite remarkable what the animal trainers could do to lions and elephants and the things that they could make them do. I remember a number of years ago, I went to Sea World in Orlando, And there was a woman there with a bucket of fish attached to her belt and she's got all these hand signals and all that, and she's making Orcas, I mean they are at the top of the food chain in the ocean, making them jump and do ridiculous things. The Orcas, like do you have any self-respect? Like the untrained Orca coming along and saying, "Because of a few sardines you're jumping through a hoop? Have some dignity, have some self-respect." But here's this skillful animal trainer able to make this massive animal do whatever she wants it to do. But the real question the text would ask is, “Yeah, but what does she talk like after the show's over?” She's able to control this massive Orca but she can't control the way she talks and neither can any of us. 

But No Man Can Tame the Tongue

Now when it says, "No man can tame the tongue." you might say then, "What's the point? Why are we listening to this sermon? Just so we can all go home and feel bad?" No let me tell you what I think is one of the most important verses concerning our salvation. It's the first beatitude, blessed are the spiritual beggars for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven. God doesn't want you to bring your capabilities and your abilities and all of this stuff to him and say, what a great person I am. He wants you to bring your brokenness and your sinfulness and your corruption to him and say, "Would you please heal me, fix me?" Jesus said “it's not the healthy who need a doctor but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous. I'm not calling on perfect people to talk so we can all know how perfect they are. I'm calling on broken sinners to bring me their brokenness and they're sinfulness and I will heal you, I will save you.” So that's what we're supposed to do with this. We're supposed to bring our brokenness and our tongues to the Lord. And then you're going to start praying differently about your tongue. You're going to say something like this, "Set a guard over the door of my mouth, keep watch over the door of my lips, O Lord." Psalm 141:3.

Guard Your Mouth

I live in Butner, near the federal facility up there. What a gentle word for that, “federal facility.” Alright, it's got spiral razor wire and big towers and searchlights and guards. And a whole system by which you can get in if you have the permission to get in, no one can get out. It's you're like, "Well is that what my mouth is like?" Yes, yes. Can you imagine like Amnesty Day, once a month, there at Butner. Just letting everyone out, just get out in the community, and we'll get them all back. And it's like, "No, please don't." I don't want those murderers and those folks out because of the damage they'll do to me and my family, etcetera. Well, think about your mouth like that. Say, "Lord, would you please dispatch an angel and set the angel over the door of my mouth and set guard so that nothing harmful gets out of my mouth." You probably need to slow down your speech as we talked about earlier. Quick to listen, slow to speak.

Used to be true, I don't know if it's still true, the FCC had like a seven-second delay so they could beep out things that shouldn't be said. I don't know if they still do that anymore, they should. There are some things that get said that I don't want to hear. But alright, whether they do it or not, why don't you do it? Seven second delay. I'm going to wait, wait a second or seven seconds before I say something to my wife or my husband, some of you, alright. I'm going to be careful. I'm going to be slow to speak.

Six, because the tongue is given to praise God. “With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father and with it we curse men who have been made in God's likeness. Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing, my brothers this should not be. Can both fresh water and salt water flow from the same spring? My brother's can a fig tree bear olives or a grape vine bear figs? Neither can a salt spring produce fresh water.” Well, here's the thing, our changed nature should result in praise and worship to God. It's the best thing you can do with your tongue. You know you will be doing that with your redeemed tongue in Heaven. Your tongue will be glorified in Heaven. You will shine like the sun in the kingdom of your father and you will talk only perfect words in Heaven. Isn't that encouraging? Think about that. But now, we should be consistently praising and glorifying God.

Now, when we fell into sin our tongues fell with us. You remember the first sin that Adam committed after eating the fruit? Do you remember? God confronted him. “The woman you put here with me, she gave me some of the fruit.” So he's taken a swipe at both God and his wife. But when we have been redeemed, genuinely redeemed, we're going to speak to one another with “psalms, hymns and spiritual songs.” We're going to sing and make music in our hearts to the Lord. We're going to always give thanks to God the Father through our lord Jesus Christ, Ephesians 5. That's the redeemed tongue. We're going to worship God. So our tongues show our redeemed nature. 

Now, the question he's asking here is how can you praise God one moment and then do that the next moment. How can we sing, in a few moments we're going to sing a closing hymn, how can we sing that closing hymn praising God and then get in the car and say this or that to each other. How can you do that? How can a fresh spring produce salt water or vice versa? But let's speak positively. You've been redeemed, there should be good fruit flowing from your life, not bitterness and not wickedness. So out of your mouths, you should be praising God and out of your mouths you should be blessing others and not speaking in this way. So let your mouth show your transformed nature.

Evaluate Yourself in Light of God’s Law

Alright, applications. This should make all of us repent. We're looking in the mirror of God's word, the perfect law that gives freedom. We're looking in it. How do we look, how do we look? So we should be convicted by this. Start with your family life, without joking at all, just start with your marriage. How do you talk to your spouse? It could be that some of you husbands have some things you need to ask forgiveness for as soon as you can. Ways that you've spoken perhaps even this morning, this very morning to your wife. Some of you wives may need to do the same thing to your husbands. Ways that you've talked to him that show disrespect or sin. We need to look in the mirror of God's law and say, "How am I actually talking to my kids? What do they hear when they hear me speaking? Do they hear a redeemed person?" and you kids, you teens, how do you talk? How do you talk to each other? How do you talk to your parents? You're looking in the mirror of God's law now, what is it saying about the way you're actually using your tongue? 

And what about specific occurrences? Let's go back to the one I mentioned. Affliction comes in your life, you're hurting, something is happening whether great or small. Is your nature to praise God and trust him and speak those words or do you complain? Do you murmur? It's a very common sin, but it's still a sin. “O God set a guard over the door of my mouth when I'm hurting. I don't want to question you.” What about the issue of gossip or slander. How do you talk about someone who is not there? Gossip about other people in the church can hurt their reputation. It can affect the way other people think about them. Do you do it? Do you have a reason to repent, a reason to ask forgiveness? What about lying? What about exaggeration? Tell you what, next time you tell a story about yourself in which you believe that you did well, put that seven-second delay in there and make sure you tell the truth. Don't exaggerate the truth, don't go beyond what the truth is. 

What About Your Language?

What about filthy language, course language? My brother-in-law lives in Amish Country, Pennsylvania. Like what are you going to do with that? Alright, well, I'll tell you. For about a year he had a job in New York City and he would commute from Amish County, Pennsylvania, up to New York City. The closer and closer he got to the Big Apple, he noticed, not just a change in accents, but a change in vocabulary. Unbelievable, the things that were said. But woe to us, if we ever think the sin is just out there, are there coarse words that come out of your mouth, false speaking? Learn therefore to be quiet in God's presence. Start in your prayer life. I would start by getting into the presence of God and just being quiet. “The Lord is in his holy temple. Let all the Earth be silent before him,” Habakkuk. Let's be silent before God and then say, "Lord, would you please teach me what to say and how to say it?" I love this mouth filter that I've used before, Ephesians 4:29, "Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs that it may benefit those who listen." So that weeds out the bad, it allows the pure water through. 

I have a whole house water filter, changing that cartridge is quite a moment. Actually, we had a year in that house before I put one in. I'm like, "What did I drink for that year?" The nasty color of that pure white cartridge that I put in there, it's not pure white anymore. It's a combination of reddish-orange from that clay that we have here in North Carolina and something black, and I'm not sure what that black is but the filter has caught it out. Well, set that filter over your mouth. Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs that it may benefit those who listen. 

So you think about World War I, that gas mask thing, with the big cartridge in front of the mouth like that, that's to protect you from what you're breathing in. It'd be nice to have one for what goes out. But boy, would that look weird? There's a lot of people wearing masks now but imagine a mouth filter. Say what's that, what's a mouth filter? What does it do? Well, it doesn't let any unwholesome talk come out of my mouth but only what is helpful. Well, you don't have to physically wear one. Clean out your heart, clean out your heart. Start there. Say, "Lord, what is in my heart?" I love Philippians 4:8, “whatever is true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent, praiseworthy, think about those things.” You think about those things and that will come out of your mouth. That's one of the reasons I love to memorize scripture. When I'm going through, what I'm doing now is the Gospel of Mark, when I'm doing Mark to and from work when I'm getting over it and saying it over and over, it's amazing the amount of Mark that's coming out of my mouth. It's just Mark all the time. And so, fill your mind with the Word of God. Friends, we have a challenge in front of us, don't we? We have the rest of this day, let's resolve to be holy by the power of the Holy Spirit for the rest of this day.

Close with me in prayer. Father thank you for the clarity of the Word of God. We thank you for the warning tone that it strikes for us. We thank you that you have not left us as orphans, but through the Spirit of Christ, you are in us if we're redeemed. Oh God, I pray that you transform our tongues. Help us to say only those things that will bless and benefit first our spouses then our kids, our parents, our brothers, sisters at home and then our neighbors, our co-workers, Lord, our fellow church members. Help us to use our mouths for what you designed them to do, which is to praise and exalt your glory and your goodness. We pray in Jesus' name, amen.

Turn in your Bibles to James 2. we'll look this morning at verses 14-26. In many ways, this is the theological center of the Book of James. As James, I think, is very practical and throughout five chapters is giving us evidences, or perhaps tests of what genuine, saving faith looks like. Not just here in this one place, but throughout all five chapters. And so, it's vital for us to understand these verses, and they are not easy to understand. We need to be able to harmonize this text with Paul's teaching in Romans 3, we need to be able to see the scripture as what it is, the inerrant and the perfect word of God. 

Our Entire Lives Are Founded on the Perfection of Scripture

The salvation of our eternal souls depends on scripture. It depends on the written word of God, and the perfection of scripture. The Bible says very plainly that the word of God is flawless. In other words, that there are no errors in Scripture. It says in Psalm 18 in verse 30, "As for God, his way is perfect, the word of the Lord is flawless." And again, Psalm 12:6 says the same thing, "The words of the Lord are flawless, like silver, refined in a furnace of clay, purified seven times over." 

Now why is this true? Why is the scripture perfect? Well, because all scripture is God-breathed, 2 Timothy 3:16, "All scripture is breathed out by God, and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness." Also the origin of Scripture is taught plainly in 2 Peter Chapter 1:21, it says, "Prophecy never had its origin in the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit." So the mind of God is perfect. As the text says that we just heard God is one. And what that means is there's no contradiction within the mind of God. He's never confused about anything, he is never at a loss for words, he never has no idea what to say. Once having said something he never has to double back and retract something that he said or add to it later because it was inadequate in any way. The word of God is perfect because the mind of God is perfect. And so, the doctrine of inerrancy is vital to the salvation of our souls. 

The Doctrine of Inerrancy is Vital

If we knew that the Bible were, for example, 99% accurate what would you do with that knowledge? Would not your imagination be running amok? Would you not wonder constantly about that 1%? And wouldn’t it crop up every time the Scripture crossed you in some way? In some way taught you something you didn't quite understand or in some way got in your business, got in your grill and convicted you about something? Would you not wonder about that 1%? And pretty soon 1% might become 2%. And effectively 5% and then 10%, and after a while you're not sure about any of it at all. So inerrancy is vital. 

Now, the essence of liberal theology is to teach us that the Bible is essentially a human book. It's what people in the past thought about religion, what people in the past thought about God. It's kind of an evolutionary view as well as we're getting more and more evolved. We understand spirituality, we've gone beyond the archaic teachings of the Bible. You've heard this kind of thing. 

Well, in our denomination there was a battle fought for the Bible called the Battle of the Bible in the 1970s. And was specifically over what kinds of things would be taught in the seminaries. Would the seminaries teach liberal theology? That the Bible is essentially a human book and then get up on Sundays and preach like that, or would the seminaries train men to preach the word as inerrant as the word of God. And we praise God that despite the overall tendency of mainline denominations to slide toward liberalism, the Southern Baptist Convention was willing to turn back to the doctrine of inerrancy, and therefore we have to continue to be vigilant and to fight for it. 

The Complexity of Words

However, words are complex, words are challenging. Paul himself said that we “see through a glass darkly.” That is, when we read scripture, it's not the same as seeing God face-to-face. We're going to have an infinitely clearer understanding of truth in heaven than we do right now, and words are part of the problem. It is by words that God saves us. “I'm not ashamed of the Gospel because it is the power of God for salvation.” And the Gospel is a set of words instead of doctrines about Jesus and about ourselves and about God, etcetera. But words can be difficult. They can challenge us. Married couples, you know very well what I'm talking about. Have you ever just talked past each other? And you have to go back and define terms? It's like, "No, no, no, you don't understand what I'm saying." Maybe that only happens with me and my wife, where you get just snared in your words, it's like, "Do we even understand what we're talking about?" Politicians do this, they just talk right by each other. And it's like, "Are we even operating from the same dictionary with the same definitions?" I mean, English is a strange language. It wasn't until I tried to teach it in Japan that I realized what a weird language we speak. And any of you who have done English as a second language, you've done some of this teaching, you realize how bizarre it is. Like the spelling rules are weird. But even some things like this, like complete and incomplete are opposites, right? But flammable and inflammable are synonyms. Figure that out. Give and take are opposites. But a caretaker, and a caregiver is the same person. I've never been able to figure that out, is a caregiver somebody who gives care or takes care? I don't know. Tell me afterwards what you think about that. Or this one, I could care less and I couldn't care less. Don't they mean the same thing? 

So, we're constantly struggling with this and it happens even theologically, even in the Book of James. He uses a word in one way, “peirazo,” the Greek word for “try” or “test” and says that God does do that, he tests us and tries us. But he uses the same word a little later, which means in that context tempt saying, "God never tempts us." Exact same Greek word. Or you could look at the word for lust, epithumia in the Greek. It also means strong desire, and so obviously, all of our temptations are based on lust but the same Greek word is used for the Holy Spirit's deep desire over our hearts, that he yearns for us deeply. Same Greek word. Or again, the word translated zeal or jealousy, “zelos” in the Greek. Sometimes it's the one, sometimes the other. We're told that we should not have a carnal jealousy for one another, but we should never be lacking in zeal toward God. Context is king. So this is the challenge of language and God has entrusted the salvation of our souls to the words of Scripture, but that doesn't mean that the words are easy to understand. And therefore, 2 Timothy 2:15 says, to Timothy, as a pastor, "Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved. A workman who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth." Cutting it straight, handling it properly.

And so, we go to seminary, those that are set apart as preachers and we learn theology, we learn Church history, we learn exegesis, the original languages, so that we can rightly divide the word of truth. It's not always easy to understand. Now, the flaw is with us. There's nothing wrong with the scripture, it's not like God could have written it better. Jesus said to the Sadducees, who are basically the liberals of his day, "You are in error, because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God." There's nothing wrong with the scripture, there's something wrong with us. And so we bring confusion, we bring double-mindedness to the scripture and that makes it hard for us to understand.

The Apparent Contradiction

So, what apparent contradiction are we talking about? Well, in Romans 3:28, Paul says these words, "We maintain that a person is justified by faith apart from the works of the law." A person is justified by faith, not works. But then look at verse 24 of our text today, James 2:24 says "You see that a person is justified by what he does and not by faith alone." So this is an apparent contradiction, and it's not insignificant, it's not like perhaps some difficulty with one genealogy and another genealogy, where a name seems to be skipped or something like that. This goes right to the heart of how it is that sinners are made right with God. Now because of this, Martin Luther, the great 16th century reformer had a very low view of the Book of James. He was constantly battling on the issue of justification by faith alone. When he realized that sinners are made right with God, forgiven of their sins by faith and not by works, he was liberated from that slavery that he was living under as a monk. He said, "If anyone could have ever won Heaven by monkery, it would have been me." You can picture him like in the recent Martin Luther movie, down on his hands and knees scrubbing a floor. And the floor is already clean, because he's already scrubbed it, but now he's scrubbing it some more. This is a man who spent constant hours confessing tiny sins of his mind and heart to his confessor, Father Staupitz. He was relentlessly afflicted by terror of Hell and by the fear of the Law. And then at last, he understood justification by faith alone. That simply by trusting in Christ and not by works are our sins forgiven. And he said, "It was like the gates of Heaven flew open and I walked in." But then he's got to debate on this with the Roman Catholic magisterium, with the Medieval Roman Catholic hierarchy and they're constantly battling and no doubt they threw James in his face. And so therefore, in 1522 when he wrote an introduction to the New Testament, he called the Book of James, "An epistle of straw." Because it has very little of the Gospel, about it. Well, the great man was wrong.

So I know he's not here to defend himself, but he's fine, he's up in Heaven, he's not worried about what we think about him. But he was wrong. It's not an epistle of straw. Now, he did call him Saint James, and he didn't drop it out of the cannon. But I think he had a fundamental misunderstanding of these words. This is an apparent contradiction. There cannot be an actual contradiction in words spoken by God. And so we have to make an effort to harmonize what Paul says in Romans, and what James says here in chapter 2, because each of these scriptures are equally God-breathed. They're equally coming from the mind of God.

Charles Spurgeon once, when he was talking about the debate on Calvinism, on divine sovereignty and human responsibility, he was asked, "How do you reconcile the doctrine of God's absolute sovereignty over salvation and the doctrine of human responsibility?" And Spurgeon said, "I would never try. I never have to reconcile friends. Divine sovereignty and human responsibility have never had an argument or falling out with one another. They're very good friends. So I wouldn't make any effort to try to reconcile them." End quote. So it is with this, there is an apparent contradiction and we don't need to reconcile them. They are teaching vital aspects of the salvation of our souls, and we need to try to harmonize them.

The Central Issue of Sinful Humanity is Salvation

The second part of my outline says this, "The crown jewel of the Gospel is Justification by Faith Alone.” The central issue of human salvation is how sinners like us can stand righteous before God, on Judgment Day. And then for all eternity in heaven." How can we go to heaven? How can sinners like us stand before a God who, the Scripture says is a consuming fire? The angels, the holy angels cover their faces, and they cry, "Holy, holy, holy." Isaiah, a godly man and a prophet said, "Woe is me, I'm ruined. For I'm a man of unclean lips and I live among a people of unclean lips and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord almighty." How can sinners like us be made right with God? "All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." Romans 3:23. God is perfectly holy, he has a perfect record of our actions and of the inclinations of our hearts. And how can we be made right in his sight? We could never save ourselves. And so God did it, by sending his Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, who is begotten by the power of the Holy Spirit. Who is born fully God, fully man, who lived a sinless life, as recorded in the scriptures. Who did all these great teachings, who did all these incredible miracles but especially he was crucified on the cross as a substitutionary atonement for our sins. On the third day, God raised him from the dead. That is the Gospel. But how are we sinners to tap into that? How are we to connect with that work of Christ? And the Bible makes it very, very plain that we are justified by faith alone, apart from any works we could ever do.

How Are Sinners Made Right With God?

Listen to Romans Chapter 4:5, "To the one who does not work but trust him who justifies the wicked, his faith is credited to him as righteousness." That maybe, probably the clearest and most important verse on justification by faith apart from works in the Bible. Let me read it again. Romans 4:5, "To the one who does not work but trust him who justifies the wicked, his faith is credited as righteousness." Or again, Galatians 2:16, "We know that a person is not justified by observing the Law, but by faith in Jesus Christ, so we too have put our faith in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by observing the Law, because by observing the Law, no one will be justified." And again, Ephesians 2, 8 to 9, it says, "For by grace, are you saved through faith, and this not of yourselves, it's the gift of God. Not by works, so that no one can boast." There are many other verses like this. This is the center-piece of the Gospel, this is the crown jewel of the Christian religion.

Every other religion in the world is a religion of human works. All of them. There are Islamic good works, so defined. There are Buddhist good works, so defined. Hinduistic good works, so defined. Even the cults have their own system of works, inevitably flogging their members with a pattern of morality that they have to keep, in order to go to Heaven. All of the cults do it. Every religion in the world is a religion of human works and human endeavor, except for this one, the religion of God's sovereign grace. Martin Luther put it this way, "The Law says, do this and it is never done." The Gospel says, "Believe this man, and it is done already." So we're actually trusting in Jesus' works, not in our own. We're trusting in his perfect obedience to the Law, not in our own. We're trusting in his death, his bloody death on the cross to atone for our sins and pay the death penalty we deserve. So that we don't have to die eternally in Hell. That's the Gospel and that's the center-piece of Christianity. John Calvin said this, "Wherever the knowledge of justification by faith is taken away, the glory of Christ is extinguished, religion is abolished, the Church is destroyed and the hope of salvation is utterly overthrown." So we believe that we are forgiven, made right in the sight of a Holy God by simple faith, not by good works.

Outline point number three, “The Different Questions that Paul and James are Answering.” Now, Paul and James are seeking to answer different questions. Paul's question is, "How is a sinner made right with a Holy God? How can we be forgiven? How can we stand holy in his sight? How can we be welcomed into a perfect, holy heaven given that we have sinned?” And the answer is, by faith in Christ and not by works. But James' question is different. We could say two questions, first, "What kind of faith actually justifies?" And secondly, "How is that faith lived out or displayed in a genuinely saved person's life?" Those are the questions James is asking. Now Paul is also going to have to address those same questions. James and Paul are both true teachers of the true Gospel and they both had to address both sides of this equation.

Paul’s Answers

Now, Paul knew very well that the doctrine of justification by faith alone, apart from any works was open to misunderstanding and was open to slander and to being twisted. He knew that. Again and again in Romans, at least four times, he has to address slanderous accusations made against him and his doctrines. For example, he taught beautifully, and I love this verse, Romans 5:20, "Where sin abounds, grace abounds all the more." Isn't that incredibly encouraging? You can't sin beyond God's provision of grace. So, I've pictured my sin as a fire. Sometimes like a match, sometimes like a torch, sometimes like a bonfire, sometimes like a raging inferno, and then God's provision of grace like the Pacific Ocean. And whether you take the match and put it in, or the torch, or the bonfire, or the raging inferno, and you drop it in the Pacific Ocean, God's grace is supra-abundant it's greater than all of our sins. And so where our sin abounds, grace abounds even more.

Well, you know what's going to happen, as soon as you teach that, they're going to say, "Well then, why don't we just go on sinning, so that grace may abound?" Have you ever heard that before? That's Romans 6:1. Paul knew very well that that's what people would say. "Well, if that's true, then we can sin as much as we want. Sin to beat the band and then go to Heaven afterwards. Can live it up in sin, and then go to Heaven afterwards." And Paul has to say, "May it never be." And for three chapters, Romans 6, 7, and 8, he unfolds the doctrine of sanctification, of progressive holiness. Of what kind of life you should live if you are a genuinely justified person. And it's a life of holiness, it's a life of putting sin to death by the Spirit, it's a life of obedience. He teaches all that, Romans 6, 7, and 8. So he would not in any way disagree that not every kind of faith saves a sinner. There are different kinds of faith. Other religions have fanatically devoted adherence to their religion, and they have all kinds of faith that their religion is true. 

Jesus himself in his own day, had tons of people following him because they saw his miracles. But it says at the end of John 2, it said “many put their faith in Him because of the miracles, but Jesus would not entrust Himself to them because He knew all men and He did not need anyone's testimony about man because he knew what was in a man.” So just because it says someone believed, doesn't mean that it's a genuine saving faith. So James is getting at what kind of faith actually justifies. 

Obedience Does Not Add to Justification

Now, Paul wants to be very, very clear, please don't misunderstand. It's not like you have faith as part one of your justification, and then you add good works as part two of your justification and those together are the way by which you are forgiven of your sins. That is a false doctrine. It's exactly what Paul is seeking to destroy concerning the Judaizers. The Judaizers said they believed in Jesus, they believed Jesus was the Son of God, they believed that Jesus died on the cross and was raised from the dead, they believed that forgiveness of sins was available in part by faith in Christ. But you had to add the Law of Moses, you had to add circumcision and all of the precepts of the Law of Moses, if you were going to be saved. Faith in Christ alone does not save you, it's faith plus works. That's the Gospel of the Judaizers. And he absolutely vigorously taught against that. You are fully, completely justified the moment you believe in Jesus. Justification is a perfected state from which you can never fall out. If you have been justified, genuinely justified, you're justified forever, forgiven forever, reconciled to God forever. God's at peace with you forever. That's the beauty of it. But now, you have a life to live. And what kind of life will you live and what kind of faith justifies? 

Now, I think Galatians 5:6 gives us a key harmonizing verse. We're going to come back to it, but I want to say it now and just get it in your mind. Galatians 5:6 says, "For in Christ Jesus, neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything, but only," listen to this, "faith working through love." Faith working through love. Hold on to that phrase. We're going to circle back and talk about it later. 

Outline point number four, “Useless Faith, Dead Faith, Unproven Faith, and Demonic Faith Do Not Save a Soul.” So let's walk through each of these. The question James is addressing is, “What kind of faith saves a sinner?” Secondly, “How does that faith display itself in a person's actual life?” So the issue of what kind of faith comes up clearly in verse 14. Look at verse 14. "What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save him?" That's one translation, or, "Can that faith save him?" Can that kind of faith that I'm about to describe or that I have described here, faith with no works, can that kind of faith save a soul? So we're dealing with the issue of what kind of faith do you have? All right, so James brings up four types of faith in James two: Useless faith, dead faith, unproven faith and demon faith. So let's walk through them. 

Useless Faith

First, useless faith. Verse 14, "What good is it?" What good is it, what does it benefit, how does it profit, what difference does it make, that kind of thing? Does your faith do you or anyone else any good in this world? Is it good for anything? And if it's not, we would call it useless. Look at verses 15-16, the example he gives. "Suppose your brother or sister is without clothes and daily foods. If one of you says to him, 'Go. I wish you well. Keep warm and well fed,' but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it?" What good is it? So, there's a practical need, you see the need, and you do literally nothing to meet it. What good is it if the person's trembling, shivering with cold, and they haven't eaten anything in a day, and you say, "Go, I wish you well," and you pat them on the back and send them on their way?  James is ridiculing that. Their stomach is still growling and they're still trembling. They have interacted with you, a supposed believer in Christ, and nothing has changed at all. You have made no impact on the person's life, no impact on their experience. What good is it? He's going to say the same thing in verse 20. "You foolish man. Do you want evidence that faith without deeds is useless?" So the word there is “idol,” or “lazy,” or “unemployed.” Your faith is unemployed, it's an unemployed faith. As though I think your faith is the sluggard of the Book of Proverbs. You remember the character, the sluggard. What an interesting individual the sluggard is. "As a door turns on its hinges, so the sluggard turns in its bed." Or look at the sluggard, he dips his bread into the dish, but he will not bring it to his mouth. He needs his mommy to help him, help him to feed. “Just, would you please just lift this bread with the sop into my mouth? Thank you so much.” The sluggard makes excuses saying, "There's a lion out in the streets. Who knows, I might get mauled," and so he stays home for the day. And you look at his house and it's overgrown with weeds, and the roof is falling apart. It's the life of the sluggard. That's the word that's used here. Your faith is like that, it's a sluggard faith. It doesn't do anything in this world, it's useless. James does not want a congregation of so-called believers whose faith makes no difference in the world in which they live. 

Dead Faith

Secondly, dead faith. Look at verse 17. "In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead." So James goes even further, he calls it a dead faith. There's no life there. And that's vital, isn't it? Because Jesus comes to give us eternal life. And if your faith is dead, it means you have no life. You're not alive in Jesus. You're actually dead in your transgressions and sins. You don't actually have spiritual life, it's a dead faith. Now, the key issue here has to do with fruit. If there's no fruit, there's no life. And so, what is fruit? And that's vital for us as we read the New Testament. What kind of fruit are we looking at? And I'll talk about it at the very end of the message here, but the Bible defines what good fruit is. 

One preacher said there's two main categories of fruit: Attitude fruit and action fruit. So attitude fruit would be the internal attitudes of your heart, the fruit of the Spirit. Those are demeanors and dispositions of your heart. But then there's action fruit, and that's what James is talking about here. It just rolls out into actual things that you've done. But if there's no fruit, there's no life. Jesus said, in Matthew 12:33, "Make a tree good and its fruit will be good. Make a tree bad and its fruit will be bad. For a tree is known by its fruit." Or, again, Jesus said in John 15, "I am the true vine and my Father is the vine dresser. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit, He prunes so that it will be even more fruitful." A few verses later, he says, "Such fruitless branches, that are on the ground, are collected, picked up and thrown into the fire and burned." So in other words, he's saying if there's a branch that's in Christ in some sense, they're not grafted in, but it's hanging on. Could imagine a vibrant vine and then a branch that's been cut off, it's not connected, and it's just laying on top of the grape vine. There's no genuine life, it little by little, starts to wither and it gets faded, it gets yellow, then it gets brown, then black. It's dead. And you can see it especially when the time comes for harvest. Spurgeon said, "The source of the apple tree's life is the root. Whether it has apples or not, the source of the tree’s life is the root. But, in the spring, if that tree has no little bud, and if that bud doesn't develop into a leafy cluster, and if that doesn't develop into a tiny little green hard apple, and if that doesn't develop into a rosy red or pink apple, then there's no life in the tree.” So you have to see the fruit in order to see the life. Now, the fruit does not create the life, it proves it, it gives evidence that there actually is life there. Dead faith produces no fruit because there's no life in it. 

Unproven Faith

Thirdly, unproven faith. Verse 18. So this is kind of like Missouri, the “Show Me” state. I wonder, where did they get that name? I'm just curious. Were there a bunch of people that were like, "I don't believe it. I don't believe it. Show me." All right, so you got the Show Me state. So if any of you are from Missouri or know the answer, I would like to know the answer. All right,  it's like, show me that you have faith. If you just tell me that you have faith, I have no way of knowing. Look in verse 18. "Someone will say you have faith, I have deeds. Show me your faith without deeds and I'll show you my faith by what I do." So genuine, saving faith produces a transformed nature. Jesus called it being born again. So if you have a genuine faith in Christ, you're given a new nature. "If anyone is in Christ, he's a new creation. The old is gone, everything becomes new," 2 Corinthians 5:17. You've become changed. There's a new nature. But that new nature has to show itself, it has to act out. It is a heart issue. It is a heart issue. You don't move a muscle to be justified. The thief on the cross didn't move a muscle to believe that Jesus was the coming king. But if he had never said anything, we would not have known that he was saved. Jesus would not have said, "Today, you'll be with me in paradise," just by reading his mind, though he could read it. It was the fact that he said something. He couldn't do anything, but he was speaking. So there has to be movement. It has to move a muscle. You have to talk a certain way, and then walk a certain way, and do certain things if you are genuinely a born again. 

And the cases of Abraham and Rahab, that James is going to bring up, show faith tested and proven is genuine, and that only happens with works. Now, I believe that James may be using the word "justified" differently than Paul. I think that's part of the problem here. I think Paul is, when he says that we are justified by faith apart from works, I think that means before God, vertically, in standing with God, as in a court of law, acquitted, declared righteous, legally by God the judge. That's how he means "justified by faith apart from works". I think with James, it's much more vindicated or proven. The individual is vindicated as a righteous person, vindicated or proven as having genuine faith. It has to be proven. We'll talk more about that in a moment. 

Demon Faith

The fourth kind of defective faith, verse 19, is demon faith. Look at verse 19. It says, "You believe that there is one God. Good. Even the demons believe that and shutter." Now, this may be the key issue. On what basis do individuals, who are not genuinely born again, claim that they are Christians? Generally, it means that they assent to the Christian doctrines. They assent that those doctrines are true. And if asked by someone in a poll, "Are you a Christian, Muslim, Buddhist, etcetera?" They're going to say, "Christian." 65% of the American population claims to be Christian. But if you were to ask them on what basis, they'd say, "Well, I believe the things that the Christian Church teaches," things like that. 

What James is saying here is that assent, agreement, to orthodox doctrine is not enough to save your soul. It is necessary, but not sufficient. That's a logical term. You need it, without it you cannot be saved, but it's not enough. And why does he say that? He gives the example of demons. The demons have orthodox doctrine. They know the Ps and Qs, and all that. They can dot every I and cross every T. They know they know the Bible far better than anyone in this room. Satan knows the Bible far better than we do. So demons understand, for example that there is one God and only one God, the oneness of God. "Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one." They know that there are not many gods and goddesses. They know that very well, they're the ones that concocted the gods and goddesses. They know that Jupiter and Venus and Aphrodite are not real. They're god and goddess impersonators. They know that there is one God. And so, James is saying, “if that's you, you believe that there is one God, good. That's a good thing, but the demons believe it too and they shudder.” 

The Demons Shudder

Now, what does that mean, that they shudder? One of two possibilities. First and foremost, simply, they shudder in terror. They're terrified of the one God. They know that their time is short. Satan, in Revelation 12, knows that his time is short, that he's going to end up in the Lake of Fire. All of his angels, the devil and his angels, are in rebellion against Almighty God. And when Jesus came and started driving out demons, one of the demons said, "Have you come here to torture us before the appointed time? I know who you are, the Holy One of God." They were terrified of Jesus. They knew that there's a time coming when they're going to be judged. And so, they believe that there is one God and they are terrified of him, they shudder. That's one way of understanding the shuttering. 

The other could be a shuddering of revulsion. They shudder at every true doctrine of the Bible because they hate them all. They hate God, the hate human beings, they hate righteousness, they hate everything pure and holy. And so, it's not enough to just believe that things are true. The question is, is your heart attracted to it, is it amiable to you, is it delightful to you? Do you love God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength? Do you love your neighbor as yourself? It's a matter of love and affection. And so the demons believe that there is one God. By the way, that's an interesting insight into the spiritual realm. What it means is they don't see God all the time, they have to believe in God like we do. It's not like God's in their face all the time, they have to kind of be brought into his presence, as in the Book of Job. And so they're just moving around in a spiritual realm like we are in a physical realm. They don't see the Holy God all the time, but they believe he's there, and they know what's going to happen. And some day, he's going to judge them and condemn them.

So, in the end, it all boils down to two different issues. Useless faith, dead faith, and unproven faith all lack deeds. There are no corresponding works. But demon faith lacks loving relationship with God vertically, a loving connection or intimacy with God. And so let's go back to that harmonizing verse, Galatians 5:6, "For in Christ Jesus, neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything, but only faith working through love." So what does that mean? True faith justifies the sinner, causes the righteousness of Christ to be imputed, credited, or reckoned to us, and then transforms the heart and gets it busy in work. It makes your heart healthy and active and energetic. It starts to work through love. Your heart now sees God vertically as beautiful, attractive, the loving Heavenly Father, the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, it sees your neighbor as yourself and you start to move out in love. It starts to work in love. And so genuine, saving faith works. It energetically works in love.

And so, the issue is clearly addressed. Verses 15-16, "Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes or daily food. Suppose one of you says to him, 'Go. I wish you well. Keep warm and well fed,' but does nothing about his physical needs. What good is it?" Well, saving faith would never do that. Saving faith is going to say, "What can I do to help this brother or sister without clothes or daily food?" Just like we saw with the talking about orphans and widows, to look after orphans and widows in their distress, to actually do something to care for them. Not just come and visit them, but to make certain that their needs are met. Just as we've been saying in the sheep and the goats, when the Son of Man comes, he's going to gather all of his sheep together and he's going to say to his sheep, "Come, you who are blessed by my Father, take your inheritance. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat. I was thirsty, you gave me something to drink. I was a stranger and you invited me in. I needed clothes and you clothed me. I was sick and you took care of me. I was in prison, you came to visit me." Now, Jesus is not saying because or on the basis of those works, your sins were forgiven. That would be justification by works. But he's saying this is the evidence of the fact that you are in fact my sheep.

Case #1: Abraham

Well, he then gives us two case studies, Abraham and Rahab. And this is where the verbiage gets so difficult. Let's walk through these case studies. First, Abraham. Verses 21-24, "Was not Abraham, our ancestor, justified for what he did when he offered his son, Isaac, on the altar? You see that his faith and his actions were working together and his faith was made complete by what he did. And the scripture was fulfilled that says, 'Abraham believed God and it was credited him as righteousness,' and he was called God's friend. You see that a person is justified by what he does and not by faith alone." Well, James knows very well that this text in Genesis 15, where God says to Abraham, "Come out and look up at the starry sky, look at all those beautiful stars up there in the night sky.” And then He made him a promise, "So shall your offspring be." And he knows that Abraham believed that promise and right there and then, it was credited to him as righteousness. Romans 4 zeros in on that moment when Abraham, who Paul calls wicked in that he was an idolater, an unbeliever but a sinner, when he was made righteous, he was reckoned as righteous. James knows about that whole account. But he also knows, as do we, of the testing of Abraham's faith, which actually happened over years, but especially in Genesis 22. You remember Genesis 22, in verse 1, "Some time later, God tested Abraham, saying, 'take your son, your only son, Isaac, whom you love, and offer him up as a burnt offering in one of the mountains I'll tell you about.'" 

Now that is a severe test of faith. And what did he do? Well, he obeyed. He got up and obeyed. He saddled up his donkey the next morning, he and his son went, they got to Mount Moriah where God identified it, they started going up the mountain, he stretched out his son, he took the dagger and he was just about to plunge it into his son's breast. Genesis 22, verse 10-12, "Then he reached out his hand and took the knife to slay his son, but the angel of the Lord called out to him from heaven, 'Abraham, Abraham.' 'Here I am,' he replied. 'Do not lay a hand on the boy. Do nothing to him.'" Now, listen to these words. "Now, I know that you fear God." It's incredible. That's God saying that Abraham, "Now, I know that you fear God since you have not withheld from me your son, your only son." Now, the Lord knows everything. He knew Abraham's heart. He knew the future, he knew what he would do. But he wanted it acted out in space and time. He wanted actual works of obedience. And when those actual works occurred, then he can say, "Now, I know that you believe in Jesus because you have obeyed Me." And so that's the case study here. And then, the scripture was fulfilled that says, "Abraham believed God and it was credited as righteousness." It was lived out, it was vindicated. It was proven in space and time. Every single day we have opportunities to obey. Faith is like a magnet seeking iron to be attracted to. We are, as believers, looking for a command to obey, and there are many of them. As Jesus said, "Teaching them to obey everything I have commanded." There are so many commands; commands about our marriages, parenting, commands about our prayer lives, our money. Our lives are filled with commands in the New Testament, and in the old, that are still binding on us. And faith, genuine faith, is just looking for a way to obey just as Abraham did. 

Case #2: Rahab

Case number two is Rahab. Verse 25, "In the same way, was not even Rahab, the prostitute, considered righteous for what she did when she gave lodging to the spies and sent them off in a direction, in a different direction?" So, Rahab believed in her heart that the God of the Hebrews was the true God and that the Jews were going to inherit the Promised Land, she believed that. Listen to what it says in Joshua 2:9-11. "I know that the Lord has given this land to you and that a great fear of you has fallen on us, so that all who live in this country are melting and fear because of you. We have heard how the Lord dried up the water of the Red Sea for you when you came out of Egypt, and what you did to Sihon and Og, the two Kings of the Amorites east of the Jordan, whom you completely destroyed. When we heard of it, our hearts melted and everyone's courage failed because of you", listen to this, "for the Lord your God is God in Heaven above and on the earth below." So she had this heart faith, but then she had an opportunity to act on it. When the two spies came to her house, she hid them from the officials there in Jericho, and then sent them off in a different direction so that they would not be captured. And in this way, she physically saved herself and her family from destruction when the walls of Jericho fell. But more than that, she gave a clear example that she had a saving faith in the living God, faith just like the Old Testament saints did, that God is the God of heaven above and the earth below. And God had a special place for Rahab. She ended up making it into Jesus' genealogy. Isn't that incredible? She was King David's great grandmother. And so, she married Boaz, and Boaz gave birth to Obed, and Obed gave birth to Jesse, and Jesse was the father of David. And so, Rahab was in the lineage, the physical lineage, of Jesus. And we're going to see her in Heaven. And so, a sinner is made right with a Holy God simply by believing the Gospel, simply by trusting in Christ for the forgiveness of sins.

Has that happened to all of you? Do you know that your sins are forgiven by simply trusting Christ? If you're not trusting in Christ, you are certainly trusting in your own works. It's what people do, “I'm basically a good person and my good works are going to outweigh my bad.” I hear this all the time. I would say throw that away. None of our works is pure in the sight of God. None of us. None of our works are perfect. They cannot justify us. Trusting in Christ alone. But once you've done that, what kind of life are you going to live for the rest of your life? What kind of works are you going to display? I want to give you, just quickly, what kinds of works you should look for.

First of all, works of repentance, where you realize you are grieved over your sin. You don't just accept the sin in your life, you're grieved over it, you hurt over it, you seek it out. You say, "Lord, show me the sins of my life. I'm not going to be complacent about the sins of my life." So, works of repentance, of confession of sin, of seeing it and fighting against it. Works of secret piety. Are you meeting with the Lord daily, taking in the word of God? Are you praying? Do you go into your prayer closet?  It doesn't have to be a physical closet, but do you have a secret prayer life? Do you commune with God through the Holy Spirit throughout the day? Do you have a sense of intimacy with Christ, works of secret piety?

Thirdly, works of obedience. I just said a moment ago, are you seeking out ways you can say to Jesus, "I will obey you"? Are you willing to sacrificially obey? Very few of us are going to be tested as much as Abraham was tested, but God does test us. Are you willing to do difficult things? Sacrificial obedience, patterns in your life. Works of separation from the world. In what way are you saying, "I don't want the world's stuff, I'm not interested in the world's lust. I'm not interested in the world's bag"? Are you actually turning away from the world's entertainment patterns and the world's values. Are you increasingly separated from this world? None of us is that perfectly, but if you recognize the corruption of the things in this world, and you hate it, and you don't want any part of it, you want to be pleasing to God and you want to go to Heaven when you die, you want to live a supernatural kind of life, works of separation.

And then, finally, works of love. Certainly works of love to God, heartfelt worship, where it's not true of you when you come to corporate worship, "These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from [God]." You've got a heart filled with the desire to praise him. And then, you sing and you pray like somebody who genuinely loves God. But then, horizontally, you're loving your neighbors as yourself; could be orphan and widow care, it could be those administering to the poor and needy, it could be evangelism. You're seeking to alleviate suffering, whatever way you can make people suffering in this world, and even more importantly in the next, less so that they will not suffer eternally, but will have eternal life. But then, you can alleviate some physical suffering now. Are you doing those kinds of works? 

Close with me in prayer. Father, we thank you for the clarity of the word of God. It is not easy always for us to understand it and how we can harmonize justification by faith alone and then that energetic life of good works. As you said to your disciples, "Anyone who believes in me will do the work that I've been doing, and greater works than these will he do." For 20 centuries, the church has been pouring out great works, works of faith. And so Lord, I pray for First Baptist Church. Help us to make a huge difference in this community, that it would make a difference whether this church is even here or not, that we would be evangelistically powerful, and that we would be mercy ministry powerful. That we would be the kind of church that's doing a river of good works for your glory, not to earn our place or to forgive our sins, but that we might shine as lights in a dark place. In Jesus' name, amen.

So turn in your Bibles to James 2. We'll look this morning at verses 1-13. I'm sorry for my physical condition. I'm not feeling very well. Don't worry, I don't think it's the Coronavirus. When I was in California I saw tons of people with masks on and all that. I tried to stay away from them. I wonder if they had masks on so they would stay away from me. But just be praying for my voice, that it won't give out. And at the end of this message, I'm going to talk a little about those conditions, and the Lord's been pressing some of those things on my heart. 

Favoritism Throughout Church History

I have a love for church history. I come from New England, and if you're up there in New England you can see everywhere, basically on every street corner, historic congregational churches. The Church was really the center of every community, congregational churches were the center of every community. And if you went into some of those, the older churches, you could see boxed pews. You could see pews with boxes and little doors next to them, and they would have plaques on them with ancestral family names engraved on those plaques. In my opinion, they represent a scandal in the history of the church because wealthy families were able to reserve the best seats in the house and pay for them by their tithes and offerings, and actually were able to bequeath those seats to their children, and then eventually to their grandchildren. So this would go on for generation after generation. And this reflected the aristocratic nature of colonial society in which those with the power and wealth could buy the best seats in the churches. 

You see the same thing if you've ever been to colonial Williamsburg. You can go into the Bruton Parish Church there, and you can see plaques where, "This was Thomas Jefferson's pew", or, "This was George Washington's pew", etcetera, same kinds of things. Now, these things were much more on display in the caste system, aristocratic England, and in Europe. One ancient document of the ecclesiastical laws for the Church of England had this statement, listen to this. "The parishioners have indeed a claim to be seated according to their rank and station, but the church wardens are not, in providing for these, to overlook the claims of all the parishioners to be seated if sittings can be afforded to them." Now listen, as a church historian you have to learn to read between the lines. Let me put that in simple language. Alright? "The wealthy powerful people should be seated in the best seats, and if there are any seats left over for the poor people, they can have them." Do you wonder if they actually even read the text we're about to look at today? I mean, it's such a clear violation of the spirit of what the Lord is saying in James 2:1-13. The problem of favoritism, of we could even use the word discrimination, in churches is not a new one. It's been going on for a long time, even going back to the very beginning of the Church. 

James Simply Forbids Favoritism

So this is my first point in the outline, “Favoritism is Forbidden in Christ's Church, verses 1-4. Look at verse 1, "My brothers, as believers in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ, don't show favoritism." This is absolutely prohibited, forbidden in the life of the Church. Congregations of Christians must show the total equality of all human beings before the Law of God and before the cross of Christ. The Law of God and the cross of Christ are great levelers of human beings. And we see this throughout the New Testament. Colossians 3:11 says, "Here there is no Greek or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, Barbarian, Scythian, slave or free." The last is a socioeconomic division, "but Christ is all and is in all." 

What is Favoritism?

So when we come to favoritism, as I mentioned, another translation might be “discrimination,” but the literal Greek word is the “lifting up of someone's face.” The lifting up of the face. So that means judging someone by external appearance, by their face, by their position, by their clothing, etcetera, by their wealth and social status, partiality, being a respecter of persons. 

James on Specific Incidents of Favoritism

James gets very specific about the kind of favoritism that he means. Look at verses 2-4, "Suppose a man comes into your meeting wearing a gold ring and fine clothes and a poor man in shabby clothes also comes in, if you show special attention to the man wearing fine clothes, and say, 'Here's a good seat for you', but say to the poor man, 'You stand there, or sit on the floor by my feet', Have you not discriminated among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts?" So in this case it specifically has to do with the rich. The case study is of the church assembled for worship to hear the word of God preached, to sing the praises of the Lord Jesus Christ. So two different men walk into the service. We don't know anything about them. James doesn't tell us anything about them in terms of their spiritual condition. Perhaps they're believers or unbelievers, he doesn't say. Perhaps members of the church or not. Again, he doesn't say. The only difference has to do with their clothing, their physical appearance and what that shows about their status, about their wealth. 

One man has a gold ring and fine clothes, literally shining clothes, radiant clothes, and they are perhaps shimmering with light, the highest quality clothing is this individual. So he's got a gold ring, he's got nice jewelry, and shining clothes, and the other man is wearing poor, shabby clothes. The Greek word implies the clothes are actually filthy. The King James version has the word, “vile.” So that's a clear translation. So perhaps they smell or they stink. So this is a key moment when these two individuals walk in, how they are treated. If you show special attention to the man wearing the gold ring and the fine clothes, the shining clothes, and you've got a reserved section for wealthy people, and you usher him right to the best seat in the house, say, "Here's an excellent seat for you", but then a moment later you treat the poor man in a very shabby way, shoving him off to the side or having him sit on the floor. By the way, I don't mean any disrespect for those of you that are sitting off to the side. I did clear it with some of you folks saying they're actually not bad seats, but we don't have any special section. We don't have a roped off section based on people's socioeconomic status. But if you treat that poor man in a shabby way you have violated the spirit of the text, you've violated the Law of God. That's what James is saying, that's exactly what he's talking about. And this doesn't seem to have been merely theoretical, it was actually happening. 

Look at verse 6, "You have insulted the poor." He's not saying, "If this should happen to happen." It was already happening. And he's saying, "This must stop." He gives an array of reasons why it must stop. Let's walk through them. This is outline point number two, “Favoritism is Contrary to Christ and to God.” Verse 1, "My brothers, as believers in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ, don't show favoritism." So Jesus is called here the Lord of glory. What a beautiful title for Jesus, the Lord of glory. In this text he talks about people being rich in faith. I want you all to be rich in faith. I want you to be richer in faith at the end of this sermon than you were before.

By Faith We See His Glory

Now, what is faith but the eyesight of the soul by which we see invisible spiritual realities past, present, and future? So see with me now a present spiritual reality. I'm not going to ask you to close your eyes, but if you could just imagine the glory of Jesus seated on a throne, high and exalted. Isaiah 6, "And the train of his robe fills the temple." Your eyes would be blinded by the glory. This is the glory of Jesus. And friends, if that doesn't have a leveling, humbling effect on you, I don't know what could. Who of us can stand in the presence of such glory? Who of us would not feel with Isaiah that we want to fall on our faces and say, "Woe is me, I'm ruined, for I am a man of unclean lips and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the king, the Lord of glory"? And so Jesus, His glory, His radiance, His person, just levels us all. And as believers in this Lord of glory, we can't see him with our eyes, we've never seen Him, but we can see Him now by the ministry of the Word, by the power of the Holy Spirit. “As believers in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, do not show favoritism.”

Jesus Was Not a Respecter of Persons

We also need to look at Jesus's example. In life, in the ministry, He was absolutely no respecter of persons. He couldn't care less what someone's socioeconomic status, or their political power was at all. It didn't mean anything to Him. He had literally no fear of man at all. He treated everyone the same, independent of their rank or their status or whether they were a Jew or a Gentile, a male or a female. It just didn't matter to Him at all. He dealt tenderly and clearly and respectfully with people who were repentant sinners, who came to Him humble. If you came to Jesus humble, if you were a spiritual beggar, he dealt with you that way. It didn't matter whether you were an outcast leper, or a rich young ruler, or an immoral prostitute, or a member of the Jewish ruling council, or if you were a Roman Centurion in charge of 100 Roman soldiers, or a Samaritan woman getting water from the well in the heat of the day, everyone was dealt with the same, and that is, "Do you recognize your own sinfulness? Are you a spiritual beggar?" And if so, He would deal with you very kindly. He was no respecter of faces or stations or power or prestige or money. None of that meant anything, because He knew very well where we're all heading. He knew where all of this is going, He knew that every single human being would someday would stand before Him in judgment stripped of all of those earthly trappings, like we're all wearing costumes. Like kids doing dress up. It's not who we really are, and it's all going to get stripped off. And so every single human being is going to stand before Jesus. 

When the Son of Man comes in His glory and all the angels with Him, He will sit on His throne in heavenly glory, and “all the nations will be gathered before Him and He will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.” And their socioeconomic status won't mean anything, their political power won't mean anything. None of it will mean anything at all. 

Christ is the Perfect Image of God

Now, Christ's impartiality was so pronounced, and it was so clear, that His enemies even acknowledged it and tried to use it to trap Him. You remember? On the question about taxation? They come to Him with this fawning praise. They hated Jesus. Jesus knew they were hypocrites. But this is what they said, "Teacher, we know that you are a man of integrity and that you teach the way of truth in accordance with God's Word. You're not swayed by men since you pay no attention to who they are. Tell us, is it right to pay taxes to Caesar or not?" So even Jesus's enemies acknowledged this about Him. He had literally no fear at all of people. And that's exactly how God is as well. Jesus is the perfect reflection of Almighty God. 

If I can just say to any of you that's tempted to be very arrogant and prideful about your earthly situation, God is not impressed with you. “All of the nations are like dust on the scales and like grasshoppers.” Whatever way you think you're better than another human being, it says nothing to Almighty God. Psalm 62:9 says, "Low-born men are but a breath, the high-born are but a lie." In other words, there's no difference between them to God. Together they are only a breath, if weighed on a balance, they are nothing. God, again and again, we're told in Scripture, does not show favoritism. It says this again and again in the Book of Romans. For example, Romans 2:9-11, "There will be trouble and distress for every human being who does evil, first for the Jew then for the Gentile. But glory, honor and peace for everyone who does good, first for the Jew then for the Gentile, for God does not show favoritism." And again, Ephesians 6:9, "Masters, treat your slaves in the same way, do not threaten them since you know that He who is both their master and yours is in Heaven and there is no favoritism with Him.” In other words, on Judgment Day you're not going to be either master or slave, you're going to be human being. And God is going to evaluate you based on who you were, based on your faith and whether, at the end of the text, you showed mercy to others. 

Jesus’ Impartial Obedience

So Jesus Christ perfectly followed His Father's complete indifference to rank and station of the poor sinners He came to save. All of them have sinned, all of them will die, all of them will face judgment, His judgment, and all of them need Him to save them from eternal condemnation. In that sense, they're absolutely equal before Him. Before the Law of God the ground is absolutely level. Everyone has violated it. Before the cross of Christ the ground is absolutely level. Everyone who repents and trusts in Christ will be saved by it, and churches should reflect that. Churches should give a strong sense of that leveling because it's necessary for our salvation. "Unless you are changed, [converted,] and become like little children, you will not enter the Kingdom of Heaven." So there has to be this leveling work that goes on. 

And on Judgment Day money will make no difference whatsoever. First of all, you won't have any. What would a man give in exchange for his soul? Well, on Judgment Day there will be nothing you can give because you'll have nothing. But it says this, Proverbs 11:4, "Wealth is worthless in the day of wrath, but righteousness delivers from death." And we know that that means, in the fuller explication of the Scripture, imputed righteousness that comes from Christ, perfect righteousness will deliver you from eternal death. But your wealth will not. It will not help you. So this is the character of God, and this is the character of his son, the Lord of glory, Jesus Christ, and it should be the character of Christ's Church. 

Showing Favoritism Reflects an Evil Heart

Outline point number three, “Favoritism Reveals an Evil Heart.” Look at verse 3 and 4. It says, "If you show special attention to the man wearing fine clothes, and say, 'Here's a good seat for you', but say to the poor man, 'You stand there, or sit on the floor by my feet', Have you not discriminated among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts?" “Judges with evil thoughts.” Specifically, I think in the translation from the Greek we would say a worldly heart, a divided heart, a double-minded heart. The reason that you're showing favoritism to the rich man but shoving the poor man off to the side or onto the floor is simply this, the rich man can do things for you in this world that the poor man cannot. And if you care about that, you are divided in your mind, you're worldly in your perspective. The rich man can buy things. He can buy you clothing, he can buy you houses, he can get you a high-paying job. He has influence in this world and in society, and he can get you things. And if those are the things you want, and you don't care about people, then something's wrong with you. You have become a worldly-minded judge, a corrupted person. Because the poor man can do none of these things for you, and actually is going to probably cost you time, and energy, and money, and you know it. And you don't want to give, and you don't want to be invested in the poor person's life, and so you stay away from that suffering. You draw away from that, but you want to go toward the wealthy person because he can help you. But all of this is just evidence of worldliness.

A Worldly Heart

James is going to expose this worldliness more in chapter four. I'll just read a couple of verses, and we'll get to that, God willing, in due time. But he says, "When you ask, you do not receive because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures. You adulterous people. Don't you know that friendship with the world is hatred toward God?" So he's addressing these things, the issues of money and what it shows about the heart. Do you want to be that kind of worldly person, or can you be liberated from that? Well, so it is also in Christian churches today seeking finances and worldly influence from the rich and famous.

I remember when I was involved in a campus ministry, we got especially excited if a varsity player who played some important sport was converted, like the starting quarterback or the point guard on the basketball team, because that meant more than if the equipment manager, or the janitor got saved. We get more excited about Kanye West than we do about somebody that's genuinely converted from a rescue mission. But if Kanye West is genuinely converted we should be thrilled, and give glory and praise to God, and the same if a person from the rescue mission is genuinely converted and begins to walk in a new life. We should give glory and praise to God, because God is rejoicing before the angels in Heaven over both of them. But we tend to be respecters of persons in this regard, and be more excited at the rich and famous being converted. And why? We argue because they have a greater platform. I don't know that. I don't know what God could do through that poor man or woman, and what ministry he could have through that person. God alone knows that. He raises up the lowest of people and does amazing things in and through those people. 

God Delights in Choosing the Poor

Outline point number four, “Favoritism Ignores God's Election.” Verse five, "Listen, my dear brothers, has not God chosen", so that's the doctrine of election, "has not God chosen those who are poor in the eyes of the world to be rich in faith and to inherit the kingdom He promised to those who love Him?" So this goes to the election of God. The Bible teaches election, that “God chose people before the foundation of the world, before they were born or had done anything good or bad, in order that His purpose in election might stand, not by works, but by Him who calls, God chooses, and He delights in choosing the poor.” Overwhelmingly, statistically, God chooses poor, not influential people, to be followers of Jesus Christ. This is true in every generation, and he made this abundantly clear in 1 Corinthians 1, which we went through a number of months ago. Remember how the Corinthian Christians were enamored with the great men, Aristotle, Plato, Socrates? And then they just transferred that over to the Christian great men, "I follow Paul, I follow Apollos, I follow Cephas." They have that same mentality. They were in love with human wisdom, they were in love with human power, human wealth. And so, Paul has to kind of lower them down, and he does it by getting them to look in the mirror.

1 Corinthians 1:26-29, "Brothers, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise. Not many of you were influential. Not many of you were of noble birth. But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise. God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. He chose the lowly things of the world and the despised things, the things that are not, to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before Him." That's powerful, isn't it? When God was choosing His heavenly kickball team who did He want? The worst players. Not the best, the worst. Now praise God it doesn't say, "Not any of you were wise, not any of you were influential, not any noble birth." There's a big difference between not many and not any. There are some, but all over the world the ranks of the Christian church are filled with people that nobody wanted, people that nobody was attracted to.

And this election happened before the foundation of the world. So, for those of you that believe in reformed theology, I agree with you in the doctrine of unconditional election, but I don't like the word, “unconditional.” God has His reasons. I prefer, “sovereign election.” God was actually looking and said, "I want a lot of poor people in Heaven." And so, the text is right there, He chose them because of their rejection by the world, so that He could shame the things that are by the things that are not. So therefore, favoritism to the rich and famous makes no sense at all, because that's not what God is doing, generally. 

Rich in Faith

“He has chosen the poor in the eyes of the world to be rich in faith.” What a great expression that is. I love that expression. To be rich in faith. Their poverty enables them to go to God again and again to have their needs met. Like that poor widow that Elijah stayed with in Zarephath, you remember her? And God didn't give her some super abundant supply of flower and oil to last 10 years, He gave her enough for that day. You remember? And every day the vessels would replenish. And what do you think her faith was like at the end of that experience? Day, after day, after day, looking to God to meet the need. And so also Paul talks about the widow in need trusts God for her daily needs. She has no family to provide for her, but she's strong in faith. She's rich in faith because she knows that her real provider is invisible heavenly father. And so she is strong, she's rich in faith. 

I also like the word rich because it points to a commodity, alright? Rich people in this world go after various commodities, gold, silver, stocks, bonds, oil futures, different things like that. The only commodity you should want for eternity is faith. Faith in Jesus Christ is the only thing that you're going to want on Judgment Day. It's the only commodity that you want to be rich in. It says in 1 John 5:4, "Everyone born of God overcomes the world, and this is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith." There's one thing you want to get out of this present world age and that's faith in Christ. When you get that faith in Christ, you will survive this present world age, you'll survive Judgment Day, and you'll go on into eternity. So to be rich in faith, favoritism ignores God's election of poor people all over the world, the poorest of the poor in Cameroon, and in Haiti that I've seen with my own eyes. The Dalit or the untouchable caste in India. The overwhelming majority of Indian Christians come from the untouchable cast. Also, the Burakumin people in Japan, they were ancestrally, leather-workers and butchers and all that, despised in general by the aristocratic Japanese society, a very stratified society, and many Burakumin have come to faith in Christ. To the black slaves in the antebellum South, many of them were chosen by God to be rich in faith and to inherit the Kingdom. God has again and again worked faith and salvation in the hearts of the poor by his sovereign grace. 

Outline point number five, “Favoritism Forgets the Oppression by the Rich.” Look at verse 6 and 7. "But you have insulted the poor. Is it not the rich who are exploiting you? Are they not the ones who are dragging you into court? Are they not the ones who are slandering the noble name of Him to whom you belong?" Now James later in chapter 5 is going to deal with rich oppressors. We should imagine that in this I don't think James is talking to the church, because the language is so horrible that I can't imagine anyone claiming to be a Christian and behaving like this. So I think he's just using his platform as a prophet to speak to rich oppressors around the world in every era.

Listen to what he says in James chapter 5:1-6. "Now listen, you rich people, weep and wail because of the misery that is coming upon you. Your wealth has rotted and moths have eaten your clothes, your gold and silver are corroded, their corrosion will testify against you and eat your flesh like fire. You have hoarded wealth in the last days. Behold, the wages you fail to pay the workers who mowed your fields are crying out against you. The cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord Almighty, you have lived on earth in luxury and self-indulgence, you have fattened yourself in the day of slaughter. You have condemned and murdered innocent men who are not opposing you." James 5:1-6. So those are the kind of rich oppressors that he's dealing with. I think he doesn't go into such details here, but that's what he's dealing with.

Most of the Rich are Unconverted

Now worldwide, the overwhelming majority of the rich and powerful are unconverted. And they use their positions of power to crush and oppress the poor and needy, so they can stay in power and to hinder the spread of the Gospel. That's exactly what James says is going on here. He says, "The rich and powerful are exploiting you." The rich can jury-rig the system to take advantage of the poor. They can bribe judges. They can get certain people that they own established in positions of power and make them puppets. He says, "They're dragging you into court. They then can force you into court where you will lose. No advocate will speak for you. The bribed judge will throw the book at you. The judicial system will enforce the unjust ruling against you." And it says, “they blaspheme the noble name,” I love that, the beautiful name, “the noble name to which you belong,” that is, of Christ. They blaspheme Jesus. They don't have any respect for Jesus, they don't love Jesus. “Their god is their stomach, their glory is in their shame,” Satan is behind their temporary power that they're abusing, they have no respect for Christ and they blaspheme Him daily. So why would you insult the poor to favor the rich class? Look what's happening with rich oppressors.

The Royal Law of Scripture

Outline point number six, “Favoritism Violates the Law of Love.” Verses 8 and 9. It says, "If you really keep the royal law found in scripture, love your neighbor as yourself, you are doing right. But if you show favoritism, you sin and are convicted by the law as law breakers." So James's final point here has to do with the law. He calls it the Royal Law of Scripture, I love that, the Royal Law of Scripture, the kingly law. God the King is giving this to you, and it's a summation of the law, the second great commandment, love your neighbor as yourself. Paul said in Romans 13 that whatever horizontal commandments there may be, “such as do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not bear false witness, whatever commandments there may be are summed up in this one law, love your neighbor as yourself. Love does no harm to it's neighbor, therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.” Well, that's what James is quoting here. Favoritism, however, violates the law of love. It violates the second great commandment, love your neighbor as yourself. 

Now listen, you should not twist the second great commandment to say, " I need to love myself first, and then I can love my neighbor as I'm loving myself. I just have such trouble loving myself." Friend, you do not have any trouble loving yourself. You've been loving yourself from your first breath. All of you mothers that have nursing infants, you know exactly what I'm talking about. At three in the morning that child has no concern for you at all. We are fanatically committed to self-interest, been that way our whole lives. It is the very thing the gospel is trying to save us away from, it is what the flesh is all about. But there's just a natural, normal, appropriate love for self, there's nothing wrong with it. When you're hungry, you feed yourself. When you're thirsty, you give yourself a drink. If you're cold, you put on a jacket. If you have an itch between your shoulder blades, you'll break one arm to try to get to it and just make yourself suffer to alleviate your own suffering. You will do whatever it takes to get out of pain. You love yourself already. And so, what the second great commandment is saying is, “love others the way you love yourself,” and as Jesus put it, it's what generally known as the golden rule, do to others what you would have them do to you. So think about the scenario, the case study. 

Favoritism Breaks the Law of God

If you were walking into a church service that you've never been in before, how would you want to be treated? How would you want to be treated? Would you want to be shoved off to the side? Or said, "Sit on the floor by my feet"? Or would you want to be treated well? Now, look, a rich person coming in who's a stranger, we want to treat that person well too. We don't want to say to the rich person, "Sit on the floor by my feet." We don't want to do that at all. What we want to do is treat people equally. And so for us then, you see somebody come in, you give up your seat and then you be the one to sit on the floor by somebody's feet. And that way nobody's putting you down, you're just serving. You're willing to make that person's church experience a sweet experience. That's what love is all about. But favoritism, James says, breaks the law. If you strip a person's dignity based on wealth, it's shameful and degrading. And a violation, James says, of one part of the law is a violation of all of it. 

Breaking One Law Still Makes You a Law-Breaker

Look at verse 10 and 11, "Whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it. For he who said, 'Do not commit adultery', also said, 'Do not murder.' If you do not commit adultery, but you do commit murder, you become a law-breaker." So this is a vital plank in our witnessing strategy. As we share the Gospel with lost people, it's very common for people to make a list… the very thing we sang about, a list of things they don't do. Ways that they are morally superior to others. I will never forget, I used to do a street ministry in Boston. We'd go out in cold weather and we'd find people that were cold and we'd feed them and get them to shelters. And I remember there was this one particular man who abandoned his family in Pittsburgh, his wife and children, because he was addicted. But he said he wasn't as bad as another homeless guy that he met over on the other street last week who did X and Y, and Z. I said, "It's incredible what we sinners will do to feel good about ourselves." "Alright, it's true I do this, but I don't do any of these." And what James says here is so vital for us as witnesses, so vital, theologically. If you break one part of God's law you're guilty of violating all of it because the same God gave it all. It's a perfect set of righteousness, of motives and behavior, and God means all of it for all people for all time. That's what he's saying here. 

And so, this destroys that works of righteousness that you're going to hear again and again, which I heard from a Lyft driver when I was in California this week as I was sharing the Gospel with him, the same kind of thing. "Well, it's true, this and this, but I don't do this. And I'm hoping to be basically a good person, and to use my good works to pay for my bad." He didn't use that exact language, but that's what he was hoping for. But the same God that said you shall not murder also said you shall not commit adultery, and vice versa. Therefore the law is designed, as we've learned, to bring us to the cross. It's to crush you, it's to humble you, to strip you of self-righteousness and say, "It is true, maybe, that I've neither literally, physically murdered, nor physically committed adultery." Many people can meet those two criteria. But what about, “you shall not covet”? Has your heart ever been set on some advantage that another human being has had? And you were so burned up with jealousy over that? No one can survive that. And so that covetous heart, Jesus then took back to the law against murder and said, "Maybe you haven't physically murdered, but have you ever been angry in your heart towards somebody? Maybe you've never physically committed adultery, but have you ever lusted after somebody?" Jesus is just taking the law of covetousness, a heart law, and applying it to all of it. And what ends up happening is you realize none of us can survive, we have violated God's law, and according to what James says here, we've therefore violated all of it. The whole Book of the Law stands against us. 

Praise be that Jesus violated none of it. He wove together a perfect garment of righteousness, and He's just handing it to you as wedding clothing that you can put on to be part of the wedding banquet, just put it on by faith in Christ, just put it on and you'll be seen to be perfectly righteous. You'll actually be seen as though you have violated none of the precepts of God's law because you are in Christ’s righteousness. As it says, "God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God."

Saved by Mercy to Show Mercy to Others

Now, having been saved by that mercy, we are then commanded to show mercy to others. Look at verses 12 and 13, "Speak and act as those who are going to be judged by the law that gives freedom." So we are going to be evaluated by that law, and we have already been condemned by it and brought to the cross. Praise God, in that way we are judged by the law in time, that there's time for us to do something about it. We have been brought to the cross. "We speak and act as those who are going to be judged by the law that gives freedom because judgment without mercy will be shown to anyone who has not been merciful. Mercy triumphs over judgment."

Freedom Given by the Law

Now, it's beautiful how he says the law gives freedom. And you're like, "Well, how does the law give freedom? All it does is condemn us. It kills us." Well, it kills you to bring you to the cross. And Christ's death becomes your death, and you realize you needed that. But then you're made alive by Christ's resurrection. Now, what? The Holy Spirit then brings you back to the perfect law and says, "Now fulfill this." He takes the perfect moral law and writes it on your heart. He transforms you from the inside, He writes His commandments, by His Spirit, in your heart, and you're transformed. You start to live a different kind of life. That's the very thing we're going to talk about, God willing, next week, the works that come from a justified life.

Now this law sets us free, it's the perfect law that gives freedom. Freedom from sin, from those invisible chains of selfishness and corruption and wickedness that we all have. The law sets you free by bringing you to the cross and then bringing you back to the fulfillment of the law by the Spirit. And he says judgement without mercy will be meted out on Judgment Day for those who have lived merciless lives here on earth. So if you have been shown grace and mercy at the cross, you're under strong obligation to show grace and mercy to others, and you will. You will. If you're genuinely born again you will show mercy. You will not run away from the poor and needy individual, but you'll go toward them. We're going to talk about this next week, but if you've got clothes, daily food, and you see someone in need, you're actually going to do something about it. You're not going to hide away from the person who's going to be a drain on time, energy, money, you're going to go toward them, and you're going to show them mercy. And so, when the poor man comes to your church where he's humiliated everywhere else in life, but when he or she comes to your church, that person's lifted up and elevated and treated like a human being, and they hear the Gospel of freedom, and they're convicted that they also, poor as they are, are a law-breaker too, and they find salvation, and they are ennobled and they are shown that they are an heir of an eternal kingdom and all of their best things are yet to come. That's the kind of church that we want to be part of.

Are You in the Faith?

So what applications can we take? Well, first, let the law convict you and bring you to the cross. Has that ever happened? Do you know that you're a Christian? Did you walk in here today knowing that you're a Christian, you're born again, that you're trusting in Christ alone? If not, then I'm just asking you, let the law do its convicting work to bring you to the cross of Christ, and there you'll find, as the text says, mercy, mercy. God will show you mercy. 

The Rich and Poor in Light of Eternity

Secondly, see all people, rich and poor alike, in light of eternity. Let's stop looking at the outward appearance. Let's realize the rich and powerful person has a soul that will spend eternity either in Heaven or Hell. The poor, needy person has a soul that will spend eternity either in Heaven or Hell. Stop looking at the outward appearance. It's like a costume, it's temporary, it doesn't last long. And don't see the poor person only in terms of his neediness, but in terms of the fact that he's created in the image of God, redeemed by the blood of Christ.

Faith is True Wealth

Thirdly, see faith as a true wealth. Get rich in faith. How do you do that? Well, have a quiet time, let's start there. Every single day feed your soul on the Word of God. Let your eyes, the eyes of your heart, be enlightened. Not your physical eyes, but to be able to see invisible spiritual realities, past, present, and future, be able to see Judgment Day and the world beyond, be able to see the world that we're going to in which everyone's free of sin and there's none of that socioeconomic division anymore, but there will be eternal glory will shine like the sun in the kingdom of our Father, that's the kingdom that we're heirs of, that James talks about here. See that. See the present reality, the Lord of glory, Jesus, seated on the throne. Be rich in faith. See the past, that God is the same yesterday, today, and forever. The same God that brought the Jews through the Red Sea, he's just as powerful today. So just every day be feeding on the Word. 

Commune With God Daily

I'm surprised as I go into counseling with people and I ask how are your quiet times going, and it's like, "Yeah, it's hit or miss." Can I just urge more “hit” than “miss”? Can we just start there? Let's just have more hit than miss, and then let's just hit all the time, every day. You feed yourself every day. Alright? Physically, feed yourself on the word of God, sit under good teaching, saturate your minds, listen to podcasts, do different things that saturate your mind, memorize scripture, be rich in faith and let the Word of God move us more and more to mercy ministry. I talked about this downstairs last week, on orphan care and widow care, and just we're going to keep talking about this. This is a major theme with James, of caring for people that are poor and needy and in distress. It's easy to shrink back, to pull back from them.

The Coronavirus

You know I was thinking about this Coronavirus. Many of you I'm sure are thinking about it, and we have friends that are serving the Lord overseas, and they've had to relocate very rapidly because of health concerns. It's not the first time that it's happened. You know that in the history of the Church, Christians made a name for themselves during the various times of plague during the Roman Empire where they cared for the sick and dying, not just of their own, but also of the pagans in the community where everyone is running for their lives and paganism was proved to be bankrupt, morally, here are the Christians going into sick houses, even going to pagan temples where all of the sick and dying were dragged because they were hoping to receive a benefit from the gods and goddesses. Christians would go in there and take them out of that place, carrying them with their own hands, and nursing them to health. And many of those Christians contracted the illness and died. And we're going to meet those heroes, those men and women that nursed sick people to health, we're going to meet them in Heaven. You're going to be honored to meet your sister and brother in Christ that died in a plague during the Black Death or during that Roman era, etcetera. 

Whatever You Do, Don’t Fear Death

In 1527, Martin Luther wrote a treatise entitled, “Whether One May Flee From A Deadly Plague.” It's interesting, and it's amazingly relevant, and I would commend it to you. He's very balanced in his approach. You know, his answer is not a simple yes or no. But one thing he wanted to go after is you should not be afraid to die. You should not be afraid to die. Satan, the devil, feeds fears of death and makes us shrink back. It's why we generally don't care for the poor and needy, because we care too much about our earthly lives and our health and wealth. Now Luther was big on talking to the devil. I'm really not as big on talking to the devil. But this is what he said, and you can read this, this is public domain. He said, "The devil stirs up terrors of death that we do not care for our neighbors as we should. So you should say to the devil,” this is Luther talking, but I'm going to just read it. He also threw ink wells at the devil, he did a lot of things in reference to the devil. "Say to the devil, 'No, you shall not have the last word. If Christ shed his blood for me and died for me, why should I not expose myself to some small dangers for His sake and disregard this feeble plague? If you can terrorize, Christ can strengthen me. If you can kill, Christ can give me life. If you have poison in your fangs, Christ has far greater medicine. Should not Christ with his promises be more important to me than the devil with his threats?'" 

Close with me in prayer. Father, we thank you for the promise of life in Christ. We thank you that we don't have to fear for our health. We don't have to fear for our pile of money. We don't have to fear for our time and our energy. Help us to do mercy ministry, to be drawn toward those people that are needy, toward those people that are broken, and not be characterized by favoritism or discrimination going after the rich and famous. Help us to treat all people as eternal souls that will soon be stripped of those temporary privileges, or temporary deficiencies, and will be souls, eternal souls either in Heaven or Hell. Help us to be the kind of church that is embracing and enticing, where we treat others the way we ourselves would want to be treated. In Jesus name. Amen.

Andy Davis preaches a verse by verse expository sermon on James 1:19-27. The main subject of the sermon is how we should properly respond to the hearing of God's word.

I'd like to ask that you turn in your Bibles to James 1:22. It says, "Do not merely listen to the Word and so deceive yourselves, do what it says." There are different ways to listen to God's Word but not all of them are beneficial to the soul. Throughout redemptive history many, many people have heard God's Word faithfully and clearly preached and taught, or explained, or shared and it's done them no good at all, ultimately. 

One powerful illustration of this, a bad way to hear God's Word, we see in the Old Testament, with the Prophet Ezekiel whom God consistently called son of man. This is in Ezekiel 33:30-32, it says, "As for you, son of man, your countrymen are talking together about you by the walls and at the doors of their houses saying to each other, come and hear the message that has come from the Lord. My people come to you, as they usually do, and sit before you to listen to your words, but they do not put them into practice. With their mouths they express devotion but their hearts are greedy for unjust gain. Indeed to them you are nothing more than one who sings love songs with a beautiful voice and plays an instrument well, for they hear your words, but they do not put them into practice."

So for me as a preacher and also one who loves church history, I think about the times that great preachers have attained notoriety in their generation, great popularity, for a short time perhaps. Their sermons have been wildly popular, thousands have flocked to hear them. Many people were genuinely converted by the hearing of the Word and helped by their sermons, but others just came for the spectacle of the whole thing. I think about, for example, George Whitefield who preached during the Colonial Era, before the American Revolution to tens of thousands. He was by far the most famous man alive in that day. Everyone in Colonial America had heard of him, and thousands were genuinely converted by his preaching ministry. 

But then there was Benjamin Franklin, that old skeptic, that old scientist with whom George Whitefield developed a very close relationship. Franklin was his publisher of many of his sermons and made a lot of money off of Whitefield, based there in Philadelphia. And he came and heard Whitefield preach, and he said this, "Whitefield had a loud and clear voice and articulated his words and his sentences so perfectly that he might be heard and understood at a great distance. Being among the hindmost in Market Street, Philadelphia, I had the curiosity to learn how far he could still be heard by retiring systematically backwards down the street to the river. And I found his voice distinct till I came near Front Street when some noise in that street obscured it. Imagining then a semi-circle of which my distance should be the radius and that it was filled with hearers to each of whom I allotted two square feet, I computed that he might be heard clearly by more than 30,000 people." This is what Benjamin Franklin was doing during one of Whitefield sermons. I think there are better ways to hear a Whitefield sermon than that.

George Whitefield, as I said, became very good friends with Benjamin Franklin, and they dined together frequently. And Whitefield earnestly sought his salvation every time they got together. After his famous lightning experiment, he wrote him a letter saying, "You're advancing much in science, I would urge to you the study of the Doctrine of the New Birth. It will do you much more good both in this world and in the world to come.” One of the saddest things I ever read about George Whitefield was something said about Benjamin Franklin after he died. And he said, "we were good friends," Franklin said this, "And he consistently sought to win me but he never had the answers to his prayers." That was Benjamin Franklin talking about himself.

Another example of this occurred in 1949 when a tall, young, unknown, but ardently zealous evangelist from the western part of our state in the mountains of North Carolina, Billy Graham, was carrying on a tent crusade in Los Angeles. William Randolph Hearst, the most powerful media mogul of the mihttp://www.thefieldschurch.org/mediafiles/uploaded/0/0e1840389_050904.mp3th century, a man who owned 28 major newspapers read by over 20 million Americans every day. He was a hard man. Hearst was a recluse. He carried on a long affair with an actress. He heard about Billy Graham's tent crusade. And perhaps, although we don't have confirmation of this, listened to some sermons by radio, we'll never know. And then he sent a two-word command to his editors all over the country, “Puff Graham.” Well, the editors knew exactly what that meant, make a big deal out of him positively. Put him front stage, front and center, his crusade in LA. That was a signal moment, a significant moment in the history of American evangelicalism and in Billy Graham's life and ministry. 

Now, Graham never met William Randolph Hearst personally, but his career, Graham's career took off right from that point on until the end. But there's no indication whatsoever that Graham's gospel message had any influence at all on William Randolph Hearst who died two years later after saying, “Puff Graham.”

This problem of hearing God's Word with a certain kind of pleasure, a certain kind of interest, but not obeying its life-changing message has been around a long time. Think of wicked King Herod who loved to hear John the Baptist preach. Even though John clearly proclaimed that he and his wife at that point, were living in sin, committing adultery. Mark 6:20 said, "Herod feared John and protected him, knowing him to be a righteous and holy man. When Herod heard John he was greatly puzzled, yet he liked to listen to him." Now we know what happened. A beautiful young girl danced at his birthday party, Herod's birthday party, and he made a rash oath and it led to Herod giving the order to decapitate John the Baptist.

Or again, think of the Roman governor Felix who imprisoned the Apostle Paul. Felix often sent for Paul while he was a prisoner, and he loved to hear him speak the words of scripture. But he became alarmed when Paul talked to him about righteousness, self-control, and the judgment to come. Those were not topics Felix wanted to talk about. He became alarmed and he sent him away, saying, "I'll send for you again. Talk again later, at another time." And God in his grace gave him more time. Actually, two years he kept Paul a prisoner, and kept summoning him and listening to him, but actually what he really wanted was to receive a bribe from Paul, so he could set him free. And then at the end of the two years, while he was still in chains, he went off and another Roman governor came. And that was it. All over this religious nation of ours, we're a very religious people, people are assembling together. Churches are filled with people hearing God's Word, and in many places God's Word clearly preached, faithfully expounded, but many of them are deceiving themselves that just doing that religious system is enough, just coming to church is enough, sitting patiently under the Word is enough, and this text is for them and it's, frankly, for all of us. 

I can't hear the words in James 1 without being convicted. Is this true of me? It's not enough to merely listen to the Word. Well, I'm going to say it about myself, it's not enough to merely get up week after week and preach it, faithfully or accurately. What is happening in my life? Am I actually obeying these words? That's what this is about. What do you do when you hear God's Word? What effect is it actually producing in your life? That's what James is about. James, I think, is one of the most convicting books in the Bible. He doesn't waste any time. It's like an industrial strength cleaner, and it just gets in your grill, and he wants to get you ready to hear God's Word. And so I want to walk through that with you, walk through the text. My first point on the outline is this, “Quiet Humility Prepares to Receive God's Word.” 

Look at Verses 19 through 22. "My dear brothers, take note of this, Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to become angry for man's anger does not bring about the righteousness of God. Therefore, get rid of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent, and humbly accept the Word planted in you which can save you. Do not merely listen to the Word and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says." 

So now listen, I can take verse 19 and just do a very helpful horizontal application. It would be beneficial and I'll just start there. By that I mean how we should treat each other and the people in our lives. That's what I mean by horizontal. There's three pieces of really good advice for us that we would do well to follow. We should be quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to become angry. If you follow that in your relationships with others, especially in your marriage, home life or in your work life, or whatever your living arrangement is, if you're a college student, whatever is going on, if you follow that things will go better. I actually can preach that, and I think it's helpful. 

So let's just look at it at that level first. “You should be quick to listen. You should develop the habits of being a good listener.” Proverbs 18:2, says, "A fool finds no pleasure in understanding, but delights in airing his own opinions." So that fool is not really interested in anything other people have to say. So I would say husbands and wives need to listen to each other better than they do. Parents and children need to listen to each other better than they do. Co-workers need to listen to each other and bosses need to listen to each other better than they do. This is all helpful. Democrats and Republicans need to listen to each other better than they do. That's my last political comment of the day. Being quick to listen means you're eager to learn from others, you've got a basic humility and teachability, and that's a good thing. So be quick to listen.

 The flip side of that is to be slow to speak, don't be in love with the sound of your own voice, the sound of your own words. People spend a huge amount of time talking. One study said up to one-fifth of your waking hours you spend talking. That's a lot of time. And then along comes Proverbs 10:19 which says, "When words are many, sin is inevitable." That's a strong word, isn't it? The more you talk the more likely it is that you're going to sin. So, be slow to speak. 

And then thirdly, be slow to anger. Human anger, James calls moral filth, it's toxic, it destroys human relationships. Marriages are destroyed by anger, by husbands being angry with their wives or wives angry with their husbands. There's a bitterness and unforgiveness. Things can happen at the horizontal level. There are many criminals in prison right now, that they're there because of a fit of rage that came over them one day. And for the rest of their lives they look back with deep regret over having basically lost their mind. Anger can be like a drug. And then your mind clears afterwards like, "What did I do?" And so it's dangerous. 

Of the three advices he gives us, this is the only one James comments on. Look at 20 and 21. "For man's anger does not bring about the righteousness of God, therefore, get rid of all moral filth." That's strong, "moral filth." Like radioactive waste, that's what human anger is. "Get rid of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent, and humbly accept the Word planted in you which can save you." So, human anger is powerful and effective but it's not constructive. It's usually destructive. It definitely makes an effect. And you could say there's certain roles where anger is really needed, like a coach that gets all red-faced and yells at his team and then they go out and win second half, play with tremendous zeal. Or a drill instructor at boot camp and all that, but friends, we know, for the most part, human anger is a destructive force. And you should be slow to get angry. Get rid of it. Take it out. Like toxic waste, take it out. As Ephesians 4:31 says, "Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice." That's an amazing verse on anger. It's like how many different shades, and hues, and colors of human anger are there? Well, look at Ephesians 4:31 to find them all. There's bitterness, there's rage, there's anger, there's brawling, there's all different kinds of things. Get rid of it. Just get rid of it. Alright, so, that's how a simple horizontal approach to verses 19-21, works. 

But I think it's better to look at it vertically, to look upward toward God and your relationship with God, with these exact same commands. Be quick to listen to God, be slow to speak before God, and be slow to get angry at God. Now I think it has to do with how you prepare yourself to receive God's Word. I think it's a better context. It just weaves the whole thing together. So you remember how Jesus spoke of the parable of The Seed and the Soils? “He went out to sow the seed and some fell on the path and the birds came and ate it up, and some fell on rocky soil and sprang up quickly, but then the sun came up and the plants were withered. And then some fell among the thorns, which grow up and choked the plants, and some fell on good soil, which produced a crop 100, 60, 30 times what was sown.” Each of these represents different states of the human heart, like the path represents a hardened hearer. The Word has no impact whatsoever. And so the birds come and eat it up, it has made no penetration, Satan comes and takes away what was sown in that person's heart. And then the rocky soil shows a shallow penetration. There's an initial reaction of positivity, some joy, but then in the end when the Christian life gets difficult, when there's persecution, then it dies. And then the thorny soil represents the worries of this life, and the deceitfulness of wealth choke it out, making it unfruitful. The fourth is the only good outcome. It produces different levels of harvest in different people's lives, 100, 60, 30 times what was sown. It's interesting what Luke says in that parable. Luke 8:15, "The seed on the good soil, stands for those with..." listen to this, "a noble and good heart, who hear the Word, retain it, and by persevering produce a crop," a noble and good heart. Where do you get one of those?

Anyone who's been in the Word any length of time knows what God's Word says about the natural state of our heart. "Sinful and desperately wicked," Jeremiah says. But here's the thing, when God in his sovereignty, through the Holy Spirit saves you, He takes out that heart of stone, He gives you a heart of flesh, and He works nobility and goodness into your heart and this is what it looks like, this is how you get your heart like black, moistened soil, plowed, soft, ready to receive God's Word. And so, look at it then that way. What does my heart have to look like when God is sowing the seed into me? So look at it vertically, why would I do that?

Well, look at verses 21 through 25, and I think you'll see right away in verse 21, "Therefore... " alright, because of that, get rid of all moral filth. "Therefore..." so the things about quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to become angry, the comment on anger, therefore what? The Word. "Humbly accept the Word planted in you which can save you. Do not merely listen to the Word and so deceive yourselves, do what it says. Anyone who listens to the Word but does not do what it says is like a person who looks at his face in the mirror and then after looking at himself goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like." Verse 25, "But the one who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom," that's the Word, "and continues to do this, not forgetting what he's heard, but doing it, he will be blessed in what he does." This is Word, Word, Word, Word. So let's just extend it back to verse 19 and look at it vertically.

How should I get ready to hear God's Word? Alright, so be quick to listen, come to God's Word humbly, humbly accept the Word planted in you which can save you. Get ready to listen to God speaking to you. Be ready to hear when you open up God's Word, when you're having your quiet time, or when you come here to hear a sermon, you're ready, you've got the scripture open and you're ready to hear God talk to you, Almighty God, the Creator of the ends of the earth, wants to say something to you. It's powerful.

Hebrews 3:7-8. It says, this, "So as the Holy Spirit says... " present tense, not said says, “today if you hear His voice do not harden your hearts." That's Psalm 95, written 1000 years before the author of the Hebrews wrote his epistle. David wrote it. No, the Holy Spirit's saying it today. "Today, if you hear His voice don't harden your heart." And it's in quotations, so as you're reading Psalm 95 better get ready to listen to God speak to you. Today, if you hear his voice, don't harden your heart. So expect then that God is going to speak to you by his Word, he has something to say to you. I love 1 Thessalonians 2:13, Paul says to the Thessalonians, to that church, "When you received the Word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of man but as it actually is, the Word of God which is at work in you who believe". That's a beautiful way for a church to be. You're coming not to hear from a man. Flawed, fallible, sinful man, but you're coming to hear God speak through his Word to you.

So many verses call on God's people to listen to Him. I love Deuteronomy 32:1-2. "Listen, O heavens, and I will speak. Hear, O earth the words of my mouth, let my teaching fall like rain and my words descend like dew, like showers on new grass, like abundant rain on the tender plants". That's God speaking to you. "Listen to me, be ready to drink in my Word". Jesus frequently said, "He who has ears, let him hear". Do you have ears? Are you ready to hear God speak, are you quick to listen to God? 

And then secondly, "Be slow to speak in the presence of God". I'm not saying we shouldn't pray, we should pray, but there's something powerful here about coming quietly into the presence of God. I love Habakkuk 2:20 on this, it says, "The Lord is in his holy temple, let all the Earth be silent before Him". Or again, Ecclesiastes 5:1-2. It says, "Guard your steps when you go to the house of God. Go near to listen rather than to offer the sacrifice of fools who do not know that they do wrong. Do not be quick with your mouth, do not be hasty in your heart to utter anything before God. God is in Heaven and you are on earth, so let your words be few. Much dreaming and many words are meaningless, therefore stand in awe of God". Just come into God's presence and just be quiet before Him, and remember who you're about to talk to, and then pray. 

And thirdly, vertically, "Be slow to get angry at God". What is that? Why would I get angry at God? Well, God's Word is a sharp double-edged sword, and when you come and stand in God's presence, He's probably going to hurt you. He's going to cut you with a surgical scalpel, because you need it done. You remember when Peter denied three times knowing Jesus and then Jesus sought to heal him, you remember how he did it? "Simon, son of Jonah, do you love me? Do you love me? Do you love me?" And it said the third time Peter was hurt. Did Jesus intend to hurt him? Yes. Not ultimately, but He had to hurt him in order to heal him. And so, if you're actually coming in the presence of God's Word, He's going to say things that will cross you. He's going to do it this morning. He did it to me already.

He's going to cross you. Don't get angry at Him. That's what Jesus' enemies did, they don't want to hear from Him that they needed a savior, that their righteousness was not enough for Heaven, they got all self-righteous and angry and murderous, so don't do that. Don't get angry, don't shoot the messenger. When God's Word tells you you're a sinner and you need to repent and make changes, then be humble and be yielded and don't get angry at God. "Be willing... " verse 21, "to humbly accept the Word planted in you which can save you, which can save your soul from eternal condemnation". Are you saved? Have you trusted in Jesus as your Lord and Savior? Maybe you were invited here today, and you know you came in here, and you know you're not a Christian, then don't get angry at evangelists, don't get angry at friends that are trying to lead you to Christ, don't get angry at God. Humble yourself and trust in Jesus, the one who died on the cross, who shed His blood for sinners like you and me, and trust in Him and call on Him and say, "Oh, save me Jesus", and He'll save you.

Don't get angry. This is what makes evangelism and missions hard all over the world. People get angry when they hear people say, "You need to repent and believe in Jesus". So don't get angry. "Humbly accept the Word planted in you which can save you", and that means you, Christian. A Christian who's been walking with the Lord for 20-30 years, “humbly accept the Word which can save you, can keep on saving you.” "He gives us... ", James says, James 4:6, "more grace". That's why God says, "God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble". Do you need more grace? Please nod your head. "Yes, Lord. I need more grace. Give me more grace". At the beginning of all Paul’s epistles, "Grace to you", and then grace at the end, there's grace and grace. It's just a avenue of grace. Humbly accept it. Isaiah 66:2, "This is the one I esteem, says Almighty God, he who is humble and contrite and who trembles at my Word."

Alright, now humbly accepting the Word is not enough. The soil of a humble heart accepting the perfect seed of the Word must produce a transformed life. That's what James is all about, the works. What happens as a result of hearing God's Word. And, so my second outline point is this, “Honest Humility Obeys God's Word.” Verse 22, "Do not merely listen to the Word and so deceive yourselves, do what it says". We keep bumping into this issue, like we did last week. The danger of self-deception, of lying to yourself about your true spiritual condition. "Not everyone who says to me Lord, Lord will enter the Kingdom of Heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in Heaven. Many will say to me on that day, Lord., Lord. Did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles? [Preach many sermons?] Then I will tell them plainly, I never knew you. Away from me, you evil doers." Matthew 7:21, "Not everyone who says to me Lord, Lord will enter the Kingdom of Heaven, but only those who do the will of my Father". Let me make it simple. Not those who say, but those who do. That's what Jesus is saying there.

I don't want any of you to have an eternal shock on Judgment Day. I want you to examine yourselves to see if you're in the faith. I want you to look at what's actually happening in your life because of the Word. I want the same for me. And Jesus consistently said, "It comes down to obedience. If you love me, you will obey what I command". John 14:15. And so, we come this morning to the Word of God, "To look as in a mirror", James says. Look at verses 23-25, "Anyone who listens to the Word but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in the mirror and then after looking at himself goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. But the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard but doing it, he will be blessed in what he does". So James presents the Word as a mirror. Now, don't think of modern mirrors, which are our metal-backed glass that was invented in Germany in 1835. We're thinking about a polished plate of bronze, highly polished. If the light is right, and you look long enough you can see what you look like, and James likens someone who hears God's Word, but doesn't obey it, to someone who looks at his face in the mirror and then goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. 

God's Word has the power to tell you the truth about yourself. We should not imagine that at some point you'll look in the mirror and say, "I look so good. I mean,  I have never looked better". That's not what we're talking about here. The Word is there to help you see yourself as God sees you, in this present state. This individual looks into God's Word, and God's Word generally does this, but God's law in particular does it. God's law in particular shows you how you need a savior. What ways you need to live differently. That's what God's law is designed to do. There's still a role for us once we've come to Christ, where we learn what a holy life looks like by looking at the commands and prohibitions. So God's law has the power to do that. 

Now, this individual looks at his face in the mirror and then immediately forgets. It's like the hardened path here that the birds come and snatch away, just immediately, it's done. So perhaps a sermon is convicting, and you've resolved, you're going to do something different in your marriage.You're going to do something different with what you do with the internet, you're going to do something different with widows or orphans. You're going to do something different in evangelism, something different in the workplace, and you make a kind of a holy resolution. But then you leave church and get in your car and you go back into the machinery of your everyday life, and then it's like it never happened. Nothing occurred. That's what James is talking about here. Somebody looks into the Word and then doesn't do anything with it, nothing changes.

Instead, he talks about looking intently into the perfect law that gives freedom. Verse 25, "But the one who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard but doing it, he will be blessed in what he does". So, you come to God's Word and you search yourself, you say, "Search me, O God, and know my heart, show me my sins. Show me where I can grow. Show me my flaws and my failures, my warts and my wounds". And then you bring it to the cross and you remember that you have been forgiven, and all of your sins are covered, but the Lord then wants to heal you up out of that, and help you to live a different life, and so you're gazing, you're saying, "Lord, show me". Psalm 139:23-24, "Show me my sins, show me my faults, what's wrong with my life.”

Now why does he call it "The perfect law that gives freedom"? Friends, “sin is terrible bondage,” Jesus said, and “everyone who sins is a slave to sin.” But that slavery, the chains of that, is spiritual, it's invisible. You can't see how your mind, your heart, is fettered. It's chained. You can't see it, but then you come to God's perfect law and then you can see invisible chains on your mind and in your heart, and Jesus said, "If the son sets you free, you'll be free indeed". How beautiful is that? Oh Jesus, set me free. “Jesus show me these hidden fetters, show me the chains, and break those chains.” Shatter the yoke that burdens me in the bar across my shoulder. Isaiah 9, "Be to me a savior". And if that happens you're going to walk in a whole new life of obedience. 

So, outline point number three, “Obeying God's Word Will Change Your Life,” and let's start with your tongue. Now I don't have to do a lot of work on this today, because we get to have like half a chapter on the tongue later. So we'll just defer that, but just let me tell you, the tongue's a problem. And you know what I'm talking about. Verse 26, "If anyone considers himself religious and yet does not keep a tight rein on his tongue, he deceives himself and his religion is worthless". That's very strong. So a transformed heart will result in a transformed tongue. Out of the fullness or overflow of the heart, the mouth speaks. So therefore you need to keep a tight rein on your tongue like it's a wild animal. And James is actually going to talk about that, “we've broken all kinds of wild animals, been able to subject them to the yoke, but the tongue, we can't seem to do it.” So, keep a tight rein on your tongue or, I like this one, Psalm 141 verse 3, "Set a guard over my mouth, O Lord, and keep watch over the door of my lips". It's almost like your mouth is a maximum security penitentiary and there's a bunch of dangerous things in there. Please, O Lord, only let credited people out. It's like, is it that bad friends? It's worse than that. So, God, set a guard over the door of my mouth. Help me to say only those things that are helpful for building others up, that it may benefit them. We'll say more about that in due time in chapter three.

Now, only perfect people can control the tongue. We're going to see that. If you're able to bridle the tongue you are a perfect man or woman, able to control your whole body. So if you guys like a high-challenge, go after that one. I would like one day in which I don't say anything wrong, the whole day. So let's just set that as a goal, and if you do that your whole body will follow. We'll study that in James 3. 

Second issue, outline point number four, “Obeying God's Word Purifies Your Life.” Now, I'm going to go to the end of the text here, because I want to deal with the pollution that the world brings in our souls before I talk about orphan and widow care. Verse 27, "Religion that our God and Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: To look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world". Now, this is a very interesting couple of verses. Verse 26 and verse 27 use the word "religion". Now, when I was a new Christian, I talked to Christie about this, she had the same experience. We were both trained through Campus Crusade for Christ, now called CRU, and we heard this again and again and again, and maybe you've heard it. "Christianity is not a religion, it's a relationship". Ever heard that? Something like that? And yet here's the word "religion", good religion. What is religion? It's a system, a pattern of thoughts and actions directed to a deity. I guess that's what it is.

When people say "Christianity is not a religion, but a relationship" they're talking about, I think, the very thing James is getting at here, a mindless machinery of system that doesn't do anything with your heart, you don't have any strong connection toward God. That's what we're talking about. Verse 26 talks about religion, but bad religion. Do you see that? "You're deceiving yourself and your religion is worthless". So, verse 26 has worthless religion, and verse 27 has pure and faultless religion. That's good religion. So bad religion versus good. So religion in and of itself is not the problem. Is it worthless or is it pure and undefiled before God? God hates mindless machinery of religion too. I quoted that last week, in Isaiah 1:14, and there it talks about the Jewish sacrificial system, religious machinery, that they just kept bringing endless animal sacrifices, but they were leading corrupt lives and He said, "Your new moon festivals and your sacrifices my soul hates". Isaiah 1:14. So God hates that kind of religion too. Here's the convicting part for all of us. Is that you? Is that happening to you? Are you in a mindless machine-like pattern that isn't actually affecting the way you live? That's the convicting part here. And so, we have to look at true religion, and true religion fundamentally hears God's Word and puts it into practice. It transforms the way you actually live. 

So let's start with this issue of worldliness, though it's at the end I want to set it up first. What does it mean, “keeping oneself from being polluted by the world”? The world is Satan's masterpiece of allurement and temptations toward lusts. We talked about that last week. It's a system of the lust of the eyes, lust of the flesh, boastful pride of life, 1 John 2:15, that just draws you into wickedness and sin, that's the world. Worldliness means you've been polluted by all that. You're characterized by the lust of the eyes, characterized by the lust of the flesh, and the boastful pride of life. Worldliness is pollution, it's defilement. So religion that God accepts as pure and faultless is to keep yourself unstained from all that, and that's harder than ever, friends. The world has amazing delivery systems to get its ideologies and its loss and temptations directly through your minds, in through your eyes, into your brains. 

Recently I was watching a video of the 2007 Macworld when Apple CEO Steve Jobs was rolling out a new product. Actually, it said he's rolling out three products: A wide-screen iPod music device with touch controls, some of you will remember what iPods are. Secondly, a revolutionary mobile phone. And thirdly, a breakthrough internet communicator. And then, just in his own clever marketing sort of way, he just kept going over those same three again, and they kept turning around until, BADUM, the iPhone. And out it came. The iPhone, the smartphone that changed the world. Over the next 10 years, Apple would ship 1.6 Billion iPhones. 

If any of you have an experience recently standing in an airport waiting area and looking around and seeing everyone like this, with their head down, it's like, "Is anybody talking to anybody?" I mean like, in here, in real time. I mean like another human being. Is that actually occurring? I think, just anecdotally, two-thirds or three-quarters of everyone I looked at was looking down at a device.

I was at a convenience store recently, filling up my tank, and I saw a Pepsi delivery guy with a two-wheeler, and he had one hand on the two-wheeler, the other hand on his device. So he walked about five to 10 feet, stopped, used the device and then walked another 10 feet, saw something, stopped, and used the device again. I'm thinking, "This is hindering commerce". Alright? This is going on all over the world. I have no idea what he was doing, maybe it was part of his job. I don't want to judge him. I just found it interesting. It took him a while to push that two-wheeler across the parking lot.

So, what is going on? Well, we are swimming in a lagoon, or a bay, and then at the edge of it are all these sewage pipes, draining a bunch of septic nastiness into it, how can we not be polluted by that? How do we manage to swim through this world and not get stained or polluted by the lust of the eyes, lust of the flesh, and boastful, pride of life? Now, the flesh. What is the flesh? Flesh, I've defined before, is the fanatical commitment to self. Fanatical commitment to self. You had it when you were born, in Adam. Fanatically committed to self-interest, and that is the thing the Lord is saving us out of. The I-phone. It's all about you, friends. What do you want? What would make you feel good? What social media thing will make people think well of you? What ego boost will you get when X number of people like what you put up? What are you interested in? It's all about you, you, you. And it's just feeding that. This is the hardest fight we have in this world. It says in Romans 8:13, "If you live according to the flesh, you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live." Ephesians 6 says, "You should put on the spiritual armor and stand and fight because your soul is being assaulted by invisible foes." 

Now, if you're a Christian and you know that you've been defiled, you know that you've been polluted by the world and I tell you right now, it is the very mentality that's hindering us caring for needy people. Because it's going to take time and energy and money and your lives are going to get difficult, and that's probably a big part of why we're not doing it very much. So we have to start by saying, how have I been corrupted? How have I been polluted by the world? How am I living for me? How living for sensual pleasure? How am I living for easy things? Etcetera. And God, would you please cleanse me and forgive me. “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” “Bring it to the cross, because the blood of Jesus can purify our consciences from acts that lead to death so that we may serve the living God,” Hebrews 9:14.

Finally, outline point number five, “Obeying God's Word Mobilizes Your Compassion." James speaks also of caring for the poor and needy, orphans and widows and in their distress. Now, there are literal orphans and literal widows, and we should care for them but I think it just expands to people who are needy, spiritually needy, physically needy, anybody. And you just look at your life differently because you've been transformed by God's Word. Now, this is vital. A week ago, Sara Zweigle talked to me and then sent me a link to a David Platt sermon on orphan care. And David Platt's church at Brook Hills in Alabama led out in orphan care in that community in Birmingham and began the radical ministry etcetera. And the sermon was 22 minutes long. I've listened to it three times. And he zeroed in on what it means to look after. It was just a word study. “Look after,” and he just went through the Bible, and it means to visit or go physically to someone with the intention of caring for their needs. It's not just to come and say hello for a visit or something like that. It means to go look after people in their distress, to care for them. And he went through all these verses and he ended up in Matthew 25, the sheep and the goats. And there it says, beginning in verse 31, "When the son of man comes in his glory and all the angels with him, He'll sit on His throne in heavenly glory, and all the nations will be gathered before Him and e will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats, and He'll put the sheep on His right and the goats on His left. And then He, the King will say to those on His right, the sheep, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father. Take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world, for I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and," and here's the exact same Greek word as is in James 1:27, "you looked after me."

You didn't come and visit me and bring me a card, you nursed me back to health. I was in prison and you went to visit me. And then the righteous will say, When did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? “When were you a stranger and we invited you in, or you needed clothes and we clothed you? When were you sick and in prison, and we looked after you? And the King will say to the righteous, I tell you the truth, whatever you've done for the least of these, you've done for me.” Then the goats, “He will say, depart from me, you who are cursed into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry, and you gave me nothing to eat. I was thirsty, you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger, you did not invite me in. I needed clothes, you did not clothe me. I was sick, you did not look after me, I was in prison, you did not come to visit me. And when did we not do all of those things? Whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me. And these, the righteous will go away into eternal life with the wicked into eternal punishment."

What David Platt said in that sermon, is he said, "You know, we expect that when we go to minister to people, we're going to be Jesus to them." And in some sense that's true, but in the text, it's more of the other way around. When we go, they are Jesus to us, and that was very profound. What it said to me is the willingness that we have to have our lives disturbed, to have our resources upset, our time, energy, money, given to people that are hurting and needy. If we turn away from that, we turn away from finding Jesus in this world. We'll have a harder and harder time walking with Jesus just by reading the Bible and leading living safe, comfortable lives. It's only as we're willing to sacrifice to make changes, to go out and minister in various categories. 

Now what's so beautiful about this church? There are so many of you that are doing this, this specifically, even in terms of adoption, or fostering, or prison ministry, or ministering to people from other countries who don't know anyone when they come here. It's happening, and I'm so grateful for your example, but the question each of us has to ask as we look in the mirror today, “So what's actually happening in my life?  In what ways am I sacrificially living for widows and orphans in their distress. In what way am I actually being inconvenienced by the sorrow and misery of other people? And how am I living?” Other than that, if that's not going on, then we're just deceiving ourselves and our religion is worthless, but if on the other hand, we see God work in us and we don't talk back to God, we're not angry, we're humble, we're submissive, we're listening to Him, we don't get angry, we don't shoot the messenger, we just say, "I want this to happen in my life," he'll work it in you, and that's the beauty of Christianity. Whatever you want, you have a holy ambition right now, a holy, but I don't know what God's calling you to do. Everyone different things. I don't have a specific menu for you. The Holy Spirit does. He has gone ahead of you and prepared good works for you to walk in. So go find them. Don't be an ineffective hearer of the Word, but a faithful, obedient doer of the Word. 

Close with me in prayer. Father, thank you for the power of your Word. We thank you for what it teaches us. God, make us ready to hear. Help us to be ready to just take in your Word and take it deeply into our hearts and be willing to be transformed by it. Help us to ask hard questions. What things are actually happening in my life that cost me anything, that cost me time or energy, or money? What ways am I inconvenienced for, literally for widows, or literally for orphans, or for lost people, or strangers in our community. What ways am I willing to serve? And please, oh Lord, let us not be just doing the machinery of religion, but let us be a church in which your Word is bearing an amazing eternal harvest for your glory. In Jesus' name, Amen.

Pastor Andy Davis preaches a verse-by-verse expository sermon on James 1:13-18. The main subject of the sermon is temptation and the consequences of indulging in sin.

Well, it's exciting to be able to be with you a week later, as Andy said, to be at a higher level. Grateful to be way up here with you folks, and to be able to share how exciting it is what God is doing in our church. And I'd like to ask that you turn in your Bibles to James 1 as we continue our study in the Book of James. And this morning we're going to be looking at the deadly power of temptation. And one of the things, a healthy church, a good church will do with its members is equip each member for spiritual warfare. And so, you've come this morning we hope to an armory of truth, that you have instruction in the Word of God to put on spiritual armor, that you are equipped to fight, and fight you must. All of us are going to be assaulted this week by the world, the flesh and the devil. It's inevitable, it will come. And the best thing that I can do this morning is to equip you to fight.

Sirens and Sin

In Greek mythology there were creatures named sirens, they were half-bird, half-woman. They lived near rocky shoals, and cliffs of islands, and they had the deadly skill of singing so enticingly and so alluringly that they could lure sailors to sail their ships too close to the rocky shoals because they were drawn in by the beauty of the music, and so they would dash themselves and their ships to pieces. In Homer's Odyssey, the hero Odysseus had heard about this alluring siren song and wanted to hear it so much, but didn't want to endanger his ship, so he commanded his men to lash himself to the mast and then that each of his sailors would fill their ear with wax, so that they wouldn't themselves be enticed, and in this way, he hoped to hear the song of the sirens. Now, this intoxicating pull toward shipwreck is an illustration from myth and legend of an actual spiritual danger that each one of us faces as Christians in this world, the danger of temptation. We walk every single day on a path surrounded by various siren songs. Satan has crafted a world system and assaults us with the temptations of the world and his own crafty temptations. And then we have the enemy within, our own lust, which the text is going to focus on, which responds to those alluring songs.

Taking Responsibility for Our Sin

Now it is human nature for all of us to blame others for our sins. That we're going to blame others to escape taking responsibility for our sins, looking for a scapegoat, a fall guy. This is obviously so unjust, and it's corrupt, and it's weak on our part. But worst of all, worse than blaming other people is to blame God for our temptations and for our sins. And this happened from the very beginning, the first sin that Adam fell into, when he ate from the forbidden tree, he ate fruit from the forbidden tree. The first sin that happened after that was a sin of blame shifting. You remember how God confronted him and said, "Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from it?" And in Genesis 3:12, he said, "The woman you put here with me, she gave me some of the fruit from the tree and I ate it." So that is terrible. At that point he's blaming not only Eve for his sin, the woman for the sin, but he is ultimately blaming God for his own sin. We are world-class excuse-makers for our own corruptions. Like a thief blaming his economic situations for his thieving, or a serial rapist blaming his abusive father for his career in crime. But it's even worse when we do it to God.

The Book of Proverbs makes this tendency clear in Proverbs 19:3. Proverbs 19:3 says, "A man's folly ruins his life, yet his heart rages against the Lord." Isn't that a powerful proverb? We do damage to our own lives and then we turn around and blame God for it. We're constantly surrounded by the forces that are pulling on our bodies. Physical forces like the force of gravity that's pulling us down or force of moving objects that smash into us, or deflect us from our course, or the force of atmospheric pressure, 14.7 pounds per square inch, pushing on us at every moment. But the force of temptation pulling us toward evil and toward death is the most significant spiritual force that we have to combat in our journey of salvation. It's like a magnetic pull that lures us to our deaths, and as we come to James 1:13-18, James is helping us to understand the true origin of our temptations, and it's not coming from the pure heart of God. And it's coming from within ourselves. God wants us to take responsibility for our own temptations, and to kill them before they kill us. And He does this by teaching us the true nature of temptation.

Tested vs. Tempted

So as we look at our outline this morning, the first point is going to be this: God never tempts us. Verse 13, "When tempted, no one should say, ‘God is tempting me,’ for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he himself tempt anyone." So we come immediately here in verse 13, in the Greek language, to a difficult word, and an issue between being tested and being tempted. What's amazing is the Greek word is the same. So you have to look at the context. We were just told in verse 2 of chapter 1, that we “face trials of many kinds.” That is the same Greek word. And then verse 12 uses it again. God actually does in fact test us. And He does try us, He puts us through trying circumstances. Now, the testing of our faith, we're told, develops perseverance. It purifies our faith, it strengthens us, makes us more purely devoted to God. Temptations however are something else altogether, and we have to make a distinction. A temptation is, as I've been saying, a magnetic attraction toward evil, a pulling toward wickedness.

There are many examples of temptation in the Bible. We think about Joseph and Potiphar's wife, how day after day, she sought to persuade him to have sex with her, day after day to allure him, even grabbing him by the garment at one point. Or we have in Proverbs chapter 7, it seems like Solomon is looking down into the streets of the city and sees a young man through the lattice, a young man he says lacking sense, not aware of what war zone he's about to walk into. And then there's this alluring seductress who comes out crafty and with deceitful intent, and she's dressed, and she's enticing and she begins to talk to him. The whole thing is laid out for us in Proverbs 7. She says, "My husband has taken a big bag of money, he's going to be gone until the new moon. It's going to be a long time, and I've fulfilled my vows to God today." Meaning, “I have some meat that I can offer, the very thing that you want.” And so, she persuades him, and she allures him. It says in Proverbs 7:21, "With persuasive words she led him astray and she seduced him with her smooth talk." And the book says, "All at once he followed her like an ox going to the slaughter, like a deer stepping into a noose till an arrow pierces his liver, like a bird darting into a snare, little knowing it will cost him his life." So that's just a whole case study of seduction, a case study of alluring. 

You have the same thing in Proverbs 1, with a different sin, where highway robbers are enticing this man's son and saying, "Hey come on, join us in laying wait for someone and we'll share a common purse." It's a different kind of seduction, but the same kind of thing. So we have all of these examples of alluring and temptation that happens, but the text says, "Don't ever say God is doing that to me." God is no seductress, He doesn't seduce us toward evil, He doesn't allure us toward wickedness. He never does this. God definitely tests us, like He tested Abraham to see the strength of his faith and to develop his faith. And he orchestrates circumstances to test us, that is true. But He never seduces us toward the thing that He hates with a perfect hatred.

The Perfect Purity of God

Look at verse 13, it says, "God cannot be tempted by evil." The basic nature of evil is as far from the perfect purity of Almighty God as we can imagine. It's as far as the east is from the west. It's as far as one end of the universe is from the other. Cosmologists tell us 47 billion light years across. God is further from wickedness and evil than that. It says in Habakkuk 1:13, "Your eyes are too pure to look on evil, you cannot tolerate wrong." Even better for our purposes, 1 John 1:5 says, "God is light, and in Him there is no darkness at all." It's a double negative in the Greek. There's not the tiniest particle of evil in God, ever. He is not divided within His nature, He is one, perfectly one. He is perfectly light all the time. But us, we are deeply divided. To the core of God's being, He is light. And in the core of His being, there is no darkness at all. 

It's an interesting expression in Isaiah 1:14, where God is speaking through the prophet Isaiah and He's talking about the machinery of corrupt religion going on in Israel at the time. And this is what He says. It's a very interesting expression. He says, "Your appointed feast my soul hates." It's a very interesting expression, the soul of God. Well, God doesn't have a soul anymore than He has a hand, or eyes, or feet. These are what theologians call anthropomorphism, but they help us to understand the nature of God and when He says, "My soul hates it," it means to the core of my being, I hate evil and wickedness. The holiness of God may be the single most important attribute for us in our sinfulness to understand. 

The Holiness of God

We have the account of the call of Isaiah the prophet in Isaiah 6, where it says, "In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord high and exalted, and the train of His robe filled the temple, and above Him there were Seraphs, each with six wings, and with two wings they covered their faces. And with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying." One theologian said, "Notice that four of the six wings of the six-winged Seraph are given toward some acknowledgement of the holiness of God." And these are beings that have never sinned, they've never rebelled, they're perfectly holy themselves, separate from evil, but they still have a sense of the intense holiness of God. It is the most important attribute because they cry aloud to each other, "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty, the whole earth is full of His glory!" It is the only attribute of God which is said three times, “holy, holy, holy.” God is perfectly separated from evil. It is the essence then, of the saving work He does in us to get us to be holy because He is holy. 

God Never Tempts Anyone

And therefore, verse 13 says, "God is untemptable by evil." There is nothing inside God that is attracted to wickedness or darkness at all. Nor does He tempt anyone. Evil has no allure from God, doesn't pull on His heartstrings. He's not attracted to it. Therefore He's not singing some siren song to get us to divert from His path of righteousness, and disobey His commands, that just doesn't come from God ever.

Now you may ask, thoughtful among you are probably already thinking about this, "What about the Lord's Prayer? Remember how we're told to pray, "Lead us O Lord, not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one." So you prayed that for years, you never knew there was a problem with that verse, did you? You're like wait a minute now, "If God never tempts us toward evil, then why do we have to ask Him to not lead us into temptation?" But here's the thing, in prayer, we're not rolling out something that we have no idea what God thinks about it. Prayers are always biblically informed, and so, we could pray with the Psalmists, “May the glory of the Lord endure forever.” “Not sure whether it will or not, but may it happen. Hope it does.” Friends, that's not how prayer works. So we learn instead, God hates evil, "May you O Lord, continue to hate it as you will, and continue to lead me in such a way that I am not tempted." 

But really in the end it comes back to us, doesn't it? It teaches us, it reminds us of the holiness of God. It reminds us of our own susceptibility to temptation, like this text is teaching, and oh God, that we would not lead ourselves into temptation, put ourselves in tempting situations or walk like we're blockheads and have no idea what's going on and find ourselves trapped when we shouldn't be. That's the way I understand, "Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one." 

God Allows Satan’s Temptations

Now, the evil one, Satan, God does permit him to tempt us and he does tempt us. However, we've already learned from 1 Corinthians 10:13 that, “He will not allow us to be tempted beyond what we can bear, but with the temptation, He will make a way of escape so that we can stand up under it.” Look, oh dear friends, look for that way of escape every time. Say, "Oh God, allow me to stand firm in this hour of temptation. I don't want to cave in." 

Now, the second outline point is the true origin of temptation is our own lust. Look at verse 14, "Each one is tempted when by his own evil desire, or lust, he is dragged away and enticed." So our temptations come from our own lust, our own evil desires. Now we were made in the image of God to be filled with desires. It is a good thing to have desire, it's a defective thing to have no desire in life at all. And so, we were made to have desires, not even weak desires, passionate desires. God is a God that's filled with passionate desires. Now, given our physical nature we are going to have normal physical desires, but what sin does, is it corrupts the normal desires and pushes them beyond boundaries that God has set up. So that desire becomes lust, and that's the origin of our temptation. 

Our Temptations Come from Our Own Evil Desires

So we have a desire for food. There's nothing wrong with that, there's everything right with that. But then the sin nature, the flesh, pushes it beyond boundaries into gluttony. We have the desire for rest, we need rest. The sleep of a laborer is pleasant to his soul and God gives sleep to those that He loves. This is a good gift, but the flesh pushes it beyond normal boundaries, so that we become the sluggard, “and like the door on its hinges, we turn on our beds.” I love the Proverbs about the sluggard. What an interesting individual the sluggard is, but here's an individual who is intoxicated by sleep. He just can't get enough. Then there's the desire for marital relations, it's normal, God put it in all normal men and women to have sexual relations within covenant marriage. That's normal. But the sin nature of the flesh pushes that into forbidden territories, and that becomes sexual lust, and it corrupts us. 

Now all of us have to deal with the enemy within. And Romans Chapter 7, in the second half of that chapter, Paul unfolds the battle that all of us are going to have the rest of our lives. We have an enemy within. And Paul says in Romans 7, in verse 15, "I do not understand what I do, for what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do." He then says, "As it is, it's no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me that is so repulsive." Like you've got this disgusting virus or parasite, worse than any parasite living inside us. Paul says, "I know that nothing good lives in me, [that is, in my flesh] for I have the desire to do what is good but I cannot carry it out. For what I do is not the good I want to do. No, the evil I do not want to do, this is what I keep on doing. Now, if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it but it is sin living in me that does it. So I find this law at work when I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being, I delight in God's law, but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members. What a wretched man I am. Who will deliver me from this body of death?" Well, thanks be to God, through Jesus Christ our Lord, someday dear friends, we are going to be delivered from this body of death. In Heaven, we will not have any struggle with lust, it will be done. And you are hungering and thirsting for righteousness. 

If you're a genuine Christian, if you're genuinely born again, you're yearning for that day when you will never sin again. And it will come, you'll be released. If you should die before the Second Coming of Christ, you'll be among those that are absent from the body, present with the Lord, and it says in Hebrews that you will be the spirits of the righteous made perfect, and you'll never have an evil thought again or evil desire, you'll be completely conformed to Jesus Christ. But in the meantime, while you are in this body, in this present world, you must fight and you must seek the deliverance that only God can give. And so it says, "So then I myself in my mind am a slave to the law of God but in my flesh a slave to the law of sin." So this is sin living in us. 

Dragged Away and Enticed by Lust

Now, James describes it forcefully. “Each one is tempted when by his own evil desire, his own lust, he is...” The translation I have here is, “dragged away and enticed.” I find that an interesting kind of reversal, so let's just reverse it, “enticed and dragged away.” And these are two very forceful words. You get a sense here of a baited hook, almost like we are fish. We are fish and there's a lure, there's the bait, there's an enticement, some kind of pleasure, something that fits your nature, your flesh, and it's enticing. It's a lure. There is a magnetism, there's a gravitational pull toward it, it attracts the eye, it attracts the heart. You begin to ponder the bait, you begin to play with the bait a little bit, nibble at it, lick it I guess. I don't know what the fish do. What do they do? But something has caught the fish's attention and it's pulling on it a little bit. In my entire life, I've caught one fish. Alright, so I don't know what I'm talking about, at any rate. But they're playing with the bait and so, they're enticed and then dragged away. So you get part two is the bait is in the mouth of the fish and the angler, the fisherman knows it and is able to hook the fish with a jerk, and the fish is now hooked and dragged where the fish doesn't want to go. So these are the images that we have. 

These Lusts Wage War on Your Soul

So, I have so many images that have been in my mind for years of this pull toward evil. This past year, there was a free solo rock climber named Alex Honnold that climbed without any equipment up the face of the El Capitan, the Half Dome. Crazy person, crazy person. But there is every single moment, every fingerhold, all that gravity is pulling on him toward his own death. Every single one. Or you think about salmon swimming upstream. Some of those salmon swim 900-1000 miles, and they're going against the whitewater, against the raging current of the mountain rivers that they're going, they're jumping falls the wrong way. And so all the force of the water, all the force of the gravity is against the journey they're trying to make. Our journey's harder than that, friends. Harder.

I was converted in October of 1982. So began the war on my soul. I'm still a Christian, but only by the grace of God. My soul has been assaulted every day of my Christian life by the world, the flesh, and the devil. And here I stand, but I stand very humble, aware that if the Lord had given me over to my lusts and my temptations I would have been gone a long time ago, and so would you. And you're going to get saved, in the end God's going to win. Praise God, He's going to win over you, and He's going to get you there, and when you get to Heaven, you'll realize how much He saved you. And to God be the glory. That's what's going on. So these lusts, Peter tells us in 1 Peter 2:12 that they,“wage war against your soul.” The best thing I can do as a pastor, the best thing we can do as brothers and sisters in the church is help you fight that battle. 

Lusts Get Stronger the More You Indulge in Them

So we come to the third outline point, and that is the true destination of temptation is death. Look at verses 15 and 16, "Then after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin, and sin when it is full-grown, gives birth to death. Don't be deceived, my dear brothers." So, the lusts get stronger the more you indulge them. If you yield to a lust today, it will come back stronger tomorrow. This is the way it is. Conversely, if you fight, if you kill the lust today, it will come back but weaker. And this is how we fight. It'll never be totally gone. You'll never be totally free from any categorical lust while you live in this world, you'll never be able to say, "I will never sin in that way again," while you live. You can't say that. You got to be vigilant all the time. “If anyone thinks he stands, take heed lest he fall.” But the ultimate end of all this, the true destination is death. 

Likened to Childbirth and Child Development

Now James likens it to the process of childbirth and child development. He says that desire conceives and gives birth to sin, and then he speaks of sin becoming fully grown. So it's like you're watching it grow up and develop. It's completed, it's fully developed, so it's continuing on. And so, sin has an intentionality. Sin is frequently in a number of places in the New Testament, personified. Like, “sin deceived me and through the commandment put me to death,” it says in Romans. So, sin has an intelligence, it's given a personification. Alright, so sin has a plan for you, and that is, to assassinate your soul. Sin wants to take you to Hell, it wants to destroy your life in this world and then destroy your soul in eternity. That's why John Owen said, "Be killing sin or sin will be killing you." 

The Deceitfulness of Sin

And so we must see in verse 16 the deceitfulness of all this. “Don't be deceived, dear brothers. You have to be aware of what's happening to you. Don't allow yourself to be lied to, don't be deceived. Sin lies to us, it promises us pleasure, but it is secretly poisoning us, little by little poisoning us. It's deceiving us.” Hebrews 3:13 says that we should, “encourage one another daily so that none of us may be hardened by sin's deceitfulness.” That's powerful, isn't it? Hardened by sin's deceitfulness. Sin doesn't tell the truth about where we're going with all this. John Owen said this about sin, "Sin not only wants to be constantly acting, but if let alone, it will bring forth great, cursed, scandalous and soul-destroying sins. It always aims at the utmost. It's not trying to do a little thing in your soul, it's trying to take you the whole way, and in this way it doesn't tell you the truth, it deceives you. 

The Final Destination of Such a Life is Hell

So I think about what the Nazis did in World War II to get the people to quietly file onto the trains that would take them to their death. They were told that they were being transported to Relocation Camps. They're using this kind of language and they were told, and this comes out very plainly in the movie, Schindler's List, they were told to take all of your luggage and carefully label it and stack it up neatly on the platform, and it would be transported to their final destination. It's a very eerie scene in that movie where the people begin their journey to what we know is the death camps: Auschwitz, Treblinka, Sobibor, somewhere. Off they go. And then after they're gone, then a bunch of workers come in and grab the luggage and throw it in a warehouse, and they start opening up and dumping the contents and organizing them to see if there's any valuables. We know as the movie watchers, they'll never see their stuff again, they're going to die, we know it. Well, sin is like that. It uses complacent language about what's happening, you minimize it. You use different adjectives, different words to describe it, and you minimize it. It's not a big deal. And this is very much the hardening of sin's deceitfulness. So, your heart, you didn't even know that your heart is getting harder toward God, toward Christ, toward Bible reading, toward prayer, toward fellowship, you don't want to do it as much, it's not as enjoyable to you. You pray shorter, you are tempted to forsake the assembling of yourself together with other Christians, there's a hardening.

The opposite is a softening, which has to do with a yieldedness toward God, you're yielding to what the indwelling Spirit is telling you to do, that the prompting of the Spirit finds submission in you. You're not stiff-necked, like the Jews were said of old, to be stiff-necked, which is to rebel. Instead, you're soft and yielded, but sin does the opposite, it makes you stiff-necked, it makes you hard-hearted. That's the deceitfulness. And the final destination of this is death. Now, we should not misunderstand and think we're just talking about physical death. We understand biblically that there is something called the second death. There is physical death, and we're all going to die. If the Lord doesn't return in our lifetime, we will die physically, that's true. But this is talking about that but much more than that. We must not be deceived. Verse 16 mentioned self-deception, "Do not be deceived, my brothers." Verse 22 of the same chapter, he says, "Do not merely listen to the word and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says." And then verse 26 of the same chapter, three times in one short section, the problem of deception, of being deceived. He says, "If anyone considers himself religious and yet does not keep a tight rein on his tongue, he deceives himself and his religion is worthless." So this is just the whole project of the Book of James, is to get you to understand what kind of faith saves you and what life comes from that. And this is a life that fights temptation, it fights sin, you recognize what's happening.

So, those of us that battle, let's say sexual immorality, Jesus was very, very plain with this about lust. “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery,’ but I say to you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery in his heart.” Then he says, "If your right hand causes you to sin, then cut it off and throw it away, it is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into Hell." So that's what we're talking about. Hell is the second death, that's where temptation will take us.

We Need These Warnings

So the Bible doesn't shrink back from warning us about where we're headed and what lust and sin leads to. And part of the way that the Bible does this is by giving us sober-minded warnings like this text, that's what this is, it's a sober-minded warning. And some people wrestle theologically, "I don't understand, Pastor. I thought once saved, always saved. I thought I was secure." All these kind of things and they have a hard time reading warnings, but you need to understand the warnings are essential to the salvation process of the unglorified elect, the unglorified saved elect. We're still in a war zone, and the warnings do what they need to do to the souls of those who are elect that are chosen that will, in the end, make it through. We heed the warnings. Who takes the warnings seriously? We do. So, if you are elect, if you're genuinely converted, you'll read James 1:13-18 and take it seriously. And you'll say, "I've got to be killing these lusts, I've got to be killing sin or sin will be killing me."

God is Not an Alluring Siren

Alright, outline point four is, Instead look at God's good gifts and His perfect gifts. So God's not trying to destroy you, God's trying to save you. He's not trying to give you death, He's trying to give you life, that's who God is. And so these are some of the most beautiful verses you'll ever find on the generosity and the love of God. Look at verse 17, "Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the lights who does not change, like shifting shadows." So God's not an alluring siren, enticing you to your own destruction, not at all. Jesus the Good Shepherd said, "The thief comes to steal and kill and destroy. I have come that you may have life, and have it abundantly." So this text says about the same thing. God's perfect nature, God is the Father of the lights. So, good gifts come down, so you have this, your eyes are lifted up, you look up at the heavens, and what do you see? You see the sun and you see the moon and the stars, which God created on the fourth day. He created the greater light to govern the day, the lesser light to govern the night. He also made the stars. One of the great understatements in all of history. He also made the stars. And it says that He set them in the heavens to give light to the Earth. He's very Earth-centered. 

God’s Generosity

So I know, I know about Nicholas Copernicus and he told us, "Guess what? The earth is not the center of the solar system, the sun is." The earth is not the physical center, but it is the spiritual center of everything, and He created the sun, and the moon, and the stars expressly to give light to the Earth. And when their time is done, they will be done. And in Heaven, in the new heaven, new earth He will give His own light directly, He will not delegate it anymore to the sun or the moon or the stars or any lamp, but He will illuminate Heaven with His own glory. That's the generosity and the love of God, He is very generous.

I mean look at the sun. Sun is very generous, don't you think? I mean, it's been helping us out all this time. Day after day it gives us light, it gives us warmth, and it's doing just fine. It could keep going like this for a while. Cosmologists tell us that it could keep going at the present rate for another 5 billion years. So here, I'm going to bring in my eschatology and theology, I think we'll be all set by then, friends. We will have come to the end of this phase of history and gone on to eternity by then. So I think the sun is set up to run for a while and God sends down that light, He is the Father of the lights from Heaven, and He keeps them burning. And He keeps all of the stars with their twinkling light and He keeps the moon with its beautiful glow, the Harvest Moon, how beautiful is that? And God gives this generosity to us day after day. This is the nature of God's limitless love.

He says, "I pray that you may grasp," Ephesians 3, "how wide, and long, and high, and deep is the love of Christ, and that you would know that love that surpasses knowledge, that you would be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God." Isn't that what you get out of verse 17? He's giving you gifts, He's giving you good gifts, and perfect gifts. And He never changes. He's immutable. He's the same yesterday, today, and forever. He does not change like shifting shadows, James tells us. Malachi 3:6, "I the Lord do not change." Before the foundation of the world, He set His love on you, child of God. "I have loved you with an everlasting love," he says in Jeremiah 31:3. "Therefore I'm drawing you in loving kindness." He loves you. And so He says, "Every good gift comes down from above." 

What Are God’s Good Gifts?

What are good gifts? I look on these as common grace blessings: Food, clothing, shelter, beautiful scenery, intelligence, talents, skills, opportunities, finances. These are good gifts, and He gives them to everybody, His enemies and His friends alike. “He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.” He just is so generous and He just lavishes generous gifts to everyone whether they thank Him or not. The non-Christians don't thank Him. But we can thank Him for these good gifts. But then there's the perfect gift, and what is the perfect gift? Well, the perfect gift is salvation. Look at verse 18. "He chose to give us birth through the word of truth so that we might be a kind of firstfruits of all he created." So, verse 18, this is the perfect gift that comes from the unchanging God and that is that He wants to give you eternal life, He has given you eternal life, you're born again and He will protect that life until it's consummated in glory in Heaven.

And verse 18 begins with God's free will not yours, isn't that wonderful? It's all about what God chose to do. Like, "Well, Pastor, you're saying you don't believe in free will?" It's like, "Well, I just need to know what you mean." Just tell me what that word means to you, free from what? Alright, we'll get to that another time, another sermon. Alright? But I am, thank God, not free from God's effective influence on my soul. I am not free from the fact that He did a surgery in my heart and took out my heart of stone and gave me a heart of flesh. And now, He is working in that and gives me good holy desires after Him. That's what this birth is like. Like He said to Nicodemus, "You must be born again." And so this is the birth that must happen to you. 

Have You Been Born Again?

I have to ask you, has that happened to you? Just because you're sitting here in church, I don't know that you're born again. Have you received the gift of life by hearing and believing the Gospel of Jesus Christ, that God sent His only begotten Son, born of the Virgin Mary, who lived a sinless life, and died on the cross for our sins and lusts, and all that wickedness that we've committed, that His blood atones for our sins? And all you have to do is believe in Him and you'll be forgiven. Are you born again? Have you received this perfect gift? That's what it's talking about here, that God chose to give us life so that we might be the best of all He created, the pinnacle, the cream of the crop, the firstfruits of His creation. He sets His sons and daughters redeemed by His sovereign grace, redeemed by His blood above everything else. As it says in Isaiah 43:6-7, "Bring my sons from afar, my daughters from the ends of the earth, everyone who is called by my name whom I created for my glory, whom I formed and made." We are the apple of His eye. He's engraved us in the palm of His hand, and He delights in us. That's who God is. So He's not luring you off the path of righteousness, He is feeding your soul to stay on the path of righteousness.

Beware of the Danger of Temptation!

Now application, if I can just speak to you, brothers and sisters. I've already invited those that walked in here, perhaps lost, to find Christ. But now I'm just urging you who are already Christians to just get busy to fight. Fight. I don't say fight tomorrow, I don't say fight this week, I say fight right now. Fight as soon as church is over. Because your soul, like mine, is under assault and will be while you live. The world, the flesh, and the devil will be assaulting you, and so you need to be aware of that. Every sin pattern, every identifiable sin has attendant temptations that lead to it. So take prayerlessness for example, you're having a quiet time, you're kneeling in prayer. Have you ever felt a force on you to stop praying? You feel it in your lower back if you get older. Alright. But you feel it in your wandering mind, and you're like, "Alright, I prayed long enough." And there's this pull, pull, pull, like that gravitational pull to stop praying. And then you find it isn't just stop that prayer time, but you don't need to pray as much, or you don't need to pray right now. It's prayerlessness, but there's a temptation that leads toward it.

Fighting Specific Temptations

What about anxiety? It's a sin. Are there any temptations toward anxiety? You better believe there are. You may be having a financial difficulty, a medical trouble for yourself or a loved one, and you find yourself ruminating, "What shall we do? What shall we do? What shall we do?" And there's temptations to ponder in an unbelieving way your condition and your situation. There's temptations toward every sin. What about forsaking the assembling of ourselves together? Deciding not to go to worship. It could start innocently. You've worked really hard this week, or this. I don't know what excuses for why you don't go to church. And I'm not saying if you miss church one time that you're definitely in wickedness. I'm not saying that, but I'm just saying there is a process by which people forsake assembling of themselves together in corporate worship.

What about arguing in your marriage? Some of you may do that, okay? Some of you may argue with your parents, or you parents with your kids. Arguing is a sin. "Do everything without complaining or arguing." There are temptations toward it. Have you ever felt that you're in the middle of a marital discussion, and some cool ideas to win the argument pop up in your mind? Ever wondered about that? Some creative ways where you're going to checkmate and win forever that particular point. Only guess what? It didn't happen because I think if we could see in the invisible spiritual realms, there's a demon feeding each side, keeping the fire going and there are temptations toward those kinds of arguments and conflicts. There are temptations toward sexual immorality of all sorts. Some of you are really battling Internet pornography. And you know exactly what this pull feels like. You know it's evil, you know it's wrong, and you want to continue to use the computer to do your work and all that, but every time you click on, you start feeling that pull. And perhaps because you've indulged it many times before it's stronger than ever. You have to fight for your soul. You have to fight for it. 

What about fornication? It's still a sin 21st century. But you could see couples together, the young people, maybe they're in high school, maybe they're in college. They're not married, and they're being told that it's not a sin to have sex together. They use different euphemisms, ‘hooking up;’ different other things, etcetera, and they minimize it. And we see all kinds of damage that happens for years to come after that, even if the couple ends up married, there's still things that happen as a result. And what about adultery? We've had to pick up the pieces on some of that recently. It's devastating. Man or woman, person's out, they're enticed, they're in a moment of vulnerability, they meet someone, one thing leads to another, they don't nip it in the bud, and then they get somewhere, and then they make excuses. "It was like a freight train, I couldn't stop myself." Well, that's garbage. You saw it coming, and you didn't nip that in the bud, you didn't see your own enticements, and lurings, and all that, and you didn't kill it when you should have.

What about bitterness toward God? Some of you may be dealing with that. You've had some trials, some pain, or some other thing and God hasn't answered prayer and you're being tempted, tempted, tempted, tempted toward hardness toward God, toward bitterness toward God. What about unforgiveness toward another person? You're being tempted in that direction too. You keep going over it, and ruminating on what they did to you, and you just can't forgive it seems. It's temptation. There's temptations toward all sin patterns. What about gossip? You know something juicy about somebody and you find yourself talking and next thing you know, the words are on the tip of your tongue, and you don't even realize how many times you've done it in the past, slandered somebody or gossiped, and you said some things. We are being tempted in so many different directions.

God is With Us

Brothers and sisters, God, the God, the Father of lights, this pure, holy God is with you, commanding you to be holy in all of these areas and all the rest, and equipping you and empowering you to kill these temptations so that they will not in the end kill you. 

Close with me in prayer. Father, thank You for this time to study Your word. Thank You for the serious warnings there are in texts like this. Thank You for James writing down under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit who You are, how pure You are, how generous and how loving, and who we are, how corruptible we are, how in danger we are every moment. Help my brothers and sisters here. Help us to fight sin for your glory, for our own good, for our own fruitfulness. In Jesus' name. Amen.

Jesus’ Parable of the Hidden Treasure

My sermon title is, “Joyful Perseverance in Trials Produces Spiritual Maturity.” Jesus told a parable saying, that, “the kingdom of Heaven is likened to treasure hidden in a field. And when a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy, sold everything he had and bought that field.” There is no more precious commodity in this world than salvation through faith in Jesus Christ. It is the most precious thing that there is, and it is real. We, who are Christians, we know that that salvation is real because God is real. Though we cannot see Him, we know that He created the universe and by faith we understand that, and by faith we know that Heaven is real, and that salvation is real. But what if our claim to that treasure, what if our claim is counterfeit?

That man went out and sold everything he had and bought that field, but imagine he bought it from a fraudulent salesman and that the title deed he had to that field was fraudulent. What if it was a fake? Speaking more directly, how can we know that our faith in Christ is genuine? How can we know that we have the kind of faith that will save our souls? There are frauds. 

Fraudulent Faith

There are counterfeits in everything. You can think of fake rolexes. You can think of even fake hiking and mountaineering equipment. I saw in Nepal, there were name brands, and the name was spelled slightly differently than I'd seen before. They have WcDonalds in China where the M is upside down. And so there are fraudulent things. 

Probably the most lucrative fraudulent businesses is in art. I was reading recently of a painting that was sold supposedly from the 16th century, a painting of Saint Jerome, and it was so realistic looking at had actual cracks of age that followed a certain pattern that was characteristic of the 16th century, it was that accurate. But the painting sold for almost a million dollars contained some pigments, some chemicals that were impossible to be from the 16th century. In the end it was exposed as a fraud. 

Now, the art collector that bought that was out $860,000. We're talking about something infinitely more valuable than that. We're talking about your eternal soul. We're talking about, whether you'll spend eternity in Heaven or in Hell. And therefore it is vital for us to know whether our claim to Christ is fake or genuine. Some have told me before, and we're going through the Sermon on the Mount, in men's Bible study on Thursday. And one of the scariest passages in the Bible, is in Matthew 7 where Jesus says, "Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord will enter the Kingdom of Heaven. But only those who do the will of my Father, who is in Heaven. Many will say to me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles.' And then I will tell them plainly, 'I never knew you. Away from me you evil doers.'" People tell me that's a scary verse for them because they are aware of the possibility of being self-deceived, they're aware of the possibility of a fraudulent faith, and I think that's a good thing. 

Be Willing to Evaluate Yourself

The New Testament encourages us to evaluate ourselves to test ourselves. 2 Corinthians 13:5 says, "Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith test yourselves. Do you not realize that Christ Jesus is in you unless, of course, you fail the test." So we are told by 2 Corinthians 13, and many other passages to evaluate our faith, to test ourselves, to not make assumptions. Now, the consistent answer the New Testament gives to the question, “How can I know if my faith is genuine?”, is the issue of fruit, or works. There's different ways of saying it, but it's the same answer. If there is fruit, genuine fruit, then there is genuine life. If there is not genuine fruit, there is not genuine life. Then you may wonder "Well, what fruit, should I be looking for? What is the fruit that God wants to see in my life?" Again, the Lord has not left us as orphans on that question, He has told us what He wants us to be and do. The New Testament defines the healthy Christian life. But one book in particular, zeroes in on good works as proof positive of the kind of faith that saves and that is the book we're about to study the Book of James. 

The Practicality of James 

Now James is a book that's hard to synthesize into one overarching theme. It actually reads somewhat like a Christian book of Proverbs, taking on various topics and sometimes even it seems changing the subject, and now we're on to another topic and it's hard always to connect the dots. It's a very practical book. However, one could argue that the theological center of the book is in James 2. A James 2:14 says this, "What good is it my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds, can such a faith save him?" It's an interesting phraseology in that translation, "Can such faith save him?" That kind of faith. “Can that faith save him?” So, what that raises is the question of, “What kind of faith is genuine, what kind of faith saves souls?” And James says there in that chapter, the faith that produces good works will save your soul, but the faith that does not produce good works is not a genuine faith. It is a dead faith, it's a demon faith, it's worthless. And he'll go through all that in Chapter 2. So it is a diabolical thing to be deceived by Satan, for Satan to lie to us about our true spiritual condition.

But to some degree, it's even more diabolical when he enlists us in that process where we deceive ourselves, where we lie to ourselves about what's really going on. And so, the whole Book of James is written, I think to help us not do that, to expose fraudulent faith while there's still time to do something about it, to show us what the kind of faith that saves our souls really looks like, and this first sermon will fit right into that as we look at joyful perseverance, in trials, and how that will prove faith to be genuine. 

Who is this James?

So let's begin with an introduction to James both the man and his letter. That would be the first heading in my outline and look at verse 1, "James a servant of God, and of the Lord Jesus Christ to the 12 tribes scattered among the nations. Greetings". So who is this James? Well, there are four James’ mentioned in the New Testament. Two of them we can remove right away, that leaves James, one of the 12 Apostles, the brother of John one of the three inner circle with Jesus. The problem is that he was the first martyred among the apostles. And so, would have died too, soon, I think, to write this letter. Most scholars zero in on James, the half-brother of Jesus. Now Mary was a virgin when Jesus was born, but she did not remain so. She and Joseph had a normal healthy married life, and so she gave birth to other children. And at one point, Jesus's enemies in Nazareth say of Jesus, "Isn't this the carpenter's son? Isn't His mother's name Mary? And aren't his brothers James and Joseph and Simon and Judas? Aren't all his sisters with us?” So, there's clear textual proof that Mary had other children. Now they would have been half-brothers and sisters of Jesus because only Jesus had God as His true father while they all had Joseph as their father but the same mother. 

James’ Journey of Faith

Now this man, James, had a journey of faith. It's very plain in John Chapter 7, and 5 that Jesus brothers did not believe in Him while He was ministering, they did not believe in Him, John 7:5. However, after the resurrection of Jesus, James is there with his brothers, and Mary in the upper room, waiting for the coming of the Holy Spirit. So what happened? What changed? Well, I believe 1 Corinthians 15 and verse 7 makes it plain, that Jesus, as Paul's going through the evidence of the resurrection on how Jesus appeared to Peter and then to the 12, and then to 500 people. It says after that, He appeared to James. So think about that, a private appearance by the Lord of the universe, to you. And at that point there's no doubt in James’ mind who Jesus was. And his role as biological brother Jesus just disappears is not important. It was a historical note of some interest, but what really mattered is that Jesus was James' savior, and James believed in Him, became a genuine follower of Christ, and became a leader in the church in Jerusalem, became what Paul calls in Galatians chapter 2, a pillar of that church, in Acts 15, he led the Jerusalem Council as they discussed the role of circumcision for the Gentile converts. James was a leader, a pillar of the church in Jerusalem. So that I believe is the author of this book, the half-brother of Jesus. 

Who is He Writing To?

Now, who is he writing to? Well, he's the leader of the Jewish church in Jerusalem. These were Jews who had come to a genuine faith in Christ, but he writes, he says to the 12 tribes scattered among the nations. Now the Jews were very aware of the scattering that went on after the exiles. They were the exiles by the Assyrians and the Babylonians, and they were scattered throughout the Gentile world. So that would have been the Roman, the Greco-Roman world, and they could have just been in the diaspora, the scattering at that point, or there might have been a specific scattering that happened with Jewish Christians. As we learn in John Chapter 9, that the Jewish authorities had already decided while Jesus was still ministering that if you believe that Jesus was the Messiah promised by God, you would be kicked out of the synagogue as the blind man that was healed was. Kicked out of the synagogue, by believing in Jesus. And so what that would mean for you economically as you couldn't carry on a business if you're a tradesman or craftsman or a merchant. No one would buy your wares. They wouldn't sell to you, you'd be ostracized financially, and so you would become poor, poverty-stricken, and you might have had to flee from Palestine, from Jerusalem just for economic reasons. So we don't know for certain why they were scattered, but it might have been those reasons as well. 

The Suffering of Trials

Now, in verses 2-4, we get to the first urging the James gives. Joyful perseverance, in all trials, that's my heading of the second part. Joyful perseverance in all trials, verses 2-4. Look at the verses, "Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance, Perseverance must finish its work, so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything." So we come to the issue of the suffering of trials of afflictions. And so, the first test of the Christian faith is how you respond to trials. Remember the parable of the seed in soils and only the genuinely rooted, grounded in the true soil of a noble and right heart endures and perseveres and bears fruit. But there is that rocky soil that as soon as any trouble comes because of the Word they quickly fall away. So, falling away is a clear evidence that the faith is not genuine. So how do you behave in trials? 

Now James does not specify what sorts of trials he's talking about, he just says trials of any kind. Anything you find difficult anything that afflicts you, that crosses you, that you find challenging, we could, as Christians, put those into two categories. Those afflictions and trials that are common to the human race that we share with all human beings, and then those things that are specifically focused on our Christian testimony. So the first would be sickness, injury, pain, accidents, the death of loved ones, poverty, financial challenges, economic issues, natural disasters, troubles in the family, difficulties in the family, or conflicts at the workplace, or in the neighborhood where you live, these are common to all people. They just have to do with us living in a sin-cursed world. Everybody has to face those. And the world needs us Christians to be evidently, clearly filled with hope at times like that. When we get that diagnosis of cancer that we would have a radiant hope that we're going to live forever. And it's a hope that the other people with the exact same malady, the same diagnosis but not the same faith, not the same Lord have to go through alone stripped of any hope that they would see in you, a hope that they have no earthly answer for, they have no understanding of why, what's the root system of that hope. And they might ask you to give a reason for the hope that you have as 1 Peter 3:15, says. They need you to be evidently filled with joy and hope. 

But then there are also trials that come because of our Christian testimony as well. Afflictions and persecutions that come some more in other parts of the world than in this one, where there's religious freedom. Persecution, economic isolation as I mentioned already with the Jews there in Palestine, a boycotting confiscation of property, loss of personal freedom, incarceration, and perhaps even martyrdom in very rare cases. Jesus said these trials, must come really of both categories. They must come. John 16:33, Jesus said, "I have told you these things so that in me you may have peace. In this world, you will have trouble, but take heart, I have overcome the world."

Trials Will Come

So it's a new year, 2020. Doesn't feel like a year name to me, I'm still not used to that, but it's a new year. And who knows what will come, but I can tell you this, congregation of 500 plus people, there's going to be a lot of suffering in this community over the next 12 months, but we don't know what it's going to be, but isn't it a beautiful thing to not have to go through that alone, to not have to go through that alone. The more faithful we are in our Christian witness, the bolder we are in our Christian testimony, the more trouble we're going to have in this world. It says in 2 Timothy 3:12, "Everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted." And so the bolder we are in testimony, the more persecution. That's in our context.

In other contexts, like in North Korea, just to be a Christian, just to assemble together, you have to be watching at all times, for the governmental police, the authorities to come in, or in the controlling government of China, same kind of thing, where brothers and sisters are arrested frequently, or in the fundamentalist Islamic states like Iran and Saudi Arabia where our brothers and sisters live under the constant fear of persecution from Muslim family and friends and neighbors and the authorities, or the fiercely nationalistic situation among Hindus in India, persecution comes much more vigorously in those places.

Well, James is not specific about the trials. He speaks of trials of various kinds. Whatever they are, expect them, they will come. And he actually uses this language, "Whenever you fall into trials of various kinds." Sometimes it feels that way, doesn't it? You're just moving along in your life and then suddenly you're in a dark pit, metaphorically, you're in a dark pit. And how did I get here? And the light seems so distant, and you're injured by the fall, and you're there wondering, what to do, how to get out of it, what to do next, when ever you fall into trials of various kinds that are going to come. Now, we should understand that our heavenly Father's quick carefully orchestrating all of these things, isn’t that encouraging? You don't fall into anything. It's not an accident, it's not like you're going to God in prayer, and He's saying, "Wow that happened to you. Wow, I wasn't watching at the time." God actually carefully orchestrates our trials and temptations “lest we be tempted beyond what we can bear” as we've already learned, in 1 Corinthians 10. But God is orchestrating these things.

Our Response to the Trial is Everything 

The thing is you can't control it. You can't control your life's circumstances, the only thing you can control is your response, your attitude, your demeanor, and what James says is that you are to, “consider it pure joy whenever you face trials of many kinds.” Literally, “all joy.” Consider it all joy, or joy through and through, joy straight through. Now, we should not think that James is saying that we should minimize it like it's not happening. That would be weird, it would not be a good witness. It's like, "Do you not understand what's happening to your loved one, what the diagnosis is?" “Well, no. Now I am happy all the day!” No, it's a real rooted, grounded awareness like in Romans 4. Abraham faced the fact that his body was as good as dead since he was about a 100 years old and that Sarah's womb was also dead. They did not waver through unbelief. So you know what's going on, you're aware of it. And you take I think the eternal perspective. I think exactly like the attitude that Jesus had about the cross in Hebrews 12:2, "We are to fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfect or of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising its shame, and sat down at the right hand of God."

What was the joy that was set before Him? I'll tell you what it was. It was us, a multitude of the redeemed from every tribe and language and people and nation, won by His suffering, won by His blood to eternal joy and bliss in His presence. That was the joy that was set before Him. The cross was still physical and spiritual agony. But there was a joy beyond it. I think we're supposed to see it the same way. These trials that are coming are working in us and for us, “an eternal glory that far outweighs them all,” Paul tells us in Corinthians, that's the joy. So we have joyful faithful submission then to the trial. 

What Joyful, Faith-filled Submission to Trials Produces

What does that produce? Well everything starts with knowledge. Look at verse 3, "Knowing that the testing of your faith develops perseverance", or endurance. The testing of your faith, that's the testing, the trying, the assaying of it to separate out the true gold from the fool's gold. So there's assaying, but there's also a purifying of our faith. 

Now, the trial reveals our faith to be the true thing if we stand firm through it and are not cast away. So, if we stand firm. More than that, however, the actual process of the suffering of the trial produces a stronger faith. “Faith is the assurance of things hoped for and the conviction of things not seen,” so what happens is we become more reliant on the invisible God, more aware of the presence of the invisible Christ, more mindful of the invisible death of Jesus centuries ago on the cross for us, more mindful of the invisible New Heaven and New Earth that are coming, more mindful of the glory that we will have in our resurrection bodies. All of these invisible realities become much more intense, stronger, if we walk well through the trial and the affliction. That's its purpose. 

Just like some of you have begun a time in the health center and the weight rooms, because it's January, after all. And so you're on the treadmill and you're working the weights, and you're working off whatever it is you may have eaten in the last part of last year. And you're working the muscles, and the weights oppose the motion, and cause the muscles to get stronger, and so these circumstances cross you and oppose you, and cause your faith to get stronger. Now, what is the end of a Christian endurance? It says in verse 4, "Let endurance have its full effect so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing." So as we stay steady, under God's working, steady under His hand. He will work on your souls. There's a clear grammatical insight here that some translations omit. “Let endurance have its full effect.” You're being told to allow endurance to work in you or even better, “Let God do His work in you.” Stay calm and steady under His surgical touch. 

Imagine a situation where someone has a serious gash somewhere in their body and they're away from medical treatment, but there happens to be a doctor, a skilled doctor there with the necessary tools to disinfect the cut and to sew it up. But imagine the person is skittish and flinches and twitches and yells at the doctor and pushes the doctor away. The doctor is like, looking around saying, "Someone strap him down. You got to hold your hand steady, so I can help you." And so, if we're like that spiritually, and you're going through the trial, it will not have the right effect in your soul. “Let God do His work in you.” That's what it's saying in Verse 4. 

And what does perseverance produce? Well, one translation says that you'll be “perfect.” I think a better translation is “mature.” We're not going to be perfect in this life, but the word is more Christ-like. That these trials will produce Christian virtues in you, the fruit of the Spirit, love. You'll be more loving if the trial does its work in you. More patient, more joyful, more hopeful, bolder, more compassionate to others that suffer like you are. It just makes you more like Christ. It conforms you, and these things do not happen automatically. They happen because God is working, and what happens is there's a feedback loop here, where you start to realize "I'm not going to fall away. I love Jesus more now than I did six months ago, I'm real, I'm a real Christian. And that proven character, Romans 5 says is the ground of my hope. I know I'm going to Heaven when I die, because of how I reacted how I responded. I'm actually more in love with Jesus, more strong in Him that I was before the trial. Praise God, I'm real, I'm genuine, I'm going to Heaven." And so, that's what happens with endurance, and you'll see it says “mature and complete, not lacking anything.” 

So my geeky engineering mind at one point turned that whole thing around. Well, I guess what that means is, without the trials we'll be immature, incomplete, and lack things. Exactly! And that's how we start in the Christian life. We're immature, we're incomplete, we lack some things that we need. Justified, yes, forgiven adopted. But you need to grow up. And the only way that's going to happen is with trials. 

Now in Verses 5 through 8, he turns to the topic of wisdom. Look at those verses, it says, "If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him. But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea blown and tossed by the wind. That man shall not think he will receive anything from the Lord. He's a double-minded man unstable in all he does." So my third heading is, “Seeking Wisdom from a Generously Wise God.”

A Timeless and Universal Promise 

Now I think these verses, verses 5-8 give a timeless universal principle, that you can use at all times, whether you're suffering or not. But I also think it's helpful to see them in context too. So I think we'll do both. First, you just need to ask God for wisdom more than you do. You should not say, "Well, some days I like wisdom, but other days I'm perfectly fine when it comes to wisdom." You can imagine your Heavenly Father saying, "Are you sure there's nothing you might, no insights you might need from Me?" But that would just pose Him as a counselor, He's more than that. He's your king, and you're not your own you're bought at a price, and so you should, in your daily morning quiet time, be asking your king what He wants you to do today? You should go to Him for wisdom. God, what should I do today? What should I do next? You should have this incredible humility about you saying, "I lack wisdom, I lack wisdom, I lack wisdom and you're just going in God, the Ancient of Days, who knows you from your mother's womb, who knows everything that's going on, He will give you wisdom about anything. And so, we always need wisdom. But then there are those big moments in life. Should I marry this person? Should I take this job? Should we move to this city? Should I go on this mission trip? Should I contribute to this or that or the other Christian ministry, and how much? There's so many things. What are my spiritual gifts? What ministry should I do with my spiritual gift? There's a lot of those big moments. 

The Purpose of Wisdom in a Trial

But we also, I think, should see these verses in context. James said that, "If you stand firm and are steady you will be mature and complete, not lacking anything.” Next verse, "If anyone lacks wisdom." So there seems to be a link between verse 4 and 5. So verses 2-4 is all about afflictions. I think that fits very, very well in terms of the afflictions. One of the number one questions that comes up when we're in afflictions, is, "Why is this happening to me?" Whenever you're facing pain and suffering, "I don't understand God why you're doing this to me?" "Why is God not hearing our prayer for the healing of our little girl? Why not?" Or even "Why did you take her from me,” if in the end she dies? "Why is this chronic ailment in my life not responding with the treatment when usually it responds well in other cases?" Or in persecuted countries, “Why do the wicked prosper? Why are the wicked in charge? And then our Godly pastor got arrested last month, and he's being tortured and we have to hide from the authorities. Why is this happening?" Or, "Why in a natural disaster did you allow our home to be destroyed and then those homes were spared?" It doesn't seem to make any sense. And so, if you are in affliction and trials of various kinds, you should bring your questions to God, you should ask Him for wisdom and He will give it to you. He'll tell you why you're going through this trial. 

Very clear example of this is Paul's thorn in the flesh. Remember in 2 Corinthians 12? Paul talks about some incredible vision he had, where he was caught up to the third heaven and he saw indescribable things. He saw heaven, he saw God on His throne. But then the next thing he says, "To keep me from being conceded because of these surpassingly great revelations, there was given me a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to torment me. Three times I sought the Lord that it be removed from me, and He said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you, for my strength is made perfect in weakness', therefore I will boast in my weaknesses." You see what's happened there? He didn't know why this thorn in the flesh, this messenger of Satan had come to him. He was told, "It's to keep you from being arrogant Paul, it's to keep you humble, to keep your feet nailed to the ground after you ascended to heaven and saw heavenly the things you're not allowed to talk about.”

And you're like, "Wow would Paul ever become prideful arrogant?" All of us are prideful. We all, we all could be conceded and Paul needed that help, he needed the pain, the suffering, that God did not heal. So, he's healing other people but he's not healing himself, but he had understanding. "Alright, I get it. My strength is made perfect in weakness. I'll keep praying I'll keep trusting, I'll walk in agony and in pain until God chooses to heal it, or until I die." But he got the insight, he got the wisdom of what the reason for it was. And God doesn't tell everything in this world, but He gives you enough wisdom. 

Seeking Guidance for Your Lives

Now you need to seek guidance in your life more than you do. I do too. We are so independent aren't we? We're like, "I know what to do, I got this one, God. I know exactly what to do." If any of you lacks wisdom, it's like, "Well that's not me, I'm on it, I know what I'm doing." But when big decisions come along many decisions we need some guidance don't we?

Now, I could give you the guidance of the famous philosopher, Yogi Berra, the catcher for the Yankees. He said, "Whenever you come to a fork in the road, take it." I don't find that incredibly helpful. I guess, at least I know I'm not turning back, so at least that. But I don't know, right or left, but God wants us to express our dependence on Him. He has searched us to know us. He knows all the days ordained for us, He knows exactly what way we should take and He wants us to ask Him. And then we hear in Isaiah 30, in verse 21, "Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you saying, ‘This is the way, walk in it.’” Don't you see the gift that is from God? You won't have no idea what to do in life. “If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God. But when you ask, you should believe and not doubt. You should believe that God will give you the wisdom. He'll tell you what to do, He will guide you.” So you're asking has to be in faith, because if not, then James says, you're a double-minded person, you're going back and forth. You believe, you don't believe. You believe, you don't believe. You're acting like a believer, then you're acting like God doesn't exist. James also, later in chapter 4, uses double-minded people to speak of those that are worldly. They're after the world's golds, the world's applause, the world's power and position. And so you're not getting wisdom because in James 4, "You're asking, but you're not receiving because you're asking wrongly. You're asking like a double-minded person." And so you have to go as a faith-filled disciple of Christ and He will give you the wisdom that you need. 

Seeking Wisdom by Faith

Now how does He do that? Well, He gives it through the indwelling Holy Spirit. The Spirit is God's direct minister to you, to guide you in your life. Now the Spirit speaks primarily through the scripture. The more you study the word of God, the more you memorize Scripture, the more tools the Holy Spirit will have to get specific in your life and guide you and you'll know what to do. You'll know the big picture of what God is doing in the world and you'll know details about spiritual gifts, or various ministries. You'll just know what to do more and more. Even then there's some things that are pertinent to you, and the Holy Spirit will guide you by counsel from friends, disciplers, men and women that speak wisdom into your lives, and you also have internal impressions. Be careful about those internal impressions. I've studied them for my entire Christian life. When I got down on my knees and asked the Lord in my PhD office at Southern Seminary, "Should I come to Durham as pastor, senior pastor of this church?" I felt that I needed an answer. I felt that the search committee needed an answer. It was only polite to give them an answer. “God I met the fork in the road, what do you want me to do?" And I had a strong impression to come here.

Now, here's the thing about impressions. They're from one of three sources. They're from God through the Holy Spirit, they are from the devil as he deceives us and they're from you as you talk to yourself. And some of the wisdom you give yourself is pretty good. And some of it isn't. I remember once seeing a man wearing this t-shirt saying, "I do whatever the voices in my head tell me to do." That's not the way to go. But we need to believe that God is able to guide us in those key moments well, without becoming erratic and strange following voices in our heads. 

Verses 9-11 in Connection with the Rest of the Chapter

Now in verses 9-11, James addresses temporary versus eternal wealth. To some degree, you could almost see a seam here, is there's a whole, new topic. James is like that. Sometimes we don't know, are we getting to a whole new issue now that he brings up? But I think it's possible even here to see some points of connection. Look at Verses 9-11, "The brother in humble circumstances ought to take pride in his high position." By the way, that's not talking about Andy Winn preaching on the third floor. I told him that this morning. He said, "It's right in the text." I said, "Bad exegesis." So he's in the high position. We're in the low position. Tell him what I said about that whenever you see him. "The brother in humble circumstances ought to take pride in his high position, but the one who is rich should take pride in his low position because he will pass away like a wild flower, for the sun rises with scorching heat, and whithers the plant its blossom falls, its beauty is destroyed in the same way the rich man will fade away, even while he goes about his business." So what is the connection? It could be that the connection is just economic suffering that the Jewish Christians are doing, that they're poor. They're poor. They can't make a living they've had to flee their homes in Palestine, and they're in new cities and people even then aren't really buying their wares and they're suffering, they're struggling, they're poor. And as with the advice he's going to give, I think this section is best to read it as rich and poor Christians except toward the end. Whereas in James Chapter 5, the rich are clearly oppressors who are murdering people, that's a different matter. So I think it's best to read this as rich Christians, and poor Christians except at the end, he changes just a little bit. 

Eternal vs. Temporal Wealth

In any case, we should all have an eternal perspective on physical, material wealth. Its advantages yes, but it's limitations. And so both poor and rich, Christians need to be very clear on the limitations of earthly wealth. Poor Christians need to realize that the money and the possessions that they lack in this life are actually a very limited value. The poor can be led by their circumstances, into bitter coveting, bitterness against God, tempted even toward crime, they can become materialistic, and this will only make their trial in poverty much worse.

James says that poor Christians should focus on their exalted position as adopted sons and daughters of the living God and heirs of Heaven. That's their true wealth. They're storing up there in Heaven, every day by their faithful service. Set their minds on things above and things to come, not on earthly wealth, because it's not going to help their lives as much as they think it is. They should boast. "Let the wise man, not boast in his wisdom, or the rich man boast in his wealth or the strong man boast in his strength, but let him who boast, boast in this, that He knows me." Jeremiah 9. And so, boast in God, boast in Christ, boast not in your material situation because it's nothing. It's dust in the wind. That's what he's saying. Conversely then, rich Christians should focus on their humiliation as Christians in this life. They serve a Lord who was rejected by society, who was cast out from Jewish society, who was crucified outside the city gates. And the author to Hebrews there invites us to stand under the bloody cross and join with Him in suffering the reproach of the name of Christ. So you can see how rich Christians, might have business connections which would be jeopardized if they're very honest about their Christian confession.

Rich Unbelievers Fade Away in the Midst of Business

Don't do that. Don't do that. Be humble in this world as a Christian. Be willing to be named by the name Christian, and take whatever comes. Now rich unbelievers, I think he shifts a little bit there. He says, "The rich man will fade away even while he goes about his business." It's like Isaiah 40 says, "All flesh is like grass and all their glory is like the flower of the field, the grass withers, and the flowers fall, when the breath of the Lord blows on them. Surely the people are like grass. “The grass withers, and the flowers fall, but the word of our God stands forever.” And so, those rich people we know we hear stories, they're going about their business. They're just moving along and then suddenly they grab their chest and fall dead. Or suddenly there's a car accident, or suddenly some other malady, a sudden fever, something comes and then they're gone, even while they're going about their business, they're dead. Proverbs 11:4, says, "Wealth is worthless in the day of wrath, the righteousness delivers from judgment." So wealth isn't going to help you spiritually, in this world and it's certainly not going to help you on Judgment Day because the Judge of all the earth cannot be bribed. He judges justly. He judges to the glory of God. 

Well, verse 12 wraps up this whole first section, "Blessed is the one who perseveres under trial, because when he is to the test, he will see the crown of life that God has promised to those who love Him." So that goes back to the issue of perseverance under trial. Sums up this whole section. Speaks of blessing of eternity on you. If you persevere, look what you're going to get. You're going to get a crown of life, that God's going to hand you and that really is just eternal life, just being alive forever and ever, but also the rewards of your faithful labor. He will give it to you, if you love Him. And you love His appearing. 

Get Prepared for Your Last Day on Earth

So, applications. First and foremost, just all I can say to you is come to Christ, come to Christ. This week some of you know my mother died. Don't have any clear assurance that she was a Christian. Had the opportunity, the responsibility of preaching the Gospel to my unsaved family. Many of you prayed for me in that regard. About two months ago, my mother asked me, "How can I prepare to die." Coming from a mother that had never made a testimony of faith in Christ, I looked on that as a golden opportunity. Probably the 100th time I could have shared the Gospel with her, but it was a gift to me, and I said, "Mom I want you to think about the thief on the cross, when Jesus died, he didn't die alone, but two other thieves were crucified with Him. And they began insulting and reviling Jesus, but at one point, one of them realized what was happening, and he stopped and he said, 'Don't you fear God?' He said that to his other thieves, 'Seeing we are into the same judgment. And we're only getting what we deserve, but this man here, Jesus has done nothing wrong.' And then he turned to Jesus and said, 'Remember me when you come in your kingdom.' To be able to see, in a crucified dying man, a coming King is a gift of faith. He already had faith. He hadn't done any good works. He couldn't. His hands and feet were nailed to the cross. But by simple faith in Jesus, he was able to be saved to have all of his sins forgiven, and to spend eternity with God in paradise.” I said, "Mom. That's how you get ready to die." I said those exact same words at the grave site on Monday. 

Do Not Assume Your Soul is Secure

My desire is that any of you that came in here today, unsaved that you will hear the wise words that James is giving and understand what God is doing, and the ultimate gift of salvation, and trust in Christ. For those of you that are already Christians, just test your faith to see if it's genuine. Don't assume. Just say, "Lord, what is the fruit of my life? What's happening in my life. Is there fruit? Are there good works? Do I see that in my life?" Don't just assume. And especially zero on how you respond to trials and afflictions. Many of you have expressed a desire to be more evangelistic. It could be that God will make you more evangelistic by putting you into suffering on a platform of suffering, so that other people who have the exact same diagnosis as you can see how you behave and will ask you to give a reason for the hope that you have.

Suffer Well

Suffer well. Suffer well to the glory of God. And just generally, if I can urge you, in the year 2020, seek wisdom from God more than you've ever done it before. I would just say every day in your quiet time, just get up and say, "You're my King. I'm not my own, I'm bought at a price. What do you want me to do today?" And then listen, and let Him guide you by His Scripture, and by His word. And finally, to wealthy Christians, which is all of us who are Christians. We are amazingly wealthy. Let's realize the limits of our material wealth. Let's be generous, let's give to the needy. Let's give more than we've ever given before realizing our true wealth is Heaven. It is a benefit for us to have material blessings, but let's be generous and faith-filled with it and realize, either way, we're going to fade away, or pass away when the Lord says. Let's be ready for that by faith in Christ. 

Close with me in prayer. Father, we thank you for the time we've had to be here. I thank you for all of the gifts of the spiritual gifts of this church. I thank you for the love that me and my family  received from this church. I thank you for the gifts of those that like Wes and his team are so excellent leading worship, I thank you for those who are so good at logistics to be able to plan this whole double worship service with such skill. Lord, I pray that in 2020, we would more than ever before walk in wisdom asking you what to do and seeking Your guidance. And we pray in Jesus' name. Amen.

Waiting on the Power of God

Well, after Jesus was crucified, and after He rose from the dead, He appeared to His disciples in the upper room. You think about that scene, the disciples were there in the upper room with the doors locked for fear of the Jews, and Jesus came and stood amongst them and He showed them the physical evidence of His crucifixion, his suffering for them, and He said, "Peace be with you", “and He breathed on them and said receive the Holy Spirit.” And then He said these incredible words, "If you forgive anyone their sins, they're forgiven. If you do not forgive them, they're not forgiven." And then a week later, they were still in the upper room, and the doors were still locked for fear of the Jews. They knew that Christ had conquered death. They knew it! But they still were fearful of the work that the Lord was laying on them, the work of the Great Commission. They were fearful of what would be asked of them to change the world as would be later said of some of the disciples, “these men who have turned the world upside down have come here also.” They were afraid of what it would take to turn the world upside down, or really, right-side up. And so, they were there in the upper room, and they were there also because Jesus commanded them not to leave, that they should wait in that upper room until they were clothed with power from on high. And He gave them over that period of time many convincing proofs that He was alive, and then He ascended into Heaven with the statement that they would receive power when the Holy Spirit came on them, and they would be His witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria to the ends of the earth. And they went back and they waited, they waited there in the upper room and then on the day of Pentecost, the power of the Holy Spirit fell on them. 

The third person of the Trinity was manifested first in the sound of a violent, rushing wind, and then “tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each one of the, and all of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and they began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them,” and a crowd was gathered hearing the sound of that mighty rushing wind and they poured out into the streets, fearless of any consequences that might come on them, in the very same city where their Lord had been crucified only just a short time before that, they had no fear of death, and preached boldly the Gospel. And 3000 were converted that same day. 

Two Patterns of Resurrection and Power

Now, in all of this, two patterns, two lasting patterns were established, that it's worth it to us to study and to understand. The first is the pattern of Jesus' death and resurrection. The pattern of dying and rising again, that was not meant just for Jesus, but was meant also for his witnesses as he said, "Unless a kernel of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains by itself a single seed, but if it dies, it brings forth much fruit." And so, the Church individually and collectively needed to follow that pattern; to be willing to die and have God raise them up, to be willing even to physically die that others might be saved. But of course, all of us tend to preserve our lives. We don't want to suffer and die. And so the second pattern is needful. There you have the Church, understanding all of the facts, understanding the Gospel, aware of the doctrine, aware of the truth, but still it seems powerless, captivated by fear. And then the Holy Spirit pours out and the Church is unleashed in a powerful way.

Now, Martyn Lloyd-Jones in 1959, preaching about a revival that happened 100 years before that, in 1859, said that this is the lasting pattern. We see this again and again in Church history, this is what he said. He was speaking at an assembly there on the 100th anniversary of an incredible revival that swept through Great Britain, 1859. And Lloyd-Jones central point there is the Church doesn't really change and neither does the world. The basic issues are always the same, man in his sin, the Gospel is the power of God for salvation. The Church in a weak and almost helpless state unable to meet the challenges of its day, knowing the truth, doing some good ministries, but unable to make significant progress. Suddenly the power of God is poured out from on high, the Church is revived. It moves out in power and many in the world are saved, and they are transformed genuinely. He would say revivals tend to follow their course, they at some point get dissipated in their strength and effectiveness, and the Church returns to its weakened state, needing again the power of God to be poured out from on high. 

Now Lloyd-Jones is very clear in the distinction between the filling of the Spirit that we have in Ephesians 5:18, where we're commanded to be filled with the Spirit, and what he called the “Baptism of the Spirit.” Now, in this sermon, I'm going to argue that that nomenclature is misplaced, and be bold enough to challenge Martyn Lloyd-Jones on that, but that there's a real experience that our brothers and sisters have had over 2000 years of Church history that we should not discard, no matter what we call it, that there are real experiences of the Holy Spirit being poured out on the Church and the Church being, and this is the normal word, “revived”. Revival comes, and there's tremendous progress made in personal holiness and an evangelistic fruitfulness as a result of that.

Lloyd-Jones says, “This is precisely what happens in revival, it is God pouring forth His Spirit, filling His people.” Again, it is not that which is talked of in Ephesians 5:18 which is the command to us, go on being filled with the Spirit. That is something you and I do, but this revival is something that is done to us. It is the Spirit falling upon us, being poured out upon us. These are the terms, “I will pour forth my Spirit,” God alone can do that, but it is you and I were responsible for going on being filled with the Spirit. We must not grieve the Spirit, we must not quench the Spirit, we must give obedience to the Spirit, and as long as we do that we shall go on being filled with the Spirit, but this is different. This is the Spirit being poured out upon us until we are filled to overflowing. 

The Spirit's Work in Filling Us

Now, the Holy Spirit is responsible. The third person in the Trinity, is responsible for taking the finished work of Christ on the cross and applying it worldwide. That is the work given in the Trinity, the work given to the Holy Spirit of God, and He does it very well. For 20 centuries He has made certain that the unconverted elect in every generation are brought from death to life. That Jesus's name is the most famous on planet Earth in every generation, that's the Spirit's work, and He sees to it, but He does that in two different rhythms or patterns, I could say. And what I'm going to say in this sermon today is there are the ordinary ministries of the Spirit and the extraordinary ministries of the Spirit, and both of them are essential for the journey that the Lord has the Church on until His work is finished in this world. Some folks, including Martyn Lloyd-Jones, call the extraordinary ministries of the Spirit the Baptism of the Spirit. I think that's wrong. It's a wrong name for a true experience. Today, I want to talk about the Baptism of the Spirit happening to all Christians, every Christian, at the beginning of their Christian life. And then the filling of the Spirit, in ordinary and extraordinary measures.

So I'm going to just lay my cards on the table. I believe that Baptism in the Spirit happens to every single genuinely-born again person, and it happens once and never needs to be repeated again. It happens at conversion. Pentecostals and other charismatics who say that you should seek the Baptism of the Spirit are not following a biblical pattern, for there are no such commands in the New Testament. There are no commands to seek the Baptism of the Spirit. The filling of the Spirit happens again and again in the Christian life. And it empowers Christians to make progress in the two journeys that we talk about so much in this church; the internal journey of sanctification, of holiness, and the external journey of gospel advancement, evangelism. Ephesians 5:18 is a command to us that we should seek the filling of the Spirit. We're going to talk about that. The filling of the Spirit, as I've said, comes in both ordinary and extraordinary measures. The ordinary filling of the Spirit has been, and continues to be sufficient to make overwhelming progress that the Lord wants us to make and it should not in any way be denigrated. But the extraordinary filling of the Spirit, sometimes called revival, is also awesome and wonderful and powerful and should be sought through prayer. 

And it should not be in any way minimized either. Neither should it be over-emphasized as though until we get a revival, nothing will happen. That is not helpful. So therefore, a healthy Christian should see both the ordinary ministries of the Spirit and the extraordinary ministries of the Spirit as beneficial for the spread of the Gospel and growth and holiness. So there's the sermon. I would advise you to continue to listen after that, but you got it in a nutshell now. And so I want to talk about these things, and we need to begin with the terminology; Baptism. Baptism of the Spirit.

John the Baptist

Now baptism itself began in the Bible with John the Baptist. You do not see baptism at all in the Old Testaments, it's not an Old Testament thing. The word from the Greek, “baptizo”, means to immerse or plunge something, to plunge an object, or a person, in a vat or a container or a large amount of liquid. Now, that's how the word is used. So, we Baptists, who believe in complete immersion, all we're saying is we believe in complete baptism. Alright? So a baptism sprinkling, those things don't make any sense. The word means to immerse or plunge. So John the Baptist came along, the habit had been n between the Old Testament and New Testament period, intertestamental period, as Jews have been scattered because of the judgments of God from Palestine to that region of the world, more and more Gentiles became what was known as God-fearers, and wanted to become Jews, they wanted to become monotheists in the Jewish patterns. And so they were accepted in after certain rituals, the men had to be circumcised and both of them had to be bathed, they had to have a bath. They were immersed in water to cleanse them of their pagan ways. This isn't commanded anywhere in the Bible, it was just something that the Jewish leaders did.

Well, along comes John the Baptist, and he is preaching in the desert of Judea and saying, "Repent for the kingdom of Heaven is at hand." And he was baptizing Jews, this was shocking, but he was effectively saying by immersing Jews in the Jordan River, he was saying, “You're no better than pagans. You're no better than the Gentiles, you are following the same idolatrous patterns, and you need the same cleansing.” He was predicted in Isaiah 40, “the voice of one calling in the desert, prepare the way for the Lord, make straight in the wilderness a highway for our God.” That was John the Baptist. And Jewish people were just powerfully attracted to his bold preaching, and they came and they received this immersion, this plunging in water by John. They were confessing their sins. Now, the central work of John was to prepare the way for Jesus, to get the people ready for Jesus. And he did this by heightening expectations of this one who was going to come. Jesus said of John the Baptist, he was the greatest man who had ever lived up to that point. “Among those born of women, none had risen greater than John the Baptist.” 

Jesus' Baptisms: Holy Spirit or Eternal Fire

But listen to what John said about Jesus, "I baptize you with water for repentance. But after me will come one more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fork is in His hand, and He will clear His threshing floor, gathering up the weed into His barn and burning up the chaff with unquenchable fire." So there John said Jesus would baptize the people in a greater baptism than he did. He will baptize them in the Holy Spirit and in fire. Now, the unquenchable fire that John the Baptist speaks of is an interpretive key to his thinking. “Unquenchable fire,” to me, must refer to Hell, it must refer to the Lake of Fire. The word baptize means to plunge. And He said that Jesus has the power, the authority to plunge people into unquenchable fire, and this He will do at the end of the world when the Son of Man comes in His glory and all the angels with Him, He will gather all the nations before Him, and He will separate them, one from another, as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. And He'll put the sheep on his right, and the goats on His left. And the sheep represent those that are redeemed and lived a Godly life by the power of the Holy Spirit, but the goats represent the unregenerate. “And He will say to those on his left, ‘depart from me, you who are cursed into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.’” Jesus has the power to do that, the authority to do it, and it will happen.

However, Jesus will never both plunge someone in the Holy Spirit and in unquenchable fire. It's an either/or proposition. We must understand, therefore, that John is speaking to a mixed group. Some of them he called the brood of vipers, the Pharisees and Sadducees and the religious leaders, but others were just humbly confessing their sins, so he's speaking to a mixed group. And I think we, therefore, need to understand Jesus will either baptize you in the Holy Spirit, or He will baptize you in eternal fire, that's the greatness of Jesus. John only baptizes in water, it's a symbol. Jesus does the real baptism.

Baptism of the Spirit Happens at Conversion

So what is this Baptism of the Spirit? Well, the Baptism of the Spirit happens by Jesus to genuinely converted persons. It happens at conversion. Look at the text that Jim just read for us, 1 Corinthians 12:13, "We were all baptized by one Spirit into one body, whether Jews or Greek, slave or free, and we were all given the one Spirit to drink." So when does the Baptism of the Spirit happen? First of all, notice it happens to all of us. We were all baptized. There's not a group of people that are Christians, but not yet baptized in the Spirit, and so all Christians are baptized in the Spirit. When does it happen? According to the verse, it happens when we were made members of the Body of Christ. It is by the Baptism of the Spirit that you become a member of the Body of Christ, when you are converted. That's when it happens.

So the immersion that we have, the spiritual immersion we have at conversion is positional language. We have been plunged into a spiritual ocean of God, of grace, and in that we live and move and have our being once we are converted. And it never needs to happen again, we are immersed in the Holy Spirit. We have been rescued from Satan's filthy, cesspool of sin, and we have been plunged into grace and into the cleansing. And we stand in that grace forever, that's true of every single Christian all over the world, Jews and Greeks, slave and free. So ethnicity doesn't matter, socio-economic doesn't matter, what matters is are you born again? Have you trusted in Jesus as your Lord and Savior? If so, you have been baptized by the Spirit into this one body, the Body of Christ.

Now, but beyond this, once for all, plunging into the ocean of Christ's cleansing Spirit or grace by the Spirit. We're also given the text that says one spirit to drink. We have the freedom to drink of the Holy Spirit. This drinking, I believe, refers to an ongoing experience of refreshment that we have through the Holy Spirit in Christ. It reminds me of two magnificent texts in John's Gospel. The first is the statement He made to the Samaritan woman at the well, remember? How she was very proud of the well that Jacob, their father, their ancestor, had given to them. And Jesus said, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is who's speaking to you, you would have asked Him and He would have given you living water.” She's intrigued, she says, “Well who are you? Are you greater than our father Jacob? He gave us this well and he drank from it himself, as did also his flocks and herds.” Jesus said this, “Everyone who drinks of this water shall thirst again. But whoever drinks of the water that I give him shall never thirst, indeed the water that I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” In other words, you can drink from that whenever you want. It's an internal heart experience of drinking the living water. John chapter 4.

A few chapters later, John 7, this happened at the assembly of the Jews at the Feast of the Booths, and they were all assembled there, and in the last and greatest day of the feast Jesus stood and cried out in a loud voice, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him.” By this He meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in Him were later to receive. Up to that time, the Spirit had not been given since Jesus had not yet been glorified. So you have that same kind of image, the image of living water.

Three Observations from John Piper

Now, John Piper commenting on this, John 7 text, said some very important things. First, he says, the gift of water is free. The condition you must meet is need. “Is anyone thirsty?” Well, that's the condition, and the action you must take is to drink, receive the gift. There's no thought here of earning or meriting. Anyone who knows his own thirst is invited. Are you thirsty? Come. Secondly, the human soul has thirst. We know He's not talking about physical thirst, that's clear, but what He is saying is that the soul has something like physical thirst. When you go without water, your body gets thirsty, and the soul when it goes without God, gets thirsty. Your body was made to live on water, your soul was made to live on God. 

That's the most important thing you need to know about yourself, you were made to live on God, you have a soul, you have a spirit, there is a you that's more than body, and that is your soul. If it does not drink from the greatness, and wisdom, and power, and goodness, and justice, and holiness, and love of God, you will die of thirst. Third, implied in the word thirst is that what Jesus offers is satisfying, it is refreshing. The aim of all theology, of all study, all Biblical learning, all preaching is to spread the satisfying banquet for you to eat with joy and to protect the kitchen from poison. The aim of cooking is eating, the aim of digging wells and clearing out Springs is drinking. Everything Jesus came to do and to teach is aimed at providing the soul with food and drink that will satisfy forever. Now to come to Jesus and drink is the same as believing in Him.

John 7 says, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him.” So, John Piper says, “So be done forever with the sad notion that saving faith, that believing in Jesus is a mere decision to ascent to facts. No, it is a coming to Him as to a feast, it is a recognizing of a treasure, it is a banquet, a spring in the desert when we are dying of thirst.” 

The Effects of the Living Water

Now what will happen to you when you come? John 7:38 says, “Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.” Literally it says out of his belly. The point is our inner being, call it your belly, your heart, soul, spirit. What does that mean? What it means is when you come to Jesus to drink, you don't just get a single drink, you get a spring, you get a fountain, you get a well, you get Jesus. Rivers of living water will flow within you because He is a river maker. And that's inside you. That's the point, you'll never have to search again for some source of satisfaction for your soul. Every river that needs to flow for the joy of your soul is within you, if you're a Christian. And that's what I think it means in verse 13 of our text today. 1 Corinthians 12:13, “For we were all baptized by one Spirit into one body, whether Jews or Greek, slave or free and listen, we were all given of the one Spirit to drink.”

So what that means is, your soul is going to experience a perpetual cycle of satisfaction and thirst, satisfaction and thirst. You're going to get thirsty, come to Jesus and drink again. And if you're a Christian, the spring of water is already inside you, it wells up to eternal life, and you can drink of him any time you want. Now the devil is there standing offering you poison. Sweet, addictive poison, but it will kill your soul. Well, it will seem satisfying, but it really isn't. It's addictive and it doesn't satisfy. You were meant to get thirsty, to feel your need for God again and again and to drink from Jesus. Now water baptism, which we do regularly back here, is just an outward, visible symbol of the real baptism Jesus, we hope, we trust, has already done in that person. As a Baptist church, we will not do the water baptism if we don't have signs, evidence, that Jesus has already baptized that person in the Spirit, does that make sense? So we're just looking for evidence. They'll talk a certain way, they're living a certain way, it's the beginning of the Christian life, they don't have to be mature at all. Like the Ethiopian eunuch, you can be baptized right there and then. You have to talk like a disciple, you have to talk about your past sins like a disciple, you have to speak like a converted person and then we'll baptize you, because that's the evidence that we have that Jesus has already baptized you into the Body of Christ.  Alright, well, what about the other outpourings of the Spirit?

The Other Outpourings of the Spirit

Pentecostal and Charismatic churches have used the phrase Baptism of the Spirit to speak of a second experience of grace, or third, or fourth, or whatever, experience of grace. It happens separate from conversion. They press in on individuals and say you need to seek the Baptism of the Spirit. This needs to happen to you. The problem I have is that there are no such scriptures that give us the right to press that on other people. There are no commands like that. They also tend, some of them anyway, to link it to pursuit of holiness as though there tends to be like a silver bullet for all the sin patterns in your life, and you receive this second work of grace that then kills that sin pattern, and that's just not the way the Bible teaches sanctification.

Now Martyn Lloyd-Jones uses the expression, “Baptism of the Spirit” to speak of an individual or group transformation that comes as, to some degree, Heaven is open and that person has an overwhelming, powerful experience of God that was unlike anything they've ever had before, and maybe they'll never have one like that again, and it changed their entire approach to life. And it can happen to groups, and the word generally given to that is revival. I think the only error that Lloyd-Jones had is calling it baptism. I just think that's not helpful, but other than that it's a real thing, and it's beneficial. And he would say, it's a repeat of the day of Pentecost and you have evidence for that scripturally.

If you look at Acts chapter 4, don't turn there. But just, you know, how Peter and John were arrested, and then they were hauled in and they were threatened, and they were let go, and they go back to the church, and the church gathers to pray. I've talked about it I think even last week. And there in Acts 4:31, it says after they were praying, the place with their meeting was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the Word of God boldly. That seems like a miniature second day Pentecost. Without in any way minimizing the uniqueness of the day of Pentecost that will never be repeated again. Yet there is some degree of re-enactment. So that the two cycles, the two cycles that I talked about that are essential of dying and rising again so that fruit can come, and of the Spirit poured out on people who don't do enough or much out of fear or selfishness, until the Spirit comes, both of those get re-enacted again and again. 

The Command in Ephesians 5:18

Alright, so let's zero in on the ordinary ministry. Ordinary ministries of the Spirit. What does it mean to be filled with the Spirit? Turn in your Bibles, if you would, to Ephesians 5:18. We're going to look at that, that's a key passage on this, Ephesians 5:18. As I said, there is no command anywhere that you should seek the Baptism of the Spirit, but there is most certainly a command that you should be filled with the Holy Spirit. And it's in a section of Ephesians where Paul is telling them that they should “live a life worthy of the calling they have received,” Ephesians 4:1. Live a Christian life. What does that mean? Many things. But there in Ephesians 5:18, he says this, “Do not be drunk with wine or get drunk on wine instead. Which leads to debauchery, instead be filled with the Spirit.” So once we have been baptized by the Spirit at conversion, we now begin the daily Christian life. It's a life of, as I've said, of two journeys; the internal journey of holiness, of becoming more and more like Christ, the external journey of evangelism, missions of leading lost people to saving faith in Christ. That's what we were left here on Earth do. And it's only by the power of the Spirit that we make progress in those two journeys. Now, Ephesians 5:18 is a fascinating thing grammatically. It is what's known as a passive imperative. Passive imperative. So imperative is a command; You must, something you must do. Passive is you must have something done to you, so you must have something done to you. So what is it we have to have done? You must be being filled with the Holy Spirit, that's something that has to happen to you in an ongoing sense. So since the Holy Spirit came on the day of Pentecost as wind and fire. Think of those images. Wind, think of the old tall ships, the clipper ships, remember? With all that sail. And then the wind would come and the sails would luff and billow, and then they would be fat with wind and the ship would start to move.

So you're filled with the third person of the Trinity. He is filling your mind, he's filling your soul filling your heart, your emotions, you're filled with the Spirit, that feeling like a wind, and the ship just moves. Your ship, the Church's ship just moves in a certain direction where the Spirit causes him to go. Or what about the fire, the image of fire? Comes in tongues of fire. Here, I'm not talking about something that's fake dear friends. I'm not talking about a painted fire, or one of those fake cellophane orange plastic things that blows with a fan. You know? It's like we're deceived by this, and these little tongues that dance and all that. That's not a fire. A two-year-old could say that. So we're not talking about a fire painted on a wall or fake, I'm talking about a supernatural fire that comes and fills your soul with heat and light because God is there. You think about the burning bush, the supernaturally burning bush that caused Moses to turn aside and see this wonder. Why the bush is burning, but it is not burned up. Or think about Elijah and Mount Carmel, and fire came from Heaven and burned up that sacrifice. I'm talking about a supernatural fire that fills you.

The Continual Need for the Spirit's Filling

Now, we need to be filled with the Spirit. It's a continual need. Baptism happens only once, but we can lose the filling of the Spirit. How does that happen? Well, there are two different kind of ways, I think, that that happens. One of them I don't necessarily even know that we have lost. The filling of the Spirit, just has to do with the wisdom of the Spirit and the way he deals with us. Imagine that you have a really phenomenally Spirit-filled Tuesday. You're just so filled with a sense of God's love for you. I'm going to talk about what the Spirit does in a spirit filled person in a moment. But you just had a spiritual day, but then you went to bed and you woke up. And maybe you're a morning person, and especially, maybe you're not, and you don't feel right now, what you felt yesterday. Does that ever happen to you? I'm not in any way saying you've sinned at all, you just don't feel what you felt last night. Doesn't mean you've done anything. What it means is the Spirit wisely steps back and says, "Follow me, come after me, pursue me." So you have that morning quiet time, you get in the word. You seek Him, you drink and drink until you are filled with the Spirit, so that's just normal. You haven't done anything wrong, it's just He is urging you to pursue Him. So many Psalms are like that. Why do you stand far off, why are you not here? Why do I not feel you close right now? He's just saying, come, come and seek me. Christ is saying through the Spirit. And so, imagine back in the days of the clipper ships and all that, the ship is off a few points from optimal direction for the wind. So the ship's captain then will turn you a few points towards the wind, and then suddenly those sails are filled again. 

So again, there's no sin involved in that case. Alright? But then there's the other case in which, friends, you grieve the Holy Spirit because you sinned, you violated your conscience, you violated the Word of God, and you know what you did. Or if you don't, you just know the Spirit is gone but you need to find out why. And so you go to Him and you say, "Search me, oh God, and know my heart, and show me, and show me what I've done wrong." Psalm 139:23-24. And lead me in the way of everlasting. And then He convicts you of sin, and then you are aware, and you confess your sin. And you ask to be filled again with the Holy Spirit and because it's a command from God, you can turn it around and make it a promise. “You commanded me to be be being filled with the Spirit. Now, fill me, Oh Lord, fill me.” We need to do that the rest of our lives. Now, at that point then the ordinary ministries of the Spirit kick in. They've already been at work, but let me say what they are.

The Effects of the Spirit's Filling

Look at Ephesians 5, what happens? When you are filled with the Spirit, you're going to speak to one another with psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs. Horizontally, you're going to be talking the scripture to other people. You're going to be encouraging other people with the scripture. You're going to be “singing in your heart, making music in your heart to the Lord.” You're just happy in Jesus, there's a song in your heart, you're filled with the spirit. It's the ordinary ministry. And the Spirit also is going to mount you up and dress you and get you ready for battle with your temptations. It says in Romans 8:13, "If you, by the Spirit, put to death the deeds of the body, you will live." He's going to get you ready for battle, He's going to cause you to fight your temptations, He's going to cause you to fight sin, that's what it means to be filled the Spirit. You're going to see the fruit of the Spirit in your life. Galatians 5 says, “fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, self-control.” These attributes, look at each one, it's a package. You don't get some of them and not others. Like Tuesday is the first three fruits of the Spirit. You get the whole thing. When you're filled with the Spirit, these things characterize you. So it's a good diagnostic test.  At any moment you just stop and say, "Are these things characterizing me right now?" And if they're not, you're not filled with the Spirit. Pursue Him, go after Him, fruit of the Spirit. Energetic service happens when you're filled with the Spirit. You just serve the Lord. You do good works that God wants you to do, as it says in Romans 7:6, "We serve in the new way of the Spirit and not in the old way of the written code." So you serve Him, you do good works. You witness boldly. Filled with the Spirit.

Spirit-filled people are fearless like Peter and John before the Sanhedrin. I love their boldness, they are unafraid. “‘He is the stone, you builders rejected, which has become the cornerstone.’ Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven, given to men, by which we must be saved." Complete boldness there. No fear of death at all. Bold witness when you're Spirit-filled. What else?

Communications of God's Love

Well the Spirit will communicate God's love to you. Ordinary ministry of the Spirit, He will communicate, He will tell you that God loves you. “The Spirit will testify with your spirit that you are a child of God”, Romans 8:16. Romans 5:5 says that the Spirit pours God's love into our hearts. And that's some of these transcendent experiences that people have. It can go up, and I'm getting into the extraordinary ministry, but I don't want to do that right now. I'll get to that in a second. But you can have such a sense that God loves you and imagine just pursuing that and saying Lord, I don't really sense that you love me, I don't feel like I should that you love me. But the Spirit, ordinarily just says it. 

Let me say something about ordinary/extraordinary. Okay, let me just say that everything the Spirit does is supernatural. So the things that He does in the Spirit-filled life, they are supernatural, but for the Christian, they can and should be ordinary, can experience them every day. We'll get to the extraordinary in just a moment.

Illumination of the Scriptures

What else does the Spirit do? He illuminates the Scriptures. You sit down, have your quiet time, the Spirit moves. You say, "Open my eyes, Lord, that I may see wonderful things in your law." Psalm 119:18. Like Jesus did with His disciples. Then He opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures. The Holy Spirit illuminates the Scriptures to you and makes them clear. The Holy Spirit convicts you of sin. Like I said, Psalm 139; Search me, oh God, and know me. You just say, "God, show me, show me where there are flaws, where there are sins, things I haven't seen, things that are hurting my walk with you. Show me." He'll convict you of sin. He will also guide you and direct you which way to go. Like Isaiah 30:21 says, "Your ears will hear a voice behind you saying, 'This is the way, walk in it.'" We have clear examples of this in the book of Acts where Paul and Silas didn't where to go, and the Holy Spirit said, "Not there, not there." And then they got the vision from the man of Macedonia and went over to Greece. The Holy Spirit will guide you, He'll direct you in patterns of ministry. The Holy Spirit, as we've been seeing in 1 Corinthians 12, gifts you for spiritual gift ministry. So that you can do your spiritual gifts and build the Body up. And He will unite us, we are to “keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.” So, in a healthy church, He makes us one in the Spirit, loving each other and delighting in each other. 

Conviction of Sin

What does He do to non-Christians? Well, He gives them, He delivers enough information to them for them to be saved. He gets the message of the Gospel to them, and then He “convicts the world of guilt in regard to sin and righteousness and the judgment to come.” John 16. And if they are elect and if today is the day, He'll convert them. He converts them, as it says in Ezekiel 36, “I will give you a new heart, and I'll put a new Spirit in you, and I'll remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh, and I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws.” Alright, so, friends, those are the ordinary ministries of the Holy Spirit. Can you see why I'm saying that we should not denigrate them or say unless a revival comes, God's doing nothing? That is just not true. He's doing all of these things every day in countless hundreds of millions around the world.

Ecstatic Experiences in Individuals

But now let's talk about the extraordinary ministries of the Spirit. I could begin with ecstatic experiences in individuals, and I could give you lots of examples of this, but let me zero in on a man named D.L. Moody. D.L. Moody was a pastor of a significant church in Chicago. He preached the Gospel clearly, people were being converted, he was satisfied with his ministry, but two women sitting right in the front pew were not satisfied. And they were fervently praying during the whole service. Finally, he was curious, and he went up, and to talk to these two women. “What are you doing?” “Well, we're praying for you.” And I wonder what was going on in inside his heart. Actually, I don't wonder too much. He said, "Why don't you pray for the people?" They said, "Because you need the power of the Spirit." He said, "I need the power. Why? I have the largest congregation in Chicago and there are many conversions week after week." But the women would not be deterred, they kept on praying for the Holy Spirit to be poured out on D.L. Moody. Soon after that encounter, the Great Chicago Fire came. Devastating. Swept away much of the city, including the building where they had been meeting. Destroyed completely by fire.

Moody thought in his mind about these two women, and he went back to that, and he began to cry out in his heart for the Holy Spirit. This is actually what Moody said, "I began to cry, as never before, for a greater blessing from God. The hunger increased, I really felt that I did not want to live any longer. I kept on crying all the time, that God would fill me with His Spirit. Well, one day, in the city of New York. Oh, what a day? I cannot describe it, I seldom refer to it. It is almost too sacred an experience to name. Paul had an experience of which he never spoke for 14 years. I can only say God revealed Himself to me and I had such an experience of His love, that I had to ask Him to stay His hand." This is an overwhelming outpouring of God's presence into a man who was already fruitful and faithfully walking with him. He never had that experience again. Let me continue the quote. "I had to ask Him to stay His hand. I went back to preaching again. The sermons themselves were not different, I did not present any new truths, and yet now, hundreds were converted. I would not now be placed back where I was before that blessed experience if you should offer me all the world, it would be to me as the small dust on the scales." After that experience, DL Moody began his work as an itinerant evangelist in England, Ireland, Wales, and the US. From 1871 to 1899, he preached so effectively that hundreds of thousands and maybe millions were converted through his preaching ministry. He traced that level of fruitfulness back to that experience in New York. But that can also happen to groups.

Revivals: The Outpouring on Groups

As groups meet together to pray and they seek the face of the Lord. Just like Acts 4:31, they're all meeting to pray and the place where they're meeting is shaken. There are experiences like that as well. John Wesley right before the first grade awakening, spoke of this prayer time that he had with a man named Hall Ingham. George Whitefield was there, Hutching and Charles Wesley, his brother. He said, "We're present at our love feast in Fetter Lane with about 60 of our brethren." Listen to this. "About three in the morning, while we were continuing instant in prayer, the power of God came mightily upon us insomuch that many cried out for exulting joy and many fell to the ground. As soon as we were recovered a little from the awe and amazement at the presence of His majesty, we broke out with one voice, 'We praise Thee, O God. We acknowledge Thee to be the Lord.'" And God does this kind of thing powerfully.

Now, 125 years later, Charles Spurgeon was preaching, and he prayed on a particular Tuesday evening, January 4th, 1859. He was speaking to a vast gathering that was convened at Exeter Hall. Spurgeon at that point was 24 years old, a preaching prodigy, the most famous preacher probably in the world, at that point. But that meant nothing to him, he was not in any way satisfied with his ministry. This is what he said, "We must confess that just now we have not the outpouring of the Holy Spirit that we could wish. Oh, if the Spirit of God should come upon those assembled here tonight and upon all the assemblies of the saints, what an effect would be produced? We seek not for extraordinary excitements, those spurious attendants of genuine revivals, but we do seek for the pouring out of the Spirit of God. The spirit is blowing upon our churches now with His genial breath, but it is a soft evening breeze. Oh, that there would come a rushing mighty wind that should carry everything before it. This is the lack of our times, the great want of our country." Well, Spurgeon's desire was fulfilled. That year, 1859, was the greatest, most effective year of his entire ministry. In the spring of 1859, a widespread awakening began in Northern Ireland and spread to Wales. By the end of that year, Spurgeon could write, "The times of refreshing have come at last from the presence of the Lord, they have at last dawned upon our land". 

Spurgeon on God's Mighty Acts

In one of Spurgeon's most powerful sermons during that year of revival, a sermon entitled "The Story of God's mighty acts." Let me tell you, you can listen to someone reading that sermon on YouTube. I listened to it as I was driving in, part of it. I would recommend it. I'd rather hear Spurgeon preach it, but that would be weird at this point, but there's a guy reading it, and it's very effective. He was preaching on Psalm 44:1. The text says; “We have heard with our ears, O God, our fathers have told us, what you did in their days in days long ago”. Spurgeon catalogued the mighty acts of God across, at that point, 18 centuries of Church history. He traced out the spectacular advance of the gospel over the first 100 years after the death of Christ, how the Gospel spread rapidly across Europe into Asia for 100 years, and how heathens were baptized in huge numbers, sometimes even thousands in rivers. Spurgeon said this, "The first spread of the Gospel is a miracle never to be eclipsed. Whatever God may have done at the Red Sea, He did still more within 100 years after the time when Christ first came into the world. It seemed as if a fire from Heaven, ran along the ground." I picture a molten lava. Hot, red, igniting everything in its way. Hundred years after Christ ascended into heaven, it's true, there were congregations in northern Britannia, in Germania and other places in the Roman Empire. The Gospel was spreading powerfully, it's incredible.

Spurgeon in that sermon traced out other examples of mighty outpourings; the Reformation, Luther's courage in facing the Medieval Roman Catholic Church, and then the first great awakening, 125 years before that, under Whitefield and Wesley. Spurgeon said this, "Within a few years from the preaching of those two men, England was permeated with Evangelical truth. The Word of God, was known in every town and there was scarcely a hamlet into which the Methodists had not penetrated. In those days of the slow coach, when Christianity seemed to have brought up the old wagons in which our fathers once traveled, where business runs along with steam." Now, you need to understand, in Spurgeon's day, steam was a new thing. So I thought about translating this into the digital age, but I'll just read what he wrote. "Where business flies along with steam, it seems the Gospel creeps along with a horse drawn cart. Yet the things that we notice what God did, the wondrous things that God did in olden times by His grace, we trust He will yet do again." Spurgeon said this, "The old stagers in our church believe that things must grow gently by degrees. We must go step-by-step onward. Concentrated action, continued labor, they say, will ultimately bring success. But the marvel is all of God's mightiest works have been sudden. When Peter stood up to preach, it did not take six weeks to convert the 3,000. They were converted at once and baptized that very day. They were that hour turned to God. So it is in all revivals. God's work has been done suddenly as with a clap of thunder, God has descended from on high, not slowly, but suddenly."

Seek the Extraordinary Outpouring Today

Friends, this is the extraordinary ministry of the Holy Spirit. God can still do that in our day. And Spurgeon made the point as did Lloyd-Jones, that it always starts with extraordinary thirst an extraordinary prayer. It starts with individuals, maybe you, maybe you, maybe you, maybe me, not okay with the status quo. You look at your life and you're not okay with your level of sanctification, you're not satisfied with the progress you're making. You look at the church and you're not okay with the number of people that we've baptized. You're not okay with the impact First Baptist Church has on Durham and Raleigh and Chapel Hill. You're not okay with it. The status quo is not enough. And you begin to pray.

As Jeremy Lanphier did two years before the revival in Great Britain, 1857, he started a businessmen's revival in New York City that started with one man, him, praying. By the end of that hour, the last 10 minutes, there was no one paying, just him, for 50 minutes. Then at the end of the hour, five other people came and joined him to pray. Terrible economic reversals happened, a fear of Civil War, which was soon to come in the United States. Many other things. Those are human factors, but really what happened is the Holy Spirit was poured out. And within several months, a quarter of a million people in the New York area were converted, very rapidly. I think it was Spurgeon thought about that and said, "Why can't something like that happen here?" And began praying.

So it could start. Start that way with some of you. Maybe two people who sit in the front pew and pray for the pastor, that he would have the Holy Spirit. I don't know if D.L. Moody felt offended at that point. I promise you, as best I can, I will not feel offended if you pray for me to have the Holy Spirit because I'm not satisfied. I've been here for 21 years. I'm not satisfied with the holiness level of my life, I'm not satisfied with the fruitfulness in our church, and I'm asking God to work a revival in our church, in our lives, that begins with extraordinary prayer. I don't know who's going to start it. I don't care. And frankly, I don't even care if it starts with our church. I just want to see God move mightily and powerfully in our area.

Friends, Repent and Do Not Harden Your Hearts

Let me say one last thing, and I'll be done. There may be some of you that are here today that came in here unconverted. I want to tell you something, a regret that D.L. Moody took with him to his death bed. Before the Chicago Fire came, he preached the Gospel and preached it powerfully. He made it very, very clear that Christ had died for sinners, that He had been risen from the dead, and that salvation was available. But what he didn't do, is he said, "I'm not going to tell you what you individually need to do about this. Come back next week and I'll tell you then." The Chicago fire happened the very next day. D.L. Moody said, I never saw those people again, that congregation. Maybe there were individuals he saw, but that assembly was wiped out by the fire. And he regretted not pressing on the consciences of his hearers the need to flee to Christ while there was time. Friends, you don't know if you'll be alive tomorrow. You've heard the Gospel today. You've heard that Christ died for sinners, you know that you're a sinner, you know that you're outside of Christ. Don't leave this place still outside of Christ. You don't need to get up or come forward to do anything, you just need to call on the name of the Lord and you'll be saved. God will forgive you of your sins today. “If you hear His voice, don't harden your hearts.”

Close with me in prayer.  Father, we thank you for the time we've had to study. Sometimes I fear that my words in my own heart and in the lives of many here are like a painted fire, that they don't have a real effectiveness. Lord, I pray that you would please overwhelm all of that by the moving of your Spirit. I pray that you would pour out the Spirit in influence and in power on me and on my brothers and sisters here and on everyone assembled here. I pray that 2020 would be the greatest year of evangelistic fruitfulness this church has ever known. I pray that you would give us a sense of the presence of the Spirit in this that we have never had before. And I pray it would begin with extraordinary prayer, that we would realize that we are weak and feeble until the Holy Spirit is poured out from on high. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.