Bible Class - James 1:1 to 1:18

you can pick those up and and that information with addresses and times and everything is there if you would let's stand and let's go in a world at word of Prayer Heavenly Father we come to you and we thank you so much for everything you've done for us Lord we asked as we enter into this Bible study of James that it would be your words and your Holy Spirit leading and guiding us father we ask these things according to your will and in Jesus name Amen amen well the Lord is good let me just make some opening just down a little bit thank you some opening comments whenever we do a Bible study like this if there's during the course of the Bible study that you have a question or something that is on your mind that you want to ask I would ask you to immediately follow in the Bible study just write it down on a piece of paper you could hand it to me right after the the Bible class or you can go to the web page and you can send it to me that way and whatever questions come in I will take those questions and the very next Bible study we will start with those questions and they'll be anonymous so if you ask a question nobody will know it's your question and I'll do my best to answer those questions in the next Bible session that gives me a little time to look at the question and do some research to make sure I'll give you a good answer but if you have questions we definitely want you to be able to ask them to get an answer for it also we have workbooks whenever we do a new bible class on a new book we have workbooks and you can go out to our website into the sermon archives and one of the podcasts there the very first one there under the book of James is the PDFs that we use in this PowerPoint presentation and it has some of my personal notes in it that I put together from research so you can always get that and let it be a blessing to you hopefully let it be a blessing to you so we're looking at the book of James tonight in James his epistle is a little bit different than most of the epistles in fact Martin Luther referred to the Epistle of James as the Epistle of straw because he felt that James epistles really should not have been included in the Canon of Scripture because it it equated faith the fulfillment of faith being concluded in works and of course Martin Luther he was the one who nailed his 95 theses to the door which said they just shall live by faith it was all faith but James comes along later says yes it is all faith but if his real faith is going to produce some works and so there's always been a controversy about the book of James but I found that it's been a great blessing to my own walk with the Lord so of course the Arthur of the book is James he is the half-brother of the Lord Jesus Christ he is the product of Joseph and Mary he had brothers and sisters for those that may not have known Jesus had I think if I remember correctly I think it's at least three brothers and numerous more than one sister anyway James is the half-brother of the Lord Jesus Christ he is not the offspring of Joseph but his father is God himself speaking of Jesus he was called James the just because of his righteous living his holy lifestyle that he lived he was referred to as James the just and tradition tells us that he died by being beaten to death they had initially taken him to the pinnacle of the temple the same one on which Jesus was tempted by Satan and he was thrown from that pinnacle and when he failed he did not die and so they beat him with clubs until he did die that's how most agree that that he died he wrote this epistle is really not sure they know it was at least they know it was before 70 AD when Titus came in and razed the temple and destroyed Jerusalem they know that he wrote this epistle before that and the theme of the entire epistle is the testing of Christian faith that's what he's talking about through the entire epistle is the testing of our faith and so we'll just do a very quick survey and look at what he's talking about in the various chapters in chapter 1 verses 1 through 18 he's taught he tells us the purpose of our testing the reason that God allows you and I to be tested then in verses 19 through 27 he tells us about the test of obedience chapter 2 verses 1 through 13 the test of partiality prejudices that we can have chapter 2 14 through 26 the test of our works that our faith is tested and we can be validated by what type of works they are producing then chapter three 1 through verse 12 is the test of the tongue you can you can know how your faith is developing by the ability to control your tongue chapter 3 13 through chapter 5 verse 6 the test of personal ambitions and finally chapter 5 7 through 20 the test of patience so throughout this entire epistle he's he's really shared with us the different tests the diverse tests that the Christian will go through and and the importance of us learning how to navigate through those tests every one of us has been through tests if you are a Christian you had been through some tests and as well if you are a Christian you are going to go through some more tests because this life is constant tests but those tests are the way that the Lord develops us and teaches us and James will share much of that with us tonight so let's just begin in verse one it says James a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ to the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad greetings now again this is James the just he is the half-brother of the Lord Jesus Christ he could have introduced himself and given himself some spectacular titles he could have said James the brother of the Lord Jesus trusts God incarnate he could have said James the son of Mary the mother of Jesus Christ he could have had all these different titles that he introduced himself with but laughter he said James a servant it shows you the humility of James as a matter of fact when Jesus was walking in his public ministry James and his brothers really did not believe on Jesus Christ they told them if you're doing all these works go to Jerusalem and let let people see you and the scripture says specifically for they believe not on him they did not believe that he was Messiah they should surely didn't believe that he was the son of God and if you put yourself in their position wouldn't it be kind of difficult your brother who you grew up with the whole time all of a sudden now he's supposed to be God that would be kind of difficult to wrap your head around but after Jesus's resurrection Corinthians tells us that he went to the the disciples and he showed himself to 500 about 500 other people and then he went directly to James and it was at that point it's believed that James really realized well he really is I saw him die on the cross I saw him punished and beaten I saw him put behind the stone and now he is here he is walking around again he's been resurrected from the dead that's when James really began to believe and so he introduces himself in a very humble way James the servant the term servant is Doulos in the Greek it means a bond slave a bond slave is one whose personal will has been swallowed up in the will of his master now he looks towards his half-brother Jesus Christ as being his master and I am his bond slave so he takes his proper place beneath the superiority of Jesus Christ who again is his half-brother James a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ to the twelve tribes that are scattered abroad now in the writing of this letter it's written at a time just prior to the persecution hitting Jerusalem which caused the Christians to scatter everywhere they could no longer stay in Jerusalem in in in in the in the main church because persecution was so was so heavy that they were scattered abroad so James has now identified himself as the Arthur he's identified Israel scattered as the audience and he says greetings now through the first several verses of this first chapter he's going to show us the attitude that we should have when we start going through trials and when when a trial comes upon your life you have to already know these things because it's very difficult when that trial hits to do these things if you don't already know that this is what the expectation is in other words when a trial hears our life how many just get kind of kind of angry about it just like how could this be happening to me but James takes a whole different perspective and he tells us I will go through the summary of what he's gonna tell us first of all we should have a joyful attitude when trials come as our faith increases as we grow as Christians we learn to have a joyful attitude even in the midst of a trial even in the midst of diverse trials we can still have true Heaven Sent joy I don't mean just smile when you're crying I mean real joy on the inside even though there's a trial upon your life number verse 3 tells us that we should have an understanding attitude well you can have joy if you have some understanding in terms of the process that you're going through verse 4 tells us we should have a submissive will as we're going through if this is my portion if this is what the Lord has allowed to cut my way I am going to submit to it and I'm going to walk through it then we should also maintain a believing heart just because there are trials coming upon our lives just because there are tests that we're going through it should not rock our faith or make us think that God is other than what he is which is a good God and then we should have a humble spirit do whatever we're going through we should maintain a spirit of humility and so those are the five things that he's going to tell us and then finally he's going to give us a view towards the reward that we get if we persevere in the trials that we're going through your trial is an opportunity it's a test for you so that you have an opportunity to rise above it and be rewarded for it and so let's let's just go verse 2 James says my brethren count it all joy when you fall under divers or into divers temptations this is this is the part to have a joyful attitude when you go through trials he says count it all joy he did not say it would be joy he did not say the trial coming upon you is going to be a joyous thing and we know if you've ever been through a trial trials are not joyous but he says that you can't count it as joy and the next verses are going to tell us if you understand the next verse you can count even the trials as you're going through as a joyous occasion is going to lead you to a place that you can it produces joy in your heart and life it's almost like when you were let's say in the seventh grade and you had the big test the big test you know 50% of your grade depended upon this and you take the big test and this is it's a trial it's a test it's not a very joyous thing but on the other side when you find out you made a bleep B+ on it you think well man is behind me I got a good grade that's all good it leads to joy even though when you go through it it is not very joyous so he says brethren counted joy he doesn't say it's going to be joy counted joy when you fall under divers temptations notice he says when you fall under them not if you fall under them you are going to have some trials it may not be today today may just be the wind is that your bad everything is wonderful but maybe tomorrow or the next day or next week there is another trial coming or you may have just come out of a trial and you get a little breather and then there's another trial coming and sometimes the Lord will allow several trials to come upon you at one time but what we need to understand is that whatever that the trial is it is a test it is a test to see how far your faith has developed the trial is never to test see if you are a Christian the trial is always the test to see the Christian faith that has been produced in your life and heart and so when you look at when trials come upon you becoming angry or discouraged that's not the right reaction is to count it all joy verse 3 says knowing this now if you know this you'll be much more able to count of joy when you fall under that trial knowing this better trying the testing of your faith worketh patience if you understand that you're in a process and the Lord is trying to develop something in you that does not currently exist and that trial is is how he moves you through the process you'd be able then to count a joy when you when you come into divers temptations knowing that that trial is ultimately going to work patience in you the word knowing is ganach go in the greek it means to understand by experience it means you didn't read it in the book it means you didn't just somebody told you about it it means that you have experienced it yourself and that's how you came to know about it if you could if I could use this analogy how many's every just hit the head against a brick wall and then by experience you figure out you deduce that the brick wall is harder than your head you learn that by experience and it teaches you a good lesson do not hit your head against the brick wall it's too hard well this work of Moscow means it means that you understand something through and through experience that you have experienced it and that's how you've come to know it knowing this that the testing the trying of your faith you've experienced it through trials over and over and over and you've come to the place that you know that the testing of your faith it's working patience in you the word patience really means endurance it means that you're able to endure being the hot seat have you ever been a try in a trial and you're just looking for exit you're not caring about whether you fail it whether you flunk it whether you're passing it don't matter just let me out of it but the trial of your faith it begins to work pay endurance in you so that you're able to endure in the midst of that trial can you imagine Jesus Christ when the night that he went to the with the so-called court when they they beat him and they pluck the beard from his face and they spit upon him and they they whipped his back and the whole time he was able to endure he was able to endure the Apostle Paul beaten with rods receiving 39 stripes over and over every city he went to riots breaking out but he was able to endure to keep pushing ahead and this is what the Lord wants to produce in all of our lives is greater endurance I believe that's why he gives us spouses a spouse will help you grow up I am so serious it will help you mature will help you see yourself in another life because nobody knows you like your spouse and when they tell you something you can pretty much believe that yeah they're nailing if they getting it right on the head but but that's part of the growing process so he says knowing this that the trying of your faith this is an understanding attitude knowing this that the trial of your faith it works endurance it works patience but let patience have her perfect work that you might be perfect and entire wanting nothing now if his term patience again here it means endurance but it means an active endurance it means that you are actively in during the trial that you're going through and it it says let patience have it's perfect work the word perfect means to bring you to complete it means that bringing you to a complete of maturity let that endurance have its maturing work in you so that you might be mature so that you might be entire lacking nothing wanting nothing there's nothing left that's not everything has been attitude you have now complete but but here's a trick let patience have it's perfect work what I found in my own life and many Christians that I know perhaps all Christians is that when the trial hits we begin to squirm we don't just patiently allow that trial to produce in us it's very it is difficult just patiently let that trial produce in us the patience the settlements the faith the dependence on the Lord all of these things the trial will begin to produce in you but the thing is that when the trial comes don't don't just run don't run just to get out from under it don't do anything that you have to do just to relieve the pressure just sit in the pressure cooker and just cook because you want to hear well done right just sit in the pressure cooker and let that trial cookie let patience have her perfect work so that you might be perfect and entire wanting nothing if any of you lack wisdom let him ask of God that giveth to all men liberally and upbraideth not and it shall be given him now again Paul he hasn't checked on James hasn't changed the the topic he's still talking about Christian test and when he says if any man lacks wisdom he's talking about if any man lacks wisdom as how to navigate through this test that I'm going through let him ask of the Lord I remember when we first built the building the the other church over here it's been 18 years ago it was my first big construction effort outside of a residential home and and I had no idea what I was doing I was over my head the whole time and I cannot tell you how many times I found myself three o'clock in the morning and the dead of winter with my coat on walking up and down the aisle of that church asking the Lord to help me to give me wisdom to help me to understand what to do to move me in the right direction which which he did but but this is exactly what James is talking about he says if any man lacks wisdom concerning wisdom of how to move through a trial how to navigate through a test let him ask of the Lord I think that's one place that Christians that we fall so short is that we don't take our troubles and our concerns to Jesus Christ we don't take them to the Lord we simply don't pray like we should how many's got just troubles just troubles I got some issues come on you can tell me you a church you're a Salah I've got issues but if I were to ask for a show of hands of how many of us have taken those issues to the Lord it would not be the same did you know that Jesus when he said out of his public ministry he had to select Twelve Apostles and prior to him selecting those Twelve Apostles the scripture says that he stayed up and prayed all night all night long in one continuous prayer seeking for just this wisdom and the mind of God because not only did he have to pick twelve good men he also had to pick judas iscariot that was one of the ones he had the pit to fulfill the scriptures and so he prayed all night long for the mind of God so that he could make the decisions and move in the direction that God wanted him to move if any man lacks wisdom let me pray ask the Lord who gives freely and liberally who giveth to all men liberally and upbraideth not the term upbraideth it means that he won't rail against you he won't he won't charge you or taught you because you don't have you don't have the wisdom but he would rather he will literally give you the wisdom that you need to move through that trial to move through that test you know we have we have a benefit that sometimes we as Christians we just don't take advantage of that we have the omniscient mind of God who knows everything who cannot learn because he already knows everything we have him at our disposal to help us through every trial every test every tribulation and yet too many times we just persevere on our own little impotent mind and make mistakes and stagger back and forth rather than just go to the Lord and say lord help me well as I think about that situation building the church years ago we did a masterful job on that first part it was masterful and even in the middle of it I had to fire one of the contractors and hire another contractor but that thing went in I think we have maybe twelve or thirteen people in the congregation and we pay for all of it the Lord helped us all the way with that and but but it's because I was willing to ask the Lord to just submit first of all god I don't even know what I'm doing I just need some help and then ask the Lord and little by little it's not that he doesn't sit down and say okay here's the blueprint you're gonna do this then do this then do this though he just walks with you and he just helps you in the middle of the day to step in the right direction and make the right decisions if any of you lack wisdom let him ask of God they giveth to all men liberally and upbraideth not and it shall be given him let him ask of regard and it shall be given him you have not because you ask not if you ask God he'll give it to you verse 6 says but but here's that here's the catch but let him ask in faith nothing wavering for he that raver if is like the wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed for let not that man think that he shall receive anything of the Lord so he's saying that when you come to the Lord and you ask him for wisdom of how to navigate through this trial you've got to come in faith but let him ask in faith without faith it's impossible to please God if your mind is wavering whether well I think I want a net I think I want to answer to it I think I'll just keep going through it I think I'll go this way he said away from me he's unstable in all his ways his he's for he that wave riff is like the wave of the sea driven by the wind and tossed when you look at across the stormy seas and you see the ways going each way that wave is not under its own control the wind and the storm has control of the wave and when you see a person that's wavering I'm in sin I'm out of sin I want to walk with the Lord I don't know what I'm doing it's because they're under the control of something else there's something in the world pulling on them to such an extent that they don't have full control any longer and he says let him ask in faith not not that wavering thing for let not that man that that man is talking about the man who approaches the Lord with his wave remind you know does he love me does he hate me at some point we're gonna have to get solid on our relationship with the Lord we're gonna either have to believe the Bible or take your sign down we're gonna have to come to a place that we believe these scriptures or just settle it within our heart I don't believe the Bible because the scripture tells us that if we lack wisdom let them ask to the lord who give it freely and upbraideth not and it shall be given to him either that's true or that's not we have to get to the place that we say okay that's true that's true and I'm gonna stand all that and I'm gonna stand on it until I experience it and when I experience it now I have ganach go now how I have known it I understand it because I have experienced it for let not that man think that he shall receive anything of the Lord a double minded man is unstable in all his ways I was considering this as I was preparing tonight this double minded it's a person whose wavery the term double minded the Greek term it really means one who's irregular in their thought patterns there they vacillate their thoughts vast laid back and forth I'm in I'm out I'm up I'm down I'm this I'm that and they're not stable and and I began to think about Christians church attendance church attendance and I realize you know when when I started going to church thirty years ago people went to church every week every time the church doors open you was in church but now I've noticed that there's something else going on Christianity has become very wavery for many and that maybe I'm here this week next week something else has a priority but then I'm here again and and and it's become kind of a hit and miss type of thing and we find now that Christianity doesn't receive from the Lord what we used to receive from the Lord oh that was quiet that to heart a double minded man is unstable in all his ways now he's still talking about trials he goes on in verse nine he says let the brother of low-degree rejoice in that he has exalted now believe it the the brother of low-degree me somebody who has a low station in life they don't they don't have money they don't have resources and then suddenly they are exalted to a higher station in life now believe it or not that is a test now most people would not believe that's a test until they have - until they have to navigate through it oh you started out you have nothing you just you're barely getting by and then all of a sudden you have an influx of money and the influx of resources it's a test to be able to navigate from that low position to another position without losing your faith did you know that most people to hit the huge lotteries they they're they're they're broken like six or seven months their lives their divorce their lives just blow up because it is a trial moving from a low position a low station in life to a higher station life that is a trial so I say well I'd like to have that one well maybe you would you know we all think that oh yeah I could take a million right now I know exactly what to do with it do you really how many things do they could hold a million right now because my first question would be what account what kind of account would you put it in to make sure it's insured you know there's a whole lot more to it we just think that it's more but you know since Rican goes out of town quite a bit she travels for a job she just went out on a missionary trip and whenever she leaves I made sure that I practice being by myself because I know that one day possibly she may pass away she may go to be with the Lord before me and I'm left here and I need to know how to be stable I need to know how to not be wavery are you with me and so and so I'm practicing the whole time to make sure that movie for one station a married man in life to another station a single man that that I don't fall into any traps so I make sure that when she goes out of town town I eat at the same time I come to church at the same time I go to bed at the same time I make sure my life stays stable okay let the brother of low-degree rejoice in that he is exalted it is a trial to go from a low station in life to a higher station of life but the rich in that he has made low meaning that here's another trial to have a high station in life you got plenty money plenty of resources and all of a sudden you move down to a low station of life where I'm broken we all know that's a trial but but either way you go it is a trial but that trial is an opportunity for your faith to be tested here's what Paul said I've learned how to be a base and I've learned how to abound I can do all things through Christ Jesus now we think that when he said that he was talking about just doing any kind of thing no he was talking about living with little and living with much having no money and having a lot of money he had learned how to live in both of those categories of course in modern Christianity all we hear about is the blessings of God but sometimes learning how to live and be be content with such things as you have that that can be a wonderful gift that can be a wonderful blessing in a Christians life but the rich man and that he has made lo because as the flower of the grass he shall pass away for the Sun is no sooner risen with a burning heat but at withereth the grass and the flower thereof falleth and the fast of the grace of the fashion of it perishes so also shall the rich man fade away in his ways simply meaning this here's here's the test for the rich man of course having great resources and then coming down to having no resources well sooner or later that's going to happen anyway and so you to have a scenario play out in life while you're able to to move through that trial is is a good test because when you're on your deathbed you're getting ready to lose it all you take nothing with you nothing so whether it is the man of low degree moving to an exalted position or the man of high degree moving to a lower position either way it is a trial that we trust the Lord fro for James goes on in verse 12 to say blessed is the man that endureth temptation for when he is tried he shall receive the crown of life which the LORD hath promised to them that love him now it listen to the statement blessed is the man that endureth temptation it would seem like it wiII be blessings as the man that hath no temptation but it'sit's endureth temptation and look at the word endure in verse two what was verse two count it all joy when you fall under divers temptation because the trying of your faith worketh endurance the trying of your faith worketh endurance blessed is the man that endureth that has come to a place that has come through the process enough times that endurance is being developed in him and now he's able to endure temptation because let's just be honest we don't endure every temptation come on somebody there are temptations that come on us and we we might stand for an hour or two baby a day but sooner or later sometimes we buckle under that temptation it means that you're not you're not you have not matured to the place your faith that you're able yet to endure that that fiery trial that test blessed is the man that endures temptation because it's when he has tried that he shall receive the crown of life this word tried here it means more than just being tested in this scenario it means being tested and being approved being put to the test in a temptation the temptation is a test and you don't fail that test but you actually are approved you go through it you endure the temptation and you come out approved at the end he shall receive the crown of life have you ever had where temptations been on your life and you know something you've been dealing with and then finally Youth the day you get the victory and oh isn't it beautiful isn't it wonderful when you know that you've gotten the victory and you're walking in in a place that really you've never ever walked before you're walking in a victorious place you receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to them that love him you know it's easy for us to say that we love the Lord and I have no doubt that all of us do to some degree love him but when that temptation comes upon our life it's really saying do we love that which tempts us more than we love the Lord because which one do we go to is everybody with me tonight dude do I love that what I'm being tempted with more or do I love the Lord more whatever the greater passion that's the direction that we move in but the Lord has promised the crown of life to all them that love him let no man say when he is tempted I am tempted of God for God cannot be tempted with evil neither tempteth he any man now let me go back here for just a minute blessed is the man that I think this is where I want to be I think I'm in the wrong pot let no man say when he is tempted I am tempted of God for God cannot be tempted with evil neither tempteth he any man so when temptation comes upon your life you you need to be clear what that temptation is and many times if we have a foggy notion of what's going on we're saying well hear the Lord's the Lord's you know the Lord's tempted me in in this area of my life because he wants me know that the Lord never tempts you to do evil never ever does the Lord tempt you to do evil now he may stand back and allow Satan to coming to tempt you but God Himself will never ever tempt you or solicit you to do something that is against his moral code no more than he would do evil himself God is righteousness it's impossible for God to do wrong it violates his his his his moral code it violates his his intrinsic makeup and so not only that would he never do evil he would never tempt you to do something that is evil in his sight and many times when we're tempted we look for somebody to blame we'll look for somebody that we can put the blame on but all temptation is the product of the lust of man's own heart whatever temptations I go through is not God's fault is my fault it's something on the inside of me that's reaching out so he said let no man when he is tempted let no man say when he is tempted I am tempted of God because God cannot be tempted with evil neither tempteth he any man but every man is tempted oh that's it that's it right there okay it says God cannot be tempted with evil God cannot be tempted with evil God cannot be tempted with evil but every man is tempted so you see God is on temp table I just made that word up where the man but but man is very prone to temptation but every man is tempted when he is drawn away of his own lust meaning that the fault for my temptation is the lust that's in my own heart the fall for your temptation is the lust that's in your own heart and lust does not only have to do with sexual immorality the word lust just means a strong a strong what it means a strong desire for something an inordinate desire something that that you want that is taboo for you that you're not supposed to have or that is contrary to the manifest will of God for you every man is tempted when he's drawn away for his own for me because of his own lusts so it's not like somebody just walks by and throws a temptation on you it's something on the inside that's reaching out for satisfaction are you with me in other words the the young man standing there minding his own business and the scantily clad woman walks past him and lust it produces lust in his heart well she didn't she didn't felt her scantly being Clare didn't throw lust in his heart that lust was already there but it just stimulated what was already there every man is tempted and it may again the word lust is doesn't just have to do with sexual immorality have their I don't know if they do this anymore they used to have a thing where JC Penney's will send out like a big magazine and it would have the different categories in it you know men's clothes women clothes jewelry household goods you remember those catalogs do this then those out anymore those are lust books they're just like pornography because when you got them you went to the part that turns you on either you went to the clothing part or you went to the diamond part or you were to the kitchen utensil part and you looked at the glossy and it stimulated lust in your heart and then at the end of the week you took off early with your credit card and you went to JC Penney's they spend they spend thousands and thousands of dollars to produce those magazines because they stimulate every commercial on television you can never go to Whataburger and get a burger as good as the one you saw on television because it was specially produced to inspire the Loess that's already in our hearts as a matter of fact that's how they're marketing anything right now almost everything is marketed now is marketed either with food or sex because those are the things that stimulate and james is saying every man is tempted when he's drawn away of his own lust and it ties meaning he's drawn away from the things of God he's drawn away from the from the will of God really from establishing faith in the Lord drawn away of his own lust and enticed then when lust has conceived in other words it means that lust that lust once is stimulated it doesn't stay there it produces something it conceives it gives birth to something when lust has conceived it brings forth sin and sin when it is finished it brings forth death now I call these the terrible trio love sin and death they run in a pack because once that lust has conceived it produces sin and the wages of sin is is death all of it produced by the lust that's in the heart to start with and you know whenever we're going to try to work on ourselves and work on our sanctification this is why you never start on the outside and try to work in you start on the inside you start in the in the secret clause and you say god I've got something in my heart this admit to him there's something going on here that's not right and deal with the very kernel of your problem if you're out here you know if you gonna chop down a tree you don't just go pick the leaves off of it first you're wasting your time you lay the axe at the root of the tree go right down to the core of what it is and many times you have to humble yourself to really admit how bad the problem is when you got issues in your life many times you when you when you go to the core to the very core you have to admit God I'm broken I'm broken there's something on the inside is twisted bad it's not what it's supposed to be I'm deficient and you have to come to the Lord and that humility and say I need help I need I need you to put me together correctly and the Lord is gracious and kind and and he will do not err my beloved brethren every good gift and every perfect gift is from above and cometh down from the Father of lights with whom is no variableness neither shadow of turning now it's believed this phrase do not error my beloved brother and is that the common thought in those days was that that people that were undergoing temptation that it was the Lord that was tempting them for for unknown reasons you know God works in mysterious ways whenever we don't understand the Bible we come up with that line he works in mysterious ways but but they felt that they were being tempted by the Lord and James after explaining the God don't tempt any man and he cannot himself be tempted he then emphasizes do not err in this area it is not God who's tempting you it is lusts within the heart of the person being tempted he goes on to say it encounter distinction - God tempted people he says every good and every perfect gift is from above and cometh down from the Father of lights with whom there was no variableness neither shadow of turning he's saying that no no God's not sending you evil temptation it's only good and perfect gifts that comes down from God you know if you ever just stopped to think about what what a good God he is in the simple things that we take for granted like an orange and orange God spent time making the vegetation and he made the orange and he put this flavour in that orange the citrus juices whatever that it makes the orange so good and then on the sixth day after having already made the orange he made Adam and he put special nerves and out of his mouth that could appreciate that orange or the apple or that were the watermelon or whatever it is that you like God gave us all of these things every good and perfect gift has come down from the Father of lights everything that we enjoy have you ever just been thirsty just thirsty just a glass of water oh man that is so good you can feel the cooling going down your esophagus every good and perfect gift comes from the father of life the very concept of marriage that I can have a soulmate to be with me to walk through this life together through my whole life that's a gift from God he gave that to me and every sunrise every sunset you look up and you see the oranges and the yellows screwed across the sky and he when he made Adam he put these orbs in his hair so he could visually see the rainbow of colors and then he paints a sunset for us every night every good and perfect gift comes from the father of Lights in whom there is no variableness meaning that he doesn't very he painted a sunset last night the night before that tonight and tomorrow night we know there's gonna be a sunset there's no variableness in other words he's not up today and down tomorrow he is consistently good there's no variableness or shadow of turning mean that he's not going to turn around and be something else in a couple of days you know when you're dealing with men somebody can like you one day the next day they hate you that's that's that's more than the shadow attorney Nathan turned on you but there's no shadow of turning there's no hint of God turning away from his essential nature who he is he's a good God he is a good god every good and perfect gift is from above and comes down from the Father of lights of his own will begat he us with the word of truth that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creature we are begotten by the will of God and we find this all through the Scriptures we are begotten it was it was simply God's will that we should even exist and then as we existed as fallen creation as unsaved men and women it was simply by his will just his will that we became born again Jesus came into this earth by the will of God I want you to go and redeem him he came he did the finished work of salvation but when it all comes down it was just the will of God he wanted us to be saved he wanted us to be eternally with him he wanted us to share that that in the New Jerusalem the Golden City he wanted us to abide there with him forever he wants to bless us he wants us to have his spirit on the inside of us every good and perfect gift he wants that for us he's begotten us by his own will we're not born by the will of man or the will of the flesh but by the will of God I've got a scripture here I want you to take a look at first Peter 1st chapter 1 here's what Peter says verse 23 speaking of you and I be born again not of the corruptible seed but of the incorruptible by the Word of God which liveth and abideth for ever which simply means that God begat us by seeding us with the word he he put the seed of his incorruptible word on the inside of us and begat us as sons and daughters of the Living God of his own will he begat us with the word of truth that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures wherefore my beloved brethren let every man be swift to hear slow to speak slow to wrath for the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God now the wrath of man most often is produced by self-centeredness because we something has has offended self and and we're angry about it but the instruction that we're given here by James changes us from a self-centered position to a other-centered position wherefore my beloved brother let every man be swift to hear slow to speak those two categories make you other-centered when you're when you're when you're swift the anger is because you're self-centered but when you're slow to speak and you're slow to anger that means you're more tuned in to how you impact the people around you your impact to others and not you you know you already hear everything going on in your own head did you know that most people when they when they're talking together when they listen they're not listening to understand what the person is saying they're listening in order to have a response rather than to let that person's communication penetrate your mind so you know where they're coming from we just listen so that we can respond right quick but but he says let every man be swift to hear slow to speak and then slow to wrath in other words we should be we should be more willing to hear than we are to speak have you ever realized that God gave you two ears and one mouth and have you realized that your ear is just there it's open all the time but your mouth is trapped caged behind your teeth and lips let every man be swift to hear slow to speak slow to wrath because the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God when man's anger really is far removed from God's righteousness and and it's better for us to just be very slow to speak Swift to hear the positions of other people and be very slow to wrath to make sure that if we do anger that it's a righteous indignation and it's something that doesn't put us apart from God so I'm gonna stop right here I'm gonna stop right at this verse tonight we're going to end about five minutes earlier I want to start this one next week now let me give you just quickly the rundown of the of the Wednesday's coming next week we will be doing a baptism and we have a couple of laity speakers that are going to be speaking on next week then the following Wednesday is Thanksgiving week we will be off that entire week I will be out of town you'll be stuffed full of Turkey nobody's gonna feel like coming to church so it'll be the third Wednesday before we continue this Bible study so next week we'll have a laity in a baptism the following week there will be no service whatsoever and then the third week we will resume this Bible class on the book of James amen we're going to ask brother Dominick would you close the services please press the Lord let's prepare myself for tithes and offering while we do that this keep playing in my mind gem said count it all joy count it all joy you know we all need to grow up nobody wants to remain a baby especially in the spiritual side of it we want to grow up and there is always growing pain associated with it and I believe this is what James is telling us and this is where we need the holy spirit in Moore let's stand if you're able Heavenly Father we thank you for your message to us today we receive it with joy we ask you to send the great teacher with us that he may enlighten our mind we pray for the offering that we're giving to you we say Lord may it be used for your own glory in this place bless every one that gives even those that can not father we ask you to put something in their hand so that they may glorify your name we ask this in Jesus name Amen escape shaken together running over it will come back to you when you give to the [Music] just a reminder before you go stop by the back and pick up this printout for the Bob's family he has all the information that we need that's Dan father we thank you again for all that you have done for us this is what we need particularly in this generation at this particular time we ask you to take us home safely let us run through what we received today in our respective homes and bring us back safely the fellowship together will give you glory in the name of Jesus we pray amen

Channel: Christ Unveiled Ministries

Views: 14,777

Rating: 4.8769231 out of 5

Keywords: trials of life, trials of the Christian, book of James, James exposition

Id: lMsPqNuWR94

Length: 55min 54sec (3354 seconds)

Published: Wed Nov 08 2017