James 1

book of james chapter one james a servant of god and of the lord jesus christ the greek word is duloy which is a bond slave there are only two writers in the new testament that introduced themselves by the title only of slave paul the apostle calls himself an apostle and a slave but only james and jude introduced themselves just as bond slaves of jesus christ of god and of the lord jesus christ interestingly enough this is the james who was a half-brother to jesus he was a sibling who grew up with jesus along with jude in mark the it is made reference to are not his brothers james and jude and simon with us it would appear that his brothers did not believe that he was the messiah until his resurrection from the dead james became one of the leaders in the early church very early in the history of the church james the brother of john who was one of the disciples called to be an apostle was martyred and after that the james that appears in the acts of the apostles is this particular james the half-brother of jesus who after his resurrection with jude became leaders in the early church james wrote this practical epistle and of course jude wrote the epistle of his name and he introduces himself also as a bond slave of jesus christ now if i had that kind of a relationship with jesus i'm sure i would have inserted somewhere along the line chuck a half brother to jesus christ i would want people to know how important i was but james just declares a bond slave of god and the lord jesus christ but really what higher honor what higher privilege can one have than being a bond slave of jesus christ to the 12 tribes which are scattered abroad greeting the word greeting in the greek is a word to rejoice it is a typical greek salutation it is not the grace and peace that paul usually uses but it is a word that means joy or rejoicing and it was typical in the secular greek writings when you would write a letter in the salutation you would say joy or rejoice the word is used in the new testament in the letter of the church to the the church council in jerusalem when they wrote the letter to the church in antioch to comfort them and as regards to the gentiles relationship to the law the word was used in the salutation of that letter but it is interesting to note that james was the one who wrote the letter to the church in antioch concerning the decision that was made by the church council in jerusalem you've heard many times of the ten lost tribes but evidently they weren't lost yet but they are scattered to the 12 tribes that are scattered abroad the jews were first dispersed when the assyrians conquered the northern kingdom of israel there was the first dispersion of the jews the second dispersion took place when judah the southern kingdom was conquered by babylon and then in about 63 bc there was a third dispersion of the jews and finally in 70 a.d the final dispersion of the jews when titus conquered over the rebellious jews that were still living in palestine at that time and so when they were scattered they were scattered abroad throughout the world and so today you find pockets of jews all over the world many of them in russia many of them in china many of them in central south america many of them here in the united states they're scattered throughout the world and so the idea of the 10 lost tribes is not really a biblical idea they are not lost god knows exactly where they are and who they are my brethren count it all joy when you fall into diverse temptations or testings now that is the opposite response that we naturally have to a time of tribulation or testing uh we so often feel that uh god has maybe forsaken us and maybe god is angry with us somehow and i don't know where it came from we have the concept that serving god ought to be a bed of roses it ought to be just smooth it ought to be just so easy and plushy just serving god it it ought to be something that is just never a problem but that is not the case we declare our love for god and god puts the declaration to the test do you love me if this should happen would you love me should that happen would you remain true and faithful to me we find the interesting story of job in the old testament when the sons of god were presenting themselves to god and satan also came with them and god said to satan where have you been and he said oh i've been going to and fro throughout the earth up and down in it he said have you considered my servant job an upright man he loves good he hates evil perfect man upright and job said i mean satan said to god concerning job does job serve you for nothing look at all that you have given to him anybody would be a fool not to serve you when you have given them as much as you have given unto job let me take away his riches let me strip him and you'll find out the true character and nature of job he'll curse you to your face and so god gave to satan the permission to strip job with the restriction of spare his life don't touch his life so job started receiving the messages all of his cattle and camel and sheep and all were killed his children all 10 of them were killed in a wind that struck the home where they were eating and one by one the messengers came telling him of the loss of all of these things and in all of these things job did not curse god nor charge god foolishly but he fell on his face and said naked i came into the world naked i'm going out the lord is given and the lord has taken away blessed be the name of the lord now these things the the tornado that hit the house of his son the eldest son where all of the children were having a banquet that would be classified in the insurance company today as an act of god and it is interesting how that we so often equate calamities to god and we blame god for the calamities but job did not curse god nor did he charge god foolishly and so the sons of god again were presenting themselves to god satan also came with them and god said to saint well where have you been he said oh i've been going up and down throughout the earth to and fro in it have you considered my servant job the word considered as an interesting word is military language it's the word that would be used of a general who is uh studying carefully a city to develop the strategy of taking that city and satan assures god that he has been studying job developing a strategy and had a strategy whereby he felt that he could take him he said you won round one but let me touch him physically you've not let me touch him physically let me touch him physically he'll curse you to your face and so job became covered with boils he developed such a horrible state smelly horrible sores all over him ulcerate sores running sores and so bad was his condition that his wife finally said to him why don't you just curse god and die his friends came to ostensibly comfort him but instead they harangued him because they were trying to figure out why a man would go through such horrible loss and suffering as did job and they had theorized that job surely was hiding some horrible sin and they kept probing trying to find what horrible sin he was seeking to cover because this was surely a punishment from god no man would go through these things except he were a horrible sinner and we know the outcome of the story how that god proved or job proved himself faithful to god through these testings his faith did not waver there were times when he would express despair cursed be the day that i was born why didn't they just let me die in the womb why was i born but yet in the midst of that tremendous declarations of faith i know that my redeemer lives and shall stand in the last days upon the earth and though worms may destroy and eat this body yet in my flesh i shall see god and how god finally came on the scene rebuked job's friends for their total misunderstanding of the condition of job told them you better have job pray for you and then god blessed job in the end had more wealth and riches than he had ever had before but he had passed the test brother encountered all joy when you fall into diverse temptations god puts our faith to the test god puts our devotion to the test but the purpose of god is not to destroy you but through testing we become strong through the testings we learn our own weakness and we learn to rely upon his strength and god will put us to the test to the breaking point of our own abilities and resources deliberately so that we will not trust in ourselves or in the weaknesses of our own flesh but that we will learn to trust in the lord we won't look to ourself for our reserves or resources but we learn to look to god for his resources you see as long as i'm looking to myself for the resource my resources are always limited very limited but when i look to god for my resource i have unlimited resources when i look to myself for strength my strength is very limited but when i look to god for strength my strength is unlimited and so paul learned through the testings the weaknesses of his own flesh and he came to the place where he said i actually glory in my weakness that the power of god might be manifested in me for when i am weak then i am strong and so god puts us to the test count it all joy when you fall into these divers temptations because god is developing first of all patience in you and that is one of the characteristics that is so necessary for the foundations of our whole relationship with god it's learning to wait on god think of how patient god is with us over and over god declares that he is long-suffering and he surely is he has suffered a lot longer than i would have suffered with the world today and with a lot of people i would have wiped them out a long time ago but god is so long-suffering and so patient but we are so impatient when it comes to god if god doesn't answer our prayer immediately we start looking for alternatives we feel well i've got to take it into my own hands i gave god all day and oh what a mess we can make of things when we decide that we better not wait for god but do it ourselves so knowing this that the trying of your faith worketh patience paul said much the same thing in his letter to the romans tribulation worketh patience patience experience i begin to experience god's faithfulness and experience then hope so that when i'm going through the trials i have that hope that sustains me and keeps me going but let patience have her perfect work that you might be perfect and entire wanting nothing let patients have her perfect work that is bring you into a maturity dr mcgee was speaking in a church one time and he turned to the pastor and he said there are more babies in this congregation up here than there are in the nursery downstairs but the babies in the nursery over there are beautiful but after you've been walking with the lord for 25 years and you still need the bottle it's sort of sad and so developing maturity and god develops maturity in our lives through these things as i look back on my life and i see the many testings that i went through i must confess that i wasn't always joyful in those testings but i sure am now as i look back and i see what god was working out in my life through those many testings i rejoice greatly for the fruit that came from the testings the maturity that i gained as the result of going through those trials so let patients have her perfect work or maturing work that you might be fully mature and entire complete wanting nothing that is you're not lacking at all in maturity now one of the lacks that we always have is that of wisdom you might be in tire wanting nothing but if any of you lack in wisdom let him ask of god that gives to all men liberally so often times people say what can i pray for you and i always say pray that i might have wisdom wisdom in making the many decisions that need to be made daily when you lack in wisdom isn't it glorious that we can ask god for wisdom our wisdom is so fallible how many of you have never made a mistake in your life you always made the wise choice you bought property on lido island when it was 300 a lot we can all look back can't we and say well we fight only if we lack in wisdom though the wonderful thing is that god will give us wisdom it's amazing how there are many people who have a lot of knowledge but not much wisdom a pastor was out on the golf course with a friend who was a phd and as they were getting ready to tee off it started to rain and the fellow with the phd said oh what shall he do and the pastor said i think we better get out of the rain you see it's wisdom that says get out of the rain knowledge will tell you it's raining wisdom will tell you get shelter let him ask of god who gives to all men liberally or freely and upbraids not god doesn't scold your gun doesn't say oh you're so stupid don't you know better than that you know he doesn't upgrade you when you come to god for wisdom he's so gracious he gives you and i think of some of the dumb things that i should have known but god doesn't upbraid me when i come to him for guidance and for wisdom it shall be given him glorious promise god will give us wisdom in the decisions if we ask that wonderful proverb trust in the lord with all your heart lean not unto your own understanding but in all of your ways acknowledge him and he will direct your path but you see there are several qualifications to the he will direct your path we want that but in order to have that what must i do first of all i must not trust in my own understanding but i must trust in the lord with all my heart i can't lean to my own understanding and then i have to acknowledge him i have to ask and he will direct your path but when i ask it's important that i ask in faith nothing wavering no that's not an easy task either is it asking him faith with nothing wavering for he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea that is driven with the wind and tossed you ever been out on the stormy sea the waves driven with the wind and tossed and so is the man who's asking god for wisdom but his faith is wavering for let not that man think that he shall receive anything of the lord for a double-minded man is unstable in all of his ways it's important that we just make a commitment you know i'm going to stand on the word of god or i'll fall with the word of god i'm not going to leave it i'm not going to waver from my position i'm going to trust god and so often we give god the deadlines i'll trust him until two o'clock this afternoon and then we begin to waver and we we're not really stable we're double-minded well if god doesn't then this is what i'll have to do and we've already planned our own plan of action if god doesn't come through let a brother of low degree rejoice that he is exalted but the rich in that he is made low because as the flower of the grass he shall pass away look what god has done for us of low degree look how god has exalted us he has called us his children his sons beloved now are we the sons of god what a great exalting of our lives those of low degree those that are rich that they are brought low because their riches aren't going to last as greg laurie says you've never yet seen a u-haul trailer fall you know hitched to the hearse it just you don't you know naked i came in naked i go out job said it of himself but it's true of all of us you don't take anything with you as the grass the flower of the grass the riches will pass away for the sun is no sooner risen with a burning heat but it withers the grass and the flower thereof falls and the grace of the fashion of it perishes so also shall the rich man fade away in his ways now blessed is the man now uh we are told to rejoice when we experience temptations and here in verse 12 we are told blessed is the man and the word blessed the root is oh how happy is the man that endures temptation for when he is tried he will receive the crown of life which the lord has promised to them that love him that glorious crown of life awaits the child of god at the end of the road paul writing to timothy at the end of the road for his life said the time of my departure is at hand but i have fought a good fight i have finished the course i have kept the faith henceforth there has laid up for me a crown of righteousness various crowns given to us in heaven to the church of smyrna that was going to go through such terrible persecution from the roman government jesus said be thou faithful unto death and i will give to thee a crown of life and so blessed is the man that endures the temptations or the testings for when he is tried he shall receive the crown of life which the lord has promised to them that love him now let no man say when he is tempted i am tempted of god for god cannot be tempted with evil and neither tempteth he any man god doesn't tempt us with evil satan tempts us with evil but god allows him to do it and it does serve a purpose but when i'm tempted i can't really say well god tempted me god laid out this tension temptation before me no a man is tempted when he is drawn away of his own lust and enticed it is my desires that brings me into temptation the desires of my flesh i see opportunities for fulfillment of those well i shouldn't say fulfillment of opportunities of indulging because you'll never fulfill the lust of the flesh there's only one thing you can do for your lust and that's starve it to death if you feed it it will only demand more until it will consume you but a man is drawn away by his own lust and enticed now jesus was tempted to be tempted is not sin satan tempted jesus with the glories of this world all of these will i give to you the glory of them if you'll bow down and worship me he was tempted to use the supernatural powers for his own personal benefit turn the stone into bread you can do that satisfy the hunger that you have after this fasting and then tempted him to do something spectacular to draw a crowd to get notoriety and publicity jump off of the pinnacle of the temple and when you land unscathed and unharm at the bottom think of how the people will be awed they'll worship you jesus was tempted but he didn't yield to the temptation not a sin to be tempted it's when i yield to the temptation that it becomes sin so lust when it has conceived it brings forth sin and sin when it is finished with you brings death the wages of sin is death don't air my beloved brothers every good gift now god doesn't tempt you with evil neither tempts he any man we're tempted by our own desires and lust which when we yield and give in to them brings sin which when it is finished brings death but don't err on this every good gift and every perfect gift is from above and comes down from the father of lights with whom there is no variableness neither shadow of turning the unchanging god bestows his blessings upon us and every good gift every perfect gift comes to us from god if it's good it's from god and if it's evil it's from satan of his own will begot he us with the word of truth john speaks of those who were born not by the will of man nor by the will of the flesh but by god the glorious thing is that we have been begotten of god born again by the spirit of god peter said thanks be unto god who has begotten us again to a living hope by the resurrection of jesus christ from the dead so of his own will begot he with the word of truth you have been begotten again or born again by the word of truth by receiving the word of truth by believing that jesus is the son of god who came and bore your sins who died on the cross in your place and who rose again in order that you might be justified from your sins we've been begotten of god born of god by his own will not our will his will he begot us with the word of truth that we should be kind of first fruits of his new creation if any man be in christ jesus he's a new creature the old things are passed away everything becomes new born again into this new relationship uh i'm not any longer looking back to my english french heritage you can't really blame your nature now on the fact that you're irish or you have the latin hot temperament or whatever no that all died if any man is in christ he's a new creation i've been born again by the spirit of god the new nature that i have in christ jesus that we should be kind of a first fruits of of this new creation wherefore my beloved brothers oh in this you know he talks he starts out saying brothers and let up brother of low degree and now my beloved brothers let every man be swift to hear slow to speak slow to wrath as romaine says god gave you two ears and one mouth that should tell you something swift to hear slow to speak slow to wrath for the wrath of man does not work the righteousness of god god isn't manifested in your wrath in your anger in your temper wherefore lay aside all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness and receive with meekness the engrafted word which is able to save your soul lay aside the filthiness of the world the language the jokes the just the the filth of the world and receive instead of that god's engrafted word in your heart paul writing to the galatians said don't be deceived whatever a man sows that he is also going to reap and if you sow to your flesh of your flesh you're going to reap corruption now i believe that paul is referring to what you sow into your mind whatever you sow into your mind is that which is going to come out of your life and if you plant in your mind filthiness and all that's what's going to come out but if you plant the word of god he that sow to the spirit of the spirit he shall reap and so here encourage to the word of god and giving yourself to the word and here we are tonight and this is exactly what god wants that you be attentive to his word the engrafted word which is able to save our souls but it's not just being here hearing the word it's going out then and doing the word so be ye doers of the word and not hearers only deceiving your own selves how many people have been deceived just because they go to church and hear the word of god deceived into thinking well i'm all right i'm okay you're okay we've been to church we've heard the word of god now we can go out and live as we want for the rest of the week and then we come back next indian hear the word of god again and and they're deceived into thinking that because they hear an assent to the word of god when the scripture is read they can say amen so be it but you see if you don't practice it then you're just deceiving yourself you're living in a false sense of security feeling that everything is all right because i've heard the word but it's more than hearing the word it's putting it into practice in your life and here's where practical james comes in be ye doers of the word and not hearers only deceiving your own selves for if any man is a hearer of the word and not a doer he's like unto a man that beholds his natural face in a glass for he beholds himself and goes his way and immediately forgets what manner of man he was looking in a mirror seeing the reality and the truth and of course the word of god is like a mirror you look into the word of god and all of a sudden you see yourself as you really are but then you walk away and you forget what you saw you're walking down the street and you look in the glass window of the store and you see a reflection of yourself and you suck it in you know [Laughter] but before you get a block away you relax again you know you forget so quickly what you saw what matter of person you really are dr mcgee told the story of these hillbillies down in kentucky the hills of kentucky that were just far far away from anything that was civilized very backward kind of folk and there were some men who came into the area hunting and after they left they went down to examine the camp and they found that the fellas had left some of the things there at the camp including a mirror and this one hillbilly looked in the mirror and he said oh i didn't know they ever took a picture of my dad and he took the mirror home with him and uh so he slipped it into the house and put it under his pillow and his wife saw him sneaking this under his pillow so when he went out she wondered what in the world is he trying to hide in his pillow so she went and took the mirror and looked in and she said so that's the old hag he's been going out with but whoso looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues therein he being not a forgetful here but a doer of the work this man shall be blessed in his deeds blessed in the things that you do for the lord you look into the perfect law of liberty i love that the perfect law of liberty i have freedom glory is freedom in christ jesus freedom not to do the things that destroy a person freedom to serve the lord with my whole heart the glorious law of liberty and what i do i do out of love not out of a sense of obligation or duty blessed in his deeds for if any man among you seems to be religious now religious and religion is really not a word of the new testament you see christianity isn't really a religion though it is classified by the world as one of the world religions it's not a religion in fact christianity is almost an anti-type to religion if you will study the religions of the world the religions of the world tell you of the endeavor of man to reach and to please god man's endeavor to reach god to touch god and here you have finite man standing on the earth base trying to build a bridge to heaven reaching out trying to touch god finite man trying to touch an infinite god and such is an impossibility you can never start with an earth base and reach heaven you can never start with a finite being reaching an infinite being christianity has an infinite god reaching down to touch a finite man it's the exact opposite of religion it isn't your attempt to reach god christianity is god's attempt to reach you god is the one who initiated god so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son in religions you have a system of works and activities whereby man can please god in christianity we are told that by the works of righteousness we cannot be justified but we please god by simply believing his love and his provisions for us one day they came to jesus and they said what must we do to do the works of god and jesus said this is the work of god that you believe on him who he has sent that's what christianity is all about it's not your works by which you can please god it's god's work in your behalf and you're simply believing and trusting in it so if a man among you seems to be religious but he bridles not his tongue he deceives his own heart and this man's religion is vain that's heavy kind of thoughts to ponder the importance of bridling our tongue and he's going to speak of this more as we move into the book of james and tell us what a problem we have with such a small member of our body but the trouble it can get you into behold what a huge fire such a little matter can kindle oh boy you remember the last argument you had with your wife what did it start over nothing insignificant but pure religion and undefiled before god and the father is this this is where again be doers of the word not hearers only visit the fatherless and the widows in their affliction and to keep yourself unspotted from the world that's what it's all about doing the works of god showing the love of god to those that are in need and keeping yourself unspotted from the things of the world in those things god is well pleased father we thank you again for practical applications to truth and lord help us now to make those applications that we might become doers of the word and not just hearers of the word but looking into the mirror and seeing the truths help us not to forget what we saw but may we seek then lord to correct the flaws that we might please you and live a life that is pleasing and acceptable unto you lord we realize that we have a long way to go but we thank you that you are there to lead us to help us to strengthen us and so lord we look to you now for that help and strength in jesus name amen shall we stand the pastors are down here at the front to minister to you tonight if you have any needs special needs for prayer they're here to pray with you and for you and so feel free as soon as we're dismissed to come forward and let them exercise their gifts as they minister to you in your spiritual needs tonight may the lord be with you and bless you and may he give you a wonderful week may you be strengthened by his spirit in your inner man and may we together experience and come to know more completely and fully what is the riches of his grace and mercy towards us in christ jesus the lord bless thee and keep thee the lord make his face to shine upon thee and be gracious unto thee and be gracious unto thee the lord lift up his countenance upon thee and give peace

Channel: Pastor Chuck Smith

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Id: j7i6j-qR5bk

Length: 53min 38sec (3218 seconds)

Published: Fri May 14 2021