James Series - Part 1

so anyway work we're glad that you here and I'm gonna have you open your Bibles this morning to the book of James book of James we finished we finished looking at Hebrews last Sunday so today we are officially going to start begin to study of the book of James which in it's it's obviously it's a natural next book to look at after you study the book of Hebrews and my title to the message this morning is James the most misapplied book in the New Testament James the most misapplied book in the New Testament so that's that's what we're going to begin today and today we pretty much going to be just some introductory book notes about the book itself and we would encourage you to over the next several weeks just just read it with us as as you come each week to study and I trust that you'll you'll get a lot a lot more out of the book as you do so okay so let's let's then begin our hearts open our hearts together in the word of prayer and ask the Lord to bless our time in our provide understanding our gracious God and father we're thankful that we could spend some time this morning looking into your word father we're grateful for what this new year holds out to us whether it is the shout and our call home to glory or whether it is each and every day just another continuation of the dispensation of your grace to us Gentiles and therefore an opportunity for us as ambassadors to live lives that represent to this lost world what it looks like to be a citizen of heaven and we pray for insight and wisdom now as we get begin this new study here on the book of James that we would be edified and strengthened by it and encouraged by it not only for our own personal growth and our own personal understanding but also so so that we might be vessels unto honor able to be used by you in dealing with others who might be struggling with some information about how to deal with this little book here and will thank you for this book and we thank you for our study in Christ's name Amen okay um so you should at this point have your Bibles opened up to the book of James and today is pretty much going to be introductory and I want to give you just some kind of opening comments about the book of James and is there any doubt that James is in much of Christianity quite a controversial book any doubt about that what's that for sure it's interesting that Martin Luther is famous for having said about the book of James because he didn't really know what to do with the book of James but he's famously said about the book of James that it's a right stroy epistle and that he was willing to light his fire with it okay now you don't want to do that with the book of James okay that's not that's not you don't want to with any book of the Bible it's just that he didn't understand what to do with the book of James and it's interesting that the vast majority of professing Christians while they don't come to the same conclusion as he did that is that you'd like your fire with it they do still have the same problem did he add with it and that is they don't know what to do with the book James other than they want to apply it to themselves now the absolute were let me ask it this way what is it in the book of James that is the source one of the passages one of the verses in the book of James that's the source of most of the confusion about the book of James yeah James chapter number two exactly everybody turned with me if you would to James chapter number two and you're also going to want to get the book of Romans chapter 3 look over to James chapter number 2 and then Romans in Chapter number 3 so I want you to have James chapter number 2 and we're gonna start at verse 14 James chapter 2 verse 14 and notice he says here what does it profit my brother and though a man say he hath faith and have not works can faith save him you understand the question there now what's implied in the question right by James what's implied in the question yeah this faith and works to be saved is clearly applied in the question right if you look a little we're not going to read all every single verse down through here but if you'll look at verse 17 even so faith if it hath not works is dead being alone look at verse 22 see us now how faith wrought with his works and by works was faith made perfect and then verse 24 you see then how that by works a man is justified and not by faith only okay is it do you do you at least see that James does make it clear that in in his view that to say that you're justified by grace through faith alone without works do you see how James is not saying that same thing does everyone see that first but everybody got that if if you'll hold that passage there go over to Roman's go over to Romans chapter 3 this time go over to Romans chapter number 3 look over to Roman's three I'm going to start at verse 21 and it says this but now the righteousness of God without the law and that phrase when it says without the law what what therefore would that include what does that imply I mean that be without works nobody got that he says but now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested being witnessed by the law and the prophets even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them and then what does it say there then that believed but there is no difference for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God being justified what is that what is the word justified mean to be declared right okay never says being justified freely yea that's the grace word isn't it yeah he says being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus so does a cell like the Apostle Paul believes and teaches that someone who is lost and condemned is actually justified in the eyes of God freely I mean that's what he says by grace alone is that what it says there if you'll look ahead to verse 28 therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law now you can read I can read people can read and is Paul and is James are they saying the same thing with regard to how someone is saved yeah say no because they're not saying the same thing alright so what so what do you do with something like that because after all I thought there were supposed to be no contradictions in the Bible and it's because of passages like these when you look at what the Apostle Paul teaches about being right with God and then what James teaches about faith plus works and so forth it's because the passages like these that people in Christianity become very very confused and they don't quite know what to do with it but they do so with it what they tend to do is well James is simply talking about your righteousness before men have you ever heard that that James is speaking about well no not righteousness before God he's simply talking about righteousness before men well he sure seemed to me in the context in James too and I read he's talking about in the present in the sight of God and even the Lord Jesus Christ said do not your righteousness before men that's what the Lord said so to say that well to say that well James and Paul are fundamentally saying the same thing right okay but I don't think that at all I can read and so can you so you don't have to buy into the concepts the theological viewpoint get well they're there they're all writers in the New Testament and so they're fundamentally all thing well no they're not don't be afraid to disagree with the theologians okay you can read I can read but because of that great difference between what the Apostle Paul says and what James says about justification alone or justification plus faith plus works and that's what creates the confusion and and James becomes has become in Christianity one of the prominent books in Christianity for how a Christian should learn to live the life of a believer okay now is there any problem with that and the answer is yes what's the problem well the problem is if if you and I want to understand first of all how the life of a believer actually function where do you go to in your Bible to find that information you got to go to the writing of the Apostle Paul the writing is really possible and in particular someone said Romans how do you said Romans right you got to go to Romans Romans is where you find out how life in Christ functions how it actually works and therefore how it can and should work in my life to go to the book of James as the pattern for how the life of Christ in the believer is to work and one is to look like is to go to the wrong place and fundamentally what what the issue is is that people don't they don't want to rightly divide the word of truth they don't want to recognize that while James says what he says and he means what he says he's just saying it to a different audience then the Apostle Paul is speaking to but if you if you don't rightly divide the word of truth you don't recognize that where we live historically in a dispensation grace if you don't recognize who James is writing to and you just blend everything together well then it's no wonder there's such confusion out there and so if if you sit under the ministry if someone who teaches that you're to you are to live your life as a Christian out of the information in the book of James well then what happens when you actually try to apply the book of James in your life what does it lead to how about yeah someone said Romans 7 yeah how long do you want to stay in Romans 7 get out of Romans 7 as soon as you can okay in your experience all right but I I don't add all doubt the sincerity and the genuineness of the preachers and the pastors that are doing this and I can pick on pastors because I am afraid I am a pastor okay so I'm not I'm not taking shots at someone that isn't you know worthy of it they're in the pulpits themselves and accountable as mi so I don't doubt their sincerity and the desire and their intention that oh that's not what's in question here the question is who is James say that he thinks he's writing to and about that's what he says but look over to James chapter number one there James chapter number one look at James chapter number one look at James chapter number one and he says this verse the very first verse James a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ to the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad greetings so who does James believe that he's writing to so which tribe are you a part of now you're not part of any of the tribes in the Bible every single time in the Bible 100% of the time when you see the phrase twelve tribes it is always a reference to those who were the physical descendants of Abraham to who Isaac to who Jacob remember that Jacob is the one whose name has changed to Israel by the way okay and he's the one that had the twelve sons so is it 12 two four six eight okay so the 12 tribes are those that that nation that came from Israel in Scripture every time did you see the phrase the 12 tribes it's always a reference to those who were the physical descendents of Abraham Isaac and Jacob of which James himself was apart so when he says he's writing to the 12 tribes who does he think he's writing to okay so who does the Holy Spirit believe the book of James is written to to Israel not not not to you and me as members of the body of Christ not written to Gentiles okay that's real important where they go ahead that's an excellent observation what Laurie said was to further clarify this is that it's not written even to Jews during the dispensation of grace okay we'll get back to that in a few minutes okay introduction okay so recognize that the book is controversial but it doesn't need to be it absolutely can be understood like any of the other books in the Bible if you leave them in their setting in their context to who it's written was written about and so forth so that's what's really significant to begin in our study of this particular book okay so something else to keep in mind that that look at if you're back in chapter 1 verse 1 right you notice it says James there's a lot of debate about who the James is not a discussion about who the James is and in the Gospels in math work Luke and John and in the book of Acts there really are only three James is that it's a possibility of okay let me point these out to you just real quickly here look over to Matthew 10 go over to Matthew chapter 10 go over to Matthew chapter 10 watch this in Matthew 10 this is where Matthew records when the Lord Jesus Christ from the group of the disciples that were following him he picks out 12 who he appoints as apostles this is Matthew 10 right it says at verse 2 Matthew 10 - now the names of the 12 apostles were these the first is Simon who he called Peter Andrew his brother and then who's the next one there nobody Hugh got James the son of Zebedee and John his brother nobody what the other name for the two of them was Beau Energy's blonde or geese which sounds of thunder okay they're there they're the Word of God represent the Word of God will honor DS it's interesting worth anyway so you've got james the son of zebedee now look at verse three then you have Philip you've got bartholomae you've got Thomas and Matthew the publicans and then you've got a second James James the son of Alphaeus so among the Twelve Apostles there were two who were named James okay if you go to Matthew 13 if you go to Matthew 13 go to Matthew chapter 13 look in Matthew 13 and if you will look at verse 54 Matthew 13:54 it says this and when he was coming to his own country he taught them in their synagogue in so much that they were astonished and said whence hath this man this wisdom and these mighty works now watch what they observe what's what they say is not this the carpenter's son is not his mother called Mary okay so far yes or no okay and his brethren now the word brethren there that you know they're not talking about his disciples talking about his family members right and notice they named him James and Joseph Simon and Judas and then it says and his sister so we had at least two sisters half sisters everybody got that there okay so there's the third James right there in that verse James you'd say the brother Lord but technically you say the half brother of the Lord there everybody see the verse there verse 55 so the half brother of the Lord alright so when you read the Gospel accounts there are three possibilities of who the James was most have come to the conclusion that it is James the half-brother of the Lord most have come to that conclusion then that may or may not be so one of the reasons that they have come to that conclusion is that the writer himself doesn't identify himself as an apostle per se he doesn't say James an apostle of the Lord well that in and of itself is not a conclusive argument you know sure net an argument from silence while it can carry lots of weight in and of itself is not does not stand alone necessarily does the Apostle Paul in any of his writings ever began any of his epistles or books by just claiming he's a servant the answer is yes interesting and yet was he an apostle interesting okay so just the fact that he doesn't say that he was an apostle that in and of itself doesn't mean that he was not one of the twelve all right if you look over with me to the book of Acts and chapter number 12 here look over to acts 12 look over to Acts chapter number 12 acts 12 verse 1 very interesting chapter in the book of Acts it says at 12 what he says and about that time Herod the King stretched forth his hands to vex certain of the church and you realized that that church would be the Jewish messianic church that's not the church the body of Christ okay it says and he killed James the brother of John so the 12 apostles now are down to 11 remember there Eddy had been a replacement for Judas and who was that replacement it was Matthias remember that so James who's the brother of John he's one of the one of the one of the two brothers who were the sons of thunder the voice of God as it were wannabes Herod kills him right here and because at this point James who was one of the apostles is dead it has led many to conclude that therefore the book of James could not have been written by this James or by the other James who was an apostle and therefore must have been by James a half-brother of the Lord but that assumes something else that assumes that the book of James must therefore have been written after acts 12 SNY said that okay it were written after the death of this change so they eliminate this James but when you read the book of James itself the book of James is written is not written late book of James is written very very early in fact most most to teach about this book if the illusions and so was out there they all have they shouldn't say all but most of them have come to glue conclusion that at least of the Hebrew epistles the book of James was the earliest one ever written so but they want to put after acts 12 well there's nothing in the book of James to tell you it was written after X 12 and there's plenty in the book of James to suggest it was written way before acts 12 okay so therefore who is he who is the human author ask a different question does it really matter interesting what's more important in discerning which of the three James it was is discerning what he says and to whom he says it okay that's what's way more important all right so yourself can struggle with the issue of who the author a book as Jamie's like James I have my own conviction and so forth it's definitely one of those three but in the end it's more important to really appreciate what the author says and to whom he says it to okay so that being the case then go back with me over to James and chapter number one there James chapter number one let's see here and I'm just hunting for another verse for here yeah look over to acts 26 as well get get James one and get acts 26 now James in in verse 1 he says he's writing to the 12 tribes which are scattered abroad right now how would you know for sure who he thinks the 12 tribes wore how would you know that what's that how would you know for sure when he says he's writing to the twelve tribes how would you know for sure who he thinks he's writing to yeah he says to the 12 tribes but how would you know for sure who that who he thinks they are what's that okay what is the idea of the use of the word scattered okay they're under the fifth course of chastisement which we will talk about that extensively we may not get to it this morning but but but how would you know who the 12 tribes are and I don't mean I don't mean know them say it by name per se I'm saying how do I know he's talking about Israel and not the Gentiles how do you know that one he's a Jew himself how else debt debt she's one of the 12 tribes tell us yeah what you want to do is just just take your Bible and look at every time in the scripture where you see the 12 tribes come up and see okay contextually who is the reference to remember that and if the phrase the 12 tribes is consistently and repeatedly a reference to as we mentioned this a minute ago a few minutes ago it was repeatedly inconsistently a reference of the physical descendants of Abraham Isaac and Jacob then what would faith what would you believe what should you believe about who he thinks he's writing to should you should you believe well even though he says he's riding through the troll tribes he's really writing to Gentiles would that make any logical sense at all that would not be a walk of faith that would be unbelief that would be superimposed our own bias or theological or religious bias on the verse and that's wrong you cannot imagine actually maybe you can because you've been around this message but but the pushback against this simple concept that we get when we say well James he's writing to the 12 tribes he was writing to Israel to push back wall I know he says that but no there is no buts about it but the pushback against this is is amazing how people will come up well yeah but what about we have but what about what if you wrote a letter to your mom or your dad or your husband or your wife or your son or your daughter or your best friend or whatever if you wrote someone and you put their name on that letter then who did you write the letter to if someone else gets that letter and they read it and they say oh I know you wrote it to your wife or your husband well you really meant it for me that would be dishonest that would not be a walk of faith right that would not be you know well whatever go ahead that's correct it wouldn't be inspired to God that's right it's an allegorical it's it's well it says that but it doesn't mean it it's really it's really to be applied for all of us okay when James says he's writing to the 12 tribes there's an interesting passage that at least in my mind helps to shed light on this when sitting down and talking with someone about this and there may be upset with you or this or that but they're willing to sit down look at the scripture okay look over with me to acts 26 here look over to acts 26 look over to acts 26 the Apostle Paul your here is speaking and he conveys about like his past before he became a believer etc things like that look at verse 1 acts 26 one he says then Agrippa said unto Paul thou art permitted to speak for thyself then Paul stretched forth a hand and answered for himself I think myself happy King Agrippa because I shall answer for myself this day before the touching all the things where I am accused of the Jews especially because I know thee to be an expert in all customs and questions which are among the Jews were for uh beseech ste to hear me patiently my manner of life from my youth which was at the first among mine own nation at Jerusalem know all the Jews which knew me from the beginning if they would testify that after the most straightest sect of our religion of the Pharisee and now I stand and judged for the hope of the promise made of God into our fathers now what's the next verse unto which promise our 12 tribes instantly serving God day and night hope to come and so on question in that verse when Paul says twelve tribes who does Paul think he's talking about who did he believe that Agrippa would have believed that Paul meant by the phrase twelve tribes when Agrippa was that when he was making his defense before gripper yeah why would Paul believe that when Paul used the phrase twelve tribes in the presence of Agrippa that he without question figured Agrippa would know what Paul meant by it what's it say can't say it out yeah right here in the verse Paul begins his defence by being grateful to Agrippa that did the Agrippa was familiar with all the customs of the Jews understand that cleanse out there so if someone says well James who James is written before acts 26 here if the Apostle Paul preaching to a Gentile who knew about israel's history and their customs and so forth and he uses the phrase twelve tribes then if james used the same phrase but meant something different then shouldn't james have told us that he meant something different what shouldn't always could have done that that's not a concept there the fact that the Apostle Paul here in acts 26 who this is after James has already written a book of James still uses that phrase there twelve tribes that is concluded more than conclusive evidence that when James says he's writing to the twelve fights he really means he's right into Israel he's not writing to you and me as Gentiles and he's not writing to the church the body of Christ in the dispensation of grace now even if you're not settled on that concept that's okay because scripture says that every man be persuaded in their own mind right let me just suggest that for just going to just read the book of James not from the standpoint of thinking that it applies to you but just say okay I'm gonna I'm just going to entertain this crazy notion the James really is written exclusively to the twelve tribes yet I'm just gonna clean that for a second I don't agree with it I don't believe it but I'm just going to entertain that idea so for a second I'm going to put off the idea that I think it's written to me and about me instead I'm gonna read it as though it was written to the Jews about the Jews program about the tribulation period I'm just gonna read it that way and read it ten twelve fifty times see what you might come to might be interesting study wouldn't you say I think you'll find that to be so something else about about not just who was written to it's clear who was written to not the body of Christ but to the twelve tribes but what's the setting of the book and therefore when was it written what's the setting and when was it written what's this now look over to chapter 5 of James look over to chapter 5 of James they got to remember that this was a real document written by a real person sent out to the real 12 tribes of Israel and they were scattered abroad so they might so if by the way something a whole different thing to think about is the doctrine of preservation James will wrote one letter the book of James one document right that the actual document itself but it was written to the twelve tribes they weren't all sitting in his living room he didn't have internet he couldn't email this to everyone he couldn't text message to everyone right they were scattered abroad all over the place what therefore must have been true with regard to this document it had to have been reproduced it had been copied and copied and copied and copied and copied and company and gotten out till all the all the Jews scattered all over the place in order for the twelve tribes who were scattered about to read what he said so the book itself demands the continuation of the process of preservation what benefit would it have been if there was only the one letter itself one total it would have taken a little bit of time for that everyone to get that one letter right and by the way that concept is true of all these documents all these books that became Scripture and so forth they all had to be copied to get spread abroad everywhere so it's a wonderful truth about the doctrine of Pres not just inspiration but preservation all right so at any rate so this it was this book was copied it was spread out all over the place those Jews when they would be reading this book itself historically actually reading it look at chapter 5 chapter 5 verse 7 chapter 5 verse 7 he says this be patient therefore brethren what's the next phrase there unto the coming of the Lord now that statement in and of itself and by itself in or was if you just took that verse out of context and everything that may or may not tell you the setting but when you read it in the context jump down to verse 8 be he also patient stablish their hearts for the coming of the Lord what well now you've got a context when he says unto the coming of the Lord he's saying it's drawing nigh at the time that James wrote the book of James you gotta remember this way that let me said I'm gonna I'm gonna try to dovetail two things together the time of the writing and the setting of the writing the coming of the Lord drew nigh when you read the book of James is there anything in the book of James any reference any concept any mention at all about this other guy named the Apostle Paul is there any information in the book of James to suggest that the nation of Israel had fallen any information in the book of James about the gospel of the grace of God any information in the book of James about the middle oil partition that division between Jew and Gentile that it had been gone it's out of the way any information at all in the book of James that you would find in Paul's epistles about the one new man the church the body of Christ the new creature heavenly places there's none of that in the book of James at all there's no hint about it at all doesn't that therefore also suggest indeed demand that James is written way before any of Paul's menís a message was was spread abroad yes now why I say that and I understand again I have said that is an argument from absence and so an argument from absence does not stand alone but sometimes the argument from absence is very loud in what it says after all think about second Peter in second Peter is Peter aware of Paul's ministry what chapter in second Peter chapter 3 and Peters not only aware of Paul's ministry Peter is aware of Paul's written ministry and not only is Peter in fact look at look at that verse look over to second Peter 3 look over to second Peter 3 what's this now this is real ever seen as well 2nd Peter 3:15 2nd Peter 3:15 it says 2nd Peter 3:15 says this in account that the long-suffering of our Lord the long-suffering in that verse is a reference to the the delay the reason Christ hadn't returned yet at the time Peter writes this book ok but he says in the count that the long-suffering of our Lord is salvation even as our beloved brother Paul also according to the wisdom getting given unto him hath written unto you so he always not only aware of Paul's ministry he's aware of Paul's written ministry and he says that verse 16 as also in all his epistles speaking in them of these things in which are some things hard to be understood which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest as they do the other scriptures unto their own destruction something else that Peter is aware of is that in Paul's epistles Paul's talking about some things that are as he says what hard to be understood what why why would it if Peter not only had spent three years with the Lord Jesus Christ plus the 40 days after his death and resurrection plus the Lord Jesus Christ breathed on Peter as rose the apostles and gave him the Holy Spirit plus the Pentecost they had another feeling with all experience so forth they had their eyes opened understand the Scriptures how come Peter when he read Paul's epistles would find some things that Paul's Bissell's hard to be understood the because it was different information it was new information but another question not only is Peter aware of Paul's written ministry was it was Peter clearly reading Paul's written documents which one of Paul's written documents were written to Peter not on one of them right well then how did Peter get him did he go and swipe him from the church at Ephesus and so forth did he go to the key to go to the Roman believers there and buddy remember at Rome there were several groups of believers so when Paul pinned the book of Romans and sins Romans who gets it first which group got it first the rope but there are several groups of Romans they were and they were not all one group they were there are different meeting in different parts of the city um you see the doctrine of preservation begins here Paul would write these documents they'd be sent out the local assemblies would get him make copies and spread them abroad and that's how Peter got some appalls epistles he didn't get originals he got copies of copies of copies of copies he got the document preservation right here isn't that wonderful I'm saying this so you can see in 2nd Peter there's not only awareness of the Apostle Paul and his ministry but the essence of his ministry as it related to Peter was that their program had been delayed the long suffering and that Peter has Paul's copies of Paul's written documents doesn't that therefore prove that 2nd Peter had to have been written after Paul's public ministry was already begun and his written ministry had already begun that concept so when you read James there's nothing in the book of James about any awareness of any kind about this this other apostle guy Paul any any message he was proclaiming nothing nothing and written nothing like that at all so when you couple that together with the fact that in James chapter number five when he says here in James chapter number 5 verse eight five eight he says be also patient stablish your hearts for the coming of the Lord Roth night which coming would James have to be speaking about he has to be speaking about the second coming the chart wasn't open yet when James wrote the book of James as it wore does that make sense how I said that okay when James is speaking about the coming Lord draweth nigh let's say that you and I were members of the twelve tribes scattered abroad we were the Jews and we got this book and we were believers let's say that we'd read Hebrews and we believed Hebrews so we became believers and so forth in the book of Hebrews wasn't the setting the same it was the last days remember that and the Lord they were expecting the return of the Lord within their lifetime within just a few a few short years as it were maybe seven to ten years right so then you get this book and you can see right there he says for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh which come in would you believe he was talking about the second coming of Christ see that so where would you believe that you wor timewise in that program you would believe that you were some time before the return of Christ but after his ascension so you would believe that you were some basically you were heading into the 70th week of Daniel the Tribulation Period that's what you would believe and you'd be right for believing that so the setting of the book of James it's clearly written early when what was in view was the coming to the Lord as he says draweth night so it drew nigh and if you'll look over to go back to chapter number one go back to chapter number one watch something else he says here chapter one that's what he says but I'm going to jump to verse two she says blessed is the man that endureth temptation for when he has tried to I'm sorry I was reading 1:12 I think I said too right did I say too okay look at look over to 1:12 because 2:12 doesn't say what I just read right okay look but you look at 1:12 look at 1:12 he says this blessed is the man that endureth temptation for when he has tried he shall receive the crown of life which the LORD hath promised to them that love him see the idea of blessed and endured and then you get something that the Lord promised and that verse right there is described as the crown of life which the Lord promised everybody see that there now go to chapter 2 look over to chapter 2 this time in verse 5 this time verse 5 Herk and my beloved brethren hath not God chosen the poor of this world by the way in a setting who's that going to be that's the little flock who refused the market to be so they can't buy or sell they have to flee remember he says hath not God chosen the poor of this world rich in faith heirs of the kingdom which he hath promised to them that love him did you just see the connection there when are they going to get the crown of life when they get the kingdom and it's when they it's when the Lord returns and brings the kingdom that's when they're going to get the count kind of like because that's what the prophecy program promised them you see you see how the both verses help amplify each other everybody make that connection there okay not only that when when you read I was oh man I'm gonna run out of time too fast here but yeah really you've read the book of Revelation before right you've read Revelation when you read the book of in fact whole James there and turn over to Jane a revelation chapter number one when you read the book of Revelation do you sense that man the coming to the Lord draws nigh right at the time that John wrote the book I mean the the Tribulation Period was just beginning just about to get started it hadn't started yet but it was just about to get started which meant the Lord would return within seven to eight years from the time John wrote that book alright so when you read the book of Revelation that's why so often you see phrases like this look at look at revelation 1:3 there's a phrase right at the end of the verse he says this blessed is he that readeth and they that hear the words of this prophecy and keep those things which are written therein well why what does it say there the time is at him when John wrote the book of Revelation the time was at him what time was at hand the time to complete the prophecy program the tribulation period as it were when so often in the book of Revelation you'll see a phrase like this this time turned to the last chapter of the book revelation revelation 22 Revelation chapter 22 Revelation chapter number 22 what's this now revelation 22 verse 7 revelation 22 verse 7 behold what look at verse 10 verse 10 and he saith unto me seal not the sayings of the prophecy of this book for what the time is at hand verse 12 and behold I what I come quickly if you'll look down to verse 20 he which testifieth these things saith surely I come quickly well I don't know about you but if you told me you're going to show up my house quickly and it was two years two thousand years before you ever showed up I would not interpret that as quickly right something else like the setting of James it's the same setting as John when he wrote the book of Revelation which was the same setting of Hebrews the last days as the settings all the same there notice something else go to Revelation 1 look at Revelation chapter number 1 very very interesting look at verse 3 again what's the first statement say blessed is he that readeth and they that hear the words of this prophecy and so forth how often have you heard preachers about the book of Revelation or gonna teach the book of Revelation they say God has promised you a special blessing if you read Hebrews never heard that okay so so now we think of the book of Hebrews like it's a rabbit's foot or lucky charm what's that revelation yeah relation right but listen what is the blessing promised in Revelation the blessing is you'll make it through the Tribulation Period into the kingdom that's the blessing if they'll read the book of Revelation and believe it was says the blessed the blessing is they won't take the mark of the beast hence they won't wind up in the lake of fire forever don't believe that Christ is the Messiah they'll get into the cake that's the blessing promised that's something special you know God's gonna make your mortgage payment next month if you read well clay kind of a thing but make this connection as well notice that the book starts with that idea verse 3 blessed is he that readeth and they that hear the words of this prophecy and keep those things that's like the book of James faith plus works here and do it look over how the book ends as well chapter 22 verse 7 again behold I come quickly watch blessed is he that keepeth the sayings of the prophecy of this book you bet if you're in the tribulation period which you're not going to be if you've trusted the Lord Jesus Christ for your Savior by the way okay you'll be raptured out here long before that happens right but if you're in the tribulation period and you read the book of Revelation and you you do what it says you believe what it says the blessing you're going to get is you're not going to take the mark of the beast they're going to reject it you're going to get into the kingdom that's the blessing well go back to James chapter one make the connection here James one do you think it's just coincidence that in James 1:12 the first word is what do you see that verse James 1:12 what's the first word blessed blessed is the man that endureth temptation for when he has tried he shall receive the crown of life which the LORD hath promised them that love him that's that's the guy who not only he believes Hebrews he reached James he believes James he reached revelation he believes the book and he gets into the kingdom that's the blessed in the verse that's the blessing they're promised in in the passage isn't that something so well we didn't get through all this but this is just kind of a brief introduction Joseph go ahead quickly yeah that's a great question let's quickly go over to Acts chapter number one there the question is this and and you know I'd left way too many loose ends here so let me just do this before I answer Joseph's question let me let me say it this way if the book of James was written early and like Hebrews written early in Revelation written early and the company of the Lord was at hand it was at nigh and he was going to come quickly well what happened why didn't he come some actually have concluded that he did come he did return in that all revelation it's all been fulfilled that's the doctrine is preterism okay but it's the view well it has all all been fulfilled already not now you know that obvious doesn't make any sense at all but what happened and the reason that Christ didn't return is because of an eternal purpose that God had to form a new creature called the church the body of Christ that it would use to fill the heavenly places and he disclosed that purpose and intention he disclosed it for the first time in human history when he saved saul of tarsus represented on this chart here as paul the apostle and again so therefore what he did he in a sense he opened the chart as it were he revealed some hidden information so what he does what he does is if he postpones it that's and we'll talk more about that as we get into the into James okay but now to Joseph's question go back to Acts chapter number one yeah I'm gonna repeat the question so here in acts 1 so after the death and resurrection of Christ just before his ascension the Apostles asked the Lord the Apostles asked the Lord at verse 6 one day therefore were come together they asked of him saying Lord wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to is so what's their thinking about where they were historically they're still thinking about the kingdom and its restoration like it was in the days of Solomon right were they right for thinking that absolutely correct okay so when they say Lord will thou at this time what's the sense of their question if he's already opened their understanding to understand scriptures which he did so they're not asking this question in unbelief they're asking it asking for more what more information wealth out at this time restore again it's like they're asking Lord okay Lord is there anything else that you need to teach us at this point with regard to the timing in which they're going to set this thing up there's not a sense there his answer is this and this was Joseph's question why does why does Christ answer this way verse seven it says he said to them it is not for you to know the times or the seasons which the father hath put in his own power why does Christ answer it that way this is Christ being kind of evasive here why is he doing it this way what's coming next look at what he says what's coming next but ye shall receive power after what so what was coming next Pentecost is coming next he's already told them that he's going to depart he's going to send another comforter guess what that their comfort that was going to do go over to John chapter 14 I got let me do this real quickly here but but make sure you see this okay go to John 14 look over to John 14 John 14 he's going to send that other comforter what's this verse 26 but the comforter which is the Holy Ghost whom the father will send in my name he shall teach you all things and bring all things to remember whatsoever I have said unto you why did Jesus Christ say it's not funeral time says because he's telling him I'm gonna go back to the Father I'm gonna send the Holy Spirit the Holy Spirit will teach you the rest of the information and how does he do that Oh spirit gives them what became the book of Hebrews James Peter Jude and revelation he writes it down everybody got the concept you see what just happened there so he's not at all being evasive and their question was not a question of unbelief they're asking okay Lord is there anything and anything else need to do with regard to the timing of this thing and in a sense Lord is like it's like you said well yes but I'm not the one that's going to tell you about it okay he says you're gonna receive power after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you his Pentecost and then you'll be witnesses you'll get the rest of the information and you'll know it at that time okay so it's a powerful real interesting question that you asked there Joseph okay what's that that is exactly correct it's the rest of the prophetic schedule as it were the answer to the timing question you have the prophecy program the prophetic program yeah yes and that phrase out there would be the all things limited to the prophecy program yeah okay cool Wow we're way over time our gracious God and father we thank you for the time we could look into your word this morning what we can receive the insight the wisdom that it gives us and we pray that as we study these things and then as we take a as we have to tell you these things and take a little bit of a break right now and then for our next message that you might be glorified and honored as we continue to enjoy fellowship around your word in Christ's name Amen okay we'll take about a five

Channel: Berean Bible Ministries

Views: 1,038

Rating: 4.8666668 out of 5

Keywords: Pure Bible Study, KJV, Grace, John Verstegen

Id: 0-LOQGlJMYo

Length: 58min 10sec (3490 seconds)

Published: Sun Jan 05 2020