"One Lawgiver and Judge (James)" - Pastor Jean Ross

dear father we thank you for the scriptures we thank you for a savior who can save to the uttermost those who come to God through him and father we don't want to allow our lives to become so in wrapped with the things of this earth that we lose that eternal perspective teach us to trust in you teach us to surrender ourselves to you not just once a day but every moment of every day and give us of that love that gold refining the fire and that righteousness of Christ and that I said that spiritual discernment so that we can be the kind of people that you want us to be thank you for the opportunity to study together bless those who are watching and we ask this all in Jesus name Amen now as we mentioned just a few moments ago our lesson today is the lawgiver and the judge the principle passage that will be studying together is James chapter 4 and we'll be looking from verse 11 all the way through to verse 17 we do have a memory verse for this week study and that's James chapter 4 verse 12 and this is what it says there is one lawgiver who is able to save and to destroy who are you to judge another now in this week's lesson there are four main themes that are highlighted the first theme is the difference between judgment and discernment the Bible tells us not to judge but what about determining right from wrong so we're going to spend a few moments talking about that the second theme that was highlighted in in our study this week the role of Jesus as both the low giver as well as the judge the third theme that we'll be looking at is the difference between presumptuous planning for the future and wise planning for the future James is something to say about that and then fourthly not only avoiding doing that which is evil but purposely doing that which is good so these are the four main themes that are highlighted in our study today so we got to begin by reading James chapter 4 and we'll start in verse 11 and we have David that'll be reading that verse for us today do not speak evil of one another and brother he who speaks evil of his brother and judges his brother speaks evil of the law and judges the law but if you judge the law you are not a doer of the law but a judge of the law here we find James telling the members don't gossip don't backbite don't judge one another now Jesus predicted that this problem of gossip will exist in the church right up till the very end of time in Matthew chapter 24 we have Christ's special signs associated with the second coming of Christ it's a special message for those living at the end of time and Jesus has a parable that illustrates an important point that I think we need to consider carefully today so turn in your Bibles to Matthew chapter 24 and we're gonna be looking at this parable that Jesus told beginning in verse 45 so in Matthew chapter 24 and this is what Jesus had to say in verse 45 remember Matthew 24 it's signs of the second coming it's a message in particular for us today Jesus said who then is a faithful and wise servant whom his masters made ruler over his household to give them food in due season so a couple of things to note number one you have a master who do you suppose that master is that would be Jesus and he has a household the household would represent the church and they are servants who are to give food in due season so the servants in this parable would represent the leaders in the church the elders the preachers the teachers and it's their job to give meat in due season there is a present truth message that needs to go to the world for this time so Jesus talks about these servants let's look at verse 46 blessed is that servant whom his master when he comes will find so doing verse 47 assuredly I sound to you that he will make him ruler over all of his Goods but if that evil servant says in his heart my master is delaying his coming now is this man preaching this from the pulpit that Jesus isn't coming as soon as he City would come notice it says in his heart so here is a person who claims to be a believer in the coming of Jesus he's an Adventist but he thinks to himself you know maybe Jesus isn't coming as soon as I once thought and he says in his heart my lord delays is coming well what's the result of somebody saying that to themselves verse 49 it says and he begins to beat his fellow servants that is gossip and backbiting and to eat and drink with the drunkards and Revelation chapter 17 there is a description of a woman her name is Babylon and she has a cup filled with intoxicating drink and all the nations are made drunk with her false doctrine of false teaching so here is somebody who says you know what maybe Jesus isn't coming as soon as we thought he was going to come it begins to backbite and gossip in the church and he begins to receive those false teachings or false doctrines of Babylon Jesus goes on in verse 4 in verse 50 the mast of that servant will come on one day when he's not looking for him and in an hour when he's not aware of it and will cut him in two and appoint his portion with the hypocrites there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth so Jesus has a special warning for us in his last days he's his number one don't allow that fervency that belief that faith in the soon coming of Jesus to wane in your hearts number two be careful don't allow yourself to fall into the trap of gossip and backbiting and then be faithful to the truths of God's Word be true to doctrinal purity don't drink in this false teaching from babbling so what James has to say in James chapter four is pertinent information for the time in which we are living today the next part of the verse he who speaks evil of a brother and judges his brother speaks evil of the law and judges the law now to judge or to speak evil of a brother is manifesting the opposite of the spirit of the law what is the spirit of the law the spirit of the law is love you remember the story one day somebody came to Jesus and said what is the greatest commandment in the law remember that and what did Jesus say he said actually there are two the first is to love the Lord thy God with all of your heart with all of your soul with all of your mind and the second is like unto it you ought to love your neighbor as you love yourself upon these two Commandments Jesus said hang all the law and the prophets so the Ten Commandments is built upon the principle of love the first four Commandments define for us our relationship with God it reveals to us what it is to love God if we love God we won't have any other gods before him and we won't worship idols we won't take his name in vain and we'll remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy if we love our fellow man as we love ourselves we will honor our parents we won't kill we won't commit adultery once steal we won't bear false witness and we won't covet so the Ten Commandments reveal to us what love is it defines the kind of relationship God wants us to have with him and the kind of relationship he wants us to have with our fellow man that's why Jesus said the two greatest Commandments is summed up in love God and love your fellow man so when someone is involved in gossip and backbiting their country to the principle that lies at the foundation of God's law that of love the Bible says love covers a multitude of sins if somebody genuinely cares for a fellow brother or sister in the church they'll be doing everything they can to encourage that person in their Christian walk that one try to pull them down or create stories about that person you understand that's why James says if you involve in this judging or this gossip you're not keeping the law because you're undermining the spirit of the law and that's what he's emphasizing now when you think about the Ten Commandments written by God's finger on two tables of stone notice two tables of stone anything anything significant about the number two in the Bible yes the number two represents the law and the prophets it represents a solid or trustworthy testimony the scripture says in the mouth of two or three witnesses everything shall be established so God's law has two witnesses two tables of stone the first four commandments have to do with our relationship with God the last six has to do with our relationship with our fellow man something else interesting the first four commandments you have the number four in Bible symbols the number four represents the whole earth you have the four points of the compass north south east and west God is the creator of all things and he is worthy of worship from all of his creation from all mankind we Oh God I'll worship the last six of the commandments have to do with our relationship with our fellow man it's interesting the number six in the Bible the number six is man's number man was created on the sixth day of the week the mark of the beast is 666 you got the number three which is the Godhead the mark of the beast 666 is man's attempt to usurp God's position so the last six of the Ten Commandments have to do with our relationship to our fellow man the principles of which are based upon love love for God love for our fellow man now the last part of verse 11 says but if you judge the law you're not a doer of the law but you are a judge in other words if you don't recognize the spirit of the law you're not really keeping the law is it possible for a person to keep the letter of the law and not the spirit of the law is it possible to keep the letter of the law and not the spirit of the law yes maybe it depends on the commandment for example the commandment thou shalt not kill is it possible for somebody to make sure that he or she doesn't murder anyone else yes but Jesus says if you are angry with your brother without a cause you're guilty of what committing murder in your heart so it is possible in some cases to keep the letter of the law and yet fail in keeping the spirit of the law now that's probably true for the commandment thou shalt not kill thou shalt not commit adultery thou shalt not steal but there are some Commandments that it's impossible to keep the letter of the commandment that also keeping the spirit of the commandment and the one that stands that in my mind is of course the tenth commandment what is the tenth commandment thou shalt not covet well how do you keep the letter of the law thou shalt not covet without keeping the Spirit of the Lord I should have not covered I you have to keep the spirit of the law in order to keep the tenth commandment matter of fact I don't think you can break any of the other Commandments without first breaking the tenth commandment right you're not going to take something from somebody else unless you first covet it and so that tenth commandment has to do with the heart it has to do with the spirit of the law that spirit of love for our fellow man now of course back in the time of Jesus the Jewish leadership they were very zealous for the letter of the law but they neglected the spirit of them all a little bit of history as to how this came about especially at the time of Christ if you go back and think about your history of Israel after Solomon died riobamba became the king in Israel and the people came to make real bomb King and they said to him you know your father was a hard King in some ways he laid a heavy tax burden on us what are you going to do to lighten our load and riyo balm said well come back in a few days and I'll give you my answer he spoke to the counselors the older men that stood before his father and he said what do you think I should tell the people and these older wise a counsellor said we'll be good to the people yeah and they'll serve you but then he spoke to the younger men that had grown up with him and he said well what do you think I should say and they said now you need to show the people who's boss so when the people came back Rio Boehm said to the people my father's thigh is gonna be like my little finger he beat you with whips I'm gonna beat you with the tails of scorpions well as a result of that the kingdom rebelled against Rio Bal ten tribes of the North said we don't want anything to do with the house of David any longer and so you have the ten tribes breaking away and you have the Northern Kingdom of Israel with Samaria became the capital you have the southern kingdom where Jerusalem is the capital you have Rio bomb as the King in the southern kingdom and you have Jeroboam who is the king in the northern kingdom now Jeroboam was concerned because those in the northern kingdom were journeying down to Jerusalem to offer sacrifices and so he built two golden calves and he set them up in two cities in the northern kingdom and he told the people to come and worship at these golden camps and he led the Northern Kingdom into apostasy into idolatry and into worshipping these various deities surrounding the nation and because of all of the sins because of the violations of the people breaking God's commandments different judgments came upon the nation until finally the Assyrians came and conquered the Northern Kingdom and the Jews are taken off into captivity now the southern kingdom which followed in many of the sins of the Northern Kingdom they remained so a little more faithful to God and yet they still also applies the size so finally Babylon the Babylonians came about 600 years before Christ conquered Jerusalem and took many of the Jews captive after the 70 years of Babylonian captivity the Jews came back and they rebuilt the Temple in Jerusalem they realized that it was because of all of the sins and their transgression of God's commandments that all of these bad things were happening to them so they said we need to keep God's commandments so in order to try and safeguard the principles of the law they began to add all kinds of manmade traditions and customs and as time went on their traditions became more important than the principles upon which those traditions were originally established so much so that one day when Jesus and His disciples were walk-in in the field on the Sabbath and the disciples were hungry so they picked some of the grain and they rubbed it in their hands and they ate it the Jewish leadership accused Jesus and His disciples of breaking the Sabbath now they didn't break the Sabbath they were faithful to the principle of the Sabbath but they had set aside some of the Jewish traditions but the leadership had elevated their tradition above the commandment now what's so strange about this in their zeal to try and maintain an outward appearance of obedience they trampled completely upon the spirit of obedience on the very Sabbath after accusing Jesus of breaking the Sabbath the Jewish leadership got together to plot his death you can see how they set aside the spirit of the law in order to try and maintain their tradition and Jesus speaking of the Jewish leadership said you have made the commandments of God of none effect by your traditions you know sometimes we can fall into that same trap of setting aside the spirit of the law in order to have an outward resemblance of obedience to try and keep the letter of the law without keeping the spirit of the law I give an example of how this can happen a pastor several years ago was on his way to church on a Sabbath morning he was running late he needed to get to church because he had to preach and teach and as he's on his way he looks over and there's a man standing on the side of the road his car had broken down and so the hood of the car was open and the man was standing there trying to wave people down to help him this is of course before the time of cellphones it looked like this man needed some help so the pastor was driving along and he noticed that the man was dressed in some typical Muslim dress and there were a number of Muslims in the country and so the pastor thought himself you know what I should probably stop and help him but it's the Sabbath and I'm running late for church surely somebody else can take care of the man after all you know I have important things to do and so he kept driving but his conscience was bothered by this the Holy Spirit kept convicting him you need to stop and turn around okay finally he gave in and he stopped he turned his car around he drove back and turn around again and began to make his way and sure if the man was still standing they waiting for somebody to stop and help and so the pastor pulled in behind the man and got out of the car and said I it looks like you need some help well the first thing that came out of this man's mouth this Muslim man he said are you a Christian well that surprised the pass in the past said well yes I am a Christian and the man responded he said looked up to heaven and said well praise the Lord in the past what do you mean he said just this past week I've been reading in the Bible and I've been convicted about Jesus and my car broke down this morning and so I prayed and I said Jesus if you really are the son of God and you can hear my prayer please send somebody to help me and let him be a Christian well the blood began to drain from the past his faith faced as he thought himself oh I almost drove right by I allowed my religion to get in the way of me really manifesting a spirit of love and concern for others so in our interaction with people we want to recognize the importance of manifesting the spirit of the law there love now if we manifesting the right spirit we're not gonna have a problem with the letter of the law you know it's impossible to have the right spirit and then trample upon the letter it just doesn't work that way you can't love someone and steal something that's this just doesn't work that way so if we have the right spirit we won't have to worry about well did I keep the letter of the law you will keep the letter of the law but we need to make sure that the holy spirit is working upon our hearts manifesting the love of Jesus well I think we're ready for our next verse James chapter 4 and verse 12 James chapter 4 verse 12 there is one lawgiver who is able to save and to destroy who art thou the judgest another alright here the Bible tells us when it comes to spiritual matters there is one judge and that judge is the lawgiver God alone can judge the motives of the heart we can look at the outward appearance we can look at the actions but we don't know the motivation behind the action only God knows the heart that's why he's the only one that can judge now in the scriptures how many times do we have a record of God writing with his own hand always think about it starting the Old Testament what is the most well-known passage of scripture where God writes something you find the ten commands here talking about the Ten Commandments you find any Exodus chapter 20 so you have God writing his law where did God write the law and two tables of stone but that took place where on the top of a mountain it's kind of interesting in the Bible Mountains is a symbol of a kingdom the foundation of God's kingdom in the whole universe is his law and the foundation of the law is the principle of love so you find the Ten Commandments God riding with his own hand when you have a wins the next time in Scripture that we have God riding with his own hand that's right it's in the story of Babylon you can read about that in Daniel chapter 5 when bow Shazza has this great big feast and then he brings in the golden vessels have been consecrated to the worship of God from Jerusalem that have been taken in the Babylonian captivity and he began to drink wine from these golden vessels and he began to worship the various pagan deities there in Babylon and suddenly a hand appeared and began to write on the wall men are men of Tekel upharsin you've been weighed in the balances and you have been found wanting so the first time we see God riding it's the law the second time we see God riding it is judgment for the violating of the law the wages of sin is death and sin is the transgression of the law so we see the law if we break the law we're under judgment as demonstrated there in the experience of Babylon okay when it's the third time that we see God riding this is just so beautiful it's Jesus so the next time God writes is in the person of Jesus and where does Jesus write remember the story he writes on the ground but where was Jesus when he wrote on the ground he was in the midst of those that was they were accusing the woman that had been caught committing adultery and they had dragged her to Jesus remember that and they dropped at the feet of Jesus but where was Jesus at the time they were in the temple it's very interesting that Christ writes on the ground in the temple we get to that in just a minute and so here they bring this woman and their accuser of breaking the law and they drop at the feet of Jesus Jesus doesn't immediately respond but he begins to write something down on the ground and as those Jewish leadership look over and they begin to see what Christ is writing they begin to leave one by one cheese is probably writing down all of the sins that they're guilty of and finally after all of her accusers leave Jesus says where are those who accused you and says there are none Lord Jesus said neither do i condemn you go and sin no more so the first time we see God riding it's on the mountain it's the law the foundation of his government the next time we see God riding it is judgment for breaking his law but the third time we see God riding it's in the person of Jesus and it's in the sanctuary the lamb was sacrificed in the sanctuary in the courtyard of the sanctuary and it's probably most likely where Jesus was when he wrote these things Jesus came to provide a way of escape we're all guilty of breaking God's law we're all standing in judgment but because of God's grace because of God's mercy Jesus came to be the Lamb of God that takes away the sins of the world and he gives us mercy he gives us grace now we have one more time mentioned in scripture where God writes where's the last one we've been studying through the book of Revelation and give you a clue our Africa class has been studying Revelation it is in the book of Revelation and you find it in Revelation chapter 3 this is God writing and he's writing upon the redeemed and God writes his name upon the forehead of the redeemed he writes the name of the New Jerusalem upon the redeemed that symbolizes everlasting life so the four times God writes in Scripture we see the law we see the law been broken we see judgment but then we see mercy through the work of Jesus his sacrifice and then we see the promise of everlasting life where God writes his name upon the redeemed those who are to be saved so leave judging to God because we don't know the heart only somebody who can read the heart can determine the motives the Jewish leadership had a hard time with this and you know as Christians we too often are quick to judge the motives of others it's natural for us to try and compare ourselves amongst ourselves we know we have shortcomings and sins and faults but if we find somebody else in the church that seems to be doing worse than we are kind of makes us feel a little bit better and then sometimes we are tempted to highlight the faults of the other person James says don't do that don't judge you don't know the heart on another occasion Jesus was in the town of Capernaum and he had just started his Galilean tour he came back and he was in Peter's house and he was preaching and teaching to the people and there was a man who was paralyzed who was brought by his four friends to Jesus you remember that story and they couldn't get to Jesus because the crowd was standing around the house and the house was filled with people and so they went up onto the roof and while Jesus was teaching and preaching there suddenly the roof tiles began to move and Jesus stopped preaching and the people sitting close to Jesus kind of scooted back a little ways and everybody looked up and suddenly the man was lowered down on his mat all the way down to where Jesus was and now everybody's looking to see what Jesus was to do the paralyzed man is just looking up at Jesus Jesus read the man's heart yes the man wanted physical healing but even more importantly he wanted spiritual healing he recognized that his condition to a large degree was because of his own lifestyle the things that he had been doing and he longed to be forgiven and it was some more the Jewish leadership that were there some of the spies and they were watching everything that Jesus was about to do and Jesus when he looked at the man he said son be of good cheer your sins are forgiven you so Jesus looked at the heart Jesus knew what he really needed and said your sins are forgiven you now of course the scribes and the Pharisees who were sitting there they said one to another this man blaspheme speaking of Jesus for who can forgive sins but God now of course Jesus could forgive sins because He is God he is the son of God but they refuse to acknowledge that with reference to Christ Jesus knowing what was going on in their minds said to them what is easier to say your sins are forgiven you or to say rise take up your bed and walk now that's an interesting question from a human perspective when it comes to performing a miracle we said we can't do that I mean that's impossible for us we can't heal somebody who is sick you know we can't calm a storm the way Jesus calmed the storm on the Sea of Galilee we can't feed 5,000 people with just a little boy's lunch that's only something God can do but when it comes to forgiving someone for the most part depending upon what it is that they've done to us for the most part we can forgive sometimes it's a lot harder to forgive depending upon the situation but from a human perspective we'd probably say well it's easier to forgive then obviously to perform a miracle but what about from God's perspective how hard is it for God to perform a miracle is it difficult for him how did God create the earth in the beginning he just simply said he spoke and it was so for God performing miracles no big deal how hard was it however for Jesus to say to that man your sins are forgiven you could Jesus just say that's all right you sent ah no problem don't worry about it you broke God's law that's okay I just try a little harder next time could Jesus do that no for the wages of sin is death the only way Jesus could extend forgiveness to that man was by Jesus taking that man's place bearing his sins and dying in his place on the cross so when Jesus said what is easy to say your sins are forgiven you or to say rise take up your bed and walk in essence Jesus is saying do you understand what your forgiveness is costing God do you understand what this forgiveness is gonna cost me it's not an easy thing just to provide that kind of forgiveness it costs the life of the Son of God and Friends when we realize that when we realize what sin did to Jesus and how our sins break the heart of God hopefully it'll stop us in our tracks and get us to think twice we shouldn't treat son as carelessly as we do God will forgive me not a big deal no it is a big deal because it cost the very life of Christ that's why Jesus is the only one who can judge because Jesus is the only one who has paid the price for essence he's the one that he's qualified to know the heart and to make those kind of decisions the next part of the verse still looking at verse 12 who he's able to save and destroy when it comes to spiritual matters God is concerned about the heart you have the story in the Old Testament of God's saying to Samuel the Prophet it's time to anoint a new king in Israel Saul had harden his heart against the Holy Spirit and so God said Samuel take the anointing oil and go down to Bethlehem go to a man with the name of Jesse the new king is gonna be one of his sons and so Sammy arrived at the home of Jesse and Jesse brought out his sons seven of them and they came and stood before Samuel and God says not this one not this one not this one not we through all seven of them and everyone thought surely one of these young men would be the future king of Israel but no none of them were picked and finally Samuel said do you have any other sons Jesus said well yeah there there's number eight but you know what he's over there taking care of the sheep we didn't even think to call him Sammy said we're not even gonna sit down until we get that young man here so quickly they sent a message to David and said come come and David came and when Samuel saw David the Lord said this is the one and then God taught an important lesson God said to Samuel and he says to us he says man looks at the outward appearance but God looks at the heart therefore we cannot judge because only God knows the mode if God knows the heart first Corinthians chapter 4 verse 5 therefore judge nothing before the time until the Lord comes who will both bring to light the hidden things of darkness and reveal the counsels of the heart jesus said it's out of the abundance of the heart that the mouth speaks that which is important to God is the heart what's the motive behind the action you know Jesus looked like just one of the other disciples the other the other disciples thought you know here's a true follower of Christ but nobody really knew his heart I don't even think Judas really understood his heart jesus knew his heart the time will come according to the scriptures when the hidden secrets of the heart will be made manifest that's why God has allowed sin to continue as long as he has allowing sin to reveal itself to show all the universe what are the consequences of setting aside God's commandments all right well let's take a look at our next verse verse 13 James chapter 4 verse 13 go to now II that say today or tomorrow we will go into such a City and continued every year and buy and sell and get King alright thank you in this verse we see James changing gears he's talked about judging and being careful when it comes to judging the motives of others because we can't do that only God knows the heart but now he's talking about planning in the future we'll see a couple of things that he brought brings to light here in this verse James is talking about Christians who neglect God in their future planning or in their lives they're trying to serve both the world and trying to serve God at the same time Jesus said in Matthew chapter 6 verse 24 no one can serve how many masters two masters for either he will hate the one and love the other or else he will be loyal to the one and he will despise the other you cannot serve God and Mammon so James is reminding us we need to make a full and complete decision to serve Jesus make him first and foremost in all of our dealings even in our business dealings make God first the key to living a victorious Christian life is the surrender of self everything depends upon us surrendering our hearts and our lives to Jesus in the book steps to Christ we have this statement on page 43 the warfare against self is the greatest battle that is ever to be fought the healing of self surrendering all to the will of God requires a struggle but the soul must submit to God before it can be renewed in holiness so the greatest work that we as Christians need to do every day is surrender ourselves to Jesus the Apostle Paul says I die daily it's a day-by-day kind of experience you might be wondering well surrendering ourselves to God how exactly does that work again in the book steps to Christ we have the statement everything depends upon the right action of the will of course the will that's the power of choice God has given us all free wills we have the freedom to choose and then goes on in the book steps to Christ and says you cannot change your heart you cannot have yourself give to God its affections but you can choose to serve Him he will then work with in you both to will and to do according to his good pleasure so every day we can give ourselves to Jesus we can choose to be here so we can say Lord I'm yours please put your spirit within me work within me change my heart bring me in harmony with the principle of your law love for God love for our fellow man and as we day by day surrender sells to Jesus Jesus will do a work within us to transform us and make us into the kind of people that he wants us to be so in everything that we do in our business transactions working with other people we want to always be humbly seeking God's leading in our lives seeking to have the right spirit I've been like Jesus in all of our interactions with others let's take a look at the next part of that verse still in verse 13 it says are we going to spend it here here we're gonna buy I'm gonna sell and we gonna make a profit here is a group of people claiming to be Christians but they are relying upon their own strength to make wealth they're not putting God in their calculations they're not trusting in him in proverbs chapter 27 verse 1 we read do not boast about tomorrow for you do not know what a day might bring forth now James here does not condemn wise planning for the future perfect to be a good Christian you want to plan wisely God has given us resources let's use them wisely for the furtherance of his kingdom but there is a difference between planning with the goal of doing God's will versus planning with the goal of doing simply what I want to do and that's what James is talking about here are people who are planning their future irrespective what God's plan might be for them they building their own plans James says you can't do this you don't know what tomorrow is going to bring in Matthew chapter 6 verse 33 jesus said but seek ye first the what the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you now what does it mean to seek first the kingdom of God what is the kingdom of God all these different parts to God's kingdom we think of the kingdom of glory when we think of the kingdom of glory we think of Jesus coming in the clouds of glory with all of the angels we think about heaven I think about the mansions that Jesus is preparing for those that love him but there is a second aspect to the kingdom of God we call that the kingdom of grace and that is the Spirit of God working in our hearts and lives even now you see anyone who has Jesus seated on the throne of their heart is a citizen of the kingdom of grace jesus said seek ye first the kingdom of God in other words make it your number one task your number one priority every day to seek to put Jesus on the throne of your heart in other words surrender yourself to Christ that's number one seek first his kingdom seek his will for your life and all these other things Jesus said will be added on but make Jesus number one seek him first now we see this principle illustrated in a very powerful way by two individuals that had an encounter with Jesus one day a rich young ruler came to Jesus and said what must I do to inherit eternal life so here is a man who is feeling convicted that he is not right with God he wants hope he wants to know that he has everlasting life he's looking for assurance he's looking for peace so he comes to Jesus and he says what must I do to be saved and Jesus says well what is written in the law and Jesus quotes part of the ten commandments the young man says back to Jesus all of these things I have done from my youth yet there is still something lacking so here's an individual who was very zealous in maintaining the letter of the law and yet he felt there was still something lacking in his life you see a simple external kind of Christian experience doesn't satisfy the heart if anything that leads to frustration if our goal is simply to just keep the letter of the law and we neglecting the spirit of the law we end up being miserable Christians and Christianity just becomes a list of do's and don'ts and so this man felt that there was something missing in his life and he said what is it that I still lack Jesus then addresses the spirit of the law and he says if you want to be perfect go and sell all that you have come and follow me and you will have treasures in heaven now of course this is an incredible offer that Jesus is giving to this man he's asking him to come and be one of Christ's disciples to spend time with Jesus every day to listen to Jesus teach to watch Jesus heal to share in the ministry of Jesus in preaching the gospel what a wonderful opportunity but the Bible record tells us that the man turned and left sorrowful for he had great possessions it was too much for him to surrender his wealth in order to have the spirit of love within his heart then you have another wealthy individual that hadn't been counted with Jesus Zacchaeus Zacchaeus was a tax collector and he heard that Jesus was coming to his town to Jericho and so he wanted to see Jesus he had heard the teachings of Christ he had probably heard the teachings of John the Baptist and had been convicted because Jericho's not too far away from where John had been preaching and baptizing and so now he is Jesus is coming to town so he wants to go see Jesus and because the big crowd of people coming along with Jesus and Zacchaeus being a short man can see Jesus so he decides to climb up a tree and he's sitting up in the tree dressed in he's fine robe and Jesus comes walking down the street and suddenly Jesus stops and looks up and says Zacchaeus come down out of the tree today I'm coming to your house to eat with you and immediately Zacchaeus just sort of jumps down out of that tree he's so excited Jesus is coming to his house but as he gets down from the tree and he's starting to lead Jesus to his house he probably hears the crowd murmuring saying boy he's a tax collector Jesus is gonna go eat at Zacchaeus this house why would Jesus want to go to his house and that kiss perhaps thinking Jesus might change his mind he quickly says Lord half of what I have I'll give to the poor and if I've taken anything falsely I'll restore it fourfold now doubtless Zacchaeus had taken things falsely he was a tax collector and they were well known for stealing from the people so if Zacchaeus gave half of everything that he had and then he restored fourfold that which he had taken falsely Zacchaeus would become a very poor man but he didn't care about his earthly possessions he had the opportunity to have Jesus come to his house and that made everything to him and Jesus said his act is today salvation has come to your home Zacchaeus understood that the spirit of love is worth more than anything else so two examples in Scripture the one willing to sacrifice everything for Jesus and the other choosing to hold on to earthly possessions that's the point that James is emphasizing in this verse as Christians don't allow anything else to come in front of Jesus Jesus must be number one in our lives okay I think we're ready to read verse 14 James chapter 4 verse 14 where as you know not what shall be on the morrow for what is your life it is even a vapor that appeareth for a little time and then vanisheth away thank you James continues to illustrate this point of planing your earthly gain without considering God's purpose and plan for our lives Jesus had quite a bit to say about this he told a parable about a certain man and had a bumper crop one here and he had so much grain he didn't know quite what to do with it and said I'm gonna tear down my barns and I'm gonna build bigger barns and I'm gonna fill all of this grain and I have enough grain to last for several years so I'm gonna sit back and relax and take it easy and in the parable Jesus says God spoke to him and said you fool this night your soul is required of you and what will happen to your riches James is emphasizing that if God is not number one in our life everything that we gain really means nothing and if you stop and think about it our life even if we gain the whole world Jesus says what will a prophet a man that we gain the whole world and lose his own soul what good is that think of eternity in relationship to our life here on this earth if we think of our life is just sort of a dot on a line now 70 80 90 years whatever it might be on a dot of time on a line of time how long is eternity so let's say we take a line and we draw it from here we go up to the ceiling our earthly life is just a little speck on that line that line represents eternity but then where does that line end well there's an end at the roof for the ceiling it just keeps going right puss eternity has no end so it keeps going past the clouds our life is the dot on the line keeps going past the clouds well of course it doesn't end at the clouds because eternity has no answer goes past the moon and then it just keeps going past I don't know the universe and I don't know what's on the other side of the universe more space it just keeps going and keeps it has no end so compare our lives here on this earth even if we live 500 years or like those living both before the flood nine hundred years like Methuselah 969 years what is that in comparison to eternity even if we have nothing on this earth if we have Jesus we have everything amen the devil sometimes will blind us with earthly treasure and these selfish thoughts that you know what if I could just have a little bit more I'll be happy but we've got to look at things from the perspective of eternity look at things from God's perspective yes God is concerned about our physical needs now but oh god is so much more concerned about our eternal need obviously God wants us to be with him forever so we need to look at things from God's perspective our life here on this earth is just very short James says it's like a vapor or a mist or a breath and job chapter 8 verse 9 for we are born yesterday and know nothing because our days on earth like a shadow he says Ecclesiastes chapter 12 verse 13 the wise man says let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter fear God and keep his Commandments for this is man's all at the end of the day the most important thing is knowing God it is having the love of Jesus in our hearts it is keeping God's commandments that's the most important thing let's not trade just some earthly treasure for eternal treasure because that's what God really wants to give us let's take a look at our next verse James chapter 4 verse 15 James 4 verse 15 instead you ought to say if the Lord wills we shall live and do this or that thank you here James emphasizes having a spirit of submission to God's will not planning our life simply around those things that we want to do and quite often God's will is different from our will we need to recognize that Isaiah chapter 55 verse 8 and 9 says for my thoughts are not your thoughts nor are your ways my ways saith the Lord for as the heavens are higher than the earth so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts sometimes as Christians we don't understand why God allows certain things to happen to us and so when we go through those trying experiences when we pray and it seems as though God doesn't answer our prayer that the devil comes with those seeds of doubt to plant in our mind maybe God doesn't really love you or maybe you're not good enough gods are gonna listen to you we don't want to give heed to Satan's temptations and Satan's doubts keep trusting in Jesus even if you can't see exactly why things are happening the way they are God is looking at us with this eternal perspective can you imagine the questions that Joseph had when he stood up for what was right in part of his house and ended up being thrown into prison don't you think he spent some nights in praying Lord why did you allow this to happen to me here I stood up for the right and now I'm in prison and by the way Joseph's time in prison wasn't just a couple of months and you can also read in the Psalms that he didn't have the deluxe suite in prison but it speaks about his feet being in the stocks and being beaten so it wasn't easy on Joseph and yet he's faith India little could he have imagined what God really was preparing Joseph for and the great work that God had in store for him think of Daniel and his three friends taken from their home in Jerusalem they also wanted Lord why did you allow this to happen this doesn't make sense to him to us but they kept trusting in God and look at the mighty things God was able to do with him so it is with us if you don't see God's hand leading in your life keep trusting in his heart of love amen God is concerned about us and he wants to save us I remember hearing a story about a father and son during the Second World War there in London and it was a night and the bombs were falling upon the city and the building where they were taking shelter I suffered a hit from one of these bombs and it caught on fire and so the father grabbed his little boy and they ran out of the burning building and they're looking for a place of safety and close by there was a blown-out building just the basement was left the father said this is better than anyone there nothing so he ran over to where the building was and he jumped down and then he turned back and his son was standing on the side and he looked up and he said son jump I'll catch you but the little boy with the noise and the smoke and the fire and a little boy was afraid and he looked down into the darkness but he couldn't see his father down there and so with fear he cried at me said but daddy I can't see you how can I jump I can't see you but as his father looked up he could see his son standing with the silhouette because of the fire of the building in the background and his father said son it doesn't matter that you can't see me I can see you jump I can see you Prince often in our lives God says to us you just trust me you might not be able to see me but I can see you I know what's going on I've got a plan keep trusting in me and that's the point that James is trying to emphasize here as Christians let's trust in Jesus let's not trust ourselves to our own wisdom but place everything before God we have another verse we want to read James chapter 4 and verse 16 but now you rejoice in your boastings all such rejoicing as evil here James says that fostering a spirit of pride of boastfulness is really the root of all sin and I was a chapter 14 verse 13 speaking of the fall of Lucifer for you have said in your heart I will ascend into heaven I'll exalt my throne above the stars of God by the way the stars they represent the Angels I will also set on the Mount of the congregation on the furthest sides of the north I will ascend above the heights of the clouds I will be like the Most High that spirit of boastfulness is really the root of Olson and James recognized that that spirit of selfishness was present in the church even in his day and that spirit of selfishness can be found in the church today we need to be aware of that in our own lives that spirit of selfishness keeps coming up and we've got to keep surrendering ourselves to Jesus as Paul says I die daily we have to crucify that selfish spirit every day and more specifically to the Church of Laodicea Jesus says the Church of today you think you're rich increased with Goods and that you have need of nothing but you do not know that your wretched miserable poor blind and naked so the church looking from the outside looks pretty good she's increased with goods she feels as though she doesn't need anything Jesus says when I look at your heart you're miserable poor blind naked Jesus says I counsel if you buy of me gold refining the fire what is the most precious thing that a Christian can have what does that gold represent what is it that we need I'll give you a clue what is the spirit of the law what's the foundation of the law it is love gold refining the fire is faith and love the Apostle Paul says and now about his faith hope and love these three but the greatest of these is love the love of Jesus in our hearts Jesus says you think you're doing good but you're lacking my love in your heart I counsel have you buy of me gold refining the fire that you might be rich spiritually rich and white raiment what is the white raiment represent that Jesus wants to give the church it's the righteousness of Christ now Christ's righteousness isn't just a cloak to cover our sins but think of it as a cure to cleanse us from sins because when we receive the righteousness of Jesus we have the Spirit of God working within us to transform us into the kind of people that God wants us to be so Jesus says let me give you love let me put my love in your heart let me give you my righteousness that's that robe and then thirdly Jesus is and anoint your eyes with eyesalve what do you suppose that Aikman for the is spiritual discernment or the Holy Spirit so today as individuals we need more of the love of Jesus in our hearts we need the righteousness of Jesus in our lives and we need the Holy Spirit to give us spiritual discernment now the question is how do we have that faith in love how do we get that righteousness how do we get spiritual discernment Jesus answers that question in Revelation chapter 3 when he says be I stand at the door and what knock whoever hears my voice and opens the door Jesus says I will come in unto him and I will do what what does Jesus want to do with us I want to dine with you I want to eat with you now when you get invited to somebody's home especially back in Bible times one of the articles of food that you could almost be guaranteed to eat for dinner would be what bread bread is sort of a staple and in the Bible what is bread often represent represents the Word of God Jesus says I want to come in and I want to open up my word if we want to have the love of Jesus in our hearts it comes by spending time with Jesus in his word there is power in the word if we want the righteousness of Christ in our hearts and in my lives it comes by spending time in the word of Jesus if we want spiritual discernment it comes by spending time with Jesus eating the Living bread that's what Christ is offering to us as individuals that's what we need as a church more of the love of Jesus in our hearts and in our lives well let's look at our final verse verse 17 James chapter 4 verse 17 therefore to him that knows to do good and doeth it not to him it is sin here James reminds us that to simply be a hear of the word and not a doer of the word it's not gonna help he goes on to tell us that even the devil's believe in tremble but that doesn't help them so we need to be more than just hearers of the word we need to be doers of the word Jesus said everyone who hears these sayings of mine and does them I will liken him unto a wise man who built his house upon the rock and when the winds came and the rains and the storm the house stood firm for it was founded upon the rock all of us are building whether we recognize it or not we're all building something what are we building we're building character and our characters are going to be tested with trials and difficulties if we're building character upon the rock Jesus Christ through feasting upon the Living bread when those trials and disappointments come our way when our faith is tested we will endure because we are founded upon Jesus but if we're simply building our Christian experience on the shifting sands of our feelings when trials and difficulties come our way we're gonna collapse and great will be the fall of it we want to be founded upon the rock founded upon Jesus and then no matter what happens in life if we are founded upon Jesus our faith will India you know in Revelation chapter 14 verse 12 we have a characteristic of God's people at the end of time revelation 14:12 says here is the patience of the Saints the word their patience can also be translated as endurance here is the patience of the Saints here are those who do what keep the commandments of God meaning they keep the law and the spirit they keep the commandments of God and what else do they have the faith of Jesus what is the faith of Jesus the faith of Jesus is full surrender full submission to the will of God it's what Jesus prayed in the garden of gethsemane father not my will be done but thy will be done God's people need to have that full surrender to Christ trusting in him completely allowing him to do the work within our hearts and lives that only he can do so the essence of Christianity is surrendering self surrendering all to Jesus you know the good news is that God has given every single one of us the ability to choose to surrender ourselves to him sometimes we make it all complicated it's not that complicated we can choose him today to be faithful we can choose to trust in him today and that's where it begins well friends it looks like we're out of time I want to thank I have got students for being our audience and also those of you who are joining us for our Sabbath School study hour thank you for being a part of our study just to remind it we do have a free offer it goes along with the lesson it's called the surrender of self we'd be happy to send this to you all you'll need to really just call our resource line the number there is eight six six seven eight eight three nine six six and you can ask for off the number 153 a little book called the surrender of self and we'll be happy to send that to you

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Length: 55min 31sec (3331 seconds)

Published: Sun Aug 23 2020