"The Perfecting of Our Faith (James)" - Pastor Doug Batchelor

now before we open up god's word let's just bow our heads and ask for the holy spirit to guide us dear father in heaven we thank you for the opportunity that we have together together to study your word we do recognize the bible is your book so we ask for the holy spirit to come and guide our hearts and our minds lead us into a deeper and fuller understanding of this very important message contained in the book of james for we ask this in jesus name amen at this time i'd like to invite pastor doug batchelor to come up and lead us in our study for today and you might want to join us we're going to be going into lesson number two that's talking about the book of james we've just begun our study and as our custom we like to start out with the memory verse and the memory verse is one of my favorites it's from hebrews 12 verse 2 and this is coming to us from the new um international version this is one of the few places where i i prefer what the niv says here as the the lesson writer did hebrews 12 1-2 and it says let us well i didn't give you a chance to find it you ready let us fix our eyes on jesus the author and perfecter of our faith who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross scoring its shame and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of god i like the way this is worded let's fix our eyes it's like fastening our eyes on jesus there used to be a tight rope walker he's called the great blondin he's one of the few that died of old age many of the tightrope walkers met on unpleasant to ends but this one he actually was very successful and on several occasions he crossed niagara falls and he did it with a wheelbarrow and and he did it free hand in a number of ways and and someone asked him one time aren't you terrified when you start getting out there in the middle and the line is starting to wobble and you feel the wind and the mist is billowing up you know niagara falls actually used to have much more water going over back when he did this than it does now most of it's redirected now for irrigation and for power and he said i don't look at any of that he said i have i fix a silver star at the opposite end and he said i don't look down i don't look at my feet he says i fix my eyes on the star and that's how i get through the storm and that's really the secret to the christian life we need to fix our eyes on jesus how can we lay aside the sin and the weight that besets us by fixing our eyes on jesus and so that's our memory verse and that's one of the themes that james has here for us and with that maybe just a little review of some of what we talked about last week when we introduced the lesson who is the author of the book of james got four james is in the new testament remember lesson one james the brother of jesus and so this was probably the oldest of joseph's original sons and at first he was not a believer didn't seem to have a lot of confidence in what jesus was doing seemed very confused but somewhere along the way he had a real change of heart and we showed you the verses where even after the resurrection at one point jesus personally appeared to him like he did the two on the road to emmaus like he did with peter and like he did with mary magdalene and i would like to have heard that conversation but with the death of james the brother of john you notice that james the brother of jesus seems to transition into a patriarchal leadership especially of the church in jerusalem he may have been one of the more sage and senior members of the church but you notice he's sort of cheering the board for the jerusalem council on several occasions and the letter that he wrote uh was probably written somewhere between 45 and 48 a.d making it one of the earliest new testament epistles or letters to the church it's also not written to a specific person it's not written to a pacific congregation like corinthians or thessalonians it's written to the saints that are everywhere and so this is a letter really written for anybody who is seeking to live the christian life it is true that at the time james wrote his book the the percentage of jewish christians outnumbered the percentage of gentile christians by the time paul wrote some of his books and certainly by the time john had the vision of revelation things had flipped and the majority of the people in the church were now gentiles and talk about immigration i i mean it was all of a sudden they started welcoming a few gentiles when peter talked to cornelius you know in his household and then paul began to invite gentiles to come to the synagogue but it just went like fire and the jews were the first evangelists so when you think about it why did god call the jewish people just want to tie off this point and we'll get into the lesson a little more one of the principle reasons that jesus called the jewish nation through them the messiah was going to come god told abraham through your seed all the nations would be blessed and he wanted them to be instrumental in announcing and introducing the savior did that happen at pentecost you know as much resistance as he had from his own people god's will is always fulfilled and there was a remnant of faithful in that upper room and he used them to proclaim and announce and introduce jesus and then because they poured out the holy spirit on pentecost it says in acts chapter 2 now there were dwelling in jerusalem at the time of the feast devout jews from out of every nation under heaven that means jews that were living and doing business all over the roman empire as far away as tarshish spain and i think you probably heard me tell you before my grandfather's name was tarshish tarshish that was the farthest that was the jewish way of saying timbuktu because it was you know when you get to the the border of spain it was by the gate of hercules by spain then they kept sailing they went off into no man's land and not until beyond columbus did they really know what was in the west when they kept going and so they had jews they've seen um evidence of jewish settlers that were in north africa in spain through germany and so when it says throughout the roman empire they were everywhere so when peter preached to those jews and they accepted jesus after the feast what'd they do they took this knowledge back and it just almost instantly went viral as we would say that was how things went viral back then it was a brilliant idea for god to do it the way he did so when james writes his letter he expected his letter to be circulated widely and we showed you last week many of the early church fathers read from the book of james and believed it to be part of the sacred canon now something i didn't say in our introduction what does the name james mean now when you say a hebrew name with a greek pronunciation you're going to sometimes come up with something different that really mixed me up when i first started reading the new testament king james some of the modern translations adjust for that and you read the name noah in the greek what does it say no we and you read elijah and in the greek it's elias and you read the name yahshua it's jesus yeah well they or they say joshua but uh then you also take the name james you know where james is named james is one of the very famous hebrew names it's jacob or jacobus that's more how a jew might say it and so when you say the name james you're really saying jacob it's just because you know we read it more in the greek coming from the greek then how many of you know what your name is in a different language like my dad's name and our son's name george is jorge in spanish you know and so as you go from country and country like in in russia we met a lot of people named michael it was michiale or or misha and uh it's interesting when you go from language to language how a bible name kind of is pronounced differently well when we say james you really it's jacobus or jacob and so that's that's what the name means all right first section under sunday faith lasts now we're going to have some of you read some verses it'll be a moment or two before i get to it but the first one is job 2310 let me just locate who has that fortune cookie okay we'll get you a microphone go ahead hold your hand up for a second so they can see where you are okay and you'll be the first one we read that reads first in just a moment i'd like to begin by delving right into james james one verse two and three my brethren counted all joy when you fall into various trials knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience now how many of you ever pray that god will test your faith does that ever sound pleasant how many of you want joy we all want joy but notice he said counted all joy how much joy complete joy the best joy when you fall into various trials i still haven't gotten to that point yet but i know this is something the bible clearly teaches why because you can't be saved unless your faith is perfected and he says that these trials test your faith and it produces patience there is a sanctifying purifying transforming influence that we experience as we go through trials how do you get a pearl by placing an irritation in an oyster and the oyster takes that irritation and works it over and covers it up and eventually it turns into something beautiful very rare rarely while you're going through trials do we appreciate it but how many of you can now look back on something that you went through maybe in your youth or at some point in your life where you say that was really difficult but now you look back and you say you know i'm a better person because of that at the time you didn't enjoy it i thank the lord that i went to military school i'm not recommending other people but compared to the way i was growing up because i was with a single mom in new york city my brother and i were running the streets we had no discipline no self-control we were out of control and spending a couple of years in new york military academy was tough i cried homesick and when you knew there the discipline was i'd never gone through anything like it it was a shock for me to have that much discipline compared to a very indulgent mother and i called begged her to take me home and she wanted to do it and now i look back i think praise the lord i went to military school i can make my bed i can shine my shoes you learn how i got out of military school i came home vacations i called my mother sir they just drill it into you and but you know it the discipline and self-control they make you learn now looking back i didn't enjoy it at the time but now looking back i think that's really good and i really needed that and so and you know this other trials we go through and then the lord can work those things together for good james actually is quoted by peter it's very similar anyway and first peter 1 6 in this you greatly rejoice though now for a little while if need be you are grieved by various trials that the genuineness of your faith notice the connection again faith and trials being much more precious than gold that perishes though it's tested by fire may be found to praise honor and glory at the revelation of jesus christ now you notice again in that you greatly rejoice though for a little while you're grieved by trials greatly rejoice this was a constant theme they had you know i think we're ready now you're going to go ahead and read for us job 23 10 i think job 23 10 but he knows the way that i take when he has tried me i shall come forth as gold yeah that sounds very much like what peter said gold that perishes oh it's tested by fire you know when you mine gold very rarely now here we are in california we've all heard stories especially in this area around sacramento this was the uh epicenter of the gold rush this in sacramento they didn't find much gold in sacramento that's where the ships came in but you know from sacramento was sort of the launching ground for a lot of gold discoveries around here and you might find a nugget laying on the ground we all would like to do that matter of fact i heard about a pathfinder group that was up in feather falls walking down the river and the pathfinder leader told the kids they used to get gold out of this creek and right after he said that one of the kids looked down he said does it look like this and he picked up a nugget and they couldn't believe they said yes that's gold and the kids spent the rest of the day scouring the creek and nobody else found any gold but just at the very moment that someone said that the kid looked down and he said well with that is that what it looks like but usually when you get gold it comes out of the ground dirty and it's mixed up with other things and they gotta pulverize it i don't know if you've ever seen how they do this they grind it down to powder they separate it with water and they sometimes use chemicals and then they use heat and they smelt it and skim it and there's a whole refining purifying process now today they've got a lot more sophisticated techniques and they have chemicals that they use and but in bible times one of the things was it was beaten and it was burned and then you had your pure gold and so even job said that that you know you'll try me when i'm tested i'll come forth like gold by the way joel is the oldest book in the bible so this refining of gold goes way back now did jesus tell us that we might expect to encounter tribulation trials as believers a couple ways that comes one is you can have trials just because rain and sunshine comes into every life it might take the form of a financial reverse it might be a health problem it might be a problem with someone you love or in your family but then there's problems of being persecuted because of your faith they're outside things and jesus was also talking about those kind of trials peter was too i think partly blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness sake for theirs is the kingdom of heaven blessed now what does blessed me happy joyful blessed are you when they revile you and persecute you and say all kinds of evil against you falsely notice you're only blessed if they say it falsely if you're getting bad things said about you because you deserve it you're not blessed now sometimes we think it's false it may not always be but when they say it falsely for my sake he said rejoice and what kind of glad be exceedingly glad what stronger words can jesus use be exceedingly glad for great is your reward in heaven for so persecuted they the prophets that were before you so even jesus said that you know you may go through trials in life don't be discouraged by this if you're being persecuted for righteousness sake rejoice uh again acts 5 did the disciples experience that did james himself go through that you read in acts 5 and after the disciples were tried the apostles in particular and the sanhedrin they agreed with him with gamaliel and when they called the apostles and had beaten them they commanded them they should speak no more in the name of jesus and they let them go so the disciples left moaning and complaining is that what happened they departed from the presence of the council rejoicing they'd just been beaten rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for his name any of you ever get any medicine now they've got you know sophisticated chemicals that try to diffuse things better but i remember i used to pick up this medicine from my mom and my brother and maybe even me at times and always said i'm not shake well before using and i think that god puts that label on most believers he can't really use us till he shakes us up a little bit look at some of the people that god has called into leadership did he shake them pretty good before they were used before david could be king what did he go through oh it was wonderful as a boy on the hills of bethlehem but after he killed goliath man things got really bad i mean he he was hiding out and running for his life and having all these near-death experiences what about joseph before he came to that zenith of leadership did god shake him well before using and then you look through history at people like lincoln and many others i can name the trials that they went through in the personal loss and how god was able then to use that to through them be a blessing to others um first peter 4 12 still talking about this same theme that we just saw in first peter 1 6 going down to first peter 4 12. beloved do not think it's strange concerning the fiery trial that is going to try you as though some strange thing happened to you can i pause right here there's a lot of dear sincere christians out there that believe something called the secret rapture these are sincere christians the secret rapture is the idea that the christians are not going to go through any great time of trouble at the end of time virtually all christians pre-trib post-trib mid-tribulation theorists you notice pre-trib post-trib trib stands for tribulation mid-trib all of the main groups of christian christians believe in tribulation they just are saying when is the rapture going to take place the second coming when are we caught up now we believe with many other good christians that the lord comes at the end of the tribulation jesus said he that endures to the end the same will be saved and at that time michael will stand up and there's a great time of trouble such as there never has been this is daniel chapter 12. ever since there was a nation even unto that same time so the bible clearly foretells there's going to be a great time of trouble but those who believe that the church is going to get caught away before jesus comes and that doesn't happen they are going to be amazed at the fiery trials that are trying them as though some strange thing has happened to them that doesn't mean they can't be saved but i think they're going to be shocked by the way what's the safer of the beliefs to brace yourself in your faith that you might be here for the trials and then be wrong i'll be happy if all said i'm caught up yeah but that's exactly right prepare for what could be a serious problem and if the best happens great but we know from the bible that uh let me let me put it to you this way the seven last plagues they're synonymous with the great tribulation right um were the children of israel in egypt when the ten plagues fell you notice many if not all of the seven last plagues are parallels of the plagues that fell on egypt the israelites were still in egypt when the plagues fell but he protected them through the plagues did god feed elijah during the drought can god feed his people in the wilderness so i'm not worried about the seven last place i just want to be faithful and god will take care of us but a lot of believers are going to be amazed i didn't finish reading that verse and so some strange thing happened to you still in first peter 4 13 but rejoice to the extent that you are a partaker of christ's sufferings that when his glory is revealed you might be glad with exceeding joy won't we be thankful when jesus comes if we have faithfully and patiently endured suffering for his sake i'm working on it i don't know about you but you know if i've got any little acre paint i want everyone to know about it and we all know somebody that when you ask them how they're doing you sort of sorry you asked the people who have strengthened my faith the most are when i meet and talk with christians and i know they're struggling and i know they're suffering and they don't complain you know when a christian light shines the brightest through trials and typically christians are the best witness in trials so when you're going through trial you may not understand right away why but just trust him paul and silas acts 16 at midnight paul and silas were praying and singing hymns to god and the prisoners were listening to them they were listening they knew they just got beaten because they beat them right there at the jail put them in the stocks innermost cell they heard all kinds of moaning and crying coming from that cell before and now they're singing and prayer and praise they're going what in the world and what did god do then opened everybody's doors and so when we are faithful witnesses through trials god can use our faithfulness to liberate others so if we learn to rejoice and be grateful and praise god through our trials people are going to look at us and say how can you be happy in your trials i am not happy even when i don't have trials what have you got that i'm missing it's a tremendous witness for the world philippians 1 6 being confident of this very thing that he that has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of jesus christ so salvation's a process isn't it and it's one that is being completed now we're going to talk more about this in our next section under uh monday dealing with perfection the word perfection is really talking about a process of completion and if you want to turn over there we're now reading from james 1 4. notice that we're very slowly making our way through the book of james there'll be five chapters in james and we've got through one last week now we're going two and three now we're in verse four you notice that there's actually a method to what's happening here verse four but let patience have its perfect work that you may be perfect complete lacking nothing if you're like me the word perfect can scare you anyone else here and when i first started reading the bible when i read there in matthew and jesus says be therefore perfect even as your father in heaven is perfect i thought be perfect like my father in heaven that's god be perfect like god i didn't have a very good concept of sin back then but i knew i was a long way from that and i thought wow i may as well just throw my hands in the air right now because who can be perfect like god but you know in sometimes things are lost a little bit in translation you and i say perfect at least in english and we often think of something that is just sterile factory fresh it's been inspected upside down and you know microscope and there's no flaws and doesn't operates perfectly the way you want a new car to operate right you don't want anything wrong with it and if you're going to buy a new car and you see a blemish you go back to salesman say i want a different one right so we're thinking that god is looking us over that way and he said i'll take you home when you're perfect and it scares us you know it's hard for me sometimes to explain to people exactly what god is saying and meaning by perfect but are there examples in the bible of people that reached whatever they needed to reach to make it to heaven did elijah make it james later talks about elijah and he said elijah was a man subject to like passions as you and me but he prayed and where was elijah subject to like passions did elijah get scared discouraged and asked to die did he get scared and run from an angry woman yeah i mean after he stood up to all those prophets and yet it says he prayed and it didn't rain for three and a half years and he went to heaven in a fiery chariot i'm not sure exactly what a perfect christian looks like probably something like shadrach meshach and abednego who when they were tried they loved the lord so much they'd rather die than bow down or like daniel when he loved the lord so much he'd rather die than close his windows and not pray to god so it's loving the lord so much that we're willing to stand up for him and if we faithfully endure trial now then when big tests come like the ones that daniel shadrick and meshach all face then we'll know what to do then so you've got that you've got that example in the bible of the the different patriarchs and people that we know are in the kingdom and that walk with god like enoch and uh it frightens us but it really means to be complete so the greek word for perfect is telios and it simply means spiritual maturity or completeness and it's something that you are growing into uh philippians 2 13 oh wait someone look up for me who's got ephesians 4 13. we'll give you the microphone next that's ephesians 4 13. i'm going to read philippians 2 13 for it is god that works in you you know he says work out your own salvation with fear and trembling and then you read in verse 13 for it is god that works in you both to will and to do his good pleasure you know that ought to make us feel better is it us working when it says working out our salvation with fear and trembling for god works in you when god's spirit is in you he will speak to you and he will guide you and he will give you the the strength if we're seeking after him he'll give us the strength that we need to resist the temptations and to be victorious okay i think we're ready go ahead tell uh we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the son of god to a perfect man to the measure of the stature of the fullness of christ that's a pretty high idea we just read there in ephesians 4 13 till we all come to the unity of the faith are we perfectly united and the knowledge of the son of god eternal life is knowing him to a perfect man or woman to the measure of the stature of the fullness of christ a loose translation would be coming to the place where we allow jesus to live out his life in us now would you agree that's probably you've arrived if you come to the place where you trust the lord to let him live out his life in you it's like that song live out your life within me now how many expect paul to be in heaven when we get there didn't he say i fought the good fight i finished my course i've kept the faith here after there's laid up for me a crown of righteousness second timothy before his execution paul speaks with great confidence that he has assurance that he's going to be in the kingdom i think at that point his faith was probably sealed i mean he'd been through so much you read about what paul went through talk about trials you know in the sea for three days shipwrecked stone what two or three times and beating with rods and just in terror in the country and terror in the city and fastings off and then cold and nakedness i mean he just goes on and on the trials that he endured and then he always says i thank the lord for this and i thank the lord for that and he's writing from prison and you think wow he just learned to trust the lord whatever he was going through i've learned in whatever state i'm in to be content whether it's even california whatever state you're in you can be content philippians what does paul say did he count himself perfect philippians 3 12 not that i've already attained or am already perfected and that's that word tellios but i press on that i might lay hold of that for which christ jesus has laid hold of me now didn't jesus call paul brethren i don't count myself to have apprehended i have not arrived he's saying but one thing i do forgetting those things that are behind when you look back at your failures you get discouraged don't spend a lot of time doing that do it long enough to acknowledge it confess it repent of it and then move on because you know the devil i mean if you got to learn from past experience you might consider how it ended last time but don't let the devil get you to keep reviewing and rehearsing your past i mean how did god use someone like mary magdalene when she had her sword reputation and cast seven devils out and she wanted to she could have stayed depressed forever looking back you have to look forward and if you're born again you're really a different person aren't you so you don't have to keep looking back at who you used to be i don't remember who it was i've heard several pastors quote this but i'm not what i ought to be and i'm not what i'm going to be but thank god i'm not what i used to be and so it's you know showing progress forgetting those things that are behind and reaching forward to those things that are ahead i press towards the goal for the prize of the upward call of god in christ jesus therefore let as many of us as are mature now that word mature there is that word telios again notice it doesn't say perfect it says mature same word have this mind and in anything you think otherwise god will reveal even this to you so it's talking about this maturity this growing in the faith and it's just like a plant if it's taken care of you know baby doesn't worry about growing if a baby is breathing if a baby is being fed and a baby is regularly being cleansed the baby doesn't try to grow the growing will happen automatically if the baby is getting the the natural things of breathing and food and fresh air and sunshine some exercise and love it'll grow and if we're feeding on the milk of the word not always milk if you're growing you need the meat of the word too if we're sharing our faith exercising if we're breathing in prayer will we be growing towards that completeness that jesus talks about so don't worry now there's a time you know if you see that you don't have the fruits of the spirit you get the fruits of the flesh uh in your life then you can say lord the bible talks about what is it second corinthians 13 that we should examine ourselves don't spend all your time scrutinizing yourself but periodically you should do an inventory and say you know am i growing and all right next section under tuesday asking in faith now we're going to read james 1 5 and 6. if any of you lacks wisdom let him ask of god who gives to all liberally and without approach and it will be given to him but let him ask in faith without doubting for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind now we'll be repeating this verse a little more later in the lesson but the first thing i want you to know if anyone lacks wisdom let them ask of god what did can you think of a bible story of someone that lacked it and asked for it did he get it does god give you wisdom always before you need it or sometimes when you need it do you think solomon always knew what he was going to do if a woman two women came to him both claiming to be the mother or did god give it to him when he needed it can you be a student and ignore doing your homework and then when the time of the exam comes say lord please give me wisdom that's not how he wants us to claim that promise because wisdom is different than knowledge and god wants us to take advantage that's right we've got to study to show ourselves approved god wants us to take advantage of the time he's given to acquire knowledge and that wisdom is something the gift will give you the holy spirit will bring things to your remembrance that you studied so if you study and cram for a test pray the holy spirit will help you remember and he will i've seen that and then in addition the holy spirit will tell you how to incorporate the knowledge how to apply it to your life you read verses in the bible and you say what do i do with this and then you meet someone during the day and if you've prayed and asked for wisdom god will help you know how to apply the spiritual knowledge that you've received in those situations so someone look up for me please mark 11. i think we gave that out to a person you've got mark 11 you got that katrina okay let's get your microphone over there i'm going to read matthew 21 verse 21. talking about asking and asking in faith jesus answered and said to them assuredly i say to you if you have faith and do not doubt what you do what was done to the fig tree but you'll also say to this mountain be removed and be cast in the sea and it will be done and whatever things you ask in prayer believing you will receive that's a pretty big sometimes we think that jesus maybe overstated that did he really mean that now i think you've probably heard me say before i read this that if you've got faith you can move mountains and when i first read that i thought that'd be a pretty good trick i could go on the road make a lot of money if i could do that you'd pray and tell mountains to relocate change the geography it'd really mess up google earth if you could do that but was that really what jesus was talking about he says you can say to this mountain be plucked up and cast into the sea but what does the lord what other thing does the lord tell us might be cast into the sea our sins what is the mountain that most of us have problems with isn't it a mountain of guilt and sin and that is a burden you've read pilgrim's progress he had this burden on his back and if you have faith what's the most important thing we could pray what's the mountain that'll keep us out of heaven that blocks isn't it sin that's the only thing it's a selfishness and pride which is you know sort of summarizes what sin is and if you faith if you have prayer uh if you have faith jesus says you can pray and that can be removed faith in what whoever believes in him shall not perish all right go ahead read for us mark 11 24. therefore i say to you whatever things you ask when you pray believe that you receive them and you will have them how important is faith to jesus and it's yeah it's crucial for him it was a non-negotiable even when he hung on the cross you had two thieves that both both of them asked for deliverance one of them said if you are the christ save yourself in us didn't he ask to be saved and the other one said lord when you come into your kingdom remember me one said i believe you're a lord and i believe you're king and when not if you come into your kingdom one pray to prayer faith jesus turned to him and said you will be with me in paradise the one who said if did not get the gift you remember there's a story in mark chapter 9 where a young father came to christ and just so you won't feel bad even the disciples did not have all of their prayers answered this nine of the disciples were left down in the valley jesus went up the mountain with peter james and john when he came down there's a big crowd gathered around the disciples his father had a boy that was demon-possessed and the demons sometimes cast them in the fire and cast them in the water and they brought him to the other nine apostles said please help well they had gone out before casting out devils and it worked they'd come back from some of their missionary expeditions and they told jesus even the devils are subject unto us it was wonderful but the disciples prayed and the demon didn't come out and so by the time jesus came the religious leaders were making fun of the disciples and saying well where's all your faith where's his mount moving faith nothing happened when you prayed maybe it's not real and they came jesus he cast out the devil out of the boy the great convulsions that happened the disciples came to jesus later said why couldn't we cast them out they said this kind comes forth only by prayer and fasting but you know the important part of that story i left out when the father came to jesus he said lord if you can do anything help my son and jesus said if you believe all things are possible he said lord if you can do anything jesus didn't answer his prayer until he corrected him he said if you believe so is an if acceptable to jesus no you've got to come in faith faith's very important that doesn't mean we'll never be tempted with doubt all right who has job 28 28. someone here i will get you a microphone jesus said if you believe all things are possible now what is it that we are to pray for in faith james says if any of you lacks wisdom that we all need wisdom every day what is the source of wisdom proverbs 9 10 the fear of the lord is the beginning of wisdom now what does it mean to fear the lord does it mean be afraid of well i used to say no no doesn't mean that at all but you can love someone and still feel awe the bible writers who in the bible saw god face to face or at least very close moses ezekiel daniel john the apostle talk about the glorified christ abraham and many of them uh were terrified when moses saw the lord had the burning bush he fell down and ezekiel fell down and daniel fell down and john fell down at an angel uh manoa and his wife and so when people saw the lord it frightened them and so to fear god i think it means among other things to revere but it's a respect recognizing how awesome he is and so it says are you going to go ahead and you're going to read job 28 28 i think and to manny said behold the fear of the lord that is wisdom and to depart from evil is understanding okay so how do you show your fear of god by turning from evil so when the bible is telling us to pray for wisdom the fear of the lord is the beginning of wisdom well one wise thing to do is to depart from evil now if you look in james 2 15. james 2 15 if our brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food and one of you says to them depart in peace be warmed and filled but you don't give them those things that are needed for the body what does it profit so now he's talking about some practical teachings about you know not just saying oh i've got faith and i've got wisdom saying part of real christianity is also doing something just say be warmed and filled i'll say a prayer for you and uh i used to pick up a lot of hitchhikers and i i vowed when i got my first car well actually i vowed on the road that if i ever got a car that i would pick up every hitchhiker i saw which was a foolish vow but you know you're young and you're bored and you're on the road and you're desperate and you you pray those things i think the lord's forgiven me for that i did pick up quite a few and uh david's here with me and he and i did some hitchhiking together and and uh matter of fact i remember one time we hitchhiked for miles where we walked backwards hitchhiking the next day we couldn't stand up because the muscles in the back of our legs were so sore i think we even hit the right on a plane parkway on one of those trips yeah we did that's hard to do but um yeah it's good but i i used to say if i get a car i'll pick up everyone but you know as time goes by and you sort of go from being a hippie to a yuppie and and you're a little more discriminating you go from a volkswagen that barely runs into a car that's fairly new and i noticed that i wasn't picking up every hitchhiker sometimes i thought you know i'm only going a little way and they had you know three backpacks and a dog and so i'd drive by him but i'd pray for him and i said lord please send somebody to pick him up and i thought well you know maybe i get credit for praying for him but james says well you know and there may be times i mean how many of you have gone by an accident on the road you maybe can't do anything it's not wrong to say a prayer and as i remember our kids used to say can we pray for them they'll see the ambulance you know and that's that's the tender heart of a child but real christianity doesn't just drive by and pray kind of like the parable of the good samaritan the priest and the levite that went by they just stopped or they just went on by they didn't do anything but the good samaritan actually did something psalm 11 verse 10 the fear of the lord is the beginning of wisdom good understanding have those that do his commandments again notice the connection fear the lord wisdom do his commandments his praise endures forever that's the key to real happiness great peace have they that love thy law and nothing will offend them uh james 1 19 and 20. we're jumping around a little bit just trying to stay with some of these themes james 1 19 and 20. so then my beloved brethren let every man be swift to hear slow to speak good practical ideas here slow to wrath for the wrath of man does not produce the righteousness of god therefore lay aside all filthiness and overflow of wickedness and receive with meekness the engrafted or implanted word that is able to save your souls so james says faith comes by hearing that saving faith and hearing by the word of god so this the faith in the word save your souls and uh somebody said one time i think it was george mueller yeah i got his name here faith doesn't operate in the realm of the possible there's no glory for god in that which is humanly possible faith begins where man's power ends and again it says faith sees the invisible believes the incredible receives the impossible augustine said faith is to believe what we do not see and the reward of faith is to see what we believe and fb meyer unbelief puts circumstances between us and god but faith puts god between us and our circumstances i thought that was a good quote all right we're going on to the next day i'm trying to cover as much as we can james one verse six through eight you notice in some of these others we're using james to interpret james and someone is going to look up for me first john 3 22 and uh who's got that one oh yeah okay you'll be you'll be next so james 1 6 but let him ask in faith with nothing doubting i told you we'd be repeating that because this section is talking about the flip side of faith let him ask in faith with nothing doubting for he that doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind now some people their faith is at the mercy of circumstances just like a ship without a rudder is blown about wherever the wind and the waves carry it faith is not controlled by external circumstances faith is controlled by the engrafted word it's what jesus says that determines our faith when jesus says to peter walk to me on the water do logistics control peter peters doing that no logistics and science and reason has absolutely nothing to do with obeying a command like that or to march around jericho for six times on the sixth day or seventh day and blow a trumpet and shout you gotta have faith because that's not normally the strategy for winning a battle and so you can go through 100 examples in the bible where you can't let your faith be controlled by circumstances or you'll never get there and he goes on to say four here's the flip side of faith let not that man suppose he will receive anything from the lord he is double-minded and unstable in all of his ways so when god says i want you to do this and move forward and you go well but you know it doesn't make much sense and i know you said to do it but it doesn't seem very practical and then it uses an example numbers 13 30 and this is in your lesson when the children of israel came to the borders of the promised land they sent out 12 spies we know the names of two of them most of you probably could not name the other ten but we know joshua and caleb and after they looked over the promised land two of them were looking through the eyes of faith ten of them looked at the obstacles and there were obstacles that anyone would have seen big cities big walls fortifications large people large enemies but two of them said god said this is our land he's going to lead us in we believe him and so we're just going to bring back a report as if it was going to be ours notice they looked at the promised land as if it was going to be theirs and out of those 12 spies the only ones who ended up getting to the promised land are the ones that looked through the eyes of faith they brought back a positive report the 12 are the 10 spies that said i don't think we can make it let me read this for you here numbers 13 30 caleb quieted the people before moses they beginning to moan after the 10 spies gave a bad report and caleb said let us go up at once and take possessions for we are well able to overcome it notice he got one report well able to overcome and then the other spies they come back and they retort we are not able to go up against the people for they're stronger than we one was looking at faith and one was looking at the consequences and unstable the flip side of faith is if you don't believe jesus said be it unto you according to your faith be careful what you pray for children of israel they said would god that we had died in this wilderness why did he lead us out here and did god answer that prayer the generation that said would god that we die in the wilderness died in the wilderness joshua and caleb that says we are well able they made it to the promised land they got to rest in their inheritance and so that's why faith is so important because christ said all things are possible if we believe john 15 7 if you abide in me and my words abide in you you will ask what you desire and it will be done for you if his word abides in us we're not going to ask for the wrong thing and it'll be done all right you're going to read first john for us and whatever we ask we receive from him because we keep his commandments and do those things that are pleasing in his sight thank you so here he says if my word abides in you and then john says in first john 3 22 that it whatever we ask we receive because basically he says we're walking in his will and so we're walking in the light if god's word is in us and we're in tune with the spirit our prayers are going to be in harmony with the mind of christ and will he answer those prayers if they are prayed persistently and patiently and in faith he'll answer our prayers he really does luke 17 5-6 and the apostle said to the lord increase our faith so the lord said if you've got faith like a mustard seed you can say to this mulberry tree be plucked up by the roots and planted in the sea and it will be done for you now mustard seed was just one of the smallest almost a microscopic seed in the plant kingdom and so jesus picked that out because it could grow into a big bush and if you've got faith what makes a mustard seed a big bush is it it hangs on it's nourished if it's getting the sunlight and it's getting the water it will grow and so the good news about this is christ said if you have faith if you get that seed of faith keep walking with him and it will grow and all things become possible one point he talks about a mountain being thrown into the sea and here he talks about a mulberry bush so you can get vegetable and mineral and it says if we deny him better for us that a millstone were placed about our neck and we were cast in the sea that would be animal mineral and vegetable wouldn't it you do it that way last section i'm just about out of time but i want to read james 1 verse 9 through 11 let the lowly brother glory in his exaltation but the rich in his humiliation because as a flower of the field he will pass away for no sooner has the sun risen with a burning heat then it withers the grass and its flower falls and its beautiful appearance perishes so the rich man will also fade away in his pursuits james is telling us do not become preoccupied with the cares of this life don't become distracted with riches and jesus said it's a hard man hard thing for a rich man to get into the kingdom we've run out of time listening friends so i want to encourage you once again we do have a free offer the brook dried up we'll send you this it's a wonderful book by joe cruz just call 866-788-8396 ask for offer 161 and god willing we'll study together again next week did you know that noah was present at the birth of abraham okay maybe he wasn't in the room but he was alive and probably telling stories about his floating zoo from the creation of the world to the last day events of revelation biblehistory.com is a free resource where you can explore major bible events and characters enhance your knowledge of the bible and draw closer to god's word go deeper visit biblehistory.com

Channel: Aaron

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Length: 53min 20sec (3200 seconds)

Published: Sun Jul 05 2020