Alright, thank you Brother Greg.
James chapter 1. James chapter 1. Begins here in verse 1, he says,
James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the
twelve tribes which are scattered abroad, greeting. And he's writing
to believers who were born Jews after the flesh, but now by the
Spirit of God they were true Jews, they were spiritual Jews
of the twelve tribes scattered about. These were early Jewish
believers. Because they were called out
and had been so long under the old covenant, there was various
trials that they faced. They were no longer under the
law, but under grace. That's what they were learning.
They were being taught that not all Israel were the elect of
God, that God had a remnant among Israel. And they're being taught
that they have Gentile brethren. that are the elect of God. These
were some new things that God was revealing, that mystery that
Paul keeps speaking about. And now every subject in this
letter could stand on its own. You could preach each section
on its own independently. But I want to show you something
here in the very last few verses of this epistle. Go to James
chapter 5 and look here There's one theme here to which
everything in this epistle can be applied. And it's right here
in verse 19. Brethren, if any of you do err
from the truth, any true believer, and one convert him, let him
know that he which converted the sinner from the error of
his way shall save a soul from death and shall hide a multitude
of sins. He's talking about true brethren.
If they err, he's talking about converting them. Now, we know
Christ is the head of the church. The only one who converts is
Christ. He's working in each of his people. I read that from Colossians 2,
that he's the head ministering to nourishment. Brother Greg
read from Ephesians 4 that Christ is effectually working in each
member in his church, and he's doing so through the gospel.
And he uses his preacher and faithful brethren to speak the
word and to preach the word. And this shows us throughout
this epistle, we see some works of faith that Christ will teach
each child of God who he uses to minister to one of our brethren. You get what I'm saying? This
is what he's showing us in this epistle. James gave examples
of works of faith, and he gave Abraham and Rahab as examples
in chapter 2. Now, in the work that they each
did, the one thing that made that work
a work of faith And it justified their faith as being the genuine
gift of God. There was one thing. They did
what they did believing God is able. That He's able. That's what they both had in
common. That's why these were works of faith. Abraham offered
up his son Isaac on the altar. Hebrews 11, 19 says, accounting
that God was able to raise him up even from the dead from once
he received him in a figure. Abraham believed God was able
to do what Abraham couldn't do. And then Rahab received the spies
and the king's men came to her asking where the spies were and
she said they already fled another way. And she had them hid on
the top of the house, and she sent them out another way. When
the king's men went after the way that she said they'd fled,
she sent them out the other way. That was a work of faith. She
could have been killed right there. She believed God was able
to protect her. That's why she did what she did.
And then she believed that what they told her, that if she stayed
in that house, that she would be saved and all in her house
would be saved when God cursed Jericho. And she believed God. She believed he was able to save
her when he cursed all Jericho. And she had that scarlet line
in that window. She could go over there and look
at that scarlet line and it would remind her that God is able. and you and I can look to Christ
and His precious blood and knowing He's already justified us freely
by His grace, we can see if He did that, Christ is able. Whatever it is, whatever it is
we need, He's able. He's able. Now one way I think
that the Lord taught James this epistle and the things in this
epistle is when he erred whenever Paul came up to Jerusalem and
he talked Paul into taking a legal vow, come under a legal vow so
that he could try to persuade his Jewish brethren that Paul
was not against the law. And that was to fleshly, that
was of James and of Paul, and it was Christ who made them stand.
It was Christ who delivered them, converted them from that. And
so both of them experienced Christ is able to make his people stand.
And that's what James is teaching here in this epistle. That's
what Paul teaches in all his epistles. And it'll be by the
gospel, by his spirit, not by the power and might and carnal
reasoning of man. Look at James 4.12. He says,
there's one lawgiver who's able to say, that's Christ. and to
destroy. Who art thou that judgeth another?"
Remember Paul learned it too. He said, he said, Who art thou
that judgeth another man's servant to his own master? He standeth
or falleth, yea, he shall be held up for God is able to make
him stand. See these works of faith involve
believing God is able. That's what they all have in
common. I just want to show you some
of these works of faith throughout the epistle. I'm not gonna preach
every verse, I just wanna show you a few sections and kinda
survey the epistle of James. The first work of faith is to
wait on the Lord. This is a work of faith that
will manifest that the faith God's given us is genuine. Wait
on the Lord. He said, James 1 verse 2, My
brethren, count it all joy when you fall into different temptations,
knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience,
but let patience have her perfect work. that you may be perfect
and entire and wanting nothing. When he talks about temptation,
he's talking about trials and afflictions and persecutions
for the sake of the gospel. And this applies to every kind
of trial, but especially when it's a trial of faith when a
brother is aired. That's a real trial. That's a
real trial. But the Lord commands us to count
it all joy when you fall into different trials. How can it
be joy when it causes us sorrow? When a trial brings you to weep,
how can it be joy? One way is because the Lord's
always working good for us. He's always working good for
His saints when He's trying our faith. He's working patience
and endurance. Steadfastness, that's what it
means. And when you behold the Lord's faithfulness to make a
stand in the trial, and behold His faithfulness to give you
the grace to go through the trial, and to keep you looking to Him,
and keep you trusting Him, when you experience His faithfulness
in making you to stand, He grows you in patience. He grows you
in patience and endurance. to trust Him in the trial and
wait on Him in the trial. And so that's one reason it's
joy. It's joy because the Lord shows us our need for Christ
to be our wisdom. You're in a trial and you need
Christ to be your wisdom. You don't know what to do. And it says that He draws you to ask wisdom of
Him. He says here in verse 5, If any
of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God that giveth to all liberally,
and uprighteth not, and it shall be given him. But let him ask
in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like
a wave of the sea, driven with the wind and tossed. He's saying
that in the trial He's going to bring you to ask the Lord
for wisdom. And He says, and ask in faith,
if we're asking for wisdom, partly looking to the Lord's wisdom
and partly wanting to lean to our own understanding, we'll
be tossed. And he's saying, but if we're
asking God's will be done and we really want his will to be
done, not our own, if we want our will to be done and we're
praying for God's will to be done, we'll be tossed because
we won't be single-minded. But the Lord's going to bring
us to the end of ourselves so that we ask in faith and really
ask in faith. And of God is Christ made unto
us wisdom. That's what He always shows us,
Christ is our wisdom. And He brings us to trust the
Lord as the head of the church from whom all nourishment is
ministered to deal with our brethren and to help one another and to
teach one another and that He does it through this gospel.
That's what He's teaching us, brethren. And we count it joy
because He gives us each what we need. He says in verse 9,
let the brother of low degree rejoice in that he's exalted,
but the rich in that he's made low because as the flower of
the grass, he shall pass away. The Lord's teaching us in these
trials that our flesh profits nothing. So if we're too low,
He exalts you up. If you're too high, He brings
you down. He keeps you right where you need to be looking
to Christ and not looking to this flesh. That's why we count
the trial joy. That's what He's doing in it.
And then at the end, He's gonna make you see His glory in it.
He says there in verse 12, blessed as he is the man that endureth
temptation, for when he's tried, he shall receive the crown of
life which the Lord hath promised to them that love him. Christ
is that crown of life. Even right now, when we go through
a trial, when that trial ends, Christ is always making you see
him a little better. He's always growing you in grace
and knowledge of him. every time and everything we
go through, making us see He's our righteousness for whose sake
the Lord forgives us and keeps us. He's showing us this in everything
that He does for us, and He's that crown of rejoicing, that
He brought us through it and did it. And it's gonna be so
at the end of our life. He's gonna be the crown of life
for eternity. But catch this word right here. James 1.4, but let patience have
her perfect work, that she may be perfect and entire, wanting
nothing. You know, like, we like to get out of the trial, and
we like to try to get our brother out of the trial. And the Lord
is saying, wait on the Lord, that each brother and sister
get the benefit of the trial. That's what he's saying. Each
one get the benefit of the trial. And when I read that, I thought,
you know, what if we don't wait on the Lord? What if we don't
wait on Him? Well, look over at Isaiah 30
and verse 15. Isaiah 30, verse 15. Thus saith the Lord God, the
Holy One of Israel, in returning and rest shall you be saved in
quietness, and in confidence shall be your strength. This
is what He told Israel. He said, Resting in Christ, in
quietness, without being disturbed and anxious, having your confidence
in Christ, Christ shall be your strength, and you'll be saved
by the Lord Jesus. And he said, and you would not.
He said, but you said no, for we'll flee upon horses. Look
at verse 18. Therefore will the Lord wait.
Now get that, he said we wouldn't wait, and it says therefore will
the Lord wait. That he may be gracious unto
you, and therefore will he be exalted, that he may have mercy
upon you. For the Lord's a God of judgment.
He'll wait till he brings us to the end of ourselves. He just
does this in every little trial. It could be big or small, but
He'll bring you to the end of yourself in whatever it is, big
or small. And He does it so that you'll
cry out unto Him and He'll be gracious to you. You'll see Him
as exalted. You get that? You get what he's
saying? Because he's going to have all his people to dwell
in Zion and Jerusalem. And he says, when you cry to
him, thou shalt weep no more. He'll be very gracious unto thee
at the voice of thy cry. When he shall hear it, he will
answer thee. So that's the work of faith James is talking about,
to patiently endure the trial, waiting on the Lord to work in
the heart with quietness and assurance and confidence in Christ
alone, that he's able. And this is what he'll make his
children do. This is what he'll make his children do. The second
work of faith here is, is use only the gospel of Christ. Use
only the preaching of the gospel. Now that's what James is doing
right here. He's urging his brethren to hear
the word, to hear the gospel, and do these works of faith. And he says here in verse 18,
he reminds us of his own will begat he us with the word of
truth, that we should be a kind of first fruits of his creatures.
Wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear,
slow to speak, slow to wrath, for the wrath of man worketh
not the righteousness of God. Wherefore, lay apart all filthiness
and superfluity of naughtiness, that means everything that's
of us, everything that's sinful. And he says, and receive with
meekness the engrafted word which is able to save you so. He's
saying, Remember, we were dead in sins and the Spirit of God
regenerated us, and what did He use to regenerate us? He used
the message of the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. He used
the message that declared that Christ Jesus, the Son of God,
came and obeyed the law perfectly in place of His people. And that
He went to the cross and bore the sins of His people and underwent
the fierce fury of God's wrath. And He shows you that. He shows
you that through the Gospel. And He brings you just to cast
all your care on Him. Brings you just to cast all your
care upon Him. And He's saying, well that same
Gospel by which we were begotten, that's the word to speak to one
another. Remind one another what the Lord
Jesus Christ has done. That's exactly what he's telling
us to do, brethren. Here's a third word. It's to
be no respecter of persons. Now watch, look what this means.
Now James chapter 2. Verse 1, My brethren, have not
the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with respect
of persons. For if there come into your assembly
a man with a gold ring and goodly apparel, and there come in also
a poor man in vile raiment, and you have respect to him that
weareth the gay clothing, and say unto him, Sit thou here in
a good place. And say to the poor, You stand
thou there, or sit here under my footstool. Are you not then
partial in yourselves, and have become judges of evil thoughts?
Now, of course we shouldn't do this to literally rich and poor
folks, but he's teaching us here, brethren, that when any one of
us are prone to err, and when any one of us err, we're really
prone to look at that brother or sister and say, stand there,
or sit here under the footstool. That's the Spirit. It's easy
to have. Very easy to have that Spirit.
But God's chosen the poor. That's what He said. He chose
sinners. He chose me and you who are bankrupt. He chose me and you who are in
utter poverty. That's who He chose. And He made
us rich, giving us faith in the Lord Jesus. He gave us the unsearchable
riches of Christ. And He's saying, and seeing what
He's made us heirs of, He says, now we're going to be judged
by the law of liberty. That's how we'll be judged, by
the law of liberty. The gospel of Christ is the law
of liberty. He says, verse 12, So speak ye
and so do as they that should be judged by the law of liberty.
The law of liberty teaches us this, that the Lord Jesus Christ
bore the judgment of all His people. That's what this law
of liberty is. It's the gospel that teaches
us Christ bore the judgment of all His people, including my
erring brother, including my erring sister. He made each of
His people the righteousness of God in Him, so we'll be judged
by the gospel of liberty. What does that mean? There is
therefore now no condemnation of them who are in Christ. to them that walk not after the
flesh but after the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of
life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and
death." That's the law of liberty that made me free the gospel.
And then he teaches you this down in verse 33, Romans 8.33,
he says, Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect?
It's God that justifies. Who is he that condemneth? It's
Christ that God and Rose again is at the right hand of God making
intercession for us. That's the law of liberty. That's
when you begin to love mercy with God. You love that everything
God does in salvation is mercy from the beginning to the end.
And that Christ performed the mercy. He's the one performing
the mercy. And so He says, verse 13, He
shall have judgment without mercy that has showed no mercy, and
mercy rejoices against judgment. When He brings you to see the
mercy He's had on you, that makes you rejoice to have mercy against
judgment. That's the gift and work of faith
that manifests our faith is in the Lord. We trust He's able.
We trust He's able. And we trust that He'll make
us hear this Word, and He'll make us believe Him, and He'll
turn us to Him. We trust Him. Here's the fourth
thing He says. It's not to be masters over one
another, especially brethren who err. Over in James 3, He
says, My brethren, be not many masters, knowing that we shall
receive the greater condemnation for many things we offend all.
Reminding us that if God marked iniquity in one of us, there's
not one of us that could stand. Not one of us that could stand.
We offend in many things. We offend in word. And he's teaching
us there's forgiveness with God that he might be feared so that
we might reverence him and rejoice in mercy rather than judgment.
Rejoice in mercy rather than judgment. If Christ is our wisdom
that makes us wise, and when he makes us wise, he'll make
us meek because we know it's all of him. Everything is of
him. And God's free forgiveness is
in him. Who is a wise man? Look at James
3.13. Who is a wise man and a dude
with knowledge among you? Let him show out of a good conversation
his works with meekness of wisdom. That's what the Lord does by
his free forgiveness. When he makes you see everything's
of him, he just makes you meek. He just makes you meek. And then he tells us this wisdom
from above. Look down at James 3.17. The
wisdom that's from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle,
easy to be entreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without
partiality, without hypocrisy, and the fruit of righteousness
is sown in peace of them that make peace. That's exactly how
Christ, our wisdom, deals with you and me. Right there. The wisdom that's from above.
This is how he deals with us. It's pure, it's peaceable, gentle,
easy to be entreated, full of mercy, good fruits, without partiality,
without hypocrisy, the fruit of righteousness. He sows it
in peace and he makes peace. And he's teaching you and me
to do the same. He's teaching you to use that
one gospel, that one gospel. And so He's teaching us in every
bit of this, brethren, to just submit it all to the Lord and
trust He's able to make our brethren stand. That's what He's always
showing us all through everything we go through in this life. He
says to us in James 4 and verse 7, Submit yourselves therefore
to God. Resist the devil, he'll flee
from you. Draw nigh to God, he'll draw nigh to you. Cleanse your
hands, you sinners. Purify your hearts, you double-minded.
The only way to do that is he sets our mind on Christ. He sets
our affection on Christ, and you come to God, confessing your
sin, and He cleanses you, He forgives you, and He keeps you
looking to Christ. He brings you to fall at Christ's
feet and trust Him that He's the one lawgiver able to save. That He's fulfilled all righteousness
for you, all righteousness for your brother, your sister, and
you know He's able to save. He's able to get you through
every single trial. And so you speak the gospel to
one another, trusting Christ alone, being patient, waiting
on the Lord, And so then the last work then is in James 5.
Why don't you see there, James 5. And it's praying for Christ
to do the work. He's done all this for you. He
showed you all this as he's taking you through the trial. And then
he ends with this in James 5.15, in the prayer of faith, that's
trusting Christ alone, the prayer of faith, looking to Christ,
trusting Christ, shall save the sick. How so? The Lord shall
raise him up, and if he's committed sin, they shall be forgiven him. This is exactly what the Lord's
teaching us constantly. He's teaching us, brethren, When
a brother's fallen, that's the sickness we're talking about.
It's physical sickness, too. But he's talking about, too,
if a brother's fallen, you commit it to Christ and you pray to
him. Now, he's shown you. He's shown you be patient in
the trial. He's shown you to use only the gospel. He's shown
you to be rejoicing mercy rather than judgment, to not be masters,
And He's shown you to humble yourself and trust the Lord Jesus.
And He says, and now, and pray to Him and ask Him to bless that
gospel. That's just what He told Ezekiel
in the Valley of Tribones. He told him, preach the Word.
He told him, pray to Me to send forth the Spirit. And He said,
and wait on Me. And when I've done the work,
you'll give Me the glory. That's exactly what he said,
and that's what he's teaching us, what he's doing. Teaching
us to trust him in the trial, to speak the gospel of Christ,
to be no respecter, to rejoice in mercy, to pray for Christ,
to pour out the rain of grace on one another. That's the works
of faith that manifests. Our faith is genuine because
everything in that He's looking to Christ and trusting Christ
alone, and trusting he's able. Using his gospel, speaking to
each other of what Christ has done, being merciful, forgiving,
and overlooking one another's faults, and being merciful, and
preaching Christ to one another. And that's how he'll keep growing
us. That's what he's teaching us, brother. I pray that's a
blessing to you.