Okay, we're going to continue
our study in the book of James, our journey through James. And
it's been such a blessing to go through this book. It's been
such a blessing to go through this book and to see just how
relevant and timeless the Bible really is. Brother Norm Wells
and I were talking about that this week, just how it just transcends
time. This book here is written to
the Saints 2,000 years ago and James was writing to a specific
group of people and yet here we are in 2021 and these words
are wonderful for us. The name of the message today
is One Family, One Family. Now, we who are the people of
God, we've been taught by our great God and our Savior, taught
by the Holy Spirit of God, that the Scriptures declare... Now,
we as the people of God, we've been taught as the Scriptures
declare, as the Scriptures declare that the Bible is given by inspiration
of God and it's profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction,
for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God or woman
may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works, which is
2 Timothy 3, verses 16 and 17. So we know that the Scriptures
are for all those things. They're for correction. They
correct us. No one has to say a word. The
Holy Spirit corrects us, doesn't He, through the Word of God.
and therefore reproof, therefore instruction in righteousness
too, how we are to live our lives among the unsaved and as we go
through this world that we may be perfect, thoroughly furnished
unto all good works. Today we'll be looking at verses
9 and 10. I started Studying for this study, and I thought
oh, we're going to do 9 to 12 well I quickly found out we're
not going to do 9 to 12 We're going to do 9 to 10 because there's
enough material right here for us to consider for this week
So let's read from verses 2 to verses 12 to verse 12 my brethren
Counted all joy when you fall into divers temptations, so we
see who James is writing to he's writing to the brethren He's
writing to God's people his elect Knowing this, that the trying
of your faith worketh patience, but let patience have her perfect
work, that ye may be perfect in an entire wanting nothing.
If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to
all men liberally, in a brightest not, and it shall be given him.
But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth
is like the wave of the sea, with the wind and tossed. For
let not that man think that he shall receive anything of the
Lord. A double-minded man is unstable in all his ways. And
last week we looked at how we should be single-minded. We should
look to Christ and Christ alone. Let the brother of low degree
rejoice in that he is exalted, but the rich in that he is made
low, because as the flower of the grass he shall pass away.
For the sun is no sooner risen with a burning heat, but whither
the grass and the flower thereof falleth, And the grace of the
fashion of it perishes, so also shall the rich man fade away
in his ways. Blessed is the man that endureth
temptation, for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of
life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him. Turn, if you would, to the book
of Philippians. will make a statement in the
book of Philippians that's very much similar to what James is
bringing across here. And what it is, is we are to
be content. No matter what station we find
ourselves in life, rich or poor, going through a trial or not
going through a trial, we are to be content. Now that's hard
for us, isn't it? It's hard for us to be content.
It's hard for us just to say, Lord, I'm going to be content
in this situation. But the Lord teaches us these things through
the various trials that we go through. Now, remember the scenario
when the book of Philippians is written. Paul is in jail.
And he's not in a country cup kind of jail like nowadays. He's
in jail. He's in a Roman jail. And there's
probably rats running around, all kinds of stuff. And he pens
these words in Philippians chapter four. verses 10 to 13. And again, Paul had been taught
by the Holy Spirit of God to be content in all situations. Philippians chapter 4 verses
10 to 13. But I rejoiced in the Lord greatly,
that now at the last your care of me had flourished again, wherein
you were also careful, but you lacked opportunity. Not that
I speak in respect of want. Look at this. Now, this is something
Paul's going to tell us he's learned. Right? He's learned this. And how has
he learned it? Well, think of the trials that Paul went through.
Think of the beatings he took. But he counted all those other
things that he'd done for righteousness sake in the law as nothing. And he rejoiced. He rejoiced
that the gospel was going forth, no matter what situation he found
himself in. But he'd learn to be that way.
See, it doesn't come natural, does it? We learn this. We learn this. Not that I speak
in respect of want, for I have learned in whatsoever state I
am therewith to be content. Content. I know both how to be
abased, so to be low, to have nothing. And I know how to abound. Remember, Paul was quite rich.
as a Pharisee. And he lost all that. He lost
all that status. He lost all that, beloved. But he didn't care. He says,
I know both how to be abased and I know how to abound everywhere
and in all things. I am instructed both to be full
and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. I can do
all things through Christ which strengthens me. Now when we read
that in the context of that verse, because people often rip that
verse out of context there, that last one there, I can do all
things through Christ with strength in me. Paul is just telling us
about various trials and things that he's went through and he
says, I've learned to be content. And I can only do, see what he's
saying, beloved? He's saying I can only be that
way by the strength of Christ. See, the only way we can be content
is if the Lord gives us grace to be content, right? Without me, you can do what?
Amen. Nothing. There it is. Nothing at all. It's a good reminder
for us, isn't it? This is very similar. What Paul
brings forth here is very similar to what James is bringing forth
here in our text. That no matter what the believer's
standing in life is, we can be rejoicing. We can rejoice. We can rejoice when others see
no reason to rejoice, and yet we can rejoice as believers.
We may rejoice with tears, but we can still rejoice, can't we?
Why? Well, because we have all spiritual
blessings in Christ, and our standing in life doesn't change
that. See, that's why Paul said he
can rejoice in all these things. He can rejoice when he's abounding.
He can rejoice when he has nothing, because in Christ he has everything. See, it's different thinking
than the world, right? It's different thinking than the world. In verse
12 there too, when Paul says, I know both how to be abased
and I know how to abound everywhere, and in all things I am instructed
both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer
need. Paul brings forth here that he's learned through trials
to be content. No matter what station he finds
himself in life. And how could he do this? Well, again, he'd been taught
that no matter what his standing was in life, he was safe and
he was secure in Christ, no matter what comes our way. And these
trials are ordained, remember, to come our way. But no matter
what comes our way, we are secure in Christ. And that security
has nothing really to do with what we do, but all to do with
what Christ has done. See, that's why he could say,
well, I know how to abound and I know how to be based. Because his source of joy was
not the situation or the place where he found himself in life.
Now it may have been before, remember, because he was a Pharisee
of Pharisees. But now none of that mattered
to Paul. None of it. It didn't matter to him at all
anymore. He'd been taught by the Holy Spirit of God. He'd
been taught by the Holy Spirit of God just who God's people
are. That we're but saved sinners,
but we're a royal priesthood. We're a chosen nation. We're
a particular people. We're chosen out of our generation.
Isn't that amazing? And Paul knew that. And Peter
knew that, because Peter wrote about that, remember? They all
knew that. Just like we know. Because we're
taught by the Holy Spirit of God that truth, aren't we? That
absolute truth. Paul and James both knew that
whatever your state in life, whether rich or poor, in Christ
you have all that you need. Vicki and I were talking about
marrying Martha this morning. Vicki brought it up and she said,
Martha was going about, she was just going to town trying to
do everything all over, all fussing about everything. And there's
Mary sitting at the feet of Jesus. The one thing needful for a sinner
is who? The Lord Jesus Christ. So, Peter and James were content
in Christ. And we see here that James, again,
by inspiration of the Holy Spirit of God. Remember, these words
are penned by James, but the true author of these words is
the Holy Spirit of God. He continues to teach the saints
He's writing about rejoicing when you fall into various trials,
which we saw in the verses before this. And so now he's going to
bring forth that no matter you're standing in life, we're to rejoice
in Christ. We'll see why. We'll see why
we're to rejoice. The two states that James here
addresses, and he's also going to address their respective responses,
they're utterly foreign, though, to the natural man's thoughts.
They are utterly foreign to the natural man's thoughts. Think
upon the world's religion. Think upon this. And you're going
to recognize this religion when I talk about it. Religion of
what Tim James said, carnal logic. It makes its living on what people
call blessings. And these blessings are defined
by the preacher who's spouting nothing but lies. In the world's religion, which
is word of faith religion, name it and claim it, that's false
religion. I don't care what people think,
that's false religion. That's absolute false religion. There's no hope in any of that. None. With their lying tongues,
they say to people, well, if you have enough faith, you could
tap into these unlimited blessings. They say that kind of stuff. Health and wealth. I have a friend
that is not into that. And another friend who was told
him, well, if you had enough faith, you'd be healed of that.
And I looked at that man when I was there and I said, you're
lying to him. You need never say that again to anybody. Never. He kind of looked at me and I
said, don't ever say that. That is not in the scriptures.
Never. That stuff is toxic. That's toxic
to people. Oh, it's awful. This health,
wealth, prosperity. They imply that if you're poor,
then God's not blessing you. Well, you know what? Some of
the dearest saints I've met are poor. Some of the dearest saints
I've met are rich. Some of the dearest saints I've
met are just in between. Right? Oh, my. They spout these lies, though. Oh, God's not blessing you if
you're in that situation. If you find yourself in that
station, We'll get into why they think that way, too. But here
are the scriptures. Let's look at what James writes
here. Let's look at it. James is going to bring forth
two estates of believers. Just two. He says here, let the
brother of low degree rejoice in that he is exalted, but the
rich in that he is made low, because as the flower of the
grass, he shall pass away. So those who imply that God's
not blessing you if you're poor, Or they say that God's not blessing
you because you haven't fully employed all your faith. Like
faith is some kind of magic wand. Faith has one object. That's
Christ. It's Christ and Him alone, isn't it? We look to Him. My, oh, my. These preachers that
say this stuff, they're nothing but lying preachers, beloved.
That's what they are. They're just lying preachers.
They're not even preachers. They're just lying. You know what they never mention?
Now think of this. I found this out in this study.
I never had considered this. But you know what they never
mention? They never mention predestination. They never mention the foreknowledge
of God. They don't ever mention any of those things. They don't
mention God's purpose or His divine decrees. They don't ever
mention any of those things. Do you know why? Because it kills
the notion that all you have to do is have enough faith and
God will do it. It absolutely destroys that whole movement. That's why they never talk about
it. Plus, they don't know about it. When you tell them about
it, they recoil. Because what they believe is
all about themselves and all about their performance. I was
just reading a thing about an Amish girl who's leaving the
Amish community. You know what she said right in the article?
And it just struck me as I read it. It just struck me. She said,
they're strict in their religion because they're trying to become
closer to God. And I went, that works. Not one of us, by anything we
do, can make ourselves closer to God. Not one of us. The only reason we can approach
the Father is on the merits and the work, the perfect, complete
work, sin-atoning work of the Lord Jesus Christ. And we say
hallelujah, don't we? My, we're free, beloved. It's
all about what Christ has done. We have the most wonderful news
in the world, beloved. Oh my. So the Scriptures, by
predestination, purpose, divine providence, destroy that Word
of Faith movement. Destroy that false teaching.
And that false teaching, beloved, is prevalent right now. It's
very prevalent. People have believed the lie. We are to look to Christ, whatever
station we find ourselves in life, whether we're poor, whether
we're rich, whether we're in good health, whether we're in
bad health, we are to look to Christ and Christ alone. And
it's not a lack of faith. It's not a lack of faith because,
well, Peter would be in trouble, wouldn't he? What did Peter say? What did our dear brother Peter
say? He's an apostle. Lord, help my unbelief. What did he do with that? Oh,
my. Oh, my. So these lying preachers who
are telling people to give them their money and they tell them,
give us your money and by seed faith, it'll grow. That's just
a lie. You know what they're doing?
They're getting rich by robbing the folks that they're talking
to. That's exactly what they're doing. We need to call it out,
don't we? Exactly what it is. It's a lie from the pit of hell.
And there's no salvation in any of that. So if you know someone
who's deceived by those preachers, tell them. Tell them that these
so-called preachers are just emptying their pockets. That's
all they're doing. They're just emptying their pockets. Oh my,
that's enough of that. That's enough of that. Now the
world's religion and the world in general never understand what
James is bringing forth here. They'll never understand it because
James is looking at all these things through the lens of God's
divine providence. That God is in absolute control.
that even the trials that come our way come from our great God.
He's in absolute control, beloved. He's been in control since way
before we've been born in eternity. And He's still in control right now
and He'll be in control in eternity future. He's been in control
our whole life. He's been watching over us our
whole life. from when we came out and breathed
our first breath and cried. He looked at us and He knew we
were His. Isn't that amazing? And one day He sent the Holy
Spirit by fetching grace. The Holy Spirit fetched us. Why? Because Christ had redeemed
us. Christ had purchased us on the cross 2,000 years ago. It's
absolutely wonderful, isn't it? It's absolutely wonderful. Let's
look at verses 9 and 10 again. Let the brother of low degree
rejoice in that he is exalted, but the rich in that he is made
low, because as the flower of the grass he shall pass away.
Now both poverty and riches can prove to be temptations. Both
of them can be. They can both be a trial. How
do we know that that's true? Well, because they're both mentioned
here. And they're mentioned in the
context of a trial, aren't they? about us rejoicing in trials.
Remember, context, context, context. It's so important. So important
when you're looking at the scriptures. We see in our text that it's
brought forth that the brother of low degree and there's a brother
who's rich. And remember, no matter what
our state is, we are a blessed people. No matter what our state
is, we're blessed. We're blessed. Don't ever get
caught up in the whole thing about, well, God's not blessing
me. If you're a believer, you're blessed beyond words. Beyond
anything that can be compared in this world. Because you have
all spiritual blessings in Christ. Now, we don't always have what
we want. And that's a good thing. You heard me say, if we had what
we want, we'd probably destroy ourselves. But we don't have
what we want. We have what we need. And what's
the one thing needful for us over anything else in this world?
It's Christ, isn't it? It's Christ and Christ alone.
So whatever situation we find ourselves in, we will have trials. If you're poor, you're going
to have trials. If you're rich, you're going to have trials. If you're in
between, you're going to have trials. We're going to have trials
no matter what as believers in this world, aren't we? And what
has taken place in our existence is by grace. And that grace is
the distinguishing factor that brings the rich and the poor
among the brethren to a place of spiritual commonality. And we see what we have in common
in Christ. What did Paul write by inspiration
of the Holy Spirit of God? He said, I am what I am by the
grace of God. He's saying, wherever I find
myself, I'm in that station by the grace of God. And we who are the people of
God are by the same Savior, the same grace, regenerated by the
same Holy Spirit of God. We have the same faith, don't
we? The same Heavenly Father. And the price of our redemption
is exactly the same, isn't it? the precious, precious blood
of the Lord Jesus Christ. We have a lot in common, don't
we? We may come from all different places and stations in life and
we're brought here together, but these are things we have
in common as believers. It's wonderful. See, the world,
they don't have any idea about this. They've heard about it
and they think we're just... Well, they don't know what to
think about us. Because I didn't know what to think about People
who were born again before the Lord saved me, I'll be honest
with you, I didn't want to be around them at all. I definitely
thought there were... I don't know. I don't know. I
just thought, wow. I just didn't even know what
to think. I just didn't want to be around
them. But now, you're my family. You're my family. And we have
love one another for one another because the love of God is shed
abroad in our hearts. It's amazing. And we who are the people of
God, we're all saved sinners. Jude writes about this common
salvation. Jude says this, Beloved, when I give all diligence to
write unto you the common salvation, it was needful for me to write
unto you and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for
the faith which was once delivered unto the saints." Now, there's
nothing common about salvation, but what he's talking about there
is that we're all saved by the same Savior. We're all washed
in the same blood. We're all regenerated by the
same Spirit. Common salvation in that way.
But, oh my, it's wonderful. So, within the body of Christ,
there are rich believers as well as poor believers. But in the
spiritual realm, there's no difference. In the spiritual realm, there's
no difference at all. Between the two. Because all believers
are spiritually equal. Standing on the exact same footing. You know, in religion it's like,
You go and do this you're gonna get crowns and all you go do
this you're gonna get crowns and and well wouldn't that mean
that then that then there's a hierarchy in heaven like these super Christians
with all these crowns that they wear in it and then us with just
you know right In their eyes I'm called in the righteousness
of Christ. I am so content. That's all I need is Christ,
right and And I know you feel the same way. Oh my, all this
stuff that religion gets going. But we're on the exact same footing,
aren't we? And what footing are we on? Who's the foundation?
Jesus Christ, our Lord. He's the chief cornerstone. He's
the foundation of our faith. And He is the object of our faith,
beloved. And we have the same footing.
Each of us. That goes back to what Scott
always said. It's level. It's level ground, beloved. It's
not an evangelist mound or a preacher mound or a missionary mound.
No, it's just straight across. Equal footing for all of us.
For all of us. It's wonderful. It's absolutely
wonderful. We're one in Christ. Therefore,
both the rich and the poor in the body of Christ have the same
cause to rejoice. They both have the same cause
to rejoice. They're saved by the grace of
God in and through the Lord Jesus Christ. Although the circumstances
may differ greatly, in the natural realm, they can boast without
pride, right? We can boast in Christ, can't
we? That's who we boasted, both rich and poor. We can boast in
Christ. We can rejoice without jealousy
and envy because we both have the same
Savior. We all have the same Savior. So James here is addressing rich
and poor, but he's bringing forth that they're both one in Christ,
no matter what the station of life is. And they both can rejoice,
and there's no envy, because they're both saved by the precious,
precious blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. They've been forgiven
all their sins, born again by the Holy Spirit of God. They
can rejoice, can't they? We can rejoice with one another.
We can. It's wonderful. It's absolutely
wonderful. So therefore, both the rich and
the poor in the body of Christ have the same cause to rejoice.
Again, they're saved by the Lord Jesus Christ, no matter what
circumstances they find themselves in. That's where our joy should
come from, right? Not in the circumstances that
we're in, because I know for me, and I'm sure it's for you,
if we get looking at the circumstances, we start to get worked up, don't
we? But if we pause and we look to
Christ during those circumstances, what happens? We have joy. Those circumstances
don't seem as big as we thought they were. My, oh, my. So we can only boast in Christ.
We can rejoice. Again, without jealousy or envy,
that we're all saved by the same mercy and grace in Christ Jesus
as believers. Look at verse 9. Let the brother
of low degree rejoice in that he is exalted. First, note the
words, let the brother. Paul's writing to born again,
blood washed believers. And he's going to bring forth
here that there's some believers who are poor and there's some
believers who are rich. That's what he's, or not Paul,
James. I'm sorry, James is going to bring this forth. I'm sorry.
James is bringing forth here again, again, by inspiration
of the Holy Spirit of God, that he's talking about the family
of God, too. He's talking about the family
of God. Both the rich and poor ones he's addressing here in
these verses are both one in Christ. Brothers and sisters,
you know, brothers and sisters in Christ, It's wonderful, isn't
it? And this is not just a title.
We're family. Because nobody says, let the
brother. We're family. You know, I have
two flesh brothers and I love them dearly, but I'm not near
as close to them as I am to all of you. Isn't that amazing? And I love them dearly. Don't
get me wrong. I pray for them all the time. But I don't have
the closeness of the relationship that I have with you and some
other men and ladies who are in Christ. I found out I got
family all over the world now. It's pretty amazing. I didn't
even know I had this family until the Lord saved me. Now I'm just
amazed. It's wonderful. It's absolutely wonderful. So
we're brothers and sisters in Christ. It's not just a title,
we're family. And we have a family relationship
with our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ. The ties and
bonds of grace and the blood of Christ are deeper and stronger
than those of nature. As brethren in Christ, again,
we're closer than brothers in the flesh. You know why, too? Because ours is an eternal union.
We have an eternal union with our brothers and sisters in Christ. And we have a union with our
brothers and sisters in the flesh, but when death's cord is cut
or when the life cord is cut, right, we die. Now, although
they're still in our hearts, the ones that have gone, but
as far as seeing them in the flesh anymore, that's gone. But
you know that we who are brothers and sisters in Christ, we will
be with each other for eternity. for eternity. My, oh my. Turn, if you would,
to 1 John chapter 4. We'll read verses 7 to 11. Oh
my, I'm running out of time again. Oh my. 1 John 4, verses 7 to 11. I've
got five minutes, so we can get there. Beloved, let us love one
another. Verse 7. For love is of God,
and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God.
He that loveth not knoweth not God, for God is love.
And this was manifest, the love of God towards us, because God
sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live
through Him, here in His love. Not that we love God, but that
He loved us, and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our
sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought to love one another.
And that's what distinguishes us as believers, is our love
for one another, distinguishes us from the world. So we see
in our text here, let the brother of low degree, and this low degree
does not refer to a spiritual state because he's rich in Christ,
but he's a brother without wealth and property in this world. or
influence or earthly rank, but let him rejoice that he's in
Christ and that he possesses all spiritual blessings, all
riches in Christ. He's a child of the King. He's
a priest. He's an heir of all things. He's
also an equal brother or sister in Christ. So his station in
life might be low. But he's far richer than the
richest man in this world. The world may view him in his
pity or disdain, and he knows that he's a child of God, though,
a child of the King. And his boast is in the Lord
Jesus Christ, who has, by His grace, given him exceedingly
abundantly above what he can think or ask for. He can't boast
of himself, just as a rich man cannot boast of himself. But
they both have their sins forgiven in Christ, don't they? Poor or
rich, they both have their sins forgiven if they're in Christ.
They're both robed in the perfect spotless righteousness of Christ.
And he can rejoice, the poor, the man of lowest state can rejoice
because his circumstances have nothing to do with his joy. Nothing
to do with his joy. Because his joy is in the Lord
Jesus Christ and him alone. He can rejoice because he knows
that behind every circumstance is the smiling face of divine
providence. Now let's look at verse 10. But
the rich man, in that he is made low. So here's another brother.
Here's a rich brother. But the rich man, in that he
is made low. Because as the flower of the grass, he shall pass away.
We see that the same rich man is to rejoice because he's been
humbled. Just as the same poor man has
been humbled as well. God's saints have been bought
low, haven't we, before our great God. Bought low. and be made to understand that
promotion comes neither from the East nor the West, but promotion
comes from the Lord. And the rich man has been made
to realize that his natural wealth is temporal. The rich brother
has been made to know that it's just temporal. He can't take
it with him when he goes to glory. And that his wealth will soon
pass off the earth when he breathes his last breath. And also he's
had the truth of stripping grace fought before him. Because he
cannot now boast in his riches. See, the rich brethren can't
boast in their riches anymore. And they don't want to. They
don't want to. Because he knows where he got
them now. He knows they all came from the
Lord. They all came from him by his divine providence. And
it's only God who's made them to differ, just like all the
children of God, beloved. You see how we're one? We're
one. The rich man's being made low.
He knows that his wealth has nothing to do with his salvation.
So his station in life has nothing to do with his salvation, just
as the poor man knows that his station in life has nothing to
do with his salvation. Isn't that wonderful? It's absolutely
wonderful. So we see then that in both situations,
the poor and the rich are bought to mind the things of the spirit
and not the things of the flesh. That's the lesson that's being
taught to us here. By faith, both are made to rejoice in the
same person, the Lord Jesus Christ. Because all believers are equal.
Their estate is temporal in matters, but it's by providential design.
See, that's why it destroys that whole Word of Faith movement.
Because their station in life is by providential design. They
may differ greatly, but in Christ they're the same. They have the
same trials. They have the same temptations.
They have the same struggles. They're just alike in all those
things. So rejoice, brother. Rejoice,
sister. You're in Christ. You're in Christ. And you're blessed to endure
temptations. We are. Because that while we are being
tried, we're being endured with the crown of life, which is eternal
life in Christ Jesus our Lord. And again, it has nothing to
do with our works at all. Nothing. We're made to know that
our circumstances of this life are but a vapor compared to our
eternal life, which we have in Christ. So what grace we see
in Christ for both rich and poor. They're on equal footing in Christ.
There's no difference. There's no difference. None at
all. And they can love one another because Christ loves them both.
So we've seen today that both poor and rich are instructed
in what is real in this life. Those of low degree or the poor
and worldly things can rejoice in the fact that we're made heirs.
And those who are rich can rejoice in the same mercy because they
have received in Christ Jesus our Lord eternal life, just like
their brother who is in the lower estate. But we all rejoice in
Christ, don't we? Because our eternal life, the
forgiveness of all our sins, is in and through the Lord Jesus
Christ and His perfect, sin-atoning work on Calvary's cross. Glory
to His name.