James chapter two, reading from verse one. My brethren, have not the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with respect to persons. For if there come unto your assembly a man with a gold ring, in goodly apparel, and there come in also a poor man in vile raiment, And ye 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, Stand thou there, or sit here under my footstool. Are ye not then partial in yourselves, and are become judges of evil thoughts? Harkin, my beloved brethren, hath not God chosen the poor of this world, rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom which he hath promised to them that love him? But ye have despised the poor. Do not rich men oppress you and draw you before the judgment seats? Do not they blaspheme that worthy name by the which ye are called? Amen.

May the Lord bless to us this reading from his word.

The greatest possession that we can have in this world is the faith of the Lord Jesus Christ. And this is what James is speaking about today. Here in this opening verse, he speaks of the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ. The faith of which Christ is both author and object. You are rich among men and have need of nothing if you have the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Job in the Old Testament tells us in chapter one of his book, naked came I out of my mother's womb and naked I shall return thither. The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord. Men come into this world with nothing, and they leave it unable to carry with them any of the wealth for which they have striven all their days. Job's testimony is true. And the apostle Paul reinforces that sentiment when he speaks to Timothy in his first epistle to Timothy, chapter 6 and verse 7, and says, for we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out.

And naturally speaking, this is true. All the riches of the world, all the riches that men accrue to themselves, all they work for and labour for, whether legitimately or illegitimately, they leave in a pile at their grave, for they cannot take it with them. And yet, if we have the faith of Jesus Christ, We can lay up, we can store up treasure in heaven. The riches of glory, the joys of another world. And these infinitely outvalue the riches of earth. They can't be spoiled, they can't be lost. If we have the faith of Christ, we shall leave this world as heirs of a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.

Brothers and sisters, do not fear death. Do not be afraid of dying. God give us grace not to be afraid. It is not death to die in the Lord, it's blessing. Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord, Revelation 14 verse 13. It is entrance into the experience of God's everlasting promises. It is to know Him intimately and personally in a way that we have never known Him before. It is enjoyment of eternal life with Him. It is enjoyment of that eternal life which has been ours since the Lord saved us, but now shall be our present experience.

James tells us in the opening verse of this chapter, Our Lord Jesus Christ is the Lord of glory. In fact, I'm just going to make a point here because this occurred to me as I was preparing this sermon today. But this opening verse of James chapter 2 is an extraordinary verse in just the language that the apostle uses. He says, he speaks of the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory. The faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory. James, thank you. for such beautiful phrases as we find in these passages in this little book. As I said, I think a few weeks ago, I am sure we will encounter many more like them.

Our Lord Jesus Christ is the Lord of glory. And if I had no more to say to you today than to point you again to our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, and the blessings of faith in him and by him, I would have plenty to say. He who is our Lord is the Lord of glory, the Lord and Savior of all to whom he has given faith, to all who trust in his blood to cleanse, his righteousness to clothe, his mercy to save. He is our anointed representative, He is our Redeemer and our brother. He is the Lord of glory. And we shall share his glory as his bride and as his people. He is the Lord of glory and he has the keys of eternal life and freely gives that life and peace and heavenly joy to all for whom he died.

If we have Christ, I say again, we have everything. We lack nothing. We are complete in Him. So look forward, brothers and sisters. Look forward with joy and anticipation for the hope which is laid up for you in heaven. That blessed hope and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour, Jesus Christ. What a day that will be.

So I repeat, the greatest possession we have, the greatest possession we can have in this world is the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory. And I trust we all can testify of that truth. But if you are in doubt, I bid you, in the words of Isaiah chapter 55, seek ye the Lord while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near. Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts, and let him return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him. For to our God, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.

The title of our service today is Rich in Faith. Rich in Faith. Rich in Faith does not mean you have a lot of faith. Like we sometimes say, I'm rich in this world's goods. That doesn't mean that we have a lot of them. If you have any faith at all, if you have the faith of Christ, if you have any faith, even faith the size of a mustard seed, though it be so small, you are rich in the sight of God. And regardless of what possessions you have or have not in this world, you are eternally, gloriously rich in Christ.

We spoke a little earlier of Christ the Prince of Peace. If we have the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, we are princes with him. We are heirs of the kingdom. We are joint heirs with Christ. We are a royal priesthood. We are kings and priests unto God. And as the children of God and as the people of Christ he will look after us and provide for us and keep us and he will be our all in all.

Once again James tells us that he is speaking to believers here in this passage, men and women who have the faith of Jesus Christ, brethren have not the faith of Jesus Christ, he says, the Lord of glory with respect of persons. But he is speaking to believers, brethren, who have the faith of Christ. The faith of which Christ is the author and finisher.

James' audience is his brethren. They include all his brothers and sisters in Christ, not only at the time when he wrote, but ever since, all who have read his words and believe in his Saviour. Children of the same Father, adopted into the family of God, one family united in the faith of the Lord Jesus Christ. And in fact, this is a large part of James's argument in this section. By professing faith in Jesus Christ, we acknowledge that we have nothing in ourselves with which to boast before God or men. We have nothing we have not been given. 1 Corinthians 4 verse 7. We are what we are by God's grace alone. So that if we profess Jesus Christ, that is tantamount to saying that is the same as professing that we are nothing in ourselves. And that is an important gospel principle. And James is going to build upon that principle in what he has to say to us today.

We spoke a few weeks ago of the perfect law of liberty. And in the coming verses, James will speak of the royal law of love. That's, I think, in the next verse after this, verse 8, 9 and following. In fact, I could have taken this passage in its entirety today, but I felt that there was sufficient in it for us to break it into a couple of different sermons. And I trust you will bear with me as I do that. But he is about to speak, having spoken of the perfect law of liberty, he is about to speak of the royal law of love.

The apostles taught that believers were not under the law of Moses, the Ten Commandments as their rule of life, but free from all condemnation in Christ. having been endowed with his perfect righteousness. Nevertheless, that does not mean believers are lawless. We are not antinomian, as some people like to call us when we take this position, when we preach this gospel. They say, oh, you are opposed to the law. You think you can do anything you like. That is not at all what we believe. Our rule of life is the gospel. It is the example of the Lord Jesus. It is the witness of the apostolic writings and the application and exercise of spiritual principles implanted in our heart at the time of conversion. principles of love and mercy to those around us. These are the principles upon which we act and upon which we live.

And note that James's approach here in admonishing the partiality of some of this assembly for honoring the rich man at the expense of the poor man, note that he applies gospel principles to these practical circumstances in order to determine our proper behavior and how we should act and how we should live. He doesn't go back to the Ten Commandments. He doesn't go back to the law of God. He turns our eyes to Christ and the gospel. He is testing, as it were, our conduct by the touchstone of the gospel. And he is saying, very simply, it is incompatible to have the faith of Jesus Christ and be a respecter of persons.

And then he leaves that. And he leaves that for the Spirit to apply to the hearts and to the mind and thereafter to the conduct of the Lord's people. He is saying effectively, has not God shown himself free from partiality and to be no respecter of persons in having chosen you and having saved you? Or Did God choose you because you were special? Because you were better than the next person? No, not at all. We know that. God's people know there is nothing good in them that obliges God to favour us above another. Nothing honourable in us that God has not placed there himself. We are as sinful and as fallen as any. We are by nature the enemies of God, even as others. But we have come to learn in the gospel of free and sovereign grace, we have come to learn, to know, that he chose his people according to his own good pleasure and freely.

Now I've explained this word freely to you before and I'm going to say it again. Freely means he did it entirely without any reference to any merit in them. So when we speak about free and sovereign grace, that word free there means that it is God's choice entirely independent of any reference to merit in those chosen. All God's people know this to be true. It is inconsistent then that a child of God, having been graciously blessed by God in this way, impartially, should be in turn partial when dealing with others. And that is the lesson that James is showing here.

James gives an example of a rich man with a gold ring and expensive garments and a poor man in filthy clothes entering a gathering or an assembly of believers. We might assume that this is a church meeting.

I'm going to take a moment here and just have a little break off, as it were, from the thread of what I want to say, because I want to just draw your attention to something else. In this example, here is a man who has entered with a gold ring and expensive garments. We might wonder why this man feels it necessary to attend a meeting with such an ostentatious display of wealth. Why would he come in with showy clothes and fancy rings and distinctive garments? that might more appropriately suit a pope or a bishop or a high clergyman, all dressed up in our modern ecclesiastical denominations. It is no place amongst God's people. I mean, I mean, really, do you think that James had a mitre or an ermine cape or a golden shepherd's crook when he was officiating in church meetings? I could enlarge upon these thoughts, but that's for another sermon on another day.

Let's get back to thinking about the example that James is making here. In James' example, the rich man is given respect for his wealth. He is seated in the place of honour. The poor man, in turn, is ignored and neglected. And the apostle finds it intolerable that the outwardly rich should be treated favourably more than the evidently poor. and that by followers of the one who had nowhere to lay his head. This, says James, is being partial and a respecter of persons. It is crediting the rich, we might say, and the powerful. It is crediting the rich and the powerful with greater dignity because of his wealth and power while despising the poor and the weak for his poverty or his lack of ability to contribute. And it is unbecoming the church of Christ to act in this way.

But what I want us to notice here, because it's an example, what I want us to notice is how James deals with this sin, this unbecoming conduct. He doesn't condemn it explicitly and then make a new law. He does not lay down a rule to be obeyed depending on the character or appearance of those who enter into our assemblies. He inquires rather, are ye not then partial in yourselves? That's his question. It's a gentle question. It's a straightforward question.

Are ye not then partial in yourselves? We might see if we were paraphrasing that question. Does not your own conscience tell you this is wrong? Is it compatible with what you know of Christ? And the apostle is delicately but clearly contrasting this biased attitude in his example to the grace of God and the example of Christ in the experience of a believer, a saved soul.

And he points out that the gospel teaches us such partiality is incompatible with the faith of Christ. And therefore, it flows from evil thinking and worldly values. And what James has done here is he has provided us with a test of conduct for this particular example, but one that is to be replicated for believers in every situation.

Let me put it like this, James is asking, what would the Lord do in this situation? What would the Lord do in this moment? There was a popular fad a few years ago in some Christian circles, what would Jesus do? Well, there's no inappropriateness about that little phrase because that's exactly what James is saying to us here. What would Jesus do? What would the Lord do?

James calls on his fellow believers to listen to his words and weigh their importance. Consider what he is saying. He says, How has it been for you under the gospel? What is your experience of God's grace? Hath not God chosen the poor of this world? Has not God shown mercy to the poor in spirit? How does God treat the poor? He has honoured them in eternal election and redeemed them with precious blood. He has made them rich in faith. He has bestowed on them the promises of everlasting glory. If God chooses and blesses the poor, why would we despise them?

These are spiritual principles for practical living. This isn't a rule book of Christian conduct. It is putting into the hands of every believer the values and the terms of reference by which we serve God. And don't you dare protest that such liberty of action and liberty of conscience is okay for some people. But the immature and the weak, or maybe you mean the less intelligent, just need to be told what's right and wrong and just need to be told what to do.

On the contrary, This is the liberty of grace and it is the birthright of every born again believer. I already pointed out in my little introduction yesterday that James's argument does not imply that all the poor will be saved for reason of being poor. That would be partiality. So he's not implying that all the poor will be saved because they're poor, or indeed that none who are rich can be saved. That is obviously false as well.

And yet the evidence is irrefutable. Not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble are called. Paul tells the Corinthians in 1 Corinthians 1, verse 28, It is, however, inconsistent with the pattern of grace in the Gospel. to despise the poor of this world whom God delights to bless and is pleased to enrich with faith as he has done to us, making them heirs of his kingdom.

Actually, I think this is interesting. We may think of this the other way around as well. Those whom the Lord elects to salvation, He often keeps poor for our own good, because He knows how riches tempt a man and provoke to pride. In this context, there's a very precious verse in Zephaniah chapter three, verse 12. And I don't know when the last time was that I drew a verse from Zephaniah, but here it is. Chapter three, verse 12. The Lord is speaking and he says of his elect, I will also leave in the midst of thee an afflicted and poor people, and they shall trust in the name of the Lord."

What a wonderful thought that is. The Lord is saying in Zephaniah 3.12, I will also leave in the midst of thee an afflicted and poor people, and they shall trust in the name of the Lord. Let us never be dismissive of the afflicted and poor people that the Lord has left among us. Nor ungrateful for his mercy if we are those people.

The apostle notes the irony of being partial towards the rich. Let us be clear. We are not opposed to riches in and of themselves. Some of the Lord's saints of old have been wealthy men and women. But we note that riches come with greater risk and greater responsibility. Often it is those who are rich and powerful who most despise and oppose the simplicity of Christ and the Lord's people, inflicting harm upon them. It has been throughout history, and I dare say it continues and shall continue to be the case.

In James's example, in James's opinion, In his view, they oppress the Church of Christ. They drag believers before judges and they exploit the poor. Furthermore, he says, they blaspheme that worthy name by which ye are called.

The worthy name of Christ, the worthy name of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, is blasphemed by those who are proud in their own eyes, by those who deny Christ His efficacious grace, or indeed their need of it. Christ's worthy name is blasphemed by those who rob Christ of His sovereign glory. and who insert themselves into the work of salvation and ultimately tread underfoot the blood of Christ.

Such men are rich in their own estimation. Proverbs 28, verse 11 says, the rich man is wise in his own conceit. But Paul says in 2 Corinthians 10, 17, but he that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord.

James's lesson is clear. As God has blessed us, we ought to bless others. Having freely received, let us freely give. The faith of Jesus Christ is our most precious possession. And that we are able to give to others as we preach that faith and we preach the Lord Jesus Christ and we stand for the truth that has been revealed to us in the gospel.

It is infinitely more precious than the wasting, failing riches of this world. And it is common to all believers. All who have Christ have Christ's faith and are united together in him. He is Lord of glory and every believer, be they rich or poor, in this world's goods, have their true riches in the commonwealth of Christ.

We're redeemed by the same precious blood. We're ambassadors in Christ's cause. We serve at his pleasure under his rule. We are cared for by the same wise counsel and supplied from the same treasure store of mercy. We're members of his body and fitted for his purpose and he will provide all our needs according to his riches in glory.

We are priests and princes to the most high God and we need be partial to none.

May the Lord bless these thoughts to us today. Amen.