Turn again to James in chapter
1. Reading a little further on and
we read from verse 1. James a servant of God and of
the Lord Jesus Christ to the 12 tribes which are scattered
abroad greeting. My brethren count it all joy
when you fall into diverse temptations knowing this that the trying
of your faith work if patience but let patience have her perfect
work that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing. Knowing this, that the trying
of your faith worketh patience, but let patience have her perfect
work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing. We saw before the diverse temptations
which come upon the believer. which try to steer him from faith
in Christ and Christ alone. The accuser of the Brethren,
the devil, Satan, the old serpent is constantly whispering in the
believers ear. to turn him to the left hand
and the right hand, to add something to the work of Christ. Surely
you should do this, surely you should think this, surely you
should be saying this, surely you should respond like this.
He will constantly steer us away from Christ and Christ alone,
to something of our will, to something of our wisdom, to something
of our works. But James exhorts to count it
joy when these temptations come, because through them the Lord
constantly brings us back, away from self, away from man, away
from works, away from the religion of this world, unto His Son, His righteousness. His blood, His death, His cross,
His life, His resurrection, unto Christ and Christ alone. Know
in this that the trying of your faith worketh patience. Through these trials, daily,
continually, the believer is brought through the Gospel by
the Spirit to look continually, daily, constantly unto Christ
alone, as a sheep hearing the voice of the shepherd. as a sheep
who will not follow another. But though the sheep is constantly
turning to the left and the right, though the sheep is constantly
getting into trouble, yet the shepherd's there, yet the shepherd
calls and yet the sheep follows. And through this the sheep knows
the joy of being kept, led, provided for and watched over by the shepherd. And the sheep learn through these
things the patience of faith. That faith that trusts and rests
in Christ alone. That faith that endures trial
and temptation. That faith that endures persecution
and finds its rest, its hope, its all in Christ. But James
goes on to say, let patience have her perfect work. That ye
may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing. That ye may be perfect
and entire, wanting nothing. Now it's easy to read these things
without taking in just what's being said. But really here,
as in other parts of the scripture, that talk of us being perfect
in Christ, that talk of the believer being righteous, this is a remarkable statement. A remarkable statement. How can
we, sinners, rebels, those created of the dust of the earth, how
can we be perfect. How can we possibly be perfect? How can we be considered perfect? We are wretched and we know we're
wretched if the Lord shows us anything of ourselves. If the
Lord gives us any insight into what we are. We are constantly
aware, we're constantly taught the great depravity of sin within. that we are wretched rebels against
a holy God. There is no good within us. Jeremiah
speaks of the heart of man, that it is desperately wicked, it's
deceitful above all things, it's evil continually. Every day the
natural man's heart thinks evil, it says evil, it does evil. It's setting constant rebellion
and opposition towards God. It is enmity against God. We are enmity against God. We are rebels against the Holy
God. From our womb we have gone astray. We are conceived in iniquity. We have gone astray from the
womb speaking lies. We are born as children and we
constantly rebel. We rebel against our parents.
We rebel against authority. We rebel against the rule of
law. We rebel against righteousness. We seek our own ways, our own
glory, our own desires. We seek the fulfillment of our
flesh. We lust after this and we lust
after that. We will not have God to rule
over us. We will not have men to rule
over us, let alone God. We hate our brothers and sisters. We hate our fellow man. We hate
our neighbor. And so we hate God. We're rebels,
full of iniquity. And if you don't see yourself
in this light, if you turn your gaze away and say, not I, then
what a fool you are. How little you know of yourself. How little God has shown you.
For these things are plain and plain to be seen and they're
plainly seen throughout history, throughout the world, in every
sphere. We live in perilous times. We live in trying times. This
week, we have seen war break out in Europe. The world is moved
in its response to it. There is daily bloodshed and
fear in Ukraine and throughout the regions around. Many are
brought to terror. Many are daily losing their lives
through the iniquity, the sin of man. which finds its manifestation
at such times in the physical warfare and murder of his neighbours. Yet this is but one war. This
is but a reminder that sin is all around us and all within
us constantly throughout the ages. It's never gone away and
nor of its consequences. There has never been a time upon
this earth where there has been peace. Since the fall of man
in the garden, there has been war and hatred throughout history. There's never been a time on
this earth where there has not been nation fighting against
nation, and man fighting against man, and child fighting against
parents. There is constant warfare at
this present hour. This past week the world has
looked as Ukraine has become a battlefield. But before that,
the world is at war in Yemen and Syria and multiple nations
in Africa. Before that we've had years of
war in Afghanistan and years of war in Iraq. One conflict
after another conflict. There are multiple theaters of
war upon the face of this earth at this present hour. There always
have been, there always shall be. Because man's a sinner. And the illusion that mankind
is given that there might be peace and peace might be sustained
is sheer folly. We have been much blessed in
this country to have known relative peace for some time, but it's
an illusion. and though a blessing in itself
to live in a nation where there's peace and where this sort of
tragedy is not on our doorstep it has lulled people into a delusion
that life is about prospering is about gaining wealth and prospering
in health and gaining a home and a car and a family and a
good job and all these things as though they last forever they're
delusions Even if you're granted a peaceful
life, your life is but a moment and then you're gone and then
all that you've built up in life is taken away and the reality
comes upon you, the reality that your sin and rebellion against
the Holy God has brought. when you come to stand before
Him naked of all that you've gained in this world without
anything in your hands and all you can stand and answer for
is the iniquity that you have conceived each and every day
throughout your lifetime. You will stand before Him guilty except He washes you clean. This is the world in which we
live and this is the state of man. Where do these wars come
from? Where do these things come from?
They come from the heart of man which is within all of us. There
are those who self-righteously look on and commentate upon events
and say, how can this happen? How can this country do this
to another country? How can these leaders do these
things? How can these people commit these violent acts? When
the reality is we could all do it. We're all evil emperors at
heart. We're all murderers at heart. As long as someone doesn't get
in our way and cross our path and stop us achieving what we
want, we'll be friendly to them. But as soon as we want to go
a certain way and someone gets in our path, soon the fury, soon
the hatred comes to the fore. You know it. You see it every
day. You see it with children playing.
One moment they get along fine and the next moment they're raging
at each other. because the one wants this toy
and the other one won't give it. How petty and how small the
things that cause the greatest rage and the greatest argument
and this is just a manifestation of sin from whence spring wars. Murder is in everyone's heart.
We hate those that get in our way. by nature we hate the God
that's made us because we know we're guilty before him and we
know he's just and he's right if he should slay us. Then how can we wretched sinners
whoever we are, wherever we are, how can any sinner possibly be
described as being brought to be perfect and entire wanting
nothing? How can James speak of perfection
in this sense? We read earlier from Job chapter 9 where Job in all his
affliction having lost everything Having lost his family, having
lost his home and his possessions, having lost his health, on death's
door he sits, wretched, forsaken, tormented, unaware of his own depravity. taught of God that nothing that
has come upon him is not what he would deserve by nature. Though
the events that came upon Job were not judgments of Job because
of some sins he had specifically done, though the events that
came upon Job were sent as trials of which Job, James speaks in
this chapter, those trials and temptations ultimately which
would bring Job to cling to God and to look to God alone by faith. Though these things were sent
for Job's teaching and for our teaching through him, yet Job
was brought to see that all these things were nothing but that
which he deserved as a sinner. He didn't deserve family. He
didn't deserve wealth and prosperity. He didn't deserve his health.
He deserved nothing but God's wrath and eternal judgment for
his sin. He says in one place, though
the Lord, though he slay me, yet will I praise him. He knew
that God was just and righteous to deal with him in whatever
way God deemed fit. Job deserved nothing, he knew
he was wretched. He knew he deserved God's wrath. He knew there was no righteousness
in him. And in the midst of such misery,
he cries out at the beginning of Job chapter nine, how shall
man be just with God? How can I, a wretched sinner, who complains when things don't
go my way, who by nature rebels against God, who by nature is
at warfare, how can I a wretched sinner ever be just before God? How could I stand before Him
in the perfection which God's character demands? How could
God ever view me and say, you're perfect, Job, you're upright,
you're righteous? How can I come into God's presence? How can I stand before a holy
God when I'm a wretched sinner? And so we should ask the question
too. If God shows us anything of what we are, anything of what our thoughts
within deserve, Anything of what our true motives earn from a
holy God, if we know anything of what we are, so we too should
ask the same question. How shall man be just with God? God is all-powerful, he's righteous,
he created the heavens and the earth, he does what he wills.
I am nothing. I'm but a grain of dust upon
the earth, I'm a worm, a maggot, I'm vile, I stink before a holy
God. How can I be just? How can I
be perfect? And yet if I am not to be destroyed,
if I'm not to be cast off into hell forevermore, If I'm not
to be cast out of God's presence and thrown into outer darkness
forevermore, I must be just with God. There's no way to be just with
a holy God through our own efforts. Before God came to Job, when
Satan approached the Lord and said, I consider Job, he just
serves you for what he gets. Let me go and take everything
he has away from him and then we'll see where he stands. Before
God allowed Satan to try Job in this way, Job was described
as upright, perfect and upright before God. There wasn't anyone
like him. Outwardly, in a moral sense,
in an outward sense, he was a just, righteous living man. but inwardly
he was still a sinner. And Job knew that. In the sight
of other men he was upright, but in God's sight he was foul,
vile, corrupt within. Then if Job, who outwardly was
upright, who outwardly served God, if he was brought to know
that he was vile within. Then who can serve God? Who can
be just before a holy God by anything they do or anything
they say? Works will not save us. Our will
will not save us. Our outward conduct and zeal
will not save us. It will not make us righteous.
The Apostle Paul, Saul, was a Pharisee of the Pharisee. He, like Job,
outwardly speaking, would have been viewed by his peers as a
righteous man, a holy man. They'd have described him as
a man of God, a man of the book. And yet he was brought to see
that he was nothing. He cried out, would I cannot
do, and the evil that I would not, that I do. O wretched man
that I am, who shall deliver me from this body of sin and
death? O wretched man that I am, I'm
nothing. My best deeds, my righteousnesses
condemn me. They're as filthy rags before
a holy God. My righteousnesses are as filthy
rags. My best deeds condemn me. It's not simply that we have
some evil deeds on one side of the scale. And we have our good
deeds on the other side of the scale. But there's not enough
on the good side. So we're outweighed by the evil
side. It's not even that. The side that we would think
is on the good side is not on the good side. Our good deeds
are all weighed on the evil side of the scale. They plunge us
down. So even though we may live a certain way, even though we
may try to turn from sin and turn from a rebellious way, even
though we might try to serve God and read the scriptures and
pray under Him and call under Him and walk before Him, even
though we may think we're seeking God, even all of that is not
gaining us any favor. It's bringing us deeper into
sin. It's building up our pride because
we do it in our own strength. And though we say it's in God's
service, it's ultimately for our own glory. A wretched man
that I am, Paul says. How shall man be just with God? How can we be perfect and entire
before a holy God? One way, and one way only. This is the way that Paul discovered
on the Damascus road. When he was riding the other
way, when he was heading to persecute the church of Jesus Christ, when
he was raging against God and his son, he met with Christ upon
the way. He met the only one who could
deliver him. He met the only one who could
save him. He met the only one who could
wash him clean and make him righteous and perfect before a holy God.
He met Christ his Saviour. And the only way to be just before
a holy God is to meet with Christ our Saviour. Job met with him. Job by faith was brought to see
clearly his Redeemer. I know that my Redeemer liveth,
he said. He came to see he had nothing
good in himself, but by faith in Christ, by looking to that
one who would redeem him, who would set him free, who would
pay the prices sin had earned. there was his salvation, there
was his righteousness, there was his perfection. There is
only one way to be just, one way to be perfect before God,
through faith in Christ alone. entirely, solely, exclusively
through faith in Christ alone. There is our righteousness. There
is our perfection. We are perfect in Christ if we're
his. If he died for us, if he came
for us, If he bore our sin and our rebellion, if he stood in
Job's place and bore Job's iniquity and took it away, that's what
made Job clean. And if he stood in our place
and bore our iniquity, bore our sins and transgressions and took
it away, that's what makes us clean and nothing else. It's
not your turning to Him. It's not your works before Him. It's not your decision to believe
on Him. It's not even your faith. Your
faith is that which He gives you. He opens your eyes to see
that which once you were blind to. And when your eyes are opened,
through faith you see Christ hanging upon a cross in your
place. taking away your sin, taking
away the wrath and the judgment of God and bringing in for you
the righteousness of God. How shall man be just with God
one way through faith in Christ alone, through his death, through
his blood. We are perfect in Christ And
He made us perfect and entire. He perfected us at the cross. The whole world existed for that
moment. The whole world waited for that
moment in time. And since, the whole world looks
back to that moment in time. The patience of the saints of
old as they waited for the coming of Christ as they waited for
the Redeemer to come to this earth and deliver them from their
sins that patience was tested that faith endured until that
day when Christ came into this world to save sinners. Until
that day when Christ walked the path up out of Jerusalem, outside
of the camp, carrying the cross. Until that day and that hour
when they laid him upon the cross and nailed him to it and lifted
him up. Until that hour when God laid
upon Him the iniquity of all His people throughout all time. Until that hour when God laid
upon His Son the sins and the transgressions of every sinner
for whom Christ died, every sinner that the Father chose from eternity
unto salvation, until that hour when the darkness descended upon
the earth as God poured out His wrath upon His own Son. The world
existed and patience found its perfect work in waiting for that
hour to come. that righteousness to be poured
out in judgment, the sun to bear his people's sins in the darkness
by faith as he hung as a sacrifice, a lamb slaughtered in the place
of his people. All history waited for that moment. That moment when righteousness
would be manifested. That moment when God would deliver
his people from their sins. Because until that moment, and
throughout all time, we know that there is none righteous,
no not one. There's none that understands.
There's none that seeketh after God. They are all gone out of
the way, you and me included. We are all together become unprofitable. There's none that doeth good,
no not one. Our throats are as an open sepulcher. With our tongues we have used
deceit. The poison of asps is under our
lips. Our mouths are full of cursing
and bitterness. Our feet are swift to shed blood. Destruction and misery is in
our way. The way of peace we have not
known. There is no fear of God before
our eyes. We are all wretched sinners outside
of Christ, outside of that hour. When God laid upon him the sins
of his people, Paul goes on, now we know that what things
soever the law saith it saith to them who are under the law
that every mouth may be stopped and all the world may become
guilty before God therefore by the deeds of the law there shall
no flesh be justified in his sight for by the law is the knowledge
of sin all religion all knowledge Even the law of God simply brings
us to that place of proving us guilty before a holy God. You may say, as a sinner, well
now, I will turn from my sins, I will turn to the Lord. I will
seek to live right, I'll turn to His law, I'll seek to live
by it, I'll do all things that the Lord has commanded. Israel
of old, when Moses came down from the mount and read to them
the Ten Commandments and the law given unto him in Sinai,
said, all that the Lord hath commanded, that we will do. For
in their pride and their folly, all that that law did was prove
them to be guilty before a holy God. It stopped their mouths
before Him, it made them guilty before Him. Therefore, by the
deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in His
sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin. Has God given
you the knowledge of sin, of your sin? your sin, your rebellion
against him, as he taught you, as he shown you, that how shall
man be just with God, not through the law, not by my works, not
by works of righteousness that I have done. For by the deeds
of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight. as
he brought you there, guilty like Job, guilty like Paul, guilty
like David, guilty before a holy God. And has he in the gospel
led you to the cross as a guilty sinner to behold his son lifted
up above the earth before you. Has he brought you to that place
where his righteousness is manifested, where perfection is brought forth,
where he says unto sinners like you and me, here is righteousness,
here is your perfection, here is salvation look unto me all
ye ends of the earth and be saved be delivered from your iniquity
be delivered from your sin be delivered from the condemnation
and wrath to come here is salvation as he brought you to see his
son nailed to the tree suffering in the darkness for iniquity
As He brought you to Romans 3 and verse 21, we're having shown
that the world in its entirety is guilty before God. God says,
here at the cross, in my Son, the righteousness of God is manifested. But now the righteousness of
God without the Law is manifested, being witnessed by the Law and
the Prophets, even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus
Christ, unto all and upon all them that believe. For there
is no difference, for all have sinned and come short of the
glory of God. But now the righteousness of
God without the law is manifested. The righteousness of God which
is by faith of Jesus Christ. This is where righteousness and
perfection is brought in for the people of God. Here in the
darkness When God judged His Son, when He laid His people's
sins upon Him, He judged Him in righteousness. And Christ,
by faith, suffered the judgment in righteousness. He hung in
the darkness. By faith, loving His Father and
loving His Brethren, loving his people, giving his life for them,
bearing the judgment that they deserved, suffering the eternity
of God's wrath in hell, in the three hours of darkness upon
the cross, he bore what they deserved to suffer, he bore their
eternal judgment because he loved them. He exhibited the fulfillment
of the law in every way. He perfectly loved his neighbor. He perfectly loved God. He gave
himself for them. As Paul said, he loved me and
gave himself for me. And he endured the darkness. He endured patiently the hours,
the torment, the eternity of God's wrath. Though in time it
was expressed in three hours of darkness, in reality it was
eternity. If you tried to measure Christ's
suffering, if you tried to time it, you'd never exhaust it, the
stopwatch would carry on for eternity. He endured it patiently
by faith. Though he was in the darkness,
though all men had rejected him, though God his Father turned
his face from him, though he cried out unto his God, My God,
my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Yet his faith Endured, he
looked, he waited, he believed, he knew that by offering up himself
salvation would be the result. He knew that by offering up himself
righteousness and perfection would be brought in everlastingly
for his people. He endured. Patience had its
perfect work. Through his faith, through his
patience in the darkness, through his suffering, the faith, the
patience, the suffering of his people is brought to perfection
in him who suffered and endured for them. He brought forth patience,
perfect work, making us perfect and entire in him. perfect and entire in Him. 2 Corinthians 5 Paul says, He who
knew no sin was made sin. He bore our sins. He bore the curse. He bore the
guilt. He bore the wrath and the fires
of God's wrath. That we in Him might be made
the righteousness of God. That we in Him might be made
perfect. That all His people chosen of
God, elected unto salvation, in Him should be perfect, righteous,
and entire, complete. Elsewhere in Colossians Paul
says that we are complete, ye are complete in him. Complete, you're a perfect man,
entire, complete, lacking nothing, wanting for nothing, in him. He's the one. that makes us righteous. He's the one that makes us perfect. He's the one that makes wretched
sinners just before a holy God. And he did it at the cross. Which is why Paul when he went
to preach, said he'll have nothing known among us except Christ
and him crucified. His constant message is the cross. His constant message is Christ. He constantly in the gospel points
the gaze of faith once more to the cross. to Christ in the darkness,
to his work of faith upon the cross, to the manifestation of
God's righteousness. Here's your salvation. Behold the Lamb of God. Whatever you're brought to endure,
whatever trial comes your way, whatever temptation comes your
way, the answer's the Gospel. Look unto Christ and be ye saved. And as we're tried, as we're
constantly tempted to look away, to turn away, to go this way
and that way, as we're tried, we're constantly brought back
by the Gospel to look unto Christ and patiently wait upon Him and
patiently hope for Him and trust in Him and rest in Him eternally. And through this, patience has
perfect work. In us, patience brings us to
an end of self, an absolute end of self so that Christ is all
we have. It brings us to an end of any
hope, any strength, any looking upon ourselves and our own ability. It brings us to see that we have
nothing but Christ. This is where Job was brought,
he was stripped of everything but his Redeemer. And through this we learn, as
Job learned in essence, what it is to be perfect in Christ,
in Him and only in Him. We want for nothing. We want
nothing. Because we come to know in experience
that we have nothing outside of Christ. He's our all. He's
everything. We have the riches of God in
Him. We have righteousness. We have
eternal life. We have an eternal inheritance.
We have everything in Him. We want for nothing. There's
nothing that can be added to Him. There's nothing that can
be had outside of Him. There's nothing in this world.
that we can gain, that we can cling hold of, that is worth
having, that can add in any way to that which we have in Christ.
Everything else shall be burnt up as the wood, hay and stubble
it is. And the gold that we have in
Christ shall last forever. We have Christ as our all in
all and through these things, through these trials, our faith
is tried and made perfect and patience is brought to have her
perfect work. But until we learn this, we will
keep turning aside thinking we need this or that. or we must
do this or that, or perhaps the Lord would have us do this or
that. It's a continual thing, a daily thing. This is not an
experience that James speaks of in being brought through many
years of a Christian life to reach a point where we are now
perfect and entire. It's not that we start our journey
at some imperfect place and after many years we gradually become
more and more sanctified and more and more perfect as many
teach. Now this is a daily and a constant
thing reminding us that we are perfect and we are entire now
in Christ. We're constantly being taught
to brush aside all hope and confidence in man, in self, in the flesh.
We have nothing but Him and we have everything in Him. We are always perfect and entire
in Him. Each day we're tried to bring
us back to Him. To remind us of what we are in
Christ alone. To remind us of what we are in
ourself but nothing but sin in self. To remind us of how wretched
the flesh is and how it's consumed and burnt up and how it was consumed
and burnt up at the cross. But in Christ we have our all
righteousness, perfection, completeness. We are perfect and entire, wanting
nothing in Him. Wanting nothing. Yes, we want
for nothing because we are complete, perfect in Christ alone. And it's the patience of faith
alone that brings us to see this. We've seen this in Job. James
in his epistle in chapter 5 reminds us of Job he says he have heard
of the patience of Job because Job is such a picture an example
of this patience in practice in experience Job lost everything
and in losing everything and seeing himself as nothing but
a wretched sinful worm in God's presence, he cried out, how shall
man be just with God? That pathway is a pathway we
all need to be brought on to see ourselves as nothing. But
Joe, through patience, through faith, through the love of faith,
the hope of faith, knew the answer to his question. We are just,
righteous, perfect, entirely in Christ. Through faith in Christ
alone, we look by faith to Him who is our righteousness. We
are the righteousness of God in Jesus Christ. James turns
to Job and his patience because this is very much James's letters
theme that we are justified by faith but that true faith will
be tried It will be taught patience, it will be taught to patiently
wait upon the Lord and know that it's all, it's fulfillment, it's
perfect work is found in Christ and Christ alone. Elsewhere James
will go on to speak of showing us the reality of faith, show
me your faith by your works, that it's real. Because faith
is not a notion. It's not a presumption upon something
that's not a reality. Faith will be brought to be patient. Faith will be tried. Faith will
trust. Faith will work by love. Faith will wait upon the Lord. Faith believes. Faith hopes. And faith alone finds its fulfillment
in Christ. and Christ alone, in whom we
want for nothing. Yes, Job had nothing, naturally
speaking. He lost all, naturally speaking. He lost his wealth, his health,
his friends, his family, but he was shown that he had his
all for eternity in Christ alone. At the end of Job we read that
God restored him upon the earth, his latter end was greater than
the beginning. But in truth that was just a
picture of what he was in Christ eternally. He was perfect and
entire in Christ, wanting nothing. Are you? Has God shown you what
he showed Job? Has he brought you to cry out,
how shall I be just with God? Has he brought you by faith to
fall down upon your knees at the cross and see the Lamb of
God slain in the darkness for you? To see the Son of God nailed
to a cross in your place? To see the faith of the Son of
God? Has he brought you to see one
who loved you and gave himself for you? Did Christ give himself
for you? Has your faith had its perfect
work to look and behold a Saviour in whom you find by faith that
you are perfect and entire, wanting nothing? Oh may God bring us
this way to show us these things, to show us that this world below,
full of war, full of death, full of hatred, is fading away. But in eternity, those who are
brought by faith to Christ shall live and dwell with Him forevermore
and never die. They will dwell with He who loves
them eternally. Amen.