I've entitled the message for
this evening, Who Are the Twelve Tribes? And we're going to begin
an exposition of the book of James, and I believe that James
may be the most misunderstood and abused book in all the Bible. I don't know how many times I've
had people say to me, when I was trying to talk to them about
the gospel of grace. What about faith without works?
And they'll go to James chapter 2. Turn with me there, please. Verse 20. But wilt thou know,
O vain man, that faith without works is dead? Was not Abraham
our father justified by works when he had offered Isaac his
son upon the altar? Seest thou how faith wrought
with his works, and by works was faith made perfect? And the
scripture was fulfilled, which saith, Abraham believed God,
and it was imputed unto him for righteousness, and he was called
the friend of God. You see how that by works a man
is justified, and not by faith only. As I said, when I talk
to people about the gospel of grace, they quickly turn to that
passage of scripture. What about faith without works
being dead? Well, we're going to get to that. I've read, I don't want this
to be academic, and it's not, but I've just read a whole lot
about James and the history of this book, learned some things
I didn't know. I didn't realize that James was the very first
epistle written. It was written before any of
the epistles of Paul. Now, there's arguments about
it. Some people have said that it wasn't written into the 150
A.D. and it was actually watered-down
Christianity, one fellow said. It's totally unlike the Apostle
Paul. And Martin Luther even claimed
he didn't believe it belonged in the Bible. He said it's not
inspired. It has no reason to be in the
canon. And he was wrong for saying something
like that because if James is not inspired, who's to say any
of it is? I mean, you can't just pick out
one and say, I don't like what this says. And indeed, it does
speak differently than Brother Martin generally spoke. But he
said no, that he called it an epistle of straw. And you know
it's not that. I read one fellow who actually
said James is not concerned with theological principles, but how
to live. How to live. That's what James
is about, how to live in this world. Now, if we do as James
says to do, we will indeed be enabled to live in this world
the way we ought to. But although Bible tells us stuff
like that. As far as that goes for them,
everybody knows how to live. Everybody knows you ought to
pay your bills. Everybody knows you ought not steal. Everybody
knows you ought to be sexually pure. Everybody knows that you
ought not covet. You ought to be obedient to your
parents. You ought to respect authority. You ought not lie.
Everybody knows that stuff. Everybody's born into this world
knowing this stuff, and that's why it always bothers me when
religious people talk about wanting to be taught how to live. You
already know. You already know. You're born
into this world with the work of the law written in your heart.
People know what they ought to do. Now, it's true that through
a continued life of sin, your conscience can become deadened
and you don't know anything. I realize that. But still, everybody's
born into this world knowing how to live. So if I look at
the book of James and say, well, this is a practical book, it's
a book about how to live, I really don't see the meaning of it at
all. Now, who was James? Who was James? He was not the James who was
the brother of John because he was killed in Acts chapter 12.
James was the Lord's half-brother. He's the one who wrote this book,
and he's mentioned in Mark 6, verse 3, is not this the carpenter,
the son of Mary, the brother of James? I think it's interesting
that James does not mention that the Lord is his brother. If the
Lord was my brother, I'd mention it. But James doesn't for wise
and holy purposes. In John chapter 7 verse 5 we
read where he did not believe his brother. Now can you imagine
growing up? This man grew up in the same
house as the Lord Jesus Christ. And at first he did not believe
because John chapter 7 verse 5 says neither did his brethren
believe him, but Christ saved his brother. Christ saved his brother. So that James believed his brother
to be the Lord of glory. That's an amazing thing, isn't
it? His brother, the one he grew up with, he saw to be The Lord
of Glory. Now the Lord appeared to James
after the resurrection during that 40 days when he was making
himself known at different times. One of these appearances was
to James and James became the pastor of the church at Jerusalem.
He's mentioned in Acts as the pastor of the church at Jerusalem.
And Paul called him, in Galatians chapter 2, a pillar of the church. And according to Josephus, he
was martyred in 62 AD, which is before a lot of the epistles
of Paul came out anyway. They said he was clubbed to death
by the Jews for the preaching of the gospel. But this epistle
was probably written Between 45 and 48 AD, making it the oldest
epistle of all the epistles. And it begins with these words. James, a servant, a slave of God and
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Some read this, a servant of
Jesus Christ who is God and Lord. James a slave, one who gave himself up to another's
will, devoted to another's, to the disregard of his own interests. Let me repeat that. What is a
slave? A slave is one who gives himself
up to another's will, delivered to another's interest, to the
disregard of his own interests. Wouldn't that be a blessing if
that would describe me and you? A slave. A slave of Jesus Christ. disregarding my own life, thinking
only of the promotion of His glory. Wouldn't that be a blessing? A slave, a servant of the Lord
Jesus Christ. How we love His name. He's the
Lord. He's the Lord. I love thinking about what that
means. That means I'm in His hands, you're in His hands, everybody's
in His hands. The Lord is the one whose will
is done. He's the absolute sovereign of the universe. He's the Lord,
but how we love His name, Jesus. Thou shalt call His name Jesus,
for He shall save His people from their sins. He's the Christ. He's God's Christ. He's God's
anointed. He's God's prophet, God's priest, God's king, the
Lord Jesus Christ. Don't you love his name? We love
to sing of Christ our king and hail him, blessed Jesus. For
there's no word here ever heard so dear, so sweet as Jesus. And he's writing. to the twelve
tribes scattered. I don't think I'd ever thought
about that before in this introduction to this book. James, a servant
of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, and this is a general
epistle, it's not to any local church like Corinth or Ephesus,
this is a general epistle given to everybody, and he addresses
the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad. And I guess they were
scattered because they'd been persecuted. You read in Acts
chapter 8 where the persecution came and they all went everywhere.
They were scattered and went everywhere preaching the word.
And the Lord used this so the gospel would be spread. But they
were the twelve tribes scattered. Now the twelve sons of Jacob
scattered. Greetings. Now, who are these 12 tribes?
Now, James was the pastor at Jerusalem, and perhaps every
member at first was a national physical Jew. I'd say there weren't
any Gentiles in this early church. As a matter of fact, the salvation
of the Gentiles doesn't come along until Acts chapter 10,
where Peter preaches to Cornelius, and that's when Gentiles were
converted. But up to this point, Christ
had said, I'm only sin to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. James was speaking to Jews and
you can't believe, you can't read the Bible and fail to see
that in the Old Testament God made a difference between the
Jews and everybody else. He said against any of the children
of Israel, this is wild The Passover was going on. He said, again,
seeing the children of Israel, shall not a dog move his tongue
against man or beast, so that you may know how that the Lord
doth put a difference between Egypt and Israel. God made such
a big difference. Turn with me for a moment to
Deuteronomy chapter 7. When the Lord thy God, verse
one, when the Lord thy God shall bring thee into the land whither
thou goest to possess it, and he's cast out many nations before
thee, the Hittites, the Bergeshites, the Amorites, the Canaanites,
the Perizzites, the Hivites, the Jebusites, seven nations
greater and mightier than thou, he's going to kick them out.
And when the Lord thy God shall deliver them before thee, thou
shalt smite them and utterly destroy them. Thou shalt make
no covenant with them, nor show mercy unto them. Neither shalt
thou make marriages with them, thy daughter thou shalt not give
unto his son, and his daughter shalt thou not take unto thy
son, his wife. For they will turn away thy son
from following me, that they may serve other gods. So will
the anger of the Lord be kindled against you, and destroy thee
suddenly. But thus shalt thou deal with them, thou shalt destroy
their altars, break down their images, cut down their groves,
and burn their graven images with fire. For thou art a holy
people unto the Lord thy God. The Lord thy God hath chosen
thee to be a special people unto himself above all people that
are upon the face of the earth. Now did God make a difference?
He surely did. Verse 7, The Lord did not set
his love upon you, nor choose you, because you were more in
number than any people. For you were the fewest of all
people, but because the Lord loved you." That's why. Because the Lord loved you. His sovereign love to his people. He didn't choose you because
he saw anything good in you. You were the weakest. You were
the fewest. But he loved you. Oh, to be loved of God. Why me? Now, What this was, this visible
distinction between them and the rest of the world was given
to illustrate the distinction God makes with his people, with
those who are not believers. Now, what was the physical distinction
that separated them from everybody else? Well, you know the answer
to that, circumcision. And if you think about circumcision
as a religious right, I don't even know what to say about it,
because it really, in many respects, that seems strange, doesn't it?
That you would have the foreskin cut away, and that's what the
Lord wanted them to do, and it's uncomfortable to say the least.
And yet that was the visible difference between the Jews and
everybody else. The cutting away of the foreskin.
And when the Jews spoke in contempt of other people, they were referred
to as uncircumcised. You remember what David said
to Goliath? Who is this uncircumcised that he should defy the armies
of the living God? That was the ultimate contempt
that the Jew would use toward a Gentile. They would refer to
him as being uncircumcised. Now, the Jewish nation and the
covenant of circumcision was given to illustrate the spiritual
Jew and spiritual circumcision. That's what we're going to be
considering. Who are the Jews? Who are the 12 tribes? Now, throughout
the New Testament, this is taught. Peter said, you're a chosen generation. And he's speaking to Gentiles. a royal priesthood, a holy nation,
a peculiar people. Look in Romans chapter 4. Now, where I'm going with this is
I want to find out if I'm a Jew. No Jew? I want to find out if
I'm a real Jew, a true spiritual Jew. Look in Romans chapter 4,
verse 9. Permit this blessedness then
upon the circumcision only. What blessedness? Look at verse
8 or 7. Blessed are they whose iniquities
are forgiven and whose sinners are covered. Blessed is the man
to whom the Lord will not impute sin. What a state of blessedness
that is! To not have sin imputed to you.
To have the righteousness of Christ. Now, he says, is this
only for the Jews? Is this only for the circumcised? Cometh this blessedness then
upon the circumcision only, or upon the uncircumcision also?
For we say that faith was reckoned to Abraham for righteousness.
How was it then reckoned when he was in circumcision or in
uncircumcision? not in circumcision, but in uncircumcision. And he received the sign of circumcision,
a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had yet being
uncircumcised, that he might be the father of all them that
believe, though they be not circumcised, that righteousness might be imputed
unto them also, and the father of circumcision to them who are
not of the circumcision only, but who also walk in the steps
of that faith of our father Abraham which he had being uncircumcised. All of this is given to illustrate
what a believer is. To walk in the steps of Abraham. Turn to Galatians chapter 3. Galatians 3 verse 9. So then they which be
of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham. Verse 29. If ye be Christ's
Then are you Abraham's seed and heirs according to the promise. Turn to Romans chapter 9. Verse 6, It is not as though
the word of God hath taken none effect. But they are not all
Israel, which are of Israel. Neither because they are the
seed of Abraham are they all children, but in Isaac shall
thy seed be called. That is, they which are the children
of the flesh, the physical Jews, these are not the children of
God, but the children of the promise are counted for the seed. For this is the word of promise,
at this time will I come, and Sarah shall have a son." Now
just being a physical Jew doesn't make you a Jew. It's what it
represents. So when James was writing to
the twelve tribes scattered abroad, he was writing to the true Jews. The true twelve tribes. So perhaps a better way of saying
this would be, who is a Jew? who are the Jews. I think of
what the Lord said in the letter to the church at Smyrna and the
church of Philadelphia. He was rebuking them for having
there in their midst those who say they are Jews and are not. He's not talking about saying
I'm a physical Jew. He's talking about saying he's
a believer. They say they are Jews and they are not and he's
rebuking them about that. Now I've got a couple of passages
that tell us in no uncertain terms what these Jews are and
I'm going to find out if I'm a real Jew. First turn with me
to Romans chapter 2. Verse 28. For he is not a Jew. Did you hear that? How many different
ways are there to take that? He is not a Jew, which is one
outwardly. Now I grew up in Ashland, Kentucky.
Downtown was owned by the Jews. They owned the stores. You go
in there and they owned it all. They practiced the Jewish religion.
They were very nice people, but they owned everything down there. And they're not true Jews. They're not true Jews. He is not a Jew, which is one
outwardly. Neither is that circumcision
which is outward in the flesh. Now if someone has physical circumcision,
that's not circumcision, that's not even what it means. Here's
who the Jew is, verse 29. But he is a Jew which is one
inwardly. Something has been done on the
inside of this man this woman and the circumcision is that
of the heart. Do you remember when Stephen
said you uncircumcised in heart and ears? They've been physically
circumcised. They were Jews he was speaking
to but he says you're uncircumcised in heart and ears. You can't
hear the gospel. Somebody that's a true Jew is
someone who has had something done on the inside and they've
been given a circumcised Now, what is the evidence of a circumcised
heart? How can I know if God has performed
this operation on me? How can I know if I've had the
circumcision made without hands? I want to know. Let's go on reading. It's seen in this statement. The circumcision is that of the
heart in the spirit and not in the letter. Now, what do I understand
of this in the spirit and not in the letter? The circumcised
heart is a heart that's circumcised in the spirit and not in the
letter. Now, the letter of the law, and
he speaks several times about this throughout the New Testament,
the letter and the spirit. It's also spoken in 2 Corinthians chapter
3. When you read the law, the letter of the law says this,
if I break this commandment, I'll be punished. If I keep this
commandment, I'll be rewarded. That's the letter of the law. If I avoid this sin, it'll be
a blessing to me and my life will be better. If I commit this
sin, I'm in trouble. I'm going to be punished. That
is the letter of the law. That's what you read. But what
was the law for? What was God's intention of the
law? Now, you've got the spirit of
the law. When you read the law and you see that all you have
done is broken it, that you haven't kept one commandment one time,
and the only hope you have is the Lord Jesus Christ. You have
no hope anywhere else. All the law does is condemn you. If you can look over the law
and say, well, at least I've kept that commandment, you're in the letter of the law. You have
no idea of what the spirit of the law is. Turn with me to Romans
chapter 3. You're real close. Romans chapter 3. Verse 19, Now we know that what
thing 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. Now there is the spirit of the
law. 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. Now when the law has done this
to you, when it's made you see that all you are is sin and you
haven't kept one commandment one time, don't you know? You
know that you can't perform a righteousness of any kind and the only way
you can be saved is by the righteousness of Jesus Christ. Now that's the
spirit of the law. The letter knows the spelling. You can win a spelling bee and
not know what one of the words mean. I remember when I was in
grade school and we'd have spelling bees. I wanted to win so bad
I'd get up there and never won one. But that was always my goal,
to win a spelling bee. But I can remember spelling words
that I didn't know what they meant. I knew how to spell them,
but I didn't know what they meant. But you cannot know how to spell
any of the words and know what all of them mean. That's the
spirit. You have some kind of understanding.
Now, what I was thinking about, what separates this church from
about every other church in Lexington? And I can't say infallibly about
all the churches. I wouldn't say this is the only
church that preaches the gospel, because I don't know. There's
many of them I haven't been in, and I think it's unwise to make
a statement like that when you haven't been in all of them.
And so you can't say that. But for the most part, what separates
us from other churches is what we believe concerning the Word
of God, concerning the gospel, but it's summarized by the doctrine
of grace. The doctrine of grace. Total
depravity. Unconditional election, limited
atonement, irresistible, invincible grace, and perseverance are the
same. That's called the doctrine of grace. And we believe that
you can't preach the gospel and not preach the five points. You can't preach the gospel and
not preach that. Now, here is the letter of the five points. Here is the spirit of the five
points. The letter is, you know, I see
the Bible does teach total depravity. No man can come to me except
the Father which has sent me. I see the Bible does in fact
teach that. Here's the spirit, I'm totally depraved. Here's the letter of election.
I see the Bible does teach election according as it's chosen, it's
in him before the foundation of the world. The Spirit is,
I need God to choose me or I won't be saved. The letter is, I see the Bible
teaches limited atonement. I see where Christ only died
for the elect. I mean, that's obvious. If you read the Bible,
it's taught and it makes sense. But the Spirit of it is the only
hope I have is that Christ died for me. I've got no other hope. The letter of Invincible grace,
you see, and the Bible teaches it. The Spirit is finding God's
grace irresistible and invincible to you. The letter is believing
in perseverance. The Spirit is persevering by
the grace of God. You see, there's all the difference
in the world. When that just becomes doctrine
to you that you can argue over, it's not even real. But when
it becomes, meet and drink what you need, And look what God says
about this person, whose praise is not of men, but of God. God praises the true
Jew. You see, it's his work. He can
praise his work, can't he? He doesn't praise anything about
our flesh. But this is all his work, this new heart, this circumcised
heart, this new nature. He praises it. That's remarkable
in itself. Now turn to Philippians chapter
3. Here's the other scripture I want us to look at. And this
is who James was writing to when he was writing to the 12 tribes
scattered. This physical Jew that's circumcised represents
a spiritual Jew, represents the true Jew, the true believer.
Now look here in Philippians chapter 3. If you'd ask me what's one of
the verses you'd really love to preach the gospel from, this
is one of the verses that I'd love to preach the gospel from.
Now, God says in verse three, he says, for we are the circumcision. And he gives three marks. We
are the circumcision, which worship God in the spirit. and rejoice
in Christ Jesus and have no confidence in the flesh. Now here is the
true Jew. Are you a Jew? Here's what a
Jew does. He worships God. He doesn't merely believe in
God. The devils believe in God. He worships God. He worships God for who He is. He worships the sovereign God. He worships the all-powerful
God. He worships the holy God, the
just God, the immutable God. He worships God for who He is
as He's revealed in His Word. With regard to worship, you can't
reject anything the Bible says and worship. You worship God
as is revealed in His Word. And to reject any aspect of God
in His Word is to reject Him. There's no worship. Paul said,
after the way which they call heresy, so worship I, the God
of my fathers, believing all things which were written. That's
what worship is. But notice what he says. And
anybody that ever worships God knows this is absolutely necessary.
We worship God in the Spirit. There's no worshiping God without
the Holy Spirit. It's impossible for the flesh
to worship God. And I've said this many times
before. That's why when I invite people to church, I don't say,
come worship with us. I'm not going to tell an unbeliever
to come worship with me. He can't. I want him to come
and hear the gospel. I want him to hear the truth.
But as far as worship, only God the Holy Spirit can cause true
worship. We worship God in the Spirit. Now what is the one evidence
of someone who worships God in the Spirit? Is it how they feel? Well, worship can be a glorious
feeling, there's no doubt about it. But here's the one evidence
of worshiping God in the Spirit. Rejoicing in Christ Jesus. If you rejoice, now that word
rejoice means you glory. You boast. You have confidence
in. You rest in. You rejoice in Christ
Jesus. You don't rejoice in your works.
You don't rejoice in your efforts. You don't rejoice in anything
but in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, the circumcised heart is
a heart that rejoices, glories in, boasts in Christ Jesus. And you know, the only time you
ever rejoice in Christ Jesus is when you have absolutely nothing
else to rejoice in. You don't have a thing of your
own. You don't have any works to recommend you. You don't have
any good feelings to recommend you. The only time you actually
rejoice in glory in Christ is when you have absolutely nothing
else to glory. Now that's faith. When you don't
have anything else to look, that's faith. Looking to Christ only. To where you really believe that
everything that God requires of you, He looks to Jesus Christ
His Son for. Do you believe that? That's what
it is to rejoice in Christ. You look to Him the same way
God looks to Him. How much of your salvation does
God look to Christ for? One hundred percent. How much
of your salvation do you look to Christ for? One hundred percent. Now, we are the circumcision
which worship God in the Spirit. Well, how do you know if you
really worship God in the Spirit? Well, here's how you know. You
rejoice in Christ Jesus. Well, how do you know if you're
really rejoicing in Christ Jesus? You have no confidence in the
flesh. That's how you know. You have
absolutely no confidence in the flesh. You really believe with
Paul that in your flesh dwelleth no good thing. And you really believe with Isaiah
that your righteousnesses are as filthy rags and you don't
have anything to bring to the table. You believe that about
yourself? Now that is the true deal. He
worships God in the Spirit. He rejoices in Christ Jesus.
Like Paul said in Galatians 6, 14, God forbid that I should
glory. Save in the cross of our Lord
Jesus Christ. Of Him are you in Christ Jesus,
who of God is made unto us. Christ has made this unto us.
God made Him to be this to us. Wisdom. righteousness, sanctification,
and redemption. He's all those things to all
who glory in Him. Now that is who James is writing
to, the 12 tribes scattered. The true Jews, the true Israel
of God. Now I can say this, If that's
what a Jew is, I am one. And James is writing
to me. And I'm looking forward to see
what all he has to say to the true Jews. Let's pray together. Lord, we ask that we might be
the true circumcision. We ask that our circumcision might be that
of the heart in the spirit, not in the letter, whose praise is
not of men, but of God. Lord, we ask that we might be
enabled to worship You in the Spirit. Lord, You've told
us in Your Word that Your Spirit and they that worship You must
worship You in spirit and in truth. We ask that we would be
enabled to do that. And Lord, teach us to rejoice
only in Thy Son. And teach us to have no confidence
the flesh. Oh Lord, that everybody in this
room might be a true Jew. Bless these words for Christ's
sake. In His name we pray. Amen.