Turn in your Bibles, please,
to James Chapter 2. The Apostle James in this second
chapter writes upon three subjects. First, a sin to guard
against. A sin for believers to guard
against. And then second, the law of God,
the word of God. And third, that justifying faith
will have works. This morning, we're going to
look at the first two subjects only. First, a sin to guard against. Notice, if you will, beginning
in verse one, my brethren, have not the faith of our Lord Jesus
Christ, the Lord of glory, with respect of persons. This is the
sin that James warns against, respect of persons. If you look
down to verse nine, He calls it a sin. But if you have respect
to persons, you commit sin and are convinced of the law as transgressors. He shows us in these verses that
to respect a person upon their appearance is a sin. And it is
a sin that is inconsistent so very inconsistent with the faith
of our Lord Jesus Christ. My brethren, notice again verse
one, my brethren have not the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ,
the Lord of glory with respect of persons. I want to point something
out to us before we go any further. If you notice in verse two, If
you have a Bible that has a marginal reading, in the King James translation
we have, for if they're common to your assembly, if you have
a marginal reading, you see that that's the word synagogue. The Greek word, synagogue. We have 21 New Testament epistles. And only one time, is the word
synagogue used only one time. Now, in the gospels, in the book
of Acts, of course, and then in the book of Revelation, we
see the word synagogue a number of times. The Lord Jesus Christ
visited many synagogues and preached and taught the word of God, not
only in the temple in Jerusalem, but also in synagogues. But this is the only time in
the New Testament epistles where we have this word synagogue. And of course, our translators
use the word assembly. Now, we have seen that this letter
was originally written to Jewish believers, those who were of
the nation of Israel. They were scattered abroad. And
it would only be common I suppose, in those first days, to refer
to an assembly, to a place of believers, Christians, as a synagogue. You know, we must realize that
on the day of Pentecost, when God, the Holy Spirit, was poured
out upon His church, showing that the Lord Jesus Christ, that
was a promise that God had given to His Son, and showing that
he is now seated at the right hand of the father, he poured
out his spirit upon his church. There was about 120, we are told,
in Acts, who were gathered in one place. Now, where was that
place? It was most likely the temple,
the temple in Jerusalem. So we shouldn't think that When
the Holy Spirit was poured out and the gospel of the Lord Jesus
Christ began to be preached that these Jewish believers just left
the temple, they never went back there, and they went out and
found a place to worship a Christian church place, a building called
a church. They didn't do that. They continued
in the temple. I want you to see that if you
turn back to the book of Acts, beginning first of all in Acts
chapter two, and it is of course in this chapter where we are
told about the Holy Spirit coming upon the church, the day of Pentecost. But if you notice down in verse
46, we read, And they, that is the believers,
they continuing daily with one accord in the temple. Now that was, of course, the
temple in Jerusalem. That's where they continued.
There was a place there in the temple. Many believe it was more
the porch or the place of the Gentiles, but they continued
in the temple to gather and to worship. Notice in the next chapter,
chapter three, Now Peter and John went up together into the
temple at the hour of prayer. And notice in chapter five of
Acts, and this is after Peter and John
had been arrested. But notice what we read in verse
18, and laid their hands on the apostles
and put them in the common prison. But the angel of the Lord by
night opened the prison doors and brought them forth and said,
go stand and speak, where? In the temple. Go stand and speak
in the temple to the people and notice all the words of this
life. We sang that hymn just a few
minutes ago, wonderful words of life. The gospel is the word
of life. The Lord Jesus Christ, He is
the Lord of life. And no man has life, that is
spiritual life, or eternal life, apart from Jesus Christ. We preach
the gospel. He's the only way to the Father. He is the way, the truth, and
the life. And no man comes unto the Father
but by Him. The apostles were told to go
into the temple and preach the words of life, the gospel of
the Lord Jesus Christ. And I want you to notice in chapter
21 even of Acts, and this is some time later, I think this
was Paul's third visit to Jerusalem, but notice here in chapter 21
and verse 26, Then Paul took the men, and the
next day, purifying himself with them, entered into the temple. Now this is when he was arrested. They thought that he had taken
a Gentile with him into the temple, which was not true. But because
of that, they arrested him, and that was what eventually led
him to be taken to Rome because he appealed to Caesar. But the point I'm making is that
this division, and of course in A.D. 70, God put an end to
the temple, and when God put an end to the temple, then all
of that old covenant was taken away. It was removed. With the temple, they had the
priest, they had the sacrifices, they had the mercy seat, they
had the holy of holies, but all of that was removed when the
temple was destroyed. And not only was that an end
to that old covenant, but also the Christians, the believers,
the children of God were now separated for good. from that
old religion, if you want to refer to it, of Judaism. James would have us see how inconsistent
it is for God's children to show preference to others based upon
appearances. It's inconsistent with the gospel
of the Lord Jesus Christ. As God's children, we are to
adorn. That's what the scripture says. That's what the Apostle Paul
wrote. We are to adorn the gospel of Jesus Christ. When you adorn
something, you kind of make it pretty, don't you? You kind of add to it. We don't add to the
gospel, but our conduct, we are to adorn the gospel of Jesus
Christ. We believe in Jesus Christ. We profess to be saved by the
grace of God. Now let's live. Let's live out
what God has worked in. That's the point here. And to
show preference is inconsistent with the gospel of the Lord Jesus
Christ. And James gives us an example. Let's read this here in his letter,
the second chapter. He gives us this example of two
men. One man obviously is a wealthy
man. The other man is a poor man. For if there come unto your assembly
a man with a gold ring and goodly apparel, and there come in also
a poor man and vile raiment, And you have respect to him that
weareth the gay clothing, and say unto him, sit thou here in
a good place, and say to the poor, stand thou there, or sit
here under my footstool. Are you not then partial in yourselves,
and have become judges of evil thoughts? In other words, you
are judging in such a way to manifest evil thoughts. Here comes a man into their assembly
and he has a gold ring on. And I would just remind us that
servants did not wear rings. Servants, slaves, they did not
wear rings. You remember in our Lord's parable
of the prodigal son. When he came home, when he came
to himself, repented because of his sinfulness, he said, I'll
go back to my father and I will tell him I'm no more worthy to
be counted one of your sons. Make me like one of your hired
servants, one of your servants. But the father would not have
that. The father received him back as a son and to show that
he was a son and received as a son, Not only put the best
robe on him, but put a ring on his finger, showing that he was
no longer, or he was not to be counted as a servant. He was
a son. Aren't you thankful today that
by the grace of God, we've been made sons of God. Those of us
who know him, we have been adopted into the family of God. He has
only one son. by eternal generation, that is,
the eternal Son of God who came into this world as the Lord Jesus
Christ. He's always been God's Son. He
is eternal as the Father and as the Holy Spirit, but God adopts
men and women, saves by the grace of God and adopts us into His
family, and we then are no more slaves or servants of sin, but
we are sons of God. We're sons of God. Now James
says if a man comes in, he has a gold ring on his finger, and
you tell him, well, hey, sit up here. At some place of prominence,
some place where everyone could see him. And then this other
man comes in, Sit over there. Stand if there's no place to
sit. You just stand over there for a while. What should be foremost
in every child of God's mind when we see visitors come into
our assembly, just like bees came into this assembly? What
should always be foremost in our mind? It should be our desire for their
spiritual good. their spiritual good. We desire
their salvation if they have never been saved. And if they
are saved and they come into our midst, then we desire God's
blessings upon them, that we might together worship the Lord
and praise the Lord. But we're not to show respect
to one and disrespect to another because of the way he's dressed.
because of his complexion or anything like that. That is not
consistent with the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ. Never
has been, and it never will be. Now, James gives three reasons
to show how inconsistent this is. First of all, God's sovereign
election, verse five. 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? Showing respect to persons is
inconsistent, first of all, with the faith of the Lord Jesus Christ
because God's sovereign election. Now God's election is not only
sovereign, But it is also unconditional. Unconditional. You say, well,
what does that mean, preacher? God's election is sovereign. He chose. How is his election
unconditional? He did not choose because of
anything in the person that he chose. Nothing good, nothing
evil. He chose of His own sovereign
free will. The Apostle Paul tells us this
in Romans chapter nine, the children, and I quote, the children being
not yet born, neither, neither Jacob nor Esau. They hadn't done
anything good, they hadn't done anything bad. The children being
not yet born. having done anything good or
evil, now listen, that the purpose of God according to election
might stand. You say, well, what is this election
to? It is election to salvation. That's what he's talking about. Men who deny the truth of God's
sovereign, unconditional election, they talk about, well, election
has to do with the nation of Israel. Well, that was true.
He did choose the nation of Israel. Some say, well, election has
to do with offices. He chooses some men to be preachers,
some men to be deacons or different things like that. And those things
may all be true. But what they're doing, they're
trying to deny the truth of the word of God that God has chosen
men to salvation. And that is what the word of
God tells us. And that's what James is saying
here. You say, well, preacher, show
me that. Well, look with me in 2 Thessalonians. Let's see if
we can see that here. 2 Thessalonians chapter 2. 2 Thessalonians
chapter 2 and verse 13. But we are bound to give thanks
always to God for you, brethren beloved of the Lord, because
God hath from the beginning chosen you to what? To be a member of
the nation of Israel? To be a preacher? Oh no. God hath from the beginning,
that is from before the foundation of the world, in the beginning
God created the heavens and the earth, and from the beginning
he has chosen you to salvation. through sanctification of the
Spirit and belief of the truth. You see, the means to salvation,
or yes, I'll use that word means, is the work of the Holy Spirit. God chose his people in eternity. The eternal Son of God came into
this world and redeemed his people at the cross. And God the Holy
Spirit sets apart through the preaching of the gospel, His
chosen people. They hear the gospel, and God
works in their hearts, and they believe the gospel. The natural
man, the apostle makes this very clear, the natural man understandeth
not the things of God. Neither can he know them. A man,
a natural man, apart from the grace of God, will never come
to Christ, will never believe in Christ, All that the Father
giveth me shall come to me, our Lord said. And he that cometh
to me I will in no wise cast out. But the point I'm making
here is to show respect to persons is inconsistent with the gospel,
the faith of the Lord Jesus Christ because God, he did not respect
persons when he chose. His choice was not based upon
anything he saw or foresaw in the individual. True, he hath
chosen Jews, some among the nation of Israel. He's chosen some among
Gentiles, and that may be what James has reference to, the poor
of this world, because the Jews, they would refer to Gentiles
as the world. They were the people of God and
everyone else in the world. That's the way they looked at
things. God has chosen some who are rich. God has chosen some who are poor. But God did not base His choice
upon a person being rich or a person being poor. Generally speaking,
most of God's chosen, it has been shown through the history,
have been those of the poor of this world. Not many mighty,
the Apostle Paul said. He said, you see your calling,
brethren? Not many mighty, not many noble. Remember the Queen of England?
She said she was so thankful for that word M, or that letter
M. You remember that letter M? Someone
asked her, what do you mean by that? She said, because God didn't
say he hath not chosen any, but not many. Not many mighty, not
many noble are called. Mainly the poor of this world. And you know, poverty or poorness is all relevant,
isn't it? If I were to take, if we were
to take a survey here today among us, now you, this may not be
a good illustration because those of you who know the grace of
God maybe wouldn't do this, but if you just found 100 people
out on the street and asked them this question, do you consider
yourself rich or poor? I would say 90 some percent would
say I consider myself poor. What do they mean by that? They're
comparing themselves with Bill Gates. Are someone like that? No. Those of us who have tasted
that the Lord is gracious, who know something about the grace
of God, and who know something about the population of this
world. Almost every person who lives
in the United States of America compared to the world population
is rich, rich in things of this world. But generally speaking,
God has chosen what I would like to call just the common people,
just the common people of this world. Seems like they make up
the congregations of the Lord, the churches of the Lord Jesus
Christ. Every once in a while, there'll
be someone that's mighty, but mostly just common folks like
you and me. God has chosen the poor of this
world rich. You know, if God's given you
faith, you are rich. And if God has not given you
faith, I don't care if you were Bill Gates, if you had his money,
or this other guy that we see in the news a lot, there's a
couple of them, claim to be the richest men in the world. If
you had all the money of all three of them, and did not have
faith, faith in Christ, what should it profit a man if he
gained the whole world and loses his own soul? No, don't show
respect to persons. First of all, because it flies
in the face of God's sovereign, eternal, unconditional election. And then secondly, James says
that persecution of believers at that time usually came from
the rich. Verses six and seven. But you
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 which you are called? One of the ways that
Christians were persecuted is they tried, their persecutors
tried to get them to blaspheme the name of Jesus Christ. That's
the way they were persecuted, to blaspheme the name of Jesus
Christ. They wouldn't do it, not those
who knew Christ. They wouldn't do it, and so what
awaited them? The fires? The lions? Whichever way, the stones? Remember
Stephen, he's called the first martyr. He would not blaspheme
the name of Jesus Christ. He confessed him as the Lord,
as the King of glory, the only Lord God. And what happened to
him? He was stoned to death. That was part of the persecution.
In Acts chapter 13, we read concerning Paul, but the Jews stirred up
the devout and honorable women, and now listen, and the chief
men of the city. Well, the chief men of the city,
you would normally think were probably the wealthy men of the
city, the chief men of the city, they raised up persecution against
Paul and Barnabas. And then remember Paul said this
about the coppersmith named Alexander, he did me much evil. Paul wrote
that. Why, James, we might say, why
would you show preference to the rich? Why would you show
respect of persons to the rich when normally they are the ones,
if you're being persecuted, who are doing the persecution? Why
would you do that? And then the third, respect of
persons is a sin, he says in verse nine. But if you have respect
to persons, you commit sin. You're convinced of the law as
a transgressor. Now, as I pointed out, and as
we know, James wrote this letter originally to believers who were
of the nation of Israel. They were Jewish believers. Think
of where they came from. Think of what they had come out
of. In Matthew chapter five, our
Lord, in his sermon, he said, you have heard He's speaking
to Jewish people. You have heard, and who did they
hear this from? They heard this from their religious
leaders, their religious teachers, the scribes, the Pharisees, the
Sadducees. And our Lord said, this is what
you have heard of them. Thou shalt love thy neighbor
and hate thine enemy. Can you imagine that? These who
were to expound, to teach the law of God, the word of God,
they were telling them, love your neighbor, yes, but hate
your enemy. Where did they find that in the
law of God? They didn't, they didn't. It doesn't contain that. I want
you to turn back to Leviticus with me just a moment. Leviticus
chapter nine, chapter 19, Leviticus chapter 19. Verse 18. Thou shalt not avenge nor bear
any grudge against the children of thy people, but thou shalt
love thy neighbor as thyself. I am the Lord. Now, these men
were supposed to be teachers of the law. Lawyers and scribes,
that's what they did. They spent their time studying
the law, reading the law. But what were they many times
doing? They were counting how many of
this letter was in the law and how many jots was in the law
and how many titles was in the law. And they were very intelligent. They were very smart about the
mechanics of the law, but they had missed the truth of the law. The law never told anyone to
love your neighbor and hate your enemy. And look down here in
this same chapter, Leviticus 19, to verse 34. The Lord, and
this is part of his law, the stranger, but the stranger that
dwelleth with you shall be unto you as one born among you, and
thou shalt love him as thyself. And notice this, for you were
strangers in the land of Egypt, I am the Lord, your God. In other words, you know what
it is by experience having been a stranger. You know what that
is to be a stranger, God is telling these Israelites. You know what
that's like. And to apply that here in our
text this morning, Every child of God, when we see someone come
into our midst, we know what it's like because one time we
were strangers. We were strangers to God. We
were lost. We were dead in trespasses and
sins until He found us and made us a part of this local family,
this body of believers. We know what it's like having
been strangers at one time to see a stranger come in our midst.
And our thought concerning him should be, or her is, our desire
is that they be blessed, that they come to know Christ. We
shouldn't be concerned about what they're wearing or anything
like that. Our one concern should be about
their spiritual well-being. We sing this chorus, we have
come into this house and we have gathered in his name for to worship
him. So forget about yourself and
concentrate upon him and worship him. We come here to worship, not
to judge what someone else is wearing or not wearing or how
they're dressed or not dressed. Our desire is for their spiritual
well-being, right? Now that's just so. Now the second
subject, and I'll be very brief, but the law of God. James tells
us that to offend in one point is to be guilty of the whole
law. Let's read that in verse 10 through
13. For whosoever shall keep the
whole law and yet offend in one point, he's guilty of all. For
he that said, do not commit adultery, said also, do not kill. Now if
thou commit no adultery, yet if thou kill, thou art become
a transgressor of the law, so speak you and do as they that
shall be judged by the law of liberty, for he shall have judgment
without mercy that hath showed no mercy, and mercy rejoiceth
against judgment." Now, he's not saying that a person who
kills someone is guilty of the act of adultery. No, he's guilty
of murder. And he's not saying that a person
who's guilty of adultery is guilty of murder, but what he is saying
is that the law is a whole, and if you kill someone, then you've
broken the whole law. It's all one together. You've broken the law not to
lie, not to steal. You've broken the whole law if
we offend in one point. Now, let me say this, and I hope
you'll get this. Don't miss this. There have only
been two men who have walked on the face of God's earth who
could keep the whole law. There's only been two men. The
first Adam, as he was created in the image of God, he could
keep the whole law. The second Adam, Once Adam disobeyed,
he could no longer keep the whole law. And he was our representative. And the guilt of his sin was
imputed unto us. And we come into this world,
and we do not sin to become sinners. We sin because we are born sinners. Adam was our federal head, our
representative. and we sinned in him. The second man is the Lord Jesus
Christ, the second Adam, the second man, Jesus Christ. He was not only able, but did
keep the whole law of God. Not only did he keep the whole
law, not only in thought and word and in deed, He obeyed God's
perfect holy law, absolutely, but he also suffered at the hands
of that law because we, or his people, had broken that law. And that law had to be satisfied. If you notice in verse 13, it
had to be satisfied for anyone to be forgiven. You notice these
two words in verse 13, judgment and mercy. Judgment demands, we might say
justice. Justice demands satisfaction. The law is broken, the soul that
sinneth, it shall surely die. Justice, God's strict, Absolute,
holy justice demands satisfaction. God's mercy cries for forgiveness,
for pardon. How are these two going to be
reconciled? Justice cries for punishment,
deserved punishment, and mercy cries for forgiveness. I read this story recently. During the American Revolution, there was a British soldier,
he was a major, Major Andre. He was head of the British intelligence. And he visited Arnold, Arnold
Bennett, Benedict Arnold, rather. who was commander of Fort West
Point. And he was a trader. And Major
Andre dressed in civilian clothes and came to meet Benedict Arnold. And Benedict Arnold was trying
to sell the fort. They would capitulate to the
British Army. And he gave that man some papers
he put in his boots. But he was apprehended behind
enemy lines. Two patriots caught him, and
they found those papers in his boot. And he was tried as a war
criminal, as a spy. And he was guilty. He was found
guilty. There was no question about that.
But General Washington and all of his soldiers Men, they had such respect
for Major Andre. He was a young man, about 30
years of age, and he was an honorable man. They all looked upon him
as an honorable man, not Benedict Arnold. They looked upon him
for what he was, a traitor. But this man was found guilty,
and the punishment for being a spy was execution by being
hanged. And the story is that in George
Washington's breast, there was this tension or this problem. He wanted to show mercy. Most
of his men wanted to show mercy for this guy, pardon him, pardon
him. But the law The justice demanded
that he be punished. And so it said that as he signed
the order for execution, George Washington signed the order for
execution, that the tears were flowing from his eyes. You see,
he couldn't solve. It was a dilemma. It was a problem
he couldn't solve. Justice demands satisfaction. Mercy calls for pardon. But you see, that's what the
gospel is, that the Lord Jesus Christ, by His obedience to the
law, the law is satisfied, perfectly satisfied. The sins of His people
were imputed to Him, charged to His account. He paid for them,
He suffered for them, He made an end of them, and now mercy,
mercy may be extended. to all who look to Him for life
and for salvation. The wisdom of God. That's what's
called the wisdom of God. The gospel of the Lord Jesus
Christ. How both of these attributes,
justice and mercy, could both be held forth through the person
and work of Jesus Christ. God's law satisfies. God's justice
is satisfied, and yet God's mercy is extended to all who believe
in Christ. Well, I pray the Lord would bless
these thoughts and words to all of us here this morning.