The Book of James, Part 3

In our Bible studies, we are the book of James. James is what is called a general epistle. It's general in the sense it's for everyone. It is the meat of the word. James, the Lord's brother, who was also the resident pastor at Jerusalem, and apparently an apostle, not one of the original twelve apostles, but eventually held the status as an apostle. And so we have come to James chapter 3. We have covered chapter 1 and chapter 2 in the past three months. We spent two times on chapter 1 and one time on chapter 2. So we have come to chapter 3.

My brother and be not many masters. Teachers were very highly respected in the ancient world. The rabbis were given great prominence and respect. They still are in the Jewish world today. And the word, masters, here has the connotation of a teacher. It is said that in the Jewish culture of that day that the rabbis were given greater respect and you were to give more heed and attention to rabbis than to your own parents. So rabbis were given great respect. And teachers, when the list of offices in the church are listed, you have apostles, prophets, and teachers sometimes appear third in the list.

Apostles and prophets oftentimes traveled about to different areas, raising up churches and proclaiming a message. But the teachers were generally resident and on site, and they were responsible for teaching the word. Remember in the commission that Jesus Christ gave in Matthew 28, it says, Go you into all the world and disciple all nations. The translation there says, Make disciples, disciple all nations, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you. So the responsibility of teaching is one of the greatest responsibilities that we have. And of course, it permeates the whole culture. It's supposed to begin in the family structure, to train up a child in the way that he should go.

When he's old, he will not depart from it. To be a teacher is about the highest calling that you can have. And if parents fulfill the responsibility, generally speaking, the children will follow suit. I suppose that one of the greatest disappointments in all of the Church of God, I've been associated with the Church of God to some degree with regard to from taking literature in six decades. Beginning in the 60s and up to the 2000s, that would be four decades. And now into 2013 would be in the sixth decade of being acquainted with the Church of God.

And our ability to retain our youth, both from a family point of view and also from an institutional point of view, has not been that good. And I know for those of us who labored all those years at Ambassador College or Ambassador University, that to see those who spent so much time, so much effort, and invested their lives, both from a student point of view and from an instructor point of view, to see them plunge back into the world.

And of course, the plunging back into the world is not a new thing. Even in the days of Paul, you remember he writes in 2 Timothy chapter 4 that these men have departed from them, Titus, Cressons, and so on. So, my brethren, be not many teachers, knowing that you shall receive the greater judgment.

That's the better translation. The judgment will be greater upon those who teach because the teachers are put there to watch after people's eternal lives. And of course, teachers who are not involved in spiritual things also hold a great responsibility, but especially if you are one who says, I'm going to instruct you on the way you ought to live, the way that you should be in the spiritual sense.

And of course, the age-old maximum that I would rather see a sermon than to hear a sermon anytime. And James covers that as well with regard to, you've got to live it. Be you doers of the word, not hearers only. Or be you doers of the word, not instructors only. And that has been a great weakness among both from an institutional, from ministers to teachers to parents. That is, we all need to live it because you see through hypocrisy more readily, probably, than anybody else. For in many things we offend all, if any man offend not in word.

So there are many offenses in many ways to offend, but if any man offend not in word, the same is a perfect man, one who is going on to age, one who is going on to maturity, and able also to bridle the whole body. If you can hold your tongue and speak the right thing in all situations, then you're definitely going on to perfection. You know, the seven basic tenets that are given there in Hebrews 7 with the basic doctrine of the Church.

It's called the doctrine of Christ. Repentance from dead works, faith in God, baptism, laying it off hands, resurrection and judgment. Let us go on to perfection, becoming that mature person. Behold, we put bits in the horses' mouths that they may obey us, and we turn about their whole body. Behold also the ships, which though they be so great and are driven of fierce winds, yet they are turned about with a very small helm.

Wheresoever the governor or the helmsman, the one who's responsible for charting and steering the course, wants it to go, they're able, even in the face of fierce circumstances, to keep it on course. Even so the tongue is a little member, and boasts great things. Behold, how great a matter a little fire kindles. Of course, they were familiar with wildfires in the Middle East because in the dry season everything is like a tinderbox. There's a great fire raging in Idaho right now, and in California there are several in Utah. One of the council members there, Rock Corbett, his home was just over the mountain there in Park City, Utah, from where the fires were raging, and there's a possibility the fire would quote, come over the mountain.

I want to spend some time right now with some verses in the Bible with regard to the tongue.

The Hebrew word for tongue is lashoni, spelled L-A-S-H-O-W-N, but pronounced lashoni. It's got a mark at the end of the E. It appears 117 times in the Old Testament, and the Greek word for tongue, glossa, G-L-O-S-S-A, appears 50 times in the New Testament. I'm going to read now some scriptures that have the word tongue in it. If you want what I would like for you to do and what I'm asking you to do, there's a Bible study. If you really want a Bible study, if you have any kind of Bible study software on your computer, like online Bible or e-sword, any of those kind of things in which it's like a concordance, you can bring up every scripture almost immediately with tongue in it. Or in a concordance, you can look at tongue, and you can read every verse in the Bible under tongue.

Under tongue, under word.

Now, the Hebrew word for word appears like 1400 times something like that in the Old Testament and 800 times plus it's translated simply word. And the Greek word for word appears about 150 times from logos. And it is logos. So many people say logos, but it's logos. L-O-G-O-S. Oh, yes. And then the word speech. If you look up these words, tongue, word, speech. You read every verse in the Bible that had those three words in it. I think you'll find it very enlightening. So we're not going to turn to these if you want to write them down. Write them down, but we'll get a feel here for what the Bible says about tongue.

Psalm 5.9. For there is no faithfulness in their mouth. Their inward part is very wickedness. Their throat is an open sepulchre. They flatter with their tongue. Now, one of the things that God really hates is flattery. God hates flattery. And there are so many people who try to climb the ladder in whatever way in the world by being the kind word that they use. There's another word, is apple polishers. And they try to play up to the boss, and they try to say the thing that they think will ingratiate themselves to the boss or to another person. God doesn't like flattery.

Psalm 10 verse 7. His mouth is full of cursing and deceit and fraud. Under his tongue is mischief and vanity. Psalm 12 verse 3. The Lord shall cut off all flattering lips, and the tongue that speaks proud things. Pride is the precursor of envy. Pride is a precursor of envy. We'll probably say a little more about that later. Satan was puffed up with pride. And I believe it led to envy in the sense that God had probably revealed to him that he was going to create a being, human beings, that would eventually be on a level of existence higher than the angels.

Psalm 12 verse 3. The eternal Yahweh shall cut off all flattering lips, and the tongue that speaks proud things.

The next verse, Psalm 12 verse 4. Who have said, With our tongues will we prevail? Our lips are our own. Who is Lord over us? I'm going to say what I want to say whenever I say it, and I don't care what anybody says.

Psalm 15.3, which is very sobering. And the question in front of this is, Who shall dwell on your holy hill? It's set to music. It's one of the hymns in the hymnal. Who shall dwell on your holy hill? This is Psalm 15 verse 3. He that backbites not with his tongue, nor does evil to his neighbor, nor takes up a reproach against his neighbor. The Bible is just filled with this not-speaking evil of one another. Psalm 22.15. My strength is dried up like a pot-shirt, and my tongue cleaves to my jaws, and you have brought me into the dust of death. Psalm 34.13. Keep your tongue from evil, and your lips from speaking guile. Guile has to do with trying to be clever and trying to worm your way to whatever you want through. A guile is a last word for deceit. Psalm 35 verse 28. Here is one of the principal things in the Bible with regard to the right use of the tongue. Psalm 35 verse 28. And my tongue shall speak of your righteousness and of your praise all the day long. One of the main things we're asked to do is to praise God, to glorify God, to speak of his righteousness. Psalm 37 verse 30.

The mouth of the righteous speaks wisdom, and his tongue talks of judgment. Psalm 39.1.

2. To the chief musician, even to Jettathon, a psalm of David, I said, I will take heed to my ways that I sin not with my tongue. I will keep my mouth with a bridle, while the wicked is before me. If you will understand and discern that those that are before you are wicked are just waiting for you to say something that they can use to turn against you. Be careful. Of course, there are many, many verses in the book of Proverbs that deal with the right use of the tongue and one that says that in your tongue is the power of life and death. So a great Bible study project would be to read every verse in the Bible that has tongue in it, that has speech in it, that has word in it, or words, word or words. The tongue is behind the teeth and the lips, so it is closeted up behind two barriers. Of course, if you open your mouth, your teeth open, and your lips due to some degree, you could sort of speak with it closed. The tongue is behind the teeth and the lips. It is the shield of the heart. The tongue is the shield of the heart, and when it's loose, it reveals the contents of our heart. So Luke 6 and verse 45. Let's turn there. One of the things that I know I talked about, and I wanted to bring this up with the entire council, but I did not somehow. That is, it's come since the computer age and all of that, that a lot of our ministers use cut and paste, so they don't literally turn to the verses in the Bible, and a lot of the brethren don't turn to the verses in the Bible. You see, if you turn to a verse in the Bible, you see it and you hear it, and you look at it on the page, you are much more apt to be able to retain that. And oftentimes, you know, well, I know where that is. I don't remember exactly the book, but I know it's on the right-hand page there somewhere, and you turn to it and you look at it. So Luke 6 and verse 45.

A good man out of the good treasures of his heart brings forth that which is good. And an evil man out of the evil treasures of his heart brings forth that which is evil, for of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks. And Matthew also has an account of this, out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. So the tongue is the shield of the heart, and when you engage it, it reveals the contents of the heart. Now, of course, you have people who are flatterers speak. In hypocrisy, you can hide the contents of the heart, but if you are truthful. Now, we have a bit of conundrum with regard to speaking and holding our tongue.

James tells us, now we go to James 1.19, this background here should help us really understand some things with regard to this sort of an overview of chapters 3 and 4, which we hope to be able to cover today. In James 1.19, "'Wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear.' Be ready to listen. Always be ready to listen. Slow to speak, slow to wrath. Don't get, as they say, fly off the handle quickly, for the wrath of men works not the righteousness of God." So when you are mad, angry, emotion takes over, it's difficult to work the righteousness of God. However, now here's the conundrum, if we never express our feelings, we may cease to feel. And one of the things that happens with children in which they grow up in a dysfunctional family in which daddy, he can do all that he can say everything he wants to and throw temper tantrum, do whatever, and so can mama. But not the children. They can't say anything. They've got to repress whatever is there. And so if you repress your feelings long enough, you may either explode or you become just totally apathetic.

The general principle that is being expressed to some degree in both chapters 3 and 4 is that knowledge without practice is imputed to a person as a sin of omission. So you've got knowledge, you don't practice it. Nothing kills the inner man more than wasted impressions or wasted feelings. Well, I wish I had have said this is what I was thinking, but I just, you know, Peter was the impetuous one, I guess you would say, and we say, well, he oftentimes stuck his foot in his mouth. But yet, when he was converted and on the day of Pentecost, and in the early church, he was the principal spokesman in Acts 2, the day of the Pentecost, that's the sermon that is recorded. Feelings and our beliefs exhaust themselves and evaporate if they are not expressed and also followed up with practice.

Research shows that you come to believe what you practice.

And it's sort of like a reciprocal. You tend to practice what you believe, and they reinforce, they mutually reinforce, but you may have all of these great ideas, but you never say anything. Well, I was feeling this way.

So, as we will not accept, we will not act, we don't act, except we feel, so if we will not act out our feelings, maybe we soon cease to feel, and we'll repress our emotions. Then pit up feelings, that are repressed, will result in apathy or sudden explosions of frustration that may lead to destruction. So there is this, you have to have the wisdom to know when to speak and not to speak. Because James says, swift to hear, slow to speak, and slow to wrath. It doesn't mean that you don't speak what you believe and what you say, and that you repress what you believe, and you don't stand up for what you believe. So we must remember that thought should be the precursor to words. Thought should be the precursor to words. Now, what I'm about to say here is so vitally important. Thought should be the precursor to words. In other words, we should think before we speak, but we hear the expression, his mouth was in gear before his brain.

That happens when we speak from emotion as opposed to speaking from thought. Now listen to this. The tongue can respond almost with the same reflexive action as the blinking of an eye when a foreign object heads its way. If I were to do that toward your eye, you're going to blink. You didn't think. You didn't have to think to blink. Or if the bug heads toward your eye, you'll blink. Sometimes you blink too late and the bug gets in your eye. But you have this reflexive action that is like automatic, like the nervous system, autonomic nervous system, a part of the nervous system that responds without thought. So we oftentimes speak before thinking. This happens when someone says something that cuts into the quick of our emotions. It so cuts us that it's what we immediately speak almost like a blink. That's why James writes, let every man be slow to speak. He starts off, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, and slow to wrath, or slow to anger. Once words are out there, they're out there. We can apologize, but oftentimes the hearer will only focus on what we have said and not hear the apology. And even though he says, well, I do forgive you, yeah, I accept your apology, somehow what's said is still playing back there in the back of their minds.

And they will think he, she must admit it, or they would not have said it. So it seems that our tongues are closely connected with our emotions. See, once again, the tongue is a shield of the heart, and we don't want emotions to be the guide. That's perhaps the main reason that no person is really in absolute control of their tongue. And that hints the absence of the mind, the admonition here that James gives. Now let's go back and read some more verses here in James chapter 3.

Verse 5 again, James 3.5, Even so, the tongue is a little member and boasts great things. Behold, how great a matter a little fire kindles. And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity. It can reveal the innermost parts of our heart, as we have said. So is the tongue among our members, our body parts, that it defiles the whole body and sets on fire the course of nature. And it is set on fire of hell.

So it is a really serious matter for every kind of beast.

Distinguishing here, apparently, the four-footed beasts and of birds, two feet, and of serpents, no feet. So it's all inclusive. Everything that is alive and of things in the sea is tamed and hath been tamed of mankind. You can even tame fish to a certain degree through operant conditioning. But the tongue can no man tame. It is an unruly evil full of deadly poison because within it is the power of life and death.

Therewith, bless we God, even the Father, and therewith curse we men, which are made after the homeoosis. Now that's an important word here, H-O-M-O-I-O-S-I-S, homeoosis, which means in the image of God. For example, we are in the image of God. Genesis 1.26-27 would be one companion scripture here that we are made in the image of God. The God has, and you read the description of the one who walks among the seven candlesticks, and Revelation chapter 1 talks about the hair, the voice, the torso, the feet.

And so man is made in the image of God, but not of the same essence. God is spirit. Man is made of the dust of the ground. But we're made in the image of God with certain faculties akin to God. And our purpose for being created, the reason that God created us, was that we would be eventually in His very image in not only image, but also essence, spirit, in the kingdom of God. Let's look at Philippians 3 verse 21. Philippians chapter 3 verse 21.

Philippians 3.21, who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body. See, that is the place where we are headed. Right now we are in the image of God as far as form and shape, who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the workings whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself. So that is where we're headed, to have that glorious body that the family of God has, made in the image of God. Look forward here in 1 John 3 verse 2.

And of course, Revelation 22 verses 4 and 5 that I usually read at conclusion of funerals, that we shall look on the face of God. But here we are looking at 1 John 3 and verse 2.

Beloved, now we are the sons of God. We are begotten sons of God, and it does not yet appear what we shall be, but we know that when he shall appear we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. And we're going to look on the very face of God in resurrection.

So this part about... don't underestimate this part about in the similitude of God, because God made us in his form and shape for the purpose of us being in his family. In verse 10, James 3.10, Out of the same mouth proceeds blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not so to be. Does a fountain send forth at the same time sweet water and bitter? Now, in the environs of Palestine, there are springs, some that spew forth bitter, and some spew forth sweet. You remember on the journey to the Promised Land that they came to a place where mara and the waters were bitter, and God made them sweet. God wants the words that proceed out of our mouth to be seasoned with salt and full of grace at all times. And then the analogy continues here in verse 12. Can the fig tree, my brethren, bear ollie berries? Well, of course not. Either a vine fix, so then can no fountain both yield salt water and fresh. Now it comes back in a sense to, if you want to be a teacher, here's what you have to do. Verse 13. So, who is a wise man and endued with knowledge among you? Let him show out of a good conduct his works with meekness of wisdom. And he uses, first of all, the contrast of the negative. But if you have bitter envying and strife in your hearts, glory not and lie not against the truth. And as I have said many times, this part about envy and strife is from Genesis to Revelation, one of the greatest problems of all time. It was Cain's problem because he envied his brother, Abel's offering was accepted. Cain's was not. And so he killed his brother out of envy, out of spite because he wanted the preeminence. As the firstborn, he already had the preeminence in the family sense. And he could have had the preeminence in the sense of the inheritance if he had been faithful. And so this thing about preeminence, who's going to rule over whom? Who's going to rule if you have bitter envying and strife in your hearts? That has been such a problem. Now the contrast to that is what I have talked about so often of judgment, mercy, and faith, and that of walking in a reconciled position with God and Jesus Christ and each member of the body of Christ and the world at large. That God has committed unto us the ministry of reconciliation, that we should exercise the judgment, mercy, and faith continually. And if we are reconciled to God and Christ, if we're reconciled to one another, then there is no place for envying and strife, as it were. Look at 2 Corinthians chapter 5 verse 17.

2 Corinthians chapter 5 verse 17.

Therefore, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature, a new creation. All things are passed away, behold, all things are become new, and all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ. God is then the reconciliation business, that when we were enemies of God, Jesus Christ died for us, that we might be reconciled to the Father and viewed as sinless after we repent and exercise faith in the sacrifice of Christ. Having been reconciled to God by the death of his Son, we shall be saved by his life, him living in us. All things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ. Your companion scriptures there would be Romans 5, 6 through 10.

To know that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them, so not charging them. Remember Romans 6, 23, the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord, and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation. So when you are reconciled, you are at one, at one minute, and at one place in the Romans there. This catalogue is translated as Atonement. Let's turn back there to Romans 5. Look at that. In Romans chapter 5, verse 6, For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. It's Romans 5, 6, now 7. Romans 5, 7. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die, yet per venture for a good man some would even dare to die. That's the way flesh looks at it. Well, if he's a good person, I'd be willing to help him, but he is a no-good person. He's a bum. He won't work. He does that. He tells lies and on and on. I am not going to help him.

But see, the sum of all of the human condition is Romans 3.23, which says, all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. Whether one sin or a thousand, all of humanity incurs the death penalty at some point.

But God commended his love toward us, and while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us, much more than being now justified. The balances, the scales, balance, the price paid. Now justified by his blood, and blood is the life, so if you pour out your blood, you die. We shall be saved from wrath through him. For when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God. By the death of his son, much more being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life, that is, the Spirit of God dwelling within us. And not only so, but we also joy in God through a Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have received the atonement, the atonement, the reconciliation.

So we go back to James, and once again this verse 14, but if we have better envy and strife in your hearts, grow not and lie not against the truth. The anecdote to that, the way to cure that, is reconciliation. To exercise judgment, mercy, and faith. If you have sinned before God, you go before God, and you confess your sins, he is faithful and just to forgive you of all unrighteousness. If it's with your brother, and even if you're down on your knees to pray and realize, as he says in Matthew 5, 20, 21, 22, 23, along in there, that your brother has ought against you, then go be reconciled to your brother, then come offer your gift.

So he says in verse 15 that this wisdom, this verse 14, descends not from above, but is earthly, sensual. It is of the flesh. It is devilish. It is of the devil. For where envying strife is, there is confusion and every evil work, including murder. Because if you hate your brother, it is the same as murder. So you can commit murder without performing the physical act. I'll go to 1 John chapter 3.

And so how many murders have been committed in the Church of God?

Only God knows. I don't know.

In 1 John 3, verse 8, "...he that commits sin," and that word commits is po'e'e'o, p-o-e-i-o, po'e'e'o.

I think I reversed the i and the e. I think it's p-o-e-i-o, one or the other. I before e, but it's except some other cases. In verse 8, "...he that commits sin is of the devil," or he that practices sin is what that word means, "...is of the devil." The devil sins from the beginning. For this purpose, because the devil sinned and we have sinned, the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil.

Whosoever is born or begotten of God does not commit sin.

Now, if you look at this from the, the word for born here is ganow, and we usually look at this as in resurrection. For his seed remains in him, and he cannot sin because he is born of God. Of course, when you are born resurrected into the family of God, you cannot commit sin because then you are spirit as God is spirit. But even if you are a begotten Son of God, if you practice sin, as it says in verse 8, it is of the devil. For this is a message that we heard from the beginning that we should love one another. So now we get into this part here that really ties in, but the background is, you know, this wisdom that is of the in being in strife proceeds not from above, but is sensual, earthy of the devil. For this is a message that we've heard from the beginning that we should love one another, not as Cain, who was of that wicked one and killed his brother. And why did he kill him? Because his own works were evil and his brother's righteous and he was envious. Verse 13, Marvel not my brethren that the world hates you. We know that we have passed from death unto life because we love the brethren. He that loves not his brother abides in death, whosoever hates his brother is a murderer. I didn't... it's not my words.

And we know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him. So if we are harboring any of those feelings of hatred, I would say that love is the most powerful motivating force in the universe. God is love, and because he is love, he created us in the first place and ordained the great plan of salvation.

But probably the second greatest motivating force in the universe is hate, and because of hatred, envy, hatred, jealousy, lust, that kind of thing, is the same thing. We have what we have in opposition to God. Whosoever hates his brother is a murderer. We know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him. Hereby, perceived, we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us. We ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. Now, the main application of this is in the spiritual sense. It is most often applied in the physical sense, and we're quick to do it physically, slow to do it spiritually, because it's much more difficult. It's easy to pull out a five-dollar bill or a hundred-dollar bill, whichever way you're able to do, and say, here I want to help you physically.

But the spiritual part is more difficult.

Now back to James chapter 4, verse 15. This wisdom, the envying in verse 14, descends not from above, but is earthly sensual devilish. For where envying a strife is, there is confusion in every evil work, including murder. But the wisdom that is from above, so then the main qualifications might say for a teacher. But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, easy to be entreated, full of mercy, and good fruits without partiality and without hypocrisy. Now we have talked about how that mercy triumphs over judgment, but you cannot extend mercy in the ultimate sense until judgment has been made. First of all, have to say, if you are a sinner or if you have sinned, and all of us have sinned, I am a sinner. Have mercy on me a sinner. And if there is some kind of dispute and you need reconciliation with your neighbor until that is faced, then there may be difficulty.

The wisdom that is from above is first pure, peaceful, gentle, easy to be entreated, full of mercy, and good fruits, of course the fruits of the Spirit are listed in Galatians 5.22, without partiality. God is not a respecter of persons from whatever viewpoint you want to name, whether it be race, sometimes we say color, ethnic origin, national origin, none of that, socioeconomic status, none of that, doesn't matter if you're rich or poor, with regard to God. What he's looking for is someone who fears and trembles at his word and is willing to humble himself and obey, and without hypocrisy, not too faced, not pretending to be, but not really that way inside. And you can fool human beings, and all that we've been through in recent decades in the Church of God, I have been fooled many times by many people, and all of us have been to some degree, and you've made such statements, well, I never would have thought that he would have, whatever, you fell in the blank.

And I think, of course, how do people come to whatever decision that they want to make, or that they do make? You know, I recall with what was going on in 94 and 95, that people would come to me, oh, I appreciate the stand that you're taking. I know one person even brought me a card and a gift, and two months later it totally changed. And it's this thing of, well, I gave it a chance. I looked into it. But brethren, if they speak not according to the law and testimony, as it says in Isaiah 8, it is because there is no truth in them. Now, I know...

are you looking at the 1 John 2, 4? If any man says that he loves God and keeps not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. I mean, if you want a quick test, then there it is. Now, I know I spoke on grace last Sabbath in Cincinnati, and to a large degree we have emphasized law far more than grace. But see, law is an extension of grace. Grace means divine favor. Because of divine favor, God gave us life. He ordained the plan of salvation. He gave us his law that we might know how to conduct our lives and live in harmony and peace with God and man, as summarized by the Ten Commandments. It's not one or the other, it is both.

And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace of them that make peace. So if you want peace, then you pursue peace. From whence come wars and fightings among you. Now, in reading this verse, up until a few years ago, and I remember one of the last Bible studies, or I know it was a sermon, last year that I was over in Ruston, this was somewhere around 2007 or 2008, that I came to see this more clearly with regard to the first application with this. From whence come wars and fightings among you. This is not speaking so much in the mega-sense as it is in the sense of individually the macro versus the other. It's more the individual, the micro. From whence come wars and fightings among you, or within you. Why are you in the turmoil that you are in?

Come, they not hence. Don't they come from this, even of your lusts that war in your members. Now, the Greek word here for members is melos, or pronounced melos, M-E-L-O-S, it's sort of like logos, it's the M-E-L-M-E-L-O-S. It means body part. Look it up. Doesn't it come from that war in your body parts? Now, it could be extended to your relationship and inability, as we've talked about the recipe of getting along with people in the reconciliation sense, but a lot of it has to do with the turmoil within, the double-mindedness. And James, we've already talked about that in James chapter one, of think not that a double-minded man is going to have his prayers answered. You lust and have not, you kill and desire, you kill and desire to have and cannot obtain, you fight in war, yet you have not because you ask not. And of course, you have to go to God in prayer and prayer, and the fact that we have needs, if we didn't have needs, probably we wouldn't pray as often as we do. And I know in recent times, in being very specific with God with regard to my own needs and the needs of others, that it's like you have to keep on keeping on, that is, in prayer, with regard to various things. It is not a one-time thing. Well, Father in heaven, please, whatever it is, and you fill in the blank. There is the matter of perseverance in prayer.

You lust, have not, kill, desire, cannot obtain, you fight in war, and you have not because you ask not. And in some cases, it's not because we don't ask, it is because of verse 3. You ask and receive not because you ask amiss that you may consume it upon your lust, that is, your own desires instead of the will of God. Paul writes in Philippians that it is God who works in you to will and to do His good pleasure. We are the clay. We talked about that recently in the sermon. He is the Master Potter. We surrender, submit, and serve Him, and He does a work in us, and He knows what He is doing. It reminds me of this thank-you card that Glenda Neff wrote, of what James Neff did in his last few months of life, in which he was already doing, but this even highlighted it even more. And we prayed, and so many prayers were sent up on His behalf. But God is the Master Potter. He knows what He's doing. And remember that first article of faith. He is a rewarder of those that diligently seek Him. In other words, He always has her best interest at heart. He knows what He's doing, and He is the one who will reward us.

Believe that He is, and that He is a reward of those who diligently seek Him. You adulterers and adultresses, and this is to be applied more in the individual sense, and it is to be applied more in the spiritual sense. It is not necessarily physical adultery. Spiritual adultery is more the intent. However, to a large degree, physical adultery oftentimes precedes spiritual adultery. And as in the case of Israel, remember on the way to the Promised Land that here was Balak and Balaam, and Balaak trying to get Balaam to pronounce a curse upon Israel, and God didn't permit it. But then Balaam taught them to intermarry with the Moabites, and it wasn't a racial thing, it was a spiritual thing because the Moabites were idolaters. And so they did intermarry with them, and they began to turn their heart from the living God. The same thing happened with Solomon, who loved many strange women. So the intent here is more spiritual. But once again, oftentimes in biblical examples, physical adultery precedes spiritual. Obviously not in every case, but it surely did with Israel in some cases. It did with Solomon.

You adulterers and adulterers know you not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God. If you love the world and you want the world to love you, then you're barking up the wrong tree.

And of course, the companion scripture here, 1 John, let's turn forward there. 1 John 2.15-16. And 1 John 2.15, Love not the world. It's pretty clear. Neither the things that are in the world, if any man loved the world, the love of the Father is not in him. If that is where you place your affection, that's the wrong place. The love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passes away in the lust thereof, but he that does the will of God abides forever, lives forever, has staying power.

And of course, the thing that Satan the devil tries to sell is the here and now. The here and now, right now, you can have everything. He tried to get Christ in his temptations with Christ. Turn the stones into bread, jump off the pinnacle of the temple, bow down and worship me. You can have it all right now, right now! And the ability to delay gratification is one of the greatest strengths that a person can ever possess, and especially with young people, because it is geared now. I mean, the problems that schoolteachers are facing with the boy-girl thing throughout all the skills of the nation, because we have now a sex-saturated culture in which virtually everything in the advertising commercial world is attached to some kind of sexual thing, and then all of the sitcoms and so on have some kind of... it's like it has a sexual connotation to it.

Verse 5, do you think that the Scripture says in vain, the spirit that dwells in us, lest the envy? In other words, raw human nature will place self first. Remember, your companion Scripture here would be Philippians chapter 2 verses 1 and 2, let each man esteem others better than themselves. How many can do that?

But he gives more grace. Once again, grace is divine favor. You want divine favor? Divine favor has to do with God fighting your battles for you. That's another aspect of divine favor. You want God to fight your battles for you? You want God to be on your side? Then do this! That's what he's saying. He gives more grace, wherefore he says, God resists the proud but gives grace divine favor out of the humble. So if you want God to be on your side, God fights your battles, then you humble yourself before God and he will fight your battles.

Submit yourselves, therefore, to God.

Resist the devil and he will flee from you. There was, I forget the exact details, but some lawyer or judge in recent time within the past week or two, when it comes to this thing of abstinence in the sexual sense, remember that we had this campaign that went on. Maybe it was Nancy Reagan or somebody who led this campaign with regard to abstinence. The best way to prevent pregnancy is abstinence. This guy was saying that he was going to try to have abstinence declared unconstitutional. It's amazing what they can go to. Isn't that the height of, I mean, license, licentiousness, lasciviousness, all of that?

It's illegal to be legal.

Verse 8, Draw nigh to God, he will draw nigh to you, cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.

Be afflicted. Now, this affliction here has to do with viewing yourself as you are. See, be afflicted and mourn. Look at yourself, really examine yourself, and realize what you are and in view of that, mourn, cry out to God for deliverance, mourn and weep, let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness. Really come to see. Job came to see himself, where he said, I've heard of you by the hearing of ear, now my eye sees you. Paul writes, of sinners, I am chief. All of man's righteousness is a filthy wreck to actually see ourselves as God sees us. That's more the connotation of this, be afflicted, as opposed to, you know, be sick or something like that. And it ties in with verse 10.

Humble yourselves in the sight of the Eternal, and he shall lift you up. Speak not evil, one of another, brethren. He that speaks evil of his brother and judges his brother speaks evil of the law and judges the law. But if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law, but a judge. Now this can present quite a problem, because you can read it one way and say, okay, we can't make any kind of judgment regarding our brother. Yet on the other hand, if you look at the last verse or two of James, look what it says. Verse 19, brethren, if any of you do err from the truth and one convert him, that Greek word for convert is epistrepho, e-p-i-s-t-r-e-p-h-o, it means to turn about. If one turns him about and to turn him about, so you would have to make a judgment. What you're doing is taking you to the pit. Let him know that he which turns about the center from the error of his way shall save a soul from death and shall hide a multitude of sins. So, speak not evil. One of another is the key. He that speaks evil of his brother and judges his brother speaks evil of the law. If you're speaking evil of your brother and not having a spiritual foundation for doing so, then that's where the problem is. If you hold your place, you look at Leviticus 19.15. Leviticus 19.15. Leviticus 19.15. You shall do no unrighteousness in judgment. You shall do no unrighteousness in judgment. But look at what it says. You shall not respect the person of the poor nor honor the person of the mighty, but in righteousness shall you judge your brother or neighbor.

All of your commandments are righteous. Psalm 119 verse 172. So, the law is the basis of the judgment. And from Genesis to Revelation, the message is from Cain and Abel to Revelation, is you are your brother's keeper. Now, you look at Matthew 7, which so many want to quote with regard to this part about judging. Verse 1, judge not that you be not judged. And then it tells you that before you enter into judgment with your neighbor, you search yourself and make sure that you have cast the beam out of your eye, the big temper, before you try to get the splinter or whatever out of your brother's eye. Then you look at verse 6. No, it's verse 5. You hypocrite first cast out the beam out of your own eye, then shall you see clearly to cast out the moat out of your brother's eye. So it's not telling you that you don't ever do judgment. But before you do it, do this. So the James 4.12, if you don't really understand the whole of it, some people could argue that you don't ever make a judgment about anybody. And James closes the book with, if you see your brother sent a sin, let him know he who turns him about saves one from death. Verse 12. There is one lawgiver who is able to save and to destroy. Who are you that judges another? Go to now you that say today or tomorrow we shall go into such a city and continue there a year and buy and sell and get gained. So don't go saying, I'm going to do this on my own regardless and disregard God and forget to say.

And I know I have a tendency in the background of everything I say. I don't verbalize it, you know, and I've even prayed to God and said it is understood that anything that I say is according to your will. If I say I'm going to do such and such, implied in that God willing. But I don't verbalize it. I sound like an idiot every time I spoke, you know, to say, well, go to now you that say today or tomorrow we will go into such a city and continue there a year and buy and sell and get gained. And this is one of the main things in chapter 5 that God is talking about with regard to swearing, where you say I'm going to do such and such apart from God. Whereas we know not what shall be on the morrow for what is your life? There's a vapor that is here and then it's gone. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away, as in Psalm 103, which talks about that. For that you ought to say, if the Lord will, we shall live and do this or that. But now you're rejoicing in your boastings. All such rejoicing is evil. Therefore to him that knows to do good and does not unto him it is sin. So there's another place that usually we go to 1 John 3 for the definition of sin. Sin is a transgression of the law, but this says, him that knows to do good and does not unto him is a sin. Now 1 John 3 for is the sin of commission. Sin is a transgression, breaking the law. This says, if you know to do good and you don't do it, it is a sin. This ties in with this thing about if you have a feeling, a perception, a discernment within your being, that you could change the course of things in the right way, but yet you won't express it. You won't say anything. You repress your feelings. You play it down. You want to play it safe. Then eventually you either become apathetic or maybe one day you burst out and do whatever. But this sin of omission, I would suspect that more of our sin, once we have initial repentance and conversion, is more of this. Him that knows to do good and does not, to him it is a sin. I always think of this first in the spiritual sense, secondly in the physical sense of doing good one to another. Okay, we have come thus far. Chapter 5 that we shall do next time has so much and it has the part about healing and calling for the elders of the church. We'll have a handout, we'll be the plan of all these words that deal with this. I'll probably send it out in advance on the email list. Of course, for those not on email, we'll have a handout here for them, hard copy. So we'll pick it up here in about a month in James chapter 5. Now remember what I said. If you read every verse, it has tongue in it. Every verse it has, of course, you could include mouth. Every verse that has word or words in it, every verse that has speech in it. I think you'll be amazed at what all you'll see.