1 00:00:00,040 --> 00:00:01,880 All right. Turn your Bibles tonight to 2 00:00:01,920 --> 00:00:04,320 Acts, Chapter one. I know that's a little bit 3 00:00:06,000 --> 00:00:08,720 different maybe than what you expect when we're talking about 4 00:00:08,720 --> 00:00:11,440 the book of James. We'll get there, but I want to, 5 00:00:11,680 --> 00:00:15,280 I want to start here tonight and we'll see how far we get. 6 00:00:15,280 --> 00:00:18,120 I've got a lot of notes. I I think probably more than 7 00:00:18,120 --> 00:00:21,280 what I'm going to get through tonight, but I want to, I want 8 00:00:21,280 --> 00:00:24,400 to just go back and kind of just really quickly review. 9 00:00:24,560 --> 00:00:29,730 We talked about the author of the book of James and by way of 10 00:00:29,730 --> 00:00:32,970 review do you remember how many we said how many James is there 11 00:00:32,970 --> 00:00:37,930 are in the Bible? Three technically. 12 00:00:37,930 --> 00:00:40,370 All right. And I know I listed a fourth one 13 00:00:40,370 --> 00:00:42,850 I said depends on which version of the Bible you're using. 14 00:00:43,170 --> 00:00:47,570 And but it obviously we believe the King James and that is the 15 00:00:47,570 --> 00:00:50,170 final authority. And in Acts chapter one and 16 00:00:50,170 --> 00:00:54,500 verse #13 it says and when they were come in they went up into 17 00:00:54,500 --> 00:00:58,380 an upper room where abode both Peter and James and John that's 18 00:00:58,380 --> 00:01:02,380 James the brother of Jesus and Andrew, Phillip and Thomas 19 00:01:02,380 --> 00:01:05,820 Bartholomew and Matthew. James the son of Alpheus and 20 00:01:05,820 --> 00:01:08,980 Simon Zelottis and Judas the brother of James. 21 00:01:08,980 --> 00:01:13,380 So that's the James now that it's in. 22 00:01:13,380 --> 00:01:16,540 In the other versions it says Judas, the son of James. 23 00:01:16,820 --> 00:01:18,420 And that's where the confusion comes in. 24 00:01:18,880 --> 00:01:22,160 But I wanted to make sure that I was clear on this to you. 25 00:01:23,920 --> 00:01:26,200 We got home last week and my wife was saying I was still 26 00:01:26,200 --> 00:01:28,000 confused. It said the son of and I said, 27 00:01:28,000 --> 00:01:30,080 well, I was just putting that there because that's what it 28 00:01:30,080 --> 00:01:32,160 says in a lot of the other versions and they're wrong. 29 00:01:32,400 --> 00:01:35,200 It says the brother of James. In both passages where it's 30 00:01:35,200 --> 00:01:37,960 mentioned, one of them is in Luke chapter six that says Judas 31 00:01:37,960 --> 00:01:40,200 the brother of James. And then in Acts chapter one it 32 00:01:40,200 --> 00:01:42,320 says the same thing, Judas, the brother of James. 33 00:01:42,600 --> 00:01:46,080 Now I the conclusion that I came to when I was studying on. 34 00:01:46,080 --> 00:01:49,500 Maybe I didn't make this clear last week when we are talking 35 00:01:49,500 --> 00:01:52,140 about it, but it says James, the son of Alpheus and Simon 36 00:01:52,140 --> 00:01:54,220 Zelottis, and Judas the brother of James. 37 00:01:54,460 --> 00:01:58,260 My inclination is that it's just talking about James, the son of 38 00:01:58,260 --> 00:02:00,460 Alpheus. Why at college him James, the 39 00:02:00,460 --> 00:02:06,060 son of Alpheus, He's probably the oldest and and and Judas was 40 00:02:06,060 --> 00:02:08,539 then the brother of James, probably the son of Alpheus as 41 00:02:08,539 --> 00:02:09,940 well. It's not very clear. 42 00:02:09,940 --> 00:02:13,510 That's the only two passages that were given where where his 43 00:02:13,510 --> 00:02:17,230 name is mentioned as the brother of James. 44 00:02:17,230 --> 00:02:21,110 But if you look at the context of the passage, which is 45 00:02:21,110 --> 00:02:24,150 important for us to do, then it sure looks like Judas, the 46 00:02:24,150 --> 00:02:26,390 brother of James would be James. The sin of Alfias. 47 00:02:26,390 --> 00:02:27,590 That that's talked about it, we're not. 48 00:02:27,710 --> 00:02:29,710 They're going to spend a lot of time, not going to spend anymore 49 00:02:29,710 --> 00:02:31,550 time talking about the author of the Book of James. 50 00:02:31,790 --> 00:02:34,870 I believe the author of the Book of James is the one that we find 51 00:02:35,390 --> 00:02:37,310 all the way throughout the rest of the Scripture, pretty much. 52 00:02:37,310 --> 00:02:38,790 And that's James, the brother of Jesus. 53 00:02:39,250 --> 00:02:41,810 And obviously for a lot of different reasons that we talked 54 00:02:41,810 --> 00:02:43,930 about. But what I want to jump into 55 00:02:43,930 --> 00:02:47,170 tonight is talking about the canonicity of the book of James. 56 00:02:47,170 --> 00:02:51,050 And you can, I want to look at a lot of verses. 57 00:02:51,050 --> 00:02:53,930 So maybe what you want to do and and actually what I'm going to 58 00:02:53,930 --> 00:02:56,530 end up doing is really just giving you a lot of these 59 00:02:56,530 --> 00:02:59,010 verses. What I want to do is give a 60 00:02:59,050 --> 00:03:02,650 pretty detailed overview of the book of James and then we're 61 00:03:02,650 --> 00:03:05,530 going to do kind of a general study of the Book of James 62 00:03:06,300 --> 00:03:08,980 basically meaning that I'm not going to go through every single 63 00:03:08,980 --> 00:03:11,940 verse, I'm going to take passages in the book once we 64 00:03:11,940 --> 00:03:13,660 start going through it. But I want you to get a very 65 00:03:13,660 --> 00:03:16,820 good understanding of what the book of James is about. 66 00:03:17,180 --> 00:03:21,700 And honestly our in that overview we're going to really 67 00:03:21,700 --> 00:03:24,060 look at a lot of details and different things about the book 68 00:03:24,060 --> 00:03:26,620 of James to give you an idea of what we're studying before we 69 00:03:26,620 --> 00:03:30,220 actually get into the to studying the book itself. 70 00:03:30,220 --> 00:03:33,140 But mostly we're going to be in the book of James tonight. 71 00:03:33,140 --> 00:03:35,760 But I wanted you to start there and Acts, because we're going to 72 00:03:35,760 --> 00:03:37,200 get there in in just a little bit. 73 00:03:38,520 --> 00:03:44,120 But the canonicity of the book of James and canonicity refers 74 00:03:44,120 --> 00:03:46,040 to the inclusion of the books in the Bible. 75 00:03:46,480 --> 00:03:50,240 The the Canon are the 66 books that we find in the Old and the 76 00:03:50,240 --> 00:03:52,240 New Testament. How many books are in the Old 77 00:03:52,240 --> 00:03:55,920 Testament? Say it if you know it, 39. 78 00:03:55,920 --> 00:03:57,760 How many books are in the New Testament? 79 00:03:58,850 --> 00:04:05,290 27 All right, 39 + 27 = 66 And so that makes up the Canon of 80 00:04:05,290 --> 00:04:07,490 scripture. One of the things, and we 81 00:04:07,490 --> 00:04:11,170 haven't gotten to it yet, but we're going to in the in the the 82 00:04:11,450 --> 00:04:14,530 Teen Sunday School class is canonicity. 83 00:04:14,530 --> 00:04:18,010 How did they decide which books belong in the Bible and which 84 00:04:18,010 --> 00:04:20,649 ones don't? It's pretty obvious that Paul 85 00:04:20,649 --> 00:04:23,370 wrote some other letters that never made it into the Bible. 86 00:04:24,110 --> 00:04:27,590 The Bible refers to other writings and things like that 87 00:04:27,590 --> 00:04:29,230 that never made it into the Bible. 88 00:04:29,390 --> 00:04:32,830 So how did they decide which ones were part of the cannon and 89 00:04:32,830 --> 00:04:35,550 which ones were not? Part of the cannon was a very 90 00:04:35,550 --> 00:04:39,110 rigorous test that it had to go through to prove or disprove 91 00:04:39,110 --> 00:04:42,790 their divine inspiration. And obviously God promised that 92 00:04:42,790 --> 00:04:44,190 he was going to preserve his words. 93 00:04:44,190 --> 00:04:47,190 So I believe we have all 66 books that God wanted us to 94 00:04:47,190 --> 00:04:48,710 have. I don't believe we're missing 95 00:04:48,710 --> 00:04:50,830 any, and I don't think we have any that shouldn't be in there. 96 00:04:51,900 --> 00:04:53,980 God promised that he was going to preserve his word. 97 00:04:53,980 --> 00:04:56,940 He certainly could have given the the wisdom to those who were 98 00:04:56,940 --> 00:04:59,900 going through that canonization process to help them figure that 99 00:04:59,900 --> 00:05:02,260 out. But when it comes to the book of 100 00:05:02,260 --> 00:05:06,060 James, really the the brevity being a shorter book and the 101 00:05:06,060 --> 00:05:11,260 limited doctrinal emphasis of James really kept it from wide 102 00:05:11,260 --> 00:05:16,500 circulation early on. There was a there was, there was 103 00:05:16,500 --> 00:05:19,070 a lot of. I don't know if confusion is the 104 00:05:19,070 --> 00:05:21,190 right word, but a lot of question as to who the author 105 00:05:21,190 --> 00:05:24,590 was. And so by the time they actually 106 00:05:24,710 --> 00:05:29,390 came to the conclusion and and came to the acceptance really by 107 00:05:29,390 --> 00:05:35,710 the whole church that that this was a book that belonged in the 108 00:05:35,710 --> 00:05:38,470 Canon, by that time they weren't sure who the author was. 109 00:05:38,830 --> 00:05:42,950 And so it's a pretty interesting a pretty interesting little 110 00:05:44,300 --> 00:05:47,860 situation there. But John Gill, he is he is one 111 00:05:47,860 --> 00:05:53,020 of the older commentators. I lived in the 1800s not too 112 00:05:53,020 --> 00:05:58,260 long after Matthew Henry. But John Gill said this Eusebius 113 00:05:58,260 --> 00:05:59,900 and I have the quote up there with and it's. 114 00:05:59,980 --> 00:06:02,740 I know it's kind of hard to see but maybe you can try to follow 115 00:06:02,740 --> 00:06:04,500 along. Eusebius and a lot of these guys 116 00:06:04,500 --> 00:06:08,060 are are are the early church leaders those who are who are 117 00:06:08,060 --> 00:06:11,020 the leaders in the church in the 1st and 2nd and 3rd century. 118 00:06:11,650 --> 00:06:16,050 Yusebius, who was who lived from about 265 to 340, indeed says 119 00:06:16,250 --> 00:06:19,450 that has been accounted spurious by some, and that not many of 120 00:06:19,450 --> 00:06:21,250 the ancient writers had made mention of it. 121 00:06:21,530 --> 00:06:24,890 But he himself said that it was publicly read in most churches, 122 00:06:25,170 --> 00:06:28,570 and certain it is that some very early writers have respect unto 123 00:06:28,570 --> 00:06:31,090 it. I Renaeus manifestly referred to 124 00:06:31,090 --> 00:06:35,330 it, and so does Tertullian, and it is expressly mentioned by 125 00:06:35,330 --> 00:06:39,690 origin among the canonical the the Canononical Books of 126 00:06:39,690 --> 00:06:43,130 Scripture. The objections against it are of 127 00:06:43,130 --> 00:06:46,010 no weight, which are taken from the seeming disagreement between 128 00:06:46,010 --> 00:06:48,970 the apostle Paul and the writer of this epistle concerning the 129 00:06:48,970 --> 00:06:52,530 doctrine of justification, and from his calling the law the 130 00:06:52,530 --> 00:06:55,930 perfect law of liberty, and the insisting so much on the 131 00:06:55,930 --> 00:06:58,490 doctrine of works. All which will be seen to be 132 00:06:58,530 --> 00:07:02,170 agreeable to the other parts of Scripture, and easily reconciled 133 00:07:02,170 --> 00:07:04,010 with them. Nor is there anything in it 134 00:07:04,010 --> 00:07:08,150 unworthy of an apostle. So John Gill and many of these 135 00:07:08,150 --> 00:07:15,710 others he mentioned Eusebius, Irenaeus, Tertullian origin 136 00:07:15,790 --> 00:07:19,470 others that, that that automatically and and very early 137 00:07:19,470 --> 00:07:22,270 on referred to the book of James as one of the books of the Bible 138 00:07:22,270 --> 00:07:25,070 and as being a book that was written by an apostle. 139 00:07:25,070 --> 00:07:31,990 So the canonicity of the book of James #4 let's well you're there 140 00:07:31,990 --> 00:07:35,150 in in Acts Chapter 5. We'll we'll we'll be there in 141 00:07:35,150 --> 00:07:39,270 just a second but let's let's switch back over real quick to 142 00:07:39,270 --> 00:07:41,470 the book of James and look at James chapter one. 143 00:07:41,470 --> 00:07:45,390 I want you to see this and and the reason I had you in act is 144 00:07:45,390 --> 00:07:47,950 because I want to show you a couple things that relate to the 145 00:07:47,950 --> 00:07:51,710 date and the recipients here But but to give us a jumping off 146 00:07:51,710 --> 00:07:55,750 spot as it as it relates to this we need to look at James chapter 147 00:07:55,750 --> 00:08:00,910 one because the Bible there says and James says to the 12 tribes 148 00:08:00,910 --> 00:08:05,100 which are scattered abroad greeting now that refers to the 149 00:08:05,100 --> 00:08:08,340 Jewish believers in Christ. The 12 tribes that were 150 00:08:08,340 --> 00:08:10,140 scattered abroad they were not gentiles. 151 00:08:10,140 --> 00:08:12,260 There were no gentiles that were part of those tribes. 152 00:08:12,500 --> 00:08:16,500 So we very obviously writing to Jewish believers who are 153 00:08:16,500 --> 00:08:19,020 scattered abroad because of the persecution that we read about 154 00:08:19,380 --> 00:08:22,540 chapter 8. And what a great thing. 155 00:08:22,540 --> 00:08:25,300 I mean you nobody wants to go through persecution. 156 00:08:25,500 --> 00:08:27,940 But every time we see persecution happening, the 157 00:08:27,940 --> 00:08:31,100 church grows and the church grows stronger. 158 00:08:31,680 --> 00:08:34,600 Because what happens when persecution hits is number one, 159 00:08:34,600 --> 00:08:36,799 they can't stay in that area if they value their life. 160 00:08:36,799 --> 00:08:39,679 So they leave, but they don't give up on Christianity. 161 00:08:40,240 --> 00:08:42,240 They leave. And as they leave, they take 162 00:08:42,240 --> 00:08:44,200 Christianity with them and it spreads. 163 00:08:44,480 --> 00:08:47,160 So what James is talking about when he says to the 12 tribes 164 00:08:47,160 --> 00:08:50,200 scattered abroad, he's talking about those Jewish Christians, 165 00:08:50,200 --> 00:08:53,680 those who were Jewish but had accepted Jesus Christ as their 166 00:08:53,680 --> 00:08:56,360 savior and then were scattered because of that persecution. 167 00:08:56,360 --> 00:09:00,080 So this, the entire epistle of James has a very strong Jewish 168 00:09:00,080 --> 00:09:03,320 flavor and it's very fitting for the early period in church 169 00:09:03,320 --> 00:09:05,640 history when the center of Christianity was still at 170 00:09:05,640 --> 00:09:07,640 Jerusalem. And you read all the way through 171 00:09:07,640 --> 00:09:10,120 the book of Acts. You can see that Paul and 172 00:09:10,120 --> 00:09:11,800 Barnabas were sent from Jerusalem. 173 00:09:11,800 --> 00:09:15,720 Many, many other, a lot of things were centered there in 174 00:09:15,720 --> 00:09:17,600 Jerusalem and spread out from there. 175 00:09:17,960 --> 00:09:20,920 But James was the leader of the church there at Jerusalem. 176 00:09:20,920 --> 00:09:25,600 And so it it makes very much sense that Jerusalem being not 177 00:09:25,600 --> 00:09:28,840 the capital, but but basically the capital of Israel. 178 00:09:29,280 --> 00:09:31,480 And actually we recognize Jerusalem as the capital of 179 00:09:31,480 --> 00:09:33,040 Israel. Tel Aviv is the capital. 180 00:09:33,040 --> 00:09:35,920 But you remember at one of the things that Donald Trump did 181 00:09:35,920 --> 00:09:38,160 when he was the president is to recognize Jerusalem as the 182 00:09:38,160 --> 00:09:40,200 capital, which is what they've been trying to do for many, many 183 00:09:40,200 --> 00:09:42,890 years. And and so they, they really 184 00:09:42,890 --> 00:09:45,970 have two capitals now. But there's also, there's no 185 00:09:45,970 --> 00:09:49,610 reference to slavery or idolatry, which we wouldn't have 186 00:09:49,610 --> 00:09:53,490 seen during that time, which would also lend itself to an 187 00:09:53,490 --> 00:09:58,450 originally Jewish readership. It was Jews that would have been 188 00:09:58,450 --> 00:10:02,490 reading that letter and made very obvious by the fact that it 189 00:10:02,490 --> 00:10:04,370 was to the 12 tribes that were scattered abroad. 190 00:10:04,370 --> 00:10:07,050 But they, the Jewish believers, were facing things that were 191 00:10:07,050 --> 00:10:10,990 testing their faith, and James was concerned that they were 192 00:10:10,990 --> 00:10:14,510 succumbing to that bitterness and impatience and materialism 193 00:10:14,510 --> 00:10:18,070 and disunity and spiritual apostasy and a lot of other 194 00:10:18,070 --> 00:10:21,390 things that were coming up. And so as a leader in the church 195 00:10:21,390 --> 00:10:27,550 at Jerusalem, James no doubt had a lot of contact with Jewish 196 00:10:27,550 --> 00:10:29,790 Christians from a number of the Roman provinces. 197 00:10:29,790 --> 00:10:33,870 Now we talked about Judaism, and we're talking about Roman right? 198 00:10:33,870 --> 00:10:39,390 Jewish is the the religion if you will and the nationality. 199 00:10:39,550 --> 00:10:43,150 Roman was the government that was the one that the the Romans 200 00:10:43,150 --> 00:10:45,230 were the oppressors at that time. 201 00:10:45,230 --> 00:10:48,150 And so you know if you start to think about it from that 202 00:10:48,150 --> 00:10:50,310 perspective and you think about all the things that happened 203 00:10:50,310 --> 00:10:53,150 during the time of Jesus crucifixion and everything that 204 00:10:53,150 --> 00:10:56,270 was going on during that time with the with the Jews who were 205 00:10:56,270 --> 00:10:59,070 shouting crucifying, crucifying, they would have already killed 206 00:10:59,070 --> 00:11:02,910 him if they had the authority to do that they had to get pilots 207 00:11:02,910 --> 00:11:06,590 authority. Pilot was a Roman leader. 208 00:11:06,990 --> 00:11:09,430 He was, he was the government, OK. 209 00:11:09,790 --> 00:11:14,030 The Jews had had, had, had authority, if you will, in 210 00:11:14,030 --> 00:11:16,910 religious matters, but you couldn't put somebody to death 211 00:11:16,910 --> 00:11:20,630 for religious reasons. So they had to try to do all of 212 00:11:20,630 --> 00:11:23,910 these other things to try to get Pilot to condemn Jesus to death. 213 00:11:24,190 --> 00:11:26,990 And Pilot didn't necessarily condemn him, but he wiped his 214 00:11:26,990 --> 00:11:29,230 hands and said he's you do with him what you want. 215 00:11:29,230 --> 00:11:33,190 Basically gave them permission to have the governmental 216 00:11:33,190 --> 00:11:35,630 authority to do whatever they wanted to do with Jesus at that 217 00:11:35,630 --> 00:11:39,050 point. But that they that would have 218 00:11:39,050 --> 00:11:42,730 given James a sense of responsibility to exhort and 219 00:11:42,730 --> 00:11:45,570 encourage them in their struggles in the faith. 220 00:11:45,930 --> 00:11:49,170 Now this is really interesting because James is is very 221 00:11:49,170 --> 00:11:52,410 possibly the very first of the new testimony pistols. 222 00:11:53,370 --> 00:11:54,570 And there's a couple reasons for that. 223 00:11:54,570 --> 00:11:58,570 Number one, it appears that it's was written before or at least 224 00:11:58,570 --> 00:12:01,370 around the time that Paul and Barnabas were sent out by the 225 00:12:01,370 --> 00:12:04,050 church at Antioch to establish the Gentile churches. 226 00:12:04,580 --> 00:12:07,300 And and it was would have definitely then have been before 227 00:12:07,300 --> 00:12:09,940 all of palsy pistols. And there's a couple reasons for 228 00:12:09,940 --> 00:12:13,100 that. There's no mention of any of the 229 00:12:13,100 --> 00:12:15,660 Gentile Christians. And we'll see this. 230 00:12:15,780 --> 00:12:17,900 And honestly, I think it would be a very helpful thing if 231 00:12:17,900 --> 00:12:21,380 sometime this week you read through the book of James and 232 00:12:21,380 --> 00:12:22,820 just kind of get a feel for the book. 233 00:12:22,820 --> 00:12:26,020 It would literally take you probably 15 minutes to read 234 00:12:26,020 --> 00:12:28,820 through the entire book, start to finish, maybe maybe 20. 235 00:12:29,100 --> 00:12:31,060 It's only 5 chapters in the book of James. 236 00:12:31,060 --> 00:12:33,180 And if you took three or 4 minutes per chapter, you get 237 00:12:33,180 --> 00:12:35,390 through it pretty quickly. But it would give you a great 238 00:12:35,390 --> 00:12:37,630 overview of what of what we're talking about here with this 239 00:12:37,630 --> 00:12:39,270 book. But there's no mention of the 240 00:12:39,270 --> 00:12:41,870 Gentile Christians. There's no mention of their 241 00:12:41,870 --> 00:12:45,550 relationship to the Jewish Christians that we might expect 242 00:12:45,550 --> 00:12:47,470 from an epistle that would that was written later. 243 00:12:47,710 --> 00:12:50,270 But for a lot of years, the churches were composed almost 244 00:12:50,270 --> 00:12:54,950 entirely of converted Jews and Gentile Jewish proselytes. 245 00:12:54,950 --> 00:12:57,750 The mother church at Jerusalem was a Jewish church. 246 00:12:58,230 --> 00:13:00,750 The 3000 that were saved on the day of Pentecost. 247 00:13:01,380 --> 00:13:03,820 We're Jewish and the multitudes that were added to the Jerusalem 248 00:13:03,820 --> 00:13:08,020 church later were Jews And we read that in in Acts chapter 5. 249 00:13:08,020 --> 00:13:14,020 In fact go back there and and we see that in Acts chapter 5 where 250 00:13:14,020 --> 00:13:15,780 we read that whole story about all the things that were 251 00:13:15,780 --> 00:13:17,060 happening. But I want you to look at Acts 252 00:13:17,060 --> 00:13:20,700 chapter 6 and look at verse #7 because this, I mean this makes 253 00:13:20,700 --> 00:13:23,820 it very clear and and a lot of times we don't think about this 254 00:13:23,820 --> 00:13:27,620 when we're reading in the book of Acts but they were Jewish and 255 00:13:27,620 --> 00:13:31,340 and you have to think that it was not all that long, number 256 00:13:31,340 --> 00:13:33,540 one, since since Christ had gone back to heaven. 257 00:13:33,820 --> 00:13:36,820 But number two since they had done all of their sacrifices and 258 00:13:36,820 --> 00:13:38,740 everything else. A lot of them were still doing 259 00:13:38,740 --> 00:13:40,620 that right. They still had all the 260 00:13:40,620 --> 00:13:42,100 priesthood. They still had all of those 261 00:13:42,100 --> 00:13:44,500 things. And we, we read in Acts chapter 262 00:13:44,500 --> 00:13:47,580 6 in verse number 7, and the word of God increased and the 263 00:13:47,580 --> 00:13:51,380 number of the disciples multiplied in Jerusalem, which 264 00:13:51,380 --> 00:13:54,420 would have been Jewish in Jerusalem greatly. 265 00:13:54,420 --> 00:13:58,260 And a great company of the priests were obedient to the 266 00:13:58,260 --> 00:14:00,570 faith. I mean, who's the priest? 267 00:14:00,570 --> 00:14:03,730 They're not Gentiles, right? Those, they're all Jewish. 268 00:14:03,730 --> 00:14:05,850 All of those people that were being added to the church were 269 00:14:05,850 --> 00:14:07,730 Jews. And so, apart from the 270 00:14:07,730 --> 00:14:10,810 references to the person of Christ, there's basically no 271 00:14:11,170 --> 00:14:15,330 distinctive theology in the book of James, which would again 272 00:14:15,330 --> 00:14:18,850 would suggest an early date when Christianity was just viewed as 273 00:14:19,090 --> 00:14:22,730 as Messianic Judaism, if you will, Jews who still followed a 274 00:14:22,730 --> 00:14:25,370 lot of the traditions and the laws and everything else, but 275 00:14:25,370 --> 00:14:28,250 who had put their faith and trust in Jesus Christ as the 276 00:14:28,250 --> 00:14:30,730 Messiah. A lot of these other doctrines 277 00:14:30,730 --> 00:14:33,450 hadn't started springing up yet that needed to be addressed. 278 00:14:33,850 --> 00:14:37,050 It was very early on. And so the allusions to the 279 00:14:37,050 --> 00:14:41,290 teachings of Christ have have such little verbal agreement 280 00:14:41,290 --> 00:14:43,890 with the Gospels that they probably were that this book was 281 00:14:43,890 --> 00:14:46,250 probably even written before the Gospels were written. 282 00:14:47,330 --> 00:14:49,730 In other words, we don't find phrases that match up because 283 00:14:49,730 --> 00:14:52,450 James was probably written before all of the synoptic 284 00:14:52,450 --> 00:14:55,100 gospels were written. So when I say that James was 285 00:14:55,100 --> 00:14:58,700 probably the first epistle, it was probably written before all 286 00:14:58,700 --> 00:15:01,460 of Matthew, Mark, Luke, John Acts all the way through the 287 00:15:01,460 --> 00:15:06,020 rest of the the New Testament. And so James and in fact, turn 288 00:15:06,020 --> 00:15:07,820 over, turn back to James. Now we're going to kind of stay 289 00:15:07,820 --> 00:15:09,580 there. All right, We'll move around a 290 00:15:09,580 --> 00:15:11,540 little bit, but mostly we'll stay in the book of James 291 00:15:11,540 --> 00:15:13,900 because this is pretty interesting and we're going to 292 00:15:13,900 --> 00:15:15,700 talk about this later. I don't know if we'll get to it 293 00:15:15,700 --> 00:15:20,810 tonight or not, but James uses the Greek word for synagogue and 294 00:15:20,810 --> 00:15:24,970 it's actually it's the the Greek word is actually very close in 295 00:15:24,970 --> 00:15:27,010 pronunciation to our word for synagogue. 296 00:15:27,250 --> 00:15:31,050 Now in James chapter 2 and verse #2 it's actually translated 297 00:15:31,050 --> 00:15:35,770 assembly, for if they're come unto your assembly, a man with a 298 00:15:35,770 --> 00:15:38,730 gold ring and goodly apparel and they're come in also a poor man 299 00:15:38,730 --> 00:15:40,410 and vile Raymond. Basically what he's talking 300 00:15:40,410 --> 00:15:43,090 about in the whole passage is to not be a respecter of persons. 301 00:15:43,370 --> 00:15:48,000 But he's used, he uses that term synagogue and James Chapter 2. 302 00:15:48,000 --> 00:15:52,360 And James is in fact the only New Testament epistle that uses 303 00:15:52,360 --> 00:15:57,400 the Greek word for synagogue, which again, it really gives us 304 00:15:57,400 --> 00:16:01,560 an indication. James does use the word church 305 00:16:01,560 --> 00:16:04,240 too, by the way, which we'll talk about a little bit later. 306 00:16:04,560 --> 00:16:08,800 But it really indicates a very simple organization of elders 307 00:16:08,800 --> 00:16:11,920 and masters or teachers, which we find a James chapter 3, James 308 00:16:11,920 --> 00:16:15,790 chapter 5, but it's patterned after the early synagogue, and 309 00:16:15,790 --> 00:16:17,790 that's what a synagogue was, by the way. 310 00:16:18,510 --> 00:16:21,030 We have this understanding that a synagogue was a church. 311 00:16:21,030 --> 00:16:24,110 A synagogue was not a a a church. 312 00:16:24,110 --> 00:16:26,310 A synagogue was literally a place for assembly. 313 00:16:26,310 --> 00:16:29,710 Now they would get up in the synagogues and they would read 314 00:16:29,710 --> 00:16:32,150 from the scrolls. They would read the scripture in 315 00:16:32,150 --> 00:16:34,310 the synagogues. But the synagogues were used for 316 00:16:34,310 --> 00:16:36,910 all kinds of different things. When when the, when the Bible 317 00:16:36,910 --> 00:16:39,750 talks about Paul would go into their synagogues and and teach. 318 00:16:40,070 --> 00:16:42,430 Right. It was just an assembly place 319 00:16:42,430 --> 00:16:43,870 that it was. It was a place that they would 320 00:16:43,870 --> 00:16:45,910 get to. A lot of these little cities had 321 00:16:45,910 --> 00:16:47,950 their own synagogue there. And that's where they would get 322 00:16:47,950 --> 00:16:51,270 together to talk about things that need to be addressed for 323 00:16:51,270 --> 00:16:55,230 their, for their city or for all kinds of different matters. 324 00:16:55,430 --> 00:16:58,510 They would get together and they would read the scriptures in 325 00:16:58,510 --> 00:17:00,430 those synagogues. But it was just an assembly 326 00:17:00,430 --> 00:17:02,710 place. And so the fact that James is 327 00:17:02,710 --> 00:17:07,750 using this word, assembly, but the Greek word for synagogue 328 00:17:08,380 --> 00:17:11,339 means that that that the organization of the church 329 00:17:11,339 --> 00:17:14,020 probably hadn't even really taken place very much yet. 330 00:17:14,859 --> 00:17:17,020 I mean, obviously they were, they were gathering in church, 331 00:17:17,020 --> 00:17:18,940 you had the church at Jerusalem and everything else. 332 00:17:18,940 --> 00:17:21,540 So I'm not saying that the church was not established by 333 00:17:21,540 --> 00:17:25,140 that point. It was, but it was just a very 334 00:17:25,140 --> 00:17:27,859 basic organization. That's probably why James used 335 00:17:27,859 --> 00:17:30,940 that word, assembly or synagogue. 336 00:17:30,940 --> 00:17:35,490 But James does not mention the issue that was involved in Acts 337 00:17:35,490 --> 00:17:38,130 Chapter 15. Remember we read that last week, 338 00:17:38,970 --> 00:17:41,610 Acts chapter 15 was the whole issue where all of them got 339 00:17:41,610 --> 00:17:43,170 together. And then James said, all right, 340 00:17:43,530 --> 00:17:45,410 here's my decision. This is what we're going to go 341 00:17:45,410 --> 00:17:47,690 with. This is what I believe got a 342 00:17:47,690 --> 00:17:50,530 saying, but he did. That was in a D49 and he didn't 343 00:17:50,530 --> 00:17:54,410 even mention that at all in his book, which again is very 344 00:17:54,410 --> 00:17:56,170 possibly because it was written before that. 345 00:17:56,170 --> 00:17:59,690 So he. I mean that it doesn't mean that 346 00:17:59,690 --> 00:18:02,010 he had to, but he almost certainly would have addressed 347 00:18:02,010 --> 00:18:05,170 that if he had written his epistle after that council had 348 00:18:05,170 --> 00:18:08,210 taken place. So lots of things there to talk 349 00:18:08,210 --> 00:18:11,010 to, to give us kind of an idea that number one, it was 350 00:18:11,010 --> 00:18:14,490 addressed to the Jews. And of all of the books in the 351 00:18:14,490 --> 00:18:17,810 New Testament, James is by far the most Jewish book. 352 00:18:18,250 --> 00:18:22,850 It it references a lot of Jewish ideas and Jewish things, which 353 00:18:22,850 --> 00:18:24,250 we'll talk about as we go through there. 354 00:18:24,530 --> 00:18:26,730 But then also the fact that James was probably the very 355 00:18:26,730 --> 00:18:29,370 first book of the New Testament that was written. 356 00:18:29,530 --> 00:18:32,690 So then let's get into this, the theme of the book of James. 357 00:18:33,520 --> 00:18:35,560 We're going to spend a little while in here and I want to give 358 00:18:35,560 --> 00:18:38,600 you a lot of different verses and things and and some of 359 00:18:38,600 --> 00:18:40,440 these, I'm just going to give you the verses. 360 00:18:40,440 --> 00:18:42,600 You can write them down and go back and look at them later. 361 00:18:43,160 --> 00:18:45,240 I think it'll be a very helpful study for you. 362 00:18:45,840 --> 00:18:47,960 But we just don't have time to go through every single one of 363 00:18:47,960 --> 00:18:49,960 these verses. But as I study the book of 364 00:18:49,960 --> 00:18:54,160 James, I I think there there's quite a few concepts, but 365 00:18:54,160 --> 00:18:56,960 there's really two main themes. And if I could narrow it down to 366 00:18:56,960 --> 00:19:02,130 one specific theme and then one general theme, the the specific 367 00:19:02,130 --> 00:19:05,970 theme of the book is active faith, not just professing 368 00:19:05,970 --> 00:19:08,690 faith. And we find that really if if 369 00:19:08,690 --> 00:19:10,930 we're going to wrap that up into one verse, it would be in James 370 00:19:10,930 --> 00:19:17,010 chapter one and verse #22. But be doers of the word and not 371 00:19:17,010 --> 00:19:19,930 hearers, only deceiving your own selves. 372 00:19:19,930 --> 00:19:23,130 Verse 23 we can add in there as well, For if any be a hearer of 373 00:19:23,130 --> 00:19:26,250 the word and not a doer, he's like unto a man beholding his 374 00:19:26,250 --> 00:19:30,980 natural face in a glass. So then as now, there were a lot 375 00:19:30,980 --> 00:19:35,060 of professing Christians whose life matched nothing with what 376 00:19:35,060 --> 00:19:40,020 the profession ought to lead to. So that theme verse, I think it 377 00:19:40,020 --> 00:19:43,100 with this specific theme in mind, would be James chapter one 378 00:19:43,420 --> 00:19:45,860 and verse 22. But the main theme of James's 379 00:19:45,860 --> 00:19:50,460 epistle is really to bring the individual believers and the 380 00:19:50,460 --> 00:19:52,740 churches into spiritual maturity. 381 00:19:53,300 --> 00:19:56,780 And there's a lot of concepts that James gives us to talk 382 00:19:56,780 --> 00:19:59,870 about that. But the word perfect appears six 383 00:19:59,870 --> 00:20:03,190 times in the book of James and and and we'll just look at one 384 00:20:03,190 --> 00:20:05,470 of them, James chapter one of verse #4. 385 00:20:05,630 --> 00:20:08,150 But let patients have her perfect work. 386 00:20:08,390 --> 00:20:12,790 What is perfect mean? Complete, right, Mature. 387 00:20:13,270 --> 00:20:16,350 And so when we're talking about the idea that James is trying to 388 00:20:16,350 --> 00:20:18,710 bring them into maturity, he's not saying that they're going to 389 00:20:18,710 --> 00:20:21,750 be perfect in the sense of sinless perfection or any of 390 00:20:21,750 --> 00:20:23,670 those other things. What he's talking about with 391 00:20:23,710 --> 00:20:28,110 perfection is maturity. And he uses that word 6 times. 392 00:20:28,310 --> 00:20:30,070 James chapter one. You can write these down if you 393 00:20:30,070 --> 00:20:31,030 want to, and this is what I'm saying. 394 00:20:31,030 --> 00:20:32,390 I'm gonna give you some of these references. 395 00:20:32,390 --> 00:20:33,510 You can go back and look at them. 396 00:20:33,790 --> 00:20:37,590 But James chapter one and verse 4, verse #17, Every good gift 397 00:20:37,590 --> 00:20:40,030 and every perfect gift. James. 398 00:20:40,110 --> 00:20:42,110 James one. Verse 25. 399 00:20:42,270 --> 00:20:46,310 James two and verse 22. And James chapter 3 and verse 2. 400 00:20:47,380 --> 00:20:49,700 For in many things we offend all, if any man offend. 401 00:20:49,700 --> 00:20:52,900 Not in Word the same as a perfect man and able also the 402 00:20:52,900 --> 00:20:54,980 bride of the whole body. Perfect doesn't mean that he's 403 00:20:54,980 --> 00:20:59,740 sinless, but he's mature and he's maturing into that complete 404 00:21:00,180 --> 00:21:02,540 man and that complete Christian that God wants us to be. 405 00:21:02,540 --> 00:21:06,620 So the word defined in James chapter one and verse #4 that we 406 00:21:06,620 --> 00:21:10,020 read that she may be perfect an entire wanting nothing. 407 00:21:10,260 --> 00:21:12,620 It literally means that it means mature or complete. 408 00:21:12,620 --> 00:21:15,690 So we see the same thing in Second Timothy chapter 3, verse 409 00:21:15,690 --> 00:21:17,450 #17. Now obviously that's not the 410 00:21:17,450 --> 00:21:20,490 theme with our book, but that the man of God may be perfect, 411 00:21:21,010 --> 00:21:22,770 thoroughly furnished until all good works. 412 00:21:22,810 --> 00:21:26,410 That perfection is talking about maturity or completion. 413 00:21:26,410 --> 00:21:31,570 So James is concerned that those who profess Christ go on into 414 00:21:31,650 --> 00:21:35,610 spiritual maturity, and and this epistle contains a lot of 415 00:21:35,610 --> 00:21:37,050 lessons on how that can be accomplished. 416 00:21:37,050 --> 00:21:39,650 James wrote this epistle, the epistle really because of the 417 00:21:39,650 --> 00:21:44,930 low spiritual condition of the Jewish churches of that day. 418 00:21:45,490 --> 00:21:48,810 They they claim to be Christians, but their lives were 419 00:21:48,810 --> 00:21:51,970 not backing up the fact that they had accepted Jesus Christ. 420 00:21:51,970 --> 00:21:55,090 And what James is saying with all of that is your works ought 421 00:21:55,090 --> 00:21:57,410 to prove that you're a Christian. 422 00:21:57,890 --> 00:22:01,330 And so there's a lot of unholiness and worldliness and 423 00:22:01,330 --> 00:22:05,250 respect the persons and bragging and self seeking and cursing and 424 00:22:05,250 --> 00:22:08,940 fainting in persecution. So many of those things that 425 00:22:08,940 --> 00:22:10,940 were going on. And James is calling God's 426 00:22:10,940 --> 00:22:14,700 people to spiritual growth and maturity, to holiness and 427 00:22:14,700 --> 00:22:16,940 separation. And he's writing to prepare 428 00:22:16,940 --> 00:22:19,100 them. Ultimately, he's writing to 429 00:22:19,100 --> 00:22:21,260 prepare them for the imminent return of Jesus Christ. 430 00:22:21,620 --> 00:22:25,100 He said he's coming and you better be ready for his coming. 431 00:22:25,620 --> 00:22:27,460 But if you're going to be ready for his coming, then you better 432 00:22:27,460 --> 00:22:29,260 be holy. You better be righteous. 433 00:22:29,260 --> 00:22:31,500 You better be mature. You better be complete. 434 00:22:32,040 --> 00:22:33,840 So with that, fine. I want to look at the major 435 00:22:33,840 --> 00:22:37,360 teachings of the Epistle of James that really are designed 436 00:22:37,840 --> 00:22:41,600 to fulfill the overall theme of bringing the Brethren to 437 00:22:41,600 --> 00:22:43,640 maturity. And the first one we see is 438 00:22:43,640 --> 00:22:46,760 this. It's the character of God, the 439 00:22:46,760 --> 00:22:49,960 character of God. James wants the believers to 440 00:22:49,960 --> 00:22:54,510 turn their attention to God, to be mindful of him in their daily 441 00:22:54,510 --> 00:22:57,710 lives, to know his character, to draw night to him, to submit to 442 00:22:57,710 --> 00:23:02,110 him, to humble themselves before him, to be God's friend like the 443 00:23:02,110 --> 00:23:06,630 Bible says Abraham was. So it's is this this epistle, 444 00:23:06,630 --> 00:23:09,590 and even though it's only 5 chapters, it's just permeated 445 00:23:09,830 --> 00:23:13,070 with teaching about God. I'm just going to give you a 446 00:23:13,070 --> 00:23:15,070 bunch of them here. You can write these down and go 447 00:23:15,070 --> 00:23:16,710 back and look at them later if you want to. 448 00:23:17,170 --> 00:23:19,770 I've got a whole list of them, and without taking the time to 449 00:23:19,770 --> 00:23:22,170 go all the way through it, but we're taught that God. 450 00:23:22,170 --> 00:23:23,650 In fact, let's just look at a couple of them. 451 00:23:23,650 --> 00:23:25,770 James, chapter one, right there in verse #1. 452 00:23:26,170 --> 00:23:30,090 James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ. 453 00:23:30,090 --> 00:23:36,010 Now what does that tell you? James, a servant of God and of 454 00:23:36,010 --> 00:23:39,690 the Lord Jesus Christ. What's that an indication of? 455 00:23:43,010 --> 00:23:46,210 Yeah, number one, that Jesus is God #2. 456 00:23:46,330 --> 00:23:48,770 That obviously God the Father and God the Son are equal, 457 00:23:48,850 --> 00:23:50,530 Right? Gives you a great indication of 458 00:23:50,530 --> 00:23:53,450 the Trinity. Right Now he doesn't mention the 459 00:23:53,450 --> 00:23:55,610 Holy Spirit in there, but if there's two, then obviously 460 00:23:55,610 --> 00:23:58,210 there's there's a third. And he talks about it later on. 461 00:23:58,730 --> 00:24:01,330 But we're taught that that God and the Lord Jesus Christ are 462 00:24:01,330 --> 00:24:04,050 two and yet one. And that refers to the Trinity, 463 00:24:04,130 --> 00:24:06,370 right? James Chapter one and verse 464 00:24:06,370 --> 00:24:07,930 five. If any of you like wisdom, let 465 00:24:07,930 --> 00:24:10,530 him ask of God that giveth to all men liberally. 466 00:24:11,950 --> 00:24:15,110 James, chapter One, verse 6. But let him ask in faith nothing 467 00:24:15,110 --> 00:24:17,030 wavering. For he that wavereth is like a 468 00:24:17,030 --> 00:24:18,950 wave of the sea driven with the wind and toss. 469 00:24:19,150 --> 00:24:22,350 For let not that man think that he shall receive anything of the 470 00:24:22,350 --> 00:24:24,470 Lord. So God requires unwavering 471 00:24:24,470 --> 00:24:25,910 faith. Verse 12. 472 00:24:26,030 --> 00:24:28,390 Blessed is the man that endureth temptation, For when he's tried, 473 00:24:28,390 --> 00:24:30,950 he shall receive the crown of life which the Lord hath 474 00:24:30,950 --> 00:24:32,910 promised to them that love him so. 475 00:24:33,150 --> 00:24:36,230 God promised a crown of life, and he goes on and on and on and 476 00:24:36,230 --> 00:24:39,960 on and on and on with the idea of the character of God. 477 00:24:39,960 --> 00:24:41,440 I'm going to give you the list. All right. 478 00:24:41,760 --> 00:24:44,040 I don't have time to go through every one of these verses, 479 00:24:44,040 --> 00:24:45,200 because we'd be here for a while. 480 00:24:45,200 --> 00:24:47,080 But God cannot be tempted with evil. 481 00:24:47,320 --> 00:24:49,000 He does not tempt anybody with evil. 482 00:24:49,000 --> 00:24:52,520 James, chapter One and verse 13. God is the author of every good 483 00:24:52,520 --> 00:24:54,760 and perfect gift. James 117. 484 00:24:55,000 --> 00:24:57,840 God is the Father. James 117. 485 00:24:57,840 --> 00:25:00,200 James 127. James 39. 486 00:25:00,560 --> 00:25:03,440 God is the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, 487 00:25:03,440 --> 00:25:07,090 neither shadow of turning. James 117 God begets believers 488 00:25:07,090 --> 00:25:10,610 by his word. In James 118 God sees and is 489 00:25:10,610 --> 00:25:14,730 concerned with what men do. In James 127 God is the judge of 490 00:25:14,730 --> 00:25:16,890 every man. In James chapter 2 and verse 12 491 00:25:17,090 --> 00:25:19,970 there is one God, James two and verse 19. 492 00:25:20,730 --> 00:25:23,850 He says in that in that verse thou believest that there is one 493 00:25:23,850 --> 00:25:27,810 God thou doest. Well, the devils also believe in 494 00:25:27,810 --> 00:25:30,160 tremble. That's an interesting passage. 495 00:25:30,160 --> 00:25:31,440 We're going to get to that later on. 496 00:25:32,240 --> 00:25:35,160 James chapter 2 and verse 23. Abraham was God's friend, which 497 00:25:35,160 --> 00:25:38,280 teaches us that God will have men as his friends through 498 00:25:38,280 --> 00:25:42,080 redemption. James 317 and 18 God imparts the 499 00:25:42,080 --> 00:25:46,200 fruits of righteousness. God is at enmity with the world 500 00:25:46,200 --> 00:25:49,640 and James 4/4. God resist the proud gives grace 501 00:25:49,640 --> 00:25:52,560 into the humble and James 46. God draws knight to those who 502 00:25:52,560 --> 00:25:55,650 draw knight to him. James 4/8 God will lift up those 503 00:25:55,650 --> 00:25:56,970 who humble themselves before him. 504 00:25:56,970 --> 00:25:59,530 James 410 God is the one lawgiver. 505 00:25:59,530 --> 00:26:02,810 James 412 God is the one who was able to save and to destroy. 506 00:26:02,810 --> 00:26:06,010 James 412 God is in control of man's affairs. 507 00:26:06,090 --> 00:26:10,090 James 415 God is the Lord of Sabbath, who will judge sinners. 508 00:26:10,090 --> 00:26:13,490 James 5 Four God is very pitiful and of tender mercy. 509 00:26:13,490 --> 00:26:16,630 James 511 God hears and answers the prayers of faith. 510 00:26:16,630 --> 00:26:20,230 James 515 through 18 so permeated when I say it's 511 00:26:20,230 --> 00:26:22,270 permeated with the character of God. 512 00:26:22,590 --> 00:26:26,470 Jane and everyone of those passages mentions God or the 513 00:26:26,470 --> 00:26:31,470 Lord as we see as we see it, which obviously he establishes 514 00:26:31,470 --> 00:26:35,550 very, very early on in the very first verse that God and the 515 00:26:35,550 --> 00:26:38,310 Lord Jesus Christ are the same person that he's talking about. 516 00:26:38,310 --> 00:26:40,830 South. The character of God permeates 517 00:26:40,830 --> 00:26:43,460 this entire book. And when we come to know the 518 00:26:43,460 --> 00:26:47,340 character of God, that brings us into spiritual maturity, right? 519 00:26:47,540 --> 00:26:50,700 The way to spiritual maturity, the way to perfect completeness, 520 00:26:50,740 --> 00:26:54,500 is to know God and to know him in an intimate way. 521 00:26:54,700 --> 00:26:57,780 And to know him. I mean, we'll never get to the 522 00:26:57,780 --> 00:27:00,660 point where we understand him or where we know him completely. 523 00:27:01,040 --> 00:27:04,120 But the more we try and the more we study him and the more we 524 00:27:04,120 --> 00:27:06,600 study his character, the more we're going to be like him and 525 00:27:06,600 --> 00:27:08,800 the more that brings us into that maturity that he's talking 526 00:27:08,800 --> 00:27:12,160 about. So the character of God is one 527 00:27:12,160 --> 00:27:14,920 of those things that will bring the brethren to unity. 528 00:27:15,240 --> 00:27:18,760 The second thing is that true faith is evidenced by good 529 00:27:18,760 --> 00:27:21,760 works. Let's look at James Chapter 2. 530 00:27:23,470 --> 00:27:27,630 Faith, so-called, that does not produce works, is not saving 531 00:27:27,630 --> 00:27:29,990 faith. That theme is is repeated many 532 00:27:29,990 --> 00:27:33,070 times in the book of James, at least several. 533 00:27:33,950 --> 00:27:39,230 But in chapter one we saw that those who only hear the word of 534 00:27:39,230 --> 00:27:42,950 God and don't obey it, and those who seem to be religious but 535 00:27:42,950 --> 00:27:45,670 don't live that way, are deceived. 536 00:27:45,670 --> 00:27:47,910 He says that very plainly in James chapter one. 537 00:27:48,550 --> 00:27:50,630 And so on the authority of that teaching we can say that there 538 00:27:50,630 --> 00:27:54,550 are multitudes of professing Christians today that are 539 00:27:54,550 --> 00:27:56,310 deceived. He doesn't. 540 00:27:56,310 --> 00:27:58,950 You can go back and look at Matthew where he says that many 541 00:27:58,950 --> 00:28:01,430 will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not 542 00:28:01,430 --> 00:28:04,670 prophesied in that name? And then I name cast out devils, 543 00:28:04,670 --> 00:28:07,110 and then I name done many wonderful works and they'll say 544 00:28:07,310 --> 00:28:10,510 to them I depart from me cursed. I never knew you right. 545 00:28:10,670 --> 00:28:12,630 There's a lot. Just because you profess to be a 546 00:28:12,630 --> 00:28:14,390 Christian does not mean that you are. 547 00:28:15,030 --> 00:28:17,830 That's very plainly taught. And James is taught in Matthew. 548 00:28:18,470 --> 00:28:22,070 But that same theme we see in in chapter 3, James says the man 549 00:28:22,070 --> 00:28:24,150 who has true wisdom. In fact, go to James chapter 3 550 00:28:24,150 --> 00:28:28,310 and look at verse #13, who is a wise man and to do with 551 00:28:28,310 --> 00:28:31,670 knowledge among you. Let him show out of a good 552 00:28:31,670 --> 00:28:35,510 conversation, his works with meekness of wisdom. 553 00:28:35,710 --> 00:28:38,510 What is conversation in the Bible? 554 00:28:38,510 --> 00:28:40,950 What's it's not? It's not talking about having a 555 00:28:40,950 --> 00:28:43,230 conversation with somebody. When the Bible uses that word 556 00:28:43,230 --> 00:28:45,070 conversation, what's it talking about? 557 00:28:46,740 --> 00:28:49,100 The lifestyle, right, the way you live your life. 558 00:28:49,100 --> 00:28:52,900 So what he says is let him show out of a good conversation or 559 00:28:52,900 --> 00:28:57,020 out of a good lifestyle, his works with meekness of wisdom. 560 00:28:57,340 --> 00:29:01,740 So he, he again addresses that same theme. 561 00:29:02,060 --> 00:29:04,860 And this theme really is seen in the in the reminders that the 562 00:29:04,860 --> 00:29:07,980 believer has a law to live by. And again, this is where we we 563 00:29:07,980 --> 00:29:11,140 say that this is a very Jewish book in the way that he goes 564 00:29:11,140 --> 00:29:17,480 about it in because we're we're saved by grace without the law, 565 00:29:17,480 --> 00:29:20,440 but we're saved to keep the law, right? 566 00:29:20,440 --> 00:29:23,320 And I'm not talking about the law of Moses, but the new law 567 00:29:23,320 --> 00:29:25,680 that we find in Christ. In fact, this is pretty 568 00:29:25,680 --> 00:29:28,280 interesting to look at. James chapter one and verse 25, 569 00:29:30,080 --> 00:29:32,080 verse 25. And this is the only place in 570 00:29:32,080 --> 00:29:33,680 the Bible that we see this phrase. 571 00:29:33,680 --> 00:29:38,440 But who so looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and 572 00:29:38,440 --> 00:29:41,400 continue with therein. He being not a forgetful here, 573 00:29:41,400 --> 00:29:45,640 but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed, 574 00:29:45,880 --> 00:29:49,640 but the perfect law of liberty. Look at James Shepherd two and 575 00:29:49,640 --> 00:29:51,520 verse eight. He uses another phrase that is 576 00:29:51,520 --> 00:29:55,760 only used in the book of James. James shepherd two and verse 8. 577 00:29:55,800 --> 00:30:00,640 If you fulfill the royal law according to the scripture, thou 578 00:30:00,640 --> 00:30:02,280 shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. 579 00:30:02,480 --> 00:30:05,120 You do well. He calls that the royal law. 580 00:30:05,120 --> 00:30:07,640 We're going to look at the meaning of those terms later on 581 00:30:08,470 --> 00:30:10,550 as we study through this. But the point here is that there 582 00:30:10,550 --> 00:30:13,310 is a law for the Christians to follow, right? 583 00:30:13,310 --> 00:30:15,710 We're not saved to sit or save to serve. 584 00:30:16,070 --> 00:30:17,670 We're not save to live as we please. 585 00:30:17,670 --> 00:30:21,990 We save to please the Savior. We're not saved by those works. 586 00:30:22,230 --> 00:30:25,070 But there ought to be works that show that we are saved. 587 00:30:25,470 --> 00:30:27,350 And that's what that's what he's talking about when his when he 588 00:30:27,350 --> 00:30:30,310 says that true faith or what I'm talking about when I say that 589 00:30:30,310 --> 00:30:32,270 true faith is evidenced by good works. 590 00:30:32,590 --> 00:30:36,370 Another thing that James addresses that really points us 591 00:30:36,370 --> 00:30:39,610 to this idea of maturity as Christians is patience. 592 00:30:39,610 --> 00:30:42,010 In trials. That's the third thing, 593 00:30:42,010 --> 00:30:45,130 patience. In trials, the word patience and 594 00:30:45,130 --> 00:30:50,530 patient we find 7 times in the book of James, James, 13, James, 595 00:30:50,530 --> 00:30:55,330 14, James 57810 and 11. He uses that word patient or 596 00:30:55,330 --> 00:30:59,410 patience. So if he used it once, all 597 00:30:59,410 --> 00:31:01,370 right. But when you use a word seven 598 00:31:01,370 --> 00:31:04,760 times in five chapters, obviously he's trying to get 599 00:31:04,760 --> 00:31:07,200 something across, right? And it's something that we ought 600 00:31:07,200 --> 00:31:09,280 to pay attention to. This is some of the things that 601 00:31:09,280 --> 00:31:11,800 we've been talking about in the Institute class with the men and 602 00:31:11,800 --> 00:31:14,560 the boys, right? Look for those times where you 603 00:31:14,560 --> 00:31:18,120 see more than one word or where you see a word used more than 604 00:31:18,120 --> 00:31:19,960 once. But seven times. 605 00:31:20,200 --> 00:31:22,800 He's trying to get us to understand that we need to have 606 00:31:22,800 --> 00:31:26,800 patience in trials. And honestly, look at James 607 00:31:26,800 --> 00:31:30,590 chapter one of verse #2. He he greets everybody and then 608 00:31:30,590 --> 00:31:33,070 he jumps right into it. My brethren counted all joy. 609 00:31:33,070 --> 00:31:34,590 When you fall into diverse temptations. 610 00:31:34,590 --> 00:31:38,150 He goes all the way through most of that first chapter talking 611 00:31:38,150 --> 00:31:41,510 about that, and then he ends the entire book the same way in 612 00:31:41,510 --> 00:31:44,350 James chapter 5 and verse #10. In fact, if you want to turn 613 00:31:44,350 --> 00:31:47,070 over there, take my brethren, the prophets who have spoken in 614 00:31:47,070 --> 00:31:49,110 the name of the Lord for an example of suffering, 615 00:31:49,110 --> 00:31:52,350 affliction, and the patience behold, we count them happy, 616 00:31:52,350 --> 00:31:54,550 which endure. You have heard of the patience 617 00:31:54,550 --> 00:31:56,930 of Job. They have seen the end of the 618 00:31:56,930 --> 00:31:59,450 Lord, that the Lord is very pitiful and of tender mercy. 619 00:31:59,930 --> 00:32:04,410 And he goes on just for a couple more verses, but patience in 620 00:32:04,410 --> 00:32:08,290 temptations, patience in trials. He starts the book that way, and 621 00:32:08,290 --> 00:32:09,930 he ends the ends the book that way. 622 00:32:10,170 --> 00:32:13,330 By the way, we read about all the patience of Job, but we 623 00:32:13,330 --> 00:32:16,650 really don't see that, that phrase anywhere else other than 624 00:32:16,650 --> 00:32:19,130 in the book of James. And that's why we say that Job 625 00:32:19,130 --> 00:32:21,450 is known for his patience. Well, that's where it comes 626 00:32:21,450 --> 00:32:23,730 from. James very plainly says you read 627 00:32:23,730 --> 00:32:26,300 about the patience of Job. That's where it comes from 628 00:32:26,300 --> 00:32:28,260 there. Here's another thing that he 629 00:32:28,300 --> 00:32:31,980 addresses that points us toward the idea and the overall theme 630 00:32:31,980 --> 00:32:34,900 of bringing the Brethren to maturity is living by faith. 631 00:32:35,700 --> 00:32:39,020 Living by faith. James mentions keeping the faith 632 00:32:39,020 --> 00:32:41,420 in trials. In James, chapter one and verse 633 00:32:41,420 --> 00:32:44,460 two and three, he mentioned seeking wisdom by faith. 634 00:32:44,460 --> 00:32:47,820 In verse five and six of chapter one he mentions true faith, 635 00:32:47,820 --> 00:32:51,900 producing works and James Shepherd two and verse 14, all 636 00:32:51,900 --> 00:32:54,140 the way through verse 26 and then the prayer, Faith for the 637 00:32:54,140 --> 00:32:56,860 sick and James, chapter 5, verse 15 and 16. 638 00:32:56,860 --> 00:33:00,100 So living by faith as we live by faith. 639 00:33:00,100 --> 00:33:03,700 And he talked about those ideas in several different passages. 3 640 00:33:03,700 --> 00:33:06,420 out of the five chapters he talked, he addresses living by 641 00:33:06,420 --> 00:33:09,580 faith that will bring us toward maturity as Christians. 642 00:33:09,940 --> 00:33:11,900 Here's another one, the importance in the power of the 643 00:33:11,900 --> 00:33:15,580 word of God. James talks about it in a few 644 00:33:15,580 --> 00:33:20,590 different ways, but in James chapter one and verse #18 of his 645 00:33:20,590 --> 00:33:25,350 own will beget he us with the word of truth, that we should be 646 00:33:25,350 --> 00:33:27,350 a kind of first fruits of his creatures. 647 00:33:27,950 --> 00:33:31,350 He talks about in James chapter one and verse 21, therefore lay 648 00:33:31,350 --> 00:33:34,030 apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness and 649 00:33:34,030 --> 00:33:36,790 receive with meekness. The engrafted word. 650 00:33:37,440 --> 00:33:40,680 Talks about the Bible in that way, talks about in James 1/22 651 00:33:40,680 --> 00:33:43,160 as we already read being doers of the word, We already read in 652 00:33:43,160 --> 00:33:46,400 James 125 the perfect law of Liberty. 653 00:33:46,560 --> 00:33:49,320 He's talking about the importance and the power of the 654 00:33:49,320 --> 00:33:53,120 word of God three times in fact. Let's look at him in James 655 00:33:53,120 --> 00:33:57,320 chapter 2 and verse #8. If you fulfill the royal law 656 00:33:57,320 --> 00:34:02,840 according to the scripture verse 23 of James chapter 2 and the 657 00:34:02,840 --> 00:34:06,250 scripture was fulfilled with saith, and then in James chapter 658 00:34:06,250 --> 00:34:10,010 4 in verse #5 do you think that the scripture sayeth in vain? 659 00:34:10,290 --> 00:34:12,889 So three times James refers to the scripture. 660 00:34:13,730 --> 00:34:16,730 Now here's something that's very important as well or very, very 661 00:34:16,730 --> 00:34:23,850 interesting. I would say James more than I 662 00:34:24,050 --> 00:34:27,370 can't say more than any other book but but mentions the Old 663 00:34:27,370 --> 00:34:30,610 Testament a lot which think about it. 664 00:34:30,969 --> 00:34:34,130 If James was one of the first epistles, one of the first 665 00:34:34,130 --> 00:34:37,659 epistles written, what scripture did James have to go off of? 666 00:34:37,659 --> 00:34:41,699 He had the Old Testament and he had the teachings of Christ, 667 00:34:42,620 --> 00:34:44,780 right? The teachings of Christ would 668 00:34:44,780 --> 00:34:46,659 have been written down somewhere, even though they 669 00:34:46,659 --> 00:34:48,900 hadn't been written necessarily in the book of Matthew, Mark, 670 00:34:48,900 --> 00:34:53,500 Luke and John yet, right? This was written after Christ 671 00:34:53,500 --> 00:34:57,020 had already died. So did they have a recording of 672 00:34:57,020 --> 00:34:59,580 of Jesus's words written down somewhere that they would get up 673 00:34:59,580 --> 00:35:00,860 and read? I I don't know. 674 00:35:00,860 --> 00:35:04,100 The Bible doesn't tell us that all we have is what's recorded 675 00:35:04,100 --> 00:35:07,180 as the words of Christ in the Gospels and in a few other 676 00:35:07,180 --> 00:35:10,140 passages. But James would have been 677 00:35:10,140 --> 00:35:13,500 talking about the Scripture he's been referring to, most likely 678 00:35:13,500 --> 00:35:16,420 the Old Testament and the words of Christ, right? 679 00:35:16,420 --> 00:35:17,020 He. They would have. 680 00:35:17,020 --> 00:35:19,340 They would have been. They would have had the words to 681 00:35:19,340 --> 00:35:21,300 the Sermon on the Mount probably recorded. 682 00:35:21,300 --> 00:35:24,380 It would have had the words to a lot of these times when Jesus 683 00:35:24,380 --> 00:35:28,060 stood and taught. And I mean somebody wrote them 684 00:35:28,060 --> 00:35:32,370 down somewhere because you know, Matthew didn't remember every 685 00:35:32,370 --> 00:35:35,090 word that Jesus Christ said in the Beatitudes and and in the 686 00:35:35,090 --> 00:35:38,690 whole Sermon on the Mount and then from memory give us Matthew 687 00:35:38,690 --> 00:35:42,330 5-6 and seven, Jesus is Sermon on the Mount, right? 688 00:35:42,530 --> 00:35:44,050 So. So more than likely it was 689 00:35:44,050 --> 00:35:46,770 written down somewhere somehow that they would have referred 690 00:35:46,770 --> 00:35:50,370 back to and he certainly would have been referring to those as 691 00:35:50,370 --> 00:35:54,100 Scripture, right? So who knows, Who knows exactly 692 00:35:54,100 --> 00:35:56,660 what he was talking about, But he refers to the Scripture three 693 00:35:56,660 --> 00:35:58,140 times. And then all of these other 694 00:35:58,140 --> 00:36:01,020 times when he's talking about the word of God, it gives us the 695 00:36:01,020 --> 00:36:04,060 importance and the power of the word of God. 696 00:36:05,020 --> 00:36:09,700 Then we also see that James focus on separation from the 697 00:36:09,700 --> 00:36:11,940 world. That's another one of the the 698 00:36:11,940 --> 00:36:15,580 themes that backs up the idea of the maturity of the Brethren, 699 00:36:15,820 --> 00:36:18,580 separation from the world. He he's teaching us the 700 00:36:18,580 --> 00:36:20,580 strictest principle of separation. 701 00:36:20,740 --> 00:36:25,560 Which in fact look at this If you wanted to if you if, if you 702 00:36:25,560 --> 00:36:29,120 think that that you know some of the things that I teach in 703 00:36:29,120 --> 00:36:31,960 preach is is well, it's a little bit extreme. 704 00:36:31,960 --> 00:36:33,600 That might be a little bit more separated. 705 00:36:33,800 --> 00:36:36,640 Look what he says in James chapter one in verse 27, Pure 706 00:36:36,640 --> 00:36:39,120 religion and undefiled before God and the Father. 707 00:36:39,120 --> 00:36:42,160 Is this to visit the fatherless and widows in their infliction 708 00:36:42,320 --> 00:36:45,680 and to keep himself unspotted from the world? 709 00:36:47,380 --> 00:36:50,220 If you get a spot on your clothes, how big of a spot does 710 00:36:50,220 --> 00:36:54,460 it have to be to be a spot? It can be a dot, right? 711 00:36:54,460 --> 00:36:57,780 I mean, a dot is still a spot if you're looking at a spot on your 712 00:36:57,780 --> 00:37:00,260 clothes or something like that. So that means any part of the 713 00:37:00,260 --> 00:37:02,820 world we're supposed to keep ourselves away from. 714 00:37:03,780 --> 00:37:08,140 That means that there's no room for non separation, if you will. 715 00:37:08,620 --> 00:37:12,980 And so he really gives a in fact, look over at James Chapter 716 00:37:12,980 --> 00:37:16,510 4. This is a little bit longer of a 717 00:37:16,510 --> 00:37:19,390 passage, but he doesn't hold anything back. 718 00:37:19,550 --> 00:37:24,830 James chapter 4 and verse #4. You adulterers and adulteresses, 719 00:37:25,030 --> 00:37:28,830 know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God. 720 00:37:28,830 --> 00:37:34,590 I mean, what when you are doing things that the world does that 721 00:37:34,590 --> 00:37:36,590 goes against what we find in the word of God? 722 00:37:36,590 --> 00:37:41,110 Do you consider yourself to be an adulterer or an adulteress? 723 00:37:41,710 --> 00:37:45,620 Most of us would never go that far, but he he very plainly 724 00:37:45,620 --> 00:37:48,460 says, You're a friend of the world, then you're an adulterer. 725 00:37:48,820 --> 00:37:51,500 Whosoever, therefore will be a friend of the world, is the 726 00:37:51,620 --> 00:37:56,140 enemy of God. That is really, really strong. 727 00:37:56,140 --> 00:37:58,980 Language verse 5. Do you think that the scripture 728 00:37:58,980 --> 00:38:00,980 sayth in vain? The spirit that dwells in us 729 00:38:00,980 --> 00:38:03,540 lusteth to envy? They giveth more grace. 730 00:38:03,540 --> 00:38:06,820 Wherefore God sayth? Wherefore he says, God resists 731 00:38:06,820 --> 00:38:08,820 his the proud, but giveth grace under the humble. 732 00:38:09,370 --> 00:38:10,930 Submit yourselves therefore to God. 733 00:38:10,930 --> 00:38:12,570 Resist the devil and he will flee from you. 734 00:38:12,810 --> 00:38:14,810 Draw a night of God and he will draw a night to you. 735 00:38:14,970 --> 00:38:18,210 Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts. 736 00:38:18,250 --> 00:38:21,490 You double minded, Be afflicted and mourn and weep. 737 00:38:21,490 --> 00:38:23,570 Let your laughter return to mourning and your joy to 738 00:38:23,570 --> 00:38:25,450 happiness. Humble yourselves in the sight 739 00:38:25,450 --> 00:38:29,290 of God and he shall lift you up. I mean, I haven't called you 740 00:38:29,290 --> 00:38:31,650 sinners lately. I haven't called you double 741 00:38:31,650 --> 00:38:33,730 minded lately. I haven't called you adulterers 742 00:38:33,730 --> 00:38:38,110 and adulteresses lately, but he does, right? 743 00:38:38,270 --> 00:38:42,190 That's very pointed language that says separate yourself from 744 00:38:42,190 --> 00:38:46,150 the world if you want to grow in maturity, if you want to grow 745 00:38:46,150 --> 00:38:48,710 into that perfection and that completeness that he wants you 746 00:38:48,710 --> 00:38:53,710 to have, here's another one. Brotherly love James, Chapter 2 747 00:38:53,710 --> 00:38:56,150 and verse 8. James quotes Christ's 748 00:38:56,150 --> 00:38:59,310 commandment to love thy neighbor as thyself and he calls it the 749 00:38:59,310 --> 00:39:03,330 royal law. James chapter 2 and verse #8. 750 00:39:03,530 --> 00:39:06,210 If you fulfill the royal law according to the scripture, thou 751 00:39:06,210 --> 00:39:07,770 shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. 752 00:39:08,010 --> 00:39:09,850 You do. Well, now by the way, that's 753 00:39:09,850 --> 00:39:13,090 that's a direct quote and Jesus used that, but but it comes from 754 00:39:13,090 --> 00:39:17,180 Leviticus, Leviticus chapter 19. And actually I didn't even 755 00:39:17,180 --> 00:39:19,420 mention this, but in the past, as we just read there in James 756 00:39:19,420 --> 00:39:21,980 chapter 4, God resisted the proud, give the grace into the 757 00:39:21,980 --> 00:39:23,580 humble comes from Proverbs chapter 3. 758 00:39:23,780 --> 00:39:26,980 So he's using all of these when he's referring to the Scripture. 759 00:39:26,980 --> 00:39:29,500 A lot of times he's referring to things in the Old Testament, but 760 00:39:29,500 --> 00:39:33,820 that just means one thing. James knew his Bible, he knew 761 00:39:33,820 --> 00:39:36,060 the scriptures and he quoted them and he used it. 762 00:39:36,540 --> 00:39:38,940 But he's talking about the idea of brotherly love, and he 763 00:39:38,940 --> 00:39:42,340 applies that law to a lot of situations, visiting the the 764 00:39:42,340 --> 00:39:45,260 fatherless and the widows in their affliction, creating a 765 00:39:45,260 --> 00:39:47,700 poor brother with the same respect as a rich brother. 766 00:39:47,700 --> 00:39:50,460 We talked about that a little bit in James Chapter 2, Not to 767 00:39:50,460 --> 00:39:52,980 have respect to persons. He talks about it when he when 768 00:39:52,980 --> 00:39:56,260 it comes to assisting the needy, not speaking evil of one 769 00:39:56,260 --> 00:39:59,580 another, not holding the grudge, confessing faults, converting a 770 00:39:59,580 --> 00:40:02,020 brother from error. All of those things that he 771 00:40:02,020 --> 00:40:04,980 talks about, our ideas that that flow along, this idea of 772 00:40:04,980 --> 00:40:09,180 brotherly love that all again points, points us and pushes us 773 00:40:09,180 --> 00:40:12,020 toward that maturity. Here's another one that he talks 774 00:40:12,020 --> 00:40:13,940 about that pushes his in that same direction. 775 00:40:14,830 --> 00:40:19,110 Effectual Prayer James teaches about prayer, which is one of 776 00:40:19,110 --> 00:40:22,710 the most important instruments, if you will, of Christian growth 777 00:40:23,030 --> 00:40:25,830 and victory. He teaches about seeking wisdom 778 00:40:25,910 --> 00:40:28,070 by prayer. James chapter One and verse #5. 779 00:40:28,270 --> 00:40:30,870 If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God. 780 00:40:31,550 --> 00:40:34,430 He teaches about failing to obtain from God because of a 781 00:40:34,430 --> 00:40:36,870 lack of prayer. In James chapter 4 and verse #2 782 00:40:37,430 --> 00:40:40,750 you lost and have not. You kill and desire to have and 783 00:40:40,750 --> 00:40:42,670 cannot obtain. You fight in war, yet you have 784 00:40:42,670 --> 00:40:45,710 not because you ask not. He talks about asking for the 785 00:40:45,710 --> 00:40:47,390 right things. He asked and received, not 786 00:40:47,390 --> 00:40:49,990 because he asked him this. He talks about praying and 787 00:40:49,990 --> 00:40:52,270 affliction in chapter 5 and verse #13. 788 00:40:52,550 --> 00:40:54,710 Is any of you? Is any among you afflicted? 789 00:40:54,710 --> 00:40:57,710 Let him pray. He talks about praying and 790 00:40:57,710 --> 00:40:58,950 faith. Verse 14. 791 00:40:59,110 --> 00:41:01,470 Is any sick among you? Let him call for the elders of 792 00:41:01,470 --> 00:41:04,390 the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil 793 00:41:04,670 --> 00:41:06,510 in the name of the Lord. Verse 16. 794 00:41:06,510 --> 00:41:10,310 Praying effectually with with, with fervency. 795 00:41:10,750 --> 00:41:13,310 It is the effectual, fervent prayer of a righteous man to 796 00:41:13,310 --> 00:41:16,350 fail as much. James gives the example of 797 00:41:16,350 --> 00:41:18,550 Elijah. In fact, just in verse #17, 798 00:41:18,550 --> 00:41:21,790 Elias was a was a man subject to like passengers we are, and he 799 00:41:21,790 --> 00:41:24,910 prayed earnestly that it might not rain Now that's it, That's 800 00:41:24,910 --> 00:41:26,110 it. That's a really interesting 801 00:41:26,110 --> 00:41:28,110 passage and I want to get off on that. 802 00:41:28,110 --> 00:41:31,310 But you know, we we think that Elijah just walked up to God and 803 00:41:31,310 --> 00:41:34,070 said all right, God don't make it rain for a while and he 804 00:41:34,070 --> 00:41:36,670 walked away. The Bible says and James, that 805 00:41:36,670 --> 00:41:39,550 Elijah prayed earnestly that it would not rain for the space of 806 00:41:39,550 --> 00:41:42,440 three years, that that then brought the rain again as an 807 00:41:42,440 --> 00:41:44,640 encouragement and to teach the power of prayer. 808 00:41:44,880 --> 00:41:48,560 And he he goes again. He prayed again, verse 18, And 809 00:41:48,560 --> 00:41:50,920 the heaven gave rain, and the earth brought forth her fruit. 810 00:41:51,120 --> 00:41:53,760 Brethren, if any of you do air from the truth, and one convert 811 00:41:53,760 --> 00:41:56,320 him, let him know. But he he's he talks about the 812 00:41:56,320 --> 00:41:59,840 idea of effectual prayer and over and over and over you're 813 00:41:59,840 --> 00:42:02,680 not spiritually mature until you know how to pray. 814 00:42:03,350 --> 00:42:04,630 So you know how to get a hold of God. 815 00:42:04,630 --> 00:42:08,190 And so James is is taking this idea of effectual prayer, and he 816 00:42:08,190 --> 00:42:10,550 smatters it all the way throughout the entire book to 817 00:42:10,550 --> 00:42:13,750 help us again to reach that, that completion and that 818 00:42:13,750 --> 00:42:16,910 maturity. 2 more things and we'll be done. 819 00:42:16,910 --> 00:42:19,950 The the, the, the whatever number that is the imminent 820 00:42:19,950 --> 00:42:23,470 return of Christ. We've got to understand and be 821 00:42:23,470 --> 00:42:27,190 ready for the imminent return of Jesus Christ if we're going to 822 00:42:27,190 --> 00:42:30,750 be brought to maturity. But James, Chapter 5 and verse 823 00:42:30,750 --> 00:42:36,070 #7, He says, Be patient. Therefore, brethren, under the 824 00:42:36,070 --> 00:42:39,510 coming of the Lord, behold, the husbandman waiteth for the 825 00:42:39,510 --> 00:42:42,430 precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it until 826 00:42:42,430 --> 00:42:44,750 he receive the early and let it rain. 827 00:42:44,950 --> 00:42:48,790 Be also patient, Establish your hearts for the coming of the 828 00:42:48,790 --> 00:42:52,390 Lord, Draweth, and I grudge not one against another, brethren, 829 00:42:52,390 --> 00:42:55,030 unless you be condemned. Behold, the judge standeth 830 00:42:55,030 --> 00:42:56,750 before the door. He's teaching that Christ is 831 00:42:56,750 --> 00:43:00,790 standing before the door. That's an interesting, but I 832 00:43:00,790 --> 00:43:04,270 tell you what, you read the book of James and you read it slowly 833 00:43:04,270 --> 00:43:06,270 trying to grasp what he's saying. 834 00:43:06,630 --> 00:43:10,590 James uses some some wonderful phrases and and that's one. 835 00:43:10,590 --> 00:43:13,630 I mean you just get a picture of exactly what's going on there in 836 00:43:13,630 --> 00:43:15,790 the passage. Behold the judge stand it before 837 00:43:15,790 --> 00:43:17,870 the door. It's talking about Jesus Christ. 838 00:43:18,430 --> 00:43:20,550 He's standing at the door waiting for God to say, all 839 00:43:20,550 --> 00:43:23,660 right, go through the door and and and go right the Second 840 00:43:23,660 --> 00:43:25,060 Coming. They were ready for it all the 841 00:43:25,060 --> 00:43:26,740 way back then. We should how much more should 842 00:43:26,740 --> 00:43:28,820 we be ready for it now? But he's teaching that this 843 00:43:28,820 --> 00:43:33,540 doctrine should change how we as believers live in this present 844 00:43:33,540 --> 00:43:35,660 world. It should produce that patients 845 00:43:35,660 --> 00:43:38,260 in trial like he talks about in James Chapter one. 846 00:43:38,260 --> 00:43:40,620 It should produce the good relationships among the 847 00:43:40,620 --> 00:43:43,580 Brethren. And again, this is one place 848 00:43:43,580 --> 00:43:46,730 that we find only James mentioning this. 849 00:43:46,730 --> 00:43:49,690 But in James chapter one and verse #12, blessed is the man 850 00:43:49,690 --> 00:43:52,330 that endureth temptation. For when he has tried, he shall 851 00:43:52,330 --> 00:43:55,650 receive the crown of life which the Lord had the promise to them 852 00:43:55,650 --> 00:43:58,690 that love me reminds those who are reading that of the crown of 853 00:43:58,690 --> 00:44:00,130 life. He reminds them about Christ's 854 00:44:00,130 --> 00:44:01,450 Kingdom. He reminds them of Christ's 855 00:44:01,450 --> 00:44:03,410 judgment. All of those are pertaining to 856 00:44:03,410 --> 00:44:07,090 the coming of Jesus Christ. And we're not much sure as 857 00:44:07,090 --> 00:44:10,570 Christians until we're ready for the coming of Jesus Christ. 858 00:44:11,170 --> 00:44:15,560 The last one that James addresses as a theme that points 859 00:44:15,560 --> 00:44:19,080 us all to that maturity is the ministry of the body. 860 00:44:19,280 --> 00:44:22,280 And when I say the body, I'm talking about the body of of the 861 00:44:22,280 --> 00:44:29,480 Church, the Body of Christ. James addresses brethren 15 * 15 862 00:44:29,480 --> 00:44:30,520 times. He uses that term. 863 00:44:30,520 --> 00:44:33,640 Brethren, Again, as we talked about in our Institute class, 864 00:44:33,640 --> 00:44:36,960 when you see a word mentioned more than once, but especially 865 00:44:37,200 --> 00:44:40,610 multiple times, then you ought to look and see what it's what 866 00:44:40,610 --> 00:44:43,010 it's there for, what it's around for. 867 00:44:43,010 --> 00:44:46,530 He doesn't address Brethren as individuals, but he's addressing 868 00:44:46,530 --> 00:44:51,370 us as members of a family. The pronouns ye and you are 869 00:44:51,370 --> 00:44:55,450 plural, and 60 times we see ye and you. 870 00:44:55,730 --> 00:44:58,490 In the book of James, and just these five level chapters, James 871 00:44:58,730 --> 00:45:01,370 teaches us that believers are not to live their Christian 872 00:45:01,370 --> 00:45:05,330 lives alone or to live as members of an assembly. 873 00:45:05,810 --> 00:45:08,450 The church is mentioned very specifically in James chapter 5 874 00:45:08,450 --> 00:45:10,850 and verse #14. Is any sick among you? 875 00:45:10,850 --> 00:45:14,410 Let him call for the elders of the church and let them pray 876 00:45:14,410 --> 00:45:17,530 over him and over and over and over. 877 00:45:17,530 --> 00:45:20,050 We're instructed to love each other, to provide for one 878 00:45:20,050 --> 00:45:23,250 another, to sow peace among one another, not to speak evil of 879 00:45:23,250 --> 00:45:26,210 one another, not to hold of a grudge, not to confess our 880 00:45:26,210 --> 00:45:28,410 faults to one another and pray for one another to watch over 881 00:45:28,410 --> 00:45:30,550 one another over and over and over and over. 882 00:45:30,550 --> 00:45:31,910 We see that in the book of James. 883 00:45:31,910 --> 00:45:35,350 Mostly they're in chapter 5. But in every chapter James 884 00:45:35,350 --> 00:45:39,830 addresses the group as brethren, and ye and you. 885 00:45:40,230 --> 00:45:44,390 The whys are plural, by the way. Ye and you, thee, and thou is 886 00:45:44,390 --> 00:45:47,590 singular. Ye and you is plural, and you 887 00:45:47,590 --> 00:45:50,870 know, I know it's, I know those are archaic words, if you will. 888 00:45:51,150 --> 00:45:54,990 But every time you see A T H, it's singular, thee and thou. 889 00:45:55,030 --> 00:45:58,490 Every time you see A why ye and you, it's plural. 890 00:45:58,650 --> 00:46:00,090 And he's, he's addressing everybody. 891 00:46:00,410 --> 00:46:03,330 And we see that over 60 times in the book of James that he's 892 00:46:03,330 --> 00:46:09,450 addressing brethren as a whole. So I know it's a lot, it's it's 893 00:46:09,450 --> 00:46:11,730 a lot there and it's just a small little book. 894 00:46:11,730 --> 00:46:14,330 But let me encourage you to read through the book of James this 895 00:46:14,330 --> 00:46:17,330 week, see what you can pick out of the things that we've talked 896 00:46:17,330 --> 00:46:19,170 about tonight. And then we're going to. 897 00:46:19,170 --> 00:46:21,970 I'm going to give you a few more things when we get back together 898 00:46:21,970 --> 00:46:23,970 next week. Some of the things that that 899 00:46:23,970 --> 00:46:28,400 make James unique from all the rest of the other pistols and 900 00:46:28,440 --> 00:46:31,120 then we'll probably start into the first book there, first 901 00:46:31,120 --> 00:46:32,320 chapter there in the book of James. 902 00:46:32,320 --> 00:46:36,600 But as I mentioned, I'm, I'm, I want to give you a very detailed 903 00:46:36,600 --> 00:46:41,120 overview and then a pretty general pretty general study of 904 00:46:41,120 --> 00:46:43,520 the book of James. But until you understand what 905 00:46:43,520 --> 00:46:45,840 the book is about, you'll never be able to get everything out of 906 00:46:45,840 --> 00:46:50,040 the book that God intended for us to get when he had James 907 00:46:50,040 --> 00:46:54,800 write this epistle for us. But we're finished for tonight, 908 00:46:54,800 --> 00:46:58,090 so let's pray. Then we'll be dismissed. 909 00:46:58,090 --> 00:46:59,410 Father, we love you. Give me thank you for your 910 00:46:59,410 --> 00:47:01,130 goodness to us. Thank you for an opportunity we 911 00:47:01,130 --> 00:47:03,890 have to study your Word. I pray that you'd help us to 912 00:47:03,890 --> 00:47:05,850 take it seriously. God, I pray that you would help 913 00:47:05,850 --> 00:47:09,850 us to to get every bit of the Word of God that we can and to 914 00:47:09,850 --> 00:47:12,570 know everything that you want us to know that we can. 915 00:47:13,130 --> 00:47:15,290 And God, I pray that you would just help us as we go through 916 00:47:15,290 --> 00:47:17,610 this study, that we gained some wonderful things from it that 917 00:47:17,610 --> 00:47:20,930 will help us in our lives to not just profess to be Christians, 918 00:47:20,930 --> 00:47:23,490 but to do things that Christians ought to do, and to live the way 919 00:47:23,490 --> 00:47:26,350 Christians ought to live again. We thank you for all you do for 920 00:47:26,350 --> 00:47:27,190 us. In Jesus name. 921 00:47:27,510 --> 00:47:27,910 Amen.