The What of the Book of James

Well, take your Bible this morning and turn with me to the book of James. And I would say the last time we turned to the book of James, but I know that that's not going to be true because I know that James is a rich well from which you will drink many times in the future. I have done so through the years, through the years of walking with God and serving God in the ministry, trying to minister to God's people. The book of James has been a refreshing drink many times.

And it's just been my desire to present to you the Word of God, to teach you the Word, just lead you through the Word and let the Spirit of God take the Word of God and open our eyes to what God would want us to see. Now you should know by now that we are at the end of the series, Good Works Flow from Good Faith. Now we started the series, we started the series back on April the 25th and we started the series with a title of the message called The Who of the Book of James. Now we've had 34 messages so far, 34 messages where I believe the Lord has given us truth. And I was discussing this with Keith earlier.

He was talking about some of the messages that just kind of have risen to the surface for him. In my time this week of studying and listening to some of these messages, certain messages really were on the surface, were really on the forefront of my heart. Lots of times it comes into where we have experienced, the experiences we've been through, the trials we've been through, the teaching we've had in the past. But yet there's so much that we will come back to as we walk with the Lord in the years to come.

Now there's a little bit of the introductory material that we looked at back in April that I want to touch on before we get into this message of wrapping up this series. I told you back in April that James is what's called one of the general epistles. If you continue to study and if you continue to read things that are extra biblical commentaries, listen to sermons, you will come across phrases like general epistle. Paul wrote the prison epistles. We have the gospels. We have the synoptic gospels. John is not one of the synoptic gospels we're going to learn in a few weeks. But what does it mean by a general epistle?

James wrote to a general audience. There's not one particular person. There's not one particular church. We know that Paul wrote to the Ephesian church, the letter of 1 Timothy and 2 Timothy. That's one of the pastoral epistles. We're learning that that is a very pastoral letter, both letters. But this is one of the general epistles written to a general audience. Many different churches, many different people facing different issues. Now I talked to you about who wrote the book of James. I think that's very important. I'm not going to go through all of the different possibilities.

There were many different individuals in the New Testament who went by the name James. But we know that the scripture teaches, we see by scriptural evidence that this James was the half brother of Jesus. I want to remind you about this half brother of Jesus. The Lord Jesus had other brothers and sisters. After the Lord Jesus was born, Joseph and Mary did go on to have a family of their own. And they were half brothers, half sisters. The Gospel of Mark chapter 6 verse 3 speaks of this truth. The Catholics teach that Mary was a perpetual virgin, which is a lie. James was a half brother of Jesus.

But what I want to remind you of is that it seems that James was not a believer until after the resurrection. He did not see Christ for who He was and who He is during His earthly ministry. Now what's the point? I said this in this introductory message. You can even be the half brother of Jesus and still be lost. Jesus saw the perfect Christ but still was lost for many years. Now I think it's important for us to remember the theme of the book. I've told you that each book of the Bible has a particular theme. Now some themes are relatively easy to see. But I shared with you that the theme verse is out of chapter 2. I'd like you to look there.

Chapter 2 verse 17. This is a familiar verse for many of you. James says that even so, faith, if it has no works, is dead being by itself. That is what many Bible commentators and theologians believe to be the theme verse of the book of James. I believe it. That's where I kind of got the title of the series. The series title is "Good Works Flow from Good Faith." And that's what James is dealing with with this theme verse. Verse 17. If we have true saving faith, true Bible faith, we will have good works that flow out of that. And that is one of the main issues that James is dealing with. Thus the theme of the book.

The theme of this entire message from James. Now context is something that I've said many times in my introductory material. Context is something that we must get. Context is something that helps put the, I would say, clarity to the picture. You don't have to turn there, but I'm going to refer you to Acts chapter 8. You can write it down. I'd like you to look at it a little later in your own study. But Acts chapter 8 really gives us an indication of the context. It helps us understand the context.

In Acts chapter 7, we see the fabulous story of Stephen, what we might would believe, one of the first deacons preaching to those Jews there in Jerusalem. But we see in chapter 7 verse 54 that as Stephen is preaching, those Jews rose up and they murdered Stephen, the first martyr for the faith that we see in the New Testament. But what do we see here? We see that a great persecution burst out onto the scene, onto the New Testament church there in Jerusalem. Look at chapter 8 verse 1. And Saul was in hearty agreement with putting him to death. That's Stephen.

Then it goes on to say, "And on that day a great persecution arose against the church in Jerusalem and they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria except for the apostles." What happened here is the church, it just was scattered because of this persecution. James is writing to these scattered believers, these scattered Christians who had gone here and there and everywhere and they were struggling. Now the date really isn't important but most theologians and commentators believe that this was written between Acts chapter 8 and Acts chapter 15.

Acts chapter 15 was the great Jerusalem council and we know that James was a prominent figure there in the Jerusalem council but this Jerusalem council is not mentioned in James. What am I trying to show you? The context is the church is scattered and they are struggling because yes a persecution but yet they're in disarray and they're struggling with good works that flow out of their good faith and so James writes to these individuals in these churches and there was a big need and there was a two-fold need. First for the Christian. I've said numerous times that James is really the manual or a manual for Christian living.

Some have compared James to the practical book of the Old Testament of Proverbs. This is a manual for Christian living but really James is explaining how we live out our Christian faith. He is teaching, he is encouraging, he is correcting, he is preparing, he is equipping and he is about building these Christians. Basically he's saying now listen you're struggling in some of these areas. Some of you have victory in some of these areas but this is how your faith has got to be lived out. Take it to heart. This is how it's got to work. I don't care if you're in Jerusalem in Samaria or Judea or wherever. That manual for Christian living.

It's just the nuts and the bolts. There's another message in this book. There's a message to the lost. We really began to see this message more clearly in the last two messages in James, James chapter 5 verse 19 through 20 and we see that James wraps this book up and he says now listen there are some among you that are lost. You have not been born again and this letter is nothing more than a series of tests to show you who they are and to show you who you are.

What James is doing is he's getting to the end and he's saying some of you are Christian and you can rise to the occasion with these tests but some of you are not and you are failing the tests. So this is a two-fold message and the context really brings this to light because the church has been scattered but yet God had a great purpose in that because what did they do when they scattered? Many of them evangelized and they took the gospel in the places that they had not gone because really actually the church was huddled up in Jerusalem. But what about the context of today? What about our day where we are?

I would venture to say that this is one of the biggest problems that we have today. We have a lack of obedience coming from the average church. We have a lack of obedience from the people that sit in the pews who have gone through the baptistery who claim to be Christian. I mean they would answer many of the questions right but I think many of the people that we have in our churches fail to be obedient to what we see right here in James. I started off this series in April with the Who of the Book of James and I gave this a quote from this little book called The Paths to Power by A.W. Tozer.

If you ever run across this book, it is a good one, I would encourage you to get it. It is a small book and as a matter of fact you can find them relatively cheap. But A.W. Tozer was a great Christian in this country. He was a great pastor and God used him very well and many different people from many different theological positions respect A.W. Tozer. But I want to read to you what he says about this issue of obedience. I want you to listen close. To obey in the New Testament usage means to give earnest attention to the word, to submit to its authority and to carry out its instructions.

Obedience in this sense is almost dead in modern Christianity. It may be taught now and then in a sort of a way, but it is not stressed sufficiently to give it power over the lives of the hearers. 4. To become effective, a doctrine must not only be received and held by the church, but it must have behind it such pressure of moral conviction that the emphasis will fall like a blow upon a percussion cap setting off the energy within. The church in our day has soft-pedaled the doctrine of obedience, either neglecting it altogether or mentioning it only in an apologetic manner and without urgency.

This results from a fundamental confusion of obedience with works and minds of preachers and of people. To escape the error of salvation by works, we have fallen into the opposite error of salvation without obedience, and our eagerness to get rid of the legalistic doctrine of works, we have thrown the baby out with the bathwater and gotten rid of obedience as well.

He goes on to say, "The Bible recognizes no faith that does not lead to obedience, nor does it recognize any obedience that does not spring from faith." He goes on to say, "So faith and obedience are forever joined, and each one is without value when separated from the other." I guess if I can say it like this, A.W. Tozer hit the nail on the head. You cannot divorce obedience from faith. And that's what James is saying. Now the title of the message this morning is "The What of the Book of James." The what of the book of James. What I mean by the what of the book of James, what do we do from here? Where do we go?

How do we respond as we finish up these series? Now in asking you that question, where do we go? What do we do? I want to ask you this question, what do we normally do? When we hear teaching, whether it's a short series or a long series, or maybe just one good sermon, what do we do? I want to break us away from the norm, and I want to break us to what is desperately needed today, and that is I want to urgently plead for you to adjust your life to the Word of God, to all that has been given to you.

I want to urgently plead that you would continue to go to the well that is James and drink from this well daily, weekly, for the years to come so that you could be obedient to what God has said to us and will continue to say. I know many times I have made mention of your pen. I hope and pray that you bring a writing utensil to church. I have made mention to something to take notes on. I have made mention to your Bible, and I hope and pray that you use your Bible. Some people say I would never write in God's holy book. I have some Bibles I don't write in. Oh, but I have some that I do.

So whatever your method, I would hope that you write and you take in and you remember and you absorb and you have, listen, at your disposal a library that comes from the book of James, your notes and messages preached that you could go back to so that you would get all that God would have you to have for the days to come ahead because I'm afraid many of us normally we move on and we forget. I remember sharing with you how I had gotten access to some of my old home church pastors' cassette tapes, messages.

And I went back and there was a period of time where I was listening to some and it reminded me of certain things that Brother Dennis preached and taught and it reminded me of many things that I had forgotten because we're fallible. And so what I want to say to you is let's not make this tragic mistake as we have done in the past and let's just get all that we can get, not just today, but in the days to come. So as we finish this morning, I want to just kind of tie a bow on this package and then move on from the book of James. So if you're taking notes, you can jot a few of these things down. Number one, first for the Christian.

First for the Christian. I've already mentioned that this book has a two-fold message to the Christian to the lost, but I just want to touch on a few things that are important. Now I'm not going to touch on every message that's been preached. Good night. We would be here all day and then some and you couldn't take that and I couldn't take it either. But I just want to touch on a couple of messages that I think are vitally important. First, the messages on trials. You remember those messages from trials came from chapter one verses two through four. Remember we had three messages on trials. Our faith is tested.

Wisdom is needed and trust in God. Remember what Jane says, consider it all joy by brethren whenever you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance and let endurance have its perfect work result, perfect result that you may be perfect and complete and not lacking anything. James is talking about trials. Remember I told you the meaning of a trial. Many people fail trials because they forget what or they never know what a trial really is. A trial is nothing more than a test. When we come to faith in Christ, we will be tested. God never tests us or allows a test to come our way to see what we would do.

God always knows what we're going to do, but God allows a test to show us what we are going to do and to show us who we are and what we are and to show us what we are made of. And also we must remember the reality of trials, trials are a part of the Christian life. I'll never forget when I was talking to a younger Christian one time and I was talking about trials and going through a difficult time and he just said, you know, God doesn't work that way in my life. And I said, gee, we're in for a rude awakening. I was talking with a little more mature Christian and we were discussing and praying for this younger Christian.

And I said, you know, I said to my friend Ray, I said, you know, you show me a Christian who's never faced trials and I'll show you an immature Christian. And he said, amen, brother. The reality of trials, trials come our way to work in us and God allows them and we must see that a trial is a test and God brings them for a purpose. Trials are just part of the Christian life. And I'm going to tell you, there are two kinds of people here, those who have faced trials and those who will face them in the future. If you haven't faced trial, listen, it's coming.

You know, sometimes I don't understand why God does this, but you know, sometimes people, some people are born again in the midst of a trial. Let me say that again. There are some people who are born again, God saves them. And when God saves them, they are in a set of circumstances that are an immediate trial. But some of us don't go through that. Some of us are born again and we live a few years before we encounter trials. I don't understand why God does that, but he does. But I want you to remember the purpose of trials. They are meant to do a work in us and to prepare us for future work and ultimately for godliness. Don't ever forget.

Now remember, don't ever forget. No matter how difficult it may be, the loving heavenly Father that saved us, that we love and adore and serve, that loving heavenly Father allows a trial to come our way to make us like His Son Jesus. No matter how tough it may be, no matter how awful it may be, no matter how much we may hate it, you know, I'll be honest with you, I can remember a trial I was going through one time and I got angry. You know, I got honest with God. I remember looking up to heaven and I remember being in a particular place and looking at the ceiling and I can remember saying, "God, I'm mad. I don't like my circumstances.

I'm furious." And for weeks I told God I was mad. Why not? He knew it. He knew how I felt. But what was the point? It is all for the purpose of godliness. I cannot think of a better example than the story of Joseph. I don't want you to turn there, but I would like you to jot down Genesis 37 and then put you a dash there in your notes and put chapter 45. Chapters 37 to 45 are just the story of Joseph. Nothing more than a trial. Such tragedy, I mean such betrayal from brothers and a family and his brother sold him into slavery and it just went from bad to worse.

I mean when he would have a good day, I mean just another trial would come along and it just went from bad to worse. The poor guy, it just seems like he got the raw end of the deal. I could imagine that there were days when Joseph looked up in that foreign land with those foreign people and those foreign foods and foreign words and foreign gods that he looked up and he just said, "God, I mean where are you?" This wasn't a month. But yet when he gets to the end of that trial, what does he say? God did it all. What a beautiful picture. What a wonderful example of maturity and godliness and growth because of that.

And see all of that trial did, all that trial did was grow him into the man that God wanted him to be and then when that trial was flipped around, he was mature enough to be used in a great way for God. Now what am I trying to show you? Trials will come and according to the book of James, we should receive them with joy and I believe even mature Christians when they sense trial coming, they can take a deep breath. God, this might not be easy, but I know you're in it and I receive it with joy. See when we get mature enough in our faith and we see God in any set of circumstances, it will be full of joy.

The second thing that I want to speak to you about in review is receiving God's word. Remember those messages on receiving God's word? It was a two part message, receiving God's word and then man's reaction. That was in chapter one verse 19 through 21. I won't read those for the sake of time, but I want to tell you church, one of the greatest tests is God's word preached. Let me repeat that. One of the greatest tests is the preaching of God's word.

See when God's word is preached to those of us who are born again Christians, excuse me, it encourages us, it corrects us, it teaches us, it prepares us, it builds us, it builds us in the Christian life and listen, it makes us into the people that God wants us to be. Look, you could not go very long without good food and good water. You would starve to death and see for us who are Christian, the word of God, it grows us and in that growth it involves negative correction, yes, but it involves encouragement and preparation and it just builds us into the people that God wants us to be.

Now let me tell you something, the word of God preached for the lost, it proves the lost. Remember the second message, man's reaction? Many people fall away because they can't receive the word of God. Some of you might find it strange, but did you know that the word of God can persecute you? Matthew 13, the parable of the sower. What does it say? There are those who receive the seed of the word with joy. That is a picture of those who receive the gospel in their mind and in their emotions and they receive it with joy, they bounce down the aisle, they shed a whole bucket of tears, they go through the baptistry.

But see, that seed didn't fall on a good heart, that seed fell on a shallow heart, they received it with joy. But what does Jesus say in Matthew 13? Because of the persecution of the word, it drives them away. That's what James is saying. Now what I want you to remember with this, I've said this to you before, we will either be Thessalonica or Berean, Acts 13, Paul is in the city of Thessalonica and he basically gets run out of town. Now there were a few that got saved, but the Thessalonica hated him. But then he goes down the road to Berea and what does it say about the Bereans?

It said that the Bereans took their scrolls, the Old Testament word and as Paul was preaching, they would go home every day and examine the scriptures and they would come back and say, "You speak truth." And what does it say? They were noble in heart, noble in character and as a matter of fact, the Thessalonikans chased Paul to Berea to persecute him.

And we're either going to receive the word and look, this is an everyday, weekly, monthly, it is a discipline in our life, it is a discipline you must acquire and develop in your own personal life, it is a discipline to be here, to hear the word of God, Sunday morning, Sunday night, Wednesday night. Look, I know what you go through. I know how it is. Some of the most difficult days are Wednesdays, but how much do we need to be here?

I mean there's always something to do on the weekend, there's always rest to get, there's always a job to do, a person to visit, but yet we have to get to the point where we say to the Lord God, "God, your word is desperately needed and we must get to the point where we receive the word." And look, all you got to do is talk to people who are in a place where they can't get the word and you will notice they are starving to death. Now, I'm not going to act like I'm a great preacher. I'm not going to act like I do this job as I should, but I strive, Keith and I strive to teach you the truth.

That's why we go through chapter by chapter, verse by verse. We take subjects that need to be dealt with up. Yes, but even when I have a visiting preacher, if you'll notice if I have somebody in this pulpit they're going to give you the word. We must be Berean. Also, I want to mention the tongue. Remember we studied the tongue in chapter 3, verses 1 through 4. I'm not really going to go to some of the things that we dealt with in my notes. But you know, I want to ask you three questions. How are our tongues used in the world with the lost? How are our tongues used with the body? And how are our tongues used towards God?

The tongue can do tremendous things, positive and negative. I want to speak about something personal here with the tongue. If you watch me very long, if you watch my wife very long, if you watch my family very long, you will have plenty to talk about. We're not perfect. You can barbecue preacher every Sunday probably if you watch me close enough. But I could do you the same way. See we're supposed to be the body of Christ. See if you see a struggling me, if you see fault in me, if you see error in me, you know, maybe you may need to come to me. But as much as anything, I don't need to talk about you. I need to pray for you.

I need to use my tongue in a positive manner. How many churches, how many other testimonies ruined by the tongue? How many Christians are diced and sliced and run right out the door because of the tongue? I think we need to be careful of how we use our tongue because it can be used for great good and great bad. We've all been guilty of it and we've all been victims. But last with the Christian fourth conflict, chapter four verses one through twelve, we had five messages dealing with conflict. These were the longest verses that dealt with one particular subject in the book of James.

But what I want to say to you is there is the reality of church conflict. Church conflict is a reality on this side. And if you are going to pour your life in the local church, if you are going to identify with the body, come to church, pour your life, bring your family, there will be conflict. And all of us, most of us come here to Nola Baptist Church having experienced some form of conflict and even watched it, maybe been a victim of it or a part of it. And what I want you to say is there is the reality of conflict and we will never escape it until we're called up on the other side, until we are made perfect.

And I think that that is a reoccurring theme. Why? Because it is just a reality. But the trick is if we deal with it biblically, if the leaders of the church deal with it correctly. I remember when we started our series calling us back to the biblical church, we started off in first Corinthians three. Remember we dealt with that subject, is there a worldliness in our church today? And then we just dove head first into chapter three and what did we see? Just a church littered with problems. Oh, I follow Paul. I follow Apollos. I follow Christ. I don't know who you think you are. Conflict. Now what do I want you to remember? It's inevitable.

It's going to happen. And you know what, to be honest with you, conflict almost made me give up on the church. Conflict almost made me give up on my call. I've shared with you some of my journey, but you know when I was bruised and battered, the Lord Jesus came to me and He gave me a fresh love for the church, a fresh love for the body of Christ, a fresh love for His work here on earth, a fresh love for my call. What am I trying to say? We are going to be bruised by the church, the conflict. Now by no means am I dealing with all of the message of the book of James.

These are just some things that I feel like need to be mentioned, trials, receiving the word, how we use our tongue and look that inevitable conflict. And what I want to encourage you to do is to study back through the book of James, listen to the messages, look at your notes and remember what God has taught you. I jotted down some things to show me how relevant it is today. I've been in counsel with a particular friend, a particular Christian that doesn't live here who is in the midst of a trial. And in my conversation with him, many times I refer to what I learned in James.

Here a while back I had a friend, a minister friend call me and he began to tell me about that verse here in James that deals with earthly wisdom or heavenly wisdom. And he began to talk about how he had an influence in his life that consisted of earthly wisdom and how he was in a particular church situation now where he was getting heavenly wisdom. And he was differentiating between the two and talking about how one influenced him in a negative way, one influenced him in a positive way. And I sat there on the telephone listening to him talk and I opened up the book of James and referred to my notes.

And we just had a glorious time talking about how James is good. I've told you about my friend Ray praying for his wife. He was sick. What am I trying to show you? James is relevant and is very much needed today. Now I said earlier we were going to look at it first to the Christian and then second I want us to see that we're going to look at it second to the lost. I want to touch on some things that are important but most importantly is the fact that we do have lost within the life of the church. I've told you that I have gotten in trouble by having this conviction. I have been accused of different things.

I've been accused of preaching that you can lose your salvation. I don't believe that. I believe in what's saved always saved. The problem is there are a lot of people in the life of the church that don't have Bible salvation. I've also been accused of teaching that you need to be saved again. No you only get saved one time. Salvation is a historical event. It's not a process. It's not a multiple choice. I know people who go through that. Salvation is a historical event. It's a one time event but the problem that we have is in the life of the church today salvation has been relegated. It's been dumbed down.

We have a decisionism that is so prevalent today and everybody in our culture has made a decision. We have a witness to so many people and they'll tell you, "Yeah, I've been saved." They tell you about a time they made a decision. They don't have saving faith. So we live with the fact that they are lost people in the life of the church. So with this subject of the lost, I want us to see two things. First, the reality. We must believe the reality. We dealt with this when we dealt with verses 19 through 20 in chapter 5. The language tells us that. These are sinners. They have turned from the truth. They are headed towards the second death.

All of that language describes people who are among them that they have connected with and the reality. This is the language. Then we see the context. Remember James gave a series of tests. Then also I talked about other scriptures. Jesus and the gospels tell us that this is a reality. Matthew 7 verse 21, what about the 12 disciples? Remember he had one disciple who was lost. His name was Judas. That is the reality of the lost among us. Now imagine Judas, he saw the perfect preacher, the perfect man and was involved with the perfect ministry but he still remained lost.

One chapter in the book of John which is one of my favorites, John chapter 6. We had this great throng of people who said they believed but at the end of the chapter a great two day event, what did Jesus say? They have all left me. Why? Because they follow me for the wrong reasons. And on that first day he had a great crowd that said they believed. That was the lost among them. Then he turned around and looked at the disciples and he said, "Are you going to leave me to you?" And what did they say? "We don't have anywhere to go." "You are it." What did Peter say? We are converted. They are not.

Matthew 13, the parable of the sower, what does it teach? The fact that there are some among us that are lost. And I have said it like this and heard it said like this. There are many that are unbelieving believers. Let me say that again. There are many around us that they say they believe, they profess to believe, but they are unbelieving believers because they are not converted the Bible way. Paul's ministry dealt with this. We remember, you remember 2 Corinthians 13.5. John's ministry teaches this in 1 John 1 or 2.19. What does he say? "They went out from us because they were not really of us.

For if they had been of us, they would have remained with us, but they went out in order that it might be shown that they were not of us." He's talking about some who left the church, but there was a time where they were a part of the church. What? The reality of the lost among the church. The church is imperfect on this side, people. And there will be lost among us. I've been reminded of this as I've been listening to a series that John MacArthur preached in 2001.

This is a series that has nothing to do with anything we've been preaching on and teaching on, but it's a series on the lost among the church and it's a series that he deals with called a series on deliverance. Deliverance being truly born again. And it's been refreshing to hear him say, "Yes, there are so many churches that have lowered the standards and let lost people come into the church." They're not the body. They're not born again. Their names are not written in the Lamb's Book of Life, but they're within the church. So this is a reality that we must dodge this. Last week and the week before I told you that this is half the battle.

Half the battle is understanding that people that we know and who are close to us and even might sit across from us in this church building can be lost. And then second to the lost, I want to remind you of the great tests. I did some reading and some studying and I ran across something that I really like and helps us and I provided a copy for you that's right here on the piano to my left. But in John MacArthur's outline of this book, I didn't really follow his outline, but I ran across this and he says that James is nothing more than a test and I agree with him and he breaks it down and shows us every test that is in the book of James.

And what does he say? The test of perseverance, Chapter 1, 2 through 12. The test of blame and temptation, Chapter 1, 13 through 18. The test of the response of the Word of God. The test of love. The test of righteous works. The test of the tongue. The test of wisdom. The test of worldly indulgence. The test of dependence. The test of patient endurance. What do we see? Test after test after test. Doing what? Testing us and testing those in the life of the church. And what I want you to see is that the book of James is nothing more than a measuring device.

We can take the book of James and we can measure it against other individuals, against our own lives and it is a mirror to show us who we are or to show us who we are not. It is a measuring device. Now listen, I want to clarify myself. I am not saying that I am the judge. But I hate to tell you, there have been individuals that I have seen come and go as I have preached through this book and I have studied this book. God has shown me and turned me around to say that's exactly who they are. They failed these tests. They failed them all. Some of the tests that they failed are more prevalent.

Now I want you to see that when we were dealing with these tests, dealing with the lost, remember we dealt with messages on faith. Chapter 2 verses 14 through 17. I am going to read them. What does James say? What use is it my brethren? If a man says he has faith but he has no works, can that faith save him? This is the test of real faith, demonstrated faith or dead faith. So James is dealing with lost people right here and what does he say?

If a brother or a sister was out clothing and in need of daily food and one of you says to them, go in peace, be warm in the field and yet you do not give them what is necessary for their body, what use is it? Even so, faith, if it has no works is dead, being by itself. And remember those messages. We had dead faith. Remember dead faith, it was a powerless confession, no compassion and a dead Christianity. And remember we had demonic faith, verses 18 through 20. They had an empty argument. They had the proper confession but they had a useless position. They were exactly like the demons.

Did you know that it would be highly offensive if you looked at people and said your faith is exactly like the demons? But that's what James says. There are people, they have an empty argument, oh they got the right profession. They can say all of the right words but they have a useless position. It's a demonic faith. And then we had demonstrated faith. My memory serves me right. I think it was Keith that gave me that title or that message. That was in verse 21 through 26. Let me go back to that verse. Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up his son Isaac? Now listen, he's not saved by his works.

But look, he was justified in the sight of man. Why? Because he was justified in the sight of man by having a faith that worked. You see that faith verse 22 was working with his works and was a result of the works. Faith was perfected, completed. And the scripture was fulfilled which says, "And Abraham believed God and it was reckoned to him as righteousness." That is faith imparted. And he was called a friend of God. And he goes on to say, "You see that a man is justified by works and not by faith alone." What is James saying? If you have true saving faith, that is a grace gift, but yet you are justified before fellow man when it works.

Because what happens? Lost people look up and say, "That's a real Christian. That's a real Christian." That's what Abraham was. That's demonstrated faith. And that's what we so desperately need. That was a test. And see, I'm not an evangelist. I've got friends who are. That tells me if God calls me into evangelism, if God were to say, "Son, I want you to go preach an evangelistic meeting." Listen, I could get in my prayer closet and I could study and I could develop a series of messages that are evangelistic in nature and I could go into the life of the church and say, "Let me give you test after test after test and see if you have true saving faith." And I would not violate the text.

And I would not violate the message of the book of James. And I would not violate the word of God because that's what James is doing. And some of you need to be tested. Let me give you an example of this. We're going to get to this in quite a few weeks, but in John chapter 3, don't you know that story of Nicodemus? Nicodemus gets a little bit of a bad rap, but Nicodemus would have been a great neighbor. He would have been a great deacon. He would have been a great leader in the church. Why? Because he lived out his external faith flawlessly. But Nicodemus had something wrong with him. He was lost and without Christ.

And Nicodemus in John chapter 3 comes to Jesus. Now listen, he was moral. He kept the letter of the law. But listen, he did it on the outside, not the inside. He had a wicked heart. He was lost and without Christ. And see, you can do all the right things. You can keep every rule, cross every T, dot every I, but yet still not be regenerated. And what did he do? He came to Jesus in John chapter 3 and Jesus tested the faith that he had. You know what he did? He cut right to the chase. He said, "Nicodemus, you must be born again. You must be born from above." What did he do? He issued that one test that he knew he would fail.

He didn't give him a feel-good message. He didn't pat him on the back. I mean, it's really just almost rude and abrupt because what does he do? He cuts right to the chase. That is the test that ultimately he failed. And he said numerous times, "You must be born from above." And as Nicodemus reasons with him, and he says, "How can a man who has already been born, who is old be born again?" He's talking about physical birth. Jesus says, "No, no, no, no. You don't get it." This is a spiritual birth, a spiritual birthing from above. Something that only God can do. You see, Nicodemus was doing everything right externally.

He had that professed faith, but it was a demonic faith. It was an empty argument. It was the proper profession, but yet he was in a useless position because he was not right with God. And Jesus gave him the great test. You must be born again. You must be born from above. It's mysterious, Nicodemus. The wind blows. You don't understand that, Nicodemus. No, it is with the Spirit of God. Now, John chapter 3 doesn't say that Nicodemus is born again, but we speculate, and I think accurately that he was, because later he was identified with the believers, and he was identified with the death of Christ and handling the body of Christ.

And what do we see? We believe that there was a process where God was getting him to that historical point of conversion. That was that great test. John chapter 6 that I mentioned earlier was nothing more than a series of tests. There were these different crowds that came and followed the Christ. There were the different crowds over a two-day period, and Jesus would stop for a minute, and he would say, "Let me tell you what kind of people you are," and he would identify their motive. That was a test. And that test just turned around, and he would say, "Let me show you who you are." That group would fall away.

And then he would give another one, and that group would fall away. And another one, and that group would fall away. And then after, listen, there were 5,000 plus on day one. Jesus was growing the church, was he not? But yet at the end of John chapter 6, they all left, and the disciples were there, and he looked at them, and he said, "What about you? A test for them." You see, they passed the test, because what did Peter do? "Lord, you're it. You have the words of eternal life. We believe and we know. That's in the perfect tense." What is he saying? "I believe the day I got saved. I believe today, and I will continue to believe.

I don't have anywhere to go." Peter passed the test. So what I want you to see is, this is nothing more than a series of tests. And the test is meant to be used in the life of the church, in the pews and from the pulpit, but also for those of us who are born again, it is meant for us to have the ability to be able to deal with the person to our life, to our left and to our right, the person in our life who maybe has just stepped out of the church or been disheartened by the church. Why? It is a test that we can use to evangelize. If anything, to give us clarity in dealing with people.

Now again, I'm not saying that we can know the heart and know the soul. These tests are for a reason. Now as I begin to conclude with this second point, the lost, I want to speak to two different people. If you're here this morning and you are worrying about your soul, you are concerned if you have saving faith or just a professed faith, I would encourage you to examine the tests. I would encourage you to get this little study guide that I can offer to you.

It's 13 tests and as a matter of fact, within these big tests or little tests, and I'll be glad to counsel with you and help you, but study through these tests and study through the tests to come and say, "Lord, Lord, show me who I am. Cause the mirror of the word of God to see me in light of who you are. If that is you, you need to embark on this journey." Listen, salvation is a historical event, but see for some, it is a process to get there. That's what happened with Nicodemus. I don't know if it was a week or a month.

I don't know how long it is, but there was this process of being brought to that historical event and some of you might be in that place where you're just wondering. You might say, "Well, I'm doubting." Listen, you need to be in what Paul talks about, a state of examination. Now how do we examine ourselves? We lie to the word. See there's a danger with that. We don't need to go talk to grandma. We don't need to go talk to mom and dad. I've seen so many people get tripped up this way.

They'll be in this particular place and someone will come along and say, "Well, if you're a Christian, if you're not a Christian, who is?" Or somebody will put their arm around them and say, "I was there when you prayed to receive Christ. You were so sincere." You never see that advice in the scripture. Never do you see that. They always say, "Paul and James, go to the word." When you go to the word and you let the spirit show you, Romans 8, verse 16, this was the most famous verse. This was John Wesley's favorite verse that he preached because what does it say?

The spirit, capital S, will bear witness with our spirit if we're children of God. The spirit of God will illuminate the truth of God and reveal to us who we are. What did Jesus say in John chapter 14, 15, 16? The spirit comes to reveal to the world their sin, God's not righteousness, and the judgment to come. What is that? The work of the spirit and the law. So, if you are here, you don't need to go counsel with all kind of people. Just get in the word. If you come see me and you come see Keith, we're going to counsel you properly. I'm not going to lead you in a prayer. I'm not going to pat you on the back.

I'm going to lead you into the word. I've told you how I counsel Keith when he got saved. Came to me one night after a youth service. The gospel preached. I mean, he looked like he had witnessed the most horrific crime on the face of the earth. He basically said, "I'm a mess. I don't know if I'm lost or saved." And I leaned back in my chair and I said, "I can't help you." As a matter of fact, I put a little gas on the flame. I said, "You're in trouble." And I led him to the word. I pointed him to the word. I pointed him to the Spirit of God to do his work. And I let him get in a car and drive 20 miles home lost.

But see, if God can't save you, I can't. But yet see, what I want you to see is it's the word. God uses the word. What am I showing you? What am I advising you? What James says? Because what does it say? We turn the sinner back to what? The truth. If you're here and you're lost or you suspect you're lost, get in the word. Get on your knees. Let the Spirit of God speak to you. And then for those of us who are Christian, this is that great tool to help us understand how to minister to people. This equips us, does it not? This enables us and makes us a more skillful worker for him. Now I'm going to close.

Thought of the message is the what of the book of James. What do we do? We just keep feeding at this table. Do we not? Now I want to tell you this week I plan on taking every message and I'm going to put them in what's called an MP3 format. And I'm going to give you if you wanted a disc, it'll have every message. You can play it on your computer. If you don't have that technology and you need messages, see me. I will do whatever I can do to give them to you. That is a library for you to go to for the rest of the days ahead. You've got notes. We've got the word. So let's continue to eat at this table. Lord God, thank you for your word.

Thank you for the truth of your word. Lord, thank you for what you've taught us through these months.