The Who of the Book of James

Well take your Bible and turn with me to the book of James this morning. To the book of James. If you get to Hebrews go one more to the right. If you go all the way to the Revelation you might need to go back to the left a little. But the book of James. The book of James. I said earlier that I had been studying for quite some time. I've been looking at the book of James reading some material. This is a book that I've studied through the years I have enjoyed studying.

Studying but I have been looking at the book of James for two or three months thinking about going into the book of James on Sunday morning and it's been on my heart more and more as I have studied and as I have read and I have prayed. Now this morning will be more of an introductory message to the book of James. It's very practical. It's very applicable even though it's an introductory message. I did the very same thing when we started in the book of First Timothy. I look back on my notes last night and we started in the book of Timothy a year ago next month.

We've been on a long journey verse by verse what sometimes word by word through the book of First Timothy learning how Paul was instructing Timothy and the church at Ephesus and we started off with Timothy just like we're going to start off with James. What I mean is an introductory message to enable us to just get our mind around the book get our mind in our heart in a place where we understand the gist of things that's going on in a particular book. Now I could take a month and preach introducing the book but we would really get bogged down and I don't want to do that to you.

Now I'm gonna spend some time with some introductory material and then when it comes time for you to write some things down I will let you know if you're a note-taker and I trust that you are. Now the book of James is placed in a category that is called the general epistles. Sometimes you might run across phrases like the prison epistles or the general epistles or the Gospels the synoptic Gospels terms like that but the book of James is called one of the general epistles. Now what a general epistle is there were several books the book of James first and second Peter first second and third John and Jude those are the general epistles.

Now there were two things that designate them as general epistles. First of all these books were addressed to a general audience. Now there is one exception that's the book of second John it's addressed to a woman to a lady a lady who loves the Lord but as a general rule the general epistles they are addressed to a general audience not necessarily to a specific place. Don't we know that first Timothy was addressed to Timothy as he was there in Ephesus. So we see a specific audience with the book of first Timothy.

Also another characteristic of the general epistles they are designated general epistles in that they are distinguished from Paul's writings. We know that Paul wrote so much. Now I wanted you to get your mind around that because James first second Peter first second third John Jude they're very similar they're written to a general audience they're not pinned by the Apostle Paul but yet they are so rich for us. Now in some of my study I ran across many accusations against the book of James. Now you might seem that strange I'm gonna get there and help you understand where I'm going.

There are some who attack the book of James some have complained that the book of James is too short. I would say to those they need to go to the book of Jude it's a little shorter isn't it not. Also there are some in church history who have complained that it was written specifically to the Jews. In other words they have levied a complaint that it wasn't written specifically to other Christians as well. Some have complained that it was not written by one of the Apostles. Some in church history have complained that it was the last book of the Bible that was added to the canon.

I don't know if you understand that in church history in the first century the Word of God was what was brought to be it was written we understand that but there were books that were added to the canon by the church fathers. In other words they recognized them as authoritative given by God declared to be a part of the Word of God. In the book of James was the last of the books to be added or canonized in the Word of God. Now also there are some in church history that have complained that there was a lack of doctrinal or theological content.

If you read the book you will see that it is very different from a book some like the book of Romans and some have complained or levied in the assault against the book because of that and there are some who have even questioned its inspiration from God or by God. There was the great reformer Martin Luther. We sang the great hymn "A Mighty Fortress." He was the reformer who penned the words for that song.

God used Martin Luther in a great way but church history tells us that he had little regard for the book of James and he sometimes questioned the the he sometimes questioned whether or not it needed to be in the canon itself and he questioned it because of the fact that it did not contain many of the great doctrines that he did defend but we know that the book of James is a part of the Word of God. It is part of the canon. As a matter of fact there were some of Luther's students who would have benefited greatly from the book of James because the book of James is very practical.

As a matter of fact some have called it a manual for Christian living. As a matter of fact some would say this is how you flesh out or live out the great theological truths and doctrines that we say we believe. I ran across a quote this week that helped bridges the gap to what I'm showing you. Now what am I showing you? There were men like Luther who attacked the book and they said it was too practical. It did not contain some of the great doctrinal truths, the great theological truths that are in other places in Scripture. I was doing some devotional reading and it's a little book by a pastor who as long as it's been gone his name was A.W.

Tozer and he wrote about the practical Christian life. This is very good. He said we have today theological saints who can and must be proved to be saints by an appeal to the Greek language. We need saints whose lives proclaim their sainthood and who need not run to the concordance for authentication. Now what is he saying? There are men of God who would say that they are great men of God because of their great theological positions and stances and A.W. Tozer would say we need men of God who proclaim their sainthood by just living for Jesus. And this book, this book of James, helps us take these great theological truths that we believe.

They help us take the deep things of the Word of God and James helps us put them into practice in our everyday life. I said it earlier, some call the book of James a manual for Christian living and that is a good summation of the book. I like this quotation talking about the context or the content, excuse me, of the book of James. MacArthur says, "The book of James has been compared with the wisdom literature of the Old Testament, particularly the book of Proverbs because of its direct, pungent statements on wise living.

And James' strong condemnation of social injustice in chapters 2 and 5 have prompted some to call him the Amos of the New Testament. Also we can continue to study in the book of James and see that their influences in chapter 1 from the Sermon on the Mount. So I would say this, although there are not some great doctrinal theological truths found in the book of James and although it is very, very practical, if we can compare this book to the practical book of Proverbs from the Old Testament, if we can say that James is a New Testament Amos and if we can see influence in chapter 1 from the Sermon on the Mount, I'd say this." Some pretty good content.

That's some pretty good stuff and I think some of us would do very well to dive headfirst into this little book called James and learn how to practically live out what we say we believe. Now each book of the Bible has at least one theme and James' theme could be considered good works. There are some who have called the book of James, called the theme of the book of James, "practical religion." Others have listed it as godly behavior. I personally like the theme good works. There is a key verse in the book of James. You can jot this down James chapter 2 verse 17.

It'll be a little while before we get there and I'll read you this verse because I do believe it is the key verse. James says, "even so faith if it has no works is dead being by itself." What is James communicating? The theme of the book, the theme verse teaches us good works. If you say you have faith, if you say you believe in certain truths, live them out and prove that you believe what you say you believe. Now a couple of questions and this still is part of the introduction. When was the book of James written? When was the book of James written?

Now for some this might not seem important but this does help us understand who wrote the book and we'll get there in just a moment. The book of James was written, it seems between the date of AD 44 and the AD 49. Now what's the significance of those dates? We see that in AD 44 there was a great persecution unleashed against the church in the book of Acts. We see the stoning of Stephen in chapter 7 and then the beginning of chapter 8 says that the church was scattered everywhere from the book from Jerusalem. Also we see that in Acts chapter 15 there was the great Jerusalem Council and James was in attendance there. He was one of the leaders.

Now what am I trying to show you? We can find the great scattering of the church in the beginning of James but we do not have the great Jerusalem Council mentioned and that helps us identify the author. Now why did James write the book of James? James was challenging the readers, these Jews, to persevere in the trials of life, to be true in their Christian living, not just in word but indeed. And evidently there were some of the readers, their conduct did not correspond with their profession.

Evidently there were some who said they believed and said that they loved and said that they served God but their actions just didn't quite line up with their words. And James is writing to do what? To say just put your money where your mouth is. That's why James writes the book. Now the title of the message this morning is The Who of the Book of James. Now the title of the series is Good Works Flow from Good Faith. I'd like you to write these down. The umbrella that we will be under the entire time is the series title Good Works Flow from Good Faith.

And I want to tell you there are a lot of people who say they have faith but it's not good faith, Bible faith, Christian faith. They got cultural faith. And what we're learning here is good practical Christian living will flow from good Bible faith and that's why we have the series title Good Works Flow from Good Faith. Now the title of what we're looking at this morning is The Who of the Book of James. Now we will look at three things and you can jot these things down. First of all, number one, we will look at who wrote the book. Number one, who wrote the book. Then number two, we will see who the book was written to.

Number two, who the book was written to. And then number three, we will see who is the book about. So three main points or main truths this morning. Who wrote the book? Who the book was written to and who is the book about? Now before we dive into these truths, let's look at the book of James. James chapter 1 starting in verse 1. We see what the scripture say. James, a bond servant or some translation say servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ to the 12 tribes who were dispersed are scattered abroad. And what does he say? Greetings. This is basically his greeting in the book.

This is his introduction to the book and that's where we'll be this morning and we will learn a lot of truth just from this one verse. So if you're taking notes, we're gonna look at number one, who wrote the book. Now we see right there in the verse, the first word, James identifies himself. Now if we are a student of the New Testament, we will know that there were four men in the New Testament who went by the name of James. First we had James the son of Alphaeus. He's mentioned in Matthew chapter 10 verse 3. Then we had James the father of Judas. Now this is not Judas Iscariot. He's mentioned in Luke 6.

But neither of these two are options for the authorship of the book. But the second James we have, we have, or the third James, excuse me, is James the brother of John who was one of the disciples. These are the sons of Zebedee. We see this in Matthew 4. We also see this in Luke chapter 5. But you have to understand if you go into the book of Acts, you will see that this James, this James the brother of John, one of the Apostles, he was killed very early on. So he could not have been the author of the book. But the fourth James is, this is James the half brother of Jesus.

Many of you might not realize, but Mary and Martha went on to have, excuse me, Mary and Joseph, excuse me, Mary and Joseph went on to have more children. We know that Jesus was conceived of the Holy Spirit. Mary was the virgin who gave birth and after she gave birth, Mary and Joseph went on to have other children. Jesus had, I guess I can use this terminology, half brothers and sisters. We see that in the Scriptures. And that is who we're looking at here, James the half brother of Jesus. We see James mentioned in Mark chapter 6 verse 3, John chapter 7 verse 5, 1st Corinthians 9 verse 5, 1st Corinthians 15, 7 in Galatians chapter 1 and 2.

I will read you a verse that deals with James. James in his unbelief, John chapter 7 in verse 5. What does it say? For not even his brothers were believing in him. In other words, early on in Jesus' ministry, his half brothers still did not believe in Christ. So we see that James, the Lord's brother, is the author of the book and he had first rejected Christ as did his siblings. Now he did believe later according to the Word of God and we know that James became a key leader in the church and in the church at Jerusalem because in Acts chapter 15 with the great Jerusalem council, James is right in the middle in the thick of things.

He is one of the leaders in the church. Also we see in the book of Galatians chapter 1 and 2, as Paul comes to bring his ministry before the church fathers, Paul called James one of the pillars of the church and he was listed with Peter and John as well. That is the James who wrote this book. This is James the half brother of Jesus and the beginning of Jesus' earthly ministry. He did not believe but later he was converted and he was elevated to be one of the great pillars in the church, one of the church fathers and God used him greatly. But I want to show you some specifics about this James. Go back to the text.

James, a bondservant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ. I want to give you some information about this James. You can jot these down. First we see that James was a half brother of Christ. What's the significance of this? I'm going to revisit this in a moment but I want you to get that he was the half brother of Jesus and he lived in very, he lived in close proximity to Christ. He saw Christ, talked with Christ, walked with Christ physically day by day as he was in the same family. He was the half brother of Christ. But also second I want you to see that James was a true believer.

John 7 verse 5 says that he was not a true believer but afterward in 1st Corinthians 9 5, 1st Corinthians 15 7 and Galatians chapter 1 and 2 he is listed with the believers. So we do see that there was a time of conversion when he was born again and he became a true follower of Christ. So first he was a half brother of Jesus. Second he was a true believer but third I want you to see that James was a slave. Go back to the verse. James a bond servant of God. Some translations, probably your translation lists it as a servant. The NIV, the English Standard Version and the King James use the word servant.

But those of us who remember our study in the book of Jude. Y'all remember when we were in the book of Jude back in 2012? I went and reviewed some of my notes. We started in Jude in June of 2012 and we learned about this little word right here, bond servant or servant from the book of Jude. Literally in the original language it meant a slave. In the Greek New Testament it is listed as doulos. It is pronounced as doulos and in the pronunciation it's doulos. Correctly spelled in the transliteration it is doulos and that simply is translated slave. Now what's the significance?

If we're not careful in some of our English translations it can lose some of the punch because James wasn't just a servant. He wasn't just a bond servant. James was a slave and this word slave or doulos was used some 150 times in the Greek New Testament. What am I trying to show you? Jesus half-brother James became a believer and he was a slave to Christ. Now how can that be applied to you, to me, to us? What is the significance of this little verse right here in today in our world? Yes you can be the half-brother of Jesus and still be lost. Do you realize the close proximity that he had to Christ?

He saw him almost every day even as he got older. As a child he would have lived under the same roof with him yet he was still lost. This should help us understand that there are men and women on our church views, people who have their names on the church roll, even people in our families who can know all about Christ and still never be converted. I have had people accuse me of being heretical by teaching and preaching that people can be in our churches and say the right words and sing the right songs and declare the right theology and still be lost. I've had people literally throw stones at me for that.

We find this all through the scriptures. Judas was listed among the 12. Judas preached and healed the sick. Judas carried the money back. He looked that good but he was still lost and we must understand that someone can still be the half-brother of Jesus and be lost. But what else can be applied to us today from what we've just looked at? I think I can say it like this. We don't need Christians anymore. We need slaves. Our culture is inundated with Christianity. We don't need Christians anymore. We need slaves. I know that sounds heretical to some or strange to some. Listen everybody's a Christian, isn't that right?

But how many people are slaves? You never do find that term a Christian. Paul never said he was a Christian. Paul said he was in Christ and James what does he say? I'm just a slave to Christ. In our language maybe a bond servant. I was reminded of our need for this message and our culture on the way out to the church yesterday and on the way out to the church this morning. There's a church sign down the road and the church sign reads this, "Jesus paid it all and I get to keep the change." It might sound cute but it's a lie. Nowhere in the scriptures do the real Bible Christians communicate that type of Christianity.

No, what James is saying is Jesus paid it all and I will be his slave. So what I want you to see is who wrote the book. Now this is James the half-brother of Jesus. He was converted a little later on in Christ's ministry and he became the great leader in the church, a great pillar in the church, one of the church fathers we see in Acts chapter 15 but he was still a slave. And I want to ask you, are you willing to embrace that type of Christianity today? That's the kind of Christianity Christ is looking for. That's the only kind of Christianity this priest taught in the Bible.

We're going to see that we've deviated from that in the church today but I want to ask you, are you prepared to be that kind of Christianity? This kind of Christianity, these are the Christians that really go out and practically live it. And not only just practically live it but go out and make a difference in the lost world for Christ. The second truth is who was the book written to? Who was the book written to? Now go back to the verse. James, a bondservant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now here's the transition to the 12 tribes who are dispersed or it can be translated in the dispersion abroad. This is the audience.

This is who the book is written to. Now James specifically addresses his readers as the 12 tribes. Now who would the 12 tribes be? This would be the Jews. Now if you know your your church, if you know your your your Old Testament history, you do know that the kingdom was divided. There were the ten tribes in the north and the two tribes in the south. But you also know that the Jews were dispersed at many different times. You know that you know that they were dispersed by the Assyrians and now they're being they've been dispersed by the Babylonians and they were also dispersed by the Romans.

But what we see here now is these are Jews who were dispersed by this New Testament dispersion and this is who he is writing to. These are Jewish Christians, Jewish believers who are living outside of their homeland. Now let me give you a few truths. First of all I want you to see that these people were Christians. These were Jewish Christians. They were not Jews who had rejected Christ. Now all through Paul's writings we do see all through the New Testament that the Jews for the most part rejected Christ but there were many Jews who did receive Christ.

I love the story in Acts chapter 18 where Paul is engaged in ministry in Corinth and he is bivocational. It says that he made tents and then on the Sabbath he went to the synagogue and reasoned and then some of his travelers, Timothy being one of them, came with him to Corinth and then it said that he devoted his time, a hundred percent of his time and daily he reasoned in the synagogue that Jesus was the Christ and then he goes on to say that he was kicked out of the synagogue and it said that he went next door to the synagogue to the house of Titus Justice. So get that picture.

He's in the synagogue on the Sabbath then he devotes his time full-time the reasoning that Christ Jesus is a Christ in the synagogue then he's kicked out of the synagogue and he goes next door and then it said one of the Jewish leaders was converted. The Jews for the most part rejected Christ but there were many Jews who were born again believers and these Jews first I want you to see these were Christian Jews and then second I want you to see that these Christian Jews were from the dispersion. The King James uses the word scattered. The English Standard, the new American that I'm reading from uses the word dispersion.

Now I mentioned that Jews were scattered because of the Assyrians. They were scattered because of the Babylonians and Old Testament times and in these times the Romans they also scattered the Jews from their homeland but these Jews were scattered for another reason and what we see here is in Acts chapter 7 we had the stoning of Steven. You remember that story?

Many people believe that he was one of the first deacons and he preached that great sermon and that great sermon got him stoned and in Acts chapter 7 and beginning in Acts 8 we see a great persecution that is unleashed on the church there in Jerusalem and at the beginning of Acts 8 we see that the Christians scattered away from Jerusalem. They scattered everywhere and that is this dispersion right here. Go back to the verse to the 12 tribes who were dispersed abroad and that word dispersed refers to the dispersion. Those Christian Jews who were scattered from Acts 7 and Acts chapter 8. So I wanted you to see who the book was written to.

These were Christian Jews, Christian Jews who were persecuted and driven out of Jerusalem. Now how does this apply to us? Have we seen persecution in our day? Maybe not in our culture, maybe not in our country, but there are Christians in this world who face persecution today. That is not something that our secular news media is going to tell you. We've all heard about the American pastor of Iranian descent who went back to Iran to do Christian work, who was jailed and his health is deteriorating. There's been a pretty good cry in our culture about that Christian pastor. That is persecution. Our brothers in India, Luke spoke about this.

Jason Job mentioned this. There is an election coming up and there is a big deal about this election because there is one man that if he is elected as Prime Minister, he is an open Hindu and he will persecute Christians because he has in the past. We do not understand persecution. We've not faced persecution. The only persecution we might have faced is maybe our friends turning their back on us or maybe our family turning our back on us, but for the most part we have not run the risk of persecution. But let me ask you a question. Will we see persecution? I believe we will.

Now I'm not declaring to you that I'm a prophet and I'm telling you when we will see persecution, but personally it's my opinion that in my lifetime that we will see persecution. I believe we will see our rights attack. I believe we will see the our freedom, the First Amendment rights, our freedom of speech attack. You know we will be persecuted because of our exclusion of certain sin from Christianity. I believe that we will see persecution and I think that there are many Christians in America who have said that will never happen to us. God will protect us and take care of us. I think we're living in a bubble if we have that attitude.

Go back and study a little bit of church history. I'll give you a man to go research. Real easy. You can find information just with a few clicks on the keypad. Go read a little bit about a famous Christian named William Tyndall. We owe a lot to William Tyndall. You might not realize it, but before King James in England authorized the King James Version of the Bible in Great Britain, it was illegal for the Word of God to be written in English.

And there were men who set out to give the common people the Word of God, William Tyndall being one of them, and William Tyndall set out to translate the Word of God from the original Hebrew and Greek to English so that the common man could read the Bible. And he risked his life. He fled from village to village, town to town, and ultimately he was sold out by his friends. And yes, he lost his life. Why? For translating the Word of God so that common people could read it. And as a matter of fact, he was so hated for what he did, they killed him and they buried him, and 30 years later they dug up his bones and threw them in the Thames River.

And if I can remember right, maybe I'm wrong. I think they burned him at the stake. That's persecution. And to show you how good God is, when King James authorized the translation of the original scriptures to English, did you know about 75% of the work stayed true to William Tyndall's translation? A man of God who was persecuted for giving the people the Word. And I'm gonna tell you church, I believe persecution will come. Number three, the third truth I want you to see, is who is the book about? Who is the book about?

Again, James, this is the half-brother of Jesus, one of the great church leaders, a slave, a servant, a bond servant of God, two, the twelve tribes, the Christian Jews, who are dispersed, scattered because of the great dispersion and you are abroad. What does he say? Greetings. James is about struggling people. James, the book of James, is about a people of God who are struggling as they are living outside of their homeland. They have experienced persecution. James, the book of James, is about a people who were desperately needing to put into action their words.

It's about a people of God who are needing correction and encouragement and teaching so that they can say, "Yes, this is who I am and what I believe," but yet they're needing to have the ability to flesh their belief out. And James, the book of James, is about a leader in the church writing to God's people to instruct them in the error of their way and to instruct them in the ways of God. Listen, all James wanted to see was good works coming from their declared faith. That's it. If James would say it like us, because he was very practical, he would say, "People, put your money where your mouth is." That's what the book of James is about.

So we see the people and we see the man. That's what the book is about. Now, how does this apply to us? How does this apply to us? First, the people. I believe that we have more struggling people than we realize. Now, church, I do not believe that God wants the church to be a struggling church. I believe God wants the church to be a victorious church, a spiritually prosperous church, an offensive church, not offensive as in insulting, but offensive as in taking the gospel to the nations. I believe that God wants the church to be victorious and holy living and godly living.

I believe God wants the church to be a strong people, a holy people, a people who can take trial, who can take difficulties, who can take persecution. I believe God wants the church to be able to survive when one leader comes and one leader goes. I believe God wants the church not to be a struggling people, but a strong people. And I believe God wants to raise up for himself a people here that will be a strong people, a strong people of God committed to the work of God, a vibrant holy people committing their entire life, their entire being to the work, a strong people and a strong work.

Some people, some of you in this room, you have asked me what my plans are. In other words, are you planning to leave? Are you planning to stay? What are your plans? I've said this before. I don't plan to go anywhere. I have no desire to leave. If I wanted to leave, I could have left. I've had opportunities to leave, but I'm right where God wants me to be. Now, does the work of God depend on me? Now, I'm not braggadocious enough to say that, but yet God does choose to use people. God was using James to strengthen this people. That's what this book is about.

And what God wants to do is strengthen you to grow you, to grow this church to a place where one day if God does choose to move me to Timba 2, you will stay strong. You will be vibrant. You will continue to work. You will continue the work of the church that it won't flop, it won't flounder, it won't fold, it won't quit. You'll just keep going on. Why? Because you're a strong people in a strong church. No matter what. Now, what about the man James? This book is about the people. This book is about the man James. How does that apply to us? Keith and I. We must be James to you.

We must lay in there with you through thick and thin day by day, month by month, year by year, and allow God to make the plans and what feed you the Word of God to address problems and sin and erroneous thinking in your life to give you not what you want but what you need. That's what James is doing. That's what this book is about. It's a man, a pillar in the church, strengthening of people who were struggling and that is our job. Brother Keith and I must be this kind of man. We must be like Timothy in the book of 1st Timothy. We must roll up our sleeve. We must be like Paul. We must be like these great examples that we see in the church.

What? For the benefit of you, for the benefit of your family, but for the benefit of the work, for the benefit of the church, and for the benefit of the glory of God. Because, listen church, God wants a strong church and think about it. We live in a very small world. I've said this. We don't have to come to church on a horse. We don't have to come to church in a wagon. We don't have to walk to church. We can get in our automobiles and zoom, we are here. We have modern technology because the world is so much smaller today. Listen, we just have that much more responsibility.

People have asked me, "How in the world could God build a church way out there in the sticks?" Well, if God did it through John the Baptist on the Jordan River Bank, he can still do it today. And that's what I'm banking on. And that is my job and Keith's job that we would be a James to you. So, what are the truths that we've seen this morning? First, the who of the book. Then also, we've seen who wrote the book. Then we've seen second, who was the book written to. And then third, who is the book about. Now, as I begin to conclude, as I begin to wind things down, I want to ask you a couple of questions and just ponder these.

How important is it for us to go verse by verse through the book of James? Is it important? If it is, how important is it? The second question, how relevant is the book of James for today? How relevant is the book of James for today? Now, I will answer those two questions in two ways. Just listen close. First, those Jewish Christians that James is writing to needed practical Christian living. Now listen, words were not enough, professions were not enough, theological positions and statements and beliefs were not enough. That was not getting the job done. They needed real Christian living. They needed to prove what they said by how they live.

That's why the series is called Good Works Flow from Good Faith. That's all James is saying. Let good works flow from the words that you declare. And let me tell you, that is important for us today. It is relevant for us today and that's why we must go verse by verse. Now, I was reminded of this this week. At some of my personal study just for me, I ran across the difference between belief and obedience. Let me explain what I mean. As people of God, as Christians, Bible Christians and people of the Word of God, when we come across promises and declarations in the Word of God, those are things that we believe.

Those are things that we accept by faith and we believe them. We studied the crucifixion. We looked at the crucifixion in the Easter story. We sing or sung this morning about the birth of Christ. These are things that we read in the scripture and they are declared to us and we believe them. Let me give you an example, a specific example. You would believe if I declared to you the sinfulness of man.

Some Bible theologians like to use the word "depravity." If I were to talk to you about the utter sinfulness of man, the hopelessness of man, the depravity of man, you would say, "Yes preacher, I believe that." You have declared truth and yes we believe that. There are certain things that we come across in the scripture. They are declared and we believe them. That's why we love promises. Isn't that right? We come across the promises of God. I know that there was a changing time in my ministry when I did not know what the future held and I was studying through Psalm chapter 37 and what is David say there in Psalm 37?

He says, "Though I'm young and though I'm old, I have never seen the children of the righteous go hungry and although my pay was cut in half, I looked at my little ones and I said, "God, you promised and I believe it." These are truths that are declared but what we have missed is the fact if there are commandments that are not to be believed, they are to be obeyed. What am I trying to show you? Commandments are to be obeyed, truths that are declared are to be believed. That is where it gets practical and that was where these people were tripped up.

They had certain theological positions, certain theological statements that they would adhere to. They had professions, they had words but what is James saying? It's not about what you say you believe, it's about obeying the things that you've heard and so this is very relevant for us because we desperately need a people who look, won't say what they believe but they will live what they believe. Second, those Jewish Christians were scattered because of persecution. We see that in the book of Acts 7 and 8. I was reminded a good little story about this persecution. This might sound like I'm chasing a rabbit but I'm coming somewhere with this.

On my granddad's old place, my family still gets to use it so long I enjoy it, get to hunt a little bit, ride four-wheelers with the girls, try to fish a little and just get away. All my life, every now and then, we'll run across a covey of quail. Quail are very rare these days. I used to listen to my granddad talk about back in the days when they farmed they had quail. After my parents, my mom and her sisters cut some timber, there seems to be a few more quail. And it seems like at least once during deer season, I will run up on and I will flush a covey of quail. Have you ever done that? It will scare you out of your shoes.

You'll get right up on top of them and unless you hear a couple of noises that they will make, you won't know what it is and all of a sudden, boom, there they go and you'll jump out of your shoes. That's what happened to these Christians. They've stolen Steven and boom, they were scared out of their shoes. We haven't experienced persecution like that but listen close, we have experienced persecution. The church has been persecuted by bad doctrine, poor preaching, poor teaching. We have produced a generation that has no personal knowledge of the Word of God. People are Bible illiterate.

People will allow any kind of dog and pony show to be paraded in the church house. There are all types of things done in the name of Christ that Christ did not authorize. I remember a few years back when brother Keith and I were praying about certain things and I can remember being in a church and I can remember certain things going on in the life of the church and let me tell you what God did in my heart. I remember crying out, "Poor God!" because God gets blamed for so many things. These people were doing things in the name of Jesus that he never authorized.

Complete ignorance of the Word of God and we have been persecuted by bad doctrine, poor preaching, no teaching, no preaching and we have produced generation after generation who do not know the Word of God and that is persecution people. And look, that tells us that James is relevant for us and we desperately need it because we need to produce a people who don't just say the words, they live it. One of my old favorite preachers who's dead, Leonard Ravenhill, he said it like this, "God is not looking for a new definition of Christianity but a new demonstration." That's what James is saying.

I don't care what you say you believe but it's how you live. I'll tell you a story and then we'll close. You can close your Bibles. I was in full-time ministry from 2000, excuse me, from 1996 to 2002. I enjoyed that time and chapter in my life but God moved me out of that chapter. He moved me out of that time for several reasons for a purpose of godliness in me but I went from being paid to be a Christian. I used to go to the office of my wife and say, "Well you just get paid to read your Bible." And it was true. I wore nice clothes to work, went and visited people, did ministry, prayed, preached full-time.

But in 2006 God ended that chapter of my life and I went to work in the real world full-time. And I never forget I worked around a lot of people who were not Christian. And I would be with those men and I'd be on the job site and I'd be here, I might be on a porch working, I might be inside a house or on a roof. And I would listen to those men describe all of the events that went on in the life of churches. And look church, it was as if they had sat in on business meetings and deacons meetings. They knew all the details, all the dirty laundry.

They would talk about people by name and they would describe situations and circumstances and they would talk about all the stuff that went on at the church house and then they'd look at me. I've just shrugged my shoulders. Now why do I tell you that story? Those people don't care what we say we believe. They don't take notice about what we say we believe. What we say we believe won't change their life. It's when we live out what we say we believe practically for the world to see. And that's what the book of James is about. Let's pray.

Father thank you for the word, thank you for the truth, thank you that we have the wonderful, beautiful privilege of studying your word together.