James # 6

“A Living Faith”
James 1:22-27
January 25, 2009
Pastor Ben Fleming

Last week we spoke about receiving the Word of God. If you are going to truly receive the Word of God then there has to be submission in your life. James says that submission is shown in our lives by being quick to hear – slow to speak and slow to become angry. And he writes that you cannot receive the Word of God and have no concern in your life for purity. Some one may hear the Word of God but they do not receive it because they do not have a teachable spirit. I have read the Word of God this week several hours and I have listened to 4 messages on the radio --- I have wondered and thought to myself --- did I really receive the Word of God? Was there submission in my life? Is there sin in my life that I am ignoring? Am I humble? Can I honestly say that I have a teachable spirit? Receive the Word of Truth.

When you look in a mirror do you like what you see?????? Some of us have to look in a mirror to see if we have anything in our teeth. Some of us look in a mirror to shave I think women spend more time looking in a mirror than men and I am thankful for that. What do you think God sees in you when you look in the mirror of your Christian life???? It is not enough just to receive the Word of God but our response and obedience to the Word of God is essential. John Calvin wrote, “obedience is the mother of true knowledge”. You do not really know God unless you obey God. The more you obey God – the deeper your knowledge of God becomes. You can think you know God and you know about God but you only really know God when you obey the Word of God. Bruce Barton wrote a strong statement when he said, “passive Christianity is morally wrong.” When we consistently disobey God’s Word we give evidence to ourselves and to others that we are living a life without the spirit of God within us….. Obedience to God’s Word is the most basic bottom line of what it means to be a true believer – we do not believe just a one time… pray a prayer or stop a sin in your life for a short time but a long term obedience to God’s Word. John 8:31 “To the Jews who had believed in Him, Jesus said, “If you hold to My teaching, you are really My disciples.” Last week James tells the believers that they must pay attention to how they receive the Word of God. How do you hear the truth that God gives to us? James said that you have to receive God’s Word with submission in your life. He said that you and I must be quick to hear – slow to speak and slow to become angry….. Have you been submissive to God’s Word this week??? James says that we must receive the Word of God with purity in our lives. Progress in our spiritual lives cannot be made when we do not see sin for what it really is. We must rid ourselves of anger – rage – malice – slander and filthy language. How are you doing? Purity does not just happen…. it is a pursuit that we must have as a passion. And then James said – we must receive God’s Word with humility. We discovered that the word humility was not the word that James wrote – it was the word prautes – which the best translation of it was a teachable spirit……….. what can you do to cultivate a teachable spirit in your life? A teachable spirit enables you to receive God’s Word. When you genuinely receive God’s Word -- James says there is a response. This is where we are this morning … examining how we respond to God’s Word when we receive it. Stand this morning without your bible open and hear the Word of God. James 1

(Verse 22) James writes – “Do not merely listen to the Word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.” A more literal translation of what James wrote would be “prove yourself” a doer of the Word. Write it in on your outline: Prove yourself = to be continual, keep on striving. Who are you to prove yourself to? Yourself. Be a doer of what you hear. Prove to yourself that you are a hearer of God’s Word. Unfortunately, there are those who sit in churches and hear CD tapes and preaching on the radio and TV who can become so puffed up with their knowledge of God…. they become so self satisfied that they do not live out what they hear. They do not prove themselves. James says that we must be people of God who do and live out what we hear in the Word of God. The NIV tends to take away from the translation “ do not be a hearer of the Word of God”.

James used the word akroates – in Greek it meant someone who sat passively in an audience listening to a singer or a speaker. Today --- when you audit a class in college – you simply listen and attend the class but you do not do any outside work. You do not write a paper or take a test. You are never held accountable for what you hear. So – James is saying – do not be an auditor of the Word of God – he is saying take the test – do the homework – do the study. Put into practice what you hear. Have you been auditing the Word of God????? Obedience to the Word of God is a visible measure of true discipleship. Jesus said in John 15:4 “You are My friends if you do what I command you. 1 John 2:3 “He who does not love Me (Jesus), does not keep My words” and the one who says, I have come to know Him and does not keep His commandments is a liar and the truth is not in Him.” So --- the question today is…

How do You Respond to the Word of God?
1. You must be willing to respond to God’s Word without deception. (vs.22 - 26) “do not merely listen to the Word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.” Anyone who listens to the Word but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. But the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it – he will be blessed in what he does.” If anyone considers himself religious and yet does not keep a tight rein on his tongue, he deceives himself and his religion is worthless.’

Nobody likes to be deceived. I recently bought a dryer on Craig’s list – tested it and when I went to install it the dryer seal came right off. I have been deceived by people before and even by Christians but this is not what James is talking about……………………When a professing Christian hears the Word of God. That can come on a Sunday morning – you can hear it on the radio or you can sit down an read it yourself. When you hear it and you do not obey what you hear…… you and I make a serious miscalculation. James says that we deceive ourselves. We are deluded. You may deceive yourself once or you can keep on deceiving yourself.

James says “If anyone is a hearer of the Word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks into his natural face in a mirror, for once he has looked at himself and gone away, he has immediately forgotten what kind of person he was.” In New Testament times --- mirrors were made of highly polished brass or bronze – but a wealthy person could buy one made from silver or gold. Those mirrors gave a dim or distorted reflection of the person using them but if you were careful turning the mirror and had the right light you could get a picture of what you looked like. James is saying that we as a believer when we hear the Word God we are seeing what we look like in God’s eyes but when we go and turn and forget what we look like we are deceived. Look what James contrasts that person with in verse 25.

“But the man who looks intently into the perfect law (God’s Word) that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it – he will be blessed in what he does.” The way he wrote the words “look intently” --- meant to bend over and carefully examine something from the clearest vantage point. It meant to have the best seats in the house. Luke uses the same words when he described Peter looking intently into the tomb of Jesus. James is saying that as believers – we are to look intently into the Word of God and when we look intently….. we obey what we see….. And then James says that we will be blessed in what we do. So how do you look at the Word of God? Do you give it a brief glance or do you look intently at it from many vantage points?

James says “do not be deceived in verse 22” in verse 26 – he says we deceive ourselves. How does deception happen in our lives? Some one else does not deceive us – he is not talking about Satan deceiving us. He is referring to how we as humans deceive ourselves. Let me give you a few examples:

A. We deceive ourselves when we refuse to forgive and we attempt to justify holding onto the past even when we were hurt very deeply.

Ephesians 4:32 “Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.” We are told to forgive in the same way that God has forgiven us --- when do not we deceive ourselves – we forget what we saw in the mirror of the perfect law – the law of liberty.

In Philippians Paul says, “one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. “ Believers who live in the past – who live in past wrongs and hurts….. never press on toward the goal for which God has called them. They remain deceived because they do not forget a wrong ---- that wrong comes out of their mouth again to the person who wronged them or to someone else or they wall off that person from their life. They deceive themselves.

B. We deceive ourselves when we see no reason to submit to a spiritual authority and obey spiritual leaders instructions – we say to ourselves I can handle it – “that is their opinion and there really is nothing wrong with the way I am doing what I am doing.”
Hebrews 13:17 “Obey your leaders and submit to their authority. They keep watch over you as men who must give an account. Obey them so that their work will be a joy, not a burden, for that would be of no advantage to you.” James says that when we do not look at the Word of God intently we deceive ourselves.

C. We deceive ourselves when we think we have to have it . We are not content and we believe we deserve it. We say to ourselves we deserve it and I can make 12 easy payments and there is no interest charges.

Philippians 4:11 “I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content.” God wants His people to be content with what they have and not presume material possessions that they cannot afford and they have not saved for in advance. Many many believers have allowed themselves to be deceived in this manner and suffer the pain that comes with it.

D. We deceive ourselves when do not care about spiritual purity. “It is just a lunch, there is nothing wrong with having lunch with her – she is my friend – I do not care what people will think.” And yet the Word of God – the Law of Liberty as James puts it says in:

Ephesians 5:3 “But among you there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality, or of any kind of impurity…” I believe that most teenagers and young adults battle obeying this command. It is so easy today to justify and rationalize what we do and how dare someone else think that there is a hint of sexual immorality in my life because of what I am doing. James says --- the man or woman who looks into the perfect law – the law of liberty and abides by it will be blessed in what he or she does. Sexual immorality has done perhaps more to deceive believers than any other sin. We overlook – we ignore – we say nothing – we rationalize and justify. I have given you four examples of how believers hear the Word of God and then allow themselves to be deceived by not obeying the Word of God. James gives us one more in verse 26 – which we will spend an entire message on when we get to chapter 3.

E. We deceive ourselves when we do not control what we say. (vs.26) “If anyone considers himself religious and yet does not keep a tight rein on his tongue, he deceives himself and his religion is worthless.”

The tongue is not the only indicator of true spiritual maturity… but it is one of the most reliable. It has been estimated that the average person will speak some 18,000 words in a day – enough to fill a 54 page book – many people speak more than that…. especially women – 1/5 of your life is spent talking. If the tongue is not controlled by God it is a sure indicator that the heart is not. Jesus said to the religious leaders in Matthew.

Matthew 12:34 - 37 “You brood of vipers, how can you who are evil say anything good? For out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks. 35The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in him, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in him. 36But I tell you that men will have to give account on the day of judgment for every careless word they have spoken. 37For by your words you will be acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned.”

What we say and how we say what we say and when we say it is crucial. Every believer has got to become a word smith. Every godly wife and every godly girl has got to become gifted in controlling their words as much as they are looking in the mirror and checking their hair. Every godly man has got to put a pipe wrench on his mouth. How many times this past week have you used a curse word or how many times have you provoked your children to anger by your words? WE MUST RESPOND TO GOD’S WORD WITHOUT DECIEVING OURSELVES.

2. Be willing to respond without selfishness. (vs. 27a) “religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress..”

During the time of James there were many widows and orphans. James is simply saying that if we are really responding to the Word of God then we have to have a genuine concern for the welfare of others ---- especially those in great need. Jesus says that we have to serve them with love and great compassion. Now – there are some of you in this church family who have caught that. We have a half empty pantry that you all have filled and someone in need was able to benefit from that. We have gotten involved in helping others in our church family with places to stay. It is one thing to go out into the community of Carson City and find a homeless person on the street and give them money or food ---- and I have done that ----- but it is another thing to be actively involved in the lives of those in our church family who are in need. All of this that I do --- I do because of my response to the Word of God ---- this what James is saying. When we look out for those in our church family who are in distress we do it out of our passion for God ------ we do not do it to get anything from God or to prove to God anything. Chapter two is going give us an entire message focused on this issue of faith and deeds. I have to say that twice in the past 6 months ---- an elderly widow in our church family on social security has brought food to our church pantry twice. She has caught what James is talking about here – even though she herself is a widow and should be on the receiving end. BE WILLING TO RESPOND TO THE WORD OF GOD WITHOUT SELFISHNESS

3. Be willing to respond without compromise.(vs.27b) “and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.” If we are polluted by the world then we are going to compromise. The Word of God is black and white ---- there are no gray areas in it ----- what I mean is that it does not change according to the circumstances ---- but when we are polluted by the world we will compromise. When we hear the word of God we will bend it. We will make it conform to how we have been polluted. You might not think of yourself as polluted --- the New American Standard perhaps translated James words better. “Keep oneself from being unstained by the world.”

Now – no believer is ever perfect and sinless. This is not what James is talking about. James is telling us if we are going to respond to the Word of God we cannot allow the world to control how we view and apply God’s Word to our lives. How does the world stain us? I believe there are 4 major ways – briefly…

* Money. We view money in light of how the world views it. We use money in light of how the world uses it. We do not see money the way God sees money. We easily fall into credit and become the lenders slave. We easily rob God and find any excuse we can not to be a giver. Its our money – we have bills and we have to pay those bills. We have taken the conditions and promises of God concerning money and we turn them and compromise them. To remove the stain – God’s people have to repent and produce month after month …obedience to God’s Word. How are we stained??

* Sexuality. God’s people have taken sexual purity and put it at the bottom. We compromise and we see gray. God’s see sexuality as black and white. Sex is good and it is created by God for enjoyment within the marriage covenant. To remove the stain – God’s people have got to pursue sexual purity with a passion and repent from their compromising ways. 3rd way we are stained

* Submission verses Rebellion. God’s Word tells us that there is an authority structure in His Word. God’s people are to submit to it. The children are to submit to the parents. The wife is to submit to the husband. The family is to submit to a local church shepherd. The church is to submit to the government and everyone is to submit to God. Rebellion is like the sin of witchcraft. It is demonic. It brings compromise into the life of any believer. We have to repent and produce deeds of repentance. What acts of submission have you done or are you doing in your life?

* Rights. The world has certainly stained us here. We believe like everyone else that we have rights and that no one must take them away or treat us a certain and we are going to anything and everything to watch out for our rights ---- but the bible tells us that a believer has no rights. The bible conflicts with our countries declaration of independence – “we hold these truths to be self evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain- unalienable rights.” God’s Word tells us that we have no rights and we are slaves of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Paul wrote to the church at Philippi in Philippians 2:3 “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. 4Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others. “ We must pray and ask God to give us what Paul told us – we must consider others better than ourselves and we must look out for the interests of others.

Close with video clip: The Word of God works in a persons life. It might not be right away and there might be some pain that a person goes through – but it works – it saves and it changes and it heals. Watch this testimony with me:

Let us pray: Dan

Fireproof

                                 Coming to Silver Hills

   Friday Night February 20th

7:00 pm

James # 5

Take your bible and turn to the book of James.  We are studying a letter that James wrote to God’s people to encourage them to have a living saving faith.   He writes this letter to show them what a true believer really is.   We need to obey content of this letter – the church needs to obey this letter -- our country needs this letter – we have lost and we do not know what a true believer in Jesus Christ really is.     Someone says are you a Christian?      It used to be one would respond – “well yes, I am an American” – now – we respond or think – “well yes, I am not a Muslim or a Hindu” and the politically tolerant response would be….. “we all believe in the same God – we just use different names.”     

We have seen in the first part of this chapter that James says that the first test of a  true believer is how they respond to trials in their life.   We are to consider it joy when trials come to our life because we know that God is sovereign – He is in control and a true believer should be able to embrace a trial as a friend.    Those trials will produce endurance in their life and through the trial the believer will be mature and complete and not lacking in anything.      Secondly, we saw last week, that a true believer responds rightly and understands temptation in their life.   Temptation is a test and there is no temptation in your life that God does not give you a way of escape so that you may stand up under it.    

 Today we are going to see how a true believer is to receive  the Word of God and then next week we are going see how James says that a true believer must react or respond to the Word of God.   Please stand as we read James chapter one.  John Terry…   LET US PRAY

 We read verse 18---- but the week before I did not address it.   Verse 18 is a connecting verse to what James says in verse 19.    Look what it says, (vs.18)  “He chose to give us birth through the Word of Truth, that we might be a kind of first fruits of all He created.”    That is a verse packed full of doctrine to which I could teach hours about.     God chose to give spiritual birth to those whom He chose.  God did the choosing – man does not choose God --- the bible does not teach that.    God chooses those who are His children.    When we begin to believe that man chooses God ---- we are attempting to take the sovereignty of God away from Him.    We make God manageable by man.     God chooses man and James writes that He did it through the Word of Truth.      He did it through the Gospel.  He did it through the Word of God.   I do not see any other way to read and apply verse 18 ---- if you do, please let me know……    God reveals Himself through the Word of God.    That is one part of special revelation.      

John 20:31 “But these things (the scriptures – the Word of Truth -   the 66 books of the bible)  have been written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in His name.”     Why does God give spiritual birth through the Word of Truth?     James says that He did it so that those that He chose would be the first fruit of all that He created.     God’s children --- the ones He chose ----  are the crowning jewel of all that He created.    Regardless of what you think or hear or read,   nature is not the first fruit of all God created.   God’s children are the first fruit of God’s creation.   Unbelievers are the second fruit and then comes the rest of creation.      When a true disciple of Jesus Christ hears the Word of God – there is a response to it.  When a person has saving faith and has been given spiritual birth – there is a response in their heart.  There is a desire and a drawing to obey what they hear.  

Write it in on your outline:  ONE OF THE MOST RELIABLE EVIDENCES OF GENUINE SALVATION IS A HUNGER FOR THE WORD OF GOD.  

David wrote in Psalm 42:1 “As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you O God.”  A person who is truly related to Christ through saving faith responds gladly to the Word of God and a person who has no interest in hearing and obeying the Word of God…. gives evidence that the truly do not belong to Christ…………It is the inner desire of a real believer to know and obey God’s Word and it is the natural desire of an unbeliever to disregard God’s Word – they are apathetic to it  and  they see no reason to obey it.        One young man came here recently and I explained the Word of Truth to him twice and Brady went through the Word of Truth with him and he had no response to the Word of Truth 3x--- he did not obey it and he no longer comes ---- he came for other reasons --- not for the Word of Truth.    Jesus said in John 15:7 “ If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.  By this is My Father glorified, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be My disciple.”      Spiritual fruit bearing is proof to you and to God’s people that you are a disciple of Christ. --------- back to chapter 1:18

So – the rest of chapter 1 falls under the statement in verse 18 “He chose to give us birth through the Word of Truth” -------- since that is true – James is saying that if a believer is going to experience a living faith they must know how to receive God’s Word in their life and a believer must now how to…. react to God’s Word.   Today we are going to examine how a believer receives God’s Word and next week we will examine how a believer reacts to God’s Word.

Receive God’s Word

1.  Receive God’s Word with submission in your life.   (vs.19-20) “My dear brothers, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, for man’s anger does not bring about the righteous life that God desires.”           James makes the transition from verse 18... saying that since God has given the believer spiritual birth from the Word of Truth that believer in Christ is to continually seek to submit themselves to the Word of God in their life.  Paul said this to Timothy:  Look on your outline:

2 Timothy 3:16 - 17 ¹⁶All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness,  ¹⁷so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.”       The Bible has not only been given to man for his salvation but the bible has been given to man for life --- to teach him how to live successfully for God here on this earth.   James says “take note of this” or “you know” and then he tells us three ways how we are to demonstrate and live out that submission to the Word of Truth – look at verse 19 ----

A.   Be quick to hear.    If a believer is going to experience the abundant Christian life, James says that they must take every opportunity to increase their exposure to the Word of God.   They must make and take every opportunity to read God’s Word and to hear it preached and taught.    I remember as an 18 year old baby Christian wanting to read the Word of God --- I had been given a bible when I was 12 years old at my confirmation but I remembered putting it on the shelf and saying this is foolishness but at the age of 18 when real saving faith happened in my life I got hungry to read the bible and I was told to read a Proverb a day.    After 31 days of doing that I kept doing it.    Be quick to hear God’s Word.      When you are troubled you turn to God’s Word for comfort and care ----  and when you need wisdom you turn to God’s Word for guidance and when you need standards for purity and righteousness you turn to God’s Word and when you are tempted you turn to God’s Word so that you may stand up under that temptation……………    Do you really hear God’s Word?  

 Outline: Jesus said in Mark 4:23  “If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear.” “Consider carefully what you hear.”    We are quick to open our mouths but slow to hearing.     Everyone likes to hear themselves talk but few of us enjoy listening.      There is a reason that God gave us one mouth and two ears.   How can you be quick to hear God’s Word?     Ask God to help you.  Examine your life.   Do you listen to music on the radio and never to preaching?   You can hear sound preaching regularly on KNIS.   Some of you know what I am talking about – you order preaching CD’s and have learned to listen to podcast off the web.   That is being quick to hear.  Let me give you some tips that could help you to hear preaching at Silver Hills.

Bring your own bible and pen.   Some of you never do.   I think we will stop providing a pen someday.  The fill in the blanks helps you to pay attention and remember what you heard.  I would prefer not to do them.  Go to the bathroom and get a drink before 10:30.   In 14 years, I have never been able to figure out why someone gets up when I am speaking and if we kept on singing, they would stay put.   Satan does everything to keep a believer from hearing God’s Word.   Some of you youth need to sit by your parents so you do not get distracted.   Ask God to give you ears to hear. 

B.  Be slow to speak.    You cannot listen while you are talking and you cannot listen while your mind is on other things.   What are you going to do this afternoon?   What you going have for lunch?   What do you have to do this week  and you are making your list as I am preaching?????    You cannot hear God’s Word when your mind is on other thoughts and ideas.   You have to struggle to listen to God’s Word preached.   I sit and read God’s Word every morning and I have noticed several times I have read chapter after chapter and when I was done --  I had no idea what I read and I heard nothing from God.   The idea here that James is saying about speaking…. when it comes time to speak…….  If you have heard God’s Word …. Be careful when you speak it… When you do…..does it edify and encourage those who hear it and does it honor God.   You who aim to be a teacher in the body of Christ……. Look what James says on your outline:

James 3:1 “Not many of you should presume to be teachers, my brothers, because you know that we who teach shall be judged more strictly.”    Be quick to hear – be slow to speak

C.  Be slow to anger.  Everybody wants to be slow to anger – you have people in your life that you wish were slow to anger.  No one is exempt from anger.   Every believer deals with anger.   Anger even causes physical illness in our lives.      When James wrote this he was talking about anger that is kept inside.      He was talking about anger that only you and God know about……  It is the kind of anger that just simmers in you and smolders in you.  No one else knows about it.     James is referring to anger that a believer has within them and when they hear the Word of God – and a truth is spoken or given to them – it displeases them because it confronts them…..   It conflicts with a personal belief or a standard of behavior in their life.   Some of you have been angry at something I have said in preaching.  I know that it is true.   When this anger happens in a believer they want their own opinions and views to be heard and followed and when they are not they rebel.    We have seen this happen over the years in our church family.   This has happened throughout the history of the church – believers resenting God’s truth and the messenger who brought it ---- we see this happening more and more – especially in our country.   James obviously knew this was happening in the churches he was writing to.  Outline.

James 4:1 - 2  ¹What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you?  ²You want something but don’t get it. You kill and covet, but you cannot have what you want. You quarrel and fight. You do not have, because you do not ask God. “   Receive God’s Word with submission in your life --- if that is happening it will be shown in your life when you are quick to hear and slow to speak and slow to become angry.    You cannot believe that you are submissive to God’s Word and you are not growing in those qualities.

 2.  Receive God’s Word with purity in your life. (vs. 21a.) “Therefore, get rid of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent…”  You cannot hear God’s Word when there is moral filth and wickedness in your life.      Sounds strange that someone might be in church on a Sunday thinking they are listening to God’s Word and on Saturday they were smoking dope or fornicating.    

When we think of moral filth that is what comes to our mind.     I know that has happened here.  But there is more to it.   Paul says to believers at Colossians 3:8 -10 “But now you must rid yourself of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander and filthy language from your lips.  Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator.” --

 It is possible as a believer to come to church again and again and hear the Word of God and yet a person does nothing to deal with the impurities in their life…………..  “Progress in your spiritual life cannot occur unless you see sin for what it is”.   When we do not deal with sin in our lives ---- when we do not confess it and repent of it ----- it corrupts us and it reduces your hunger for the Word of God and it clouds your understanding of the Word of God.    If we are going to receive the Word of God in our lives then we have to attack the darkness in our lives --- I was encouraged when I saw from the back those up front praying about temptations in their lives last week.  Purity and Submission……

 3.  Receive God’s Word with humility in your life. (vs. 21b) “and humbly accept the Word planted in you which can save you.”       Some translations use the word humbly, some use the word gentleness and some use the word meekness to communicate what James actually wrote.  He wrote the Greek work prautes.     It is a word that is almost untranslatable from Greek to English.  Aristole said that it was somewhere between excessive anger and excessive anger less ness.  It means a temperament of the soul in which everything is in the right proportions.  Greek scholar William Barclay says that a one word summary of what James meant is having a truly teachable spirit. 

 So --- to rewrite it you would say “with a truly teachable spirit accept the Word planted in you which can save you.”       How do you know if you have a teachable spirit?

 Teachable Spirit

* A teachable spirit is docile and easily controlled, and therefore, it is humble enough to learn.  Do you think others would say that about you?    Do you have a docile spirit or do you have a proud  and cocky spirit?   Do you know it all and you have no time to learn and sit and observe others?   Last week a 50 year old man sat in a Sunday School and learned how to teach kids from a 20 something year old.   That is what James is talking about.  

* A teachable spirit is without resentment and anger, and is therefore, able to face the truth, even when it hurts and judges.   We are to teach one another in the family of God.   We are to speak to each other and encourage each other and many many times when we are to do that we have to speak the truth and the truth many times hurts………………  A teachable spirit does not become offended and bitter when another believer points something out to you.  3rdly  

 *  A teachable spirit is not blinded by its own prejudices but it has clear eyes to the truth.   When the truth is spoken to you – it might hurt you but you know it is the truth and you are not blind to it.

 *  A teachable spirit is not seduced by laziness but it is self controlled so that it can learn willingly  and accept the discipline of learning.   It takes time to learn.   You have to be available.    It takes effort and it takes doing something over and over again.  

Notice what James writes – in humility – with a teachable spirit – receive the Word implanted, which is able to save your soul.   There it is again in verse 21--- receive the Word implanted and look back at verse 18 “He chose to give us birth through the Word of Truth”.   When you have a submissive spirit  - you are facing up to and dealing with the sin in your life and you have a teachable spirit – James says our souls are being saved as we receive the Word of God. 

 Time and time again in the Word of God the believer is likened to soil and the gospel or the Word of Truth is like a seed.  My daughter brought back these seeds from Japan.   I did not plant them but I plan to in March.  I am going to use good soil and I am going to start them in my greenhouse and it is going to require that I attend to them almost every day.   I am going to have water them – again and again and everyone of you know that all throughout the summer and up to the fall I am going to have to water and fertilize them…….  God plants His Word in you and gives you new birth it is He who causes it to grow.  We have a choice to receive the Word of God again and again and again in our lives.   Would you receive the Word of God with a submissive spirit and would you receive the Word of God with a pure heart and would you receive the Word of God with a humble teachable spirit. 

 It is impossible for you to taste of the abundant life and experience real saving faith as a child of God without receiving the Word of God again and again and again in your life.

Let us pray:   RICK STILL WELL

Pastor Kawasaki

Pastor Mitsuri Kawasaki will be coming to Sillver Hills on March 27,28 and 29.  Mark your calendar and bring someone from another church to hear him speak on Friday the 27th.  

James #4

“A Living Faith”                                                         

James 1:13 -18                                                                    

Pastor Ben Fleming                                                             

January 11, 2008   

PHOTO --- I wonder if there are many of you here who remember who this man is???  He had some famous quotes –  “The cost of living is going up and the chance of living is going down. “  “Violence is a tool of the ignorant” and his most famous quote is “The devil made me do it”.  (BLANK)      We laughed at Flip Wilson’s quote when he said it with his wig and skirt on but many say and think the same thing…….  It was someone else who made me do it”.  I just could not help it.   Everybody is doing it,   well it was just a mistake and nobody is perfect.”……..    For many believers – temptation is confusion --- some even believe that to be tempted is sin and for many believers….. they do not understand how to have victory over temptation in their life.  Turn in your bible to the book of James.   We are studying the book of James and we are finding in this letter that James is writing to believers so that they may have and experience a living faith.   When your faith is alive there is joy.  When your faith is real and alive you are able to identify a temptation in your life and find and take the way of escape that God provides. 

 Temptation is part of all of our lives – believers and non believers.   For the believer – temptation is a test – it is a fire….. that purifies and tests that believer.   In my younger years I used to think that no one was tempted like me, until I found that Paul wrote     1 Corinthians 10:13   “No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it.”…..  Everyone is tempted and the temptations that you deal with are the same ones that I deal with …….– when the temptation comes – God will provide a way out so that you can stand up under it.”       Galatians 6:1 ¹Brothers, if someone is caught in a sin, you who are spiritual should restore him gently. But watch yourself, or you also may be tempted.” ……  We are to be on the guard as a believer so that we may not be tempted – you are to watch yourself – you do not trust yourself – you need accountability.    I try not to go into a news stand in an airport unless I am with my wife or another person who knows me.   I know there is temptation there.    To young Timothy Paul wrote in  2 Timothy 2:22    “Flee the evil desires of youth, and pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace, along with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart. ²³Don’t have anything to do with foolish and stupid arguments, because you know they produce quarrels.”    A believer has to do something in response to temptation.   You cannot be passive and be victorious over temptation.  Paul says we are to flee – we must run from something and run to something.   

Stand this morning as we read James chapter one.  RHEA WILLIAMS-------- Prayer about temptation

 The word that is translated as tempted in verse 13 comes from the same word as trials – peirasmos.  A temptation is a trial.   You will face temptations of many kinds.   No person – including the most spiritual Christian – can escape temptation – everyone of us are going to be put through temptations.  Matthew 4:1 tells us that Jesus Christ was tempted by the devil.   From the beginning --- the character of sin within us makes us have a propensity or a bent to pass off blame – every parent in here knows that.  We as Americans have perfected it with our victim mentality.    Something or someone else made me do what I did – I am not responsible – you are to blame.     Wives blame their husbands and husbands blame their wives.   Children blame their parents or their teachers.    Eve blamed Satan and Adam turned around and blamed God.   Flip - said the devil made him do it…  

Right in the beginning of the section we are studying – James says in verse 13 “Let no one say when he is tempted – I am being tempted by God”  ------ he is saying to us that we must not rationalize in our minds when we are tempted that we are being tempted by God.  Never fall into the trap of thinking that way….   Fill in the blank on your OUTLINE

God is never even indirectly responsible for temptation to evil.  He is in no way and to no degree responsible – directly for our being tempted……

The Scottish poet – Robert Burns wrote:   “You know You have formed me with wild passions - wild and strong, and by listening to their witching voice has often led me wrong.”……   A misled rabbi wrote – “God placed the good tendency on man’s right hand and the evil on his left hand.”    But philosopher Philo of Alexandria wrote a more accurate statement:  “When the mind has sinned and removes itself from virtue – it lays the blame on divine causes.”………..   I believe that he was simply reflecting the truth that King Solomon wrote in Proverbs 19:3 “ The foolishness of man subverts his way, and his heart rages against the Lord.”    

To be victorious over temptation in your life you have to have a correct view of God and understand that God is never responsible for our temptations and that He is never responsible for our succumbing to them in sin. James gives us Four Proofs – on your outline…………..

Proof #1.  We must understand the nature of evil.  (vs.13b)   “For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He tempt anyone.”        God has no capacity for temptation.  He cannot be associated with evil.  

The very nature of evil makes it inherently foreign to God.   God and evil exist in two distinct realms that never meet…….  God has no vulnerability to evil but He is aware of and completely sovereign over all evil but He is untouched by it.       I find that very difficult to grasp and communicate with words.   Think about it this way  ---   (PHOTO)  The dump is evil but the sunlight is shinning on it but untouched by it……….  (BLANK) 

This truth about the God of the Bible is not found in other religions.   Gods that are man made and demon inspired reflect the sin and shortcomings of those who created them….  They not only commit gross sins but they encourage their subjects to sin.    You cannot understand the nature of evil with understanding the nature of God’s holiness.  

Isaiah 6:3 “Holy, Holy, Holy, is the Lord of hosts, the whole earth is full of His glory”.    God said to Moses in Lev 19:2 “You shall be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy.”   And Peter wrote the same thing in 1 Peter 1:16  “ You shall be holy, for I am holy.”…..   God’s holiness is unmixed with anything less than pure and perfect righteousness.    We must understand that God has no vulnerability to evil or temptation to evil.   The prophet Habakkuk wrote in 1:13 “ Your eyes are too pure to approve of evil and you cannot look upon wickedness with favor.” 

If we are to be holy as God is holy then God is going to allow and permit any temptation in our lives so that we may become pure.  Testing purifies us…...   God wants us – He wants us to be around Him and He cannot be around us and bless us when we are around and giving into evil.   Let me be a little open with you:   Not giving into sexual temptation --- pornography or any other kind of sexual sin –   so that my wife does not find out or I do not hurt her or so that no one in the church would not find out --- does not motivate me.  I want to think this way:  If I am pursuing being transformed by the renewing of my mind --- if I really want to be walking with God – thinking like Christ – then I want to stay away from that which will pollute me.   If I am pursing holiness in sexual purity why would I want to go backwards???   Understand the nature of evil.   Now look at the second proof.

    

Proof #2.  We must understand the nature of man.  (vs.14)  “but each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed.”  (BLANK)    The first point is to understand the nature of evil and then secondly, the nature of man.     Every human is tempted.  Temptation never stops.  It is a continual event in the life of a human.  James says that a man or a woman is dragged away and enticed by His or her own evil desire.   The words that James uses here give the picture of a man being dragged away…. as if he is compelled by an inner desire…. and the word enticed – gives the picture of a baited trap designed to get an animal, like this guy was trapped.  (PHOTO) and then look at this  (PHOTO) it was like a fisherman putting a big juicy worm on a hook and letting it down over the side of the boat into the water and the fish had no choice but to go for it.    Animals and fish are lured into traps and hooks because the right kind of bait is to attractive for them to resist.  (BLANK)       Jim Spoull is a fisherman and he tells me to be a successful fisherman you have to know the right kind of bait at the right time for the specific fish.    It looks good and it smells good and the desire for the bait is so intense that it causes them to loose all caution and overlook and ignore the trap or the hook until it is too late……..    This is the same way that you and I give into temptation.   Our lust draws us toward things that are appealing to our fleshly desire.    

 Now a word of caution here:    In the church we tend to think wrongly when it comes lust.   We associate lust only with sexual desire, so let me give you a definition.   Fill in the blank on your outline of the definition I have given you.

Lust = epithumia. A deep, strong desire or longing for any thing, good or bad.    You cannot only apply it to sexual desire.         I think of this in terms of this past Christmas season – knowing that in our house right by the microwave was a box of high end chocolates that my brother sent from Cincinnati and in the freezer was 6 1 pt containers of East Coast Famous Graders Full Fat Ice Cream that my dad sent.  Oh – I can still feel the strong desire and longing I had for those items – even though I had already had all the cookies and peanut brittle I needed…….   That leads us to the third proof that God is not responsible for our temptations.

Proof #3.  We must understand the nature of lust.  (vs. 15 -16) “Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.”   James now shifts from hunting and fishing terms to childbirth to illustrate his point.   He says that lust is just like a mother giving birth but the end result is death.  There are four steps in this birthing process of lust to sin to death.   John MacArthur gives them to us in 4 d’s.

 *  Desire – this is the same as lust or epithumia.  It begins first as an emotion.  It is a feeling or longing for something that may be subconscious.  It develops deep within us that expresses a desire to acquire – to achieve or possess something that we do not have.  It could be a possession --- it could be power or a position or even a person.    It can be sparked by a number of things.  We walk by a jewelry store and see something in it with our eyes – we get bored and look up at something in the kitchen – we drive by the car lot and see the new car 72 months no interest – you have to have that --- you deserve it.   This is the way you and I were before we came to Christ – you had no choice but to give into those desires….. but now as a believer those chains have been broken – you do not have to give in.

 Ephesians 2:3 “All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts.” -------------  the believer was once that way --- the believer no longer has to gratify the cravings of their sinful nature and follow their desires and thoughts ----- they have been set free….   That is the position of the believer…..   Desire…..

 *  Deception – this is related to the mind or thinking more than ones emotions.  We think about a desired object.   We rationalize or justify getting it.  We think about how we were wronged and how we are going to get back at someone.    We do not have to convince ourselves – we simply want it and we are going to do it and as James says, “it gives birth to sin.”   Desire – deception

 *   Design – we make plans to fulfill our emotional desires that we have already rationalized and justified in our minds.  At this stage we have made a conscious decision to pursue our lust until it is satisfied and it is at this stage where the most guilt lies.   Design……. Deception…. Desire….

 *   Disobedience – if we allow the process to continue to this stage it gives birth to sin.  We disobey God’s law.  That which is desired, rationalized, and willed is actually done, committed and accomplished.     Desire leads to deception, deception to design and design to disobedience which is sin.   It is not a mistake --- it is sin.    Thomas a Kempis in his book the Imitation of Christ wrote, “At first temptation is a mere thought confronting the mind, then imagination paints it in stronger colors, only after do we take pleasure in it, and the will makes a false move, and we give our assent.”

 The earlier in the process that you and I are determined to resist, the greater the likely hood we will avoid sin.     When Satan tempted Jesus – Jesus immediately said “it is written”.   When the unbelievable knockout of a woman got of the car – he turned his head and prayed.   When he thought to gossip – he kept his mouth shut and repeated the scripture verse he memorized.

When he was tempted to give into anger ---- he told her how he felt and how she hurt him.      As a believer – we must mature to the point where we learn  to control our emotional responses to temptations when they first appear.   The battle begins and must be fought in our minds where sin is conceived.  Dr Lloyd Jones says that we must preach to ourselves God’s Word.  When you get to stage two at deception you must make your thinking be obedient to Christ.  

Philippains 4:8  “Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.”………..   When we do not think about that which is true and that which noble and that which is right and pure ---- we move onto design which leads us to disobedience.”      And in Colossians 3:2 we are told to set our mind on things above.    What are the things above?    Well they are the things of God.    The Word of God.   What does God say about us?   What are the promises of God?      If we are going to be victorious over lust then we must understand the nature of lust and then #4

 4.  We must understand the nature of God. (vs. 17) “Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.”

 James has already said that God is not responsible for temptation because His nature is incompatible with evil.  What comes from God is not sin.   God only sends every good and perfect gift.      The perfect holiness and goodness of God only results in that which is good and perfect and holy.  What God does…. always reflects His character.    James uses the term  “The Father of lights” –  this is an ancient Jewish term for God.  It refers to Him as creator and the giver of light in the form of the sun – the moon and the stars…….   Those forms of light that God created will eventually fade – but the light of God has no variation – no shifting and no shadows.  Malachi writes --- “I the Lord do not change” and John writes “God is light and in Him there is no darkness at all.”    Let me be a theologian here……    So --- if we are to come to the Light and live in the Light --- we must have no darkness.   So – when temptation comes and we are tested and we stand up under the test and we choose the way of escape – there is perhaps a greater shining of the light from our lives?

 God is not only the source of good gifts – He is the source of the giving impulse.   Your giving is an indication to you of your closeness to God.   Giving is a reflection of the image of God in you.   The believer who gives – reflects the light of God.   When you give you learn to trust God and not trust what tempts you. 

 You are going to be tempted this week.   God never takes a vacation – He is always working in the life of His children.   He is patient ---- He does not condemn His children ---- He simply has put into action everything in His economy for His children to be molded more into His image.   Temptation is one of those tools that He uses.    Listen to these words of Pastor Doug Fields on the subject of temptation and then we will close in prayer.

TEMPTATION VIDEO CLIP BY DOUG FIELDS

Closing Prayer:   Andy Getas