Untitled Sermon

Take your Bibles and turn with me to James chapter 1. And if you didn't bring a Bible, hopefully there's one in your pew. There are several up and down the pews. And if you look like you need one, somebody should reach out and hand you one, I pray. But look with me in James, at James chapter 1. James chapter 1. And just to take this in context, let's begin with verse 19, the last part of chapter 1,

as we finish the chapter today. And then we'll go back and tie it all together here as we get into it. James chapter 1, beginning at verse 19. He says,

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. Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this, to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world. Now, we're looking at James, as your bulletin tells you, and if you've been here before, under the heading of the workings of faith.

The workings of faith. Not from an idea that we're working to be saved, but from an idea, from the premise, I believe, that James is telling us that if indeed you are saved, then there will be resultant works in your life. There will be the fruit of the Spirit working out in your life. And these workings should be evident. They should be evident to others. God knows the state of our hearts.

We most often don't until we realize the relationship that we have with the Lord, if that's a budding, blooming relationship, and we're in regular communion with Him. And the workings of faith should be working out in our lives. These evidences. The evidences of that faith should be working themselves out in our lives. And that's what we're looking at in the book of James,

is the evidence of our faith. This is the last Sunday of 1996. You know that. This Wednesday is New Year's Day. And we begin a new year. And in all of the periodicals, I get Newsweek regularly, but in Time and in all of them, there is the 1996 World in Review segment this week. It's a time where we take a look back. And how do we review the world? Well, it's by things that have been,

it's by segments of what's happened in the United States, what's happened overseas, what's happened in the economy, what's happened in health care, and throughout the magazines then are documented the different stories that mark what 1996 was all about. Well, it should be no different in our own lives as Christians. We should be able to look back over 1996 and see the results of our faith in our lives this past year. So let me ask you, how's your walk as you look back over 1996?

How's your walk with the Lord? What are the evidences of your faith? What have you seen in your life as the evidence of that relationship with the Lord? Well, if things seem to be lacking, you're not alone. But it's not a time to just excuse ourselves. It's a time to lay ourselves before the Lord and realize that the time is short before the Lord's coming. Jesus is coming soon, very soon.

The signs of the times indicate that. And as we take our Bibles and look at our Bibles in the newspapers, we can see that Jesus is coming. The things that Paul was warning Timothy about, that John was warning us about, that Peter tells us to be aware of, those things are happening now. And it's soon that the Lord is coming back. And the intensity of the pressure is not going to ease.

I've talked about this. I'm going to continue to talk about it because as we come through the holidays, we just came through Christmas, now we're coming through New Year, there's a tendency in our lives to think once we get through Wednesday, it's kind of a, we put the tree away, we can take all the decorations down, all the relatives have either come and gone or we've gone and we're returned and we think now things are going to ease up. No. Things are getting more intense.

You watch. At the end of this week when it's New Year's Day and the things are over, there's not going to be that plateau. It's just going to be seeming like more intense, more demands, more things happening, school to get ready for, more things happening at home, more things happening on the job. Just the intensity of things going on in the country and the pressures in the world, it's going to increase with intensity.

And so James is calling us to be aware of that and to seek now to make sure that our walk with the Lord is tight in the midst of this. There should be the outworkings, the evidences of that faith. And again, this is not a spotlight to where we take James and we go, yeah, let's see your life. Let's take a look here and see how you're doing with it. No, it's how am I doing?

It's the spotlight, it's the mirror as we'll see in these last few verses that we look within, that we ask God to search our own hearts. Lord, how am I doing? Where am I with you? Have I set you on the back burner? Have I accepted you? Have I acknowledged your presence but forsaken you in fellowship for the things of the world? And it's a time to say, now stop.

Let me get back with you, Lord. That's what James is talking about. And in chapter one, we're seeing that these workings of faith are revealed by trial. The workings of faith, the evidences of faith, the reality of our faith walk with God is revealed to us. This is who it's to be revealed to. Again, it should be being seen by others. I mean, by this will all men know

that you're my disciples, Jesus said, if you have love for one another. But the purpose of James is to say, not again to spotlight others, it's to see ourselves. The workings of our faith will be revealed to us by the trials that come. And so we saw in the first few verses that we're to have a new perspective on trials. We're to see the trials as this hand of God

working in our lives to bring us into conformity, into the image of his son. And through these trials, we're to have patience and wait upon him to do his work. We're to be seeking him first. That's the perspective we're to have in verses two through 11. Verses 12 through 18, we saw that we're in touch and we saw that we're in the midst of this perspective that God's doing his work.

The emphasis is on perseverance, is on pressing on, trusting the Lord in the midst of this, not letting our hearts go towards the temptation that comes with the trial, but to know that the Lord's in control and to keep trusting him. Happy is the man, he says in verse 12, who does that, who presses on because he realizes there's a purpose in the trial. He realizes there is an end result of the trial that's ultimately to bring us in conformity with the son, but it's to also give us the crown of life. He says, in verse 17, that we might have the crown of life.

There's a reward, there's a resultant reward for this. We need to see that. Then we started into verse 19, last time, verses 19 through 21, to see not only the perspective of trials and the perseverance through trials, but the product of the trials. There's a product. There is a resultant product. The trials are producing this work in our lives. What is that work?

Well, there's an evidence of that and we see that in verses 19 through 27. First of all, in verses 19 through 21, we should see a change of attitude. We should see a change of attitude. If, in fact, I have really, sincerely asked Jesus to come into my heart, then there should be a visible change of attitude in my life. And first of all, I should be, verse 19,

quick to listen, quick to hear, quick to hear the word of God. This whole section is dealing with what God is doing in our lives, what God is working in our lives. And so, if indeed there has been a change in my life, a change of attitude, I will be being quick to hear the Lord. I'll have a hunger to hear the word of God. Especially when things really get rough,

I will want to know what God has to say and not try and fix it on my own. If I'm quick to hear what God has to say, I'll be slow to speak. And that referred to, if you remember, if you were here last week, to hasty speech. Specifically, speaking when I have been injured, when I have been done wrong, when something has happened to me that hurts me. I will not be quick

to speak back, quick to lash out back against if I am quick to hear God's word, His word, and see what He has to say to me. I will then be slow to speak, slow to hasty speech, which then will show me that I'm slow to wrath or slow to become angry. One quick mark, one easy mark of where you are in the Lord, where your walk is in the Lord, is today or tomorrow, whenever that trial hits. Car doesn't start.

Somebody at work, you get to work and somebody says something to you. What are you, late again? Maybe it's a spouse. Maybe a spouse will say something. How do you respond? Are you going to be quick to say, Lord, I want to not say anything hasty. I want to just remember the word from yesterday at church or the word from this morning as I spent time with you in my devotions.

That's why it's so imperative that we have time with the Lord, daily time with the Lord and be washing our minds with His word. But will you say that or will you be quick to shoot back, you know, bang, and bang, bang, bang, you know, get you. And how quick do you get angry in this situation? How quickly do you find your car keys and they're not where you put them last night and somebody took them away?

You know, how quickly do you, do you come to, if it's quick, it's like you just pulled the oil stick out and it went low, you know. You need to spend some time with the Lord. Don't wait until that point though. Don't wait until that point. If indeed, I have trusted my heart to the Lord, then as the trial comes it reveals that. It reveals a changed attitude.

I'm quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to rap. There's something else, when you're un Cincinnently receiving verse 21, the implanted word, the word planted in you, the engrafted word, it says which can save you or as King James says, which can save your souls. We saw last time that that referred to again, James is not talking about initial salvation. James is talking more about sanctification.

He's talking more about your walk as a result of your salvation and it's the engrafted word that can save your soul which basically your soul 12 through 18 that trial will either produce a perseverance it will result in a perseverance in your life or or the trial as it comes you because of you and i because of our our evil thoughts will give over to it and it leads us to sin god doesn't tempt the god's not in it at all he's just allowing the trial to come we're the ones that either persevere and are blessed as a result or let our evil thoughts be drawn off and into temptation into sin james is saying if we receive now humbly the engrafted word the word of god if we're sincerely quick to hear his word seeking

his word now this is all review so hang with me if we're quick to do that then it can indeed save our souls it will save us in the midst of whatever the trial is that we're in it will keep us from the temptation that leads to the full-blown action of sin okay so in the trial that you are currently engaged or the trial that's coming one of two options will occur you can trust the lord and persevere or you'll give in to your own evil thoughts which can erupt in anger which can erupt in the lust which can erupt in in a vindictiveness whatever and and lead to sin but if the word of god is coming in if you're quick to hear if you're quick to spend that time with

the lord then that implanted word he says can save you from the results the the negative results of that the sinfulness of that but we have to be receptive you see if there indeed is a change of lifestyle if there's a change of heart then there's a change of attitude and i am receptive to the word that's verses 19 through 21 are you receptive to the word is it exciting is it something that you that you do and you're not receptive to the word is it something that you desire you may not understand it all but you desire it you know you want it you know you need that's a change of attitude now we come to verse 22 this morning and there will be a change not only of attitude but there will be a change of action a change of action in our life there's

not only going to be a receptiveness to the word there's going to be a responsiveness to the word i'm not only going to receive the word as the word of god and wanted i'm going to respond to it and that's the doing of the word that james is talking to us about today three things i want you to see about the word of god today the word of god has demands the word of god talks about dangers that are inherent to the word and we're going to see the design of the word itself in these verses verses 23 through 27 there are demands it's going to reveal that the word of god has a demand that it makes upon us we're going to see that there's a danger in the midst of this the word of god

reveals a danger where this demand is concerned and specifically and not heeding to the demand and thirdly that there is a design to the word of god now we're not going to get into all the miraculous designs of the word this morning i mean you could there's so many neat studies as far as god's word and the design of the word that are myriad and they are there's they're miraculous i just it's awesome i mean you can just take the 316s i mean granted the uh the numbering of of the verses and all came you know hundreds of years after the word of god was written you can just take the 316s of the new testament read all the 316s you get some tremendous things shown you

can take the genealogy in genesis chapter 5 and take the the name what each name in the genealogy means and you get the that's revealed to you just by the names and and the genealogy that's there in genesis chapter 5 so there's some miraculous things in the design of the word and that's not what we're going to look at this morning as far as that design but just here in james just what james shows us in verses 22 through 27 we'll see an interesting thing concerning the design of god's word what it's designed to do what it's designed to produce first of all look at verse 22 he says do not merely listen to the word and so deceive yourselves do what it says first of all i want you to see the demands

of the word demands of the word of god there you can read any book and we read books primarily for information and for knowledge i'm i have been a non-fiction reader most of my life reading fiction to me has forever seemed like a waste of time i've got so much there's so much information there i need to glean that i need to read this non-fiction but i'm coming into an understanding of the blessing of fiction uh there's there's so much there from from the secular uh fiction fables and all that that we have the collection uh to read this non-fiction and to read this non-fiction to just some some good christian fiction uh uh uh really ran through this present darkness and

piercing the darkness and those pretty exciting fiction reading but books are written specifically to give information and to glean knowledge from but the bible is the only book that makes a demand on itself the bible is the only book that's that says this is something you not only read but this is something you are to do that's why it seems futile to me at times to just look at a study of Bible as literature and comparing it to the works of Homer or, you know, something like that, to war and peace. And we'll study this as some great writing just from a literary perspective without seeing it as the word of God, without seeing that particle, that element of it, that

this is not only a book that was written, it's a collection really of books and letters penned by God's hand, condensed and put together by the hand of God, living and alive and active today that reveals to us God's will and God's nature and God's character without seeing it as that. You're looking at it from an emptiness. And so a lot of colleges may have that on their list of subjects that you can take the Bible as literature. And I took one of those in college out in Colorado and it was because they looked at it purely from a literary perspective and eliminated the sovereignty of it, eliminated the supernaturalness of it. But the Bible is a book

that calls for action. It calls for a response. It's not something that we can merely read. He says to us in verse 22, do not merely listen to the word and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. Do not merely listen. Now, whenever you sit and read it, you are listening to it. You are hearing it per se. You are hearing the word as you read it. As you're here this morning, you are hearing the word read. We're going through a particular section,

a particular set of verses, and you are hearing the word read. And he says here, do not merely listen to it. Do not merely, hear it and examine it for its construction. It's meant to be obeyed. And so he says, do it. It's something that you do. If we merely listen to it and blow it off. I mean, if you're sitting here this morning and you're with parents or, you know, whatever, with friends, and you're just here

fulfilling your religious obligation. We'll talk about that as we get down to verse 26 and 27. And you're just going to blow this off. Then it says, you are deceiving yourself. It implies there are consequences. Don't simply hear it and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. The word for deceive is an interesting word. And I'll probably slaughter its pronunciation. Paralogismai. Para, alongside of, from the logos, the knowledge or the word

knowledge. Coming alongside of, literally, the word deceive means to come alongside of, literally, to cheat by false reasoning, an unsoundness of heart. So if we're just sitting here and we're going to just look at this this morning and just kind of blow it off as unimportant, not something that's really necessary. Then then we are cheating ourselves. There's a there's you're cheating yourself. There's a

consequence to not doing what the word of God says. And it's in the continuous, which means you do it and you keep on doing it. It's not something that we just, OK, we get this down and check off page whatever. But we do it and we keep doing it and we keep doing it because there's a growth in that. There's a there's a consistent growth as, yeah, we may fall short, but you keep

on. You keep on and you keep on. And the true believer knows that in the midst of a chaotic life, in the midst of a world that's that's on its way to hell, the stock market, don't don't be deceived by the stock market. Don't don't base your life on whether the Dow is up or down. The Dow is in the most erratic period it's been in. It's going to blow here before long and just fizzle out and

bottom out. We're in a chaotic time. And and the believer knows that this is the only thing that makes sense, that God's word is the only thing that's true in the midst of all the change. God doesn't change and his word reveals that. And so we are to not only be in the word, but we're to be doing it. We're to be responding the way God calls us to respond, no matter what the circumstances are

around us. In military training or in athletic training, you are trained to do that. You are trained to respond a certain way, regardless of what the circumstances are. Same way with police work. When I went to the academy, we were trained to to do you come into felony situations, you come into hostage situations, you do what you're trained to do, regardless of the circumstances, regardless

of the pressure. Military, you're trained with live fire, because when you get into the heat of battle, it teaches you to do what you're trained to do, regardless of the circumstances, regardless of what you're trained to do, regardless of what you're trained to do. It teaches you the best you can to prepare for the circumstances of battle. Now, nothing can truly prepare. I mean, nothing prepared

me for my first felony, but I did the procedures and it saved my life. That's what God's word is saying. We do the procedures, regardless of what the circumstances are around us. We're to do his word. And a true believer knows that and knows that this is what he has to be doing because God is demanding it. The word makes demands on me and I'm going to obey. I will follow the word.

Now, there's a danger that's closely affiliated to that. Let's run at verses 23 and 24. He's tying this right into what he just said. Don't 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, he goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. 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. God's word is as a mirror to us. It not only reveals the character of God to us, it not only reveals his nature, reveals his will to us, it's a mirror for us. As you and I hold this up and we begin to read it, it's revealing us to ourselves as well. The word of God reveals us to ourselves. It reveals our flaws and our sins. And if we're

honest with ourselves, that may be a reason why at times we don't want to get into it. There are times we don't like to come to fellowship. Why? I don't want to be convicted. And it's like if I just stay away, I'll stay away from conviction. David found that there was no place he could go that God wasn't. And that didn't mean just for fellowship. It meant that God was there. God knew

his thoughts. God knew his speech. Before they were even formed in his lips, there was nowhere that David could go to run away from God to try and get away from that convicting love of God. God's word reveals our flaws. A photograph, if you look at a picture, a picture is judged good by how it flatters. What do I mean by that? When you look at a picture and you say, that's a good picture of me. What do you mean?

It doesn't mean it doesn't, it's not a full shot. And you know, that's a good picture. It's from here up. A picture is judged good, a good picture, a good photograph by how it flatters. A mirror is judged to be a good mirror by how accurately it reflects the image. You have a good full-length mirror. What's a good full-length mirror? Well, it's a, I've had those full-length mirrors, you know,

you put up and you go, boy, that looks, oh, and you go like this and, you know, there's the little wrinkle in the mirror and, oh, okay, yeah, now I look better. Yeah, I look a lot better. Yeah. A good mirror is judged by how accurate, accurately it reflects the image. A painting, a good photograph is judged by how well it flatters. Abraham Lincoln was having his portrait done. He commissioned an artist to come in and

paint his portrait. And the artist was trying to position him because Lincoln had that wart on his face. And the artist was trying to position him in such a way that he couldn't see the wart so that when he painted him, he wouldn't have to paint the wart. And Lincoln said, just paint me like I am, wart and all. And that's where that phrase comes in. Just take me as I am, warts and

all or whatever. That's, it refers back to Lincoln. Lincoln said, just show me as I am. And that's what God's word does. It reflects. Us as we are. We see our flaws. When you read through the scriptures, when you take time to sit down and go through the word and you see a David who is, who is laying himself before the Lord and saying, God, search me and know me. As he says in Psalm 139 verses 23 and 24, you know,

my heart, search my heart, try me and see if there's lead me in the way everlasting. What David is saying is put, put your x-ray God on my heart. And if there's any wickedness there, I want to correct it. It's a willingness to be corrected. And maybe if we're honest with ourselves, when we have a, an aversion to being in the word, it's because we don't want to be corrected. We know

we're doing something wrong. We know there's an area in our life that, that God's been talking to us about, and we don't want to get into his word because he'll just tell me that I have to like that person. He'll tell me that I have to forgive that individual. He'll tell me that it's wrong to lust after that thing. And I don't want to hear it because right now I'm enjoying being

mad at that person. I'm enjoying being mad at that person. I'm enjoying being mad at that person. I'm enjoying being mad at my spouse, you know, or my kids or my parents or my teachers or whatever, my boss. I'm enjoying that. And if I get into God's word, he's going to talk about loving people and, and not reviling. If you've been reviled and I don't want to hear it. And

David was saying, Lord, search me. And if there's anything like that, I'm willing to be corrected. I want it changed. There's a danger in being in the word because it reveals there's a demand there in the word and it reveals our willingness or our lack of a willing heart to be obedient. And it reveals consequences to that, to that lack of obedience. James, James refers to a man in verse 23, anyone who listens to the word, but does not do what it

says is like a man who looks at his face in the mirror. And after looking at himself goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. Now kind of a, the idea of the man there is interesting. He didn't say it's like a woman who looks at her face in the mirror and goes away because the whole thing here is implying a hastiness in looking. Now I'm vain. Okay. Men

are vain. We're vain. And we, you know, I want the hairs in the right, what there is left. I want it to go with the right direction. I want to make sure I didn't leave something behind. Stubble, you know, there's nothing hanging over here that I, that I didn't get off, but I'll do that real quick. Now, woman looks in the mirror, you know, and you're looking, ladies, you've got

all that, all I've got to really get my shirt doll and ride. You spend a lot of time looking in the mirror, but the idea he, I think it's interesting that he writes about a man who looks in the mirror and kind of gives it kind of a cursory look and then leaves and forgets what he saw because he's talking about the hastiness of looking into the word. And often men, we are the ones that are hasty with that. It is the women who are more sensitive to spiritual things. And

often men just kind of go, yeah, yeah. Okay. I'm out of here. You know, I got to go fishing. We got football playoffs today. It's afternoon. You know, I'm out of here. And you just kind of give a cursory glance and there's a hasty look here and you're out. And James says, there's a warning. There's a danger here. There's a danger in seeing our flaws, who looks at his face in the mirror. And after looking

at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. He says, you're being deceived. There's a danger, just not really wanting to change. There's a danger of seeing our flaws. There's a danger of seeing an area of sinfulness in our life and not wanting to correct it. Let me tell you some dangers here. The number one danger is you're denying the Lordship of Christ in your life. And Jesus, James says, has saved you. He's

acknowledging that. He's not talking about getting saved. He's moving from the premise that you are saved. And if you have been saved, if you have been redeemed, it's by the Lord Jesus Christ who bought you and you are now his slave. And for me to see what he says that he wants me to do and to just kind of look it over and going, eh, and go off and forget what I saw

is me denying his Lordship. He doesn't take that lightly because he's a loving father who disciplines his child, just like you as loving fathers would discipline yours. When they go, you say, you need to take out the trash. And they go, eh, you know, and go off. What do you do? You go, well, forget it. No, you don't. You go, this is a sack. You put your hand on the sack. You pick

up the bag and you carry the bag out. You make sure it gets done. God's no different. God is a loving father who disciplines us. And so when we, when we see this and we, we just kind of blow it off, we're denying the Lordship of Christ. We're denying the Lordship of Christ. We're denying the Lordship of Christ. And he will not let that slide. He will discipline with increasing intensity

just as a father disciplines his child. But secondly, to me, this is probably one of the greater dangers is, is, as we see this in the word and it reveals us, we are in danger of repeating it, in danger of repeating the sin. And usually when we do that, it's more severe than the first time. If you've ever done something and gotten away from it then and gone back and done it again, that's pretty bad. Drugs, alcohol.

It's like the second time you go back, it grips you a little, a little harder than it did the first time. And you're more, more intense than the first time. And you're, you're deeper into it than the first time. It's the same thing with unforgiveness. You know, if God says there's unforgiveness there and you don't deal with it, then the next time somebody does something to you,

there's immediate anger, immediate unforgiveness. And it's, and it's deeper than it was before with probably more outward actions of anger than, than it was before. You see, when, when we, when we fail to let God reflect us and, and show us what's wrong, then give it to him to correct, then we just become more intent in our sin. And it drags us deeper and we end up in bondage to it. We end up in a, in a bondage. And maybe you're sitting here

this morning and there's an area in your life that you've really, you're in bondage to, and you want to deny it. You want to, you want to set it aside. You don't want, you don't want God to rock that boat, but he's taking his word this morning. And he's saying, unless, unless you give that to me, you're going to end up as this trial comes up again, because it will, whatever the trial is that, that caused that unforgiveness, it's going to come up again.

And God wants you to see, lay it at his feet and persevere through it. Being obedient to his word, being quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to rap, letting that word of God transform that area in your life and save your soul in that particular circumstance so that it does not hang you up in bondage. That's what he wants. It's up to you to decide to let him do that. And the word of God

is a mirror. The, the, uh, back to the old Testament, back to the temple, back to the tabernacle. When Moses led the children of Israel out of Egypt and they came to Sinai, Moses goes up on a mountain to meet with God. And he not only got the 10 commandments, he got the blueprints for the tabernacle. The tabernacle was the meeting place between God and the people, between God and

his, his chosen nation. God would have them build this tabernacle in which would be the ark of the covenant, his mercy seat, and his Shekinah, his glory, his smoke and fire would come and sit, rest on that in the midst of the people. And the people could see it. They could see the visible presence of God with them as they, as they went to and fro. And then as they moved into the land,

as they came into the promised land and David came and then Solomon came, Solomon built the temple and the temple was the replica, a grand replica of the tabernacle. Same elements in there, same type of design, but just magnificent. But the same stuff was in there and God met with the people. God came and his presence was there. And the priests were the only one that could go in to

that intimate presence with God. And only the high priest once a year could actually go into the Holy of Holies. But in this temple design, this tabernacle design, and we've used this stage and we're coming in from the east side and you come into the court and, and between the entrance to the court and the holy place, the building itself, the first thing you'd see is the brazen altar, the brass altar where the sacrifices were done by the priests. And there are, there's a horn coming off of each end of the altar that they, they would hook the sacrifice to. They'd hook the

cow or the, or the goat to, and then they'd slice it open and take the entrails out and burn them and take the one thing here and the other thing there and bleed the thing. And then before they could go in with the blood of the sacrifice or before they could go on into the Holy of Holies, the holy place to take care of the table to show bread or the, or the oil for the lamp or the altar of incense, there's a laver, there's a wash basin here and they'd have to wash themselves off. I mean, you know, you're going to gut a cow, you're going to clean yourself off. Where are you going? Now,

they had to also clean themselves off before they gutted the cow. And when the, when the priest would go into the Holy of Holies on the day of atonement, he'd wash himself five times, change clothes a whole bunch of different times before he'd go in. Now, when Moses had him build the laver, he asked the women to turn in their mirrors, which were mainly polished brass. They were, they didn't have glass. And so they would polish the brass and they would wash the laver. And so they would

to where it just shone brilliantly. And so he'd get the mirrors and he had his artisans make a laver, which was a basin to wash in. Now, when Solomon built the temple, the basin was called the sea because the thing was humongous. I mean, you could swim in that sucker. It was huge. But the idea was it was polished brass. It was mirrored. So when the priest would walk up to it,

what would he see himself? He'd see himself. And in that he'd see the representation of the sinfulness of man because he represented man to God, man coming into God's presence. And he would be faced with the fact of his mortality, of his sinfulness. And as he washed himself, it symbolized the redeeming work of God, the cleansing work of God, that the sacrifices were producing so that

he could come into the presence of God. And the water, according to scripture, represents the Holy Spirit and the word of God, the Holy Spirit taking the word of God and cleansing us and washing us. That's the laver. That's the picture of the laver. When you get to the book of Revelation, there's a sea of glass before the throne and it's solid. That's the laver to the mat.

That's the laver in the presence of God. The redeeming work has been done. You can't come into his presence unless you are redeemed and you stand on the laver, on the glass. You stand on the word. The word is a mirror. It not only shows us God's character and his nature, it reflects ours. And it demands that we be obedient to God when he tells us what to do or there is a danger, a consequence

in not doing that. Now, finally, let's look at the design of the word that James is talking to us about. And he says, this is the product of the trials. This is what's happening. If there's a change of attitude, there's a desire for the word. If there's a desire for the word to hear it, there's a desire to respond to it. And in that response, you realize the demands that the word

makes on you. You realize the danger of not responding, but you realize the glorious design of responding. He finishes us off with a positive. He says, verse 25, but the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom and continues to do this, not forgetting what he's heard, but doing it, he will be blessed in what he does. And then he goes on.

Let me read these two verses because they're often disjointed and they're not. They connect right to what we're looking at. Verse 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. Religion that God our father accepts as pure and faultless is this, to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world. The design of the word of God. He

says, verse 25, but the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom. You realize the paradox. You realize the paradox of that, the perfect law that gives freedom, a law that frees. Usually laws tell you not to do something. It's a law. If you violate it, you're dead or incarcerated or fined or whatever. But this is a law that frees. It's the law of grace. It's the

perfect law of grace. And the Greek word for who looks intently into literally means to stoop down in order to have a good close look. So in other words, the one who takes the time, who looks into this and not just is going to read over it because I got to crank out a chapter today, but I'm going to really take time and look at this and ask God to speak to my heart. And as David did to show me my wicked ways that I might lay them before you so that I can walk after your path. Anyone who does

that, who looks intently that way, he says is blessed in all that he does. This is the perfect law of freedom. The Old Testament tells us that God is going to send a redeemer. The New Testament tells us that he has come and he's coming again. And we look to him. In obedience now, and there is freedom in that. Freedom and obedience. We mix in grace with works.

No, that's what grace is. You and I have been bought with a price. That means God owns us. That means we are his slaves. My freedom comes as I am obedient to him. As I do what he calls me to do, I find a freedom there that is beyond anything else that I could experience. Jesus tells us in John chapter eight, verses 31 and 32, that if you hold to my teaching, then you will know the truth

and the truth will set you free. First John five, three, John says again, as a fiscal for this is the love of God that we keep his commandments. I am free as I'm obedient to him. Now, oftentimes we, we make the mistake of setting out the, the big 10 again and trying to keep each one of those. And that there's a hopelessness in that doesn't excuse us from not

being responsible to do it, but okay. What's the most important thing I do with that Lord. I want to do that. I want to be obedient to you. And you tell me in your word here that, that if I love you, that I'll keep your commandments. Well, what do I do? Well, there was an attorney that came to Jesus and asked him that very thing. It's like, okay, out of the Lord, I'm going to do that. I'm

out of all of the 10 here. And then all of the rabbis have got all this other stuff that they've added to it. And they've said all that. What's the most important thing? What should we really focus on? And Jesus said, he answered him in Matthew 22. And he said, love the Lord, your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and the

greatest commandment. And the second is like it love your neighbor as yourself. And then he said, he added this. He said, all the law and the prophets hang on these two commandments. So in other words, you get these two, all the rest of it falls into place. You don't have to memorize the Mishnah. You don't have to go through and memorize all of this other stuff, volumes and volumes that the rabbis had compiled of how you do the law. Jesus said,

you love God with all your heart, soul, mind, and they added strength in all the gospels. And if you do that, you will be. That's why he said in the second is likened to it. If you really are doing that, then the second or what results from that is you're loving your neighbor as yourself. It's just an outgrowth of the fact that you love God with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength.

And then Jesus said, and so that's what he's saying in verse 25, the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom. Now, if I'm looking into this, it's not a list of do's and don'ts. It's what brings me into that relationship with God because I love him and I want to love him more. And this reveals him to me. And this shows me where I'm in an area of flaw or sin. And I'm in an area of

sin that's hindering that. And I want to set that aside because I want to deepen that relationship with him. That's what this becomes. Now, as I'm doing that, and as I continue to do that, he says, not forgetting what he's heard, but doing it, he will be blessed in what he does. This is something I have to do daily. It's something I have to, I have to come to the labor and wash daily. I see

myself daily in the sinfulness and my mortality. And I have to wash daily because I want that relationship with him. I've seen what the world has. I've tasted of what the world offers and it is death and it is limited. I've seen what he has and what he's done and I've received what he's offered in its life. And I want to walk in the midst of that. So it's a daily coming. It's a

continuing to do this. Now, let me show you three things here as we finish up. Verses 26 and 27, he's saying, as you do this, literally there is a threefold product that happens as a result of this. Verses 26 and 27. Let me replace a word here if I could. The word religion there, it simply means in a Greek, an outward expression. You and I think of religion as those who are involved in

the form rather than the relationship, I think. I think in a lot of the church today, we've taken the word religion, which is a good word. And we've said, well, religion is with outward actions and Christianity deals with relationship. And that's true. When you're looking at religion as seeking to appease God, seeking to get to God, seeking to make yourself right, religion is empty. It's

relationship that we're built on, but not to forgive. It's a relationship that we're built on, but not to forget the outward expression. It's not just robes and stained glass and candles and veils and censers and holy water. That's not what James is talking about here either. Barclay, in his commentary, says that this outward expression really is a reference to

our worship of God. It's not just the form. You see, it's our worship. So let me just change that word in these last two verses from religion to worship and see how it reads. If anyone considers himself a worshiper, in other words, if I am one who is now I'm quick to hear, I'm quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to rap. I'm trusting the word implanted in me. I'm not going to merely listen

to it, but I'm going to do it. I realize the demand that's there. I realize the danger in not being obedient to it. And I realize that there's a design to it that as I follow it, I'm going to be blessed. Now, as I do that, if I consider myself a worshiper and yet do not keep a tight rein on my tongue, I deceive myself and my worship is worthless. For worship that God,

our father accepts as pure and faultless as this, to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world. So let me quickly give you three things. Then we'll, we'll close three products of genuine worship, three characteristics of genuine worship, three identifiers of genuine worship. If I am indeed understanding the perspective of trials, if I am persevering through those trials, if I'm realizing the product of those trials, a receptiveness to the word or responsiveness to the word, I'm seeing that in my life.

I'm hungering after him. Then my worship will reflect that. And the very first thing he says is true worship, godly worship expresses itself with a guarded tongue. James is going to say a whole lot more about that later. He's already said some about it. Back up in verse 22, slow to speak for 2019, slow to speak. But if I am truly a worshiper, then, and I understand all of this chapter one, then my speech will reflect that. Let me,

let me give you a, for instance, and of course I won't use you or me because we don't do this, but you are at your place of employment and you are with someone who of course is a Christian and they, they tell you that they're a Christian and they go to X and Y church and they swear like a sailor or they're constantly complaining and constantly whining and constantly belittling the employer and constantly griping at this employee, this fellow employee and constantly biting. James says they're not a worshiper. If you are a worshiper, first thing that will evidence that is a guarded tongue. That's why Paul said, as we went through our study in Philippians chapter two, verse 14, that we do things without

grumbling and complaining. It's an evidence that the mind of Christ is in us. It will be evident. You will know the next trial that comes. Watch what you say. Or if you are a worshiper, you have a guarded tongue or you will be deceiving yourself. Same word is from back up in verse 22, hearing the word and not doing it. You deceive yourself. It's a, it's a seduced heart.

Second thing that it will evidence in your life as a worshiper is, and this, and this, and yeah, I know you do this like me. You read this and you go, how does this apply to me? Religion that God, the father accepts is fault, accepts as pure and faultless as this to look after orphans and widows in their distress. Okay. I don't know any orphans and all the widows that I know are well taken

care of. So I'm off the hook, right? I'm okay. And we go on. How do you, have you ever applied that verse to your life? I mean, I've read that before and I, and, and, and taught it before. And it always grabs me. Religion that is pure. And faultless is this, to look after orphans and widows in their distress. How do I do that? If this indeed, if this is talking about religion, if it is indeed a reflection of my worship,

then how do I do that? Well, again, let's come back to the culture. Let's come back to the time that James is writing and to the people that he, to whom he writes. And they are in the Eastern culture, the widows, a woman without a husband was scorned. A widow was the, one of the least able to provide for herself. And matter of fact, we even have the charges to the church

in Christianity. And so, you know, we have to, we have to, we have to, we have to, we have to, to care for the widows because they are unable to usually take care of themselves, especially if they're an older widow. They, their, their frailty of economics is stressed. Their frailty of, of their abilities to take care of themselves in life is stressed. They need care. The orphans

are the ones without a father. They're the fatherless. An orphan is, is a child who is underage, so not able to provide for himself. He needs the care of a parent. He needs someone to care for him. Okay. So, culturally speaking, they are the defenseless. They are the ones who are least able to provide for themselves. Ministering wise, they are the ones who are the least able to respond to your

acts of kindness. So does it mean we're out there because we don't know any widows or orphans? No. It means who, who, who in your vicinity, who right here, you know, is in need and you're charged with caring for them. That's our care. Love one another for by this will all men know that you're my disciples. If you have love for one another, how do I do that? Well, I see the

need. It's right around me. It's all around. It's all around in here. It's all around right out here, right outside this fellowship, but it's right here in this fellowship. There there's need here, but how often do we give with an expectancy to receive back? I mean, how often do you give? And if somebody doesn't send you a thank you note, well, see if I ever give them

anything again, I'm expecting a thank you. I'm expecting to receive for my generosity. Jesus all, all the time is admonishing us to give, just to give, just don't expect anything in return. Somebody, somebody needs a shirt, give them your shirt and your coat. Don't expect to get it back. If you loan something, don't expect to get back. Give as if you're giving it.

Over and over and over. And that's what ministry is all about. That's what worship is all about. If I'm loving God, then I'll be loving you. And I'll be loving you in such a way that I'm not expecting anything in return. And that's pure worship. I'm just going to love you because God loves you. And that's what his command is all about. And I'm loving that way. That's pure

and thoughtless worship. And then he concludes by saying, and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world. That's, that's a continual, a continual separation from worldliness. I'm not talking about an asceticism. I'm not saying you go join a monastery. I'm not saying you don't go outside, but you separate. There's a constant awareness. If you want to see a

separation from the world evidenced in your life, the first place to look is your mouth. Are you complaining to others about that husband of yours, that wife of yours, those kids of yours? It's nobody else's business. It's between you and the Lord. And a pure and a thoughtless worship is a continuous separation from worldliness. From the attitudes of the world, from the actions of the world, from the desires of the world.

That's pure worship. And see, the trials are going to reveal that mind to me. When the trial comes, I'll know how I'm doing with the Lord. And my mouth will tell me. My desire for his word will tell me. Whether I'm getting angry or not will tell me. Whether I'm willing to set myself before him and say, God, whatever, I'm willing to be inconvenienced. I'm willing for you to do whatever

is necessary will tell me. In the midst of that trial, whether or not I'm really looking out for the needs of others that can't repay me, when I'm in the midst of trial, and whether or not I'm in the midst of this trial, responding with the attitude of the Lord, I'm going to be able to the world with the attitude of Christ. The workings of our faith are going to be revealed by our trials. And Father, it's a hard thing to see because, Lord, I so quickly see frailty. And

yet you want us to see that. Just as you, every time the priest walked up to the laborer, you wanted him to see himself, to see his frailty. Because it created in his own life a dependency, an immediate dependency upon the cleansing power of the laborer. And you want us to have an immediate dependence upon the cleansing power of your word. As we look into your word, yes,

we see our shortcomings. We're supposed to. Let's search my heart. Try me, Lord. See if there be any wicked way in me and purge it. I'm willing. I'm willing to be correct. We're in these last days, Lord, and the pressures are going to be intense. The circumstances around us are going to be demanding. You've called us to be obedient to your word, regardless of the circumstance. To

do what we know, what we've been trained, what we've been discipled to do, regardless of the outward circumstances. There are people around us in need, Lord. And we love you and we want to worship you. And so we want to meet those needs. We want to reach out and minister without expecting anything in return. We want to reach out and minister without having the attitudes of the

world that help us. In Jesus' name, amen.