What the Epistle of James Teaches Us About God

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Welcome to No Compromise radio ministry, ministry, minister to serve.

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Where are all the encouragers these days? I saw like a meme.

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It was Valentine's Day, because today is actually in real time, Valentine's Day, even though NoCo time, it's,

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I don't know, the 20th, February. And it said, roses are red, violets are blue, repent.

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And then it had somebody's face that is the most well -known evangelical scolder that there is.

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Now, there are other scolders that are more scoldy, but this is the most well -known scolder.

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Mike Abendroth, No Compromise radio ministry. Today on the show, I've got something special for you.

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But before I get there, I want to say that thanks for buying Law Gospel, if you bought it, or Jesus and Cancer, extended version of Cancer's Not Your Shepherd.

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I am working on the book that's called Sovereignty and Supremacy of King Jesus, my second book that came out late 2000s.

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Mike at NoCompromiseRadio .com or Mike at BBCChurch .org. Now, I was preaching through James just because it was snowing last

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Sunday and a third of the congregation made it, so I didn't really want to be in Luke. I mean,

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I wanted to be, but I thought, well, I'll change a little bit. I wanted to teach James as a supplement to Luke because Luke has so many gospel truths, truths about the promises of God, gospel in the strictest sense, that is promises, wonderful things about God.

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We could use gospel in a less than strict sense. The gospel of God, which would be the gospel accounts, right, and there are imperatives in there.

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There's laws in there. There are laws in there. There is law in there. There are laws in there.

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Yeah, either one. And, you know,

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I just looked at the Pope guy. You just give me the hand wave again, the solar

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Pope, and it messed me up. So it was a supplement, 108 verses in James, 54 imperatives.

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Every other verse, there's an imperative on average, and it helps Christians live the

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Christian life. Essentially, James is the third use of the law. So many people, D.

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Edmund Hebert and others, would say that James is a test of saving faith, kind of like 1

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John, test of saving faith. I mean, everything's a test of saving faith. And if you have kind of a hyper lordship mentality, how can you call yourself a

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Christian and act the way you do? Once in a while, that's a good question, by the way, 1 Corinthians 6, 9, 10, and 11.

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But if you're really hyped up on that, and if you think your job is to weed out all the unbelievers in your church, kind of at the expense of encouraging the believers, or always keeping the believers on edge, how can you call yourself a

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Christian and do that? I mean, again, 1 Corinthians is written, but also other books are written, like Colossians and Thessalonians and Ephesians, those kinds of books, right?

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There are the Galatians books, that's true, but there are the other ones as well. So I thought I would do James and teach that in the midst of a scattering, suffering church, how do you live?

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And as I've said many times on this show, the events of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John had happened. Jesus lived, died, was buried, raised, and ascended.

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That already happened in whatever year you want it to be, 29 AD, 31

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AD, 33 AD, 34 AD, whenever it was, whenever the timeframe was, or the exact time, it doesn't matter what happened,

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Jesus, true man, of course, true God, but truly man walking on this earth in real in the space time continuum.

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Is that Star Trek or is that something else? I don't know, Battlestar Galactica, Galactica, did you ever watch that?

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What was the guy's name who was the main guy? The guy and the gal, they were kind of teamed up.

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It wasn't Buck Rogers, it was, maybe his name was Buck, her name's Erin, I don't know, doesn't matter.

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James is a series of saving faith tests? No, it's the third use of the law.

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You're scattered, how do you live? You count it all joy. Matter of fact, James' older brother, half brother,

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Jesus, would do these very same things. In almost every case, when you see

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James talk, you could be thinking he had seen this in his brother's life or had heard about it.

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So count it all joy, Jesus for the joy set before him. Don't blame God when it comes to temptations, right?

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Chapter one, verse 13 and following, this is just off the top of my head. Of course, Jesus, when he's tempted, he never blamed the father.

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He is going to submit to the father's will. James 1 .22, be doers of the word.

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And if you think of Jesus coming to do the will of his father, that just basically, that would summarize

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Jesus' life. I always do what's pleasing to the father. And then you get to James 2, about partiality, and of course for Jesus, it was whether you were a tax collector or a sinner or a

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Pharisee or a leper, it didn't matter. You were an image bearer and Jesus came to seek and save the lost.

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And God the father so loved the world, he sent his only begotten son. Oh, P .S. ESV now has their new updates.

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And so translations have their updates, but it seems like ESV does it a lot. Maybe I just don't remember when

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NAS did it, or certainly I don't remember when AV did it. And that was, I think, originally published, not the authorized version,

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American Standard Version 1901. And then of course the AV authorized version, King James Version. I definitely wasn't around for some of those changes, unless they'd done it recently and I didn't know.

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For some people, probably the TR, Texas Receptus, it's never been changed. King James never ever has been changed.

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It's been breathed out by God, practically speaking. And for some, I think they do say, oh, other languages, other indigenous people should learn

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English so they can get the real translation. But that is beyond our scope and pale today.

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The events actually happened, and then how do you live in light of those events?

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So James is written. And James is written, and we've got all kinds of imperatives.

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And while Luther said some good things about James, like this is God's law and how to live, in the same preface he talks about how it's a right strawy epistle, because in James, people will say there's nothing in there about the resurrection, substitutionary atonement, penalty, substitution.

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That's just not there. I mean, what's going on?

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Yeah, Jesus Christ, the glory, people might say. But inevitably, people turn

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James into only proverbs. And I don't think it's, well, there are some things in there that seem proverbial, but this is an epistle.

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This is epistlatory. This could be one sermon written down. Or I kind of lean toward a variety of sermon snippets put together.

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Could be that. Or it doesn't have to be. I mean, it doesn't have to be. It's not like Hebrews. So the people that received this letter knew about Jesus.

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I mean, all scholars would know that, and they needed to be guided. So that's what we're after.

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I don't think it's a test of saving faith. Because if I said to you, do you count it all joy?

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You would either be honest with me and say, no, many times I don't. Or you would do what

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I do, and that's kind of lie to myself and lower the law and say, yeah, I do. I do.

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But either way, it can convict us. Should we be counted in all joy? Yes. When we don't, should we confess it?

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Yes, most definitely. Should we repent? Of course. Is it our desire?

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Yes. Are we glad when we do it faster than other times and we see growth and progress and maturation in our own lives?

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Yes. But it's not a test of faith. It's how many times in this passage do you see the word brothers?

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So we're in the family by sovereign grace. We're adopted as sons and daughters. And this third use of the law, it will go well with us if we do this.

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It will go well with our neighbors if we do this. And it will give honor to the God who saved us.

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Now, here's the part that I want to talk about. While most people think, oh yeah, Jesus is the glory, chapter two, there's nothing in here about Jesus' death, burial, resurrection.

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Okay, that's true. But the question this morning, the question this afternoon, the question tonight, depending on when you're listening, what does

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James say about God in the book of James?

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What does James, the half -brother of Jesus, say about God in the epistle of James?

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And I just, on Tuesday, I thought to myself, I should just read through the book. I was reading through the book, both in English and in Greek.

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And I thought, well, I'm just going to write down everything that I can learn about God in the book of James.

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And that's the show today. What can we learn about God in the book of James? Are you ready?

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On your mark, get set, go. First, we learn that Jesus is

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God. James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ.

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You can't have two, like God and Lord. There are two gods. We have one

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God. Jesus is God. Number two, Jesus is Lord.

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The Lord Jesus Christ. And also, it says the same thing. I'm going to actually turn pages today.

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In verse 9 of chapter 3, we bless our Lord and Father.

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Okay, so now I... God is

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Lord, I better say now. God is Lord. God is

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Lord in 3 .9. I'm going to just write that down. Number three, God is generous.

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Verse 5 of chapter 1, let him ask of God who gives generously. So we're learning about God.

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In the same verse, God answers prayer and it will be given to him.

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You ask and you receive. Same thing in chapter 5. He goes on to say, and I'm looking up here at this

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ESV Bible. I went off on the ESV thing and talked about changes and then never got back to it, but that's okay.

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5 .17 and 18, Elijah prayed fervently and God answered.

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What can we learn about God in the book of James? Is it all imperatives? Well, there's a lot of imperatives, but there's many more things.

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We can learn in James that God rewards. James 1 .12, blessed is a man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life, which

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God promised to those who love him. God is the one giving the rewards. Verse 13, what can we learn about God in the book of James?

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That God can't be tempted by evil. God can't be tempted by evil for God cannot be tempted with evil and he himself tempts no one.

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So we learn about God and how holy he is. Maybe that would be the word we could use if he's not affected by evil, tempted by evil, infected by evil, does evil.

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We learn more things about God. Verse 17, we learn something wonderful, and that is

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God gives gifts. He gives perfect gifts. While he answers prayer, he is granting wisdom.

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Every good and every perfect gift is from above. So we learn that God gives gifts.

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Now, maybe that's part of being generous. We learn in the same verse, it comes down from the father of lights.

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So we could do two things here. God is a father, and we see that in verse 27 as well.

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Before God, the father, we see it in chapter three, verse nine, bless our

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Lord and father. But here we see in verse 17, he is a father of lights.

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So God is light as well. That's another thing that puts us up to number nine, by the way. And so you can think about Shekinah.

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You can think about glory. You can think about purity. You can think about holiness. My point is, lots of times we say to ourselves, it's just all imperatives, just all

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Proverbs. But we learn a lot about God in this book. That's the show today. Mike Abendroth, No Compromise Radio Ministry.

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Verse 17, we learn something else about God, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.

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What do we call that theologically? Well, we call that immutability. God doesn't have mutations.

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He mutates not. Therefore, we say he never changes. What else can we learn about God?

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Chapter one, verse 18, of his own will, he brought us forth, of his own will.

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How would you describe that? You would probably say, sounds to me like we can learn that God is sovereign.

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Yes, that's true. And it also comes up in chapter four, verse 15. If the Lord wills, we'll live and do that.

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And we also see evidence of God's sovereignty in 511. Behold, we consider those who remain steadfast.

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You have heard of the steadfastness of Job, and you have seen the purpose of the Lord. So God is sovereign.

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118, we also learn that God regenerates. This is monergistic regeneration. That God makes alive.

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He brings us forth. That's the language of regeneration. What can we learn about God in James?

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A lot. Verse 20, it talks about the righteousness of God.

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So, we understand that God is righteous. God is righteous. Chapter two, verse one,

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Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory. The Lord of glory.

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The effulgent glory of God. You think about Shekinah. God is glorious. Jesus is glorious. What else do we learn?

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Chapter two, verse five. Well, isn't this interesting? Has not

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God chosen those who are poor in the world? I guess what I could do is

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I could probably move that into God is sovereign. But here we learn that God chooses. 219, we learn that God is one.

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We understand much about monotheism. And here, of course, James echoes that.

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You believe that God is one, you do well. God is one.

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Chapter two, verse 23, Abraham believed God and it was counted to him as righteousness.

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Who's the one that counts it as righteousness? God does. God counts it. And we understand that God justifies.

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Isn't this amazing what we can learn in the book of James about God? What else can we learn?

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James chapter four, verse five. The scripture says, he yearns jealously over the spirit that he has made to dwell in us.

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That the spirit of God, we can say is zealous or jealous. If you don't want it to be the spirit here, if you think it's small s, we can only say it's

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God. God, the triune God is jealous or he is zealous to make it easier for people.

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Certainly not sinful jealousy. What else can we learn about God? God is gracious.

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Chapter four, verse six, he gives more grace. He gives more grace.

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So God gives grace. It is not just unmerited favor, but demerited favor.

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What can you learn about God in the book of James? That he's just glorious. That's true that he's glorious, but he's not just glorious.

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We can learn so much more, even though we might not have death, burial, and resurrection, because that's assumed by the way, as James is writing this.

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It's happened. It's fresh in their mind. If Jesus died at 33 and was ascended, resurrected and ascended, and now this is 44, 46, something like that, 12 short years.

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I mean, 12 short years ago was not that long ago. I remember people 12 years ago, and I remember events.

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Sometimes I remember what they say, but of course has been inscripturated. Spirit of God, revelation, inspiration.

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And now for us, illumination. What else do we learn? Verse six of chapter four,

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God opposes the proud. That's what we learned. We learned God opposes proud people. Chapter four, verse eight.

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What can we learn about God? If you draw near to him, he'll draw near to you. God draws near to people, not spatially.

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This is analogous language. This is language of accommodation, where when we sin, we feel far from God, and now we're going to repent.

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And it seems like now God is closer. It's that kind of thing. It's probably background is temple language, priest language, that type of stuff.

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But we'll get into that another time. Did you know God exalts? Humble yourself before the

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Lord, yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you for 10. God exalts.

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Chapter four, verse 12. There's only one lawgiver and judge. Did you know that?

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God is a lawgiver and God is judge. Verse nine of chapter five, it also says something about God as judge.

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The judge is standing at the door. So, we learn that God is a lawgiver, the lawgiver, and God is judge.

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Chapter four, verse 12, he's able to save and destroy. So, we learn that he's able to save.

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That's number 25. And he is able to destroy. That's number 26. God is

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Lord of hosts, we learn in the book of James. That's chapter five, verse four.

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And what's the other word for host that you regularly know? Sabaoth, right? Lord Sabaoth, his name.

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When you first look at it, you think it's Sabbath spelled wrongly, but in fact, it's not. It's Sabaoth, Lord of hosts.

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Let's see how ESV translates it. Lord of hosts, the harvesters have reached the ears, the cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the

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Lord of hosts. What can we learn about God in the book of James?

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Tons, tons of stuff. What else can we learn? Chapter five, verse seven, that the

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Lord is going to come back until the coming of the Lord. We're to be patient, brothers. God's going to return.

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Jesus is going to return bodily, visibly, to judge the quick and the dead, the living and the dead.

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Aren't you glad you're safe because of the Lord Jesus? Chapter five, verse eight, what can we learn about God in the book of James, a book full of all kinds of imperatives?

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We learn in chapter five, verse eight, that the Lord is at hand, the coming of the

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Lord is at hand. All right, what's it say? Be patient, establish your hearts for the coming of the

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Lord is at hand. Now that's five, eight. So I said, Jesus is near.

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I think NAS must say he's near, right? The coming of the

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Lord is at hand. Matter of fact, I have to look that up right now because something in my mind is telling me that.

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So while I'm looking that up, you can write me, mike at nocompromiseradio .com. I'm going to pull up on my phone something.

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Let me just pull up the literal word commentary. And since it's in my hand, that's a good app to have, literal word.

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And you can pull up James chapter five, and then there's a little alpha or aleph, depending if you're in the old

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Testament or new. Old Testament, aleph, a. New Testament, alpha, a.

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And you click on that. And then you can touch words in the passage and it'll tell you the

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Greek and where else it's found. It's called the literal word app. You ought to have the literal word app.

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So 5 .8 talks about the coming of the Lord is at hand. So I go down here to 5 .8

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and it says, until the coming of the Lord, there's until coming of the

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Lord. And we have right there, parousia, the coming of the

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Lord. Because I'm reading the wrong verse like a dope, right?

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I'm reading the wrong verse. What am I supposed to do? The Lord is near, 5 .8.

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But I was reading verse seven, you to be patient, strengthen your hearts for the coming of the

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Lord is near. What does it say in? Oh, it says,

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I am right. ESV says is at hand and NAS says near.

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Duh, near is much better. Near is much better to come near.

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I'm right. Yes. I am so happy with myself. My self esteem is just skyrocketed.

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Man, that is good. That is really good. Just kidding. 5 .11, can we learn anything else about God?

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Yes, we can. 5 .11, it says very simply, the

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Lord is compassionate and merciful. So 5 .11, he's compassionate. 5 .11,

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he's merciful. Those are two more things we can learn, how he's tender and how he pities us and does something about it.

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And then two more. I've got a list of 33 things we can learn about God in the book of James, a book full of 54 imperatives.

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And now we have 33 things about God. We don't have to do any fractions or numerator and denominator and all that other stuff.

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5 .15, what else can we learn about God? The prayer of faith will save the one who's sick and the

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Lord will raise him up. The Lord heals. It's either ultimate healing, theologically, in glory, or here someone needs to be healed physically or if they're spiritually sick,

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God heals. And then lastly, but not leastly, 5 .15, if he's committed sins, he will be forgiven.

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Who's the one forgives? Of course, we forgive one another, but this is talking about God. The Lord forgives.

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The book of James, 54 imperatives, 108 verses, but we learn that Jesus is

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God, or maybe I'll say the Christ. Jesus is Lord. God is generous. God answers prayer.

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God rewards. God can't be tempted by evil. He's holy. God gives perfect gifts. God is a father.

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God is light. God never changes. God is sovereign. God regenerates.

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God is righteous. Jesus is glorious. God chooses. God is one.

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God justifies. The Holy Spirit is jealous. God is gracious. God is opposed to the proud.

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God draws near. God exalts. God is a lawgiver. God is judge. God alone saves.

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God destroys. God is Lord of hosts, the Sabaoth. Jesus will return.

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Jesus is near. Lord is full of compassion. The Lord is merciful. The Lord heals, and the

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Lord forgives sin. How about that? That's pretty good. And you know my favorite thing?

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That's just me with a Bible open, thinking, asking questions, understanding, trying to grasp things, and of course we can use commentaries, but not at the beginning.

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If you study the Bible, just study the Bible. You can go ahead and check with other people after a little while.

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54 imperatives in James. 108 verses. Every other verse, as it were, what?

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An imperative. But what can we learn about God? At least 33 things. Mike Abendroth, NoCompromiseRadio .com.