Introduction to the Epistle of James

And I got this recorder going, so praise God for those that did not make it today. This will be a blessing to them.

Beginning a study of the book of the Bible is something like preparing for a trip. I was thinking about this, and I said, you know, before we prepare for a trip, everyone likes to know where you're going, number one.

And second is what you can expect to see along your journey. So, with that in mind, we're going to begin this exposition through this little practical, powerful, convicting book.

And I would like to give a two -part series of a survey. There's a lot to be said here, so I'm going to speak as fast as I can, because there's a lot of territory

I'm going to cover. So I would suggest, if you do have pen and paper, I'm not going to be able to go to a lot of scriptures and read them out, but I'm going to give you the chapter and the verses.

I think you can look them up in your devotional time, it would be very enriching to your soul.

I didn't have a chance, there were so many verses of scripture to go to, I didn't have time to go to the references myself.

I wished I could have, but there's so much that has to be said in this backdrop, in this overview, in this survey.

But on this introduction through the general epistle of James, to give us a detailed overview, and this is why

I broke it down into two parts. So perhaps, the best way to launch into a study like this through the epistle is to answer four key important questions, and these are my points here, and we're going to look at this today, and Lord willing, next week we're going to look at a little bit more detail in this.

So there's going to be a lot of territory covered today, so I need the help of the Holy Spirit, and before I pray, let me give you my points.

First of all, we're going to look at who was James? Who was James? Second, we're going to look at to whom did

James write? To whom did James write? The third point

I would like to present is why, and this is a good one, why did James write this epistle?

What was his motive? What was his purpose? What was his reason for it? So we're going to look at who was

James, to whom did James write, and why did James write this epistle, and fourth is application, and I'm going to probably hit about five essentials on application here, and we're going to give it application here, and I think the fourth would be where it's going to really hit home to us, and I'd like to cover on the fourth point, how can we get the most out of studying this epistle?

How can we get the most out of studying this epistle as we study this together?

By the way, I've studied the book of James many times, and I've gone through it expositionally verse by verse, and every time

I study God's Word, there's always a gem I always pull out, and by God's help, and I see something

I didn't see there before. No matter how many scriptures you know, and you can know them by memory, and you can study it and meditate on it,

God, the Holy Spirit, always has something to reveal to us, a rich gem, and that's the beauty of it, isn't it?

When you dig into God's Word and you study it, the

Holy Spirit helps us as we study and meditate and ponder on it, it brings it to life, doesn't it?

And this is something we've never seen before, and that's why I've given each and every one of you an outline,

I've got the outline, I give John MacArthur the credits on that. The outline is a series of tests, you'll see that all the way through the whole book.

It's a little bit more darker print if you see it, and also you'll see, which

I love, is the parallels that you see in the epistle of James to the

Sermon on the Mount, and James is constantly alluding to that, we will look at that as well.

So it's very practical, this is a very practical book, and it's very convicting, very, very convicting, and I think, and as I was contemplating on it,

I said, you know, Lord, a lot of us is here in the book of James, trials, we need the test of how to pray more fervently, there's testings constantly, we always have to,

Lord, help us to guard our tongue, keep us unspotted from the world, we see all these things, so we're going to look more into that later into the service.

So, first of all, turn with me to this wonderful epistle of James, and we're going to look at just one portion of one verse, is the introduction, and the introduction,

James 1, 1, and I'm going to cover just one

A, that's the first part of it, he begins the greeting, actually to the twelve tribes, and he says this, he begins,

James, a bond servant, or I should say a bond slave, in the original, a doulos, a bond slave of God, and of the

Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad, greetings, let's pray.

Our Father, as we look into your word this morning, I pray, Lord, that your

Holy Spirit would so help us and guide us and lead us into the path of righteousness here before us, because your word is absolutely pure and perfect, it's the perfect law of liberty as James says, and we will be looking into it as a mirror, beholding ourselves, how we really are, and this is very, very convicting, because when we really see who we are, as you see this, it brings us low, and Father, that's the way it should be, we should be low and you're high and lifted up, so Father, right now,

I would pray that your Holy Spirit would give us a right knowledge of who you are, and a right knowledge of who we are, fill us each,

Father, give us the anointing that comes from above, that's pure, holy, that holy anointing, so Father, help us as we embark on this new study, however long it takes,

Father, we just ask that your Holy Spirit would just give us the eyes to see, the ears to hear, the heart to perceive, and to understand, and Lord, most of all, help us to apply this, that we would just not be hearers of the word, but be doers, and we ask this in the mighty name of Jesus, amen.

But first of all, let's look at the first point, we begin our journey by, who was

James? Who was James? The first verse of this epistle introduces us to the human author of this epistle, in James 1, 1a,

James, it says, a bond -servant of God, and of the

Lord Jesus Christ. This is the way that he introduced himself to the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad in which he wrote the letter.

But in spite of his great prominence, and he had great prominence within the church at Jerusalem, at that time in church history, which stands out in the first verse of this epistle, and what really stands out most to me is that more than anything is his character, is who he is, it is his humility.

That is the very first thing that we see, why? Because he introduces himself as a bond -servant.

Now, I want you to think of this for a minute, of the various men in the New Testament named James, only two were prominent enough to have penned such an authoritative letter.

Now, first would be James, the son of Zebedee. He is the brother of John.

And second would be James, the Lord's half -brother. That is the only two that we can see here.

But James, as you know, in Scripture, James, the son of Zebedee's early martyrdom in Acts chapter 12, verse 2, eliminates him as the candidate.

So he is eliminated as being the one who writes this epistle. So this leaves us the half -brother of the

Lord Jesus as the author of this epistle. James, along with the rest of Jesus' brother, and if you remember what it says in the

Gospel, actually, I have it written down here, initially was rejected, rejected Jesus Christ, according to John chapter 7, verse 5, it says, for even his brothers did not believe in him.

Even his brothers did not believe in him in the early part of Jesus' ministry.

So later, however, James, the half -brother of the Lord, came to believe in Jesus as Israel's Messiah and his personal

Lord, his Master. And he says this, and such was his godliness and his humility and his zeal that he, and his wisdom, let me say that as well, that he soon became recognized the head of the

Jerusalem church, according to Acts 12, verse 17, Galatians 2, verse 9, and also, as I was studying this,

James held that position until his martyrdom about A .D. 62.

According to Galatians 2 .9, the Apostle Paul says James, along with Cephas, speaking of Peter, was known as a pillar in the church of the living

God. He became the leader of the church in Jerusalem. And it was James who moderated and led the church conference, the council there, described in Acts chapter 15, a tremendous, tremendous thing that was taking place during the transition of the church.

Acts chapter 12, verse 17, tells us this, that when Peter was delivered from prison, he sent a special message to James, and when

Paul visited Jerusalem, it was James that brought greetings and a special love offering, you can read this, from the

Gentiles, according to Acts chapter 21, verses 18 through 19. So even though we have no record in the inspired word of God, the

Bible itself, about the death of James and how he died, there is historical facts of tradition that tells us how

James was martyred in A .D. 62, and that's when his martyrdom took place, according to tradition now.

Scripture does not record this, but history does. The story is told that the Pharisees in Jerusalem hated

James' testimony for Christ so much that they had cast him down from the temple and literally beaten him to death with clubs.

That's what tradition says. And the story also relates that James died, and as he was dying, he was exemplifying his

Lord and Savior, praying for his murderers. He's prayed, Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do, just like Stephen, the very first martyr of the church.

So what kind of man was James? What kind of man was James? Well, notice, again, he does not describe himself as Mary's son.

He could have easily said, I'm the son of Mary, and I'm the Lord's half -brother. He could have said that, but he chose not to, and the

Holy Spirit actually was breathing upon him not to do this, because that's the way

God is. God never wants the man himself to be exalted. God is always to be exalted.

Nor does he refer, listen to this, you'd have many pastors today and theologians that would love to put their position in there and say,

I'm the head pastor, I'm the head honcho. He would place his position as the head of the

Jerusalem church. He could have said, I am the head of the Jerusalem church. He did not do that. Or did he mention that the resurrected

Christ personally appeared to him? He did not put that. Instead, he describes himself as a bond -servant, a bond -slave of God and of the

Lord Jesus Christ. You know, and I have been looking and glancing through the book

Slave, written by the pastor John MacArthur, and he deals with this one theme throughout this book, and it's called doulos.

That's the Greek. Bond -slave. Slave. The book Slave. And actually, I don't have time to go into this, but in the prayer time during midweek prayer, we go on through that, and I wish

I was there, really. It's really a great study. But this one hidden word, as MacArthur says, is doulos.

And it depicts a slave. A slave, and that's the way James introduces himself.

I'm a bond -slave. I'm a bond -servant. A person deprived of all personal freedom.

He is possessed by God. He is purchased by God, totally and completely under the control of his master.

That's a slave. Not only was he a humble man, and he speaks of his humility, and his introduction speaks of his humility,

I should say. He was also a deeply, very discerning, God -fearing man to gain leadership in Jerusalem church in such a short time.

God placed him there, and his stature is seen in Acts 15, and you can read

Acts 15. It's a very important chapter in the book of Acts, because this is where he was able to permit all the factions that was taking place during the transition of the church to express themselves.

He allowed that to happen. They brought it before the table. It was very controversial.

It caused conflict within the early church, and then he was the man that God used to bring peace and wisdom, drawing a conclusion based on the word of God.

James was the one that stood up. Now, the apostle Paul in 1

Corinthians 9, 5 suggested that he was also a married man, along with Cephas.

So you can see that. He mentions the Lord's brothers. He doesn't mention necessarily, I don't believe he mentions his name, but he mentions the

Lord's brothers. But he mentions Cephas, and we do know that he was suggested there as a married man.

Again, according to tradition, again, tells us that he was a man of prayer. We could see that through his writings, right, in James.

And this explains the emphasis he places on the importance of prayer in his epistle, as I said.

So again, tradition also says he prayed so much, and I've heard this before, that his knees were as camels' knees.

I've heard that. They said he prayed on his knees so much, his knees were like the knees of a camel.

I can believe that. James was a Jewish man. He was reared in the tradition of the wall of Moses, as we would see.

And also we will notice in the study of this epistle, James never gives suggestions throughout this epistle, does he?

But there's commands. He has a commanding way like a prophet that speaks.

He writes with great authority, great authority, but yet he is a humble man.

And in this epistle, there are over 50 imperatives, 50 imperatives. There may be more, but that's what

I've come to this study. And he quotes the Old Testament. Now this is interesting.

He quotes the Old Testament only five times. Now think of this. Only five times.

But there are many allusions to the Old Testament, as in this letter. Many, many allusions. And also with 59 commands and 108 verses, the epistle of James has obvious, he's obvious zealous for the law.

And the law is good, and it's holy, it cannot save, we know that. But you see the holiness of God in this epistle just so brought forth.

But it's brought forth in a practical way. And in his imperatives,

James directly communicates to the royal law, and that speaks of the law of King Jesus.

That's the royal law. James 2a, and he brings that out.

Now what about the voice of James? I got this wrote down under the outline of who was

James, but what about his voice? Now Bible, it seems, that we grasp the gospel of James, I like to put it that way.

We also profit by hearing the distinctive voice of James. What kind of voice did he speak with?

He speaks with great clarity, number one. You see there's clear clarity. You have no doubt what he's saying.

It's absolutely clear, and it's simple, and it's pointed, isn't it? It hits the heart.

Notice what he said about chapter 3, and I said, I'll be honest with you, I'm excited about this study, but when

I get to chapter 3, I'm going to be wiggling and squirming and moving all about because he hits me everywhere there, and I think he hits all of us because we've all sinned with our tongue.

I mean, he respects it. We still do, but he speaks with clarity, doesn't he?

And he speaks like an Old Testament prophet, though the book of James is not essentially prophecy, but when

James begins to denounce sin, he can sound like a prophet of old, doesn't he? It's a great story, and it's a great story.

And what kind of example can I give on that? Well, when he warns of God's judgment, will shorten the life of the rich and the lawless in James 1 .11

and James 5 .5, he speaks like a prophet, doesn't he?

There's warnings. This sounds like a great deal like the prophet's Isaiah when he spoke against such, and also the prophet

Amos. And the scripture references I have in Isaiah is Isaiah chapter 5, verses 8 and 9, and Amos 5 .11

and 12. An observant Christian comparing

Romans and Hebrews with James will notice differences between James and the other epistles.

For example, James neither opens, I'm sorry, nor opens nor closes with formal greetings, does he?

He makes no references to personal shared history. Other apostles do that, unlike Paul.

James claims no authority or rank. Unlike Paul, in Hebrews, James has little theological argumentation.

He doesn't approach this book from like as a theologian would. He never gets very theological on justification by faith or salvation.

Rather, it's assumed. It's assumed here. James sounds more like the prophet speaking like a wise man.

In contrast, Paul sounds like a theologian. Paul would be the theologian, in a sense.

James also resembles wisdom. Even Brother Keith was talking about this, but this is very good. It's almost as James and Solomon agree with that wisdom is a gift that we rightly seek from God.

You see this in James. There's wisdom. He speaks of heavenly wisdom.

We'll be looking at that. According to 1 Kings 3, 7 and 12, 7 -12, and then

James speaks of wisdom in chapter 1, verses 5 -8. They also agree that we can work for wisdom.

Now, I didn't say salvation. I'm talking about wisdom. Something's wisdom has to be pursued. We have to go after it with everything we have, like gold and rubies.

That's what Solomon says. James is very similar. Wisdom involves both meditation on scripture and observation of the world.

You can read this throughout the wisdom literature in Solomon, in Proverbs, Ecclesiastes.

This is why wisdom often says, and I love this, I wrote three words.

Wisdom says, I have seen. I have seen. You can pick that up in Job 5 -3,

Ecclesiastes chapter 1 -14, Ecclesiastes chapter 3, verse 10,

Ecclesiastes 5 -13, Ecclesiastes 6 -1, Ecclesiastes 9 -11,

Ecclesiastes 10 -5 -7, just about through the whole book of Ecclesiastes. But wisdom not only says,

I have seen, it also says, observed. Observed. Job 4 -8.

Or wisdom also says, do you see? In Proverbs 22 -29 and Proverbs 26 -12 and Proverbs 29 -20, a lot of Proverbs there.

Wisdom observes the blessings of obedience and the price of disobedience.

That's huge, isn't it? Wisdom observes the blessings of obedience to God's word and the price of disobeying

God's word. That's what wisdom says. So many people not wise.

You know why? They don't fear God. The beginning of wisdom is the fear of the

Lord. And the fear of the Lord is to hate sin. That's what scripture says.

And as Brother Keith prayed this morning, scripture actually teaches us how to fear the Lord. And that's why it's important that we stay in the scriptures.

And I tell you, the book of Proverbs and linked with James is a great link because they have a lot in common.

James does the same thing. James also must have paid very close attention to what our

Lord taught. And in the outline that's given to you, his epistle, there are numerous allusions to the

Lord's sayings, particularly the Sermon on the Mount. There's so many parallels. It's incredible.

And I really believe he paid close close attention. And now in part two next week,

Lord willing, we'll be looking more in detail in this. I'd like to bring that out. But in the meantime, today, you can look at the references given to you on the sheet of paper that Brother Ben put together.

Thank you, Brother Ben, for doing that. It's rich in content and it's rich in application. But also keep in mind that James led the church in Jerusalem during a very, very difficult time in history.

It was a time of transition, as I said. And as you well know, transitions can be very, very difficult.

It was very difficult for the early church. It was a huge transition. And we don't realize this, but such times, let me touch on this just a little bit, such times are always upsetting and demanding.

There's so many details we probably don't know, but what Scripture gives us, it was a very difficult transition and it caused a lot of problems.

There were many Christian Jews in Jerusalem who still held to the Old Testament law. And that was very serious.

Acts 21 20 says this, and when they heard it, they glorified the Lord and they said to him, you see, brother, how many myriads of Jews there are who have believed and they are all zealous for the law.

So the temple and its services were still in operation during that time period.

And the full light of the gospel of God's grace had not yet dawned completely.

Paul was breaking some serious ground as the apostle to the Gentiles. And as the gospel first came to the

Jew and the transition that was going to the Gentile because of the

Jews, Israel's rejection of it, but that's the way God worked, right? And you can read that in Romans 9 10 and 11.

We have Romans, we have Galatians, we have Hebrews. I want you to think about this. And at that time period,

Paul hasn't written those epistles yet. We take that for granted, don't we? They did not have

Paul's epistles at that time period. So these Jews were saved, but they were still in the shadows of the law moving out into the bright light of the gospel of God's grace.

And while there are many, or should I say, where there may have been differences in degrees of spiritual knowledge and even experiences, and I like to bring this out because you have so many different theologians and pastors today that like to be in competition with one another, but there was never any competition between Paul and James who directed the

Jerusalem church. The spirit of competition was not among them. They had the spirit, the true spirit of humility and they depended on the power and the leading of the

Holy Spirit of God to direct them. And you have references to that, to Galatians chapter 2 verses 1 to 10.

Well, that's a quick overview of who was James. I may cover a little bit more of that next week.

Secondly, to whom did James write? To whom did James write? Well, we already know this, and he opens his statement to the twelve tribes which are scattered.

Another translation says or dispersed. Dispersed. Abroad. Scattered abroad or dispersed abroad.

James wrote to the Jews that was living outside of the land of Palestine. The term twelve tribes can only mean to the people of Israel.

That's what it means, the people of Israel, the Jewish nation. So he's writing to the Jewish nation.

So James sent this letter to Christian Jews. These are believing

Jews. And at least 19 times he addressed them as brethren.

Brethren. Indicating not only brothers in the flesh as a Jew, you're my fellow

Jew, brethren, but also brothers in the Lord. Brothers in the

Lord Jesus Christ. Isn't that important? Heirs of God and joint heirs of Jesus Christ. He was connecting that identification with the

Lord Jesus Christ. So James was very clear on the doctrine of the new birth in James 1 .18. And there are times when

James also addresses the wicked rich men, you see this, and he's hard on them, who were not in fellowship with the truth, in the truth.

The wicked rich, for example, in James chapter 1, verses 1 through 6. And let me say this, such are tares among we.

They are. There are tares among the weak. But his primary target were to the same

Jews in which he teaches and encourages throughout this epistle. So we see this.

So the epistle of James is first in a group of epistles that customarily were called the general epistles.

Now the general epistles is clustered. James is the first. Then you have 1 and 2

Peter. Then you have 1 and 2 and 3 John. And then you have the book of Jude. Those are the general epistles.

So James is the first of that. They're designated as general, or should I say, this is a word that gets mixed up and misused a lot, but Catholic epistles.

And what I mean by Catholic, it means the word universal. Universal in the sense that it was not being addressed to any particular individual or any particular one church, but to the church as a whole.

That's what it's referred to. So that's what the general epistle means.

James is a very, very practical book in which deals with ethics of Christianity rather than just the theology of it.

Even though I believe the theology, or should you say, sound doctrine, sound teaching is here before us in the book of James, it is rather seen in a simple shoe letter faith.

You see what I'm saying? You always have doctrine in the word of God. He teaches doctrine. But in that sense, he brings it to a practical side to us.

That's why we can relate to James so much, because it's so practical. You read through that short book.

You come out of it and you're thinking, wow, I need to be more living this out, don't you?

James bears down hard on some practical issues, but the theme throughout this epistle comes to us as a continued series of tests and examinations in every chapter.

And you'll see that. I love MacArthur's outline there, because it's a test of something in every chapter.

You can see that on the outline. So we see the theme of faith coming before us also in the book. And what would you say the theme?

I would say the theme would be spiritual maturity. The Lord would desire us to be more spiritually mature, right?

To grow up in the faith, in the full stature of Jesus Christ. But on the lookout of these things, this leads me to my next point and the third point.

Why did James write this epistle? Why did James write this epistle? The motive. I think this is a good question.

Each New Testament letter has its own special theme, its own special purpose, its own special destination.

So Paul wrote the book of Romans to prepare the Roman Christians, this is

Paul now, the Roman Christians for his intended visit. First Corinthians, that Paul wrote, was sent to the church at Corinth to help correct certain problems, right?

The book of Galatians was written to a group of churches to warn them against legalism and false teaching.

See, there's a reason and a purpose and a motive for each, why each letter or epistle was written.

So as we read the epistle of James, we discover that these Jewish Christians were having some problems in their personal lives and their church fellowship.

There had to be problems there. And the apostle, and he does address himself as an apostle, isn't that a neat thing?

The slave, the love slave of the half -brother of the Lord addresses it.

And some, for one thing, were going through difficult testings. You see this in chapter 1, the trial of your faith, the testing of your faith.

They were also facing temptations to sin. We see this. Some of the believers are catering to the rich.

Favoritism was taking place, being partial, while others were being robbed by the rich.

Church members were competing with one another for offices in the church, who can be the big honcho.

No wonder he speaks about humility so much. And particularly in positions of teaching offices and being an elder or whatever you may say.

And one of the major problems in the church was a failure on the part of many to live what they profess to believe.

They talked about it, but that's why he says, your words are nothing. Live it out.

Don't be hearers, be doers. Furthermore, the tongue, wow, was a serious problem.

Had to be a lot of gossip, even to the point of creating wars and divisions in the assembly.

That's pretty much said, isn't it? Worldliness was a problem, was another serious problem. I think worldliness is still a problem in the church today.

Some of the members were disobeying God's word and were sick physically because of it. Some were straying away from the

Lord and the faith and the church. And as we review this list of problems that we see, does it ever appear to be very much different from the problems we have in the church today?

It's not much different, is it? Do we not have our churches, people who are suffering for one reason or another, why they're suffering?

Do we not have members who talk one way and walk another way? We have it, don't we?

Are there not Christians who cannot tame the tongue or control their tongues?

Ouch. That hits me. It hits all of us, doesn't it?

It seems that James is dealing with very real and up -to -date relevant matters, but James was not just discussing an array of miscellaneous problems.

All these problems have a common cause and it's called spiritual immaturity. Now, these

Christians simply were not growing up into the full stature of Christ. This gives us a hint to the basic theme to this letter and I would think that would be the marks of maturity in the

Christian life. One or two things that are before us. Now, I bring this because there's another view.

One is that many of the Jewish Christians he was addressing were not genuine and did not really were born again.

But he is addressing brethren, right? He is addressing believers. But at the same time, there are professing believers, right?

Their faith is not authentic. It's not the real deal. So the test that James puts before us or put before us or you could say it was just spiritual infants not growing up among them matured in the faith.

No doubt spiritual maturity is one of the great needs of the churches today. James used the word perfect many times, several times.

And the word means perfect, complete. We see it in James 1 .4. We see it in James 1 .17. We see it in James 1 .25.

Chapter 2 verse 22. Chapter 3 verse 2. And then he speaks about a perfect man in James 3 .2.

So James did not mean a mature, balanced, come to full stature of Jesus Christ.

Now, Warren Roosevelt said something good here. I wrote it down. And I'm apt to agree with him somewhat, but I'm apt to disagree a little bit.

And I'll tell you where. He says this after, and this is himself speaking, after over a quarter century of ministry, and he spent many, many years in ministry,

I am convinced that spiritual immaturity is the number one problem in our churches. God is looking for mature men and women to carry on his work, and sometimes all he can find are little children who cannot even get along with each other.

Well, he is right, end quote. He is right to one degree there, but there's also another big problem in the church.

It's terrorism and weed. So you have those two sides. There are those believers that are immature and are spiritual infants that are not growing up into Christ and the full stature of Christ and not going on toward perfection and maturity.

You see what I'm saying? But there are problems among us today that there are many terrors among the weak, those who profess to be saved but they do not possess salvation.

So I'm apt to agree with him to one side of it, but another serious problem I see is terrors among the weak. I'll throw that out at you.

You can see the many, many problems that faces the church today, and I believe people that claim to be saved, but they're not.

Many people who profess Christianity without truly being born again, that's a problem. He'll put it, many professors but few possessors.

So true. This leads me to my final point. This is application. I believe that's very critical to what we're seeing here.

How can we get the most out of this study? I'm asking myself this question. How can

I get the most out of this study? As we study this together, and I would encourage you to please, as we go verse by verse through this wonderful epistle, this little book, let's study it all together.

Let's dig in together because we can grow together. We can learn together. We can encourage one another together.

Brother Keith, he throws questions at me all the time. I appreciate it. It challenges me constantly, and I say, yeah, that's good questions.

And it may be simple questions, but it really probes down to the heart and mind of who we are in Christ.

Well, since the theme is spiritual maturity, I could say the theme is spiritual maturity, we can begin by examining, and that's the word right there, examining our own hearts and to see where we are in the faith and in Christian life.

And saying that, there are five essentials I'd like to bring out, and I'd like to conclude with these five essentials that are very, very important to get the most out of this study through the book of James.

Let me give you a fair warning, though, before I give it to you, that each of these essentials are meant to be encouraging to us as believers, but there is a double -edged sword in the word of God that comes with God's word, and one side is that it cuts and it pierces, and I believe the other side is to heal.

It cuts with conviction, doesn't it? And it is so convicting. It pierces.

That's the purpose of the truth, to bring us into maturity. We grow by pain, right?

You ever heard of the saying growing pains? Well, there's a lot of truth to that, and to be more like Christ, there's growing pains.

And the word of God pierces us, such is the effect of the truth of the two -edged sword. It sanctifies us wholly and completely.

God wants to not miss any stone unturned in our hearts. So first of all,

I would say this, and this sounds so simple, but this is very basic, and the most important essential of all is that we must be born again.

We must be born again. You say, well, pastor, you talk about that all the time. Well, that's the most critical thing, because if we're not born, as our

Lord Jesus Christ says in John chapter 3, apart from spiritual birth and being born again from above, there could be no spiritual illumination.

We cannot understand what the word of God is saying unless we were born from above. Paul talks about this in 1

Corinthians. The natural man receives the things of the natural, but the spiritual man receives the spiritual things.

Spiritually things must be spiritually discerned. So how can we understand

God's word unless we're not born again? James mentions the new birth.

Isn't it interesting? In chapter 1, early in his letter, he said, James 1 .18, listen to this, of his own will he brought us forth by the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.

He's speaking of the new birth. The parallel verse to this is the other general epistle is 1

Peter 1 .23, and Peter begins with it very early. Notice what he says in verse 23, being born again not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible by the word of God.

See, James says by the word of truth, Peter says by the word of God. It's the same, which lives and abides forever.

So just as a human baby has two parents, so a spiritual baby has two parents.

What are the two parents? The word of God is the first parent, and the spirit of God is the second. You have the word of God and the spirit of God.

So we already quoted two verses that mention the word of God, but John chapter 3, verses 5 and 6,

Jesus nails it, because he's the master and he is the one that brought forth to Nicodemus, a theologian in his day supposedly, a scribe, a

Pharisee, supposedly a master of the law, and Jesus says to him, most assuredly, or truly, truly.

The old King James says, verily, verily, and that means in the original Arabic, amen, amen.

Jesus gives his amen before he says something. He's the master, he can do that. We say amen after something true, don't we?

But Jesus says amen and amen before he says the truth. He says this, amen, amen, verily, verily, most assuredly,

I say to you, this is speaking to Nicodemus, a religious man, someone that is supposedly a teacher of the law.

Unless one is born of water and the spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. He cannot enter.

Before that, he says you can't see it. Now he says you can't enter into it. Verse six, that which is born of the flesh is flesh and that which is born of the spirit is spirit.

I like to translate that and that the reality of the new birth is just as much a reality as our first birth.

You and I are here in the flesh, we see each other, but the spiritual realm is a reality.

So that which is born of the flesh is flesh, that which is born of the spirit is spirit. Jesus says don't be surprised, don't marvel that I said to you, you must be born again.

I love that emphasis, must, must. It's got to happen. And it is my conviction here that being born of the water here refers to the first birth, the physical birth.

The first birth, it's a simple illustration. All babies are born of water.

They're in the water of the womb, right? Nicodemus thought in those terms of physical birth, he was thinking that.

He said, how in the world can I be born again and get right back into the womb of the mother? He was all mixed up.

It's really hilarious. But then how is a person born again? Well, that's a good question. But to put it simply as I can, and I'll put down this definition,

I think this will help, and even you children, listen very closely. A definition, how is one to be born again, and I try to give a biblical answer to this.

God bless you, dear. Dear Chad, hope you have a wonderful day. Yeah, you're welcome.

It says this, the Spirit of God takes the Word of God. Now listen, the Spirit of God takes the

Word of God and generates new life, the life of God within the heart, the soul of the sinner.

There's a transformation. I like what Tozer says, you're not saved by grace unless you transform by grace.

There is a transformation. Paul says, old things have passed away, behold, all things become new.

All things. The sinner who truly believes on the Lord Jesus Christ, his person, his works, it is a divine miracle of God.

And by the way, it is the greatest of all miracles. So the Holy Spirit uses the Word of God to convict the sinner or convince him of his sin.

He reveals the Savior. We are saved by grace through faith alone, and that faith is a gift and comes from the

Word of God. And if we've been born again, there is a second essential, and that leads me to my next point.

We're getting the most out of the study of James is this, we must honestly examine our lives in the light of God's Word.

Let me say that again. We must honestly examine our lives in the light of God's Word.

There are so many scriptures to this, but I would like to touch on this more later. But first, James compares the

Bible to a mirror. How many of you looked into a mirror this morning? I did. Like what you see?

Well, James says this in James 22 -23, that's what he refers to as the mirror of God's Word.

As we study the Word of God, we are looking into the divine mirror. This is

God's mirror right here, God's Word. And we see ourselves for who we really are.

I don't know about you, the more I read this book, the more I see the way I really am. And a lot of times it's very ugly.

I don't like what I see. I really don't like what I see. And again,

James warns us that we must be honest about what we see and not merely glance at the image and walk away.

Perhaps you've heard the story about the primitive savage who looked into the mirror for the first time. He was so shocked at what he saw, he broke the mirror.

Well, you ever feel like that sometimes? Paul says 2 Corinthians 13 -5, let us judge ourselves so that we shall not be judged.

Paul says this in 2 Corinthians as well, test ourselves to see if you are in the faith.

Examine yourselves, or do you not recognize this about yourselves that Jesus Christ is in you unless you fail the test.

Wow, that's a powerful verse. This leads me to the third essential. The third is this, we must obey.

This is really a tough one, but it's essential. The third is we must obey what

God teaches us, no matter what the cost. That's heavy, isn't it? That's the hard part.

In other words, as James says in chapter 1 verse 22, we must be doers of the Word and just not hearers.

It is easy to attend Bible study, right? It's easy to share a lesson. It's easy to discuss it.

But it's much more difficult to go into life and everyday mundane world and practice what we've learned.

I don't know about you. That's where the rubber meets the road, and that's where James comes in. It's shoe leather faith, isn't it?

Brother Keith and I was talking about this, and he sent me a picture of his shoe, and I got it right then. The blessing does not come in studying the

Word of God, but guess what the blessing is? The blessing is in obeying the Word of God. That's where the real blessing is.

So I believe we can be blessed as we study it, but we are going to be blessed immensely if we obey it.

That's where Satan would like to say, no, it's okay, you can skip it. God will still bless you.

No. I'm telling you, it's better to obey than sacrifice. Unless we are willing to obey, the

Lord is not obligated to teach us, right? God's truth is self -authenticating through the teaching ministry of the

Holy Spirit. By the way, John 7, verse 17, Jesus says, if anyone wills to do his will.

You know, I love that. He wills to do his will. In other words, he desires to do God's will. Do you desire to do God's will?

Well, that's the most important thing there is in the Christian life is to do in the will of God. He shall know concerning the doctrine, this is

Jesus, whether it is from God or whether I speak of my own authority. What's he saying?

If we truly love our Lord, in other words, we will be willing to obey. And it's better to obey than to sacrifice.

Well, this leads me to the fourth essential, and that is that we must be prepared for some extra trials and testing. So get ready.

Fasten your seatbelts. Miss Lillian knows what I'm talking about here. The more you obey God's word, the more the enemy is going to oppose you.

The more you go deeper into God's word, the more the enemy is going to distract you. And then you're going to see there's a constant conflict.

The enemy will do everything he can to oppose you and stop you. But guess what? He can't.

He doesn't have that power. He has more power than us, but we have the master. For example, think of this.

Perhaps you sense a need in your life about patience. Oh, I need to be more patient. Well, be careful about praying for that one.

Then be prepared for some serious trials because Scripture says tribulation works patience,

Romans 5 .3. The real examinations in the Bible study come in the desert, don't they?

The desert, the school of life, not in the classroom. I learned the tools in the classroom and seminary.

You know where I really learned? In the back side of the desert. And let me give you a quick story.

Dr. Sequoia, a missionary, he said Dr. Greenaway was his mentor, but Dr.

Sequoia was really a godly man. He's been through a lot. He's had a tumor in his brain, and God pulled him through it.

But he was right there years ago, and he was telling this other guy, and he was all fancy and had slick hair, and most

Pentecostals. I did too. And I was sitting there right beside him, and Dr. Sequoia said, son, why are you here?

Never will forget what that young man said. I'm here to be a preacher. Dr. Sequoia just looked like him.

He said, I see. He said, I see. He said, did you know God doesn't make preachers and seminaries?

Boy, his eyes got wide. I was sitting there listening. I think it was actually for me more.

And Dr. Sequoia said, you know, God doesn't make his men in seminaries. He makes them in the back side of the desert.

And I'll tell you, Dr. Sequoia nailed it. I never finished my seminary training, then

God put me in the back side of the desert. I still feel like I'm still there sometimes. Well, real examinations and Bible studies come in the desert, the school of life, not the classroom.

There was a story also of a man who was burdened to grow in his patience. I read this, and he knew he was immature in that area of life, and he wanted to grow up.

So he prayed. He said, Lord, help me to grow in patience. Boy, he's praying a heavy prayer. I want to be more self -controlled in this area of my life.

There's another one that's helping. That very morning, he missed his train to work, and he spent the next hour pacing the platform and complaining of his flight.

The next train arrived, the man realized how stupid he had been, and he said, Lord, you gave me an hour to grow in my patience, and all

I did was practice my impatience. Isn't that the truth? We just miss it so many times.

He said, there comes a time in this study, you know, you decide that continuing just is too dangerous, and we will hit some points and chackers, and I don't know about you, it's going to convict the daylights out of us.

It will penetrate, and that sword will cut us, but this study, we will get very convicted in our soul and our life, and Satan will turn up the heat and trials and testings and make things difficult for you, that you will want to retreat from it and say, no,

I can't handle this, but let me encourage you, don't do that. Don't do that. When the time comes, you will be on the verge of a new and a wonderful blessing and a breakthrough that God has to bless you immensely, and a new step towards maturity.

Even if Satan turns up the heat, guess what? God, the Heavenly Father, His almighty hand,

He's got His hand on the thermostat, because He knows, He's the one that's in control of all of it.

So Christian sanctification, Christian growth is not automatic, just like physical growth. It comes hard, it comes little by little, maturity comes little at a time, something that we must work at constantly, so don't give up.

Now, finally, this is my last essential, and it is this.

We must always measure our spiritual growth by the Word of God and nothing else. This is important. We as human beings have a tendency to measure ourselves with other

Christians, don't we? We need to always measure ourselves against the

Word of God. By the way, the book, the Bible, is the measuring rod.

It does the measuring. So if we're going to compare ourselves with anybody, let's compare ourselves with Jesus, and we'll find ourselves coming off all for short.

So we don't compare ourselves to other Christians, do we? We should never be in competition against other

Christians. We should never measure ourselves with other Christians. Just as we don't pursue to be like other

Christians, we pursue to be more like the Lord Jesus Christ. We follow Him, we look to Him.

Brother Keith and I was talking earlier in the ministry of John the Baptist. John said of Jesus, He must increase.

I must decrease. He must increase.

There's that must again, right? It's imperative. It has got to happen. I must decrease.

He must increase. I must decrease. Just pray that constantly, and without Jesus, we can do nothing.

But in and through Him, we can do all things through Him who strengthened us. By His grace.

And that's becoming more and more like Him. Don't you want to be more like Jesus? That's our desire. That's our prayer. We need to be humble.

We need to see our own sin. And James has a way through the Holy Spirit to pinpoint those sins.

And that's becoming more like Him. Paul says in Ephesians 4 .13, till we all come, all, notice how he includes himself, all of us, come into the unity of the faith and the knowledge of the

Son of God to a perfect man. And then he says this, to measure, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.

To be more like Jesus and a deeper knowledge of truth through prayer, through growing in the Word, through studying the

Scriptures, through meditating on the Scriptures, through obeying the Scriptures, as James says. And so as we study

James together, with the help of the Holy Spirit, we will learn together and grow and mature together.

Amen? Amen. So be it. In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Let's pray.

Our Father in heaven, we do thank You, Lord, for this day. We thank You for Your Word.

We thank You, Lord, for the Word that's in our language. Help us, Lord, and save us from ourselves.

Save us from apathy. Save us from immaturity, Lord. And we, down deep, have such a desire to be more like the

Lord Jesus Christ. That is Your goal for us. Your goal for us is to be more like Your Son.

So our goal is to be more like Jesus. There is such life -changing power within this truth.

When everything else in life fails, and it will, Your Word never does.

Father, I love what Peter says, where can we go but to You? You have the words of eternal life.

So Father, Your Word goes forth and never ever returns void. It has a divine purpose. Even though it's living and powerful and alive, sharper than any two -edged sword, piercing even to the division, soul and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.

Your Word, Father, has the eternal power to heal our soul. It strengthens us.

It helps us put our eyes on the right priority, the kingdom of God and Your righteousness.

So help us prioritize and be heavenly -minded. Father, we desire to grow in inner man.

Father, there's nothing like Your words. Your words are spirit in their life. So Father, we thank

You now for this time we've had together. We pray, Lord, that You would bless the remainder of time as we partake in communion.

Thank You, Father, for Your divine revelation of Your Word, that You preserved it, and help us today not only to be hearers of Your Word, but to be doers.

To be doers. And may we show by action our love toward You, and may our light so shine before men that they may glorify

You. That is the very purpose of our existence, is to glorify You and to enjoy

You forever. So Father, by obeying Your Word and daily living, we need

Your grace and we need Your help, and we need the power of Your Holy Spirit to help us. And I'll pray this for every one of us here, in Jesus' name, amen and amen.