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Bro. Otis Fisher
Today, we start a new study in the book of James.
I want to run some references. First, in James 6 and 44, you have, and it reads like this,
No man can come to me except the Father which hath sent me draw him, and I will raise him up at the last day.
In Greek, there are at least 16 different words used. The one here in John 64 is helko.
It's 16 words for the word draw. It means you cannot resist this power.
To do so, one would be stronger than the sovereign God. Now, with knowledge, we need no miracles.
Prayer without faith is like salt without eggs. There's two points of view, man and God.
Learn to view things from God's viewpoint. We are justified by works before man, by faith before God.
Now, we come to John 10 and 3. Who has that?
All right. Yes. All that ever came before me are thieves and robbers.
The sheep did not hear them. Verse 16, and other sheep I have which are not of this foal, them also
I must bring. They must hear my voice, they shall hear my voice, they shall be one foal, one shepherd.
That's a great prophecy. Now, John 10, 27, then 8, 47, then 13, 48.
There isn't one. And when the Gentiles heard this, they were glad and glorified the word of the
Lord, and as many as were ordained to eternal life believed, ordained to eternal life.
Then we come to Revelation 13, 8, then
Revelation 20, 15, then 21, 27.
All right. We've traced the salvation from, not from the beginning, but from quite a bit back down through Revelation.
Now, God does not use any sting operations. That's man -made.
Now, James 1, 1. James, a servant of God and of the
Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad, greeting.
The word servant is used here as doulos. Bill, can you give us a definition of the word doulos?
All right. We find that in Exodus 21, 5, and if the servant shall plainly say,
I love my master, my wife, my children, I will not go out free.
21, 6, then his master shall bring him unto the judges. He shall also bring him to the door or unto the doorpost.
And his master shall bore his ear through within all, and he shall serve him forever.
He's marked. James, a servant, a bond servant of God and of the
Lord Jesus Christ. He was bonded, he was bound, he was marked unto
God and to the Lord. Why did he make two people here?
Did he specify God and the Lord Jesus? David?
All right. We have him as a bond servant to both of them. Now, that would be impossible on earth, but it is possible with God.
You could not be a bond servant of two people here. Verse 2, my brethren, count it all joy when you fall into divers temptation.
My brethren, Galatians 3 .25, but after that faith is come, we no longer are under a schoolmaster.
For ye are all of the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ.
There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free. There is neither male nor female, for you are all one in Christ.
And if you be Christ, then are you Abraham's seed and heirs according to the promise.
The word divers, D -I -V -E -R -S. Greg, what does that mean?
All right. Now we are to be joyful when we fall into divers temptations.
Count it all joy, no matter where you are or what happens to you.
It says you fall into these divers. Now, Greg, to fall into something would be on purpose?
No, it just happens. Sin just happens.
Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. It isn't so much the end product, it is the trying of it.
When you would take a sample of ore, gold ore, to the
Athenian office, he would put it in a crucible.
You all know what a crucible is? Anybody? Everybody?
All right, it is that which he is going to cause the ore to be brought forth.
Now, he heats it. He heats it and what rises to the top?
The impurities. He skims that off. Then what rises to the top?
All right, more impurities.
Until finally, what happens? How does he know when he has that fixed, finished?
What'd you say? He can see his reflection in the gold.
Now, we're in a crucible. It is the trying of this that is more perfect than the end.
And when is it that God sees his face in us?
When we're through, when we've finished, when we've made it through this trial.
Divers means many. It actually means trifles or meaningless sufferings.
And it's all senseless. The testing is irrational unless we recognize the good purpose for which it has come.
Some we do not see. Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience.
In 1 Peter 1 7, turn to that. Burge, read it.
All right.
The trying is the key. In trying, that is the precious thing.
It is trying that works patience. Have you ever found this to be true? That trying works patience.
What good is patience, Clarence? All right.
Patience causes us to wait whether we want to or not. It is lost unless we understand that.
But let patience have her perfect work, that you may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.
Now, perfect has several meanings. To be ultimately perfect is to be like Christ.
We're not there yet. How do we know that we're where we ought to be?
All right. You're here because you're right where who wants you?
God wants you. Could you have been any place else? All right.
If you're here and you don't take advantage of the situation, are you becoming perfect?
But you're not where you should be if you can take advantage of this. If you come and you think about what we're going to have for dinner and so on and so forth, you're losing this testing.
That's right. You'll never grow spiritually by mere washing or by any emotion.
Emotion does not grow Christians. Now, we have plenty of it.
But only by faith, rigid self -control, continually studying of his holy word.
Faith causes you to conduct your life in a firm positive mode in all thoughts.
Patience is not a passive grace. God does nothing but what we would if we could see the end from the beginning, like he does.
The acid of grief tests the coin of belief. If we really believe, then the testing is going to be nothing.
The acid test came about after the Civil War. The carpetbackers would go throughout the buying up gold and silver and so forth.
Well, a lot of the people would try to put on these carpetbackers that that was not gold, looked like gold, but it wasn't gold.
They soon learned, and I used to know the acid, maybe Bill or Greg can tell us, but it was a little jar that they opened and they dipped the item in it.
If it didn't turn, then it was gold. If it did turn, it wasn't gold.
The acid test, that phrase came about by that. Five, if any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God.
That giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not, and it shall be given to him.
If any of you lack wisdom, it doesn't say any of you lack knowledge.
Bill, what's the difference in wisdom and knowledge? All right.
So, can you receive wisdom?
No, let me see. Say you've got a situation.
Can you receive wisdom over and over on that one situation? No. You know how to react to it somehow.
Then it becomes knowledge. Then you do it the next time. If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God.
That giveth to all men liberally. The word all here means all brethren.
Now, if you were not one of the elect, would you ask of God?
No. You couldn't to begin with, but you wouldn't. He who does not ask does feel he needs any divine teaching.
Is that true? He who does not ask God thinks he doesn't need to be taught.
But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed.
Romans 14, 23, and he that doubteth is damned if he eat, because he eateth not of faith, for whatsoever is not of faith is sin.
A man of this wavering character is continually distracted. He will neither let go of heaven nor earth, and he can't have but one.
Did you ever know anybody that was trying to be a Christian, especially on Sunday and then during the week he was somebody else?
We trust God for salvation, but could we have a much more enjoyable life if we really believed him?
Wavering is not a weakness of faith, it is a lack of faith.
You either have the faith or you don't have it. You cannot be in between. Matthew 5, 37, but let your communication be yea, yea, nay, nay, for whatsoever is more than these committeth evil.
Do not add a but on the end of your excuses. I would have been here but the train held me up.
I would have been here but the phone rang as I went out the door. What does that do when you put a but on the end of your excuse?
What happens? Alright.
Alright. Anything else? You're blaming something else, and you're not supposed to do that, aren't you?
What's the difference between an excuse and a reason, Joy? Alright, Jesse, learn to divide them this way.
Excuse comes from within, reason comes from without. You get that?
That's right. Excuses come from within. You want to go do something else. He's under the influence of the last man to whom he spoke.
For let not such, for let not that man think that he shall receive of the
Lord. Now, for let not such a man think that he shall receive anything spiritual from the
Lord. Such a person that waves back and forth, wavering, is like a wave of the sea tossed to and fro.
Let not such a man think that he shall receive anything of the Lord. God cannot change and still be
God. Yes? That's true.
I didn't hear all of your statement, but I think you said that we think that lots of times the way we act and respond, that a non -believer can pray to God and get the answer, but he can't.
He can get an answer because he's thought about it, but the answer doesn't come from God to him.
Well, some of them are. Some of them think they're saved.
It's not real prayer, but that's right.
What? Yes. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no
That's right, that's right, that's good.
Numbers 23 19 we find God is not a man that he should lie, neither the
Son of Man that he should repent, hath he said and shall he not do it?
Or hath he spoken and shall he not make it good? In Samuel 15 29
And also the strength of Israel will not lie nor repent, for he is not a man that he should repent.
55 9 For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.
Malachi 3 6 For I am the Lord, I change not.
Therefore you sons of Jacob are not consumed. If God should change the least little bit, we'd be consumed.
We'd die, we'd perish, we'd vanish if God was not what he is.
Faith is the root of salvation. Works is the fruit of salvation.
A double -minded man is unstable in all of his ways. What does double -minded mean,
Virg? He has only one mind, but he's divided it.
Either is not complete. So, here's a man that he thinks being a
Christian to God, but he won't let go of the world. Yes, yes.
Well, I say any, usually with any. Uncertain about everything, he thinks, feels, or decides.
Let the brother of low degree rejoice in that he is exalted. Low degree does or does not destroy
Christian fellowship. Does it or does it not?
To be of low degree, does that Christian fellowship?
No. Yes, yes.
That's all a good and low degree. But, yes.
Yes. That's right.
You cannot love both to masters. It's impossible. But the rich, in that he is made low, because as the flower of the grass, he shall pass away.
What happens when a very prominent, well -to -do, well -known man dies?
But what happened to him? That's right.
That's exactly right. He dies, and so does a poor man that was not known.
But they both die, both share in death, the same alike.
For the sun is no sooner risen with a burning heat, but it withers the grass, and the flower thereof falleth, and the grace of the fashion perish, and so also shall the rich man fade away in his ways.
Let me ask you, a year ago today, what were you worried about? Bill, what would you worry about a year ago today?
You've forgotten, haven't you? That's right. So a year from now, you'll forget about today.
Yes, that's right. He's rich as far as I'm concerned.
Each one of you are rich as far as someone else is concerned. But we don't have that security.
We get wealth, we get assets. All we have is right now. That's all we have.
That's all we can think about. All the wealth that you've got, all the life you're living, what do you think of that?
That's right. Get away from that. Well, you all can go buy a new car, and I can't, so I'm not—
Well, then you can go buy a new car, and I won't pay for the car. Yeah. But so do I. No matter how wealthy you are, if you go out and you buy a car, and tomorrow you stop buying a car, you're anxious, you lose all of your earnings, you're out of debt, all of it, you can't pay for that car.
So what that wealthy person could be buying a car is, in some way, it was secure that he would be able to meet his obligations.
You being poor, you feel like you think you'll be able to meet those obligations.
And in fact, both of you are wrong in that both of you are trying to put him in the position he wants to be in.
That's right. Diane?
I can't think of what Paul says that he is. He's a littler monk.
And even in the past, the only thing that has been having this discouragement of not being able to buy something, and not being able to meet what
I did and I didn't, is that because he did not have faith that God would provide it.
That's right. He's regretful. He's reliant on the fact that I can't adhere to my duties.
And when I didn't have it, it caused me then to say, Lord, you know
I need this. Will you provide it for me? So, that's why I think he, that instead of, whether it are those who are poor, because we're talking about the spirit,
I think that it also causes you to rely on him for everything. Not only your spiritual, but your day -to -day needs.
And there's a little lesson in that. It's kind of eerie, because all that women have wants us to know that we're not just poor, and think we're right.
It's just kids that are in need and want that. And I think the man who's providing, but who's
God does that for. What was
I going to say? I'm sorry, I just might have exploded. You might still then take away all the entities.
Yes. Well, my thought is... Even if the rich man pays cash for his car, he's still as poor as anybody else, because if the rich man has no pull in him, you know, he's still as broke as he can be.
We have been promised, we have been promised by God to have everything we need.
Everything we need. Everything that we need.
No. Good question. No, he hasn't forgotten.
In Isaiah 40 and 5.
And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together, for the mouth of the
Lord hath spoken it. 40 and 7.
The grass withereth, the flower fadeth, because the Spirit of the Lord bloweth upon it.
Surely the people is grass. The grass withereth, the flower fadeth, but the word of our
God shall stand forever. 40 and 17.
All nations before him are as nothing, and they are counted to him less than nothing, and they are counted as vanity.
To whom then will you be likened? Or to whom then will you liken
God? Or what likeness will you compare him to? Since he made everything, what are you going to compare him to?
He didn't make another God. Verse 12.
Blessed is the man that endureth temptation, for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the
Lord hath promised to them that love him. A blessed man transmits good.
We'll stop here, but I want to emphasize what's good, what's perfect, and what's bad.
The blessed man. Lots of times we see this word used.
What's the difference between a blessed man and a blessed man, David? Blessed.
Blessed. Well, that's almost right,
Joey. The difference is, to be blessed is to be blessed.
All right. To be blessed is to be blessed. All right,
Jesse. All right.
A blessed man is one that's blessed by God. Period. A blessed man is one that's blessed by God and he passes it on.
It's good to live next door to a blessed man because he's continually passing on.
It becomes a way of life with him. A blessed man is one that receives a blessing to himself only.
Now, we receive nothing to use on ourself. It's all to give away.
Well, remember, verse 12. We'll start with 13. I don't have a pen here.
Is there any word from anybody? There sure is.
David. David. I have a question.
You asked a question. I have a question. I have a question.
I have a question. I have a question. I have a question. I have a question.
Yes. That's right. Clarence. Verse 11.
Yes. Everything not of God will burn up.
That's right. It's not of God.
Anything not of God will burn up. Let's stand and be dismissed.
Clarence, would you dismiss us today, please? Let's just have a moment. Let's go.