The Merciful Royal Law | Sermon 04/17/12022

Apologia Utah

Subscribe

Download

Share

00

00:02

The title of the sermon today is The Merciful Royal Law.

00:09

The Merciful Royal Law. Starting in verse eight of chapter two.

00:19

Hear now the words of the living and run true God. If however you are fulfilling the royal law according to the scripture, you shall love your neighbor as yourself, you are doing well.

00:32

But if you show partiality, you are committing sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors.

00:40

For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles in one point, he has become guilty of all.

00:47

For he who said do not commit adultery also said do not commit murder. Now if you do not commit adultery but do commit murder, you have become a transgressor of the law.

00:59

So speak and so act as those who are to be judged by the law of liberty. For judgment will be merciless to one who has shown no mercy.

01:09

Mercy triumphs over judgment. Now sending the reading of God's holy and inspired word, let's pray quickly.

01:16

Father, please speak through me now. Help me to get out of the way, Lord. Lord, help me to decrease and you increase.

01:26

Speak, Lord, today to your people. Teach your people according to your word,

01:31

Lord. Enlighten them according to your word. Lord, help us to dismiss all distraction and all things that would keep us from understanding and learning from your word today.

01:44

Help us, Lord, to so carefully and more deeply know what it means to love our neighbors ourselves as Christ did.

01:53

So Lord, help me to speak in a way that is clear and helpful and let it always be true. In Christ's name, amen.

02:01

One of the most encouraging things to see are acts of true spirit -wrought mercy in Christians following the example of their

02:12

Lord. I'm certain many of us are well acquainted with the story of Jim and Elizabeth Elliot, but I will retell the story anyhow.

02:22

You see, Jim and Elizabeth Elliot met at Wheaton College, both majors in Greek, and Jim was so focused on serving

02:31

Christ that he would barely look at women. He would keep his head down all the time, it was said. He did not want to be distracted with his mission to serve the

02:40

Lord. But Elizabeth had caught the corner of his eye and through a swift courtship, they got married.

02:51

This young couple had an overwhelming desire to be Christian missionaries and to bring the gospel to the

02:58

Amazon. Along with Nate Saint, Peter Fleming, Ed McCulley, Roger Udarian, and each man's wife and children, they stationed in Ecuador to bring the hope of the gospel to those people.

03:15

The Yauka tribe, which is now known as the Wodani tribe, is an indigenous

03:21

Amazonian tribe made up of nomadic hunter -gatherers.

03:27

I mean, we're talking, to this day, they still live in that way, very much so, to a very high degree.

03:38

We're talking about loincloth and gauged ears sort of tribal people, okay?

03:46

But for decades, the Wodani people, the Yauka people, were known to be absolute killers, fierce killers in the

03:56

Amazon rainforest. And they wouldn't simply kill any foreigner who came into their territory.

04:02

They would kill each other all the time. All the time. For any reason, whether retaliation, resentment, or a simple insult, they would take a spear or machete and slay one another for years, years, and years.

04:22

In fact, their homicide rate is unlike anything we've ever seen. Their homicide rate was six in 10 people would be murdered.

04:30

Six in 10 people would be murdered. That is absurd. But this was the people.

04:37

These were the people that these five missionary families longed to know the gospel of grace.

04:44

That there was a different way. So along with the missionary pilot,

04:50

Nate Saint, in 1955, they would fly over tribal territory and they would lower down gifts in a basket, or like a bucket, okay?

05:00

And the Wodani people would come and they'd see the plane and they would take the gifts. They did this for 13 weeks.

05:10

They wanted to make sure that the Wodani people understood they meant peace. So they would come every week and they would circle the territory in the plane and they would lower down the bucket and they would give all these gifts.

05:24

Food, drink, tools, whatever, you name it. In fact, they were shocked when one of those times the

05:33

Wodani people had given them a return gift. The basket was moving and they pulled it up into the plane and they opened it and there was a big red parrot.

05:43

They had given them a pet, a gift, to the missionaries. And so they considered that a good sign.

05:51

They'd been given gifts for 13 weeks and they received one back. And so they thought it was time now to make contact with these people.

05:59

People who have never had contact with the outside world. None. They said now was the time to reach these people.

06:06

So after celebrating Christmas with their wives and children these five men decided to embark on that to make contact with the most violent tribe known in the

06:21

Amazon rainforest. Many of the women had tremendous fear for their husbands.

06:27

They didn't know what would happen. So they kissed the men goodbye and on January 3rd, 1956, they landed upon kind of a riverbank next to Wodani territory and they called it

06:41

Palm Beach. They landed on Palm Beach, January 3rd. They set up camp on the fringes of Wodani territory.

06:51

And finally, after three days of waiting, a group of basically naked

06:57

Wodani people came up and three of them did and came up to the river.

07:03

And so Jim Elliott, he waded through the river and went across to them by himself.

07:11

And the men were just like, okay, what's gonna happen? So he's approaching three of them and he gives them food and he gives them drink and they're drinking lemonade.

07:21

And you know, it's going just fine. At least in that moment, it was going just fine. They were so excited.

07:28

They could barely contain their excitement. This is what they'd been praying about for so long to reach these people.

07:35

So two days go by and they've been reaching to just a few tribal people.

07:43

And so two days later, Nate sends a radio signal in his plane to all the wives.

07:49

And he says to his wife, this is the day. This is the day.

07:55

And he sounded so excited on the radio, but for some reason, his wife

08:02

Marjorie couldn't help but think this is the day meant something else. So 12 minutes past 3 p .m.

08:12

on Sunday, January 8th, Nate's wrist watched, was suddenly smashed and the hands were stuck in that position.

08:19

12 minutes past three. The hands stopped moving. This is believed to be the moment that he and the four other men were ambushed by Wodani tribesmen with spears and machetes, and they lost their lives for Christ.

08:34

And they were just completely torn up. Spears sticking out of them, just gruesome deaths.

08:41

All for Christ. A search party was assembled. They found them a few days later floating in the river.

08:51

It went all over the news. In fact, many people, probably our grandparents, they remember that.

08:58

It seemed to go all over national and global news. Five Christian missionaries martyred in the

09:03

Ecuadorian rainforest. And as you can imagine, the wives and children were utterly devastated.

09:10

Five widows. Five widows on one day. Fatherless children.

09:18

And some wondered why. Why didn't they defend themselves? They had guns in the plane. Why didn't they defend themselves?

09:25

And you know what the men said before they left when someone asked them if they're gonna defend themselves, if they get attacked?

09:31

One of the men said, we are ready to meet God. They aren't.

09:38

And so they did it. They went ahead. They went ahead and they gave their lives for Christ to reach those people.

09:45

So Jim's wife, Elizabeth, along with her 10 -month -old baby girl stayed behind in Ecuador and her parents and everyone thought she was crazy.

09:57

Her and her 10 -month -old daughter and along with Nate's sister, Rachel, in hopes that one day what they did was not in vain.

10:05

They would reach the Wodani people for Christ. That their husband's death meant something.

10:13

So eventually, two women from the Wodani tribe made their way and tracked, you know, hiked through the jungle to Elizabeth's camp.

10:25

And they wanted the women to come back with them. So they said, this is it. We're being invited back to the

10:31

Wodani tribe. And so they grabbed all their stuff and they headed into the jungle and they went to Wodani territory.

10:39

They ended up living with the tribe for two years. They brought them God's word, translated the

10:45

Bible, teaching them to forgive fearlessly, love tremendously.

10:52

They completely transformed their way of life. Christ completely transformed their way of life forever.

10:59

Nate's children were also invited into the tribe where his son,

11:05

Steve, committed his life to the tribe. And you won't believe this, but when

11:11

Steve came to faith in Christ, we're talking Nate was murdered, his father was murdered.

11:17

When Steve came to faith in Christ in Ecuador, Minke, the very man who killed his father, baptized him in the river.

11:28

Unbelievable, unbelievable. The children of the Wodani and the children of these five men had one thing in common.

11:36

All their lives they had seen family speared to death. And their parents, their fathers were speared to death as well, they had that common bond.

11:46

The gospel went forth and these people turned their lives to Christ despite such tragedy. And now

11:53

I mention all of this story because it was the mercy and forgiveness that the women and children of these five families, these five men were willing to show the

12:06

Wodani people that was a living testimony of the mercy and grace of Jesus Christ.

12:14

Many would have considered these killers too fierce to reach for Christ. Many would not love their neighbor as themselves and bring the life giving message of the gospel.

12:30

Partiality would dictate such savage people don't deserve to know Jesus. But as James said, as I read the end of that in verse 13, mercy triumphs over judgment.

12:42

With such selfless love and mercy in mind, let's consider now what our text in James is teaching us today.

12:50

Starting in verses eight and nine. If however you are fulfilling the royal law according to the scripture, you shall love your neighbors yourself, you are doing well.

13:02

But if you show partiality, you are committing sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors.

13:09

So James continues his admonishment related to the personal favoritism he spoke about in verses one through seven.

13:20

Two weeks ago, our sermon from two weeks ago, this is kind of continuing the thought.

13:28

He said not to practice personal favoritism because it goes against God's concern for the poor.

13:33

And also he said because it's absurd since the rich have historically treated them wrongfully for years.

13:41

So he tells them, why are you treating the rich man better? Remember that? He had the rich man come and sit closer to the front.

13:50

They doted on him. Several of them were all over the rich man. And then the poor man was asked to sit basically at under dirty feet to sit in the back.

14:03

And so he continues that. Now he establishes that participating in this is sin.

14:10

And it goes against God's law. Before we dive into the implications of the commandment he quoted, notice it says royal law.

14:20

Royal law. Some consider the royal law as though it were supreme or above all other laws.

14:30

Others see it as an all -encapsulating law. And that is what makes it royal.

14:37

But the Greek word here literally means the law of the king.

14:43

Not just royal law, but it means the law of the king. You see, because a law isn't royal or authoritative in and of itself.

14:53

It is royal or authoritative because there is one who backs it.

14:59

One who is behind that law. One who wields the authority and kingship to back it.

15:08

And that is the Lord and King Jesus Christ. In Matthew 22, 36 through 40, we see

15:14

Jesus give a clarifying resolution concerning the law. It says this,

15:20

Teacher, what is the greatest commandment in the law? And he said to him, you shall love the

15:26

Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength. This is the great and foremost commandment.

15:35

And Jesus says the second is like it. It is you shall love your neighbor as yourself. He says on these two commandments depend the whole law and prophets.

15:46

What is significant is just immediately after he says this, after Jesus gives this about the law, you shall love the

15:55

Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. And he says you shall love your neighbor as yourself. He asks them if they know who the

16:03

Christ is. Who do you think the Christ is? He asks this immediately after.

16:09

And then he quotes from Psalm 110 showing that he will rule with a scepter forever at the right hand of the

16:16

Father. Jesus immediately points to his kingship after demonstrating his law.

16:24

The king said what his law is. Love the Lord your God with all that is in you and love your neighbor as yourself.

16:32

So that's what makes it royal. The king. The king gives the law. The king gives the authority.

16:40

These are often called the laws of love. These laws, Jesus says, are the representation of all the law and prophets.

16:50

All of it is wrapped up in these two precepts. But they are also bound together.

16:57

And I think that's why Jesus presents them in that way. He presents them together.

17:03

In fact, in John's first epistle, he says if someone says

17:08

I love God and yet hates his brother, he is a liar.

17:15

For the one who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen.

17:23

And this commandment we have from him that the one who loves God should love his brother also. Essentially, you can't have one without the other.

17:32

If someone claims they obey the law that they love God with everything in them, but then they hate their neighbor, that person demonstrates he doesn't actually love

17:45

God. That's what he's saying here. And no one could properly love their neighbor in a way that God demands if they first don't love

17:55

God. That's true. That's true, you can be moral, you can try to do righteous deeds, but ultimately you can't love your neighbor the way they ought to be loved unless you first love

18:09

God first. James states the royal law is according to Scripture.

18:16

See that? The royal law according to Scripture. This once again points to the authoritative nature of it.

18:27

God spoke this statute. God revealed that he desires for us to uphold this.

18:35

And this isn't simply a humanized golden rule. Christ states it in another way in the

18:42

Sermon on the Mount. He says, in everything therefore, treat people the same way you want them to treat you for this is the law and the prophets.

18:51

So this isn't, when he says that, excuse me, that's not an additional law.

18:59

This is the love your neighbor as yourself restated. Treat people as you want to be treated.

19:05

The problem is, culture has adopted the golden rule. Godless culture has adopted the golden rule and they've discarded all the gold with it.

19:16

They've discarded all the gold. The golden rule can only make sense or be reasonable if one can understand what is truly good and what is evil from the

19:31

Bible's perspective. From the Bible's perspective. In other words, if the single most righteous and glorious thing that can happen to a person is receiving salvation in the

19:42

Lord Jesus Christ, then our desire should be for all our neighbors to receive such a gift.

19:49

But society would say, that is not treating, that's not treating me how

19:54

I want to be treated. Don't give me your gospel. Don't give me your stuff about Jesus.

20:00

I don't want that. That's what society would say. You see how they humanize the golden rule?

20:05

No, I don't want that. Don't treat me the way, treat me how I want to be treated, which is with apathy and indifference so I can continue in my lawlessness.

20:16

I can continue in my error and wrong thought. Don't give me the gospel. That's not how

20:21

I want to be treated. That's what they say. They twist the golden rule. They twist the love your neighbor as yourself.

20:30

But we love them more than that. We love our neighbors more than that. So loving your neighbor as yourself is loving them, not how they feel they need to be loved, absent from the

20:43

Christian worldview, but loving them the way the Bible tells us to love. You hear that?

20:49

Loving your neighbor as yourself isn't loving them the way they feel or want to be loved. Loving your neighbor as yourself is loving them the way the

20:57

Bible defines love, the way the Bible defines how we share and show love to people.

21:05

So we love our neighbors by giving them the gospel. We go to the loving word of the loving

21:14

God to figure out how to love. Loving them by not wanting them to endure hell.

21:20

We love by sharing what God has given us when there are those in need of it.

21:29

We do that even in our church. We do that with meal trains. We do that with gifts. We do that with sharing things together, providing care for each other.

21:38

We do that. We've helped some of the poor in our community has come out of this church.

21:44

We've done that before here. So we share with the gospel. We love with the gospel.

21:50

We love with these gifts. I remember we were having a hard time financially a few years ago and someone from our church had put $100 under our doormat right when we needed it the most.

22:04

And those are the kind of amazing things that God does with his people as they give grace to others.

22:15

We love by praying for one another, bearing each other's burdens. Here's one we don't always like in the moment but we love each other by speaking the truth of God's word into areas of sin in our lives.

22:31

When we're sinning, when we're going through issues, one way we can love each other is helping each other through that, discipling each other through that.

22:42

And it's not like picking someone apart and being like, you're doing all wrong. That's not the loving your neighbors yourself.

22:48

It's coming alongside someone and showing them what the word of God says and helping them get there.

22:55

Helping them get there. We don't just let our brothers and sisters tear down the house, we help them rebuild it.

23:04

And of course, James shows us we love our neighbors by not practicing favoritism.

23:10

That's the big thing here. There is a contrast here. If you really keep the royal law, you are doing well.

23:21

You're doing well. But if you show partiality, you are sinning. Doing well, sinning.

23:28

Keeping the law, showing partiality. They're at odds with each other. They're contrasted to each other.

23:37

Leviticus 19 .15 says, you shall do no injustice in judgment. You shall not be partial to the poor nor defer to the great.

23:46

But you are to judge your neighbor fairly. That verse highlights exactly what

23:53

James is talking about with the illustration of the rich man and the poor man. What is amazing is that that verse,

24:02

Leviticus 19, is just three verses prior to Leviticus 19 .18.

24:08

You're like, of course, I know how to add. But Leviticus 19 .18 says, to love your neighbor as yourself.

24:16

So they are directly correlated. Not showing partiality, loving your neighbor as yourself.

24:22

They go together. They're right there in the same context of Leviticus 19. They're just three verses apart.

24:29

So it stands to say that partiality, again, is in opposition of loving neighbor.

24:37

One has judged according to appearance, but not with righteous judgment. As Jesus says, make no mistake,

24:48

James is saying what they are doing would be sin. And they would be convicted or exposed by the law.

24:59

And transgressor is made up of two parts. One part's in the Greek. Para is contrary to, and baino is go.

25:08

So it means walking contrary to God's law. So if the commandment was a line to cross, they went over it.

25:18

They went over it. And committing is literally you are working sin.

25:23

When he says you are committing sin, the Greek word is you are working sin.

25:28

You are working sin. Works have always been a positive thing in James' letters.

25:37

The noun works, faith wrought works is

25:43

James' big thing in his epistle here. Works that are a result of a genuine faith. But now working as the verb is now seen in a negative way.

25:55

Working sin, crossing over the law. So he doesn't mince words here.

26:03

We need to know what we are doing when we commit partiality. And he says we're transgressing the law.

26:13

Now on to verses 10 and 11. He says, for whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles in one point, he has become guilty of all.

26:24

For he who said do not commit adultery also said do not commit murder.

26:31

Now if you do not commit adultery, but do commit murder, you have become a transgressor of the law.

26:39

It may be hard to connect, but I think one point James is making is that sinning and personal favoritism or not loving your neighbors yourself is rebelling against the whole law.

26:51

That's what he's saying. Because it's the law of the king. It's binding on everyone.

26:58

The king has made a law. Breaking any part of it goes against the king.

27:05

Breaking the law with partiality breaks the royal law, which breaks every law. It goes against God.

27:12

It goes against your fellow man. Think about it. Because favoritism, truly favoritism is self -love.

27:22

How is partiality or favoritism self -love? Because you hope by favoriting someone, by practicing favoritism on someone, buttering them up, flattering them, treating them better than someone else, you hope to gain out of that.

27:38

You hope that they'll treat you better out of something like that, that they'll treat you well, that they'll do the same to you.

27:46

So in a way, even though you're acting like you're giving someone love, it's false love.

27:52

Showing favoritism, partiality, you're hoping to get something out of it in return. So there it breaks not just the second table of the law, but the first.

28:03

You say, what is table? Let me explain that real quick. Of the

28:08

Ten Commandments, there is the first and second table of the Ten Commandments.

28:14

The first table of the Ten Commandments is all the ones focused on God.

28:21

So it is, I am the Lord your God, and you shall have no other gods before me. It is number two, it is you shall not make any graven images.

28:30

You shall not make any idols for yourself. You shall not worship any false gods. Number three, you shall not take the

28:37

Lord your God's name in vain. And number four, remember the Sabbath and keep it holy.

28:43

Those first four are the first table of the law, okay? And the second table of the law is all the ways that we are to love our neighbors as ourselves.

28:53

So it is number five through number 10. Honor your father and your mother.

28:59

Do not commit murder. Do not commit adultery. Do not steal. Do not bear false witness and do not covet.

29:06

That's the second table of the law. So I want you to understand, first table is really directed towards God.

29:12

Second table of the law is really directed about fellow man, but we're gonna see how there's a unity with these two tables of the law, okay?

29:24

So, what am I getting at? I said that practicing favoritism is self -love.

29:31

It's self -love. So what am I talking about? It's making yourself into a god despite the

29:38

Lord saying you shall have no other gods before him. You are exalting yourself above God in that moment of practicing favoritism, okay?

29:47

So breaking the love your neighbors yourself laws breaks the first table of the law.

29:54

It makes yourself out to be a god. So, once you break one law, you become a transgressor of it.

30:02

That's what he says. It's all or nothing. No one is a partial breaker of the law.

30:09

You've either broken the law or you've not. And we downplay our sins all the time.

30:16

We call them mistakes. Hey honey, I made a mistake. Or, you know,

30:23

I have a lot of learning moments that I need to go over. We downplay our sins all the time.

30:28

But here it's saying we're a transgressor of the law. We've sinned. One act against God is seen as rebellion.

30:38

You might remember in the Gospels, the Jews in the first century were often making distinctions between what they considered to be lesser laws as opposed to more important ones.

30:51

So you might remember the apostles were hungry and they grabbed little heads of grain of wheat in the field and they were eating and they had not washed their hands.

31:03

And the Pharisees point them out. Your disciples don't wash their hands according to the law of Moses.

31:09

Or there was those moments where they said, you're not observing the Sabbath correctly.

31:15

So they were sticklers about hand washing. They were sticklers about the Sabbath. But then Jesus says when it comes to things like making false vows or false swearing, they would do it all the time.

31:27

They would do it all the time. So they elevate one or the other. I should probably make it clear that the text isn't suggesting one could keep the whole law his whole life perfectly, then shoot right before you die, you fail in it once and you're damned.

31:50

That's not what this is trying to say that you could keep it all.

31:57

James is making a point here. A point building up to show later, we need mercy because no one save Jesus Christ can do this whole law.

32:08

No one can do this whole law except Jesus Christ. So that's the point he's working up to.

32:16

James gives us an example of what he means in verse 10. He said, for whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles in one point, he has become guilty of it all.

32:28

So then he gives us an example. He says, for he who said do not commit adultery also said do not commit murder.

32:36

Now, if you do not commit adultery, but do commit murder, you have become a transgressor of the law.

32:44

Obeying one, but sinning in the other still makes one a transgressor of the law, he's saying.

32:53

Because these are laws all about loving your neighbor as yourself. If you love them in one way and yet hate them in another, then you hate completely.

33:08

Think about it. What if a man said, Judge, look, I know

33:14

I murdered my neighbor, but I never committed adultery with his wife. It would be absurd.

33:20

It would be absurd. One commentator states regarding verse 11, perhaps then he intends to single out people in his community who may be priding themselves on their avoidance of the sins of the flesh that is adultery, all the while they're discriminating against poor people and in effect committing murder, as Jesus said, hatred of the heart.

33:48

That's what one commentator thinks. But these are more likely, these are aids,

33:55

I think, to demonstrate the harmony of the law of God. That is to say, if you're climbing up a ladder, okay, if you've gone seven steps up a ladder and then you fall off on the eighth step, you've fallen off the whole ladder.

34:13

You don't go, well, I got up seven steps. No, you fell. You fell off the whole ladder.

34:18

It doesn't matter at that point. And this really shows the indivisible unity of the law of God.

34:31

The commandments are bound together. We already mentioned this before, but the first table of the law is focused on God, but one can't do the second table of the law and love their neighbor properly if they don't worship the one true

34:46

God. If you follow idols, you hate your neighbor.

34:53

If you follow idols, you don't love your neighbor. There is a unity in God's law.

35:02

We can't look at these commandments as individual laws where one is disobeyed.

35:07

When one is disobeyed, it's independent of the others. That's what he's saying. The fact is these commandments were spoken.

35:17

They were spoken by God. So to sin against the eternal God once is to bear the weight of sinning against His full character and being.

35:29

God's full character and being is wrapped up in His law and to rebel against His law in one way is to rebel against His very nature.

35:42

One transgression renders a person fully guilty before God. That's what the Bible makes clear.

35:49

One author likens the indivisible unity of the law to the moon.

35:55

He says, when we see a crescent moon in the night sky, we don't go, oh, wow, look at that.

36:04

Partial moon. We say, wow, look at the moon. Look at the moon tonight. Not part of it because we understand the crescent represents the whole.

36:15

And so the royal law represents the whole of the law. It represents the rest.

36:20

It is indivisible. Okay? But look, it is also written, for he who said, starting in verse 11, for he who said,

36:32

I told you the royal law was about the king. James appeals to the law giver rather than simply the law.

36:43

Because the law is a representation of God's very nature to remove one of His precepts would be trying to divide

36:52

His attributes away from Him. But God isn't made up of parts.

36:58

You can't separate God's eternality from His omniscience. His love isn't detached from His holy wrath.

37:07

Now, is it easier for us to articulate it that way? Yeah, then that's fine. That's fine.

37:13

It's easier to articulate it that way, easier to understand it that way with that kind of language. But there is a oneness in God's being.

37:22

There's a oneness in God's being. The law giver must uphold His standard. We've talked about this before, but an all -perfect

37:31

God cannot let any sin pass His justice. His justice would be corrupted then.

37:41

And we tell people this in our evangelism all the time. All the time, people in evangelism, they point to their acts of service.

37:49

I remember I met one young man and he said, but you don't understand, I went to Habitat for Humanity.

37:57

I helped build houses in Mexico, all this stuff. I did all these wonderful things. And he was appealing to all the good works he's done.

38:07

And that doesn't matter. That doesn't matter, because it says if you fail in one part of the law, you failed in it all.

38:16

And the second thing is Jesus says apart from Him, such works are as filthy rags.

38:22

They will never merit salvation. We tell them you need someone who has never failed in the law.

38:31

You need someone who has never stumbled in the law. And it's not like anyone has ever gotten close.

38:42

The most pious, the most holy, the most earthly righteous person that has ever lived on the earth, maybe

38:49

Job, I don't know. Maybe it was Job as God really pointed him out. Maybe it was someone else. The most earthly righteous man in all the world is probably exponential degrees away from the perfection of Jesus Christ.

39:04

There's just no getting close to it. Only one in the history of all mankind has ever or will ever be able to live up to the standard that God set, and that is

39:16

Jesus of Nazareth, the Lord of glory. So let's move on to our last two verses.

39:25

Verses 12 and 13 read, so speak and so act as those who are to be judged by the law of liberty.

39:33

For judgment will be merciless to one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment.

39:42

So this is unlike James in a way. There is no endearing beloved brethren.

39:50

He doesn't appeal to them. Beloved brethren, hear me out. He cuts right to the heart of it.

39:59

Appointed double imperative. This is a double imperative here. So speak and so act.

40:06

Speak and act or speak and do. This might as well be the anthem of the book of James. If you are truly a follower of Christ, speak and act like it.

40:18

Speak and act like it. And these are in the present active tense, which means to say, if you are truly a follower of Christ, you're gonna keep speaking and you're gonna keep acting like one who truly follows

40:32

Christ. It's constant. So that the man who spoke and acted like a

40:40

Christian 10 years ago, but you wouldn't have any idea today, in fact, he curses God. You couldn't say that that man is in the kingdom of heaven.

40:49

That he's part of the kingdom. And yet it's

40:55

God who preserves us. It's God who truly preserves us. He causes us to endure to the end.

41:03

Those who are truly saved. It's kind of like our modern idiom.

41:09

If you're going to talk the talk, you better walk the walk. That's what James is saying in a way here.

41:17

Merely speaking like you're going to do the right thing is as worthless as merely hearing the Word. Where is the action?

41:27

Just because Christ fulfilled the law impeccably on our behalf, that does not give us the right to transgress it.

41:37

Christ saved us from our lawlessness and not to simply remove the penalty of our lawlessness, but to allow us not to be lawless anymore.

41:51

And I really think much of this passage shows the continuity of the moral law to Christians.

41:59

It's much like the exodus and Passover which is being celebrated this week,

42:07

Passover. So think about it. God redeemed His people in Exodus 6.

42:14

Then He applies the benefits of the Lamb of God in Exodus 12.

42:22

And finally in Exodus 20, God reveals His law to the people. So He gives grace.

42:29

He gives deliverance. He saves them. He applies the blood of the Lamb to them. And then

42:35

He gives them the law at Mount Sinai. Grace and law. Now with His church,

42:43

God redeems His people. He applies the blood of the spotless Lamb to their account, the spotless

42:51

Lamb of Christ to us. And then in the new covenant, He puts His law upon our hearts.

42:57

According to Hebrews 10 and Jeremiah 31, now the law is within us, that we may observe it.

43:04

We don't need to go to a mountain and hear the law anymore. He's put it on our hearts.

43:12

That is, we received an exodus from sin. We received deliverance from our bondage and slavery to sin and the effects of it.

43:27

And Christ especially emphasized that as He gave His doctrine. The correct understanding of God's law in the

43:34

Sermon on the Mount. Not in the way the Pharisees or Judean leaders taught it.

43:40

Our Lord gave us grace, and now the law is in our hearts. The text says, so speak and act as those who are to be judged.

43:53

Those who are to be judged by the law of liberty. He's writing to Christians. What does

43:58

He mean? Judged? Judged by the law of liberty? That leads us to this question.

44:06

Is just the wicked going to be judged? Or are all people going to be judged?

44:12

Okay? Will we be judged by the Mosaic law or will we be judged by the law of liberty as He puts it?

44:21

Now this isn't exactly a sermon on the day of judgment, but let me give you some information to explain what

44:28

James is saying here. First, we know according to Acts 17, it says that God has appointed a day where Jesus Christ will come and judge the living and the dead.

44:43

Christ will come and judge everyone. And it says in John 5,

44:49

He says, the process of judgment has been given to me from the Father. Jesus has the judicial authority.

44:59

He will be the one handling judgment on that final day. So on that day when

45:07

Christ is judge of all, judging the living and the dead, it says that apostate or fallen angels will be judged.

45:16

Demons, fallen angels will be judged. We know that. It also says all people who have ever lived upon this earth, let me explain, 2

45:28

Corinthians 5, verse 10 clarifies this as it says on that day, it says, for we,

45:36

Paul's writing to Christians, he says, for we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ so that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body according to what he has done, whether good or bad.

45:50

And again, in Romans 14, 10, he says, we will all stand before the judgment seat of God.

45:58

We will all stand before the judgment seat of God. And again, in verse 14, so then each one of us, he's talking about all of them.

46:10

He's talking about the Roman church. He says, so each one of us will give an account of himself to God.

46:17

That is interesting. All the thoughts, words and deeds, whether good or bad, will be looked at, the

46:25

Bible says. Jesus says, wheat and tares or believers and unbelievers will be present on that day.

46:34

Our confession actually highlights the Scriptures and speaks to this very thing.

46:40

Our 1689 London Baptist Confession of Faith, if you go to section 32, you can read about the day of judgment and all the

46:48

Scripture passages that are pulled out because of it. Part two of section 32 of our confession says this, the purpose of God's appointing this day is for the manifestation of the glory of His mercy as seen in the eternal salvation of the elect and also

47:08

His justice in the eternal damnation of the reprobate who are wicked and disobedient.

47:15

Then shall the righteous go into everlasting life and receive that fullness of joy and glory with everlasting reward in the presence of the

47:23

Lord. But the wicked who know not God and obey not the

47:28

Gospel of Jesus Christ shall be cast aside into everlasting torments. And it goes on.

47:34

So although it will be a fearful day for all, just because of the holiness of our

47:41

God, the Scriptures say the saints will be able to stand on that day. I wanna freely say,

47:48

I don't know exactly what that's gonna look like, but I just read to you the Scripture. The Scripture says we will all give an account, okay?

47:56

But we're found in Christ, okay? We're in Christ. And so what does that exactly look like?

48:05

I couldn't give you a definitive answer. I really looked into it. It's very interesting.

48:13

All will be present on that day, and in at least some respect, we will give an answer for what we've done, except Christ comes in and says paid in full.

48:26

Done, complete. The Scriptures say the saints will be able to stand on that day.

48:34

They will not be crippled under the shame and guilt of sin because Jesus bore those. But to James's point, to some extent, although redeemed, all will give an account.

48:46

And honestly, this should deter us from continuing in sin as God's elect.

48:53

I don't know about you, but I want nothing more to be added to my account that I may have to give as a son to the

48:59

Father. And that's the way I see it. That's the way I see it is, as a son to the

49:05

Father, we will give an account, and yet it says also that the heavenly reward will be given to us.

49:13

So on that day, it'll be known that Christ imputed His righteousness to us.

49:19

God will then see only the righteousness of Son upon our account. Our accounts by His perfect justice have been wiped clean.

49:27

And on that day, the reward will be given. And if you look into that too,

49:33

I don't think there's levels of rewards. Okay, the Bible doesn't really talk about some people will get better rewards or anything like that.

49:43

Think about it. What could be a higher reward? What could you add on top of an eternity with the

49:50

Lord God Almighty? There's nothing you can add to it. The reward is the heavenly inheritance that we have in Christ.

49:59

So He will administer that to you on that day. On that day. Christ paid our penalty.

50:08

He bore our judgment upon Himself, but the law has been written on our hearts. James the fiery preacher would say, what are you doing with it?

50:15

What are you doing with it? There's that phrase again, it says the law of liberty.

50:23

I have explained it before, but I'll touch on it again. Back to that Exodus example, the giving of the law of liberty is not the beginning of more bondage, but freedom.

50:37

But freedom. The giving of the law of liberty marks our deliverance from bondage to sin.

50:44

Our observance of the law, including loving your neighbor as yourself, is not meriting anything.

50:52

Okay? Loving your neighbor as yourself will not gain you anything.

50:58

It's purely the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ. Meritorious obedience will earn us nothing.

51:04

That is working for type obedience. As redeemed people, we have what's called responsive obedience.

51:13

So there's meritorious obedience, trying to earn salvation. Then there's responsive obedience, responding to the fact that God has saved us, and we respond with gratitude, with love, that we want to be like our

51:28

Lord. We want to be like Him. That He saved us, and we now want to observe

51:34

His statutes. We want to do what He has said. We are liberated from the penalty of sin to do the law out of love.

51:47

So to the unregenerate, the law is a curse, and shows them their sin.

51:53

But to us, it is freedom. People all around us are seeking to be free, but all their efforts outside of Christ lead them into more bondage.

52:05

Okay? Think about that. All around us, people are diving more and more into more slavery, more slavery, more bondage.

52:16

There are those who say they want to remove the shackles of biblical sexuality. Take it off me.

52:22

I want to be free. I want to be more free. And what do they do? They do false augmentation.

52:30

They do castration, removal of body parts. And what do the statistics show?

52:37

People who do that, men who dress like women, and women who dress like men and change their bodies are far more likely, much more likely to commit suicide after that.

52:48

Are you telling me that's more free? That's not more free. That's more slavery. One statistic actually

52:56

Dax shared with me is that someone who goes through a sex change as a transgender, they are more likely to commit suicide than someone awaiting the gas chamber in Auschwitz.

53:10

People were committing suicide all the time, getting ready to enter the gas chamber, and people who are transgender are more likely, according to that statistic, to do that themselves.

53:25

You tell me, does that sound more free? Did they remove the shackles of biblical sexuality? No, they did not.

53:32

They bring themselves into more slavery. Men who lay with men chase the more deviant high.

53:41

It's more slavery. The people who cry that they want more money from the government to buy more things and experience more financial freedom become virtual debtors to credit cards in a tyrannical social government that controls what they do.

53:59

They're in more bondage, more slavery. This isn't freedom. Those who want more joy find themselves to be in bondage to their new gods, their new idols, entertainment, pornography, drugs, you name it.

54:14

True freedom, listen to this, church. True freedom is living in the fullest what it means to be made in the image of God.

54:23

Glorifying God and enjoying Him forever. That is the fullest extent of who we are as image bearers.

54:30

And I love what J .A. Motyer says. He says this, listen to this. We are in the image of God and the law is in the image of God.

54:39

So when men and women made in the image of God, then in the freedom of Christ perform the law of God made in His image, then you have in the fullest sense the image of God in you.

54:54

When you do what God commands as an image bearer in the freedom of Christ, you have then become in the fullest way in the image of God of who you are to be, what you're supposed to be.

55:09

And that's where you're truly free. That's where you're truly free. James finishes up saying, for judgment will be merciless to one who has shown no mercy.

55:23

Mercy triumphs over judgment. Judgment will be without mercy, compassion, or pity to one who has given no mercy, compassion or pity.

55:36

He is saying, you want mercy, but you don't give it to your neighbor. You want mercy, but you don't give it out.

55:46

In their partiality, it says that they have become judges with wicked motives and showed no mercy to the poor man.

55:56

And by the way, this is not saying that mercy can give us buying power, okay? Someone might read this and go, for judgment will be merciless to one who has shown no mercy.

56:05

They might go, okay, as long as I keep showing mercy to people, God will give me mercy.

56:11

It's a give and then I'll receive mercy. No, it's purely by the grace of Jesus Christ that we receive mercy.

56:19

We don't understand mercy then if we think that by giving more, we're gonna get more.

56:26

Okay? We can't think that way. A Christian showing mercy is evidence of the work of Christ in us.

56:37

One of the greatest attributes to reflect what the Lord has done in us is compassion and mercy.

56:43

And I honestly think one of the best stories that highlights this is the parable of the unforgiving servant. So if you wanna turn there with me, turn to Matthew 18, 23 through 35.

56:53

We're gonna read it all real quick. And we're almost done. Matthew 18, 23 through 35.

57:02

We're gonna read the whole parable almost. 18,

57:09

Matthew 18, 23 through 35. Jesus says, for this reason, the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who wished to settle accounts with his slaves.

57:22

Then he had begun to settle them. One who owed him 10 ,000 talents was brought to him.

57:29

Do you remember, real quick, do you remember the story of the king? Do you remember when I talked about last year in a sermon what the 10 ,000 talents, what that would amount to today?

57:37

It would be billions and trillions of dollars. Jesus is saying an amount that no one could ever pay, okay?

57:44

All right, keep going. But since he did not have the means to repay, his

57:50

Lord commanded this slave to be sold along with his wife and children and all that he had in repayment to be made.

57:57

So the slave fell to the ground and prostrated himself before him, saying, have patience with me and I will repay you everything.

58:06

And the Lord of that slave felt compassion and released him and forgave him the debt.

58:12

But that slave went out and found one of his fellow slaves who owed him 100 denarii. Guys, this is maybe 100 days worth of work compared to an infinite amount no one could ever pay.

58:23

This is such a difference. So the slave who has been forgiven of all his debt, he goes to another slave and goes, you owe me 100 denarii.

58:33

And it says, and he seized him and began to choke him saying, pay back what you owe.

58:40

So his fellow slave fell to the ground and began to plead with him, saying, have patience with me,

58:47

I will repay you. But the one slave was unwilling and went and threw him in the prison until he should pay back what was owed.

58:55

So when his fellow slaves saw what had happened, they were deeply grieved and came and reported to their

59:01

Lord all that had happened. Then summoning him, the Lord said to him, you wicked slave,

59:08

I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me. Should you not also have had mercy on your fellow slave in the same way that I had mercy on you?

59:19

And his Lord moved with anger, handed him over to the torturers until he should repay all that was owed to him.

59:26

And Jesus then comes out of the parable and says, my heavenly Father will also do the same to you if each one of you does not forgive his brother from your heart.

59:36

So church, God has shown us such mercy and grace. How could we hold it back from those who plead for it?

59:45

How could we hold it back? We are the ones with debt that we could never pay for a lifetime, for all eternity.

59:53

And God forgave us that debt in Christ. And then we go to our brothers and sisters in our church, or we go to family members and we grab them by the neck and we shake them and say, you give me the 100 denarii that you owe me.

01:00:09

We can't do that. We can't do that. That is not showing the mercy that Christ has shown us.

01:00:20

We would then be like the unmerciful slave too. So we forgive.

01:00:27

How could we, how could I hold anything against someone in this church, something that Christ has died for?

01:00:37

I'm saying then, in reality, that Christ didn't pay for a sin. If someone offends me,

01:00:44

I say, Christ didn't really pay for that. You owe Christ in full. You owe me in full. We can't do that. So the good news is, as James says, mercy triumphs over judgment.

01:00:56

And this will be our joyous declaration on that day of judgment I told you about. It says, all will give an account.

01:01:04

And I think on that day, we will all say, mercy triumphs over judgment.

01:01:12

Though Christ is the law giver and stumbled not once in it, He became the ultimate law breaker for us as though He stumbled in every point, because we did, because we did.

01:01:26

Justice demands condemnation should be dealt out, but Christ satisfied justice on that wonderful day.

01:01:36

It was mercy that led to a scourging and whipping that left Jesus unidentifiable.

01:01:43

It was mercy that gave Him enough strength to carry that heavy blood -soaked cross up to Calvary.

01:01:52

It was mercy that caused Him to endure long metal nails hammered into His hands and feet.

01:02:01

It was for mercy that He hung on that cross as a spectacle to man mocked, shamed, and scorned.

01:02:09

Suffocating in His crucifixion. That's what they say about crucifixion is there's asphyxiation, they suffocate.

01:02:19

They actually don't get enough oxygen in their lungs. So while Christ is hanging with a nail between His ankles and His arms up like this,

01:02:31

He's losing oxygen in His lungs, and to be able for Christ to get a breath, He has to drag

01:02:36

His legs down to breathe, and then He comes back down. It's just complete torture, torture.

01:02:48

It was for mercy's sake that He did that. It was for mercy that He did not yield His Spirit until the very last drop of wrath was poured out on Him by the

01:02:58

Father. And at the right time, mercy triumphed over judgment as He said, to tell us die, it is finished.

01:03:07

And then that glorious day that we commemorate today, death died that day.

01:03:14

Jesus died so that you may never die. He rose again that you may rise again.

01:03:24

He received a glorified body so that you will receive a glorified body, my friends.

01:03:30

But this is only the beginning of grace for us. Who knew such a display of mercy would be the first of many mercies to come?

01:03:41

That every time we fail in this Christian walk, there'd be new mercies every morning for us.

01:03:50

He gives us mercy so He says do the same, do the same. Observe the royal law, show no partiality, be full of mercy towards others.

01:04:01

So now we await the day when there will be those judged by the law in its fullness and holiness, or judged by the law of liberty, which will end in well done, good and faithful servant, come enter into the joy of your master.

01:04:19

Let's pray for that end. Father, please bless the message that went out.

01:04:26

Thank you, Lord, for your word that it always, Lord, it cuts to the heart of what we're going through.

01:04:35

Lord, it exposes sin rightfully. But most of all, Lord, it doesn't simply just expose sin, it gives us a way out.

01:04:44

It shows us how we ought to live, how we ought to look as redeemed people bought by the blood of the

01:04:50

Lamb. Lord, we don't fully know what that day will look like, that day of judgment.

01:04:57

But all we know is that Christ paid our penalty in full, that He imputed

01:05:02

His righteousness to us, and that we don't have a fearful expectation of that day.

01:05:09

In fact, it says we will be able to stand on that day, confident in what Jesus has done.

01:05:16

So Lord, we don't look to that day with fear, we look to that day with gratitude and excitement.

01:05:24

Lord, that you will do all things right as the judge of the earth. So Lord, thank you for this day.

01:05:32

Thank you for this Lord's day and a reminder of the resurrection, a reminder of our salvation.