Introduction to the Book of James- Part 2

All right. Turn your Bibles tonight to

Acts, Chapter one. I know that's a little bit

different maybe than what you expect when we're talking about

the book of James. We'll get there, but I want to,

I want to start here tonight and we'll see how far we get.

I've got a lot of notes. I I think probably more than

what I'm going to get through tonight, but I want to, I want

to just go back and kind of just really quickly review.

We talked about the author of the book of James and by way of

review do you remember how many we said how many James is there

are in the Bible? Three technically.

All right. And I know I listed a fourth one

I said depends on which version of the Bible you're using.

And but it obviously we believe the King James and that is the

final authority. And in Acts chapter one and

verse #13 it says and when they were come in they went up into

an upper room where abode both Peter and James and John that's

James the brother of Jesus and Andrew, Phillip and Thomas

Bartholomew and Matthew. James the son of Alpheus and

Simon Zelottis and Judas the brother of James.

So that's the James now that it's in.

In the other versions it says Judas, the son of James.

And that's where the confusion comes in.

But I wanted to make sure that I was clear on this to you.

We got home last week and my wife was saying I was still

confused. It said the son of and I said,

well, I was just putting that there because that's what it

says in a lot of the other versions and they're wrong.

It says the brother of James. In both passages where it's

mentioned, one of them is in Luke chapter six that says Judas

the brother of James. And then in Acts chapter one it

says the same thing, Judas, the brother of James.

Now I the conclusion that I came to when I was studying on.

Maybe I didn't make this clear last week when we are talking

about it, but it says James, the son of Alpheus and Simon

Zelottis, and Judas the brother of James.

My inclination is that it's just talking about James, the son of

Alpheus. Why at college him James, the

son of Alpheus, He's probably the oldest and and and Judas was

then the brother of James, probably the son of Alpheus as

well. It's not very clear.

That's the only two passages that were given where where his

name is mentioned as the brother of James.

But if you look at the context of the passage, which is

important for us to do, then it sure looks like Judas, the

brother of James would be James. The sin of Alfias.

That that's talked about it, we're not.

They're going to spend a lot of time, not going to spend anymore

time talking about the author of the Book of James.

I believe the author of the Book of James is the one that we find

all the way throughout the rest of the Scripture, pretty much.

And that's James, the brother of Jesus.

And obviously for a lot of different reasons that we talked

about. But what I want to jump into

tonight is talking about the canonicity of the book of James.

And you can, I want to look at a lot of verses.

So maybe what you want to do and and actually what I'm going to

end up doing is really just giving you a lot of these

verses. What I want to do is give a

pretty detailed overview of the book of James and then we're

going to do kind of a general study of the Book of James

basically meaning that I'm not going to go through every single

verse, I'm going to take passages in the book once we

start going through it. But I want you to get a very

good understanding of what the book of James is about.

And honestly our in that overview we're going to really

look at a lot of details and different things about the book

of James to give you an idea of what we're studying before we

actually get into the to studying the book itself.

But mostly we're going to be in the book of James tonight.

But I wanted you to start there and Acts, because we're going to

get there in in just a little bit.

But the canonicity of the book of James and canonicity refers

to the inclusion of the books in the Bible.

The the Canon are the 66 books that we find in the Old and the

New Testament. How many books are in the Old

Testament? Say it if you know it, 39.

How many books are in the New Testament?

27 All right, 39 + 27 = 66 And so that makes up the Canon of

scripture. One of the things, and we

haven't gotten to it yet, but we're going to in the in the the

Teen Sunday School class is canonicity.

How did they decide which books belong in the Bible and which

ones don't? It's pretty obvious that Paul

wrote some other letters that never made it into the Bible.

The Bible refers to other writings and things like that

that never made it into the Bible.

So how did they decide which ones were part of the cannon and

which ones were not? Part of the cannon was a very

rigorous test that it had to go through to prove or disprove

their divine inspiration. And obviously God promised that

he was going to preserve his words.

So I believe we have all 66 books that God wanted us to

have. I don't believe we're missing

any, and I don't think we have any that shouldn't be in there.

God promised that he was going to preserve his word.

He certainly could have given the the wisdom to those who were

going through that canonization process to help them figure that

out. But when it comes to the book of

James, really the the brevity being a shorter book and the

limited doctrinal emphasis of James really kept it from wide

circulation early on. There was a there was, there was

a lot of. I don't know if confusion is the

right word, but a lot of question as to who the author

was. And so by the time they actually

came to the conclusion and and came to the acceptance really by

the whole church that that this was a book that belonged in the

Canon, by that time they weren't sure who the author was.

And so it's a pretty interesting a pretty interesting little

situation there. But John Gill, he is he is one

of the older commentators. I lived in the 1800s not too

long after Matthew Henry. But John Gill said this Eusebius

and I have the quote up there with and it's.

I know it's kind of hard to see but maybe you can try to follow

along. Eusebius and a lot of these guys

are are are the early church leaders those who are who are

the leaders in the church in the 1st and 2nd and 3rd century.

Yusebius, who was who lived from about 265 to 340, indeed says

that has been accounted spurious by some, and that not many of

the ancient writers had made mention of it.

But he himself said that it was publicly read in most churches,

and certain it is that some very early writers have respect unto

it. I Renaeus manifestly referred to

it, and so does Tertullian, and it is expressly mentioned by

origin among the canonical the the Canononical Books of

Scripture. The objections against it are of

no weight, which are taken from the seeming disagreement between

the apostle Paul and the writer of this epistle concerning the

doctrine of justification, and from his calling the law the

perfect law of liberty, and the insisting so much on the

doctrine of works. All which will be seen to be

agreeable to the other parts of Scripture, and easily reconciled

with them. Nor is there anything in it

unworthy of an apostle. So John Gill and many of these

others he mentioned Eusebius, Irenaeus, Tertullian origin

others that, that that automatically and and very early

on referred to the book of James as one of the books of the Bible

and as being a book that was written by an apostle.

So the canonicity of the book of James #4 let's well you're there

in in Acts Chapter 5. We'll we'll we'll be there in

Acts 5 · chapter mention

just a second but let's let's switch back over real quick to

the book of James and look at James chapter one.

I want you to see this and and the reason I had you in act is

because I want to show you a couple things that relate to the

date and the recipients here But but to give us a jumping off

spot as it as it relates to this we need to look at James chapter

one because the Bible there says and James says to the 12 tribes

which are scattered abroad greeting now that refers to the

Jewish believers in Christ. The 12 tribes that were

scattered abroad they were not gentiles.

There were no gentiles that were part of those tribes.

So we very obviously writing to Jewish believers who are

scattered abroad because of the persecution that we read about

chapter 8. And what a great thing.

I mean you nobody wants to go through persecution.

But every time we see persecution happening, the

church grows and the church grows stronger.

Because what happens when persecution hits is number one,

they can't stay in that area if they value their life.

So they leave, but they don't give up on Christianity.

They leave. And as they leave, they take

Christianity with them and it spreads.

So what James is talking about when he says to the 12 tribes

scattered abroad, he's talking about those Jewish Christians,

those who were Jewish but had accepted Jesus Christ as their

savior and then were scattered because of that persecution.

So this, the entire epistle of James has a very strong Jewish

flavor and it's very fitting for the early period in church

history when the center of Christianity was still at

Jerusalem. And you read all the way through

the book of Acts. You can see that Paul and

Barnabas were sent from Jerusalem.

Many, many other, a lot of things were centered there in

Jerusalem and spread out from there.

But James was the leader of the church there at Jerusalem.

And so it it makes very much sense that Jerusalem being not

the capital, but but basically the capital of Israel.

And actually we recognize Jerusalem as the capital of

Israel. Tel Aviv is the capital.

But you remember at one of the things that Donald Trump did

when he was the president is to recognize Jerusalem as the

capital, which is what they've been trying to do for many, many

years. And and so they, they really

have two capitals now. But there's also, there's no

reference to slavery or idolatry, which we wouldn't have

seen during that time, which would also lend itself to an

originally Jewish readership. It was Jews that would have been

reading that letter and made very obvious by the fact that it

was to the 12 tribes that were scattered abroad.

But they, the Jewish believers, were facing things that were

testing their faith, and James was concerned that they were

succumbing to that bitterness and impatience and materialism

and disunity and spiritual apostasy and a lot of other

things that were coming up. And so as a leader in the church

at Jerusalem, James no doubt had a lot of contact with Jewish

Christians from a number of the Roman provinces.

Now we talked about Judaism, and we're talking about Roman right?

Jewish is the the religion if you will and the nationality.

Roman was the government that was the one that the the Romans

were the oppressors at that time.

And so you know if you start to think about it from that

perspective and you think about all the things that happened

during the time of Jesus crucifixion and everything that

was going on during that time with the with the Jews who were

shouting crucifying, crucifying, they would have already killed

him if they had the authority to do that they had to get pilots

authority. Pilot was a Roman leader.

He was, he was the government, OK.

The Jews had had, had, had authority, if you will, in

religious matters, but you couldn't put somebody to death

for religious reasons. So they had to try to do all of

these other things to try to get Pilot to condemn Jesus to death.

And Pilot didn't necessarily condemn him, but he wiped his

hands and said he's you do with him what you want.

Basically gave them permission to have the governmental

authority to do whatever they wanted to do with Jesus at that

point. But that they that would have

given James a sense of responsibility to exhort and

encourage them in their struggles in the faith.

Now this is really interesting because James is is very

possibly the very first of the new testimony pistols.

And there's a couple reasons for that.

Number one, it appears that it's was written before or at least

around the time that Paul and Barnabas were sent out by the

church at Antioch to establish the Gentile churches.

And and it was would have definitely then have been before

all of palsy pistols. And there's a couple reasons for

that. There's no mention of any of the

Gentile Christians. And we'll see this.

And honestly, I think it would be a very helpful thing if

sometime this week you read through the book of James and

just kind of get a feel for the book.

It would literally take you probably 15 minutes to read

through the entire book, start to finish, maybe maybe 20.

It's only 5 chapters in the book of James.

And if you took three or 4 minutes per chapter, you get

through it pretty quickly. But it would give you a great

overview of what of what we're talking about here with this

book. But there's no mention of the

Gentile Christians. There's no mention of their

relationship to the Jewish Christians that we might expect

from an epistle that would that was written later.

But for a lot of years, the churches were composed almost

entirely of converted Jews and Gentile Jewish proselytes.

The mother church at Jerusalem was a Jewish church.

The 3000 that were saved on the day of Pentecost.

We're Jewish and the multitudes that were added to the Jerusalem

church later were Jews And we read that in in Acts chapter 5.

Acts 5 · chapter mention

In fact go back there and and we see that in Acts chapter 5 where

Acts 5 · chapter mention

we read that whole story about all the things that were

happening. But I want you to look at Acts

Acts 6 · chapter mention

chapter 6 and look at verse #7 because this, I mean this makes

it very clear and and a lot of times we don't think about this

when we're reading in the book of Acts but they were Jewish and

and you have to think that it was not all that long, number

one, since since Christ had gone back to heaven.

But number two since they had done all of their sacrifices and

everything else. A lot of them were still doing

that right. They still had all the

priesthood. They still had all of those

things. And we, we read in Acts chapter

Acts 6 · chapter mention

6 in verse number 7, and the word of God increased and the

number of the disciples multiplied in Jerusalem, which

would have been Jewish in Jerusalem greatly.

And a great company of the priests were obedient to the

faith. I mean, who's the priest?

They're not Gentiles, right? Those, they're all Jewish.

All of those people that were being added to the church were

Jews. And so, apart from the

references to the person of Christ, there's basically no

distinctive theology in the book of James, which would again

would suggest an early date when Christianity was just viewed as

as Messianic Judaism, if you will, Jews who still followed a

lot of the traditions and the laws and everything else, but

who had put their faith and trust in Jesus Christ as the

Messiah. A lot of these other doctrines

hadn't started springing up yet that needed to be addressed.

It was very early on. And so the allusions to the

teachings of Christ have have such little verbal agreement

with the Gospels that they probably were that this book was

probably even written before the Gospels were written.

In other words, we don't find phrases that match up because

James was probably written before all of the synoptic

gospels were written. So when I say that James was

probably the first epistle, it was probably written before all

of Matthew, Mark, Luke, John Acts all the way through the

rest of the the New Testament. And so James and in fact, turn

over, turn back to James. Now we're going to kind of stay

there. All right, We'll move around a

little bit, but mostly we'll stay in the book of James

because this is pretty interesting and we're going to

talk about this later. I don't know if we'll get to it

tonight or not, but James uses the Greek word for synagogue and

it's actually it's the the Greek word is actually very close in

pronunciation to our word for synagogue.

Now in James chapter 2 and verse #2 it's actually translated

James 2 · chapter mention

assembly, for if they're come unto your assembly, a man with a

gold ring and goodly apparel and they're come in also a poor man

and vile Raymond. Basically what he's talking

about in the whole passage is to not be a respecter of persons.

But he's used, he uses that term synagogue and James Chapter 2.

James 2 · chapter mention

And James is in fact the only New Testament epistle that uses

the Greek word for synagogue, which again, it really gives us

an indication. James does use the word church

too, by the way, which we'll talk about a little bit later.

But it really indicates a very simple organization of elders

and masters or teachers, which we find a James chapter 3, James

James 3 · chapter mention James 5 · chapter mention

chapter 5, but it's patterned after the early synagogue, and

that's what a synagogue was, by the way.

We have this understanding that a synagogue was a church.

A synagogue was not a a a church.

A synagogue was literally a place for assembly.

Now they would get up in the synagogues and they would read

from the scrolls. They would read the scripture in

the synagogues. But the synagogues were used for

all kinds of different things. When when the, when the Bible

talks about Paul would go into their synagogues and and teach.

Right. It was just an assembly place

that it was. It was a place that they would

get to. A lot of these little cities had

their own synagogue there. And that's where they would get

together to talk about things that need to be addressed for

their, for their city or for all kinds of different matters.

They would get together and they would read the scriptures in

those synagogues. But it was just an assembly

place. And so the fact that James is

using this word, assembly, but the Greek word for synagogue

means that that that the organization of the church

probably hadn't even really taken place very much yet.

I mean, obviously they were, they were gathering in church,

you had the church at Jerusalem and everything else.

So I'm not saying that the church was not established by

that point. It was, but it was just a very

basic organization. That's probably why James used

that word, assembly or synagogue.

But James does not mention the issue that was involved in Acts

Acts 15 · chapter mention

Chapter 15. Remember we read that last week,

Acts chapter 15 was the whole issue where all of them got

Acts 15 · chapter mention

together. And then James said, all right,

here's my decision. This is what we're going to go

with. This is what I believe got a

saying, but he did. That was in a D49 and he didn't

even mention that at all in his book, which again is very

possibly because it was written before that.

So he. I mean that it doesn't mean that

he had to, but he almost certainly would have addressed

that if he had written his epistle after that council had

taken place. So lots of things there to talk

to, to give us kind of an idea that number one, it was

addressed to the Jews. And of all of the books in the

New Testament, James is by far the most Jewish book.

It it references a lot of Jewish ideas and Jewish things, which

we'll talk about as we go through there.

But then also the fact that James was probably the very

first book of the New Testament that was written.

So then let's get into this, the theme of the book of James.

We're going to spend a little while in here and I want to give

you a lot of different verses and things and and some of

these, I'm just going to give you the verses.

You can write them down and go back and look at them later.

I think it'll be a very helpful study for you.

But we just don't have time to go through every single one of

these verses. But as I study the book of

James, I I think there there's quite a few concepts, but

there's really two main themes. And if I could narrow it down to

one specific theme and then one general theme, the the specific

theme of the book is active faith, not just professing

faith. And we find that really if if

we're going to wrap that up into one verse, it would be in James

chapter one and verse #22. But be doers of the word and not

hearers, only deceiving your own selves.

Verse 23 we can add in there as well, For if any be a hearer of

the word and not a doer, he's like unto a man beholding his

natural face in a glass. So then as now, there were a lot

of professing Christians whose life matched nothing with what

the profession ought to lead to. So that theme verse, I think it

with this specific theme in mind, would be James chapter one

and verse 22. But the main theme of James's

epistle is really to bring the individual believers and the

churches into spiritual maturity.

And there's a lot of concepts that James gives us to talk

about that. But the word perfect appears six

times in the book of James and and and we'll just look at one

of them, James chapter one of verse #4.

But let patients have her perfect work.

What is perfect mean? Complete, right, Mature.

And so when we're talking about the idea that James is trying to

bring them into maturity, he's not saying that they're going to

be perfect in the sense of sinless perfection or any of

those other things. What he's talking about with

perfection is maturity. And he uses that word 6 times.

James chapter one. You can write these down if you

want to, and this is what I'm saying.

I'm gonna give you some of these references.

You can go back and look at them.

But James chapter one and verse 4, verse #17, Every good gift

and every perfect gift. James.

James one. Verse 25.

James two and verse 22. And James chapter 3 and verse 2.

James 3 · chapter mention

For in many things we offend all, if any man offend.

Not in Word the same as a perfect man and able also the

bride of the whole body. Perfect doesn't mean that he's

sinless, but he's mature and he's maturing into that complete

man and that complete Christian that God wants us to be.

So the word defined in James chapter one and verse #4 that we

read that she may be perfect an entire wanting nothing.

It literally means that it means mature or complete.

So we see the same thing in Second Timothy chapter 3, verse

2 Timothy 3 · chapter mention

#17. Now obviously that's not the

theme with our book, but that the man of God may be perfect,

thoroughly furnished until all good works.

That perfection is talking about maturity or completion.

So James is concerned that those who profess Christ go on into

spiritual maturity, and and this epistle contains a lot of

lessons on how that can be accomplished.

James wrote this epistle, the epistle really because of the

low spiritual condition of the Jewish churches of that day.

They they claim to be Christians, but their lives were

not backing up the fact that they had accepted Jesus Christ.

And what James is saying with all of that is your works ought

to prove that you're a Christian.

And so there's a lot of unholiness and worldliness and

respect the persons and bragging and self seeking and cursing and

fainting in persecution. So many of those things that

were going on. And James is calling God's

people to spiritual growth and maturity, to holiness and

separation. And he's writing to prepare

them. Ultimately, he's writing to

prepare them for the imminent return of Jesus Christ.

He said he's coming and you better be ready for his coming.

But if you're going to be ready for his coming, then you better

be holy. You better be righteous.

You better be mature. You better be complete.

So with that, fine. I want to look at the major

teachings of the Epistle of James that really are designed

to fulfill the overall theme of bringing the Brethren to

maturity. And the first one we see is

this. It's the character of God, the

character of God. James wants the believers to

turn their attention to God, to be mindful of him in their daily

lives, to know his character, to draw night to him, to submit to

him, to humble themselves before him, to be God's friend like the

Bible says Abraham was. So it's is this this epistle,

and even though it's only 5 chapters, it's just permeated

with teaching about God. I'm just going to give you a

bunch of them here. You can write these down and go

back and look at them later if you want to.

I've got a whole list of them, and without taking the time to

go all the way through it, but we're taught that God.

In fact, let's just look at a couple of them.

James, chapter one, right there in verse #1.

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

Now what does that tell you? James, a servant of God and of

the Lord Jesus Christ. What's that an indication of?

Yeah, number one, that Jesus is God #2.

That obviously God the Father and God the Son are equal,

Right? Gives you a great indication of

the Trinity. Right Now he doesn't mention the

Holy Spirit in there, but if there's two, then obviously

there's there's a third. And he talks about it later on.

But we're taught that that God and the Lord Jesus Christ are

two and yet one. And that refers to the Trinity,

right? James Chapter one and verse

five. If any of you like wisdom, let

him ask of God that giveth to all men liberally.

James, chapter One, verse 6. But let him ask in faith nothing

wavering. For he that wavereth is like a

wave of the sea driven with the wind and toss.

For let not that man think that he shall receive anything of the

Lord. So God requires unwavering

faith. Verse 12.

Blessed is the man that endureth temptation, For when he's tried,

he shall receive the crown of life which the Lord hath

promised to them that love him so.

God promised a crown of life, and he goes on and on and on and

on and on and on with the idea of the character of God.

I'm going to give you the list. All right.

I don't have time to go through every one of these verses,

because we'd be here for a while.

But God cannot be tempted with evil.

He does not tempt anybody with evil.

James, chapter One and verse 13. God is the author of every good

and perfect gift. James 117.

God is the Father. James 117.

James 127. James 39.

God is the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness,

neither shadow of turning. James 117 God begets believers

by his word. In James 118 God sees and is

concerned with what men do. In James 127 God is the judge of

every man. In James chapter 2 and verse 12

James 2 · chapter mention

there is one God, James two and verse 19.

He says in that in that verse thou believest that there is one

God thou doest. Well, the devils also believe in

tremble. That's an interesting passage.

We're going to get to that later on.

James chapter 2 and verse 23. Abraham was God's friend, which

James 2 · chapter mention

teaches us that God will have men as his friends through

redemption. James 317 and 18 God imparts the

fruits of righteousness. God is at enmity with the world

and James 4/4. God resist the proud gives grace

into the humble and James 46. God draws knight to those who

draw knight to him. James 4/8 God will lift up those

who humble themselves before him.

James 410 God is the one lawgiver.

James 412 God is the one who was able to save and to destroy.

James 412 God is in control of man's affairs.

James 415 God is the Lord of Sabbath, who will judge sinners.

James 5 Four God is very pitiful and of tender mercy.

James 511 God hears and answers the prayers of faith.

James 515 through 18 so permeated when I say it's

permeated with the character of God.

Jane and everyone of those passages mentions God or the

Lord as we see as we see it, which obviously he establishes

very, very early on in the very first verse that God and the

Lord Jesus Christ are the same person that he's talking about.

South. The character of God permeates

this entire book. And when we come to know the

character of God, that brings us into spiritual maturity, right?

The way to spiritual maturity, the way to perfect completeness,

is to know God and to know him in an intimate way.

And to know him. I mean, we'll never get to the

point where we understand him or where we know him completely.

But the more we try and the more we study him and the more we

study his character, the more we're going to be like him and

the more that brings us into that maturity that he's talking

about. So the character of God is one

of those things that will bring the brethren to unity.

The second thing is that true faith is evidenced by good

works. Let's look at James Chapter 2.

James 2 · chapter mention

Faith, so-called, that does not produce works, is not saving

faith. That theme is is repeated many

times in the book of James, at least several.

But in chapter one we saw that those who only hear the word of

God and don't obey it, and those who seem to be religious but

don't live that way, are deceived.

He says that very plainly in James chapter one.

And so on the authority of that teaching we can say that there

are multitudes of professing Christians today that are

deceived. He doesn't.

You can go back and look at Matthew where he says that many

will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not

prophesied in that name? And then I name cast out devils,

and then I name done many wonderful works and they'll say

to them I depart from me cursed. I never knew you right.

There's a lot. Just because you profess to be a

Christian does not mean that you are.

That's very plainly taught. And James is taught in Matthew.

But that same theme we see in in chapter 3, James says the man

who has true wisdom. In fact, go to James chapter 3

James 3 · chapter mention

and look at verse #13, who is a wise man and to do with

knowledge among you. Let him show out of a good

conversation, his works with meekness of wisdom.

What is conversation in the Bible?

What's it's not? It's not talking about having a

conversation with somebody. When the Bible uses that word

conversation, what's it talking about?

The lifestyle, right, the way you live your life.

So what he says is let him show out of a good conversation or

out of a good lifestyle, his works with meekness of wisdom.

So he, he again addresses that same theme.

And this theme really is seen in the in the reminders that the

believer has a law to live by. And again, this is where we we

say that this is a very Jewish book in the way that he goes

about it in because we're we're saved by grace without the law,

but we're saved to keep the law, right?

And I'm not talking about the law of Moses, but the new law

that we find in Christ. In fact, this is pretty

interesting to look at. James chapter one and verse 25,

verse 25. And this is the only place in

the Bible that we see this phrase.

But who so looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and

continue with therein. He being not a forgetful here,

but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed,

but the perfect law of liberty. Look at James Shepherd two and

verse eight. He uses another phrase that is

only used in the book of James. James shepherd two and verse 8.

If you fulfill the royal law according to the scripture, thou

shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.

You do well. He calls that the royal law.

We're going to look at the meaning of those terms later on

as we study through this. But the point here is that there

is a law for the Christians to follow, right?

We're not saved to sit or save to serve.

We're not save to live as we please.

We save to please the Savior. We're not saved by those works.

But there ought to be works that show that we are saved.

And that's what that's what he's talking about when his when he

says that true faith or what I'm talking about when I say that

true faith is evidenced by good works.

Another thing that James addresses that really points us

to this idea of maturity as Christians is patience.

In trials. That's the third thing,

patience. In trials, the word patience and

patient we find 7 times in the book of James, James, 13, James,

14, James 57810 and 11. He uses that word patient or

patience. So if he used it once, all

right. But when you use a word seven

times in five chapters, obviously he's trying to get

something across, right? And it's something that we ought

to pay attention to. This is some of the things that

we've been talking about in the Institute class with the men and

the boys, right? Look for those times where you

see more than one word or where you see a word used more than

once. But seven times.

He's trying to get us to understand that we need to have

patience in trials. And honestly, look at James

chapter one of verse #2. He he greets everybody and then

he jumps right into it. My brethren counted all joy.

When you fall into diverse temptations.

He goes all the way through most of that first chapter talking

about that, and then he ends the entire book the same way in

James chapter 5 and verse #10. In fact, if you want to turn

James 5 · chapter mention

over there, take my brethren, the prophets who have spoken in

the name of the Lord for an example of suffering,

affliction, and the patience behold, we count them happy,

which endure. You have heard of the patience

of Job. They have seen the end of the

Lord, that the Lord is very pitiful and of tender mercy.

And he goes on just for a couple more verses, but patience in

temptations, patience in trials. He starts the book that way, and

he ends the ends the book that way.

By the way, we read about all the patience of Job, but we

really don't see that, that phrase anywhere else other than

in the book of James. And that's why we say that Job

is known for his patience. Well, that's where it comes

from. James very plainly says you read

about the patience of Job. That's where it comes from

there. Here's another thing that he

addresses that points us toward the idea and the overall theme

of bringing the Brethren to maturity is living by faith.

Living by faith. James mentions keeping the faith

in trials. In James, chapter one and verse

two and three, he mentioned seeking wisdom by faith.

In verse five and six of chapter one he mentions true faith,

producing works and James Shepherd two and verse 14, all

the way through verse 26 and then the prayer, Faith for the

sick and James, chapter 5, verse 15 and 16.

James 5:15

So living by faith as we live by faith.

And he talked about those ideas in several different passages. 3

out of the five chapters he talked, he addresses living by

faith that will bring us toward maturity as Christians.

Here's another one, the importance in the power of the

word of God. James talks about it in a few

different ways, but in James chapter one and verse #18 of his

own will beget he us with the word of truth, that we should be

a kind of first fruits of his creatures.

He talks about in James chapter one and verse 21, therefore lay

apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness and

receive with meekness. The engrafted word.

Talks about the Bible in that way, talks about in James 1/22

as we already read being doers of the word, We already read in

James 125 the perfect law of Liberty.

He's talking about the importance and the power of the

word of God three times in fact. Let's look at him in James

James 2 · chapter mention

chapter 2 and verse #8. If you fulfill the royal law

according to the scripture verse 23 of James chapter 2 and the

James 2 · chapter mention

scripture was fulfilled with saith, and then in James chapter

James 4 · chapter mention

4 in verse #5 do you think that the scripture sayeth in vain?

So three times James refers to the scripture.

Now here's something that's very important as well or very, very

interesting. I would say James more than I

can't say more than any other book but but mentions the Old

Testament a lot which think about it.

If James was one of the first epistles, one of the first

epistles written, what scripture did James have to go off of?

He had the Old Testament and he had the teachings of Christ,

right? The teachings of Christ would

have been written down somewhere, even though they

hadn't been written necessarily in the book of Matthew, Mark,

Luke and John yet, right? This was written after Christ

had already died. So did they have a recording of

of Jesus's words written down somewhere that they would get up

and read? I I don't know.

The Bible doesn't tell us that all we have is what's recorded

as the words of Christ in the Gospels and in a few other

passages. But James would have been

talking about the Scripture he's been referring to, most likely

the Old Testament and the words of Christ, right?

He. They would have.

They would have been. They would have had the words to

the Sermon on the Mount probably recorded.

It would have had the words to a lot of these times when Jesus

stood and taught. And I mean somebody wrote them

down somewhere because you know, Matthew didn't remember every

word that Jesus Christ said in the Beatitudes and and in the

whole Sermon on the Mount and then from memory give us Matthew

5-6 and seven, Jesus is Sermon on the Mount, right?

So. So more than likely it was

written down somewhere somehow that they would have referred

back to and he certainly would have been referring to those as

Scripture, right? So who knows, Who knows exactly

what he was talking about, But he refers to the Scripture three

times. And then all of these other

times when he's talking about the word of God, it gives us the

importance and the power of the word of God.

Then we also see that James focus on separation from the

world. That's another one of the the

themes that backs up the idea of the maturity of the Brethren,

separation from the world. He he's teaching us the

strictest principle of separation.

Which in fact look at this If you wanted to if you if, if you

think that that you know some of the things that I teach in

preach is is well, it's a little bit extreme.

That might be a little bit more separated.

Look what he says in James chapter one in verse 27, Pure

religion and undefiled before God and the Father.

Is this to visit the fatherless and widows in their infliction

and to keep himself unspotted from the world?

If you get a spot on your clothes, how big of a spot does

it have to be to be a spot? It can be a dot, right?

I mean, a dot is still a spot if you're looking at a spot on your

clothes or something like that. So that means any part of the

world we're supposed to keep ourselves away from.

That means that there's no room for non separation, if you will.

And so he really gives a in fact, look over at James Chapter

James 4 · chapter mention

4. This is a little bit longer of a

passage, but he doesn't hold anything back.

James chapter 4 and verse #4. You adulterers and adulteresses,

James 4 · chapter mention

know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God.

I mean, what when you are doing things that the world does that

goes against what we find in the word of God?

Do you consider yourself to be an adulterer or an adulteress?

Most of us would never go that far, but he he very plainly

says, You're a friend of the world, then you're an adulterer.

Whosoever, therefore will be a friend of the world, is the

enemy of God. That is really, really strong.

Language verse 5. Do you think that the scripture

sayth in vain? The spirit that dwells in us

lusteth to envy? They giveth more grace.

Wherefore God sayth? Wherefore he says, God resists

his the proud, but giveth grace under the humble.

Submit yourselves therefore to God.

Resist the devil and he will flee from you.

Draw a night of God and he will draw a night to you.

Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts.

You double minded, Be afflicted and mourn and weep.

Let your laughter return to mourning and your joy to

happiness. Humble yourselves in the sight

of God and he shall lift you up. I mean, I haven't called you

sinners lately. I haven't called you double

minded lately. I haven't called you adulterers

and adulteresses lately, but he does, right?

That's very pointed language that says separate yourself from

the world if you want to grow in maturity, if you want to grow

into that perfection and that completeness that he wants you

to have, here's another one. Brotherly love James, Chapter 2

James 2 · chapter mention

and verse 8. James quotes Christ's

commandment to love thy neighbor as thyself and he calls it the

royal law. James chapter 2 and verse #8.

James 2 · chapter mention

If you fulfill the royal law according to the scripture, thou

shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.

You do. Well, now by the way, that's

that's a direct quote and Jesus used that, but but it comes from

Leviticus, Leviticus chapter 19. And actually I didn't even

Leviticus 19 · chapter mention

mention this, but in the past, as we just read there in James

James 4 · chapter mention

chapter 4, God resisted the proud, give the grace into the

humble comes from Proverbs chapter 3.

Proverbs 3 · chapter mention

So he's using all of these when he's referring to the Scripture.

A lot of times he's referring to things in the Old Testament, but

that just means one thing. James knew his Bible, he knew

the scriptures and he quoted them and he used it.

But he's talking about the idea of brotherly love, and he

applies that law to a lot of situations, visiting the the

fatherless and the widows in their affliction, creating a

poor brother with the same respect as a rich brother.

We talked about that a little bit in James Chapter 2, Not to

James 2 · chapter mention

have respect to persons. He talks about it when he when

it comes to assisting the needy, not speaking evil of one

another, not holding the grudge, confessing faults, converting a

brother from error. All of those things that he

talks about, our ideas that that flow along, this idea of

brotherly love that all again points, points us and pushes us

toward that maturity. Here's another one that he talks

about that pushes his in that same direction.

Effectual Prayer James teaches about prayer, which is one of

the most important instruments, if you will, of Christian growth

and victory. He teaches about seeking wisdom

by prayer. James chapter One and verse #5.

If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God.

He teaches about failing to obtain from God because of a

lack of prayer. In James chapter 4 and verse #2

James 4 · chapter mention

you lost and have not. You kill and desire to have and

cannot obtain. You fight in war, yet you have

not because you ask not. He talks about asking for the

right things. He asked and received, not

because he asked him this. He talks about praying and

affliction in chapter 5 and verse #13.

Is any of you? Is any among you afflicted?

Let him pray. He talks about praying and

faith. Verse 14.

Is any sick among you? Let him call for the elders of

the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil

in the name of the Lord. Verse 16.

Praying effectually with with, with fervency.

It is the effectual, fervent prayer of a righteous man to

fail as much. James gives the example of

Elijah. In fact, just in verse #17,

Elias was a was a man subject to like passengers we are, and he

prayed earnestly that it might not rain Now that's it, That's

it. That's a really interesting

passage and I want to get off on that.

But you know, we we think that Elijah just walked up to God and

said all right, God don't make it rain for a while and he

walked away. The Bible says and James, that

Elijah prayed earnestly that it would not rain for the space of

three years, that that then brought the rain again as an

encouragement and to teach the power of prayer.

And he he goes again. He prayed again, verse 18, And

the heaven gave rain, and the earth brought forth her fruit.

Brethren, if any of you do air from the truth, and one convert

him, let him know. But he he's he talks about the

idea of effectual prayer and over and over and over you're

not spiritually mature until you know how to pray.

So you know how to get a hold of God.

And so James is is taking this idea of effectual prayer, and he

smatters it all the way throughout the entire book to

help us again to reach that, that completion and that

maturity. 2 more things and we'll be done.

The the, the, the whatever number that is the imminent

return of Christ. We've got to understand and be

ready for the imminent return of Jesus Christ if we're going to

be brought to maturity. But James, Chapter 5 and verse

James 5 · chapter mention

#7, He says, Be patient. Therefore, brethren, under the

coming of the Lord, behold, the husbandman waiteth for the

precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it until

he receive the early and let it rain.

Be also patient, Establish your hearts for the coming of the

Lord, Draweth, and I grudge not one against another, brethren,

unless you be condemned. Behold, the judge standeth

before the door. He's teaching that Christ is

standing before the door. That's an interesting, but I

tell you what, you read the book of James and you read it slowly

trying to grasp what he's saying.

James uses some some wonderful phrases and and that's one.

I mean you just get a picture of exactly what's going on there in

the passage. Behold the judge stand it before

the door. It's talking about Jesus Christ.

He's standing at the door waiting for God to say, all

right, go through the door and and and go right the Second

Coming. They were ready for it all the

way back then. We should how much more should

we be ready for it now? But he's teaching that this

doctrine should change how we as believers live in this present

world. It should produce that patients

in trial like he talks about in James Chapter one.

It should produce the good relationships among the

Brethren. And again, this is one place

that we find only James mentioning this.

But in James chapter one and verse #12, blessed is the man

that endureth temptation. For when he has tried, he shall

receive the crown of life which the Lord had the promise to them

that love me reminds those who are reading that of the crown of

life. He reminds them about Christ's

Kingdom. He reminds them of Christ's

judgment. All of those are pertaining to

the coming of Jesus Christ. And we're not much sure as

Christians until we're ready for the coming of Jesus Christ.

The last one that James addresses as a theme that points

us all to that maturity is the ministry of the body.

And when I say the body, I'm talking about the body of of the

Church, the Body of Christ. James addresses brethren 15 * 15

times. He uses that term.

Brethren, Again, as we talked about in our Institute class,

when you see a word mentioned more than once, but especially

multiple times, then you ought to look and see what it's what

it's there for, what it's around for.

He doesn't address Brethren as individuals, but he's addressing

us as members of a family. The pronouns ye and you are

plural, and 60 times we see ye and you.

In the book of James, and just these five level chapters, James

teaches us that believers are not to live their Christian

lives alone or to live as members of an assembly.

The church is mentioned very specifically in James chapter 5

James 5 · chapter mention

and verse #14. Is any sick among you?

Let him call for the elders of the church and let them pray

over him and over and over and over.

We're instructed to love each other, to provide for one

another, to sow peace among one another, not to speak evil of

one another, not to hold of a grudge, not to confess our

faults to one another and pray for one another to watch over

one another over and over and over and over.

We see that in the book of James.

Mostly they're in chapter 5. But in every chapter James

addresses the group as brethren, and ye and you.

The whys are plural, by the way. Ye and you, thee, and thou is

singular. Ye and you is plural, and you

know, I know it's, I know those are archaic words, if you will.

But every time you see A T H, it's singular, thee and thou.

Every time you see A why ye and you, it's plural.

And he's, he's addressing everybody.

And we see that over 60 times in the book of James that he's

addressing brethren as a whole. So I know it's a lot, it's it's

a lot there and it's just a small little book.

But let me encourage you to read through the book of James this

week, see what you can pick out of the things that we've talked

about tonight. And then we're going to.

I'm going to give you a few more things when we get back together

next week. Some of the things that that

make James unique from all the rest of the other pistols and

then we'll probably start into the first book there, first

chapter there in the book of James.

But as I mentioned, I'm, I'm, I want to give you a very detailed

overview and then a pretty general pretty general study of

the book of James. But until you understand what

the book is about, you'll never be able to get everything out of

the book that God intended for us to get when he had James

write this epistle for us. But we're finished for tonight,

so let's pray. Then we'll be dismissed.

Father, we love you. Give me thank you for your

goodness to us. Thank you for an opportunity we

have to study your Word. I pray that you'd help us to

take it seriously. God, I pray that you would help

us to to get every bit of the Word of God that we can and to

know everything that you want us to know that we can.

And God, I pray that you would just help us as we go through

this study, that we gained some wonderful things from it that

will help us in our lives to not just profess to be Christians,

but to do things that Christians ought to do, and to live the way

Christians ought to live again. We thank you for all you do for

us. In Jesus name.

Amen.