Real Reverence

 

 

We focused attention last week on the final verses of chapter one of James’ epistle. Specifically: “If anyone thinks himself to be religious and yet does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this man’s religion is worthless. Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world.”

 

If you were here, you will remember we looked at three points James makes in these two verses: Guard our tongues, help those who are in need, and keep ourselves unstained by the world. We saw that the deeper our reverence for God, the purer our lives will become because we will strive to please Him and keep our souls unstained by sin.

 

We also saw that we demonstrate reverence for God, and keep ourselves unstained by the world, when we make it our goal to never take Him causally – such as when even Christians use OMG – “Oh, My God” – as if the phrase has no more significance than the word, ‘wow.’

 

Christians might not mean to be casual with God, but by misusing His majestic Name, they are in truth acting irreverently. And make no mistake; That seemingly minor transgression will, if unchecked, lead to further and greater sin.

 

I need to repeat that for emphasis: That seemingly minor transgression will, if unchecked, lead to further and greater sin.

 

Because we ran out of time last week, I want to return to yet another spiritual outcome inherent in reverencing God: We gain a deeper and more robust trust and confidence in Him – even if and even WHEN circumstances are arduous and even fearful. It is to that point about reverencing God that I want to begin today’s message.

 

When theologians speak of “reverencing God,” they mean something considerably deeper than simply being afraid of God. The biblical idea combines awe, honor, a desire to live in a way that pleases Him, and trust.

 

As we saw last week, we demonstrate reverence God when we live in profound and humble awe of His holiness and His inexpressible greatness. How can we not be in awe when we contemplate who our God is? The heavens declare His unmatched glory and the skies His majesty. Those who can look to the skies, and the roaring seas, and the majestic mountain ranges – indeed, those who can study a high school textbook on human anatomy and biology and still refuse to fall on their knees in utter reverential awe before God make themselves worthy of God’s judgement.

 

The psalmist said it long ago and it continues to prove true: “The fool has said in his heart, there is no God.” (Psalm 14:1). The Lord Jesus said: “This is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil. For everyone who does evil hates the Light and does not come to the Light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. John 3:19-20:

 

And so, Paul writes, “They are without excuse.” (Romans 1:20).

 

In the next few minutes I want to return to where I left off last time in our examination of reverence and focus on the impact reverence has on our ability to confidently trust in God’s unalterable authority and sovereignty over every circumstance in our lives – the good, the bad, the frightening, the joyful – or whatever.

 

As Solomon wrote: “In the fear [reverential fear] of the LORD is strong confidence.” Proverbs 14:26a:  And the psalmist: “In God I have put my trust, I shall not be afraid. What can man to do me?”  Psalm 56:11

 

In other words, an increasing reverence toward God leads to a deepening knowledge of His character which, in turn, leads quite naturally to a deepening trust in Him. It turns us from self-confidence to a ‘God-confidence.’ And as our ‘God-confidence’ matures, the easier it becomes for us to conclude that when something happens to us that we do not understand – or like – that we do not have to understand it to trust Him. The more we reverence God the less we fear people or circumstances.

 

Let me say that again for emphasis: The greater our reverence for God the less we fear people or circumstances.

 

“If God is for us,” the apostle Paul wrote, “who is against us? . . .  Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? . . . But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us.” (Romans 8:31,37)

 

I’ve read the book of Acts many times, but most recently the stories of Peter awaiting execution, and Paul and Silas in the Philippian jail caught my attention. Luke tells us at the beginning of chapter 12 that Herod “had James the brother of John put to death with a sword. When he saw that it pleased the Jews, he proceeded to arrest Peter also.”

 

Peter knew he was to be executed in the morning. But what was he doing the night before? He was sleeping while chained between two Roman guards. And why was he sleeping? I’ll come back to that question in a moment.

 

Then there was Paul and Silas in Philippi. Luke tells us they caused an angry stir preaching the gospel. It wasn’t long before: “The chief magistrates tore their robes off them and proceeded to order them to be beaten with rods. When they had struck them with many blows, they threw them into prison, commanding the jailer to guard them securely; and he, having received such a command, threw them into the inner prison and fastened their feet in the stocks.” Acts 16:22b-24

 

It was a filthy place. A demoralizing place. But what were the two doing? “They were praying and singing hymns of praise to God” (verse 25). Why?

 

I think the answer to the questions why could Peter be sleeping between the Roman soldiers and Paul and Silas were singing praises to God in that jail – I think the answer lies in their reverence for God, a reverence which resulted in their deep and profound trust of God and His absolute sovereignty in their circumstances. A trust that allowed them to rest peacefully, or to sing joyously. A trust that convinced them that nothing could happen to them – whether an execution or an imprisonment – nothing could happen to them that their sovereign and loving Father did not ordain for them for whatever reasons He had.

 

Let’s pause a moment. We need to be very careful to not allow ourselves to excuse ourselves from that kind of trust by thinking, “Well, sure. They were saints. They were apostles. No wonder they could do what they did in their ominous circumstances.”

 

We must be careful to not allow that thought to ROB us of what God also wants for you and for me – that being to realize that WE TOO can have their kind of reverence-driven trust in God.

 

Yes, Peter, Paul, and Silas were ‘saints’ as we call them. But they were not ‘stained-glass’ saints with halos above their heads. At their core they were just as prone to sins, to doubts and fears as any of us in this chapel. Scripture tells us Peter played the hypocrite in his relationship with the Gentiles because he feared the criticism and social pressure of his Jewish peers. You’ll find that story in the second chapter of Galatians.

 

As for Paul, he became terribly angry with his missionary companion, Barnabas, because he wanted to take Mark along with them on their next missionary expedition and Paul absolutely refused. If you know the story from Acts 15, the two giants of Christian faith walked away from each other and went their separate ways – Barnabas with Mark and Paul with Silas.

 

By the way, and as an aside, if Barnabas had not been willing to take Mark under his proverbial wing, we might not even have the gospel written by Mark.

 

What’s my point? Despite our failures and sins, there is no Biblical basis why we cannot grow in our reverence for God – for His holiness, His awesomeness, His beauty, His power. And there is no Biblical basis for any of us to not have developed within us the same kind of confidence that developed in Peter and Paul and Silas – and in the numberless men and women of God through the ages.

 

But let’s pause again for another moment. Such reverence for God is not at all something anyone can ‘gin up’ on their own. Our carnal nature strains to get as far from God is it can. As Paul reminds us in Romans 8, our nature of sin “does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so” (Romans 8:7) That’s why the Lord Jesus tells us, “No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him.” (John 6:44) And He said, “No one knows the Son except the Father; nor does anyone know the Father except the Son, and anyone to whom the Son wills to reveal Him.”(Matthew 11:27) 

That’s why God sent us His Holy Spirit who will teach us, and bring to our remembrance all that the Lord has said to us. (See John 14:26)

 

Christians know that itself is a supernatural work of God. We were all spiritually dead in our trespasses and sins, and dead people cannot do anything on their own. That’s why God Himself had to intervene to make us alive together with Christ. Again, here is the apostle Paul: “But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ - by grace you have been saved.” (Ephesians 2:4-5)

 

God had to intervene to make us alive in Christ, and God must also intervene to GIVE us reverence for Himself and to GROW in our reverence for Him. Only by His intervention can we attain to the reverence that results in the kind of trust that Peter, Paul, and Silas had in God.

 

How badly do we want that kind of reverential confidence? How badly do we want such confidence in our heavenly Father that we can even sleep peacefully or sing joyously in hard places?

 

Scripture tells us: “Faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ (Romans 10:17). It is nothing short of foolish futility to think God will grow our reverence for Him when we choose to leave His book unopened and off to the side. You know the children’s song: Read your Bible, pray every day and you’ll grow, grow, grow.”

 

So, Christian, just as we asked God to save us when He intervened to reveal to us our sins – and He saved us – even so we can ask God to grant us a deep and deepening reverence for Him – and He will do so.

 

Isn’t that the principle James put forth in the first verses of this chapter? “If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God who gives to all generously . . . but let him ask in faith, without doubting.” (See James 1:5-6) Of course it’s the same principle. So, ask, seek, and knock – and it shall be given us.

 

Which now brings us to the next verses in this epistle which seamlessly integrates reverence for God and obedience to Him: “My brethren, do not hold your faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ with an attitude of personal favoritism. For if a man comes into your assembly with a gold ring and dressed in fine clothes, and there also comes in a poor man in dirty clothes, and you pay special attention to the one who is wearing the fine clothes, and say, “You sit here in a good place,” and you say to the poor man, “You stand over there, or sit down by my footstool,” have you not made distinctions among yourselves, and become judges with evil motives? . . .. But, if you show partiality, you are committing sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors. For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles in one point, he has become guilty of all.” (James 2:1-4, 9-10)

 

The context of this section is about prejudiced decisions based solely on outward appearances. And the text speaks clearly enough on its own; We commit sin – condemnable sin – when we judge someone by their appearance.

 

But the principle of James’ warning goes far beyond wealth or the lack of it. The principle applies to ANY decision we make based on someone’s appearance – as, for example, when a white person prejudges a black person, or a black person prejudges a white person based on their skin color. To do so is nothing less than sin. Period.

 

And let me be very clear, God solemnly warns bigots than they must repent and turn from that sin. There is absolutely no room in the heart of a Christian for racial bigotry. These are not only my words. That commandment is rooted in Scripture from one end of the Book to the other.

 

“Jesus loves the little children of the world – red and yellow, black and white, they are precious in His sight.” And if they are not precious in OUR sight, we’d better ask God to forgive us and to change our hearts. We will not grow in reverence for God if we judge people by their skin color or their outward appearance.

 

Of course, human nature being what it is, racial bigotry is not the only sin or prejudice of which a Christian can be guilty. Ageism falls into the category of sinful prejudice. I’ve been guilty of it myself. I don’t think I’m still guilty of it, but that doesn’t necessarily mean I don’t still practice a form of ageism. We all are quite adept at hiding our sins from ourselves, and only the Holy Spirit can reveal our secret sins to our hearts.

 

Anyway, I’m ashamed to tell you how often in the past I’ve sat in a church whose pastor was 25 or 30 years younger than I, and I smugly told myself, “What can this young kid tell me about walking with God? He was probably in diapers when I was already in the navy.”

 

How arrogant I was to think that to myself. It took a long time before I realized that when a man of God faithfully and accurately preaches the word of God, it is not the young man who speaks to me, but it is the Spirit of God who speaks through the word of God. We all would do well to remember the apostle Paul’s encouragement to young Timothy who likely faced some ageism in his congregation in Ephesus: “Let no one look down on your youthfulness, but rather in speech, conduct, love, faith and purity, show yourself an example of those who believe.” (1 Timothy 4:12).

 

It is nothing short of self-delusion and heart-hardening to think the sin of prejudging someone based on their appearance doesn’t matter much to God.

 

Yeah, it does. James emphasizes that point when he warns in verse 10 of chapter two: “For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles in one point, he has become guilty of all [of them].”

 

Well, I need to bring this message to a close, so let me quickly review: First, we each should routinely ask God to change our hearts, that we will treat Him with ever increasing reverence, awe, obedience, and trust. And second, we ought to routinely ask God to keep us from the sin of prejudging someone based on their skin color or other outward appearance.

 

As Paul wrote to all with ears to hear and eyes to see: “Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things. ⁹ The things you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you.” (Philippians 4:8-9).

 

We will continue next week with our study in God’s word.

Remaining Unstained

Already in this short chapter the Holy Spirit speaks to us about several evidences of faith that will be true in the life of a real follower of Christ Jesus. Perseverance is one mark of Christian faith – perseverance in trials, including temptations to sin – and perseverance in DOING God’s commandments, not merely hearing them. That’s why he writes: “But prove yourselves doers of the word, and not merely hearers who delude themselves.”

 

Paul wrote to Titus about the hearers and doers his young protégé faced in the church on the island of Crete. Some there did a lot of ‘hearing’ without ‘doing’ God’s commandments: (Titus 1:16) “They profess to know God, but their actual behavior denies their profession, for they are obviously vile and rebellious and when it comes to doing any real good they are palpable frauds.” (JB Philips)

 

Of course, human nature being as it is, the contrast between hearing and doing has been going on for a long time. Listen to what God said to the prophet Ezekiel: (Ezekiel 31:32-33) “They come to you as people come and sit before you as My people and hear your words, but they do not do them, for they do the lustful desires expressed by their mouth, and their heart goes after their gain. Behold, you are to them like a sensual song by one who has a beautiful voice and plays well on an instrument; for they hear your words but they do not practice them.

 

Christian – guard your heart. Routinely seek God’s help to be more than simply a hearer of God’s word, but to DO what He commands of us.

 

Now, to today’s text. After challenging his readers to be more than passive hearers of God’s word, James then writes: “If anyone thinks himself to be religious and yet does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this man’s religion is worthless. Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world. (James 1:26-27)

 

I want us to look at three points in these two verses: (1) Control the tongue (see next chapter), (2) Help those in need, and (3) Walk with God in holiness.

 

First, Control the tongue. If anyone thinks himself to be religious and yet does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this man’s religion is worthless.’

 

We’ve all heard the children’s rhyme “Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never harm me.” And we ALL know – many of us from personal experience – we all know how wrong those words are.

 

God tells us, “Death and life are in the power of the tongue.” (Proverbs 18:21) That certainly could be one reason the Lord Jesus warns us: (Matthew 12:36-37) “But I tell you that every careless word that people speak, they shall give an accounting for it in the day of judgment. For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.”

 

In her essay, When Words Kill, Clinical Therapist and author Lisa Ferentz writes: Those of us who work in the mental health community have long understood the incredible impact of words. The way others talk to us profoundly influences our emotional states, our subsequent thoughts, and many of our behavioral choices. Unkind or abusive words can literally be used as weapons . . . Clients in their 60’s and 70’s can still recall the exact words and phrases that belittled and hurt them in childhood . . . And when they do, they are still overcome with sadness, helplessness, self-doubt, or self-loathing. The messages remain powerful because they were spoken by people who were supposedly safe, trustworthy, and loving.” 

 

As many of us who are familiar with James’ epistle, we know he will come back to this point later in his letter: (James 3:5-6) ^“The tongue is a small part of the body, and yet it boasts of great things. See how great a forest is set aflame by such a small fire! And the tongue is a fire, the very world of iniquity; the tongue is set among our members as that which defiles the entire body, and sets on fire the course of our life, and is set on fire by hell.”

 

Richard needs to learn this lesson well: If you have nothing good to say to someone or about someone, then don’t say anything. And what I need to practice applies to every person here: If you have nothing good to say TO anyone or ABOUT anyone – then don’t say anything. God makes it very clear in this epistle and elsewhere in Scripture, if we don’t bridle our tongue, we deceive ourselves about our walk with Christ and we defile ourselves and give place to hell in the destruction of others.

 

Listen to the Lord Jesus (Luke 6:45-46) “The good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth what is good; and the evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth what is evil; for his mouth speaks from that which fills his heart. “Why do you call Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do what I say?” 

 

Here again is Solomon: (Proverbs 16:28) “A perverse person spreads strife, and a slanderer separates intimate friends.”  And once more: Proverbs 20:19 ‘[The one] who goes about as a slanderer reveals secrets, therefore do not associate with a gossip.”

 

Continuing in the next verse, James tells us: “Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their distress.” In other words, help those who are in need. James returns to this critical point in chapter two, and we do well to pay close attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place: “What use is it, my brethren, if someone says he has faith, but he has no works? Can that faith save him?”

 

That was NOT a rhetorical question. It’s one on which true Christian faith is founded. The answer to James’ question is a resounding ‘No.” Such faith is NOT the faith that saves.

 

“If a brother or sister is without clothing and in need of daily food, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and be filled,” and yet you do not give them what is necessary for their body, what use is that? Even so faith, if it has no works, is dead, being by itself. But someone may well say, “You have faith and I have works; show me your faith without the works, and I will show you my faith by my works . . . But are you willing to recognize, you foolish fellow, that faith without works is useless?” (James 2:15-20)

To demonstrate his point, James reminds his readers of faithful Abraham and faithful Rahab: (Verse 21) “Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up Isaac his son on the altar? You see that faith was working with his works, and as a result of the works, faith was perfected; and the Scripture was fulfilled which says, “And Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness,” and he was called the friend of God. You see that a man is justified by works and not by faith alone. In the same way, was not Rahab the harlot also justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out by another way? For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead.

 

But some might quickly counter: “Paul tells us, “Having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, (Romans 5:1). To the Christians at Ephesus, “By grace you have been saved through faith” (Ephesians 2:8).

 

True; Yet at the same time we dare not overlook what Paul continued to say to the Ephesians two verses later, “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them. (Ephesians 2:10).

 

And it is important to also note that Paul wrote in his short letter to Titus no less than five times that the Christian is RESPONSIBLE to God to perform good works. So, Paul and James are not at all in conflict. Indeed, they harmonize with each other.

 

Abraham’s faith compelled him to DO SOMETHING with his faith. Rahab’s faith compelled her to DO SOMETHING with her faith. And if OUR faith does not compel us to do likewise, then we have good reason to question if our faith is purely theoretical or is it actual.

 

Solomon writes: “Rescue those being led away to death; hold back those staggering toward slaughter. If you say, ‘But we knew nothing about this,’ does not he who weighs the heart perceive it? Does not he who guards your life know it? Will he not repay everyone according to what they have done?” Proverbs 24:11-12

 

Listen also to the apostle John: “But whoever has the world’s goods, and sees his brother in need and closes his heart against him, how does the love of God abide in him?”1 John 3:17

 

A week or two ago I cited the text near the end of Mathew chapter 25 wherein the Lord commends the righteous dead for having helped the poor, the sick, the prisoners, and so forth. But it is important to this point about faith and works that we hear the rest of that text in Matthew 25:41-45 –

Then He will also say to those on His left, ‘Depart from Me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels; for I was hungry, and you gave Me nothing to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me nothing to drink; I was a stranger, and you did not invite Me in; naked, and you did not clothe Me; sick, and in prison, and you did not visit Me.’ Then they themselves also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not take care of You?’ Then He will answer them, ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me.’ These will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”

 

Scripture cannot be any clearer: Faith, if it has no associated works, is NOT true Christian faith, and it will not saves us.

 

Which brings us now to the third point James makes in these last two verses of chapter one: “Keep oneself unstained by the world. In other words, walking in holiness is not optional for the Christian. (Hebrews 12:14)

“Pursue peace with all men, and the sanctification [holiness] without which no one will see the Lord.”

 

Christian, we must each heed this dire warning of Scripture, perhaps especially in the culture in which we live. God doesn’t tolerate negotiation with the world. James is uncompromisingly blunt when he writes: (James 4:4) "You adulteresses, do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Therefore, whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God."  

 

Charles Spurgeon, in illustrating this text on one of his sermons, spoke of the white petals of a flower planted in the countryside that remain white, but the white petals of the flower planted in the city soon become stained by the surrounding pollution.

 

Spurgeon’s analogy ought to be instructive because it is impossible to remain pure when we surround ourselves with the pollution of this world – whether it be our entertainment, or friends with whom we spend the bulk of our time. Scripture asks what a believer in Christ has in common with an unbeliever. (See 2 Corinthians 6) The answer is, ‘Nothing.’

 

Whether it be our perspectives on morality, or the Church, or the Scriptures, or the authority of God over our life – what do we have in common with those who do not believe in the full authority of God and His word and routinely scoff at His commandments? There is good reason Paul warned the Christians at Corinth: “Do not be deceived: Bad company corrupts good morals.” (1 Corinthians 15:33)

 

Keeping ourselves unstained has very little to do with following a list of dos and don’ts. Rather, keeping ourselves unstained by the world is inextricably tied to our reverence toward God, and we reverence Him when we live in profound and humble awe of His holiness, His inexpressible greatness, and His absolute authority over our entire lifestyle. How then can we not turn away from anything that displeases Him?

 

We keep ourselves unstained by the world when we hold a holy and reverential FEAR of God. When ANYONE encounters God’s utter holiness, they’re immediately confronted with their own utter sinfulness. When Isaiah saw the Lord on His throne, “high and lifted up,” he cried out, “Woe is me, for I am ruined! Because I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips; For my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts.” (Isaiah 6:5)

 

When Peter recognized who Jesus was, he said, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord.” (Luke 5:8) When the apostle John saw a vision of the Lord Jesus in His glory, he “fell at His feet like a dead man.” (Revelation 1:17)

 

It should not surprise us – indeed, it should be expected that those who are close to God recognize their profound sinfulness when held up to the light of God’s unspeakable holiness. And the more we recognize our sinfulness, the more grateful we are for God’s love and mercy to wipe away our sins with His precious sacrificial blood.

 

We keep ourselves unstained by the world when our reverence for God causes us to take His commandments seriously: “What does the Lord your God require from you, but to fear [reverential fear] the Lord your God, to walk in all His ways and love Him, and to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul.” (Deuteronomy 10:12)

 

We keep ourselves unstained by the world when we demonstrate reverence for God by never taking Him causally. It ought to drive the Christian to distraction when we hear professing Christians use the Lord’s name as a sort of punctation mark in conversation or hear them say “O-M-G” – meaning “Oh, My God” – as if the phrase has no more significance than the word, ‘wow.’

 

Christians might not intend to be irreverent when they say such things, but make no mistake – it IS irreverence, and the unbeliever hearing it from the mouths of churchgoers recognizes the irreverence, whether consciously or unconsciously.

 

Listen to the Psalmist speak in awe of God’s name: (Psalm 138:2) “I bow down toward your holy temple and give thanks to your name for your steadfast love and your faithfulness, for you have exalted above all things your name and your word.” (English Standard Version)

 

The Lord Jesus was serious when He taught us to be reverent toward the Father AND toward His name: “Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed (holy) is Thy name.” (Matthew 6:9)

 

There are one or two more points to make about reverence for God, but I’ve run out of time to deal adequately with it, so I leave it for next time.

 

Christian, do you want to draw closer to Christ? Of course you do. How, then, can we do that? He tells us how repeatedly from Genesis through Revelation, and the entire book of James is only one set of instructions. We looked at this one today: “If anyone thinks himself to be religious and yet does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this man’s religion is worthless. Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world.”

 

We’ll continue studying God’s instructions in this letter next time.

Hearers or Doers

We are continuing our series through the epistle of James. During the last couple of weeks, we looked at verses 1-11. Today we’ll look at the next several verses, but here is last week’s text for context:

 

“But the brother of humble circumstances is to glory in his high position; and the rich man is to glory in his humiliation, because like flowering grass he will pass away.  For the sun rises with a scorching wind and withers the grass; and its flower falls off and the beauty of its appearance is destroyed; so too the rich man in the midst of his pursuits will fade away. Blessed is a man who perseveres under trial; for once he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him.” 

 

As I just said, we’ve already spent time examining the first verses of this epistle, so we won’t now review them other than to pause a moment for this reminder:

 

The Holy Spirit inspired James to write down for not only his readers suffering various trials which were causing some to consider walking away from Christ, but the Spirit of God moved on James to write this message also for his readers in the 21^st century – for you and for me. And because this epistle is intended also for us today, we must pay close attention to its commandments. There is a fundamental difference between ‘professing’ Christian faith and ‘possessing’ Christian faith. That difference is evidenced by our OBEDIENCE to God’s word.

 

So, to today’s text, starting with verse 13: Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God”; for God cannot be tempted by evil, and He Himself does not tempt anyone. But each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust. Then when lust has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and when sin is accomplished, it brings forth death. Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren.” (13-16)

 

It is certainly true that the devil tempts us to sin. Case in point – the Garden of Eden where he enticed Eve to disobey God and eat the forbidden fruit. And we mustn’t overlook Matthew 4 and Luke 4 which speak of Satan’s temptation of Jesus in the wilderness.

 

But Scripture also makes it clear, the Serpent doesn’t need to expend much effort to get us to do wrong. Jesus made it pretty evident in His comments to His disciples: “The things that proceed out of the mouth come from the heart, and those defile the man. For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, slanders. These are the things which defile the man.” (Matthew 15:18-20)

 

James picks up on this point again, later in his epistle: (James 4:1-2) “What is the source of quarrels and conflicts among you? Is not the source your pleasures that wage war in your members? You lust and do not have; so, you commit murder. You are envious and cannot obtain; so, you fight and quarrel.” 

 

So, to be clear – the origin of personal sin is within our heart. God does not tempt us to sin. He is Holiness itself. He cannot be tempted to sin and neither does He seduce anyone to sin. But, as we have just seen, “each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire.” James uses pregnancy as a picture of the process: “When lust has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and when sin is accomplished, it brings forth death.”

 

Now look at that next verse. It is as if James places a punctuation mark after what he’s just written: “Do not be deceived my beloved brethren.” Do not be deceived about the process of sin’s birth and how it matures into our death. The adage attributed to Ralph Waldo Emerson surely rings true to everyone who’s lived as long as we in this sanctuary have lived: “Sow a thought and you reap an action; sow an act and you reap a habit; sow a habit and you reap a character; sow a character and you reap a destiny.”

 

Please. Do not be deceived about these infallible spiritual truths. There is a reason God tells us from Genesis through Revelation how to deal with temptations to sin. He tells us to run – not walk – run to the nearest exit. Joseph and Potipher’s wife is only one of hundreds of examples. “Flee from youthful lusts,” Paul commanded Timothy, “and pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace, with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart.” (2 Timothy 2:22)

 

Writing to the Christians at Rome, Paul commanded, (Romans 6:12) “Do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its lusts, and do not go on presenting the members of your body to sin as instruments of unrighteousness; but present yourselves to God as those alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God.” Romans 6:12-13

 

You might be familiar with the story of the Two Wolves. I’ve told it before, but it’s worth repeating: An elderly Cherokee sat by a fire with his grandson. He said to him, “A battle between two wolves is raging inside of me. One wolf is evil, full of anger, lies, envy, jealousy, greed, arrogance, guilt, and resentment. The other wolf is good. It has joy, peace, love, hope, humility, kindness, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion, and faith.”

The grandfather was silent for a moment and then continued: “The same fight is going on inside you—and inside every other person, too.” The grandson thought about it for a minute and then asked his grandfather, “Which wolf wins?” The Grandfather replied simply, “The one you feed.”

Christian, which wolf are we feeding? Which did we feed yesterday? Which will we feed tomorrow?

 

Do we want to avoid temptation to sin? Here is a newsflash: We CANNOT avoid temptations to sin. The enticements surround us wherever to go. But we CAN overcome temptations to sin, although, as we all know, ‘overcoming’ is not easy. It’s often difficult – however, the overcoming DOES get easier with persistent practice. Listen, God is telling the truth when He promises to ALWAYS provide us the means to escape temptations to sin – if we WANT to escape. (See 1 Corinthians 10:13)

 

Do we want to be successful in overcoming temptation to sin? Follow Scripture’s guidance: “Present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.” Romans 12:1-2

 

Present your bodies to God every morning when you get out of bed. Pray something along these lines: “Keep me, Lord, in the center of Your will. Let me not wander from Your commandments.”  And at bedtime, “Search me, Lord. See if there is any wicked way in me, let me know if there is anything in my life for which I need repentance.”

 

Present your bodies. Be renewed in your mind. “How can a young man [or an old person] keep his way pure? By keeping it according to Your word . . . Your word I have treasured in my heart, that I may not sin against You.” Psalm 119:9, 11

 

Now let’s try to make some application of these principles: Christian, if you have a problem with sexual lust then the wisest thing to do is avoid places, media, and online encounters that will get you into trouble with God. I’ve been a Christian for 54 years this December, and because I know I have a problem with lust, I haven’t been to a pool or a beach in more than half a century.

 

If a Christian has a history of alcoholism, then the wisest thing to do is never bring alcohol into their home. If they have a narcotics addiction, I give the same counsel. And if they’ve been prescribed narcotics for pain, they ought to tell their doctor about their addiction who then might be able to prescribe an alternative pain reliever. If not, the physician will prescribe only the fewest amount of pills that they’d expect to be necessary to relieve the pain. And I could cite other temptations to sin and how to avoid them, but you get the idea.

 

Let’s go back now to the text in James and move down a bit to verses 22-25: “But prove yourselves doers of the word, and not merely hearers who delude themselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks at his natural face in a mirror; for once he has looked at himself and gone away, he has immediately forgotten what kind of person he was. But one who looks intently at the perfect law, the law of liberty, and abides by it, not having become a forgetful hearer but an effectual doer, this man will be blessed in what he does.”

 

Be doers of the word, and not merely hearers. Otherwise, we deceive our own selves.

 

Author and evangelist Joe Stowell tells a story in Decision Magazine of a friend who was living in an adulterous affair and was planning to divorce his wife. Stowell and several others confronted him, seeking to restore him to the Lord and to his marriage. And they said to him, “If you continue in this affair, please don’t tell anyone that you are a follower of Jesus because that would bring shame to His Name.” But the man responded, “Oh, but I am a follower of Jesus.” Stowell adds, “That was a delusional response.” (Decision Magazine, May 2025).

 

Yes, of course, the adulterer is self-deluded to think he can live in sin and escape God’s eternal judgment. And so are we to think we can willfully and with impunity live in ongoing rebellion against God’s commandments and escape His judgment.

 

The person who has truly received God’s Word will humbly turn from sin and put obedience to the Word into practice. That explains why James immediately goes on in verses 23–25 to compare the Word to a mirror.

 

Mirrors in the ancient world were generally made of polished bronze or copper which, unlike modern mirrors, produced dim and distorted reflections. A person couldn’t simply glance at their mirror to see what they looked like. They needed to look intently and carefully at their image. That’s why James speaks of looking ‘intently’ at the mirror of God’s word which reveals our flaws and our dirty faces.

 

If we see our flaws, but walk away without doing anything to fix them, we’ve proven that our Christian faith is really a puff of air. We’ve CHOSEN to forget what we looks like to God. Our failure is not due to ignorance, but to willful rebellion – which inevitably results in self-delusion.

 

Like the adulterer Joe Stowell wrote about, knowledge of the Bible without corresponding obedience to God’s word will likely produce a false sense of spiritual security. The Lord Jesus warned of that danger often enough that we should not make the same fatal mistake ourselves: “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter. Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness.’ (Matthew 7:21-23)

 

James then contrasts the one who looks intently but does nothing with the one who looks intently and DOES what is necessary. But one who looks intently at the perfect law, the law of liberty, and abides by it, not having become a forgetful hearer but an effectual doer, this man will be blessed in what he does.”

 

Contrary to what so many people convince themselves to be true, God’s laws are NOT meant to be punitively restrictive. He gave us His laws to bring us FREEDOM – freedom to BE whom God created us and designed us to be; Freedom from bondage to sin’s reign and control of our life and its inevitable heartbreak and tears and loss; Freedom to obey God because we have learned to delight to do so.

 

No wonder the psalmist wrote, as we studied a few weeks ago: “The law of the Lord is perfect, restoring the soul; The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple. The precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart; The commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes.” (Psalm 19:7-8)

 

THAT is real freedom, and not the false ‘liberty’ that Satan promises if we reject God’s word. We only need to remember what he told Eve – and I paraphrase: “God has given you the law about the tree in the middle of the Garden to restrict your freedom. Obviously, He doesn’t have your best interests at heart.”

 

We know how Eve’s and Adam’s distrust of God turned out. But listen now to the one the Bible calls the ‘Last Adam’ (1 Corinthians 15:45) - John 8:31–32 - “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

 

I was recently asked if I follow Jesus because I want eternal life. I paused only a moment before responding because I’d been thinking about that question for a while. And so, I told him, for me, salvation is not only about eternal life – although I very much long to live forever with my God. But my salvation is also about living a life free from the self-destructive pathway I’d been on through my early adult years. For me, salvation is ALSO about being set free from the prison Satan had me in. 

         

The “Law of liberty” does not mean freedom from God’s commands. It means we are free to obey His commands – and we do so because we actually delight to do them. As the psalmist exclaimed: I delight to do Your will, O my God; Your Law is within my heart.” (Psalm 40:8)

 

Truth be told, the person whose eyes God has opened cannot read the entire 119th psalm and not come away with a deep sense of the superabundant value and worth of His word. And that would be a good prayer, wouldn’t it? “Open the eyes of my heart, Lord, that I might behold wonderful things out of Your law.”

 

Already in this short chapter the Holy Spirit speaks to us about several important elements of faith that are true in the life of a Christian, not the least of which is perseverance in various trials, including temptations to sin. He also speaks about persevering in DOING God’s commandments and not merely hearing them.

 

We make rules for children to protect them from harm and to mature them into responsible adults. Similarly, God gives us rules to protect us and mature us into a people who are free to BE whom God designed us to be; Free from bondage to sin’s reign and control of our life; Free to obey God because we have learned to delight in obedience.

 

“It was for freedom that Christ set us free,” Scripture tells us: “Therefore, keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery.” (Galatians 5:1)

 

“Seek the Lord while He may be found; Call upon Him while He is near.
Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts;
And let him return to the Lord, and He will have compassion on him,
And to our God, for He will abundantly pardon.” (Isaiah 55:6-7)

 

And all God’s people say, “Amen.”

 

We’ll continue our study through the epistle of James next time.