 Welcome back everyone, we were in James chapter 1, so we will continue from where we stopped, we saw the section from verse 22 till verse 25 where we are encouraged to be doers of the word and not hear us only deceiving ourselves. So sometimes this section that James has written has been misused by religious minded believers or it has been neglected by the so called grace believing believers. So it really depends on how people have taken it, but what is it saying? It's just giving us a very practical and a very balanced understanding of how to approach the word of God. Yes, we are saved by grace, but we must also have the demonstration of the word of God through our lives which is why the writer James is telling the believers we doers of the word. Yes, we are saved by grace, we are saved by faith through grace, but we also have to live out the word of God. So ma'am, just the last portion on the previous lecture when you said double mindedness means that you make a decision. So this decision means the decision of following Christ. It's like that decision you are talking of or it is like basically even post you take a decision and then in your walk with Lord Jesus Christ. Your day to day decision making is also covered in that. So I'm just trying to ask double mindedness in both the area or any one of those. Okay, see as far as becoming a believer is concerned, salvation is concerned, there has to be a clear cut decision through saving faith that Jesus gives us. So when a believer is born again, they are born again. There's nothing double minded over there. We have received the saving faith which was provided and the believer is now born again. So you cannot be, if you are double minded, you can't really receive Christ. As far as salvation is concerned, if someone is double minded, they generally stay out of salvation. Once we have received Christ and we have become believers, what I was talking about is more applicable to us as believers. So a double minded man is unstable in all his ways. As I clarified, this is not referring to the process of gaining faith because in the process of gaining faith, we all overcome our doubts. We all slowly, we graduate to that place of faith. So that's okay. That's normal. There's no problem with that. That's the usual process. But double mindedness, as I was telling Shri Kumar, it's a state of mind. It's a problem of the will where an individual is not able to take a clear cut side that, okay, I'm going to do this. So as you mentioned of me, day to day life where we are not making decisions. We are sitting on the fence. We know as we pray and seek God and all, we know what God is leading us to. But when we make a decision, we have to take responsibility for it. So some people prefer to just sit on the fence and not take responsibility. So that is what James is talking about over here. Yes ma'am. So basically we mean that we make a decision to walk by the spirit or by the flesh. Not being lazy about things and knowing the truth but not doing something to follow it. If you want to look at it in a simplest way, not making a decision. That's also a decision. No. Yes ma'am. Thank you. Okay. Sure. Yes. Yeah. Thank you. Thank you for that question. So we must be, you know, be aware of this state of double-mindedness. It will impair our progress in the Christian journey and life in general. Yeah. Okay. So that's enough said about double-mindedness. We were talking about being doers of the word of God and not just hear us and hear. Very interesting actually. Like we could dwell on it for so long. He says deceiving yourselves. So sometimes, you know, putting in the word of God, listening to the word of God, you know, like knowledge puff it up. We read about that. We somewhere develop this mentality where, okay, I know a lot of the word and that is enough. And that gives us a false sense of, you know, walking perfectly with God because we just satisfy ourselves by hearing the word. But there are two aspects. One is to hear and one is to do. Now, if a believer is only a hearer, I'm not talking about, you know, those who are hearing and who are sincerely trying to put it into practice in their lives. It's not referring to that, but the kind of believers who are satisfied with knowing a lot of scripture. We know all the scriptures, but that's about it. Nothing else. It never translates to life and actions. Actually it's a warning. It's a very strong thing that he's saying here. He says deceiving yourselves, self-deception, where we have a false sense of, you know, a secure walk with God. That's so dangerous. And we must stay out of it. And, you know, self-deception is kind of also the error that Lucifer fell into where he had a false sense of grandeur about himself. And he just got stuck in it. He was not able to see the light that, no, I'm actually created and I'm here to worship God. So self-deception is a very dangerous place to get into. And James is actually warning. He's saying, if there's any believer, he's only a listener of the word and not a doer of the word. Then there is that danger of coming to that place of deceiving ourselves. Nobody is deceiving us. We are deceiving ourselves. So we got to be careful about that. So he moves on. He explains that further. He says that anybody who just hears the word and they don't do it, they are equated with somebody who is observing his face in a mirror. Observing is more than just seeing, you know, the kind of language that's used there is you properly consider. You observe, you notice what is right, what is wrong with the way you appear when you look into a mirror. But if one notices what is not in place and lets it go or forgets, hey, my face isn't washed or my hair is unken, he doesn't even remember it, looks at the mirror and forgets it. How is it helpful to even have looked at the mirror? So in the same way, engaging with the word of God should be life changing. Now if it's not changing our lives or if it's not transforming the person that I am to make me more like Jesus, then something is wrong with the process that I am following. So it's more like what he said earlier, you are hearer, but you're not a doer. Just deceiving myself where I feel, yeah, but I know so much scripture, but no transformation. So that's not a godly way of living. So he moves on verse 25, he says, but he who looks into the perfect law of liberty, incredibly says perfect law, there's law also, there's liberty also. So what is it? See basically under the new covenant, new covenant, we are now free because of what Jesus has done. We've been delivered from sin, the consequences of sin. So that's why he's calling it liberty, but also law because we are still under a covenant, a new covenant, that's what. So he says basically when you look into the word, you look into what the word has to offer and you continue in it and you're not forgetful hearer, but you apply it and you let you engage with the word in real life. And this one will be blessed in what he does. So actions are also important. So faith is important. Actions are also very, very important. Now he goes ahead and remember he is talking mainly to a Jewish audience, because the Gentiles are just about the communities are just about growing. So he is talking about being religious in the next section verse 26. If anyone among you thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this one's religion is useless. So the Jews in Judaism, obviously they had so many practices which made them feel good, made them feel so close to God, but he is warning them and he's saying, we are so good for the Jewish believers. We are so good with all our day to day rituals and we are good at picking off the requirements. But then he points to other practical aspects in a believer's life. He says, you're keeping all the rituals, the traditions. How about managing the tongue or the words that we speak, people who don't have control on what they speak. We end up saying wrong things, we end up hurting people and all that. He says, what kind of religion is that? Again, he uses the term, deceives his own heart. So he's warning the believer of self-deception. It's like, again, we said double-minded but this is more like a double, I don't know the right word to use, but there's no integrity because there is one side of us which is seemingly yielding to God's word but there's no reflection in real life. So here religious practices are there but the same so-called pious believer is speaking things which are dishonoring to the Lord. So maybe there were things going on in the church where people were losing control of their words and so James had to address this matter. But he teaches them what is the right form of being religious. He did not stop them from following discipline life towards God because he understood that's their devotion to God but he teaches them the right way to do it. So about the tongue, we will come back. He'll talk more about it later. But right now he tells them that if you really want to be godly through your traditions and actions, then do this. This is pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father. What is it? Our faith should translate into charitable deeds. Through the life of a believer. So what are these some charitable deeds? You visit the orphans and widows in their trouble. So he's saying look how can we call ourselves religious when we are not meeting needs of people around us. So he's awakening them. And remember he's already discussed about rich poor because there are all sections of people coming to know Christ and he wants them to grow in unity. He wants them to honor one another. So there were needs in the church earlier in Acts. We saw how people were even selling their own goods and helping one another. But maybe the needs have increased now or don't know whether people are just caught up with themselves that he's having to address this matter. And he says religion is not about just fulfilling duties before the Lord but you let that faith translate into compassion and charitable deeds. So specifically here he says have you considered the orphan? Have you considered the widow? People who need help, people who don't have in that community these people were sort of looked at as helpless those days. And so that's why he's making a mention. But we take it as yes this category but in general people in need whoever is in need whoever is in trouble we must help them. And he says that and keep oneself unspotted from the world. Also godly living, righteous living is important. That's when we can truly say that we are living the word of God. So that's James chapter one for us. If you're all okay then I'll just jump to James chapter two unless there's some particular subject that you want to dwell on a little more. Are we good? Okay, sure, fine. So then let's move ahead. We are now looking at James chapter two here and let's see the different sections that he's going to address. Could I request, okay, let me do this. I think reading sections is better because then our concentration will be able to grasp more. So how about one of us reads from verse one to verse nine? Verse one to verse nine of James chapter two. My brethren do not hold the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ the Lord of glory with partiality. For if there should come into your assembly a man with gold rings in fine apparel and there should also come in a poor man a filthy clothes. And you pay attention to the one wearing fine clothes and say to him, you sit here in a good place and say to the poor, you stand there or sit here at my footstool. Have you not shown partiality among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts? Listen, my beloved brethren, has God not chosen the poor of this world to be rich in faith and heirs of his kingdom which he promised to those who love him? But you have dishonored the poor man. Do not the rich oppress you and drag you into the courts? Do they not blaspheme the noble name by which you are called? If you really fulfill the royal law according to the scripture you shall love your neighbor as thyself. You do well, but if you show partiality you commit sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors. Amen. Thank you. So as we can notice, he is addressing partiality noticing that the composition of the congregation is swiftly changing. So he is already introduced to us two sections of their community which is some people who are rich, some people who are poor and of course we know that there were also other classifications maybe there would have been people from other backgrounds like the Gentiles were joining, there was differences in the gender, ages so people from different regions joining together in worship but overall what James is saying is as the church is growing equality among the believers from the spiritual point of view is very key. So here he says and he is likely addressing the leaders more than the believers you could say so he says something like if there should come into your assembly a man with gold rings. So gold rings it is said that in the times when James wrote this it was a sign of richness so people would like to boast of their wealth by the number of rings that they had so that identification is talked about here or fine or parallel and when a poor person comes obviously they don't have these things and so filthy clothes is their description but he is really saying look if you pay attention to the rich person because it is noticeable that they are rich and you give them a better place in the meeting or in the assembly you have demonstrated partiality among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts so that is self-explanatory we all understand bias partiality and now it is happening in action so verse 5 onwards he states has God not chosen the poor of this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom which he promised to those who love him so now when we read this particular verse somewhere there is this interpretation that the poor of the world are rich in faith so because there was that statement that Jesus made about a rich man that it is easier for what was that to enter the eye of camel to enter the eye of the needle then a rich man to enter the kingdom of God so somewhere people use that and they say that so richness of faith is possible if you are economically poor and if you have money then you cannot have richness of faith but that is not the interpretation of this so how much money we have that is not a determinant of how much faith we can carry so that shouldn't be interpreted that way basically what he is saying is the poor can be rich in faith just like everyone else can be rich in faith so it is not exclusive to the poor person and in continuation he says he has of the kingdom which he promised to those who love him so the poor can be heirs of the kingdom just like everyone else can be heirs of the kingdom so we shouldn't make it sound like only if you are poor you can have these things that is not what it is saying but you have dishonoured the poor man so obviously he is saying partiality is not good you cannot dishonour a brother on the basis of his background and in this case money and then he says do not the rich oppress you and drag you into the courts so he is likely talking about some of the incidents that have happened we know that the bible also says that the love of money is the root of all evil so maybe there were some people in the congregation or the assembly who had this attitude that they loved money so much that they oppressed people they were willing to fight to maintain their position maintain their wealth so he is talking about some people now generalising it and saying oh all rich people oppress you see even having wealth is a blessing from God we know that it is God who blesses us he is the one who gives us the power to get wealth the bible says and so we are not here to discriminate just as much as we are saying ok do not put the poor down we say ok even rich should not be a determinant in the house of God to how one must be treated we are all the same and verse 7 do they not blaspheme that noble name by which you are called so he is saying the rich who do these things are putting God down so verse 8 if you really fulfil the law according to the scripture you shall love your neighbour as yourself you do well but if you show partiality you commit sin and are convicted by the law as transgressive so quite clear cut partiality and in this particular case between the rich and the poor so let's read from verses 10 to verse 13 verses 10 to verse 13 yes mangi please we also ever shall keep the world low and yet Stambo in one point he is guilty of all for he who said do not commit adultery also said do not murder now if you do not commit adultery but you do murder you have become a confessor of law so speak and so those will be judged by the law of liberty for judgment is without messy to the one who was shown no messy messy triumph over judgment okay thank you mangi in this section we see how it's important to keep the whole law and of course you know we know that this was what came in through the old covenant the law and then people try to keep it but thank God God's grace came upon us through the Lord Jesus Christ and verse 12 he says so speak and so do as those who will be judged by the law of liberty so he is calling us more to walk in that grace in that understanding of the new covenant where you know there is mercy which triumphs over judgment so basically walk in grace extend mercy yeah and if we don't extend mercy we cannot expect mercy to be extended to us in that manner let's read from verse 14 to verse 19 shall I read mangi yes amni James chapter 2 verse 14 to 19 what does it profit my brethren if someone says he has faith but does not have works can faith save him if a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food and one of you says to them depart in peace be warmed and filled but you do not give them the things which are needed for the body what does it profit thus also faith by itself if it does not have works is dead but someone will say you have faith and I have works show me your faith without your works and I will show you my faith by my works you believe that there is one God you do well even the demons believe and tremble amen amen thank you amni so once again a section which is concurrent with what we saw in james chapter 1 where he says that faith is important but then works you need to demonstrate that faith that faith should be evident through our lives so same thing here he says if someone says he has faith but does not have works can faith save him so we must be doers of the word and when we are doers of the word doers is what it's referring to works the works that come out of our lives and he is not saying here that we must work to earn our salvation this question is settled and we know so many passages in scripture where we understand that it's not through our works but it is through the redeeming work of the Lord Jesus on the cross of Calvary that we are saved we are born again so is james trying to say that we must work for our salvation not at all that's not the point that he is making but he is saying that when we are saved when one is saved there must also be actions you know along the lines of our faith so that's what he is saying these two things are not separate so if let's say somebody states that they only have faith and they don't have corresponding action so in verse 17 he makes the statement he says faith by itself if it does not have works what is it it is dead it is dead so faith should translate into actions and then again he gives one example simple example of actions here that he gives is meeting the needs of people there are people with practical difficulties practical challenges what is good you know if we just bless them pray for them do all the so called spiritual activity but don't do anything practical to meet the need in those moments that also is like dead religion so he says let your actions go along with your faith and these two things are not separated so verse 18 but someone will say you have faith and I have works show me your faith without works and I will show you my faith by my works so these two things are not separate both have to be there in the life of a believer so only believing is not helpful so you know he uses this example where he says even the demons just believe that there is a god they tremble but they are demons isn't it so there what comes out of them the actions oppression wickedness so just stating that we believe is not enough but what we do is an identifier of you know whether we are born again or not so again I am not saying that our works will win our salvation but then it's like fruit the fruit is a good way of explaining this when one is born again the works should be able to show that this person is born again okay let's go to the section from verse 20 to 26 any doubts any questions about what was said from universe okay you can read from 20 to 26 please 20 to 26 but do you want to do you want to know that faith without works is dead was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered Isaac his son on the altar do you see that faith was working together with his works and by works faith was made perfect and the scripture was fulfilled which says Abraham believed God and it was accounted to him for righteousness and he was called the friend of God you see then that a man justified by work and not by faith only likewise was not to rehab the hallowed of also just by works when he received the messengers and sent them out another way for as the body without the spirit is dead so faith without works is dead also thank you master thank you so here in line with what he has been saying he has been saying that faith without works is dead so he brings up two examples and he talks about Abraham first and then rehab he says that Abraham we know that he believed God and believing God was accounted to him or credited to him as righteousness so the first thing is belief faith is the father of faith that is how we look at him Abraham he is a role model an example about faith now yes he had faith but you notice verse 21 was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered Isaac his son on the altar so we cannot stop with saying that Abraham had faith in his heart but his life his action showed the faith that he had so what did he do he trusted God he waited for the birth of Isaac then when Isaac was born and he came into this test where he was asked to sacrifice Isaac he offered Isaac how could he offer Isaac he believed God in other passages we saw how Abraham even believed that if God needed to raise him from the dead he would do it so it's because of the faith that he carried that his actions followed he went ahead to offer his son Isaac so here James is trying to show us see faith is not separate from our actions if we have faith then our actions will follow and that's how Abraham too he was accounted with righteousness for what he believed but he was justified by the works when he offered up Isaac so there is faith there are works as well and we must remember that and as we continue in this way he uses terminology verse 22 you see that faith was working together with his works and by works faith was made perfect so how is faith made perfect well the point is the maturing the maturing of oneself in their faith towards God works are connected to that and we miss we cannot neglect works and only hold on to just believing in the heart is sufficient sort of a mentality now another example which he has here is that of Rehab and he says how her works also justified her obviously she believed in the God of Israel and she trusted that there will be protection for her and her family there is faith in her heart but verse 25 also justified by works so she did something about her faith what did she do she received the messenger she protected them she sent them another way so she did something to demonstrate her faith so he is encouraging the believers first he talked about equality no partiality now the theme is let works accompany our faith because both are important and in order to make us understand how the connection is so necessary he gives this example verse 26 for as the body without the spirit is dead so faith without works is also dead also so you see that is where he is coming with this concept of dead your faith is dead so faith without works is dead because a body without the spirit is dead so the connection is somewhat like that and we must not consider these things separate from each other so let us now move on to James chapter 3 here could somebody please help in reading from verse 1 maybe verse 1 2 and then we will go ahead verse 1 and 2 my brethren let not many of you become teachers knowing that well that knowing that we shall receive a strict judgment we all stumble in many things if anyone does not stumble in word he is a perfect man also to be bridle the world body okay thank you Mangi so here there is word of caution to those who want to become teachers and James says that let not many of you become teachers knowing that we shall receive a strict judgment so basically what he is saying is that the way you know you know teaching works in the kingdom of God is that there is a huge responsibility you know on the shoulders of a teacher because Jesus said Matthew 519 that when one whoever breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches men so shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven but whoever does and teaches them he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven so there is responsibility one is to ourselves live by higher standards because the judgment is going to be stricter as verse 1 says and the other thing that it states here is when we teach people that we teach accurately that they can also follow the right standards of God's word so one is to live out do and then you teach and that's the right way of being a teacher and becoming a teacher and verse 2 he says again you see how there is a you could say there is a disconnect but then if you talk along the lines of teaching the word then you can connect the next section that is about the tongue and the words that one speaks so in verse 2 the focus comes to the words that we speak so he says we all stumble in many things if anyone does not stumble in word he is a perfect man able also to bridle the whole body so what is perfect here perfect again referring to maturity full grown something like an adult right in their walk with the Lord grown up basically so who is mature you know an individual who can control their words or they have self control as far as speaking words is concern so if we can bridle the tongue or we can regulate our words by ourselves then such a person is matured as a believer that is what James is saying let's continue he is going to say more about our words from verse 3 to verse 6 please verse 3 to verse 6 indeed we put beats on in horses mouths that they may obey us and return their whole body look also at ships although they are so large and are driven by fierce winds they are turned by a very small rudder wherever the pilot desires even so the tongue is a little member and both great things see how great a forest see how great a forest a little fire kindles and the tongue is a fire a world of iniquity the tongue is so set among our members that it defiles the whole body and sets on fire the course of nature and it is set on fire by hell thank you very touchy subject very close to all of our hearts the matter about the tongue and the words that we speak so James is helping us understand the power of the words so he gives us this analogy of bits in horses mouths what happens is when people want to control horses and they want to direct horses they use these bits so as you kind of move it you can lead them in a particular path similarly rudders of ships that would use that to move the ship in the direction that he wants to so he is saying that the tongue is like that regulator it is a very small member he says tongue is a little member but it both great things it can lead our lives it can give direction to our lives that is the point it can control many other things in our lives so we must be very careful about the words that we speak now he says see how great a forest a little fire kindles again he is comparing the tongue to a little fire which can burn down the forest so that is the power of the tongue so it is something like you know the controls are in the tongue for greater things like if you just want to imagine we all have homes and we have these main electrical switches isn't it so when you put it on the whole house has electricity but when you put it off the whole house loses electricity so something like that so the controls are up here the words we speak that is what he is talking about and he says and the tongue is a fire a world of iniquity the tongue is so set among our members that it defiles the whole body and sets on fire the course of nature and it is set on fire by hell so depending on the words that we speak you can imagine if we speak he is talking this particular verse he is saying in the negative he is saying let's imagine we speak words of death you know words of discouragement words of cursing all the wrong things which is not aligned to God's nature he says it is set on fire by hell so that's how the tongue will be that kind of a fire what will it do it will burn down the forest it will burn down the house but when we remember that yes this kind of control lies with my tongue and we turn it around verse 6 if we flip it around and we let's say not a world of iniquity but then we use our tongue as source for speaking righteous things then what happens we can reap the blessings that come out of it as well isn't it so we can speak life we can speak blessings we can speak hope we can speak encouragement we can speak words of prophecy the goodness of God coming forth into people's lives into our own lives into our own families so he is trying to awaken the believers to the power of the tongue and just the way you know we can talk so much about this the way God created the heavens and the earth with the words of his mouth he is letting the believers know God has given us such an amazing capability with the tongue and so let's be mindful of the words that we speak okay so we are in continuation of the tongue subject of the tongue but I noticed the time is already 1050 so no worries in the next class what I'm thinking is hopefully we shall finish the book of James and maybe you know I'll see if we should start from Peter or just do Jude that way we would have tackled three books and then just two more to go in the coming month of April so anyway let's pray now and we shall close but I hope you're doing okay or do you feel this is sort of rushed I wish we had an extra month but we will finish I wish too but unfortunately you know we have to make do with the time that we have but I encourage you to go back to the sermon series thankfully you have the videos the notes, the power point and all of that so let's pray and close I want to request one of us to please lead and pray I'll spray Dear Father in Heaven thank you for today's lesson on the book of James and thank you for the lessons on controlling our tongue standing in faith not showing partiality not giving to anger and a host of many things Lord we have run today we pray Father that let the truth Lord that we have heard and studied we pray that Lord will become an embodiment and practitioner of this truth we pray that even Lord as we are being prepared and equipped to teach the truth so Lord all that we are learning Lord we pray that these words will not stand against us but Lord will be worthy examples of all that we have been taught and all that we teach we pray for our teacher we pray for Pastor Nancy Lord you will bless her, lift her and continue to strengthen her in this work and pray that Lord you would anoint her more and more for the task ahead O Lord we give you praise and glory we commit the next class to your hands and pray that you would give us the wisdom and the understanding Lord required Lord to put all that we are learning Lord it's a good practice and even be people Lord who will be able to expand your kingdom here on earth we pray thank you for everything accept our prayers O Lord as our prayers in your mercy and in your power thank you everlasting Lord in Jesus name we are praying amen amen amen thank you thank you say thank you everyone God bless you continue to grow in the word of God and yeah looking forward to meeting all of you next week again for our classes God bless have a good weekend thank you ma'am thank you thank you thank you thank you bye bye God bless