 Anyway, James chapter two, we're gonna be looking at verses one through 13 this morning as we continue through our series in the book of James. And we'll be looking first at the first four verses, I'll lay a foundation, then we're gonna move on through and then look for some application as we always do through our studies. This particular portion of James takes a little laboring to get through. There are some things I'm gonna wanna develop that you will remind you of and all, and you'll see this, but I wanna make sure that we handle this passage properly. And so I do have to take some time to develop it. That's just a way to help those of you who may be visiting today to understand the way that I teach. The way that I teach is I attempt to give some context to it, give what the passage is saying, and then find a way to bring an application to us. It takes some time to develop those things and you'll see that if this is your first time here. And if not, then you guys are used to it. So beginning at verse one, I'll read verses one through four and get into our study. James chapter two, beginning at verse one, reading to verse four, James writes, "'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 and fine apparel, and there should also come in a poor man in filthy clothes, and you pay attention to the one wearing the fine clothes and say to him, you sit here in a good place and say to the poor man, you stand there or sit here at my footstool. Have you not shown partiality among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts?" And so in this section, James is dealing with a problem that existed in the church. And the problem is catering to rich members of the congregation at the expense of those who were poor. Now he's already alluded to this. When we were in chapter one, we saw it remember verses nine through 11 in chapter one, how he'd already begun to speak concerning rich men and those who were poor. In verse nine of chapter one, he had said, let the lowly brother glory in his exaltation, but the rich in his humiliation because as a flower of the field, he will pass away. For no sooner has the sun risen with a burning heat than it withers the grass. Its flower falls and its beautiful appearance perishes. And then it went on to say, so the rich man also will fade away in his pursuit. So he's already approached this problem of the rich and the poor. He's already spoken concerning that. And he had said that the poor should glory in their exaltation, but he said, and the rich in their humiliation. In other words, the poor glory and the blessing of being saved and inheriting eternal glory, but the rich in the voluntary humility that was shown by the receiving of Christ as their savior. And so in this chapter, chapter two, James is continuing with the thought and he develops it further. Now again, I'm gonna lay a foundation so we can get an idea of why this is important. Why is James addressing this kind of thing in a church? So I'll begin by saying this. I'll begin by reminding you that, that it's God's intention for the church to have unity of spirit. And this is something that is built on the love of God, the unity of the spirit, as well as love for other people. Unity in church is so important that Jesus himself prayed for it. In John 17, verses 20 and 21, he said, I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, that they all may be one as you father are in me and I in you, that they also may be one in us. And then he says that the world may believe that you sent me. So the loving unity of the church built on fellowship with Christ is to be attractive to the world, to those who don't know the Lord. Jesus said that the world might believe that you sent me, unity is that important. And unity in the church was the earmark in its earliest days. We remember in Acts chapter two, after the day of Pentecost, the church began to develop a habit. They began to meet together regularly. In the book of Acts two, verse 42, it says they continued steadfastly in the apostles doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking of bread and in prayers. So this love and this fellowship was built on the teaching of the Lord Jesus Christ and that united them. And the result was what Jesus had prayed for. Because in Acts chapter two, verse 47, it reads that they were praising God and having favor with all the people and the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved. Unity is important. When the body of Christ gets together and gets along with one another, unity is important. Why? So that the world may believe that you sent me, Jesus said. And that's what took place in the birth of the church. There was a unity. And the people who were not part of the church saw the love that the church had for one another and it touched them. We need to remember that salvation wasn't offered to only those who were rich. We need to remember just by reading our Bible that the early church was made up of those who were anything but rich. Paul in 1 Corinthians chapter one, verse 26 said it like this. He said, you see your calling, brethren, that not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble are called. Not many people of the nobility, not many wealthy people are believers, is what he was saying. And so he's saying showing favoritism to the rich is divisive and that's why James is bringing what we call in the church a word of correction. Now notice how he brings this correction. I'm gonna begin slowly and develop this with you, but notice how he brings correction. Notice how he begins this verse in chapter two at verse one by saying my brethren. Now why is that important? By addressing them as brethren, he is highlighting their unity in Christ. He's reminding them that they belong together, that they are family and that's what he's pointing to. He said this unity in Christ is to be founded on love for one another. The word brethren is a Greek word that literally means from the same womb where brothers and sisters is what he's saying. And because of that, you need to remember that. You need to love one another as family. So unity in Christ is something to be carefully safeguarded. That's because Satan desires to drive a wedge between the family of God. And if he succeeds in doing so, he can undermine the work of God. In Mark 3.25, Jesus said, if a house is divided against itself, that house cannot stand. And so the enemy loves to encourage division in churches to break up the unity so that he can give the church, well, the church will be worn within itself and the outside watching world will find nothing attractive about church, nothing attractive about being a Christian. And so we need to remember that. We need to remember that we belong to one another. I don't know about you. I don't know if I have any in this room right now who are only children, not having a brother or sisters or anything. You're just the only one. I'm not an only child. Many times I wish I was, but I'm not. You know, I have an ugly older brother and two sisters. And my dad and my mom did not come up to me and say, David, excuse me, would you mind if we have two more kids? They didn't ask permission. And I wasn't happy about it. As a matter of fact, one of my sisters is here right now and I'm looking right at her. I never liked you. Anyway, anyway. We didn't choose those who we belong to. We didn't, did you? You know, look around the room right now. Think of all the churches meeting together throughout the world. We didn't choose any of them. Some of them you wouldn't have chosen. You just said, no, be a Buddhist. You know, you wouldn't have chosen them because we don't choose our brothers and sisters. We just live with them. We just, they just are. And you don't get rid of them. You really don't. You know, they're yours. They belong to you. And that's a really important thing to me because family matters. Family matters. And so your family should be safeguarded. There should be a unity. There should be a working at it in the book of Ephesians chapter four verses one through three. Listen to what Paul said. He said, I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord beseech you to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called. He said, with all lowliness and gentleness, with long suffering, bearing with one another in love, endeavoring to keep the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace. It's something you work at. You love each other and you work at it. And that's something that we need to remember in these last days. You see, when you're born again, God becomes your father and all Christians become your family. Before you were saved, you were not a child of God. The Bible actually says before we were saved, we were an enemy of God. We were at war with him. And the gospel is what has been referred to as his terms of unconditional surrender. It's called the gospel of reconciliation. There's a theological word for you, but it's a biblical word. Reconciliation is bringing two warring parties to an agreement so they can have peace. They're reconciled. And the gospel has been called the message of reconciliation. And the fact is, is that I was an enemy against God. There was a spiritual war where I was on the enemy side. I am by nature, according to Ephesians 2, a child of wrath. And so I only do those things that are natural for me to do. And what is natural for me to do is rebel against God. But when God sent Jesus Christ to die on the cross, he took upon himself my sin. When he took upon himself my sin, he became the sin offering, the Lamb of God, who took away the sin of the world. When he died, he paid the penalty that was mine for the wages of sin is death. When he was buried, he was resurrected the third day. When he arose the third day, he ascended into heaven after the 40th day. He now sends the Holy Spirit to dwell within us when we believe in him and we become, by the power of the Spirit, the family of God. That's called the gospel of Jesus Christ. I am a sinner. I say, God be merciful to me as a sinner. God, through Jesus, through the blood of Christ that was poured out to forgive and wash me clean is poured upon me in a spiritual sense. I now have a relationship with God. I am now brought in by the Holy Spirit into what is called the family of God or the body of Christ. And that's how it happens in 1 Corinthians 12, 13. It says, by one spirit, we are all baptized into one body. Whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves are free and have all been made to drink into one spirit. And so, through our salvation, by receiving the terms of peace, the gospel of reconciliation, where God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself. When he gave to us these unconditional terms of peace called the gospel. When he said, we're not having a negotiated peace, you have lost, I am the victor, that's it. I am, God is saying that in his gospel, I won. You are mine. Now you have the opportunity to receive me as your savior or you will see me as your judge, that's your choice. That's called the gospel. In the bottom line, what I did is I said, I wanna see you as my savior. And so, I received Christ by faith and I said, God, forgive me a sinner. I accepted his terms of peace called the gospel of reconciliation and came to a saving knowledge of him, even as you did. The Bible says in Romans 5, verse 10, if when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of his son, much more having been reconciled, we shall be saved by his life. And so, the love of God sent the son of God, Jesus gave his life for us. We received his offer of salvation. We were washed by his blood. The Holy Spirit came into us and brought us into what is called the church, which is the family of God. For by one spirit, we were baptized into the one body. So every person in this room who saved, like it or not, I'm your brother. And you are mine, my brother, my sister, whatever it is, we belong to each other. And we need to guard that. We need to guard this unity. We need to have that understanding. And so they're having a problem here in the church. There are rich people and there are poor people who are coming in and it's causing a bit of a problem, as we'll see in just a moment. And so he says to us in verse one, do not hold the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory with partiality. So he begins to correct something that's taking place. So I'll show you a couple of more things as they develop some layers for you. I want you to notice how James refers to Jesus as our Lord Jesus Christ. That's because both he and his readers are equally in need of this savior. And by calling Jesus our Lord, our savior, basically, it's revealing humility because he understands himself to need a savior. And so as he sees himself as a sinner in need of a savior, that's humility. And humility is always needed when you bring correction to anyone because if correction is not bathed in humility, that correction is regarded as criticism and that criticism will be rejected. So if correction is brought with humility, there's a chance that people will receive the correction. And that's what James is practicing here. In Galatians chapter six verse one, Paul said, brethren, if a man's overtaken in a fault, you who are a spiritual resource, restore such a one in the spirit of meekness, considering yourself, lest you also be tempted. So you don't come up to someone to bring correction to them, but acting as if you've never fallen and never failed, you always come with the spirit of humility and that's what's happening. And notice again in verse one how he refers to Jesus as the Lord of glory. That's to remind them of the glory that filled the tabernacle in the wilderness. It's the glory that fills the temple. It's called the Shekinah glory of God. And Jesus is the Shekinah glory of God made visible in human flesh. According to John 1.14, it says, the word became flesh and dwelt amongst us. That word dwelt means tabernacled. That God's glory took upon himself human flesh is what he's saying. And we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father full of grace and truth. And so by bringing up Jesus Christ as the Lord of glory, he's now developing a contrast. And what his contrast is, is a contrast between the glory of man which is represented by the rich man and the glory of God. So true glory is not wealth and it's not all that money can buy because that is simply temporary. According to 1 Peter 1.24, all flesh is as grass and all the glory of man as the flower of the grass. The grass withers and its flower falls away. So the point he's making immediately is man's glory is in eternal. Over time it simply fades away. So true glory is revealed in the humility and self-sacrifice of Jesus Christ in his incarnation. You see, wealth encourages false judgment because wealth is based on the external, not internal, the judgment that is made is based on the external, not internal. And that's what James is about to say. So notice what he says again in verse one. We do not hold the faith of the Lord Jesus Christ. He says with partiality, we're not to honor one person over another. According to Romans 12.10, Paul said, be kindly affectionate to one another with brotherly love and honor, giving preference to one another. Not honoring one person above somebody else but preferring one another. So he's illustrating this. He speaks of a rich man and a poor man and they enter into the church. And it is something, I guess it's, well, not I guess, it's something that's taken place. So let's look at that in verse two. He said, if there should come into your assembly a man with gold rings in fine apparel and there should also come in a poor man in filthy clothes and you pay attention to the one wearing the fine clothes and say to him, you sit here in a good place and say to the poor man, you stand there or sit here at my footstool. Have you not shown partiality among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts? Let's look at that for a moment. I wanna develop this with you because as I was reading this, he's speaking about a rich man coming into church. That's obvious. But notice how he's described in verse two, two things. I wanna show you a couple of things here. One, he says he's got, he doesn't say a gold ring. He says, a man with gold rings. So that's a picture of a very wealthy person, somebody who's got some very expensive rings. One of my commentators said that this man is a man who had rings on all of his fingers and they're all gold, very expensive gold. And he's describing him. He says he's got gold rings, but then he also says he's in fine apparel. Now, what does that mean, fine apparel? The word fine speaks of something that is beautiful or even gorgeous and so on. It's a picture of a man extremely rich. And so I don't know how many men I have in this room right now who have more than one suit. You know, I have, I think two or three suits because it's weird how my suits keep shrinking. But I don't have many suits because I only wear a suit once a year on Easter. And whenever I wear a suit, I always have one of the members of our fellowship walk up and say, hey, he got a suit because I only wear it like once a year. If I do a wedding, a funeral, of course I have a suit, the same suit I have the one suit. Maybe I think I may have a couple suits. You're not here to hear how many suits I have, but. If you tell me how much your suit costs, I haven't got a clue how much suits costs because I haven't bought a suit in years. So I don't know how much they cost. So if you said to me, and again, some of you who know you're gonna go, what? But if you say to me that your suit costs you $300, $400, in my mind, that's a lot of money for a suit. I would think that maybe it's not. So anyway, I'm preparing this Bible study and it says in verse two again, this is a man with gold rings in fine apparel. And then I start looking up what does the word fine mean and the word in the Greek means gorgeous. It means some very expensive. Now my mind starts working so I can figure out, well, what does this really mean? So I began to look at the most expensive suits that you can buy. Here you go, you're ready for this? I've heard of Brooks Brothers. I've walked past the stores that sell them, Brooks Brothers. Some of you guys don't know this, I didn't know this. So I looked, how much is a Brooks Brothers suit? Do you know that Brooks Brothers suits $14,500? It's a lot of money. Okay, I'm glad you guys made that sound. 14,500 dollars for a suit. I thought, you gotta be kidding me. But Desmond Marion Supreme Bespoke, that's a name of a suit, $47,000. Okay, now we're getting a little more expensive. Alexander Amosu Vanquish II Bespoke, 101,860 dollars. So I bought one and I bought my two sons. No. But here's the kicker, Stuart Hughes Diamond Edition suit. I'll give you a second to think. Okay, you thought, $892,000. So I bought one. No, $892,000. That's a number that's too big for me to imagine. You could retire on that or wear a suit. I'm not saying it's wrong by the way and I'm not saying it's right. I'm simply saying it is. From $14,500 to $892,000, that's a huge difference. But that helped me to get a view of what James is talking about. He said, somebody comes walking in wearing gorgeous apparel. He's not speaking about someone walking in with getting, you know, wearing a suit from the rack somewhere in Nordstroms or wherever. He's saying, this is a person who went to and bought clothing that the minute you see it. And here's, okay, I'll say this may be stupid, but I'll say it anyway. I don't have an eye for value like that. Not that I couldn't, I just never developed it. I just never did. I don't have an eye for that. I think, oh, that's a nice suit. I don't know how much it costs. And now my wife can tell you, oh, that's nice. My wife's able to do that. She'll say, oh, that's a very nice purse. And I'll say, yeah, but that guy's shoes don't match his purse. No, I don't say that. She'll go, that's a nice purse. And I'll go, oh, okay. She'll say it's this kind of purse. And I'll go, oh, really? I know nothing about that stuff. It's just never been part of what I was interested in. But I know there are people who do know that. I know there are people who work as clothiers. They're salespeople or perhaps they have jobs, businesses. I get it. I just don't understand that. So me, if I were an usher and you walked in with a nice suit, I wouldn't be able to tell the difference. I wouldn't really know. I really wouldn't. But this person who's walking in is described as somebody who's wearing gorgeous clothing so that everybody knows and the ushers do too. That's a point he's making. The ushers will see this guy walking in wearing fine apparel. They look at his hands and these very expensive rings are on every finger. This guy is a very wealthy man and that's what he's speaking about. But coming in behind him and look at the description of the other person, it simply says that he's a poor man in filthy clothes. The word filthy there is a word that really speaks of being shabby. It's not shabby chic, it's shabby. The guy's walking in wearing raggedy clothes. That's the picture. And if this isn't just an illustration, James is dealing with a problem because when the ushers or those in charge see this very well-dressed man, the first thing they do is they say, oh sir, come here, we have preferred seating for you. And they put him in the front row. They put him somewhere so that he is not only able to see well, but is seen because the church values all the kind of attention that a wealthy person brings to their congregation. Because they can point to, oh, by the way, so-and-so is in our church and they're buying or getting credit for that. You will be surprised, or maybe not, how the church reacts to the extremely rich sometimes. It's very sinful, James is dealing with it. 2000 years ago, it goes on to this day. In this fellowship in the past, I can still remember, and I'll make it as non-detailed a story as I can make, but somebody came in and was brought to me, they brought this person to me. And they said, oh, I'd like you to meet so-and-so, fairly, I guess fairly well-known, I didn't really know. And they wanted me to show special attention to this person. That's, and I didn't, that's, I said, Raul, go to your own church. No, that, that's, you get attention there. No, it's the kind of thing that is so normal. This guy's a very wealthy, well, yeah, what can he do for me? Oh, he's a giver? How can I make him my friend? Get his number, get his email. You know, we'll let him know we have needs. That's kinda how it works. Oh, that shabby guy over there wearing dirty clothing? You can sit in the back or stand against the wall. That's what was happening. Now again, remember the foundation of the study how I was pointing out that unity is to be guarded. And love for family is to be the unifying thing and love for Christ brings us together. You don't show somebody with money in this context. You don't show that person special privileges and cause the other one to be humiliated. Often the value somebody places on somebody else is built on outer appearances. And he's saying that in verse three, you pay attention to the one wearing fine clothes. The rich were being ushered to preferred seating again. The usher found a comfortable place for the rich and disrespected the one who was poor. They were giving the preferred seats, but the poor were being told sit on the floor. They weren't giving, being given any seats. And so he says, do not prefer them over the poor by catering to them because that rich person may be a benefit to you. So we're not to cater to the rich, but I'll say this quickly, we're not to cater to the rich, but we're not to envy and resent them either. And I think there's something wrong with that attitude too because oh, he's got money, he's not a good person. That's just an unfair judgment we're not to make either. Some people inherit their wealth. There are a lot of people who worked hard and earned it. There are some who invested and they gained it. And we're not to hate them for this. That the key is to simply treat one another as family in Christ, to love one another. It's interesting in verse four how he says, have you not shown partiality among yourselves and become judges, notice this, and become judges with evil thoughts and become judges with evil thoughts. When he says judges with evil thoughts, it speaks of judges who reason wickedly, judges who in effect say we will favor the rich because they can help us. They think we will neglect the poor because they can't help us, nor can they hurt us. And so God is forbidding preferential judgment. In Leviticus 1915, you shall not, you shall rather, you shall do no injustice in judgment. You shall not be partial to the poor, nor honor the person of the mighty. In righteousness, you shall judge your neighbor. In other words, each person is to get the same kind of fair impartial judgment. If they're poor, you don't take advantage of them. If they're rich, you don't give them special advantage. They're supposed to receive equal justice. Justice is equal for all. In Romans 211, there is no respect of persons with God. In 2 Chronicles 19-7, let the fear of the Lord be upon you. Judge carefully, for with the Lord our God, there is no injustice or partiality or bribery. And so he's saying, you are judging improperly. Then in verse five, listen, my beloved brethren, 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, but you've dishonored the poor man? Do not the rich oppress you and drag you into the courts? Do they not blaspheme that noble name by which you are called? And so he begins to make his case here and to remind them of some very basic things. So as we look at this, I'll point this quickly, he's not exalting poverty over financial wealth. Tozer said it like this and he's writing in the 50s. So his way of saying this is kind of archaic, but Tozer said, if to be poor made men holy, every tramp on a park bench would be a saint. So he's not saying that, that oh, you're poor, therefore you're better, he's not saying that. He's making a contrast in order to make a point. He's saying that the world generally chooses those who are rich, but God chooses those who are rich in faith. James isn't ignoring the reality of poverty and that the poor have real needs. What he is doing is attacking the world's value system and Proverbs 13.7 it says, there's one who makes himself rich yet has nothing and one who makes himself poor yet has great riches. So the poor Christian understands what it means to trust God for their daily bread. Somebody who's thankful today, God you provided for me is likely to continue having gratefulness to God for providing daily. Jesus said, give us this day our daily bread. And a lot of those of us who have, you know, cupboards and refrigerators full of food sometimes forget that everything that we have came from the hand of God. And those who are wealthy have a tendency and can have a tendency of forgetting that because they have so much surplus. But the poor person, the one who says, no I went out and worked today so I could eat today, have a different attitude, that's what James is pointing to and he's making it very clear. You see, that's how faith is actually revealed. You look beyond what you actually have right now. And he says in verse six, but you've dishonored the poor man. Do not the rich oppress you and drag you into courts? Do they not blaspheme that noble name by which you are called? When he says you have dishonored, that word dishonored means to insult or to treat with contempt and disregard. It means to treat with disdain. He's saying that the poor believers were being taken to court by rich people who lorded it over them. And he's saying these are the kind of people that you choose to honor. The ones who are doing this, notice verse six, they oppress you. When he says they oppress you, they treat you wrongly, they mistreat you, you can't defend yourself. Notice he says they drag you into court. In other words, they take them to court to collect from them anything that is owed. And these poor people couldn't pay their debts. And then they say, he says, do they not blaspheme that noble name by which you're called? They consider Jesus worthless and faith in him to be ridiculous. And he says, if this is so, why do you wanna be like them? Let me say something that's gonna show, reveal something to you that shows the difference of generations. I'm gonna use the generational illustration. Those of you who are a bit older or older, you'll understand this. Maybe you who are younger, you may not to the same degree. It's a generational illustration, but it's still an illustration I'd like to use. Excuse me. When I was a young kid growing up, there was a term that used to be used. It was called Hollywood values. I don't know. How many of you have even heard that term? Hollywood values. What were Hollywood values? Well, in the 50s and 60s, when you said, yeah, they got Hollywood values, it was always a disparaging comment on the values that were produced from Hollywood, which was regarded as the ones who were purveyors of culture, of modern culture. The movies and the music that was generated from Hollywood and the various stars and musicians and all. Well, the common people of the day looked at those values as being offensive. And the reason they did is very simple. It's because somebody in the movies, well-known, they very often had two or three different husbands or wives. They didn't see the value of raising kids. They were into alcohol. They had values that the average American didn't have. See, that's an old illustration that the younger people in here probably don't really understand or get. It's because our society had a different morality. That was its general morality. And so my mom would say, oh, they had Hollywood values. And that was really a negative. That was saying that these people in Hollywood don't love their family, don't love their marriages. They're not good role models. There were actual laws that would prohibit people from coming from foreign countries and entering in even on passport to spend some time here. Ingmar Bergman was an actress and she was looked at as being an undesirable alien. There were actually laws that did not allow her to come into the United States on one occasion because she was known to be having an affair with an Italian fellow. And they said, she is an undesirable. We do not want that kind of influence in the United States. Now, I'll let that set for a moment because it's shocking, isn't it? It's shocking. Americans today are so used to immorality. Where did we get our cues from? Who are our heroes? Who did young people listening to young artists that like this music? And they say, I like that. Where did you get your values from? Especially when we say, oh, I like this person because they say it the way it is. And yet this person blasphemes the name of Christ and people get more angry if you use the cue word now. If you said, and I'll use the word queer, if you use that word, people get really mad. But you can take the name of Christ in vain and nobody cares. What has happened, guys? That's called Hollywood. Now, that's that one. Yeah, that's called Hollywood values. And that was wrong. And this is the point that James is making. No, he's not talking about Hollywood, but he's making the point. It's very simple. He's saying, you honor the wrong people. You're honoring the wrong people. He says, these are the ones that oppress you. These are the ones that drag you into court. These are the ones who blaspheme Jesus's name and you wanna be like them. That, I think the church needs to remember today. I really do. We have a tendency of honoring the wrong things. And that's the point. He's saying, why do you desire to be like them when you consider what they do to people like you? It's a good question. It's a good question. Why are you honoring somebody who memorizes a script and acts it well or sings somebody else's lyrics and does it well? Why do you wanna be like that? Because all they're really doing is speaking somebody else's words and they do it well. Why is that something? Why is that something that we will have these people come and give testimony in Congress and all as if they're experts because they can say, I'm not a doctor but I play a doctor on TV. And they've said it. I'm not a doctor but I play a doctor. Oh, that's nice. So I'll listen to you doctor, whatever. And they're not you. But that's what's happened guys. That's what's happened. And we take our cues from people who dishonor the Lord. You know, rich man comes in and he's gonna drag you to court but you usher him to the best seat cause he may help you in the future. The poor man who has no help or no harm that he can give you go stand over there, go sit back there. These things ought not to be so is what James is saying. Why? Well, he goes on. He says in verse eight, if you really fulfill the royal law according to the scripture you shall love your neighbors yourself you do well but if you show partiality you commit sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors. Now when he says the royal law you shall love your neighbor as yourself that is a command that you find repeated something like six times in the Bible. It's a command to love others. But let me say something and I'll say this briefly. It's a command to love others, read it. You shall love your neighbor as yourself back in the 70s into the 80s pop psychology began to invade theology. And what we did at that time what was being done that time at that time was you was the teaching that all of you are familiar with now and many of you may even believe where it says, well you're to love yourself because if you don't love yourself you can't love somebody else. All of us have heard that. If you don't love yourself you can't love somebody else, right? We've heard that and then they say, did not Jesus Christ say love your neighbor as yourself? And so in saying as you love yourself there's an inference that there's a love I'm to have for myself. Well it's interesting how that the Lord was asked what is the great command of the law? And he immediately responded in Matthew 22, 35 through 40 one of them a lawyer asked him a question testing him saying teacher what is the great commandment in the law? And Jesus said to him you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind this is the first and great commandment the second is like it you shall love your neighbor as yourself on these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets. And so people said there's an inference that you're to love yourself so they took two commandments and made them into three. But Jesus said these two commandments and I'll just take a moment to share this with you because it's the plague of our society today. You don't have to be commanded to love yourself you already do. You already do. No I don't Pastor I'm real humble no you're not. If I took a picture of all of you at one time what's the first person you're gonna look for? Oh there's me look at my eyes are closed the first person that's what you're gonna do oh look at my mouth was open. There's all these people but what do you do? I'm sitting all there I am. You love yourself. You really do. So much. And me too of course. Of course I love myself. Of course I do I confess that but Jesus said that's a problem. You love yourself so much you don't love your God and you don't love your neighbor. So you love your God first and you show your love for your God by loving your neighbor with the same intensity that you love yourself. Cause if you're hungry you feed yourself if you're in need of clothing you you clothe yourself. If you're tired you sleep you take care of your needs. If you're thirsty you drink and Jesus is saying this is what you do. No man Paul said no man has ever hated his own flesh but he nourishes and he cherishes it. We take care of ourselves. Yeah he said no that's not true Pastor David. Really you don't think so no. Okay so let's see if I can illustrate this. You say I hate myself cause I'm ugly. I hate myself I'm ugly. No if you hated yourself you would be glad you're ugly. Right? You'd be glad cause if you got so many you don't like the uglier they are the better. It's just common sense man. No you love yourself. That's why you do what you do and that's a whole point. So that's just a sub point to a point. Bottom line is if you keep the royal law which is love your neighbor as yourself that's the basis. Care for that poor person and don't overly respect that rich one cause the church is a family. They're to be united. All of you stand before God equally. He doesn't respect your person. If you have finances and he made it possible for you to have it you use your finances for the glory of God. You have no finances you use your life and that would you have to make available to him for the glory of God. So the rich man and the poor man the rich woman and the poor woman equally stand before God yielding to him that which he deserves. And he says so stop showing special favor to the rich person walking in and showing disfavor to the poor person that you're disrespecting they're both made in the image of God treat them as the same. And that's what the church is supposed to do. And that's called the royal law the law of God the law of love love your neighbor as yourself. That's what James is pointing out to us. It's very basic but it's true because if you show favoritism you're breaking God's law. In Romans 13 10 love does no harm to a neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law. And then finally verse 10 for whoever shall keep the whole law and yet stumbled in one point he's 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 transgressor of the law. So speak and do and so do as those will be judged by the law of liberty for judgment is without mercy to the one who has shown no mercy and mercy triumphs over judgment. And so as he rolls to a conclusion to break one precept is to defy God who commanded all precepts of the law. In Galatians 3 10 all who rely and observing the law are under a curse. It's written curse it is everyone who does not continue to do everything written in the book of the law. In other words you cannot excuse one sin by pointing to hundreds of acts of goodness because the law of Moses is a unit not individual commandments. And this is why it's important to receive forgiveness for your sins because it only takes one sin to bring judgment upon you. In Romans 6 23 the wages of sin is death but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus. And according to Hebrews 9 27 and 28 just as man is destined to die once and after that to face judgment. So Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many people and he will appear a second time not to bear sin but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him. And that's why in verse 12 he says speak and so do as those who will be judged by the law of liberty. The term law of liberty was found in chapter 1 verse 25. It's another way of speaking of the gospel. It speaks of God granting us his perfect love by saving us. The gospel reveals his love to us and because of it we live in freedom. In John 8 32 you shall know the truth and the truth will set you free. So being judged by the law of liberty speaks of rejecting the freedom offered by Christ. It's rejecting the gospel message. And notice in verse 13 judgment is without mercy to the one who has shown no mercy. So after speaking of making judgment on the poor James says doing so reveals no mercy. Since Christians have experienced God's mercy we extend it to others because if we don't it reveals that we have not fully understood the mercy that was shown to us. How much mercy has the Lord given to me and to you? Then who am I to not show mercy to somebody else? You know that's where a lot of us and I'll stop here but I'll develop something here with you for a minute. I have spoken to many people over the years who when they hear Bible studies like this the first response that they have is you don't know what they did to me. I sympathize, I really do. I don't want to stand up here as somebody saying oh you're bad for that. I'll let the Lord deal with your heart as a concerns that but let me say it like this. All he knows is if you receive mercy and I receive mercy then I'm supposed to give it. And the freer that I am in giving it is the deep of the revelation my understanding of it. When I was first saved I was so blessed because God forgave me. After walking with the Lord for a little while I became self-righteous and started blaming people for things that they were doing that they shouldn't be doing. And the mercy that had been shown to me I forgot to show to other people. So I became another person's judge by seeing what they were doing and they mean upset that they were doing that. And God why haven't you dealt with this person yet? And it took a long time for me to finally realize how merciful God had been to me because he didn't judge me and deal with me as instantly as I would have judged somebody else. So have you received mercy? And if you have how much have you received and if it's great then how much do you give to other people? Because the scripture makes a very clear mercy triumphs over judgment. If God forgave you of all of your sins and this is easier to say than to do. If God forgave you of all your sins then maybe you can be free if you forgive the one who asked you for it. Instead of holding it in your heart saying you still owe me. You don't know how deeply you hurt me. You harmed me. I can't let it go. Oh I can forgive but I just don't forget. Well and not forgetting you're holding on to unforgiveness. And part of the way you can know that you really are showing mercy is when you begin to pray for the person that you've been holding something against. When you can get on your knees before God and say God be merciful to me and God be merciful to them. They knew not what they did. Because in many cases guys they really didn't know what they were doing. It was so part of who they are and what they do and how they lived that you got in the way. And when you finally begin to realize that you can actually begin to pray. And one last thought. I was told this recently so I'll just say it openly. I don't know how to say it so I'll say it like this and hope it makes some sense. Somebody told me you know that somebody told me you have a compassion at heart. And you know where that came from? By God showing me compassion. By me beginning to understand how much compassion he's had for me. And beginning to apply it to other people. So somebody that hurt you that you're just holding it in your heart. It's kind of like something you've taken a napkin and you put this anger in it and you wrap it up and you put it in your pocket and you carry it around and every once in a while you'll pull it out and open it up just to look at it one more time. Yeah. Here he comes. People do that. People do that. They carry it in their heart constantly. They're angry constantly. They're judging constantly. How much mercy was shown to you? And if you received mercy in God's name, show it to other people. Show it to other people. They need it too. You did, I did, and I do. I didn't get what I deserved. I was given something. God withheld his judgment and he gave me his mercy. And that's what we all need. And that's what we need. I think in general in humanity today it's a more merciful heart towards people, more loving heart, especially in the church, especially in the church. So when an unbeliever comes and sits amongst the believers, they can say, truly, God is in this place. There's something different about these people I'm sitting next to. What is it? And they hear a message of the love of God and they are able to say, that's what I'm missing Jesus in my life. And that's how people get saved. When they hear the goodness and love of God, as he's shown it to us and changed our lives. That's how it works. We need that, we need that today because Matthew 5, 7 blessed are the merciful for they will be showing mercy.