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short series in the book of James for your honor and glory, dear God, and that we would be able to somehow get a little bit of a grasp of this great book of the Bible, dear God. There's so much to talk about. Help me to prioritize and spend time on the things that you would want me to spend time on in this chapter, dear God. And in Jesus' name I pray, amen. Now James chapter one, we're starting out a brand new book tonight, five chapters long, and the book of James starts out in verse number one. James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ to the 12 tribes which are scattered abroad, greeting. So the book is being written to the Jews that are scattered throughout the world at this time. He's writing similar to the book of Hebrews that was written to the Hebrews. This is written to the Jewish people that have believed on Jesus Christ that are all throughout the world at this time in Asia and all over Europe and so forth. And he says in verse number two, my brethren, count it all joy when you fall into diverse temptations knowing this that the trying of your faith worketh patience but let patience have her perfect work that you may be perfect and entire wanting nothing. Now you see, first of all, we're talking to people that are saved in this entire book. In fact, look at the beginning of chapter number two. What are the first two words? My brethren. You see, it's very important to understand that throughout the book of James and you'll see this later but this book is totally directed at saved, born-again Christians. Look at verse number one of chapter three. My brethren. You see that? And all throughout chapter one you'll see that, throughout chapter two, all throughout the Bible. Look at verse 14 of chapter two. What does the prophet, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith and have not works, can faith save him? So who are we talking to? Talking to born-again, saved Christians all throughout this book and the book's very clear about that. But verse number two of James chapter one says, my brethren, count it all joy when you fall into diverse temptations. Now the word temptation has two different meanings in the Bible. The word means literally to test. Now there are two kinds of tests that you can go through and you'll see both of those in this chapter. One of them is God tempting you. That's found in Genesis chapter 22 verse one when the Bible says it came fast that the Lord God did tempt Abraham. But then in verse number 13 of chapter one it says, let no man say when he is tempted I am tempted of God. For God cannot be tempted, here's the key words, with evil neither tempteth he any man. So there's two kinds of temptations that you're going to endure in your life. There's a temptation where your own flesh is lusting after something that's wrong and sinful. When you see something or you have an idea about some kind of a sin that you want to commit that's a temptation the Bible says and that's the evil kind of temptation. Then there's another kind of temptation that's a temptation where God is tempting you like God is testing you. God is trying to put you through some kind of a period of testing to strengthen you and to perfect you. The word is similar to our word attempt. You know the word attempt means you're going to try something. Well the word attempt comes from the same word as temptation. And so the Bible says when you fall into divers, temptations, divers means different or various types. When you come across a temptation in your life, a trial in your life, something difficult in your life, he says count it all joy knowing this that the trying of your faith worketh patience. Now you'll see of course that God always uses the Bible to define itself. He says the temptation and then he says the trying of your faith. So you can see that a temptation is when God is trying you and testing you. The Bible says the Lord tryeth the righteous but him that loveth violence, the wicked and him that loveth violence, his soul hateth. And so God loves you therefore he tries you. God loves you therefore he purges you. God loves you therefore he puts you through difficult times in your life. And he says but let patience have her perfect work that you may be perfect and entire. Again God is defining the word perfect for us, entire, complete, wanting nothing. He says I want you to be perfect. I want you to have the whole package. I want you to be entire and complete and wanting nothing. See how much the Bible defines itself. I mean three words right there. God teaches us the definition in these three verses. But flip over if you would to 1 Peter chapter 1. Just one page over in my Bible. I don't know how your Bible is but flip over to 1 Peter chapter 1. And look at verse number six. And remember James 1 2 said my brethren counted all joy. Think about those two words. Count it all joy when you fall into diverse temptations. Knowing this that the trying of your faith work at patience. Look at verse 6 of 1 Peter 1. Wherein ye greatly rejoice though now for a season if need be you are in heaviness through manifold temptations. Same idea being talked about here. That the trial of your faith being much more precious than of gold that perisheth though will be tried with fire might be found unto praise and honor and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ whom having not seen ye love in whom though now you see him not you believing yet you rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory receiving the end of your faith even the salvation of your souls. So here we see those same two ideas related again joy trials and temptations. He says when that temptation comes when that hard time comes he says you ought to be thrilled you ought to be rejoicing that God is trying you knowing that the trying of your faith work at patience. See the goal of the Christian life sometimes we can become goal oriented in our life where we think well my goal is to win x amount of people the Lord and that's a great goal that's important that is what God wants you to do or my goal is to achieve such and such financially or my goal is to achieve such and such in my family. But there's another goal that God has that's a little bit different than our goal. God's goal is found in Romans chapter 8 you don't have to turn there but the Bible says but we know that all things work together for good and of course this is talking about bad things that happen in your life we know that all things work together for good to them that love God to them who are the called according to his purpose for whom he did for know he did also predestinate to be conformed to the image of his son and so God is saying that he his goal in our life is to make us as much like Jesus Christ as he can see he wants to have a servant that he can use to the fullest and sometimes that means putting you through pressure and pain and tribulation and trials and troubles in your life because he's trying to purify you to make you into the person that he wants you to be to make you like Jesus Christ and sometimes we see a maybe a financial problem we call the financial setback because it sets us back in our goals of what we're trying to achieve financially we think about maybe setbacks in the growth of this church think about maybe setbacks and soul winning but God says no it's not a setback at all because I'm strengthening you and trying you because I'm perfecting you so that you can be perfect an entire wanting nothing you should be rejoicing that I'm taking the time to work with you and to mold you into what I want you to be you know the bible says that if the axe I'm sorry I don't have it memorized exactly but he says if the axe is is dull he says then the person you know who's chopping down the tree is gonna have to put more work to it it says in the book of ecclesiastes and we're tools that God is using and God takes the time I heard somebody say a saying that a woodsman never loses any time when he sharpens his axe it's never a waste of time when you're cutting wood to sharpen your axe because it saves you time and so God says yes you're sick or ill and it's and it's keeping you from doing what God wants you to do yes your finances are bad yes things are going bad in other areas but he says that's okay I'm just sharpening up the axe a little bit I'm just taking a little time to sharpen you up to get you where I want you to be because I know you'll be so much more productive when you're perfect and entire wanting nothing because the trial of your faith is going to be more precious than gold and the bible says here in first peter chapter one the same principle there but he says that you may be perfect and entire wanting nothing you know there's so many people that are that are one-sided they're one-dimensional I was thinking about this and I was talking to a buddy of mine how how many churches that we can think of where you'll find a church that's really good on soul winning and man they're reaching people like crazy I mean they're out knocking doors they're running the buses but then the way that the women dress is ridiculous I mean it's sleazy it's like the world it's promiscuous and then you'll go to another church and man they're strict I mean the women are wearing modest dresses I mean they're not decorated up like a Christmas tree looking looking all jazzy and and worldly and flashy and draw look everybody look at me type of a look and you'll see them they're just straight down the line strict standards no soul winning and you're thinking what's the point so what what are you here to show off how holy you are why don't you go preach the gospel to every preacher like god says to do in practically every chapter of the bible to open your mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the gospel and I say to myself why is it that they can't be perfect you say I'm look I'm looking for the perfect church you say well are you talking about a church that has nothing wrong well no I'm talking about god the bible definition of perfect I mean a church that has the whole package I mean they're zealous about soul winning and they have the strict standards of holy living you know according to the bible strong preaching on on right and wrong and then you'll find churches that have those two but they're shallow you know the pastor will get up and and maybe read one verse and then just talk for 45 minutes and you know you don't learn the bible or the pastor doesn't really know the bible so you'll hear just the same verses and the same subjects over and over and over again or just the plan of salvation over and over and over again and you don't get any meat out of the word of god why can't they just have the whole package soul winning knowledge of the bible deep knowledge of the bible and soul winning and standards and fiery preaching why can't they be perfect and entire wanting nothing is my question look it's not enough to be a soul winner if you don't know the bible I remember I've heard so much preaching growing up and always irritated me I heard preachers get up and say you're going to have all eternity to study the bible the main thing you need to just focus on winning souls you focus on prayer and you'll you have all the time in the world to read that thing no wrong wrong wrong wrong wrong wrong wrong wrong wrong if I have to sacrifice anything the last thing I will sacrifice is reading the bible and I'm not talking about reading it a little bit I'm talking about reading it a lot is number one priority is me fellowshipping with god this is where the power comes from now we talked about on sunday night the sermon the power of the holy ghost and boy I had to just blow through the material there's just so much I mean I cut out half my sermon and I couldn't even get through what I want and it was a long sermon but I couldn't even get through what I wanted to get through because the bible talked so much about it here's something I didn't get to and I'm going to read it for you I'm going to make this a long sermon no I'm just kidding let me read this John chapter 3 I didn't get to this and it's a great verse this is John the baptist speaking boy you want to talk about a powerful man I mean you want to talk about a man that had the holy ghost upon him in mighty power John the Baptist where then came out to then went out to him Jerusalem and all Judea and all the region round about Jordan and were baptized of him and Jordan confessing their sins hey this is a powerful man the whole area came out to get baptized I mean this man prepared the way of the Lord and made his paths straight and he was a great man listen to John the Baptist explain where the power came from and he was talking about Jesus Christ in this particular verse but the bible says in verse 34 of John chapter 3 for he whom God had sent speaketh the words of God for God giveth not the spirit by measure unto him you see that he says Jesus Christ the reason why the Holy Spirit's power was just maximum I mean just infinity it was poured out on Jesus Christ without measure why because every word that came out of his mouth he was speaking God's words see that's where the power is and so don't tell me that you know don't sit around and they say like well don't sit around and study the manual you know can you imagine a lifeguard just sitting around studying the manual he should be jumping in saving people look he needs to say the manual to know how to do it properly it's a dumb illustration or they said like can you imagine if we all got together and sat around the sword and looked at the sword and oh what a beautiful sword use the sword hey no I'm going to sit around and examine the sword for a while I don't know about you I'm going to spend a lifetime training how to use the sword properly because I'm going to tell you something I've knocked doors for hours and hours and hours and hours and seen nothing happen and I've I've knocked doors for a half hour and seen great things happen because it's it's God that does it my friend and so don't leave God out of the equation don't go running with all your excitement and don't have knowledge of the bible and by the way the bible says that the children of Israel he said for I bear them record that they have a zeal for God but not according to knowledge for they being ignorant of God's righteousness and going about to establish their own righteousness have not submitted themselves under the righteousness of God why why did they do that because they were ignorant why were they ignorant because they didn't read the bible like they should have read the bible and so reading the bible is is vital but if you don't go soul winning what's the point and if you don't go soul winning you're not going to understand the bible because the bible says he that when its souls is wise and the bible says strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil so he says you learn the bible by using the bible if you don't learn the bible you're not going to know how to use it you're not going to know what to use and if you're not a clean and holy righteous separated vessel God can't use you the spirit of the lord's going to depart from you like it departed from saul i'm not talking about the indwelling of the holy spirit of course talking about the holy spirit's power resting upon you like it rested upon saul in his early days and so you see how important it is to have the whole package a three-fold cord is not easily broken the bible says and you have to have the balance not a balance of well we're we half know the bible and we have to go soul winning and we have to have standards so we're balanced now i'm talking about 100 percent learning the bible 100 zeal for winning souls and a hundred percent clean righteous living you gotta have the whole thing a church has to have the whole thing we need to be perfect and entire wanting nothing the complete package look at verse number five if any of you lack wisdom james chapter 1 verse number 5 if any of you lack wisdom let him ask of god that giveth to all men liberally and abraith not and it shall be given him but here's the catch there's always a catch whenever god promises something he always has something that we have to do in order to get that promise like believe on the lord jesus christ and thou shall be saved there's a part that we have to we have to put our faith in jesus and then he does the saving but look at this but let him ask in faith this is what makes your prayers get answered but let him ask in faith nothing wavering for he that waverth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and toss and boy this is a very chilling verse look at the next verse for let not that man think that he shall receive anything of the lord boy how would you like to be that man oh man you know that's that's scary thought to be the man in verse number seven that's not going to get anything from god well what a good night what do i have to do to be that way he says if you waver he says if you if you if you if you don't ask in faith he says if you if you're just kind of tossed around you're not really sure and he explains it more verse number eight a double-minded man is unstable in all his ways you see when you ask god to do something when you pray the bible says you have to ask in faith nothing wavering for he that wavers is like a way to see driven with the wind and toss he says you'll just go through life being tossed about i was thinking about an example that i've used before but when i was in bible college perfect example i got the bible college and you know ninety percent of the guys in bible college they worked on wednesday night and they would miss church on wednesday night because they had work because they put school over church you know which is wrong i don't remember god starting a school i do remember him saying that he purchased the local church with his own blood and so i i think church is number one and so they would they would go to school in the mornings you know monday through friday or tuesday through friday and then they would work second shift monday through friday and they would miss wednesday night church because they had to okay well i decided that uh i do you know i drove out to bible college and didn't have any money at all no money no job just had enough to get into my uh rental house there and just didn't know what i was going to do i just figured that god was going to lead me and that god was going to take care of me and so i went there and i sat down to make my resume and you know what i did i said i'm not available monday through friday in the morning because i'm going to be in school and i said i'm not available on wednesday night and i'm not available on sunday and i mean i had that resume and i told god i said you know what god i said god hell will freeze over before i work on wednesday night god i said i will not miss church and i said god if you can't give me a job that'll pay my bills where i don't miss church on wednesday night then i will not go into the ministry i refuse to be a pastor ever because i'm not going to serve a god that wants me to violate what he told me to do in order to somehow serve him that doesn't even make sense i said no i won't do it god and so you do what i'm asking you to do or or you're just telling me that you don't want me to be a college because if i can't do both then guess what college is going to go out the window and so that's why i told god and people told me that i was wrong and they told me it was stupid but my ministry leader that was in charge of the ministry i was in mike ramsey he said yep he told me and even before i told him that that's what i did i'd already made my resume he said well here because i told him i was trying to find a job he said well here's a tip i told god 10 years ago that i was never going to miss wednesday night church to work and he said and he said if you tell god that you know that that pleases him and so that's what i told god i said god i won't do it now some people have this attitude like i'm going to really try not to miss church on wednesday night for my job you know i'm going to try and get a job that doesn't make me work on wednesday night but if i have to i have to because i got to pay my bills i got to feed my family hey those people always work on wednesday night and you know that's true i mean you know that just in every area of the christian life whenever you say like i'm going to do my best the devil hears that says oh you're going to do your best okay well i'll just figure out where that breaking point is right where i can stop you well i'll just figure it out and i'll push you to that point but when you just say i refuse to do it period then the bible says resist the devil and he'll flee from you and the devil just says you know i'm not gonna mess with this guy and i remember i walked into a job and i went down to the college and they set me up this job interview he said go talk to this guy i sat down at this trucking company and i told him i said you know i can't work wednesday nights though that's the only thing and i'll do i'll do whatever else i'll work extra hours the other days i said all if you if i just can only work 35 hours or 36 hours you know that's what i have to do that's fine but i can't work wednesday night he said well said well i don't think uh you know i don't think it's gonna work but you know well maybe we can work something out we'll give you a call never called me and uh and i i asked the the guy at the college for more help he said no just wait you know just wait and see if that guy calls you so i'm thinking great you know it gives me one lead and the guy's not going to hire me because i'm not willing to work through wednesday night and uh you know there's the amount of money that they're offering me was low but at this point i was just desperate anyway well a few more days went by and i was just just all day more than eight hours a day out putting out the resumes making phone calls just doing everything i could i put out like 50 resumes i was on the phone i was driving around nothing nothing nothing nothing and then right there on the seventh day i was just getting to the end of my rope trying to figure out how to make something happen i saw that in the chicago tribune got a great job making immediately one and a half times what that other job was offering me and to this day i'm still working for that same job now i'm making well over double what that other job was offering me i mean way more than double and so god can you can you imagine this and i'm thinking to myself just as i think back over some of my financial needs that i've had in the last three years of my life and just kids being born and just things that i've had to do i'm saying to myself there's no way i could have made it on the salary from that job there's no way i'd still be there right now and literally you you may not understand this but literally i would not be standing here right now pastoring this church if i had not refused to work on wednesday night because i would have got that stupid job but i held out for the job that god had for me because i didn't doubt i didn't waver i said god i will not do it i refuse to do it and god says man i like that faith because i don't like somebody who just is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and toss for letting out that man think that he shall receive anything of the lord and so when you i mean think about it if i was going to come here and start this church and i'm not one of these prosperity preachers i mean i barely scraped by with the job that i had while i was while i was in bible college but i couldn't have even made it with that other child but i i was thinking about this think about if i would have come to start this church and said you know what god please build faithful word baptist church god please you you have to do this i can't do it and then i said well i'm going to go to phoenix and try and start a church wrong that i think about what would that that's not faith look if i ask god and say god build faithful word baptist church now i'm going to come out here and say i am starting a church in phoenix arizona or i'm going to die starting a church in phoenix arizona i'm going to be 70 years old knocking on doors saying someday someday and of course i came in faith that's the only way you're going to get anything from god you say i'm trying to give up the sense of sin i'm going to pray and ask god to help me well have you decided that you're not going to do it anymore or you're not sure okay but then you ask god like god please help me give up the pornography but you're not really sure whether you're really going to give it up that's not faith god god's going to say well you know what come back and talk to me when you're sure that you're going to give it up and then i'll give you the strength to give it up no wait no just wait a minute just come back to me when you're ready to quit the sin and then i'll be there to help you when you're ready to do it when you're sure you're ready to do it and see that's what god's saying here he's saying let him ask in faith and he said what sort of things you ask believing that you have them he says you'll receive them is what he said in the gospels and so you have to ask for god and things in faith you know you have to live by faith you have to step out on a limb sometimes out of the comfort zone you have to step out and put yourself in a position where if god doesn't come through then i'm through because god will come through and if you don't believe that then you don't have the kind of faith that it takes to get anything from god because god doesn't hand out anything unless you have faith that's just the way it is it's the way god operates but don't be double-minded you know it just this whole philosophy of double-minded you know do you hate when people use double talk you know they talk out of both sides of their mouth you ever heard that expression before they'll say one thing to somebody and then somebody else gets around they'll say something a little different or they'll act different around certain people hey don't be double-minded hey why don't you just decide and this also has to do with the thought about you know asking in faith and nothing wavering and not being tossed tossed about and carried about with every wind of darkness hey decide what you believe and then just stick with it and don't be double-minded well why are people so double-minded about the king james bible look is the king james bible the word of god or not i was talking to our visitor on sunday morning and i was i was telling he was he was trying some different church i said well have you tried this one over here you know try this one over here these are these are good ones that i've heard about and he said well i said yeah you know these these ones were king james only and he said well you know what he said when you really pin people down though that are supposedly king james and you ask them why they're king james or what they believe about the king james he said you get all kinds of answers he said you get some real weird answers about what they mean by that and that's the truth why are people so double-minded they just decide whether the king james bible is the word of god whether you're king james only and just quit even worrying about it quit even uh fathoming the idea of bringing in some other bible you think i'm going to bring in some stupid other bible in this pulpit if i look if i ever if i ever get up here and tell you that another bible says something that makes a little more sense or if i get to say well let me read it to you in the niv it'll make it a little simpler hey you have the obligation to throw me out of here i'm serious i don't care if it's 10 years from now and i started this church and i came here this church wasn't even around i just came here and started it with god doing the work of course but if i if i pass through this church for 30 years and i get up and use a different bible in this pulpit i hope to god that you'll be smart enough to throw me out on the street and say get out of here paul said if i come back to you and preach another gospel than what i preached to you he says let me be accursed he says curse me because i don't have loyalty to a man have loyalty to jesus christ have loyalty to king james bible and don't be double-minded just decide what you believe and nail it down you say well i'm not sure what i believe well it's time for you to figure out what you believe in if you're not sure what you believe about the king james figure out sit down and read it study to show thyself approved unto god a workman that needs not to be ashamed rightly dividing the word of truth figure out what you believe hey figure out whether you're a baptist or not and then just stay a baptist figure out what you believe about salvation and about soul winning and then just stick with it and if you're not sure what you believe then figure it out read the bible until you figure it out i know what i believe and that's why i'm going to get things from god when i ask because i'm not double-minded because i know what i believe i want to go all the way this way i'm not going that way at all i want to be all the way right wing conservative fundamental radical insane i'm not going to be anywhere in between the spectrum of well you know he's a little liberal on this hey tell me what i'm a little liberal and i'll change it tomorrow honestly meet me after the service because i don't want to be i don't want to be i don't want to be liberal at all i don't have any darkness at all in me i want to be 100 righteous before god and i'm not and i'm on and that's the direction i'm going that's the direction i'll continue to go but i i would i would uh i would say that the average baptist church and the average independent fundamental baptist church should be called double-minded baptist church double-minded baptist church uh pastor wave toss to and fro with every you know these these these pastors i can't figure them out sometimes i'll hear them preach and they'll preach boy uh they'll preach on sin and they'll preach hard and then i look at like brochures and stuff they hand out it looks exactly what i just got in the mail from the charismatic church down the street i mean it looks identical oh i'll sit down in their service and they'll say we're not gonna have this christian contemporary music this liberal music and then you'll hear the music in their church and that's exactly what it is and you're thinking of my what i can't figure this out it's double-minded hey look figure out which side of the coin you're on and just go all the way in that direction you say does it bother you when people leave this church or when people come and go it doesn't bother me at all because they don't they might not want to be where we are but that's just the way we're going to be forever and by the grace of god that's the way that we're going to continue to be and the people who want to line up with it if the people want to line up with this Bible and good night they don't have to line up with everything we believe but if they can handle being here and listening to it hey then glory to god they could they'll be here with us and god will build the church with those kind of people but people who can't take it we're not going to we're not going to come their way no never never oh i might as well just pack up my stuff and leave town which isn't going to happen but anyway don't be double-minded but i will say this i'm not trying to be negative because i will say this i strongly believe that all across this nation right now in 2006 there are young men and boys and young adults who's who's got a fire burning in their heart who god is speaking to right now i mean who god is speaking to when they read their bible who god is speaking to where they are and god is raising up a generation of preachers i just believe that they're that there are some people that still haven't bowed the knee to bail in this country i believe that as god said to elijah he said there's seven thousand men that haven't bowed the knee to bail he says you don't even know about them but i've been preparing them i've been using my word i've been working in their life and they're going to rise up and fight against the syrians and that's what happened ahab led them to battle ahab led seven thousand men who had not bowed the knee to bail and fought against a giant multitude in this army and i don't have time to tell that whole story great story i'll preach the sermon on it sometime but don't be double-minded the bible says in verse number nine let the brother of low degree rejoice and that he's exalted let's talk about somebody who's of low financial means somebody's poor he's saying let the brother of low degree rejoice and that he's exalted but the rich and that he is made low because as the flower of the grass he shall pass away but the sun is no sooner risen with the burning heat but it withereth the grass and the flower thereof falleth and the grace of the fashion of a parisheship so also shall the rich man fade away in his ways well i was i was just in uh los angeles of course as i as i usually am in the first part of the week and i was in los angeles and boy there's so many new areas springing up i mean that area is growing in los angeles everywhere in los angeles and this just seems like the city's just getting further you can be several hours out and it's just a metropolis i was in i was in a lot of different areas you know see me valley i was in long beach and boy long beach the skyline was bigger than phoenix's skyline just long beach and some of these other suburbs you know glendale you know they had big skylines and it was it was amazing but i was just thinking about because i i do a lot of work in department stores and sometimes i'd be in a mall setting in a department store and these malls some of them are so lavish in some of these rich areas good night i mean they had giant statues giant fountains just everything is just seemingly gold-plated and marble everything's fancy everything is first class everything is just brand new and i was just thinking to myself wow you know what's it going to be like something in heaven because you know it's going to be so much nicer than this i mean it's going to be so much more plush and and rich and lavish and nice but i was just thinking about how it's all just going to decay and just fade away and god says it's worthless he and he says later in in the book of james in chapter five he says go to now ye rich men weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you your riches are corrupted and your garments are moth eaten your gold and silver is cankered and the rest of them and he goes on and on to describe how he says it's like your gold is cankered your money is like rotten you're going to fade away he says don't toil for earthly riches because they're going to sour and rot but he says let the brother of low degree rejoice and that he's exalted see god makes the high places low and the low places high that no flesh should glory before him you see the rich man he says you better watch out because riches don't endure forever and i'm going to send you the trials and tribulations just like everybody else buddy if you're a born-again child of god but he says boy the poor man he says i'm going to lift you up and exalt you to show my glory by giving you the desires of your heart and i'm not talking about financially but i'm talking about he says in the in in the bible he says for the first shall be last and the last shall be first and a lot of people that have prominence now are going to be nobody in the world to come but he says boy some of the people that you thought were just the they were just of low degree i mean they didn't have any money they didn't have any fame nobody knew who they were but god's going to lift them up and exalt them because they lived for god because they stayed with it and because they pleased god with their lives but it says in verse number 12 i'm going to hurry through this but verse says verse number 12 but the whole point of that is that you know don't labor for riches god says woe unto you rich that's what he said he said he said blessed are the poor and i know it says in matthew blessed are the poor in spirit but in the book of luke chapter number nine i think it is he says blessed are the poor he says all because i'm taking care of that and so don't don't try and be rich it's not what it's corrected to be verse number 13 or verse number 12 says blessed is the man that endureth temptation it's talking about those struggles those trials that god sent you for when he is tried he shall receive the crown of life which the lord has promised to them to love him let no man say when he's tempted i'm tempted of god for god cannot be tempted with evil neither tempteth he any man but every man is tempted when he is drawn away of his own lust and enticed then when lust have conceived to bring it forth sin and sin when it is finished bringing forth death so lust is the precursor to sin it starts with you having an inordinate desire covetousness a wrong desire for something that god doesn't want you to have and a lot of people say wow it's not my fault you know the devil made me do it or you know you heard people say the devil made me do it now he says every man is tempted when he's drawn away of his own lust and enticed look you don't the devil you don't even need the devil's help because you have so much sin inside your body that's going to take you to the gutter anyway i mean you think people think that the devil's down at the at the strip club tonight he he's probably never even been inside that strip club i'm serious he's a well he's not the bar he's never even seen the inside of that bar the bible says that the devil's transformed into a minister of light the devil's down the street at the southern baptist church friend that's the truth you don't like that that's the truth okay the devil's not in a bar because at the bar the wicked lust of mankind will destroy himself devil doesn't even need to be there no the devil's behind the false religion the devil's behind all the the roman catholic church the devil's behind every idol that anybody worships the bible says the devil is behind those things because the lust of man is what causes you to sin it's not the devil that's tempting you all the devil's really tempting me look do you think you're that important there's only one devil you think the devil's just tempting you all the time no your flesh is tempting you now sometimes the devil may tempt you but most of the time it's your own lust is drawing you away and enticing you and so you just have to subdue the old the old man and walk in the spirit but god says every man is tempted when he's drawn away of his own lust and enticed and then listen to this wording then when lust have conceived it bringeth forth sin now what do those two words mean well you know what conception means right that's when a child is created in the womb of its mother when lust hath conceived it bringeth forth and you know what bring it forth means it means to give birth it says when lust have conceived it bring it forth sin and sin when it is finished bring it forth that so what happens is when you start to lust when you start to get that wrong desire for whatever it is for money that god doesn't want you to have you know for power that god doesn't want you to have for uh lusting like a man lusts after women or vice versa when he says when you have that lust in you he said it's like you're pregnant and you're like ready to give birth to wicked sin and you know the thing is a lot of people think well you know and i used to talk to guys on the job i remember i'd be you know i'd be like on an electrical job and walking with another electrician he'd say hey look out that window over there okay you know i thought he's trying to show me something about the job he's like look out this window i look out the window and there's some you know indecent some girl in a bikini or something or some girl bending over or something indecent and i look out the window and see that and he says huh huh huh and i said hey i said you know what i said i said are you married and he said yeah you know i'm married i said well do you think your wife appreciates you looking at that i mean wouldn't that wouldn't that hurt her feelings do you love your wife you know i just said to him like that i said you love your wife i mean do you think that do you think that she feel good about you looking at at other women like that you know do you want her to lust after some other man in her heart and that and he said well you know just because i've already ordered you know doesn't mean i can't look at the menu and he says you know i'm just he's like hey i'm just looking he's like my wife said this is what he said to me and it's a true story it's like many true stories this is this is i'm thinking of one particular instance and he said well you know what my wife said she said that i can look but don't touch and i just thought to myself you know what that that poor woman you know she's probably saying that just to be cool or something since since guys today you know they they go through women like you know they drop them and dump them or she probably feels like she has to say that you know so that her boyfriend or husband or whatever it is that's just temporary these days will stay with her but you know she's got to hurt inside because no woman wants to to feel like she's a second grade or something like that i mean isn't that just disgusting this is make you sick and it made me sick when he told me that and i just thought to myself that that makes me even sicker that she told you that because she doesn't mean that she that hurts her inside that you're lusting after other women and i was just thinking to myself and i told him i said well you know what the bible says it says whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in this heart and i said and the guy wasn't even a christian you know and i gave him the gospel but i i told him i said you know what i said i'm not i don't even want to look at it because you can't play with it my friend if you if you if you just indulge looking at wrong things like that you will eventually act on it because what happens is the moment that you look at that and just decide you know you might see something and say okay i'm not going to look at it you know by accident but as soon as you take that second look and say you know what i'm just going to lust after what i just looked at i'm just going to desire it and covet it then you know what happens something is conceived inside you and then you know what it does just like a baby inside its mother's womb begins to grow and it just keeps growing it keeps growing and it keeps growing and it keeps growing and then one day it's time for it to be born and that's when you fall into sin fall into sin right no i said hey it took you nine months it took you nine months my friend to to commit adultery because lust conceived nine months ago and you've been feeding it and feeding it and feeding it and it's growing and growing and growing and growing you went through the first and second trimester and now you're in the third trimester and now you're ready to give birth to the shin that's been festering inside of you for nine long months you know obviously it's not exactly nine months but that's that's the picture that jeans is painting here he's saying lust conceives and eventually it brings forth sin and then once you get into sin sin conceives and then the grandchild of lust is death conceived death and so that's the end of sin but look at the next verse the bible says do not earn my beloved brethren every good gift and every perfect gift is from above and cometh down from the father of lights with whom is no variableness neither shadow of turning see if you were happy with what god gave you if you're happy with all the good things that god has already given you you wouldn't have this inordinate lust for everything that god does not give you you'd be satisfied and thankful to every good gift that god gave you but you wouldn't be lusting after things that aren't yours and look at the next verse the bible says of his own will begat he us back on the now we're back on the childbirth illustration of his own will begat he us with the word of truth that we should be a kind of first fruits of his creatures now again i've hit on this so many times but you know what i constantly being challenged on this all the time and i just cannot understand it friend sometimes i just wonder if anybody who doesn't believe this maybe they're just not saying sometimes i mean once they've had it explained to them because the way that people are so dumb about this and i'll explain it to them it seems like it just goes right over their head and i'll show them verses over and over again the bible says of his own will begat he us with the word of truth how did god beget us as his children how did god bring us forth as sons of god what was the seed that created the conception to where we could be born again it's the word of god the word of truth the bible is what conceived us have you noticed that the bible and i'm not trying to be graphic but you know the bible calls what comes from a man seed in the old testament and did you know that the bible calls the word of god the seed the sower soweth the word the bible says he that received the seed among the good ground is he that heareth the word you know the non the joy received because the seed is always in both cases is referred to as the word of god of his own will begat us with the word of truth that was the seed both in the sense of a man and a woman giving birth producing children the seed is the word of god and again with a seed going into the ground same illustration the word of god is what saves you i was thinking about the verse elations 4 19 oh my little children of whom i travail in birth again is what paul said until christ be formed in you he said i'm like a woman in labor is what paul is saying giving birth to children when i win people to christ see god provides the seed the holy ghost uses the seed of the word of god and he says i'm like the female i'm like the woman who's pregnant who's travailing travail is what a woman goes through it's pangs the bible calls it travail labor pains he says i'm feeling the pain that it takes as a servant of god to bring forth children into the kingdom of god and he says oh my little children of whom i travail in birth again until christ be formed in you and on and on you'll see that illustration throughout the bible i preached a little sermon about that a long long time ago i guess it couldn't have been that long ago since this church has only been around for 11 months seems like a long time ago it was one of the it was one of the really early sermons but i was look down a few verses and uh look at verse number 21 and we'll see the same thing again in the same chapter wherefore lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness and receive with meekness the engrafted word which is able to save your souls wow you see it again now i i made a quick list and i didn't i wanted to do this and i forgot to do it and i didn't really have time to do it but just right before the service after i got home from my trip i sat down and just came up with a list of just a few verses on this i'm just going to read them for you the bible says in psalm 119 50 this is my comfort in my affliction for thy word hath quickened me of course the bible says the fees to you have to be quickened who are dead and trespassing sins quicken means brought to life he says thy word hath quickened me of course mark 413 and he said to them know ye not this parable and how then will you know all parables preacher who doesn't believe that you need the bible to be saved how are you going to know any parable how do you know anything about the bible if you don't understand the word of god because then in the next verse he says he says no you're not this parable and how then will you know all parables and i love the short verses in the bible where the the holy ghost just decided to just have just a short little verse and it's just a five-word verse mark 414 the sower soweth the word that's what soul winning is he here's another one he that goeth forth and weepeth bearing precious seed that's the bible shall doubtless come again with rejoicing bringing his sheaves with him of course john chapter six i don't have time to preach this like i'd like to but in john chapter six in verse 47 jesus said verily verily i say unto you he that believeth on me hath everlasting life with a great verse i am that bread of life is the next verse your fathers did eat manna in the wilderness and are dead this is the bread which cometh down from heaven that a man may eat thereof and not die i am the living bread jesus is saying which came down from heaven if any man eat of this bread he shall live forever see how simple the gospel is but listen this and the bread that i will give is my flesh which i will give for the life of the world and i'm going to skip some of this but he well actually i won't because it's so good i have to read all this the jews therefore strolled among themselves saying how can this man give us his flesh to eat then jesus said unto them verily verily i say unto you except you eat the flesh of the son of man and drink his blood you have no life in you who so eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood hath eternal life and i will raise him up at the last day for my flesh is meat indeed and my blood is drink indeed he that eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood dwelleth in me and i in him as the living father hath sent me and i live by the father so he that eateth me shall live by me you say what in the world is that ever eating jesus christ he said you need you must eat my flesh to have any life in you he that eat my flesh has eternal life he said so he that eateth me shall live by me but then he explains it in verse 63 he said it is the spirit that quickeneth the flesh profiteth nothing he says i'm not talking about flesh i'm not talking about literal flesh he said it's the spirit that quickeneth the words that i speak unto you they are spirit and they are life see he's using an illustration here he's comparing himself to the manna that came down from heaven where the bible says man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that proceeded out of the mouth of god he said he that eateth me shall live by me he said don't don't be confused the flesh profiteth nothing it's not about the flesh he says the words that i say unto you they are spirit and they are life he says you must consume god's word in order to have any life in you he says you can't be saved it'd be like a virgin birth if you're going to get saved without the word of god how are you going to get saved without the seed how's a tree going to grow without a seed how are you going to be saved without the jesus christ coming into you through god's word he says you must eat the word of god he says you must live by the word of god and live meaning live by means come to life by the word of god quickening you that's a whole another sermon in and of itself john 8 30 as he spake these words many believed on it that's the whole verse i love these short verses where god just lays it out for us romans 10 9 classic verse that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the lord jesus and shall believe in thine heart that god has raised him from the dead thou shalt be saved for with the hard man believeth unto righteousness and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation for the scripture saith whosoever believeth in him shall not be ashamed for there is no difference between the jew and the greek for the same lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him for whosoever shall call upon the name of the lord shall be saved how then shall they call on him in whom they've not believed and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard and how should they hear without a preacher as it is written how beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace and bring glad tidings of good things but but but they've not all obeyed the gospel for his eyes saith lord who hath believed our report so then faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of god so if you're saved by grace through faith where does the faith come from it comes by hearing the word of god i'm sorry to belabor this but you know what someday my children are going to grow up and sit sit in some church somewhere god forbid where some idiot gets up and says that you don't need the word of god to get saved or some idiot gets up and says that it doesn't matter what bible you're using out soul winning you can still get people saved some idiot gets up and said that it's just the gospel that saves it's not the word of god that saves no it's the word of god that has the saving power it's it's the word of god that's needed for salvation it's the word of god that's needed for sanctification and it's the word of god that's needed for glorification because i'm going to tell you something if you don't need the word of god to win people to christ well you know what maybe that's why people have such a flipping attitude about what bible they use because they've demoted how important the word of god is and how powerful it is well as long as you get the same point across no he said when they heard these words remember the sermon on sunday night and when peter spake these words while peter spake these words the holy ghost fell on them that heard the words you see that they didn't fall the holy ghost didn't fall because he was telling a story about jesus it's because he spake god's words the holy ghost fell on them that heard the words and on and on i'm belaboring this you all know this but you need to be grounded in what you believe and know why you believe it ephesians 1 13 in whom he also trusted after that you heard the word of truth see let's get the order right after that you heard the word of truth the gospel of your salvation in whom also after that you believe you were sealed with that holy spirit of promise uh acts 13 26 men and brethren children of the stock of abraham and whosoever among you fearth god to you is the word of this salvation sent psalm 107 20 he sent his word and healed them and delivered them from their distresses and of course my favorite john 5 24 verily verily i say unto you he that heareth my words and word and believeth on him that sent me half everlasting life and shall not come into condemnation but is passed from death to life heareth the word and believeth that's salvation you hear the word of god you believe the word of god and i wish i could have had time to make a more comprehensive list but then again it would have taken too long so i'm glad i didn't have time it would have taken up the whole sermon but anyway back to the book of james i'm going to hurriedly close here but the bible says of his own will begat he us with the word of truth that we should be a kind of first fruits of his creatures of course the begetting of us is also is always associated with a brand new creature this is any man being christ he's a new creature god created something new in our spirit the moment that we got saved and then at the rapture he'll create a new body for us and that's another sermon but the bible says wherefore my beloved brother and let every man be swift to hear slow to speak slow to wrath for the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of god don't go through life angry all the time now the bible does say that god's angry with the wicked every day and the bible says be ye angry and sin not the bible commands you to be angry but the bible also says anger resteth in the bosom of fools and it says be ye angry and sin not let not the sun go down upon your wrath he's saying don't go from day to day angry he says when the time there's a time to be angry there's a time to have a wrath and anger and indignation but he says then there's a time to put off anger the bible says those exact words put off anger you know you get angry but what's the key word of your life joy count it all joy we're always rejoicing rejoice evermore uh this is the day that the lord have made we will rejoice and be glad in it you know sometimes you you can get tendency to get angry a lot just because there's so many bad things going on in the world and bad things going on in our lives hey look put off anger though because god says the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of god look there's a time to have wrath and anger but he says you got to be able to know how to put on off anger you know i put on anger sometimes while i'm preaching but when i'm done preaching i'm gonna put off anger and i'm gonna you know enjoy some time with my family and so you have to be able to put it on and put it off like the bible says and then the bible says for the rat and also says slow to wrath don't be one of these hot heads that flies off the handle at the drop of a hat the bible says the lord is slow to anger and of great mercy see god has more wrath than you can even imagine god's anger is so much that his fury and his wrath is epitomized in a place called hell that is just basically just the center of god's wrath and anger just culminated in his uh wrathful damnation anger just burning for all eternity that's how mad god is you want to know how mad god is go check out what hell is like and that's how mad god is but at the same time he's slow to anger you know he's not one of these people that just flies off the handle he's like a time bomb that's ticking and by the way he's ticking about america he's just ticking ticking ticking and one of these ages is going to cloud up and rain on us and so we need to seek the lord while he may be found in this country but it says be slow to wrath don't be a hot head don't fly off the handle control yourself it's okay to be anger if you decide to be angry okay it's you need to control the anger you know you should be able to control i'm going to decide to be angry sometimes i have to decide to be angry at my children sometimes i have to be decide to be angry while i'm preaching but it's because i decided to be angry not because i'm just out of control just flying off the handle and you got to be able to see the difference there and it says for the wrath of man working out the righteousness of god wherefore lay apart all filthiness and superfluity and naughtiness and receive with me this thing grafted word which is able to save your souls hallelujah but be doers of the word and not here is only deceiving your own selves for if any be a hearer of the word and not a doer he is likened to a man beholding his natural face in the glass for he beholded himself and go with his way and straightway forget what manner of man he was he's saying if you if you don't do what the bible tells you to do and and this is what happens i'll get up and preach a sermon right and uh i don't know whether i'm one of these emotional preachers or not maybe i you know maybe i maybe i preach and people get emotional or i don't know you know i don't have the big altar calls and the drawn out invitations and everything like that but at the same time you know there's there's going to be emotion involved in a church service and preaching and sometimes i'll preach something right and uh the holy ghost will fall on them that hear the words and and something will cut to the heart that i preach on not me but the bible will cut to the heart sometimes but here's what happens when the bible cuts to the heart and you're a hearer but then if you're not a doer like if you hear what you're supposed to do like go soul winning you know you're like oh man i need to go soul winning if you don't go soul winning here's what happens the bible says it's like you looked in a mirror and saw what you are and you said i'm not a soul winner you know or i'm involved in this and those so sin you know whatever i just heard in church just fits me exactly that's where i'm at but he says if you don't do it and right away he says if you don't do it while you're standing in front of that mirror of the word of god he says as soon as you walk away from that mirror you're going to forget what manner of man you were you know it's kind of like if i walked up to the mirror and saw what was it today i had a hole in one of my suit pants that i was i was ready all ready for church tonight and there's a big hole right here in my suit pants you know if i looked in the mirror and say good night look at that big hole in my pants and then just walk away just go about my business and forget about it but he says look while you're in front of the mirror that's where you need to decide to do something about it when you're reading the bible all by yourself and god speaks to you he says i'm trying to show you and you'll have ever seen yourself in the bible all the time right it's like a mirror you look in the bible you see yourself you see yourself negatively sometimes you see yourself positively many times but when you see yourself in that mirror if you don't do what god's telling you to do immediately he says the moment that you walk away from the mirror and close the mirror and put it down and walk away you're going to forget what it was that you were going to do so the bottom line is act fast you know when you hear god's word when god speaks to you act fast don't walk away from the mirror until you've done what god said to do but he says but here's the positive side of the coin verse number 25 but who so looketh into here's the mirror illustration again who so looketh into the perfect law of liberty that's the bible and continue it therein he being not a forgetful hearer who's the forgetful hearer the person who's not a doer if you're not a doer you will be a forgetful here i mean i talked to a man the other day and it seemed like he knew less about the bible than he did five years ago and i was thinking to myself how could he have how could he know let i mean you think people learning like they sit in church they learn more learn more this man knows less why because he's a forgetful here because he's not a doer and he says who so looketh into the perfect law of liberty and continue it therein he being not a forgetful here but a doer of the work you see that's how you you say but i wish i could retain the bible as long as i go to church like i can't even tell you what was preached on sunday morning i don't even know what was preached on sunday night it seems like i just go to church and it goes in one ear and out the other it's because you're not a doer you will be a doer of the work there's only two kinds of people doer of the work forgetful here which one do you want to be do you want to be a doer of the work or do you want to be a forgetful hearer and he says who so looketh into the perfect law of liberty and continue it there he being not a forgetful here but a doer of the work this man shall be blessed in his deed and then it says the next verse if any man among you seem to be religious and bridled not his tongue but to see with his own heart this man's religion is vain pure religion and undefiled before god and the father is this to visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction and to keep himself unspotted from the world here's what god's saying if you can't control your mouth and i'm out of time so i'm just blowing through this real quick if you can't control your mouth you're not spiritual he says you're not right we've got you're not religious you're not spiritual he says that's the most basic thing learn to control your mouth and you make the application there wherever you want and then the last verse he says pure religion and undefiled before god and the father is this and well i have to teach you this right here i'm hurrying to finish but see how it says pure religion before and undefiled before god and the father you know that god and the father are the same person all the time throughout the bible the word and is used to put two parallel ideas next to each other and people don't understand that but it's god and the father looking for that blessed hope and the glorious appearing of the great god and our savior jesus christ same person the great god and our savior jesus christ if you understand the english language you know that but he says in uh verse number 27 pure religion and undefiled before god and the father is this to visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction that's the positive that's where you're serving god that's where you're doing for others and to keep himself unspotted from the world so he says again back to the theme of the beginning of the chapter having the whole package he says if you want to have the right kind of god's religion he says it's a religion that does the work not just a forgetful here but one that visits the fatherless and the widows and their affliction a religion that knocks the doors in the poor side of town where nobody wants to go nobody wants to drive through there and you'll walk up and down that street winning souls he says that's the pure undefiled religion of god and to keep himself unspotted from the world see you gotta have both sides of the coin yes i'm serving god that's the positive and then i'm rejecting the things of the world and i'm keeping myself unspotted i want to be clean and white and not uh not slight like you picture like a white shirt with dirt on it how how ugly it looks and he says keep yourself unspotted from the world let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer god thank you so much for the bible of course and father i thank you that when i go out soloing i'm not going with some kind of a butter knife trying to trying to preach and get people saved in my own strength with some kind of a trowel or a garden tool or some kind of a uh dole object but dear god i've got the two-edged sword the powerful word of god which is able to save souls glory to god father i just pray that you would use the message tonight i talked about so many different things tonight and the book of james talked about so many different things but father i just pray that something that i said would would stick in somebody's mind that it wouldn't all just be forgotten but that something would stick because why why would it stick because somebody's doing what they heard tonight and we love you in jesus name i pray amen all right let's turn to our last song tonight