{"id":18691,"date":"2020-12-02T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2020-12-02T06:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sugar-land-bible-church.local\/sermon\/james-010-judging-the-judges\/"},"modified":"2020-12-02T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2020-12-02T06:00:00","slug":"james-010-judging-the-judges","status":"publish","type":"sermon","link":"https:\/\/slbc.org\/es\/sermon\/james-010-judging-the-judges\/","title":{"rendered":"James 010 – Judging the Judges"},"content":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"template":"","book":[104],"series_event":[514],"sermon_service_type":[474],"speaker":[6],"class_list":["post-18691","sermon","type-sermon","status-publish","hentry","book-james","series_event-james","sermon_service_type-wednesday-evenings","speaker-dr-andy-woods","no-post-thumbnail"],"acf":{"sermon_title":"James 010 - Judging the Judges","sermon_date":"20201202","sermon_month":"12","sermon_year":"2020","sermon_notes":8620,"sermon_slides":8621,"sermon_mp3":8622,"sermon_id":"122202012146174","series_or_event":514,"service_type":[474],"speaker":6,"books_of_the_bible":104,"chapter_and_verse":"2:10-13","sermon_transcript":"James 10 \u2014 Judging the Judges<\/em> \u2014 James 2:10-13<\/u><\/strong>\n\nReview James 2:8,9<\/u><\/strong> \u2014 As you will remember, the book of James was written by James, half-brother of Christ, writes a book from Jerusalem to the scattered Hebrew Christians in the dispersion, called the Diaspora.\u00a0 He is really writing about practical righteousness<\/u><\/strong>.\u00a0 James<\/u><\/strong>, is one of the most practical books to give yourself to; a lot like the book of Proverbs<\/u><\/strong>; all about principles for daily living.\n\nThe first principle for daily living that James talks about is to walk by faith.\u00a0 The faith that saves is the faith that we now walk by as we grow in our relationship with the Lord.\u00a0 What it means is to accept the divine perspective on suffering because we don't typically have that.\u00a0 We think suffering is the enemy, but James 1:2-18<\/u><\/strong> gives us a lot of reasons why to rejoice in the midst of trials.\u00a0 Then James says, \u2018Oh by the way, as you're in a trial, don't make a reckless charge against God \u2014 that God is trying to destroy you in the midst of it because that is contrary to who God is<\/em>.\u2019\n\nThen, as we continue to walk by faith, we need to obey God's Word.\u00a0 That involves per James 1:19-27<\/u><\/strong>, slowness in speaking and anger, the need to take in and obey God's Word, also the need to practice true religion.\u00a0 James says that true religion, at the end of that chapter, is ministering to widows and orphans in their distress and keeping oneself unstained by the world.\n\nFrom there, we moved into the whole subject of favoritism.\u00a0 Walking by faith and manifesting a daily life pleasing to God, involves not showing petty favoritism the way human beings in our fallen state are prone to do.\n\nThis is where James gives his command \u2014 James 2:1<\/u><\/strong>, and this whole paragraph is James 2:1-13<\/u><\/strong>, but in 2:1<\/u><\/strong>, there is a command not to show favoritism.\u00a0 In 2:2,3,<\/u><\/strong> there is a situation happening there in the assembly where the wealthy are treated by one standard, and the poor a different one.\u00a0 What James does in 2:4-13<\/u><\/strong> is to explain how acting like that as a Christian, particularly in the Church, is contrary to God's character and purposes.\u00a0 You can't get more out of line with God, who God is and what God is all about, and what He is trying to do by acting that way.\n\nHis reasoning essentially has five parts to it:\n
    \n \t
  1. When we do that, we judge where God has not judged<\/u><\/strong>. We set ourselves up as judges with evil motives, and you can see that in 2:4<\/u><\/strong>.\u00a0 Keep your eye on that evil motives in 2:4<\/u><\/strong> because it will come up again later.\u00a0 The reason we are setting ourselves up as judges when we treat the rich one way and the poor by a different standard is that we are making a division that God has never made.\u00a0 In Christ's church, \u201cThere is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus\u201d (<\/em>Galatians 3:28<\/u><\/strong>). \u00a0<\/em>God doesn\u2019t look at people as though \u2018that guy is rich, that person is poor, that person is free, that one is a slave.\u2019\u00a0 <\/em>Practically, their life may be that way but that doesn\u2019t change their status in Christ's body because we are all equally saved, and we are all equally baptized and identified at the point of faith alone into the Body of Christ.<\/li>\n \t
  2. His second reasoning is that there in James 2:5<\/u><\/strong> talks about when God elects and chooses, that He chooses people across the socioeconomic and racial spectrum<\/u><\/strong>. He doesn\u2019t just choose white collar people, but also blue-collar people.\u00a0 In fact, as you look at Jesus' life, to me He looks like a pretty blue-collar guy; He was raised as a carpenter\u2019s son, He knew what it was like to work with His hands.\u00a0 That is what God is about \u2014 He chooses across the spectrum.\u00a0 So, when we show favoritism to the rich, that isn\u2019t what God does \u2014 God chooses across the spectrum regardless of whether they are rich or poor.<\/li>\n \t
  3. His third point of reasoning in 2:6,7<\/u><\/strong> is when we elevate the rich in the Church we are actually elevating those who are God-haters.<\/u><\/strong> We have talked about how not all<\/em><\/strong> rich people are like this, but in this case here, it was actually the rich who was oppressing the Christian, and the rich who were blaspheming the Christians and God\u2019s name.\u00a0 So, James is asking \u2018Why are you elevating your foes; why are you showing preferential treatment to people who hate your guts?\u2019<\/em><\/li>\n \t
  4. His fourth point, and this is where we were getting into last time is showing favoritism violates God\u2019s law<\/u><\/strong>. I introduced a couple of things late in the game, two Wednesdays before, and I want to cycle back to some of that because what we said there was so important, it bears repetition.\u00a0 When He talks about how showing favoritism violates God's law in 2:8-11<\/u><\/strong>, he quotes Leviticus 19:18<\/u><\/strong>.\u00a0 Notice James 2:8,9<\/u><\/strong> \u2014 \u201cIf, however, you are fulfilling the royal law according to the Scripture, \u201cYOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF,\u201d you are doing well.\u00a0 But if you show partiality, you are committing sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors.\u201d\u00a0 <\/em>That is a quote from Leviticus 19:18<\/u><\/strong>, so the question in that passage is part of the Mosaic Law that God gave to the nation of Israel from Exodus 19<\/u><\/strong> through the end of the Book at Mount Sinai.\u00a0 So, when the nation of Israel came out of the 400 years of Egyptian bondage via the ten plagues and parting of the Red Sea, then God closing the Red Sea behind the Israelis to destroy the pursuing Egyptians, then Exodus 19:1<\/u><\/strong> tells us that there is a two-month period where they traveled from that location to Mount Sinai.\u00a0 That map there is the traditional view of Mount Sinai on the Sinai Peninsula and not everyone agrees with this; some think that Mount Sinai is a little further east in Arabia, and if I was to adopt that view, I would have to change all my maps, so I haven\u2019t adopted that view.\u00a0 My wife knows a lot more about it than I do, so if you want to know why some people believe it is in Arabia, she is the resident expert on that, not I.\u00a0 She has actually studied it, and has a well thought out view on it, whereas I don't.\u00a0 I adopt views just for convenience\u2019 sake, so I am revealing my lack of spirituality here.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\nSo wherever Mount Sinai is, they went there and received the Mosaic Law and part of the Mosaic Law is Leviticus 19:18.<\/u><\/strong>\u00a0 Leviticus 19<\/u><\/strong> is all about how, as God's people, we should treat our neighbors.\u00a0 A lot of people believe that Jesus came up with \u2018Love your neighbor as you love yourself.<\/em>\u2019\u00a0 In fact, Jesus was not the first to say that; He was just reiterating what God said to Moses 1,500 years earlier at Mount Sinai before Jesus ever showed up.\u00a0 So, the question is that since James is quoting Leviticus 19:18,<\/u><\/strong> and James is a New Testament letter that was written during the Church age, is the church under the Mosaic Law?\u00a0 There are a lot of people, particularly in reformed theology, who will tell you that.\u00a0 They\u2019ll argue that the church is under the Mosaic Law.\u00a0 At Sugarland Bible Church, our position is NOT<\/strong> under the Mosaic Law.\u00a0 The Church is not one millimeter under the Mosaic Law, and you get that from Psalm 147:19,20<\/u><\/strong> which says, concerning\n\nGod's law, \u201cHe declares His words <\/em>to Jacob<\/strong>, His statutes and His ordinances to Israel<\/u><\/strong> <\/em>[Israel was a nation, and we are not Israel; we are the Church].\u00a0 He has not dealt thus with any nation; And as for His ordinances, they have not known them.\u00a0 Praise the Lord!\u201d<\/em>\n\nIf that is true, then how could the church of Jesus Christ be under the Mosaic Law since the Mosaic Law was only given to the nation of Israel?\n\nBeyond that, James, who is writing the letter we are studying, not many years \u2014 maybe just a few, maybe five years at the most, into the future, is going to speak up in Acts 15<\/u><\/strong> at the Jerusalem Council.\u00a0 The Jerusalem Council is having to make a decision concerning all of the Gentiles that are getting saved.\u00a0 By this time, Paul had gone on his first missionary journey and has returned.\u00a0 He went outside the borders of Israel, which not even Christ did.\u00a0 If you look at the ministry of Christ, His whole ministry was inside the nation of Israel.\u00a0 Once you get to Acts 13<\/u><\/strong>, Paul is going outside the borders of Israel into Gentile area, southern Galatia, and he keeps going to the Jewish synagogues, which are found in every town, and he is getting very harsh treatment from the Jews, and is kicked out, reaping a tremendous harvest among the Gentiles.\u00a0 This is largely how the Church began to change in terms of its ethnic composition from Jewish; the church was all Jewish early on, to becoming a body that was predominantly made up of Gentiles.\n\nSo, all of these Gentiles are getting saved, and the early Church leadership is still Jewish, and they're trying to figure out what to do with all of the Gentiles that are Christians now.\u00a0 Do they put them under the Mosaic Law so they can grow correctly?\u00a0 They thought that was a possibility because that is how it worked for 1,500 years.\u00a0 If a Gentile wanted to walk with God, they became a Jewish proselyte, and they went volitionally under the Mosaic Law.\u00a0 That is what the Book of Ruth<\/u><\/strong> is about.\u00a0 Ruth, the Moabitess, Moab being a Transjordan nation adjacent to the borders of Israel, said to her mother-in-law, Naomi, a Hebrew, in Ruth 1:16<\/u><\/strong>, \u2018Your God will be my God, your people will be my people.\u2019\u00a0 <\/em>So, she was a Moabite Gentile who was now a proselyte and she came under the Law of Moses.\n\nSo now, in Paul's first missionary journey, all these Gentiles are getting saved, so the question was whether to put them under the Law of Moses.\u00a0 The ruling on that was no because looking at Acts 15:10<\/u><\/strong>, Peter speaking, \u201cNow, therefore why do you put God to the test by placing upon the neck of the disciples a yoke which neither our fathers nor we have been able to bear?\u201d<\/em>\u00a0 So, Peter, a Jew, said, \u2018Look at our history as Jews, we have actually done a terrible job keeping God\u2019s law.<\/em>\u2019 That\u2019s why the Hebrews went into you\u2019ve in Old Testament times; why the northern tribes were scattered, etc.\u00a0\u00a0 Peter says, \u2018We Hebrews couldn\u2019t keep the Law, how do you think the Gentiles will keep the Law<\/em>?\u2019\n\nSo now James, our guy, stands up and gives a speech in Acts 15:13-21<\/u><\/strong>, quoting the book of Amos 9<\/u><\/strong>, saying essentially, \u2018Look, the Gentiles are going to be full participants in the Millennial Kingdom, so let's make the Gentiles full participants in the age of the church today without putting them under the Law.<\/em>\u2019\u00a0 It is interesting that when James gives his speech there in Acts 15<\/u><\/strong>, he uses a lot of the same words that he used in the letter we are studying in the book of James<\/u><\/strong> (see slide on Similarities with Acts 15<\/u><\/strong>).\u00a0 With all of that being said, there is no way that James, five years earlier in his epistle would go a totally different direction and put the church of Jesus Christ under the Mosaic Law.\n\nVerses like Romans 6:15<\/u><\/strong> which is very clear that we as the Church are not under the Mosaic Law.\u00a0 Paul writes, \u2018We are not under the Law but under grace.\u2019\u00a0 <\/em>So that is our position \u2014 that we at Sugarland Bible Church are not under the Mosaic Law the same way that Old Testament Israel was.\u00a0 This is what you call a dispensational<\/em><\/strong> approach to the Law because if you were in a reformed or Presbyterian church, for example, a Lutheran church \u2014 they would try to tell you that the Mosaic Law has three parts to it:\n\n-The moral part, the Ten Commandments\n\n-The civil part, stoning to death Sabbath breakers, etc\n\n-The ceremonial part where animal sacrifices are offered\n\nAnd what they\u2019ll say is that God divided His law into three parts, and we aren\u2019t under the civil or the ceremonial part, but we are under the moral part \u2014 that\u2019s how they would explain a passage like James 2<\/u><\/strong> where he is quoting the Mosaic Law.\u00a0 They would say that the church is still under the moral aspects of the Mosaic Law.\u00a0 That is an approach that we reject for two reasons:\n\n-God in His Word, when He is giving the Law, the Books of Exodus, Leviticus and\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Deuteronomy<\/u><\/strong>.\u00a0 Exodus<\/u><\/strong> was to that first generation who came out of Egypt; Leviticus<\/u><\/strong> and how it relates to the priests within Israel; and Deuteronomy<\/u><\/strong>, \u2018deutero<\/em>\u2019 meaning second, \u2018namas<\/em> \u2018means law \u2014 the origin of Deuteronomy,<\/u><\/strong> \u2018second law\u2019<\/em> restated for the benefit of the next generation.\u00a0 The first generation died in the wilderness because they didn\u2019t have faith and they didn\u2019t enter Canaan.\u00a0 So, when God started to work with the next generation, the whole Law had to be restated for the benefit of the subsequent generation.\u00a0 That is what the book of Deuteronomy<\/u><\/strong> is doing in the Bible.\u00a0 So, what people say is that Exodus, Leviticus<\/u><\/strong> and Deuteronomy<\/u><\/strong> has three parts to it:\u00a0 civil, ceremonial and moral, the church today is not under the civil or ceremonial part, but the church today is under the moral part of the Law.\u00a0 We don't believe that to be true because as you go through those books, Exodus, Leviticus<\/u><\/strong>, and Deuteronomy<\/u><\/strong>, no where do they divide the law into those three parts.\u00a0 God never says that, in other words, the three-fold division of the law like that is completely man-made. Beyond that, if you tell the church that they're under the moral aspects of the Mosaic Law, the Law is an all or nothing proposition.\u00a0 If you put one little toe under the Law, then you're automatically under the whole Law; the whole schwarma.\u00a0 James 2:10<\/u><\/strong> brings up this point regarding the nature of law.\u00a0 It says, \u2018Whoever keeps the whole law yet stumbles in just one little place is guilty of all of it.\u2019\u00a0 <\/em>For that reason, I don't think that the church of Jesus Christ is under the moral aspects of the Mosaic Law.\u00a0 When James is quoting Leviticus 19:18<\/u><\/strong>, he is not in any way saying that the church is under any part of the Mosaic Law.\u00a0 Why is he quoting Leviticus 19:18<\/u><\/strong>?\u00a0 The reason is that James is the first epistle; in fact, the very first letter of the whole New Testament.\u00a0 You literally have 500 years of silence with the ending of the Old Testament, with Malachi, the ministry of Christ, and there is nothing written until James writes this epistle.\u00a0 So, James cannot quote Paul because his letters have not come around yet.\u00a0 If you tell James he has to quote Scripture, he has to quote something, that is why he is quoting Leviticus 19:18<\/u><\/strong>; he is quoting it because that is what is practical.\u00a0 When he quotes Leviticus 19:18<\/u><\/strong>, he is basically using the Old Testament in a way where it is revelatory to us but not regulatory.\u00a0 In other words, all Scripture is for<\/em><\/strong> us, but not all Scripture is about <\/em><\/strong>us.\n\nMy daughter and I try to read a chapter out of the Bible every night; we just finished the book of Joshua<\/u><\/strong>, and there is some really important stuff in that book, for our edification, our encouragement.\u00a0 But when it says in that book to go out and kill the Canaanites and don't leave any of them alive, including women and children and animals, I don't all of a sudden sharpen my sword and go to war.\u00a0 I can look at that and say that \u2018God really hates sin, I guess, and because Israel didn\u2019t do exactly what God said, it caused them a lot of trouble later, maybe there is an application there that maybe I shouldn\u2019t be so conciliatory towards sin in my own life \u2014 if God hates sin that way<\/em>.\u2019 So, from Joshua<\/u><\/strong>, I am making an indirect application, but I am using it in a revelatory sense, but not in a regulatory sense.\u00a0 I believe that is why James is quoting Leviticus 19:18<\/u><\/strong> here \u2014 there are tremendous principles about loving your fellow man there that are revelatory but not necessarily regulatory.\n\nSo Paul says, \u201cAll Scripture <\/em>[and when he says all Scripture, most people believe that he is talking primarily about the Old Testament because we don't have a New Testament yet; it is just being compiled as he is writing these words]\u2026 \u201cis inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work<\/em>.\u201d\u00a0 The Old Testament is wonderful, but I am not under it in a regulatory sense.\u00a0 We are studying the book of Genesis<\/u><\/strong> on Sunday, and we will eventually get to Noah\u2019s ark, and if you come and look in my driveway, you won't see an ark that I am building because what Genesis<\/u><\/strong> is to me is revelatory not regulatory.\u00a0 When Noah was under those commands, he had to do exactly what God said because he was living in a different age.\n\nRomans 15:3-4<\/u><\/strong> says, \u201cFor even Christ did not please Himself, but as it is written\u201d<\/u><\/strong>\u2026 <\/em>[when he says \u2018as it is written\u2019<\/em> he is quoting from an Old Testament passage that says], \u201cthe taunts of those who taunt you have fallen on me.\u201d\u2026 <\/em>[Then Paul says],\u2026\u201cFor whatever was written in earlier times<\/u><\/strong> was written for our instruction, so that through perseverance and the encouragement of the Scriptures<\/u><\/strong> we might have hope.\u201d <\/em>Notice that Paul treats the Old Testament that way.\u00a0 It is there to encourage us and to give us hope, but it isn\u2019t something that we apply in a direct sense to our lives, or we wouldn\u2019t be worshiping on Sunday.\u00a0 We are supposed to bring an unblemished sacrifice with us to the Temple on Saturday.\u00a0 Did you show up at the Temple in the Middle East, where there is no Temple now, with an unblemished animal?\u00a0 No, obviously there is a dispensational adjustment that we have to make.\u00a0 Does that mean that we should just throw out the book of Leviticus<\/u><\/strong>?\u00a0 No, because Paul says those things, in earlier times, were still written for our encouragement.\u00a0 So I think that this is how James is using Leviticus 19:18<\/u><\/strong>.\u00a0 He isn\u2019t, contrary to what many people will tell you, putting the Church directly under any aspect of the Law.\u00a0 If the Church is under any aspect of the Mosaic Law, then the Church has to go under all<\/em><\/strong> of it, including the ceremonial parts of it and the civil parts of it, because the law is an all or nothing proposition.\n\nNow, when we talk like this, the name that gets thrown at us is antinomian.\u00a0 In fact, RC Sproul, when he came to Dallas Seminary as a guest, brought that charge against dispensationalists that they were antinomian.\u00a0 He did not like the dispensational view, that the Church is not under any aspect of the Law, including the moral law of Moses, and he, along with John Gerstner, wrote an incredibly vindictive hit piece against Dallas Seminary at that time.\u00a0 It is online if you want to read a bunch of tabloid acrimonious stuff.\u00a0 It is called something along the lines of \u2018Wrongly Dividing the Word of God\u2019<\/em> by John Gerstner.\u00a0 He and RC Sproul endorsed one another\u2019s books.\u00a0 If you watch RC Sproul on YouTube and the subject of dispensationalism<\/em><\/strong> comes up, you can literally see the hair on the back of the guy\u2019s neck stand up.\u00a0 He just hates dispensationalism<\/em><\/strong>, and one of the reasons is that he says it is antinomian.\u00a0 In other words, you are running around telling people we aren\u2019t under the Mosaic Law at all; you will encourage people to get saved on Sunday and live like the devil Monday-Saturday.\u00a0 So, in his mind, this belief that I'm trying to articulate is almost heretical, and he believes that it leads to licentiousness.\u00a0 The John MacArthur people also believe like this and very much oppose this view that I'm trying to articulate.\u00a0 In fact, when I started doing things with Brannon Howse, Phil Johnson, the Executive Director of Grace To You<\/em>, John MacArthur\u2019s ministry, went on Twitter and actually singled out my name; I was actually proud that he knew who I was.\u00a0 He said something like, \u2018Andy Woods is Brannon Howse\u2019s resident antinomian<\/em>.\u2019\u00a0 He can say whatever he wants, I don't know if I care that much, but I'm trying to illustrate the mentality of the people in the reformed camp concerning the view that we aren\u2019t under the Law of Moses.\u00a0 A lot of it is that they really don't understand what we are saying.\n\nSomething that Robert Lightner told our class years ago when I was a student at Dallas Seminary was \u2018The reformed people don't really read dispensationalists<\/strong>.\u2019 <\/em>We, dispensationalists<\/em><\/strong> read them, but they don't read us.\u00a0 They\u2019ve never read Charles Ryrie or Dwight Pentecost or John Walvoord or Lewis Sperry Chafer; a lot of our theologians, so they don't even know what it is that we believe.\u00a0 So, they think that if you aren\u2019t under the moral aspects of the Law of Moses, that you are in favor of loose living; of Christians living like the devil.\u00a0 It is a case where I don't think that they have ever investigated what we teach.\u00a0 Just because we teach that we aren\u2019t under the Law of Moses doesn\u2019t mean that we are antinomian because we teach that we are under, not the law of Moses, even in its moral sense, but that we are under the Law of Christ.\u00a0 In fact, I remember a couple of years ago, tweeting that back to Phil Johnson, saying \u2018how can you call me antinomian when I teach that we are under the Law of Christ, as do all dispensationalists?\u00a0 I don't really ever recall getting a response from him on that.\n\nSo, if we aren\u2019t under the law of Moses, that doesn\u2019t make you antinomian; it just puts you under a different regulatory system.\u00a0 It is like when I moved from California to Texas, California had all kinds on its books against embezzlement, but just because I left that legal system and moved to Texas doesn\u2019t mean that I am now in favor of embezzlement, because Texas also has laws on its books against embezzlement.\u00a0 So just because we move from one legal system to another doesn\u2019t mean that we don't appreciate the principles of morality that are taught in both legal systems.\n\nA couple of verses to know:\u00a0 Galatians 6:2<\/u><\/strong>, \u00a0\u201cBear one another\u2019s burdens, and thereby fulfill the law <\/em>[the Greek word, \u2018namas<\/em>\u2019] of Christ.\u201d <\/em>This is in the New Testament.\u00a0 He doesn\u2019t say to bear one another\u2019s burdens and thereby fulfill the law of Moses because the church isn\u2019t under the Law of Moses.\u00a0 We are under the law of Christ.\u00a0 Romans 8:2<\/u><\/strong>, \u201cFor the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and death.\u201d\u00a0 <\/em>So as a Christian, that is Romans 8:2,<\/u><\/strong> and the first one was Galatians 6:2.<\/u><\/strong>\u00a0 Just because we have changed legal codes doesn\u2019t mean we are against morality because the concept of \u2018love your neighbor as yourself<\/em>\u2019 isn\u2019t found only in the Law of Moses, but is also in the teachings of Jesus Christ.\u00a0 You will see it in Matthew 22:34-40<\/u><\/strong>.\n\n\u00a0<\/strong>Note this quote from Thomas Constable, who was one of my teachers at Dallas Seminary, and I think he articulates this very well, \u201cChristians live under a new set of rules, the law of liberty.\u00a0 Israelites lived under a different set of rules, the Law of Moses.\u00a0 The fact that the \u2018golden rule\u2019 <\/em>[\u2018Do unto others as you would have them do unto you\u2019<\/em>] was part of both the Mosaic Law<\/em> [which it was, Leviticus 19<\/u><\/strong>] and the law of Christ, <\/em>[which it is, Matthew 22<\/u><\/strong>] does not mean that we are still under the Mosaic Law.\u201d\u00a0 <\/em>So, the law of Christ looks similar to the Law of Moses at certain points, but similarity does not mean equality.\u00a0 Being a Californian where laws are on the books in California against murder, if I move to Texas and commit murder, that sounds an awful lot like the legal system in California, but it isn\u2019t, because if I commit murder in Texas, I will be tried in Texas.\u00a0 If I did commit murder, personally, I would rather be tried in California, but that is another story.\u00a0 The fact of the matter is that California and Texas law look similar at points, but are totally different legal codes, so that nine of the Ten Commandments are repeated for the benefit of the church in the New Testament.\u00a0 The New Testament says do not commit adultery, don't steal, don't covet, etc, but that does not mean that we are under the Law of Moses because if you committed those sins under the Law of Moses, you would be assigned to capital punishment, stoned to death.\u00a0 If I break those laws in the church age, I don't get stoned to death, but there are other consequences:\u00a0 I lose fellowship with Christ temporarily until I confess my sin; I can be disciplined, \u2018whom the Lord loves, the Lord chastens.<\/em>\u2019\u00a0\u00a0 So, you will notice that breaking the law under the Law of Christ does not bring the penalty that one finds in the Law of Moses because they are completely and different legal codes.\u00a0 So, I wanted to spend time on this because it is an area of tremendous confusion.\n\nThat is why when you look at James 2:8<\/u><\/strong>, \u201cIf, however, you are fulfilling the royal law <\/em>[the Law of Christ; it doesn\u2019t say the Law of Moses, it says the \u2018royal law\u2019<\/em> because Jesus is the soon coming King].\u00a0 Look at James 2:12<\/u><\/strong>, \u201cSo speak and so act as those who are to be judged by the law of liberty.\u201d\u00a0 <\/em>So, we are under, not the Law of Moses, but the law of Christ.\n\nHaving said all of that, notice 2:10,11<\/u><\/strong> as James completes his thought, \u201cFor whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles in one point, he has become guilty of all.\u00a0 For He who said, \u201cDO NOT COMMIT ADULTERY,\u201d also said, \u201cDO NOT COMMIT MURDER.\u201d Now if you do not commit adultery, but do commit murder, you have become a transgressor of the law.\u201d\u00a0 <\/em>Here, he isn\u2019t talking about the Law of Moses, he is talking about the Law of Christ, but in any legal system you are under, you cannot pick and choose which parts you want to obey.\u00a0 If you stumble over any part of it, you are guilty of all it.\u00a0 James\u2019 point is that we stumble over the Law of Christ, who very clearly teaches us to love our neighbors as ourselves.\u00a0 We stumble over the Law of Christ when we show favoritism in the Church.\u00a0 You might be doing great in your Christian walk, and the Holy Spirit might be convicting of things and empowering you to obey in other areas, and you might be progressing, but<\/em><\/strong> if you show favoritism in the Church, that still causes us to stumble over the teachings of Jesus that we are to love our neighbors as we love ourselves, and so therefore, I become guilty of the Law of Christ.\u00a0 I need to confess my sin, not to get saved again, but to have broken fellowship restored.\n\nSo, James' point is that we actually become lawbreakers, not the Law of Moses but the Law of Christ, when we show favoritism in the church. You may never have murdered anyone, or committed adultery, or done anything that is displeasing to the Lord, but if you elevate one person over another in the Church based on their perceived riches or wealth, then you have stumbled over the Law.\u00a0 In this case it is the \u201croyal law<\/em>\u201d or the law of liberty, or the Law of Christ.\n\nSo, what has James taught us so far about why we shouldn\u2019t show favoritism in the Church?\n
      \n \t
    1. We judge where God has not (2:4<\/u><\/strong>)<\/li>\n \t
    2. It is God who chooses across the socioeconomic spectrum, so when we show favoritism, we aren\u2019t acting like God (2:5<\/u><\/strong>)<\/li>\n \t
    3. We are elevating our foes who are trying to oppress us and who are blaspheming (2:6,7<\/u><\/strong>)<\/li>\n \t
    4. We have stumbled over Christ\u2019s royal law; we aren\u2019t going to be stoned to death as they were in Old Testament times, but it is still serious, and we need to confess our sins so that fellowship between us and God can be restored (2:8-11<\/u><\/strong>)<\/li>\n \t
    5. His last point, and we will try to get these in here (2:12,13<\/u><\/strong>) is that when we show favoritism, (2:12,13<\/u><\/strong>), we are acting as judges as he told us in 2:4<\/u><\/strong>; you are making a distinction that God hasn\u2019t made so you are acting as a judge. And you are forgetting that you, too, will be judged.\u00a0 So, it is interesting how judgmental we can get towards people, which is what favoritism is \u2014 making a judgment for one person against another, forgetting that you, too, will be judged.\u00a0 So that is why I entitled this, \u201cJudging the Judges<\/em>.\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ol>\nThis is his point in James 2:12,13<\/u><\/strong>, \u201cSo speak and so act as those who are to be judged by the law of liberty.\u00a0 13<\/sup>For judgment will be merciless to one who has shown no mercy; mercy triumphs over judgment.<\/em>\u201d\n\nI think what he is talking about here is the Bema Seat Judgment of Christ, where subsequent to the rapture, we will stand before the Lord where our works will be evaluated.\u00a0 That particular judgment is different from the Great White Throne Judgment and from the sheep and goat judgment that we have been studying on Sunday mornings.\u00a0 It takes place in heaven following the rapture.\u00a0 It is not<\/em><\/strong> a judgment to determine if you are saved or not because Jesus said in John 19:30<\/u><\/strong>, \u201cIt is finished<\/em>.\u201d\n\nIt is not a judgment to determine if I was a believer or not, because Jesus made us a promise in John 5:24<\/u><\/strong>, \u201cTruly, truly, I say to you, he who hears My word, and believes Him<\/u><\/strong> who sent Me, has eternal life<\/u><\/strong>, and does not come into judgment, but has passed out<\/u><\/strong> of death unto life.\u201d\u00a0 <\/em>He says that if we have trusted in His Son, we have already passed out of death unto life; it is a done deal.\u00a0 \u201cPassed out of<\/em>\u201d there is in the perfect tense in Greek, a one-time action with ongoing results; \u201chas eternal life<\/em>\u201d is in the present tense.\u00a0 Those are things that happen to us that cannot be reversed, in other words.\u00a0 You passed out of death unto life and received eternal life, present tense, the moment you placed your personal faith in Christ for salvation \u2014 done deal, can't be reversed.\n\nIf that is true, then why am I going to stand before the Lord in judgment?\n\n-Not<\/strong> to judge sin\u00a0 (John 19:30)\n\n-Not<\/strong> to determine salvation (John 5:24)\n\n-But<\/strong> rather to give or not give rewards\n\nApparently, some Christians will be rewarded more than others because at that particular judgment, there will be five crowns either given or not given to the believer.\n
        \n \t
      1. The Incorruptible Crown for the believer who gains mastery over the sin nature<\/li>\n \t
      2. The Crown of Rejoicing for the soul winner<\/li>\n \t
      3. The Crown of Life for the believer that endures trials<\/li>\n \t
      4. The Crown of Glory for the believer who faithfully shepherds God's people<\/li>\n \t
      5. The Crown of Righteousness for the believer longing for His appearing<\/li>\n<\/ol>\nAnd what do we do with these crowns?\u00a0 Revelation 4:10<\/u><\/strong>, if I'm understanding my Bible right, we cast them at His feet.\u00a0 To earn salvation, no; to pay back Jesus for salvation, no.\u00a0 but they\u2019re a capacity to glorify Christ throughout eternity.\u00a0 So, goodness, it comes your turn to cast your crown at His feet, but you have no crown in your hand.\u00a0 Wouldn\u2019t that be kind of a downer?\u00a0 So that is why He is saying to make sure you live for Christ here and you enter heaven, then at the Bema Seat Judgment of Christ, you are fully rewarded.\n\nWhy do I think he is speaking of the Bema Seat Judgment of Christ here?\u00a0 Because he has been talking this whole time to believers; that\u2019s why we keep belaboring these points, like James 2:1<\/u><\/strong>, \u201cMy brethren<\/em>\u201d \u2014 don't I always make an issue out of that every time we come to a passage like that?\u00a0 And in 2:5<\/u><\/strong>, \u201cListen, my beloved brethren<\/em>.\u201d\u00a0 Every time we come to a passage like this, I say that it is without dispute that he is speaking to believers.\u00a0 So, if he is speaking to believers, then what judgment is he referring to?\u00a0 Not the Great White Throne Judgment for the unbeliever, but for the Bema Seat Judgment which is for the believer.\n\nTherefore, I'm driven in the direction of interpreting 2:12-13<\/u><\/strong> as a reference to the Bema Seat Judgment because of how we have handled the audience as it is described in the rest of the book \u2014 as a believing audience.\u00a0 Donald Burdick says, \u201cSince he <\/em>[James] is speaking to believers, the judgment to which he refers must be the judgment of believers at the judgement seat of Christ\u201d <\/em>(2 Corinthians 5:10<\/u><\/strong>).\u00a0 Now, can you get a note from your doctor and opt out of this as a Christian?\u00a0 No, it is mandatory.\n\n2 Corinthians 5:10<\/u><\/strong>, Paul says, \u201cFor we must all<\/u><\/strong> appear [<\/em>it doesn\u2019t sound optional to me]<\/em>\n\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one<\/u><\/strong> may be recompensed for his deeds <\/em>\n\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.\u201d\u00a0 <\/em>In other words, God\n\nsees your service; He sees you seeking to live for Him; seeking to be honest at your place\n\nof employment when everyone else is dishonest and laughing at the dirty joke, except for you; everyone else is stealing from the boss\u2019 time by surfing the internet when the boss isn\u2019t looking, but you aren\u2019t doing those things; you're doing your job.\u00a0 Or you are doing some ministry in the Church that you never get any recognition for \u2014 Paul says that God sees all of that and that He will reward the believer for it at the Bema Seat Judgment of Christ.\u00a0 He teaches the same thing in Romans 14:10,12<\/u><\/strong>, \u201c10<\/sup>\u2026For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God<\/u><\/strong>\u2026 12<\/sup>So then each one<\/u><\/strong> of us will give an account of himself to God.\u201d <\/em>There is a severity in this.\u00a0 Paul talks about not about the believer<\/em><\/strong>, (it is very important to understand this), the believer\u2019s works<\/em><\/strong> going through a fire to test their quality.\u00a0 Wood, hay and stubble will be consumed.\u00a0 Gold, silver and costly stones will not be consumed.\u00a0 Wood, hay and stubble \u2014 what do they have in common?\u00a0 They are combustible.\u00a0 What do the gold, silver and costly stones have in common?\u00a0 They are non-combustible.\u00a0 The only thing the fire can do is to refine them.\n\nSo, when we do things for the Lord under the power of His Spirit for the right reasons \u2014 His glory rather than our own \u2014 that is part of the gold, silver and costly stones which will survive the burning process, which will be part of our reward that we will be given above and beyond salvation.\u00a0 The things we did in this life that are largely narcissistic or self-serving or through our own power \u2014 those things go into the fire and are consumed.\u00a0 Whatever is left after the fire does its work are the rewards that we receive.\u00a0 Not salvation, that is a done deal, but rewards above and beyond salvation.\u00a0 This is why Paul says in 1 Corinthians 9:27<\/u><\/strong>, \u201c\u2026but I discipline my body and make it my slave, so that, after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified<\/em>.\u201d\u00a0 Some versions say, \u201cdisqualified for the prize.\u201d<\/em>\u00a0 That is not salvation, by the way.\u00a0 If that is salvation, then he just taught salvation by works and would have to contradict everything he ever said about salvation.\u00a0 This is reward;<\/em><\/strong> the prize is a reward above and beyond salvation.\u00a0 What Paul is saying is, \u2018Look, I told everybody else the Bema Seat Judgment is coming.\u00a0 After I preached that, wouldn\u2019t it be a downer if I didn\u2019t practice what I preached, and I, myself would stand before the Bema Seat Judgment of Christ unrewarded?\u2019<\/em>\n\n1 John 2:28<\/u><\/strong> says, \u201cNow, little children, <\/em>[is he speaking to Christians or non-Christians? Clearly, Christians]\u2026 \u201cabide in Him, so that when He appears, we may have confidence and not shrink away in shame at His coming. <\/em>[There is a reality when the Bema Seat Judgment of Christ comes, and it isn\u2019t like God shows a movie of your life for everyone to see your failings as some teach \u2014 because your sins are thrown \u201cas far as the east is from the west<\/em>\u201d when you trust Christ.\u00a0 But there is a moment when you can look back at your life and realize that you squandered it. \u2018If only I had invested it differently or with different motives<\/em>.\u2019\u00a0 So, it is very true that at the Bema Seat Judgment of Christ, there is a moment of shame for some, and that is why Paul keeps talking about and warning us about this Bema Seat Judgment of Christ \u2014 it is because the Bema Seat Judgment of Christ per 1 Corinthians 4:5<\/u><\/strong> will \u201c\u2026disclose the motives of men\u2019s hearts<\/u><\/em><\/strong>\u2026\u201d<\/em> meaning that we can do the right thing with the wrong motive.\u00a0 When this judgment happens, it isn\u2019t so much God rewarding based on output, it is He who is omniscient rewarding based on why we did it.\u00a0 All of that comes out at Bema Seat Judgment of Christ; that is why some are more rewarded than others.\n\nNow there is a huge need for balance here.\u00a0 By the way, I said, did I not, to keep your eye on \u2018evil motives\u2019<\/em> in James 2:4<\/u><\/strong> because it will come out again.\u00a0 Remember what he said in James 2:4 regarding evil motives?\u00a0 \u201c\u2026have you not made distinctions among yourselves, and become judges with evil motives?<\/em>\u201d\u00a0 We are judging where God has not judged, and we are setting ourselves up as judges because we favor one group over another, and James says that you have become your own judge by judging where God hasn\u2019t, and you are judging with evil motives.\u00a0 Why should I care about evil motives as a Christian?\u00a0 Because it comes out at the Bema Seat.\u00a0 That is what he is saying here in\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 1 Corinthians 4:5<\/u><\/strong>. So, there is some severity in this, and it is very easy to get lopsided.\u00a0 Either people never talk about the judgment seat of Christ because we are all saved by grace so it doesn\u2019t matter, or they place so much emphasis on it that it sounds as though God is going to cut you up with a sword.\u00a0 We talked a little bit about that on Sunday morning concerning the Olivet Discourse and how people read the Bema Seat Judgment into the Olivet Discourse; how God is going to beat you up and cut you up with the sword.\u00a0 They make it sound as though there will be punitive damages at the Bema Seat Judgment of Christ, and that is lopsided the other direction.\u00a0 Either people say it doesn\u2019t matter or they make it more severe than it is.\n\nSo, it is a difficult doctrine to teach because it is easy to get imbalanced; that is why I so much appreciate this statement by Samuel Hoyt as he is describing the judgment seat of Christ.\u00a0 He wrote a book on this, by the way, that you can easily find online.\u00a0 He says, \u201cThe judgment seat of Christ might be compared God a commencement ceremony.\u00a0 At graduation there is some measure of disappointment and remorse that one did not do better and work harder.\u201d [<\/em>I can testify to that one because I really have no idea how I graduated from high school since my major was basketball.\u00a0 I really didn\u2019t care about grades, and I was really glad to be graduating and getting out of there.\u00a0 My high school was called Los Alamitos High School; we called it Los Alcatraz High School. \u00a0But you see your friends being rewarded for their academic achievements, and you look back on your four years and say that you could\u2019ve been rewarded, too, if I had just applied myself a little bit.\u00a0 So, you are happy to be leaving Los Alcatraz, but you look back and say, \u2018Gosh, I wish I had done a little better<\/em>.\u2019 That\u2019s why when I got to college that I took academics very seriously, because I had the abilities, I just didn\u2019t have the real desire, so I did much better in college than in high school because of that little word, \u2018effort.<\/em>\u2019 That is what the judgment seat of Christ is like; I mean, you are in heaven!\u00a0 This is great, I'm in heaven and you look at everyone else and they're rewarded, and you aren\u2019t, and you say to yourself, \u2018Man I wish I had allowed the Lord to better express Himself through me during this brief moment on earth so I could be fully rewarded, too and so I could worship Jesus in the maximum way He deserves to be worshiped<\/em>]\u2019. Samuel Hoyt goes on to say, \u201cHowever, at such an event the overwhelming emotion is joy, not remorse.\u00a0 The graduates do not leave the auditorium weeping because they did not earn better grades.\u00a0 Rather, they are thankful that they have been graduated, and they are grateful for what they did achieve.\u00a0 To overdo the sorrow aspect of the judgment seat of Christ is to make heaven hell <\/u><\/strong><\/em>\u00a0[If you think that you are going to appear before the Lord and that He will verbally chastise you and retaliate against you and send you into outer darkness and that you will miss the Millennial Kingdom because you will be in a Protestant Pergatory somewhere, then you are out of whack.\u00a0 A lot of people in the free grace movement are in that position].\u00a0 To overdo the sorrow aspect of the judgment seat of Christ is to make heaven hell. <\/u><\/em><\/strong>[That is why I recommend the video by JB Hixson given at Duluth Bible Church entitled, \u201cWhy I'm No Longer Free Grace<\/em>,\u201d which you can find online.\u00a0 He is talking about imbalance in the direction of turning heaven into hell.\u00a0 But notice the other part of Samuel Hoyt\u2019s comment, \u201cTo under do the sorrow aspect is to make faithfulness inconsequential.<\/em><\/u><\/strong>\u201d\u00a0 <\/em>\n\nSo, when you listen to lordship salvation, John MacArthur-type teachers and John MacArthur himself, because they're Calvinists, they basically believe that every Christian will persevere in good works \u2014 that is the P<\/strong> in the TULIP<\/strong>, perseverance of the saints.\u00a0 They have a tendency to not really attach any significance to the judgment seat of Christ because if you aren\u2019t persevering as a Christian, then you aren\u2019t a Christian at all.\u00a0 It is interesting to look at their books on eschatology; they hardly bring up the judgment seat of Christ.\u00a0 Look at John MacArthur\u2019s writings and teachings and find any extended treatment on the judgment seat of Christ.\u00a0 Find any real treatment on it in Calvinism; it really isn\u2019t there; it may be mentioned as a footnote or afterthought, but not something that is central.\u00a0 But Paul makes it central, warning the believing Corinthians about this constantly.\u00a0 He himself was afraid that he might not fare well at the judgment seat of Christ either.\u00a0 So those are the two extremes to avoid:\u00a0 don't make heaven into hell, but don't act like faithfulness in the Christian life doesn\u2019t mean anything.\n\nThat concludes our discussion of favoritism.\n
          \n \t
        1. Command: don't show favoritism (2:1<\/u><\/strong>)<\/li>\n \t
        2. Situation: in the assembly where they were showing favoritism to the rich (2:2,3<\/u><\/strong>)<\/li>\n \t
        3. Reasoning process: why favoritism is wrong:\n
            \n \t
          1. We are judging where God has not judged (2:4<\/u><\/strong>)<\/li>\n \t
          2. God chooses all across the socioeconomic spectrum (2:5<\/u><\/strong>)<\/li>\n \t
          3. You are elevating your foes rather than your friends (2:6,7<\/u><\/strong>)<\/li>\n \t
          4. You are stumbling over Christ\u2019s royal law and you can't pick what parts you want to obey and which ones you don't want to obey (2:8-11<\/u><\/strong>)<\/li>\n \t
          5. You are making a judgment on others but forgetting the fact that you yourself are going to be judged (2:12,13<\/u><\/strong>)<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\nThat takes us to the end of that favoritism.\u00a0 Look at this, the next time I am with you, we will talk about \u2018faith without works is dead<\/em>.\u2019\u00a0 One of the most controversial in the whole Bible.","series_sermon_number":""},"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t