And amen. Now we're turning again to the book of James and the chapter number two. And as you turn there, we welcome one and all in our Savior's precious name. Thank you for joining with us. We trust that all the links are holding up. Those who have come to the car park, we do appreciate. We looked out and we have seen you and taken knowledge of your presence and we're thankful for you being here. And then for those who are watching in at home, and those who are watching in across the world, we welcome you to this house, this preaching house in Northern Ireland, Portland, Owen in County Antrim. And we trust that the Lord will bless us as we meet around God's precious word. Now we're reading from James chapter two again this evening, and we're reading from the verse number eight. So James chapter two and verse eight. If ye fulfill the royal law according to the scripture, thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself, ye do well. But if ye have respect to persons, ye commit sin, and are convinced of the law as transgressors. For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all. For he that said, Do not commit adultery, said also, Do not kill. Now, if thou commit no adultery, yet if thou kill, thou wilt become a transgressor of the law. So speak ye, and so do, as they that shall be judged by the law of liberty. For he shall have judgment without mercy, that hath shewed no mercy, and judgment rejoiceth against judgment. We end the reading at the end of the verse 13, and let's just briefly again unite in a word of prayer. Let's pray. We do pray, Lord, in the words of the hymn writer, that thou will come by thy spirit, come into this place and to the homes into which, O God, this broadcast is going this evening, Speak to our hearts, we pray. May thy hand be upon us, we ask of thee. Fill me now with thy spirit and grant help and power. We offer prayer in the name of Christ our Savior. Amen and amen. Well, if you're joining with us for the very first time, we have been making our way slowly through this book of James in our Wednesday night Bible studies. We have concluded chapter 1 and last Wednesday evening we were in the chapter number 2 and we were particularly and specifically thinking about this subject matter of partial being partial, this thought of respective persons we were thinking about the topic of fevertism. And we noticed firstly a caution against fevertism. In the verse number one, my brethren have not faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory with respect. of persons. A Christian is to be impartial. There is not to be favoritism shown within the work of God in any ministry, at any time of the ministry, whether that comes to times of election, when it comes to times when deacons or elders are being elected. There is to be no favoritism to be shown to individuals and certainly not in our day-to-day living with one another and our interactions with one another. This is a very clear command, very clear directive of the Lord. There is a caution against favoritism. And then James presents a case study concerning favoritism. When we thought about these two men coming into the house of God, one a wealthy man, one a poor man, and how the wealthy man was given the best seat in the house. Why is the poor man, the one in ragged and vile raiment, was told to, sit, sit on the floor at the footstool of the usher or to stand somewhere out of the way. and how this case study is brought to our attention. And this ought not so to be. And then we thought about a commandment that argues against favoritism. And what is that commandment? Well, it's known as here, the Royal Law. Verse number eight, thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. And that's where we concluded last Wednesday evening. We ended our Bible study thinking about this Royal Law. This royal law, which is a summary of the second table of the moral law, requires impartiality from the child of God when it comes to their dealings with others. Loving our neighbours as we would love ourselves means that we will never show favouritism to others, but instead we will treat all as we would have ourselves to be treated. We are commanded here to devote to our neighbor the same sort of concerned care that we automatically lavish upon ourselves. And such a response on our part will put an end to any kind of partiality within our lives. Now in our jury to the royal law, James raises a question here when it comes to a Christian's responsibility to the law of God. Is the Christian not free from such a law? Is the inspired penman, James, bringing the believer back into bondage from which Christ has set the Christian free? Do we not sing at times in our church services, free from the law? O happy condition! So why then, if we are free from the law, do we then, and is it expected of us, to subject ourselves to this law, this royal law? Again, what place has the law of God in the life of the child of God? Well, James deals with that issue in this section that we have read this evening. And so tonight I want us to consider these verses together, and I suppose if you want a broad, and it is a broad title, it is the Christian and the Law. The Christian and the Law. There really is no point this evening to our message, as in point one, two, or three, but we'll just make our way through these particular verses, especially the verses 10, 11, 12, and 13. Now the reason why I want to address this issue, the Christian's responsibility and duty to the law is for a couple of reasons. Firstly, because it is before us tonight in the passage and we dare not skip over this particular issue. And secondly, because antinomianism exists today in the church of Jesus Christ and is sadly practiced by many professing Christians. Now obviously, I need to do a little explaining when it comes to this term, antinomianism. Strictly speaking, antinomianism is a doctrine which asserts that under the gospel dispensation, the moral law is not binding upon the child of God. It teaches that the moral law We find in God's Word, summarized in the Ten Commandments, is not binding upon the child of God. That is the teaching, that is the doctrine of antinomianism. It arose in the 16th century. And the man who founded the sect was a man called John Aracola. John Aracola. Now William S Plummer neatly defined and summarized what antinomianism, what an antinomian believes. He said, a thorough antinomian holds that if Christ finished his work, There is nothing left for us to do. That the moral law is no rule of duty to Christians, that the transgression of its precepts by God's people is not sinful, that the law is of no use under the gospel, and that, of course, it is not of binding obligation. The reasoning of antinomians is something like this, salvation is holy of grace, man is impotent to good himself, God's grace is sovereign, so that it is not of him that wills or him that runs, therefore we are not under the law even to Christ. All our endeavors are useless, and we may give a loose rein to all our corruptions. And so the antinomian believes and lives their life as if the moral law is no longer binding upon them in any sense, even in the sense of a rule in how a person lives one's life. Now we know where such a belief will end. It ends in a person sinning with impunity because they are convinced that the grace of God superabounds over their sin. And thus you will hear professing Christians who adhere to antinomianism, individuals who have committed some of the most heinous sins, some of the most grievous sins, they would say things like this, the grace of God covers my sin. or they say I'm not under the law, I'm under grace. And so they live a life that is free from the moral law. Now those who hold such a teaching, they would appeal to verses such as Galatians 2, verse 19, Romans 6, verse 14, 1 Timothy 1, verse 9, as proof texts that say the Christian is no longer under the law, but now they're under grace. The law is no longer, I'm no longer obliged in the keeping off the moral law. Christ has kept the law, and thereby, by his life, He has freed me from keeping that law and living my life in accordance to the law of God. However, the verses that are employed point to the fact that the Christian is no longer under the law of works. In other words, under the law of works righteousness, but they're under grace. with its probation of the imputed righteousness of Christ through faith without works. Yes, the believer is free from the law. We're free from its condemnation, but we're not free from obeying the law as a rule of life. That is what is required of those who belong to God and who are the children of God prior to our lives. We were children of disobedience. We have now become children of obedience, and we obey the laws and the commandments and the statutes of God. Stephen Charnock said, the gospel frees us from the curse, but not from the duty and service of God. the law. The Christian is one who is expected to keep God's commandments, not to ignore them and not to violate them. Verses that speak of the Christian's duty to adhere to God's law include the one there in John 14 verse 15, If ye love me, keep my commandments. 1 John 2 verse 3 and 4, And hereby we know that we know him, if we keep his commandments. He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. Romans chapter 3 verse 31, Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid. Yea, we establish the law. Romans 7 verse 22, What did Paul say? He said, for I delight in the law of God after the inward man. In Matthew chapter five and the verse 17, we read these words concerning the Lord Jesus Christ. These are words that were spoken by him. Matthew 5, 17. Think not that I am come to destroy the law or the prophets, I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill. Christ was made under the law, and in his life he obeyed the law, its precepts, its principles, in every jot and every tittle. And if we are to be followers of Jesus Christ, then are we then not obliged? And is the law not binding then upon us for us to obey it? believe it is. He came not to destroy, he didn't come to loose our obligations to the law of God as a rule of life but rather he came to fulfill it. Now as I've said if Christ rendered obedience to God's law are we who are followers of him not to render the same obedience to it? Christ is our forerunner, he is our example We are not to be lawless. We are to live, I believe, our lives ruled by the law of God. The Puritan Thomas Taylor said, the liberty of a Christian man is not liberty from obedience to the law, but from disobedience to it. John Newton wrote, It is an unlawful use of the law, that is an abuse of it, an abuse of both of law and gospel to pretend that its accomplishment by Christ releases believers from any obligation to it as a rule. Such an assertion is not only wicked, but absurd. and impossible in the highest degree, for the law is founded in the relation between the creator and the creature and must unavoidably remain in force so long as that relation subsists. Don't forget, child of God, what happens whenever we're saved. You know, whenever we're saved, God doesn't erase the law of God from our hearts. God inscribes his law upon our hearts. Jeremiah 31, verse 33. I will put my law in their inward parts, and right in their hearts, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Why? Why would God please? And why would God write the law of God upon our hearts if we through the gospel have been freed from living our lives according to it? Surely the writing, the inscribing of God's law upon our hearts is so that we might know it and then that we might live our lives by it. The law is written on our hearts. for the purpose that we might live our lives in accordance to that law. Now, if the believer is free from the law, as some would suggest, well, would this not just be the most opportune time for James to say this? He's spoken about the law. He's brought us to think about, thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. Surely this would be the time that James would say, yet this has been fulfilled by Christ and so as a believer you're no longer under the obligation to keep the moral law of God. This would have been the most opportune time for James to inscribe such a thing, to say that the law was no longer binding upon us. Our adherence to the law was no longer required. However, James' use of the law here, this royal law, His use of this law implies its continued authority over us. He's using this law to speak about this sin of partialism, favoritism within the house of God, and he's employing this law to say that such a practice should not be taking place within the work of God on any level. On any level, whether it be church level, session level, whether it be at presbytery level, at any level, this fevertism, this partiality should not be taking place. And he employs the law to drive this home. and therefore his use of the law suggests to me it most certainly suggests to my mind that this law is still standing it's still binding upon the child of God rather than being released From complying to the law of God, James's teaching here implies that the beloved brethren are required to be adherence to the law of God. When James speaks of breaking the law in one point and thereby the person is deemed guilty of breaking all of the law, we can only assume that James believed that the law, God's moral law was still to be obeyed by the Christian. Look at verse 10 and 11. For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all. For he that said, do not commit adultery, said also, do not kill. If I commit no adultery, yet if I kill, thou art become a transgressor of the law. God's servants teach us here a very valuable lesson when it comes to God's law. It teaches us the lesson. that it is a united entity. He teaches here that the breaking of one law leaves us being chargeable with breaking the whole law. Now it's in the context of sin being committed, partialism, fevertism, and if a man commits that sin, God deems that man to be guilty of breaking the whole law of God. The whole law of God. This is how serious this sin is. And any other sin you care to think of, whether it be covetousness, adultery, whether it be murder, the killing of the unborn or the killing of any individual within society, any sin that you have in scripture, the breaking off or the committing of sin, God deems that individual as being one who has broken the whole law. You know, sometimes we look at the 10 commandments and we think that they are 10 independent laws. However, the law is one indivisible whole. It's like a contract with 10 terms attached to it. And if you break one of the contract terms, the whole contract falls. It ends. It ceases. And such is to be seen the way that the moral law is. It is to be seen as one indivisible whole. When we break one commandment, we break them all. I find this illustration in a book most helpful in trying to explain this. The commentator, he wrote, the law is not like a heap of 10 stones, but rather it's like a single sheet of glass. He said we could take one stone from the heap of 10 stones and the heap would most probably stay intact. However, if we throw a brick through a sheet of glass, though it strikes only in one place, yet it fragments the whole. It fragments the whole. And so it is, when we break one law, we break them all. Now why is the law viewed as an indivisible whole? Well, it has to do with the lawgiver. The law is an expression of the nature, the character of God, the holiness of God. The God who spoke the law into existence. is the one who gives it its indivisible nature. He has said, that's verse 11, for he that said, said also. Here we see God speaking this law into existence. Each law reflects some part of the divine nature and thus to take away a precept of the law is to damage the revelation of God which he has given to us in his law of himself. It is a God from whom this law proceeds. It is the God who gives it its inseparable union. Now to connect what we have in these verses with the matter set out before us, or before, with regard to favoritism may be hard to see. I trust I've maybe tried to explain, but let me do it again. You know, James is illustrating here the unit, the unitary nature of the law by explaining that to break one law is to break the whole law. And so, in so doing, he shows that favoritism is no minor sin, but it ranks with the sins considered far more serious. It ranks with murder. and with adultery. To commit this sin would cause God to deem you to be a murderer or to be just like an adulterer. Clearly James is trying to make the point that practicing fevertism is a serious transgression, as serious as those sins listed in the verse number 11. I wonder, do we see Do we see favoritism like that? Do we see the sin of favoritism as a serious sin? Do we see it on a par with the sins of murder or adultery? Oh no, preacher, it's not as serious as that. Well, it says here it is. One preacher said, partiality is a sin that selects and favors one person over another. It ignores and neglects a person. It casts one into oblivion, wipes one out, treats one as though he is nothing absent or non-existent. Thus, it is comparable to murder. It is the same root, the same cause, the same selfishness, the same lust, the same sin is killing the stress, as he said, the seriousness of showing partiality. Scripture is clear in its warning. The church and believers are not to show partiality or favoritism to anyone. To anyone. Let me ask you, what is your attitude when it comes to the matter of your adherence to God's law? Do you pick and choose what commandments you live your life by? Or do you see the binding nature of every commandment of God upon your life? Have you come to comprehend that God's commandments are not grievous? No, no, that instead, our compliance to the law, living in the light of God's law, brings us to enjoy the greatest freedom in our lives. It doesn't bring us into bondage. Rather, it brings us into glorious freedom. What's it called here? Look what it's called in the verse number 12. It's called the law of liberty, liberty, freedom. It is true freedom, glorious freedom, wonderful freedom. We come to enjoy our lives when we live our lives. according to God's commandments. In James chapter two, verse 12, James shows how the Christian, when tempted to show favoritism, is to keep something before them. What are they to keep before them? If they're tempted to show favoritism, partiality within the work of God, what are they to keep before them? They're to keep before them the day of judgment. The day of judgment. Remembering that by the law of liberty that we're all going to be judged on that day. Look what it says in verse 12. We're now on to the verse 12. So speak ye and so do, and so do as they that shall be judged by the law of liberty. Here, child of God, there's a judgment. There's a judgment before us. We'll not be judged for our sins. No, those sins were judged on the soul, the body of Jesus Christ at the cross. Thank God for that. But we're going to be judged by what we say and by what we do. So speak ye and so do as they that shall, no doubt about it, shall be judged. And how are we going to be judged? By what standard? By the law of liberty. we're going to be judged by the law well if we're going to be judged by the law does that not teach us that we're to live our lives compliant to the law it would be an unfair judgment for God to judge us by the law and there we were told that we were not we were freed from the law and that's grace covered my sin and grace dealt with my my great wickedness. And as a Christian, I just threw the reins of moral restraint off. And I lived as the ungodly, no, not so. Now this term, law of liberty, we've already met it in this epistle. If you turn there to verse 25 of chapter 1. But whoso looketh in to the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he be not a forgetful here, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed. It is by the standard set forth in the law of liberty that a Christian's words and a Christian's deeds will be accordingly judged on the day of judgment. It ought never to be imagined that the liberty wherewith Christ has made us free was intended to weaken our obligations to our duty in keeping the law of God and therefore in all that we say and all that we do we are to act under the constant impression that our words and our deeds will soon be brought to into judgment. If we live under the impression that we will be judged by the law of liberty on the day of judgment, then holiness and impartiality will mark our conduct and our behavior in the world. Albert Barnes made this practical application of the verse 12. In his commentary, he says, he who habitually feels that he is soon to be judged by a law under which it was contemplated that he might be and should be free from the bondage of sin, has one of the strongest of all inducements to lead a holy life." Simply put, if a man or woman understands that they're going to be judged by the law, they are going to live a holy life. You and I will be led to live a holy life if we keep the day of accountability ever before us. Fevertism and impartiality matters that James has dealt with within the chapter will cease when we live in light of the judgment seat of Christ before which all of us will stand, all of us, preacher included. And so the next time you go to sin, brother, sister, Next time you're tempted to show favoritism, remember the day, yet future, and you will be judged by the law of liberty. All our conduct and all our conversation should be motivated by the realization of future judgment. What manner of life are we to live in light of that? to live our lives in light of God's revealed word and will. Well, James goes on in verse 13 to speak of what kind of judgment a person who showed no mercy, those who are impartial will face on that day. For he shall, the verse says, shall have judgment without mercy. That has showed no mercy. The individual who showed no mercy to others on earth will have no mercy extended to them in the final judgment. As they treated others, so they will be treated themselves. This principle is one that is repeated time and time again in scripture, Psalm 18, 25 and 26. With the merciful, thou shalt show thyself merciful. With an upright man, thou shalt show thyself upright. With the pure, thou shalt show thyself pure. And with the forward, thou shalt show thyself forward. This is but only representation of what Christ would say there in Matthew chapter 7 verse 2 for with worth for with what judgment you judged ye shall be judged and with what measure you meet it shall be measured to you again and so on judgment day those who showed mercy will find mercy Those who show no mercy will find no mercy. Lord Jesus said in Matthew 5 verse 7, blessed are the merciful for they shall obtain mercy and shall in such obtain mercy not only in this life but in the life that is to come. When the believer exhibits and extends mercy to others, then in the closing words of verse 13, mercy rejoiceth against judgment. That simply means that the merciful man, the woman, the one who has shown, who has known God's mercy and salvation and then shown mercy to others will not be afraid of the judgment, but rather they will rejoice or glory in the view of it. since they will obtain mercy at that particular day. They'll rejoice as they consider the coming judgment. Those that showed mercy, they will know and they will experience and they will be gladdened with the thought that having shown mercy, I will then, I will myself become a recipient of mercy. Now don't get me wrong, that does not mean that a person who is moral and has never repented of their sin will find mercy in the day of judgment. I am not saying that. But what James is doing here, he's speaking to believers. And he's saying, if you showed mercy as a child of God, having obtained mercy in salvation, now you show mercy to others. What did the Samaritan man do? He showed mercy. That's what Christ asked, who is the neighbor? Who is the neighbor of the Samaritan, lying there dead at the road? Was it the priest, was it the Jewish man? Was it the priest, the Levite, or the Samaritan man? Who was it that was the neighbor to the man? And what did his critics say? It was him that what? Showed mercy. It was the one who showed mercy. And if we show mercy to others, Having received mercy and salvation, then we'll find mercy, the day of judgment, and that will rejoice our souls. Because folks, it will only be because of God's mercy that any of us will receive a crown, or we'll receive a home in heaven. It'll only be because of his mercy. It'll certainly not because of our works. or our deeds. Paul, he wrote the following about Onesiphorus. In 2 Timothy 1 verse 16 to 18, let me read it. The Lord give mercy unto the house of Onesiphorus. For he oft refreshed me and was not ashamed of my chain, When he was in Rome, he sought me out very diligently and found me. The Lord, listen to Paul, the Lord grant him that he may find mercy of the Lord in that day. And in how many things he ministered on to me in Ephesus, thou knowest very well. The one who showed mercy to God's servant, the one who refreshed God's servant, isn't that a ministry? The one who encouraged God's servant, who prayed for God's servant, Paul prayed that that man, that the Lord would grant unto him that he would find mercy of the Lord in that day. What day? The day of judgment. One commentator in James put it like this. On that future day, the quality of mercy, the practical, compassionate treatment of others Whether we have discriminated against the poor or feel to give help to those in need when it wasn't our power to do so will be the key indicator of the reality of our faith in Christ. To feel here and not to be merciful, however, is indicative of an unbelieving heart and so opens us to judgment without mercy. If you and I want to find mercy in the day of judgment as believers, then we need to show mercy to others while they're here on earth. Do you do that? Are you one that shows mercy to others? Or do you demand of others? Do you demand of them what you're not even living yourself? That's a hypocrite. God expects that the recipients of his mercy will then in turn show mercy to others. This is the one test, sorry, this is one test by which we show the reality of our faith. The question is, Do we pass the test? With that question ringing in our ears, may God be pleased to bless His Word. And may God help us to amend our ways, that on that day we will find mercy. when Christ appears, and we will all be judged according to our works. May God take His Word and apply it to our hearts with power. Amen.