Well, good morning, Saints. It's good to see you this morning. Would you turn with me to James chapter two again, we are going to look at the same passage that we looked at last week. We tried to walk carefully through James chapter two, beginning at verse 14 and went down through the end of the chapter. And we did so expository kind of going verse by verse and looking at the passage there, specifically looking at the topic of justification and the place of works in that Today we're going to take a different approach and look a little bit at the topic of works and read this passage again listening to what God says here and then add one more verse from Matthew chapter five in just a moment. But let's read God's word as his people. We listen to what God says to us. Let's hear from him in James chapter two beginning at verse 14. What good is it my brothers if a man claims to have faith but has no deed. Can such faith save him? Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to him, go, I wish you well, keep warm and well fed, but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself and it is not accompanied by action is dead. But someone will say, you have faith, I have deeds. Show me your faith without deeds and I will show you my faith by what I do. You believe that there is one God. Good. Even the demons believe that and shudder. You foolish man. Do you want evidence that faith without deeds is useless? Was not our ancestor Abraham considered righteous for what he did when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? You see that his faith and his actions were working together and his faith was made complete by what he did. And the scripture was fulfilled that says Abraham believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness. And he was called God's friend. You see that a person is justified by what he does and not by faith alone. In the reading at that point in James, and let's turn over to Matthew chapter five, just for one verse. You'll be familiar with the section in Matthew where Jesus is teaching in the Beatitudes, speaking of us being salt and light in the world. And verse 16 says, and I think this is really a summary of where we're going this morning, In the same way let your light shine before men that they may see your good deeds and praise your father in heaven. Another translation would say and glorify your God and father in heaven. Last week we talked very pointedly about justification in the place works has in our salvation and we concluded that we are saved not by works not by what we do. but exactly by trusting solely in the work that Christ did, his deeds, his work on our behalf. Works, we said, were the natural evidence that our faith is a genuine saving faith. And without that evidence, there's really no ground upon which one can claim that they are a true believer, that their salvation is real. This morning I want to address those of you who, though you are fully aware that you are not perfect, But I want to call and speak to you who also know that your calling and your election is sure. That's why I greeted you this morning as saints. I want you to realize this morning if you have that hope in Christ, though you know you're not where you should be, that nevertheless your hope is certainly resting on Christ. And you know that your days are not to be spent trying to earn your way onto God's team by doing good things, by doing good deeds. You know that by faith you're already on that team. You're on God's side. If by faith we are sure that we are going to heaven and that works have nothing to do with our receiving any status along that line, in other words, that they don't draw us even one fraction of an inch closer towards justification, then we have to ask the question, why? Why would the scripture make such an impression? Why would it emphasize so greatly and make a fuss about all good works? Simply put, if doing good and avoiding evil can't get us to heaven, if it doesn't have any impact ultimately on our getting closer to God, then why must we do good? Why must we avoid evil? Why does James put so much emphasis on good works? If you look at your bulletin cover this morning, you saw a little picture of a man, Mr. Donald Cargill, who was a Scottish pastor years ago. Some of you may have heard of the incident that took place many years ago in the times of the persecution particularly in our background our church background in the Covenanters in Scotland when they dealt with King Charles the second who thought he was one who should be as king the head of the church and he was one who took control and wanted to be one who imposed rules for the church. Donald Cargill was one of those Covenanter pastors who along with other Scottish pastors was offered what they called an indulgence by the government by the king which basically said that if they would acknowledge that the king was head of the church then they could retain their pastorate they could remain in the pastorate they could continue to serve and ministers in the church but if they remained obstinate in their declaration that Christ was the head of the church alone and that the king was subordinate to Christ. that he was the king Christ was the king and head of the church then they would be removed from their office as pastors and the king would appoint someone else. And in fact those men would be in risk of being put in the covenant or prison in Scotland or if that didn't do the trick they would indeed be beheaded or they would be hung. I had the opportunity to go to Scotland and see the very place where many of these pastors were put to death in the street and many of them also the others were put in prison. Well one day a fellow minister who was not from the covenant or church and was not particularly concerned so much with this issue particularly of Christ being the head of the church and who is the king. He actually accepted the indulgence which was offered by the government and he defended his action when he read when he talked to Cargill by saying these words. What needs all this to do and I'm quoting him. We will get to heaven and you will get no more. And Donald Cargill responded to him and said this. Yes, we will get more. We will get God glorified on the earth, which is more. It is more than heaven. Simply put, this is why the Christian is concerned about good works. This easy believism, perhaps you've heard that term, easy believism of our day, which equates salvation too often with simply accepting the free gift offer of grace in Christ and really nothing more. Dispensationalism has separated the gospel so much from our Old Testament history that many Christians have forgotten that to receive salvation is to become a member of God's covenant people and covenants. When God entered into covenant with his people and we are still under those covenants. When God entered into covenant with us, covenants have stipulations, they have rules and regulations that go along with them. Those laws and commands are themselves a part of the covenant for our good. They are meant as a blessing but they are still nevertheless rules. They are commands of God and true saving faith realizes that we don't simply take from Jesus our salvation and take the gift of forgiveness of sin without also bowing before him as our Lord and obeying his command. So part of our growth in the maturity in the faith is to realize more and more as James would have us learn that even the salvation which brings us the most precious and valuable thing and benefit we can have is not ultimately just about us. That's the point. Our salvation that Christ worked so hard to accomplish is not simply about our benefit. It's about God receiving glory through the raising of that which was spiritually dead to life. God gets the glory for your salvation. The refrain of the Old Testament redemption of the people of Israel over and over again. As you read through the scripture in the Old Testament, you'll see this refrain over and over again. It is, By this you shall know that I am the Lord. That is used again and again. In fact, in just one book of the Bible, in the book of Ezekiel, that phrase is used 70 times. 70 times. By this you shall know that I am the Lord. God rescued his people from bondage. And by this you will know that I am the Lord. He provided food for them. And by this, you will know that I am the Lord. He provided shelter. He held their enemies at bay. He punished the wicked. And by this, again and again and again, people would know that he is the Lord. It's about him, not merely so that his people would inherit comfort, so that his people would be blessed, but so that he might be seen to be their savior, their provider, their shield and buckler, their judge of all the earth. And thus, he would receive glory. Now, we have feelings which are subject day by day to change. Sometimes we feel encouraged in our spiritual walk and we're excited to do good works and we find joy in doing them. And at other times, though, we get discouraged and we feel that we're as we think about a relationship to God, we feel like we're unpleasing to God unless we can maybe serve him better than we're doing currently. If I could just Do better in my obedience to Christ. Harold prayed this morning something that we need to all think about again and again. It's from Romans that idea that we don't do what we want to do. Well the question is when we are doing those very things which we know we shouldn't be doing. How does that impact our relationship to God. What do we do about it. We must learn to rest in the reality that when God has begun to do a good work in us he will see it through to completion. My main point this morning is this, and as we labor to live a right before God, doing good works, we need to change our focus from trying to earn God's divine smile on us to trying to get Christ glorified on the earth. Let me say that again. We need to change our focus from trying to earn God's divine smile upon us to trying to get Christ glorified on the earth. You know the catechism we often quote when we're quoting the catechism seems like we always quote the first one. That's the one that we quote over and over again. Man's chief end is to glorify God and to enjoy him forever. That latter phrase enjoying him forever is a big thing we ought to think about. But we get bogged down in the second half of that enjoying of God that end because we have lost sight of the first end. By that I mean we have a hard time enjoying Him because we have made our chief end something other than glorifying God. Instead, we're trying to earn God's pleasure with us. Man's chief end is not to try to earn God's pleasure with us. It is to glorify God. Perhaps that's a subtle difference, but it's a significant difference. We can never earn God's pleasure with us by doing good deeds. May I say that again? You cannot any more earn God's pleasure with you than you could earn your salvation. Since we can never earn God's pleasure, we grow depressed and we grow sluggish. We fail to have joy, which is our strength, the scripture says, and thus we fail to glorify God. Earning God's pleasure is no more possible than earning our salvation. Salvation is a gift of grace. And once we have received that gift, we have the eternal assurance that God takes pleasure in us. Listen, perhaps with new ears to a psalm we're going to sing a little bit later, Psalm 149. Listen to how the psalmist understands the difference here that I'm talking about, and he brings praise to God with a joyful heart. Praise the Lord. Sing to the Lord a new song and his praise in the congregation of the godly ones. Let Israel be glad in his maker. Let the sons of Zion rejoice in their king. Let them praise his name with dancing. Let them sing praises to him with timbrel and lyre. Just pause for a moment and ask, why are these people so happy? Why are these people of God that gather together in the congregation, why are they praising God with dancing? Why are they so enthusiastic about their praise? It's because of the next verse. For the Lord takes pleasure in his people. He will beautify the afflicted ones with salvation. That reality that God takes pleasure in his people is a promise of God that brings joy to our hearts. Some of you this morning may have come here with heavy hearts because of your week. And I might even say because of your behavior this week. And there is a right place to grieve over our sin. Don't get me wrong at all here. But what do we put our hope in? Where is our rest? Are we trying to earn God's pleasure with us? Or are we resting in the fact that God has accomplished our salvation? He has beautified us with salvation and the Lord takes pleasure in his people. God glorifies in making his people beautiful. He makes us pleasing to him. So if you receive the gift of salvation you have also received the permanent status if I might say it this way. You have received as a gift the permanent status of being pleasing to God. Verse four could not be any clearer when it says he takes pleasure in that which he has beautified by salvation. And whereas it is true that the great overarching goal of our Christian life is to obey our king. Nevertheless, the obedience has as its chief and not trying over and over and over again to restore some sort of status and pleasure before God that we have lost. But indeed, but bringing the glory to this king who has saved us. If you find that you're desperately trying to maintain every day God's pleasure with you, then there's something about the gospel that you've not yet understood. Namely that in Christ, God's pleasure in you has already been secured. It's time to stop working for the wrong purpose. It's time to accept and identify with your true status as a pleasing son or daughter of the king and get on with the work of bringing him glory. That is your chief end. And that indeed frees you up to enjoy God, our chief end is to glorify God and to enjoy him. I know that for years, and I have to testify this because it's important that you know this is a real battle that we face and I faced for years in my Christian life, growing up in a Christian home where I knew all the right things. I wrestled day in and day out trying to please God. because I felt like I was not pleasing to God. I am a worm. I am a wretched person in God's eyes is what I felt like because of my sin. If I try to obey God and glorify Him from that position, I am crippled. What God would say to me, I believe, is from His Word, you have received a gift from me of salvation. I have beautified you in giving you Christ's righteousness. You are pleasing in my sight by my grace. Now get on with the work of bringing me glory. Work from that status as one who is pleasing before me. What I'd like to do this morning in the remainder of our time is to show how that general truth is underlined over and over again in the book of James. Good works are for the purpose of getting God glory. Now that quality of glory is embodied in God himself and yet at the same time when the word Kavod is the word in Hebrew when that word is used in relationship to God it denotes that which makes God impressive. That's really what the word means in the Old Testament it makes God impressive. The main word the use of the word glory in the New Testament which has a different word the Greek word doxa. That word doxa is actually shaped by the Old Testament word kavod. In the New Testament giving God glory means acknowledging or extolling What is already a reality. Obviously God has as a part of his nature glory he is glorious. So getting God glory does not mean we're adding something to God which he doesn't already have. But we're getting ourselves and others to acknowledge how impressive and how glorified majestic God is. A simple summary of that came from that verse in Matthew Chapter 5 that I read earlier. Matthew 5 16 which says let your light so shine before men. that they may see your good deeds and glorify your father which is in heaven. Good works serve the purpose then of bringing God glory. We live out an obedient Christian life in such a way that it's not hidden. It's meant to be proclaimed from the hilltops if you will. It's not to be hidden under a bushel but so that others can plainly see that your good works are a product of something God has done in you. Again, we're not trying to pull up our own bootstraps and try to accomplish good works here in our own strength. The very purpose of our doing good deeds is so that others would see that God has done a work in us, enabling us to do this. So God is already glorious. Our goal is to get others to see that he's glorious. Now, we're quite familiar with the idea of God's glory in the Old Testament, but the glory is personified in the New Testament in a person, in the person of Jesus Christ. Hebrews 1 verse 3 you'll be familiar with these verses. The sun is the radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of his being. That's the purpose for which Jesus came is to reveal God's glory. The Old Testament prophets predicted that that glory of God would be revealed when Christ came. Listen to Isaiah. He sets the stage for John the Baptist telling of the great eschatological hope of God's people when he spoke in Isaiah 40. Verses three through five when he said a voice is calling clear the way for the Lord in the wilderness. Make smooth in the desert a highway for our God. Let every valley be lifted up and every mountain and hill be made low. Now listen what it says next. This is the prophetic word that the Messiah is coming and then it says then the glory of the Lord will be revealed and all flesh will see it together. See, that's why Christ is coming, is to reveal the glory of God. The Psalms had already predicted this event. Psalm 24, verse 7. We sing it often. Lift up your heads, O gates. He lifted up, O ancient doors. What's the next phrase? That the King of glory may come in. Who is that King of glory? We know who it is. It's the Lord Jesus Christ when he was revealed. But as the great Greek scholar Frederick Kittel once wrote, this doxa, this glory of Christ, is not visible in itself. He has to be glorified. He has to be made manifest. So the angels did this at his birth, didn't they? When they came. The time of year we're thinking about the proclamation of Christ's coming and his actual entry into the world. The angels revealed his glory. They glorified him. Christ's entry into glory takes place ultimately not at his birth. It takes place at the cross. That's when we see the glory of God. in him. It's only by faith that believers are able to see that glory of God. When Martha, one of the friends of Jesus, when she was so disturbed at the death of her beloved brother Lazarus, Jesus turned to her in John 11 40 and said, Did I not say to you that if you believed you would see the glory of God? As believers, our calling is to show forth this glory to others, to our own believers around us. That's important to show it to them, but also to those who don't know him. Ephesians 1, that passage, it talks about how spiritually blessed we are in Christ. It goes over and over again in that he says he chose us in him before the foundation of the world that we would be holy and blameless in his sight. Now note that. Obedience isn't an iffy question here. It's as if you could get away with not doing that. No, we must be holy. We must be blameless before God. Keep the stipulations of the covenant. But then it goes on. In love He predestined us to adoption as His sons through Jesus Christ to Himself according to His kind intention of His will. Then this phrase. Why? To the praise of the glory of His grace which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved, in Christ. So our purpose in being set aside as adopted sons and daughters is for the purpose of his glory and his praise. These verses put together our call to be holy and blameless so that it might result in the praise and glory of Christ of God's redemptive grace. Well how do you go about that then. How are we with that new paradigm with that new eyes that focus not on trying to please God every day as if we were going to fall out of his pleasure somehow. How do we best glorify our Savior. Well the Christian best brings glory to God when he demonstrates his reliance faith by obediently living according to God's newly revealed paradigm. By that I mean that paradigm is that Jesus Christ alone is Savior and he is Lord and good works are useless to our salvation but they are essential to our chief end. They are essential in our bringing glory to Christ. Let's look at several examples in the book of James here very briefly in the new paradigm. Let's look at this. Some of these have already been seen as we've gone through the first couple first two chapters here and we're going to come on some others that are still a little bit later in the book. I'll just talk about four of them this morning. The first one already we've seen in chapter one verses two through four. Those trials that we face trials you remember provide us an opportunity to do either sort of a wicked response or to really in good works do what is right and respond to those. And the scripture says we are called to consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds. Friends, that's a new paradigm. People of the world do not consider it a joy when they face trials. The Christian is to be different. He has a new way of approaching things because he's got a goal. He's going to bring glory to Jesus Christ through whatever happens in his life. And if trials are a part of his life, that's going to be one of the means we use. Now, that sounds ridiculous again. If we look at life from if we're not looking at it from this new paradigm. But this is exactly what James calls us to do when he says consider it pure joy. Think about it. Think ahead about these things and deal with them from that perspective. Stop and consider how our present circumstances are to be seen in kingdom with kingdom eyes. Our Christian lives are to be lived all to the glory of God and trials and difficulties provide an opportunity for us to do that. They're not the cause of joy they are the occasion for it. Now there's a world of difference between responding as maybe the world would in grumbling and complaining we're in the middle of a trial and as Christ would have us do that. You and I know people as we've said before that fall into both camps. Some who respond when they're in difficulty in trial and they grumble and they complain and I could tell you right now you know as well as I that that does not bring glory to Christ. Nothing comes of that that's good. Others, by God's grace, are able to consider what's going on in their life, and they respond in good deeds with a way that acknowledges God's working in all of this, their submission to him, and that brings them glory. Because why? When people look at that, they say, that's not normal. That's not normal. That's not the way people act when they're going through hardship. Why are you different? You see, it points to God working in their life. There's something different about you. And that brings glory to him. That's the point. So when we encounter troubles in our lives, we have to consider that God is providentially doing here and use that opportunity. If man's chief end is to glorify God, he's going to give you opportunity. I remind you of first Peter one six in this, you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you have had to suffer grief and all kinds of trials. These have come. So that your faith of greater worth than gold, which perished, even though refined by fire, may be proven genuine and here it comes and may result in praise and glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. So that's what it's about. That's one example in James. Let's go to the next one just a few verses later in verses five and six. We talked about asking God for what we lack. You remember that God calls any who lack to ask God who generously gives to all without finding fault. On this journey that the Christian is on toward completeness we're seeing his glory. We are going to be glorified face to face. What a day that will be. We lack all sorts of things until that day. James speaks specifically of one of the ways we lack and that's wisdom. We need wisdom so badly. The Book of Proverbs makes a direct parallel between knowing wisdom and knowing God. There is nothing that honors a father more when his son or daughter comes to him and asks for something with full confidence that he will give it. That he is able and that he will provide. God is glorified through our dependent faith on him. And so he grants what is asked for. Time and again scripture says ask and it will be given. Seek and you will find. He says call upon me and come and pray to me and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you search for me with all your heart. This again, I say, is something that is not normal. People do not naturally do this. They try to rely on themselves. So when we automatically and people see it, we turn to him and say, God, I need your help. I am completely dependent upon you. I'm not proud. I'm not exalting myself. I'm acknowledging that you are my God. I need your help that brings him glory. Verse six of our passage tells us that our responsibilities to come in faith without doubting. Reliant faith real faith is what glorifies God. Hebrews 11 6 definition here without faith it is impossible to please him for he who comes to God must believe that he is and he's a rewarder of those who seek him. Going hand in hand with that acknowledgement that we lack is the third thing that we're going to come on. This is actually later in the book. We haven't come to it yet. Chapter four. Let me actually read these verses to you, beginning in chapter four, verse four. He says, you adulterous people, don't you know that friendship with the world is hatred toward God? Anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God. Or do you think Scripture says without reason that the spirit he causes to live in us envies intensely? Jump down to verse 7. Submit yourselves then to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. And here's the key verse. Humble yourselves before the Lord and he will lift you up. So humility is another way that we bring glory to God here. If there's one thing that stands in opposition to giving God glory, it's our pride. Our saying, no, I've got it together. I don't need you. When we ask for wisdom, it has a purpose. How do we use wisdom? That we would be discerning in our actions which demonstrates or demonstrate the nature of our faith. In the third chapter of James, verse 13, he says, Who is wise and understanding among you? Let him show it by his good life. By deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom, he's tying together our good deeds and wisdom and humility here. In chapter four, verse six, he quotes Proverbs 3, 24. God opposes the proud, but he gives grace to the humble. We need that grace if we're going to honor and glorify God. Well, the very next verse, verse seven, says submit yourselves then to God. In opposition to pride, submission demonstrates that we have adopted our chief end of glorifying God, not ourself. Humility really says, God, I'm not about me anymore. It's all about You. Let me see if I can live my life in such a way that will be about You. Then we go to chapter 5, and the last thing I'll talk about here is the prayer of faith. Look at verses 13 through 16. Is any of you in trouble? He should pray. Is anyone happy? Let him sing songs of praise. Is any one of you sick? He should call the elders of the church to pray over him and anoint him with the oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well. The Lord will raise him up. If he has sinned, he will be he will be forgiven. Therefore, confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective. Well, how does that impact glory? Well, glory comes to God when sinners turn to God in faith. When they acknowledge God, they magnify him. They're not adding glory to him here. They're acknowledging who he is and recognizing that. Well, prayer is one of the best expressions that we have of faith. And we need to take advantage of that far more than we do. God absolutely delights. And one might even say he glories. He glories in answering the prayer of faith. James four, verse two says, you do not have because you do not ask. I might add to that, because you haven't asked, you have not glorified God. In the 15th chapter of John's Gospel, he tells us one of the chief reasons we were chosen by God. He says there, and he quotes Jesus, I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last. Well, if we're to bear fruit that will last, it will be as we bring glory to Christ, as we seek first His kingdom and His righteousness. Now here's where we tie several of the messages we've recently heard together, if we can. Jesus said, if a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit. If we would bear much fruit, we will do so by remaining in Christ. But as you know, that verse goes on to say, apart from me, you can do nothing. Let's connect the dots here. If you follow the logic of what he's saying, first of all, our chief end is to glorify God. Bearing fruit that lasts will bring glory to God. But apart from abiding in Christ, we can't bear fruit. And therefore, apart from abiding in Christ, we cannot glorify God. What does that have to do with a prayer of faith? Well, prayer is a declaration to God of our trust in him that says, I understand that apart from you, I can do nothing. When we fail to pray, we're living our lives as if we could produce lasting fruit, that we could glorify God without Christ. without our dependence upon Him. And the reality is that we are powerless to do that. Powerless. In fact, our sin that we face every day cripples us in that work. We're humans, we're frail, we're imperfect, we're distracted, we are selfish, and it goes on and on. But here's the beauty of God's plan. He uses human, He uses frail, imperfect means to accomplish His mighty, His powerful, and His certain ends. He calls us to pray and ask Him to do that. So how is lasting fruit born? It comes about as we pray and give praise to God in everyday circumstances, in every little thing that comes along. For example, verse 13, is any of you in trouble? Are you in trouble? You should pray. Is any of you happy? You should sing praise to God. Sing songs of praise. Is any of you sick? You should call the elders of the church together to pray. Do you see what's happening? Everyday circumstances of your life. It's all about one thing. I'm going to give glory to God. How do I do that? By faith, trusting in Him. And how is that expressed? It's expressed most naturally in prayer. Those are all the opportunities to bear lasting fruit for the glory of Christ. Is your life accomplishing glory to Christ? See, if you're so caught up every day in trying to please God, I'm not pleasing to God, I'm not making it, I'm not making any progress. You're not doing it in the little things. You're not going to Him and saying, Today, I want to bring you glory and I need help to do that. I am so dependent upon you. Whereas you and I are frail, imperfect, distracted and powerless people, the prayer of a righteous man is powerful and it's effective because it clings to Christ, who is all powerful. Prayer and praise in everyday expression glorifies God. Well, those are just a few of the good works picked and chosen out of James's letter. We'll see more of those as we go along. But in one sense, the same question that the Scottish minister asked Reverend Cargill could be asked of you today. Let me put it in these words. What's all this about you doing good works all the time? Don't you believe that you're saved by faith alone. Some people had worked to their faith you know but we are all going to end up in heaven because of our trust in God. Will those works get you any more than it gets me. I hope you have an answer to that question. The answer is yes. Yes we will get more. We will get our savior glorified on the earth today. And that's what it's about. Let's pray that God will enable us to do that. Let's pray.