Good evening, it is good to be with you once again. We are returning to James chapter 4 this evening, as we were here last month. We read through to verse 10 of James chapter 4, and this evening we'll read through to verse 12. taking up verses 11 and 12 in particular, but I will call upon you to remember from last month so that it all fits together. James chapter four, I'll begin my reading at verse one. Dear saints, this is God's holy and inspired word, and that is why you are meant to pay careful attention to its reading. What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you? You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive because you ask wrongly to spend it on your passions. You adulterous people, Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore, whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. Or do you suppose it is to no purpose that the scripture says, he yearns jealously over the spirit that he has made to dwell in us? But he gives more grace. Therefore, it says, God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble. Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Draw near to God and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves before the Lord and he will exalt you. Do not speak evil against one another, brothers. The one who speaks against a brother or judges his brother speaks evil against the law and judges the law. But if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law, but a judge. There is only one lawgiver and judge, he who is able to save and to destroy. But who are you to judge your neighbor? And thus ends the reading of God's word once again. Let's pray. Our gracious God in heaven, we come to you, our Lord bent low, because we come to your word. We come to you speaking to us through your word. And so grant us open hearts to hear that word. Grant us, O Lord, the power of your Holy Spirit that we might, in hearing that word, submit ourselves to it in love and in obedience. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen. James intends to drive this congregation, this congregation that he describes as the 12 tribes in the dispersion, to truly repent and to continue in perseverance. That's what we dealt with last time in verses 1 through 10. Last month, we saw how serious James is about true repentance. James continually calls these people his brothers throughout the letter, his brothers or his beloved brothers, his brothers and sisters, we sometimes say brethren. But as he moves through this letter writing to those who are without a home in this world, he makes his case that many among them are not acting as those who have no place to lay their head in this world. He talks about those who say they love Christ and confess they believe that Jesus is Lord. Yet it's apparent from James' perspective that their lives give little to no evidence of love for one another. that their lives give little to no evidence of love for their confession, for their love for Christ. It seems as though there is little to no evidence that their confession of Christ is genuine. He challenges them on this in this letter. By their deeds, James judges many within this congregation. to be living a life without the love of Christ. They do not show love to the poor man, but they show honor and privilege to the rich man, chapter 2. In showing partiality like this, James says in chapter 2, verse 9, you are committing sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors. James says plainly to them as those who are foreigners in a foreign land, your life, your actions, your thoughts, your motives, none of these things should be conformed to the world around you as they appear to be if your faith is genuine. Isn't it obvious to you by now, faith apart from works is dead? It is no faith at all. Isn't it obvious that you should guard your actions by first guarding your tongue as it is like a rudder guiding a ship? You cannot bless our Lord and father and then curse people who are made in the image of God. James says that in chapter three, these things ought not to be so among you, my brothers and sisters, these things ought not to be so because of who you are. Remember my beloved brethren, remember Jesus and his teachings of which I am reminding you in this letter. Remember that he has ushered in the kingdom of heaven and that you have been ushered into that kingdom with him. As Jesus said to Pilate, my kingdom is not of this world, so why is there bitterness and selfishness in your hearts? Why do you boast and falsify the truth with deception into one another? This ought not to be so among you, my brethren. These things do not reflect a wisdom that is from above. These evil activities do not express the kingdom to which you belong. Something has changed in you. Something has changed for you. And Jesus has come. And by your very own confession, you believe him to be the Christ chapter two, verse one. He has translated you from this corrupt world into the kingdom of heaven which should produce in you a rich and a lively and a genuine faith, characterized by wisdom from above that is pure and peaceable, gentle and open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere, that is, without hypocrisy. Instead, you boast in yourselves. Instead, you fight and quarrel among yourselves, coveting the blessing God has given your neighbors. Look at yourselves, James says. Look at the things you do. Do you not know that friendship with the world makes you an enemy of God? You confess with your mouth, yet your actions, by your actions, you seem to believe nothing true in your hearts. Do you not know that you are acting like adulteresses? You are acting like those who have been given a taste of the kingdom and now spit it to the dirt. Instead of finding it sweet as honey, it tastes bitter. You are being whorish, flirting with the world, while your faithful husband is thrown to the side. My brethren, do you not know that entrance into the kingdom means that you have been given grace, that God opposes the proud, and gives grace to the humble, to the lowly, and to the meek. You adulteresses, you sinners, you double-minded. You can hear that James' address changes. James' tone changes dramatically at this point here in chapter 4, verses 1 through 10. saw this last time we were together. And that's in an effort to turn those who are foreigners in this world from their earthly, demonic, and unspiritual ways, as James describes them, to turn them from such things and repentance and faith. He is pressing this congregation to repentance, to resist the devil, to draw near to God, to cleanse your hands, you sinners, and to purify your heart. He is pressing you to weep and wail and mourn for your sin against your Lord, to turn your laughter into tears and your joy to gloom." You see that James is not fooling around here, is he? And James is not making idle practical encouragements. James wants his beloved brothers and sisters to put off their adultery for fidelity, to put off their sin for righteousness, to put off their double-mindedness for single-mindedness. He is pressing you to perseverance and endurance in the face of those constant trials and temptations to live by the world, to live, to love the world, to befriend the world. He is pressing you to perseverance and endurance in the face of those constant trials and temptations. And therefore, James says, and almost in exasperation, he says, humble yourselves in the presence of the Lord. and he will exalt you. You see it there again. For James, everything about the Christian life is impacted by the imminent return of Christ. He always has the end in view. Now, I realize that this may not seem obvious at first, but bear with me on this. For James, Everything about the Christian life is impacted by the return of Christ. James continues to put this congregation's life in terms of the return of the Lord, in terms of the last day or the day of judgment, such that the believer's life becomes one lived in humility now, but one of exaltation in the day of resurrection, in the day of the return of Christ. When James speaks of exaltation, he draws us in hope to look forward to the day of Christ's return, wherein the humble shall be exalted. Humble yourselves in the presence of the Lord and he will exalt you. In doing this, remember last month's message, James is setting before us the life of the church as a life lived in conformity to her savior. a life of humility and service with exaltation and glory to come later. Therefore, as he continues along these lines, James writes, Brethren, do not speak against one another. Do not speak evil against one another, brothers and sisters. Did you catch that now? Because it is easy to skip over. But I want you to see it in the flow of the message that I tried to repeat once again and have tried to highlight thus far. Listen, do not speak against one another, brethren, brothers and sisters. With last month's sermon still I know fresh in your memories. And in your hearts, I trust. I want you to hear how James addresses this congregation again. Brethren. Brothers. Sisters. He turns their attention once again to who they are. To their identity as the twelve tribes in the dispersion, as the true Israel of God, as the one body of Christ. Feel the force of the change again in James' language. Instead of continuing to call this church adulteresses and sinners in accordance with their actions, James speaks to them now once again in accordance with their heavenly realities to which they participate as those who have been joined to Christ. When he counts this congregation as his brethren, in accordance with his teaching, James actually humbles himself here by counting this unruly bunch as his brethren. in order to actually exalt them. Trusting that the word implanted will have its good effect in them. And at the same time, in calling them brethren, James is calling his hearers to be who they are in Christ. Act as brethren. Act as one body of believers. Do not fight amongst yourselves. How can you confess a faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and speak evil against one another? My brethren, look at what you are doing. You are breaking apart the body of Christ. Your very own body. That's like severing an arm or a leg and thinking it won't have any consequences. It's absolutely foolish. As much as James seems to be concerned with individual Christian perseverance, James is also concerned about the body of believers as a whole, as a fellowship of saints. He is concerned about the impact of such wicked behavior upon the church, upon the community of believers, the corporate fellowship. Christian fellowship and unity must be characteristic of any congregation of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is our very witness to the world. The church perseveres as one body in Christ. Brothers and sisters, why do you think we build each other up in prayer? Why do you think we love and care and serve each other? We are one united body. Yes, it's a metaphor, of course, but it is a metaphor describing a reality, a spiritual reality. It's not simply some sappy religious rhetoric. When you hurt, when you cry, when you mourn, when you rejoice, you know that there are others in this body that do likewise with you. Look at these verses with me. Verses 11 through 12, once again, and chapter four, they form a small unit, wrapping up lots of topics that James has already talked about in this letter. And note the similar references with me. James begins verse 11 with the sins of the tongue, like he talked about already in chapter 3, speaking against one another. He continues with familiar language of judging and law, like he does in chapter 2, verses 1 through 14, where those who show partiality to the rich man and give no credence to the poor man are condemned by James as guilty of the law and making judgments of that law. In verse 12, James continues with the same language of law and judgments as he draws its last day oriented again, that eschatological impulse to prominence using familiar language from chapter 2 once again, which invariably draws into view Jesus' teaching. Note how James makes use of Leviticus 19 verse 18. You may want to just flip back to chapter 2 for a second. In chapter two, verse eight, you see it there. James makes use of the law. Leviticus 19 verse 18. He says, you shall love your neighbor as yourself. So very familiar. This is the same text that Jesus cites in his sermon on the Mount. When he says, you have heard that it was said, you shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy. What I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you in order that you may be sons of your father who is in heaven. And summing all of this up, Jesus says a little later, therefore, however you want people to treat you, so treat them for this is the law and the prophets. Now in these verses, the verses we're dealing with tonight, 11 and 12, James changes his language from the harshness of adulterous is back to that familial brothers and sisters. marking that sharp contrast for us as we try to understand him and his continued admonition. Yes, it is an admonition of the church, even while he encourages them and his continued admonition of the church. He still draws their attention back to who they are, back to their relationship with each other as brothers and sisters, as a family and the love of Christ bound together by the bonds of the Holy Spirit. And note the refrain-like repetition you find there in verse 11. Do not speak evil against one another, brothers. The one who speaks against a brother or judges his brother speaks against the law and judges the law. How foolish can you be, James says. Don't you see the double-mindedness of your behavior? You're brothers and sisters and you sit in judgment of one another. You speak against each other. In essence, they're slandering each other, claiming to be one in body, yet they tear each other apart. And in tearing each other apart, they act as judges of one another. And therefore, according to James, speaking against the law, judging the law, and in judging the law, James is saying you are not a doer of the law, but rather you make yourself a judge of it. And what James is saying here, or at least the way in which he is saying it here, is unique. And so unique is it that it almost sounds foreign to our ears. But James proves himself to be the finest study of Christ in these verses. I'm convinced that James has nothing less in view here than the teaching of Jesus concerning the law. He's made several references to the law in this epistle. We've referenced some of them already, such as in chapter 2, verses 8 through 13, where he cites, again, Leviticus 19, verse 18, as the royal law, love your neighbor as yourself. And more to the point, it is the law of our king for a kingdom of righteousness. James has no intention of bringing you back under an old stone-chiseled mosaic administration. Rather, what he is doing here is that he is interpreting the law as a law of liberty. as a law of the kingdom of heaven. James sees it as Jesus does when he says, do not think that I have come to abolish or destroy the law or the prophets. I have not come to abolish them, but to fulfill them. James here continually shows himself to be immersed in the kingdom of heaven. His whole perspective is influenced by this newest state of ushered in by Jesus and so eloquently declared in the Sermon on the Mount by Jesus. It's almost as if James is summarizing the Sermon on the Mount in these verses, and by that I mean his language brings into view Jesus' heightening of the law in that sermon. When he equates the insulting of a brother saying to him, you fool with murder. Not only this, but James draws our attention to Jesus teaching on judging others before we have taken the log out of our own eye. Remember that from Matthew seven, while at the same time he makes use of Jesus teaching on loving our neighbors as ourselves. Even as Jesus heightens that command to a level never even dreamed of by the Pharisees of actually loving one's enemies. James does all of this in these two verses, but most succinctly, I think in the very last phrase. But who are you to judge your neighbor? This is why he calls this church back to their identity as his beloved brothers. They must come to grips with what it means to be one body in Christ. To be foreigners in a foreign world, dispersed and not living in their homeland, living as a family of God. As brothers and sisters in the faith, you must be doers of the royal law of King Jesus. For as Christ says, however you want people to treat you, so treat them, for this is the law and the prophets. But if you speak against one another and judge the law, my brethren, you deny the very authority of King Jesus himself. That's what James is saying. You see what you're doing, he's telling us. You are taking to yourself the law book and claiming it as your own. In fact, you seek to displace the one and only lawgiver and judge with your own authority. James says you are exalting yourselves and arrogance and pride, and this ought not to be. So my brothers, this ought not to be so. For there is only one lawgiver and judge, and that is Jesus the Christ, who is the only one able to save and to destroy. Who do we think we are? Isn't it an attempt to usurp the authority of the king of the kingdom of heaven with arrogant self-exaltation over others, with a refusal to accept humility and lowliness as a way of life? Has it come to that? James is telling these people. And in fact, it has just look a little ahead. Has it come to that point where the church, like Satan attempts to usurp our Kings rule and ways. By incessant slander, backbiting and speech hurled at one another. Because that's what it is, is what James is saying. He's saying that behavior is wicked. And it is the product of the devil's devices to tear down the body of Christ. Satan loves to see you tear each other apart. He loves to see the body divided. Will you indulge him? where now is the humility and lowliness before God, which is the essence and key to heavenly wisdom in life. As I said earlier, James places these things in the context of ultimate and cosmic events. It is an end times oriented perspective that James has when he brings these things to bear, for there is only one lawgiver and judge who is able to save and to destroy. What does he have in mind? This is James' way of placing us within this epistle, within the historical confines of God's coming in power and glory, in the day of judgment when he will save his humble few in exaltation and destroy the self-exalted many in eternal humiliation. And so I ask you with James, who are you to judge your neighbor? If we exalt ourselves over a brother or sister, What does that say about us? What does that say about your confession is what James is asking you. The only answer is found in King Jesus hanging on a cross where humility is there personified by God himself that his members would likewise humble themselves in order to exalt others in love. And so may it be with us all that seek to walk before him in the lowliest humility with God. For we know that this is the way and the life of our King. You do, right? You know that's the way. With him, we seek for ourselves the lowest place among our brethren, don't we? This is the way for friends of God. This is the way for friends of God to be friends with each other. As Christ died serving you, so you too die serving him by serving his body. In serving your neighbor in love and loneliness, you're exalting them. Did you know that? In serving your neighbor in love and in lowliness, you are exalting them. And in conformity with your Savior, my beloved brothers and sisters, you are exalting others. And it is in this sacrificial service that you exalt your King. and that I know you want to do. Exalt your King. Let's pray. Our dear Father in heaven, Lord, grant to us your grace that as we come to texts like this, where we are so very challenged in our hearts and in our behavior, We ask, Father, that you would remind us as who we are in Christ, and by the power of your Spirit, O Lord, be gracious unto us, and turn our hearts in faith and repentance and love for you and one another. And that love would grow, and that this body of Jesus Christ would continue to grow in their love for one another. as a wonderful witness to a world that is just at war with one another. That we are brothers and sisters in Christ. And we are bound by your Holy Spirit. And in love, O God, we give ourselves over in service one to another. And we pray, Father, make this the norm among us as we ask in Christ's name. Amen.