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remains alone. It produces works.' If it does not produce works, then it is not true faith at all. And a spurious faith can save no one. Verse 17 makes this very cleat: “Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone.” 3. “For that ye ought to say, If the Lord will, we shall live” (4:15). The Bible very clearly teaches that God has provided healing for the believer’s body. The final chapter of James bears witness to this provision (vs. 14, 15). But sometimes we find those who forget that all the Lord’s promises concerning the continuation of physical life and health are conditioned. ‘Y e ought to say, If the Lord will, we shall live.” Until, we have learned to say this, we are not praying according to His will. 4. “But above all things, my brethren, swear not . . . by any . . . oath” (5:12). One might suppose, if free from theo logical prejudices, that no one could possibly misunderstand this command. Yet certain commentators move heaven and earth to p r o v e that the words, “swear not . . . by any . . . oath,” really mean that the Christian is permitted to swear by some oaths! In such cases, it is wisdom to stick by the Word of God. If this injunction against “swear ing” seems unimportant, remember that James puts it “above all things.” And he was writing by inspiration of the Holy Spirit. A friend of mine in South Africa con tracted a fearful disease and died within forty-eight hours. His widow was brought home in a state of collapse, and as she had repeatedly thrown her self with passionate kisses on the body of her husband, it was thought she would surely develop the disease, and thus must be isolated in her house for twenty-one days. Could a white woman in this tragic state, with death hanging over her, be left without a companion thousands of miles from her own people? Yet, if such a suitable woman could be found, what would her husband say? In my dilemma I called at the house of one of our Christian' families, only to find that the husband had that day gone to the hospital for an operation. The woman promptly offered to go, however, asking only to stop at the hospital to gain her husband’s consent. His reply was, “Milly, you must go to her. God will take care of you,. and don’t you worry about me.” After a brief prayer I left my friend at the stricken home. Tn the succeeding days, contrary to all rules of the disease, the widow did not contract it, and at the end of the period we sent her away home to Eng land, and my friend returned home to nurse her own husband. Months after, I said to them, “It was a particularly Golden Text Illustration J ames 1 :27
is it to the hungry man to be told to depart and be filled; words cannot sat isfy; there must be the provision of food. Even so, faith without works is dead—not that this kind of faith has died, but it never was alive. HI. R egarding P rovidences (4:13-17) The man of faith will not plan apart from God. He knows the future is un certain, and that life is brief. He who exercises faith will avoid the folly of determining to do anything or to go anywhere without consulting God. IV. R egarding S peech (5:12) There is to be no profanity, even under injustice, however difficult that is to bear. And there is to be full truth fulness always under every stress. The “Yea” and “Nay” are to be strictly true (cf. Matt. 5:37). Consistent Christian living, as taught by the Apostle James, includes the be liever’s being established in and by the Word of truth, revealing his faith by his works, trusting the providences of God whatever their appearance, and controlling his speech for the Lord’s glory. Points and Problems 1. “The Father of lights, with whom is no variableness” (Jas. 1:17). Nothing is more precious to the believer than the unchangeable character of his Father. Every covenant, every promise, every good thing, is guaranteed by this blessed attribute of God. What a dread ful experience it is to have a friend we have trusted, in whom we have placed our confidence without reserva tion, and then discover he has changed! This is one of the things which poison human life. How comforting, therefore, to hear the voice of the Lord saying, “I change not” ; and hew precious it is to read, “Thou art the same, and thy years snail iioi fail” (Hell. 1:12)! 2. “What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and have not works? can faith save him?” (Jas. 2:14). This seems at first sight to deny that salvation is by faith alone. The Revised translation removes the problem thus: “Can that faith save him ?” God does save us by faith alone without works. But true faith never BLACKBOARD LESSON
IT Therefore to him that knovreth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it Is sin. 5:12 Bat above all things, my brethren, swear not, neither by heaven, neither by the earth, neither by any otlfer oaths bat let your yea be yea; and yoar nay, nay; lest ye fall into condemnation. LESSON TEXT ; Jas. 1:17; 2:14-17; 4*13-17; 5*12. GOLDEN TEXT* «Pare religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world” (Jas. 1:27). DEVOTIONAL READING: Psa. 15. Outline and Exposition X R egarding the W ord (1:17-22) i NOTHER -WAY of stating the / \ truth of verse 17 would be that I \ every good giving (the act) and every good boon (the thing given) comes from God, the Father of lights; noth ing else could come from Him, and there is no s h a d o w of turning, or variableness, with Him. God’s goodness in giving is revealed in that He, by His own will, begat us by the Word of truth (v. 18). The sin ner has only to believe, or accept Christ as his Saviour, and the Father of lights does all ,the rest that is needful for his salvation. But how important it is to believe that Word! The result for which the Father looks is that each Christian shall be 'swift to hear the Word of truth (v. 19). Moreover, He desires that each one shall be slow to wrath, remembering that the wrath of man worketh not the purpose of God, or the will of the Father (v. 20). Everything rests upon the Word which, out of the good giv ing of the Father, is to be the guide and guard of God’s people. God is always speaking; the habit of listening must be cultivated by thè Christian. Christians should be good listeners for their own protection from error, for their progress in the truth, and for power in their service. Believers are exhorted to “be slow to wtauth” ; words act as fuel to a fire, and the more the enraged person talks, the angrier he becomes—and the anger of the Christian adds nothing to the glory of God. It is the Word of God that guards Christians against all profitless and hurtful speaking, and enables them to become doers and not mere self-deceived hearers only (v. 22). n . R egarding F aith (2:14-17) When James speaks of works, he re fers to those works that spring from faith, such as- could be done only by faith. Faith and works is good; faith in works is useless. The word “ say” is emphatic. The thought is: What advantage is it though a man say he possesses anything* if he does not actually have it? James illustrates by asking what advantage
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