Dive into a discussion on the verification of genuine faith as outlined in the epistle of James. Experience inspiring accounts from listeners in Somalia and Cambodia who bravely share their faith journeys. Also, reflect upon the transformative power of God’s gifts, as Dr. McGee emphasizes how every good gift comes from above and the importance of keeping our walk with God sincere and unwavering. Discover how temptation is not sin but when united with our own desires, it can lead to actions that disrupt our fellowship with God.
The foundation, ye saints of the Lord, is laid for your faith in God.
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Have you heard of the great theologian John Wesley? Welcome to Through the Bible. I’m Steve Schwetz, and let’s get settled on the Bible bus for a very interesting ride as our teacher, Dr. J. Vernon McGee, tells us a fascinating story from Wesley’s life. So as you grab your Bible and open it to James 1 at verse 14, let’s hear a story that Dr. McGee told of another Christian’s life that illustrates the difference one person can make when they follow God’s lead.
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All of you have heard of Florence Nightingale, but perhaps you’ve not heard her story. She was a professing Christian, just over 30, and followed the British army to the Crimea, where three nations were fighting Russia, and practically no provision had been made for the wounded. You can almost hear her dancing friends asking what one woman could do. Within a few months of her arrival at Skutari, the death rate in Crimean hospitals had dropped to 2 in 100 from 42. This one woman, with the help of others who rallied around her, revolutionized nursing and sanitation, not only in the Crimea but universally. Every injured soldier in every war since the Crimean owes much to this girl who felt that she could do something more useful than entertain her father’s guests.
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Well, just like Florence Nightingale, many of you are following God’s lead and making a difference in others’ lives. You know, I love to hear your stories. Here’s one example from a brother in Somalia who says this, We risk our lives and hold an underground fellowship regularly. Every week the attendance is good. We focus on the subject of confession and forgiveness amongst the believers. We know how important it is for every community to confess their mistakes and forgive one another. Continue praying for us as we meet regularly and make ends meet. Many are against us here, but we know God is with us. And then here’s another terrific one. This is from a listener in Cambodia. Praise be to the living God for his word. I am a full-time pastor and it is my great joy to serve God’s people and to bring his word to his church. Every time I listen to your program, I feel that God is preparing me for more. I cannot tell you how much it means to this pastor that your program preaches to my soul. I feel that every time I have been faced with the difficulties of life, God has spoken to me through you and given me more hope and strength than I could imagine. Because of this, I am able to help families through their difficulties too. Please pray for our church and for my flock. We want to be God’s ministers to those in our country who do not know him. Well, with that inspiration, why don’t you share your story as well? So whether you’re a truck driver, a Bible study leader, a cashier at the local grocery store, a police officer, or a stay-at-home mom raising and homeschooling kids, however and wherever you’re using what you’re learning on Through the Bible, we would sure love to know about it. Just email us at BibleBus at ttb.org or write to Box 7100, Pasadena, California, 91109. You can also call and leave a message at 1-800-65-BIBLE. Now let’s pray with and for one another. Our glorious and gracious Heavenly Father, as your word goes out today, we ask that many hearts would be impacted. And then help us to grow in confidence as we surrender to you and your power at work in our lives. In Jesus’ name, amen. We’re in James 1 on Through the Bible today with Dr. J. Vernon McGee.
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Now friends, we are in this very wonderful epistle of James. And we’re in the section that’s labeled the verification of genuine faith. Now, he’s dealt in the first 12 verses that God tests faith by trials and temptation, but not the kind of temptation that we think of, temptation to evil. And we’re in this section now from verse 13 through 21 of the first chapter. God does not test faith with evil. And the source of our temptation to evil does not come from God. And the very interesting thing is, it doesn’t come from Satan either. He doesn’t blame the devil for it at all. He made it very clear here in verse 14, every man is tempted when he’s drawn away of his own lust and enticed. Then he says, then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin. And sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death. Now, we were in that section when we had to leave off last time. That sin is in the flesh. The temptation is out yonder in front of you. And he uses a very interesting word here, and he’ll use it again. Then when lust hath conceived. And the word is actually to become pregnant. And conception is the joining and union of two. It’s the desire of this old nature of ours joined to the outward temptation that is out there. And the Lord Jesus made that very clear. If you’re angry with your brother, well, it will lead to murder. That’s the way premeditated murder begins. And he says if a man looks upon a woman to commit adultery, he’s guilty because it’s in his heart and it has to be there and joined with the temptations. May I say to you that the question then naturally arises, is temptation sin? And the answer is no. It was Martin Luther that made the statement, you can’t keep the birds from flying over your head, but you can keep them from building a nest in your hair. Now, sin, therefore, is the consummation of the act inwardly and outwardly. The temptation in and of itself… We all have an evil nature. There’s no use trying to kid ourselves concerning that. We all have been tempted to do evil. And as we saw last time, everyone has a weakness in the flesh. One person it may be gluttony and another it may be gossip. And both are absolutely of the flesh that comes within. It was only the Lord Jesus that could say, the prince of this world cometh and findeth nothing in me. It’s very interesting the way this is stated here. When lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth. You see, there can’t be a stillbirth. It’s going to bring forth something. When that evil thought that’s in the heart is joined to the temptation and there is a birth, a birth of the act. It just can’t be a stillbirth at all. And what does it do? It brings forth sin. We rationalize it today. We rationalize a bad temper. We rationalize gossip today. And we rationalize a lot of polite sins. And right now, we are rationalizing away gross immorality. And when it’s finished, it’ll bring forth death. And that’s a very interesting word, death. There are three kinds of death. There is physical death, and that always works itself out. You can be sure of that. And then there’s spiritual death, and that’s a condition, actually, of the lost man. Dead in trespasses and sins, that’s the condition of all of us. And then there’s eternal death. Sin works its way out, and it means primarily separation. And for a believer who’s been born again, when that sin is born, that is, it becomes an act in his life, then actually it breaks his fellowship with God. And as we saw, if we say that we have fellowship with him and walk in darkness, John says we’re lying. We’re not telling the truth. You can’t have fellowship with him and permit sin to continually happen in your life. Now, the temptation comes, and we can come under great conviction even about temptation, of course. But that is something you cannot help. The great sin, I suppose, today is certainly this matter of adultery, of sex. And we’ve had so many letters on that. And it’s something that every person has been faced with. It’s not something new. I think that the emphasis that’s given to it in the dress of the hour has led to the committing of adultery probably more than it has been in American history. Certainly, this is what pulled down the great nations of the past, along with the alcohol problem. Actually, wine, women, and song have brought down the great nations of the world. Rome fell from within. But temptation itself, and we want to make that clear, is not sin. Now, I read several years ago a very moving biography of John Wesley of his younger days. As you know, this man came to this country as a missionary. And after he got here, he cried out. He said, I came to America to convert Indians. And who’s going to convert John Wesley? He had a legalistic system, and he never gave up a great deal of that, and that’s the reason the church that came from him were called Methodists. They had a certain method, and they emphasized holiness. But John Wesley, when he came to this country, he found himself in the white settlement of where the governor that was appointed by the crown was. Well, he was a nobleman, and he was an elderly man, and he had married a young woman. She was very beautiful. Of course, the rich and the noble have always been able to get the beautiful, and that’s the reason even today they’re called the beautiful people. And she was a very beautiful young woman. Well, John Wesley lived there, and he came over as a single young man, dynamic, virile young man. He was, I think, probably one of the greatest preachers he and Whitfield, the world, has ever seen. Well, what do you think happened? Here’s this young man. That’s here in this white settlement, going before the governor many times, having to because he’s moving out among the Indians. And who would be in the governor’s home? Well, it’d be this young wife. Well, I can tell you this. The young wife hadn’t married this old boy for love. That was for sure. And here’s this very fine-looking young preacher, her age. Well, what do you think took place? They actually fell in love with each other. In fact, this man, John Wesley, was so attached to her. And they had secret rendezvous, but never, never did anything out of line. But he suggested to her that they run away and live among the Indians. And she discounted that. And she’s the one that encouraged him to go back to England. She said, I believe God’s got a great work for you to do. And it could never work out with you as a missionary and a young minister to run away with me. And we’re hooked. Only I’m sure she didn’t use that statement. But there was no way out. And she urged him to go back. And he went back, but this biographer said the night the ship had to wait for the wind to come up to put out, it was a sailing ship, and when the word was given to get on board, why, she went down to tell him goodbye, and it was the first time that John Wesley actually ever held her in his arms. Now, that was temptation. And it says that he started on board, got on a gangplank three times and came back to her and said, I’m going to stay. And each time she’d tell him that no other way but for him to return to England. And he returned. I’ve always felt that that was the background for the fact that John Wesley’s wife, that he finally married, you know, had a habit of getting up in the service and telling everybody what a great sinner he was. And I don’t think she ever spelled it out, but she apparently knew something about that background. And John Wesley always took it. He’d just stand there until her tirade is over. Then he’d begin to preach. Imagine a man having that kind of a wife. But John Wesley went back and was saved one night at Aldersgate. And I’ll not go into that. But the important thing is this. That was temptation. And that was the temptation of the greatest sort for that young man and that young woman. But the temptation was not sin. But had he run off into the woods and lived among the Indians with her, that would have been sin. And I have encountered that in my ministry now several times. A man came to me, a fine-looking young man, and talked with me several years ago. He said, I’ve fallen in love with a very beautiful girl. I want her to be mine. Well, I said, have you asked her? And he said, well, not exactly. Well, I said, why? He said, she’s married. Well, I said, you better give that notion up right now. Well, he said, I want to ask you, would it be wrong for her to get a divorce and for us to get married? And I said, I think it certainly would be. I happen to know the couple. He said she’d be willing to. I said, doesn’t make any difference. Now, I said to him, you’ve been tempted. And I mean, tempted a great deal. But I said, as a child of God, you’d never be able to get by with it. And I gave him several instances of cases where they thought they could get by with it and could not be happy. And I know a couple like that today, childless. They’re old now. And how pitiful they are because they did that very thing as young Christians. It’s tragic to see people who think that they can get by with it when lust concedes. It brings forth sin. That’s the only kind of little brat that can bring into the world is sin. And sin will bring forth death. It’ll bring forth separation, fellowship with God if you’re a child of God immediately. And he’ll judge you for it unless we judge ourselves. so that you don’t get by with it. And this, I think, is very important for men and women to see today. Well, that man went out. I tried to put the fear of God in him. He was a wonderful Christian. He’d sure been tempted. He came back a week later, and he said to me, Dr. McGee, we’ve made our decision. Well, boy, I froze. I thought it was the wrong one. And he says, we recognize that in this life, we could never be married, that we never could be joined together. That’s entirely out of the question for us. And he says, I’m just asking God someday, probably in heaven, to let us be together. Well, I don’t know about those things. I have no answer for anyone like that. I’ve always felt that if in heaven… You didn’t want to be with somebody. You didn’t have to be with them. And if you wanted to be with them, that you could be with them. And if he wants to be with her in heaven, I think it’d be perfectly all right. They need a marriage given in marriage there. And he says, I’ve asked for a transfer. He was with a very large company and to another city. I don’t think a month went by before he also, after a morning service, shook my hand, told me goodbye. He was leaving. Well, Temptation. There’s a lot of that today, my friend. And Christians say, oh, the devil tempted me or something happened. My friend, the temptation can’t conceive until it’s joined with your evil nature, that desire of evil nature. And when it is joined together, the important thing is that it’ll bring forth sin and sin eventually bring forth death. And it breaks the fellowship with God. And that is a death, by the way. Now, he goes on here and he says, do not err, my beloved brethren. And what he’s saying here, do not err. And the word here means to wander, or roam about, or stray. It’s like that sheep the Lord Jesus told about, the little lost sheep, and he went after it. And James is saying here, don’t wander. Don’t think that somehow or another you can get by with it. You see, the habitual and perpetual sinner… Definitely never had a line of communication with God. He was never born again to begin with. If you can live in sin and enjoy it, you’re not a child of God. It’s just that simple, by the way. The story is told about a Calvinist, an Armenian that was arguing. No, a Calvinist believes you once saved, you can never be lost. And the Armenian believes you can lose your salvation. And the Armenian said, if I believed your doctrine and were sure I was converted, I’d take my fill of sin. And the Calvinist said to him, how much sin do you think it would take to fill a genuine Christian to his own satisfaction? Now, I say, that’s a tremendous answer. If you can be satisfied in sin, I tell you, you need to examine yourself and see whether you’re in the faith or not. He that falls into sin is a man, as someone has said. He that grieves at sin is a saint. He that boasts of sin is a devil. And my friend, all of us are subject to temptation. Let’s make sure. that we don’t have a birth, because there can be no abortion here if you go through with it. It will work its way out. Now, in verse 17, he gives us the positive side of this, and he says, every good gift and every perfect gift is from above and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning. That is, it’s like the other side of the moon is dark, And this side is the light side. But in God, there’s no dark side. In all of us, there’s a shadow. You and I make a shadow. It said when Alexander the Great had conquered the world and got back to Greece, he looked up his old teacher, Aristotle, and he was so anxious to get to him to tell him what had happened. And so he entered his house and Aristotle was taking a bath. And he told him what had happened. And he said, now I’m prepared. give you anything in the world you want. What do you want? Well, Aristotle looked up at him and said, well, I want you to get out of my life. Alexander the Great was standing in the doorway, shutting out the light. May I say to you, that’s all any of us do. We make a shadow. There’s no shadow in God at all. And he doesn’t vary. God doesn’t change. God is not on a yo-yo like a lot of Christians are today. Up today and down tomorrow and round and round they go. No wonder they’re not squares. They’re going around in circles. And so here, God never changes. God doesn’t ever test you with evil. Every good gift comes from him. And today, the insurance companies, and I can kid an insurance friend of mine, it has in the policy, it says that certain things are excluded, that if certain things happen to your house, that nullifies the policy or any act of God. And I said, what in the world do you think God’s going to do to my house? Well, he said it could be a cyclone or something like that and earthquake. And I said, well, do you think God is to be blamed for that? Well, he says that’s the way they use the expression. And that, my friend, has been the custom down through the centuries to blame God. If you got a good gift, it came from him. Count you many blessings today. The sunshine, the rain, the cloudy day. A bright day. The green grass. The water you drink. The air you breathe. God didn’t bring smog. He gave clear air. He gave clean water. It’s man that’s fouled the thing up. God gives good gifts, my friend. God’s good. And few and I knew how good he was. I tell you, break our own heart today. Now, he says, of his own will begot he us with the word of truth that we should be a kind of first fruits of his creatures. Now, here definitely is a reference to the new birth, by the way. And I think that this is very important for us to see today. And how does he beget us? With the word of truth that we should be a kind of first fruits of his creatures. Now, the word here for beget again is to conceive, conception, or pregnant. And this again is something very important for us to see. There are those today that say, well, if I’m predestined to be lost, nothing I can do about it, so forget it. And if I’m to be saved, why, I’ll be saved. Well, friends, there are two wills here. Of his own will begot he us. You can’t beget. Now, remember back with evil. You have to have in conception two coming together and no other way. So when his will is joined with your will, you’ll be born again. Don’t tell me that you are not responsible. It’s not his will that any should perish, but you’re begotten by the Word of God. When you’re willing to come and believe the Word of God and accept Jesus Christ as your Savior, you will be born again, born again, not of the flesh. but of the word of God that liveth and abideth forever. This is tremendous. He says, Wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath. That’s important. And we’re getting in the area where James majors in. That’s the life of the believer. And we’re going to have to hold that and talk about it next time. Until then, may God richly bless you, my beloved.
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Swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath. Well, that’s hard to do, isn’t it? But you know, it’s such great advice. Let’s put the Spirit in control of our responses. If you’re listening and you haven’t yet accepted Jesus Christ as your Savior, visit our app or ttb.org and click on How Can I Know God? There you’ll find quite a few resources that will help you better understand the amazing love that God has for you and why you shouldn’t put this decision off another day. If you’d prefer to get a couple of these resources by mail, well, we can help you out. Just call us at 1-800-65-BIBLE. Now, this study and all of Dr. McGee’s messages are available to listen to in our app or online anytime at ttb.org. And if you’d like to share the entire series with a family member, friend, or even your church library, you can purchase all of these five-year messages on our Bible bus flash drive. This terrific tool, it’s small, it fits in the palm of your hand, but the amount of content that we’ve placed on it is really tremendous. Not only does it contain his messages, but it also includes more than 100 of Dr. McGee’s booklets, as well as his complete notes and outlines for each one of our studies. So if you want to find out more, just shop our store at ttb.org or call us at 1-800-65-BIBLE. Again, that’s 1-800-652-4253. Well, the Bible bus rolls along in our five-year study of God’s entire Word. I’m Steve Schwetz, and I’ll save your seat.
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He washed it white as snow.
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Today’s study with Dr. J. Vernon McGee is brought to you by Through the Bible, and it’s made possible by the generous prayer and financial investments from listeners like you on the Bible bus all around the world.
