Psalm 51:13-17: Bill of Grace

Right Perspective on Trials – James 1:2-12

- Br. Rexlin Thomas (Borivali Assembly) Image [https://borivaliassembly.net/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/james2.png] AUDIO SERMON Download [https://borivaliassembly.net/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/RT_James2.mp3] Listen to complete sermon series: Epistle of James [https://borivaliassembly.net/sermon-ministry-corner/epistle-of-james-series/] If you are facing any issues playing or downloading a sermon, please Contact Us [http://borivaliassembly.net/contact/] ---------------------------------------- SERMON TRANSCRIPT In the previous session, we have looked into the introduction of the Epistle of James. We looked at who has written this epistle. We found it was James. We also concluded it is James, the Lord's brother. And we have seen how James progressed in his journey of faith from being an unbeliever to one who became a believer to one who remained humble in the gatherings and how slowly the Lord himself would exalt him. exalt him to a position of great leadership, a great uh responsibility to guide the early stages of the church when the church was going through the transition of being fully Jewish to slowly becoming largely Gentile. James was a very critical figure who had to take decisions, who had to take decisions which would either break or keep the unity. When we see great wisdom, that James was able to excise in all those times. We see also how he continued in that way, being able to preside over the council that was held at Jerusalem, being able to uh also help out in many ways that he would be identified as the leader, as the one who is to be contacted. We also saw but how he identified himself. He did not look at himself as the brother of the Lord or as we have looked at last time. none of these high exalted titles, but he would call himself a slave, a slave of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ. And in that he would show to us his understanding now from being the Lord's brother or looking at the Lord as his brother from that to putting him, placing him in the same pedestal, in the same word, in the same way with God as a Jewish man. This is clearly James attesting to the deity of Jesus Christ, our Lord. He would otherwise never put the name of God and the name of the Lord Jesus Christ together in this manner. And he takes the place of a slave, one who has no rights of his own, but entirely belongs at the service of the master. And that is the Lord Jesus Christ. We saw also who he has sent this letter to. It is to the 12 tribes which are scattered abroad. A few more notes on that uh aspect on who he has sent the letter to. The word used there is the diaspora, the scattered abroad. And that word also has been used in the Gospel of John to describe the Jews who had been scattered even from before, not just at the time of the persecution of resulting after Stephen, but even from before to address the Jews who were outside, not in Jerusalem, not in Judea, but outside Israel. They were referred to as the diaspora. And James is using that familiar term, but here looking at Christians, looking at Jewish believers. addressing them as again taking the place of those who are scattered in that way. But this is not writing to Jewish unbelievers. But very clearly, as we look at the entire epistle, it is assuming that the people is writing to have accepted the Lord Jesus Christ, have known him as their savior, as their Lord. And it is in that way that he writes this particular letter. We'll now look at the remaining part of this epistle as we go through it verse by verse. We are now looking today at the verse 2 to verse 12. And this epistle can be very neatly divided also as we look at this phrase, my brethren. We see it here. We see it in chapter 2. We see it in verse 1 of chapter 3. We'll see it also again in chapter 4 and 5. And that is a very nice way of dividing the points or the Messages that James was addressing to the people as we said last time James is addressing his His people the people that he knows of from Jerusalem and also otherwise who would be scattered He's addressing them with the heart of an elder. He knows them that they are in great trouble. They are in great persecution They are poor they have been displaced from all that they were living with they are going through a time of great Trouble and they need guidance. They need to know be instructed from the word about who about how they are to conduct themselves in this time. And James is writing to address these issues, to address these challenges that they are facing. And this title, My Brethren is therefore always put as he uses the next or he comes to the next topic that is to be addressed. And here, as we can see very clearly, the first topic, the first aspect that he wants to address uh to his readers is this aspect of trials. James is going to give us a very important doctrine or truth or understanding of sufferings of trials. Why trials happen in the life of a believer? And James is going to give us, uh verse by verse, he's going to make us or he's going to persuade us, endeavor us to see trials in a whole different viewpoint. It is not to be seen in the way the world would look at it. It is not even to be seen in the way the Old Testament Jewish person would look at it. It has to be looked at it in a very different light. So let us see as we proceed forward what James is trying to show to us here. We'll go verse by verse and also even word by word because there are so many uh words that James uses which are not found elsewhere in the Bible as well. It's very rich in looking at every word that he's almost using here. So let's begin. In verse 2, says, my brethren, count it all joy when you fall into diverse temptation. The first word there count, count it all joy, says. The word count there. Again, it's something used in the Bible itself to indicate leaders. So it would be used of how we count, how we esteem, how we regard some people because of their uh moral attributes because of their qualification, because of their abilities, we would put them higher, we would put them in the front. That's how we would regard such men. So they are called leaders, they are called governors in so many other ways, they are called in the New Testament scriptures. This very Greek word is also translated in that same way. It gives the idea that the object, the person, the thing we are referring to is to be treated, is to be regarded with a kind of higher regard to it. And that's where James is going to start. He's going to say, count in that way, count with a higher esteem, count with a higher regard, what he's about to say. It's not the same word as we would see in the epistle of Romans, where we are to calculate, where we have to add up and see. But this is about really looking at this particular topic, looking at this particular uh suffering that he's going to talk about and see it as already begin there as a higher uh thing that God is giving to us. He's going to describe to us also why, why he would address it that way. He says, count it all joy. And as we know, every word in the scripture is inspired. It's Holy Spirit breathed. And he does not just say, count it a matter of joy, count it some kind of joy, count it a little joy. He purposefully is using the word all to clearly remove every other possibility. There is no other possibility that we should look at it as, but joy. count it all joy. Does this mean that we are going to just uh ignore our emotions? Does it mean that we will not, we will stop feeling, we will stop feeling sorrow? Does it mean that it is unbiblical to weep, unbiblical to feel sorrow, to cry? Of course, we know that is not true. We know the example of our own savior, Lord Jesus Christ. We know the example of so many other Christians and of so many other apostles and so many other testimonies. It's of course not wrong to cry, not wrong to feel sorrow, not wrong to feel the hurt, feel the pain. But this is also not talking about just putting up a face. It's not just referring to that because this verse is there, force yourself to put a smile on your face and just go about your day. That's also not the case here. It is fully acknowledging the sorrows that do happen in the time of trials. But we are to look at it. We are to see it in a way that it is all. joy. Again, as I say, James is going to give us very good reasons why he says that. But to begin with, this is his premise. This is his instruction to those believers then who were going through trials. Regard it, see it, esteem it in high honor as all joy. And see how he's going to describe the different kind of trials, how they're going to happen. He says, when he fall into diverse temptations. Again, every word is important. We read there when not if you fall when you fall and as scripture other portions also very clearly note that part. It's about just a matter of time. It's going to happen. It will certainly happen to our lives. It is when it's not if there's not a possibility that will not happen, but rather it will happen. And when it happens, it's only a matter of time that it should happen to each one of the believers. It will happen when it happens. When he fall a second word that you see there it is falling. It is in the sense of uh not something that you can really be prepared for. The same word is used in the scriptures to uh describe how the man who was attacked by when he was on the way from Jericho, how he was attacked, how the Lord would use that man in the good Samaritan parable that this man was suddenly attacked. He did not prepare. He was not expecting that people should come and just attack him in that way. That is the very same word. This fall here is the very same word used to describe how thieves, how robbers, how murderers would suddenly come and attack you. No, you don't prepare for that. You don't wake up in that kind of preparation mode that today I'm going to prepare myself to be not robbed. Today I'm going to prepare myself to be not killed. We don't do that. And that's precisely the point. It is going to hit you. It is going to come to your life when you're not prepared, when you can't really much prepare about it. It's a fall into diverse temptations. And there comes the word diverse. It is used to describe the different colored garments set to indicate that there is really no uniformity in that sense. We cannot look at this person and study trials that this is the kind of pattern of trials that will happen to me. We cannot look at this or that person and see their trials and think that this is how we can handle trials. It is really personal. is really vivid, different, varied, manifold, like manifold grace. The same word is also here. It is very diverse. It is simply too much for us to try to comprehend or try to get prepared for. And that is the point here that these kinds of trials, they are not easy. They are certainly going to happen. They are going to happen suddenly. We cannot really be prepared much for it. And they're going to be very varied. We cannot really understand the agony, the sorrow of another person who is going through the Nobody else also can really fully understand what's going through us when we are going through trial. And this is the initial phrase, initial premise that James wants us to understand that these are the nature. This is the very nature of the trial that a believer is receiving and be not surprised with it. So he's addressing those who have yet understand the context is addressing those who have been really displaced from their home in Jerusalem. They are forced to go to some other place. They are suddenly become poor. Maybe they are suddenly having to deal with persecution, physical persecution for their faith. So many things are going wrong. They are closed ones. Let the ones are being killed are being persecuted. How do you reconcile all this with your faith? especially for a Jewish person at that time, this would have been very difficult to comprehend. The God of the Old Testament, He will bless, especially for a Jew, as you obey, as you be pleasing to the Lord. The Lord ensures that you are going to be blessed on this earth. Then what is happening here? Suddenly I have believed in the Lord Jesus Christ. Suddenly I believed in the true one. And yet suddenly all of this is happening because precisely because of my faith. How do you reconcile that? And it's so important that James would address this very issue. that your trial is not, it's not a surprise. It is exactly according to the pattern of scriptures and James is going to give them how and why we should see a trials as he tells us why we should count it all joy uses the word knowing this that the trying of your faith work with patients. So it's going to have a outcome. It's going to have a objective in mind. It's not a random sequence of events that is just being played on you. But there is a reasonable, glorious outcome to this whole uh process. What is the process? What is being tried here? Why are you going through the trial? James says that the trying of your faith, what is the one aspect that is going to be tested that is going to be really burnt or tested in the fire? like a metal is tested, a precious object is tested, what is it that is going to be proved? What is it that is going to be tried? It is the faith, faith of the person. And we know James has much to talk about, faith that will be seen in works, faith that will not regard the person, have respect to persons, but treat everyone equally. He starts here with how this faith will help us to endure trials, because that is the precise objective or what is being targeted. What is being tried in this trial proved in this trial is our faith. Our faith is being tried. He says by so doing what will happen? It is working out a patience. Very, very interesting uh word that is used there. It is endurance. The more stronger, more richer, more accurate transition would be endurance. It is not just that we are waiting. It's not just that we are letting time go by in this time of trial. But it's a matter of character. It's a matter of becoming stronger. It's a matter of becoming one who is now able to bear more burdens. It is a matter of character. It is not just a fleeting passing thing, but rather as your faith is being tried. James says what's happening. You are becoming more Christlike. You are becoming more and more stronger in order to bear even more burdens. And the point is here, it is not something that flees away. That is just a fleeting thing. But this is being added to you. This is becoming you. This is becoming your character. And then there are two words that we see here. One is this worketh endurance. And we see the same thing in verse 12. Also blessed is the man that endureth temptation. There it is the verb that to endure. That is the verb there, but the same Greek word root. It is to endure. Whereas here it is the very noun itself. is indicating that this thing becomes you. You are becoming more and more or this endurance is becoming more and more of your character. We may read in Romans how Paul also describes the same very same process, how even we can glory in tribulations for this very reason that this will work. What in us? Perseverance in us. And what will perseverance do? Character is going to build character is going to build us and that will give us hope. And hope does not put us to shame because the love of God is shared abroad in our hearts. And this is what James is referring to that by the trying of our faith, this is what we are firstly going to get. are going to become more and more stronger, but let patients have her perfect work that he may be perfect and entire wanting nothing. This is a keyword here that, but let. It's like, let it let it be right. It's indicating don't interfere when this trial is coming. The biggest temptation, biggest uh downfall that can happen to the believer is that he will interfere. But James says, let this patience, this whole process, let this attain to its perfect work. And the word perfect here is always about maturity, it's about completion. If a glass has to be full. Then let that glass be fully complete. Let it be to the brim. Let it reach to its perfect state. And so let this patients also complete her work and don't interfere. Don't come in between that. And we may look to the examples of the old Testament as we look to Abraham, for example, we know Abraham's life is a very clear lesson in terms of being tried over and over again. So he receives the first command. that you have to leave your house, you have to leave everything you know, and go to a strange land. It's a trial in itself. How are you supposed to just leave, uproot everything and go to a land you've never seen, you've never known, you have nothing there. It's the first trial there, but Abraham goes and shortly thereafter, what happens? We see a famine coming shortly thereafter. A famine will come in the land and therein is a trial again. What will Abraham do? Will he persist? Will he remain? Will he let patients have a perfect work? We see that he chose to go to Egypt and that was not the best or the wisest decision. He interfered. He came in between the process. He went to Egypt and also uh lied or gave a half truth about his wife and how that led to the consequences. are aware, but we see that how Abraham would step in and that would become a trouble, a trouble for himself, a trouble also for his nephew lot who never really uh left the image of Egypt who still whose heart continued to be in Egypt though Abraham was able to come away. Lord's heart always remained in Egypt as we see how he would choose Sodom later. We see also how thereafter as he had to wait continually for so many years to receive the promise of the seed again there is interfering. We would have Sarah suggesting that he should have a son through Hagar and the troubles that that have led not only to their family but to the world. We know how much of things have happened just because of that uh decision. Again, an interfering that we may see in that way. So many things that we should note here that by coming to in the way or coming in the way of God's work, of God's process has its troubles with it. And James advises that as they go through these times of persecution, go through these times of trials, James says, uh let patients have that is the thing that we can do. We can let patients have a perfect work. So that what will happen? You may be perfect and entire wanting nothing. So again, there is an outcome here. So first outcome of the trying was that your faith is being tried. You are growing in character. You are becoming more endurance. You're becoming more stronger. Secondly, James equates this to being more perfect and entire two words are used there. Perfect like I just said, it's about the maturity, it's about whatever phase of our spiritual life we may be in. It's about reaching to the best standard of that stage. A newborn into the faith will not be expected to be tried as one who is far ahead in faith. Just like Abraham's trials also different varied much from the initial days to the time when he had to be willing to offer up his own son. It did not occur to him on the first day when the Lord revealed himself to Abraham. He did not ask him to offer something up like that. But as he grew in faith, as he became more and more mature, the trial also increased. And so that is the word here, perfect, that in the stage that we are in the face that we are to reach to the perfection of it and entire, entire is to mean whole. It is to mean healthy. It's a word used to describe the sacrifices that were offered to the Lord in the temple, which means there is nothing lacking. It's blemishless, it's spotless, its bones are not broken. It's fully healthy. Whatever is there is fully healthy and it has reached to its perfection. So this is here then the second important outcome that uh James wants from us that through this trial, what will happen? We will be made perfect and entire. What James is in another way suggesting or what the other scriptures are suggesting is that through this trial, we are being conformed to the image of the son, the Lord Jesus Christ. And that is the real objective here. As we put one and two together, that's what is happening. What we are gaining is a characteristic or something that it belongs to the Lord Jesus Christ. What is going to happen as we grow, we are becoming more and more like our savior, Lord Jesus Christ. And that's what James would like each one of us and them who were enduring that trial to see. If I look at this particular word itself, this word endurance and uh endure, we may think, why is it even important? Why is it so important to gain endurance? Why is it so valuable in the face of the trial that I am going through? My trial is far more difficult, is far more tiresome. When I look at just this word endurance, how does it add up? How is this endurance sufficient to help me go through the weight of the trial that I am right now going through? And if we just look through concordance and seeing where are these words used? I quickly took a list. I'm just going to read out a few. not asking us to take those verses. There are many in the revolutions one nine. I John both your brother and companion in the tribulation and kingdom and patience or endurance of Jesus Christ. In verse two of chapter two, revelation again, I know your works, your labor, your endurance and that you cannot bear those who are evil. Was three of chapter two again. and you have persevered and have endurance and have laboured for my name's sake and have not become weary. Chapter 3 verse 10, because you have kept my command to persevere, I also will keep you from the hour of trial which shall come upon the whole world. Chapter 14 verse 12, here is the patience, here is the endurance of the saints, here are those who keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus. In this very same book we turn to chapter 5 and we will see Job. Job regarded as the one who is counted uh happy. Verse 11 of chapter 5, behold, we count them happy, which endure. You have heard of the patients of Job, which endure. There it is the verb endure used. And that again gives us a whole rich example. Please turn with me to chapter 12 of Hebrews. 12. Wherefore, seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us. Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him, endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. 3. For consider him that endured such contradictions of sinners against himself, lest be varied and faint in your minds. So dear brethren, as we see here, those who are going through trials or when we are going through trials, we are found in very, very good, very blessed company. This is the experience of the Lord Jesus when he was here on this earth. And this has been the experience of the faithful throughout the history. We may also look at uh chapter of verse 12 itself. We read here as a continuation of that same topic. Blessed is the man that endureth temptation for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to them that love him. Here is a conclusion of the whole matter. When we look at a man, a person who is going through trial, this is the way the Lord looks at it. He says blessed is the man. that endure it that is going through that is going to stay strong that is going to trust continue trusting continue being patient continue waiting upon the deliverance that comes from the Lord because we see here very clearly the usage is in a way that we are waiting for the deliverance that comes from the Lord. are not waiting for nothing. We waiting for a deliverance that should come from the Lord and that has been the testimony of the Old Testament. as well as the New Testament that we wait not for nothing, but indeed for God to deliver. And blessed is the man that waits unto that point that endures to that point who endures this trial that who endures this proving experience who lasts it through who comes the other way other end blessed is that man. James gives another reason we have looked at two very important reasons building up of character becoming uh perfect wanting nothing. becoming more like the Lord Jesus. Thirdly, the point here is because when he's tried, what will he get? He shall the word tried there actually is when he's approved. The when he's tried there, it should be when he's approved. He is firstly receiving an approval from God himself. He has been tested for what he is and what he is, is becoming very clear unto the glory of the one who saved him. He is approved now. And secondly, we see He shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord has promised to them that love him. He shall receive the crown of life. That's the second thing that we see that then. What is a crown used for? We may think, especially in the context of when this epistle is written in that time, it's referring to this uh garland type crown, which was given to the athletes who want things, who proved themselves to be the deserving ones of such honor. They were to be like a showcase. They were to be the ones to be looked up to. They were the ones who were the pride of uh the nation, who were the pride of the people whom they were representing. And that is what is really the meaning there, that we are looking at such people who are having what? They're going to receive the crown of life. In their life, they have shown this aspect in their lives that they have faith. Their faith is in the true and living God. And James tells us one more thing that they love the Lord. The Lord has promised to them that love him. This crown comes to those who are loving the Lord. This loving comes only when we know him. As we know God, we will love God. And this is the proof. This is the proof that God wants not to put us down, but rather to encourage us that as you are going through this trial, this is God's objective. It's not for nothing. It's in the present. It's building you up. It's making us into more and more like Christ. It is making us more and more stronger to whatever next may come in our life. And in the end, it's for display. It's for displaying God's great glory that these are the ones who have endured this trial, that these are the ones who were faithful. So today, even when we I've heard multiple times that sometimes people wonder and they and as we speak, say Why is this happening to such a great man or such a person who was of so great faith? That why is his end like this? Why is he having to suffer so much? I don't think God wants us to look at these people like that at all. That is not the way God wants us to look. That's exactly how Job's friends would look at Job. That's not the way God wants us to look. But rather this is the way we should look. Verse 12, blessed is the man. Blessed is such men who are going through those trials who are enduring it and it is for the glory of God. And as we see them enduring it, it's actually God preparing this crown, which is going to last forever. And God is preparing for them that place of display. This is what James wants us to see that as we go through trials, as we may encounter, it's very clear that that will happen. It is a matter of when, when we face trials. This is how we are to approach it, knowing It's not for nothing. It is unto the glory of our Savior. Now let us look at the other portions, verse 5 to verse 11. There are other important helps that James is offering us when we go through trials. He says that there is something that we may lack when we are going through this trial. And it's important to recognize what is it that we really need during a trial? What is it that we really need? Will riches help? Will influence help? Will people help? Will health help? Will anything help? James puts focus to the right thing that is if any of you lack wisdom what we really need during a trial to endure it is wisdom. What is wisdom? Wisdom is not just uh doctrines in our head. Wisdom is even more than discernment. It's discerning more than discerning between right and wrong. It is really about being able to apply being having the presence of mind having the Spirit of God rather to know how to approach this situation. based upon the knowledge that comes from the word of God. It is really practical. is the outworking of all that God wants us to understand from his word. This is quite difficult to possess. And James does not say that you don't possess it, but if any of you lack wisdom, so there is a possibility that we may possess it. But let's if we are more humbler, we can readily come to the Lord and ask for this particular aspect of wisdom. What we need when we go through trials is wisdom. If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God. And he's going to describe to us God's wonderful character. Who is the one you're asking to? You're asking to him who gives to all men liberally. That's the first thing that God does. How does he give? gives liberally. Liberally is freely. He's not going to take uh or keep account of, this cost you this much or this nothing liberally freely just as grace comes he will give you that wisdom secondly abraded not very interesting word it essentially means that he does not keep account of it now to illustrate this suppose we have somebody who or if our children come to us you know asking us for one thing and we give them that one thing they misuse it next time they come again We may give it to them. We probably will not. But suppose we give it to them. We are keeping account. We keeping track. I gave you once, you have misused it. I gave you twice. Certainly you misused it. Third time, not happening again. Abriddh means the opposite. Abriddh means, abriddh not means he does not keep account. He's not going to come asking you that this last time I gave you wisdom, you did not put it to use. I did not see that working out. Second time you come. And still we are not putting it to use or we are not using it as we ought to. He's not keeping account of that. He is not keeping a bad track of how we have misused or how we have lived, but rather he is really wanting to give that wisdom. He gives liberally and he does not keep record of the of how we have not efficiently used that wisdom. Such is the one that we are approaching when we want to ask for wisdom. And James says, uh It shall be given to him. Certainly you come to him. He will give you the wisdom You're not left alone in this trial. God is with you in this trial. You come and ask for wisdom He will give you but there are conditions Let him ask in faith What faith we may ask and that has to be concerning the character of God concerning what who God is and what God has said We looked at already verse 12 where we read the phrase the Lord has promised It's his word. Abraham believed in the word that God gave. Abraham believed in the promise. He counted him more powerful than his own deadness, his own weakness, but he counted the one who could give him this life. He counted him more powerful. And that's the same here that we are also not uh relying on imaginations, but we are relying on who God is. And that's why I said in verse 12, that they who love him are those who know him. We cannot love him without knowing him. And it is really in knowing him that we are getting the strength to withstand this trial, that he will not go against the character of who he reveals himself to be in the Word of God. This was Job's also great strength throughout the trial and also a great conflict to be able to reconcile the character of God with his experiences. But we are now living in an age far past having far more testimonies, having fuller revelation of the Word of God, we can certainly vouch for it, we can certainly stand for it. That this God who has revealed to us in the person of his son, he does not change. He's exactly what he says to be. And it is in that confidence that we are to come. Let him ask in faith. Nothing wavering, nothing shifting, nothing moving from this side to that side. For he that wavereth, James is going to give us a uh visual description of how such a person would be if he's not coming in faith, if he's going to be one who's wavering. What does it look like? I hope you've all seen waves and we have seen how the wind blows the wave. You can't keep a track on that wave, right? The wave is just here one moment, second moment, another wave. It's just being driven by what is external. The wind is what is driving it. It has no control, no holding on where it can be, how it should be. It's fully at the sway, at the influence. at the mercy of that which is external. And this is the point of our trial, that we are not to be fully at the mercy and at this way of what happens to us externally, of the circumstances that come to us. Let us not be moved, be wavering based on the winds that come in our life, based on the circumstances that come in our life. Let us not be like a wave which is here today, which is there tomorrow. That's not what James wants from us. for he that we have read is like a wave of the sea driven with wind and tossed again two words are there. One indicates the origin that this waves movements originate from not within not from any other confidence but fully influenced by the wind that drives it and being tossed is to indicate this to and fro motion. Basically its end is so uncertain. uh This wave does not know where it is going to and it is fully at the mercy and it's fully uh being influenced by what's happening externally. And that's what we should be careful of. What are we? How are our directions being led? What is the source of this next step that I am going to take in the trial? Is it coming from confidence in God or is it based upon this wind that has come into my life, this wave of persecution and circumstances that have come into my life, which are going to put me in a place whose end also I am not really certain. It may be there, it may be here, I am becoming like the wave which is tossed to and fro. For let not that man think that he shall receive anything of the Lord. A double-minded man is unstable in all his ways. James puts things very clearly for us that such a man is called a double-souled man. He has two governing principles in him. He's not led by the one. soul principle. He's not led by one. He has two conflicting persons within him, two soul men he is and he will be unstable in all his ways. He will not be able to walk steadily. These are very clear instructions, very clear words that James uses and the purpose as his heart is not to be strong, is not to be stern and without mercy, but rather as his term, my brethren, continually implies it is with great care this with great concern. It is for the betterment and for the benefit of those who are reading it that he would put it in these very words. Now quickly we look at also the last point here. We looked at what helps in trials. What does what helps? is wisdom. What is the thing that we need during trial? More than anything else, wisdom. What is the thing that we don't need? It is anything other any other influences. So James now looks at the poor and the rich. Sometimes, or at least the world will certainly think sometimes we can also think that if I was more rich, then there would be less troubles in my life. If I was not this poor, I could have been more comfortably or I could have bypassed this particular trial. James is going to give us very clear revelation or clear instruction regarding that. That's not all the case. Being poor, being rich, have nothing to do with how we are going to endure this trial. Being poor or being rich have nothing to do with it. What matters is what we have been made in Christ. Let the brother of low degree rejoice in that he is exalted. It's a new standing that this lowly brother has received in Christ. He's no longer to look at himself in how the world looks at him. He's yet poor. He's not changed his status. He's not suddenly become rich. He's still poor in the world, but he is now highly exalted in the eyes of the Lord. Whereas what should the rich man do? But the rich in that he is made low, he is becoming, he is brought into humiliation. He has to also see very clearly what is my position now. I am not above the poor person. I am not above this or that particular believer. But rather he also has to rejoice in the fact that God has revealed to him what is his true state. His riches count for nothing, but rather What God has done for him in Christ is what counts entirely. And lest we should have any confidence in riches, James will explain in these verses how futile it is to look at riches as something that can help us to go out of our indoor trials. He says the glory, there is a certain glory associated with riches when someone is very wealthy. There is a certain glory associated with it. And James compares that to how you may appreciate the flower of a grass. That is the stability that riches offer you in the time of trials. This is how strong a foundation riches are. It is like the flower that comes out of a grass. We all understand that that is really a very bad foundation to have during any troubled times. What happens to the grass? The sun comes out. The flower is the glory. The flower is a beautiful appearance. What with us first? The grass withers first and then this particular flower which is so beautiful, it has lost all its source. It has no grass, it has no source to get energy from to bloom to be glorious. That's exactly the glory of the rich man. The rich man is like the grass. He will wither away. His glory is like the flower. It's for a very, very short time when compared to what God is preparing for those who believe in Him in comparison to what God is preparing for those who... love Him. The glory that He is calling us unto, it is incomprehensible, it is unwaverable, it is so difficult for us to even begin to understand. But God wants us to understand that so that we may see this trial, this suffering in the light of that. If we think that the rich have a glory, if we think that in this world when we see the rich being very uh great and showing their glory, if we think that is impressive, then we really have to look at this verse and evaluate the glory that God is preparing for us. Their glory is like glory of a flower, which is based on the strength of a grass. As the sun comes, it's going to come today, it's going to come the next day, they will pass away. And that's lesson that James wants us to understand regarding the foundation in a trial, regarding the glory associated with the rich men. He has an interesting way of describing how they are fading away. So also shall the rich man in his ways fade away. That's the literal translation that in what he is being occupied, he thinks that he is amassing wealth. He thinks that he is making a kingdom for himself. He thinks that he is uh achieving something that's very great. But in that very process, he's actually fading away in his ways, in his pursuit for this wealth, for this riches, for this kingdom on this earth, in that very action, this man, you can see, he's fading away. His glory is fading away. He's fading away. And that's how James wants us to look at it. And in comparison to that, we have seen already what is the end of those who will withstand, who will endure this trial. A crown, a beautiful, everlasting, eternal crown displayed to the glory of the one whom they served. And as I said, when we look at trials, James wants us to understand there are clear benefits, there are clear outcomes that God is doing right now with the person who is going through trial. He's building him up. He's making him more and more like Christ. He's in the end showing him this person to be approved of God, that this one, this one is faithful. This one, this one loves me and is preparing for such a person. a crown of life that is going to last and that is going to be under the display of His glory. May God help us with these words. The post Right Perspective on Trials – James 1:2-12 [https://borivaliassembly.net/ministry-corner/right-perspective-on-trials-james-12-12/] appeared first on Borivali Assembly [https://borivaliassembly.net].

Introduction to James

- Br. Rexlin Thomas (Borivali Assembly) Image [https://borivaliassembly.net/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/James-1.1.png] AUDIO SERMON Download [https://borivaliassembly.net/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/RT_James1.mp3] Listen to complete sermon series: Epistle of James [https://borivaliassembly.net/sermon-ministry-corner/epistle-of-james-series/] If you are facing any issues playing or downloading a sermon, please Contact Us [http://borivaliassembly.net/contact/] ---------------------------------------- SERMON TRANSCRIPT Many of us are very familiar with the Epistle of James. It is well known for its very strong practical helps that we get in terms of ordering our Christian life, especially our Christian witness in a world that is hostile to uh the faith, hostile to or against or unbelieving to the faith of the Lord Jesus Christ. Today, what we intend to do is to look into more detail of why we should study the epistle of James and what are the primary things that we want to focus on, concentrate on in studying this particular epistle. And we want to look at it in verse by verse format and want to look at all the topics that can be gleaned in that way. In order to do so, we firstly will look at who is the writer, who is the author, to get some background of who is the one who is writing to us. who are the intended recipients to whom was it particularly written? What is the context of it? And why did James choose to write this epistle to these intended audiences? Historically, this epistle also has been much controversial in terms of the opinions of many theologians. Even if you look at it from the time of the Protestant movement, many were not very favorable on looking much into in detail in James because of the apparent or the on the face contradiction that it seemed to provide in terms of salvation, whether it was about works or whether it was purely by grace. We know very clearly salvation is not the topic here. It is in no way contradicting with what Paul writes in other epistles or what the scripture itself testifies to concerning salvation. But here there is indeed a lot of focus on works. So beginning from first chapter, we read about patience having its perfect work. So there's a work that patience itself is doing on each individual's character. We read about in chapter two that our faith has to be seen in works. Works help our faith to be seen. In chapter three, we will read about our wisdom can be seen. So if somebody says they're wise, if somebody claims to have wisdom, then that wisdom can also be seen by others through the different works. going on, will see also about patiently working until the coming of the Lord. So this whole epistle, there is this word you will continually see coming up again, again, work, work, work, different in different contexts in different ways. But as we can see here very clearly, James intention was to make our faith visible. James intention was to show how we believers could be uh effective witnesses in the world that we are living in. We will now look at who is the author, who was the author of this particular epistle. We have one name here given as James and in the scripture in the New Testament as we look into the person James there are several James that are given in the scriptures especially associated with the Lord. So we have one of the brothers or the brother of John the son of Zebedee. He's James. We also have another apostle James son of Alpheus or James son of Cleopas. We read about James the Lord's brother himself. In this way, there are multiple James that we see about in the New Testament. And historically, it has been very clearly seen that the author of this particular epistle is indeed the Lord's brother James. It is James the Lord's brother who has written this particular There are many, many reasons we will see as we study this particular episode. And one of the things that we can clearly get from the heading itself or from the first was is how he introduces himself. He does not need an introduction. That is one way of saying it, that he does not qualify himself with anything else about James. So and so, James, so and so, but simply the fact that James is the one writing to the audience. The audience very clearly could recognize that this was the, at that time, a very important uh central figure in the Jerusalem Church, that James. So that James did not need uh more introduction, but is sufficient for the recipients to know that if James is the one written, then this is coming from the James of the Jerusalem Church. We want to look at scripture and see his progression, how from the Gospels how he would become into this leader position that we see him in the Jerusalem church. So firstly, we look at how others have seen James and then we will come to also how James himself saw himself. How did James see himself? But firstly, you want to look at how others saw James. So we look at the gospels first of all. One of the first references about him is in Matthew chapter 12, verse 46. We read, he yet talked to the people, behold, his mother and his brethren stood without desiring to speak with him. So here his mother and his brethren are including brothers like James and Joseph and Jude also later on as we know about him as well. So they were at that time seeing this increasing popularity of their uh relative in that way that they're seeing Jesus our Lord gaining in popularity, gaining in acceptance and they see themselves to be now on the outside. That was not all. We see in other gospels also how they misunderstood how or what the Lord was intending to do or what He was doing there. At one point they try to forcefully take Him away from the crowd thinking that He has totally lost it and that He has totally lost uh sense or the... or the understanding of how to conduct things. They wanted to forcibly take him away from the crowd in the way that he was healing them in the way that he was ministering to them. They clearly are found as or at least the brethren are clearly found as doubters or unbelievers. One of the most clear evidences or scriptures is John chapter seven. Let's take that also. John chapter seven. We reading verse 3. His brethren therefore said unto him, Depart hence and go into Judea, that thy disciples also may see the works that thou doest. For there is no man that doeth anything in secret, and himself seeketh to be known openly. If thou do these things, shew thyself to the world. For neither, that's important, verse 5, for neither did his brethren believe in him. And his brethren definitely at that time include all of them, James, Joseph and Jude at least. And here we find them again misunderstanding the purpose for which the Lord was doing these miracles. They're thinking that he's doing this for some kind of popularity. It's very similar to how David's brethren, for example, would look at David when he wanted to fight for the Lord. This boy is just trying to gain some kind of attention towards himself. And that's how they are all seeing here the Lord. that if you really want attention, then you are not to be here. But the place for you then is to go to Judea and show yourself, manifest yourself. It is clearly a sign of unbelief or seeing him in the wrong way, misunderstanding him. One more important point we see there is that the Lord condemning their understanding, their understanding with God, their relationship even with the world. He says in verse seven, the world cannot hate you, but me it hated because I testify of it that the works that offer evil he's putting himself in stark contrast with his brother and at that time that the world cannot hate you. But it hates me because I say clearly what the world is. I reprove the world. I rebuke the world for the practices that it does. It cannot hate you at least at that particular moment. Now we see a big transition happening. Suddenly something is going to happen. From this point we are seeing Acts chapter one. Let's go to Acts chapter one verse 14. I'm sorry that is not the word. Sorry, yes, we accept one was 14. These all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication with the woman and Mary the mother of Jesus and with his brethren. Now we see that along with the disciples, along with the apostles, we now have Mary the mother of Jesus, along with the brethren, including certainly James also is coming into the picture now as a believer. And we wonder what happened here. How did they suddenly come into the midst of this upper room? This upper room, is again very important place where how are they now found here in the midst of these disciples? Remember the context that just now their savior has been crucified. It is dangerous to be called a believer of Jesus Christ. It's not a safe thing at that moment. They are indeed hiding or they're indeed in closed rooms praying to the Lord. But we find James there. What has happened? We may see in 1 Corinthians chapter 15, verse 7, whereby name James is taken and we see that the Lord appeared to him. If could turn to 1st Corinthians chapter 15 verse 7 So, here gives us the order in which the Lord appeared after His resurrection. He mentions Peter, He mentions uh the Twelve, He mentions also James in verse 7. After that, He was seen of James, then of all the Apostles. So, at some point, after the Lord has seen the Twelve, we see that the Lord also appeared to James personally at some point in time. And this event, this resurrection, this clarity or this certainty that his brother is no longer just a human. This is indeed the one who he was claiming to be all this while. Nothing proves that to James more than having this personal revelation, personal witness of his resurrection that he got from the Lord himself. That changes everything about his conviction regarding the Lord Jesus Christ. We will see soon how strongly that uh understanding was impressed in his heart. there shortly thereafter, we see James uh gaining in prominence in the Jerusalem church. He was not initially in the picture, for example, when we think about the deacons that were selected, we don't see his name. They were to choose from amongst themselves who could be the men that they could appoint. We don't see him or his name there. But soon after, we come to Acts chapter 12. X12 OOS 17 So this is after the persecution that followed the scattering of after the death of Stephen. We know about Paul having already threatening and persecuting the church. We see also Paul himself turning to the Lord. And in between, we will also see that Paul himself once visits Jerusalem to see and he sees James there. But here in Acts chapter 12 verse 17, suddenly a prominence is being given to James if somebody could read that was 12 verse 17 The Fatimid continent was an ant-deported piece with Arab caravans reporting out of basics. So James suddenly is now pointed out. So not just the brethren, but James, remember James and to the brethren, he singled out as that name to be chosen. We know the context when we would choose to name somebody, particularly that this person should be informed. Around the same time, we read also in Galatians chapter one, verse 19, not taking that reference, but Paul mentioning how after he was come to the faith, how he would also visit Jerusalem and there particularly he would say, He did not see everybody, but certainly James was one of the few whom he had visited. Suddenly James is gaining a prominence in uh the church. His most important activity that we see comes in Acts chapter 15, and we will look into that a bit detail from Acts chapter 15. We are aware of the context that there were certain Judaizers who had come into the churches of Antioch region trying to subvert the faith of the newly converted Gentiles that they should also be circumcised if their salvation is to be complete. Paul and Barnabas could not let that matter be as it is. They stood against it. And so they decided it is something to be considered with the church at Jerusalem. We see a list of accounts being made. Paul and Barnabas testify regarding how God has worked wonders among the Gentiles. Peter himself stands up and says how the Lord chose him to first take the gospel to the Gentiles, particularly the incident with Cornelius. Now look at verse 12 and verse 13. Then all the multitude kept silence and gave audience to Barnabas and Paul, declaring what miracles and wonders God had brought among the Gentiles by them. Now note verse 13. And after they had held their peace, James answered. saying so on. Very importantly, James answered and that's an important verb in the Greek. You can always particularly say James said, but it said James answered. You answered when you are obliged to answer or if a question is put forth before you. It's clearly a position of responsibility or how the church saw James as a figure that they expected him and along with the other elders, but particularly James. that there would be a verdict coming out or his opinion coming out from him, James answered. And we see a very nice display of everything or largely a great part of what James writes in his epistle being practiced in that particular letter. So we know the issue is that Gentiles cannot, we know Gentiles cannot be brought under the law. But then what about the stage that the church is at this moment? We have to go back really to the early days of the church. It's not as straightforward, as clear as we right now have with the word that we know this is black and white. This is this way. This is a very nascent, very early stage of the church, but the church is largely Jewish. Most of the people, most of the believers in the church are Jewish. And then this new development is coming that there are Gentiles also going to be saved. Now, how do you tackle this situation? What do you say? How do you cause not offense to your new believers? while also ensuring that the Jewish Christians, Jewish believers are not being judged or not being despised. This is something very sensitive which can either break the whole unity or if done well, if tactfully or if exercise practiced with the wisdom from God, it could really strengthen the church. And after hearing all these things, it is James who comes, looks into scriptures and says, this is according to the pattern that the Lord has already revealed in the Old Testament, it's not a strange thing that Gentiles should come to the faith. God has already prepared a portion for the Gentiles through the Anointed One through the Christ. And then he suggests this particular advice, this particular course of action, very clearly not bringing the Gentiles under the bondage of the law. But notice what he does. He inserts those few criteria's so that the Jewish Christians are also not taking offense. So things like if you look at the verse 20, but that we write unto them that they abstain from pollution of idols and from fornication and from things strangled and from blood. For Moses of old time hath in every city them that preach him being read in the synagogue every Sabbath day. James is looking at the multitude of Jewish people who live in every city, even at that time, the dispersion, the scattered people of the Jews. where everywhere in the Greek or Roman world and they were there in every city so as to even have synagogues in almost every city, the gospel should still be reachable to them. They should not be offended for the sake of the gospel. The gospel should still be accessible to them. The very clear reason why Paul would also circumcise Timothy but refrain from circumcising someone like Titus so that the gospel is not obstructed or that the gospel can still be reached to those who are Jews as well. And that's exactly what James also doing here, that he ensures, he uses wisdom in a way that both sides are together taken in their progress in the Christian journey, in the Christian faith. And there we see a very clear uh authority that he is exercising. And even in the letter that we may see uh sent to them, the words used inspired by the Holy Spirit, bringing both into the same standing. So he calls the believers in Jerusalem, brethren, the same word he would use to address those believers to whom he is writing. Again, brethren, you are both now in equal standing in the Lord Jesus Christ. And the structure, if we see it, it's very similar to the greeting, for example, the word greeting there clearly indicates that if not, James has not written it, but James has had a very important part. in playing or in writing that particular letter that was sent to the believers along with Paul and Barnabas and Silas. So we see here suddenly James has come up to a very important position. It is God given. was just like as he would say in his epistle that we are to humble ourselves before the sight of the Lord and it is God who will honor God who will do the lifting up. And James humbly continued in those very disciplines which he wants every believer to make part of their Christian life. He wants everyone to also be disciplined, go through this journey so as to be effective witnesses, so as to be effective vessels in the hand of God. The wisdom that he is teaching in his epistle, it's actually already practiced by him, a very important qualification before we are trying to impart wisdom. He has tried it out. He has seen that this is how it should be done and that is exactly what he is then. are trying to teach the people to whom he is addressing this particular epistle. Going in Paul's letter to Galatians, Galatians chapter 2 verse 9, read also about, I'm not taking that verse again, but Galatians 2 verse 9, we read about James along with Peter and John mentioned to be pillars, pillars of the, they were esteemed to be pillars of the church at Jerusalem. What is a pillar for? We know a pillar is for now this pillar supporting, right? It's a pillar for supporting. It holds together uh the body. And that's precisely what they were doing. Peter and John and James were doing at that time. And in those ancient times, the pillar was not only for supporting, it's also for display. If you look at the old and historic buildings, it is not just a matter of supporting. is there for display. It was there for witnessing. And that's also what they were doing. And James and John and Peter They were representing, they were really showing out who the Lord is through their lives, what this faith does to people's life through their witness. And while they were supporting all that the Lord had said unto them. Now, this is how others very clearly saw James in a position of high honor. And like I say, coming back to the epistle, when James writes, James, a servant of God without any other qualification, The audience at that time understood who it was referring to. They did not have confusion whether it was this James or that James. Because at that time, the very clear prominent person named James is this James of the Jerusalem Church. But how does he see himself? You look at the word in chapter one, verse one, we read there a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ does not even say uh he could have used many things, right? Like we have said, we have looked at the gospels. He's the brother of the Lord. He could say James, the brother of the Lord. He could say James, the son of Mary, who gave birth to the Lord Jesus Christ. You could say James, the one who presided over the Jerusalem council. He could add many, many qualifiers to his title as he addressed in order to gain importance or even justifying to say that in order to give importance to the message that he's about to write. But we see what a splendid example of humility and exactly what he was preaching. James, a servant. It's not only a servant that is the key there. In the most number of occasions where we see this word servant, The Greek is doulos, which is simply slave. In the Greek, there are different words that are very clearly used to indicate the different kind of service. A servant is a diaconos. So the word for the deacon and other household servants is diaconos. It's not doulos. Similarly, we read about how a child for while is like a slave. He's not fully mature to be. given the rights of a son, he is being brought up as a slave. There's another word for that, not Diaconos, not Dulos, another word for that. Similarly, a head of a house servant, he would be given another word. So the Greek vocabulary was not limited in using or describing if they wanted or James wanted to call himself a servant. He purposefully, like many of the other apostles, like many of those who were laboring for the Lord, serving the Lord, they call themselves Dulos. They call themselves slaves. Now this is a very important word. They're calling themselves slaves. We know a big difference between a slave and a servant. Today, many of us are servants in different ways. We are working, are servants to this or that. In one way or another, every one of us is a servant to some higher authority. But we all have rights, isn't it? There's no place that we are wholly bound to without any right, without any will of our own, without any privileges of our own. It's not all the case. We live in a far better situation. But the slave in that context really had no rights, really had no privileges, no permissions, nothing. A slave is just as the word may impress in our brains, in our hearts. Slave is really at the disposal of the one who owns him. It's really treated as a property, fully available for the use of the master. It is not as negative as the modern history from from the modern history that we know. But in those times, it would not have been that or the cruel image that we get from our modern history. That is not the connotation here. But certainly the fact that there is no rights to this person. He cannot own property. He cannot practically do anything of his own will. He has to fully set that thing called his will aside and fully be submissive to the one who owns him. And James does just that. James accepts that position, not that of a Diagnose, but that of a Dulose of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ. We also are in that very same position. It is a very uh difficult thing to fully understand, fully practice in our life, especially the aspect of letting go of our will. But this was the consistent steady pattern of teaching that the Lord Himself taught and also the Apostles taught. and also the early church practiced a setting aside of their own wills, a setting aside of their own aspirations, their own whatever, but wholly committing oneself for the service of their master to acknowledge this one as worthy to lay aside everything, everything that we may consider to be important, everything that we may consider to be so precious to our lives. That is the way in which uh James saw believers are also exhorted to be in the same very way or rather identified with that same position. We read about that in 1st Corinthians chapter 7 verse 21. We read about that in Ephesians chapter 6 verse 6. We are now slaves of Christ. Particularly we look at John chapter 15 verse 15. If we could turn John chapter 15 verse 15 coming from the words of the Lord Jesus himself. John 15 verse 15. We read as servants, but the word is slaves. call you not slaves for the slave not not what is Lord do it, but I have called you friends for all things that I have heard of my father. I have made known unto you. This was the identity of everyone was following him that day. They knew who they were. They were slaves. He had called them slaves. They have identified and accepted themselves as slaves. It does not change. He instead also gives them a higher privilege of being his friends. That is knowing what is in the heart of the master, knowing what is in the heart and the mind of the Lord, but it's not changing their uh position of a slave. We have different metaphors to describe the relationship of the Christian, the believer to the Lord. And we cannot let go of this particular relationship that the Bible very clearly explains that a Christian has with the Lord, that he is a slave, he's also a son, he's also the bride of the church, he's also many other things that we see. But this particular relationship emphasizes how we are to let go of our will, how we are to be at the disposal of the Master. The Lord Himself in his sermon, the Sermon on the Mount, He would say, you cannot serve two masters. He puts the thing about Mamon, money, wealth, which could easily become a God to everyone even today. And He puts places God on the other side and He says, you cannot serve. And the word serve there again, it's not just the service serve, but the verb of that word, duolos. You cannot be wholly devoted, wholly surrendered to two things. You cannot be, you have to be at least either of these two things. If you're going to serve money, you're going to be at the service of serving money. If you're going to be a servant, a slave of God, then you're going to be at the full disposal of God. You cannot do these two things together because only one should have all right over him. And that brings us to also how James understanding of the Lord Jesus Christ is changing. We saw him in the gospels uh despising almost the Lord. or his name is not mentioned, but at least as the brethren, we see him like that. But in this one statement, James affirms such important truths concerning our Lord Jesus Christ. He uses the word three words together. He says servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ. First, let's look at that God and the Lord Jesus Christ. As we have been looking, James is a Jew. He's a Jew of a Jew, right? He's one of the strictest one of the ones who knows the scriptures very well well versed in scripture he knows what it is to Even the same epistle he confirms the fact that everyone understands there is only one God He just now also as we have seen the Sermon on the Mount that no man can serve two masters But here he is placing these two together of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ for a Jew This is blasphemy and we read that's exactly how the Jews would treat such a statement when we look at John chapter 5, the Lord says, my father worketh hitherto and I am also working. Just that statement was enough for the Jews to understand. He's claiming to be God. He's putting himself and God in one sentence, one line. This is already blasphemy. James certainly knows these contexts. James certainly has that very same mind, very same upbringing, very same understanding. And with all understanding, with all uh boldness and with all clarity, he's putting them together. He's saying of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ. And that word the Lord is the very same word used to name our Lord Jehovah in the New Testament in the Greek. So James understanding of the Lord we see it has uh come to a very clear, uh perfect understanding of who Jesus is. Three words he uses to describe our savior. He uses the firstly the human name Jesus and we know when was that given to him. It is not known from the very beginning, but rather in the gospel of Matthew, in the gospel of Luke we read why was he given that name Jesus. We see that he will deliver his people from their sins. That is the reason he was to be named Jesus, which simply translates to Joshua or Yehoshua that Yehovah is the one who will save. That is the meaning of the word Jesus given to him as the human. He's also the Christ which from the scriptures of Old Testament we read is the anointed one is the Messiah. It is a Greek of the Messiah Christ the one who was promised from before from the beginning. This is he Jesus Christ. Not just that he sums it up. He adds it all together and gives it the highest statement he could give the Lord the Lord Jesus Christ that Lord which is always associated with identifying God, with talking to God, with naming God Jehovah is the title given to Jesus Christ. And this is how uh James wants us also to look at. When James surrenders himself as a duelo, as a slave, it's not to another man. It's not to just another qualified worthy individual. No, he's surrendering himself, identifying the worth Jesus Christ our Lord. He has identified that this one is worthy He is God who has created me is also the God who has redeemed me His brother Jude would go one step further and we read about that in verse 4 of the epistle of Jude We read there for there are certain men crept in unawares who were before of all ordained to this condemnation. The last part of it and denying the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ. The word there only Lord God that is talking about the sovereign Lord that talks about not only Kurios, which is the one Lord Jesus Christ, but also one who is master in the sense of having absolute dominion. Jude looks at his brother now. such a one not only as curious who is above all but having absolute full sway full dominion over all things This is talking about God. This is things that can only be said about God. So we may See very good theology in the letter of James But more importantly we're seeing here how James has changed or come to a very clear understanding of who the Lord is Now we come to the last part, which we want to see here today is to whom is he writing this letter? It is written to, we already saw who is writing it. It is James, the brother of the Lord. We see how he is identified throughout the scriptures and how he himself, how he saw himself and how he saw the Lord. Now we're looking at who is he writing to? We read here to the 12 tribes which are scattered abroad and he gives a greeting. We read in Acts 11 verse 19 about these who were scattered. It started from the time when Stephen was martyred and following that there was a persecution, there was a scattering. It also refers to the dispersion of old. So always that kind of phrase, even in the Gospel of John, there is that same word used diaspora, which simply refers to the scattered Jews that were everywhere. Even in that time, the scattered Jews were everywhere. But James is particularly not just writing to Jews. He's writing to Jewish Christians. There are some who have thought that it is only to Jews, but that would not be the right understanding. If we look at the rest of the epistle, James is assuming very clearly that the ones who are reading his epistle, they are believers. They have put their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. He's teaching them how to practice that faith. He's not preaching to them the gospel, but rather he's preaching to those who have received the gospel. And he is now acting like the elder. He is acting like the elder who knows that there are so many people who have left from here. They were part of the assembly that he was in, but now they are scattered. So what should I do then? James does not uh stop there in not knowing what is going to happen with them, but he picks up his pen and he's inspired of God to write down, jot down these very words. We read about these three, Peter, James and John, each of them have functioned in that elder. role. We may see John in second epistle of John, he would say the elder he's identifying himself as the elder writing to the elect lady. Peter in instructing the other elders, he would say as a fellow elder, I'm writing this to you. James here does not name himself anything. Like we have said, he's not named an apostle, he's not named an elder, he's not named anything. Only name he takes for himself, dual or slave, but he functions as a very apt elder. We know how in the pastoral epistles, there is much instruction concerning the qualification of elders, what they should be, how their family life should be, how their witness outside should be. I think if Paul had James in that so and so context, it could easily be said, follow James and you would see what a elder should be like. And that's the life of James that we see having exercised those very responsibilities. in that nascent church in that very, very difficult time to be a leader in a church which was boiling with problems with new situations with persecution from all sides. This man chose to be there while others had other callings from God to go to other places and to take the gospel there. James calling clearly was to remain in Jerusalem where history says that he was also martyred by stoning. James chose to stay there with his sheep. with those over whom he had a genuine burden for and not only for those who were there, but for everyone, every soul that he had come into association with, he really took it into great consideration that he has to give an account for all these souls that the Lord had committed unto his trust. And here we see him writing to them, writing to these people, these believers who are now scattered abroad. And we think, why? Why does he have to write? because the situation was such they were in a very difficult situation now they were being tried they were going through persecution there are much trials they needed guidance how do we come out of this particular trial how do I face this trial and the sheep need that guidance the sheep need to know need to be instructed from the word how do we handle so and so situation trials how do we handle trials James answers that for them they were in the world poor They were not many of them, some were rich, but many of them were poor. They did not have the earthly means to prosper in this earth. James had to give them also clarity how they are to conduct, how they are to go on. They were on their own, particularly. They were on their own now. They were not with James anymore. They were not with Peter and John and with all the apostles here. But now they were on their own. They had to figure out things. had to themselves minister, themselves evangelize, themselves the Lord would form them into an assembly. They were really on their own and they were in the world. They were in the world, which means they were facing much temptations, not only persecutions, but there is also the terrible temptation or the very dangerous temptation of settling down to the world, of just being one with the world, of losing that separation, which so characterized the initial days of the church. They were now in the world and James had to very strongly tell them, what is your identity? What are you here for? We cannot become one with the world. cannot be friends with the world. It is being adulterous and adulterous as James would say. And they had to still wait for the coming of the Lord. The coming of the Lord was not tomorrow. They had to still wait for the coming of the Lord. And they needed to know how do we continue patiently? How do we continue waitingly in waiting? And so to sum it all up, James wrote this epistle because he saw the masses sheep. So it is not only a uh a of provokes or a group of wisdom literature that James is putting here together, but rather it is very well structured epistle, which tackles the different problems that these scattered believers were facing in that context. Many of those things are also with us in our century, in our world. And that's why it is a very important epistle for us to study. It makes us to understand how a person like James became a person like James. This is the discipline involved being before being a man of God, a woman of God. This is the kind of life that those people at that time practiced so that the church stood out in Jerusalem and grew in number, multiplied the word. This is the kind of life that James wants every one of us to uh have in our own practical personal life. And may God help us with these words as we look into this particular episode and all the topics that James was inspired by the Holy Spirit to address. May God's name be glorified. The post Introduction to James [https://borivaliassembly.net/sermon-ministry-corner/introduction-to-james/] appeared first on Borivali Assembly [https://borivaliassembly.net].

Psalm 32: Answer to Psalm 51

Image [https://borivaliassembly.net/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/Psalm-51_6.png] AUDIO SERMON Download [/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/AKM_Psalm51_6.mp3] Listen to complete sermon series: Psalm 51 [https://borivaliassembly.net/sermon-library/psalm-51-series/] If you are facing any issues playing or downloading a sermon, please Contact Us [http://borivaliassembly.net/contact/] ---------------------------------------- SERMON TRANSCRIPT Romans chapter 4 and verse 6. Even as David also described the blessedness of the man unto whom God imputes righteousness apart from works, saying, Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven and whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin. Looking at David this morning, there was something incomplete about Psalm 51 that we would like to complete today. The Psalm in itself is incomplete, if you were to look at it. It's a Psalm that has been poured out of a very broken heart. But yet we don't see an answer to that sum. What could be the answer to a prayer like that? Where did David find an answer to his deepest woes? Well, sum of David's sum actually has a prayer and it also has an answer. Probably he started writing that song when he was in trouble. He ended it up when he found deliverance. So the song has a section of uh supplication as well as deliverance. But that's not Psalm 51. It is through and through just a prayer and it stops with a prayer. And that's why we ought to ask, how did David come out of it? After committing adultery, murder and hypocrisy and all kinds of sin, how did David find his footing back again? And importantly, all the things that he actually prayed for, how did he get an answer to it? You see, this is where Paul understands David's plea of Psalm 51 being answered in Psalm 32. Because Paul is in the middle of an argument that says nothing can be given and that's David's exactly in Psalm 51. I cannot give anything. I can't give you sacrifices. I can't give you great words of praise. I can't give you evangelistic efforts as a recompense to my sin. What I just have is brokenness that is of no value. And so there is then therefore no greater example to show if God can redeem a person like David in such a state and consequences, then that is what true forgiveness looks like. That without works, not the labour of my hands, not my greater zeal, not my penitent tears, not my even prayer, is going to bring about repentance, is going to bring about deliverance. So if that's how the scriptures have led to help us believe that Psalm 32 is in fact the deliverance, the missing part of Psalm 51. This morning we will consider a few verses from Psalm 32. You read Psalm 32 and verses 1 through 5. Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man unto whom the Lord does not charge his account with iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit. When I kept silence, my bones waxed old, through my roaring all the day long. For day and night your hand was heavy upon me, and my vitality was torn under the draught of summer. I acknowledged my sin unto you, and my iniquity have I not hid. I said I will confess my transgressions unto the Lord, and you forgave the iniquity of my sin. Psalm 51 is basically encapsulated in verse 5. Psalm 51 is all about David saying, I acknowledge my sin and my iniquity, I'm not going to hide it anymore and in response to that, God forgave the iniquity of David. But here is something we want to consider this morning. One is not just the repentance of David, but what was his state when he was in sin? and what was the deliverance that God gave this man? Everything in between was sound 51 but what was it before he started to repent? And once he had done repenting, once he had prayed that prayer, how did the Lord respond to him? You see, it's in the backdrop of a very horrible past that the deliverance of God becomes beautiful. Simon the Pharisee could not appreciate God's forgiveness, not as much as that harlot who was weeping at the feet of Christ. unto whom more has sinned, more is given, more forgiveness is given and such will love more. And here is David expounding not just the deliverance that he has gained from the Lord. But he is also reminiscing what was it before it all began. There are four things about sin that we will consider here. One, that sin is hard. Second, that sin is ugly. Third, that sin is heavy. and fourth that's sin is condemnation and you see all of this coming and boiling down to these few verses that we read. First let's consider the past of David. In verse 3 he says, I kept silence. That was a period of silence for David. It was a period when probably he didn't write as many songs as he always did. He was not as much as a leader of a spiritual leader to Israel as he always was. He was silent, in fact he was silent to the point where he was not doing what he was supposed to be doing which was to fight a war. Well that was the time of his hypocrisy. uh A span where he knew he had sinned. And probably he thought the best response to sin is to just be silent. Let me not just get engaged, let me not just be too active, let me just be low key. I'm not going to be any more involved, I'm just going to be silent. I think that is the best I can do with my sin. and he split his hair trying to cover up his sin and once he thought that is done it was approximately nine months or more where David lived a life of hypocrisy and double standards. But here's the first thing you want to see, sin is hard that silencing ourselves or living an isolated life or covering up our sin does not take away the scourge of sin. Those nine months would have been the darkest and the most... tiresome was laborious period of David's life. He thought it would be easy with silence but he says, my bones grew old and it was through my roaring day and night. Like David is in strays, he knows he is sinned and day in and out he is roaring, he is not knowing what to do with his sin. The very fear of others knowing about that sin has brought him into that space where he wants to be silent but it is not helping him. And those nine months, He knows He has lost fellowship with the Lord. It is not as it was before. He says, day and night, your hand, He knows the Lord's heavy hand is upon Him. And my life or it says my moisture or my life, my vitality is being turned into drought. You can just imagine how water being turned into drought, being sucked up. That's how David saw his life going out during that period. He couldn't sleep. His sin bogged him down. His sin made his life extremely hard. His sin made his life extremely heavy. You see how he writes, my bones... He has written about his bones many times. He says, my bones are become old or its bones essentially stand for strength. He's a man who's losing his strength. In Psalm 51, he says, the broken bones might rejoice, which means that is what his bones really ended up. It became broken. Let's consider one more Psalm, Psalm 38. 38 verse 2, it says, arrows pierce me and your hand presses me sore. Imagine if you have made God your enemy and God is piercing you with his arrows and He's continuously piercing your conscience. He's calling out to you. How uncomfortable would that be? David wanted silence. He wanted peace. He wanted rest and that's last thing he got in those nine months. Well apart from the fact, even sin affects our physical body. You see in verse 3, He says, there is no soundness in my flesh. Yes, there is no health in my body. Again He says in verse 7, the last part, there is no soundness in my flesh. He repeats it to show how sin took a toll on His health. And then again physically speaking of His bones, He says, there is no peace, there is no rest in my bones. He says in verse 4, My iniquities are gone over my head as a heavy burden, they too heavy for me. You see how much Sim took a toll on his mental health, where he's talking of great floods of guilt, of burden overflowing his head. In verse 5 he says, my wounds, obviously he got no physical wounds, but he still says my wounds stink. Exactly, they stink and they're corrupt. When do wounds stink? A quick question... How come wounds stink or when do they stink? Infection? Anything else that suggests it's stinking? Septic? Yes. Exactly, it takes time. It doesn't stink from day two. You don't treat it, it will stink, it will get septic, it becomes corrupt. And imagine that's what happens to our sin, they become more deep, the wounds become more deep, the more we delay and the more we do not treat it or the more we do not seek forgiveness. David thought silence is his option, silence is the way out but the more he was silent, the more he chose not to ask forgiveness, the more his wounds were stinking and it became more corrupt. The more he tried to cover up, the more into a ditch he became, he got himself into. Finally he says in verse 8, um of my heart. This is when Nathan came to David. You see in the record of history we don't read much of what happened in those nine months. We just see him getting married to Bathsheba but this was his state physically, mentally, spiritually. Day and night he was groaning. Day by day his bones were becoming broken and weaker. He was losing health, was losing mental peace, he had nothing, no soundness at all. And so when Nathan told David, you are that man, it didn't take him a split second to realize, yes, that's me. You see, that nine months literally broke down David because he was a man after God's own heart. Whatever hypocrisy he was trying to live up to, it was just making it more hard for him. And so from that horrible past, he writes this beautiful Psalm 32, where he says, blessed the joyfulness, the happiness of forgiveness. If you see it carefully in your Bible, it is not blessed as He whose transgression is forgiven. It's actually blessed transgression forgiven. Like a point blank statement without any pronouns. Blessedness of transgressions being forgiven, whoever is the person. Blessedness of sin being covered. Blessedness of the man to whom the Lord will not hold him accountable. And blessedness of a spirit in which there is no deceit, no guile. You see, there are four things I mentioned of sin. And those four things are being addressed here. First and foremost, sin is extremely heavy to bear. You see all of these four things in the first four chapters of Genesis. When Cain was punished, he actually said, this is too unbearable. I cannot bear this punishment. That was the experience of David in those nine months, unbearable pain. But when God deals with it, the first thing He does, bless her is the transgressions that are forgiven. The word forgiven actually means bearable or borne away. We associate the word forgiveness with offense, but in its original sense, forgiveness simply means borne away, taken away. Someone has carried the unbearable. And that is the burdens that were lifted at Calvary for David. The burdens have been gone away. Shackled by a heavy burden, Neath a load of guilt and pain, That's how the hymn writer puts it. My sin and my sorrows, He has borne it to Calvary. All like we as sheep have gone astray, But the Lord has laid upon Him the scourge, The sins of us all. What is unbearable is being borne away. Here is Christ in His body bearing upon Himself The sins of us all, Of all times, of all people, Once and for all. So there is great blessedness that God gives to a sinner that is repentant of all his bodes, all his burdens just being taken away. The second thing, the blessedness of sin being covered. You see, sin is not just heavy, it's also ugly. Again, in Genesis we see this profoundly where the first instance, the first effort man made to bring about any restitution was covering up. He couldn't stand his own nakedness. Nakedness is a symbol of what's shameful. Nakedness in itself is not wrong because that was there before sin but with sin the glory has gone away and nakedness is now shameful. Nakedness shows how ugly, how despicable sin is to behold. That if we were to see sin in its truest color we would really reach out to anything even it be fig leaves to cover it up. That if there is any evidence that points to our sinfulness we will do anything. Even if it was to cause murder like David, we would do anything to just cover it up. And compared to what David did, now David is enjoying the fact that God has covered all of what David has done. That my sin is covered. Brethren, in the New Testament, we actually have a greater joy. It is not just our sins have been covered. For us, our sins have been taken away. In the Old Testament, were sacrifices of offerings and blood that was offered was just for the sake of covering. It could never take away sin, but the blood of Jesus Christ takes away sin. You see, there's something fundamentally wrong if we are living in a world that is going to glory on something that is shameful. Then nakedness, which is supposed to be a matter of shame, is now becoming a matter of glory and pride. and where something is supposed to give a constant reminder of how ugly is our sin, it is no more being seen as something shameful. The world and the ruler of this world will make all efforts to make sin look unheavy, light as well as beautiful. But it is a sinner in Christ who understands the joy, the happiness of seeing sins being taken away, of sins being carried away. You see, sin is heavy, sin is ugly. We also see Sin is condemnation where Blessed is the man to whom the Lord does not condemn, the Lord does not account iniquity. You see this again in Genesis when Cain murdered Abel, the blood of Abel was crying out for vengeance, is crying out for accountability and that's the word here where David is saying blessed is the person to whom the Lord is not going to hold him accountable for what he did. How great is that blessedness that we could walk into the presence of God after having committed the wildest of all sins and still find God not holding us accountable! And surprise, surprise, this is also the same word of which it is written that God accounted righteousness to Abraham for his faith, that when we are supposed to be held accountable, condemned, judged for our sins, God is accounting us the righteousness of Christ. Lastly, sin is hard. We just saw that. That was how his 9 months of life was. It was hard. Solomon says in Proverbs 13 that the way of transgression is hard. when he was living that rebellious persecution, uh living as a persecutor, the Lord caught hold of Saul and said, it is hard for you to kick against the pricks like you are trying to gawd a wayward cow and the Lord is pricking Paul, the Lord is pricking David. and those nine months was extremely hard for him every time he said no. He wanted rest, he wanted peace and everything was just illusive. We forget the fact that the Lord is also the Lord who was in His anger. He promised that these people will not enter into His rest. That there is no rest for the wicked, there is no peace for the wicked. And in that horrible mental state, now David enjoys the blessedness, the joyfulness. of a spirit in which there is no deceit, is no guilt, there is no spot in his heart. There is no burdens that his mind bears anymore. The worst of all what he has done is behind him. This is what the Lord gave to David in the Old Testament. This is what the Lord gives to every sinner who comes to him in faith. Sin that is heavy is taken away. Sin that is ugly is carried away. Sin that beckons judgment is not accounted for. sin that makes life hard is released of all burdens. God's name be glorified. The post Psalm 32: Answer to Psalm 51 [https://borivaliassembly.net/sermon-ministry-corner/psalm-32-answer-to-psalm-51/] appeared first on Borivali Assembly [https://borivaliassembly.net].

Psalm 51: 18-19: Conclusion

Image [https://borivaliassembly.net/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/Psalm-51_5.png] AUDIO SERMON Download [/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/AKM_Psalm51_5.mp3] Listen to complete sermon series: Psalm 51 [https://borivaliassembly.net/sermon-library/psalm-51-series/] If you are facing any issues playing or downloading a sermon, please Contact Us [http://borivaliassembly.net/contact/] ---------------------------------------- SERMON TRANSCRIPT Psalm 51 and as we conclude this psalm today, we read the whole psalm. Have mercy upon me, O God, according to Your loving-kindness, according to the multitude of Your tender mercies. Plot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity. Cleanse me from my sin. For I acknowledge my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me. against you, you only have I sinned and done this evil in your sight, that you may be found just when you speak and be blameless when you judge. Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity and in sin that my mother conceived me. Behold, you desired truth in the inward paths and in the hidden you shall make me to know wisdom. Purge me with His soap and I shall be clean. Wash me and I shall be whiter than snow. Make me to your joy and gladness that the bones which you have broken may rejoice. Hide your face from my sins and blot out all my inequities. Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from your presence. and take not your Holy Spirit from me. Restore unto me the joy of your salvation, and uphold me with your generous Spirit. Then will I teach transgressors your ways, and sinners shall be converted unto you. Deliver me from blood-guiltiness, O God, you God, of my salvation, and my tongue shall sing aloud of your righteousness. O Lord, open my lips and my mouth shall show forth your praise. For you desire not sacrifice, else I would give it, with delight not in burnt offering. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, a broken and a contrite heart of God you will not despise. Do good in your good pleasure unto Zion, build the walls of Jerusalem, then you will be pleased with the sacrifice of righteousness. with burnt offering and whole burnt offering, then shall they offer bullocks upon your altar. You read verse 18 and 19 once again, Do good in your good pleasure unto Zion, build the walls of Jerusalem, then shall you be pleased with the sacrifices of righteousness with burnt offering and whole burnt offering, then shall they offer bullocks upon your altar. The pertinent question in every restoration is, till what extent can one be restored? That if God desires of us, we be broken and that we be grind in pieces like how David says in the previous verse, 17. then what is God going to do with that brokenness? How much can God restore? To what extent? To what scope? To what limit? And sufficiently, as David ends this prayer of repentance, he addresses this aspect, expecting of God an eternal and infinite restoration. Let's look at verse 18 and 19. we'll immediately realize that there is a deviation from all what David has spread so far. Some words appear in these last two verses that were there in the whole previous Saam. He's talking of Zion, he's talking of Jerusalem and an anonymous Dey, we do not know who, but he's talking of Dey, who will offer bullocks upon God's altar. And that's very very surprising because this whole Saam was so... personal to David where everything about this Psalm is about what he did and what he expects of God that suddenly now there is a deviation to Zion, to Jerusalem and to an anonymous group of people who he wants them to offer sacrifice and this follows on the heels of his own brokenness where he has reached a point of offering nothing to God but his brokenness. Is David changing the topic suddenly? More importantly, what is the topic? What is he actually saying in these last two verses? From talking intensely about the restoration that he wants of his soul, why should he now talk about the walls of Jerusalem? What does the walls of Jerusalem ever got to do with the sin of adultery that he has committed? And after having expressed his inability to worship God through words or sacrifices, but only by giving brokenness, now he's calling upon sacrifices, literally whole-born sacrifices, literally bullocks, the most expensive sacrifice one can put up with. He's calling all of that to be offered. From saying that God does not desire sacrifice, He is now ending on a note saying, you will be pleased with sacrifices. From saying of His own unrighteousness, of His sinfulness, of His iniquity, He is now talking of the sacrifices of righteousness. Well, it's very easy to understand when Someone has a topic in his mind by seeing a number of repetitions. He doesn't want to just talk at once. It's very natural in our culture as well, where we want to emphasize something, we'll see it again and again. And you see that word pleasure in verse 18. You see it again in verse 19, you will be pleased. Again in verse 18, you see the word good, do good, and in your good pleasure. And that's the crux of what David is coming to. He's coming to good pleasure. Good pleasure. God's good pleasure. Now that's a very strange way to end a prayer of repentance. Probably we'll understand repentance to be all about ourselves, where we pray our hearts out and ask God's forgiveness. But now David ends that on the note of God's good pleasure. And what a beautiful way to talk of God's pleasure as being good! This is not the only place where it is written in such a manner. It's a language consistent in the scriptures where God is said to have good pleasure. It's literally Paul that takes the same two phrases, two words, and he uses numerous times in his epistle by saying, he has predestinated us according to his good pleasure. And then Paul adds by saying, the good pleasure of his will. Again, he says in the same passage, his will according to his good... pleasure which he purposed in himself, where God's will is synonymous to His pleasure. There's a time when the Lord told us that we have to seek His Kingdom first, not food, not clothes, not the things that the nations run after, but seek the Kingdom of God first. And the Lord continued to say, it is your Father's good pleasure to give you His Kingdom. It is your Father's good pleasure to give you His Kingdom. This is again how Paul says in Philippians, God which works in you, both to will and to do, His good pleasure. God works in us, both to will, that a will of or His desire should be generated in us, both to will and to do, His good pleasure. That God is in constant work in our hearts, that we renounce our will, our desire, and we end up desiring and doing His good pleasure! Psalm 115, again the Psalmist says the same thing, God has done everything in heaven according to what He is pleased with. Isaiah 53, the very famous passage on the sufferings of Christ, ends with the note that the pleasure of the Lord will prosper in the hand of Christ. Now brethren, that is the end goal of everything. It is the end game of everything. It is the logical, the reasonable conclusion of all history, of all time. The good pleasure of the Lord which He has purposed according to His will will be brought to pass. That God has willed only good and the things that He has willed concerning us is His pleasure. And that's why it could please the Lord to crush the Lord Jesus on the cross. That it is a pleasure of the Lord to crush His Son that through His blood there should be remission offered to many. God created all things according to His good pleasure. The sin of man, the rebellion of man cannot deviate, cannot dissolve or dilute God's pleasure. It will still be brought to pass that if God has to be glorified in His creation, He will also be glorified in the redemption of that creation, that He will do all things according to His will in which He has taken much pleasure. Now coming back to David to consider what a way to end a prayer of repentance. After expressing his whole heart's desire with extreme intense emotions, he comes to a point and says, Lord, let your good will be done. How beautiful! We can pour our hearts out, asking and pleading God's mercy, but more than our own desires, it is God's good pleasure to be merciful towards us. That God desires of us, His pleasure, His good pleasure is much more than what we can desire for our own selves. So therefore, instead of banking upon our own penitent heart and the fervent prayers that we can bring toward God, we can bank on God's will, on God's good pleasure that has never failed. So the final words of David is, Lord, You do good according to Your good pleasure. It's always good to end all prayers that way. It's the way the Lord ended His prayer and gets him nailed, not my will, but Your will be done. For prayer is not expressing what we want, but saying, Lord, I want what You want. So David ended his prayer merely reflecting, merely banking upon God's good pleasure than more than what he wants. Let's also look at the aspect of how different is David as he ends this prayer. How his heart and mind has completely changed now. How it is not natural of each of us in our own natural state or our natural being to desire what God desires. And after having committed a sin of pleasure, Now David is talking of God's good pleasure. After having set his mind on the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, the pride of life, the things that the world offers him, changing his viewpoint, his focus from the world to what God's good pleasure is. This is not little, it's a phenomenal change. I was uh remembering an incident that happened once with a person called Icabold Spencer. It was many, many 200 years ago, I think, where he was visiting a very old, ailing woman who was suffering from consumption or what we today call TB. And she was on the verge of death. She was failing. And in that midst of pain, Iqbal asked her, do you want to be healed? And she says, No, I have no desire to continue in this world. I have renounced this world and I have chosen what is yet to come. And I truly wish we have that beautiful attitude, an attitude of renunciation, that it should not take a near-death experience or a terminal disease to bring about an attitude of renouncing this world. But like Moses, who would denounce, he would deny the fleeting pleasures of this world, of Egypt. And that's the challenge, that's the competition. Are we going to... Are we going to indulge ourselves in the pleasures of this world that are fleeting and that's for a time and a season? That got David into so much problem and so much trouble. Or are we going to renounce the pleasures, the desires, the things that attract us in this world so as to desire the pleasures of God? And this is upon us brethren, because this is how the last days is going to be, as Paul says, it's going to be filled with people that despise good, that love themselves, that love pleasures more than being lovers of God. that it is going to be stronger and stronger as the day's end, where it will be strong to enjoy, to enjoy the pleasures of this world, to love the things that are not good. You see, this is what brokenness does to a person. He no more desires the things and the pleasures and the sensual desires that he enjoyed once. The lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, pride of life, all these things that are in the world are not of the Father. and to make ourselves lovers of these things, we make ourselves enemies of God. That if we have to love these things, then the love of God cannot be in us. The question is, what are we going to desire? What is going to be our earnest desire? The things that are not of the Father? The things that are of this world? Things whose source cannot be traced back to God? Or the things that are of God? The good pleasure of His will? Can it be our meat and our drink like it was to the Lord Jesus Christ? You see, David learned that lesson so, so hard after having sinned and after being made broken. Sin entered into the world because of this. Because we in Adam and Eve desired what God said no. Let's look into what entails that good pleasure. That if we were to ask God's good pleasure to be done, do good, we are asking God to do good in His good pleasure, what does that mean? There are two things written here. One is, build the walls of Jerusalem. And then, then, which means not before that, then, after the walls are done, God will be pleased with the sacrifice that are being offered in Jerusalem. And the impression is that once the walls are done, there will be a lot of sacrifices, even bullocks, and God is going to be happy, He is going to be pleased with it. Well, what is David specifically talking here? He's talking of Zion. Good pleasure unto Zion. He's talking of the time where God has promised David that God will never lack a man to sit on the throne of Israel, where David is now going way into the future, to the eternal restoration of all things created. He writes this sitting in the city of David where one day it will be called the city of God. He writes this in Jerusalem which is merely a national interest to one country but will soon become the joy of all the earth. He writes this being the King of Israel where one day in that same place will be the King of Kings. And so if he's asking for anything, he's saying, Lord, you get going, you get going. Never go back. Do good in that good pleasure unto Zion. It's like, let not my foolishness, let not my sinfulness, let not my wickedness that I have done being a King of Israel affect your future, the will that you have desired concerning Zion. After having requested everything that He has to request for Himself, now He's saying, Lord, let your will be done, that He warns not His sin to have an effect on the future. You see, this can be considered lightly, but our sins have far-reaching ramifications. that extend many generations in the future if you do not be careful and that's the reason why he refers to the walls of Jerusalem. When David warned the city of Jerusalem it was under the control of Jebusites. David first fought and got it under his control. Jerusalem was known for its walls and it is understood from that passage that Jebusites thought that their fortress, their walls are so strong that even a blind and a lame person can defend the city. And that is what this wall signified. It signifies protection and security for those that are inside. Soon after he captured the city of Jerusalem, he started to fortify it all the more. We read of something called Millo that he built, where he fortified it all the more with walls. But all that he was doing towards the walls of Jerusalem had a much more significant future meaning, that there was something that God is going to do for the walls of Jerusalem. When God restores Zion, when God restores the city of Jerusalem, He says He is going to set watchmen upon these walls and these watchmen are not going to be silent day and night. They will continuously voice and sing that the Lord reigns, that these walls are going to signify that within these walls reigns the Lord. This is Isaiah puts it. He says, But the Lord shall arise upon you, and His glories shall be seen upon you. Again He says, Sun shall no more be your light by day, neither brightness shall moon give for light, but the Lord shall be unto you an everlasting light, and your God, your glory. The Lord shall be your everlasting light. And that's when the Lord says, you will call the walls of Jerusalem salvation. and its gates praise that the walls of Jerusalem will be named salvation. Anyone who walks through it will be saved, will be safe. Again through Zechariah the Prophet says, I the Lord say that I will be unto her a wall of fire round about and will be the glory in the midst of her. It is going to be so glorious where Jerusalem is going to be an epitome of God's glory. There is written that righteousness shall go forth as brightness and righteousness shall go forth as brightness across the world and salvation has the lamp. Where Jerusalem will be called the crown of the Lord, the diadem of the Lord, where Jerusalem will no more be called Azuba, which means forsaken, neither will she be called Shemama, which means desolate, but she will be called Hepzibah, which means my delight is in her. That's what David is praying for. That Lord, your good pleasure should be done towards Zion, should be done towards Jerusalem. And she'll be called Bula, which means she's married because the Lord will rejoice over Jerusalem like a bridegroom rejoices over his bride. This is the end of all things. And in praying for his repentance and restoration, David prays, Lord bring forth your kingdom into Zion and into Jerusalem. where God will be the glory in the midst of her. Then will the Lord be pleased? You see, the Lord had this contention towards the people that your sacrifices are defiled. The Lord at once said, when you offer a lamb, it's like you cut a dog's neck. Or when you offer your oblations, it's like you offer swine's blood. Or as if you bow down to an idol. That's how the Lord looked at the sacrifices of sinful men. But then David talks of a Zion, of a Jerusalem. where there will be walls of salvation, gates of praise and everything that is offered in the midst of it will be righteousness. A God will take pleasure in what is offered there. Let's conclude with that question. How much will the Lord restore? To what extent? To what scope? After having mangled and despised and destroyed our life with our own sins, how much can we expect of the Lord to restore us? It's like the songwriter who says, something beautiful, something good. How much beautiful can the Lord make it? When all we have to offer is brokenness and strife, how much beautiful can the Lord make it? How much beauty can God bring forth out of ashes? Well, you see, if you cut a string of thread and you try to join it back, it will always join back with a knot. There's just no way you can avoid a knot. Well, you want it to be as good as it was before. and it's impossible to even get to what it was before, then won't it be all the more unreasonable to ask for something way more glorious, way more beautiful than what it was before? When you take a mangled car to a workshop, you expect that the car to be as good as it was before. What you don't really expect is that the car looks extremely beautiful, extremely much much more grand than what it was to begin with. Well, you can reasonably... Expect at least a normal, at least to get back what it was before. Well, can you expect more than that? Would it be reasonable for the Lord to restore to an extent where the end is better than the first? There were great glories that Adam lost when he sinned. Hasn't the Lord restored unto us much, much more great glories than what Adam lost? And that's why in a prayer of repentance it's so fitting for David to talk about the future because the restoration of a sinner and it's not limited to this earth. where we can come to the Lord with all our defilements, with the greatest spots of our blackness, and God has assured us of an eternity where we will be robed with righteousness of Christ. The world is yet to see, the principalities and the powers that be in heavenly places are yet to see, the far riches of God's glory, of God's grace, that He is yet to show forth on the Church. So today we might deal with broken bones, where David says, Lord, let me rejoice with those broken bones. And after this sin, he never had a peaceful life. And after this sin, he was not seen to be serving the Lord like he ever did before. The consequences of his sin, he carried it to his death. But this life is not the end of it all. God will bring forth His good pleasure either ways. And that the full restoration of a sinner is when we are enjoined with Him in His glories. My God, it's the name of the glorified. The post Psalm 51: 18-19: Conclusion [https://borivaliassembly.net/ministry-corner/psalm-51-18-19-conclusion/] appeared first on Borivali Assembly [https://borivaliassembly.net].

Psalm 51:13-17: Bill of Grace

Image [https://borivaliassembly.net/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/Psalm-51.png] AUDIO SERMON Download [/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/AKM_Psalm51_4.mp3] Listen to complete sermon series: Psalm 51 [https://borivaliassembly.net/sermon-library/psalm-51-series/] If you are facing any issues playing or downloading a sermon, please Contact Us [http://borivaliassembly.net/contact/] ---------------------------------------- SERMON TRANSCRIPT We want to turn our Bibles to Psalms 51, Psalms 51 and verses 13 through 17. Then I will teach transgressors your ways, and sinners shall be converted unto you. Deliver me from blood-guiltiness, oh O God of my salvation, and my tongue shall sing aloud of your righteousness. O Lord, open my lips. And my mouth shall show forth your praise. For you desire not sacrifice, else I would give it. You delight not in burnt offering. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, A broken and a contrite heart. God, you will not despise. We'll pray. Our Father in heaven, we thank you for this privilege. The unworthy yet Lord Father, you've given us this morning to come around these symbols and remember your Son. And now Father, even this morning, we sit before your Word. Lord Father, as we sung, here you find us in our weakness, falling before your throne, for our hearts desperately long for the healing and grace. And so we come, Lord Father, for your Word to be the balm of Gilead that heals our hearts and restores our souls unto Yourself. We pray that You will be glorified in the ministry of this Word. We ask this in the name of Your Son, Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. It's been a while we've been considering Psalm 51 and somehow this passage that we are looking at is a climax to this Psalm where David comes face to face with what matters the most in his reconciliation. Imagine if you are going to buy a car, one of the things that will matter most is how much will it cost to maintain it. Well, once you have a car that is new, it doesn't cost much, it might be mostly free. But as the car ages, you begin to look at any corner of your car, you see a reason to get it fixed. And so you take that old car to a service center, you have a laundry list of things for it to be fixed and you just hoping that you don't get a big fat bill at the end of it. Sometimes it becomes so critical things that has never happened before probably now you have to fix it and it becomes pretty expensive. Now if a wallet allowed for it you would really fix everything but sometimes it is so critical so difficult so tedious that it becomes pretty expensive. I want to take the example that brother Nitish spoke last Sunday evening over here of a Rolls Royce that broke down and to repair that car a helicopter had to be flying in the service engineers and repairing it in a remote location. Imagine the bill that comes for a service like that. It's a dread to even imagine what that price would be and that is just it's a very pale comparison to sometimes the cost and the sacrifice we need to pay for restoring our souls that are broken. Where at the end of the day, buck has to stop somewhere. You need to face the cost and the consequence that one has to pay for restoration. You can pray your hearts out, you can wish all the things of this world, but at one point there comes a question of a cost. Sometimes how deep the mess is, that's how expensive the sacrifice is. And that's the dread that David is struggling and wrestling in this passage when he comes face to face with the bill of his restoration. It was also amazing all this while when he started the Psalm. We see it like a highway of mercy. There is abundance and abundance of mercy for David to be restored back to God. Second, we saw that that highway of mercy leads to a pitch-dark of repentance because what's the point of mercy? if there is no repentance. So in that pit stop, we see David undoing himself, really repenting the way a sinner needs to repent. That pit stop of repentance, thirdly, led to a garage of repairs, where he has a laundry list, a long list of all things in his life that needs to be fixed. We saw in those last six verses, there were 12 things, 12 different ways David is asking every single aspect of his soul to be fixed by God. Well, that's only as far as the wish list goes. Finally, now David faces the bill of grace. That's inescapable. Can grace be paid for? What would be the value of such a restoration that David is asking for? A restoration that talks of changing his own self? A restoration that talks of God taking away all his sins and the... Wrath thereof. A restoration where David is completely brought back to the joy of fellowship to God. This three-sided wholesome restoration where David is asking for his self, for his sins and for the fellowship. Complete restoration. Nothing is left out. Where David can be brought back to such joyful fellowship like he had never sinned before. If such is the restoration that God has to bring about in a messed-up life like David, what would be that cost? Oh, the grace, the depth of grace, the depth of grace that can never be paid, which we can never value it, how can that be paid off? And so your David is struggling to put a value, to pay off, to compensate... to put something at the table for all what God has to do for him. He starts off in verse 13 and says, I will teach and that's his first offer. The first offer he brings to God, I'm going to teach transgressors, I'm going to see sinners converted to you. Before we look at the reasonableness of what David is offering, let's just admire and appreciate what is the offer. How beautiful is that desire! that I am going to teach transgressors, where David sees his own sin has not an isolation, has not an exception, but he sees there are so many others who need to be taught like he has been. Isn't that a natural response to every sinner that has found grace of God? That this grace is not for me. There are others who are in need of this grace, who are dying of this grace, and I got to go and tell them, teach them. and see them converted, that I need to tell them of His ways. I'm not going to put myself on the pedestal and make people look at me and learn of my ways and how I messed up. I'm not going to give them five ways to accept to escape adultery. I'm not going to give them ten different warnings. I'm going to teach them of the ways of the Lord that a sinner like me, an adulterer like me, keemer like me, A guy for the sake of covering up his sin will get somebody drunk, who will lie with a woman and father a child. person who has digged his grave so deep, God's ways can find him. That I would not keep this grace to myself. I will teach transgressors of the ways of God. It's the natural response. People with the most messed up lives, once they find grace, can never keep it to themselves. You tell them to keep their mouth shut and you see them go across all the town and telling everyone of a healer that has healed them. And with no commandment, with no instigation, with no whatsoever command, they will go back to the centre square of the town and tell, I have found a person who has told everything that I have done. Who will care not of their shamefulness of the sin that they have committed, but for the sake of God's grace, they will open themselves in the centre square and say, I have found someone. who can tell everything that I have done. Imagine the humility, the cost that David himself is doing to pen a psalm like this. where he is outrightly describing what he has done. Where he goes to the centre square of human history, writes a psalm, to this day is ministering to many sinners. You see this in the life of Paul as well, where Paul says, God has first shown in me His full-long suffering, first in me, His full-long suffering, that it should be an example, a pattern to all those that will believe in Him to everlasting life. And this is how we put it, the grace that was exceedingly abundant in the Lord. Here is David burning in that passion, knowing so very well, he is not the only sinner who needs that grace. We are all those, we are all in our own lives and souls, the testimony of grace. How far have we taken that story? How far have we borne witness to the grace that God has worked in our lives? It's not about making people look at me. It's not the story of my life. It's His ways that needs to be displayed. But David comes with a stumbling block at this point. Because if it is just mere words that can pay the cost of grace, then that's too convenient. That if through the sinfulness of David, Other sinners should come to God and if that is the cost of grace, then that is too cheap. If your evangelistic effort of telling other sinners is the price that you pay, you compensate for grace, then that is so insufficient. The cost of righteousness is so astronomically high where David says, deliver me from blood guiltiness. What's at stake is my very life. What can pay for it is my own blood. What can suffice the wrath of God is my own destruction, where I am guilty down to my very blood. And that's why it's said that there is no remission of sin till there is shedding of blood. So David is struggling. He has a great desire to teach. He has a great desire to sing aloud of the righteousness of God. He has a great desire to show forth God's praise. And to add that in verse 16, He has a great desire to offer all kinds of sacrifices, where He could buy out every cattle in the world, offer all kinds of blood sacrifices, and all in its totality cannot suffice the price of blood. All in its totality cannot wipe away His sin. All in its totality cannot pay for the restoration He's asking for. What can be the price for His sin? This is how a hymn writer puts it, When my accuser makes the claim that I should die for my offence, I point him to that rugged frame where I found life at Christ's expense. See from his hands, his feet, his side, a fountain flowing deep and wide. Oh, here it shouts the victory that the blood of Jesus speaks for me. Here is David enjoying the blood of Christ in his life, for his life. where there was no sacrifice that could be offered, there were no pompous words that could be offered as praise, there was no great prize that could be paid, yet David writes of the blessedness of a person who finds forgiveness of his iniquities, where David writes of the blessedness of a God who doesn't deal with us according to our iniquities, a God who is ready to separate our sins from us as far as the East is from the West. A God who's so slow to anger, to see through David, through nine months of madness and still spare his life. Here is a God who offers his own son and the very blood, a fountain that's deep and wide, that's shouting, that blood will speak for David and for us. You see, this is David speaking out of an experience of receiving full forgiveness. It's one thing to sing of a love that's deep and deep and vast and unmeasured and full but here is David who has taken a plunge in that ocean that's vast that's full that's unmeasured that's rolling over over him leading him to God. And after taking plunge in that deep deep love of God he's writing this declaring the ways of God you see David over here struggling with his mouth in verse 15 he says open my lips he's struggling to even open his lips He wants to teach, he wants to sing, he wants to show forth the praise of God. But he has come to a point where now he is praying, O Lord, You open my lips and then my mouth will show forth Your praise. A man who could play all kinds of instruments, the sweetest hymn... the hymn writer of Israel comes to a point where he finds his mouth shut, finds himself with his hands tied. where He can't offer a sacrifice, where there can be no blood offered, no great works that He can offer, all He has to wait and depend on a God that pays for His sin in full. So for this great ocean of God's grace, how does David respond? To a bill that can never be paid, what David eventually does? In verse 17, He says, the sacrifices of our God are a broken spirit. A broken and a contrite heart of God you will not despise. I love it how it is written in Hindi, Tute or Pise, a heart that is broken and grounded. That's the finest response of a sinner to a grace that can never be paid for. I can't bring worship, I can't bring great words of praise, I can't sing those same songs of God. I can't offer a thousand sacrifices. All I can give is broken heart, a grounded heart, a heart that's completely broken for God. This is the most difficult thing for us to offer. If God had asked of us thousand sacrifices, we would have done it. If God had asked us to go to Jerusalem, like folks go to Mecca, we would have done it every month. If God would have asked of us money, we would have given it. God is not asking anything except our whole life in its totality broken and served to God. What does the Bible say of a broken heart? That God is nigh to a heart that's broken. That God does not despise a broken and a contrite heart. That God dwells with those that are broken and contrite. This is what the Lord expects of us, that we break down, we are broken and contrite in our heart. It's like the songwriter that writes it in Hindi, that we have a God that... A God who blesses broken hearts with thousands of reasons to praise. May God’s name be glorified. The post Psalm 51:13-17: Bill of Grace [https://borivaliassembly.net/sermon-ministry-corner/psalm-5113-17-bill-of-grace/] appeared first on Borivali Assembly [https://borivaliassembly.net].