Unspotted From The World

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King James Bible Study[Mark 8:34  And when he had called the people unto him with his disciples also, he said unto them, Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.]

Date: Monday, November 22, 2021
Chapters: The Book of James
Message: Unspotted From The World

Hello My Friend,

When I got out of church yesterday afternoon I stopped at a store, within the same shopping center was a “church” called, Rethink Life Church. While I was outside the store waiting for my mom to come out, they were letting out of the church, all I could hear was loud music playing, and this was all the way on the other side of the shopping center. The people coming out did not even look like they were in church, in fact, the ushers were dressed in raggedy t-shirts and jeans. Now, our clothes do not define our faith in Christ, but our actions sure do, and if we look like the rest of the world, then that is not the religion that we want to be a part of, [James 1:26-27  If any man among you seem to be religious, and bridleth not his tongue, but deceiveth his own heart, this man’s religion is vain.  27  Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.]

[Bridle; to guide; hold in check, restrain] It was Jesus who said, [Matthew 12:36-37  But I say unto you, That every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment.  37  For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned.] Think about what Jesus is saying next to the word bridle, if we believe in God with all our heart, then we will believe in Christ as well, and therefore, the Holy Spirit would be our guide not only in the things that we speak, but do as well. The reason we are unspotted from the world is because Christ is the one shining through us and not our old raggedy flesh that was once in the world. Everything we do and even say reflects what our faith in Christ says about us. We are not to blend in with the world and look like them otherwise, they would never see Christ or the need for Him. And I will tell you this, those who are quick to follow the religion because it resembles the world have no desire to really follow Christ, if they did, then they would want to be unspotted from the world, [Mark 2:21-22  No man also seweth a piece of new cloth on an old garment: else the new piece that filled it up taketh away from the old, and the rent is made worse.  22  And no man putteth new wine into old bottles: else the new wine doth burst the bottles, and the wine is spilled, and the bottles will be marred: but new wine must be put into new bottles.]

Yesterday we read about Peter telling the people at Antioch to relay to James what had happened when he was rescued from the prison by the angel that took him out, today, we read about the letter that James had written to the Christian Jews who were scattered all over the world out of fear. The Book of James contains five chapters, and was written by James, around 60 AD. This epistle (letter) is known as the general epistle because it was not addressed to a particular church. The purpose of the letter was to comfort believers who were undergoing persecution for their faith, and remind them that their faith is what brings their good works.

[James 1:1-4,12-15  James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad, greeting.  2  My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations;  3  Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience.  4  But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing. 12  Blessed is the man that endureth temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him. 13  Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man:  14  But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed.  15  Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.]

[count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations;] Remember, there are two kinds of temptation, one being a test by God and the other being the temptation to sin by Satan. Temptation has two affects, and if we are not grounded in Christ, then we will fall into the temptation to sin, even through those tests by God. It may seem like God is setting us up for failure if we fall into sin through those divers temptations, but the truth is that He is not. You see, the temptation to sin only becomes prominent when it is in our heart to begin with, that is why it is so easy to fall into it should affliction arise. God will never tempt us to commit sin, that is all the devil’s doing. And to be honest, there is not one of us who are not guilty of some sin due to affliction at one point, so, God is not referring to our temporary lapse of judgment here in which we would immediately repent after we sinned. He is referring to the sin that would be spotted in the world, and oh yes, they will use it against you, if they find out that you know Christ and live a life of sin, even if they are doing the very same thing. If we have truly received Christ as our Saviour, then we will be repentant when we do sin, and we will start to remove the sin as we not only get in the Word of God, but also obey it as well. If we are going to keep ourselves unspotted from the world, then we need to be both, hearers and doers of God’s Word.

[James 1:21-25   Wherefore lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness, and receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save your souls.  22  But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.  23  For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass:  24  For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was.  25  But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.]

[Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth,] It was of God’s own will to give us His Word so that we do have a guide to follow. We do not need the Bible to know that God and Jesus exists, we do not even need the Bible to know that Jesus is the Son of God and only way to God, God gave it to us as a guide for those who truly want Him in their lives. And by the way, laws are made for those who do not obey laws to begin with, [1 Timothy 1:9  Knowing this, that the law is not made for a righteous man, but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and for sinners, for unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers, for manslayers,]

[and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was.] This is another reason why we are to keep ourselves unspotted from the world, you cannot get saved, then live in the world, it will turn you into someone that you do not recognize, [Hebrews 6:4-6  For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost,  5  And have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come,  6  If they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame.]

Honestly, a person who has accepted Christ as their Saviour is automatically wired through the Holy Spirit to refrain from things that were once acceptable, but that also comes with that patience and maintaining good works. Maintaining good works, is actually living our lives unspotted from the world. It is not about keeping our salvation, this is where many religions falter, they do not teach once saved, always saved, they teach that you must get saved everytime you feel the need to accept Christ as your Saviour.

[James 2:14-18  What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and have not works? can faith save him?  15  If a brother or sister be naked, and destitute of daily food,  16  And one of you say unto them, Depart in peace, be ye warmed and filled; notwithstanding ye give them not those things which are needful to the body; what doth it profit?  17  Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone.  18  Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works.]

[notwithstanding ye give them not those things which are needful] Part of me feels like I am judging them because they look different, after all, they do have faith in Christ, but then the Holy Spirit in me says, “It is not the right faith!” and “Repentance!”. Okay, so, these churches are really good at feeding people, but all they are doing is feeding the flesh, not their soul, which is what they are truly needful of. I have been a part of a church just like that, they never teach repentance, just come to the altar every week and ask Jesus to save you. While it is great to have faith in Christ, it must be the right faith. This is complete false teaching as repentance is a very important role in keeping ourselves unspotted from the world, [Hebrews 6:1  Therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection; not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith toward God,]

We can have all the faith we want, and while God is great at making things happen through our faith alone, we must make an effort ourselves, trusting that He will see us through. Regardless of what we do, faith and works go hand in hand. Think about it, would you make an effort to do something if you did not have faith that it would all work out? As Christians, we are going to face trials, we are going to suffer heartache and affliction. As much as we would like for God to intervene at all times, He will not stop someone’s freewill. We have to realize that the things we go through are not a punishment from God, they are to give us wisdom and a deeper understanding of Him, not necessarily the why of what is happening.

[James 3:13-18  Who is a wise man and endued with knowledge among you? let him shew out of a good conversation his works with meekness of wisdom.  14  But if ye have bitter envying and strife in your hearts, glory not, and lie not against the truth.  15  This wisdom descendeth not from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish.  16  For where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work.  17  But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be intreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy.  18  And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace of them that make peace.]

[there is confusion and every evil work.] Let me tell you, it is bad enough sometimes dealing with trials, but when we see others getting the things we desire, and even worse our enemies, it can lead to confusion as well as bitterness, and strife toward them, which is why at this point, we are to just humble ourselves to God.

[James 4:1-6  From whence come wars and fightings among you? come they not hence, even of your lusts that war in your members?  2  Ye lust, and have not: ye kill, and desire to have, and cannot obtain: ye fight and war, yet ye have not, because ye ask not.  3  Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts.  4  Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.  5  Do ye think that the scripture saith in vain, The spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy?  6  But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble.]

[but giveth grace unto the humble.] God truly blesses us when we are humble, if we say we have no sin, if we walk around boasting of all the things we have gotten away with through grace, then we are guilty of sin all the same. And, ignorance only goes so far, as we grow in our faith, we come to know what is right from wrong through God’s eyes, and that becomes our platform for being unspotted from the world. It may seem like the easiest thing to do to lead someone to Christ is to be like them, but the truth is, they are not even going to see Him if we look like them. Our sole purpose for being sent out into the world is to lead souls to Christ, and the only way we can do that is by being unspotted from the world, [James 5:11-12,19-20  Behold, we count them happy which endure. Ye have heard of the patience of Job, and have seen the end of the Lord; that the Lord is very pitiful, and of tender mercy.  12  But above all things, my brethren, swear not, neither by heaven, neither by the earth, neither by any other oath: but let your yea be yea; and your nay, nay; lest ye fall into condemnation. 19  Brethren, if any of you do err from the truth, and one convert him;  20  Let him know, that he which converteth the sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death, and shall hide a multitude of sins.]

Let Us Pray: God, Thank You, for Your mercy, grace, forgiveness, patience, and longsuffering as You teach us that while we are to be in the world, we are to remain unspotted. It can be so difficult to keep going when faced with affliction, but You can give us the strength to keep going no matter what we are facing. Lord, give us Your power, grace, love, comfort, and the peace we need to keep going. Increase our faith in You, help our unbelief, and let us not forget all You have have blessed us with, even the little things, and the blessings You have waiting for us as we endure these trials. I ask these things in Your name, Jesus. Amen.

God Bless You, I am praying for you,

Christina

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