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Through the Bible with Les Feldick
LESSON 3 * PART 3 * BOOK 53
James 1:24 – 3:6
James 2:9a
"But if ye have respect to persons,…" James 2:9b-10
"…ye commit sin, and are convinced of the law (the Ten) as transgressors. The Law was demanding. If you break one, you’re guilty of breaking them all.
James 2:11
Now if thou commit no adultery, yet if thou kill, thou art become a transgressor of the law." All right, now then verse 12.
James 2:12
Not according to the Law of liberty, but according to this Scripture right here.
Romans 2:16
"In the day (Paul writes) when God (the Sovereign, Holy, Righteous God) shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ, (He’s going to be the judge remember at the Great White Throne where all the lost will be gathered - and he will judge them) according to my gospel." Every man woman and child that has lived on this side of this Age of Grace is going to be judged by Paul’s Gospel. Now you all know what Paul’s Gospel is, don’t you? Paul’s Gospel of Salvation was given to him by the resurrected Lord, and is found in I Corinthians chapter 15, verses 1 through 4. Here’s Paul’s Gospel, and this is the Gospel by which mankind is now going to be judged. Verse 1.
I Corinthians 15:1
(now remember Paul is writing to believers) Pagans, idolaters, worshippers of the mythological gods and goddesses. But now, because they had believed Paul’s Gospel, Paul could call them brethren. All right, verse 2.
I Corinthians 15:2
"By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain." (Romans 11:13) Peter, James and John haven’t been to Corinth. Paul alone comes into this pagan city. Hey, with God nothing just "happens." Well, that’s Paul’s Gospel and that’s the message that every human being is going to be judged on in this Age of Grace. Not whether they kept the Law. Not if they’ve been good, but rather, have they believed Paul’s Gospel?
Let’s come back to James. And so the comparison is, James is still telling his Jewish people here, they’re going to be judged by the Law of liberty. At that time, those early Jewish believers had to believe that Jesus was their promised Messiah, the Son of God. Law and Grace simply cannot mix. Too many try to add things to Paul’s Gospel that God did not put in there! Now can you see that beautiful difference between Law and Grace? Now verse 13 in James chapter 2.
James 2:13
Now verse 14.
James 2:14
"What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and have not works? can faith save him?"
I know I’ve sinned. God knows my heart. Was that man made right with God? How can a man under the Law possibly be right with God if he doesn’t fulfill the works that the Law demanded? Let’s say the third neighbor commits a sin on the outer perimeters. Was that man justified? All right, now James is making that same analogy and that’s where he’s right on for James.
James 2:14a
"What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and have not works?…" Verse 15.
James 2:15-16
So what is James teaching? We’re to do good works for all the right reasons, even in this Age of Grace. Now verse 17.
James 2:17
"Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone." James just simply says, "If I don’t see works, then you don’t have faith." Paul says, "If you have faith, you’re going to have works." Ephesians 2:4-5
"But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, 5. (by grace ye are saved;)" Now verse 6.
Ephesians 2:6-7
Now verse 8:
Ephesians 2:8a
"For by grace (by God’s unmerited favor) are ye saved through faith;…" Not works. Faith! All right, but God doesn’t stop there. Reading the verse again.
Ephesians 2:8-9
"For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: (because) it is the gift of God:" (you don’t work for it, it’s unmerited favor) 9. Verse 10. For once we are saved, once we have entered in by our faith in Paul’s Gospel (that Christ died, was buried and rose from the dead), we’ve entered in by faith then:
"For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works,… God’s! God moves in and He works a work in our heart and life without our lifting a finger, so we are "His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works,…"
God. Do the good works. All right, so, "We are created in Christ Jesus unto good works." Paul was telling us that when we become a true believer, and the Holy Spirit begins to work the work in our lives, you’re going to do good works. All right reading on, finish the verse:
"…which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them." Come back to James and let’s read verse 17 again:
James 2:17
"Even so (James says) faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone."

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