Speaker Sermon/Lesson Title Audio   Video  Text     MS Word Bobby Stafford All Your Commands Are Truth

All Your Commandments Are Truth

Introduction: 

The readers of James's letter had formerly been followers of the law of Moses. After their conversion to Christianity, they were forced to leave Jerusalem due to persecution. Some were starting to forget the importance of observing all the commands of the royal law. James stresses in our text that every commandment is essential and not to be forgotten or disregarded.

Text:  James 2:10-12, “For whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble in one point, he is guilty of all. 11 For He who said, "Do not commit adultery," also said, "Do not murder." Now if you do not commit adultery, but you do murder, you have become a transgressor of the law. 12 So speak and so do as those who will be judged by the law of liberty.”

Body:

1.      Law Is Vital

a.      We Are Under Christ’s Law Today - Jesus Christ said it in John 14: 21 “he who has my commands and keeps them, it is he who loves me.” Paul said in Galatians 6: 2, “bear one another's burdens, and soul fulfill the law of Christ.”  John said in 1 John 2:4, “he who says I know him and does not keep his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him”  Paul wrote in Romans 4:15, “Because the law worketh wrath: for where no law is, there is no transgression.”   1 Corinthians 9:21, “to those who are without law, as without law (not being without law toward God, but under law toward Christ), that I might win those who are without law; “

b.     We Are Also Under Grace Today -   Romans 6:14, “For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace.”  Does Paul's verse here contradict the above passages? Absolutely Not!  Grace is and always has been the basis of salvation, (Ephesians 2:8-9) we cannot live in such a way that God owes us salvation. We cannot merit it. Salvation is a gift from god. This grace is manifested to us through Christ, (Ephesians 2:4-7).  An example of this is 2 ways to have clean hands.  Never to get your hands dirty in the first place would be law as a basis of salvation.  Being allowed to wash them clean is grace as a basis of salvation. 

c.      How Grace And Law Work Together - God's grace through Christ has been made available to all men. Titus 2:11-12, “For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, 12 teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age”   grace is truly God's gift to men. Grace is something he did not have to make available. But the Bible makes it plain that not all will be saved. Therefore God's grace is conditional. This is where law comes into the picture.  Following the law of Christ attains God's grace for us. We must act to receive the blessings of grace.  Philippians 2:12-15, “Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; 13 for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure.  14 Do all things without complaining and disputing,  15 that you may become blameless and harmless, children of God without fault in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world”  yes, James wanted his readers to understand how vital God's law is. 

2.      Every Command of God is Essential - 2 Corinthians 10:5, “casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ,”

a.      James teaches it takes just one sin to be a lawbreaker.  By violating any portion of the law, one is condemned by law. One must keep all of Christ’s law to be lawful. One must break only one to be a law breaker. A murderer doesn't also have to steal to break the law. One broken law is sufficient.

b.     Some were teaching that if you scrupulously observed one command, you were in God's favor and did not need to obey the others. James said no that's not true. He gives an illustration. Read verse eleven of our text. The same God they gave one gave the other period to ignore anyone law was wrong! A person cannot justify stealing by saying that at least I am not a murderer.

c.      We have no right to decide one command is essential and another one is not. All of the law of God is pertinent and we cannot tamper with any part of it. When we read God's law for us today, and decide that some commands are essential And others are not, we have set ourselves up as God! We should never make the Claim that many of James readers were.  “I know I violated the law by showing partiality, but I did obey these other commands, so I'm OK”  it is not a valid defense against the charge of stealing to say that you did not murder.  James says a sin is a sin. It makes no difference whether we feel it is insignificant or not.  Let us remember Psalms 119:151, “You are near, O Lord, And all Your commandments are truth. “

3.      A Day Of Judgment Is Coming

a.     The verbs in the phrase “12 So speak and so do  in James  2:12 are present imperatives which mean “keep on speaking and doing”  realizing a day of judgment is coming.  2 Corinthians 5:10-11, “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.”   We should keep that day in view at all times.

b.     We Will Be Judged By The Law Of Liberty -  a law of freedom from what? Law? Certainly not! It's called the law of liberty! We are set free from sin, Romans 6:17-19, “But God be thanked that though you were slaves of sin, yet you obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine to which you were delivered. 18 And having been set free from sin, you became slaves of righteousness. “  We are set free by obeying the doctrine. This liberty is not licensed to do whatever we want, as many teach both inside and outside the church. In the book of second Peter, a book which deals primarily with false teachers, Peter describes some with these words, 2 Peter 2:18-19, “For when they speak great swelling words of emptiness, they allure through the lusts of the flesh, through lewdness, the ones who have actually escaped from those who live in error. 19 While they promise them liberty, they themselves are slaves of corruption; for by whom a person is overcome, by him also he is brought into bondage.” 

We can enjoy real freedom from sin and its consequences through Christ, John 8: 31-36.  Through Christ I can avoid condemnation, Romans 8:1-2, “There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. 2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death.”  The law of Moses could not give freedom, but the law of liberty can.

c.      Christ’s Law Will Be Read On Judgment Day Just As It Reads Now - John 12:48, “He who rejects Me, and does not receive My words, has that which judges him — the word that I have spoken will judge him in the last day.”  Battle all clearly states that violating just one command, any command, makes us a lawbreaker. At that point, we are in desperate need of God's saving grace period that grace is only found in Jesus Christ. But how do I accept this gift? Initially one must have faith in the son of God, repent of any and all sins, meaning to turn in a new direction, make the confession that Jesus is indeed the son of God, and then be immersed. This is the first act that puts us into Christ where grace is to be found, Romans 6:3-4, “Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? 4 Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.” 

d.     For those who have been baptized for the forgiveness of their sins, they must continue to confess their sins, repent and pray to God for Christ’s blood to continue to wash away their sins, 1 John 1:7-9, “But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin. 8 If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

Have you been set free from sin?

This has been a hard lesson, but we all want to be able to say as John Lewis is credited with saying, “I would rather have thousands to say to me at the judgment, we heard you preach and you heard our feelings, than to have just one lost soul to say I heard you preach, but you did not tell me the truth.”

We cannot start to categorize God's word. We cannot say one command is necessary and another is not. All of God's commandments are truth!

Have you been guilty of this? We all need to seriously ponder this! We cannot feel superior because we have committed only insignificant sins while others Commit the terrible sins. There is no such thing as an insignificant sin.

 

Prepared by Bobby Stafford

The church of Christ at Granby, MO

Located at
516 East Pine St.
P.O. Box 664
Granby, Mo. 64844
(417) 472-7109

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