Continuing with the preeminence of the LORD God or as He is today known as the Christ, for there is no separation of Spirit, for all operate and function as One. And since the day of the LORD or other wise called the day of transformation He became One with mans renewed spirit and the activating force of this Union is our belief which fosters within us His faith or the faithfulness of GOD. This is seen in Acts and thereafter through Paul like with the Lord Jesus Who operated under a sort of restraint (this being the Law of Moses, the Psalms and the Prophets, to bring to a close this Law of condemnation and blindness) but James not so much so. Here is how an old missionary stated this when teaching on James' little letter:
James
By Norman P. Grubb
"Then James begins to say certain details that will affect your tongue. He speaks quite a bit about tongue. It effect, the way we talk about things, the way we talk about people, expresses our habits. He says “you are unspotted from the world". In this new life you won't be interested in the worldly things. The world won't be able to pull you. You won't be interested or mixed up in things which do not express Christ. Unless you go into something by which you can witness to other people. It isn't that you go into them because you are interested in the things that are happening but because of your witness. You are an attached person inside. "You're unspotted from the world's" affections and world interest which would smear us, and we naturally serve others. So it comes out, "this pure religion before God and the Father, to want to help other people, the fatherless and widows. You are a lover of people in their situations."
So here is where he presented to them, what is really (in the inner sense) the key to “union life”, the meaning of Union Life. Yet, you have moved on from the begotten and you have listened because you discovered that you didn't have what you ought to have. You have these disturbances, these superfluities, these naughtinesses, these self and flesh coming different ways. You then look in and you have seen what Paul taught. This is the Law of Liberty, Gal 2:20. The Law of Liberty is what you are in Christ, crucified, risen, ascended, joined.
"Look into" means you reflect it. A mirror reflects. This is what you are. This is your "new self". When you find this "new-self you walk in it. In walking in it, it changes your conversation. New interests divulge that occupy your time and interests. It changes your habits of your life in the world. It changes your actions of service there is something in you that wants to help and bless those who are in need. This is Practical Christianity.
James, I take it has to write these things because somebody has to say them in practical outworking. Paul does it incidentally; of course, he talks about husbands, wives, servants and so on. Peter to some extent does. But James hammers on this. This is his message. It has a totally practical outworking. It is a real living faith that has a practical working better. Now of course, that could run us into bondage, if we didn't know better.
It doesn't dump us into bondage, if we know "The Law of Liberty". However, it does dump us into bondage, when we see two, "Oh! I ought to be that but I'm not". We have already seen that. "But wisdom I ought to have what shall I do and I'm all fussed up. Therefore it doesn't put you in bondage when you know to say "This is what I am': Don't say, "What I ought to be." Say, "This is what I am, 'this is what is happening." And when it doesn't happen, catch yourself up again. That's all. "It is all right. I slipped a moment." Don't say that I am that." "No, I was tempted to have a double mind about that; I don't take that. God can give me wisdom." You keep on the "I Am" level...that's this life. We 'are' level. The Christ, we are One. This is the secret! James's job is not to say too much about that. Others have said that, except to present it in its perfection. To say, "Now this is how it will work out."
From here I want to move on to my target for today dealing with Christ's Manifestation in the flesh of Jesus and because these two are but the same being as seen in Genesis 1 and 2 we miss the law, the nature of GOD, by blending it with the Law of Moses. To this I must confess as I also as a babe in Christ did in the beginning.
Manifested in the Incarnation,
Isaiah 7:10-17 "Again the LORD spoke to Ahaz, 'Ask a sign of the LORD your God; let it be deep as Sheol or high as heaven.' But Ahaz said, "I will not ask, and I will not put the LORD to the test." And He said, "Hear then, O house of David! Is it too little for you to weary men, that you weary my God also? Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel* (being GOD is with us). He shall eat curds and honey when He knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good. For before the boy knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good, the land whose two kings you dread will be deserted. The LORD will bring upon you and upon your people and upon your father's house such days as have not come since the day that Ephraim departed from Judah—the king of Assyria."
Isaiah 9:1-7 with 11:1 "But there will be no gloom for her who was in anguish. In the former time He brought into contempt the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, but in the latter time He has made glorious the way of the sea, the land beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the nations. The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has light shone. You have multiplied the nation; You have increased its joy; they rejoice before You as with joy at the harvest, as they are glad when they divide the spoil. For the yoke of his burden, and the staff for his shoulder, the rod of his oppressor, You have broken as on the day of Midian. For every boot of the tramping warrior in battle tumult and every garment rolled in blood will be burned as fuel for the fire. For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon His shoulder, and His name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of His government and of peace there will be no end, on the throne of David** and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will do this."
Isaiah 11:1-5 "There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit. For the Spirit of the LORD shall rest upon Him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the LORD. For His delight will be in the fear of the LORD. He will not judge by what His eyes see, nor decide disputes by what His ears hear, for with righteousness He will judge the poor, and decide with equity for the meek of the earth; and He will strike the earth with the rod of His mouth, and with the breath of His lips He will kill the wicked. Righteousness will be the belt of His waist, and faithfulness the belt of His loins."
Luke 1:26-38 with 2:7 "In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from GOD to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. And the virgin's name was Mary. And he came to her and said, "Greetings, O favored (agreeable with this) one, the LORD is with you!" But she was greatly troubled at the saying, and tried to discern what sort of greeting this might be. And the angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor (gratitude of heart) with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call His name Jesus* (Isaiah 7:14). He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the LORD God will give to Him the throne (2Samuel 7:12-16, Isaiah 9:7**) of His father David, and He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of His kingdom there will be no end." And Mary said to the angel, "How will this be, since I am a virgin?" And the angel answered her, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy—the Son of GOD. And behold, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son, and this is the sixth month with her who was called barren. For nothing will be impossible with GOD." And Mary said, "Behold, I am the servant of the LORD; let it be to me according to your word." And the angel departed from her."
Luke 2:1-7 "In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered. This was the first registration when Quirinius was governor of Syria. And all went to be registered, each to his own town. And Joseph also went up from Galilee, from the town of Nazareth, to Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David**, to be registered with Mary, his betrothed, who was with child. And while they were there, the time came for her to give birth. And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling (signifying His humility) cloths and laid him in a manger (as a lamb being prepared for slaughter), because there was no place for them in the inn."
John 1:14-18 with Acts 2:30, Romans 1:3 "And the Word (of promise) put on flesh and dwelt (tabernacled, for a short time or temporally) among us, and we have seen His glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. (John bore witness about Him, and cried out, "This was He of whom I said, 'He who comes after me ranks before me, because He was before me.'") For from His fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. For the Law was given through Moses; (the use of this sign ; means separation from) grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has ever seen GOD; the only GOD, Who is at the Father's side, He has made Him known."
Act 2:29-36 (Peter is speaking by the Spirit) "Brothers, I may say to you with confidence about the patriarch David that he both died and was buried, and his tomb is with us to this day. Being therefore a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him that He would set one of his descendants on his throne, (Psalm 132:11, 2Samuel 7:12f, Psalm 89:3f) he foresaw and spoke about the resurrection of the Christ, (Psalm 16:8-11) that He was not abandoned to Hades, nor did His flesh see corruption (this separated our flesh from His for ours sees corruption as a seed laid in the earth). This Jesus GOD raised up, and of that we all are witnesses. Being therefore exalted at the right hand of GOD, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, He has poured out this that you yourselves are seeing and hearing. For David did not ascend into the heavens, but he himself says (in Psalm 110:1), "'The LORD said to my Lord, 'Sit at My right hand, until I make Your enemies your footstool."' Let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that GOD has made Him both LORD and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified."
Romans 1:1-6 "Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God, which He promised beforehand through His prophets in the holy Scriptures, concerning His Son, Who was descended from David according to the flesh and was declared to be the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by His resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord, through Whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith for the sake of His name among all the nations, including you who are called to belong to Jesus Christ."
Romans 8:1-8 "There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law* of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the Law (of Moses) of sin and death. For GOD has done what the Law (of Moses), weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the (new) law* might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God's law*; indeed, it cannot. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God."
Philippians 2:1-11 "So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, Who, though He was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. For this reason (therefore) GOD has highly exalted Him and bestowed on Him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is LORD, to the glory of GOD the Father."
1Timothy 3:14-13 with Hebrews 2:14 "I hope to come to you soon, but I am writing these things to you so that, if I delay, you may know how one ought to behave in the household of GOD, which is the church of the living GOD, a pillar and buttress of the truth. Great indeed, we confess, is the mystery of godliness: He was manifested in the flesh, vindicated by the Spirit, seen by angels, proclaimed among the nations, believed on in the world, taken up in glory."
Hebrews 2:10-13, 14-18 "For it was fitting that He, for Whom and by Whom all things exist, in bringing many sons to glory, should make the founder of their salvation perfect through suffering. For He Who sanctifies and those who are sanctified all have one source. That is why HE is not ashamed to call them brothers, saying (in Psalms 22:22, "'I will tell of Your name to my brothers; in the midst of the congregation I will sing Your praise.'" And again (by Isaiah in 8:17), "'I will put My trust in Him.'" And again (by Isaiah in 8:18), "'Behold, I and the children GOD has given Me.'"
Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, HE Himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death HE might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver all those who through fear of death were made subject to lifelong slavery. For surely it is not angels that He helps, but He helps the offspring of Abraham. Therefore, He had to be made like His brothers in every respect, so that He might become a merciful and faithful High Priest in the service of GOD, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. For because HE Himself has suffered when tempted, He is able to help those who are being tempted."
1John 4:1-6 with 2John 7 "Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are of GOD, for many false prophets (under the influence of these false spirits; Deuteronomy 18:20 of 15-22) have gone out into the world. By this you know the Spirit of GOD: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from GOD, and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from GOD. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you heard was coming and now is in the world already. Little children, you are from God and have overcome them, for HE Who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. They are from the world; therefore they speak from the world, and the world listens to them. We are from GOD. Whoever knows GOD listens to us; whoever is not from GOD does not listen to us. By this we know the Spirit of Truth and the spirit of error."
2John 7-11 "For many deceivers have gone out into the world, those who do not confess the coming of Jesus Christ in the flesh. Such a one is the deceiver and the antichrist. Watch yourselves, so that you may not lose what we have worked for, but may win a full reward. Everyone who goes on ahead and does not abide in the teaching of Christ, does not have GOD. Whoever abides in the teaching has both the Father and the Son. If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not receive him into your house or give him any greeting, for whoever greets him takes part in his wicked works."
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