In 'Examining Our Faith by God's Standards,' Mike Davenport's sermon delves into James 1:19-27, urging believers to measure their faith against God's Word to discern genuine faith from counterfeit. The sermon parallels the training of federal agents in identifying counterfeit currency with the self-examination of faith, emphasizing that genuine faith should be rooted in obedience, humility, and action, not just hearing the Word. It presents five questions for self-examination: How well do you listen? How well do you receive the Word? How well do you study and continue in the Word? How well do you bridle your tongue? How well do you perform deeds that are unreturned, unnoticed, and unseen? Davenport stresses the danger of self-deception, highlighting that true faith is evidenced by actions such as visiting orphans and widows and keeping oneself unspotted from the world, which reflect a love for God and neighbor.

The word before us today is James chapter 1. If you will all turn to there right now please. It's chapter 1. It's verses 19 through 27. Thank you Lord for the reading of this word.

So then my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath. For the wrath of man does not produce the righteousness of God. Therefore, lay aside all filthiness and overflow of wickedness, and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls. But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror.

For he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was. But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, This one will be blessed in what he does. If anyone among you thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this one's religion is useless. Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this, to visit orphans and widows in their trouble and to keep oneself unspotted from the world. Let's pray.

Oh Lord, we do thank you for gathering us this morning. Lord, we thank you for all your tender mercies. Lord, the word that is before us this day, I pray for your Holy Spirit at this time, that we are a contrite people, that we have tender hearts both for who you have saved in this assembly and the unsaved as well Lord. We ask Lord that this word truly come into us like a conduit. Thank you Lord for your salvation.

We ask that our salvation be twofold, both in the love and trusting and obeying of you and also, Lord, that we do your will and your work. Lord, I ask for Your presence with Pastor Mike this morning. Oh Lord, please be with him. Fill them with your spirit, Lord. Enliven him, quicken him, Lord, for the task at hand.

Lord, we give you all the glory and praise in Jesus name. Well known Christian blogger and pastor Tim Chalice ran across a quote in John MacArthur's book, Reckless faith, that stated the following, federal agents don't learn to spot counterfeit money by studying the counterfeits. They study genuine bills until they master the look of the real thing. Then when they see the bogus money they recognize it. Well having run across many assertions like this before Tim decided to contact the Bank of Canada.

He lives there in the Toronto area and he'd heard this before. I've heard it plenty of times, maybe you have as well. Well, Tim decided to contact the Bank of Canada and conduct an interview with a woman he first met on the phone named Monica, who was an expert on currency and to find out the truth for himself. He then shared his experience in the following 2006 blog post. Monica asked me about my interest in counterfeit currency, and I told her about my interest in the field of discernment and the constant metaphors I have encountered that point towards the training provided to federal agents.

She seemed interested and decided that she would provide me with a basic rundown of how agents are trained. And so we began. It turns out that John MacArthur is correct. Training in identifying counterfeit currency begins with studying genuine money. There are certain identifying characteristics that are added to each bill printed by the Bank of Canada.

These characteristics are necessarily difficult to produce or to reproduce. Some are intended to stump the casual counterfeiter armed with no more than a scanner and color laser printer, and some will stump the more serious counterfeiter, even if armed with expensive high-tech equipment. She summarized the approach to distinguishing a genuine bill with the phrase, touch, tilt, look at, look through. The first step then is to touch the bill. Because currency is printed on unique cotton-based paper, a false bill will often feel false.

She described the most common reaction to the feel of a counterfeit bill as waxy. A person may not quite be able to describe it, but it just feels wrong. There are also two areas on a bill where raised print provides a tactile clue to a genuine bill. Having touched the bill, Monica described the tilt features. First she pointed out the holographic stripe which is remarkably difficult to accurately reproduce.

When the bill is tilted, this holograph will show all the colors of the rainbow. Additionally, each tiny maple leaf on the bill is color split so that it appears in two colors simultaneously. In two colors simultaneously. And when studied closely, tiny numbers identifying the denomination of the bill will appear in the background of this stripe. The third step is to look through the money.

By holding a bill to the light, several features appear. There is a small ghost-like watermark image of the bill's main portrait. In the case of a $20 bill, this means that a tiny portrait of Queen Elizabeth II appears immediately beside a more pronounced portrait. Another of these look-through features is a gold thread woven through the bill that will appear solid when held up against the light source, but broken or staggered if counterfeited. The final step is to look at.

Look at features include the fine line printing within the bill's portrait and certain background patterns. These lines and patterns are so fine that they cannot be adequately reproduced by the casual counterfeiter. That was my introduction to counterfeit detection and now my training would be put to the test. Monica placed before me a stack of bills of varying denominations. I knew that Some were genuine and some were counterfeit.

I soon learned that identifying counterfeit currency is not a terribly difficult task. When a person knows what to look for, When he has been trained to examine the bill for particular identifying characteristics, identifying genuine from fraudulent can be done with great accuracy even on the basis of only a small amount of training. I successfully identified each piece of counterfeit currency. Monica taught me the defining characteristics of a genuine bill. There were certain markers she told me to look for, fine line printing, raised print, holographs, watermarks, and the like.

By focusing on these markers, most of which are difficult to duplicate and are thus missing from counterfeit bills, I was able to make quick but confident judgments. A point she conveyed several times is that counterfeiters usually only put in a minimal effort. They seek to make a copy of the original that is only good enough to pass a cursory inspection. Well today we find ourselves in the epistle of James chapter 1 verses 19 through 27. James, in these verses, is calling us to a careful examination of what we refer to as our religion, our faith.

And he does this so that we might fully understand and make right judgments. He like this Bank of Canada currency expert, reveals to us that counterfeiters usually put in a minimal effort. They seek to make a copy of the original that is only good enough to pass cursory inspection. Dear ones, are you ready to hold up what you declare to be your faith and test it according to the standards James holds before us in regards to what true, genuine, actual faith looks like. Are you ready for the test?

Are you willing to accept what this test will reveal? Are you willing to call counterfeit what the test reveals as counterfeit? Well, we will look at this portion of James under the following five headings, which are actual questions by which our faith is to be tested or examined. First, how well do you listen? Secondly, how well do you receive the Word?

Thirdly, how well do you study and continue in the Word? Fourth, How well do you bridle your tongue? And then fifthly, how well do you perform that which goes unreturned, unnoticed, and unseen? So the first test James sets before us in order that we might examine our faith is how well do you listen. So then my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath, for the wrath of man does not produce the righteousness of God.

As James introduces a different subject here in chapter one, he does not do so without tying things back to what he has already said. He introduces this next sections with the words, so then. Or as the ESV translates it, know this. What James has said thus far points to the truth he is about to share. As a response to what he has already said, we must know or be confident of the following things.

James here begins to set before us this examination of our faith, and as he does so, it is important to grasp the standard to which he is calling us to examine ourselves. Just as in the example at the introduction of the message, there always has to be a standard by which we distinguish the genuine from the counterfeit. What is that standard? James sets before us the unchanging word of God. He introduces this to us in the previous verse, verse 18, of his own will.

He brought us forth by the word of truth that we might be a kind of first fruits of his creature. This word of truth is set before us in our passage today in several different figures, the figures of seed, of a mirror, and of the perfect law of liberty. In setting the Word of God before us, James takes all of these examination points, these five questions, he takes them back and points to the Scriptures. What is a proper reaction to the Word? What is an effective reception of the Word?

And what is genuine obedience to the Word of God? So the first question of this examination of our faith as we look to this standard of the Word of God is how well do you listen? James sets before us the response of genuine faith and calls his readers to this proper response. Be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath. Now there is a logical reasoning in the order that these admonitions are given.

Swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath. First, if we are swift to hear, we will, by virtue of that listening, be slow to speak. We cannot do both. We can't do both. Nor can we assume then in reverse order that because we are slow to speak, we are definitely swift to hear?

There's not the reverse order. But Secondly, if we are slow to speak, we will be slow to wrath. A wrathful response in almost every case is due to the fact that we have not fully understood the reasoning or the rationale of the other person and their action. But instead, we were quick to give them a piece of our mind. Well, we should not only consider this admonition of quickness to listen in regards to those around us, it applies to that.

To those around us, our spouse, our children, our brothers and sisters in Christ, we should be swift to hear, slow to speak, and slow to wrath. But we should also be like this in our response to God's sovereignty, especially in the areas James has already drawn our attention to in trials and temptations. As we saw earlier, God orchestrates with his own hands the unfolding of our trials, And he allows by his providence the occurrences of our temptations. So how do we, how do we respond to those things? Are you and am I quick to listen?

Or is the opposite the case, that we are quick to speak? Because we are slow to listen Well note what James says is that stake in regards to how we listen, how we hear the righteousness of God. That's what's at stake. The very righteousness of God. Note the equations that he states this in.

A quickness to hear equals a slowness to speaking and a slowness to a wrathful response equals the righteousness of God. But consider that equation in the opposite way. A slowness to hear equals a quickness to respond that leads to quickness of my own wrath equals unrighteousness. That's what's at stake. Mistake.

Proverbs 10-19 says, In the multitude of words, sin is not lacking, but he who restrains his lips is wise. Examine your faith by this standard. How well do you listen? Listen to what God says in his word and even listen to others. Secondly, how well do you receive the Word?

How well do you receive the Word? Verse 21, therefore lay aside all filthiness and overflow of wickedness and receive with meekness the implanted word which is able to save your souls. The swiftness to listen just considered aids us in the following of this next admonition of James. There is a twofold action that our faith is called to in this verse. We are to lay aside and we are to meekly receive.

To lay aside and meekly receive. In order to receive we must lay aside. Well, what are we to lay aside? All filthiness and overflow of wickedness. James is not setting before us a very pretty picture of ourselves, But it is a picture consistent with the scriptures Listen to what Paul says in Romans 7 18 For I know that in me that is in my flesh nothing good dwells Listen to what Paul also says to the church at Colossi in Colossians 3, 10, and following.

But now you yourselves are to put off, there's the laying aside, you're to put off all these things, anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy language out of your mouth. Do not lie to one another since you have put off the old man with his deeds and have put on the new man who was renewed in knowledge according to the image of him who created him." Paul also adds his admonition to the Corinthians and 2 Corinthians 7.1. Therefore, having these promises, beloved, these promises from the Word of God, Let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God. We must be about this business of putting off the filth and defilement that so easily clings to us. And James says we are to do this in order that we might receive with meekness this implanted word which is able to save your souls.

Note first that it is a word implanted. It's implanted. God's Word is to a believer's heart a gospel seed planted deep in the soil of the plowed up heart. This word begins as a seed, but as the parable of our Lord teaches us, that implanted seed produces fruit. We are to receive with meekness all that into which this seed grows.

That's what we're to receive with meekness. Everything into which this implanted seed grows. This implanted seed grows in delighting in the Word with a spirit of meekness and meditating on that Word. This implanted seed has the effect on us of making us like a tree planted by the rivers of water. But it must be received with meekness.

This meekness will be exhibited in what way? By our swiftness to hear and slowness to speak. Well, having shown us what we are to receive, this implanted word, and how we are to receive it with meekness, James goes on to tell us why. He tells us why we are to receive this implanted word. It is able to save your souls.

This saving of the soul is not the initial work of justification, okay? That happens when the seed of the gospel is implanted in the soul of our hearts and takes root. This saving is referring to the final redemption of man mentioned by Paul in Romans 8, 18 through 25. So the Word of God is able to bring us to our full and final redemption. It truly is a lamp to our feet and a light to our path.

So we should really see this as a work of sanctification. This continual receiving this word that's been implanted, receiving it with meekness. It's a work of sanctification. That genuine faith is about the business of laying aside the sins of the heart and receiving in a spirit of humility all that this implanted word instructs us in regarding how to live for Christ in newness of life. And so James' question for us is how well do you receive that word?

Is this reception accompanied by a meekness and by the laying aside of our own sinful ways? Let me ask it in a more sobering and penetrating way. Penetrating way. Knowing that this word and that the receiving of this word has an impact on the very destiny of your eternal soul, How much meekness, how much humility are you exercising this very moment as you hear this Word of God. Is there a swiftness to hear and a humility to receive?

Gordon Keddie in his commentary on James provides the following quote from a Mr. R. Johnstone who was a pastor over in Scotland. Over in Scotland. He says, by thoughtful, prayerful, earnest effort to vanquish sin, the dimming, begriming, encrustations which have gathered on the windows of the soul are removed and the beams of heavenly light shine in.

That's the picture here. All of that filth and grime and incrustations that have just built up on the windows of our soul, the washing away, the laying aside of that filthiness and receiving with meekness that heavenly light through the windows of our soul. Well after asking us how well do you listen and how well do you receive the word? James continues to call us to examine our faith by asking us thirdly how well do you study and continue in the word? How well do you study and continue in the word?

Verses 22 to 25. But be doers of the word and not hearers only deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in the mirror, for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was. But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does. Here in verse 22, James sets before us one of the most frightening thoughts that can never be contemplated, the real possibility of being self-deceived.

Possibility of being self-deceived. James talks about deception in this chapter a lot. He's already dealt with deception in terms of the drawing away of our hearts by our desires to an attraction, to a preoccupation that conceives and gives birth to sin and that to death. And James says, do not be deceived. But here, James is warning these same ones that he believes to be believers, do not be self-deceived.

Those who are but hearers of the word only deceive themselves. Now, James is not here discouraging the hearing of the word, right? He's not discouraging the hearing of the word. Right? He's not discouraging the hearing of the word.

Rather, James is saying that we must go beyond the mere hearing of the word. So an urgent question for us this morning. Are we deceiving ourselves? Are we deceiving ourselves? Are we content with a religion of simply hearing?

Well, James gives us a breakdown between the man who merely hears the word and the man who hears and then obeys this word. First he describes the man who only hears. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror. For he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was. Now many have suggested, as they've tried to explain this passage, that this man spent only seconds looking at himself, a mere glance in the mirror, and then goes his way and forgets what the mirror revealed.

However, the Greek word for observing indicates something very different. This observing in the Greek is to consider to consider attentively to fix one's eye or mind upon There's an attentiveness in observing. There's a fixing of the eye and the mind. So this man actually gives much attention to himself in light of what is reflected. The problem, the problem is what James shares next.

He goes away and immediately forgets what kind of man he was or what kind of man he was revealed to be. He goes and he forgets. He goes on about his day and what he saw has no lasting impact on him. Though he studied himself, he has forgotten what was revealed. Now before we move on to the description of the second man, I think we must note an important element of distinction between these two men that often falls through the crack.

Please note that this first man is described as one who observes his natural face in the mirror for he observes himself. Okay? The focus of the second man as we shall see in a moment here is different. Dear brother and sister, please don't miss this. Don't miss this.

The focus of this first man, The reason why he looks at the Scriptures, yes, the very reason why he fixes his eye and mind on the very things that he reads there is that he cares what his natural face looks like. It's all about him. He observes himself in order to see what others actually see of him as they gaze upon him. His focus on the mirror is just simply, what do I look like? What am I observing?

I'm observing myself. With Judgment Day honesty, Would you have to say that your interaction with the Word of God is simply to address the outward appearance? What you look like? What you look like. If so, James says you have already deceived yourself.

But James also describes a second man, the man who not only hears but does, but he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does. Having just drawn attention to the focus of the man who merely hears, James would have us note the focus of the man who also obeys. What is it? It's the perfect law of liberty. He looks into the perfect law of liberty.

Now this definition of the word here translated looks in our text is to look carefully into, to inspect curiously, a word used of one who would become acquainted with something. So he wants to be acquainted. He's really inspecting. He's looking. It's not a quick glance either.

He is looking and inspecting as one who really wants to be acquainted with that Word and with himself. The perfect law of liberty. Many modern-day evangelicals despise the law of God. They understand correctly and proclaim rightly that Christ did come and fulfill the law on our behalf. That is true.

However, they would say that this fulfillment of the law by Christ either abolishes the law or minimizes the place of the law in the life of the one who rests in Christ's fulfillment of that law. In light of this, note the significance of James' New Testament description of this Word of God, the perfect law of liberty. First, he refers to it as the perfect law that is to say a complete law remember We've seen that word already let patience have this perfect work that you may be complete, that you may be perfect. So this perfection here, this, it's a, it says that it's adequate, it's complete, it's lacking nothing. But secondly, he refers to it as this perfect law of Liberty That is to say the law of God in its right relationship to the gospel Liberty Let me listen to this well liberty in relation to the law is found only in one's right relationship to Jesus Christ.

Outside of Christ the law is both binding and Condemning and when I use that word binding, I'm not saying using that word as necessary and condemning I'm using that word binding as declaring guilty handcuffed condemned that's what the law does to us outside of Christ but in Jesus Christ the law no longer condemns but becomes to that believer now a liberating delight a liberating delight Is that what God's Word is to you? If not, maybe that's why you're not so swift to hear. It should be a law of liberty, a law of liberty. Recall the words of John that we studied back when we were in 1 John, 1 John 5.3, for this is the love of God that we keep His commandments and his commandments are not burdensome. It's a law of liberty.

But the description of these two men differ not only in relation to their focus, one looking to himself, seeing himself, the other's focus, while he is seeing himself, that it's on that law of liberty. What does God say? What does he say? What does the word say here? It differs not only in their focus, but also what they do after their interaction with that Word of God.

James informs us that the second man continues in what he observes and is not a forgetful hearer, but actually a doer of the work. Rather than going his way and immediately forgetting, this man continues. He does not forget. He acts upon the very things he observed and because of that We are told that this man is blessed in What he does This description, you know I'd mentioned earlier about this implanted seed and the fruit that comes from it kind of reminds me of Psalm 1. Well, think about Psalm 1 in light of this man who is actually doing it.

Here's that same word, blessed. Blessed is the man whose delight is in the law of the Lord. And in his law, He meditates day and night. He just didn't hear it. He received it with meekness and he's studying it and he's doing it.

He meditates day and night. And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water that brings forth this fruit in its season whose leaf also shall not wither and whatever he does shall prosper. James was very familiar with Psalm 1. If this is indeed God's standard for our faith to both study His Word and continue in it with the result of fruitful obedience, How does your faith fare under such examination? Do not deceive yourself.

You either go your way and immediately forget what you observed, or you continue in it and seek to obey what was revealed through it. But James does not stop here. He wants us to understand what it really means to be a doer of the work. I mean he just said, hey, don't be hearers only but be doers of the work. He wants us to understand what that looks like.

And so the fourth examination question comes and says, how well do you bridle your tongue? How well do you bridle your tongue? Verse 26, if anyone among you thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, This one's religion is useless. Once again in this passage, James calls us to a fearful consideration of self-deception. Self-deception.

This deception occurs when one's mind convinces their heart of a true work of religion that actually does not measure up to God's standard. How many are there who consider themselves religious and yet do not bridle their tongue? James says that a religion that is accompanied with the failure to control the tongue is a useless, good-for-nothing religion. Well, James has already called us to be slow to speak, a slowness to speak that flows out of a quickness to hear, but but now he declares that when you do speak when it is right and the right time for you to speak speak with a tongue that is bridled children do you know what a bridle is? Do you know what a bridle is?

Do you know what a bridle is? What is James talking about? A tongue that has a bridle on Well, Webster's 1828 dictionary describes a bridle like this. It's the instrument with which a horse is governed and restrained by a rider. Now bridles can be different depending on the purpose intended by the one who's writing, but also it can be different depending on what area of the world you live in.

But pretty much all of them have some form or fashion of the following things. So first there's a head stall. It can also be called a crown piece. This is a strap of leather that goes over the horse's head and rests right behind the animal's ears as part of this bridle. Okay?

Then there are cheek pieces, cheek pieces. These are the straps that attach to this head stall and they run down both sides of the horse's face and attach to two rings on either side of the horse's mouth. So you've got this head stall and you've got these cheek pieces that run down to two rings. But then there's a throat latch, a throat latch, and that's a strap that runs from one side of the head stall up here at the top where it attaches to the cheek pieces and it runs up and down and around and under the throat and It attaches there and it's it's there to keep it from slipping off We want that bridle to stay in place Okay, then there's a brow band and this is a separate strap that connects to the crown piece and cheek piece and runs across the forehead of the horse between the two ears. Then there's a noseband and the noseband actually encircles the nose of the horse between the two rings that are at the back corner of the horse's mouth.

And this is to help keep the horse's mouth closed around there, around that which the bridle is. So you got this bit in there and this helps keep the horse's mouth closed and able to be bridled because of the bit that's controlled there. So then we've got the bit and this is the metal bar that fits between these two rings at the back corner of the horse's mouth and it rests on the sensitive interdental space Between the horse's teeth there's a little sensitive place there and that Metal rod in the back of their mouth to which these rings are attached in all the leather straps It sits there, and it's sensitive to that horse. You pull back on that horse, that horse is like, oh, he feels it. But then there are the reins, the reins.

The reins are the leather straps that are attached to those two rings and they're loose and they circle back around the backside of the horse's head and they are held by the rider of that horse. And by holding those reins the rider of that horse is able to govern that horse, to restrain that horse from going its own way. That's what a bridle is. So the next time you see somebody riding a horse, notice all the leather straps and the rings on that horse. It's so that that rider can make that horse do what he wants it to do.

So James is telling us there must be an instrument in place by which our tongues can be governed and restrained. What items make up the bridle that directs the tongue in the way it should go? Well James has declared a few of these things to us earlier in this chapter. One of those is the wisdom of God for which we should be praying in the midst of our trials. That's one part of this bridle, the wisdom of God.

Second is a right knowledge of who God is so that an unbridled tongue is not so ready to declare, it's God who tempted me. A right knowledge of God will bridle our tongue. But also a confidence in God's purpose in bringing about in us the new birth in order that we might be made his first fruits. The knowledge of what God is doing in us should bridle our tongues. But we have seen today other pieces that make up this bridle a swiftness to hear what God has for us a meekness to receive what God intends for us and a constant gazing at continuing in and responding to the law of God as it relates to us in the gospel of his son.

So these are the ways James has given us whereby we are enabled, the reins are set in our hands, for us to be able to bridle our tongues. And this is the work of faith. This should be there. Now the bridling of the tongue is such an important matter in regards to examining the veracity, the trueness of our faith that James actually spends a lot more time talking about the tongue later in his epistle. But here in this chapter where we find ourselves today James would have each of us examine our faith in the light of this penetrating question, how well do you bridle your tongue?

Well that brings us to the last question in this examination of our faith, namely how well do you perform that which is unreturned, unnoticed, and unseen? How well do you perform that which is unreturned, unnoticed, and unseen? How well do you perform that which is unreturned, unnoticed, and unseen? Verse 27. Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this, to visit orphans and widows in their trouble and to keep oneself unspotted from the world.

Dear ones, what matters most about your religion is what God thinks of it. What matters most about your religion is what God thinks of it. James has warned us multiple times in this chapter of the frightening reality of being deceived and of even deceiving our own selves. But the reality is that our faith, our religion, must meet God's standards. That is why James has taken the time to provide us this grid for an examination of our faith our Religion is not pure and undefiled unless God says that it is pure and undefiled What you seem to be before men and women is not important at the end of the day.

Therefore to simply behold your natural face as in a mirror so that you and those around you are are satisfied with how you look is to welcome self-deception. But gazing into the perfect law of liberty and continuing in it reveals a heart that desires to have a religion that is considered pure and undefiled by the all-seeing eyes of God Well in order to free us to free us from self-deception James sets before us a religion that is both pure, that is sincere and genuine, but also that is undefiled, that is free from that by which the nature of religion is deformed and debased, or by which the force and vigor of that religion is impaired. Religion is impaired. So sincere, genuine, non-deformed, unimpaired religion in the sight of God can be summed up in two things. Visiting orphans and widows in their trouble and keeping oneself unspotted from the world.

So first, to visit orphans and widows in their trouble. Your initial response to these words of James may be to kind of scratch your head. You know, what's James getting at? You know, if you were to define religion, true faith, this is probably not where you would start. So why does James use this as one of God's standards of pure, true, undefiled religion?

Well, I believe that these two tests that James sets before us embody the sum of all the commandments Do you remember the sum of all the commandments? To love God and to love your neighbor and I think James has given us prime examples of what it means to love God and to love your neighbor and I think james has given us prime examples of what it means to love god and to love your neighbor james gives them to us and what I see is a reverse order So he deals first with what does love look like to your neighbor? Now, the words to visit, to visit in the original, okay, is not to go and have a cup of tea and a biscuit. That's not what it means to go and to visit. It is, from the original, to look upon, or to look after, or to inspect or examine with the eyes in order to see how that one is getting along.

And so this idea of visiting implies a sacrifice, a sacrifice of time, a sacrifice of effort, and possibly a sacrifice of resources if Needs were to demand those resources But this test not only involves what we are doing visiting but to whom we are doing it, to orphans and widows in their trouble. Why orphans and widows? Well I believe James is telling us to examine our faith in the light of tasks performed which go unreturned and unnoticed. You see all man-made man-centered religion thrives on deeds which are highly noted highly regarded by many by many and and deeds which often involve a return on our investment. Consider the vast difference between the ways of the Pharisees and the ways of Christ sheep given to us in the Gospel of Matthew.

First in Matthew chapter 7 Jesus describes the Pharisees as ones who do charitable deeds before men to be seen by men who sound a trumpet when they perform their deeds in the synagogues and in the streets and they do all of this why That they might have glory from men. Does that sound like visiting orphans and widows in their needs? But consider in the same gospel of Matthew what Jesus had to say in Matthew 25 where he describes his sheep and he only uses this description of them. It's not a long description of all of these things that they do, it's one description, meeting needs. For I was hungry and you gave me food.

I was thirsty and you gave me drink. I was a stranger and you took me in. I was naked and you clothed me. I was sick and you visited me. I was in prison and you came to me This is the only description It's not the only true description, but it is a description that Jesus focuses on when he's dividing the sheep from the goats and Jesus also gave these sheep because these sheep are like when did we do this?

When did we do this to you? Oh Lord Jesus adds this assuredly I say to you in as much as you did it to whom One of the least of these my brethren." Orphans and widows are considered often to be the least of these. If not, just look at how the world treats them. How different should Christians treat them? Why?

Because it's an examination of our faith. Are we willing to be doers of works for which we won't be repaid? For which possibly no one will ever know? That's what true faith does. That's what true faith does.

But note in Matthew 25, Jesus declares that he takes note he sees and He repays It's not in vain But secondly true religion before God is summed up as to keep oneself unspotted from the world to keep oneself unspotted from the world to keep oneself unspotted from the world the word translated here to keep in the original means to guard to guard from loss or injury properly by keeping the eye a pun And the word unspotted conveys the idea of being free from vice, unsullied. So we are to keep an eye upon our souls in order to guard them from the loss or injury That comes from the conforming vice and filth of this world And don't forget what James says don't just think about Unspotted from the world but remember in light of that where he said temptation comes from Temptation comes when we are drawn away, not by the world, but by our own desires and are enticed. Such a keeping, such a guard, springs from a heart that truly loves God. And that's why I think in these two things that James sets before our faith, we have the love of God and the love of our neighbor.

We love God so much that we want to be unspotted from this world. This keeping of oneself unspotted from the world is nothing less than refusing to be attracted and preoccupied with that which our desires set before us Were to lay aside all of that filthiness and overflow of wickedness. And you see, this work of guarding our hearts, of keeping ourselves unspotted from the world, This really is an unseen work. It's an unseen work. No one sees the battles waged in our hearts.

But it is a work that must go on if religion, if our religion, is to be considered by God pure and undefiled. So those are the examination questions James sets before us today. How well do you listen? How well do you receive the Word? How well do you study and continue in the Word?

How well do you bridle your tongue? And How well do you perform in those things which are unreturned, unnoticed, or unseen? My brother, my sister, how is it with your faith in regards to these areas. It's so easy to be self-deceived. It's easy to think ourselves religious, but what do the results of this examination reveal?

Having been given directions as to what to look at and having studied the currency standard set before us in God's Word as held forth by James here in James 1, is your faith real or is it counterfeit? You cannot afford, you cannot afford to get this wrong. May each of us have hearts that cry out like the psalmist in Psalm 139 verses 23 and 24. Search me, O God, and know my heart. Try me and know my anxieties and see if there is any wicked way in me and lead me in the way everlasting.

May God give us all grace. Oh Father, we ask that you would come by the power of your spirit Lord help us to To look at our faith in light of what James has set before us To hold it to tilt it to look at it to look through it oh God and we might have eyes to see and ears to hear. Oh Father, where we have been lax in obedience in these areas. Come by your spirit. Strengthen us in these areas to follow you wholeheartedly that we might truly be those whose religion is pure and undefiled because of your grace.

Christ's name, Amen.