<h3>Study # 6<br />October 1, 1997<br />Harlingen, Texas<BR /><a href="https://www.biblical-thinking.org/DOC-Jas/audio.php?name=James19971001.mp3">(Download Audio)</a></h3>
 
Thesis: Adopting the proper perspective toward difficulties requires that we understand that there are some real and final gains and losses that derive from our decisions. 

Introduction: The doctrine of justification by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone, to the glory of God alone, has always carried with it a certain dangerous false tendency: the tendency to think that a single decision at a single point in time in this life opens all of the glory of heaven up to the justified one. But this is a deceitful lie. It is a lie that James understood clearly and one which he was adamant about unveiling. This evening we want to look into James' perspective on heaven. 

<ul><li>I. First Question: Was Heaven What Was On James' Mind? 
	<ul><li>A. Our definition of 'heaven', for this study, is simply our post resurrection experience of the glory of God in all of its infinitude. 
	<li>B. Indications of James' real interest... 
		<ul><li>1. His use of 'all joy' indicates a future with no negative irruptions. 
		<li>2. His focus upon a future day of 'lacking nothing' indicates a future beyond this life. 
		<li>3. His focus upon the transitory reality of our experience in this world makes too great a focus on this world foolish (1:10-11 and 4:14) 
		<li>4. His central promise in chapter 1 of the coming of the crown of life indicates a time beyond this world. 
		<li>5. His warning of the deceptiveness about sin leading to death makes very limited sense if physical death is his meaning. 
			<ul><li>a. Everyone is destined for physical death whether we sin or not. 
			<li>b. The problem with physical death is not physical death: it is what comes afterwards. 
			<li>c. Thus, James' real interest was not the believers' physical longevity, but the believers' final condition. 
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		<li>6. His focus on inheritance in the Kingdom to come (2:5) means he is more interested in Heaven than he is in our present experience. 
		<li>7. His demand that we live in light of the coming judgment (2:12-13; 3:1; 4:12; 5:1-3; 5:7-9) points to his greater interest in our future than in our present.
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<li>II.  Second Question:  What Was James Worried About?
	<ul><li>A. First, Middle, and Last, he was concerned that believers would yield to temptation and, by so doing, lose big time in Heaven to come.
    	<ul><li>1. There is no point to the level of his concern in chapters 1 and 5 if his only interest was in the losses we sustain in this transitory vapour of smoke called life on this earth.
        <li>2. There is no point to the exhortation to resist temptation with a proper perspective if there is no such thing as a real loss for the justified believer.
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    <li>B. Clearly James saw the 'crown of life' as something more than what justification offers.
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<li>III. Third Question: What IS the issue of the judgment of believers prior to their release into the pursuits of the glory of God? 
	<ul><li>A. If nothing is immutably settled by judgment, judgment means nothing. 
	<li>B. What is at stake is what is FIXED immutable by the judgment of the believer. 
	<li>C. James reveals his understanding of what is fixed by his exhortation in 1:2: JOY is the fixed commodity in heaven; i.e., how much can you experience? 
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