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Now, here's today's podcast from Pathway to Victory. Hi, this is Robert Jeffers and I'm glad to study God's Word with you every day on this Bible teaching program on today's edition of Pathway to Victory. He said, but if by chance a man comes into your assembly with a gold ring and dressed in fine clothes, now that word translated gold ring literally means he's gold fingered. That's where my sermon title came, not from the James Bond movie, but from the gold-fingered man. Welcome to Pathway to Victory with author and pastor Dr.
Robert Jeffers. We all tend to treat people differently based on their appearance or social status. Maybe we're a little more friendly to the well-dressed person or maybe the person who drives an expensive car. Today on Pathway to Victory, Dr. Robert Jeffress explains why preferential treatment isn't just rude, it's actually sinful.
But first, let's take a minute to hear some important ministry updates. Thanks, David, and welcome again to Pathway to Victory. As you head to church this weekend, I want to challenge you with a sobering question. Do you treat the millionaire businessman the same way you treat the single mother struggling to make ends meet? James chapter 2 warns that showing favoritism based on wealth isn't just poor manners.
It's spiritual hypocrisy that contradicts the very gospel we claim to believe. This Sunday, let your church be a place where everyone experiences the same grace you've received from Christ. We'll do a deep dive on this topic in just a moment. You'll also find a chapter in my brand new book devoted to this relevant issue. My book is titled, How to Know If You're Really Saved, a study in the book of James.
James reveals 11 practical tests, from handling trials to controlling your tongue, that expose genuine faith versus religious pretense. And I'm convinced when you apply his biblical wisdom to your life, It'll transform your walk. with God. Let me send you a copy today. I'm pleased to do that when you give a generous gift to support the ministry of Pathway to Victory.
In addition to my book, Pathway to Victory has assembled a variety of other helpful resources for James as well, and we'll share those details later in the program. Right now, let's turn in our Bibles to James chapter 2. I titled today's message When Mr. Goldfinger Comes to Church. We're in a series titled How to Know If You're Really Saved.
It's based on the book of James. And James says there's going to be some evidence if you're truly a child of God. Where there is faith. There's going to be fruit. And if there's no spiritual fruit, then there is no faith.
Faith without works is a dead, non-existent faith. And now James is going to give us another test of whether or not we're really saved. And that is, how do we deal with those less fortunate than we are economically? Turn in your Bibles to James chapter 2. Beginning with verse 1, James begins with the exhortation.
Look at what the text says: My brethren, do not hold your faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ with an attitude of personal favoritism. For if a man comes into your assembly with a gold ring and dressed in fine clothes, and there also comes a poor man in dirty clothes. You say to the one who is wearing the fine clothes, verse 3: You sit here in a good place. I want you to have the best seats in the house. But to the second visitor, what does he say?
Dusher says, we don't have a ring for you. Or, if you really have to sit down, sit not on the footstool of somebody else, sit by the footstool. You should never favor anybody in the church when it results in disfavoring somebody else. That's what was going on in this service.
Now, the explanation, here's what's wrong with that. James says, have you not made distinctions among yourselves or become judges with evil motives? This is a common theme in the letter of James, being a double-minded person. What is it about favoring the rich that makes a person double-minded? What's so wrong with that?
Let me mention three problems with it. First of all, to favor the rich subjugates the plan of God. It subjugates, it contradicts, it undermines the plan of God when we favor the rich. Listen to what James says in James 2:5. Listen, my beloved brethren, did God not choose the poor of this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom which He promised to those who love him?
God had a plan. for the poor. And that way they would be rich in the kingdom. Doesn't mean being poor makes you a Christian, but it gives you a better shot at it. It's a lot easier for poor people to become saved than rich people, Jesus said.
To favor the rich subjugates, it contradicts the plan of God. Secondly, to favor the rich violates logic. Listen to verse 6 and 7. James said, Is it not the rich who oppress you and personally drag you into court? Do they not blaspheme the fair name by which you have been called?
Now in Jewish society, it was the Sadducees who had all the money. And they would constantly. Go to court to sue widows and sue poor Jews and cheat them out of their homes. And if they really wanted to add an insult, they would say to the judge, and not only this, but this poor person has become a Christian. He or she is a heretic, they deserve to have everything taken from them.
And so James is saying, why do you want to favor those people who oppress you?
Well, we'll see in this third reason. To favor the rich demonstrates a lack of faith. Verse 8, if, however, you are fulfilling the royal law according to Scripture, you shall love your neighbor as yourself, you are doing well. All of the scriptures about how we treat others could be summed up with that phrase, love other people the same way you love yourself. Why do we have trouble with that?
Why do we naturally gravitate toward favoring the powerful and the wealthy? We think they're going to protect us. We think that somehow they're going to help us achieve our life goal and the things that we really want. You know, we learned that as children in grade school and junior high. We think if we can just get in with the cool kids, the popular kids, some of that popularity will rub off on us.
We think they're going to determine our future, the people we associate with. When we get to be parents, we want our kids in the best schools and with the most popular kids because we think that will ensure a better future for them. When we're adults, we also think if we can just get in with the right people at work or make the right contacts in business, even if we have to compromise a little bit, that's okay because it will help us reach our life goals. James is saying, stop pandering. to other people to gain their favor.
They don't determine your future. God determines your future. That's why Jesus said in Matthew 10, 28, Do not fear those who kill the body, but are unable to kill the soul, but rather fear him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. Focus on God, not other people. And that leads to the application for us today.
What's the application of this passage?
Some of you are tempted to think, man. Showing favoritism, why a whole sermon on this? This is much ado about nothing. When I was growing up My father had a hobby, he rebuilt Volkswagens. And our backyard was strewn with Volkswagens half finished.
But every now and then he would finish one, and he had his newest Volkswagen parked out in front of our house in Richardson. And one day he heard a knock at the door. He opened the door and it was a Richardson policeman. And the policeman asked, who owns that Volkswagen out front? And my dad got excited, thinking he had a potential customer on the hook, said, Well, it belongs to me.
He said, Fine, and he wrote him out a ticket. You know what the ticket was for? My dad, in his repainting of the Volkswagen, got a little bit of paint on the license plate, and he got a ticket for his efforts. My dad was furious. I'll never forget.
He went into a rant about why can't the police spend time hunting down the murderers and the rapists and the bank thieves instead of giving tickets to people because of paint on the license plate? What a small thing.
Well, we kind of think that way about this sin of favoritism. Why the big deal? Why not, James, talk about really big sins? Instead of little sins? The answer, he says, in verses 9 and 10, is because there is no such thing as a little sin.
Look at this. If you show partiality, you're committing sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors. For whoever Keeps the whole law and yet stumbles in one point. He has become guilty of all. Pop quiz.
Anybody know how many laws Moses had in the Old Testament? There are 613 laws. I want you to imagine. A giant chain with 613 links in it, a chain that is used to keep a luxury ocean liner. Harvard at a pier.
It's held there by these six hundred and thirteen links in a chain. How many links would you have to break to set that entire ship adrift? Only one. One link broken. and the ship is lost.
It's the same way with God's law. All you have to do, James says, is stumble in one point of the law. And before God, you're guilty. You see, God doesn't grate us on the curve. He doesn't say, you may not be perfect, but you're better than this person.
We don't get graded on a curve. It is an absolute standard. It's a standard that Paul mentions in Galatians 3:10. He says, For as many as are the works of the law are under a curse, for it is written, Cursed is everyone who does not abide by some things written in the book? No.
Most things written in the book, no. Cursed is the person who does not abide by all things written in the law. To perform them. You have to be absolutely perfect. To go to heaven when you die.
Never a wrong action. Never a wrong attitude, never a wrong word, never a wrong thought. Cursed is you and me if we do not keep all things in the book.
Well, who in the world can meet that standard? No one. And that's the point. All of us have sinned, some more than others, but it doesn't matter. All of us have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, and that's why we all need a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.
When Christ came and died on the cross, He came to offer forgiveness from all of our sins. To draw Favor. to one person over another. To judge somebody based on external circumstances like their net worth, over which they have no control. is a complete violation of what James is telling us.
You know, we are not to prejudge people on the basis of Net worth. We're not to prejudge people, make assumptions about them based on skin color. That's a sin. That's wrong to favor one person over another. Do you know anybody who has controlled the color of his skin before?
That's something God gives to us. And to be real honest, our church. Our church was wrong about that. For many, many years, too many years, until a former pastor had the guts to stand up and admit how we were wrong and change the policy of this church to make it clear that anyone and everyone is welcomed in the First Baptist Church of Dallas. It's wrong to judge people by skin color, by worth.
It's wrong to judge people by political affiliations. I'm going to confess something. A couple of months ago, I was invited to be on a television program to debate, discuss with another minister. who voted in a way different than I did in the last election. We'll just leave it at that.
And because of the way he voted, I was told I made some assumptions about him. I assumed he hated God. I assumed he didn't believe the Bible. I assume that he wasn't sold out to the gospel of Jesus Christ or believed in the exclusivity of the gospel. After all, He voted the wrong way, didn't he?
I got on that program with him, and boy, was I ashamed of what I had assumed. He loved God. He preached the Bible every week. He preached the gospel that salvation only comes through Jesus Christ. He just voted differently than I did.
Folks, we've got to quit making assumptions about people. Don't judge, prejudge people according to face value. But, Pastor, even among smaller sins, there are a lot of other smaller sins James could have dealt with. Why does this one get such a prominent treatment in his letter? Three principles I want to share with you.
First of all, to show preference to others is contrary to the nature of God. You know, we call the church the body of Christ. The head, Jesus, is in heaven. But we are his body, Paul said. And that means what unbelievers see is not Jesus the head.
They can only see his body. That's you and me in the church. And how they feel about God is largely determined by what they think about us. If we act with partiality, they think God. is partial to superficial criterion.
You know, I think about the experience of Peter. Peter was prejudiced against Gentiles. He didn't think Gentiles, non-Jews, could come into the kingdom of God. But God had a funny way of changing his mind. He allowed him to participate in the first Gentile convert in his conversion.
His name was Cornelius. And remember, Peter preached the gospel. Cornelius responded, and his family was saved. And Peter went back to the church of Jerusalem and said this in Acts 10:34 and 35: I most certainly understand now that God is not one to show partiality. But in every nation, the man who fears God and does what is right is welcome to him.
We're to be examples of that. We're to abstain from partiality. In order to show people God abstains from partiality, God does not care about superficial issues, He cares about the heart. Secondly, to show preference toward the rich prioritizes the material over the spiritual. When we in the church show preference toward the rich, it prioritizes the material over the spiritual.
The great theologian Madonna said it this way. We live in a material world. I shouldn't have said that. That's all you're going to think about now. But isn't that true?
We live in a material world. We live in a material world, and we get it crammed down our throats six days a week. People ought to have a day of the week. They come. and see the world as God sees it.
It's not about the material. It's not about keeping up with the Joneses. It's about our relationship with God. You know John the apostle said this about the world system that values the material over the spiritual. He said in verses 15 through 17, Do not love the world or the things in the world.
If anybody loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, the boastful pride of life, this is not from the Father, but it is from the world. The world is passing away. And also its lusts. But the one who does the will of God abides forever.
Our church needs to be a living illustration of prioritizing the spiritual over the material. Finally, to show preference to the rich prioritizes the temporal over the eternal. One of the constant themes in the letter of James is how fleeting riches really are. In verses 10 to 11 of chapter 1, James says, And the rich man is to glory in his humiliation, because like flowering grass, He will pass away. For the sun rises with a scorching wind, and withers the grass, and its flowers fall off, and the beauty of its appearance is destroyed, so too the rich man in the midst of his pursuits.
will fade away. An old Southern preacher said it this way: Our lives is like grass. It is sown, it is grown, it is mown, and then it's gone. That's not just grass, that's us. If you're rich today, Don't get too excited about your wealth.
If you're poor today, don't despair over your poverty because your economic status, whether rich or poor, is very temporary. It's all going to be left behind. and the church's responsibility. It is to show people, to help people prioritize that which is eternal over that which is temporal. Paul said it this way in 1 Timothy 6:17.
He said, Instruct those who are rich in this present world. Not to be conceited. or to fix their hope on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly supplies us with all things to enjoy. D.L. Moody, the great evangelist, said it this way: trust in yourself.
and you're doomed to disappointment. Trust in your friends and they may leave you or die. Trust in your riches, and they may be taken from you. Trust in your reputation, and some slanderous tongue may destroy it. But trust in God.
And you'll never be confounded in time or place. eternity. James says, if you have authentic saving faith, You will prioritize. the spiritual over the material. the eternal over the temporal.
I realize many of you. listening or watching or attending this service. are already Christians, but I realize there are some People here who may have never yet trusted in Christ as your Savior. Listen to me, and God's eyes were all the same. All of us have sinned.
and fallen short of the glory of God. And each of us desperately needs a Savior. Who can forgive us of our sins? That Savior came. His name is Jesus.
He's also coming again. And the most important issue you can deal with right now. is the sin problem we all have. Who is going to forgive you of your sins? Jesus Christ is that Savior.
The whole reason he came and died on Calvary was to provide forgiveness for our sins. And today, if you are willing to ask for it, God will forgive you, not just of some of your transgressions, but of all of your sin. And today, if you'd like to have that forgiveness that God offers you, I want to invite you, wherever you are, to pray this prayer in your heart as I pray it out loud, knowing that God is listening to you. Dear God, thank you for loving me. I know I've failed you in many ways, and I'm truly sorry for the sins in my life.
But I believe what I've heard today. that you love me so much. You sent your Son Jesus to die on the cross for me. To take the punishment I deserve to take for my sins. And right now, I'm trusting in what Jesus did for me, not in my good works, but in what Jesus did for me.
to save me from my sins. Thank you for forgiving me. and help me to live the rest of my life for you. In Jesus' name. Hey man.
Whenever we come to this point in our program, I'm mindful that it's not enough to hear the truth of God's Word. James clearly teaches that we must become doers of God's Word.
So let me help you with your next steps. Today, Pathway to Victory is offering a book I've written. It's called How to Know If You're Really Saved: A Study in the Book of James. Many churchgoers live with nagging doubts about their salvation, while others have false assurance based on a one-time prayer. In my book, I cut through the confusion with James's practical tests of genuine faith.
For instance, consider our treatment of wealthy people. Are you impressed by designer clothes and gold jewelry while dismissing someone in work boots? That reaction reveals the true condition of your heart, and James helps all of us confront these blind spots so that we can be aware of the truth. We can see with clarity God's best for our lives. By reading my book, you'll learn to see every trial as God's strengthening process.
He's shaping you and preparing you. This book isn't filled with shallow feel-good theology. It contains life-changing truth that reveals 10 biblical tests of genuine faith. And a copy is yours today when you give a generous gift to support the ministry of Pathway to Victory. Again, it's called How to Know If You're Really Saved.
Thanks for giving generously today. And if it's been a while since you have given a contribution, or maybe you've never taken this step. Why not make today the day? We'd love to hear from you. Here's David with all the details.
When you contact Pathway to Victory and give a generous gift, we'll send you How to Know If You're Really Saved, the brand new book by Dr. Robert Jeffers based on our study from James. Call us toll-free at 866-999-2965 or give online at ptv.org. And when your gift is $75 or more, you'll also receive the How to Know If You're Really Saved teaching series on both DVD video and MP3 format audio discs, along with the personal and group study guide. Again, call 866-999-2965 or go to ptv.org.
You could write to us if you'd like. Here's that mailing address: PO Box 223-609, Dallas, Texas, 75222. That's PO Box 223-609, Dallas, Texas, 75222. I'm David J. Mullins.
Wishing you a great weekend. Then join us next week when our study in James continues right here on Pathway to Victory. Pathway to Victory with Dr. Robert Jeffress comes from the pulpit of the First Baptist Church of Dallas, Texas. Experience the breathtaking majesty of America's last frontier on the 2026 Pathway to Victory cruise to Alaska.
Board Holland America's luxurious Conningsdam ship with Amy and me for a journey that will refresh your soul and renew your spirit. Experience the unforgettable adventure, June 13 through 20, 2026. To book your cabin, call 888-280-6747 or go to ptv.org. You made it to the end of today's podcast from Pathway to Victory, and we're so glad you're here. Pathway to Victory relies on the generosity of loyal listeners like you to make this podcast possible.
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