WHEN THE WORD OF GOD CALLS SAINTS SINNERS

James 4:8

Morning Meditation 5/5/17

Verse 8 says, “Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded.”

James writes to the “twelve tribes which are scattered abroad . . .” Incidentally for those who think that the ten tribes were lost, they may be lost to you, but they were not lost to James, they were “scattered abroad.” To whom James writes is further modified by chapter 2:7: ”Do not they blaspheme that worthy name by the which ye are called?” He is writing to Jews who had accepted Jesus as the Messiah and Saviour. So when James says, “Cleanse your hands, ye sinners,” he is writing to the saints (all saved people are saints; 1 Cor. 1:2).

We as Christians need to check our hands. How can a Christian have dirty hands?

ADULTEROUS HANDS ARE DIRTY

Verse 4 of this chapter says, “Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.”

Note the personal pronoun “Ye.” This is the plural “you.” This means that the sin of adultery was common among these professed Christians. You will also notice that it was common among both men and women. Lust is a major problem for a lot of Christians. But the natural desire does not justify its existence. When it gets out of hand, it must be dealt with before it becomes an act. The ones to whom James writes had not done well in this area of their lives at all. So he says, “Cleanse your hands, ye sinners.”

The word “cleanse” translates “katharizo” and means, “to make clean, to remove by cleansing, to free from defilement of sin.” It is an aorist active imperative verb. The aorist tense means that this should be done immediately. There is no tapering off of sin with God. It should be dealt with at a time and place and left behind. It is also in the imperative mood which means it is a command expressing urgency. The imperative mood is the mood of volition. When one receives a command, he must make a decision to obey or not to obey. It is urgent that he obey. Why the urgency? 1 Cor. 5:6 says of the sin of fornication, “a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump.” Leaven is a type of sin and the lump is referring to the church. Sin does to the Church what leaven does to bread. It takes over if not stopped. The way to stop it is to “cleanse” it.

How are the hands cleansed? There are two ways of cleansing. The first is repentance and confession. This is brought out in 1 John 1:9: “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” The way of cleansing is confession. One of the first things sinning people do is to go into denial. If one is ever cleansed from sin, he will have to get passed this. God is Omniscience. How can God judge the secrets of men in the judgment, if He does not know the secrets? A man who is reluctant to confess his sin is treating God like he is someone from whom sin can be hidden. It is unbelief in the God of the Bible to think one can hide his sins from Him. The moment one gets honest with God about his sins and confesses them, God forgives him on the spot. That sin no longer exists because He has taken it away.

The second way of cleansing is by the Word of God. Eph. 5:26-27 says, “That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.” Here the Word of God is the instrument of cleansing. The blood of Christ cleanses us and makes us right before Him. The Word of God, when yielded to, cleanses us from the visible stains of sin. One makes us right with God and the other makes us right with man. The one makes us fit to stand in His presence in the judgment, the other makes us fit to walk before man as His ambassadors.

HANDLING THE WORD OF GOD DECEITFULLY DEFILES THE HANDS

Paul says in 2 Corinthians 4:2, “But have renounced the hidden things of dishonesty, not walking in craftiness, nor handling the word of God deceitfully; but by manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God.”

The words “handling deceitfully” translate “doloo” meaning, “to ensnare, to corrupt.” Two possibilities are suggested by the definition of this word. The first, is to use the Word of God to trap people. One could quote or read the Word of God correctly and misapply it to move the hearer into a position where he wants him. And the unlearned hearer becomes the victim of the deceitful handling of the Word of God and believes he is where he is because the Word of God teaches it. Is it possible for saved preachers or leaders to do this? They do it all the time. If it were not possible, why does James warn against the possibility? What is the remedy? “Cleanse your hands ye sinners” is James answer. There must be repentance and confession for there to be cleansing. One must bring himself into line with the Word of God for the spot to be removed.

The second, is to corrupt the Word itself. I believe one of the ways this is being done is by faulty translations. I think the modern preacher assumes a lot when he takes a modern translation of the Bible to the pulpit with him and presents it as the infallible, inerrant Word of the eternal God. Most who do it have not made a serious study of the manuscript evidence and are using a translation that is based on a corrupt text. The average preacher who does this has not considered Revelation 22:18-19: “For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book:. And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book.”

God has made it plain in this passage that He does not want His Word tampered with. You say, “If the new translations are wrong, the modern translators are the ones who will have to give an account.” That is certainly true. However, if one buys into the lie and presents the modern translation as the Word of God, he also gets his hands dirty. Just remember this. Your translation can be no better than the text from which it is translated. God has used the King James Version for hundreds of years. It is tested and tried and has God’s undeniable endorsement. Why assume you know enough to change it? You say, “But there are obsolete words (words that are right but with which one is not familiar) in the King James Version.” That’s true. But I would rather deal with the obsolete words than to take a chance on reading a corrupt translation. Let me assure you that the obsolete words are not many and I have heard no one say that they are WRONG AND WILL LEAD YOU ASTRAY. if that is the only problem one has with the King James Bible, a good dictionary will solve that problem. But there is another dimension to understanding that one may be overlooking. 1 Cor. 2:14 says the things of the Spirit (The Holy Spirit inspired Word) are “Spiritually discerned,” and in verse 15 he says, “he that is spiritual judgeth (discerneth, understands) all things . . .” I am afraid many Christians want to find a Bible that they can pick up in the morning-rush and say, “God I’ll give you five or ten minutes of my time,” and to do this, they seem to be under the impression that if they get a modern translation that is easy to understand, this will expedite the devotional period.

One who corrupts or accepts a corrupted Bible is “handling the Word of God deceitfully.” Repentance and confession is the way of cleansing before God.

THE HANDS OF COMPROMISE

Galatians 2:9 says, “And when James, Cephas, and John, who seemed to be pillars, perceived the grace that was given unto me, they gave to me and Barnabas the right hands of fellowship; that we should go unto the heathen, and they unto the circumcision.”

Why was Paul and Barnabas given “the right hands of fellowship?” It was because they were brethren. They believed the same doctrine. Do you think that those who taught that one has to be circumcised to be saved would have been extended the right hand of fellowship? Paul said of one who teaches this doctrine in Galatians 1:9: “let him be accursed.” Paul said in 2 Cor. 6:14-18, “Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel? And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you, And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.” There are several areas of separation demanded of Christians by this passage of Scripture that I will not go into. But to say the very least, the Bible teaches that you must not extend your hand of fellowship to some who profess to be Christians.

What about the person who claims to be saved and believes in evolution? What about the person who is saved and denies the virgin birth of Christ? What about the person who is saved and does not believe that the Bible is the inspired inerrant Word of God. Many have defiled hands and need to face the issue with repentance and confession. Many when confronted with this truth will defend themselves. That only makes matters worse. I may treat a person with whom I disagree kindly. I may shake his hand as a common gesture that we make toward one another. But I will not leave the impression that I agree with him in the areas where he is clearly wrong on important issues in the Scripture.

James calls saints sinners in our text. He is not saying they are unsaved, he is saying they are sinning saints and need to take responsibility for their defiled hands and be cleansed.

God loves us and I praise His name there is forgiveness for the sinning saint even when I happen to be the one who has sinned. As Roy Hession used to say, “The gospel is good news for bad people, even when I happen to be the bad person as a Christian.” In other words, the gospel is not through with us when we are saved, it continues to be “good news” to us when we do wrong after we are saved. Amen! Hallelujah!

May the Lord bless these words to our hearts.

In Christ

Bro. White