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And that we should compare that with the Epistle of James in the New Testament. Because, as we reminded ourselves last week, James is our English translation of the name Jacob. So that really the Epistle of James, eh, is and always was, both to Greeks and Hebrews, the Epistle of Jacob. And he also writes, according to verse one of his epistle, he also writes to the twelve tribes which are of the dispersion. Now, just let's remind ourselves why it is that we are making this comparison. We have been studying here the last major section of the book of Genesis, and we have found it falls largely into two parts. The first part is the story of how God preserved the family of Jacob, the family of Israel, from its internal dissensions, and how he saved it from, uh, destruction by famine. And as we thought of the two principal people involved, Joseph mainly, and in a secondary sense, Judah. We learn from it many practical lessons on Joseph's faithful stewardship and his willingness to suffer. But then also, prototypically, we found it pointing to our Lord, through whom Israel shall be saved, and we are saved. Firstly, eh, illustrated in Joseph's life by his innocent suffering, and in Judah's action in being prepared to suffer as surety and substitute to, for Benjamin, and thus to preserve his father's life. Then we turned last week particularly to look to the second set of stories. They begin to talk to us not so much of the preservation of the family of Jacob, the incipient nation of Israel, but of its development, how that in Egypt God through Joseph gave them the situation in which they could multiply into a nation. And then finally last week we came to these last three paragraphs and began to concentrate on paragraph B here, uh, the prophecy of Israel as he looked at his twelve sons, and then by God's grace was able to look down the coming years as to what should happen, both to the twelve boys themselves, or grown men now, the heads of the coming tribes, and what should also happen to their descendants. And when we looked at that, we fell to wondering what exactly this story is doing in Genesis. For what purpose did Jacob make these announcements to his twelve boys? What good did it do them? What good did he expect it to do them? Some of the things that he said were quite grim. He has no word of praise at all for Reuben and announces not only to Reuben personally, but for the coming centuries, he announces that they shall never have the preeminence, they shall not excel. And we reminded ourselves that here, Reuben's sin not only damaged his own status within the tribe, the family, and the nation, but it damaged succeeding generations and took its toll upon them. And if no other thing, we notice the seriousness of sin. We too can do sins, make wrong choices, make mistakes that not only damage us for the rest of our lives, but may damage our children and their posterity too. Here's a man, and in his young manhood, while his family are growing up, he's too busy to have much time for the Lord. He chooses immediate satisfaction to doing the Lord's will, and his children grow up unbelievers because he's never there to see that anything else happens. In his fifties, after his first heart attack, he begins to take life seriously and repents and wants to go on with the Lord, but the damage is done. Grandchildren brought up by unbelieving children, and there you have it for who knows how many years. We can make mistakes that affect not only ourselves, but coming generations. And then, of course, in these announcements, there are very happy things said, blended with the serious and solemn things, very happy things said about the future of God's goodness and of his program. Now, why Jacob, as I say, why Jacob should have told that all to the twelve tribes, that I'm hoping one of these days to hear from you. Ha. You can find out from Jacob meantime, you'll see. I would be interested to know what you had been felt like, or you imagine you would have felt like, if you were one of the boys standing around that bed. What would have been your reaction as you came away? And the words of your father kept from time to time coming back to your memory in the years that followed. What would you have thought? Anyway, that's one question, and we shan't be concentrating on that this evening, because what we're now going to do is to say, well, we can help ourselves in this fashion. Obviously, Jacob had some very good purpose in view in, uh, telling his sons these things, warning them about their weaknesses, encouraging them in their prospects. But, uh, we can begin to come near to feeling what those boys must have felt if we, in our turn, listen to our Jacob, namely the Apostle James, and hear what he, some thousand years later, after Israel, what he said to the twelve tribes scattered abroad. And so that we do tonight, prompted by Genesis forty nine. we're going to ask ourselves what similarities we see between those two chapters, Genesis forty nine and the Epistle of James, and we'll take them one by one and hear what people have found in their homework. We shall notice, if we can, the similarities, and then, of course, we shall pause on each one to ask how it applies to us, so that our study doesn't just remain a matter of literary game, but becomes a matter of very practical concern to us. Righto, I'm going to read the Reuben bit in Genesis, and then I'm going to be all ears for people to say what correspondences they have found in James. And here comes Reuben from Genesis forty nine verse three. Reuben, thou art my firstborn, my might and the beginning of my strength, the excellency of dignity and the excellency of power. Unstable as water, thou shalt not have the excellency. Because thou wentest up to thy father's bed, then defiledst thou it. He went up to my couch. Thus far, Israel's, Jacob's pronouncement upon Reuben. And here comes the first question, who's going to volunteer to say any similarity to that that he has found in James. Yes. Be so kind as to read it and tell us the reference, Mr. Little South. Aha. James, what is it? Chapter it? chapter 1, verse 7. Yes, Ja- yes, sir, is that so? Yes. A double-minded man, unstable in all his ways. Tell me, uh, my dear good folks, um, this fellow Reuben, would you have said it was his fault for being unstable? His father says he was unstable as water, thou shalt not have, uh, uh, the excellency. The word unstable there in the Hebrew means water that's all boiling, you know, boils up and overflows. And presumably it's a reference to Reuben's, uh, uh, what happened to him that time he was tempted, or any other time he was tempted. He was liable, he was subject to that kind of turmoil within, and before he knew where he was, he'd acted. Would you say that was his temperament? So, anybody here, of course they wouldn't, admit to being like Reuben? No. Do you count that because you have progressed spiritually or something? Uh, you've learned to conquer this tray, or weren't you born with it? Yes, yes, yes. I get the idea. And what were you going to say, sir? I think the, when we act in the flesh, we're like Reuben, and all these things are there in embryo, in some temperaments, some aspects of the sinful characteristics are more noticeable than others, but they're all there. We're walking in the flesh and not in the spirit. I see, so that you're inclined to say that while this marked Reuben particularly, James warns us that there is a sense in which we could all be unstable, yes? Yes? Anything we can do about it. Pray tell us somebody what James means, for instance, when he says, uh, that of this man, you'll see, uh, verses five and six. Uh, let if any man lack of wisdom, let him ask of God, who giveth to all liberally and upbraideth not, and it shall be given him, but let him ask in faith, nothing doubting. For he that doubteth is like the surge of the sea, driven by the wind and tossed. That's pretty unstable as well, isn't it? What, what do you take that to mean, he that doubteth? Doubteth what? God's potential, sorry. God? God's ability to give wisdom. If he focuses attention on God and asks for wisdom, then God would give it as he's looking at God and concentrating on God's gift. You mean to say, Dr. Chapman, that if today I feel that I do need wisdom because I've gone and done something foolish, and that reminds me again how that in life's practical behavior I can, you know, because I'm so unstable, I can, I can do some foolish things and put my foot in it and get myself into disgrace and unfortunate things, and therefore I come to God and I ask for wisdom, but then if I doubt he can give it to me, I shan't get it. It might be better the other way around, the wisdom first before you. You see, but one is, pardon? You don't seem to see my trouble, uh, Josie. That is the point. I am unstable. And that's what unstable people do. They keep on doubting. Isn't it so? One day they think one thing, and they're great guns on that. Tomorrow they're, well, that's all gone, and they're after something else, you see. That is my trouble. And if I've got to be firm as a rock before I get my prayers ended, uh, answered. It says he giveth to all men liberally in the greatest dot, so I don't think our, I don't think our, our condition really has a lot to do with it. We have a generous God. I see, so that long as I ask, even if in this sense I doubt, you feel that the Lord will answer my prayer. You can see my difficulty, can't you? Because if I was strong as some of my brethren would see, like Mueller or somebody, I should ask and be absolutely certain, Lord, make me abs- absolutely holy, and he would. My trouble, I start off by being unstable, and I... today I'm keen, and tomorrow I've forgotten. So, Mr. Gibson here is encouraging me to say, well, the Lord will hear my prayer, even if I am a bit unstable. Everybody agreed? The essential thing about the Christian life is that the Holy Spirit comes in and takes over your life, including the instability, and he will start living out his life in you, and that life is not unstable. So you've got to believe that God is living out, the Holy Spirit is there, and he will control this instability that we all have. And he can, so to speak, work the permanence within me. Insofar as we keep trusting him, yes. He doesn't throw a switch and it is all well forever after. Mm-hmm. I see. You think that, uh, the doubting, if I might just come back to it once more. Doubting means, A, that I really want this wisdom. The thing that plagues me is the doubt that God will give it to me. Or... I want it today because I see the importance of it, but next Friday I've forgotten. Does obedience come into it? Does it hinge on this? I'm thinking of Solomon. He asked of God wisdom. He did, didn't he? His life wavered tremendously. It did, sir. It did very much waver. You see, in his youth, he was very keen to please the Lord and ask for wisdom. As he got older and got a lot of money and, uh, could afford a mighty great harem, dear, oh dear, oh dear. He no longer thought it was unwise to keep all that bevy of foreign women and build them temples to all sorts of gods and goddesses, didn't he? Could the doubting be, so to speak, that today I see it is important not to do this particular sin, but tomorrow I give up and think, oh, it isn't so serious after all. Anyway, Anyway, while you're thinking about that, here comes my second question. You'll see, Reuben, thou art my firstborn, but you shall not excel. In the context has regard, doesn't it, to the fact that as firstborn, he had, by original right, the birthright. He lost that birthright because of his sin. Uh, here is a reference to the fact, uh, you'll see, thou shalt not have the excellency. So while he was not cast out of the nation, he remained one of the heads of the families, and there was a tribe, Reuben. He did not keep the birthright, lost it. And one Chronicles chapter five tells us that explicitly. The birthright went to Joseph. First question, do you see anything in James relevant to that, or anything similar to the question of birthright? Anything about firstborns, for instance? Well, you're certainly losing your life in, in, in death because of sin in chapter one fifteen. Chapter one of James fifteen. Would you be kind to read that, Reggie, my boy? Well, possibly the whole section from twelve down to eighteen is relevant because, uh, there's the lust and the turning away and the sin associated with that, which probably would apply to Reuben. Uh, well, first, picking verse thirteen up, uh, let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God, for God cannot tempt, be tempted with evil, and he himself tempteth no man. Each man is tempted when he is drawn away by his own lust and enticed. Then the lust, when it hath conceived, beareth sin, and sin, when it is full grown, bringeth forth death. Losing the, the birthright in, in that sense. I see, yes, yes. Very good. And would you care to read to the end, as you said, to verse eighteen? Uh, be not deceived, verse sixteen, be not deceived, my brethren, uh, every good and every perfect boon or gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom can be no variation, neither shadow that is cast by turning. Of his own will he brought us forth, uh, there's your birth again, by the word of truth, that we should be a kind of first fruits of his creatures. Yeah. So let me inquire about that. What does that mean? Of his own will, he brought us forth that we should be a kind of first fruits. What, you, Reggie, my boy, are you a, a, a, a firstfruit or something? Well, are you? What does it mean? And what's it got to do with the subject on hand, anyway? It was talking about temptation just a moment ago. Now it's gone off and is talking about of his own will he brought us forth that we should be a kind of firstfruits. When is this our situation as creatures in this world, that man is the head, uh, you know, over all the other animals or something? Or is this saying that the your new birth, you were a kind of first fruits? First fruits of what? Anybody here admit to being a first fruits of God's creatures? I'm trying to, trying to recall the... Is is is, uh, Alex Alex is going. Of his own will begot he us with the word of truth. Yes. So every Christian that James is writing to and to himself, he's putting into the category of first fruits. Yes. And this is, this actually is resemblance to the Genesis forty nine, isn't it, you know? Where is it? The firstborn and the first fruits, and his first fruits of his creatures by the word of truth, and we're talking about humanity, not the animals of the forest and so on. Yes, and you're talking about the new birth, uh, Alec? Right. Being uh, he brought us forth by the word of truth. Right. You inclined to think that's the new birth? Yes, I do. Very good. So just like Reuben was the firstborn of his father, our father has begotten us by the word of truth. Go on, embroider on that, Alec, my boy. Embroider on that, uh, and that's made you first fruits of his creatures. What now since have it? Not over the animals, but what then? I was going to make up with what Alec's saying, uh, Ephesians chapter three verse fourteen, Uh, this cause I bow my knees unto the Father, uh, from whom every family in heaven and earth is named, and I would take that to be, uh, all the families of creation, whether families of birds and fishes and, uh, other kinds of things. Uh, they, in one sense, uh, God is the father of those all, but those of us who are born again, uh, have got this position from which Reuben fell, first, the first in dignity, the first in excellence, uh, because we've been so closely associated and will yet be with the Lord Jesus Christ as his bo- as his body and as his bride, eh, and so and as as his church. So in that sense, we are special, not only to to the Father, but to the Lord Jesus Christ, special above all the other families, uh, that are part of creation. I see, that's an interesting idea. That is that, uh, God is Father in many different senses. He is the Father of the Lord Jesus, and in that sense he is not our Father, is he? Because he is a Father within the Trinity, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. We're not members of the Trinity. There is that unique relation, but he's now our Father in the sense that our Lord can say, I send to my Father and your Father. He's become our Father by the new birth, and Reggie is suggesting that at that level, it makes us unique amongst all God's vast creation. In that sense, as believers in the Lord Jesus, we hold the superior rank. We know God as Father in a higher sense than any other created being. If that's so, that's, that's, that's extraordinary, isn't it? Tell me, what has that got to do with James anyway? Does he, like me, when I preach, suddenly wander off the subject, or has that still got something to do with temptation? Ah, Mr. Murphy, sir. Uh, Hebrews twelve tells us that we have come to Mount Zion, the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, unto a new and company in it to the general assembly and churches of the firstborn. Yeah. Which are in heaven. And, uh, in James here we have, uh, the first fruits. We're born into a family and we have our firstborn, or we were sons of God by faith in the Lord Jesus. And, uh, I think like that with Revelation four, that tells us about the four and twenty elders who were around the throne. The verse 3 says, he that sat was to look upon like a jasper and a sardine stone, and there was a rainbow round about the throne in sight like onto an emerald. I understand that the Reuben's name was on an emerald on the high priest's wrist. So that would make you immediately think of the firstborn. Mm-hmm. And, uh, we, although we're sinning, uh, and grievously in various ways, yet we've been born again. And Reuben, the Reubenites of the day, were reminded of that position, that they're taken into heaven on the ground of grace, and there's a memorable rainbow Mm. around that to remind us that we're the church of the firstborn. Mm-hmm. I like to think about it that way. Very nice. And if I might then, uh, take that up and say that the point that James is making is he, is to get us to see, as we're thinking about this business of temptation, we're not tempted of God. God doesn't play ducks and drakes with us. God is utterly constant. He doesn't one minute give us salvation and the next minute do his hardest to tempt us into sin so he can have some excuse to destroy us or something. God is absolutely constant. He doesn't tempt us, and what's more, every good gift and every gift given in proper timing to suit our needs. You wouldn't give a four-year-old one of those beautiful Swiss penises, would you? It's a good gift, but that wouldn't be a good giving at that age. When he's eighteen, yes, but not when he's four. Yes. But every good gift and every good giving comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variableness. What a lovely thing to put against our variableness and our instability. With him, there is no instability. There is no changing. If he begat us as first fruits, he stands by it. But you know, in times of temptation, could it be a practical help to us in times of temptation to have the grace to stand back two minutes and think of the marvel of God's design for us. Lest Satan tempt us in our instability by saying, go on, look, you're, you know, here's a lovely chance to enjoy yourself. That is against the will of God. If Reuben, when he had got tempted, could have remembered his position and have thought a minute on what he was about to lose by giving in to that temptation. Might have helped him not to yield, mightn't it? Anyway, we ought to go on. That was Reuben, as you'll see. Here comes, and I'm going to read it to myself from Genesis forty nine— Here are Simeon and Levi, and they are put together because it was together that they went on that great campaign against Shechem and massacred the male inhabitants of Shechem, you know, in the name of religion. Well, anyways, of them, uh, Jacob says, verse five, Simeon and Levi are brethren, weapons of violence are their swords. O my soul, come not thou into their council and unto their assembly my glory, be not thou united. For in their anger they slew a man, and in their self-will they hocked an ox. Cursed be their anger, for it was fierce, and their wrath, for it was cruel. I will divide them in Jacob and scatter them in Israel. Simeon and Levi, therefore. Anybody ready to tell us whether James has or hasn't any similar thing in his epistle. Chapter 1, verse 1. Yeah, go on, read that. 12 tribes Yes. were scattered abroad Scattered. throughout the nations because of their sin. These chaps were scattered in Israel because they had sinned. Oh, that's an interesting thought. You are thinking of James writing really to the Jewish community, yes, and they have been scattered. Ultimately for their good, I presume. Yes? Uh, thank you. And if, if, if Reuben is, uh, in Reuben, Jacob, the two of them are getting at the, the, the, the, the bad quality of instability. In Simeon and Levi, he's getting at the bad quality of? Anger. Anger, yes, and cruelty and wrath, yes. You got it? Read it, please, uh, Mr. Mathisar. Therefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow wrath. Yeah. Rath a man worth not the righteousness of God. They take the law into their own hands. They did, didn't they? And, uh, that's left God, his vengeance is mine. Yeah. And if they'd been restored to wrath in that sense, they wouldn't have done what they did. That is so, Mr. Murphy, sir, and it was particularly sad, wasn't it? We can be wrathful about all sorts of things. And doubtless they were wrathful at the wrath done to their daughter. Alas, they went and mixed it up with religion, if you please. And they had in, uh, made an agreement, uh, to the effect that all the men of Shechem were to be circumcised and ob- and observe the, that right, which in Israel was a religious right. And their objection to what had been done to their sister was on that ground, on religious ground. We oughtn't to give our sister to the uncircumcised. And therefore, it was on that ground, eventually they went in and massacred the whole lot. But if wrath is a bad thing anytime, in this sense, God's wrath is pure and holy, but wrath in this sense, if it's bad, we are to be slow to it anyway. It's a very dangerous thing. When it comes to spiritual things and religious things, then we ought to be doubly careful, don't we? Because the wrath of man does not work the righteousness of God. Very good, that's obvious, isn't it? Uh, and uh, uh, we'll hurry over it. Dr. Chapman only gave us five minutes more, and uh, we have to take that with equanimity too. Uh-huh. Tell me when uh, Simeon and Levi were subsequently divided into Israel, what happened to them? What does that mean within Israel? Simeon and Levi, I will divide them in Israel. When they were getting their inheritance, Levi were, in fact, they weren't given an inheritance of their own. They were spread right through the tribes. Yes. And Simeon, if I remember correctly, were in two parts of the nation. Yes, and they gradually went, you know, so there were very few of Simeon left, weren't they? And can you tell us a bit more, uh, Sir Eric, what happened to Levi? Um, he was not, because of his priestly position, he wasn't given an inheritance of his own. He wasn't supposed to have any land or territory. He was to live through the tribes and, uh, direct them spiritually. You are meaning to say that this cruel, vicious, cruel, angry man was specially rewarded with the priesthood or something? Yes, it occurred to me that his quality of, um, in s- in of of strength was directed in the right channel. Who's on the Lord's side? In, yes. And he took a sword for righteousness. Yes, yes, these two brethren have seen something. What do you, what do you say? He's mentioning the story of Phineas taking the sword and, uh, dealing with the man who openly sinned and brought Ah. So you're saying that sometimes right, wrath can be a good thing? Yes. As instance, uh, Phineas the Levite. I was thinking of, of uh, when uh, that sin, uh, Moses called on them, right? It was Levi only that came out, and Simeon was missing. Where was he? Ah, yeah. Yeah, that's the point, isn't it? Simeon went to the bed, I'm afraid, on the whole, and his tribe nearly disappeared. Levi went to the good. That's a way with God, isn't it, sometimes, that people have to be separated from the bad influence that they can have. We should all be nice brothers, but, you know, sometimes it's good for some friendships to be broken. But you see, S. Ah, now let's follow the other side of that. That's an interesting point, that under God, sanctified anger is right. Be you angry, says the New Testament, and sin not. And if you can see somebody defying the word of God, like happened with Cosby and his dear lady under the Mid- uh, Moabite attack and temptation, outwardly flaunting his sin that was bringing on Israel the judgment of God. If you would sit by and see that done without having your righteous anger stirred, then perhaps you're not the Christian you ought to be. Same thing happened with the temple when Christ was there. They were making it as a commercial thing, and the honor of God was being tarnished, and Christ got angry because his father's glory was threatened. Ah, so indeed. So, yes, we have, we're not told we must never get angry. We've got to watch anger nonetheless. Now, it's an interesting thing that, as you've heard, Levi, uh, uh, was given this great privilege of having the priesthood. Aaron and the other priests were of the tribe of Levi, also the Levites, the lesser servants in tabernacle and temple that looked after practical matters, sacred matters, transporting the tabernacle and so forth and so on. They were the people to whose charge was given the religious duties. And when I say religious, I mean that, the rituals, the ri- religious duties, the playing on the oral horns and the, uh, getting the wood for the sacrifice and all these religious duties related to the, uh, services in the temple. Anything about religion in James? Read, uh, read it, sir, if you would be so kind. Any man among you seems to be religious and bridleth not his tongue but esteemeth his own heart. This man's religion is vain, pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, to visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction and to keep himself unspotted from the world. Yeah. Thank you very much. As you will know, Sir Alec, that's a word used there in the New Testament is exceedingly rare and means religion in the sense of the attendance upon forms and ceremonies. And there is a proper place for forms and ceremonies in spiritual experience, is there not? We are not Jews, but we have them in baptism and the Lord's Supper. But, uh, religious rites and ceremonies, they too can go to the bad, can't they? We remember the parable our Lord spoke, uh, against certain, uh, priests and Levites who were on their way to keep the service of the Lord in the temple at Jerusalem. Therefore, when they came across a man fallen among thieves, ha, they passed by on the other side, lest they should get defiled and be disqualified for giving out the hymn at them. I, no, sorry, mixture. Uh, uh, uh, well, you know what I meant to say. And James is talking about that kind of thing. Pure religion. Lest we get, uh, one-sided and content with mere ritual, and it never translates itself into practice. Pure religion and undefiled is to d- visit the fathers and widows in their affliction and to keep oneself unspotted from the world. Very good, and we better, because it's five to nine, uh, go on to Judah, and he has a long citation, uh, by his father's bed. Judah, thee shall thy brethren praise, thy hands shall be on the neck of thine enemies, thy father's sons shall bow down before thee. Judah is a lion's whelp. From the prey, my son, thou art gone up. He stooped down, he couched as a lion, and as a lioness who shall rouse him up. The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor the ruler's staff from between his feet, until Shiloh come. And unto him shall the obedience of the peoples be, binding his foal unto the vine and his ass's colt unto the choice vine. He hath washed his garments in wine and his vesture in the blood of grapes. His te- his eyes shall be red with wine and his teeth white with milk. Anybody here got a preferred translation for verse ten? Some people say don't, don't they it should be until Shiloh come, and other people say it should be like Ezekiel chapter twenty one, until he comes to whom it belongs, whose right it is, in other words. Well, at least, let me rephrase the question. Everybody content to, to, to hold that whatever the exact translation, this is a reference to the fact that the Messiah would come of Judah? Yeah? He's the s- one to have the scepter and the rod of the lawgiver, and presumably a wonderful description of the peace and plenty that will come when Messiah comes and sets up his kingdom. Vines will be so plentiful that Farmer Giles or anybody else will tether his ass to a vine. Farmers don't normally do that because asses would trample the thing down or eat it up or something, uh, but there will be so many and so prosperous in those days that they won't need to bother. Anyway, until Messiah come, the king. Anything about this in James? James. Yes, read it, Mr. Murphy, if you will, please. Well, a rich man just started there, and the riches were corrupted. And then verse seven, be patient therefore, brethren, over the coming of the Lord. All the husbandman did it for the question of his brother, not known patience for to receive the early, and not a rain, be also patient, establish upmost for the coming of the Lord. Yes. Lovely. The hope of the Lord's coming. Interesting to see, isn't it, in Jacob telling his sons their future, inviting them to face that future. I don't suppose he was telling them this in any fatalistic fashion. But telling us what we're likely to be, what our inherent weaknesses are, and what our behavior is likely to be in the future is one way of alerting ourselves, isn't it, to lay hold of the grace of God. I mean, when Jacob got round to telling Gad, or Dan, was it, his future, the very prospect of it made, uh, Israel cry out, I have waited for thy salvation, O Lord. Yes, facing myself as what I'm liable to be when I'm eighty three, I'm bad enough now, you know. But when I'm eighty three, then must I not pray, O God, O God, save me from developing where it looks I might develop, yes? There's a horrible old ras- uh, you know, grumpy old man, we'll see, or something worse. But now, anyway, uh, uh, here, along with the bad things are the good things. The promise of the coming Messiah. God's purposes shall ripen. Of Judah will come the Messiah and the King. And our hope is held out by James, likewise as Mr. Murphy points out, with the prospect of the coming of the King of the royal line of Judah. Anything else about the royal line of Judah, would you think, or royal lines or anything at all? And lawgivers' staffs in James. Anybody in James got hold of a lawgivers' staff anywhere that belongs to a king. Royal law chapter. Ah ha, chapter, read it if you would be so pleased. If you really keep the royal law found in scripture, love your neighbor as yourself, you're doing right. Ah, lovely. Do you take that to mean, my good Sir Peter, uh, that we've got to keep the law? I'm not sure. Well, now here's a pickle. Uh, the lawgiver, the staff of the lawgiver, the regal scepter in the hand of Judah's son, our blessed Lord. And there is a royal law. And the question is simply, are we as Christians expected to keep it? Surely it's a law as a standard of God's holiness. Mm-hmm. Uh, the law was never a symbol of divine law. Uh, certainly it's upon our salvation we're saved by grace through faith, but surely we have some standard to the order of life. Yeah. Why do you suppose, that's for Mr. Murphy, why do you suppose it's called the Royal Law by James? That's us as royal sons. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Why do you want to say, ready, sir? I was going to just point, pick some other little phrases. Uh, James, that chapter, that section that Peter mentioned in chapter two starts with having respect of persons. Yeah. I was linking that with, uh, unto him, I'm reading, quoting the Revised Version, unto him shall the obedience of the people be. Uh, the, we have respect, and we can have respect in the wrong sense, as they were having here, onto simply rich, uh, unsaved men or, or even saved men, giving them respect because of their riches and their position on earth. Mm. Uh, our respect should be, uh, towards the one who is, who deserves obedience and who should be obeyed in his royal law. Mm. Uh, not one bit of it, we're not picking and choosing, because if you break any bit of it, uh, you break his complete law. If you do that. Come to him, uh, we should be obedient. Yes. And you see, he calls it in chapter one, doesn't he, the perfect law of liberty, or somewhere he does, the perfect law of liberty. It is not hard slavery under this king. His yoke is easy. His burden is light. It is a law of liberty, but it is also a royal law because he's king. And in his kingdom he will expect a certain behavior consonant with his kingship and his glory. And we wait for the coming of the king, and I do like that verse one of chapter two: My brethren, hold not the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ. And at that point, the, the, the Greeks, so I'm told, is difficult to see, and where the experts disagree about it, then ordinary folks can make up their own minds, do you see, and I take that privilege, do you see? And the way I want to translate that verse is like Professor Mayer translates it. Have not the res- uh, the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glory. You will notice if you've got an authorized version or revised, that the words the Lord of glory, the Lord is not there, and that's what constitutes the difficulty for the translators. It's simply the word the glory, and at first sight it doesn't seem to make sense, have not the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glory. Professor Mads suggests that it's meant to be spelt with a capital G, and it is a title of our Lord, the glory. You say, meaning what? Well, the Shekinah glory, of course. The outsh-