Thank you, Monty. I thought you guys were gonna sing a special. So. Just wanna sing a special?
Alright, well. I thank you because I, I feel a little disjointed in terms of what we're talking about and trying to make it flow, but.
I guess that's the spirit of God's job to bring it to our souls in a right way.
I want to pick up where we left off. So if you have your text, please open to James chapter one.
And I'm going to begin reading. Let's see, I want to begin reading in verse 18, if you will.
And we'll read through the rest of the chapter. Now, it is our very robust goal and desire to get through chapter 2.
And I know what you're thinking. That'll never happen. And you are correct. But we're going to try, okay?
So verse 18 of chapter one says the following. Of his own will he brought us forth by the word of truth.
This is the beginning of what I would call a new introductory topic, the word of truth. And he'll visit it over the next multiple verses.
That we may be a kind of first fruits. Now, before we go forward. First fruits kind of had several connotations.
The first fruit was the first of the harvest and You would bring, you know, would be evident to you.
That God had blessed the growing season. So the way it works was that, you know, the rains in the fall would come, you plant, you grow, and then you spring comes and you you you get the very first ones that have produced the grain from the winter and and that's a that's a real a sign of success a sign of accomplishment and a sign of hope because obviously that's the food.
But first-fruits also were offered to God. And so there was a real sense that you would be the first portion of your increase, first of all, goes to God.
Now that mentality follows you into the New Testament and which you give of that which is first to the Lord.
And, and we want to have that in our mind's eye when we talk about first truths.
And then the last image of first fruits is that there's a promise of more to come. But this is just the first one.
There's going to be a second one and a third one and a fourth one if you will. There's going to be much more to follow.
And that's what you're sort of thanking God for. Now when he uses this terminology to really evident Jewish audience, this would all be in their background.
And they would understand the meaning of the first fruits of harvest. So when James uses that in a metaphorical sense about the Christian, he's saying, don't you see?
The Word of God is like the seed. And it's produced in you, you Christians, you're like the first fruits and James is thought to be the earliest or one of the earliest books written in the New Testament.
So he's talking to maybe believers maybe 15 years after the ascension of Christ kind of thing.
And so he says, you're kind of in that category. And the key that made you first fruit is the word of truth.
That is the scene. That is the primary connector. That is the most important thing. Now if that's true for them, it's true for us.
And if we want to apply this as in this conference on marriages, the Word of God has got to be what is front and center of our relationship.
I say that because many times couples will make themselves the center of their relationship. And that is a fatal error.
You always want to keep God and His Word as the focus or you will put in stress. Factures like in that catastrophe in 1,981 that can put in stress weaknesses which will implode if not careful.
So the Word of God and who owns that word, that's very important. So we are the first fruits and then he says so by beloved brethren let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to raft for the wrath of man does not work the righteousness of God.
Again, this is the commentary section because we talked about it a little last hour. But I want you to focus, oops.
On this idea of the wrath of God does not ring a bell with God's righteousness.
See the wrath of man is a very emotional based out of control deposit or catharsis of all that's tied up in an individual.
It's in some ways it has a little it's like the next level above angry right where you are like viewing it out.
Now we all have seen that maybe we've done that. We've gotten irritated and angry, but we've kept it sort of in check.
Rath is Right? Anybody have one of those? Well, it like a volcano, right?
Now, when that happens It not only doesn't equal the righteousness of God, but remember what the context was, the Word of God.
And so the wrath of man and the word of God are equally in contradiction. What is the Word of God there?
That's what produced the first fruits, your new life, your promise of spiritual fruit to God, and he's saying the wrath of man actually chokes out the product of God's Word.
Now that is why I mentioned to you about The raffle man, the angry man. Do not learn the ways of an angry man.
Do not be friends with an angry man. Yes, unless you learn as ways. And become like him.
This has been one of my greatest struggles as a married man. The wrath of man. When I grew up, I love my parents.
They're precious people. But the wrath of man was not in check in our home. I thought that was normal.
So when I married Janet and I did my usual Rath of Man bit. She was afraid of me.
Turns out the children were afraid of me. I said, I did the usual thing. I deferred.
That's who I am, man. You get the whole package, you know, it's just me.
Well, let me tell you guys. That you? Not so good. Right?
That should never be an excuse. That should never be an excuse. We use it all the time. Oh, you know, Yeah, but you're a new creature, okay?
And I don't think you're made that way anymore. That was very hard for me. It's still hard.
I have to really be careful. Part of it is my own selfishness. Part of it is my own pride.
Whatever it is that fuels this raffle is not actually going the way I planned it, sort of spirit, all that stuff.
It is inconsistent, incongruous, which I love that word because I learned it in medicine. It does not fit.
With the ways that God deems as right. Righteousness of God. Contrary to the document and the example of Jesus Christ that has fully showed us the right ways of God.
That's big. No, this is why he says to you. Be swift to hear. It's an old testament concept, but in I think it's Isaiah and I'm blanking on the chapter just now.
Hi, Isaiah is talking about the servant. So you know you're in chapters roughly (495) 051-5253 and then I think it's 50 51 if I remember right but in that it's a chapter 50 in that chapter it says You have opened my ear.
That's a Hebrew way of saying. I am listening with the intent to obey you.
Because the context then says this. I did not refuse you I gave my back to the smiteers so it's prophetic literature it's poetic and he's saying When my ear was opened, I didn't refuse to hear and obey.
I even went to the point of putting my life in jeopardy, the servant of God the Messiah did, and let them take apart my back and pick it apart like it was a ploughed field.
See, that's the idea of opening your ear. And again, Jewish audience having read Isaiah, this would not be a foreign concept to them.
It's foreign to us. We think sometimes that if we hear it, it's the same as knowing or obeying it.
And that's not true. There's a totally different concept and that'll come out in the next paragraph.
So he says, I want you to be here and in contract and that's really an irony.
Quick to shut up and listen. Really? Usually we're quick to speak. Now I'm a verbal person you might have noticed.
I think out loud, I, I need to express it, let myself hear it. Many times I practice preach in the car.
You know, everybody else thinks I'm listening to the radio or talking on the phone, on practice preaching.
And I'll say it out loud and I go, well that sounded stupid. You need to redo that, you know.
And so I hammer it out in the car, right? Don't tell anybody. It's very embarrassing.
All right. But when I do that, I also do that in my conversation with my wife. And so she's learned that she can't always listen to the first version.
Cause it's not always accurate, right? And so if you're built like that, then what you find is that you're also quick with your words when there is a sense of the wrath of man.
And so I have to I have to learn to be careful so many times I have injured my spouse because of my words.
I really had to tailor that in and still don't ask her but I'm sure she'll tell you.
He's still working on it, right? But the point is is that these are inconsistent with the ways of God, the right way of God.
Look at what it says, slow to speak, slow to wrath. For some reason, the more you house hear yourself talk, the more you're convinced that you're right, the more you get angry.
Now, if anger is is the problem. If Rath is the problem, we think that's only the one sin that's affected.
But it's not. It's a symptom of a condition of your soul which there is no self-control whatsoever.
And so all the other desires have free reign. They're like the the Jerusalem and the days of Nehemiah where there's gaping holes in the wall where the foxes can run to and throw the wildlife can get in.
And that's what happens. And look at the next verse. Therefore lay aside all filthiness.
That's a reference to the sexual world. Moral purity and it's very true. I think it's a true observation from the world of counseling that if you're struggling with this fury thing, you're uncontrolled and the passions of your emotions.
You will most likely be uncontrolled and the passions of the flesh too. You see they're connected.
Now what was the context? The context was the Word of God. That created you as a firstfruits.
The Word of God is intended to then wash over the rest of you the rest of life. Including the fat passions of the emotional soul, the passions of the physical appetites, the filthiness and overflow of wickedness that some of the translations said the superfluity of wicked.
I had no idea what that meant. Super fluid. Super, but that's about all I got, right?
But what he means is, is there's abundant wickedness. You see that? And I need you to understand the principle.
Fighting an area of your life over here. Usually means that you're going to be fighting multiple areas of life over here.
But what you do or what we do is we so magnify this one. And we excuse the rest.
Sin is always multi-dimensional. Flesh has multicolours and disguises.
So don't be foolish, my friends. Understand that this is a soul problem. Not just a singular issue.
Once I understood that, I could see that the Lord was concerned about changing me in all these areas, not just the one that plagued me so much, right?
And so I tell you this because what's the key? The Word of God. Now, when I say the Word of God, Many of us will go, well, I've read the Bible, you know, I don't know, 10 or 15 times.
So I know it, you know, pretty backwards and forwards. You tell me a verse, I'll tell you what it says, right?
That kind of thing. And the answer is there is a huge difference between what you know. Versus what you do.
And the economy of God, it's the doing that actually matters over the knowing. Now you got to know. So think about it.
If you know a hundred verses in the Bible and you don't do a single one of them, are you really better than the person that only knows one verse in the Bible that absolutely obeys it completely?
I'm thinking God's going with the latter. Because he says you need to be a doer of the word and not a hearer only.
And let's read this next paragraph together. Ready? Therefore, lay aside all filthiness and overflow of wickedness and receive them with meekness, the implanted word which is able to save your souls.
He's not talking about salvific, you know, salvation, so savings, talking about the sanctification process.
But he, but be doers of the word and not hears only, deceiving yourselves. That's the third time in 22 verses that he talks about being liars to yourself.
You get fooled. For if anyone is a here of the Word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror.
He observes himself and goes away and immediately see that immediately forgets what kind of man he was. Why do you think we're talking about this?
But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty when it says law there you want to use the word principle it conveys the right idea.
But he who looks under the perfect principle of liberty and continues in it and is not a forgetful here but a doer of the work, right?
Now that's the second time you use that line. This one will be blessed and what he does.
Listen, do you want to be a happy Christian? This is the secret. That's what the word blessed means.
If anyone among you thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue. Oh, I wish you would have changed that.
That's, I mean, that's like hitting me in the mouth because it is really, but deceives his own hearts.
That's the fourth time he uses that word. To This ones religion is useless. Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this to visit the orphans and the widows in their trouble and to keep oneself unspotted or unstained from the world.
Wow, we've got to go through this before we get to chapter 2, don't you think?
Let's walk through it together. So we talked about the uncontrolled emotion of anger which gives place to the devil, that's Ephesians, gives place to the double, so the devil has a foothold.
He's got a little bit a piece of the real estate of your spiritual soul and on that little piece of real estate which is now on the on the wrong side of the of the of the of the fighting line he is able to erect lies that then fool you that you and I believe.
That so that's why second Corinthians 14 and 5 says you got to tear down those strongholds.
Those are the little towers that an enemy the enemy is erected for you that you believe in your head, you've got to pull those down with the word of truth with the word of Christ.
And so what we have to do is constantly wash our souls, the territory of our souls, if you will, so that the Word of God is flooding the area.
And washing, destroying those towers of truth that are towers of lies that the enemy has erected.
Now you'll notice it, you know, somebody's version of reality, they've concocted and believed it so much that they literally cannot believe anything else.
It happens in the unbeliever. They have believed so strongly that there is no God, though you give them incredible evidence of the existence of God, they fall back to the lie that's dare.
Now that phenomenon happens in the Christians line, hence the battle, and it's called a good fight, not a bad fight, right?
And so we can believe these things. One guy, he was so entrenched with the lust of the flesh that he said that he is convinced that God made him a person that has a homosexual tendencies.
Now, how do you get to that point? Well, there's lots of sin that's occurred, of unbridledness of the heart, of the passions that created more and more passions, more and more unbridledness, and eventually to make sense of your world, you have to come up with some type of reality that allows you to sin without violating the conscience anymore.
And when that happens, you have all kinds of crazy doctrine. Now, years later, you sit down and talk with him and was straight faced, they look at you and say, well, I believe that God is a loving God and loves all people.
See that theology coming up? It's partly true and partly not true. This is what happens.
This is the whole problem, the whole struggle of effective marriage counseling. You're chasing down these lies.
4 times in the space of 20 some verses our author is telling us you are lying to yourself you are believed you are deceiving yourself You see that?
Those are those towers of lies the enemy is using to pick you apart from behind. The Amalekites attacked from the rear, remember?
A nation that symbolized the flesh. They went after these areas because you can't see a coming.
If you see the battle coming at you, you're ready for it. You can't see what's behind you.
And so I I strongly suggest that you ask God Lord what lies have I been believing that have been corrupting my marriage and my family and me with you what is it that's been destructive in this way?
He says Do with that. Filthiness and overflow of weakness says with meekness.
Now the word meekness is an interesting word. It has the idea of gentleness. But really there's a concept to it and the concept is coined by several authors but it's strength under control.
So many of you have great strengths. You have great constitution. You're determined and you don't give up.
You're intelligent and your mind is sharp, razor sharp, you're a person of tremendous intuition and you can usually discern the forest for the trees or what's truth and what's air.
You get you just Strong. And what you do is you take all of that strength, all of that skill, and you put it underneath the control of the father and heaven.
Did Jesus not say, I am meek and lowly, same word, same idea that he, although God with all the resources.
Of God at his disposal, he put it under the control of his father so that although he could call legions of angels down to that moment of Calvary or in the moment of Gethsemane, he stood down and took all of his authority and submitted it to his father in heaven.
That's the idea. And so when the word of God comes, you are submitting yourself to its full authority and therefore to the outside observer you look gentle to the inside Christian you're taking all that would be maybe even appropriate to express You submit it to him.
That's what it means receive the Word of God and meekness and the implanted word that means it has a spot in you where it takes hold of and it says which is able to save you.
And this is how we have to go about it. So I know what we we say in Christianity, we say, well, you need to read the Bible and pray more, right?
You need to memorize the Word of God. Did you know those things are actually right? Those things are right.
And so much of your life should be spent and the idea of not just simply memory, memorization so we can get an award from the Bible Memory Association, which I used to do.
The whole point is that so that that word now tears down those towers of lies the enemy has had because she gave him a piece of real estate to your soul and is now replaced with the Tower of Truth.
See that? Turn to second Corinthians for a 14 and 5. I want to read it to you because it actually gives the image so much more clearly.
Then I can explain it. So we're in second Corinthians chapter 10 and I'm gonna read this with you.
4 and 5. Let's begin. And 3. For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flush.
In other words, this is not a physical bet. It's not my biceps and your triceps.
It's not a that. This is what the battle is. For the weapons of our warfare, our car are not, excuse me.
For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, that means fleshly. But Mighty in God, soon as the word God is used, it means it's spiritual.
For the pulling down of strongholds, strongholds, that's towers, those towers things.
What, what, what, what are we doing with those strongholds? We're casting.
Casting down arguments. Those are all those lies. And every high thing that's what Satan once he wants to elevate his lie to you over the Word of God.
That exalts itself against the knowledge of God. You see what's happening? Those lies that the enemy is able to erect of which we deceive ourselves and we believe are standing as greater authority than the Word of God.
He's saying it brings that down against an exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing, wow, bringing every thought, every stray thought, every little idle thought, that's why when I'm tempted on the airplane, be selfish, prideful, or lost, so that's key that I bring that individual thought underneath the authority.
With meekness, strength under his control, into captivity to the obedience of Christ, right?
What are you reestablishing? The knowledge of God to who specifically to the Lord Jesus Christ and being ready to punish all disobedience when your obedience is fulfilled.
In other words, bringing it to an end. See, that's the whole process. And I think the Word of God needs to have that paramount place in our souls.
So I don't know how you are in life, but I can tell you I am supposed to, I'm supposed to be about this book, but there are some days and which I actually don't read the book.
Have you done that? Yeah, that's a terrible confession to make. I get busy, I jump up, I say, okay, I gotta do this, I got to do this, I got to do this, and you know, I'm just like anybody else, and the Word of God falls, falls victim to my procrastination.
Brothers and sisters, it's so simple. The Word of God cannot. Be absent even for an hour within your day.
That's that's it. The word of God. Not for an intent to know, but for an intent to obey.
And that's the next point. But be doers of the word and not here is only deceiving yourselves.
For some reason, we think we can translate this. If I know it, it's the same as if I obey it.
And that's not true. If you know it, it means that many times or sometimes you fail to obey it.
Knowledge is part of it, but it doesn't. It's not the only thing. You see, I have many patients that I told.
You need to quit smoking or you're going to get lung cancer. I know Dopp, I know, I know, I know.
You don't need it. I know that. Okay. When you're gonna quit smoking.
No, no, that's, that's not gonna happen. So knowledge and doing are 2 different things.
So we have to be serious about the Word of God. We have to be so serious that it becomes life and death to us.
That's what it means to be a doer. I'd like to tell you the story about Michael Tuttle.
Do you know Michael Tuttle? Is a good friend. We work on several projects together and they're precious people.
Mica was also preaching to that Yosemite conference with Dave Reeve and he was talking about sin.
And he was talking about a brother somewhere in Peru. I guess. And his brother was having affairs.
And he goes to Mike and he says, like I, I really need you to pray. I need to pray because I'm just I just so tempted and and I just need not I got to stop this Mica, he's so funny, he goes.
Oh, that's no problem. I know how to solve that. I'm going, what's he going to say?
What's his arm around the guy? You know, Mica. He's like Indiana Jones Christian, right?
BI pray! I pray that my brother here that the next time he goes to another woman you would strike him dead.
First of all, I thought. Gutsy counseling, man. And you got it, buddy.
Alright. The guy goes, I don't want to die! Mike goes, but I thought you were serious about your sin.
I am serious but not that much!
Here's of the word. Not. Doors It's got to be life and death for us.
Right? That's how we have to think. This is a fight to the finish, right? The imagery of the battle is not like we go and we play a video game.
It's like you may not come back from the fight. That's what this is about. And the word of God has to have that sort of gravitas.
For the Christians heart and the seriousness of his soul. So when it says be a duer of the word and not a hero only, it's not a cliche.
It's how you're actually gonna survive the fight and live to fight another day. That's it.
If we don't see it like that. We dumb down the significance of God's Word and we simply become a Pharisee.
And rarely a recovering virus. You see? So let's finish the text.
But if anyone is a here of the word and not a doer, He is like a man observing his natural face in the mirror.
If he observes himself and goes away, and immediately I love that, we're immediately forgets.
What kind of man he was. There was a day in my work career in which the day started at 4 a.
MI don't know about you. But I don't like being a 4, 4 am kind of man.
I had to be at the hospital by about 5 36 o'clock. I had to get up early enough.
One day I got up late. You know, 4 or 5. Just kidding. About 4 45.
So I'm in there and I am like shaving and showering. We're doing the fast version.
All men know what we mean by that. We have the slow version. And we have the fast version, we're like, we're in and out in 3 min, right?
I was on the 3 min side. So I was in and out and I had to shave real fast and I brushed my teeth.
And you know, at that time of day, you try not to open your eyes too wide. No one want the brightness of the glorious.
Bathroom light to wake you up. So I'm like, put it all down and I just, I get to the hospital.
Okay, I get to the hospital. Her name was Dr. Morgan and Morgan. She looked at me.
Hey, you got some on your face.
I go look at what was, dried toothpaste. Okay. The absolute most embarrassing moment.
Of my professional career.
Right? Now, I think I caught a glimpse of that when I left the bathroom. But I immediately forgot it when I got in the coincide, little once I opened that door, I don't think I even kissed my wife that more is a terrible thing, right?
See, that's, I tell you that example because You'll never forget that, but number 2, it's so true to the text, isn't it?
We look, we see, and we forget. And that's exactly what the Spirit of God is saying, I do not want you to do.
I do not want you to live a life that has an unresponsiveness to my word. I want you to hear it and put it in the practice and there is no middle ground.
There's no partial of obedience here. There's only 100% obedience to it.
I want you to think, live, do that life. So you want to deal with the stability of faith and through the trials of both external and internal, he tells you the Word of God is central.
And the Word of God is not just central to know, to read 50 times in your life as a Bible read through.
The Word of God is a essential to do. If you love me, you'll keep my commandments.
Not if you love me, you'll know what I say. Noing what he says to keep them is important.
But it comes down to doing. I'm going to ask you the hard question with men and women.
What exactly in your life right now God has told you to do from His Word and you're not obeying?
What is it?
Isn't it the day at which that trend changes? Or you've been deceiving yourself.
I was flying home. And I was thinking what a lousy Christian I am.
I was remembering. The attitudes I had before I left the house. I was thinking about.
My self-centeredness, my reaction to the trials. I was thinking about the way my wife gave me Christ in return.
I remember saying at 35,000 feet. Something's gotta give. I think it's gonna be me.
And in that moment, no one knew.
But I saturated the little napkins they give you when you give you your coke.
Because I knew.
I was not just a hear of God's word. I was a speaker of God's word, but I was not a doer of God's word.
I found I fell under great conviction. 35,000 feet. I guess I was closer to heaven. Who knows?
But I do know. That every one of us have to has it have to have that epiphany.
Every one of us. And if you don't. You're not gonna have a happy life.
Look at what it says. He looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it and is not a forgetful here, but a doer of the work this one will be blessed in what he does.
He will be, if you know, if you fail to follow this path, you are a miserable person to be with.
That's what the word, by blessed means happy. You are a sense of a negative individual. Why?
I think because your conscience is violated. And now what is this perfect law of liberty? Sorry, I need to advance the slides here.
So he talks about alleviating one's debt or neglect and then we want to allocate one's target.
That's this idea of the happiness of God. Sorry that's so fast I meant to do this earlier.
So alleviate your deceit, leave one's neglect of not doing the word, allocate one's target. Let's get it focused.
We want to allocate one's target. Let's get it focused. We want to be a doer.
That's how God blesses us. Now let's go on to this next one here. And it's the idea of being useful.
That'll be in verse 26. This, what is this idea of the perfect law of liberty?
What that means is a principle. And the principle is, is that God gives much grace. To the doer of the word, you're putting, you're applying yourself to his words.
And that, that is what it means to continue in the Word and not be a forgetful doer.
That's what he means because he defines it in the next sentence. Then what happens here is it goes to alleviating your uselessness.
What you don't realize is that when you're not a doer of God's word, no matter what you do do, it's useless.
It's meaningless. It's vanity. It's emptiness. If anyone among you thinks he is religious, you see how he switches that tone?
If you're not a doer of the word about a hero only and you think you're religious, you're you're fooling yourself says it again and how do you know that?
How do you know that you're really fooling yourself? Because your mouth is run in its course.
And the mouth speak speaks what's in the fullness of the heart and if the fullness of the heart is this duality this hypocrisy this Pharisee ism then you know and your mouth is is speaking forth those evil vile things that are come out and gossip or criticism or or some type of a prideful statement and he says you you you think you're related but you're not at
all. You're not like a Christ-like person. He says, you're, you don't bother your tongue deceives his own heart. You see that?
It's the fourth time. This one's religious, religion is useless. Oh, do you see what the spirit of God saying?
Quit being useless. This is not new. This is in the Old Testament. Isaiah, Malachi, don't bring your offerings anymore.
Did you know I have enough animals around? I made them all. You despise. My offerings.
How do we despise you? What did we do wrong, Mrs. Malachi? What did we do, You bring me the disease.
The ones with no eye, the ones that have, that are going to die anyway. Why don't you bring that to your governor?
Would the governor enjoy that? I don't think so. Why would you think I would enjoy it?
Stop bringing me your offerings. You see, they thought they were being religious. They thought they were doing the right thing.
They believed they were all the while their actions, their lack of actions was sabotaging their commitment.
That's what's happening to us today. Oh, listen, how many people from our evangelical circles have hit the news of hit the hit the secular news of a corrupted or compromised life.
How many people in the assemblies have done the same? In my area, 4 h drive. There have been at least 8 incidents in the last 10 years.
8 incidents and our circles are not that big. That's a high prevalence, isn't it?
You see, this is what we have to deal with brothers and sisters. When we talk about this and where does it come to its fruition?
Where do you see it first? You're marriages. We're joking in the car.
She knows me the best. She knows my strengths, which are only like maybe. Half a one and my weaknesses which pretty much crowd the room.
She knows me through and through. Absolutely everything. You see, that's where this comes up. So if you want to be a Christian, you be a Christian in that merit, all right?
And it says this, you do not have this religious idea while you're compromised being Ferrisical, you got to, it comes down, for example, briding your tongue, right?
This, that religion is absolutely vanity. It has no help. You want to You want to have a religion that has meaning and value to it.
Now, look at the next verse. All right, there's purity. Pure and undefiled religion is going to give you the corrective teaching before God.
So the idea of pure means it's a cathedral. It's the idea of Clean, innocent, guiltless, without any accusation, undefiled means untainted, no stains on the on the fabric, all right?
These are the 2 descriptions. The religion of God which is which is right before him the God before God the Father is this to visit the orphans. Why?
What's the visit the orphans? And what about the widows? Why does he say that?
Because in the Jewish mind the old Testament the orphans and the Widows had a high high place of protection in the mind of God.
He even said it in the Proverbs too. He said, now don't mess with the widows.
Don't remove the ancient boundary of the widow. Don't mess with it. You were orphans too.
It's as if God's got a soft spot for him. All right. And so what he's saying is if God's got a soft spot for him right and so what he's saying is I need you need to understand that the heart of God looks for it looks out for those who have no protection, who have no help.
That's how you want to think. But when you're thinking fleshly, when you're thinking with the wrath of man and you're thinking about the wickedness and and and and sin.
You're not thinking about the lowest person in the tree. You're thinking about you as the highest person in the tree.
See what he's doing? He's teaching this contrast without giving you all the math, not doing all the equations for you.
He's given you the conclusion to visit the orphan and widows in their trouble. Right?
And then it says this, to keep oneself unspotted by the world, what spots are those?
Well, look back up there. The rats are those. Well, look back up there. The rats, the raft of man does not work the righteousness of God.
Verse 21, filthiness, overflow all that stuff. Now he's going to spend the rest of the book talking about some examples of those and he's going to talk about the tongue in chapter 2.
He's going to talk about our, excuse me, and chapter 2 is going to talk about authenticity.
And chapter 3 is going to talk about the tongue. And chapter 4 is going to talk about self. And in chapter 5, Bill in and concluding the whole thing.
But you see what he's doing, he's saying. Christianity is meant to be authentically lived.
Right? Where you breathe.
The word of God has got to be. That important to you. Oh, how important is the word of God to you?
Is it important? Is the only value the word of God for you is to be able to sound at least coherent when you might have to say something publicly.
Is that the value of the Word of God? You've missed it. As a word of God, so only important to you to say that I checked off my devotions today, is that it?
Or to share with the ladies and a lady's gathering? Is that it? You've missed it.
Your religion is useless. The only criteria for a religion that is not useless is that you obey what's in the Word of God.
That is it. Can you imagine what kind of presentation we would have of Christ if we were all this way?
If all of us were living and this mindset. Do you imagine the authenticity of the glory of Christ that would be in our assemblies and in our families and in our marriages and in our in visual lives.
This is key, isn't it? So I challenge us today to not just skirt this as, oh, we've heard that before.
I challenge you today to not write it off as, oh, this is old stuff. Steve's always saying this stuff.
I'm not saying it. Spirit of God is. And what's he saying to you?
I want to pause for a minute and I want to pray before we go to the next segment, okay?
Yes, father. This is this is very soul searching for me specifically, but I'm sure for all of us.
It's kind of like down to the. The rubber meets the road sort of talk.
Father. You don't have to search hard to see. How frequently, how often and how recent I fail.
But I know. I know you. I know that you work all things together for good. I know that includes my sin.
All I'm gonna ask you is for something very simple. Fill us with your spirit so that we would be more like your son.
He said that if we ask you, you would give to us your spirit. Obviously, Father, you gave us your spirit when you were born again.
But we're talking about being filled with the Spirit. Filled in a way in which he has. His way over our over our wills, our minds, our emotions.
He is Lord over our Constitution. Christ through him. Father, I know that. I believe that and we just want to stop and I want to just confess to you.
You were my lord. What would you have your servant do? In Jesus name. I want you to turn now to the second chapter.
And I've titled this prejudging a situation. Does anybody here have any difficulty about prejudging a situation before you know all the facts.
Anybody do that? Good. No one has done that. I am impressed.
So this will be a fast chapter. Okay. No, when you, when you read this, he gives us an example of prejudging a brother or somebody that walks into the assembly.
But the principle is this idea of bias and prejudgment, okay? And it becomes a part of our fleshly thinking that is very detrimental to the whole work of God.
So let's read these first 13 verses and we'll then take it apart before the hour is over.
My brother and do not hold the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ the Lord of glory with partiality that means you're you're giving someone a special favor and not the other.
For if there should come into your assembly, a man with a gold rings and fine apparel and that he there should also come in a poor man with filthy clothes.
You pay attention to the one wearing the fine clothes and say, oh, you sit here in the good place and you say to the poor man, you stand, see that you're not even given a seat.
You stand there or sit here at my footstool. Have you not shown partiality among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts?
You see that's where I get the idea of prejudging. You have judges, you become judges with evil thoughts.
You see, there are things we think we know when we are living in a non-obedient way to the Word of God.
We then, in that state, we think we know certain things after they are facts and they're accurate and they're not accurate.
They're not the the the the calling the situation precisely. So don't be fooled. You see that theme.
Don't be fooled. And he says, this you got a guy who comes in and he looks good and he looks great.
Maybe he's talking the talk. Maybe he's acting like he knows the word beyond measure. Maybe he's kind of flashy with the old pride thing.
Maybe it's a little arrogant, but it's there, it's all there.
He says, don't fall into that trap. You need to look harder. The heart is where it's at, not the presentation.
That goes for you and I too. So he's got to be very concrete and he says, but you know that poor man the one that we described in chapter one who has built-in ready moment for humility because he has to depend upon God.
That's the one you're not respecting. That's the one you want to be respecting.
The one who has a heart for the things of God, not for the one that only pretends to be.
Oh, we got to be often authentic. Instead, we prejudge a situation and we come up with wrong conclusions that are detrimental.
And so this is what he says next. Listen, my beloved brother, I'm sorry, let me make sure this is, yeah.
Listen, my beloved brethren. Has God not chosen the poor of this world to be rich in faith?
What's the one thing that if you don't have you cannot please God? Hey! And if he says, I've chosen the poor of this world because they have to depend upon me, it's a ready-made situation to exercise faith.
I put them in a spot where they will have faith and that's the most important thing to the heart of God.
I'm thinking you should value the one that has pain. Not the one that has it packaged, you know, their life seems packaged.
And that's just what he's saying. To the writ to be rich in faith and errors of the kingdom which he promised to those who love him.
See, why are you loving something that doesn't love the Lord? Don't too love the Lord?
That's what he's saying. Faith and love, they go together. And then he says, but you have dishonored the poor man.
Do not the rich oppress you and drag you from the courts. Do they not blasphemy the noble name by which you are called?
Now he's obviously referencing something that was happening in that day. Maybe 48, 49 50, AD.
And so maybe there was some sort of favoritism, but yet those people would then sue the sue you as a quote believer.
Who knows? I don't know. I wasn't there, but I do know this, the principal remains.
Simple. The reality is God values the one who has faith. God values the one who loves him.
And we should too. Those who are willing to lay down their lives because they love the Savior.
You know who was written about who that was written about in the Bible? A path for Dietis.
And he went from Philippe to the jailhouse in Italy and Rome. He found Paul who was under house arrest, a minister to his needs and in so doing he got an illness in which he almost died from.
And Paul writes back to the home church back at Philippe and he says, you know, paphroditis was near unto death, but God had mercy on him and me also, lest I have sorrow upon sorrow.
And let me tell you, you should honor such men who did not value their life unto death. That's the kind of person that needs esteem.
See, that's the spirit of James, that James is talking about. That's the kind of person we should value.
You know, I don't think we value that. We value those. The ones who who are well packaged in their presentation, whether it be in dress or a accomplishment.
A accomplishment socially. No, let me give you an example.
I'm from Kansas, Our football team is the Kansas City Chiefs. Do you know why we pack out every stadium every event?
Taylor Swift. Okay. Seriously, we're sold out because Taylor Swift. All right.
Now when you're listening to this 20 years from now, Taylor Swift was an icon of a public musician, right?
We go play the New York Jets. They sell out nothing. Taylor Swift shows up. Packed house.
What does that tell you? You're honoring, you're attracted to all the presentation of a life that is very fragile.
A life that the Lord says, you know, it's like the gets raised up, the sun comes out and it wilts and it weathers and it wilt in it and it falls away just like that.
I don't want you to live with that principle in mind. I want you to value the things that I value and it's faith and it's a love of God and if that's what you've value you will never prejudge a situation with externals ever again.
Brothers and sisters, we cannot be prejudged. Brothers and sisters, we cannot be pre-judges ever again.
Brothers and sisters, we cannot be prejudged. Brothers and sisters, we cannot be prejudges. You know who we prejudged the most?
Our spouses. You should have known. You should have done this. I expected you.
You should have, you should have, you should have said this. How do I know that? I'm the chief of prejudice.
I hate it. And I hate it when I do it to my wife especially. You see that? You want, you want a stable marriage?
You got to be a doer of the Word of God. But you if you're a doer of the Word of God.
You will value faith and love for God. Over prejudging your beloved.
That's how it works. Does that make sense? Hope so. Alright, let's move on.
Where were we? Oh yeah. Verse 8, if you really fulfill the royal law according to the scriptures.
You shall love your neighbor as yourself. You do well. But if you show partiality, this prejudging idea.
You commit sin. Oh, now I just put it out there. You commit sin, right? And are convicted by the law as transgressors for whoever keep whoever shall keep the whole law and yet stumble in 1 point he is guilty of all For he who said, Do not commit adultery, also said, Do not murder.
Now if you do not commit adultery and you do and you do murder, you have become a transgressor or a lawbreaker of the law.
So speak and so do as those who will be judged by the law of liberty. For judgment without mercy.
For judgment is without mercy to the one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment.
All right, let's put let's. Take this apart before we need to finish today. All right.
He says there, he says, listen guys, let me set the record straight, okay? And there is a simple or sample objectivity that you need to have.
And here's what it is. Number one. There is a royal wall. If you Google royal law, it'll actually come up with this verse, which is a quote from the Old Testament.
You shall love your neighbor. As yourself. Back in the 19 eighties and ninetys there was this group called Never mind what they're called, but there are 2 psychiatrists who are on the radio.
There are Christian psychiatrists. And they would quote this verse. And they would say, so in order to love your neighbor, you first has to love yourself.
Right? You shall love your neighbor as yourself. So if I don't love myself, I won't love my neighbor, therefore you have to love yourself.
You know what we call that? Stupid. Alright. There, the, I, mankind.
With a sinful nature only thinks of himself. Well, what about the people that hate themselves? Are they still thinking about themselves?
Yes, they just concluded the wrong conclusion, right? Most of us who love ourselves without any difficulty. Right?
Now, so it's not talking about loving yourself first. It's talking about or it's assuming that you already have a robust self-conscion.
And you need to have that robust self-concern for you. Equal amounts, if not more, for the other person.
Hearing you get the idea of Christianity that it's always an other person orientation. For gods who love the world that he gave his only begotten son.
You see that? It's an other benefit. The other person becomes the benefactor at all points in time and fullest measure.
That's the royal law. That's how God operates. That's how you were born again.
And that's how we are to act in this life, you see. And that's how we are to think about our spouses.
So the husbands are to love their wives as they love themselves. It's actually quoted for us in Ephesians 5.
That's a high standard, isn't it? Now you can lower that standard if you say, well, I don't love myself very much, therefore I don't need to love my spouse as much.
Wrong, oh, great, dumb one. That is not how you do the math, okay? The math is simple.
You love the Lord like he has loved you. And that's the end. All right, now here we go.
But if you show partiality, I'm substituting the synonym phrase, prejudge, because that's how you get partial.
You commit sin. Bye. Every time you thought I thought my wife should have. No, this or done this or anticipated this.
You know what I committed?
I cannot even count the number of times I've done that in our 38 years.
I feel like Paul. I'm the chief among sinners. That's not to make that's not to keep me wallowing in the mess.
That's to make me appreciate the grace that God gives me. Right? Alright, so. You commit sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors.
Now what does he mean by that? In this case when he uses the second use of law and that phrase law transgressors, he's talking about the Torah or the Old Testament.
And they use this kind of this really, really intuitive, insightful example. And he says, now listen, this is hot.
This is how you're thinking. You're thinking if you don't commit this sin. But you are committing this.
He says, you're actually guilty of everything. Right? So, but you're thinking, you Christian here, you're thinking, if I don't do this, but if I if I If I don't commit the break this law and I do break this all, then I'm okay.
He says, no, you're not OK. A long break, excuse me, a lawbreaker, and he uses the example.
These are 2 quotes from the decalogue. Do not commit adultery. Oh, great.
I'm not sleeping around with anybody. But you do murder. Are you are you a lawbreaker?
Oh yeah, Chuck Sendall used to say it this way. How many pens does it take to pop a balloon?
Just one. Right. John McCarthy quoted Chuck Sondall. And he says, I love it.
He goes, do you know what Chuck Sanol says? He was talking about purity. He says it only takes one pen to pop a balloon, right?
You know, how John McCarthy is. And he says, Boy says things so well. I thought so. Yeah, that's good.
So I'm gonna quote you. Only take one pen to bap a balloon. It only takes one transgression to fall under the indictment and weight of the rest of the Word of God.
So if you approach the situation and you are not obeying this idea of loving one another as you love yourself.
Then what happens is it's like you've also committed murder or you've also committed adultery.
That's the gravity of this whole discussion. So, fooling yourselves and thinking that your religion is okay when it's actually quite dirty.
See what he's going? See the context? Brothers and sisters, this sounds so down, sounds so negative, but It's necessary.
This is how James, by the Spirit of God, was led to help us have stability and our faith and walk with God.
And in order to do that, you got to do the hard things. You got to look at a few things and you got to go,
Oh god, I, you've gotta fix that. That's awful in me. And for me it was prejudging.
And it was like I was committing murder and adultery or not loving my neighbor as myself.
How many times have you done that? And the mind of God, you're guilty of all of them.
You already became a lawbreaker. Oh, what you need. Is the law of mercy. That's what it says here.
It says right in there in that text. The law of liberty. What's the law of liberty?
What's in the next phrase? Mercy triumphs over judgment. You see, when you're prejudging, you've made a conclusion about the one person that they're, in this case, that they're sort of low-life and the other person has got to be the better person because they have the riches, that prejudging makes a dichotomy, a splitting, right?
And the one gets the negative conclusion and the other gets the positive conclusion. And he's saying what you need is you need mercy in that situation, especially to the one that you've concluded negatively about.
Then he says it so forcefully because in the economy of God the principle is this principle. Mercy triumphs over judgment.
So you want to show mercy. So if you don't show mercy, you won't receive mercy.
Now the word triumph is a very interesting word. When I was, when my daughter, my second daughter, our second daughter, Maggie.
Maggie was quite the sports girl. She spent 10 years doing gymnastics. And I would go, John, you would like this and take my little camera, which was my Nikon.
And I and I know I'll probably make your fingernails go on the chalkboard, but I would put it on.
Athletic mode. And so I would just hold it and You know, then I pick out the best one.
That's the one I'd show, right? Now he's like a professional photographer and I'm probably making his ears hurt right now.
But I did that and I caught Maggie. She was a little, little tiny person. Spread out horizontal to the ground with their head hanging on the bar like that.
Great picture, by the way. All right. So Maggie, she was like this great athlete.
She grew up, grew up, and she's getting better and better and better and one day she says to mom and I Janet and I she goes well.
I'm gone too much from the family. Whoa. I think I need to change sports. I go, whoa.
She goes, I'd like to do volleyball. I go, whoo! Okay.
So she goes to play volleyball, now more mature body, excellent control. And I go to a home school game.
Have you guys ever been to a home school athletic event? All those parents are too calm. I'm like screaming.
Yeah! You know, and all those parents are looking like.
Okay. Alright, so Maggie, she's very elegant and she flows in body movement.
So I watch her. The ball comes up. She's set. She comes.
And, Yeah, my boy she spikes that baby down scores a point. This is Maggie.
All right, so she's like floats up like an angel. And then spikes it, she's on the ground.
She goes, Okay. Yeah, I think she got that from her mother, really.
I will pay for that later on.
That's what the word triumph means.
It's a mercy. And remember, God's both, right? He's both merciful and And he has to judge because he's holy, he made the rules, that's righteousness, and right and being sovereign you have to judge when the right when there's a breach of righteousness so he has to judge But what God does is he makes an eclipse, doesn't
he? We just had one and and he lets mercy. Overshadow judgment. And in so doing, this is so cool.
Mercy goes. Over judgment. That's the law of liberty. And that's what he wants in this economy of Christian living.
Where the flesh no longer. Presides in judgment. And one of the biggest problems and marital issues is judging one another.
I know what you're thinking. That's the joke with us. I would say to Janet, I know what you're thinking.
She gets so bad. Now when Janet gets mad, she stomps her foot. Yes. Bye.
And that's when I know I have definitely stepped on the last digit, okay? She stopped. You do not know what I'm thinking.
I said, yeah, it makes her matter. I just did it to egg her on anyway. The point is, is how much more.
Do we need that? Mercy. In our marriages. The law of liberty is to be what we put over our doors.
Over our beds. Over our thresholds. Because that's how you're saved.
Aren't you, aren't you glad that God's mercy triumphs over judgment or this room would be empty.
The breaking of bread time. Would be vacant. But because God. Let mercy triumph over judgment.
Promise. How much? If we were doers of the word. When it comes to the law of liberty.
See that? We need to quit prejudging. We need to quit judging each other with such and labeling their motives.
We need to quit making these decisions of putting the person in this category or that category based on facts which are inaccurate when we should be valuing the data, the data points that consist of faith in God and love for the Savior.
That's how we need to be thinking. So Sweetie, why did you, why did you buy that?
What would you do that for? Well, I thought the Lord wanted me to minister to their heart. Oh.
Was a good decision. Which I would have thought. Mercy. Triumphs.
Over judgment.
Alright, we'll stop there. For the segment. Do you have any questions? Comments or derogatory remarks?
Let's pray. How do your father as we come to this into the section this this test this text
We actually come to the place where we admire you even more.
I rarely let mercy triumph over judgment. You always let mercy triumph over judgment.
And as a result, you created the family of God. Oh God, make us make me be a person.
That values what you've done and lives it. And a true, undefiled, doer manner.
We're tired of this flesh and its influence. We're tired of being manipulated by its voice in our back of our mind.
We don't want that anymore, not just because it's a nasty way to live, but because it's not you.
And you made us to be like your son, which is you.
So please father. Cast your mercy upon us. Allow your spirit to have a special way with the souls of your believers so that we are no longer like or previous father.
But we are like our new father. Partakers of the divine nature which which is . You
You loved your neighbor as yourself. And you became a bond servant. So I could be a, I could be a son.
When how when wherever will this truth finally so control me? That I look at the human race like you see them.
That I look at my family like you see them. And they're look at my spouse as you see her.
Please do this great work in my soul. It will take a miracle nonetheless, but you are the god of miracles.
Nothing. Is impossible for you and father even this weekend some online some will hear this later their marriages are hurting And they're sort of having tension and difficulty and pain and agony.
Let the mercy of God flood their souls and let it control everything from this moment on.
Or the some marriages that are you blessed and you've strengthened them, let them become teachers of the ways of the law of liberty.
Let them be used of you. To carry others. Let us be marriages that are each one of us in our lone little homes.
Beautiful offerings of first foods. To the glory of our God. In Jesus name I pray.
Good.
He's gonna come up and explain what we're gonna be doing next. After we have 5 min of your time.
We're going to go to lunch free time after that. Meet back here at 4 o'clock for the evening session.
And.