So I had an extra week to prepare. Awesome. Well, with this particular scripture, I had not only an extra week to prepare, but I had an extra week to fall and be broken on this scripture.
And we, as we all get to, the guys are cycling through and getting to preach and those things, one of the best things possible, I think, is that the scripture that we meditate on to bring to you, we're living.
And it is just, the Lord just lays things on our hearts. So I want to translate some of that to you today, if I can.
So James chapter 4, 11 through 17 is my text, but I want to look at a couple of prerequisites, if you will, prerequisite thoughts here.
The first one, the first one is what I think maybe is the theme of James, at least one of them.
It would be James 4, 6.
And part of that verse says, God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.
If you look at a lot of what James is talking about, and this chapter in particular, that is the core.
That is the theme that comes up over and over and over.
And so I want to have that in our minds as we go down through these verses.
The second thing is basically a definition of judge.
Of judge.
So like as we potentially can judge each other.
Well, what does judge mean?
Judge is, that word is I decide or I determine.
I decide or I determine.
So when you think about judgment like that, it's me looking at a situation, a person, an action, a thought.
And I decide and I determine.
So let's keep that definition in our mind as we go through this.
Judgment, there's a lie believed.
I am greater than God.
I apply his law better.
I assess situations better.
I have a better handle on my future.
This chapter and my verses in particular, 11 through 17, centers on the idea of boasting.
So boasting in my law, boasting in my decisions, boasting in my planning.
Those are the three areas that we're going to look at and kind of take apart.
So if you would turn to chapter 4 and start with verse 11.
Don't criticize one another, brothers.
This is out of CSB.
My phone just switched over on me.
I had an ESV, but here we go.
CSB is fine.
I got one in the back.
All right.
Don't criticize one another, brothers and sisters.
Anyone who defames or judges a fellow believer defames and judges the law.
If you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law, but a judge.
There is one lawgiver and judge who is able to save and to destroy.
But who are you to judge your neighbor?
Come now, you who say, today or tomorrow we will travel to such and such a city and spend a year there and do business and make a profit.
Yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring, what your life will be.
For you are like a vapor that appears for a little while then vanishes.
Instead, you should say, if the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.
But as it is, you boast in your arrogance.
All such boasting is evil.
So it is sin to know the good and yet not do it.
Wow.
So the first thing I want to look at is boasting in my law.
Now, this is a negative.
I just want to be clear.
This is not good.
This is just what he's talking about.
Boasting in my law.
So the first area that he talks about is speaking.
Don't criticize one another, brothers and sisters.
Or speak evil.
ESVS uses speak evil.
Don't speak evil or criticize one another.
So the context for what he means by criticize or speak evil is right after that.
Anyone who defames or speaks against or judges a fellow believer is what we're talking about.
And they defame and judge the law.
We'll talk about that in a second.
But that's what he's talking about.
So if we're wondering, okay, what does it mean to speak evil?
What does it mean to criticize my brother or my sister?
Well, it's right there.
Defames or judges a fellow believer.
Speaking against basically is speaking something that is slanderous, hurtful, basically not in love.
Not in love.
And that's key.
And that will be key over this whole bit of this chapter.
Psalm 34, 13.
Keep your tongue from evil and your lips from speaking deceit.
There's another good way to describe it.
Now, you know when you're speaking evil against someone.
Don't you?
Even as the words go out.
I was talking with somebody the other day.
And they said, even as they went, I wish I could grab them back.
You know, there's those times.
And you realize, I am not speaking the way I should.
Maybe that person is there.
Maybe they're not there.
And you're with somebody else.
And you're sharing those words.
And man, you would like them back.
Because as soon as you say them, you recognize, I'm in a wrong spot.
And you sense it.
Spirit.
Right.
You may want to stop yourself.
Take those back.
Or justify.
Justify what it is that you're saying.
Now we're really getting into judgment.
The judgment side.
Once we start to say something bad about somebody, we criticize or we speak against them.
And then we start to justify that.
That's judgment.
Now we've crossed lines that we ought not to cross in what we're saying and what we're speaking.
Some ways in which we speak against someone, we might assign motives.
How many times have you kind of looked into somebody's heart, so to speak, and thought you knew what was going on in there?
I think I know what they're thinking or what they're not thinking.
Why they do something.
Another way we speak against someone is we delight in exposing their faults.
There's something within us that maybe feels a little bit justified or good about pointing out a fault in somebody else.
We'll talk about that in a second.
What about talking about a brother or sister behind their back and not to them?
Speaking to somebody else about a problem you have with a brother or sister, but not to them.
That's speaking against.
You're speaking.
Matthew 20, 18.
What does he say?
If you've got a problem with your brother, go to them.
Not to somebody else.
Not to someone else.
Or we criticize from a place of hypocrisy or the log in our own eye and the speck in our neighbor's eye.
Judges his brother when he says that.
So don't criticize one another, brothers and sisters.
Anyone who defames or judges a fellow believer or a brother or sister.
There is a clarity here that we have to draw.
And that is there is ways in which we judge sin.
There's ways that that boundary can be crossed and go into another place.
If you would turn to Galatians 6.
And we'll look at verses 1 and 2.
Galatians 6, verse 1 and 2.
If you have your paper Bibles, you can turn.
It says,
Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness.
Of gentleness.
Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted.
Bear one another's burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ.
The right way to judge.
Let's talk about that first.
The right way to speak to a brother or sister.
Number one, from that passage we see, we must keep watch and accountable for our brothers and sisters.
That's something that we're tasked to do.
As partners, as people who come to church together, as people who are following Christ together, we should look out for one another.
Right?
If there's something that we catch somebody in a transgression, that's something that's important to judge and discern rightfully that that's sin.
And that needs to be confronted.
Okay.
So, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness.
So, that's the second part.
Number one is the spiritualness or the right place of your heart.
And then, in gentleness, restore him.
In love.
In love at that point.
Watch yourself.
The gravity of what is going on here.
He says, keep watch on yourself, lest you be tempted.
That's the gravity of it.
Because we are all sinners.
And it's easy for us all to fall into the same thing.
The whole point of taking the log out of your eye before you deal with the speck in somebody else's.
That's what he's getting at there.
And then, this is interesting.
Verse 2.
Bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.
So, if we discern something, we catch somebody, a brother or sister, in a transgression.
It's important that we speak to them about it.
It's important that we bring that up.
It's ultimately important we do that in love.
If it's not in love, it's a noisy gong.
It's not good.
That's not how we go about this, and he's specific there.
And then, we watch ourself.
And then the last thing, bear one another's burdens right after that.
So, when you share, when you see that, when you restore, as a spiritual person, you walk with them afterwards.
You share that, you speak to them, but then you invest in them.
Love does not invest.
Love does not, it's not, what he's talking about here is not like a drive-by shot at your brother, and then you truck on.
Right?
We are partners.
We are partners in the gospel, and others of us are partners of a church.
And the accountability there, and the importance there, is that not only do we see these things, and talk to one another about it, and be clear about it, and vulnerable about it, both ways.
But that we love one another, and invest in one another, to bear that burden together, as we go.
You have to invest.
Love invest.
So, now we see, okay, that's the right way to judge something, to discern something, to see sin and deal with sin.
But there's a wrong way.
Wrong way creates an atmosphere that results in disagreements, in fighting, in biting one another.
When it's just sort of that drive-by shot.
Hey, you know, this is a real problem in your life.
And that's it.
And move on.
Is that in love?
Is that investing?
Is that somebody who loves somebody else enough to stick with them, and bear that burden, and walk with them in it?
That creates trouble.
It creates a bad atmosphere.
Confession of sin cleanses us of this.
Jesus taking our sin, and us making those confessions, and repentance.
That's what clears the air.
When I say that, Doug Wilson had a great analogy for this.
Like, in the church, if we aren't clearing the air through confession, through openness, and the things that we strive for to do,
then what starts to happen is a charge gets created.
Imagine, like, clouds as they, right before a storm.
It creates a charge, and then, you know, lightning.
Well, the church is kind of the same way.
And this is, in his analogy, I think, was great.
So the charge gets, starts to pick up, and starts to pick up.
If nothing is ever confessed, if nothing is ever worked through, if people aren't talking about transgressions, and these kind of things,
then as the charge builds, boom, it's going to, lightning, and problems, and things like that.
We've all experienced it, I'm sure.
We've all felt that.
In small groups, in larger groups, it happens.
And so the way that we have to counter that is through confession.
It's through the confession of sin, and carrying that burden with one another, and speaking to one another, and investing in one another.
Not judging one another.
Because the judgment does nothing but increase the charge in the air.
That's all that will happen, until finally someone's going to get electrocuted.
Right?
So, great analogy there.
The end of verse 11, looking back at our, verse 11 is just huge and powerful in this, in James 4.
Don't criticize one another, brothers and sisters.
Anyone who defames or judges a fellow believer defames and judges the law.
If you judge the law, you are not a doer alone.
Okay, so he sort of switches there.
Anyone who defames or judges a fellow believer defames and judges the law.
What do we mean, judge the law?
I really had to hang in this thought for a long time.
Um, speaks evil against the law.
ESV says, speaks evil against the law and judges the law.
If I judge my brother, then I'm speaking evil of the law and judging that.
So, uh, what do we mean here?
Well, how about God's law?
Judge not that you be not judged.
Matthew 7, 1.
God's law.
Love your neighbor as yourself.
Matthew 22, 39.
God's law.
Speak the truth in love.
Ephesians 4, 15.
God's law, our core for this chapter.
God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.
James 4, 6.
The truth is, when we judge our neighbor, when we judge somebody else,
we are actually judging God's law.
And that is a twisting and a distorting of these truths for your own purposes.
That this is very, very important.
He's saying here that when we set up against somebody else, we are setting up against God.
When we speak against someone else, when we criticize somebody else, when we do that in that wrong way,
what we're doing is we are basically defining our own law.
And we are disregarding God's law and saying, God, you don't have this right.
I do.
And we judge his.
That's him.
That's he breathed his law.
And we are setting up against him.
Going back to our judge definition.
I decide.
I decide on God's purposes.
On his nature.
On his perfection.
Doesn't this sound so arrogant?
Just as you think about it.
As this unpacks here.
Like, I can't get past the arrogance.
Of me.
This week.
You know?
Judging is when you determine the right and wrong of somebody's actions apart from God and his word.
When you decide.
When you judge.
When you determine somebody else's faults and their issues apart from God.
When you decide how someone should be treated.
According to your own ideas.
According to the way you think life should go.
The way you think that people should do things.
I decide.
Judging is when you put forth your own standard and expect another to comply with it.
John Calvin.
I found this really great quote from him.
He said,
There is also another disease innate in human nature.
That everyone would have all others to live according to his own will or fancy.
This presumption James suitably condemns in this passage.
That is, because we dare to impose on our brethren our rule of life.
A disease in human nature that we would have everyone else live according to my fancy.
That is judgment.
Like, let's just agree here that this is an incredibly arrogant, ugly thing.
And, let's also agree here that this is something that goes on in our life probably daily.
Probably daily.
Sometimes worse than others.
Imagine judging God's law.
Imagine standing up to God as if he doesn't know what he's doing.
Or saying in any way,
God, your law is not perfect.
I know better.
And I will now impose it on this poor soul.
Mark, really happy he's here.
He came over for dinner.
The other day.
And we were down.
I was showing him the basement and things like that.
And the basement's not finished.
Many of you probably remember.
But, and the air conditioner and all that stuff.
And the things that, you know, I just kind of barely know what they're called are down there.
And, and, and so we're looking at it.
And, and he asked a question about it.
And, and so I, I answered the question to the best of my ability, you know.
And, and then I kind of went on and, and showed him the humidifier on the air, on the air unit and these kind of things.
And very kindly, he's, he's like, yeah, yeah.
I, I, I know about those things, you know.
And I, and I, so, yeah.
So I kind of explain it, whatever.
Very gracious to me.
And so we went up and, and sat down to have dinner and everything.
And at some point, Stacy asked about his job and his work.
And, and he says, oh, well, yeah, I've, I've been doing HVAC for over 40 years.
And I stopped.
I was like, brother, you're so gracious to me.
I'm sitting here telling you about something.
That's, you know.
But, you know, in that sense, is there any way that you would stand up to God and even insinuate that you knew better than him?
The arrogance we possess to judge God's law by expecting another to comply with our evil intentions.
These are evil intentions.
When, when, when you fight or when you squirm, skirmish and go against each other or, or say things about one another to their face or not.
That's what's happening.
It's the arrogance that we possess to think we could judge God's law.
Like someone else should comply with what we think.
Man.
Romans 2.1
Therefore, you have no excuse, oh man, every one of you who judges.
For in passing judgment on another, you condemn yourself.
Because you, the judge, practice the very same things.
We know that the judgment of God rightly falls on those who practice such things.
Do you suppose, oh man, you who judge those who practice such things, and yet do them yourself, that you will escape the judgment of God?
If we look back at verse 11, the end of it there, says you are not a doer, if you judge this way.
That you are not a doer of the law, but a judge of it.
Sometimes there is a feeble attempt at justifying our words or justifying our thoughts about what somebody else should or shouldn't do, apart from God.
But in this judgment, we want somebody else to do things the way we want them to do it, or how we see fit.
But yet, there's no love.
There's no investment.
God's word is not employed.
Only one lawgiver and judge, he says.
And for humankind, the bad thing is judgment will actually fall on you.
Judging your brother will not escape the judgment of God.
So, we can, we can, I think that the gravity of this, and when he uses these words, that we will be judged with the judgment that we passed out, which is junk.
It's worthless.
So, it's important to differentiate between judgment and speaking and love.
We talked a little bit about it, but how do you know the difference?
So, you say, well, I think I'm, I think I'm launching the right way with somebody.
And I, I see that there's an issue.
And you may.
And should we confront it?
Yes, you should.
Are there ways to do that?
Absolutely.
Right?
Maybe you see something, and you say, and, and even the spirit inside is like, hey, talk to that person about this.
Maybe it is sin.
Maybe something they need to deal with.
That's great.
Let's do that.
So, okay, well, I want to be careful how I launch out and do that.
I want to make sure I'm not judging wrongly.
I want to make sure that I'm acting in the spirit and discerning rightly.
Okay?
That's, that's where we want to be.
So, I need to know the difference between.
So, how do you know?
Number one, sin surrounds evil speaking and judgment.
Sin surrounds evil speaking and judgment.
So, look for sinful thoughts, words, and actions that go along with what you want to say or what you are feeling like you should say in some way.
Things like jealousy, anger, dissension, conceit, frustration.
Frustration can be a big one.
What does frustration say?
They're not doing what I want them to do.
Judgment.
I'm already in the wrong column.
I'm already in the wrong space.
Right?
Actions like fighting.
Have you ever tried to share truth in a fight?
Not a good time.
The heart, is that out of love?
Or is that in you're not doing what I want you to do?
How about no listening?
These, these are all sins.
If, if I'm not even listening to that person, again, that, that'll tell me that I'm on the wrong track.
I'm, I'm, I'm on the judgment side.
I'm not on the love side.
Another difference would be no love.
And this is really the crux of it.
This is really the crux of it.
And a lack of love is evident when all the sinful flags are there.
When, when you talk to somebody and they're left, not with a love for God or a conviction or a sense of the spirit, but they're left with a yucky kind of what just happened here sort of feeling.
Right?
Now, part of that, if they're dealing with sin, if they're, if they're walking through something, but the thing is, you invest, you go with them, you love them in that.
And if the spirit is speaking to a believer, it will, it will register.
These things will register.
Maybe not right away, but it will.
It will.
Your judgment is not helpful, but your love is.
And you will see that.
You will see that bear out.
Also, a lack of love is evident if God is not in it.
If God is not in this conversation, if God is not in you approaching somebody else, then the lack of love will be evident in that.
Yeah.
And matter of fact, we'll be launching out from the enemy's perspective.
Because we've already, if, if my brother, I feel strongly about talking to him about something.
Okay.
If it's all about me to my brother, then the enemy has already worked in me.
That is going to translate because I'm not passing along what God wants me to pass along.
I'm, I'm sharing what Chris wants to pass along.
So I've judged the law.
I'm doing the enemy's work right there.
Um, and, uh, the third thing is there are selfish reasons, uh, that, uh, so basically, um, to scratch an itch.
Uh, I see that this is going on.
I don't like that.
And so I'm going to tell them, I'm going to tell them I don't like it.
I'm going to tell them they should change because should they?
Maybe.
But is that in love?
Is that the way that we, or are you judging to get there?
Right?
Investing would, would talk and work with them and love them to that understanding that maybe God's trying to get across.
Uh.
God is the one who is able to save and destroy.
Look back at James 4 there.
Verse 12.
There's one lawgiver and judge who is able to save and to destroy.
Man, it feels like we just took this whole argument, like escalated to 11, you know.
Uh, what do you mean?
Save and destroy?
Man, now we're talking about some real, uh, life or death things here.
Right?
Well, in fact, he is.
That's, um, that's the point with what he's saying here.
Why, why that dichotomy is there.
Um, why he juxtaposes this.
Um, he sets this truth as a reminder.
I might be in danger of being destroyed.
If I oppose God and continuously oppose God, I'm, I'm not believing.
I'm not trusting.
I'm putting myself above him, trying to.
Where does that end?
It ends in judgment.
Matthew 7, 2.
For with the judgment you pronounce, you will be judged.
And with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.
Ultimately twisting and taking God's spot, you will be judged.
It's, it's a principle.
It's his truth that that will happen.
This speaks to our very soul's condition.
And James remind us how dire these sins can be.
A redeemed heart will not be interested in trying to take God's place.
A redeemed heart is going to listen and be, uh, tender to, to hearing this, to hearing what
James is saying here.
Verse 12.
Who are you to judge your neighbor?
He says.
That's how he kind of closes this, these couple of verses.
Who are you?
Who are you to judge your neighbor?
Well, that's, that's, uh, definitely a, a, uh, boasting in my own law.
And, uh, and one thing I really want to say about this, um, is we are a group of people
that believes in speaking to one another and being very open with one another.
And we must, we must.
Um, not, not only, uh, should we be on that offering side, but on the receiving side and,
and making that, uh, a two-way thing that that's, that's how we should live and strive for that.
Um, and, and this is a warning there.
There's a right way and a wrong way to do that.
There are ways that, that send us down into a spiral of our own purposes.
That's what he's saying.
Be careful of that.
Look out for that.
But continue to be open and talk about sin and, uh, uh, restore brothers and sisters and
those kinds of things.
So we have to be super clear about that.
Um, but, uh, remember that it's all done in love and that there's things that go with that.
And so I think that's my encouragement to us.
Um, like I said, I have had extra week to work on this and that was a huge encouragement for me.
Um, that, that part of it, I think is just so, so important.
The second area is boasting in my plans.
Now this is a set of verses that we're familiar with.
Come now, you say today or tomorrow we'll travel to such and such a city and spend a year there and do business and make a profit.
Sounds great.
So there's a difference here.
And we have another thing that, uh, can be good and it can be bad.
We can warp anything, can't we?
It's, it's really easy.
Um, so here there's, there's the idea of planning.
Planning in and of itself is not a bad thing.
That's not a bad thing.
Um, even here in these verses, he comes back again.
He adds something to the plan.
He adds a heart issue to the plan, but planning itself.
Proverbs 21, 5, the plans of the diligent lead surely to abundance, but everyone who is hasty comes only to poverty.
So there's a responsibility that we have to provide, to look out for things as best we can.
Uh, now there's a caveat to that and, uh, uh, that, that we'll look at.
Um, but planning out of my own heart, out of my own way, out of my own boastfulness and ideas that this will or will not happen is arrogance.
That is arrogance.
Proverbs 16, 9, the heart of a man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps.
Um, when our plans are only ours and we depend on that and we boast in that, that's what we're talking about.
That's arrogant.
That is the sin.
So it's a heart issue.
Um, so, uh, I am Stacy's hamster.
There you go.
Um, so let me explain.
Um, I don't know where we came up with this.
I don't know how this is.
It's not necessarily a pet name or something.
Um, but it's a more of a behavioral thing on my part.
Uh, and so, uh, but what, what goes on here is kind of like a hamster.
Um, I have sometimes a hard time when things change on me.
Um, I have a hard time rolling with it, you know?
And so we have to keep the, the pet calm, you know, and those kinds of things.
And so, uh, anyway, uh, the other day, uh, we were, uh, as yesterday.
And we, we got to go spend some time with kids and enjoyed that.
And then we had a couple other plans after that.
Um, and of course, since I had an extra week, I procrastinated till last night to finish this.
And, uh, uh, and so I, in my mind from the morning time, I thought we need to get, you
know, this, this needs to kind of move along so I can get my study done, uh, at some point,
you know, late afternoon, evening, something like that and finish it up.
So that's on my mind.
That's on my agenda.
Well, uh, so I, I knew we were going to the Kennes for a while and that's, you know, I
was looking forward to that.
And then we had a couple of items, uh, that Stacy found to, for the marketplace things that,
and so I was like, okay, you know, hopefully that's like Lee's Summit or something.
We can just knock that out.
152 highway.
And then the second one was in Shawnee.
So I hear this.
I'm immediately, uh, you know, my, uh, I'm going to, uh, I'm going to, uh, I'm going to,
I, my, I jump on my hamster wheel and I start running, you know, thinking, thinking, thinking
about the whole deal.
And, uh, I'm, I'm like, well, that's not what I thought.
And, and so I just kind of, uh, dealt with this for a minute.
She's like talking soothingly, you know, and things like, so I got off the wheel and I was
able to live with it and kind of roll on.
Um, but my plan didn't accommodate for these little changes.
Now, this is a small thing compared to, we're going to go to such and such, and we're going
to make a lot of money, and we're going to do this kind of with the example that's given
here.
But in that day to day, uh, God can interrupt us at any time, can't he?
He can throw something in the mix at any time.
And, and that was a moment where I'm like, I have to be able to roll with what the Lord
wants to do and the important things and our time together.
And it turned out to be a fantastic day.
Um, just what we needed a good car ride.
We had great talks in, you know, cause you're sitting there with each other.
And instead of just a wonderful day.
But those kinds of things, uh, if, if I hold to my own plan and I think this should happen
certain ways.
Now I'm boasting in my thoughts and my organization, and I'm not open to what God wants to do in
any particular situation.
Now that's a small example, but that same example can get really big fast.
Um, it can get really big with, uh, financial things, with relationship things, with grief
things.
I mean, you see like God has a plan.
And when I try to put myself or my plan above that, I'm boasting.
It's prideful.
It's not right.
The truth is that I don't know about my future.
I don't know what he has.
I'm a mist.
I'm a vapor that's here right now and gone later.
Uh, sometimes this life feels kind of long, but it's not, is it?
And I think the older we get, I'm, I'm looking at a lot of old people here.
And, uh, I think the older we get, the more we realize that, don't we?
You know, time goes by so fast.
It goes by so fast.
So the caveat is in that second part of that verse, you see it.
It's what he, uh, opens up with.
Instead, you should say, if the Lord wills, if the Lord wills.
Well, that is a complete heart issue change from, I'm going to do this.
I'm going to do that.
This is how it's going to happen.
If anything disrupts it, you know, everyone's got some problems because I'm going to be tough
about it.
No.
Instead, you should say, if the Lord wills.
There's a, there's a tenderness and a listening and a, uh, a heart that's open to what God wants
to do there.
Very, very different.
Very different.
In that planet.
The third thing is boasting in my decisions.
Going back to our, our core, uh, verse today is, uh, God gives grace to the humble.
And, uh, God portions more grace to those who are not opposing him.
And once you walk in humility, he, he meets you there and supports you in that, uh, because
he, uh, is not opposed, but for you in that, to see you do that.
Um, and open to seeing sin as a result of humility.
Verse 17.
So it is, uh, so it is sin to know the good and yet not do it.
Uh, for those who know the right thing to do.
Well, how do you hear or come to know?
How do you hear or how do you, how do you come to know the right thing to do?
What, whatever that might be?
Well, number one, seek the spirit's guidance and counsel on that.
Uh, listen to God's word.
Listen to others.
And have a heart of humility that's willing to hear.
So we have to be in a, in a, uh, uh, tender spot with the Lord to even receive these things.
To even receive what it is that, uh, to know the sin.
We can't, we can't, we can't, and you hear the, the opposite of that or the converse of it is, is true.
If we set up against him and are boasting in ourselves, then we're not going to hear the sin.
We're not going to listen to it because our pride will override it.
It's a, it's a fact.
It's, it's how that works.
Obedience is righteous.
Disobedience is sin.
Um, and, uh, it's, this is not like, sometimes there's some of these verses, this is not like a catch-all phrase.
It's not like a, like a catch-all.
Okay.
Well, if you know, uh, what's sin then, um, and you don't do it, then it's sin.
Um, but, uh, Philippians 3, 14 through 16 says,
I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call in God, in Christ Jesus.
Let those of us who are mature think this way.
And if anyone, uh, if anything, if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal that also to you.
Only let us hold true to what we have attained.
The reality is God is sanctifying you.
He is always showing us where the sin is.
He's showing us where these things crop up, where we don't expect them.
Because maybe we've protected and we've kind of built a justification around it for years and years and years.
Some of these things go back a long way.
It just does.
And we've, we've lived with it.
But, uh, he's sanctifying you.
And then when he shows you these things, when you, uh, when your heart is open to it and he shows you these things,
then, uh, hold true to what you have attained as he reveals it.
Sin exists in us and tons of simple things exist in us that we have no clue about.
Right now, if, uh, maybe we should do this.
Everyone get out a piece of paper and write down all your sins.
Uh, but, uh, the thing is we know a bunch of them, right?
We could all just say, yeah, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom.
Well, you know what?
There's about a billion below that that you don't know about because it's our nature through and through.
That's who we are.
And, uh, little by little, as God sanctifies, he reveals more and more and more.
We couldn't handle the whole thing at once.
We can barely deal with what he shows us and, and struggle with that on a, on a routine basis.
But as he shows us those things, God will reveal where, uh, you're not thinking in that mature way.
Philippians says, only let us hold true to what we have attained.
Am I responsible for this, uh, for sin number 1,343,000?
No.
What about what he showed me this morning that I am responsible for, uh, uh, uh, holding true to?
If you know the right thing to do and don't do it, you are sinning.
And he shows us and he walks us through that.
Don't walk away as if you've never looked in the mirror.
To use another illustration.
Once you know it becomes a point of faith.
And then the questions.
So once the sin is there, once he reveals it to you, now it becomes a point of faith.
And what do you do with it?
What do you do with that?
Do you believe that you are sinning against God?
Not just like a boo-boo or mistake or oops, you know, that kind of thing.
But do you believe that when it's revealed to you, you are sinning against God?
In this judgment.
In what you've said about somebody.
In how you're treating somebody.
Do you believe that is a sin?
That you have set yourself up against God by judging his law?
He says it.
Do you believe that he does not coexist with that sin?
My sin separates me from God.
It stands in the way.
I cannot be judging his law and simultaneously be walking with him.
I can't be looking at God and opposing him and be walking with him at the same time.
I can't do it.
He doesn't coexist with it.
Do you understand something must be done about that sin?
Something must be done.
He reveals this sin to me.
Now it's on the table.
Now it's there.
What do you do?
Something's got to be done with it.
Do you see that continuing in the sin is arrogant and opposes God?
My question to you, and this is what I've been ruminating on,
is do you realize that you are opposing God?
That you are going against him.
Willfully choosing to hold on to your judgment.
Willfully choosing to hold on to your boastfulness.
To your own plans.
To your own determining and deciding apart from him
and anything that he has said or has revealed to you.
Do you realize that you're willfully setting yourself against the one who can save or destroy?
James took that all the way to that place.
Because it's right.
Because when we oppose God, that's the question.
Save and destroy.
That's where we're at.
Maybe you're saying to yourself, I've never dealt with that sin that I see on my table.
Like the things that have come up, I've never confessed it or I've never dealt with it.
Maybe I need to go to somebody.
Like we're talking about judgment here.
We're talking about things that happen in the dark.
Or with just a couple of people and judging another.
Maybe I need to go to that person.
Maybe I need to talk to them.
Maybe I need to confess.
Maybe I need to go to that person.
Well, how can that sin ever be completely dealt with?
Man, we have an answer, don't we?
We have an answer.
It's Jesus.
He took mine and your sin and nailed it to the cross to be gone forever.
To cleanse us.
He paid our debt.
Believe on him today.
He can wash you clean.
And make you new.
And take these things away.
Give us this revelation that we can hold true to as he teaches us and brings us along in sanctification.
Well, I encourage you to, if these verses, my friend, if these verses, if the stark reality of these verses have spoken to you, grab somebody and talk to them.
Pray with them.
Consider it further.
Don't let it go.
Don't look in the mirror and then walk away and forget.
This is so important.
It's so important.
And our air that needs to be without charge, it needs to be neutralized through the confession and through the work between us.
That's what will do it.
That's what will neutralize that bad charge that can exist.
So, let me pray.
Let me pray real quick.