WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:07.500 I'll please turn up James chapter 1 again as we continue on in this series. 00:00:07.980 --> 00:00:11.400 ! Well, it won't surprise you, at least I don't think it'll surprise you to hear that 00:00:11.400 --> 00:00:20.859 ! in a 2023 World Values survey of belief, faith, and religion, in part sponsored by King's College 00:00:20.859 --> 00:00:26.900 in London, it was found that, quote, the share of Britons who say they believe in God and heaven 00:00:26.899 --> 00:00:34.579 has been in decline for decades. I think that's fairly well known. It may surprise you, however, 00:00:34.579 --> 00:00:42.600 to hear that, quote, five nations are less likely than the UK to say they believe in God. Only five 00:00:42.600 --> 00:00:51.799 nations less likely than the UK. Those are Norway, South Korea, Japan, Sweden, and China. And again, 00:00:51.799 --> 00:00:58.159 quote, the UK public are among the least likely internationally to say that God is important in 00:00:58.159 --> 00:01:06.879 their life, with the share of Britons who feel this way doubling since 1981 and now at a record high. 00:01:08.920 --> 00:01:13.120 Now, what this means is that our educational institutions, our government bodies, 00:01:13.120 --> 00:01:17.780 and the entertainment industry, all of the things that form the culture, 00:01:17.780 --> 00:01:26.159 have all increasingly adopted a bias against Christian faith. We now definitely live in a 00:01:26.159 --> 00:01:32.859 secular culture governed by secular people driven by worldviews that are hostile to biblical principles. 00:01:34.640 --> 00:01:40.540 Of course, some will say, well, your faith is a private thing. What are you complaining about? 00:01:40.540 --> 00:01:49.820 Why does this matter? The truth is, no one's faith is private. Whatever you believe about the world and 00:01:49.820 --> 00:01:56.600 how we got here, whatever you believe about people and what the good life involves, those beliefs will 00:01:56.600 --> 00:02:04.240 inform your values and they will shape the way you live. That is unavoidable. Whatever you believe 00:02:04.240 --> 00:02:10.400 about the big questions of life will be expressed in the way that you live. It's just that Christians 00:02:10.400 --> 00:02:17.760 Christians do this or are supposed to do this as Christians. And whether it's your employer's DEI policy, 00:02:17.760 --> 00:02:23.900 or your refusal to play pretend with pronouns, or just your views on marriage and family as you 00:02:23.900 --> 00:02:30.379 articulate them in the course of life, pretty soon your acceptability and therefore your freedom 00:02:30.379 --> 00:02:37.920 starts to evaporate. Christian faith makes you persona non grata socially and professionally. 00:02:40.400 --> 00:02:49.920 No, we don't like this. It's difficult. It's painful. It's awkward. And one of the temptations we face as we 00:02:49.920 --> 00:02:59.200 seek to navigate it all is that we get angry. Injustice, persecution, slander, how dare they? 00:02:59.199 --> 00:03:07.839 And we shake our fists or we tackle those people who oppose us or we fire off on social media or because 00:03:07.839 --> 00:03:13.799 the wave of opposition is so great we just don't get anywhere. Well, then we start to lob insults. 00:03:14.280 --> 00:03:18.479 That's what happens, isn't it? When you're angry and you push back against something that has made you 00:03:18.479 --> 00:03:25.359 angry and that thing doesn't give way or give any ground at all, you up your anger and you up the 00:03:25.360 --> 00:03:33.400 vitriol and so you lob insults. Well, this morning James holds out a different approach to people in 00:03:33.400 --> 00:03:39.560 that situation. We've seen over the last couple of weeks that he's writing to a persecuted group of 00:03:39.560 --> 00:03:45.040 Christians who have been exiled because they follow the Lord Jesus Christ. He has reminded them that 00:03:45.040 --> 00:03:50.620 these trials that they are experiencing come to them under the hand of God, and they are designed by 00:03:50.620 --> 00:03:57.080 Him to grow them up and to strengthen their faith. But in the midst of trials, it never feels that way. 00:03:57.780 --> 00:04:02.599 When you're going through it, it never feels that this is something good that God is doing in order 00:04:02.599 --> 00:04:07.599 to strengthen you and build you up to maturity. It just feels humiliating. It just feels hard. 00:04:09.120 --> 00:04:14.280 So, verse 5, when trials come, we are to ask God for wisdom to receive them from Him. 00:04:15.020 --> 00:04:19.740 We are, verse 9, to know that He loves us. And verse 17, that He is good, 00:04:19.740 --> 00:04:26.439 even though our circumstances are hard. And James continues here to outline what life 00:04:26.439 --> 00:04:33.420 lived according to that godly wisdom that we are supposed to pray for looks like. And it doesn't 00:04:33.420 --> 00:04:38.360 involve letting our anger get the better of us. Look at verse 19, know this, my beloved brothers, 00:04:38.360 --> 00:04:47.900 let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger, for the anger of man does not produce 00:04:47.899 --> 00:04:55.259 the righteousness of God. Now, James will have a lot to say about our speech as we go through the 00:04:55.259 --> 00:05:01.139 letter. But here, he's putting his finger on where our anger most easily gets expressed in our words. 00:05:01.539 --> 00:05:05.939 And the reason that the anger of man is of no value is because it does not produce 00:05:05.939 --> 00:05:12.379 the righteousness of God, he says. That is, it does not produce the righteous world that God's people 00:05:12.379 --> 00:05:18.740 are waiting for. It does not make things right as God has promised to make things right in Christ, 00:05:19.040 --> 00:05:25.980 according to the terms of His covenant. The anger of man does not accomplish the purposes of God, 00:05:26.040 --> 00:05:32.459 he's saying. Now, there is, of course, a kind of anger that is not sinful. Paul distinguishes that, 00:05:32.579 --> 00:05:39.159 in your anger do not sin. It is possible to be angry in a righteous way. We should feel anger at 00:05:39.160 --> 00:05:47.920 the killing of the unborn in our nation. But, of course, the temptation with that anger is that, 00:05:48.160 --> 00:05:54.200 so righteous anger in itself can then lead in unhealthy directions because we want to act 00:05:54.200 --> 00:06:01.080 directly on that. We want to rectify the situation, make righteous, as it were, the situation. And we do 00:06:01.080 --> 00:06:06.940 it with fiery speeches and even, perhaps, with violence. There are all kinds of things that have been 00:06:06.939 --> 00:06:12.879 justified because of certain injustices in the world justified by Christians. And James is saying, 00:06:13.079 --> 00:06:18.339 don't go there. Don't go there because that is not the way that you will bring into effect God's 00:06:18.339 --> 00:06:26.680 promises to make things right. Instead, James wants us to orient our lives around God's Word. 00:06:28.120 --> 00:06:34.699 It is the difference between a life based on our wisdom and God's wisdom, a life based on engaging the 00:06:34.699 --> 00:06:42.039 world on the world's terms or on God's terms. And so, James says, I want you to approach, 00:06:42.560 --> 00:06:47.980 you should establish your life around God's Word, and I want you to approach God's Word in three ways. 00:06:48.500 --> 00:06:54.039 Three ways. The first way is this. He says, receive it to save your soul. 00:06:55.519 --> 00:07:01.839 Verse 21, receive it to save your soul. If you're doing fact finders, fill in the blanks there, 00:07:01.839 --> 00:07:09.759 receive it to save your soul. Now, when James says here, we should be quick to hear and slow to anger, 00:07:09.899 --> 00:07:15.239 etc., he might be suggesting that we listen carefully to understand what our opponents are saying 00:07:15.239 --> 00:07:21.399 before we respond. Like in the book of Proverbs, the emphasis on the wise man being careful before he 00:07:21.399 --> 00:07:27.559 speaks, Proverbs 1, verse 5. But I think it's more likely here that he is saying that we should 00:07:27.560 --> 00:07:35.660 be quick to hear God's Word. Be quick to listen to God's voice in this situation to correct your 00:07:35.660 --> 00:07:41.360 errant impulses. So, put away all filthiness and rampant wickedness where your anger might lead you, 00:07:41.420 --> 00:07:47.899 the sort of filthiness and rampant wickedness that our anger can take us to, and receive with meekness 00:07:47.899 --> 00:07:56.659 the implanted Word which is able to save your souls. When God's Word comes to you, receive it, 00:07:57.139 --> 00:08:06.299 no matter what it says. Don't respond by speaking, by explaining why it doesn't mean what it says, 00:08:06.339 --> 00:08:11.339 or why it doesn't apply to you. Don't quickly respond by trying to get out from under what it's 00:08:11.339 --> 00:08:20.099 saying to you, or by getting angry at what it says. Receive it. Don't resist it. Don't reject it, 00:08:20.099 --> 00:08:27.599 because that won't do you any good. I was with a friend recently who told me that he said to me 00:08:27.599 --> 00:08:37.299 he didn't need a book to tell him right from wrong. And I said to him, I'm not sure that's true. 00:08:37.299 --> 00:08:45.279 Now, as the Bible is set aside in British life more and more, I don't see a culture that is more 00:08:45.279 --> 00:08:51.379 tolerant, or more reasonable, or more committed to caring for the weak and vulnerable. I don't see 00:08:51.379 --> 00:08:57.379 greater pursuit of justice. I don't see more human flourishing. We're listening to lots of voices. 00:08:57.939 --> 00:09:04.419 The noise of opinions and advice and instruction is everywhere, constantly. But those voices aren't 00:09:04.419 --> 00:09:11.279 really leading us to get better, either as individuals or as a society. I think we do need 00:09:11.279 --> 00:09:19.860 a book to tell us right from wrong, actually. And only God's Word can do that, because it's only in 00:09:19.860 --> 00:09:28.179 God's Word that we have the Maker's instructions, the map for life in the world that He made. And even 00:09:28.179 --> 00:09:32.799 as Christians, we need to put away the filth and the wickedness of pursuing life on the world's terms, 00:09:32.799 --> 00:09:39.679 times. And getting angry when things aren't as we would choose them to be. When life does not go our 00:09:39.679 --> 00:09:44.159 way, we need to resist getting angry. We need to receive God's Word, what it says about our lives 00:09:44.159 --> 00:09:54.199 and about our situation. And we must do it with meekness. That is, humbly, depending on God, 00:09:54.200 --> 00:10:05.580 to bring His plans to pass in His time. James is echoing Jesus again. Blessed are the meek. Why are they 00:10:05.580 --> 00:10:13.560 blessed? For they're the ones who will inherit the earth. Receiving God's Word, God's implanted Word 00:10:13.559 --> 00:10:21.859 with meekness. It is us expressing by faith that we know that God is bringing His purposes to pass 00:10:21.859 --> 00:10:29.959 in His time. It is as we do this, as we receive His Word in this way, that we are changed. 00:10:30.959 --> 00:10:36.359 And so, in the end, it will save our souls. Do you see, James talks about the implanted Word. 00:10:36.360 --> 00:10:44.340 It's like a stent in an artery that keeps the blood flowing and keeps the body alive. God's Word is 00:10:44.340 --> 00:10:49.680 implanted into us from the outside to transform us and keep the blood of new life flowing as it 00:10:49.680 --> 00:10:52.460 and directs us towards God's Word. 00:10:55.960 --> 00:11:02.680 To grow out of your anger and avoid all of its destructive effects. If you want instead to grow 00:11:02.679 --> 00:11:10.059 to maturity, receive with meekness the implanted, life-giving, soul-saving Word of God. 00:11:12.899 --> 00:11:18.399 So, how's your Bible reading? How's your Bible receiving? 00:11:20.939 --> 00:11:24.039 Have you ever been in discussion with someone and you tell them something and they say, 00:11:24.159 --> 00:11:31.459 yes, I see what you're saying, but it stays there? Oh, yeah, okay. I get that. And they do nothing 00:11:31.460 --> 00:11:36.639 with the info. So, they heard you, but they didn't actually receive your words. Nothing 00:11:36.639 --> 00:11:41.660 changed as a result of what you told them. We can be like that with our Bibles. We read them 00:11:41.660 --> 00:11:46.220 and we say, oh, that's interesting. Or we say, oh, I see the way that connects with this obscure 00:11:46.220 --> 00:11:51.019 verse in the Old Testament. Or, oh, yes, I see these links in the way the text hangs together. 00:11:51.100 --> 00:11:58.660 Isn't that interesting? But our lives aren't actually changed because we haven't received what the 00:11:58.659 --> 00:12:07.019 Word has said into our hearts. If we are quick to hear, we will receive, we will welcome God's Word 00:12:07.019 --> 00:12:13.539 into our lives so that we start to think and act in line with what He says, not with our own exalted 00:12:13.539 --> 00:12:19.539 thoughts or not with the thoughts and the views of our culture. That is the way of wisdom. 00:12:19.539 --> 00:12:28.959 The path of meekness that in the end will inherit the earth will save our souls. Number one, we are to 00:12:28.959 --> 00:12:36.120 receive God's Word to save our souls. Secondly, He says, we are to look into it to tell you truth. 00:12:37.480 --> 00:12:42.879 Look into it to tell you truth. Again, there it is, fact finders. Look into it to tell you truth. 00:12:43.339 --> 00:12:49.459 Verse 22, be doers of the Word and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of 00:12:49.460 --> 00:12:54.660 the Word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror, 00:12:55.320 --> 00:12:58.980 for he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. 00:13:01.960 --> 00:13:05.840 So you're talking to someone and there's something about their appearance that isn't 00:13:06.560 --> 00:13:10.580 quite right. There's a bit of food in their teeth or there's something hanging from their nose or 00:13:10.580 --> 00:13:14.460 there's tufts of hair where they missed a bit when they were shaving. And you think, 00:13:14.460 --> 00:13:18.000 if you just checked the mirror before you left the house, 00:13:19.960 --> 00:13:22.320 maybe you pluck up the courage to tell them and you say, 00:13:23.280 --> 00:13:25.320 did you not check the mirror before you left the house? 00:13:26.780 --> 00:13:31.720 And if they then said to you, yeah, no, I did. I know I've got some cereal in my teeth. 00:13:33.259 --> 00:13:37.960 You'd think there was a problem. You'd think that's very strange indeed. Why would someone do that? 00:13:37.960 --> 00:13:44.759 You received the truth about your appearance and you chose to do nothing with that information. 00:13:47.000 --> 00:13:52.180 This is what James is saying here. We must not do. Look into the mirror of God's Word, 00:13:52.560 --> 00:13:55.240 see what it says, and then ignore it. 00:13:57.780 --> 00:14:04.100 Pure religion requires you to do certain things. Verse 26, bridle your tongue. Verse 27, 00:14:04.100 --> 00:14:11.740 help the neediest in your community. We read this. This is reflected to us from God's Word, 00:14:11.820 --> 00:14:17.320 and then we close the book and we do nothing with it. We go and fire off the way everybody else does 00:14:17.320 --> 00:14:25.340 with our tongue. We don't bother with people that are difficult and complicated. It's like we've just 00:14:25.340 --> 00:14:31.379 done nothing with what we've seen in the Word. We're not really looking into it. 00:14:31.379 --> 00:14:40.860 When, let me ask you, when did you last stop or start doing something simply because the Bible said so? 00:14:44.899 --> 00:14:49.220 Look at the examples here. As I said, James has a lot to say about the tongue, especially when we get to 00:14:49.220 --> 00:14:55.980 chapter 3. But in a day when a Word can circle the globe in an instant, the need to bridle our tongues 00:14:55.980 --> 00:15:03.300 is more important than ever. Look again at verse 26. James is saying, 00:15:03.399 --> 00:15:09.279 it really doesn't matter how much theology you know in your head if we don't bridle our tongue, 00:15:09.580 --> 00:15:15.980 if we get angry and critical and nasty, even if it's returning the favor of those who treated us this way. 00:15:16.840 --> 00:15:21.539 If we use our words vindictively, trying to get revenge for our persecution, 00:15:21.539 --> 00:15:28.599 he's saying our theology isn't worth tuppence. Boys and girls, tuppence, small amount of money, 00:15:28.719 --> 00:15:40.279 one pea. It's not worth a guinea. If we allow our own situation, however difficult it might be, 00:15:40.319 --> 00:15:44.439 to lead us to ignore the needs of the most vulnerable in society. In James' day, this was 00:15:44.440 --> 00:15:48.500 those who were orphaned and widowed by the oppression that they'd faced for the sake of Christ. 00:15:50.400 --> 00:15:57.520 In our day, it's definitely the unborn. It is our brother and sister in the church who is in need 00:15:57.520 --> 00:16:01.840 because they were canceled in some way for their faithfulness to Christ. If we don't care about 00:16:01.840 --> 00:16:07.800 that, and if we don't do something material to help in some kind of way, James is saying our religion, 00:16:08.000 --> 00:16:13.240 our theological precision, our ability to make really coherent biblical arguments for things 00:16:13.240 --> 00:16:21.580 is worthless. He's not saying theology is bad. He's not saying that doctrine and caring about 00:16:21.580 --> 00:16:26.180 doctrine is bad. He's not saying that we shouldn't know our Bibles. He's saying what we need to do 00:16:26.180 --> 00:16:33.539 is act on them. We'll come to that in a moment. It is really important in confessional churches like 00:16:33.539 --> 00:16:40.700 ours that care about getting the Bible right and care and love sound doctrine, we typically are 00:16:40.700 --> 00:16:45.900 tempted to measure our religion by what we know. But if that is all it is, we've deceived ourselves 00:16:45.900 --> 00:16:50.620 because what we know has got to show. 00:16:54.860 --> 00:17:03.000 James says, let me listen to how you speak with your mates, to your husband, with your children. 00:17:03.000 --> 00:17:06.700 Hey, hand over your phone. Let me read your Twitter. 00:17:08.759 --> 00:17:12.559 Let me read the way you communicate in those WhatsApp groups. 00:17:14.400 --> 00:17:18.420 And let me see how you care for those who can't do anything for you in return. 00:17:20.519 --> 00:17:25.039 How do you care for those who can't give you a leg up in any way, shape, or form? 00:17:26.700 --> 00:17:30.839 Don't tell me about it. Show me your care for the needy. 00:17:30.839 --> 00:17:38.919 James is saying, it's very challenging. It doesn't matter what you say you believe if your life doesn't 00:17:38.919 --> 00:17:45.659 follow suit. Looking into the Bible, allowing it to define your reality, allowing it to shape the way 00:17:45.659 --> 00:17:51.579 you view yourself and the way you view everything else, allowing the Bible to shape your view of the 00:17:51.579 --> 00:18:00.099 whole world, must always lead us to do what it says, no matter what the cost. No matter how unpopular 00:18:00.099 --> 00:18:09.000 it makes us, around our friends and colleagues. For some of us, our heads are full of truth, but our 00:18:09.000 --> 00:18:15.759 lives are no different to everyone else. We're just as anxious. We're just as selfish. We're just as angry. 00:18:16.539 --> 00:18:18.459 And frankly, we need to repent. 00:18:18.460 --> 00:18:24.420 We need to go back to the Word. We need to look into it, and we need to do what it says. 00:18:26.100 --> 00:18:27.640 We need to hear this challenge. 00:18:29.539 --> 00:18:33.860 And just by the way, a word to the tender consciences that are here this morning. I realize that a direct 00:18:33.860 --> 00:18:39.779 word like this from James can land heavily with us. And often it lands heavily with those people who 00:18:39.779 --> 00:18:45.480 are in their Bible and are living it out. You think you're hearing this, and you think to yourself, 00:18:45.480 --> 00:18:50.759 I read my Bible, I listen to sermons, and I try desperately to serve others, but I don't do it like I 00:18:50.759 --> 00:19:00.980 should, and I wonder, am I self-deceived? Actually, I'm a fraud. Remember, this letter is written to 00:19:00.980 --> 00:19:05.920 Christians who are starting to respond in kind to their persecutors. They're angry, and they think that 00:19:05.920 --> 00:19:10.839 they can bring God's purposes about by fighting the world the way the world fights. 00:19:10.839 --> 00:19:17.000 So they're not in God's Word. They've got no time for that. They're too busy fighting. 00:19:18.659 --> 00:19:22.819 They're too busy to care for others. They're too busy fighting the culture war to be able to care 00:19:22.819 --> 00:19:27.639 for others. None of us do the Bible perfectly, so don't be crushed by this. 00:19:29.099 --> 00:19:36.079 Just be faithful. Just keep being faithful. Don't turn morbidly inward. Just keep hearing God's Word 00:19:36.079 --> 00:19:43.119 and doing it. Indeed, this is the third way that we should approach God's Word. Receive it. Look into it. 00:19:43.740 --> 00:19:50.539 Thirdly, the way you will avoid deceiving yourself about these things is persevere in doing it 00:19:50.539 --> 00:20:00.480 to set you free. Persevere in doing God's Word to set you free. Verse 19, be doers of the Word 00:20:00.480 --> 00:20:09.140 and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. If you are merely a hearer of the Word, you deceive yourself 00:20:09.140 --> 00:20:15.500 that this is the Christian life. If all you're doing is listening to the Bible and you think that 00:20:15.500 --> 00:20:20.940 that's the Christian life, you've deceived yourself. But the way that you know you're not self-deceived 00:20:20.940 --> 00:20:25.700 is that you do what it says. In verse 25, do you see you keep doing it, but the one who looks into the 00:20:25.700 --> 00:20:33.000 perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres. Being no hearer who forgets, but a doer who acts, 00:20:33.500 --> 00:20:40.500 he will be blessed in his doing. James returns to one of his big themes here. 00:20:41.039 --> 00:20:48.940 When he talks about the perfect law, you see, the word is mature. And this is where James has been 00:20:48.940 --> 00:20:54.660 pointing us from the start. This is the goal of our trials, and this is the conclusion to which we are 00:20:54.660 --> 00:21:01.660 headed. Remember last week, the crown of life, verse 12, a share in Christ's rule and glory. And the 00:21:01.660 --> 00:21:08.440 person who looks into the mature law and does what it says inevitably grows up to maturity. They grow 00:21:08.440 --> 00:21:14.519 more and more into the likeness of Christ. And crucially, this is so because they are following 00:21:14.519 --> 00:21:26.379 the same path of faith-filled suffering that Christ took. So it isn't a one-time thing, looking into God's 00:21:26.379 --> 00:21:33.460 Word, doing God's Word. We must persevere. And it is as we do this that we discover true freedom. Do you 00:21:33.460 --> 00:21:40.799 see? That phrase, the law of liberty, did you notice the way James qualified that? But the one who looks 00:21:40.799 --> 00:21:49.980 into the perfect law, the law of liberty, by the way, it sounds beautiful, but it also sounds strange to 00:21:49.980 --> 00:21:54.799 our ears, doesn't it? It's beautiful because we love liberty, but it's strange because we don't 00:21:54.799 --> 00:22:04.519 associate liberty with laws. We don't associate laws with freedom. Laws hold us back. Laws hem us in. 00:22:04.519 --> 00:22:12.920 We think they positively prevent us from being free. We think freedom is found in us setting aside our 00:22:12.920 --> 00:22:21.619 own rules, ignoring the laws, being able to do and be whatever and whomever we want. Individual 00:22:21.619 --> 00:22:28.180 liberty is one of the cardinal virtues of our day. The rhetoric of it is everywhere. My right to define 00:22:28.180 --> 00:22:34.720 myself however I want is held up in our culture as a universal good. It's not even questioned. 00:22:36.779 --> 00:22:41.820 But there are, of course, some problems with that, at least two problems with that idea. First of all, 00:22:42.000 --> 00:22:50.259 it isn't possible. We are finite creatures, and there are certain aspects of who we are and where we are 00:22:50.259 --> 00:22:56.840 that we simply cannot change. You can't change a boy into a girl. You can't do it. You can't run 00:22:56.839 --> 00:23:04.179 at 70 miles an hour, however hard you try. You aren't free from the restrictions of the state. 00:23:05.179 --> 00:23:11.079 If you try to express your desire to hold up a bank, you will go to jail, no matter how strongly 00:23:11.079 --> 00:23:19.619 you feel that being a bank robber is who you are. We all live, all the time, under a load of restrictions, 00:23:19.619 --> 00:23:28.959 physical, social, political, and so on. So it's not possible. Second problem is that, as I keep saying, 00:23:29.319 --> 00:23:33.939 we need to admit that the huge cultural push for personal freedom doesn't seem to have created 00:23:33.939 --> 00:23:42.299 more freedom. It doesn't seem to have delivered happier, more fulfilled lives. Our culture is more 00:23:42.299 --> 00:23:49.200 divided and angrier than ever. So there must be a better way. There must be a better way. 00:23:50.539 --> 00:23:56.799 And there is a better way. We need to see that limitations, we need to see that restrictions are 00:23:56.799 --> 00:24:05.119 unavoidable for finite creatures. And so what we need then are the restrictions that bring freedom. 00:24:05.119 --> 00:24:11.939 It sounds like a paradox, and in some ways it is. But if you think about it, think about the train, 00:24:12.279 --> 00:24:21.519 the humble train, choo-choo, okay? Trains are limited by tracks. If someone suggested that this 00:24:21.519 --> 00:24:26.659 was discriminatory and that trains should be free to get off their tracks and run through the fields 00:24:26.659 --> 00:24:31.019 and into the rivers, we'd think rightly that they were wrong and stupid. 00:24:31.019 --> 00:24:38.259 Trains were designed to run on tracks. And it is within these limits of the tracks 00:24:38.259 --> 00:24:45.279 that they are free to surge ahead at high speed. It's when they get off the tracks that it's dangerous 00:24:45.279 --> 00:24:48.059 and in many cases probably deadly. 00:24:50.559 --> 00:24:58.019 It is within the limits of their design that trains flourish. And it's the same for us. 00:24:58.019 --> 00:25:04.879 You'd use the example of a fish. A fish was designed to be in the water and swim around in the water. 00:25:05.200 --> 00:25:11.700 When it's in the water, it is a thing of beauty. It flourishes. It thrives. It jumps and wriggles and 00:25:11.700 --> 00:25:17.480 swims and does all it does. And then it comes out onto the beach. It wants to get away from the 00:25:17.480 --> 00:25:23.180 restrictions of water. And it wants to be free to go on land and spend its time on land and go to 00:25:23.180 --> 00:25:28.740 coffee shops and hang out like those other people over there. Nonsense. It doesn't work. It was created 00:25:28.740 --> 00:25:35.279 to exist in a particular environment according to particular restrictions. So it is for us. 00:25:36.240 --> 00:25:44.060 We were designed to be in relationship with the living God, listening to His Word and doing what it says. 00:25:44.059 --> 00:25:52.960 And it is to the extent that we do this, that we experience the freedom that we were created to enjoy. 00:25:54.779 --> 00:26:02.399 It is within the restrictions of God's Word and its ordering of our lives that we truly flourish. 00:26:04.000 --> 00:26:12.240 Doing the Word, persevering and doing the Word, that is where we find liberty and blessing. 00:26:12.240 --> 00:26:19.920 Some of you here this morning might need to experience this freedom for the first time. 00:26:21.839 --> 00:26:28.019 You're not in a relationship with God at all. And you've come to realize for the first time that 00:26:28.019 --> 00:26:34.339 this seems true. That actually, you were created to exist within the restrictions of our relationship 00:26:34.339 --> 00:26:39.960 with Him. Well, receive His Word by turning to Jesus. 00:26:39.960 --> 00:26:47.380 I'm sorry that I have lived according to my own way in your world, God of all the earth. 00:26:48.799 --> 00:26:50.860 Forgive me through all that Jesus has done 00:26:50.860 --> 00:26:55.539 and reconcile me to you. And He will do that. 00:26:57.120 --> 00:27:01.759 His Word says that we've lived our lives on our terms apart from Him. That is the essence of our problem. 00:27:01.880 --> 00:27:03.019 That is the essence of sin. 00:27:03.019 --> 00:27:06.019 And we need to turn from that way and put our trust in Jesus. 00:27:06.639 --> 00:27:09.460 You can do that at any moment. 00:27:11.379 --> 00:27:15.220 Jesus came to die and to rise to deal with that problem of our sin. 00:27:15.339 --> 00:27:18.980 He experienced the greatest of all restrictions as He was nailed to the cross 00:27:18.980 --> 00:27:23.599 to bear the curse of God in our place that we might experience the liberty 00:27:23.599 --> 00:27:26.900 that He gives us through faith in Him. 00:27:26.900 --> 00:27:34.160 When you do that, God puts the train of your life back on the rails that it was designed to run on. 00:27:34.780 --> 00:27:36.740 That is life that is truly life. 00:27:39.240 --> 00:27:41.400 You can receive that now even in your seat. 00:27:44.240 --> 00:27:47.060 Others of us, if we're honest, we need to return to the path, 00:27:47.240 --> 00:27:51.000 the path to maturity and blessedness that James is calling us to here. 00:27:51.000 --> 00:27:57.099 However hard this is, let's be honest, it's not complicated. 00:27:58.579 --> 00:28:03.599 We don't merely hear God's Word, but we look into the mysteries and the beauty 00:28:03.599 --> 00:28:06.859 and we persevere in doing what it says. 00:28:07.619 --> 00:28:11.259 It's hard. Our instincts want to take us in a different direction, 00:28:11.519 --> 00:28:12.960 but it's not complicated. 00:28:14.799 --> 00:28:16.240 We know what we need to do. 00:28:16.240 --> 00:28:21.099 We are not mere hearers of the Word, but we do what it says. 00:28:22.700 --> 00:28:25.660 Because this is the way to life. 00:28:26.099 --> 00:28:27.539 It is the way to fullness. 00:28:27.799 --> 00:28:31.420 It is the way to maturity and to blessedness. 00:28:32.460 --> 00:28:34.240 May God help us. Let's pray together.