willtheorangeguy/All-LICRC-Transcripts · Datasets at Hugging Face

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[1689.06 --> 1694.34] forgiveness of sins. Christian prayer, he says, is diminished and endangered when it revolves
[1694.34 --> 1700.10] exclusively around the forgiveness of sins. There is such a thing as confidently leaving your sin
[1700.10 --> 1705.62] behind for the sake of Christ. Indeed, it may be troubling, he says, that in the Psalms,
[1705.96 --> 1714.00] the righteousness of the author is spoken of as often as his guilt. Have you ever noticed that?
[1714.58 --> 1721.36] Here's a small sampling. Psalm 5, you bless the righteous. 17, I in righteousness will see his face.
[1721.36 --> 1727.90] 34, his eyes are on the righteous. 37, I've never seen the righteous forsaken. Psalm 64, let the righteous
[1727.90 --> 1736.82] rejoice. 68, let the righteous be glad. How often do you appeal to your righteousness in prayer?
[1739.98 --> 1744.66] Not a righteousness that you've earned, but a righteousness that has been given to you by God
[1744.66 --> 1752.20] through Christ based on his life. How often do you appeal to your righteousness in prayer?
[1752.20 --> 1757.44] And have we ever considered the possibility that perhaps our weakness in prayer is owing to the fact
[1757.44 --> 1764.00] that we give much more time to our guilt in prayer than we do to our righteousness? The prayer does not
[1764.00 --> 1773.16] begin with the confession of sin. The prayer begins, our Father, you have made me righteous and I am your Son.
[1773.16 --> 1789.34] This is the foundation to our prayer. This is also the foundation to the Lord's table.
[1789.34 --> 1800.80] Because we do the same thing at the table. We think in order to come to the table, we have to make sure
[1800.80 --> 1808.12] we've lived a pretty sinless life. We don't want to come to the table if there's sin in our lives. We
[1808.12 --> 1812.98] need to deal with all that. And of course, Paul did talk about the table and unity in the church,
[1813.08 --> 1817.68] and there was fighting, and there was some people who were eating all the food and not leaving any for
[1817.68 --> 1822.62] anyone else. And he's talking about how those things needed to be resolved within the church for the
[1822.62 --> 1829.68] sake of unity in the church. But sin is not a reason to not come to the table. My friends, sin is the
[1829.68 --> 1840.36] reason you do come to the table. And so if you're struggling with sin this morning, and by the looks of
[1840.36 --> 1851.88] you, you all are, if you struggle with sin in your life, we're going to come to the table. We're going to
[1851.88 --> 1858.72] confess our sin, to be sure. But we're going to come to the table, and we are going to partake.
[1859.28 --> 1866.28] And we are going to consider all that Christ has done on our behalf. For this is a reminder of his
[1866.28 --> 1873.72] death, which was for our sin, his life, which earned our righteousness. And we're going to think about
[1873.72 --> 1879.50] the great grace of God, which he has conferred to us through Christ. And so we're going to sing
[1879.50 --> 1887.36] amazing grace, I believe, right now. And then we will partake of the bread and the wine.
[1887.36 --> 1899.58] As the team comes forward. Gracious Father, we thank you for all that you've done for us in Christ. We
[1899.58 --> 1904.92] thank you that we can come to you in prayer, and we can call you Father. Yes, we confess sin.
[1906.42 --> 1913.10] But we don't want to be remembering sin and reminding you of all this sin that you have forgiven us of,
[1913.10 --> 1919.84] and focusing on it to the neglect of the righteousness of Christ. Father, we are sinners,
[1919.84 --> 1926.38] and we come with our sin to you this morning. But we thank you for the righteousness that is ours in
[1926.38 --> 1930.14] Christ. Your grace is amazing. Amen.
• The series is continuing on James and reading from James 1:12-18
• Temptation happens when we are dragged away by our own evil desires
• God does not tempt us to sin, but may bring about trials or tests of faith
• An important distinction between outer tests (God testing or proving) and inner temptation (our heart rebelling against God's design)
• Temptation itself is not sinful, but giving in to it leads to sin and death
• Faith is indicated by resisting temptation, not the infrequency of being tempted
• The goal is to get better at resisting temptation and not being deceived by things that pull our hearts.
• The speaker discusses how people often think about sin and temptation in terms of categories of what they can't do.
• Examples are given of individuals setting limits for themselves, such as eating only half a bag of chips or not taking money from their mother's wallet.
• This approach focuses on behavior rather than the right thing to do.
• The speaker argues that when we focus on what we can't do, we are making sin or behavior the goal of our actions.
• A paradigm shift is proposed: instead of focusing on what we can't do as sin, we should reframe it in terms of obedience.
• However, this is not the correct reframing; rather, we should consider something else entirely.
• The speaker argues that real faith is not ultimately about morality or behavior, but about a relationship with God.
• This is demonstrated by Jesus' teachings and behavior, who was critical of those who were hypocritically following religious rules.
• God is not interested in making people religious, spiritual, self-care obsessed, or serene; rather, He wants us to be passionate for Him and His glory.
• The concept of holiness is often misunderstood as moral behavior, but it's about being set apart by God
• God's holiness means he is wholly other, transcendent, and incomprehensible
• True faith thinks about what it means to be holy, not just what we can do
• Holiness involves new affections, desires, and motives that lead to new behavior
• We are already holy through Jesus' sacrifice and are being made holy in the process
• Reframing the conversation around sin and temptation through the gospel
• The power of God's word in salvation and sanctification
• Immerging oneself in Scripture for effective use of its power against temptation
• Community as a crucial factor in fighting temptation and applying the word
• The symbolism of Ash Wednesday and the imposition of ashes, illustrating how sin stains us unconsciously and grace cleanses us
• The importance of community and being with others when facing sin and temptation
• The tendency to "manicure" sins and present them in a socially acceptable way
• The reality of sin leading to death but the gift of God being eternal life
• The need for faith to be made real, which will involve facing challenges and trials
• Reframing discussions of sin and temptation through the lens of being holy
• The power and strength given by God's word to defeat sin and temptation
[0.00 --> 9.26] This morning, we're going to continue in our series on James, and we're going to read together
[9.26 --> 15.94] from James 1. We're going to read verses 12 through 18. It will be on the screen as I go
[15.94 --> 20.58] through it, but I do encourage you, if you have your own Bible or if you can open that up on your
[20.58 --> 25.26] phone, whatever the case may be, just to have that with you as we go through the message today.
[25.26 --> 30.26] From James 1, beginning at verse 12.
[55.26 --> 62.58] Each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed. Then, after desire
[62.58 --> 68.66] has conceived, it gives birth to sin, and sin, when it is full grown, gives birth to death.
[69.82 --> 78.18] Do not be deceived, my dear brothers. Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from
[78.18 --> 86.34] the Father of heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. He chose to give us birth
[86.34 --> 94.02] through the word of truth, that we might be a kind of first fruits of all he created.
[94.82 --> 96.14] This is the word of the Lord.
[96.14 --> 106.22] There's a lot that I hope we can see together this morning, and so we're going to just jump right in
[106.22 --> 115.20] to that. Now, in our passage this morning from James, there's a little shift that is taking place
[115.20 --> 123.00] here, right? We're still under the larger umbrella of being hearers and doers, and this is still about
[123.00 --> 129.96] how you make your faith real, but the shift that is taking place is from those things that happen
[129.96 --> 140.24] to you to those things that happen in you. Now, remember, James has started his letter assuming or
[140.24 --> 146.94] recalling the struggles that the early Christians faced, right? That the cultural effort to compromise
[146.94 --> 154.26] in their life was strong. The external pressures to return to the old way of being was powerful,
[155.26 --> 164.18] and these sorts of trials will be faced by anyone who wants to be a follower of Jesus. In fact, in James,
[164.42 --> 171.74] it's presumed, right? To be a follower is to face fire, to stand in the furnace of oppression and
[171.74 --> 177.34] ostracism for your faith. Facing these things, in fact, as we have seen and will continue to see,
[177.64 --> 186.48] is a sign that your faith is real, and those external pressures exert a sort of force on you,
[187.48 --> 196.86] right? The trial happens, and inside there is a temptation. That's James' point, right? He says in
[196.86 --> 202.22] verse 12, blessed is the one who perseveres under trial, and then immediately in verse 13, he says,
[202.46 --> 210.92] when tempted. Now, notice that, right? James says, when tempted. James' presumption is that you will be
[210.92 --> 216.84] tempted, and he can presume that we will be tempted because he knows that real faith hearers and doers
[216.84 --> 228.16] of the word will face trials, and trials come with an opportunity for temptation. Every trial brings
[228.16 --> 237.30] temptation, right? Struggling with money, with not having enough money, is an opportunity for temptation
[237.30 --> 247.14] temptation to question the providence of God in our life, right? The death of a loved one can tempt us to
[247.14 --> 256.40] question God's love, right? Suffering in the world can tempt us to question God's goodness. Evil actions
[256.40 --> 266.52] seemingly being rewarded tempt us to question God's justice. Testing brings temptation, and the deeper the trial,
[266.52 --> 274.28] the more dangerous the temptation. As we get into this, I want to give sort of two things as kind of
[274.28 --> 279.32] preliminary remarks that will sort of be a foundation out of which we can spring, and so first,
[280.78 --> 290.44] temptation comes, but it is not God tempting you, right? God doesn't tempt you to sin, right? James writes,
[290.44 --> 296.24] when tempted, no one should say, God is tempting me, for God cannot be tempted, nor does he
[296.24 --> 304.62] tempt anyone, right? God might bring about a test of faith. He might allow a circumstance to happen. He

[1689.06 --> 1694.34] forgiveness of sins. Christian prayer, he says, is diminished and endangered when it revolves

[1694.34 --> 1700.10] exclusively around the forgiveness of sins. There is such a thing as confidently leaving your sin

[1700.10 --> 1705.62] behind for the sake of Christ. Indeed, it may be troubling, he says, that in the Psalms,

[1705.96 --> 1714.00] the righteousness of the author is spoken of as often as his guilt. Have you ever noticed that?

[1714.58 --> 1721.36] Here's a small sampling. Psalm 5, you bless the righteous. 17, I in righteousness will see his face.

[1721.36 --> 1727.90] 34, his eyes are on the righteous. 37, I've never seen the righteous forsaken. Psalm 64, let the righteous

[1727.90 --> 1736.82] rejoice. 68, let the righteous be glad. How often do you appeal to your righteousness in prayer?

[1739.98 --> 1744.66] Not a righteousness that you've earned, but a righteousness that has been given to you by God

[1744.66 --> 1752.20] through Christ based on his life. How often do you appeal to your righteousness in prayer?

[1752.20 --> 1757.44] And have we ever considered the possibility that perhaps our weakness in prayer is owing to the fact

[1757.44 --> 1764.00] that we give much more time to our guilt in prayer than we do to our righteousness? The prayer does not

[1764.00 --> 1773.16] begin with the confession of sin. The prayer begins, our Father, you have made me righteous and I am your Son.

[1773.16 --> 1789.34] This is the foundation to our prayer. This is also the foundation to the Lord's table.

[1789.34 --> 1800.80] Because we do the same thing at the table. We think in order to come to the table, we have to make sure

[1800.80 --> 1808.12] we've lived a pretty sinless life. We don't want to come to the table if there's sin in our lives. We

[1808.12 --> 1812.98] need to deal with all that. And of course, Paul did talk about the table and unity in the church,

[1813.08 --> 1817.68] and there was fighting, and there was some people who were eating all the food and not leaving any for

[1817.68 --> 1822.62] anyone else. And he's talking about how those things needed to be resolved within the church for the

[1822.62 --> 1829.68] sake of unity in the church. But sin is not a reason to not come to the table. My friends, sin is the

[1829.68 --> 1840.36] reason you do come to the table. And so if you're struggling with sin this morning, and by the looks of

[1840.36 --> 1851.88] you, you all are, if you struggle with sin in your life, we're going to come to the table. We're going to

[1851.88 --> 1858.72] confess our sin, to be sure. But we're going to come to the table, and we are going to partake.

[1859.28 --> 1866.28] And we are going to consider all that Christ has done on our behalf. For this is a reminder of his

[1866.28 --> 1873.72] death, which was for our sin, his life, which earned our righteousness. And we're going to think about

[1873.72 --> 1879.50] the great grace of God, which he has conferred to us through Christ. And so we're going to sing

[1879.50 --> 1887.36] amazing grace, I believe, right now. And then we will partake of the bread and the wine.

[1887.36 --> 1899.58] As the team comes forward. Gracious Father, we thank you for all that you've done for us in Christ. We

[1899.58 --> 1904.92] thank you that we can come to you in prayer, and we can call you Father. Yes, we confess sin.

[1906.42 --> 1913.10] But we don't want to be remembering sin and reminding you of all this sin that you have forgiven us of,

[1913.10 --> 1919.84] and focusing on it to the neglect of the righteousness of Christ. Father, we are sinners,

[1919.84 --> 1926.38] and we come with our sin to you this morning. But we thank you for the righteousness that is ours in

[1926.38 --> 1930.14] Christ. Your grace is amazing. Amen.

• The series is continuing on James and reading from James 1:12-18

• Temptation happens when we are dragged away by our own evil desires

• God does not tempt us to sin, but may bring about trials or tests of faith

• An important distinction between outer tests (God testing or proving) and inner temptation (our heart rebelling against God's design)

• Temptation itself is not sinful, but giving in to it leads to sin and death

• Faith is indicated by resisting temptation, not the infrequency of being tempted

• The goal is to get better at resisting temptation and not being deceived by things that pull our hearts.

• The speaker discusses how people often think about sin and temptation in terms of categories of what they can't do.

• Examples are given of individuals setting limits for themselves, such as eating only half a bag of chips or not taking money from their mother's wallet.

• This approach focuses on behavior rather than the right thing to do.

• The speaker argues that when we focus on what we can't do, we are making sin or behavior the goal of our actions.

• A paradigm shift is proposed: instead of focusing on what we can't do as sin, we should reframe it in terms of obedience.

• However, this is not the correct reframing; rather, we should consider something else entirely.

• The speaker argues that real faith is not ultimately about morality or behavior, but about a relationship with God.

• This is demonstrated by Jesus' teachings and behavior, who was critical of those who were hypocritically following religious rules.

• God is not interested in making people religious, spiritual, self-care obsessed, or serene; rather, He wants us to be passionate for Him and His glory.

• The concept of holiness is often misunderstood as moral behavior, but it's about being set apart by God

• God's holiness means he is wholly other, transcendent, and incomprehensible

• True faith thinks about what it means to be holy, not just what we can do

• Holiness involves new affections, desires, and motives that lead to new behavior

• We are already holy through Jesus' sacrifice and are being made holy in the process

• Reframing the conversation around sin and temptation through the gospel

• The power of God's word in salvation and sanctification

• Immerging oneself in Scripture for effective use of its power against temptation

• Community as a crucial factor in fighting temptation and applying the word

• The symbolism of Ash Wednesday and the imposition of ashes, illustrating how sin stains us unconsciously and grace cleanses us

• The importance of community and being with others when facing sin and temptation

• The tendency to "manicure" sins and present them in a socially acceptable way

• The reality of sin leading to death but the gift of God being eternal life

• The need for faith to be made real, which will involve facing challenges and trials

• Reframing discussions of sin and temptation through the lens of being holy

• The power and strength given by God's word to defeat sin and temptation

[0.00 --> 9.26] This morning, we're going to continue in our series on James, and we're going to read together

[9.26 --> 15.94] from James 1. We're going to read verses 12 through 18. It will be on the screen as I go

[15.94 --> 20.58] through it, but I do encourage you, if you have your own Bible or if you can open that up on your

[20.58 --> 25.26] phone, whatever the case may be, just to have that with you as we go through the message today.

[25.26 --> 30.26] From James 1, beginning at verse 12.

[55.26 --> 62.58] Each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed. Then, after desire

[62.58 --> 68.66] has conceived, it gives birth to sin, and sin, when it is full grown, gives birth to death.

[69.82 --> 78.18] Do not be deceived, my dear brothers. Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from

[78.18 --> 86.34] the Father of heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. He chose to give us birth

[86.34 --> 94.02] through the word of truth, that we might be a kind of first fruits of all he created.

[94.82 --> 96.14] This is the word of the Lord.

[96.14 --> 106.22] There's a lot that I hope we can see together this morning, and so we're going to just jump right in

[106.22 --> 115.20] to that. Now, in our passage this morning from James, there's a little shift that is taking place

[115.20 --> 123.00] here, right? We're still under the larger umbrella of being hearers and doers, and this is still about

[123.00 --> 129.96] how you make your faith real, but the shift that is taking place is from those things that happen

[129.96 --> 140.24] to you to those things that happen in you. Now, remember, James has started his letter assuming or

[140.24 --> 146.94] recalling the struggles that the early Christians faced, right? That the cultural effort to compromise

[146.94 --> 154.26] in their life was strong. The external pressures to return to the old way of being was powerful,

[155.26 --> 164.18] and these sorts of trials will be faced by anyone who wants to be a follower of Jesus. In fact, in James,

[164.42 --> 171.74] it's presumed, right? To be a follower is to face fire, to stand in the furnace of oppression and

[171.74 --> 177.34] ostracism for your faith. Facing these things, in fact, as we have seen and will continue to see,

[177.64 --> 186.48] is a sign that your faith is real, and those external pressures exert a sort of force on you,

[187.48 --> 196.86] right? The trial happens, and inside there is a temptation. That's James' point, right? He says in

[196.86 --> 202.22] verse 12, blessed is the one who perseveres under trial, and then immediately in verse 13, he says,

[202.46 --> 210.92] when tempted. Now, notice that, right? James says, when tempted. James' presumption is that you will be

[210.92 --> 216.84] tempted, and he can presume that we will be tempted because he knows that real faith hearers and doers

[216.84 --> 228.16] of the word will face trials, and trials come with an opportunity for temptation. Every trial brings

[228.16 --> 237.30] temptation, right? Struggling with money, with not having enough money, is an opportunity for temptation

[237.30 --> 247.14] temptation to question the providence of God in our life, right? The death of a loved one can tempt us to

[247.14 --> 256.40] question God's love, right? Suffering in the world can tempt us to question God's goodness. Evil actions

[256.40 --> 266.52] seemingly being rewarded tempt us to question God's justice. Testing brings temptation, and the deeper the trial,

[266.52 --> 274.28] the more dangerous the temptation. As we get into this, I want to give sort of two things as kind of

[274.28 --> 279.32] preliminary remarks that will sort of be a foundation out of which we can spring, and so first,

[280.78 --> 290.44] temptation comes, but it is not God tempting you, right? God doesn't tempt you to sin, right? James writes,

[290.44 --> 296.24] when tempted, no one should say, God is tempting me, for God cannot be tempted, nor does he

[296.24 --> 304.62] tempt anyone, right? God might bring about a test of faith. He might allow a circumstance to happen. He