Engrafted Word and Law of Liberty

0:02 Looking at our world from a theological perspective. This is the Theology Central podcast making Theology Central. Good morning everyone. It is Wednesday, November the twentieth, twenty twenty four. It is currently eleven forty five am Central Time, and I am coming to you live from the Theology Central studio located right here in Abilene, Texas. Well, I can't speak for you, I will speak for myself. I definitely don't want to talk about Isaiah chapter forty today. I need a break from Isaiah forty, right, I mean, wow, I am in some ways I know that Isaiah forty, chapter forty, forty one, forty two, forty three, Isaiah chapter forty to fifty five is going to be a part of my immediate future. It's going to be there for a very long time. I'm hoping what I can do with Isaiah forty through fifty five is I can kind of move away from I don't want to say the controversy. I can move away from reviewing, critiquing, analyzing, mentioning how it's typically handled right, the ripping the verses out of context, applying us, applying them to us, moving out Israel, moving us.

1:25 And I feel that that's Look, there's no more point in reviewing any more sermons. They just keeps saying basically the same thing over and over and over. Now, yesterday we did hear a little kind of I guess, a unique take. I mean, they made claims that I can't find anything to I can't find anything to support their claims, So that was somewhat interesting, But overall it was just still the same basic thing. Hey, Isaiah forty, it's about you. It's about you. It's about you. It's about you. So I don't know how many more sermons, I mean, what's the point. There's no more point in reviewing any more sermons on Isaiah forty and the same thing's gonna happen in forty one, forty two, forty three, forty four. I mean, maybe we'll throw in some reviews here or there as we move through the entire section. But I think what I'm going to attempt to do on Sunday is just come in and go all right, Isaiah, chapter forty. Here's an outline of the entire chapter. I've got an entire observational outline, not an interpretive outline, an observational one. I'm gonna spend probably the first hour, brick in the whole chapter down into outline form, and then we're gonna just reset and just say, all right, here's Isaiah forty. The first section is I say, Isaiah chapter forty, verses one through two, and just start moving through it, right, not dealing with all of the controversy, not dealing with all of the fake comfort, and just kind of just moving through the text and just really being text based and not worrying about how everyone else has handled it. I think that's what I'm going to attempt to do, because

2:56 I think at this point there's nothing else I can do. I still need to do some work on our We kind of started that series on false comfort. I still need to do a little bit more work on that or or you know, I've got to figure out how to move there. And I know I need to finish up the Six Secrets of the Christian Life. I think we're what secret number five or four or five, and it's just like, I don't know, I don't know if I can say anything new about that, because we know Secret four. I mean, look that book. By by the time we got done with what Secret two or Secret three, we kind of realized the book had already lost its ever living mind. So I don't know if I don't know what to do there. I feel like I have to finish that. So I don't want to do Isaiah forty.

3:43 I don't necessarily want to do I feel like doing the series on False Comfort. I feel like now it's just going to be somewhat redundant. I think we've kind of I think we did a pretty good job on that. The Sixth Secrets, I think we did a I think we've kind of almost reached a coclusion there, even though we haven't reached the end of the book. And I told everyone to purchase the book, which is relatively cheap anyway, and I haven't heard a lot of feedback on the book by anyone, so I don't think there's a lot of interest in that. So so we have to move forward. And of course, one of the things I am going to do, I am going to make sure that we bring our sermons two point zero app sermon Challenge to a conclusion no matter whatever else, I don't get done in twenty twenty four. And you can go back and look, and there was a lot of things we were going to do in twenty twenty four that fell to the wayside. Right, It just this didn't happen because in my mind, once again, I mean, if you kind of I mean, if you listen to everything, you kind of have an idea. I mean, there's lots of twists and turns, right, So we were really going to follow the electionary at the beginning of twenty twenty four, right, that's really kind of what I wanted to do. But when we or did the sermons two point oh app sermon challenge kind of along with that, there was a mind that I was going to use the electionary right to follow to say, hey, here's what the lectionary reading is. Now, let's use the sermon's two

5:15 point oh app to look for sermons specifically on this. But then the sermons two point oh app sermon challenge kind of turned into hey guys, look, let's look at what's going on on the app today, Hey what is people talking about? What is the newest sermons? Right, really kind of going in that direction, and that led to stumbling upon this sermon and this sermon and this sermon, and it just took us further and further away from the other, so that that kind of fell to the wayside. I always hate when I get this is the part of the year where I look back and go, man, I didn't do this right. I didn't do this right. But that's okay, that's okay. I think it makes sense.

5:56 So the one thing I know, I can't go back and fix the things I did complete or I mean, some of those things are just we've we've made it too far down the road, right, But we've got the Sermon's two point Sermons two point oh app Sermon Challenge, and we're still very much involved in that. Right. There has been no there's been no pause, there's been no detour we have. That's the one thing we've stayed consistent on, right listening to sermon after sermon after sermon after sermon. So here we are, November the twentieth. I mean, just think about it. It's almost over. I mean, this year is almost done, so we can at least try to just keep going. I mean, I'm just gonna try to double down on that. So today I opened up the Sermon's two point oh app. I went to Discovery.

6:46 I ended up on you know, new New Sermons tab, and well, guess what I saw a sermon entitled now someone there's there's a couple of ministries today. I don't know if you see it on the sermon's two point oh app if you go to the sermon Audio website, you can definitely see it. But there's like some new broadcasters. And what happens when a new broadcaster comes along. I don't know if you've watch witnessed this this year, when a new broadcaster comes in, they bring in all of their old content, right, because typically a new broadcaster is not someone who just started broadcasting. They've been preaching, teaching the church, has had their sermons somewhere else, and now they've decided to come to sermon audio, so they bring in all of their sermons. So on their like their first day, second day, they bring in like one hundred two hundred sermons, so you can look. I think it's called a primitive Baptist broadcaster. And if you'll notice today under new sermons, you'll see I don't even know how many one hundred two hundred of that one broadcaster, and there's another one I don't remember the name of the other doing the same thing. So that's cool that they bring all of their content over. It's kind of frustrating because it all shows up under the new sermonman's tab.

8:01 But those are not really new sermons. Some of those sermons go back two thousand and six, two thousand and four. They're bringing in their entire library and it all shows up into new sermons, So they are new to the platform, they're not actually new sermons. That may not matter to you. I do like hearing, you know, hey, it's Wednesday, what was being preached on Sunday? I do like you know that to some level. But so I was like, well, do I grab one of these? And then so I just kind of kept scrolling through it, and then I saw one entitled the Law of Liberty, and I was like, oh, yes, the Law of liberty. How does anyone see that and pass that up? I mean, come on, right, you know where that's from, Right, the Book of James James, Chapter one, verse twenty five. But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty and continue with their in, he being not a forgetful here, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed. Well, what is this law of liberty? What is this? Well? One, It's found in the Book of James. And we know all of the debates and controversy throughout Church history when it comes to the Book of James. You talk about nobody agrees on anything, Just go to the Book of James.

9:30 Nobody agrees. Now there is a kind of a more modern, majority accepted way to approach the Book of James, which is basically, this is a book that says, if you don't do this or this or this, you're not saved kind of concept. But throughout Church history there's been much disagreement. And I know you're going to be shocked by this, that phrase law of liberty. Are you ready for this? To see how many different I've got the interpretations of the early Church Fathers, of the mid Evil Scholastics, of the Reformation and post Reformation period, and modern Protestantism. I've got how that phrase law of liberty has been interpreted in those different periods of church history, the Early Church, mid Evil Scholastics, the Reformation and post Reformation, and modern Protestantism.

10:22 So what we will trace how this has been handled. But we have a brand new sermon that was uploaded today on the law of liberty. So how can I mean, come on, how can you pass that up, right, you cannot pass that up because you're dealing with something in the Book of James. Will you get all of the debate and disagreement. You got the phrase law of liberty. Nobody has agreed on what that even means throughout church history. We've got I mean, at this point you could just say law of liberty. I wonder how they're going to handle it, and you could just you could create a dartboard with all of the different possibilities and just throw the dark and you, you know, who knows wherever it landed. You probably your guests would be as good as mine. I have no idea where this is gonna go, but I thought it at least it'll be interesting. You know what it is. It's a break from Isaiah forty. It's a break from the Six Secrets of the Christian Life series where we kind of fell into the you know the same thing now, the Strongholds discussion. I really thought that would generate far more conversation than it did. I mean, come on, Strongholds, I mean, everyone talks about that. That's that's gotta spark some well. It's so weird, like sometimes you think, oh, the email box is gonna fill up, and then it doesn't, and then and then other times you don't think it is, and it's going You never know.

11:43 You just never know. But I thought the strongholds would really spark some conversation. We'll see, and I really thought the exorcism stuff would would have sparked more conversation. I guess the bottom line is is I have no idea how to read the audience. You just have no idea. You don't know when someone's going to say something when someone isn't. But the exorcism stuff good, was kind of a good. Break was a good We may go back to that. I would like to kind of work through systematically the Catholic right of exorcism. I just kind of walk you through it almost and kind of a verse by verse kind of way. So maybe we will go back to that. But I needed a break from all of it. So here we go. That's what we're going to do. We have a little bit of a break.

12:32 We're going to go to the law of liberty. Now, the goal here. This is a fifty one minute message, so we already know that this would take me about three to four hours to review the entire sermon, So I think our primary goal here is not to review the entire sermon. I think what the goal here is let's hear basically their hypotheses that they put forth about the law of liberty, how they define it, what it is, what it isn't. Let's see what they do. I mean, they entitled the entire sermon the Law of Liberty, So we're going to hope they're going to at least do with it. Now we know we've been We have seen many times where you know, you'll look at a sermon it'll be like, you know, John chapter one, verse one, and you go okay, and then when you're done with the sermon, you're like, I don't think they even mentioned John chapter one, verse one. Well, I think they were talking about everything other. Those kinds of things drive me crazy.

13:29 So there's a chance this could happen because I haven't listened. All I've done is I started listening, and I'm like, well, once again, churches can't seem to record sermons at a decent volume. So I did artificially and cre amplify this. It's still probably a little too quiet, but it is what it is, So we're just gonna jump in. I don't know where it's gonna go. I don't know that. That's kind of been the fun of this, right, we were just jumping in together and it's a mystery. We don't know where it's going, we don't know where it's going to end. Typically it ends as a train wreck. Okay, I hate to say that, but typically that's what happens. But you know, I guess when when you get to the end of twenty twenty four and people say, so, tell me about your twenty twenty four, you could just say, man, it was a series of train wrecks, one after another after another. It was a horrible just the train wrecks wouldn't stop, and they'll just look at you, like, what happened in your twenty twenty four? Oh? I was just listening to sermons, and they'll be like, it sounds like it was an unpleasant experience, like you don't even know the half of it. All right, All right, here we go.

14:41 Is that that sounds very jaded and negative? All right, let's hopefully hopefully well this one. The good thing about this, I don't think this is going to be positive or negative. I think this one's just gonna be Hey, this is how they interpret the law of liberty. Okay, this one fits into this historical context. What is the law of liberty? If we base it off the actual text? Itself? Sounds good. Here we go. We'll start in verse twenty one, and I think we'll be done with chapter one today. We'll see, therefore, put away all filthiness and rampant weak wickedness. All right, I want to try something new today, not for the whole time, just for a few minutes of the beginning. It's a practicum and Bible study. So watch, therefore, put away all filthiness and rampant wickedness, and receive with meetness the implanted word which is able to save your soul. Now, as we read these passages, I want you to use your your reading comprehension skills that we're all working on.

16:00 And believe you me. You, when you become a Christian, you're not immediately gifted with the ability to read. Oh wow, Okay, so we got some good things going on here, right. He's actually mentioning reading comprehension. He had he admitted that when we become saved, we don't just immediately gain some supernatural power of reading comprehension. Wow. Okay, he's speaking my language. He's speaking my language. I would point something out. You're in the Book of James, verse twenty one, and when you read wherefore lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness. When it says that we have to lay apart this stuff right there, should should, should just make you think, Well, wait a minute, pastor.

16:49 After pastor tells me, I'm a new creation. Old things are passed away, all things have become new. What wickedness, what filthiness, what naughtiness, what ungodliness? What un righteousness? Do I have to put away? It's all gone? Do you ever notice the contradiction how Christians will teach this and they never explain it. Hey, Hey, when you become a Christian, the power of God moved into your life. God gave you a new heart, a new spirit. You're a new creature. Old things have passed away, all things have become new. So now you can say notice sin, you can say yes to God. You can do it. And then and then there'll be another sermon, sometimes within the same sermon. Well, we have to fight against the flesh, we have to mortify sin, we have to put away Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, what am I putting away? What am I fighting? It's all gone. It's like, don't they hear the contradiction, and you say, well, that does sound like a contradiction. What is the answer. The answer is simple. Positionally, I'm a new creature. All things have passed away, all things have become new. I've been declared perfect, righteous, holy. In my position, I do say yes to God. I do say noticein because in my position I am perfect, totally righteous and obedient.

18:04 But in my practical life I have to try to put away this and put away this and fight this and fight this and fight this because I'm still in the flesh. I still have a sinful nature and I'm still going to sin right now. But he wants everyone to do something with reading comprehension here, So I'm curious what he's going to do here. I'm curious. I'm going to back that up so you can hear it all again. There's some like kids in the background crying and stuff. We do find that common here. So let's see again the volume. I hope the volume is loud enough, but I'm amplified it like a lot because the original file was like, hello, is there anybody there. Hello, are you talking?

18:52 Because I can't hear you, right, So let's see if you can hear this. Here we go. We'll start in verse twenty one, and I think we'll be done with chapter one today. We'll see, therefore, put away all filthiness and rampant weak wickedness. All right, I want to try something new today, not for the whole time, just for a few minutes at the beginning. It's a practicum in Bible study. So watch, therefore, put away all filthiness and rampant wickedness, and receive with meetness the implanted word, which is able to save your soul. Now, as we read these passages, I want you to use your your reading comprehension skills that we're all working on.

19:46 And believe you me. You, when you become a Christian, you're not immediately gifted with the ability to. Read, all right, amen. You may be gifted with the ability you know, sorry, you may be gifted with the desire to read. But to be able to read takes time. And most Americans are technically. Illiterate, or they read on a third or fourth grade level. And also most Americans don't know that, and most don't care and et cetera. But we as Christians are people of the book, and we want to we gotta get better at reading and thinking carefully about the words we read.

20:32 Wow, now that's he made a big statement here. I'm gonna I'm gonna see if I'm gonna i can verify that. Okay, I'm gonna see if we can verify this. I'm gonna, I'm gonna, I'm gonna see here. Is it true that most Americans read at a third grade level? Okay, I'm gonna say, I'm going to see what we can find. All right, Well, here we go, all right? Or starting off or already starting off? Questionable? All right, Okay, it's a common misconception that most Americans read at a third grade level. In reality, approximately twenty one percent of US adults are considered illiterate, meaning they read below a fifth grade level. Additionally, about fifty four percent of adults have literacy skills below a sixth grade level. So approximately twenty one percent of adults are considered illiterate, meaning they read below a fifth grade level. And additionally, about fifty four percent of adults have a literacy skill below a sixth grade level. This is from the National Literacy Institute. This indicates that while a significant portion of the population faces literacy challenges, the majority read above a third grade level.

22:03 So I think you could say most Americans are below a sixth grade level. Right. These literacy challenges have substantial economic implications. Low literacy levels are estimated to cost the US economy up to two point two trillion dollars annually. That's from the National Literacy Institute. Addressing these issues is crucial for both individual wellbeing and the nation's economic health. So most Americans read below a sixth grade level, not third sixth grade level. So if we want accuracy, Now, that always bothers me when pastors say things behind the pulpit that are just one hundred percent not accurate. But I also know that so many times in a sermon, you have your basic idea what you want to say.

22:59 Unless you write out a manuscript, there's times you're going to just say something at the top of your head that you're that you're adding to and that that's where these problems can call it can happen. What you have to do, though, is what you have to try to do, is you have to say, you have to try to quantify or qualify, right, you have to qualify. I I have heard or it has been said, or some say something along those lines, so that you're not making a dogmatic assertion. But here's a question. Now, this is this is serious, okay. And now I have heard time and time again throughout my entire preparing for ministry, seminary, Bible colleges, Bible institutes, every all the education, I have pursued that you basically, when you preach, you should not preach above a sixth or seventh grade level because the people won't understand.

23:55 And I think that that's ridiculous. And I have rejected that from day one, and I don't care who teaches me that. I'm like, you're wrong. I'm gonna go preach at the highest level I can preach, and I'm and if they don't get it, I'll keep preaching it over and over and over and over, and if I need to, I'll bring a ladder to church so that the people can climb the ladder to get to what I'm trying to give them. But it's my job to take what may be above their level and break it down so they can get it. But that's ridiculous to dumb it down. No, no, no, I'm not there to dumb it down. I'm there to bring the people up. So I'm not going to preach at the sixth or seventh grade level. Get out of my face. And as a result, I've been accused of Your church sounds like a seminary. It sounds like a university classroom. It doesn't feel like church. Okay, well, okay, well then go to the church and then okay, you get the idea. So but here's a real question though.

24:44 This is this is serious, all right. I'm not in any way being sarcastic at all. This is a very serious thing. As Christians, we believe that the soul authority for everything, we believe, for everything we do, that the source of truth, the soule authority, the sole source of truth is the Word of God, which means God has taken his revelation and placed it in written form, and that the Christian has a responsibility. This is very true in the Protestant world that the individual Christian has the responsibility to so know the Bible and study the Bible so that it can hear preaching and determine if what is being preached is true or false. Well, you cannot listen to preaching and determine if it's true or false based off your understanding of scripture. If your ability to read is below a sixth grade level, you cannot do that.

25:49 How can How if your literacy rate, if your your literacy ability, if you're reading comprehension, if your reading ability is below a sixth grade level? Then what gives Christians the right in the pew to say that's wrong, that's wrong, that's wrong, and I disagree? Who? Well, under what authority? Now? See, this is why so many Christians teach this idea that when you become a Christian, Oh, now, the Holy Spirit gives me insight. The Holy Spirit leads me into all truth, which I believe. Again, just connect that to reality. Obviously it's not true. Because the Holy Spirit was leading us into all truth, there wouldn't be a million different interpretations.

26:32 But there's going to be a million different interpretations because the Holy Spirit's not leading us into all truth. He led the original authors of the New Testament into all truth, not us. It's a promise for them, not us. Right, So we're left with we have to be individuals who can read and comprehend the Bible. I want not. This is just I know. This is a crazy idea. Okay, And if anyone out there young thinking about going into ministry, do not listen to my idea. I am an idiot. Okay, don't listen to me. Okay, I'm telling you will. You will have the most unsuccessful ministry and history. If you want to have a church where there's no one there, no one attending, and you have no money and no ability to do anything, then listen to my advice. If you want a successful church, go find and listen to the successful people. All right, I mean that that's not even being sarcastic, that's just being truthful. But I am curious, when someone becomes a member of a church, should it be in the church's best interest to administer to them a reading comprehension test to see at what level they read and at what level they comprehend. Now, I know that sounds offensive, that

28:06 sounds ridiculous, but just just just stay with me here, right, this is the word of God. Those Christians who go to your church, they're gonna listen to your preaching and then they're gonna go you're wrong, you're wrong, you're wrong, You're wrong, You're wrong. There's gonna be plenty of that. Not every single one, but there's gonna be plenty of that. They're gonna be formulating their own interpretation. They may not argue with you, but they just may. Look, I don't believe that I disagree with that based off their reading. Wouldn't it be great to say, hey, now, look, you're you're part of a church, you own a Bible, but let's just make sure we see this. Your reading comprehension is at a fourth grade level. You're reading comprehension you're is at a fifth grade level. How who are you?

28:51 You need to be more concerned about fixing your reading comprehension than you are about reading the Bible and telling me what the Book of Revelation means. You need to be far more worried about your reading comprehension than reading the Book of Isaiah and telling me that I'm wrong about Isaiah Chapter forty. You need to spend more time figuring out why you're reading comprehension is such a low level than you are trying to interpret to me what this means or this means. I know that sounds crazy, but if God's revelation is in written form. And if twenty one percent of US adults are considered illiterate, meaning they read below a fifth grade level, and then additionally about fifty four percent of adults have illiteracy skills below a sixth grade level, then how in the world you're going to take that much of our population, meaning much of that will be represented inside churches because many churches you have people with lower I mean a lot of times religious people, not in all cases, but in many cases.

29:51 And I would have to look at the numbers. I'm gonna see here. I'm going to. Look this up. Is is it true that people who are very religious tend to have lower education? Okay, I know that's not grammatically correct, but it's okay. I was just trying to type it fast, all right. So, in general, it says the relationship between religiosity and educational attainment is complex and varies across different context In the United States, studies have shown that, on average, individuals with higher levels of education tend to exhibit lower levels of religion religious commitment by certain measure measures such as belief in God and in the importance of religion in their lives. However, this pattern does not hold uniformally across all religious groups. For instances, among Christians, those worth higher education levels often reports similar or even higher levels of religious service attendance compared to those less educated counterparts. This is from the Pew Research Center, so it says these findings suggest that while there is some correlation. So when you go to globally they talk

31:24 about some different things and other religions as well, but they say these findings, and I'm summarizing now, there is some correlation between higher education levels and lower religiosity and certain contexts, the relationship is not straightforward and is influenced by various factors, including religious tradition, cultural context, and individual beliefs. So that may not I think typically it stated that the more religious someone is, the less education they may have. Well, in this particular case, that it doesn't appear according to those studies that that's necessarily always true. So in other words, we cannot be dogmatic about that assertion. So I'm glad I looked that up. But so let's go back to my basic premise here. The Bible is obviously God's word, but it's it's written right, so it requires you to read and if it requires you to read that you have to comprehend what you read. You have to be able to interpret it, you have to be able to understand it. So would it not then be imperative that if we're going to talk about Bible study skills, right, if we're going to talk about Bible study skills, hermeneutics, wouldn't the prerequisite for Bible study Bible interpretation and hermonutics?

32:42 Would it not be reading comprehension? Now we touched on a little bit of this when we were working on Augustine's hermonutical approach, because Augustine was one who said, no, no, look, your ability to interpret comes to your ability to read. What you learned in school about how to read is what's critical, and your ability to interpret the text. So now I know Christianity likes a more mystical approach that you become saved and God turns on the light and now you have special understanding. Now we do realize the difficult I mean, there's all kinds of theological problems with that, as we've already mentioned. So do you think it's a crazy idea? Everyone in your church is given a test about their ability to read. Reading tests and reading comprehension test, and then everyone's placed in. Okay, you're at a fourth grade level, you're at a fifth grade level, you're at a third grade level, you're at an eighth grade level, wherever you fall in now, and the key is for the It's not for the rest of the church to know, it's for the individual to know, right, and then the individual should be Hopefully then that should be a wake up call to go, hmmm, maybe before I open my Bible and start telling one what exequ Wili thirty six means, maybe I need to verify my ability to read and comprehend what I'm reading. Because if I lack an ability or I'm lacking therein my ability to read, and I'm

34:15 lacking on my ability to comprehend what I read, then should I be the one arguing about what Ezekiel thirty six means. Don't you think overall that we'd be better for the church, And then the church could develop programs to assist people and becoming better readers and to increase their ability to comprehend and what they read, going through the basic techniques to teach people. And if you have a church where people can read and comprehend what they read. Should that not lead to greater unity and interpretation. I'm not going to say it's going to be everyone's going to agree, but at least person as interpretation and persons be interpretation will be based off their reading ability and their ability to comprehend. It won't be that person A has the ability to read and comprehend when person B lacks severely in the ability to read and comprehend, well, then there's no way you're ever how are you ever going to come to You can argue all day, You're never going to come to any kind of agreement. You're like, well, that's literally what the word. Look, it's right there, read it like. One person is like, what's wrong with you?

35:30 It's that this word proceeds this word, This word means this, this is the context. This is the same what And the other person is like, I don't believe, And you're like, never mind. See, at that point, there's no point in having At that point, there is no point, right, there's no point in continuing on. So I wonder if we're onto something here. I know this is not we wanted to get to the law of liberty. But see, this is why we review sermons. This has just raised an important question. Is it possible that the most important thing when it comes to Bible interpretation and when it comes to hermaneutics is your ability to read and your ability to comprehend what you read. Is that the most important thing about Bible study and harmoneutics? And if you're going to teach people to study the Bible and interpret the Bible, you should start with reading and reading comprehension skills.

36:54 Yeah. I have a feeling this is going to spark some controversy. I'm going to back this up a little bit so we can hear all of that I have started. I may have backed it all the way up, but that's okay. Here we go. Do today, not for the whole time, just for a few minutes at the beginning. It's a it's a practicum and Bible study. So watch therefore, put away all filthiness and rampant wickedness and receive with meekness the implanted word which is able to save your soul. Now, as we read these passages, I want you to use your your reading comprehension skills that we're all working on.

37:35 And believe you me. You when you become a Christian You're not immediately gifted with the ability. To read, all right, amen. You may be gifted with the ability you know. Sorry, yeah, you may be gifted with the desire to read. But to be able to read takes time. And most Americans are technically illiterate or they read on kind of third or fourth grade level. And also most Americans don't know that, and most don't care, and et cetera. But we as Christians are people of the book and we want to We got to get better at reading and thinking carefully about the words we read. And so with that stated, what here's the question for us to do is a group Bible study practicum.

38:27 All right? Right, Before he does it, I'm going to say one more thing. This is this is really to me kind of disturbing. Now, his his statistics of most Americans third grade level. We've seen most Americans are under a sixth grade level. Okay, so right, so, I mean, it's just trying to be accurate, but here, this is this is shocking here, all right, And he says most Americans don't even realize it or don't care. And I think that most Americans don't know it and don't care. I think he's probably accurate there. I don't know if we can, you know, quantify that, but I think he's definitely. I think there's at least a little bit of at least a hint of truth to that. I don't know if we can statistically prove that, but I feel that that's right.

39:10 But here here's what I would say. Just think of the system we have in the Protestant world. Right. The system we have in the Protestant world is we do not have a magisterial authority. The church does not have the authority. Now we may talk about the church's authority, but in reality, in the Protestant world, the authority rests with you, the individual. So the way we have it in the Protestant world, you as an individual, you have your Bible, you hear what is preached, and then the people in the pew determine if what is being preached is right and wrong, and aroundabout way, the church members kind of stands more, each individual is their own magisterial authority. Now, just think about a system where people sitting in the pew, with the majority of them possibly their reading ability and their comprehension ability is below a sixth grade level, and they're the ones who's supposed to be determining if what is preached is true or false based off their ability to read and comprehend the Bible. Where does that leave you?

40:11 Is it possible that is why we have thousands upon thousands of different groups and different theologies and different denominations. Is that the possible reason why that you can't get four Christians in a room and read the Bible and come up to anything like an agreement. You may put four Christians in a room with a text of scripture and they'll walk out with forty seven different interpretations. Is it possible that's the reason? What is the implanted word? What is that?

40:52 You read it and you immediately thought the Bible? All right? You see, so that's all. That's a good lesson in reading. You all already come to the text with the presupposition. You already come with a grid. You read the word word Bible. All right? But is James saying the Bible? You know? I don't know. Let's look at it. Let's follow the flow of argument. Let's follow the prepositions and the conjunctions and see if we can get something more specific than Bible. First of all, we know the context of the Book of James. It was the oldest New Testament book to be written. It was written by the brother of Jesus. It was written before any other New Testament books were added or written or canonized. And so what portion of the Bible is he particularly speaking of the Old Testament? So you've got it down even more narrow, even more narrow. It's the Old Testament he's referring to, and you can't be referring to the New Testament doesn't exist yet, right, So can we get any more specific? Is it the whole Old Testament?

41:55 Is it a part of the Old Testament? We should receive the whole Bible? Amen? Obviously the Bible teaches that in other places. But I'm wanting to know this is Bible study here, I'm wanting to know what James's unique point is. Is his point just generally receive the Bible? Or is it more specific than that, which would be much more helpful. Wouldn't that be more helpful if it's more specific? So what is the word we continue to read? It's able to save our souls? Oh, now you know, now that might lead me to think that it's which portion of the Old Testament or what section? What sections can save your soul? Can the law save your soul? You know, the law is a tutor which leads us to Christ. So you know, ah, you know the Gospel saves our soul? All right, Well, we're gonna have to put that on the shelf. We don't exactly know what he means by saving.

42:46 Soul just yet. And does he mean. Justification, sanctification, glorification, does he mean salvation broadly and generally? Does he mean save our soul from particular consequences that we might face in this life because of the sins we commit. I don't know yet. We don't know. We have to continue to read. He goes down to verse twenty two. But that's a conjunction. It can be translated but or and I didn't look it up just yet. But in the Greek it's probably kai. It's probably what it is, could be allah, could be a day, it could be a few other things. But it's a conjunction. And what do conjunctions do? They add things together? So we know we're still in the same train of thought here. But be doers of the word ep there's the word again. There's a word again. So and we know whatever he means by word, it's something you can do. Okay, now that's interesting. Can you do the gospel? Not really, not really, you know Jesus did that.

43:45 But be doers of the word and not hearers only. So this word is also something you can You can hear it, and you can do it, and you can receive it. Back up to twenty one real quick. It seems to be contral with putting away filthiness and wickedness. See that right there, put away filthiness, wickedness, receive the word. So it seems to be contrasted. If you're receiving the word, you can't be receiving filthiness and wickedness, see what I mean? All right, So you're putting away filthiness and wickedness simultaneously with receiving this word, which is something you can do, and it's something you can hear, and it's something you can hear and not do right.

44:31 Verse twenty three. For if anyone is a. Hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. So what else is this word which you can hear and which you can do, Which is the opposite of wickedness. What else is it? It's also. A mirror in which you can look at your at your face at you can look at yourself with So it's now he's given us a great metaphor. We're getting there. He's helping us. Like, what is he talking about? You know what's he talking about? The word right verse twenty four for he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he is like. But the one. So here's another. We just got another one right there. When you look into this mirror, it tells you what you were like, right, and I would I would infer from this. It's telling you the imperfections.

45:29 You know, when you look in a mirror in the morning and you're the what is the point of looking at a mirror to make sure your lipstick in on cricket or whatever? To make sure you need to go and fix yourself, right, And so that's what you're looking in the mirror. And a man who doesn't fix himself and just goes about his natural wayh you know, that's disturbing. Why even look in the mirror? But the one who looks into the perfect. Say that word? What's that word? Law. Okay, now you see, we just got a little bit closer. What is James talking about here. He's talking about the Old Testament law. He calls it the law of liberty.

46:15 Okay, a lot going on there. Very I love this. I mean, this is getting very technical. He's looking at the flow of the text. He's trying to offer understanding. Now he just referred to the law of liberty as the Old Testament law. Now I'm assuming he's going to do some clarifying here. So but let's go through the ungrafted word. Just I just was going to make sure we at least look at some things here and try to try to get us somewhere here. I know, we this is turning more into a discussion about reading comprehension. But that's okay. So the term and grafted word, let's go back to that, because the ungrafted word. Now, he seems to be saying that the ungrafted word is the law.

46:56 All right, So if that's the way he's handling this, let's at least consider this. When the term engrafted word tends to be I think it is unique and it seems to carry somewhat of a rich meaning, all right. The Greek word here can mean implanted and born are innate, suggesting something that is planted within and becomes a living part of the recipient. Hm. Okay, this is something, it is something inside of us. So the ungrafted word or the implanted word inside of us?

47:36 What what word has been inside of us? I think, I think I know which you direct? Now? He he identified it as law. Okay, well that that could make sense, right, because isn't the law of God written on our hearts? Is that the direction this is going to go. Now, if we go through church history, though I know this is going to be a shock, there's not gonna There's probably gonna be a lot of different interpretations. Let's go to the early Church. Let's go with Origin and Augustine. They view the whole idea of and grafted as the Gospel message planted in the believer's heart by the Holy Spirit. They emphasize that it is through God's grace that the Word takes root and grows within believers, leading to salvation. So they saw this with that the ungrafted word is the gospel message and planted.

48:28 Now you see, I was immediately going with the law, the law of God, which is written on my heart, right so they go with the gospel message. Okay, okay, Now, Chrysostom saw this as the transformative word of God sown into the soul, requiring humility and moral preparation, laying aside sin to bear fruit. So this is just so Chrysostom thought was Hey, went with the idea. He didn't really identify specifically. This is just the transit transformative word. This is like the word of God that just transforms you. All right. That's kind of the early church, right, So they either the gospel the transformative word that nobody went with the law like I immediately started going. So I may be way off on this, right, So we'll see where he's He identified it as law, which then kind of just connected it in my brain. But maybe I've got it. I may have to step back and try to figure all of this out, but we will see. I'm trying to do this in real time. We just have to work through it. So the early Church went more with gospel and positive Now, if we jump to the medieval period, Thomas Aquinas interpreted the ingrafted word as the internalized truth of God, brought to life through faith and nurtured by the sacraments and obedience. He linked it with divine grace working within the believer. So this is just the internalized truth of God that's kind of there, and then with

49:58 the sacraments and with faith and obedience, it kind of grows and begins to do something. All right, Now, if we jump to the Reformation period, now we're going to have Luther and Calvin. Luther and Calvin emphasize that the ungrafted Word refers to the Gospel, which, when embraced by faith, transforms the believer. For them, the im implementation or implantation, if I can read correctly, talking about reading comprehension and reading ability occurs through the preaching of the Word and the work of the Holy Spirit. So they kind of go back to Augustine that they ungrafted word, this is the Gospel that's implanted, and this is through preaching in the work of the Holy Spirit. Calvin stressed that the implanted Word is not merely external instruction, but the internal work of God in the heart, aligning it with the New Covenant promise that God's law would be written on believer's hearts. But again, so now see to me, I'm thinking the law is written on our hearts, but he's he's seeing it as like and of course he quotes Jeremiah thirty one thirty three, which is typical Calvin. Just remember Jeremiah thirty one thirty three. That's about Israel, not about us. Okay, so we can get into that never ending debate. Right, So hmm, all right, they all want to make this like it's the law. It's it's almost a positive. Now modern interpretations understand the ingrafted word. Now,

51:33 if we come to kind of the modern era as the message of Christ, the gospel which is received by faith and works within the believer to bring about salvation and sanctification. It is often often associated with the work of the Holy Spirit and applying God's truth to the individual life. So it seems that most people look at that this is the gospel, This is like the God working in you to transform you into change you. Now we've had these conversations a lot. Now, what if we look at this and set aside all of those still logical and historical approaches. What if we look at it more from a textual and contextual consideration. We look at it more based off the text and the context well and the surrounding verses. Jay if we put probably if we go back to nineteen. Maybe if we started all the way back to nineteen, I think that's probably where the section begins. James one nineteen because we have wherefore, of course, and the wherefore is connecting it to what comes before. But wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath, for the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God.

52:45 All right, James seems to be emphasizing the importance of both hearing and doing the word of God. The ungrafted word here is presented as something already implanted through preaching or conversion, that believers are called to nurture and act upon. All right, So that kind of throws my idea out, because I was thinking more. We're all born, every single one of us. When we were born, God's law is written on our hearts. We all have the law of God written on our hearts. This is why everyone lives with some level of guilt and shame, even if they're not Christian. There's some sense of guilty. They have said before that you know a number of some will say the number one cause, but some say a leading cause of people seeking counseling or a psychologist or or you know, psychiatrists, something along those lines. Is because there's some deep sense of guilt and shame. And where is it coming from?

53:45 It comes from God's law, is there? So we always know that we're just there's something not right. That's what I was thinking. They others argue obviously that this is that this is implanted, That this implanted word is there because of conversion or preaching. So the requirement to receive it with meekness suggests an ongoing openness and responsiveness to God's word. So the idea is, okay, in conversion and preaching, the word of God is implanted in you. Now you have to be willing to be receptive to it, all right. So this I was thinking more of the law that's in all of us. And I will argue that the law that's in all of us if we will be open and receptive to what is this pointing it to? Oh, this is showing me that I'm a sinner, and then this will lead me to God. And if it leads me to God, then so I was thinking differently, We'll see which way he goes. Now, the word lagous likely refers to the message of the Gospel and God's revealed truth.

54:53 This is consistent with the New Testament broader usage of the term word. So the term word there, planted or ingrafted word, the word there and Greek as lagos, and that it typically refers to the message of the Gospel and God's revealed truth. Right. So I was thinking the Law of God, like you know, the Ten Commandments, do this and do that. They tend to focus this on being the Gospel, all right. Implanted resonates with agricultural imagery used throughout scripture, where in Matthew thirteen the parable the sower, where the Word of God is likened to a seed planted in soil. So the phrase which is able to save your soul links the ingrafted word directly to the process of salvation. The salvation includes justification and sanctification. Right now, the idea that it says the ingrafted word is able to save your soul, that is true. That's right there in twenty one, which is able to save your soul? Now, what do we mean by saves? See, if it's saved and it sin tends to be the gospel, But is it the law a part of that? So the law condemned.

56:03 So I know the law can't save me, but the law is very is essential to salvation. Without the law, I won't be driven to the cross I am. Let's see where he goes here. Let's see I'm struggling with this. But he connects the ungrafted word with the law of liberty. So he connects those. Let's see what he does here. Which might go against our immediate thoughts on law, and he tells us to persevere in it. Don't just hear it and forget it, but do it. And if you do it, you will be blessed. So did you see what I just did there?

56:53 Now? If I just told you back up at the top twenty one, therefore, put away all filthiness and rampid weakness and received with me stand playing of the word. If I just told you like I would in a sermon, he's talking about the law of the Old Testament right there? Who would believe me? Some of you wouldn't, all right, but some of you wouldn't. Some of you be like, oh, I don't know, I don't know. Now. Is it true that you should receive all the Bible? Yes, of course. But he's specifically talking about receiving the Old Testament law. Now, we might need to take the next forty five minutes and go through all the various nuances of well which Old Testament laws? Okay, So his interpretation is that the ungrafted word is the law of liberty, and the law of liberty is that we need to receive Old Testament laws. All right, So let's go with this. Oh this is interesting. Oh man, this is like a puzzle.

57:53 Man. We're gonna need charts, We're gonna need we're gonna need markers, We're gonna need Oh boy, this is interesting. Okay. So I did a little bit of work. I did a little bit of work here the law of liberty because I saw the law liberty, so I already started right before I went live. I'd already done a little bit of work on what this is and what it is, so I was a little bit prepared for this, all right. So the law of liberty and the ingrafted word in James, Now, this is how some would state it. Are closely related concepts, but they're not identical. They represent overlapping aspects of God's transformative work and believers, so according to at least some, it's not the same he seemed to me. Now, I could be wrong. He went through a lat there, so we may need to listen to that multiple times. To me, it sounds like he's saying, the law of liberty and the ingrafted word are the same thing. Now, what is the connection. Some seem to say they're not identical, but they overlap. So is there a connection between the law liberty and the ingrafted word where the ingrafted word in James one twenty one seem And now again, this is so based on how you understand this right, because many believe that the ungrafted word is the Gospel implanted in believers by the Holy Spirit. He seems to think the ingrafted word is the law of the Old Testament, which is the law of liberty. So I think this is

59:25 going to determine how you're interpreting this. The word is internalized, transformative, and able to save souls. It requires a humble reception and results an ongoing moral and spiritual renewal. The law of liberty refers to the perfect, freeing moral standard of god fulfilled in Christ. It describes as perfect and liberating because it reflects God's will and frees believers from sins, bondage, empowering them to live righteously. They so, according to at least one source, the ingrafted word is the Gospel, and the law of liberty is the perfect, freeing moral standard of God fulfilled in Christ. I look into the law of liberty and here's the moral standard fulfilled in Christ.

1:00:09 And then somehow this frees me from sin's bondage and empowers me to live righteously. Okay, obviously I'm going to disagree with this completely, all right, So, oh where what I am in struggle? I'm going to struggle with this, all right. While they are distinct, these two they overlap in significant ways. It seems that both the ingrafted word and the law liberty share the same source. Both the ungrafted word and the law of liberty ultimately come from God and are centered on His revelation through Christ. The ungrafted word leads to the law of liberty being obeyed and lived out. In practical terms, the ungrafted word emphasizes God's truth and planted within the law of liberty emphasizes God's standard of living, which believers are empowered to fulfill.

1:01:08 Oh man, I've got major issues with all of these views. Oh man, I've got I don't agree with any of this at this point. Let's see what he's going to do. So he says that the law of liberty is the ingrafted word, and that this is the law of the Old Testament. Okay, let's see what he does here. All of them, some of them, Do we receive them in light of the fact that Jesus has come and fulfilled them? Yes, yes, all of that, Amen, all of that, all that. But even though all of that is true, and Jesus has come, and the ceremonial laws have been changed in form.

1:01:54 We still it's still true for us as. New Testament Christians that we have to here and do receive the law of God in the Old and the New Testament. His point of here is particularly in the Old Testament. Now, if we only had the laws in the New Testament, would we have much guidance on doing art? Can you think of anything in the New Testament? Not a ton? Can you think of any passages in the Old Testament which ill regulate art and apply art and talk about art. And beauty and music and song. Yes, of course, there's even one guy who's filled with the spirit of God who builds the temple. There's a ton ton of things you can learn about craftsmanship.

1:02:35 Is there anything in the New Testament about who you can marry? There's a New Testament ever, say don't marry a non Christian the New Testament? Okay, yeah, where does that passage come from? Though? What's he talking about? He's pulling stuff from the Old Testament? And the New Testament is built on top of the Old Testament. It assumes it. It assumes you already know it. Does the New Testament? Ever? The beast reality is bad? No? But is it? Because the Bible says so. It just said it a few books earlier. You understand what I mean? All right, So that's all very important to say. But I think it's interesting. I think we need to say it very clearly. We have to hear, and do and receive the Old Testament law. All nuance goes right here.

1:03:26 If we're gonna be happy, amen, if we're gonna be happy. And blessed, yes, sir? Well, and well, how is a rule? It's not necessarily a condemning rule that just hits you over the head and crushes you. But it's a guide. It's a guide, it's a pathway, and that is the Old Testament. Law. It's a lamp to our feet, it's a light to our path. It offers correction, it restrains evil, it teaches us how to live. And aren't you happier if you follow it? Doesn't it make you happy? Amen? Yeah, it seems to be going with the idea that we can keep the law. I'm all right, So wherefore lay apart? Okay, we may have to do a lot of work here. I'm having I am really struggling here.

1:04:29 I'm really struggling here. So all right, we're at sixty four minutes. Okay, we've just stumbled upon what may keep us preoccupied for the rest of twenty twenty four. Ladies and gentlemen. Oh, we've got work to do. We got a lot of work to do. We got a lot of work to do here. I am not a fan of any of this. I'm not necessary the way he's going a fan. He seems to be like, Hey, we just look at the law and we can do it. No, we can't. The law we cannot keep.

1:05:10 So I. There's got to be there's gotta be a different way of looking at it. So what I'm going to do where it's sixty five minutes? So at this point. This is one of the beautiful things of listening to a sermon and responding to it in real time. I'm just gonna be very honest with you at this point. What I need to do right now is I need to stop and I've got to figure this out, right I am I don't know what to do, Like if I even pretend right now, I don't know what to do. So I Am going to go have to do some work here because my all of this, the way he's approaching it, and the way other sources of even how Ai is approaching it basically is like, hey, this is the word that's implanted in you, and now he thinks the law of liberty and the word is the ungrafted ward is the same. Other sources say this, it's not the same. So there's not even agreement on that. He seems to say the law of liberty and the grafted ward is the Old Testament, but he seems to be looking at it as a positive thing, right that Basically all of this is what, well, especially according to other sources, all of this is what then frees you from zen, gives you the power, and no, don't I'm so tired of hearing about the power we supposedly have, and we've talked about that in a million times. So there's got to be a different approach here. There has to be a different approach. So I'm going to see what I

1:06:41 can come up with. We have so really our goal here is James one nineteen through twenty seven. James one nineteen through twenty seven. Now, what you may want to do is you may want to start looking on the sermon's two point oh app and finding other sermons that deal with and since twenty one the ungrafted word and twenty five, which is the law of liberty. How many of those sermons say the ungrafted word and the law of liberty are the same? How many say they are different? And then how do they identify the ungrafted word and the law of liberty? Are they the same? Are they different?

1:07:22 And what are they? Now? We already seen in church history there's some disagreement. I mean, of course, I mean on all of this. So yeah, we're sixty seven minutes. There's no way for me to figure this out. Now we are gonna We're gonna have to do some work. So stay tuned. This is a developing situation, and we're going to have to figure out out and it's going to require reading, comprehension, it's going to require logic, it's going to require research, it's going to require thinking. It's going to require putting a taking this puzzle apart and then putting it back together. And then we have to determine if our conclusion is consistent, it's coherent, it's in line with the rest of scripture, and it corresponds with reality. If you're gonna tell me that all of this means dun dunda done, I have power and now I can I can basically obey God.

1:08:33 That does not correspond with reality. So I'm already gonna throw anything that leads me that direction. I'm gonna throw out because reality, well, is the is the guardrail that says no, no, no, no, your interpretation is nonsense, because reality tells you you can't that that's not true. So I'm going to use that guardrail of reality to keep me somewhat on the road, and then see what, how what are all the variations that keep me on the road, and then see which one works the best from there, because some of these are already problematic. All right, we'll stop there. Oh well, we got a lot of fun to work on, now, don't we all right, we'll see what we can do. Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for listening.

1:09:17 Now go hey, get to work. Get to work. Let's see what we can find. God bless