James 1:19-27 A New Interpretation Pt 5

0:01 All right, back to the Book of James. For those who aren't here in the first hour, it's going to be a quick review, and then we're going to see if we can wrap this up to some level of satisfaction. All right. All of this week on the podcast, it's been James one nineteen through twenty seven. I mean, there's been a lot of other things, but James one nineteen through twenty seven has been the passage that we have been focusing on. And I have been working all week to come up with a brand new interpretation of James one nineteen through twenty seven because I disagree with every interpretation that's been given since the second century all the way to today, all right, because none of them make literally any sense at all to me. So if you look at the entire Book of James, basically, if you go with a non Catholic interpretation to the Book of James, if you've got any Protestant church, non Catholic church, they're basically going to say the Book of James is about proving whether you were saved or not saved based off what you do or don't do. Don't look to what Christ did, look to what you do. And if you don't do it enough, they can't really tell you how much is enough, then you're not saved. And I have a major problem with that. Not only that their entire premise is based off the fact that basically we can be almost perfect. Right they'll say, well, you can't be perfect, but you can keep the law. Well, if I can keep the law that I should be perfect, it all falls apart. So all of it drives me crazy. Right, So, because I know that their interpretation contradicts reality, Well, then either of you've got to change reality. Are you going to say, we've been interpreting this text the wrong way forever? Right?

1:34 So the text is James chapter one Versus nineteen through twenty seven. Let me just read it for those who weren't here in the first hour James one, nineteen through twenty seven. Wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swifty here, slow to speak, slow to wrath, for the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God. Wherefore I lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness, and received with meekness the ingrafted word, which is able to save your souls. But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers, only deceiving your own selves. For if any man be a hero of the word and not a doer, he's likened to a man beholding his natural face in a glass, For he beholdeth himself, goeth his way and straightway, forgetteth what manner of man he was.

2:15 But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty and continueth therein him, being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man should be blessed in his deed. If any man among you seem to be religious and brobdleth not his tongue, but deceiveth his own heart, this man's religion is vain, pure religion, and undefalled before God and the Father. Is this to visit the Father, listen widow in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world. If you go to any church, listen to any sermons, they almost constantly turn this entire section into what don't be a hero of the word, be a doer of the word, Because if you're not a doer of the word, you prove that you're not saved.

2:56 That's where a sermon after sermon after sermon after sermon is taught everyone where every church you go to. In fact, I taught it that way for a very very very long time, right because I bought into lordship salvation. And so, as I stated in the first start, let me state it again. The reality of Christianity is this. Nobody wants to admit this. The reality of Christianity is this. The Bible is not interpreted based off what the text says. The Bible is interpreted based on whatever theological school of thought you have adopted. You buy into a certain system of theology. That's how you interpret the Bible because you interpret it consistent with the theology which you believe, meaning that your theology is interpreting the Bible. The Bible is not the authority. Your theology is the authority, and you become the authority, which is a major problem, is an issue.

3:47 But if you try to deal with the text alone, you will find yourself in conflict with every system of theology. And I was asking Ai about this this morning and AI basically said, if you just care about the text, you will not be welcomed in the church. And I'm like, well, that's comforting, thank you. AI. Basically, it's like if you care about the text, just don't go to church because nobody in the church is going to accept that the church is just there to reinforce whatever they believe, and they preach the text based off what they believe. And everyone pretends that they're studying the Bible, but nobody's really studying the Bible. That's kind of sad that that's the reality, but that is the reality. So I've set out to set up a new interpretation of nineteen to twenty seven, and that's what we worked on in the first hour.

4:31 So we're going to go through this quick. Everybody ready, all right, here we go. For those who are here, they can answer all the review. The core framework for my entire interpretation comes down basically to two main concepts. Two main concepts that is verse twenty one, how we interpreted the ungrafted word? How do we interpret the ungrafted word? Almost to everyone throughout church history has interpreted it. I could go through all the different ways they interpreted, but the bottom line and is they believe it gives you some kind of power or ability to now basically do what God tells you to do. Here is my interpretation of the ungrafted word. Everybody ready, The ungrafted word refers to the moral law written on our heart. That's Romans two fourteen through fifteen. It's engrafted, it's implanted, it is put inside of us.

5:30 And what does that ingrafted word do. It convicts, it condemns, It shows us something is not right in us. It's they're constantly saying, you do this wrong, you do this wrong, you do this wrong, you do this wrong, you do this wrong. That is the ingrafted word. Everybody got that. What is the law of liberty mentioned in verse twenty five? I believe the law of liberty is the moral law fulfilled in Christ. It is the law of liberty because when we look into it, we see that it's been fulfilled. Therefore we are set free from condemnation. We are not set free from the power.

6:11 We are set free from condemnation. Right, it is the perfect law because it reflects Christ's perfect fulfillment of the law. And then number three, we are to try to live out positionally. What we're trying to live out practically what is true positionally? And we'll talk about that, right, But the main thing I want you to get is the law of the agrafted word of the law of liberty. How I interpret those which goes against everyone. Right, there's some agreement in early Church history a little bit. Okay, when I say that I'm going against everyone, My ultimate conclusions go against everyone. There is some agreement throughout church history that the ingrafted word were first of the law, and the law of liberty is Christ fulfilling it. But they say the law of liberty is Christ fulfilling it so that now you can fulfill it. That's where the problem gets. I'm completely disagree with that, all right. So now most Christians today say the ungrafted word is the Gospel or Jesus or something along those lines. Okay, I completely reject that. So I'm more in line with early Church history. I don't have time to go through all the history. I went through it all on the podcast, all right. So the ungrafted word is what, according to my interpretation, the law, the moral law written on our hearts.

7:34 The law of liberty is the law fulfilled in Christ. Everybody got that, all right? So then how do we understand this? Well, if you look at verses nineteen twenty and twenty one, we have. The reality of our heart. We have the reality of our sin, and how is it expressed? Look at verse nineteen. My beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear. Slow to speak, slow to wrath. That's the way we should be. Right. Do we have a tendency to be swift to hear? No, we tend to be swift to what. To talk, to speak? Right, we are not slow to speak. We we are uh we we are not slow to wrath. And that the wrath worketh not the righteousness of God lay apart.

8:17 All filthiness, superfluity of naughtiness, All of that is our sin. That's all true of us. We're guilty of all of that. How do we know we're guilty of all of that? The ingrafted word, which is what flows right, is next? Do you see that? So the first thing we see in the text is the reality of our sin. If we want to, if we want to break this down, we have the reality of our sin, which then points us to the ingrafted word. The ingrafted word is the thing that reveals the reality of our sin. And what are we to do with this ingrafted word? Well, what does the text say? Receive it with meekness? What does that mean.

8:59 To humbly that it's saying you're right, I'm guilty I'm guilty, I am morally corrupt. I don't listen. I speak when I should not speak. I get angry. I'm self seeking, I'm self centered. I'm focused on me. I want people to hear me. I don't want to hear others. And what is the thing that tells us that it's the ingrafted word? We are to receive it humbly? Why what does the text say it's able to save our souls? How does the ingrafted word save our souls? Because the law, if we receive it, tells us to go to Christ, for which we get saved. All right, So let's make sure we have this down all right, everybody, make sure we have this down right, a brand new interpretation of this entire section. All right, everybody ready? Okay? So what is the ungrafted word in James one, verse twenty one?

9:56 The warl law? All right, when we go to James one, nineteen twenty and twenty one, we see the reality of our sin by looking at Let every man be swift to hear. We're not swift to hear, are we not? We're swift to what we want people to hear us before we hear them. Slow to speak, we're fast to speak, slow to wrath. We're quick to wrath. The wrath of God work. It's not the rightstistance of God. Lay apart all filthiness, superfluity of naughtiness. That's moral corruption. We're morally corrupt. We're self centered. We want everyone to listen to us, and we get ticked off when things don't go our way. Can we all say amen to that? Yes? What reveals all of that? The ungrafted word? What is the ungrafted word?

10:37 That is the law written on our hearts? What are we to do with the law that's written on our hearts? We are too humbly accept it? Why because when we humbly accept it, it gets us to face the reality that we are a sinner. Why do we do that? Because it can save our souls? How does it save our souls? Not that we keep it, but it saves our soul because the law as a tutor to take me straight to Jesus Christ. So I'm to humbly receive it. So we have the condition of the heart. We have the ungrafted word right now? What do we have? In verse twenty two to twenty four. This is where all preachers go and they mess this completely up. We're not to be hearers but doers. Now, when it says here and doers, it's referring to the ingrafted word.

11:29 Can everyone see that textually? That's not that nobody can take say that I'm wrong on that that I will argue to the death. The word that I am to hear is the ingrafted word. What is the ingrafted word the moral law? So to hear it and do it? What is that referring to I hear that I am guilty to do it? We interpret that is, oh, I need to obey the law. We can't obey the law. So hearing and doing is this I hear the ungrafted word which says I'm guilty, and to do it means I allow that word to fulfill its purpose, which is what to drive me to Christ.

12:12 That's the doing of the word, is to let it drive me to Christ, which is Galatians chapter three, which says the law serves as what a tutor to bring me to Christ, so that can be saved by faith. So there is the doing. Everyone misinterprets that. What's the next part from the doing to the mirror? Everybody see the mirror. If I'm a hero of the word and not a doer. I'm like a man beholding his natural face in a glass, for he beholdeth himself, goeth his way straight, and forget what manner of man he was. If I will, if I will, if I humbly receive the ungrafted word, then I'm going to do it. I'm going to look into it, and I'm going to let it take me to Christ. If I don't humbly receive it, then what am I going to do. I may hear it, I may look into it, but I am not going to go to Christ. Therefore I will not be saved.

13:14 Does everybody get that? All? Right? So all of that, now there's a progression in my interpretation nineteen twenty and twenty one. A. There's the condition of us we're sinners. Then we have the ungrafted word. What are we to do with the ungrafted word? Receive it meekly? Okay? Then what do we have in. Verse twenty two through twenty four, we have what it looks like, or we can see the actions of receiving the word meekly, which is what allowing it to drive me to Christ. I do it, I look into it, I allow it to get me there. Then that all progressively leads me to verse twenty Is it I think twenty five? Now we looked at twenty two through twenty four.

13:59 To look into the uh the perfect law of liberty? Now I look into the law of liberty. If I get driven to Christ and I look into the law of liberty, well, now, what is the law of liberty? The law fulfilled in Christ? Now I am to look into the law of liberty? And what do I see? When I look into the law of liberty? I see that the law has been fulfilled in Christ? Right? Does everybody see that? All? Right? I look? The law of liberty is the moral law fulfilled in Christ. It provides freedom from condemnation. It does not provide freedom from power? Has everybody got that? If I look into it?

14:40 It's to see Christ's perfect fulfillment and to live continually dependent upon His grace. Now do you see what it says here? But whoever look at them the perfect law of liberty and continue therein him being not a forgetful here but a doer of the work. How am I not a forgetful here? I need hear? What do I need to hear? Every single day? I need to hear that Christ has fulfilled the law for me every single day? Do I not need to hear that as a believer? Why do I need to hear that Christ has fulfilled the law for me every single day? Because I know that I have failed it every single day. Right, so I constantly have to hear it. But then it says not just to be a hearer, but a doer of the work. Now that's where everybody loses their mind. Say, see, your interpretation falls apart. No, it doesn't go to John six twenty nine.

15:32 I believe it's twenty nine. It's a number. I got it wrong in the first hour, probably get it wrong in the second hour. John six twenty nine tells us the work that God tells us to do. What is the work God tells us to do in John six twenty nine, when everyone else said, I don't want to read it to you, I want you to see it John six nine. Yeah, the work is for to believe. I look into the law liberty, I see that Christ has fulfilled it, and my work is to believe what He has done. Everybody see that. That's the work. Everybody thinks about work. That's the work that we are called to do, and we believe that we can't even do that work unless God grants us faith. But that gets into a whole different issue. And what happens once I do this? This man shall be blessed in his deed?

16:23 How are we blessed in Christ Jesus with all spiritual blessings? And what because of what he has done? Not because of what we do? Does everybody see that? And then that leads us to verses twenty six through twenty seven. What is twenty six and twenty seven? Remember the progression of thought? What does it start with? Nineteen twenty and twenty one? A our sin? Right? Then we have the ungrafted word. The ungrafted word is the thing that reveals our sin. It condemns us. What are we to do with the ungrafted word? To receive it with meekness humbly? Then what are we to do with this received word? Where we are to take it?

17:06 To follow where it it calls us to go, which is to the to the cross. We are to follow it. We're to look into it. Then when we get there, we're to look into the liberty. And we are at the law of liberty, and we're to believe that Christ has fulfilled it. On our behalf. Then what flows from that It should be a sense of gratitude, right, a sense of love and appreciation for what Christ has done. That should then lead us to attempt to live out practically what is true positionally, and that is verse twenty six to twenty seven. Will we do twenty six and twenty seven perfectly? No? So then what does that do? We then continue to listen to the law inside of us it says we're guilty, and then go back and do what do what it says, look into it, go back to the law of liberty and constantly look into the law of liberty that says, even though we have failed, Christ has done it for us.

17:59 It's a continual circle. Does everyone see that. It never stops. Now that's my interpretation of nineteen through twenty seven. So I gave all of my interpretation to AI. Right, I here's my interpretation. It broke it down. Now some of the ways that broke it down. I read some of the ways that broke it down. I didn't completely agree with every way it broke it down. But okay, it's trying to understand what I'm trying to say. So there's a little back and forth. But then I'm like, okay, here's my interpretation. I want you to analyze it, and I want you to critique it. Right, So here's how AI broke down my interpretation. All right, you ready? All right?

18:42 First it looked at it based on textual and contextual accuracy. It says, okay, you gave me your interpretation. Is it textual and is it contextually accurate? So first it looked at my textual faithfulness. This is what it said. This interpretation aligns closely with the flow of James's argument, the progression from receiving the ingrafted word to responding to it and living it out. So receiving the ingrafted word is in verse twenty one, responding to it is verse twenty two through twenty five, and living it out is verse twenty six through twenty seven. The mirror metaphor and the description of the law as perfect and liberating are handled consistently with James's emphasis on conviction and transformation. So it says, at least I'm faithful to the text. I'm not doing anything to the text that's not faithful to the That's important, right, because it could be argued, well, wait a minute, you're just interpreting it according to your theology. Because you reject lordship salvation, you're doing this, and that could be argued.

20:01 I believe my motivation is if I go with everyone else's interpretations, its premise is that I can actually obey the law and do it, which I can't. So therefore, then if I can't keep the law, you can't look to my actions to prove that I'm saved, because I'm perpetually in a state of what sin. Therefore, looking to my actions to prove salvation makes no sense. That's what motivated me to come up with a new interpretation, all right. Not my rejection of lordship salvation. My rejection of lordship people telling me that I can keep the law, which is just absolutely fraudulent. That's not true, all right, So at least they say I'm being textually consistent, all right, how about contextual sensitivity, so they'll look They first looked at it for my textual faithfulness, and I said that I follow the progression. And does everyone see the progression in the text. I think the progression goes more than AI breaks down. It shows us our condition. We're sinners.

21:05 What is the thing that shows us our condition? The ungrafted word now I have two choices. Whenever someone points out your guilt, you have two choices. What's your choices? You can either say I don't nope, nope, nope, or you can be like, man, you're right, I did it. It's on me. Well, it says, to do what with our guilt? To receive the word meekly? Why, that's the only thing that's gonna save me. I got to receive what the word is saying, which is saying you're guilty. You're guilty of guilt. Nobody likes to hear how bad we are, nobody, But if I receive it, then I can be saved. Well, what do I do to How do I receive it? By doing, not just hearing, and by looking into and responding. That all points me to looking into the law of liberty and seeing that crisis fulfilled it and then believing it right the progression, and then what flows from all of that then hopefully a desire to attempt to live according to it.

22:06 Am I gonna do it perfectly? No? And this is what ticks me off. Anytime I go against the lordship, you're immediately accused of being an Antiinomian. I'm so sick of that, you're not an antignomian because you simply acknowledge that you can't keep the law. That's not an antiinnomian. An antignomian would be like someone who says I don't even care if I have to keep the law because I don't have to. I'm saying you can't. There's a difference, and people should be forbidden to use theological terms. They do not understand. That drives me crazy. We just throw accusations out. We don't even know what we're talking about. So it's a progression.

22:49 I think if you look at it as a progression, it makes far more sense. Most pastors just go in and want to make a sermon about what doing it, doing it, doing it. That's not what the passage is a does everybody see the progression? All right? So what about my contextual sensitivity? This interpretation respects james Jewish Christian audience, for whom the moral law and its fulfillment in Christ would have been central. The emphasis on practical obedience fits james broader theme of faith expressed in action. So it says I'm being sensitive to the context, which is who does he write to? Look at James Chapter one verse one the Twelve Tribes. It's written around forty four, forty five, forty seven eighties, one of the earliest New Testament writings, meaning it would have had much more connection with Old Testament.

23:41 There's not even a New Testament canon when James is writing, so it uses language. It sounds very much what Old Testament. It sounds Old Testament all day. That's why it's all law law, law, law, law, law, law, which is why Luther was like, just to burn this thing. I don't know what to do with it because it's confusing, is it not? But it's law based. Now, if it's law based, we should know what to do with that, all right, So it says my textual and contextual accuracy. It gives me thumbs up. Okay, good. How about my philological accuracy? Uh oh, here we go. Number one. I acknowledge in my interpretation human and ability. Okay, I think I acknowledge that all the time. Do I not?

24:28 The constant need to look into the law of liberty? Is that not what it says to do in James one twenty five looketh into the perfect law of liberty and continue with therein? Does everybody see that? All right? The constant need to look into the law of liberty reflects the ongoing reality of sin, aligning with biblical teaching of Roman seven, which says, what the things I want to do I don't. Things I don't want to do I do. First John one says, if we we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. It says that I call that my interpretation strongly acknowledges human inability. It says, my interpretation avoids legalism by grounding all practical obedience and Christ's fulfillment of the law and the believer's positional righteousness. Yes, thank you. At least AI understands what I'm trying to do. Guess what, AI didn't accuse me of an antinomian in that? Amazing? Okay, Maybe maybe that's why I can only hang out with Ai, because you know, anywhere else I'd be in trouble. All right. Oh, guess what else it does? According to AI, I have a good balance between law and gospel. Oh wow. Oh, I've been accused of not doing that all the time.

25:48 I don't know why I accused it. It says the law's role in condemnation and conviction is maintained without suggesting that it can justify. The law is fulfilled, but the law doesn't justify me. Christ's fulfillment of the law. Right, Okay, It's ultimate purpose of driving sinners to Christ is emphasized. Right, you present so it says that I bounce a long Gospel. It says you presented the idea that sanctification is imperfect, requiring continual dependence on grace, while I implied that sanctification is imperfect.

26:29 Who could have ever thought that? Anyone with a brain, anyone who will acknowledge reality, will see that. Right now, lordship will say, well, sanctification is never perfect, But they contradict themselves. Right, sanctification is never perfect. But how do I know I'm saved based off my sanctification? So imperfect sanctification is supposed to prove I'm saved, but God demands so the standard is perfection, But my imperfection can prove that I'm saved. That is just the Do you see the logical fallacy? That's just foolishness, all right? At least it says, hey, you've got to you acknowledge youman inability, You balance long Gospel? All right? And then it says, this you acknowledge the sinfulness of Christians. It says, this interpretation explicitly addresses the reality that believers sin daily, even after salvation. It frames this as a reason to continually return to Christ and the law of liberty. That's my whole point why. That's why I believe the law of liberty is not the ungrafted word. Now. The reason I have to stress that is Pastor after pastor says, the ungrafted word is the law of liberty is the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard in my life. It's two separate things. The ungrafted word is what condemns me.

27:56 The law of liberty is that Christ has done it for me, all right. That's the They're two separate things, all right. So we have to continually go back to the to thell. Practical obedience is presented as an aspirational response to grace, not a measure of worthiness or achievement. And I just believe that practical obedience isn't something we should aspire to, is something we should want. It's not a measure of my salvation. If you want to measure my salvation by obedience, then guess what I'm gonna point you to Christ and I then back off. If someone says, if you're a Christian, you're gonna do this, I'm like, you know what, if I'm a Christian, it's.

28:46 Already been done for me. So you back off. You go to your little church and set around circles talking about how godly you all are, because you're all a bunch of liars and hypocrites, because when you pull back the curtain, you're just as much as a sinner as every everyone else, even though you won't admit it. And how many. Times does that happen where it gets exposed over and over and over two thousand years of church history. What does everyone in the world know about Christians? They're sinners? They know it well. We all sit in little semi circle, singing Kumbaya, having a pot luck, telling ourselves that we're better than those people out there. No, and we and we shouldn't even be comparing ourselves to the people out there. We should be comparing ourselves to the Law of God, which would tell us what we're sinners. It's not that complicated if we do that, all right. Next, it says that my interpretation focuses on humility and perseverance. The call to persevere and is looking into the law of liberty reflects the ongoing tension between sin and sanctification. This prevents the idea that we can accomplish anything, but it also prevents despair because we don't accomplish everything. So this idea of hey, we are more than conquerors positionally, So my position is, hey, we should be humble and we should persevere. Why do

30:16 I persevere Because I keep looking into the law of liberty, which says it's all been taken care of. So I persevere so I can attempt to do the right thing, knowing that no matter how many times I fail, Christ has already done it for me. So this keeps me from saying I can do it. But it also keeps me from saying I'm going to hell because I have the Law of liberty. So it says I balance those two out. Now. It has some critiques and suggestions. It says my interpretation is textually grounded and maintains theological consistency. It avoids the pitfall of legalism emphasizing human effort.

30:58 Oh, look at this. It avoids antinomianism. Can you believe that AI says that I avoid antiinomianism. I thought that that's what I was. Well, if you know what antiinomianism is, you know that I'm not an antiinnomian. Okay, Oh it drives me crazy. But so those are some of my strengths. It's textually grounded, it maintains the logically consistent, It avoids legalism and antiinomianism. That sounds like. Really good, all right, but here's my weakness. Of course, this is where it's gonna go. This interpretation could more explicitly highlight the role of the Holy Spirit in enambling believers to respond to the law of liberty. Now I reject that outright, Okay. This interpretation could more explicitly highlight the role of the Holy Spirit and enabling believers to respond to the law of liberty. Now it depends on what they mean by respond. Now, if the Holy Spirit is the thing that convicts me and gives me faith, because I believe faith is a gift from God, repentance

32:32 is a gift from God that I cannot do that, then I will agree. If it's saying respond to it and my actions, then I disagree, because well then I should be able to then keep it. So that's where the only problem, Like, Okay, I agree, but then I can disagree because it does it. I didn't ask it to clarify what it means. But over and over and over, AI does revert back to how most Christians look at it because it's pulling from most Christian literature, right, so I can understand that. So it always has problems when I come in with these new interpretations because it's like, well, you do realize nobody in Christianity agrees with you. Well, I know that, and I don't care. I don't care that nobody I'm I don't care, right, why should I care?

33:15 Like it doesn't I'm not We're not Catholics. If I was not. If I was a Catholic, i'd be like, oh no, I'm going against the magisterium. Father, forgive me for I have sinned. Right, it's been six months since my last confession. But we if Protestants want us not to have a magisterium, then who get Then I have just as much right as you to come up with an interpretation and you can tell me I'm wrong, and I don't really care. Now it sounds like, well that sounds rebellious. That's the whole Protestant spirit. Right, Luther told the entire Catholic church that they were wrong, and then then everyone told Luther he was wrong, and then they told okay, right, So then if that's the way it can be, then everyone can get out of my face for telling me I can't be that way.

34:00 I'll be that way on crack. Okay, I'll take it to the fifteen I'll take it to the hundredth level, because that's the way we want it to be in the Protestant world. And I guess that's the way it can be. Now. Of course it won't be very good for having a church, but okay, all right. So it says. It says this would provide a fuller theilological framework for practical obedience, and that that makes me worry. So they talk about the Holy Spirit's response and said this, if I did this, it would provide a thiological framework for practical obedience. Seemilarly to infer that it's saying that the Holy Spirit is the thing that gives me power for practical obedience. And you see the problem with that. If the Holy Spirit and if I challenge AI on this, because I've had this back and forth with AI constantly.

34:44 If I say, well, wait a minute, if the Holy Spirit's will one empowering me to obey, then I should be able to obey perfectly. It will admit, well, you're right, logically, it says, logically, that will not work. However, Christianity teaches that it does. And I'm like, I don't care what Christianity is teaches. It's just not true. All right. If the Holy Spirit empowers me to obedience, I should be what perfect because the Holy Spirit is perfect and the Holy Spirit is God. Therefore he has all power. So he can't say, well, he can only power me to be fifty percent better. That is the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard in my life. Right, simple behavioral modification techniques can get me to fifty percent. Right, there's all kinds of programs out there how to change your behavior.

35:35 If Christianity just gets us to fifty percent better, then the Holy Spirit is pretty weak. All right, that's my interpretation, all right. Now, so they summarize it this way, Oh okay, yeah, we may be able to pull this off. It says, my interpretation provides a thiologically sound and textually faithfully faithful framework. It emphasizes the moral's law, the moral laws, convicting role, the ungrafted word, it's fulfillment in Christ, the law of liberty, and the believer's ongoing struggle to live out practical love in humility. By maintaining a balance between long Gospel and acknowledging the reality of daily sin, it offers a realistic and grace filled understanding of Christian sanctification. So it sounds like overall it likes what I do. But I'm like, well, I got a problem. So then I was like, okay, that's nineteen to twenty seven. If we just leave nineteen to twenty seven, it looks really nice, doesn't it. Right, we have a good starting point, how sinful we are.

36:39 We got the ungrafted word, which tells us how sinful we are. We're to receive that message with meekness because it will save us. And what are we to do. We're to do what it's supposed to do, bring me to Christ. I'm to look into it, see my sin and go to Christ. Then I look into the law of liberty. I see that Christ has fulfilled it, and I'm to believe it. Then, flowing from that, I'm to constantly look into the law of liberty as I attempt to do what live out and practice what is true positionally that if I just take nineteen to twenty seven, it's nice, it's packaged together. I can put a ribbon around it and like who and everybody can be like, wow, that's really good. Well, I don't know if anybody will be like wow, that's really good. Most people probably won't be that impressed. But my concern was, well, wait a minute, if we interpret nineteen to twenty seven that way, that's going to have profound impact on what the rest of the book. So then I was like, what do I do?

37:38 What do I do? What do I do? What do I do? So I started trying to work on I'm like, this is going to take forever, right, It's going to take me forever to try to understand the practical implications. There are how many chapters in the Book of James. Five is there five? Or six? Five? Right? Five? All right, that's five chapters. I got to figure out how that one section will impact all of it. So I'm like, okay, I'm gonna have to do a little I'm gonna need the help of AI to help me out here, right, So first I just asked the question, hey, AI, will my interpretation impact the rest of James? And this is what it said. It will indeed influence the interpretation of the rest of the chapter, as the section functions as a culmination of the earlier themes and sets the tones for james overarching argument. Here's how your interpretation and packs the rest of James one and the broader themes in the letter. So what it's gonna do is gonna show it how it fits within that chapter and then look at the broader themes. I could ask it to do more, but I knew I wouldn't have time this morning to go through everything. So you're ready. So it starts with James one one through eighteen, James one one through eighteen because our section begins where nineteen, So one through one eighteen.

38:56 This is what it tells me happens. The opening verse in James Chapter one, verses one through eighteen, includes are introduces key themes trials, endurance, wisdom, and temptation. Can we agree that all of those themes show up in verses one through eighteen. Trials, endurance, wisdom, and temptation says, This leads naturally into the focus on the ungrafted word and the law of liberty in nineteen to twenty seven, it says it flows naturally. Right, Hey, we got trials, we got temptation, we need wisdom, we have temptation, we have all of these issues. Okay, now we're going to talk about the ingrafted word and the law of liberty. So it thinks the ingrafted word in law liberty becomes key to understanding this. I think that there's some truth to that, at least I at least I believe so.

39:51 So it starts with trials and endurance. Trials are presented as opportunities to grow in perseverance, leading to spiritual maturity. With your interpretation, the believer sees trials as an occasion for the ingrafted word to expose our inadequacies and point to deeper dependence on Christ. So, in other words, they say, my interpretation would say, we've got the ungrafted word. I receive it meekly. When I go through a trial. What will the ungrafted word expose? It may expose my attitude, It may expose what I'm thinking, even if I'm not saying it.

40:35 I may be saying, hey, how are you doing? Praise God? God is with me? Going great. Inside, I may be thinking, I hate this, Why is God doing this to me? I can't stand this? And I'm sick of all these people with their lives are so nice and pretty, and I'm going through this. I can't stand anybody. I hate my life, I hate God, I hate everything. That may be what you're feeling on the inside. Right on the outside. We are pretty good at doing what praise God, doing better than I deserve. We know all the little cliches we're supposed to say. What will reveal our true attitude? The word will reveal what we're really thinking. So then what am I to do when the word reveals it?

41:17 Humbly receive it and then do what it tells me to do. You better go to Christ because if you're going to attempt to do it, you're going to end up you're going to fall short. Right, So it says that's how that would be interpreted if we go with mind. The call to perseverance aligns with continually need to look into the law of liberty, sustaining humility and faith at mid trials. So what do I do in trials? According to my interpretation, look into the law of liberty because the law liberty gives me some because I'm going to be constantly confronted that I don't probably handle trials always correctly. I look into the law of liberty and who handled trials correctly? Christ is fulfillment. Then you see how that that helps? All right? How about wisdom that says so Verses two through four deals with trials and endurance. Wisdom and faith is mentioned in five through eight. Can everybody agree that it's there? All right? It says wisdom is to be sought from God in faith. The believer's response to trials should flow from understanding their position in Christ and trusting in His fulfillment of the law. This interpretation would emphasize that the law of liberty grants freedom from condemnation and provides the confidence to approach God in faith even amidst failure. So it says, basically, according to my interpretation, our wisdom flows from looking into the law of liberty because it gives us a correct perspective on everything. Right,

42:49 Christ is the one who fulfills it. Christ is my only hope. So that it says that that's how it would be handled. Now, what is verse thirteen and fifteen about temptation? This is what it says, sin originates within, not from God. Where does that originate? It from inside of us? The ungrafted word, the moral law and the heart highlights the internal source, convicting the believer and pointing them to Christ for forgiveness and transformation. What does the law? What does the law do? Inside of us? It shows us where the problem is. The problem is where it's coming from inside the house. Okay? Does that make sense?

43:36 All right? And it recognizes the ongoing struggle with sin and reinforces the humility needed to continually reflect on the law of liberty and rely on grace. So the internal, the ingrafted word says, sin is inside of you, and you've got to go to where the law of liberty the law of liberty? All right? Then what was verse sixteen through eighteen? About sixteen through eighteen? All right, God's goodness and his word is what AI says it's about. We agree at least in part with that the word of truth. See that he begat us with the word of truth. Right, all right. So God's goodness is demonstrated in giving of the Word of truth, which brings life.

44:24 With your interpretation, this ties the word of truth the Gospel directly to the ungrafted Word and law of liberty. There is not a conflict, but work together. The law convicts, the Gospel saves. Believers are seen as first fruits of God's work, striving to reflect his character while relying on Christ's complete work. So it says that I'm not in conflict. That it all works perfectly together. We got the Gospel, we got the moral law, and we got the law of liberty, which is Christ fulfilling it all right, So it says, how then does this impact the rest of the Book of James. It says that my interpretation fits perfectly with everything that comes before. I'm not in conflict.

45:05 That was good to hear because I was worried, right, because I was so focused on nineteen to twenty seven. I didn't even think about one through eighteen. So how does it impact the rest of the book? Oh now, now we've got some possible problems? Right? Okay? So what is James two fourteen through twenty six about? Faith without works is dead? Can never one agree that that's what that's about. I know we don't have time to read everything. Okay, but here we go. Oh boy, are you ready for this? Are the wills about to come off the train, right, I don't know. Here we go, your interpretation sets the stage for james discussion of faith and works. So, according to AI, is that if we go with my interpretation, it is setting the stage for it's to come. All right.

46:00 That could be a good thing, that could be a bad thing. Right here we go. Faith without works is dead. Not because work save here we go, this is what but because genuine faith produces action. See I disagree with this? All right? What is it going to say? All right? Here we go. The ingrafted word convicts believers to respond to their sin by turning to Christ. This response naturally leads to a life marked by gratitude and practical love, as expressed in caring for others and controlling spece. Now, I got no problem saying the ingrafted word convicts me and points me to Christ, and then from there I should pursue the right things out of gratitude. Okay, I'm okay with that. I don't know how this really is the problem, it says. The law of liberty emphasizes Christ's fulfillment of the law, which motivates believers to live out their positional righteousness practically. While acknowledging they're imperfection. That doesn't really help me that. I don't think AI knows what to do with my interpretation here. So when we get to faith without works is dead, this is just an additional bonus here. How should we understand that? When it says faith without works is dead? How should we understand this?

47:34 And light of I think good biblical theology, how should it be understood? What do you guys think, Yeah, that entire section faith without works is dead? How should it be understood? Okay? When it says our faith is dead? How should we interpret our faith is dead without works?

48:16 What does it mean to have dead faith? Okay? How does almost every Christian you know interprets if faith without works is dead lack of salvation? All right? So then this is the question we should ask. Is it possible that when many see your faith is dead, they immediately see that as saying someone isn't saved. Couldn't it simply mean your faith is dead in the sense of it not doing anything practically. It is not speaking of dead as far as not being saved? Right? So I then challenged AI on this point, I'm like, well, how could we possibly do with it? Because if we say that faith without works is dead, meaning you're not saved, well, then we're right back to the problem here. Right, We're right, because then this would be the issue. All right, what is the work I'm supposed to do? I'm supposed to be holy as God is holy? Do I do that? No?

49:24 Within my faith is? All right, then I'm not saved. See now what we do is we'll go apply it to something else, right, We'll apply it to you say bad words, or there's something about sex. We'll apply it to. We won't apply it to be holy as God is holy, because we know we can't do that. So we then said, the whole thing falls apart. So this is what AI said. It says it is entirely possible and likely that when James describes faith as dead, he is not declaring someone unsaved, but rather pointing out that their faith is ineffective or inactive in a practical sense. This interpretation aligns with the context of james argument and avoids equating dead faith with a definitive statement about one salvation.

50:17 All right, I was like, okay, well that sounds good. I need it. We need to see if this actually works, all right, So look at If you look at James two seventeen and verse twenty six, I think both of them says faith with that works is dead, right. I think in verse twenty six he compares faith with that works to a body without the spirit, lifeless all right, Now, the metaphor seems to be suggesting uselessness or inactivity, rather than a definitive pronouncement that a person lacks saving faith. James concern is not about salvation in a judicial sense.

51:00 What about the practical outworking of faith in daily life? Faith that lacks action fails to accomplish its intended purpose to glorify God, serving others, and demonstrating love of Christ. So, it says James here may not even before we. Are reading into it, Oh, he is teaching that people are James is just saying it's ineffective, it's useless, it's not doing anything. And to make the argument, James offers some examples of ineffective faith. James gives examples. Of someone seeing a brother or sister in need, but failing to provide for them. Do you see that in James two fifteen through sixteen. This type of faith may be sincere, but it's useless and doing what meeting those needs.

51:48 If someone comes to you and needs something and you're like, well, go with God bless you brother, I'll pray for you. They may have sincere faith. As far as salvation is concerned, but it was utterly and useless in what way and providing for that person? Does that make sense? In this sense? Dead faith does not mean that the absence of faith, but the failure of faith to act. Does that make sense? Dead faith dan is seen as more as a dormant faith. Dead faith could refer to a faith that is genuine but dormant, present in the heart but not actively producing works. This interpretation aligns with james practical focus, urging believers to live out their faith, not questioning its existence.

52:36 James is not. Trying to question the existence of it, He's trying to describe the practicality of it. Hey, what good does it have to walk around saying I've got faith, I got faith, or you're stepping over someone who's suffering. What good does it say to have for faith and you're like, oh, I'm not going to help you, and I don't care about you, and I don't care about you, and I'm just gonna do whatever I want. To do. Then that faith is of no value practically does not mean that that faith does it save, because then it becomes about this subjective way and how you then measure it again. And if the measuring stick is be holy as God is holy, then I would want to see your faith do what produce true holiness? Does it ever produce true holiness? No, then nobody would be saved. You see that that, You've got to have a different way of interpreting it, or you just lead to what conclusion, Everyone's going to hell?

53:31 Does that make some kind of sense? All right? It says Paul emphasizes. Salvation by faith alone Romans three twenty eight, and there is no indication in James that he is contradicting this. James addresses believers who already have faith but are not living it out effectively. Dead faith in this sense is ineffective for sanctification. It is ineffective for being a witness. It is not invalid for justification. It is of no value in sanctification. It's no value before people. Does not mean it's not valuable to save. That's where we always want to lead it to. Now, it says, is there any because then I asked well, is there any textual or contextual evidence to support that. That's a good claim, right, But is there can we prove this textually? Well? Ai said, well, consider James's audience. Who's the audience? Well, if we know they're Jews and James one two and one nineteen, he calls them brothers. Now we could argue are they brothers only because they're Jews? Are they brothers because they are fellow believers? If we assume his audience has faith but exhorts them to demonstrate it practically, his concern then is not with whether they are saved, but whether their faith is living inactive. If he's already referring to them as believe brothers, then he's not saying, well, then you're not saved,

55:03 because he already said they are. This is the same thing that happens in Corinthians, Right, Paul refers to them as saints even though they're doing everything possibly wrong, Right, even though he says that they could stand before God and all of their works burn up, but yet they are saved. He calls them carnal, he calls them fleshly, but he still refers to them as babes in Christ. So it could be hey, your believers, but your faith your faith is dead in the sense that it is there is no works for anyone to see it. It's not practically alive. Doesn't mean it doesn't save. Right. The Greek word for dead can mean lifeless inactive, depending on context, so it could be lifeless or it could be inactive, and James it possibly means and a effective or fruitless, as the faith lacks action making it meaningful and daily life.

56:06 A similar idea is found in First Corinthians, where Paul says, if I have all faith but I do not have love, I am nothing. I got faith, but I don't have love. Right, that's the concept, right, Faith without love or action is ineffective. It does not mean it doesn't exist. And then it compares Abraham and Rehab. James uses Abraham and Rehab as examples of faith demonstrated through action. Their works do not establish their faith, but make visible and effective God's purpose. A believer with dead faith still has faith, but failing to live in a way that reflects it perfectly.

56:50 All right, so it does argue that there is some that my interpretation then would say what my interpretation would to the faith without works and just say well, we'll wait a minute, Wait a minute, Okay, the r the moral law inside of us should convict us. When our faith is only have dead works, we should be convicted by that. Now what should we do? Most churches will say, well, then we need to do something. No, we need to do something by taking that conviction and going to Christ, looking to the law liberty and go My faith may have dead works, but my faith is in someone who has all works right, and now that should then hopefully motivate me that I will then begin to pursue works in a visible way. I don't think dead faith means you're not saved. I think it's meaning your faith is dead from doing anything in a practical way because everything else falls apart. Everything else just falls or it becomes subjective in how you measure it. So does that make sense?

57:57 All right? So that's the faith in work argument. AI didn't really know what to do with my interpretation, but I think that my interpretation works better that way, all right? Now? And James two one through thirteen, we have partiality and love. Does everybody see that the law of liberty provides the standard for loving others without partiality? Believers are called to reflect Christ's love even as they recognize their inability to do so perfectly. When we look into the law of liberty, what do we see Christ loving his neighbor, loving his enemy, loving everyone? All right, So humility and grace central to your interpretation temper the temptation towards judgmentalism. Just as believers receive mercy through Christ, they are called to extend it to others. Because we have received the ungrafted word. We've acknowledged what how sinful we are, So then we should show mercy to those who are guilty, because we ourselves are guilty. Everybody see that? In James three one through twelve, what is this about the tongue and holiness? Does everybody see that? Now? Ai says that my interpretation identify already identifies the tongue as an area of struggle where believers are called to strive for control but must rely on grace.

59:22 James warning about the destructive power of the tongue reinforces the need to continually look into the law of liberty, recognizing failure and returning to Christ for forgiveness, because that's all that's all we can do. So basically, when you look to the tongue and holiness. What does the ingrafted word tell us? Man? Your speech is messed up? You're guilty? What am I to do? Do what it says? Look in the mirror, See how messed up I am. Go to Christ, Look into the law liberty and go at least Christ's tongue was perfect. Now that should then hopefully motivate me to do what to do better, But at the same time remembering that I'm never going to do it perfectly? Which from den does? What? Have me? Listen to the law? Go to Christ? It's continual circle. Does everybody see that? All right? What is James four one through ten about wordliness and submission? Is it not? For one through ten? Submit myself to God? Humble yourself? See all of those things in chapter four one through ten, all right? James one twenty one through twenty five introduces the themes of humility and submission to God. They are expanded in James Chapter four, where the believer is called to resist wordliness and draw near to God. My interpretation emphasizes,

1:00:53 emphasizes human inability and reliance on Christ prevents these calls from becoming legalistic burdens and said, there's as invitations to live out the freedom found in Christ. In other words, what is saying is that my interpretation will do. Why we look at this and we allow the law inside of us to do? What tell us? Where we're guilty and we are humbly receive that guilt, What do we do with that guilt? We're not be hearers of it, but doers of it. Look into the mirror, go to Christ, look into the law liberty, see that He fulfills it for us, and then what. Do we do with that? Hopefully we're motivated to act differently? Right, So then, in other words, the aggrafted word in the law of liberty becomes the guiding interpretive principle for every single section. Does everybody see how this is kind of playing out? Now?

1:01:41 What's James five seven through eleven? Does it once again talk about suffering and perseverance? And five seven through eleven patience and suffering? All right? The need to persevere in trials, which goes all the way back to James one two through four and is connected to looking into the law of liberty ties directly to James closing call to endurance. Your interpretation reinforces the idea that perseverance is not about self reliance, but about continually returning to Christ, the fulfillment of the Law for strength and hope. All right, everybody see that? All right? So then it wants to critique my interpretation and how it impacts all of this. You're ready textual and contextual accuracy. The interpretation aligns with james overarching theme of practical faith while maintaining a clear piological foundation and grace. It respects the Jewish Christian audience familiar with the Law while showing its fulfillment in Christ. So saying I'm trying to be accurate and got that my consistency.

1:02:54 Your interpretation harmonizes well with the broader New Testament teaching the law, law and grace, particularly in Romans, Galatians, and Hebrews. And please note Galatians, they were dealing with Judaism, the Judaizers. Hebrews was written to Jews, and they're interesting that that's kind of where I'm finding some of this. But I also mention Romans because we have a better understanding of the Gospel. So I emphasized the ongoing role of the Law in convicting us and sanctification without suggesting it as a mean of justification. So I'm like, the law convicts, the law tells us this is what we're supposed to do.

1:03:36 But I do not mix it with justification, because justification is based on what Christ did, not by what I do. All right, So that seems good. I acknowledge the reality of sin by highlighting the need for continual reflection on the law of liberty, I realistically address the daily struggle with sin and the end perfection of practical obedience. All right, So here's my weaknesses. All right. Now, the second one everyone already knows what they're going to say, because this is what everyone will accuse me of. But the first one, it says, while your interpretation avoids legalism, it's heavy focus on the law as the ungrafted word could risk overshadowing the Gospel's transformative power. This might lead to an overemphasis on conviction at the expense of well transformation. Well, you know, I'm just gonna disagree with that. I know, AI just cannot stop itself from going with that, because everything it's pulling from says what.

1:04:46 We're changed, We're changed, We're changed, We're changed. If I question it and say, but are we really change, it will say, well, not really. I'm like, well, then stop telling me it. But I don't want it to stop telling me because I want to be confronted with the other position, right, I don't want it to conform to me. I wanted to say, what does Christianity say. Christianity is going to say, we're changed, We're changed, We're changed, we are changed positionally, practically we are sinners. We fall short to deny that. It's just it's ridiculous. So that's the first weekness, and then you know what it's going to talk about the second, the second weakness. Are you ready? You fail to mention the Holy Spirit's role in enabling us to keep the law.

1:05:38 But now I didn't fail to mention it because it's not true. It's not true. It's not true. It's not true. It's not true. All right, Oh that drives me crazy. So there is my interpretation of James one nineteen through twenty seven. So if we're to walk through it, what is James one nineteen versus nineteen twenty and twenty one? A? What does it begin with the reality of our sin? Does see? Does everyone see? Can you see yourself? In nineteen twenty and twenty one? Does everyone see themselves. Right. Some of you are fast to speak, very slow to listen, right, okay, very quick to get upset. I'm not reflecting me and all in any of this, right, some of you are morally corrupt. We see ourselves? No, how do we see ourselves?

1:06:36 How do we know deep down that that is all true of us? Because of the ingrafted word? What is the ingrafted word? The moral law that's put on our hearts? And I emphasize it's ingrafted because that means it's not something that's outside of us, it's something inside of us. That's how come people struggle with feelings of guilt shame. Now. They may blame it on their Christian parents, and they may blame it on the Puritans, they may blame it on it. It's because there's. Something inside of you telling you you're wrong. Don't get mad at me. They go to counselors to help free them from that guilt, right, and which basically says, don't listen to it. That's a social construct that's been placed upon you. Throw it away, don't listen to it. And you can try that, but you never truly get away from the fact that it's there.

1:07:25 You can, maybe some people do better than others. But it's inside of you, so you can either deny it not listen to it. But what does God say we should do with it? Humble ourselves and meekly receive it, meaning that I am accepting what it says. And once I accept what it says, then what I do what it's intended to I let it do what it's intended to do. I follow through with it. I don't just hear it. I do something with it, which is what it takes me by the hand, and it takes me to Christ. I look into it, and I'm just not to just walk away and forget it. I'm to look into it and go, WHOA, I'm messed up? And so then what do I do? The doing and the looking leads me to look where no longer into the ungrafted word. What's the verse twenty five? Now I look into the law of liberty? And what do I do when I look there?

1:08:26 Who It's all been fulfilled, It's all been taken care of me. Then I'm like, and I need to look into it continually. And when I look into it, what do I do? I believe? And what Jesus Christ has done, which leads to blessing. That's all right there in twenty five I do the work. What is the work to believe? I am blessed because of that finished work of Christ. Then what flows from that. An attempt to live out possitionally practically what is true? Positionally out of gratitude and get as I live it out?

1:09:07 How do I live it out constantly admitting that I don't do it? And then with that conviction leads me to wear to do what the conviction tells me to do. Go back to Christ, look back into the law of liberty. It's a continual circle. It's a continual circle. And that interprets really the entire book of James. Does James call for a practical living it out? Yes, absolutely, it calls for a practical living it out. It says, if I don't live it out, then then my faith is dead. And sometimes our faith is dead in so many different ways. Right, and it's dead, and it's what it's doing. It's not dead before God. Right before God. I just believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and I am saved. But it can be dead and what it does and so many and it look, the deadness of our faith shows up constantly, right, I mean I can just give us some scriptures, right, I mean, be holy as God, as holy My faith is dead to that because I've never been holy as Love God with all your heart, mind, body, and soul.

1:10:16 Do all things without complaining, grumbling or murmuring. Rejoice, always love your enemy, turn the other cheek, resist not evil. Submit to authority. I mean where husbands love your wife as Christ love the church. Women submit to your husband as unto the Lord. Does anybody feel convicted yet? Well, since we never do that, then we could say our faith is and it is dead practically and so many different areas. Now you can try to get subjective and say, well it'll be you get just stop because you either either water it down that it means nothing or you throw everyone into hell. And I think it just makes sense that, man, sometimes my faith is dead. So what do I do? I meekly accept the deadness that sometimes is revealed in my life. Go to do don't be a hearer, be a doer, Go to Christ. Don't look into the mirror. Oh man, I'm messed up. Look into the law of liberty. And then what do I find?

1:11:25 Christ has fulfilled it for me? Then out of that gratitude, I then should move that. Hopefully my faith will be more evident in different ways. But just remember, if my faith is evident in fifty ways, it's still going to be dead probably one hundred other ways. Does that make sense? That's the interpretation. Now, let me make it very clear. Whenever I give a new interpretation, I always call it what hypotheses, right, because I'm not going to be dogmatic and declared that it's that's the way I just think my I just make sure we know what motivates my interpretation to interpret the entire Book of James this way.

1:12:07 What motivates it the fact that I have to acknowledge the reality of sin? Does that make sense? Like? It's not because I don't like lordship salvation. My issue with lordship salvation is denial of reality. Right. I know I've been a Christian long enough. I've been around Christians long enough to know that we're nothing the way. We don't come close to what we pretend to be. If we're just open up, we know how messed up we are. And if it and the good I mean, I can look. I can bring study after study, article after article after article that shows this has happened, and this has happened, and this sin has happened, and this happens, and this pastor and this church and this leader and this and this, and Christians do this, and Christians think this. I mean how many studies before, I mean even the world looks at it and says Christians are a bunch of hypocrites, and that what we always get accused of. Well, you know what, we are hypocrites. Now you know what, Well, what is the quickest way to cure hypocrisy? To acknowledge your sin. So you're not a hypocrite if you acknowledge it.

1:13:26 You're a hypocrite when you pretend to be something you're not. Well, we pretend that we have the power of God to keep the law and we've been set free and we can do it. That makes us a hypocrite. It's not a hypocrite to say positionally I am perfect, holy and righteous. Practically, man, I'm just like you. I'm a sinner. Do I believe that the difference between us. You may justify those things and I will have to admit they're wrong. I may do them as much as you, but I'm going to at least acknowledge that they're wrong. That that changes us from being a hypocrite to just being like, well, man, do better. Well, okay, you're I should do better? Thank you?

1:14:11 I want to do better. Oh doesn't everyone want. To do better? When you Wouldn't it be great to wake up and have a better attitude? Right? Be so loving, love your enemy, turn the other cheek, not want to kill your kids. Right, we're going to be better to be like everything. But we know we've wait. We've been a Christian long enough that we've woken up day after day after day. And guess what we find when we wake up and look in the mirror, the actual mirror, we see a sinner. And when we look into the mirror of the ingrafted word, what do we find? A sinner? Now? We can either deny it and just listen to it, or I can say, I'm okay, what does the ungrafted word tell me to do?

1:14:59 Look in the mirror? Oh man, I'm messed up? Okay, good, now you realize it. Now look into the law liberty. What do you see? Christ did it for me? So then what can I say? Praise God? Right? And so then as I live it out, it maintains meekness. It maintains humility, it maintains perspective, and guess what else, it maintains reality. That's better than coming to church telling everyone, hey, guys, leave here, be doers of the word, not hearers, because if you're only doers, you're going to If you're only hearers and not doers, you're going to hell. That doesn't help anybody except it convinces everyone, Well, I'm the doer.

1:15:42 But did you see that so and so? For rose Back, I hope they heard that sermon because you know, we know the things she's doing, and that what it leads to in church, because I got to find someone I can point to that I'm doing more than them so that I can believe I'm a doer and not a hearer. But that'sally because you're focusing on But if you'll simply take your doing and compare it to God's standard, what are you going to find out you're not a doer of the word. See that it all depends on where you look. If I look to someone like man, they sell drugs and have had five abortions, I could be like I'm a doer. If I look to God, be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect. I'm not a doer.

1:16:29 You see, it's all depend on where you look. We have convinced ourselves. We just look at the worst people in the world and then pat ourselves on the back. I think the God that I'm not like those people. I think the God that I'm not gay. I thank you Lord that I'm not transgender. I'm so much better than everyone else. Well, congratulations that you're not gay or transgender. Congratulations yours. You are the apple of God's eye when God says, well, wait a minute, Wait a minute, there's more to life than just not being gay or transgender. You're supposed to be holy as and you've never done that. So maybe instead of looking at them, you look at yourself and you listen to that law that's inside of you, that keeps telling you what You're a sinner. So then what do I do again, not just to hear I'm a doer. I go with it. I look in the mirror.

1:17:25 I can walk away from the mirror, or I'm like, man, what do I do? Look into the law of liberty? And then when I look into the law liberty, then I find hope and I find salvation. Does that make sense? All right? Does that make James easier to understand. I'm not saying it makes it easier to understand. Right, there is no interpretation that answers all the questions. Does everybody understand that there is no interpretation it answers all the questions? But what should an interpretation at least do be able to be consistent with reality? Right? When your interpretation contradicts reality, that's usually when you've got to go, hmm, we may have a problem here, right, especially when it's something as obvious as we all sin, or it's obvious that God is not healing everywhere. There's some things that are just obvious.

1:18:21 All right, there we go, there's a new interpretation. Now next week we'll get back to Isaiah forty. But I had to finish that because that's a lot of work. All right, let's pray, Lord God, we come before you this afternoon. Lord, we come before you this afternoon, acknowledging the thing that we've arrived here, acknowledging everyone in this room is a sinner. I'm a sinner. Everyone is a sinner, Lord, And we can, we hopefully will never stop hearing that word that's been implanted in us, which reveals our sin. And hopefully we will always do what it tells us to do. And that's come to you. And to trust in the Sun, whom you sent, who kept the law for us and died for us. And it's in him we have salvation forgive us. Help us constantly trust in your son, and help that motivate us to attempt to at least live out what is true. And we asked this in Jesus name, and God's people said