True Religion: Discerning Genuine Faith

James 1: 19 - 27

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SPEAKER_01 0:18

Would you now stand for the reading of God's Word? Our passage is from the book of James, chapter 1, beginning at verse 19. That's page 1075 in your Red Pew Bible. If you didn't bring a Bible of your own, it should be a Red Pew Bible somewhere nearby if you want to hunt one of those up. We'd like for everyone to be able to see God's word in the passage as it's being preached.

SPEAKER_00 0:46

My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this. Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to become angry, because human anger does not produce the righteousness that God desires. Therefore, get rid of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent and humbly, accept the word planted in you, which can save you. Do not merely listen to the word and so deceive yourselves, do what it says. Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in a mirror, and after looking at himself goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. But whoever looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom and continues it, not forgetting what they have heard, but doing it, they will be blessed in the way in what they do. Those who consider themselves religious and yet do not keep a tight rein on their tongues, deceive themselves, and their religion is worthless. Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this, to look at orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world. This is the word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.

SPEAKER_01 1:55

You may be seated. Thank you, Caleb. Would you join me now in prayer as we come to God's word this morning? Let's pray together. Father, this morning, as we come now to your word, Lord, we would ask that you would send your Spirit, that we would um, that we would give our hearts to your word, that we would, as James here says, humbly accept the word that is planted in us. For your word is your seed, your gospel seed that you plant into our hearts, and that through the power of the Holy Spirit, it takes root and it grows and it bears fruit. Lord, we pray that it would do that in us this morning, as in it we see Jesus. In his name we pray. Amen. So I got a question for us this morning for our young people. Do y'all recognize what this right here is? It's money. That's right. That's a Benjamin right there. Now here's the second question. Do you think that's real? Who thinks it's real? Show of hands. Real? Okay? Not real. All right. Yeah. It's actually real. You know, you got that little strip right there. That's uh that's hard to mimic right there. They put that blue strip on there, right? You know, um, this this is actually a sad story the other day, but you know, there are counterfeits. Uh there are actually counterfeits. Like people actually create fakes of this and they pass it off and they use it. And the other day, uh my son H is um he's a carp boy up at a golf course on Lookout Mountain. And and and one of the great things that about that job is that is that you get tips. Sometimes you get good tips, right? And so they'll get their tips and they'll share them together as a staff. Well, one of his coworkers was uh, you know, as a cart boy, you know, somebody's coming off the course and he's tending to them, he's getting their clubs, you know, being friendly, wiping their clubs down and everything, and that's usually the moment where they'll tip you, sometimes really good. And they slide him a hundred dollar bill. And that's an unusual tip, okay, as we all can imagine. And so there's a certain excitement that's there, and then they come at the end of the day and he comes back to his coworkers and says, We got tipped a hundred dollar bill. And so they pull it all together and they split it up so they share the tips together. Well, H gives a call not long after that. Turns out that bill was a fake. Isn't that naughty? He got tipped a fake hundred dollar bill, right? A counterfeit, there the counterfeits are real, you know, and and what was interesting is that the other day, uh not the other day, but years ago, I had a good friend who used to work for a bank in downtown Chattanooga. And a part of his job is he was over all of the tellers that work there. Now, you know, this problem with counterfeit, you know, a counterfeit, of course, is it's fake. It has no value. It's mimicking something with value, but it actually has no value. And so they have to train these tellers that are handling cash all the time. They have to teach them and train them to be able to recognize a counterfeit from the real thing. And they got to be able to do it quick. But what was fascinating to me is how he described they trained their tellers. How do you imagine they train their tellers? I would imagine that they would, you know, maybe go through a presentation, they would show you all these different kinds of fakes, and here's the most common ones we see, and here's the most often the tricks and the ways that they try to deceive you and make it look real and it's not real, but they don't do any of that. You know what they do? They train them by meticulously studying the real thing. Isn't that fascinating? They don't bother with the counterfeits, it's just the real thing. And they break it down and they want you to see every line and they want you to know with each bill, you know, what is the face that is on there, and what is the shape, and you know, what is the security strip that's in there, and all the different things. They train them in the real thing so that whenever they're presented with a counterfeit, just right off, they know that's not real, that's empty, it has no value, right? Now, why do I share that? I share that because I think it's a great illustration of the Christian life. Because the scriptures tell us there is a lot of counterfeits out there of true, real saving faith. It is so easy to not fully understand the truth of the gospel. It is so easy to think yourself to be a Christian, to think yourself to be saved, to think yourself to have saving faith, and yet not. And especially the problem is in the Bible Belt, because we find ourselves surrounded by religion and surrounded by people who profess to be followers of Jesus. And it's very common in this world to think, wait, you know, the Christian life is just simply, you know, what we say, or it's it's simply doing certain things in our life. You know, I go to church or I read my Bible, or it's maybe it's certain something that I did in my life. You know, whenever I was eight, I I prayed this sinner's prayer, and because of that, I'm good, right? And so we can have assurance, and it's false assurance, based on something that we've done, based on something that we we we believe or we understand, right? But it is so easy to be deceived about true, genuine saving faith. As we come to our series where we're looking at the book of James, this is really James' burden throughout the book. He's writing the book of James because he wants us to understand, and I'm titling the series, Authentic Religion, Real Religion, True Religion. You know, he wants us to understand what is the real thing. James wants us to study the real thing, to know the real thing, to grow in our knowledge of the real thing so that whenever we see the counterfeit, we see the fake, we see the not real, we know it right off, so that we understand it. Now, of course, this was also the burden of Jesus. So much of Jesus' teaching was about the deception that we can have about true saving faith. How easily we can be deceived into thinking, yeah, I know him, I'm good, I understand this, I believe in you. You know, it's so easy, Jesus stressed over and over and over, it's so easy to be deceived about those things. And at the end of the Sermon on the Mount, he spends like a whole chapter on this. I mean, just over and over and over saying, listen, it's easy to be deceived. You've got to be discerning here. And he says things like, you know, you must enter through the narrow gate. Because wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many find it. You know, that's where the crowd's going. That's where most people are going. It's the easy way, you know, to go with the flow, right? But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to salvation, and only a few find it. You know, he wants us to understand, man, I got to use discernment here. It's not just something you easily stumble into. You've got to be really intentional about, okay, I need to understand what is the gate, who is the gate, what is that road you're calling me to? You know, Jesus says, not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, will be saved, but only he who does the will of my Father that is in heaven. I don't want you to be clear. That it's not simply about what you claim or what you know, it's about knowing me and that life being demonstrated in a life of obedience, doing the will of the Father. Jesus wants to be crystal clear, just like James. So here's our question that I wants to wrestle with as we come to this passage. How do we know our faith is real? How do we know it's genuine? How do we know it's saving faith? That's what our passage wants to really root us in as we look at the real authentic thing. Here's what we'll see: as we deepen in believing the gospel, our lives bear the fruit of obedience and mercy. We'll see what that means. So we're jumping here into our passage, second part of chapter one here. And James, again, he's very blunt, very to the point. It's part of the reason that people love the book of James so much. It's so clear and to the point. And James gives us a lot of really practical instructions here. But I want to start with what he says in verse 21. Look at with me at verse 21, where he says this. Therefore, get rid of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent, and humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save you. So here James is calling us to have God's word planted in our heart. You know, it's so vitally important that we are taking in the word, that we're feeding on the word, that God's word is being planted into our heart. It's vitally important. And so he says, accept that word. As that word comes to you as you read it, as you hear it preached, as you study it, wherever it might be, accept God's word deeply into your heart. But then he says this right after that. Do not merely listen to the word and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. You know, what he's addressing here is a very easy deception. You know, one of the things that James is talking about over and over and over is this reality of deception. He keeps saying, he says it twice in our passage today, don't be deceived. I don't want you to get the wrong idea. Don't merely be a hearer of the word, be a doer of the word. It is really easy, James really wants us to understand this, it is so easy to hear the word, to even study the word, right? And yet to think I've done the word. Yeah, this might be the biggest problem for Presbyterians. You know, we we love the word. We love theology. We love knowing more about God and studying more and learning more, and those are wonderful things. But what James wants us to understand is that that will do you no good if you don't put it into practice in your life. Jesus says the same thing again at the end of the Sermon on the Mount. You know, I read a few, I shared a few of those statements that he makes, but another one that he makes is like, you know, he gives us this image of two builders. And he says, you know, those who hear my words and put them into practice, they're like a builder who builds his house on the rock. And so when the storm comes and the winds come and the waves come, it stands, it stands in the day of adversity. But but the foolish builder is like those who hear my words and do not put them into practice. It's like building the house of your life on sand. Eventually in life, when adversity comes or hardship comes or just distraction, probably the biggest challenge for us, you're just going to drift away. Jesus wants to say the same thing that James is saying here is that it does you no good to hear a thousand sermons, to watch sermons on YouTube or your favorite theologian on YouTube, to read books about Christianity, to know more and more theology, and yet not apply it to your life. It's useless, says James, and it's easy to be deceived in it. Do not deceive yourselves. Do what it says. And it gives us this image of a mirror. This idea of, you know, why do we use mirrors? You know, in the ancient world, mirrors were not very good at all. They were really hard to see, but they were around. And so if you went to a mirror, it wouldn't be to gaze at yourself. It would be to, I need to get a look. You know, it's something off. You know, I've got some hair up here, I got, you know, maybe my my tie's not right, you know, maybe I got some toothpaste on my mouth or something. That's the purpose of going to a mirror is saying, is there anything I can't see? Because we can't really see ourselves, right? We see other people can't see ourselves. Is there anything about myself I need to see so that I can correct it, right? That's why you go to a mirror. Well, he says, you know, to be someone who hears God's word and studies God's word, but doesn't actually practice it in your life, it's like someone going to a mirror and they see something's off. See something needs to be tweaked or tended to, right? And then you just walk away and totally forget about it. It's useless.

unknown 16:03

Right?

SPEAKER_01 16:03

The word of God is like a mirror to our soul. And so we come to God's word and it it reads you, it reflects you, it exposes you, and it shows the ways in which, wait, I need to change, I need to respond to this, I need to do something with this in my life. But it is so easy. Again, James is saying, don't be deceived. He says that because it's easy to be deceived with this. Don't merely be someone who hears. Put it into practice. Because unless you do, it's useless. James wants us to know that obedience, that's what this is, practicing the words of Jesus, you know, obeying the commands of God, it's obedience. You know, obedience in the Christian life is vitally important because obedience is the evidence of salvation, it it is it is the fruit of true faith. Well, let's get clear about the gospel here. We are not saved by our obedience. We are not saved through anything that we do, anything that we know. We are saved by the work of Jesus in our place alone. And that becomes true of us when we embrace it by faith. That's it. We are saved by faith alone. But as Martin Luther once famously said, saving faith is never alone. That's kind of the message of the book of James. The way that you know what real, genuine faith is, as opposed to temporary faith or or shallow faith or faith that it's just something of the mind but not of the heart, how you know the difference is the fruit of one's life. That's what James wants us to see. It is obedience to the words of Jesus that is the mark of genuine faith in our life. Because salvation is not, again, something that we do, it's something that's done to us by grace. It is a work of God in our hearts where you go from being an old to a new. You're born again, you're made new, there's a transformation within, it's regeneration. You get zapped. God does something in you that brings a dead person to life. Now, the point is when you come to life, the evidence of that new life is seen in a life of obedience. Not perfect obedience, because nobody's got that. But a life seeking to obey the commands and the words of Jesus. It is the fruit of genuine, true faith in our life. Now, in the rest of the passage, he wants to highlight two areas of obedience, two areas that really become a picture for us. You know, he wants to hone in for us. You know, these are these are these are really important areas that are great indicators that help you to not be deceived and really to know if we're asking that question, which we should, is my faith real? Is it genuine? Is it saving faith? He gives us two areas, two fruits, two areas of obedience that are vitally important to discern true saving faith. Now they're not, they're they're probably not what we would imagine them to be. If we were to do a little pop quiz without looking at the passage and say, where do you think it would be? I would guess we would not pick these two. Do you know what the two are? Our words and our deeds of mercy to those in need. I wouldn't have thought it would have been those. Maybe going to church, maybe reading your Bible, you know, maybe listening to Christian radio on the when you're in the car. I don't know. All good things. Not what he shares here. Our words and our actions of mercy towards those in need. Let's look at what he says here. Verse 26. Those who consider themselves religious, now he's speaking to those who consider themselves religious, those who have something of an assurance, those who think, you know, I'm in. If anybody's in, I'm in. I got this, I understand, I'm on the right team. I'm I'm I'm a believer, I'm a follower of Jesus. And he says, okay, for those who consider themselves religious and yet do not keep a tight rein on their tongue, they deceive themselves and their religion is worthless. Oh man, he doesn't just tiptoe in this, does he? He comes right at you. Now, this this image here is important. You know, keep a tight rein on their tongue. You know, of course, the the tongue is a metaphor for your words, because your words come from your tongue, out of your mouth, right? Common in Scripture. And the image there is that the tongue or our mouth, our words, is like a wild horse, like a stallion, like this thing that can't be tamed. It's just running all over. It just, before you even know it, it's out of the pen, it's doing its own thing. You you want it to go this way, and it's going that way, right? That's the reality of our mouth and our words. And he said, You gotta bridle that thing. You gotta have reins on it, because the moment you let go of those reins, there that thing goes again, right? It's over there. And he was like, true, genuine religion here is you got that thing on reins. Now that's shocking to us because I don't think we think our words are a big deal, right? Like maybe my actions are a big deal, certain actions. My life, but no, what's the big deal with words, right? We feel like we got the right to shoot off at the mouth, right? And when we do, we think, Well, I just told it like it was, right? It's so easy to think, what are words? What are the power of words? But the reality is, our words are incredibly powerful. Our words can tear somebody's soul apart. Some of us know that reality. Some of us are walking through life trying to deal with things that were said to us at a particularly formational time in our life. I bet all of us know the power of words in our life. You know, and yet so easily we go off and we gossip about people. It doesn't feel like it at the time, right? You're just sharing news, right? You know, and usually it's preceded by bless their heart, right? Let me share some news with you, right? But it destroys people. With our words, we deceive, right? We paint a certain picture about who we are, and it's just talk. It's not who we actually are. Or it's just straight-on bitterness that tears people down. You know, it's it's it's fascinating when you come to Scripture. The view of our words is very different than what we naturally think. You know, if you think of the scene in Isaiah where the prophet Isaiah has a vision in Isaiah 6, and he comes into the heavenly throne room, and he beholds God in the throne room. He sees the glory of God. And he has the same reaction everybody does whenever they encounter God. His face is on the ground. He is immediately struck with a sin. So, face down, you remember what he says? Woe is me, I am ruined. Now that's a picture of conviction, right? Isaiah, what y'all worked up over? What are you convicted over? Man, you're a prophet. You're you're the holiest one in Israel. What does he say? I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the Lord. He sees God, and what is he struck with? His words. Oh, I've been unholy with my words. I said, We come to Scripture, he's got a very different picture of our words. James very clearly says, you know, if you ain't fighting the wickedness of your mouth, and Jesus very clearly said, hey, it's it's the of the overflow of the heart that the mouth speaks, right? When you see the words that come out, it's just the heart. That's where it's coming from. That's the that's the fountain of our hearts. But James wants us very clearly to know if you are someone who's not fighting and painfully aware of the sinfulness of your mouth, I'm not sure your religion is going to do you all that good. That's what James is saying. But then there's a second thing to see, and this is in verse 27. This is his second example that he takes us to. Again, it's shocking, but it is that the real evidence of true saving faith in our life, the obedience that he emphasizes here, is a life of deeds, actual action in response to the needs of others. It's deeds of mercy and justice. Okay? Let's look at what he says, verse 27. Religion that God our Father accepts is pure and faultless is this. Now that's that's quite an intro there, right? I want to listen whenever he says, let me boil it down for you. You know what, God, you know, we have we have versions of religion that we think is very impressive. But James is saying, let me tell you, this is what God considers, this is the kind of religion God thinks that's real. That's that's genuine. This is what I value right here. And it's this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world. Now that looks like two things, right? But in the Greek, there's no there's no and there, right? It's to look after orphans and widows, keeping oneself from being polluted by the world. The pollution of the world that he's talking about here is the opposite of this value in our life. And this is actually something, I mean, both of these are really what the rest of the book of James is about. It's about our words. I mean, he ain't done with the words, all right? Just strap in. Because he's just gonna hang out there for a little while. And he's also gonna go to this reality of what is my heart posture and my actions towards the needy in my life, the vulnerable in my life, the people who are beneath me. And so the pollution that he's talking of, the world that he's talking about is this is the way of the world is very natural. That those who are beneath me, I want to step on to get ahead. That we move away from need. We see need in people, and that's like, I'm going the other way. That's the most natural thing in the human heart, right? And in the world, the value of the world is all about climbing that social ladder. It's all about advancing, right? It's all about elevating yourself above other people. We want to move towards wealth. We want to move towards comfort and ease and privilege. Like those are, those feel good. We we the natural movement of the world is to move towards those. What he's saying here is when Jesus comes into your life and changes your heart, that movement goes the other way. Right? That's how you know it's real. I think too often, especially in the American church, maybe one of our greatest challenges in the American church is the wealth and affluence that is threatening our very hearts. Now, you you might hear this and say, What are you talking about? Wealth and affluence? Man, I'm paycheck to paycheck. We live in a culture and in a life that is more wealthy and privileged than any in all of history. Just look at all the choices we have. Choice is wealth, right? So this is talking to us and the unique way in which wealth and affluence and money and power becomes a rival to God in our hearts. That's why we talk about it every time we do we do um offering. It's it's not just because we like talking about it, it's because Jesus said it's the biggest barrier to him. So these are the same thing. Why why why does he mention orphans and widows? Well, in this culture, ours too, but in this culture, they were the most vulnerable. There was no social welfare, there was no social security in this day. If you were an orphan or a widow, you were utterly vulnerable and destitute. You had no protection, you have no social status and power and ability to really advance it all, right? And so they were so easy to be taken advantage of, and they usually were, right? And often in scripture it builds out that kind of group. It also talks about immigrants, uh, aliens, refugees, very vulnerable, a lot of that in our news, right? And it talks about the poor. People who are just born in this reality of poverty, and they're vulnerable. Now, the thing to see about Scripture is that God is passionate about them. Why is God passionate about the poor? Because it's his very heart. God is drawn to need. There is intrinsic value in that person, and God becomes a defender of widows, a father to the fatherless. It's who he is. So, James, why is this what you mentioned here? Why is it that mercy towards those in need, having a heart that is moved in genuine compassion when I see need, why is that such evidence of genuine faith? Why is that true? Well, here's why. Because it is the basic essence of the gospel. You see, the gospel tells us that we are saved, not because we offer anything to God, because spiritually we are bankrupt. We got nothing to offer to God. We are helpless before God, completely unable to save ourselves, and rebels against God. And God sees us in our poverty, our spiritual poverty and our brokenness, and he was moved in compassion. Extravagant displays of compassion, that he would send his one and only Son to enter into the brokenness of our world, that through his death, through the giving of himself, we might know life. That's the heart of the gospel. 2 Corinthians 7, Paul uses these terms to describe the gospel. For he who was rich for our sakes became poor. Wait, how did Jesus become poor? He left the glories of heaven and came all the way down into the brokenness of our world and all the way to the poverty of the cross. He who was rich for our sakes became poor so that we, through his poverty, might become rich. That's how Paul describes this thing. You see, when that hits home in your heart, when you see it is by sheer grace that I've been saved. God, you saw me when I had nothing to offer you, and you were moved in mercy towards me, and I'm now rich in you. All that you have is now mine because of your grace. When that hits home in your heart, it creates a heart of mercy. It creates a heart of compassion towards the broken, towards the needy. So much so that it's like a litmus test to has it really hit home in your heart? So let's do a little application. Let's be doers and not merely hearers of the word. I just want to ask a couple questions. Maybe these are questions that you could take sometime today and maybe get alone with the Lord and get with him and sincerely wrestle with these questions and ask them before the Lord. So here they are. Are we obeying God's words? Just clearly. It's a great question to continually ask, actually, in your life. But are we obeying him? Are we seeing his word and are we obeying it? Not perfectly, but are we seeking to obey him with our life? And I love, you know, Jack Miller's been kind of a mentor from afar of me, and he used to ask these certain questions. He was a pastor, and he used to ask these questions of his congregants. And I'm like, good, not alive. Here's what he would ask him. When was the last time you stopped doing something because Jesus commanded it? And then also he would ask, when was the last time you started doing something differently because Jesus commanded it? Just really great questions, right? That light me up as I wrestle with those. In your life, are you looking after the poor and needy in your life? Now, this is one it's tough for us, you know, because as I mentioned, as American Christians, it's easy to get away from the poor. It's easy to get away from the need and not even to see it, right? You don't even see it anymore, right? We can get into our own communities, into our own places, our own schools, our own, you know, whatever. We can isolate ourselves from it, which is a problem. You know, if we look at that and we say, I don't know that I know a poor person, that is a problem for us, okay? Because we're called to be those who indeed are giving our life to help, to minister, to care.

unknown 35:00

Right?

SPEAKER_01 35:01

Do we see that in our life? So, what do we do if we look at our lives and we discover sin? Because that's happened to me in this passage. So before I preach it, I I have to do it for myself. And I'm wrestling with this and saying, good night. I'm called out by this. I'm called out by my tongue and my lack of compassion. I mean, just the just last night I got an email about this little girl at this orphanage and about her terminal cancer, and in the email, it was about a number of practical things that they need. And I felt my heart saying, I don't want to get close to that. I don't want to feel that. Because it was uncomfortable. Because when I look at it and I let myself feel, I start worrying, well, is this gonna happen to me? Is it gonna happen to my children? And like, gosh, I'm trying to go to bed here, and I'm, you know, I've I've got all these reasons that I don't want to deal with that right now. If I'm honest, that was the reaction of my heart. And then I remember what James said here. And I said, dang it. Is that really in my heart? Right? Am I really going to turn away from a practical need? You know, Jesus had parables about this, like oodles of parables, right? And about like religious dudes who see a need and walk on the opposite side of the road. That's my heart wants to walk on the opposite side of the road. That's in here. So what do we do? What did you do if you see it in here? Well, first you rejoice because conviction and especially repentance is the truest picture of genuine saving faith there is. When you have a heart that is pierced by his words, and you were moved to repentance, and he's you you come to his word and it calls you out, and you say, God, that is me. I'm sorry, but that's talking to me. It's not talking about my neighbor or my spouse or anybody else, it's talking to me. That is one of the most genuine evidences of saving faith there possibly can be. So what do you do? What do you do when you see it? Well, you know what I'm gonna tell you. I'm gonna tell you go back to the gospel, right? But a friend of mine is a pastor, his name's Bob Flayhart, and he's got this helpful little uh this helpful little model for understanding how do we grow in Christ, how do we apply the gospel to our life, how do we change through the power of the gospel in our life? And he calls it the gospel waltz. Now, for all you young people here, you have no idea what a waltz is, okay? It's an old-timey dance, right? And the thing about the waltz is it's got three moves, right? It's got three steps. One, two, three. And you do it over and over and over, right? One, two, three, one, two, three, one, two, three. That's the point of the waltz. You keep doing it over and over and over. And he calls it the gospel waltz. And it's got these three movements that you do over and over and over. And by living out these three steps, we change as we're dancing with Jesus. That's a great image because what happens in a dance? There's two of you, right? You're face to face, and there's always one who leads, and there's one who follows. And that is a great metaphor for the Christian life and how we grow because we're face to face with Jesus, and He's leading, and we're following, and He's leading us through the steps of the gospel. So, what are the three steps of the gospel? Repent, believe, obey. That's not all that hard to remember, is it? So, first repent. What do I do when I see sin in my life? I repent. What is repentance? Well, it's first acknowledging it, and then it's turning from it. You know, it's going to God with my sin and saying, God, I've sinned against you again. Right? And I'm coming to you. I don't want to live like that. I want to follow you. I turn to you. But it's also faith, believe. It's embracing again the truth of the gospel, and there's a there's a joy that's released in our hearts because when we see our sin, it it convicts, it cuts. But when we see Jesus, when our sin drives us to Jesus, there's a joy, there's a freedom we experience all over again our free forgiveness in Christ. So we believe, Jesus, you paid for this. You've paid for the sins I'll commit tomorrow. You shed your blood, and through union with you, I'm washed and I'm cleaned, and I'm clothed in your righteousness, and I have the acceptance of the Father through belief. I'm rehearsing and enjoying the truth of the gospel. But then there's a third step, and maybe one that we easily forget. We obey. We step out in new obedience in the power of the Holy Spirit. You know, sometimes we think, especially with those besetting sins in our life, there's nothing I can do about this. I'm stuck, I'm just resigned to it. Well, that's not true because the Bible tells us that the resurrection power of Jesus is available and present in us through the Holy Spirit. We can change. Not like that, but we can change. And so through stepping out in new obedience through the power of the Spirit, I seek to live in a new way. And then whenever I fail in whatever way I do or come up short, I go right back. Repent, believe, obey. That's the gospel waltz. You know, if we, when we see our sin, are feeling the conviction and running to the grace of Jesus and desiring to obey Him with our life, that is the assurance of true saving faith in our life. Let's pray together. Lord Jesus, I pray that this morning that we each person here would really see and receive your words as if they are to each of us personally. Lord, it's very easy to hear your word and to think, man, those words are for this other person, or I wish such and such was here to hear this. There's so many ways in which we deflect your speaking to us through your word, but I just pray that through the power of your spirit, we would each hear very clearly you speaking to us, and that that by your spirit we would be those who, in the face of our sin, we run to you. We run in repentance to you, we we embrace and experience the gospel, but also that we are those who are actually applying your words in our life, that we are practicing the words of Jesus. Would you help us to do that for your glory? In Christ's name we pray. Amen.