Pure and Undefiled Religion (James 1:26-27)

Kootenai Church

Subscribe

Download

Share

00

00:01

Well, good morning, good morning. Hope everyone is doing well this morning, and what a joy it is to be back with you.

00:10

It truly is. I've been very much enjoying the weekend, and it's a special honor to be able to bring

00:16

God's Word to you and do that here. So Kathy and I love y 'all, so thank you very much for this opportunity.

00:24

Let's go to the Word, to the Lord, excuse me, in a word of prayer, and we will begin. Father, we're so grateful for this day that you've given to us, for the freedom that we have to gather together as your blood -bought sheep that you have called to yourself.

00:46

Father, we pray that as we go to your Word now, that your

00:51

Holy Spirit would conform us more into the image of your Son, and your

00:56

Word has many things that in the process of our personal sanctification are hard, and they may chip away at our pride, chip away at things that we have believed to be true but may not be true.

01:14

So Father, we pray that you would conform us now through the instrument of your

01:20

Word, your double -edged sword, and conform us more into the image of our

01:26

King, Jesus. We pray these things in His name and for His sake, amen, amen.

01:34

I invite you to take your copy of God's Word and open to the book of James, chapter 1,

01:40

James chapter 1. As I have opportunities to fill the pulpit on a Sunday morning from time to time,

01:46

I've been making my way through James, and I think my first sermon,

01:51

I didn't look this up so I might be wrong, but I think my first sermon in James was six years ago, six or maybe even seven years ago, and still in chapter 1.

02:05

So I'm pretty sure the sun will run out of fuel before I make my way all the way through the book.

02:12

So I'm going to bite off a little bit more maybe than I normally would because I want to get through this chapter, but let's look at James, chapter 1, verses 26 through 27.

02:27

If anyone thinks himself to be religious while not bridling his tongue but deceiving his own heart, this man's religiousness is worthless.

02:37

Pure and undefiled religion before our God the Father is this, to visit orphans and widows in their affliction and to keep oneself unstained by the world.

02:48

May God bless the reading of his word. So just as a quick review for those of you who have not been here for the last seven years, a predominant theme of the first chapter of James is that of trials, how we as Christians should respond to trials.

03:04

They are varied, and James says that we are not to enjoy our trials because trials by definition are not enjoyable, but we can count them as joy when we rest in the sovereignty of God knowing that He will work all of these things out together for our good and ultimately for the glory of Christ.

03:22

We saw in verse 12 that Jesus Christ Himself is our reward for suffering through these trials of life.

03:29

He is the crown of life. We saw in verse 15 the deceitfulness and ultimate ruin of sin.

03:37

In verse 18, we looked at the sovereignty of God and salvation. And in verse 19, we looked at the importance of being quick to hear, slow to speak, and slow to anger.

03:48

These are marks of spiritual maturity. And then in verse 22, James tells us that we are to be not only hearers of the word, but doers of the word.

04:00

We are to obey God's word. And then the final two verses that we just read, verse 26 and 27, sum up what we have seen thus far in chapter 1.

04:10

And they make a bridge of sorts into chapter 2, and they bring up themes that James will return to in the final chapters of his book.

04:23

It's been said that James is Christianity in blue jeans. It's a very practical book.

04:29

And so this morning, we are going to put on our theological blue jeans, if you will.

04:36

James tells us in these last two verses that there are three ways that we as Christians are to be doers of the word.

04:44

These three things James will introduce here and can come back to later in his book.

04:49

Number one, here are the three things that mark pure and undefiled religion. Controlling the tongue, concern for the helpless, and avoiding worldliness.

05:02

Controlling the tongue, concern for the helpless, and avoiding worldliness. This sets the tone for the next four chapters.

05:10

So let's look again at the text. James says, if anyone thinks himself to be religious, we are immediately struck by the stark reality that not everyone who professes to be a

05:23

Christian actually is a Christian. There are many false professors of Christianity out there.

05:30

There are many people who think themselves to be religious, but are not really.

05:37

These two words, there are two words that often denote the use of religious matters.

05:42

There's two words in the Greek. One is threskos, and the other is eusebes. Threskos denotes an outward form of religion, the appearances of religion, the rituals, the perfunctory things that you do, the smells and bells, all the kind of outward stuff that people see.

06:01

That's threskos, and eusebes refers to pure religion, genuine religion that comes from the heart.

06:08

In here, James uses the word threskos. This is an outward form of religion, but there is no content to it.

06:17

It's not real. It's just for appearances. This person, the one who thinks himself to be religious, is far from God.

06:26

He professes to be a Christian, but he is far from God. This is the unstable man. This is the double -minded man who is unstable in all his ways of verse 8.

06:35

This is the man of whom Jesus spoke in Matthew chapter 15 as he addressed the scribes and the

06:40

Pharisees when Jesus says, you hypocrites, rightly did Isaiah prophesy of you.

06:47

This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far away from me. But in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commands of men.

06:58

These are the people of Matthew chapter 7, 21 through 23. When they cry out to Jesus, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, cast out demons and perform many miracles?

07:09

And then Jesus will look at them and say to them, I never knew you. Depart from me, you workers of iniquity.

07:18

These are the ones who have a vain religion. These are the ones who have a form of godliness, but they deny the power thereof.

07:28

False professors of Christ. False converts. These are the ones who went out from us because they were not really of us.

07:38

Their religion is in vain. Pure and undefiled religion.

07:44

Pure and undefiled religion is one, number one, the first point, is one who controls his tongue, who bridles his tongue.

07:53

James is the only biblical author that uses a bridle in relationship to the tongue, and he returns to this in chapter 3, but he's the only biblical author that uses this kind of imagery.

08:05

And it's not a real mystery to what bridling the tongue means, right? I mean, we know what a bridle is.

08:11

A bridle is a small thing that you put on a very large animal, a horse, that controls the horse.

08:20

And though our tongues are small things in and of themselves, they are enormously powerful, are they not?

08:28

Not in a word -faith sense kind of powerful, not speak -things -into -existence kind of powerful, but they are powerful in the sense that they can do tremendous damage.

08:38

Our tongues can do tremendous damage to our own testimonies, to other people when we harm their reputation, and also they can bring untold reproach upon the name of Christ when we claim to be

08:52

Christians but do not act in a way that is commensurate with that. And James says the one who has pure religion is the one who can truly bridle his tongue, and the one who cannot bridle his tongue, his religion is vain and it is worthless.

09:10

Now James here does not give us specifics of what bridling the tongue looks like. So what we do to know what he's talking about is to gather together other things that the

09:21

Bible says about our tongues and how we can sin against God with our tongues.

09:27

First and foremost, the first thing that comes to our minds, we can lie, right? Thou shalt not lie.

09:33

So the one who is a liar, the one who makes a habit of lying, is one who is not bridling his tongue, and his religion is vain.

09:43

Another way that we can sin against God and others with our tongues is with gossip and slander.

09:51

Gossip and slander. What is gossip? Gossip is spreading rumors about other people that may be true, but we do not know them to be true.

10:05

It's possible that they're true, but we don't know them to be true, and we spread these rumors in such a way that it brings about damage to the person's reputation.

10:14

If you engage in gossip, if you start talking about other people, and you're not 100 % that what you're hearing is true, but you spread it to others and that is injurious information to that person's reputation, that's gossip.

10:30

And we've all done this. But it is a dangerous sin, and it's a very serious sin, in fact, so serious is this sin that it is listed amongst the sins of Romans chapter 1 that marks the lives of unbelievers.

10:48

Read Romans chapter 1, and Paul lists a number of sins. He talks about people who hate

10:53

God, who are violent, who are proud, they are boasters, they invent evil things, and they are murderers, and amongst that same list of sins,

11:03

Paul includes the sin of gossip. Gossip may be fun for a lot of people because a lot of people do it, but it is a very serious sin, and it is one of the sins that marks the lives of unbelievers.

11:14

So is the sin of slander. What is slander? Slander is intentionally spreading rumors about people that we know are not true, and we do it with the purpose of hurting someone else's reputation.

11:28

Gossip and slander are both sins, and the one who engages in these things is one who cannot bridle his tongue, or does not bridle his tongue, and it marks the lives of those who are unregenerate.

11:42

Matthew chapter 12, verse 36, Jesus says, But I tell you that every careless word that people speak, they shall give an accounting for it in the day of judgment.

11:54

Dear ones, remember that. Every careless word that you and I speak, one day we will stand before a thrice holy, risen

12:02

Lord Jesus Christ with eyes of flaming fire and feet of burnished bronze, and we will have to give an account for every careless word that we speak.

12:15

It's very serious, and we would serve ourselves well to remember that. Matthew Henry, the

12:22

Bible commentator Matthew Henry, says this, Quote, The man who has a detracting tongue cannot have a truly humble, gracious heart.

12:32

He who delights to injure his neighbor in vain pretends to love

12:37

God. Say that again. He who delights to injure his neighbor in vain pretends to love

12:45

God. Therefore, a reviling tongue will prove a man a hypocrite.

12:52

Another form of not bridling the tongue is coarse jesting.

12:58

Coarse jesting. We see this in Ephesians chapter 5, verses 3 through 4. Ephesians 5, 3 through 4, the

13:05

Apostle Paul, writing under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, says, But sexual immorality or any impurity or greed must not even be named among you as is proper among the saints, not filthiness or foolish talk or coarse jesting, which are not fitting, but rather the giving of thanks.

13:32

Dear one, sexual immorality is not even to be named amongst the saints of God. And in this same passage, in the same text, in the same thought,

13:41

Paul includes coarse jesting, filthy talk, foolish talk, the use of foul language, the use of sexual innuendo in jokes in order to get a laugh out of people.

13:57

It might elicit a laugh out of other people. But dear ones, it will not elicit a laugh out of God.

14:05

It will not elicit a laugh out of God. God is holy, thrice holy.

14:12

People may be amused, but God is not amused. And note that coarse jesting here is connected with and in the same context of sexual immorality, actual sexual immorality.

14:26

Coarse jesting is just as sure a form of sexual immorality as is lusting.

14:34

Lusting is not bridling the mind. Coarse jesting is not bridling the tongue.

14:43

And the Apostle Paul, under the inspiration of God's Holy Spirit, connects these things. And though it is cliche and overused nowadays, the old

14:53

WWJD thing that, I don't know, 20 or so years ago kind of came on the evangelical pike and saying, what would

15:00

Jesus do? It's way overused, but it's helpful here in a sense.

15:07

The next time you feel yourself tempted to engage in coarse jesting or some kind of filthy talk, ask yourself this question.

15:16

If Jesus was visibly standing next to me, would I be comfortable in what I'm about to say knowing that Jesus is right here?

15:25

And if you would not be, then bridle your tongue. Don't engage in coarse jesting and filthy talk.

15:35

So these are sins of commission with our tongues, things that we can do with our tongues that are sinful.

15:42

There are also sins of omission with our tongues, sins of omission.

15:47

And this is something that has been heavy on my heart, I guess, in a real acute way in just the last week or so.

15:56

All of us miss opportunities to share the gospel, me included.

16:02

I'm an evangelist. This is what I do, and I miss opportunities to share the gospel.

16:09

But sometimes we have opportunities that are just so laid on the...

16:15

presented to us on a silver platter that are just begging for us to take it. It is absolutely sinful when we do not.

16:24

Many of you have heard of the satirical organization Babylon Bee, and maybe some of you have seen the video that I did a week or so ago.

16:32

But the Babylon Bee group, they began by satirizing false teachers, Joel Osteen, Kenneth Copeland, and that kind of crowd,

16:40

Benny Hinn. And in more recent years, they've turned more political and they satirize liberal politics, and there's much there to make fun of.

16:50

But Babylon Bee recently put up an interview that they did with Elon Musk.

16:58

Elon Musk is the wealthiest man on the planet, from what I'm told. Sends rockets up into space and makes

17:04

Teslas and all that kind of stuff. Wealthiest man in the world. And they sat down with Elon Musk for over an hour and a half, and at the last part of the interview, the last six or seven minutes or so, one of the

17:17

Babylon Bee's guys said, well, we're a Christian ministry, and so would you do us...

17:26

saying, talking to Elon, would you do us a quick solid and ask Jesus into your heart?

17:31

And for the next six or seven minutes, they made an absolute mockery out of the gospel.

17:38

It was clear from listening to Elon Musk as he kind of talked about Jesus, he had some...he

17:44

knew some Bible stuff. He knew some Bible stories. He knew the story about the loaves and the fish and Jesus turning the water into wine.

17:52

And you could tell he knew these stories, but he didn't understand them at all on any level.

17:58

And Elon Musk was...he was asking them questions. I mean, he was all but down on his knees asking them to explain these things to him, and they didn't.

18:10

They made a joke about it. I am not a fuddy -duddy, and I'm not against having fun and laughing about things.

18:22

I'm not that person. But there are some things we do not laugh about.

18:28

There are some things that are not satirical, and they're not parody. And if there is anything that is not funny, it is the gospel of Jesus Christ.

18:39

These men who call themselves Christians say that they're part of a

18:45

Christian ministry are looking at a man who is an unregenerate man, and they made a mockery out of the gospel.

18:52

How much do you have to hate someone for someone to actually ask you questions about Jesus and not answer them?

18:59

And what's even worse, I guess, than that is that you look at the interview that they did, and that interview has been viewed by over 2 million people.

19:12

Two million people. They have exposed 2 million people and counting to a false

19:23

Jesus and a false gospel. They are literally doing evangelism in reverse, an anti -evangelism.

19:34

There are sins of commission with not bridling our tongues, and there are sins of omission in not bridling our tongues.

19:42

And what those guys did, it'd be one thing if they didn't claim to be Christian, fine, do whatever you want to do if you don't claim to be a

19:47

Christian. But if you claim to be a Christian, preach the gospel, especially when people are asking you for it.

19:55

Sins of omission. The one who does not bridle his tongue has an empty religion, the threskos, religious practices, religious emotions, even religious doctrine.

20:08

Even if it's sound doctrine, apart from self -control, apart from being able to bridle our tongues, that kind of religion,

20:17

James says, is worthless. It is in vain. That kind of religion has no more power to save than does a false religion.

20:30

Number two, the second form of pure religion, James says, is concern for the helpless.

20:37

Concern for the helpless. Pure and undefiled religion before our God and Father is this, to visit orphans and widows in their affliction.

20:47

Now, these two words, pure and undefiled, in the Greek, katharos and emiantos.

20:54

And katharos, that's the word from which we get our word katharsis. You can kind of hear the similarity.

20:59

It's a cleansing. It's a purifying, a flushing out of impurities.

21:08

This word emiantos, it literally means free from contamination. So pure, undefiled religion before our

21:16

God is to visit the orphans and the widows in their affliction. This is pure religion.

21:22

This is not a religion marked by hypocrisy. This is not a religion that is marked by one who is unable to bridle his tongue.

21:29

This is not marked by a religion who is just about the outward appearances and doing the perfunctory things and the rituals and the smells and the bells.

21:37

This is pure religion that is pleasing to God. And dear friends, please note that pure and undefiled religion is that which is pleasing to God, not necessarily that which is pleasing to man.

21:50

In fact, if your religion is pleasing to man, rest assured, it is not pleasing to God.

21:57

It is not pleasing to God. We need to understand this so much that when we come and gather for worship, it's not about us.

22:05

It's not about you. It's not about me. It is about God. And any church that has people as its focus rather than God is not a true church.

22:16

It's not a true church. Pure and undefiled religion, visiting the orphans and the widows in their distress.

22:24

God has great concern for the orphans and the widows. Orphans and widows back in this day and age were the most needy groups.

22:33

They were the groups with no husband and no father. And as a woman with no husband or as a child with no father, there was no means of provision, okay?

22:45

There were no social safety nets 2 ,000 years ago. And a woman with no husband who's a widow, she had no means of support, very, very little means of support.

22:58

And a child with no father, no one to protect that child, no one to provide for that child. These were the most needy and the most vulnerable in their day.

23:06

And pure and undefiled religion is that which cares for the orphans and the widows. Why? Because God himself cares for the orphans and the widows.

23:15

In fact, he describes himself as such. In Psalm chapter 68 verse 5, God describes himself as a father of the fatherless and a judge for the widows, an advocate, a defender of the widows.

23:29

God gave a command in Exodus chapter 22 verse 22. He says, you shall not afflict.

23:35

In other words, you shall not take advantage of any widow or any orphan. I mentioned this in the seminar yesterday that those who take advantages of orphans and widows, if you want to find a prime example of people who do that very thing, all you have to do is turn on Christian television.

23:54

Because these wealthy multimillionaire prosperity preachers that fly around in private jets and live in palatial homes and drive

24:01

Bentleys and wear Rolex watches, you know where a lot of their money comes from? Widows, little old ladies who can't get out, can't go to church, they're stuck at home or they're stuck in their retirement home, a nursing home.

24:17

And their only church is this garbage that they see on Christian television.

24:23

They literally exploit, deliberately exploit the widows for personal financial gain.

24:31

These people are unregenerate who would do that. And though orphans and widows were the most vulnerable, the principle here, the application here is broader.

24:45

The application is anyone who is truly in need. The elderly, the sick, the handicapped, these are those who were you to care for, those who truly cannot care for themselves.

25:01

Let me tell you who this is not speaking of. It's not speaking of the able -bodied man standing on the street corner, holding up a sign saying, anything helps,

25:15

God bless you. It's not talking about that guy. It's not talking about the able -bodied man standing with the sign asking for money as he is literally yards away from a

25:26

Walmart or a Burger King or a McDonald's or something like that that says, now hiring. It's not talking about that guy.

25:33

A few months ago, Kathy and I went to Walmart. We were driving out and there was literally a man sitting down with his cardboard sign, something like, anything helps, you know, need help,

25:45

God bless you, something like that. And this is not hyperbole, literally like two feet behind him is this big sign that Walmart put up, now hiring, good wages, benefits.

26:00

This is not talking about people like that. I have no patience for able -bodied men who will not work.

26:09

The principle here is that we help those who are truly in need. And the New Testament gives us a little bit more clarification with this as well.

26:17

Galatians 6, verse 10, the Apostle Paul says, so then, while we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, all people saved and lost, all people.

26:30

But then Paul says, especially to those who are of the household of faith, especially to those who are of the household of faith.

26:40

Brothers and sisters, we as Christians should do good to all people, but our first concern, our top priority are those of the household of faith.

26:49

The widows, the orphans, the poor, the needy, the sick, the handicapped, people who genuinely cannot help themselves within the household of faith.

27:00

They are our top priority, not folks out there, folks in here.

27:06

They are our top priority. And this is pure and undefiled religion, helping those kind of people, the orphans and the widows and the needy.

27:17

A number of years ago, six or seven years ago, Kathy and I were in San Diego. I was preaching at a church there, and this gentleman named

27:25

Tony Valoi contacted me, emailed me, told me he lived in the area and he'd been following my ministry or something.

27:34

Anyway, he called me up or emailed me and ended up contacting each other and talked to him.

27:40

Got to meet Tony, he came out to where we were. Tony and I went to lunch together and that just began a friendship with Tony and his wife,

27:49

Jeanette. I don't know, there we go, I have the picture up. To know Tony is to love

27:54

Tony. Tony is just a great, great guy, funny as all get out, just a great sense of humor.

28:02

He had been saved out of the charismatic movement and he would talk to me about Benny Hinn, that's how he'd say it,

28:07

Benny Hinn. And just a great, great guy. I mean, just love the socks off of him.

28:13

And he loved the Lord, solid believer, wonderful husband, wonderful father.

28:21

Almost two months ago, Kathy received a text from his wife Jeanette. And Jeanette told us that Tony suddenly had a massive aneurysm and just collapsed, instantly just collapsed.

28:35

And they rushed him to the hospital, nothing could be done. And Tony was an organ donor, so they kept him alive on the machines, just long enough so they could go and harvest his organs.

28:50

But Tony left behind his wife Jeanette and then their four children, Anthony, Jeshua, Vincent, and their daughter

28:58

Victoria. Just instantly, their husband and father's gone.

29:04

These are the kind of people that we care for, they're our top priority. And there is much to be said about the ills of social media and all that's on the

29:15

Internet. But by God's grace, there are some redeemable things about it. And I did a YouTube video about Tony and his family.

29:23

They set up a GoFundMe and I let people, made people aware of it via my

29:29

YouTube channel. And I just checked this morning, and along with what, and I don't say this to, along with what the ministry has given them, there's now well over $70 ,000 that people from all over the country and indeed around the world have donated to this precious family, over $70 ,000.

29:54

What a beautiful thing to see the Bride of Christ act like the

30:00

Bride of Christ and come together, and the great majority of that money came from people that never met

30:06

Tony or Jeanette, caring for the orphans and the widows. This is pure and undefiled religion.

30:15

It is not that the entirety of pure and undefiled religion is doing things like this, but that is an important part of it.

30:24

But any religion that does not do this is empty, it's vain, and it's worthless.

30:34

Third point, pure and undefiled religion is marked by those who keep themselves unstained by the world, unstained by the world.

30:46

The third mark of being a doer of the word, true religion, may in a sense not be quite as concrete as the first two that we've looked at, but it is no less important and is that of holiness.

30:59

Holiness, keeping oneself unstained by the world. What is the world?

31:04

The world is symbolic of this fallen, sinful state with sinful worldly philosophies.

31:11

Everything that the world is, we are to keep ourselves as Christians unstained by that.

31:19

Now, unstained, what does this mean? Unstained, this word in the Greek is elosmos, and it means pure, it means holy, it means to...it's

31:31

actually the same word, interestingly, it's the same word used to describe Jesus Christ himself.

31:38

In 1 Peter 1, verse 19, the lamb unblemished, elosmos, the lamb unblemished.

31:46

It's the same word used to describe Christ. How pure is that?

31:53

How holy is that? How unstained is that? Perfectly unstained, perfectly pure, perfectly holy.

32:05

And it is that, dear ones, for which we are to strive in keeping ourselves that unstained by the world.

32:20

As Christians, we are to be unstained by the world in our personal holiness. Let me say something quickly, though, because what is true of us as individual believers should also be true of us as a corporate body of believers, local churches.

32:35

Our churches are to be unstained by the world as well. If we are personally unstained by the world, then our corporate gatherings will also be unstained by the world.

32:44

But evangelical churches, as Jeff Miller this morning in Sunday School said, whatever that word means anymore, who knows, it's overused and it almost has no meaning.

32:54

But evangelical churches, at least in theory, are those which claim to have a high view of Scripture and believe the

32:59

Bible is the authoritative word of God. And yet the vast, vast, vast, vast majority of evangelical churches are extremely stained by the world.

33:08

They have imbibed, they have incorporated worldly philosophies that have absolutely nothing to do with God, but it is part and parcel of their worship services and how they think and how they try to do, quote -unquote, worship.

33:22

Whether we're talking about the secret sensitive movement, making your church intentionally look like the world, to attract the world, that's stained.

33:31

That's so stained you can't even see any purity through that. That's being stained by the world.

33:37

Word faith is being stained by the world. Imbibing in the social justice movement is to be stained by the world.

33:46

The social justice movement is neo -Marxism. It's worldly philosophy in churches, evangelical churches, even many who claim to have a high view of the sovereignty of God are imbibing this and they are being stained by this worldly system.

34:03

With the social justice movement comes female preachers, comes an emphasis on race, and by the way, how many races are there?

34:13

One. One race. An emphasis on race, reparations, which is nothing more than an endless state of victimhood, a lack of forgiveness.

34:25

The social justice movement is predicated upon a perpetual lack of forgiveness. That is antithetical to the gospel.

34:32

And a softening on homosexuality. When that social justice engine comes in the door, it's bringing a lot of cars along with it.

34:42

Egalitarian car, female preachers, emphasis on race, division on race, and homosexuality.

34:50

All those cars are coming in behind that engine. And it's not that those who have imbibed in social justice, at least in our circles, are outright denying the deity of Jesus Christ or denying that salvation is by grace through faith in Christ.

35:08

They're not outright denying these things. But, dear friends, mark this. Anytime you say salvation is by grace through faith in Christ plus something, whatever follows that plus gets all of the attention.

35:24

And guess what gets forgotten? Salvation by grace through faith in Christ. Mark it.

35:31

It will be forgotten. It's already happened. Look at the United Methodist denomination.

35:38

They are now, for all intents and purposes, full -blown apostate, theologically speaking.

35:44

Where did it begin? It began when they began to ordain women into the ministry and women began to fill the pulpits.

35:52

Now they're full -blown apostate. We've seen this movie before. We know how it ends.

35:59

Keep yourself unstained by the world, churches. The church is not supposed to look like the world.

36:07

By definition, it's not supposed to look...we're supposed to be different. And so when you find a church around here that looks like the world, you know you're not looking at a real church.

36:16

It's not a real church. Josh Bice made a big statement a couple of weeks ago.

36:22

He's the pastor of Praise Meal Baptist Church outside of Atlanta. And he and his church left the

36:28

Southern Baptist Convention, made big news, and they cited as their reasons a liberal drift in the

36:35

SBC, which unmistakably the SBC is drifting liberally. And then there's some woke guy,

36:42

I'll read this to you, a guy named JT English. I don't even know who he is, but JT English, this undoubtedly social justice warrior, he gave a mocking response and he said this.

36:52

He said, quote, one way to find out if there's a liberal drift in the SBC, ask actual liberals outside the

36:59

SBC if they identify with the theological trajectory of the SBC. This stuff is just nonsense.

37:05

So this liberal woke guy says, you know, if you want to know if the SBC is really drifting, ask some of us liberals if we think they're coming our way.

37:14

No, we don't. And to which JD Greer, who is the former president of the SBC, he responds and he says, quote, great point.

37:24

I have some liberal dialogue partners, whatever those are, and they definitely don't think we are coming in their direction.

37:32

And then Jim Osmond responded. He said, let me translate that for you.

37:39

If you want to find out if the SBC is drifting into liberalism, just talk to people who have drifted further into it than us and ask them if they think we are liberal enough yet.

37:48

They'll say no. Indeed, once you unmoor from the anchor of God's word, you're going to start drifting with the prevailing cultural winds.

38:02

You're going to start drifting. And the way you know how far you've drifted is not to look at other liberals who are just a little bit further down the stream than you are, because given a little bit of time, you're going to catch up to them.

38:19

It's to look at the authoritative, all -sufficient word of God. That is our standard. And as Jim mentioned in his prayer this morning, as of the last couple of weeks or so, maybe even just one week or so, it is now official law in Canada, Bill C -4 has made what they call conversion therapy illegal.

38:41

And it is a law that is intentionally broad in its application, and it's intentionally broad because the end of this, their end goal is to make it illegal for preachers to preach the gospel.

38:55

It is to make it illegal for preachers to preach a biblical sexual ethic.

39:01

And so right now in Canada, a pastor or a

39:07

Christian in general could be arrested for sharing the gospel with a homosexual or a transgendered person, quote -unquote, that's what they call themselves.

39:21

It is illegal now to do that. You could be arrested for sharing the gospel.

39:27

And dear friends, the United States, we usually lag behind Canada by a few years in where we go socially and culturally, but we don't lag behind too long.

39:41

And that gap is getting increasingly small. It used to be kind of a joke amongst people in our soteriological groups, you know, well, we may one day have to do prison ministry, ha -ha, you know, not really thinking that would actually happen.

39:56

Now I can see it. Now I can actually see it.

40:04

I think it's going to happen. And I think it's going to happen easily in our lifetimes, easily.

40:11

I'm not looking for this and I'm not necessarily hoping this is going to happen, but I would not be surprised. I would not be surprised if my last days are spent in prison.

40:21

It might come to that. What are you going to do, Christian? What are you going to do right now,

40:27

Christian, who works at some company, and one of your co -workers comes to work one day, a guy that you used to know as Dan, but all of a sudden, one day,

40:38

Dan shows up to work in a dress, and now he says his name is Danielle. And he wants you to call him by his preferred pronouns.

40:45

What are you going to do, Christian? If you refer to him as a he, which is what he is, it might mean you lose your job.

40:57

What are you going to do? That's not a stretch.

41:02

In fact, it's already happening in some places. What are you going to do? What you should do is to keep yourself unstained by the world.

41:11

You cannot refer to that person as a she, because to do so is to affirm that person in a sinful delusion, and it is to deny the image of God in which he was created.

41:23

Things like this are tests of our faith. Keep yourself unstained by the world.

41:30

Corporate holiness and personal holiness. Keep yourself individual believer.

41:38

My brother, my sister in Christ, keep yourself unstained by the world.

41:44

Guard your personal holiness. Guard your personal holiness.

41:52

I have seen something in the last number of years in our doctrines of grace theological circles that distresses me and troubles me greatly, and it is this.

42:04

There is a kind of a culture, if you will, within our theological circles that is far too cozy with sin, far too cozy with the world.

42:18

It's been dubbed the young, restless, and reformed crowd, reformed guys who think it's kind of cool to push the edge just a little bit, and they grab on to some of that worldliness, things that are sinful, but they kind of bring it in almost in a way that it's like they're trying to prove how manly they are.

42:45

They're trying to prove how strong they are in Christ, that they can dabble with these things and yet not cross the line somehow.

42:56

Sexual immorality, coarse jesting, all of these things we are to flee from.

43:03

They are not to be even named among the family of God. And yet some of these young, restless, and reformed crowd, they're dabbling in it.

43:14

You see, with Calvinism, it's become almost hip in the last 15, 20 years.

43:21

It's become kind of hip to become a Calvinist because it's got this robust, manly theology, you know, high view of the sovereignty of God, and it's kind of manly, and a lot of Calvinist guys, you know, they grow their beards out much longer than mine.

43:35

It's almost kind of a...it's a cultural thing with many of them, and they think it's manly.

43:40

And, hey, I have a high view of the sovereignty of God, rightly so. This church has a high view of the sovereignty of God, rightly so.

43:47

But don't take this high view, this high view of God's sovereignty as a license for sin.

43:54

And that's what many of them are doing. They are dabbling with things, they are taking things that may not in and of themselves be inherently sinful, but it's a very short step into sin.

44:09

There's a website that's a Calvinistic website, and they have gear that you can buy, shirts and whatnot.

44:16

And one of the things that I'm struck by is they have whiskey flasks, and engraved on the whiskey flask, kill sin or it will be killing you.

44:27

On a whiskey flask? Are you serious? Kill sin or it will be killing you on a whiskey flask?

44:38

Now, Jeff, for those of you who were in there this morning, he rightly said that the

44:44

Bible does not condemn outright alcohol or wine. It doesn't explicitly condemn these things, so I'm not going to go where the

44:53

Bible does not go. But the Bible also has to say some other things to say about alcoholic drinks.

45:00

Proverbs 20 verse 1, wine is a mocker, strong drink a brawler, and whoever is led astray by it is not wise.

45:12

So I'm not going to go where the Bible does not go, but I will say that with some of those things that are

45:18

Christian liberties, dear friends, you've got to be very, very careful because it is a short step into a sinful state.

45:30

And we need to remember that many of our weaker brothers and sisters have been saved out of some of these things.

45:39

They've been saved out of these things. Don't flaunt your liberty in such a way that it becomes a stumbling block to those who have been saved out of these things.

45:49

Kathy and I know a lady who was saved by God's grace about five years or so ago, and she was saved out of a lot of things, one of which was alcoholism.

45:59

And as she was a brand -new Christian, she talked to this pastor who was doctrinally sound, and he knew what she had been saved out of, and she needed some guidance.

46:09

And so she called him up, and he wanted to meet her at a bar. What are you doing?

46:16

Be very careful with your Christian liberty. Be careful. Be wise for your own sake and for the sake of weaker brothers and sisters.

46:27

Some of these Reformed pastors like to use profanity. They think it's cool to use profanity.

46:34

One of them, a very well -known one, and I won't mention his name, but one of them pretty recently made a point to use profanity in his sermon, like it's something that's cool.

46:44

There's nothing cool about that. God is holy. We are to be holy.

46:52

We are to keep ourselves as unstained from the world as Christ is. Now, I don't want you to misunderstand me, and I'm not going down this legalistic, independent, fundamentalist,

47:05

Baptist kind of a road. I'm not going that direction. Like you, to be holy, you've got to have your hair cut a certain way, and ladies, you've got to have your dresses down below your ankles, and, you know, no makeup on those faces, ladies, and, you know, if you don't have a

47:19

King James Bible, then you're not, you're, mm -mm. That's not where I'm going with this.

47:25

That's legalism. That's vain religion, too. That's vain religion, too.

47:33

Dear ones, our holiness as Christians should come from our hearts.

47:39

It should come from a place of wanting to please our Savior, to live in such a way that honors

47:47

Him, that glorifies Him. One of the surest ways that you can know that you have a different relationship with the

47:55

Savior than you did before your conversion is if you have a different relationship with sin.

48:04

That is one of the surest ways to know that you are truly in Christ. Do you have a different relationship with sin today than you did before?

48:14

Our personal holiness should come from a place where we want to please Christ and live in such a way that honors

48:20

Him. This is about pleasing God through our personal holiness.

48:27

I want to read to you a quote from J .C. Ryle. J .C. Ryle was a bishop in Liverpool, England.

48:34

And J .C. Ryle has written a very helpful book, by the way, on holiness. Look up that on Google, J .C.

48:39

Ryle and holiness, and get that book. It's very helpful. He says this, quote, He who supposes that Jesus Christ only lived and died and rose again in order to provide justification and forgiveness of sins for His people,

48:55

He died only for that. That person has yet much to learn.

49:01

Whether he knows it or not, he is dishonoring our blessed Lord in making Him only a half -savior.

49:10

Jesus Christ did come to die and save us from our sins, to make us right with God, to provide our justification, our salvation, and to secure it.

49:19

Yes, He did. But He also came to die that we would be a peculiar people, set apart, holy.

49:28

We should show our love for God by our obedience to His commands. It should come from a place of love for our

49:35

Savior. Not to meet legalistic demands, but to please our

49:40

King. We should obey His commands because His commands are not burdensome to us.

49:46

Colossians 2, verse 6, Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, so walk in Him.

49:54

Receive Jesus as Lord and so walk in Him. In pure and undefiled religion that controls the tongue, that cares for the needy, and that protects and guards and nurtures our own personal holiness.

50:13

Let's close in a word of prayer. Father, in so many ways, we as your children, we are strangers.

50:26

We are strangers. We find ourselves in a strange land. We find ourselves in a world that is opposed to you.

50:36

And we live in these fallen bodies, still with fallen fleshly desires. And the world tugs on us.

50:45

Father, may we always keep in the forefront of our mind that we as your people are to be different.

50:53

That we owe our King a life of devotion out of the gratitude of the profundity of what

51:02

He has done for us. So, Father, may we live lives that are holy. May our religion be before you pure and undefiled.