April 15, 2020
Online study of James, Jeff Hicks
James 4: 7-10 Get Real About Your Sin
#3 – Get Real and Be Serious About Your Sin
Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. 9 Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom.
CIRCLE…. Grieve, mourn, wail, gloom…
NOW – those words don’t really appeal to us, do they?
I MEAN – we want things to be light, fun and bubbly, right?
We just want somebody to make us feel good, and we want to laugh. We want church to ben that, and we want home to be that. We want movies to be that, and we want...
Going to church should make you feel good! Good about your victory or good about getting right with God. James 5: 16
There is a time for joy, laughter and happiness in the life of a Christian. EVERY ABUNDANT
LIFE HAS THESE THINGS. However sometimes getting real with God is best described, "Mourn. Weep. Wail." Why?
NOW - the Puritans were very deep thinkers. I mean, they had their own issues. How those guys could think so rightly about the things of God and own slaves has always kind of been an issue in my mind concerning the Puritans.
But they wrote some profound things. One of the things the Puritans would pray for is tears. They would pray to be grieved by their sins.
When they felt like the weight of their rebellion against God wasn't falling on their hearts, they would literally stop, and they would pray and ask God to help them mourn about their own sin.
"God, I just pray you would crush me completely. I just have not seen my sin for what it really is, so will you just turn me into a heaping, sobbing mess of regret?"
No. We want happy and chipper and, "Yeah, tell me how awesome things are. Let's talk about new heavens and new earth. Let's do that one!"
Yet it's in the dirt, being fully busted and fully understanding what's now at stake, through tears and dirt that the grace of God sends us into the orbit of joy.
The Bible tells us a woman was caught in adultery. John 7: 53-11 She was dragged naked into a crowd and flung at the feet of Jesus. The men who caught her said,
"The law says..." This woman was caught in adultery. "The law says we should stone her, should kill her." She is busted in her sin. She is naked and ashamed. She is thrown in front of a mob that has dragged her to this Rabbi and has the law on their side. "The law says she dies! What do you say?"
With tears and dirt and shame all over her, Jesus says, "Let the one of you who is without sin cast the first stone." The Bible tells us from oldest to youngest, they dropped their stones and left. Then he picked up a rock and pelted her. No! That's not what happened.
It is visible for all the world to see. In the most shameful, despicable moment of her life, he looks her in the face and says," Has no one condemned you? Neither do I. Now go and sin no more."
See, it's in the dust. It's in the dirt. It's in our tears. It's in our heartbrokenness over our sin that the forgiveness and grace of this jealous God changes us. Do you think this woman got up and moped away, or do you think she leapt up and skipped away?
Dana made Sandy and I masks to wear in public. “Thank you, sweet Dana.” I haven’t worn mine yet. “If everyone else is wearing a mask, why should I have to?” I know I should, and I promise I will, because it’s the right thing to do. I have been irresponsible. I’m sorry.
Satan’s greatest nightmare is the Christian who is convinced of these two realities - sin is serious and His grace is enough.
