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Right now on Tuesday nights,
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Tim is going through a series
on the battle with sin.
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And in part 1, he dealt
with the sin of pride.
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And I felt that it would be beneficial
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to make a video dealing with
some of my own issues
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that recently God has really dealt with me
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to discipline me to
make me more set apart,
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more holy, and more like Christ
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and less proud.
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I guess around 5 or 6 months ago,
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I went over to Tim's
house to be encouraged.
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I had a long day.
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I felt, I need to be encouraged.
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And I went over there,
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and God had such encouragement for me
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in a way that I did not anticipate;
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I did not expect.
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And I sat down and I'm talking to Tim.
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And at some point, Tim looks at me,
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and he says to me, he says,
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"James, in Matthew 7,
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it says the measure that you judge with
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will be judged right back at you."
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And he said to me these chilling words,
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he said, "James, I wouldn't
want to be in your shoes
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on judgment day."
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I tell you, that hit me.
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That shook me up.
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And I thank God that right as I heard that
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I acknowledged it as truth
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and I praised the Lord.
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I didn't outwardly praise the Lord,
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but inside, I was praising God,
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because the devil was right there
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saying, "Look, James, Tim is judgmental.
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He's just judging you."
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No, that wasn't true.
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Tim was loving me.
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He loved me enough to tell me a truth
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that I needed to hear,
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and I heard it from someone
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who I had great respect for.
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And therefore, the weight
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of what was being said
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hit me as it ought.
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And it's exactly what I needed.
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Many of my failures were
mentioned that night.
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And that was the best thing that
could have happened for me.
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And not only that,
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it was an answer to a prayer
I had just prayed that morning.
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I had prayed,
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"Lord, do whatever it takes
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to make me like Christ."
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And so God heard my prayer.
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And so He sees some imperfection in me.
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Obviously, God allowed Tim to see
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this obvious imperfection.
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And Tim lovingly told me the truth
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and God allowed my heart to receive it,
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to be humbled,
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to not try to deny it
and press on in pride,
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but to see my failure.
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And God showed me, you know what,
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James, you've been too judgmental;
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too quick to judge.
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Right when I got saved, it was so easy
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to say, "you're lost," "you're saved."
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And then God put me through my own battle
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with sin, with idolatry,
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to let me see.
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Look, James...
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God's saying, look, James,
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you're falling into this.
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You keep going back to this.
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Are you a slave of your sin?
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And no, I wasn't a slave of my sin.
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But I started to realize,
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you know what, there is a real struggle
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that people are going through
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and you can be very quick to judge
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and say, well, look, this person
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is falling into pornography.
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They've got to be lost.
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Yes, the Bible says no sexually immoral
person will inherit the Kingdom,
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that's true.
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But what's going to happen over the time?
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As time goes on, if they're
going back to that sin,
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and they're a slave of it,
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then they should have no
assurance they're a Christian.
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But as time goes on
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and they continue to have victories,
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I'm there to encourage them,
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not to judge them and beat them down.
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Then God's going to be glorified
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as they break free of that sin
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and they prove that they were a Christian.
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And I remember even
reading about King David.
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If King David came to me and said,
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"James, I've murdered.
I've committed adultery."
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Right when I was first saved,
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I would have said,
"you're not a Christian."
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Yet, obviously he was.
Look at the fruit of his life.
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He loved the Lord.
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Obviously he did, but he had a struggle.
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And so the Lord put me through
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an idolatry in my heart
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where I was going emotionally
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to other sources instead of Christ,
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and I wasn't satisfied in the Lord.
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And the greatest evidence of that
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was my lack of prayer.
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And when you don't pray,
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you're going to be judgmental.
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When you don't pray,
you're going to run to idols.
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When you don't pray,
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you're not going to be satisfied
in the Lord Jesus Christ.
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I mean, even this morning,
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I remember waking up
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and I wanted kind of roll back in bed.
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I woke up before my alarm went off
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and the Lord was telling me,
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James, I woke you up right now.
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Get out of your bed and go seek My face.
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When I was out praying,
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being with the Lord was far better
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than being in that bed.
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And if I stayed in that bed,
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I would have fell into something that day.
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I would have got proud.
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I would have thought highly of myself.
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We need pride to get put to death
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so bad.
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And God loves us so much
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if we're His children
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that He's going to discipline us.
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And so, I just wanted
to testify about that,
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about God's love for my own soul,
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that He loved me to have a brother
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tell me the truth in love,
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to rebuke me,
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that I could then repent of that
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and strive to live a more holy,
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more Christ-like life.
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To be not like the world.
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But to be like Christ.
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So God help me continue
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and others - we can't be overcritical.
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I'm sure there's something in my own self
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even in this video that you could find
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and you could rip and tear me apart
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in a moment.
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And the reality is, that's what I
was doing to a lot of people.
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Finding the one flaw and imperfection
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and ripping them apart.
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With all that said though,
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we all will be judged by God.
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And we need to be ready.
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And if there's some unchecked sin;
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if we don't have clear consciences,
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we need to deal with it.
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1 Timothy 1:19 says
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many people shipwreck
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because they don't hold
to a good conscience.
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So if God is showing you sin in your life
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like He's done in mine,
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may God help us humble ourselves
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and forsake it and cling to Christ.
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Jesus is more beautiful than
anything in this world.
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There's no hope, but in Him.
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So may God break us of pride,
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and I pray as Tim
continues to do this series,
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that the Lord reveals more sin in my life,
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to make me more like Christ
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and may He do the same
for everyone out there,
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that we would be like Christ;
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that we would love like Christ.
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So God help us.
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Amen.