This transcript was generated by whisper.ai.

Hi, I want to welcome you to Daily Drive Time Devotions on Day 2 of our look
through James Chapter 2. We're going to look at verses 9 to 13 today. In fact,
I'd like to begin by reading those verses, James 2, 9 to 13.

But if you show favoritism, you sin and are convicted by the law as lawbreakers.
For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of
breaking all of it. For he who said, "Do not commit adultery," also said, "Do
not murder.

" If you do not commit adultery, but you do commit murder, you become a
lawbreaker. Speak and act as those who are going to be judged by the law that
gives freedom. Because judgment without mercy will be shown to anyone who has
not been merciful.

Mercy triumphs over judgment. Yesterday, we talked about favoritism and not
showing favoritism, and James now says in verse 9, "But if you do choose to show
favoritism, it's sin. And if you sin, you're convicted by the law as a
lawbreaker.

" As we walk through these verses, and James talks about a lot of things in
these few verses, he seems to go from point to point, and it's hard to tie it
together for many of us, that there are two things to be aware of that he's
talking about. He's talking about the fact that I am a lawbreaker, and he's
talking about the fact that I will be judged. He's talking about the fact that
you are a lawbreaker and that you will be judged.

At the beginning of these verses, in verse 10, he begins to talk about us all
being lawbreakers. Whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one
point is guilty of breaking all of it. Many people, even many believers, never
really understand the meaning of this verse.

You see, for most of us, there are big sins and little sins in our book. And we
think, "Well, I'm not going to commit the big sins. If I commit some of the
little sins, then I know I'm forgiven by Jesus, and yet I'm never going to
commit any of the big sins.

" And we have this thought in our mind that we are more holy. We are less of a
lawbreaker than the people who commit the bigger sins. But God says here, yeah,
God obviously understands that some sins have more consequences than others.

God obviously understands that there are some sins that have stronger
consequences than others. There are some sins that hurt others in ways that
others don't. But when it comes to sin, sin with a big S, the sin that we all
have in our lives, sin is sin, he's saying here.

If you're a breaker of the law, you are a lawbreaker. We all stand in need of
God at that same place, a breaker of the law. Now, as I said, many of us never
get this picture.

As I talk to many people about sin, the idea is somewhat of weights on a scale.
And what we want to do is we want to keep more of God's laws than we break. And
we want to keep more important of God's laws than we break.

So I want to keep more laws and I want to make sure I keep the more important
ones. So if I break a few of the little ones, that weighs down this side of the
scale. But if I keep a lot of the big ones, then that puts a bigger weight on
this side of the scale.

We do this both before and after we become believers. Before we become a
believer, we weigh the scale out and we think that our salvation is dependent on
how am I doing? Am I keeping a lot of the big ones?

And then maybe I'll make it into heaven based on that. And then there comes a
day when you realize I'm not getting into heaven based on what I've done. I need
Jesus' forgiveness and we ask for forgiveness.

But even after asking for forgiveness, we still have this scale in our minds
many times. Where we're thinking the Christian life is all about the scale now.
I know I'm saved by grace, but my Christian life and the way I live it, I want
to keep a lot of the good things, the big things.

And if I break some of the little ones, it is not that big a deal. God says
that's not the way to look at it. It's not like a scales.

In fact, the true picture of sin isn't like some scales. It's more like a giant
mousetrap. And with a mousetrap, you trip it just once and you're dead.

You can go by that mousetrap a hundred times, a thousand times, ten thousand
times. And nine thousand, nine hundred and ninety nine times you don't trip it.
You trip it once and you're dead.

These verses say if you stumble at one point, you're guilty of breaking all of
it. The reason many of us struggle with understanding the holiness of God is we
don't understand the depth of our own depravity and sin. I certainly don't
understand it.

I don't see myself as God sees me. So I have to trust what God says about me.
And God says I am a law breaker.

The truth about me is I tripped that trap. I decided to do what I wanted to do
selfishly. I still do.

And because of that, I am deeply in need of His forgiveness. I am a law breaker.
And what's the value of realizing that?

Isn't that just a guilt inducing statement? I'm a law breaker? No.

The value of realizing that is seeing your need. I am a law breaker. And because
of that, I will be judged.

I'll be judged. And I'm going to be judged by one of two laws. This is extremely
important to understand.

I'm going to be judged either by the law that brings death or the law that gives
freedom. He talks in these verses about a law that gives freedom. But the other
side of that is a law that brings death.

That is the idea of trying to make myself right before God based on the things
that I do. If all I've got when I show up to heaven is the good things that I've
done, and I say, God, look, here's some good things that I've done, there's so
much that I haven't done. And there's so much that I've done wrong.

And God's standard, because God is perfect, God is holy, to live in His
presence, I would need to be perfect and holy. I'm depending just on myself. I'm
a law breaker.

And that's the law that brings death. But that's not the law I have to depend
on. I can also, I can instead, depend on the law that brings freedom.

Now, what is that law? Well, that's the law of love. The book of Galatians talks
about this.

Jesus talks about this. The Old Testament headed us towards this. That is, I
believe, the law of love.

The fact that God loves me and has given Himself for me in Jesus Christ. And the
fact that I can love others. Remember, these verses we're talking about, they
come right after, we talked about at the end of yesterday, loving your neighbor
as you love yourself.

Jesus' command for us to love our neighbor, love God with all your heart, mind,
soul, and strength, and love your neighbor as yourself. So what should my
response be to this? I'm a law breaker, and I am going to be judged, and I can
choose.

Am I going to be judged by the law that brings death, depending on my own good
works, or am I going to be judged by the law that brings freedom, God's love for me
in Jesus Christ, and my response to that in loving others. James writes and
says, I want you to speak and act, in verse 12, as those who are going to be
judged by the law that gives freedom. See, these verses are all about how I
speak and how I act.

And because I know I have freedom of forgiveness in Jesus Christ, I can speak
differently, and I can act differently. If I'm being judged by the law that
brings death, I'm going to speak and act as somebody who is on his way to judgment,
who's filled with guilt, who knows that what I'm doing isn't good enough, and
that's going to feed its way into every one of my relationships. I am going to show
favoritism, because I feel like I need God's favoritism of me.

Once I realize the law of love is what rules in my life, the royal law, God's
love for me, my love for others, once that happens, it's like a key is turned in
a door, something is unlocked, where I don't have to show favoritism anymore,
where I have the freedom, the law that brings freedom, I have the freedom to
love, because I know how much God has loved me. What should my response be? I
speak and I act as those who are going to be judged by this law of love.

My understanding of judgment impacts the way I speak, and my understanding of
judgment impacts the way that I act. As long as I think that I am under God's
judgment, under the threat of somehow not quite measuring up, then I'm going to
speak and I'm going to act in ways that tear down my relationships and my life. But
the moment I begin to realize that I've been forgiven by Jesus Christ, and I
take that into my life, and I live that out of my life, then I'm going to speak and
I'm going to act as a forgiving person.

What he's saying here is, our words and our actions are in direct response to
our ideas of judgment. As long as I feel under judgment, I'm going to speak and act
with judgment. Soon as I realize I've been set free, I'm going to speak and act
with freedom.

That's why he says in verse 13, judgment without mercy will be shown to anyone
who has not been merciful. If I'm not merciful, what verse 13 is saying is this,
it shows that I am not living under the law that gives freedom. I'm living under
the law of judgment.

It shows my heart. It shows where I am. And then he says at the end of verse 13,
this incredible phrase, mercy triumphs over judgment.

We're going to focus on that phrase tomorrow because this whole idea of mercy and
judgment and how they fit together, it's huge in our lives. But today as we end,
I'd like to go back to the fact that we all are lawbreakers. We all will be
judged.

And I can either be judged based on what I've done or I can give myself to Jesus
Christ, let him take care of the judgment that God would bring upon me because
of his forgiveness. If you're not sure that you've ever made that decision, if
you're thinking that maybe you're still depending on the good things you've done
to make yourself right before God, you don't have to live with that sense of
dread or guilt or fear one more second. This very moment you can say to Jesus
Christ, Jesus Christ, thank you for what you did for me.

Just be honest with him. I have broken your law. I am a lawbreaker.

I can make all kinds of excuses about how I'm better than this person or I
haven't done as bad as that person, but the truth of the matter is, I've
stumbled at many points. And so I'm guilty of breaking it all. I've broken your
law.

I need your forgiveness. I need the freedom, Jesus, of what you have done in my
life, your love, given for me on the cross. So I ask you now to forgive me.

Give me new life in your name. And I ask you, Jesus, I ask you because I know
how deeply you love me, because I know that you gave yourself for me. In Jesus'
name, I pray.

Amen.