Welcome to the Paul Tripp podcast, where pastor and best-selling author Paul David Tripp connects the transforming power of Jesus Christ to everyday life.

The core message of the gospel is the free gift of grace, something we could never earn, achieve, or deserve.

In today's episode, we continue our

archived sermon series on the Book of James. In this sermon, Paul addresses the seductive temptation

to develop a critical spirit towards others. If the Lord were to stand in the midst of his church,

he might say, you have marred the beauty of my grace. To hear more sermons from Paul, visit

paultrip.com slash sermons. Here's Paul from James four.

We stood there thinking, what have you done? We were looking for a house several years ago. We were in the living room of a great

old Philadelphia stone home, a bit shocked at what we saw.

This home had been adorned with things that just didn't fit.

Above us were plasticized fake wood beams.

The wall to our right was covered with mirrored tile.

The color of the living room was garish beyond imagination, festooned with a chandelier that I will not take the time to describe.

You couldn't help but stand in the middle of that wonderful house and say,

what have you done?

I would wonder this evening

if our Lord at points and at places

would stand in the middle of the house of his gospel and say,

what have you done?

How is it that we've taken a message, a humbling message of need and weakness and failure and sin and turned it into an occasion for pride.

How is it that we've taken a message of awesome transforming love and made it an occasion for condemnation and judgment.

How is it that we've received the hope and the promise of ever patient grace,

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