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Real Talk Part 5
Pastor Justin discusses James Chapter 4, focusing on the dangers of friendship with the world and the need for humility and repentance. He explains how inner desires can lead to conflicts in the church and shares practical ways to submit to God and realign your heart your heart.
Key Insights
- Recognizing and repenting from hidden passions and desires
- Tangible steps for humility and repentance in your life
- The difference between serving the world and loving people
- How worldly wisdom contrasts with godly wisdom
- What it means to be double-minded and how to break free
https://springhousemidweek.captivate.fm/episode/real-talk-part-5
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Contact Info
Springhouse Church
14119 Old Nashville Highway
Smyrna TN 37167
CCLI License 2070006
Transcript
We bless you tonight, Holy Spirit. We thank you, Lord, for your
Speaker:presence in this place and the presence in our lives. God
Speaker:transform us because of your truth. Through your truth tonight. In
Speaker:Jesus name, everybody said amen. Thanks for joining
Speaker:us this evening. You may be seated in the presence of the Lord. Glad that
Speaker:you are here today. If you're joining us on Live stream, thank you for joining
Speaker:us. A couple of things. If you have Operation
Speaker:Christmas Child box, we need those to come back on Sunday so we have enough
Speaker:time to get those delivered to the people who are going
Speaker:to be taking those and delivering those to the children across
Speaker:the globe. And then also we are opening A Christmas
Speaker:Carol tomorrow night. And so we invite you to be a part of that
Speaker:this weekend and next weekend as well. And
Speaker:finally, the Thiessens, Ron and Annette Thiessen, will be with us
Speaker:this weekend. And if you're interested, we have some more spots for the luncheon
Speaker:that's happening right after the second gathering. If you'd like to learn more about their
Speaker:missions and outreach opportunities, we invite you to be a part of that. God's
Speaker:always in the habit. It seems to be saving the very best for right now,
Speaker:and I believe he's saved the best right now. Would you guys welcome Pastor Justin
Speaker:as he brings us further into real talk? That's it.
Speaker:I was talking with Pastor Wayne earlier. I said, you know,
Speaker:I got about five verses into this last night, and I shut my Bible. And
Speaker:I was like, are we really sure that we're gonna do
Speaker:this? You know, my only saving grace is, you know, I'm just
Speaker:the word. This is the word. So I'm thankful to share
Speaker:tonight. Hey, don't be alarmed if
Speaker:it's not 30 degrees anymore after that chilly weekend we
Speaker:had after my farmer's Almanade prediction. Just wanna remind you guys, we live in
Speaker:Tennessee. And so the weather is unpredictable. Okay?
Speaker:It was snow flurries. On Monday morning, it'll be
Speaker:72, Tom. So that's pretty much
Speaker:life living in Tennessee with nine seasons you will
Speaker:experience in the same week. But don't
Speaker:be worried. Cold is coming, and farmers don't cry in the
Speaker:winter. As my brother Terrence Lyon used to say, changing seasons is a good
Speaker:thing. And sometimes it takes things to
Speaker:die in us in order for
Speaker:a new season of the ground being broken up and
Speaker:new seeds being planted and new rains to come,
Speaker:for new crops to grow up. And so don't be afraid of the cold
Speaker:seasons. Farmers don't cry in the winter, y'. All. All right, here
Speaker:we go. James Chapter four. You ready? Is it? I hope it's hot
Speaker:coffee to stay awake for this one. Tonight's meeting.
Speaker:You better make a note. He has no pen
Speaker:or paper, but he's making notes, guys. Yeah, mental
Speaker:note. So we're in week five, chapter four. Week
Speaker:one was an introduction week, and we are
Speaker:in James, chapter four. Some chapter three highlights. If you weren't with us
Speaker:or if you forgot what we discussed last week. James
Speaker:talked about teaching as a calling, and this is
Speaker:obviously one I did not ask for. A lot of
Speaker:the gifts that you receive from the Lord are not the ones that you chose
Speaker:for yourself, you know? And I was talking with Pastor Wayne
Speaker:again this week, and verses that say, hey, teachers
Speaker:are gonna be held to a higher standard. Bother me. Cause I'm like, why do
Speaker:I have to be held to a higher standard when I didn't ask for this?
Speaker:Right? This was your doing. He's like, yeah, and now you're responsible for it.
Speaker:Like, how does that work? Right? But he's
Speaker:God and I'm not. And then we talked about taming the tongue.
Speaker:James talks about taming our tongues. It is an
Speaker:unruly evil full of deadly poison, and no man can
Speaker:tame it. This is why we, the Holy Spirit, remember,
Speaker:James was one that was in the upper room.
Speaker:And so James was a spirit filled believer. And he understood
Speaker:that even as you've been walking and maturing, this is
Speaker:still something that must be done, and walked out. And then
Speaker:finally, James closes chapter three with
Speaker:giving a contrast of worldly wisdom versus
Speaker:godly wisdom. And the wisdom that comes from above is pure,
Speaker:then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy,
Speaker:good fruit, impartial and sincere. And a
Speaker:harvest of righteousness is sown in peace by those who makes
Speaker:peace. So James closes out chapter three talking
Speaker:about the difference between worldly wisdom and godly wisdom.
Speaker:And then he goes right into chapter four with more of his
Speaker:rhetorical questions. This is how he
Speaker:starts chapter four. What causes quarrels and what causes fights
Speaker:among you? Why
Speaker:are you fighting and arguing? Is it not this that
Speaker:your passions are at war within you?
Speaker:So he ends one sentence and line of thinking, talking about the
Speaker:difference between worldly wisdom and godly wisdom. And he opens his next
Speaker:line of thought like, why are you fighting and arguing?
Speaker:What causes fights and quarrels from
Speaker:among you? Fights and quarrels come from various sources,
Speaker:including disagreements over differing opinions.
Speaker:Y' all see that anywhere in society,
Speaker:disagreements over differing opinions.
Speaker:It doesn't have to be politics. Get on any sports page.
Speaker:Get on any homeschool. Page. Get on any page
Speaker:about school and see how the homeschool community acts
Speaker:and how the public school community acts. Right? These are all differing
Speaker:opinions. If you have evangelical
Speaker:discussions about denominations or
Speaker:post tribulation or pre tribulation rapture of the church, right?
Speaker:These cause quarrels and fights. Disagreements over
Speaker:differing opinions, values or goals.
Speaker:God gave us emotions as almost a caution
Speaker:light. Whenever I notice that my emotions are getting out of
Speaker:whack. It's almost like that yellow light that says, hey, you might want to slow
Speaker:down. Things are going to change here in just a second. And if you keep
Speaker:going through there, it's going to turn red and you might get into a crash.
Speaker:Anger is one of those caution lights. And anger
Speaker:typically symbolizes a blocked goal. Okay?
Speaker:Anger typically symbolizes a goal that we have
Speaker:that somebody else is blocking. Right? Whether it's my
Speaker:goal to get Wyatt to believe the same thing I believe. And if he's
Speaker:not believing it, then I might get angry about it. He's blocking that
Speaker:goal. Right? We do agree that the
Speaker:packers are not the, you know,
Speaker:division leaders. And see now that. Look,
Speaker:difference of opinion. Here we go. Causes fights and quarrels right here.
Speaker:Poor communication. This is another one that causes fights
Speaker:and quarrels. Poor communication. There was a season where if you're
Speaker:married, you ever get in a season where you're just missing, you know, like,
Speaker:we're saying similar things, but we're just not on the same
Speaker:page. Our communication is poor. And what I found is
Speaker:that my wife usually speaks logically and I speak emotionally,
Speaker:okay? And being an out loud processor, this
Speaker:is hard for me, okay? Because my wife is an internal processor. And
Speaker:some of you have heard this before and you can't stop me if you have
Speaker:heard it. An internal processor and an external
Speaker:processor do not argue well, okay? Because
Speaker:what they say has already been processed in their
Speaker:brain before it comes out of their mouth. An
Speaker:external processor has to say it in order to
Speaker:process it in their brain. That's a problem because I
Speaker:will say things that are not necessarily the final
Speaker:conclusion. I'm trying to get there, but instead what
Speaker:I say is, that's a stupid idea. Well, really, the idea's not
Speaker:stupid. I just think it's stupid. Maybe I'm stupid and it just
Speaker:goes in circles and if she responds at any moment,
Speaker:I'm thrown off because then now I have another
Speaker:box open and I'm still working through this argument here.
Speaker:And now I've got to address this situation and it can be a train wreck.
Speaker:Right? That's an example of poor communication. And guess what? That will cause a quarrel
Speaker:or a fight. Personal factors like
Speaker:stress or emotions and internal desires that clash with
Speaker:reality. You know, when you're just not in the mood for something, right?
Speaker:Sometimes you're just, Nothing's wrong. You're just like, I'm not in the mood for any
Speaker:of your nonsense.
Speaker:I told five of the six kids when we got out of the truck today.
Speaker:Pastor Allen can attest to this. I said, listen, guys, I'm not
Speaker:in a bad mood, but I'm in a mood. And that mood is not for
Speaker:any of your nonsense today. Said the first one of y' all go running,
Speaker:skipping, cartwheeling, stomping, flipping, yelling, running through this
Speaker:church, they gonna find out what kind of parent I am. And I would rather
Speaker:not do that before everybody gets here to this cafe.
Speaker:So luckily, we got that out of the way 15 minutes before y' all got
Speaker:here. It sounded like two wild gorillas in that hallway. I said, that better
Speaker:not be a kid out there. Two
Speaker:little old heads come poking around the corner. It was Alyssa Laughlin.
Speaker:I was like. And was you involved? They was like, yeah, we was invisible. Come
Speaker:on in here. Let's talk about this for a second. I wasn't. I'm not in
Speaker:a bad mood. I'm just. I'm not in the mood for any of your nonsense,
Speaker:right? And so sometimes when you're not in a mood, you almost
Speaker:have this chip on your shoulder where you're ready,
Speaker:right? I secretly wish I should
Speaker:probably not say this. I'm gonna say it anyway.
Speaker:There's about a 5%. Me and my wife met at karate
Speaker:class, okay? Many, many years ago, okay? And so the way we
Speaker:flirt is we fight. We pick on each other, right? The dogs get to barking,
Speaker:kids get to laughing, but that's the way we flirt. But there's about 5%
Speaker:of me right now that wishes somebody would try
Speaker:it just to see if I still got it.
Speaker:Just to see if all that Jeet Kune do is still deep down inside of
Speaker:me, you know? Like, there's a part of me goes. I just. I just. It's
Speaker:a small chip, but it's still there, you know? And I'm like, you know what?
Speaker:I wish you would. I hope it's not today. Today's not the day. You know,
Speaker:I would probably just be like, I'm done. You just whip me. You know? Maybe
Speaker:tomorrow, though. But this is not what James is
Speaker:talking about. All of these are legitimate reasons why we
Speaker:fight and quarrel, and this is not what James is talking about.
Speaker:Remember. Who is James talking to here in this
Speaker:letter? He's talking to the church.
Speaker:He's not talking to an individual. He's not
Speaker:talking to Smitty. He's not talking to White. He's saying the
Speaker:church. These are the Jews that have been dispersed.
Speaker:These are believers in Jesus. And he says, there is
Speaker:fights and quarrels among you. Why are
Speaker:you fighting among yourselves? He's talking
Speaker:to the church. Verses 2 and 3.
Speaker:Here's why. You desire and you do not have,
Speaker:so you murder. He's. You
Speaker:covet and you cannot obtain, so you
Speaker:fight and quarrel. You do not have because you do
Speaker:not ask. You ask and you do not receive because you ask
Speaker:wrongly to spend it on your passions. I don't know who
Speaker:highlighted that, but I'm thankful you did.
Speaker:He says the reason for your fighting and arguing
Speaker:is because of the passions that war inside of you.
Speaker:Hedonism is a term that comes from the Greek word
Speaker:hedon, which means passions. And hedonism is a
Speaker:philosophical belief that pleasure is of the highest good
Speaker:and the sole intrinsic good, making the pursuit of
Speaker:pleasure and the avoidance of pain the ultimate aim
Speaker:in life. The early church is following
Speaker:a pattern of hedonism, which is a form of
Speaker:secularism. It's not a Christian form
Speaker:of worship to be led by your passions
Speaker:and driven by your lusts. And then
Speaker:he says you do not have because you don't ask.
Speaker:And then you don't get it because you're asking for the wrong reasons.
Speaker:Do you realize that you can pray for the wrong stuff?
Speaker:Church, they may say there's no such thing
Speaker:as a stupid question, but there's probably some stupid prayers.
Speaker:I don't know if God thinks they're stupid, but me and James think they're ridiculous.
Speaker:Cause you're praying for the wrong stuff. Not all prayers are pleasing to God. Let
Speaker:me go on and say that. According to James, not all prayers are
Speaker:pleasing to God, not all
Speaker:pleasure is wrong. But what is our focus?
Speaker:Pleasure that does not honor God is wrong.
Speaker:I would like for you to evaluate what you're asking for.
Speaker:He says you don't have cause, you don't ask.
Speaker:Would we like to just cut the next part of that verse off? Well, you
Speaker:have not. Cause you ask. Not close mouth. Don't get fed. God, I need
Speaker:that million in cash. And
Speaker:you ask and you don't receive. Cause you're asking for the wrong reason. Why?
Speaker:Cause you're gonna spend it on your own passions. What if I
Speaker:said I need a million dollars to build A food bank. Now we're talking, son.
Speaker:But the food bank's gonna pay me 500 grand a year. Now we're not
Speaker:talking, right?
Speaker:Pleasure that does not honor God is wrong.
Speaker:And James, he's just getting started, y'. All. He says, you
Speaker:adulterous people, do you not know
Speaker:that friendship with the world is enmity with God?
Speaker:Therefore, whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself
Speaker:an enemy of God. Adulterous people is the
Speaker:same language the Old Testament prophets used describing
Speaker:Israel's unfaithfulness to Yahweh. When he tells
Speaker:them, you adulterous people, they know exactly what
Speaker:he's talking about. This is from Jeremiah. For long
Speaker:ago I broke your yoke and burst your bonds. But you said, I will not
Speaker:serve. Yes, on every high hill and under every
Speaker:green tree you bow down like a whore.
Speaker:Jeremiah was all over the place with this, too. The Lord said to me, in
Speaker:the days of King Josiah, have you seen what she did, that
Speaker:faithless one Israel? How she went
Speaker:up on every high hill and under every green tree,
Speaker:and there played the whore. And I thought, after
Speaker:she has done all this, she will return to me. But she did not
Speaker:return. And her treacherous sister Judah saw it.
Speaker:She saw that for all the adulteries of that faithless one Israel,
Speaker:I had sent her away with a decree of divorce. Yet
Speaker:her treacherous sister Judah did not fear. But she too
Speaker:went and played the whore, because she took her whoredom lightly.
Speaker:She polluted the land, committing adultery with
Speaker:stone and tree. Stone and tree were symbolics
Speaker:of what they would carve idols out of. And they were being
Speaker:adulterous to Yahweh by leaving his care,
Speaker:walking out from under the hand of Yahweh to worship other
Speaker:gods had become adulterous to God. And James says, this
Speaker:is exactly how y' all are acting. Yet for all this,
Speaker:her treacherous sister Judah did not to return to me with her whole heart, but
Speaker:in pretense, declares the Lord. And then finally in Hosea, when the Lord
Speaker:first spoke through Hosea, the Lord said to Hosea, go take to yourself
Speaker:a wife of whoredom and have children of whoredom. For the land
Speaker:commits great whoredom by forsaking the Lord.
Speaker:To be honest, does this language bother you?
Speaker:It bothers you to hear me say whore so many times down here, right?
Speaker:Are we more uncomfortable with the reading or the
Speaker:actions that necessitated the writing?
Speaker:As a church, not as spring house, but as a church.
Speaker:Are we more uncomfortable when God says, y' all are acting like whores
Speaker:because you're chasing other Gods, you're adulteress. Are
Speaker:we more uncomfortable to hear that than the
Speaker:actions that necessitate this type of writing and language?
Speaker:It's a hard question to answer.
Speaker:So what is friendship with the world? Because James says.
Speaker:He says, he says.
Speaker:James says, I probably should have
Speaker:put it again at the back, right? Come on, mama. Rookie mistake right
Speaker:there, Mom. It's a rookie mistake. He says, do
Speaker:you not know that friendship with the world is enmity
Speaker:with God? What is friendship with the world?
Speaker:What is friendship with the world? Well,
Speaker:friendship is defined as a relationship
Speaker:with mutual affection,
Speaker:trust and respect between two or more people.
Speaker:It involves a voluntary bond
Speaker:where individuals choose to spend time together,
Speaker:enjoy each other's company, and provide emotional support,
Speaker:often sharing some similar interests and
Speaker:experiences. Now, how does the kingdom of God and the
Speaker:world have similar interests and experiences?
Speaker:We do not. Do we? Does the kingdom of heaven
Speaker:and the kingdom of this earth have congruent ideals
Speaker:and ideologies? No. They're at war.
Speaker:And yet James says, y' all are holding
Speaker:hands, skipping around, going to Starbucks.
Speaker:Y' all are at the movies. Y' all went to that game together.
Speaker:A key aspect of friendship is that it is a deeper bond than
Speaker:a mere acquaintance. James didn't say, you're familiar with the
Speaker:world. What did he say?
Speaker:Friendship with the world. Friendship with
Speaker:the world is enmity with God. A key aspect
Speaker:of friendship is. It's a deeper bond than a mere acquaintance. It's
Speaker:built on a foundation of shared activity.
Speaker:The church and the world being friends has
Speaker:a foundation of shared activity. I don't know
Speaker:about you, but I can't go out into this world. I can't go
Speaker:downtown on Broadway on Saturday night and think that that looks like
Speaker:this place on Sunday morning. Does it? I don't even know what
Speaker:Broadway looks like anymore. I had a client ask me. They're a transplant. They moved
Speaker:from somewhere, I don't know. And it was like, do you go downtown and listen
Speaker:to music on the weekend? I said, I ain't been downtown in 15
Speaker:years. I don't even know what downtown looks like. I said, I'm from here.
Speaker:We don't go downtown. We built downtown for y', all,
Speaker:right? Downtown is for you. I'm not going downtown
Speaker:unless it's 10am Everybody's still asleep. That was just
Speaker:downtown. Now, what
Speaker:I look like being a friend of that, does
Speaker:that make sense? It's built on
Speaker:a foundation of shared activity, intimacy and
Speaker:mutual caring. And James says, man, if
Speaker:you guys are in lockstep with the world, you are at
Speaker:enmity with God. Therefore, whoever wishes to be
Speaker:a. Whoever wants to be a friend of the world. And we're not talking
Speaker:about. This is not talking about loving on sinners.
Speaker:That's not what he's talking about. He's not talking about how people
Speaker:of all walks of life and people that are in some rough spots and you're
Speaker:supposed to shun them. He's talking to believers here.
Speaker:This is not. These are not new people off
Speaker:the street. This is the. He's writing to the Jews at the
Speaker:dispersion. These are people who have a lifetime of growing
Speaker:up in a religious environment. These are people who have either
Speaker:seen the resurrected Christ or have believed in the
Speaker:resurrected Christ. They have encountered believers who have been filled with the Holy
Speaker:Spirit. They've seen miracles. They've seen the early church start to grow.
Speaker:They've been persecuted. Stephen has been killed. So they're either running
Speaker:through their life, they know that this is real. They're not brand new.
Speaker:And James says, you guys are being adulterous to God.
Speaker:You're acting the same way as our ancestors did. Why? Because you're in
Speaker:bed with the world world. Here's what friendship
Speaker:with the world looks like and leads to. Let me go ahead and fast forward
Speaker:to this is
Speaker:second Timothy three. This is Paul's letter to Timothy.
Speaker:Many years later he says in second
Speaker:Timothy, but understand this. In the last days there will come times of
Speaker:difficulty for people will be lovers of self, love,
Speaker:lovers of money, proud,
Speaker:arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their
Speaker:parents, ungrateful, unholy, heartless,
Speaker:unappeasable, slanderers without self control,
Speaker:brutal, not loving good, treacherous, reckless,
Speaker:swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure
Speaker:rather than lovers of God. Having the appearance
Speaker:of godliness but denying its power, Avoiding,
Speaker:avoid such people
Speaker:a form of godliness. Must I remind you the world has
Speaker:no form of godliness. The warm has. The world has
Speaker:no form of godliness. And avoid such
Speaker:people. Who are we avoiding? What people?
Speaker:Unrepentant believers who have made friends with the world.
Speaker:Paul and James are saying, if you
Speaker:guys are gonna go out there and you are going to
Speaker:embrace the world and try to come in here and embrace the
Speaker:church, you might as well just get out there and keep doing it.
Speaker:Cause we're not doing it in here. We are not going to
Speaker:look like the world. And I'm not talking about in an arrogant and puffed up
Speaker:way. But you shouldn't look at God's people and the world and not know
Speaker:the difference. You should not look at us and look at the
Speaker:world and not know the difference. Not because there's this arrogance or
Speaker:there's this pride about us. Because
Speaker:actually, in the kingdom, it's a race to the bottom, not the top.
Speaker:You can't beat me. You're not my competition.
Speaker:I want you to win. If Jesus said the Son
Speaker:of Man didn't come to be served, but to serve, and if I,
Speaker:your Lord and Master, have served you and set you an
Speaker:example to go serve others, there's a difference
Speaker:between serving and loving on a hurt and
Speaker:dying world and being friends with the world. It's
Speaker:completely different. It's completely different. And that's what
Speaker:James and James is. I'm starting to see why James is so ticked off from
Speaker:the very beginning. You gotta get to chapter four to really.
Speaker:You're like, why is he going in? I mean, as soon as we
Speaker:start, Count it all Joy when you're facing all these trials, because
Speaker:this and this and this. He's like, and y' all need to shut up, and
Speaker:you probably shouldn't be a teacher. And you're like, why is he going off on
Speaker:these people? Because y' all have become friends with the world.
Speaker:He's really getting down to the crux of it. He was like, what's really going
Speaker:on is you guys are being fake. You're being fake.
Speaker:Why was the early church so radical when it came to sin?
Speaker:Why would they say, get away from these people. Cut them off, kick them out.
Speaker:Get them out of here. Why was the early church so radical when it came
Speaker:to sin? I believe that they
Speaker:understood the dangers of cause and effect way better than we do in
Speaker:our modern society. They
Speaker:understood how sin could cripple a man.
Speaker:I cannot tell you guys the
Speaker:guilt and the shame that I feel as a man of
Speaker:God when I give in to lustful
Speaker:thoughts, when I say something I know is wrong. When I
Speaker:chase my own passions and pleasures, I am wracked with shame and
Speaker:overcome with guilt because I hate sin and I hate what it does.
Speaker:And the early church knew this.
Speaker:Some of them did. Obviously, a lot of them didn't, or James
Speaker:wouldn't have to write a letter. They had become flippant.
Speaker:I believe that the early church understood the dangers of cause and
Speaker:effect way better than we have in our modern
Speaker:society. And then we got
Speaker:verse five. Or do you
Speaker:suppose it is to no purpose that the Scripture says he
Speaker:yearns jealously over the spirit that he has made
Speaker:to dwell inside of us? There is a difference
Speaker:between human jealousy and divine jealousy. For many years in my
Speaker:feeble understanding, when I would hear or read scriptures that God
Speaker:is a jealous God, right? All I could think of would be like,
Speaker:that boyfriend. It's like, where you going? Who you going with?
Speaker:Who's that out here in the back? I still do that to my wife. It'll
Speaker:be a coach for some random team. I was like, who's that man? Who's Corey?
Speaker:Who's that man? She's like, shut up. It's the athletic director in White
Speaker:House. I'm like, yeah, you're right. And I'm not jealous. But you hear another man's
Speaker:voice on your wife's phone, you go, hey, who you talking to? Right?
Speaker:And I used to have this idea that God had this. Like this. When I
Speaker:hear God's a jealous God, I just think of like this. Hey, what
Speaker:are you doing? Where are y' all going? Come here. Love me, love me, love
Speaker:me. You ever seen Isn't that Bruce Almighty? Where he's like, love me, love me,
Speaker:love me. But that's human
Speaker:jealousy. And human jealousy is born of insecurity.
Speaker:Human jealousy is born of insecurity. God's
Speaker:jealousy, divine jealousy is a protective and a zealous love. It
Speaker:is a protective and zealous love, and it is built on covenantal faithfulness.
Speaker:I will be. I love you enough to let you walk away.
Speaker:God's not sending anyone to hell. Do you realize
Speaker:that hell was not created for you. Hell was created for
Speaker:the devil and his angels. And if I love you and
Speaker:I say I love you, I have to be willing to let you go.
Speaker:Now, I'm not going to stop doing everything I can to show you
Speaker:my love. I'm not going to stop doing everything I can to convince you that
Speaker:I love you. But if you don't want to come be with me, I'm not
Speaker:going to make you, because that's not love. If you want to go, go.
Speaker:It's a covenantal faithfulness.
Speaker:It's not the right page. And
Speaker:God is jealous for us, not of us.
Speaker:James says he yearned jealously over the
Speaker:spirit he has made to dwell in you.
Speaker:I have given you an eternal spirit
Speaker:and those that have called themselves believers. According to Ephesians, you
Speaker:are sealed, sealed with the promised Holy
Speaker:Spirit. You exist in two locations
Speaker:simultaneously. Mind blowing, is it not? Because the
Speaker:word says you are seated with Christ Jesus in heavenly
Speaker:places. Now, where are you at currently? Where are you at?
Speaker:You are in the front row, which feels like being at the movies. Y' all
Speaker:done added extra chairs for this Christmas? Carol. Right? And I see none of you
Speaker:brave souls bought these seats. You
Speaker:exist in two locations. You are currently seated with Christ
Speaker:Jesus in heavenly places. Positionally, that is your position
Speaker:in Christ. And yet your location is on planet Earth
Speaker:in Earth time, listening to me teach you from the word of
Speaker:God. And yet you exist inside and outside
Speaker:of time. You have an eternal spirit and you
Speaker:have a promised Holy Spirit which you were sealed
Speaker:according to Ephesians. And God is
Speaker:jealous over you, not of
Speaker:you. James says, guys,
Speaker:why would you choose to live like they live
Speaker:when we have a God who is jealous for us,
Speaker:who yearns for us, who has been in covenant with us?
Speaker:That's why he keeps throwing out these Old Testament terms. He uses another one
Speaker:here in just a second to remind them. See, it
Speaker:doesn't click with us when we hear phrases like cleanse
Speaker:and purify or you adulterous people, because
Speaker:we're not familiar with the Old Testament scriptures the way that
Speaker:they were familiar with them. Or most likely, I'm not going to assume that
Speaker:every Jew on the planet knew the Bible cover to cover. That's
Speaker:preposterous. But there was a familiarity with God's
Speaker:word. Are you understanding what I'm saying?
Speaker:Now you see why I closed the book after I read five verses last
Speaker:night? Six and seven.
Speaker:But he gives more grace. Therefore it
Speaker:says, God opposes the proud, but gives
Speaker:grace to the humble. Submit yourselves, therefore to
Speaker:God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.
Speaker:We have camped as a church on this part right here.
Speaker:Guess which part. Say it. Say it out loud. It ain't
Speaker:none but us and whoever is watching online. Resist the
Speaker:devil and he will flee. Right? We have camp right there. And then
Speaker:some of you spiritual folk in the back like, no, no, no. Submit to
Speaker:God. Resist the devil and he will flee.
Speaker:Then there are some of us who understand
Speaker:who James is talking to. And we realize he ain't
Speaker:talking about how to handle temptation. That's not what he's talking
Speaker:about. He's talking about how to avoid friendship with
Speaker:the world and or repenting from it.
Speaker:James is not talking about. Now, can this formula be
Speaker:applied to resisting temptation? I'd like to think so,
Speaker:because it shows you the character of God. There are
Speaker:places in scripture where we must take note that
Speaker:you understand the character, even if you can't claim the
Speaker:promise. Here's a perfect example. How much time
Speaker:I got? Not a lot. Jeremiah 29:11. We love to quote
Speaker:that. Right. For I know the plans that God has for you.
Speaker:Plans to prosper. You and not harm you, to give you a future and a
Speaker:hope. Right? We know that verse. That
Speaker:promise is for the Jews that are about to enter Babylonian
Speaker:captivity. That ain't for you thinking about your future.
Speaker:Now here's where we claim that we understand God's
Speaker:character, that if he took care of them, he'll take care of me.
Speaker:And we camp on that verse. But we got to first understand who
Speaker:he's talking to. That's not my promise. But I can
Speaker:go to a God that gives his people promises. Does that make sense, guys?
Speaker:So while he's not talking about how to handle
Speaker:temptation, we can apply this as a way
Speaker:to handle temptation. We humble ourselves. We know God gives
Speaker:grace to the humble, but he resists the proud. So therefore, I'm not going to
Speaker:act like I got it. I've got this whip, this is my bus stop. I've
Speaker:got this temptation under control. God, no, no, no. I understand. I have a
Speaker:real enemy. So let me submit myself to you, God. And
Speaker:I'm gonna resist. And I'm hoping that you're gonna keep my feet strong.
Speaker:Right? I can run with that based on an understanding of
Speaker:scripture. But that's not what James is saying. He said, stop being a
Speaker:friend of the world. Submit yourselves to God. Resist the devil
Speaker:and he'll flee from you. Then he says
Speaker:it again, Old Testament language. Draw near to God and he'll draw near to
Speaker:you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you
Speaker:double minded. Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be
Speaker:turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves before the Lord and he
Speaker:will exalt you. Cleanse and purify is again
Speaker:Old Testament language for ritual purity and ethical
Speaker:cleansing. He's bringing in this Old
Speaker:Testament language to them. Cleanse and purify.
Speaker:This laughter part, this is what bothered me when I
Speaker:read it. I've read this many times, but it
Speaker:really hit me last night, reading it again and preparing. Let your
Speaker:laughter be turned to mourning. Laughter shows how flippant they
Speaker:were about sin. And James is fed up with
Speaker:the church and people acting like it's not a big deal.
Speaker:They're laughing about it, laughing
Speaker:about being friends with the world. Are you, James?
Speaker:If James wasn't filled with the Holy Spirit, this would have been a much different
Speaker:book. And this
Speaker:section really gives you insight is why it bothered James so much.
Speaker:Not because you have people that were not being perfect. Not because you didn't have
Speaker:people who were not walking it out because they were acting like
Speaker:they Were walking it out, knowing. Knowing that they're
Speaker:living contrary to the word of God. You
Speaker:double minded. You guys are deceiving
Speaker:yourselves. This is not godliness.
Speaker:This is a form of godliness, but denying the power. You
Speaker:guys have become friends with the world. Repent, humble yourselves.
Speaker:Submit to God. That
Speaker:was his answer. James answer was humble yourself and
Speaker:repent. And then he finishes this section.
Speaker:Don't speak evil against one another, brothers. The one who speaks against a
Speaker:brother or judges his brother, speaks evil against the law and judges the
Speaker:law. Now this seems weird because you think he's been
Speaker:judging people for the first four chapters, right? Right. And then he says, but
Speaker:don't be judging folks.
Speaker:I'm judging every one of y'. All. But don't be judging people.
Speaker:Doesn't it seem like that? Like you've heard what I read. I'm just reading it.
Speaker:I'm not. I'm not making it up. And I know I've got some inflection and
Speaker:I like to emphasize things that I like or want to hit because I'm teaching.
Speaker:Right. But James is like, hey, and don't be judging
Speaker:wild stuff. The one who speaks against the brother or judges his
Speaker:brother, speaks evil against the law and judges the law. But if you judge,
Speaker:you are not a doer of the law, but a judge. And there's only one
Speaker:lawgiver in judge, he who is able to save and destroy. But
Speaker:who are you to judge your neighbor?
Speaker:James is talking about people being hypocrites. He's
Speaker:basically restating everything he just talked about in chapter three with the tongue,
Speaker:words and speech. And then he's adding onto it about judgment. You ever heard this
Speaker:phrase, only God can judge me? That's the man.
Speaker:That's the conversation ender right there. Right? Only God
Speaker:can. You can't judge me. Well, maybe I can't judge your soul. But a
Speaker:tree's judged by its fruit. And I don't mean a barren tree that's
Speaker:still growing and maturing. We talk about a tree's known by its fruit. Some of
Speaker:us are trying to inspect fruit on trees that ain't had enough time
Speaker:to grow and mature. It's sitting out in the field by itself.
Speaker:Ain't got no water to come out there and water it. Or it's in the
Speaker:middle of a thicket or a forest, just struggling, trying to get some sunlight.
Speaker:And you walk by that tree and be like, look at this tree.
Speaker:Got nobody helping that tree. We're not talking about judging
Speaker:fruit that's on a tree. That's still growing and maturing.
Speaker:I mean a tree that's capable of producing fruit and doesn't
Speaker:or fruit on a tree that's rotten. My dad planted a peach tree
Speaker:at a house we lived in when I was in Nashville. And we watched that
Speaker:peach tree like this for five years.
Speaker:Not a single peach that gum
Speaker:peach one. But I know that peach trees
Speaker:will produce peaches. It just didn't produce in the season we were there.
Speaker:And I drove by many years later. I was like, I wonder if this any
Speaker:peaches on that peach tree. And I found the old childhood street I lived
Speaker:on. I drove by, sure enough, trees full of peaches. And
Speaker:somebody else is enjoying the fruit.
Speaker:Somebody's enjoying the fruit of the seeds we planted. See, a lot of
Speaker:the times you think that the fruit is for you or
Speaker:the seeds that you're planting or the places you're watering and you're
Speaker:looking for fruit and it ain't season yet,
Speaker:right? Some plant was what Paul say, listen guys, some
Speaker:plant, some water. But God gives the increase.
Speaker:Then James shifts gears. Thankfully. I guess he felt
Speaker:he'd wore them out enough
Speaker:boasting about tomorrow. This is the beginning of the end of James's letter. Like
Speaker:this whole neck, this section here, this. This passage
Speaker:dovetails right into chapter five. This is his closing section
Speaker:and he closes it out by discussing the sins of the
Speaker:wealthy. Now let me go ahead and say this. Being wealthy is not
Speaker:a sin, right? King Solomon
Speaker:wasn't just an innately as even David weren't just a sinner
Speaker:because they had a boatload of money. But
Speaker:it comes with its own set of problems and challenges.
Speaker:I'll tell you that. That most of us won't face. I secretly
Speaker:pray. Sometimes I wonder if I could face that test of
Speaker:what being a billionaire is like. Like I wonder if I'm up for that challenge,
Speaker:you know, My God, if I reach the level where you can trust me to
Speaker:handle a lot of money. And then I look at my bank account and goes,
Speaker:you still ain't mastered. If you be faithful
Speaker:a little, you'll be faithful with much. And I realized I'm faithful. Yelling
Speaker:it's not you, God. I'm doing this right.
Speaker:This is a warning against the merchants who think they have control.
Speaker:Come now, you who say today and tomorrow we'll go into such and such
Speaker:a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit.
Speaker:Yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life for?
Speaker:You are a mist that appears for a little time and it vanishes instead
Speaker:you ought to say, if the Lord wills, we will live and do
Speaker:this or that as it is. You boast in your arrogance and all such boasting
Speaker:is evil. This is a warning against the merchants who think they
Speaker:have control and forget God's providential control and the temporary
Speaker:life in which we live this earth time is temporary.
Speaker:And you don't know how long you've got here. Are you doing what
Speaker:matters or are you wasting your time? I remember hearing a John
Speaker:Piper sermon many, many years ago, and he told a story out of a Reader's
Speaker:Digest about a couple who retired early and
Speaker:moved to the beach to collect seashells.
Speaker:And he goes on throughout this story, and he says that, you know, what are
Speaker:this couple going to do when they see the Lord? And they brought their shell
Speaker:collection. Here it is God, my shell collection.
Speaker:Right. Can you imagine standing before God, he's like, what did you do with your
Speaker:life? I collected shells.
Speaker:Right. It's preposterous.
Speaker:It's one of his most famous sermons. And the sermon is basically
Speaker:wrapped up in this phrase, don't waste your life.
Speaker:James is saying, guys, you are the babies. Don't bother me. Babies need to
Speaker:be in here. Babies need to be in the presence in the anointing. Right?
Speaker:Right. We ain't writing Bible verses. Can all the babies keep quiet, please?
Speaker:No. God bless the mom, God bless the family and the couple to say, you
Speaker:know what? We're bringing our kids in here. You know what? Like.
Speaker:And then they go through all the emotions of, I'm just calling you out right
Speaker:now. They go through all the emotions of, my baby's causing a disturbance, and now
Speaker:everybody's looking at me and I'm distracting people. No, you're not. Baby's not a
Speaker:distraction. That baby's a young child of God who's getting the Word in him before
Speaker:he knows he needs it. Praise God. He gets something deep down
Speaker:inside of him because the word does not come back void. Right? Amen.
Speaker:And life and death are in the power of the tongue. And this baby is
Speaker:under the anointing and the teaching of the word of God, regardless if it's me
Speaker:or Pastor Barbie or Kevin or Ronnie or just listening to the
Speaker:conversations. That's why we got to be mindful of what we say. We got to
Speaker:be mindful of how we live. And that's exactly what James is talking about.
Speaker:Don't waste your life, guys. Do something that
Speaker:matters. You're playing games. You're wasting time
Speaker:being buddy buddy with the world and then coming to church, and it's getting
Speaker:on my nerves. That's why I had to write this letter.
Speaker:Because you guys are acting a way that is not
Speaker:consistent with the spirit of God inside of you. Stop it.
Speaker:Stop it.
Speaker:This is his last verse, and it'll be my last as well. So whoever knows
Speaker:to do the right thing and fails to do it for him, it is
Speaker:sin. Knowing and doing are two different things. Sins
Speaker:of omission. And this tells us what you do and what you don't
Speaker:do matters to God. I don't give a rip if you feel
Speaker:uncomfortable or you're embarrassed. If the spirit of God tells you to do it and
Speaker:you don't do it, it might as well be a sin. If you know the
Speaker:right thing to do, you don't have to wait on a word.
Speaker:If you see the piece of trash on the ground in a ministry center, pick
Speaker:it up. Now, I'm not saying you're sinning if you don't pick it up. I'm
Speaker:using that as an example. It's the right thing to do. It's not
Speaker:the next man's job. It's our job. Why? Because the spirit of
Speaker:God lives in you, and you have duality of purpose in this world
Speaker:and in the kingdom to come. And James is trying to get every
Speaker:believer that read that letter to get on the same page,
Speaker:stop acting funny. And now he's gonna talk to the people with money.
Speaker:So come back next week and we'll close out chapter five. God, thank you so
Speaker:much for this word. I'm thankful that James wrote it, not me.
Speaker:God, if anybody's mad, let them be mad at him.
