"You adulteresses, do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Therefore whoever wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. 5 Or do you think that the Scripture says to no purpose, “He jealously desires the Spirit whom He has made to dwell in us”? 6 But He gives a greater grace. Therefore it says, “God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble."
Good Morning my beloved, Welcome to worship this Lord's day! We're so glad to have our brothers and sisters from around the world here with us today. Please know, that we continue to lift all of you up in our prayers. We would ask that you would do the same for us.
Many teach that God wants to give people anything they dare to claim,
regardless of motivation. God’s eternal Word corrects such distortion. If we want our prayers to be answered, we must be willing to let God have His way. The purpose of prayer is not to have man’s will be done in heaven but to have
God’s will be done on earth. Then our prayers can be the means for being
God’s blessings to ourselves and others.
To pray for something when we know it is not God’s will is to waste our
breath. God has revealed His will in the Bible, and so our prayers must
be grounded in the truths of His Word. God hears the prayers of the righteous. Though many self centered believers pray, they pray just like they live. Outside of God's will. When we indulge in shady practices or continue in worldly habits, such prayers will never be answered. Your prayers will become powerful when you allow God to change your
desires so that they perfectly correspond to His will for you.
I've been told that if you want to attract people to church, you never should say anything that might offend or confront them about their sin! You’ve got to give people what they want. Today, people want to hear sermons that encourage them, build up their self esteem and self image. The last thing that they want to hear is that God wants them to change! Clearly, James could have used a class on how to preach!
Let us pray.
Heavenly Father,
Father, we thank You for this Word for us today, thank You for this truth. Lord, grant us the wisdom and discernment to not understand but to apply what we learn. Help us to always be examining ourselves to be sure we are in the faith and where we stand with You. Thank You for grace for the humble. Thank You for humbling us, when we are unable or unwilling to humble ourselves. Thank You for breaking our will and drawing us away from our love of the world and sin and drawing us near to Yourself.
Father, we pray for those who are feeding their egos, filling themselves with pride, driven by the lust of the flesh, Lord we ask that You would today touch their hearts, so that they would see their sin and come in faith to Jesus Christ, that none should perish. May it be for Your glory and increase in the Kingdom. And for Christ's sake
We ask and pray in Jesus' name, hear our prayer O' Lord.
Amen
Today's Message: Unfaithful - Spiritual Adultery
Because we live in a world that holds different values and goals from us, it is often difficult for us to know how to be in the world,
but not of the world. On one hand, we profess to be Christians who are
devoted to God. On the other hand, we think, speak and conduct ourselves like those who are of the world.
The Apostle Paul says in II Corinthians 11, "For I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy; for I betrothed you to one husband, so that to Christ I might present you as a pure virgin. But I am afraid that, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, your minds will be led astray from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ."
Spiritual adultery is unfaithfulness to God. Spiritual adultery is the unfaithfulness of the church, which is the bride of Christ. Spiritual adultery is giving to the world that love and devotion, time and strength, which the Lord alone is entitled. If we are seeking from the world, the fulfillment of pleasures we should be seeking in God, we are then unfaithful to our vows to Christ. In essence, you're cheating on God. Do we for a moment suppose that God doesn't care? Dare I say that He fiercely jealous! As the church, we are betrothed to the Son, Who is waiting for the Father to tell Him to go and get His bride. Yet, many Christians tire of waiting and commit adultery with the world while we wait! Many have made their relationship with the world a higher priority than their relationship with God.
The desire for pleasure wages a war within both the non believer and the believer. In I Peter 2:11, Peter tells us "Beloved, I urge you as aliens and strangers to abstain from fleshly lusts which wage war against the soul." As believers, our battle is even more intense because of the presence of new life that is within us. There is a raging war!
Open your Bibles with me to James chapter 4, in our ongoing study of this wonderfully practical epistle, now we come to verses 4 to 6, friendship with the world means conflict with God. I believe that this is frightening for several reasons. First, is personal hostility to God.
I invite you to follow along with me as I read to set the text in our minds, as we prepare our hearts for what the Spirit is saying to us. I believe that this is an extremely important message for the church today. James 4:4-6.
"You
adulteresses, do you not know that friendship with the world is
hostility toward God? Therefore whoever wants to be a friend of the
world makes himself an enemy of God. Or do you think that the Scripture says to no purpose, “He jealously desires the Spirit whom He has made to dwell in us”? But He gives a greater grace. Therefore it says, “God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble."
I'd like you to notice, that James drops his customary greeting, "my brethren." He immediately begins
is confronting the problem of conflicts in the church. Obviously, James is not referring to literal adultery, physical adultery, he's talking about spiritual adultery. He's using a lurid metaphor to describe spiritual unfaithfulness to God. He’s talking about a prostitution of life.
is confronting the problem of conflicts in the church. Obviously, James is not referring to literal adultery, physical adultery, he's talking about spiritual adultery. He's using a lurid metaphor to describe spiritual unfaithfulness to God. He’s talking about a prostitution of life.
In other words, James is saying that we simply cannot be a friend of the world and a friend of God at the same time. It's one or the other. He is comparing our relationship with God to a marriage relationship, in which we are to be faithful to God alone.
Keep in mind that James is writing to Jewish readers who would be very familiar with that kind of terminology. The word "adulteresses" would immediately remind his Jewish readers that Israel was an adulteress wife. It is interesting to note, this terminology was never used in the Scripture for Gentiles as only Israel could
commit adultery, because only Israel had a covenant relationship to God. However, Gentiles could be fornicators in a metaphorical sense. But only Israel was the covenant bride of God, the wife of God, as was symbolized in the relationship of Hosea and Gomer. When Israel went whoring after other gods, Israel became an adulteress.
God has made us for Himself and has given Himself to us for our enjoyment. Therefore, it is adultery when we try to be friends with the world. James then says "do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God?" In other words, "Don’t love the world’s ways. The world has nothing to do with the Father. In fact, it only isolates you from Him." He is referring to a Christian loving the pleasures, enticements and lusts of society, a friendship that leads inevitably to forsaking the Lord.
The word "world" is not in reference to the physical world in which we live. It's talking about Satan's system of values. The systems that operates our culture. The Greek word kosmos, which translated is world means "the world apart from God." The world system which is committed to fame, fortune, power and pleasure. Friendship with the world always incites, as I John 2:16 says "For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world." Faithless believers break God’s law. But more than that, they break God’s heart.
Paul tells us in Romans 12:2-3 says "Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect."
James is not saying we are not to love God's creation, the natural beauty of this world, nor are we not to love the world's people, God loves them, in fact, John 3:16 tells us "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life."
One is either faithful to God or faithful to the world. There is no middle ground with God, spiritual adultery is speaking of those who attach themselves to the church, who attach themselves to Christianity but then, with their tremendous all consuming love for sin and the world, giving nothing to God.
In Matthew 12, Jesus said "The one who is not with Me is against Me; and the one who does not gather with Me scatters." The world would like us to believe that great achievements are everything. Therefore, many spend much of their time on outward appearences. Keeping up with the Joneses. Sadly, even many Christians have been charmed by the world, seemingly unaware of the dangerous end that it will lead us into.
Also, in verse 4, is the word "is." It is really the word "Kathistatai," which means to make oneself, to make himself, to take a
stand as, to be rendered as, to be constituted as. It is a decisive act,
it is an act with finality that ushers you into a state of being.
And the word hostility, is the word "exthrós," which means proceeding out of a "personal" hatred bent on inflicting harm. What a truly frightening thought. We need understand what a serious matter this is. To put yourself in a pre-converted state. Surely no professing believer wants to be known as the enemy of God! However, sometimes impossible to distinguish those who call themselves Christians from those who don’t. Many resist conformity to God holy standards, as Christians, we are called to walk as Christ walked.
In verse 5, James indicates that God does not give up on those that possess His Spirit. "Or do you think that the Scripture speaks to no purpose: "He jealously desires the Spirit which He has made to dwell in us?" James is asserting that God placed His Holy Spirit within us as believers. The
Spirit is intensely concerned about any rival in the Christian heart.
God refuses to share our commitment with any other. He wants our
complete loyalty and devotion. It is then, critically important for us to remember
that God makes great demands of His people.
Because of what is being taught from the pulpits today, many Christians see God as One who exists to provide for their wants, their needs, to alleviate all their
suffering, and make their lives as comfortable and pleasant as possible.That is not a biblical reality! There is no such evidence in Scripture anywhere in the Bible, not even in the Hebrew or in the Septuagint Greek. So James is saying "Are you so foolish as to defy your scriptural diagnosis, go on with your lusting and still think you’re a Christian?"
Verse 6, "But He gives a greater grace. Therefore it says, “God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble." The word for pride here is quite interesting. It is the word "huperéphanos," it means showing oneself above others. One who is exalted in his own mind. He talking about ones who may attach themselves to the church, but the truth is their affections are toward the world, controlled by that internal evil impulse that characterizes unregenerate men. And, though grace is available, it’s not for them because in their pride, because they will not repent. They refuse to turn away from their sin. The image he uses here, is of a defiant sinner. One who is really worshiping himself, rather than God.
I'm sure that I don’t to remind you that pride causes all other sins. You know that. It sets the will of the creature against the will of the Creator. God resists those who stand against Him, stubborn in their pride, they are cut off from God. The proud are the ones who are driven by desires of the flesh and mind, the ones who are led by their own ego.
However, God
gives grace to change to those who are humble enough to ask for it. Jesus says in Matthew 23, "Whoever exalts himself shall be humbled, and whoever humbles himself shall be exalted.
In Closing...
There is no excuse with Christian to be involved in long standing conflict, because God gives more grace. We must remember that we are sinners, forgiven, saved by grace. Though conflict will always be a reality, let us also remember that
God’s grace is available to those who will humble themselves before Him and ask for
it. God has always exalted the humble man, broken by his sin.
When we make up our minds to love God and not love the world,
God will give us more grace to resist the attractions and lures of the world and submit ourselves to Him. This is known as the cooperative will of
God. Because God is pleased with the direction we have taken, He blesses us
with the grace we need to keep us going in that direction.
By God’s grace may we humble ourselves and be lifted up to be peacemakers. The door to the Savior Jesus Christ is low, you cannot enter in standing up, you have to get down on your knees!
May it be so..
And now may the Lord bless you and keep you;
the Lord make His face shine upon you,
And be gracious to you;
The Lord lift up His countenance upon you,
And give you peace.
Now and forever, in Jesus' name
Amen
the Lord make His face shine upon you,
And be gracious to you;
The Lord lift up His countenance upon you,
And give you peace.
Now and forever, in Jesus' name
Amen
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