We're looking in the book of
James, and we had looked at some of
these verses before. What let's do, let's just read
chapter four again. It says, from whence come wars
and fightings among you? Come they not hence even of your
lust that war in your members? You lust and have not, you kill
and desire to have and cannot obtain. You fight and war, yet
you have not because you ask not. You ask and receive not
because you ask amiss that you may consume it upon your lust. You adulterers and adulteresses
know you not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God.
Whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of
God. Do you think that the scripture
saith in vain, the spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy? But he giveth more grace. Wherefore
he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble.
Submit yourselves therefore to God, resist the devil, and he
will flee from you. Draw nigh to God, and he will
draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners,
and purify your hearts, ye double-minded. Be afflicted, and mourn, and
weep, and let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your
joy to heaviness. Humble yourselves in the sight
of the Lord, and he shall lift you up. Speak not evil one of
another brethren. He that speaketh evil of his
brother, and judgeth his brother, speaketh evil of the law, and
judgeth the law. But if thou judge the law, then
thou art not a doer of the law, but a judge. There is one lawgiver
who is able to save and to destroy. Who art thou that judgest another? Go to now ye that say today or
tomorrow, we will go into such a city and continue there a year
and buy and sell and get gain. Whereas ye know not what shall
be on tomorrow. For what is your life, it is
even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes
away. For that ye ought to say, if
the Lord will, we shall live and do this or that, but now
ye rejoice in your boastings. All such rejoicing is evil. Therefore
to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is
a sin. Now just to recap some of those
things that we began with last time we were together and looking
at this. James, some would look at this
as though James is raking God's people over the coals. But, you
know, the reality is James is just telling the truth about
us. Now some people take offense
at what they would call hard language from James. I mean, he calls them adulterers
and adulteresses. He calls them those that judge
one another and all of these things that we know are contrary
to that which the Lord has taught us how to walk. And yet the reality
is that the man that knows what's in his heart knows that all of
those things are there. I mean, could anybody actually
accuse you of something you're not guilty of? Now I know they
can at that point in time, but you know, it's like I heard a
fella say one time that he believed that every boy ought to have
a weapon every day. Because if the father didn't
know what it was for, the boy did. You know, and I mean, that's
the way that we are. I mean, you know, we often get
upset because we get called in something. But think of all those
things that we don't get called in. And you know, when somebody
calls out something that we've done, just rejoice that he didn't
know everything that we did. You know, because that's the
way we are by nature. And we don't say that to beat
people down, but to cause people to realize that, hey, we don't
have any righteousness of our own. Our righteousness is of
Christ. And any godliness that's found
in us is there by the work of God in us. and not because of
us, or not in cooperation with us. Now some people think that
God kind of cooperates with us, and we cooperate with God. No,
you can't cooperate with God. God works in His people, both
willing to do of His good pleasure. And He does make manifest good
works. He ordained us unto good works,
and the Lord does work in His people. Even in such times, often
we can't see Him. See, I mean, we're less apt to
see good works in ourself. When we start seeing more good
works in us than other people do, then we've messed up, you
know, we got the wrong mind. Because God's people, as the
Spirit works in them, he convinces us of sin, righteousness, and
judgment. And we know and understand that if we do everything that
God has told us to do, With a pure and perfect heart, we've only
done that which is required of us. We've not done anything out
of the ordinary. Now, you know, it is a sad thing
that good deeds done from being one person to another is often
commended because it's so rare. That ought to tell us something. You know, when we have to pat
people on the back because they did something good, That tells
us what we are by nature, does it not? Because, you know, it
ought to be just, if we were good, then, you know, then we
ought to be doing good things. I was reading something the other
day, I don't even remember who it was that said it, but, you
know, he was pointing out, this person had said that he believed
all men were basically good. And, you know, He said, well,
why do we have police departments? Why is it necessary to have laws
if all men are basically good? Because men aren't. And the law's
given to show us that we aren't. When you read the speed limit
sign that says 65, just remember you wanted to go 90. You know,
and so we have to be corralled, you know, we have to be, we have
to have these things put on us, but these things remind us where
we are by nature. And so the Lord often uses his
word, and it seems like a hammer to us, but it ought to. Because
you know, our hearts are often like stone, and it takes a hammer
to break that stone. And you know, sometimes we get
to thinking of ourselves a little more highly than we ought to
think. Y'all don't have that problem, maybe, but you know,
some of us do have that problem. But when we go to the Word of
God and we read what the Word of God says about us, then we
don't have any, we realize pretty quick that we have no place to
glory but in Christ. And so he says here, and we had
looked at some of these verses, but we're gonna quickly go He
says, Submit yourselves therefore to God. That seems simple, does it not?
Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Now, that's a
good exhortation. I mean, won't exhort God's people
daily to do that? Won't read that daily and be
reminded of it? Submit ourselves, therefore,
to God. Why would we need to be reminded of that? Because
it's in our nature, in our flesh, not to do that. Now, that spirit
that worketh in us causes us to desire to be conformed to
him, to be submitted to him. But the truth tells us what we
are by nature. And that we need such exhortation. Draw nigh to God. He will draw
nigh to you. Now that's not conditional. That's
just a statement of fact. The Lord draws His people unto
Himself. And as we draw near to Him, He
draws near to us. Now what we find out when we
have drawn near to Him is that He was the one doing all the
drawing. See, some people look at their actions as though they're
drawing God to them. But the Lord's the one doing
the drawing. I mean, the Lord said, except
the Father which has sent him draw a man, he will not come
to Christ. And so it is that the Lord is
drawing us. And as we draw near to God, we
find out he drew us. What a glorious thing, dear brethren.
I was reading a passage the other day about, I forget what the
first part of it is, but the second line, and it says, and
underneath are the everlasting arms. It doesn't make any difference
what we do or where we go or what we are. If we belong to
the Lord, he has us in his arms. And he is bringing us in a way.
And it's often a way that we didn't know. Because we started
off life thinking we were pretty good folks. And as the Lord brings
us down the road, he reminds us what we really are. And he
gives us a desire to have the righteousness of Christ. Because
we know that's the only righteousness that's acceptable with the Father,
is that which is demonstrated by the Son. Jesus Christ hath
declared the Lord to us. Purify your hearts. Cleanse your
hands, he centers. Any centers in here? Well, he must be talking to you
then. Cleanse your hands, he centers. And purify your hearts, he double-minded. Anybody double-minded in here?
He's talking to you. Some of us have more than that,
don't we? But you know, that is the nature
of man. The Lord came to Nicodemus and
he said, Nicodemus, except a man be born again, he cannot see
the kingdom of heaven, the kingdom of God. And he said, Nicodemus, except
a man be born of water, and of the Spirit, he cannot enter the
kingdom of heaven. Now that being born of water
just simply has reference to the natural birth. He says it's
not only that a man is born in the flesh, but he must be born
of the Spirit. Now the Spirit of God does not
change our flesh. Now we might wish that this old
flesh did, but Paul said, the good that I would, I do not,
and that which I would not, that I do. And he went on to write,
the flesh lusteth against the spirit, and the spirit against
the flesh. The spirit of God works in the
sons of God, but we are still who we are by nature in the flesh. Now it is, thankfully, that the
Lord has not left us as slaves to the flesh, but he has delivered
us. And he's given us the mind of
Christ that we might know and see that those things which he
tells us and teaches us are indeed true. And so there is a warfare
that's going on within us. And may the Lord help us to understand
that. Be afflicted and mourn and weep. and let your laughter be turned
to mourning and your joy to heaviness. Well, that seems backwards, does
it not, to what we're supposed to cause one another to feel
great, are we not? Where'd that idea ever came from?
You know, that's what a lot of people, when they go, well, I
like going to that church because I always come away feeling great.
Well, you know, when you read what James is saying here, that
doesn't make you feel great, does it? No, it reminds you what
you are. Now if all you want to do is
to just go up and feel great, then that's what you need. But I believe the people of God
feel great when they are reminded that Christ is all. because he
is the answer to all of our issues. There's not a problem that ever
arose. There's not a doubt that lingers
in our mind that Christ is not the answer to. He is in all things. So humble yourselves in the sight
of God and he shall lift you up. That's the place of true
joy is when the Lord humbles his people. Now he said for us
to humble ourselves. How does a man humble himself?
Can a man cause himself to be humble? No, it's impossible. Can Donald Trump be humble? No,
people all the time saying, well you know if he'd just show a
little more humility. He can't show humility. But then
neither can you. You know, only as God is pleased
to work in you. And thanks be unto the Lord that
it's not up to us to humble ourselves. Now he said to humble ourselves,
and we do humble ourselves, but how do we do it? As he causes
us to know what we are by nature. See, we're humbled by the word
of God. It will humble us. It will afflict
our mind. It'll bring us down to the place
where we recognize that he alone is that one that we need and
not anything within ourselves. Speak not evil one of another,
brethren. Now if anybody hadn't ever done
that in their mind or even with their lips, then you don't need
to listen to this. But if you, you know, this may be talking
to you. Speak not evil one of another, brethren. He that speaketh
evil of his brother, and judgeth his brother, speaketh evil of
the law, and judgeth the law. But if you judge the law, then
thou art not a doer of the law, but a judge. The law, the law
of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus. See, the Lord, is that
one who gives us a law which transcends the law written in
tables of stone. It's a law which is written in
our heart. And as the Lord looked at that woman which was taken
in adultery, when He could have judged her, and He was her judge,
remember that. You know, every time in your
mind you want to judge somebody else, remember that the Lord
who is our judge and had a woman before him dead to rights in
what she had done and he said neither do I condemn thee and
dear brethren is that not how our mind is to be towards our
brethren those who name the name of Christ that we be not condemning
them in any fashion but you know realizing that they are just
like we are. Oh, that the Lord might help
us. Now, some might take that and say, oh, well, the Lord said
that we're to judge all things. Yes, we are. You know, we should
be, by the Spirit of God working in us, judging all things around
us, being welcome circumspectly. You know, looking, don't just
jump into something without consideration. But not when we would be in a
condemning fashion. See, judging and condemning are
two different things. What he's talking about here
is condemning. And the law of liberty in Jesus
Christ has set the people of God free so we don't have a reason
to judge our brethren. Because they're free in Christ.
And so we judge the law and we speak evil of it. If that be
the case, if Christ is a man's righteousness, what are we doing? There's one lawgiver who is able
to save and to destroy. Who art thou that judgest another?
Can we not commit all things into his hand? I don't know why
sometimes people do the things they do. I don't know why the
brethren sometimes do the things that they do, but we can commit
it into the hands of the Lord, can we not? He's the one who's
the judge of all. And we commit these things into
his hand. It's not up to us to solve that. Go to now ye that say. Now here
he's getting into something that where we were last week or last
time we got together. Go to now ye that say today or
tomorrow we'll go into such a city and continue there a year and
buy and sell and get gain. Now how often it is that we have
made our plans, and we say we're gonna do thus and so, and not
really given any consideration to say, Lord, is this what you'd
have me to do? And so he's saying, look out
now. That's when he says, go to now. He's saying, look out,
watch out. You know, take heed right here.
Be careful what you say and how you think. You that say today
or tomorrow we will go into such a city and continue there a year
and buy and sell and get gain, whereas you don't know what shall
be on tomorrow for what is your life. We don't even know what's
gonna happen tomorrow, so we need to be very careful before
we say we are going to do something. For what is your life? It is
even a vapor that appeareth for a little time and then vanisheth
away. For ye ought to say, if the Lord
will, we shall live and do this or that. Now, I think I might have mentioned
this before, but it bears repeating. He's not using the phrase, as
some men often do, in order to get himself off the hook. Well,
I'll do this if the Lord wills. And some people add in if the
creek don't rise. Well, you know, if the Lord wills,
the creek ain't gonna rise, I can tell you that. A creek rising
is a subservient to the will of God, so you don't need to
add that. But if the Lord wills. Now, if we say to a brother,
knowing our own weakness and knowing our inability to actually
predict the future or know what it is, but we say, I will do
this or so if the Lord wills that I should live. Now there's
a big difference in that and just putting an open-ended thing,
if the Lord wills. Because if we tell a brother
we will do something, if the Lord wills that we shall live,
that's a little bit different, is it not? I mean, that is a
commitment. See, God's people, this is not
something that's saying you can't make a commitment. It's just
saying that you make the commitment knowing that you might not do
it, but if the reason that you don't do it, it'll be because
you wasn't living. I mean, that you might. Now again,
we can't change these things. We may have that commitment and
the Lord may do something else and make it where it's impossible
for us to do that. But what he's saying here is,
Our mind is always to be on our weakness and our inability and
the shortness of our life in whatever we set out to commit
to do, but it does not preclude committing, as is so often the
case when somebody says at the end of something, if the Lord
wills. As if, well, I can always fall
back on that if it doesn't turn out. Our life is as a vapor,
brethren. We're only here for a short time,
and as a vapor vanisheth away, so shall we. It peereth for a little while,
and then vanisheth away. For that ye ought to say, if
the Lord will, we shall live, and do this or that. But now
ye rejoice in your boastings, all such evil, All such rejoicing
is evil. Therefore to him that knoweth
to do good and doeth it not, to him it is sin. Boasting in
ourselves is always evil. Doesn't make any difference what
it is. Doesn't make any difference whatever you do when you boast
in yourself. That's an evil thing. If the
Lord wills that we shall live. You know, if the Lord gives us
ability, we'll do it. Because if he doesn't, you won't.
You know, sometimes men, and of course this is really rampant
in our society, and some people have great physical gifts to
run fast and to catch a ball or to do all kinds of things,
and they get lauded to the skies over that. And there's nothing
wrong with recognizing talent, but we never need to consider
a man's talent without first remembering from whom that talent
came. You know, sometimes there are
men who have great talent who do recognize that. And they walk humbly before God
and they understand that they have this given to them by God.
But I'd say the vast majority just think it's just me. You know, I'm good. Oh that the
Lord might deliver us from such. All such, he said all such rejoicing
is evil. Therefore to him that knoweth
to do good and doeth it not, him it is sin. Now you have heard
it. And you have known it. And you have been exhorted from
the word of God. And when you go forth from this
room, you have no excuse. For him that knoweth to do good,
and doeth it not, it is sin. And we leave that with you, not
to get you depressed, but to just point you to him who's our
savior. Him who alone can deliver us,
because we're prone to do everything that we've talked about here
this morning. We're just like moths flying around a light bulb. We'll just fly around and fly
around that thing until our wings get burnt off, if the Lord doesn't
deliver us. I mean, think of all those that
have got that little deal back there in the kitchen that the
bugs fly into. I mean, there's many a bug has
flown right into that thinking everything was great, and turned
out it wasn't. But there's some, the Lord hadn't
put all the bugs in there, did he? He delivered some. Now what made, you know, this
is a silly thing in some ways, but what made the difference
between the fly that flies into that and the fly that doesn't? the mercy of God. I mean, as
far as the fly is concerned. Now, brethren, if we think of
that in our, as it relates to us, the same thing. What keeps
us from falling? The faithfulness of God, the
mercy of God, the grace of God, the goodness of God. And He's
the one that made provision for us. See, we needed a Savior.
And He sent His only begotten Son to die for our sins. And he sent his Holy Spirit to
awaken us in the darkness and deadness of that sin to behold
the Savior and know that he alone could save us. Someone have a
question or a comment? Last verse I've heard people
over the years speak of sins of omission and sins of commission. And that's what he's talking
about. in judging me or being my brethren
and pointing out the error of my way? Well, here's what I believe
the difference would be. In other words, if I judge you,
I just sit back and say, well, he's a sorry no count and the
Lord can't even help him and I ain't gonna do anything. My
judgment might be that I wouldn't come to you if I saw you in grave
error. You know, I'd say, well, he ain't
worth messing with. That would be judgment. But,
you know, to seek to help one another, and that's the only
reason we ought to ever point out somebody's failure. Now,
some people like to point out other people's faults too. Not to help them, but they want
to do it to just make them feel bad or whatever. And that's the
difference, is the motivation of why you do what you do. Somebody else got great wisdom
on that. Well, you know, the Lord is kind
to us. He helps us. I'm thankful. that we can be honest before
the Lord and one another as to what we are. Religion causes men to put on
a facade. Christ takes the facade away.
There's no place for a man to boast. We got nothing to boast
of. We're all sinners. May the Lord show mercy to us.
All right, let's be dismissed.