James 4, read the first five
verses with me. From whence come wars and fightings
among you? Come they not hence even of your
lusts 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 lusts. Ye adulterers and adulteresses,
know ye 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? Now, once again, he is writing
to professing believers, those who say. They believe God, they believe
His Word, they believe Christ. And so this is a language that's
very stern, it's very full of rebuke and reproof, just like
a father would be to a disobedient child. He said in chapter 3, verse 14,
if you have Bitter envy and strife in your
hearts. Glory not. Lie not against the
truth. No matter what someone may say. And he said in chapter 1 that
if a man seems to be religious, bridle if not his tongue, that
he has this constant murmuring, complaining, cursing and bitterness
and strife and envy. He said he's deceiving his own
heart. This man's religion is vain. And he said here in verse
14 of chapter 3, no matter what someone may say, if there's this
constant bitter envy and strife, don't glory in what we say we
believe. It's a lie. Now, that's very
harsh language, isn't it? Very harsh language. But God
doesn't excuse sin. Never. He pardons it. He forgives
it. Christ paid for it. And the Spirit
of God, the Holy Spirit of God, powerfully, miraculously convinces
of sin, convicts of sin, and restrains it. restrains it. If any man have not the Spirit
of God, he is none of His. He leads, He guides, He restrains,
He constrains. Now, it is sad, but true. We have an old man. Every believer
has two men within them, an old man and a new man. This is sad,
but it is true. We have an old nature we were
born with. An old man that's full of self,
that's full of pride, that's full of the lust of the eyes,
the lust of the flesh, pride of life, full of hate, malice,
anger, bitterness, and ready to start a fight. This old man. But now, there's a new man. And
our Lord said, the old man will not have dominion, but the elder
shall serve the younger. Sin shall not have dominion over
you. That's our hope. That's our comfort. Chapter 4,
verse 1, begins this way. From whence come wars and fightings? among you. They come from our
own lusts within us. Fussing, fighting, contention. Look at Romans chapter 7. Most everybody in here knows
this chapter. Maybe someone doesn't. But Romans
chapter 7. Every believer can enter into
this chapter so well. We've experienced it. Not only
does the Word say it, but we experience it. Romans 7, verse 18. Well, verse 15. That which I
do, I allow not. For what I would, that do I not.
What I hate, that do I. If then I do that which I would
not, I consent unto the law, the word of God, that it is good. In other words, I am convicted
of it. So then it is no more I that
do it, but sin, this old nature that dwelleth in me. For I know
that in me, that is, in my flesh, dwelleth no good thing. For the
will is present with me. That's the new man. But how to
perform that which is good, I find not. I find it impossible, difficult. The good that I would, or what
I would rather do, I do not. But the evil which I would not,
that I do. Now, if I do that, I would not.
It's no more I that do it, but sin, this old nature that dwelleth
in me. I find then a law that when I
would do good, evil is present with me. I delight in the law
of God after the inward man. See that? The new man. That man
wasn't there before the new birth. When there's a new birth, there's
a new creature, a new man who loves God's Word, loves holiness
and righteousness. He's full of love and joy and
peace and gentleness and goodness, the fruit of the Spirit. But
I find another law, verse 23, in my memory, warring against
the law of my mind. Is that you? Well, take comfort. Take some measure of comfort
because there was no battle with sin before. Before you heard the Gospel,
before this new birth, there was no battle at all. In fact,
sin was something you took great pleasure in. That's Romans chapter
6. The whole 6th chapter of Romans is talking about that. You took
pleasure in those things that now you hate. But yet you find
in yourself this law of warring, this war going on, lusts. But he begins chapter 8 of Romans
saying there is deliverance. Who shall deliver me from this
old fellow? Who's going to deliver me from
this body of death, this inward nature that I'm constantly struggling
with? I thank God, he said, through
Jesus Christ my Lord. Chapter 8 of Romans, there he
is a deliverer. And so this, go back to James 4. This lust
that is in us, lust means a consuming desire. And don't just think
of it as sexual lust. That's generally what we first
think of. That's just part of it. There's
lust of the flesh, and that's lust for pleasure. There's lust
of the eyes. That's covetousness. That's wanting
things. And then pride is the source
of our greatest source of trouble. It's probably the source of all
our trouble. And he says in verse 2, you lust, you have not, you
kill, you desire to have and cannot obtain. Now, this describes
the people of the world, no doubt about it. Without a doubt, this
describes the people of the world. The Lord looked down before He
destroyed the world by flood. He said, the whole world is full
of violence. The whole world is corrupted
My way. He said, I'm going to destroy man from the earth. He
said, the thoughts of his heart From his youth up, his imagination,
there are only evil continuance. That's mankind by nature. We're
born that way. David wrote, we come forth from
the womb speaking lies. We have to teach our children
to do well, not evil. That comes naturally. And if
left alone, they'll become hellions. They'll end up in prison, won't
they? Except for the grace of God,
we all would. It takes the grace of God. But
this lust within us is lust or desire for whatever. Everything. Things of this world. Covetousness.
And we say things, people say things like this, I just, I could
die for that. I could just kill for that. It just kills me not to have
that. We actually use statements like that. You kill, desire to
have, cannot obtain, you fight, you worry, you have not, because
you ask not. I'd venture to say most marital
troubles are probably over material things. Finances, due to our
own covetousness, you know, we get in great financial straits,
we want more. Fight to have it, keep it, struggle
to pay for it, and then a divorce comes along, and then we fight
who's going to get it. That's a fact, isn't it? Every
single married couple, generally every single married couple starts
out with nothing, and you live it on love, and you're just happy.
And then you start obtaining stuff, and with stuff comes trouble,
fighting, wars, doesn't it? It's just so. But for believers now, this just
should not be so. He said that in chapter 1. Brethren,
these things ought not to be so. Look at chapter 3, verse
10. Out of the same mouth proceedeth
blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought
not so to be. And then he went on to say it
can't be. You can't get sweet, good water out of a bad fountain. You can't get figs from a vine
and grow on a tree. You can't get berries from a
tree and grow on a vine. It's the nature. So, but preacher,
I have trouble. Well, the fact of the matter
is, and this is what James is telling us, if this is continual,
constant, the course of one's life, God had an operator on
that person. If our mouths are full of...
Romans 3, run over there real quickly, Romans chapter 3. God
doesn't excuse us, and neither should we, should we? Romans
chapter 3. He's talking here in Romans 3
about unsaved, unregenerate, unborn again, non-born, Jews
and Gentiles. It doesn't matter if they're
religious. Chapter 2 is religious. It doesn't matter. Jew or Gentile,
there's no difference. And God looked down, verse 10,
it says, there's none righteous, not one, and none that understandeth,
none that seeketh after God. They're all gone out of the way.
They're together become unprofitable. None that doeth good. No, not
one. Their throat is an open sepulcher, that their tongues
have used to see. The poison of ash is under their
lips. Mouth is full of cursing and bitterness. Verse 17, the
way of peace they've not known. There's no fear of God before
their eyes. Who's that talking about? It's not talking about
regenerated people of God. They know the way of peace. They
understand. They fear God. Their throat's not full of an
open sepulchre. It's full of praise. But, but,
but, but, but, I know it comes out every now and then. Sure
it does. It comes out of every now and
then, cursing and bitterness, murmuring and complaining. But
now, if this is the constant, continual course of someone's
way, God hasn't saved that person. Right? Sad to say, you know, these things
do come out of our mouths, but the Holy Spirit comes immediately,
well, eventually, and convinces us, and convinces us, and tells
us, you better put that old man down. You better ask me to get
rid of that fellow. He's causing nothing but trouble.
That's what he's talking about, asking. Have not, because we
ask not. Remember the message? Draw nigh
to God. I just read Psalm 46. He's a
very present help in time of trouble. When's that? Every day
and every hour. This battle is raging. Well, he says we ask. Now, here's
the point. If Christ is in the heart, It's
a new creature. Then Christ is all. And one thing,
like David said, have I desired. God puts that desire there. It's
a fact. It's a miracle. You can't produce
it, but it's a miracle of God's grace. They really do want Christ,
want eternal life more than anything or anyone. God really does put
love there. Joy, peace, righteousness, Holy
Spirit, kingdom of God within, peacemakers, and mourn over sin,
and meek, and that's true. In verse 2, he says, we have
not because we ask not. In verse 3, if we ask, we receive
not because we often ask amiss, that we may consume it upon our
lusts, that is, our selfish desires. with very little thought to God's
Word and God's will. We're all guilty of this. If
we're truly asking and calling on God, what we're asking for
is the glory of God, the will of God, the true good, my true
good, not what I want, not what I've already decided. Too often
we sab our consciences saying we prayed about something when
it's something we wanted and intend to do, and we pray very
briefly about it, and now we feel comfortable about doing
it. And we say that the door is open.
God does open doors to see sometimes if you'll go through it. That's a fact. He said to the
disciples, there's a door, will you go? Several things we can find out
in God's will by asking, not asking amiss. Number one, is
it for God's glory? Is this the best? Is this absolutely
for the glory of God? You can be sure. And whatever
gives God the most glory is His will. God has a real will, and
it's right here. Everything you think, everything
you do, everywhere you go, everywhere you live, everything is revealed
right here. Revealed will. And then he has
his permissive will. He lets people kill one another. He lets sin happen. Is that according
to his revealed will, according to his written will? No, they're
against God's will. But it's all going to work out.
according to His directive will. Don't ask me to explain now,
just try it. We ask, number one, for God's
glory. We ask for the cause of Christ.
Is this in the interest of the cause of Christ? You can be certain that's God's
will. Number three, is it for the good
of the body of which I'm a member? Is it this, whatever it is I'm
thinking, is it for the good of the body? I'm a member, I
don't dwell on, it's not, I'm not even in the equation. My
happiness, what I want, where I want to be, what I want to
do, is not in the equation if we're seeking the will of God. The good of the body. I'm a member.
I'm a toe. I'm a little finger. How's this
going to affect that body of which I'm a vital member? And
lastly, how is this for the spiritual good of my family and those around
me? How is this for their spiritual
good? Now, if you ask with those things
in mind, that's the name of Christ. Christ said, if you ask anything
in my name, that's what He did. Everything He did was all those
things in mind. And God granted everything He
asked. With apostles, whatever you ask
with that attitude, We ask the mist to consume it
on what we want. And God often lets us have it
to our pain, our suffering, the pain and suffering of others.
But he's so good and merciful that even all that comes around
for our good. And he says in verse 8, draw
nigh to God, he'll draw nigh to you. Christ, our Lord, lived in the
bosom of the Father, close to His Heavenly Father, didn't He? He had food and raiment, and
that was it. He didn't even have a place to
lay His head. Or did He? He that dwelleth in the secret
place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the
Almighty. His constant dwelling place. Like Jacob, he had a pillar
for his pillar. He had a stone for his pillar. Food and rain. So, content. Not
desiring anything. So, what's our problem? All this stuff. All this stuff. Verse 4 says,
look at this now, it says, you adulterers and adulteresses,
know ye 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. I was going to have you turn to Jeremiah 3,
but I won't. I'll just tell you what it says.
Now, no doubt all of us are guilty if you're a married person. Adultery
is concerning married people. Fornication is before marriage
and outside of marriage. Our Lord said if you look with
lust on a person, you're guilty. Didn't He? So every adult, married
adult in here, is guilty to God, before God. Guilty. But this is not what he's talking
about. He's talking about spiritual
adultery, which the Scripture speaks more of than anything that is concerning
God's people. Spiritual adultery against God. Isaiah 54, 5 says, you're a maker
to Israel, his people, professing people. He said, your maker is
your husband. But he went on to say in Jeremiah
and Isaiah and Ezekiel and all through the Scriptures, Hosea,
he said, the whole book of Hosea is about Christ and His bride,
how she went out and committed adultery against Him with things,
with other people. Marriage is between two people.
Two people are married and become one. Their love, their desires,
their pursuits, their thoughts, their everything are together.
They consider each other always. They're not after other people
and other things. They love each other. They have
each other. Wedded to one another, Christ said, God said, I'm your
husband to his people. I'm your husband. And she says,
yes, I'm your wife. But when we go out after, alright,
here's the illustration. A man or a woman is married and
professes love to this person they're married to, yet stay
away from home. Stay away from home. What are
they doing? Out with other people. Be it
male or female. Doing other things. Very little
thoughts of their spouse. Spending time and money and affection
on other things and other people. No communication with. Just comes
home for a meal. That's not marriage is it? This
is exactly what the Lord is talking about in His people. You're supposed
to be married to men. desire to come home. Think about
me. Talk to me. Spend your time and
money and affection on me, not other people. That's idolatry. Covetousness, he said, is idolatry,
meaning, you know, we're supposed to worship God. Marriage, you
know, a husband and wife get married and they adore each other
so much, it's almost like idolatry. Isn't it? You just adore one
another. You can't live without. Men and
I were dating. You know, we'd spend hours and
hours and hours and just couldn't hardly pull yourself away. You're
leaving. Oh, I can't stand it. Our Lord said in Revelation 2
about the church at Ephesus, you've left your first love.
What for? Stuff. People. Things. Can't do it. The world. People and things of this world.
People that don't know and worship the Lord. That's a delta. Things. Material things. Pleasure. Cannot have an affection, desire
for the world and the Lord. It won't work. Our Lord said
you can't serve too much. And that's what he says here
in verse 4, the friendship of the world is enmity with God.
Whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of
God. 1 John chapter 4 says, all that is in the world, well, no,
chapter 3, love not the world, neither the things in the world.
If any man loved the world, the love of the Father is not in
him. What does that tell you about John 3.16? Most people
don't have a clue what John 3.16 is talking about. God so loved
the world. He doesn't love every person
in the world. All that is in the world, verse
16, is the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the
pride of life. That's not of the Father. It's of the world.
The world passes away. He that doeth the will of God
abideth forever. That's 1 John 3. What's he talking about being
a friend of the world? Well, you can be a friend to
the world, but you can't be a friend of
it. A friend of the world is someone
that the world considers their friend. Our Lord said, the world
will hate you. And he also said, woe is unto
you if they speak well of you. Meaning, you must be compromising
the truth. You must not be telling the truth.
You must be just like them. The world loves their own. Does that make you hang your head?
It does me. If you're telling the people
the truth, Paul said this, am I become your enemy? Because
I tell you the truth. This is what's going to happen.
Our Lord said, marvel not if they hate you. You tell them
the truth, and they're going to hate you. But I've got a people
out of the world. Go out there in the world. He
prayed, Father, don't take them out of the world, but keep them
from it. But they're not of the world. I'm sending them out there.
And they went out there. And what did the world do to
all the apostles? Killed all of them like they
did their Lord. And He said that about us. They'll
hate you. But you can be a friend to the
world. You'll be the best friend the
world ever had. You're the salt of the earth, the Lord said.
You're the light of the world. You're the salt of the earth.
He doesn't say, come apart and live in a cave and live in a
monastery so that you can be saved. No, no, no, no. You go
out there, but there's one reason you're out there. Salt, light,
to tell the truth. And if they won't have you, and
they're not, somebody will. But you'll be the best friend
they've ever had. But they won't call you their
friend. You'll be a friend of it. Tough, isn't it? It's true. It's
true. It's true. This world is passing
away. And it's urgent. It's just that urgent. All around
us, people perishing. It is just that serious. We don't
have time to play around. We don't have time for idle talk.
Honestly, people, the Lord may come tomorrow, today. Well, verse 5, do you think the
Scripture saith in vain, the Spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth
to envy? All the Scriptures clearly tell
us the flesh lusts against the Spirit, fights and wars against
it. That means it's a dangerous thing,
doesn't it? It's a constant, lifelong struggle. We'll never
get over this. We'll never get out of this struggle
until we lay this body down in the grave. It's going to be this
constant struggle, and it's so easy to give in to it. It's so
easy. It's a whole lot easier to give
in than to resist. But it's not impossible. With
man, it's impossible. In our flesh, it's impossible.
Adam and Eve couldn't, and neither can we. But oh, don't you love,
verse 6, but he giveth more grace. He giveth more grace. Salvation
is by grace from start to finish. By grace are you saved through
faith. And even that's not of yourselves,
it's a gift of God. Not of works, lest any man should
boast. And grace is not an offer, but
it's an act of God. Grace is not an offer, it's an
operation of God. Grace is not cooperation. We
cooperate with Him and save ourselves. No, it's an operation of God. Something God does for us, Christ
does for us, the Holy Spirit does in us, by grace you save. Grace means a gift, not an offer,
but a gift bestowed, a gift given, a righteousness imputed, a righteousness
given, a righteousness imparted, spirit given. I was going to
have you turn to Ephesians 1. There's just not enough time
to preach this message. But Ephesians 1 talks about electing
grace. You didn't choose God, He chose
you. Predestinating grace. Thank God everything is ordered
and assured. Redeeming grace. You're bought
with a price, you're not your own. He's going to have you.
Revealing grace. You wouldn't know God unless
He revealed Himself. Restraining grace. Keeping grace. You're kept by the power of God
unto salvation, ready to be revealed. Keeping grace. Don't you love
the sound of grace? And we need grace for everything. We need the grace of wisdom.
We don't have any. We're ignorant. We need the grace
of patience. We don't have any. We need the grace of love, joy,
peace, meekness, temperance, long-suffering. We need the grace
to hold our tongue. We can't tame it. We can't do
it. We can't hold it back. It's impossible. But not with
God it's not. And you have not because you
ask not. And here's the thing. God's people,
this new man, he says, ask. It's just as near as an asking. It's just as ready as an asking. We need this grace. Ask. As soon
as this battle starts, ask. Because you can't. You can't resist one temptation.
Not one. I love Martin Luther's hymn.
One of my favorites. Did we in our own strength confide
our striving would be losing? Were not the right man on our
side the man of God's own choosing? Do you ask who that may be? Christ
Jesus it is He. Lord of Sabbath is His name.
From age to age the same. He must win the battle. Lord,
help me. I will. Lord, stop my tongue. I will. Lord, I want to be clean. I will be thou clean." He not
only will Abel, he's with him. He resisteth the proud. Verse
6, God resisteth the proud. I don't like that grace. I don't
believe in that grace. Then you won't get any. Try to
earn your way to heaven. Go ahead. You'll be rejected.
You'll be rejected. Go ahead and kick. It won't work. God resisteth
the proud, giveth grace unto the humble. And this is our problem. This is the source of our problem.
Pride, self, high-minded, big talker, know-it-all, cynical,
conceited, self-righteousness. Who's that? That's me. That's
my nature. God will abase it. And what we
need to ask is, Lord, please, would you please take this old
fellow in me and bring him down. Don't let him lift his ugly head.
He's full of murder. He loves himself. Verse 7, You've
got to hurry. Submit yourselves to God. Resist
the devil. He'll flee from you. Submit. God giveth grace to the humble.
Submit. Bow. Believe. Do what he says. Take my yoke upon you, he said. A yoke means you can't do what
you will. Do you want to do what you want
to do? Do you want to do what you would
do? Do you? No. All dogs without collars are
going to be destroyed. I told you that story before
about my dog out there and a pack of wild dogs, you know, the ones
without collars. A pound came and took them all
away, but mine had a yoke on it. And I put a leash on him
and brought him back to me and drew him with cords, cords of
love. You don't belong out there. You're mine. And here's what
we say. Lord, put the yoke on me. Put
the yoke on our children from a youth. Wherewithal shall a
young man cleanse his way? By taking heed of the Word of
God. It's good to bear the yoke in your youth. The sooner the
better. Yoke. Because you can't go where
you will if you're yoked. And yoke me to you, Lord. Yoke
me to Christ. Don't let me have my way." Yoke,
that means submit. Resist the devil, he'll flee
from you. Well, Peter said this in 1 Peter chapter 5, he said, He says, Your adversary, the
devil, is a roaring lion, walketh about seeking whom he may devour,
whom resist steadfast in the faith. And Jude said, Michael, the archangel,
wouldn't even contend with the devil. Michael, the archangel,
would not contend with the devil. And here's how he resisted him.
He said, The Lord rebuke you. We can't resist Him in ourselves,
but what we ask, Lord, stop him. Lord, get him behind me. The Lord just has to give the
order, get behind me, Satan. You and I can't do that. False
religion makes all these claims, religion. Step on the head of
the devil, you know, when they are in his control. No, no. We say, Lord, stronger
than he. There's only one stronger than
the devil. It's not you. It's Christ. Lord, please keep
me. He prayed this. Pray this. Keep
me from the evil one. I'm no match. Adam and Eve weren't,
and I'm not. Draw nigh to God. Look at verse
8. Cleanse your hands, you sinners.
Purify your hearts. You double-minded, be afflicted
and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to
mourning, your joy to heaviness. Humble yourselves in the sight
of the Lord. He'll lift you up. How do you cleanse your hands?
How do you purify your heart? Well, there's only one thing
that cleanses. Somebody would like to say it
in one word. One word that says, cleanseth us from all our sins.
One word. Blood. 1 John 1. Confess our sins. He's faithful and just to forgive
us our sins and the blood of Jesus Christ. And cleanse us
from all unrighteousness. And the blood of Jesus Christ,
God's Son, cleanses us. The Gospel. The Gospel of Jesus
Christ and Him crucified. Cleanses. Purifies the heart.
The works, the mind, a double-minded man sets his affection, her affection
on things above. The Word of God, he said, sanctifies
and cleanses and washes. Hebrews 10 says, having our bodies
washed with pure water. That's the Gospel, the Word of
God. The old man doesn't get better. He's never going to get
better. We're not cleansing the old man. We can't do anything
about him. He's only mortified. He's only suppressed. He's only
starved. You can starve him. We feed the
new man. He grows by drawing nigh to God,
feeding on the Word. But you can't cleanse the old
man. You can't change the old man.
He's never going to change until the day we die. Then he's going
to be put away forever. But tell me this, and I'll close
with this, when do you ever feel more clean? than under the sound of the Word
of God. Under the sound of the Gospel.
You feel guilty. You come in here and your sins
are ever before you. Guilt and all these things. Hate
and anger and wrath and malice and adultery and fornication. All these things. You come in
here and you hear the Gospel of Christ and Him crucified.
And the Spirit of God takes that and purges. It shows you your
sins were remitted and cleansed. out from under a big burden.
Barbara Ross used to say this to me after preaching the gospel.
She said, I feel clean. And then you go right outside
and the world bombards you and the old man comes up and you
do things and you feel dirty all over again. And that's what
the Lord says. You think you can get through
this world and you drag your feet. Assaulted by Satan and
this man within. What are you going to do? Cleansing again? Come back to
this fountain filled with blood, drawn from Emmanuel's veins. It says mourn. Mourn. Quit the laughter. This world
is full of laughter and gaiety when God is angry with this world. Preachers have told the world
so long now that God loves them and everybody believes it. And
it is carrying on like the world is going to continue forever
and God just loves us. It doesn't matter what we do
or how we live. That's just not so. God is angry with the wicked
every day and He is holding fire back. 2 Peter 3 says He is reserving
fire for this world. The time is short. It's time
to quit laughing and, you know, having a party and start calling
on God. Weep for yourselves, our Lord
said, and your children. He said, if they've done this
thing in a green tree, what's it going to be like when it's
dry? Our Lord said, what's it going to be like in the last
day? All hell is going to break loose on the earth. Mourn. Weep for yourselves and for your
children. Call on God. Tell them to call
on God before it's everlastingly too late. I don't play games when I preach.
I don't mince words. I'm not trying to win friends
and influence people. I want people's souls to be saved.
I know the truth. I'm not trying to keep from offending
people. The gospel is an offense. Sinners,
rebels against God need to be offended. And they need to be
broken right now. It's that serious. Oh, but he
giveth more grace. I want to end it with that. He
giveth more grace. Lord, humble me. Set my affection
on things of that.