Thank you, Jenea. There are indeed struggles, fightings,
warrings, within and without, one of which we're going to speak
about tonight. As you noticed in those verses,
if you noticed, he said, Is this vile world a friend to grace? And then he said, in another
verse, he said, Shall I be carried to the skies on flowery beds
of ease while others fought to win the prize and sailed through
bloody seas? And our Lord said, it's not only
given unto you to believe, but also to what? To suffer. He said, blessed are you when
you're persecuted, when you're hated, when you're maligned,
when you're misunderstood, when you have to go through some disappointments
and some sufferings for his name's sake, to defend his glory and
his honor and his name. These are just part of the battle
that believers are called to go through and to fight in. Scripture talks about the gates
of hell, the church, the gates of hell not prevailing against
it. Well, as one old preacher, Brother Griswold, said, he said, Gates don't fight. You storm
gates. So, and the church, Brother Ed,
church on earth is called the church what? Church militant,
isn't it? Militant. As a military, as a
soldier. So that's a good hymn, and it
bears All right, James chapter 4. Now, we have been going through
the book of Romans, and we have been looking at justification
by faith. Through the book of Romans, strong,
meek doctrine. salvation by grace through faith alone. And now that needs to be tempered
with a book like the book of James. Right? Romans is, Romans
is the doctrine of Christ. That is the foundation. The book
of Romans is the doctrine of Christ. James tells us to adorn
the doctrine. So, Romans says this is the faith
of God's elect. Romans says that. This is the
faith of God's elect, and buddy, we've been looking at that. James
says this is what that produces, or this is the conduct of the
faith of God's So it needs to be tempered, right? That's what I need. What I need,
you need. I was reading through this, and
one verse really struck me. Verse 8. James 4. I'm so used to saying it wrong.
James 4. James 4. And many people Misunderstand
the book of James and can't quite reconcile it with Romans, but
you don't reconcile friends. It's no need that they they go
together. But men's understanding is. Is
darkened and. They go together. One tempers
the other. Verse eight struck my struck
me. As I was reading it, draw nigh
to God and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye
sinners, and purify your hearts, ye double-minded. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners,
and purify your minds, your hearts, you double-minded. really struck me when I read
that. Now, this is taken, this is almost
exactly in the middle of this chapter in that verse. So we
need to go back and take it in context. All right? So let's
go back. Now this, the book of James is
written to believers. Look at chapter one, verse two. Remember the rule when reading
scriptures. Who is writing, to whom is he
writing? And to whom he's writing is the
church. Verse two of chapter one, my
brethren. My brethren. He said in verse
one, the twelve tribes scattered abroad. My brethren. Chapter
two, verse one. Chapter 2, verse 1, my brethren. Chapter 3, verse 1, my brethren. So, who is he writing to? Believers. He's writing to us.
All right? He's writing to us. All right,
let's look at it. Chapter 4, verse 1. From whence come wars and fighting
among you? From whence come wars and fighting
among you?" Now, apparently, in the early church, some of
these that James was writing to in the early church, they
were having some struggles within the church, like Corinth. Corinth was strife with problems,
wasn't it? as the early church was. And let me say this, they didn't
have the advantage that we have, did they? And they didn't have what we
have. So we are without excuse for
any of these things, totally without excuse. They were, but
in a sense, we more so. Does that make sense? Because
we have more light than they have. Alright? Wars and fighting. He's talking about quarreling,
strife, and divisions in the church. Now, this indicates a
carnal mind. Paul said this in 1 Corinthians. He said, if there's strife and
division, are you not carnal? Remember that? Well, look back
up at chapter 3, verse 18. He said, The fruit of righteousness
is sown in peace of them that make peace. Let me read that
to you. I knew I brought this for something and I'd forgotten.
It's that verse. Let me read this to you from the Amplified
Bible. This is just a study. And this
is very good, though. The harvest of righteousness, or that is of conformity to God's
will and thought and deed, is the fruit of the seed sown in
peace by those who work for and make peace in themselves and
in others. That is, that peace which means
concord and harmony between people with undisturbedness and a peaceful
mind, free from fears and passions and moral conflict. That's good.
I don't know if you were able to understand that, but it's
good. Our Lord said, blessed are the peacemakers. They shall
be called the children of God. Troublemakers are not the children
of God. They're just not children of
God. Isn't that right? That is right. Paul said in Romans
16, verse 17, he said, Mark them which cause strife and division
among you, and avoid them. Their God is their belly. They
are such that serve their belly and their own selves. Right? That's what he said. I heard of a man who left a gospel
church. He left a gospel church. He'd
left one before that. And he was boasting to someone about leaving. When he was leaving,
he was boasting to someone. And he said this, he said, the
last church that I left split because I left. Now, what does that tell you? Huh? Does that man's own mouth
put him here? Is he not saying, I caused division? Isn't that what he's saying? And I know as a gospel church
that he left because that man was here. So, troublemakers are not the
children of God. Peacemakers are. Peacemaking. And he says here is the reason
for it. Where do these wars and fightings
come from? Look at verse 1. Come they not
hence, even of your lust, or that is, your pleasures, your
desires at war, and your Verse 2, you lust and have not, you
kill and desire to have, and the killing here is with the
tongue. You can't kill with a sword anymore, but you can sure try
to kill a man's reputation, can't you? That's how you kill. You
malign and bring down, that's how you kill, with the tongue.
You lust and have not, you kill and desire to have, and cannot
obtain. You fight in war, yet you have
not, because you ask not. Now, we're speaking to us. Don't disregard what I just said. But let's go on, OK? And let's
apply this to ourselves, all right? Apply this to ourselves.
The cause, he says, where do wars and fighting come amongst
us? Why would anything cause problems? He says, it's within us. It's within us. It's my will. What would cause me to cause
problems? Especially in a place where the
gospel is preached, where people are receptive to
the gospel and loving, as loving as people can be. Why would I ever cause problems?
My will and my way, my rights, my opinion, my this and my that. Isn't that right? That's what
would do it. My, my own lust. And I believe this is speaking
also of inward struggles. You see, every believer has inward
struggles that are a constant source of turmoil and fighting. And right now, at this present
moment, there's no strife or division. There's no trouble
and no troublemakers. Thank God. And I'm thankful for
that. And we're at peace among ourselves. We ought to be. There's never
any reason not to be. If I sacrifice my will and my
ways and my thoughts and my opinion and my rights and submit, submit
yourself one to another in the fear of the Lord, there never
should be a problem. There never should be a ripple. Right? That's right. But I tell
you, it's one person who makes me the maddest, and the one I'd
like to see straightened out more than any other, is me. How about you, Stan? There's one old fellow that I'd
just like the Lord to do something about. Whip him in shame. How about you, Joe? And this
is what James is going to talk about here in a little bit. Well, me and myself, most of
my problems are of my own making. And if there's a problem in the
church, and it's where the gospel is being proclaimed, and I've
got a problem, I probably am the problem. Right? Because I've got a problem with
a place that's so so peaceable and with such a message being
proclaimed that I got a problem is I probably am the problem.
Well, and it's because of this, I want, I want, I want. Well,
verse three, let's look at it. You ask and receive not. All
right, we do ask and don't get what we ask for. Why? Because
you ask amiss, consuming upon your own luck. Now, see if this isn't so with
you. Like I said, what I need, I pretty
much believe you need. What fits me, fits you. In every situation, every decision,
we should first ask the Lord, would you have me do this? Would you have me have that? Would you have me go here, go
there? Would you, Lord, if you will, Thy will be done, not my
will. Shouldn't, shouldn't that be
the way we... Well, usually, no. Instead, we go ahead and
decide to do something, and had totally commit ourselves
to doing it, set our hearts on it, and then we say, Lord, would
you please bless this? Would you, would you let me know
that That's not the way to do it.
That's not the way to do it. And to consume it on our own
lust, for our own pleasures. That threefold criteria, did
you write it down? Did you remember it? It ought
to be riveted in God's glory. Every decision, everything. Is
this best for God's glory? Is this for God's glory? Is God
going to get more glory out of this? Is this good? How's this
going to affect the church of which I'm a vital member? We being many members are one
body. My hand can't go out and do something
without affecting the rest of my body, can it? It just can't. It's joined in
this thing. Whatever my hand does, if my
hand does something shameful, it's changed my body, right? That would temper things wouldn't
it? How's this going to affect the body of which I'm, I mean
my family, it's my family. Erlene go out and do something,
bring approach on the gospel. Christ first shamed the head
and the body as well. You go where? Where you go to
church? It does make it, it does matter doesn't it? I thought
y'all believed the gospel now. That's what Nathan told David,
wasn't it? You've caused the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme
his name. So that ought to temper him.
And number three, my family, all right? What about my family?
Their spiritual good. Is this for their spiritual good? Their spiritual good. All right. Does he not well say of us? Look
at verse 4. In reading this, you know, even
while I was reading this with you, I thought, what's this hard
language? Did you think that for a fleeting
moment? Did you think that? I'm not, you know. Did that enter your mind? I thought
while reading this, I thought, this is hard. These people, these
are God's people. This is written to God's people. This is God's Word. I'm not going
to apologize. Stan, I need this. And here's
what he calls us. Us. Not you. Us. Verse 4, ye
adulterers and adulteresses. Now, you know, you know he's not talking about,
well, you know, we are, literally. Maybe not openly and outwardly,
but our Lord got to the heart of the matter. He said, if you
look on a woman, you're guilty, right? Or look on a man, guilty,
right? In that sense, we really are
truly, we've broken that law, truly. But the sense here is
a spiritual one, right? We read on. He says, your adulterers
and adulterers 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. Talking about spiritual
adultery here. We who are, we're not our own. We're not our own. Bought with
price, and a great price. Can you hear me? Okay. I'm not speaking loud enough. We who are not our own. You know,
I'm not, I'm not my own. And you're not your own, are
you? We're one. Isn't that right? You and I are one. More so is a believer one with
Christ, married to another. I'm more married to Christ than
I am hers. As a matter of fact, someday I won't be married to
her. In heaven, there's no marrying or giving of marriage. Right?
No male or female. Christ is the male. He's the
man, the head. I'm the wife. Right? I'm married to another. How often
have I played the hardy and the adulterous and gone out with all my so-called
lovers? What lovers? He just said it, didn't he? anything and everything. Anything
and everything that comes along. Look back at James chapter one. How serious is this? How many
marriages have broken up as a result of adultery? I'll tie us all to this. How
many marriages have broken up as a result of adultery? Many. And look here what James says
here. How serious is it? Look at verse
8. A double-minded man is unstable in all his way. Now,
didn't he just say that, Stan, in verse 8? Cleanse your heart,
you double-minded. Let's go on. I want to deal with
this in a moment. Let the brother of low degree
rejoice in that he is exalted, but the rich in that he is made
low. Because as the flower of the grass, he shall pass away. For the sun is no sooner risen
with a burning heat, but it withereth the grass, and the flower thereof
falleth, and the grace of the fashion of it perishes. So also
shall the rich man fade away in his way." Now, I don't want
to deal much with that, but what he's talking about is just how
everything's perishing. Everything's perishing, no matter
how it may look. It's perishing. The glory of
this world, the beauty of this world, the fashion of it's perishing,
it's grass, it's withering, it's dry. Right? The green grass will
soon perish, turn brown and die. And whatever we own, whatever
we have, it's going to perish. So don't set your heart and your
affection and so forth on grass. Right? On grass. Let it go out
in the dry. Be like an old horse. Chew it
and let it go out in the dry. Blessed is the man, verse 12,
that endureth temptation. What temptation? That's the temptation
of these things, Deborah. Right? In the context. That's
these things. Temptation. It's a great temptation,
isn't it? Sure it is. There's not a person
in here that doesn't like fine things. You're lying if you say
you don't. You're just flat lying. And all
these people love the I think they're so holy, driving around
in uncomfortable, un-air-conditioned cars in August. They're just
flat-lying. They're just liars. If they think and say, I'm content,
no you're not. Read on. Blessed is the man that
endures temptation, that is, does not consume it. When he's
tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath
promised to them that love him. Let no man say when he's tempted,
that I'm tempted of God. God cannot be tempted with evil,
neither tempteth he any man evil. All right, here's the point.
Every man is tempted when he's drawn away of his own lusts,
his own desires, his own insatiable cravings after sin. Read on.
And enticed of those lusts, enticed flesh, lust against the Spirit.
Then when lust hath conceived, that is, you get to thinking
about something. You get to wanting something.
And then you, you actually go after it. That's just talking
about adult, like adultery. To think on, and then just absolutely
go out and do it. It's the same thing, spiritually,
go on. When you're tempted, you're drawn
away of your lust, and lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth
sin. Terrible consequences. And sin,
when it's finished, if it goes on like this, goes on and on
and on and on, if you keep having this spiritually extramarital
affair with things, what will it bring? What does it say? Death. Death. That's what this world
is. That's what the things in this
world bring. Death. Do not err, my beloved brother."
You see that? All right, go back to the text
now. You see how it's all so, it's all so vitally joined here? All right, look at verse four
again. Now, these are hard things. Hard things. Boy, I tell you,
I got a hard heart, though, and a hard head, and I need something
hard to break it. Didn't he say the word is a hammer,
didn't he? You busted up concrete lots of
times, didn't you? I spent my day busting up concrete. Can you do it with a rubber mallet?
Huh? Can you do it with a little ball-peen hammer and a chisel? That's a sledgehammer, doesn't
it? This is what the Word of God says. He says about His Word,
it's not my word, a hammer that breaketh the hard heart. And
this old heart is prone to hardening. And I need this Word to flatten.
I need some two-by-four words. Don't you, Joe? Like an old mule,
the old mule that I am at times, stubborn. needs to back or go
between the eyes. Let this word be a front, but
between your two before your eyes. All right, look at verse
four. He says, Know you not that the
friendship of the world is enmity with God? You know that, Polly
Sigmund? You know that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? You know that, Harry? Vicki? Friendship of the world is enmity
with God. The thoughts, the opinions, the
ways, the favor, the approval, the fashion, everything about
this world is against God. You know, that's what this says,
against God. And if you in any way, shape,
form, or fashion align yourself with this world, Look at the
next part. Whosoever therefore be a friend
of the world is the enemy of God. God said, that which is highly
esteemed among men is an abomination. That word
abomination means absolutely, utterly detestable and abhorrent,
hateful. The reason God's going to absolutely
stall this planet. Where's the preacher today that's
even mentioning judgment? God Almighty is absolutely going
to burn this planet alive. Isaiah talks about him walking
the winepress of wrath and his garments being drenched in blood,
the blood of man. Why? Because this place is abominable
to God. It's abominable. And so you know what? I don't
want to get too friendly with it. Do you understand? Let me
not get too friendly with it. Let it not have any influence
over me. Sam, here's the thing. I want to be like Christ. He says, holy, harmless, separate
from sinners. He could live, Christ lived in
this world, yet was unmoved and untouched by it. That's where
I want to be. Don't you? That's where I want
to be. Everything in this world is diametrically
opposed to God Almighty, to this book. Everything, particularly
in this generation we're living in. Scripture says they call
evil good and good evil. They're calling this abominable
gospel. Boy, I hate the fact that they
use the word gospel in reference to what they're preaching today.
They're attributing to the work of the Spirit. They're attributing
the work of the devil to the Spirit. Aren't they? All this stuff that's going on
in the neighborhood, this circus, this shenanigans, this wildfire,
these clowns, these These evil men and seducers and these blasphemers
and all this stuff going on. They're calling this the work
of the Spirit. It's the work of the devil. But isn't that
what they did when they called? I read today over in the book
of John where they kept I'm talking about the holy, harmless,
pure, spotless Son of God. He said, you have a devil. And
they were the devils. Religious, Joe, they were religion.
And Christ said, no, you're a part of the devil. Now, who do we
believe? If I yet seek to please men,
I'm not serving Christ. If they don't call me, you see
what I'm saying? If they don't call me a devil, They call evil good and good evil,
religiously, secularly, morally. It's an abomination. Religion,
the most popular preacher in our day is Billy Graham. That
man's an abomination. He's absolutely anti-Christ.
You read what he said. So there's other ways to go.
That's anti-Christ, isn't it? Secularly. God's just absolutely,
that just, he's just not, they don't even, they don't even mention
his name, except to cuss with him. Isn't that right? You know, coming up Thanksgiving
Day, and then Christmas will come up. You watch, you watch
these advertisements, see if they ever mention God's name.
They won't even mention his name, won't mention God. Can't. It's not politically correct. When it comes to Christmas time,
they won't mention Jesus Christ's name, they'll just say, remember
him. They won't mention his name. You watch that, you just make
note of that. Morally, so to speak, morally, whatever that
is. Well, ain't none of that. And
I fear for myself that I become insensitive, desensitized to
what the world calls normal behavior is absolutely abomination. And I fear that for my daughter. I fear that for your daughter,
for our sons and daughters, that they'll become desensitized to
what God Almighty says will merit hell. We become insensitive to
it and call it normal behavior, like fornication and adultery
and what have you, drunkenness and so forth. God says they won't
inherit the kingdom of God. I fear that, Joe Parks. I fear
that. And I, in myself, can give many examples, but I'll
not. I read on, he says in verse 5, Do you think that the scripture
saith in vain, The spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy? No, it didn't say that in vain,
because it does, doesn't it? Paul says, I find a law of war
in my memory, doesn't it? Is there a war? Is there a fight
to fight? That's what Paul said. And you
can't fight it in the strength of the flesh. That's what you're
dealing with. Right? We're not wrestling with
our flesh and blood, but principalities and power. But in a sense, that's
what's warring against us. You know, I don't know if that
made sense, but it is. You know, we can't lean on the
arm of the flesh because that's what we're trying to suppress. but only on him, without whom
we can do nothing. We have not, because we ask not.
Well, he said, in verse five, he says, the Spirit left in us
to invade, invade, invade, invade, invade. Boy, that's a root of bitterness,
isn't it? Invade. But, oh, I'm glad he wrote this, We all take a breath, take a
drink of water. We're all guilty. Adultery, adultery. You're bloodied up, sided up
to the world, become insensitive like the world,
influenced by it, lusted, killed, desired, haven't we? guilty. But this is designed to quick
us. It's designed to convict us. Little children, I write
unto you, John, said that you don't do it. Sin not. But, but. Thank God for the buts
in Scripture. Thank God for the buts. But he
given more grace. What's he going to take? to resist
temptation. What's it going to take to, like
the temptation you talked about in chapter one, enduring temptation,
what's it going to take to not be a friend with the world, not
be influenced by it, not side up to it, because everybody,
not be one by, it's going to take grace and lots of it, and
every day, grace, every day, every morning. You have not. It goes right back to that verse
2, doesn't it? You have not, because you ask
not. Earlene, he said, pray. Lord, teach us to pray, OK? After
this manner, pray. Our Father which art in heaven,
so on, give us this day our daily bread. Lead us not into temptation. but deliver us from evil. Didn't he say that? Daily. You
have not, but you ask not. Fall into it, succumb to it,
and ask for grace. Is that plain? Sure it is. If you knew, you would ask, and
he would have given. If you knew, you would have asked,
and he would have given. If you knew, you would have asked,
and he would have given. All right, let's look at verse
six. But he giveth more grace. Wherefore
he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble. Grace, he giveth more grace.
Grace, grace of discernment. Oh, I need that, don't you? It's
there in chapter one, he says, any man like wisdom. Oh, I need
the grace of wisdom, don't you? I'm so dumb, I'm so ignorant.
They say people in religion are ignorant. That's why they say
they're religious. That's what the world says. Well, we're not spiritually ignorant.
But I tell you, there are times when I do feel so ignorant. So
ignorant people in the world are the ignorant ones. And that's
when I get real ignorant, when I don't think right thoughts.
Right? When I start thinking like the
world, that's when I've lost my mind. People think you're
crazy by trying to live according to them. They think you're crazy.
Well, who's really in their right mind? It's the world. It's so gone. Their minds are
so gone. The Scripture says their understanding
is, what, darkened. And when I get to thinking like
it, that's when I get out from grace and ignorance, out of my
mind. Give me wisdom that's coming
from above. Right? He said he gives liberally. He's
no miserly taskmaster, as Matthew Henner said. I need the grace
of courage. Oh, that's a lot of grace. to
deal with these worms. He said to Isaiah, Rick, he said
to Isaiah one time, you know, you're afraid of a worm, and not of God. Isaiah, you know, was just like
us, you know, at times when he got feared. Oh, I've been reading
about Elijah. Boy, he faced eight hundred and
fifty prophets, and then one woman, some smooth-tongued hiller. Hillary was her, Hillary Jezebel.
was her name came along and he fled. She was a lawyer before she got
to be First Lady. That's how they had it. Now he's
scared. Our Lord rebuked him. You're fearful of a man that's
going to die. A worm. Fear God. Fear a worm. I need the grace of courage.
I need the grace of boldness. I need the grace of commitment.
Don't you? I'm just ready to halt. Aren't
you? Psalm 38, ready to halt. Ready to quit. I'm going to quit.
Well, big deal. Who's going to be lost except
you? We try to threaten people. I'm
just going to quit. A lot of people wish you would. Well, that's, you know, who's
going to lose but us? Ready to halt. I need the grace
of commitment. I need the grace of faith. Faith. Oh, ye of little faith. He says
he resists the proud. He gives grace to the humble. Place to start right here at
the bottom. You can only go but one place up. Verse seven. Read on. Submit yourselves, therefore,
to God. Submit yourself, whatever he
says, whatever he does, submit, submit, submit. My pastor preached
a message, and I'll see if I can't get a copy of it for you. Preached
it years ago, I'll never forget it. On the key to happiness,
submission, the key to happiness. I'll try to get that tape and
make copies of it. I'll never forget that message.
It made a real impression on me. I wish it had made more. Submit. Whatever God says is
right. It's best. It's good. It's going to be. It's just be
right by us. God is just going to be right
by us. If we submit to whatever he says,
it's just going to be right. But if we just say, well, you
said it. Here I go, it's going to be ripe. It's going to be
good. It'll be well with you. If you
be willing and obedient, you'll eat the good of the land. You
remember old Molly? Remember Molly? I was trying
to get her to put that yoke on her, put that harness on her. I was just going to lead her
to good green pasture. She's running out of grass over
here. went out there to try to get her one day, and she ran
from me. Never done that before. And I
kept saying, if you just submit, if you just be willing and obedient,
you're going to eat the good land. Submit! Finally she... and I put it on
her, and buddy, she's happier than she was before I put it
on her. It's good for a Brandon, he says
it's good that a young man bear the yoke in his youth. Why? Why do you have to wallow
in the mud? Why does a young man have to
go live in a ditch a while, Stan? Why doesn't he live in somebody's
house? So he doesn't have to go that route. Submit now. It's good that a young man bear
the yoke in his youth. I wish the Lord would do a work
in our young people. One. Just one. So that they'd
be a pattern to the rest of them to say, hey, this is the best
way. To see how God will honor his
word. How God will be true to his promise. Scripture talks about obeying
your parents. This is a first commandment with promise. That's unheard of in our day,
though, and it's just absolutely unheard of, a submissive young
person. Well, I know I'm rambling a little
bit, but it's scripturally rambling, aren't I? Verse eight, draw nigh
and resist the devil. Verse seven, how do you resist
the devil? What did Martin Luther say in that psalm? Did we, in
our own strength, confide or rely? Our striving would be losing. We're not the right man on our
side. The man of God's own choosing
is stronger than he. Just ask who that may be. Well,
of course, Jesus is. And he must win the battle. He
must fight it for you. Our Lord told Peter, Peter, you're
going to deny me. What did Peter say? Lord, please
don't let me do that. Don't let me. Lord, pray for
me. Keep me from falling. Did he say that? What did Peter
say? Not me. Well, Peter, the reason Peter
didn't fall completely at the hands of old Diabolus was because
the Lord said, But I pray for you, that your faith fail not. You're going to fall, but you're
not going to fail. There's a difference. You're going to fall, you're
going to see what you're made of. And then you're going to write
an epistle that says, we're kept by the power of God. But you're a nothing. And without
me, you can do nothing. You need to call on me, whom
in every present help and time of trouble. How do you resist
the devil, Peter? Not me. You say, like Michael the archangel,
who's a lot stronger than you, you say, The Lord rebuketh thee,
Satan. The Lord rebuketh thee, Satan.
All right, let's close with verse 8, where we started. Draw nigh
unto God, and he will draw nigh unto you. Draw nigh unto God, and he will
draw nigh unto you. Barbara, is that what you want?
Nearness to God. Charles, would you like for your
name to be changed to Enoch? That'd be a good name to have.
Enoch, walk with God. So near and so close. Enoch Ross. Wouldn't that be
good? Draw nigh? He'll draw nigh to you. Well, that has something to do
with the rest of what he says here. Cleanse your hands, you
sinner, and purify your heart, you double-minded. All right? Very quickly, in closing, these
two things, hands and heart. Cleanse your hands, purify your
heart. You know, when I read that, what,
did you think of another passage of Scripture when you read that?
I quote it all the time. I mean, I quote it as much as
any other scripture. Who shall I send unto the holy hill with
the Lord, he that hath, and a what? Pure heart. Let's talk about
Christ, then, without a doubt. Let's talk about Christ, Psalm
24. Talk about Christ, who alone has truly clean hands and a pure
heart. All right? Hands and heart. He
says, Cleanse your hands, you sinner. Purify your hearts, you
double-minded. We need a cleansing of the hands
and the heart. If you could substitute these
two things, hands and heart, for ways and thoughts, couldn't
you? Hand is your ways. Heart and
the mind are the same. Basically the same thing. Now
God said to the natural man, didn't God say to the natural
man, my ways are not your way, and my thoughts are not your
thoughts, hand and heart. So we need a cleansing of the
hand and the heart. He says we're double-minded.
God and what? Mammon. Spirit and flesh. Double-minded. Two-natured. Warring. Fence-straddling. We need our
hearts set in one direction, Stan, don't we? And one only.
We need our minds transformed and set in one direction, one
direction only, don't we? Our affection, heart, mind, set
on one thing and one thing in one direction. What's that? Not
below, but things above. Set on things above. We need
our hands to move in that direction. Our ways, our way. in that direction. Everything
we do, head in that direction. Aim that headiness in that direction. Right? Now, how do you clean
your hands physically? How do you clean your hands?
Huh? Water. All right. How do you clean your
spiritual hands? Our hands are swift to shed blood. We have shed the innocent blood. We are sinners. Now, twofold,
spiritually and practically speaking. We're sinners. How are we going
to get clean? Huh? How are we going to get clean? Why, even the blood of the Son
of God is on us and our children. We're sinners. We're sons of
Adam. We've rebelled against God. We've shed innocent blood,
and we're swift to shed blood. We're murderers. We're sinners.
How are we going to get clean? The very blood we shed is the
blood that cleanses us. Christ is the water. He's the
water of life. There's a fountain flowing for
the soul unclean. Our sins are purged. All right? We're about a new
heart. Same thing. Same one. A new heart is given
up. Our ways are changed. Our hearts
are changed. And we have faith in Christ.
Faith in Christ. Simple faith in Christ. Trust
in Christ. Regeneration is what we're talking
about. New ways, new thoughts, new mind. Only thing will do it. You must
be what we've been talking about through the Book of John. You
must be. You can't tell an unregenerate
man to do this. You can't do it. Because it starts
with a motive. And I really believe that's what
he's talking about when he talks about let us lift up holy hands.
What's that? Clean hands. I mean spiritual
hands. Without guile. Like James is
talking about here. Without hypocrisy. All right,
am I getting through here? All right, by faith in Christ,
plunging in that fountain, our sins are purged. All right? In Christ. Christ gives us a
new heart. Our ways are changed. Our thoughts,
our minds are set in the right direction on things above where
Christ sits. That's his work, spiritually
speaking. Practically, he tells us The
Holy Spirit wouldn't have said this to us, would it? Stan, he
said, he said, Stan, you should cleanse your hands, didn't you,
sinner? Didn't you? He say that? That
threw me for a loop when I first read it. He said that, Terry,
cleanse your hands, purify your heart, double minded, didn't
you? Well, how do you do that? Well, how do you cleanse your
hands physically? How do you cleanse your hands
spiritually? Practically. This is it. It's all right here. The water.
What does he say in Ephesians 5, 26, Rick? He sanctifies us,
the spirit sanctifies us by the washing of water by his word. They might present to himself
a glorious church without spot or wrinkle or any such thing.
He sanctifies us through the washing of water by his word. The man that stays in the bathtub
the longest is going to be the cleanest, isn't he? Isn't he? Our daughter likes to swim, and
all summer long she's just squeaky clean. Squeaky clean. The man that stays in the bath
the longest will be the cleanest. That's just a fact. Just a fact. It stands to reason, then, that
we must be under the sound of the word at all times. Right? Must be. We absolutely must be under the
sound of the word. the Word of God. We must study
the Word of God. We must hear the Word of God.
We must take a bath in the Word of God constantly. This is the
shower of blessings. Oh, that today they might fall.
But they ain't going to fall without asking. And this is it. Ed, this is it,
isn't it? This is all God's got to say. Isn't it? I don't say
that flippantly. You know what I'm saying. God
just does not have special revelations and special experiences and special
miracles and so forth for anybody. This is it. This is how he speaks. This is how he directs. This
is how he leads. This is how he guides. This is
how he gives grace. This is how he restrains. This is how he constrains. This
is it. This is it. Hide not thy word in my heart
that I might not want. The fellow who bangs the least, ain't nobody going to want to
be around him. And he won't show up. He's not
here anyway. He's not there anyway. the less you bathe, the dirtier
your hands and heart will get. Wherever you spend, wherever
you spend, and wherever you spend the most time, whoever you spend
the most time with, who are you going to be like? Whoever you spend the most time
with, who are you going to be like? The world? John said, brethren, we're not up to work. Our Lord
said, they're not up to work. John said we're of God and the
whole world lies in wickedness, didn't it? That's not saying
we're holier than thou or we're better than them. It's just we're
going a different direction, Joe. We're just going a different
direction. Our thoughts? Stan, I can't read
anything in the newspaper or see anything on TV that I half
way agree with. Can't even half way. I mean,
we're flat in 180 degrees in the other direction. Kins who walk together acceptably
agree. Can't be done. So, the word to us is, cleanse
your hands. Cleanse your hands. Purify your
heart. Double-minded. A double-minded
man, a woman's unstable in all their ways. What do you want?
What do you want? What are you looking for? You'll
get what you want. We'll get what we want. We want
Christ. Oh that I might win Christ and
be found in him. Oh that I might know him. You'll
get cry. You'll get cry. You ask, you
get. You want the world? Go for it. You know what you get? Death. Misery. Sorrow. destruction. Be an old, miserable, dried up
man someday with no Christ and no happiness and no nothing and
no hope without God. And don't even have the world.
Can't even enjoy it. Evil days. Good to bury the yoke
in your youth now before the evil days come now. We're talking
about old age now. May the Lord impress upon all
our minds, young and old, these things. All right, let's stand. Our Heavenly Father, you have
so much to say to us through your word, and yet we are not
able to bear it all fully. And I apologize, O Lord, forgive
me for not being clear and Oh Lord, we want to be true to
your word and say all things necessary and not hold back anything possible. It's the whole counsel of God.
Lord, we fear more than anything. I fear more than anything for
myself that I be led astray there of the wicked and that this world
have an influence over me, and I become in its grip, the throes
of this world. Lord, deliver me. Deliver us,
our children, O Lord. O Lord, you told us, save yourselves
from this untoward generation, that we are not irresponsible.
We are responsible. We submit. O Lord, cause us to
be submissive. Cause us to commit. give us more
grace to resist and the strength, the power, the strong in the
Lord and the power of His might and put on the whole armor of
God that we might resist. Oh Lord, the world, you know
you were here. You know the pull. You know the
allure. You were touched as with every
and every point like as we are, yet without sin. And Lord, we
want We don't want to sin against it. We want to be drawn away
for this lust to conceive and bring forth death. O Lord, save
us, keep us. By your power, which is your
Word, wash us, not our feet only, but all over, as Peter would
say. Let us be under this soul-saving
sound of the blood. Let us come and wash in the water
of the Word. Cleanse our minds from the filth
of this perverse generation. Cleanse our hands from our own
filthiness. Straighten our steps. Lead us in paths of righteousness. For Thy name's sake we pray,
for Thy glory and honor, in Christ's name, amen.