Turn back to James chapter 4. James chapter 4. I can honestly say that the older
I get, I really appreciate more and
more verses like verse 6. He giveth more grace. I need more grace now, I believe,
than when I started. I don't know that you can say
it that way, but I feel it. I feel like I need more of it
now, because you have more light. And yet you do such stupid things. He giveth more grace. But to
really appreciate that and to really love it, you have to understand
something of what goes before that. These verses that go before
this, verses 1-5, I would like to think that that was not me. I would like to think that lust
and to kill and desire and to fight and to war. I wish I didn't
have that in me. Don't you? But it's there. That old carnal nature is still
there. It's still there. But that's
what makes you really, really appreciate the grace of God when
He gives you an understanding of what He has saved you from.
Save you from the law, the curse of the law, the power of sin,
the power of Satan, and yourself. Be saved from yourself, that
old, corrupt, carnal nature that you were born with. Now James continues to point
out where trouble comes from. Where does trouble come from?
He points this out, and I'll tell you where it comes from.
It's very simply put, within. All my troubles come from within.
It comes from within that old heart. It starts inward before
it ever gets outward. I believe James describes three
people here in this chapter. He describes the natural man,
the natural state of all men and women is described here. And then he describes false professors
whose hearts have never been changed, even though they profess
to know God. Yet he describes, this is who
they are. You know, Paul said in one place,
they have come in among you unaware, have slipped in, have caused
trouble and division, problems. And then thirdly, he's writing
this to believers. You know, he mentions brethren
I think over 15 times in this epistle. So he's writing to his
brethren. And it is a description of that
old nature that we still have, that old carnal nature that raises
its ugly head so often. It causes so much heartache,
so much heartache. We are told throughout the scriptures,
Paul says in one place, put off the old man with his deeds and
put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the
image of him who created it. Told to mortify the deeds of
the flesh. That work is never over, is it?
That work is never over. Constantly mortifying, constantly
contending, constantly fighting against that old nature that
we're born with. Now, he points out here, he says,
whence come wars and fighting among you? If there's fighting
and warring and factions, he says, where do they come from?
If there's trouble in the home. If there's trouble in the home.
If there is trouble in the church, where does it come from? It comes
from within. It just comes right out of that
old nature that's there. It doesn't come from God. This
does not come from God. If you'll go back to chapter
3, in verse 17, he says the wisdom that is from above is first pure,
that's of God, then peaceable. They're gentle and easy to be
entreated and full of mercy and good fruits without partiality
and without hypocrisy. That's from God. That's a work
of God. He said if there's trouble and
wars and fighting, if it's in the home, if it's in the workplace,
if it's in the church, and he's dealing with the church here.
He said that's coming from within. That's not of God's flesh. That's
flesh. That's the old That old carnal
nature coming, raising its ugly head, coming out. And then verse
two, he says here, and he uses some strong words. He said, you
lust and have not. In other words, you lust and
you're never satisfied. You know, it's impossible. It
is absolutely impossible to satisfy human nature. Have you ever satisfied
your children? I was a child once. I was never
satisfied. It was never enough. More, more,
more. You lust, he says, and you kill
and desire to have and cannot obtain. You fight a war yet you
have not because you ask not. These are strong words. But this
describes the human race, doesn't it? Look at the wars, my soul. I don't know that you could ever
go back in history, at any point in history since the fall, that
there was not a war or somebody being murdered or killed somewhere. Always. What a commentary on
the human race. War. Where does that come from? It comes from that carnal nature.
And lust. What is lust? Here's what lust
is. It's greed. Greed. We are getting to see some of
it now on Wall Street, aren't we? Greed got it. Greed got to them. Lust. No, lust is not just a sexual
thing. It's lust for power. It's lust
for money. It's lust for self-exaltation. And he said this is what's in
the human heart. Lust and greed never satisfied.
Like the ocean. Never fool. Never fool. And you
kill? You know, our Lord said to hate
your brother without a cause is to commit murder. To ignore
someone, turn your back on them as if they were not there is
to kill them. Guilty of that. And desires? He said you desire what you don't
have. Craving. After things you don't
have that God didn't give you, you want them and you're craving
them. You're going after them. You're spending your life after
them. That's what James is saying. I read this. And after I read
this two or three times, I said, guilty. Guilty. I see this in me. I see this
in human nature. I see it. I see it more now than
I saw it 20 some years ago. I see more of it. And I have
to fight it more often. Desires. Wondering what others
have. Upset when they get it and you
don't. You ever been there? I bet you have. You ever done
that? Fight. No peace. No peace. I tell you this, you show me
someone that's always fighting, then I'll show you someone that's
lost. I'll show you someone who doesn't know God, that's always
fighting, always fighting. And you have not, he said, because
you ask not. What do you have not? You have
not peace. You have not that real peace
that comes from above. And because you don't ask for
it, you don't want it. He said, you're not seeking that,
you're seeking each other's things. You've gotten your mind off these
things. You know, it says over in Colossians, set your mind,
your affection on things where? Above. Our Lord sits at God's
right hand. But when your mind gets off of
those things, that's when all these troubles come in. All these
troubles. You have no peace because you
ask not. You have no rest, just like the troubled sea, because
you ask not. James is writing to them saying, you're not seeking
after it. If you don't have it, it's because you're not seeking
after it. I tell you this, a person who seeks for mercy A person
who seeks peace with God gets it. They get it. And yes, not for the fruit of
the Spirit. Seeking this love, joy, peace,
kindness. This is something that's sought
after. If you're going to envy something, envy this. Love and
have joy and peace. I mean, real spiritual peace
and joy and love. And when you ask, he says, even
when you ask, you ask amiss. You ask amiss. He says you ask
for your own pleasure. You ask to spend it on yourself. You ask for a better job, you
don't get it, more of something that's really, that'd be good
for the family, you think. You don't get it? Well, there's
a reason. He said the motive behind it
is evil. The motive behind it is to be
spent on self. That's what he's saying. He said it's a wrong motive for
the wrong ends. And look what a strong word he
uses here in verse 4. Ye adulterers and adulteresses,
know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God?
Whosoever therefore would be a friend of the world is the
enemy of God." What is an adulterer or an adulteress? It's when two people are married
and one leaves for someone else. The heart is taken up with someone
else. That's an adulterer or an adulteress.
Our Lord said, to look at another woman and to lust after her is
adultery. And here's what James said. When
we look at the world, or the things of the world, when we
look at them in such a way that we desire them, it takes our
minds and our hearts off of the Lord Jesus Christ. He said, you've
committed spiritual adultery. That's a tough charge, isn't
it? That's what James was saying.
He said, when you lust after these things, when you want these
things, when you crave these things, he said, you've committed
spiritual adultery. You go over and read, I believe
it's over in Revelations, on the church of the Ephesus that
left their first love. You read how busy they were and
what all they did, and he said, but I have one thing against
you. You left your first love. And
if the Lord had not revealed that to them, they would have
never known it. They would have never known it. In the spiritual sense, you have
left God, he says, and joined up with the world. When those angels took Lot, his
wife, and his family out, they were going out and the city was
being burned. She turned around and looked
back. God turned her to a pillar of salt. And if she had just
looked at the smoke and all that, you know, when she looked back,
her heart was aching. She wanted to be back there.
That was her home. That was her friends. That's
where she wanted to be. God turned her into a pillar
of salt. To love the world is to leave
God. That's what he's saying, is to
leave God. He says over in 1 John 2.15,
we can't do both. Can't do both. To love the world
is to be an enemy, he says, of God. It's the world that crucified
our Lord. It's the world that takes His name in vain. It's
the world that despises His goodness every day. He sends the rain
and sunshine and gives us all that we have. And it's the world
who doesn't even acknowledge His existence. It doesn't even think of that.
Can you imagine what it's like? I can remember when I didn't
believe the gospel, when I was just as careless as could be. I never thought of God at all. There's not a day that goes by,
you who believe the gospel, that you don't thank the Lord Christ.
There's not a day that goes by that somewhere along the day,
a thought, it may not be a long thought, but a thought of Him
hits your mind. There was a time I never had
a thought of Him. Now, he says this, do you think
the Scripture speaks in vain when it describes human nature? That's what he's saying there
in verse 5. Do you think that the Scripture saith in vain,
the spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy? Do you think
it's speaking in vain? That there's nothing to it when
he speaks of human depravity? That we are totally depraved?
There's none good, no, not one? Do you think that the Scripture
is speaking in vain when it says that? When God speaks of human wickedness,
is He speaking in vain? You know, He's making a reference
here over in Genesis chapter 6. Genesis chapter 6. Now, do you think that God is
saying this in vain in verse 5. And God saw that the wickedness
of man was great in the earth and that every imagination of
the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. Is that written in vain? Is it
true or is it not true? It's true, isn't it? It's true. Look over in the margin. Let
me read over in the margin of my Bible. It says, every imagination
of the thoughts. It says, I've got a number seven
there. It says, or the whole imagination. The Hebrew word signifies not
only the imagination, but also the purposes and desires of the
human heart is evil and that continually. That is a description
of human nature. That is a description of the
carnal nature that we still have left in us. even after being
born of God. That's a nature that we fight,
that we war against. When the scripture speaks of
the lust of this flesh, that the spirit that is in us, is
it lust to envy? Is it speaking in vain? No, it's
not speaking in vain. It's the truth. It's the truth. Always thinking of myself? You
know, the Word of God gives a true description of us. Not a painted picture, not watered
down, not something that we can live with. It gives a true description
of us by nature. A true description. There's none
good, no, not one. But, you know, when you read
that, that gets depressing. Really it is. When you read that,
you realize, if you've been born of God, you realize that describes
me. You don't automatically think
of somebody else. So I know somebody that fits. Yeah, you look in the mirror.
I know the person that fits. I live with me. Not Vicki. I live with me. I know who it fits. But thank God for verse 6. See,
we've got to wade through this. We have to wade through the muck
and the mire of what we are. And not try to take the edge
off from it. Not try to make it sound not as offensive. But to look at it square in the
face and realize, that's me. That's me. You know when the
disciples were gathered with the Lord and He said, one of
you is going to deny me. You know what they said one by
one? Lord, is it I? Is it I? But thank God for verse 6. That's like over in Ephesians
chapter 2, but God be rich in mercy. He giveth more grace. This is
why you and I are not consumed. This is why you and I are not
in hell. This is why you and I are here tonight. He giveth
more grace. If God's grace were not infinite,
we'd have used it all up today. But He giveth more grace. Is
more grace needed? I sure need it. I need it and you need it. We
need it. We need it. Oh, we need it to
overcome this corruption that's still there. What will overcome this? Grace. He giveth more grace. Does what I have read here, does
it trouble you? Well, lift up your head. He giveth
more grace. He giveth more grace. Does this
describe any of us? He giveth more grace. I'm so glad I don't have to stop
at verse 5. If I had to stop at verse 5 all
the time, I probably wouldn't be here anymore. Because it would
be too depressing. But then you always have that
burst of light. He giveth more grace. Paul said in one place, he described
the flesh. And then he says, as such were
some of you. But you're washed. God's cleansed
you. He's cleansed you. He giveth
more grace. He giveth greater supplies of
it as we need it. He gives new supplies of it every
day. He gives more and more and more
grace. Oh, you think, I know better
than that. Why did I do that? Why did I
say that? And you think, Lord, have mercy
on me. And you know what? He does. He does. He could strip me of
everything I have and be a just God doing so. He could lay me
in the dust and put me in poverty just for the thoughts that I've
had in the past hour. But He'd give us more grace. He'd give us more grace. What
will enable us to stand against such an evil nature? What will enable us to stand
against the evil one? More grace. More of the grace
of God. Where sin abounded, what else
abounded? Where sin abounded, grace did
much more abound. I have good news for sinners.
I don't have good news for anybody else, but I've got it for Sanders.
He gives us more grace. But now listen, he says, God
resists the proud. He doesn't give more grace to
the proud. He gives more grace to the humble. Those who have a broken heart
and a contrite spirit, He gives more grace. When you read this,
it breaks your heart because you know it describes you. Naturally. You know you're as guilty as
anybody you think of. Any blabbermouth out there you
can think of, you can say, I'm just as guilty. Anybody that you know, anyone
that you know that's the most envious person you know, you
say, I know I'm just as guilty. The only difference is the grace
of God doesn't let it come out. That's the only difference. Between
me and the worst man locked up behind bars is the grace of God. He gives more grace to the humble.
He gives grace to the lowly. As we go through the Gospel of
Matthew, notice who gets the grace. Notice who gets the mercy. It's that one he calls a dog.
That woman says, you're right, I am a dog. It's all those who
were broken, all those who needed mercy and grace Came to him for
it and got it. Received it. Now He gives us
here some instructions in verse 7. You see, He said that He resisted
the proud. And you know what that means?
That means it's like standing up ready to do battle. He resisted
the proud. Ready to do battle. Destroy it.
God said He hated seven things and a proud look was one of them.
What do you have to be proud about in this flesh, really? This is not popularism. This
is why the gospel is offensive. To tell people you don't have
anything to be proud of would get you shot now in most places. But we don't. He remembers our
frame that it's dust. And all the time he has to remind
us of it. We're the ones that forget. We're just dust. That's all we are. But he says here in verse 7,
Submit yourselves therefore to God. Submit yourselves to His
Lordship. Submit yourselves to His leadership.
Submit yourselves to His mercy. Oh, submit yourselves to the
King of kings and the Lord of lords. Submit rebels The proud will not submit. Now, this is the way it's going
to be. I don't think so. We'll find out when it's over.
But those who are humble, he says to those who have been humbled
by the grace of God, submit yourselves. Submit yourself, therefore, to
God and resist the devil and he'll flee from you. Cry guilty. You know, you submit
to Him. I heard one say this. Unconditional surrender. No conditions. Unconditional surrender. Unconditional surrender. Submit,
cry guilty, and surrender to Him. Oh, just surrender. Lord,
You're right. You're right. This is who I am.
I need your grace. I need your grace. And resist
the devil. Recognize where this evil comes
from. Resist him. I tell you what, he'll try and
influence you not to obey and you won't even realize it. Peter
didn't realize it, did he? He said, Lord, you're not going
to die. And the Lord turned and said, get behind me, Satan. To
me, that's a scary verse of the Scripture. He didn't even realize
it. He didn't even recognize it.
Peter didn't. The Lord turned and looked at him and said, Get
behind me, son. He'll give you all kinds of reasons
not to obey. Excuses, good and good excuses
maybe. Not to submit. But resist him. How do you resist such a one
as that? How do you resist? Verse 8. Draw nigh to God. Draw nigh to God. Crawl right up in His lap. The
other day I was in the TV room. Cole came in and he just crawled
right up in my lap and just laid back. Draw nigh to God. And listen. And we have God's
Word on this. This is not something I came
up with. He says, draw nigh to God and
He will draw nigh to you. He'll do it every time. Draw
nigh to Him in Christ. Draw nigh to Him in prayer. Draw nigh to God and He will
draw nigh to you. When you see this rise up in
you, And you recognize it. Sometimes
you engage your mouth and you recognize, oh, I need to shut
up. When you see this rise up in
you, draw nigh to God and ask for help. Lord, shut my mouth. Help me to shut it. Help me. Seek Him until you find Him. Our Lord draws nigh to sinners. He draws knives to sinners. Make
no excuse to go away, but draw a knife. Draw a knife. And cleanse
your hands, he says, you sinners. Where and how? In the blood.
In the blood. Look to Calvary's Lamb. Look
to the Lamb of God. That's what John said. Behold
the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world. Lord,
take this one away. And this one. Take it all away. Cleanse your hands and purify
your hearts. He says, you double tongue. How
can we purify our heart? In the blood. In the blood. He speaks here of outward cleansing
and inward cleansing. The hands and the heart. Lord, cleanse them. David said,
wash me what? Truly, for mine iniquity. Lord, wash me inside and out.
That's what He said. Wash me inside and out. And be
afflicted, He says in verse 9. Be afflicted, I mean. Be afflicted. Deeply affected. That's what
that means. Be deeply affected over this. Oh, when you see it, don't just
blow this off. James said if you see this in you and you see
this rise up, be deeply affected. and mourn over it. Seek the Lord. Seek Him. If this
describes any of us, mourn over it. And go to Him. He giveth more
grace. Go to Him. He giveth more grace. And humble yourselves in the
sight, he says here, of the Lord. And He shall what? Lift you up. Don't lift yourself up. Oh, that's such a tendency. Such
a tendency. There's no one I can brag on
better than me. I got that down pat. I brag on what I used to
be and what I can do, which is nothing apart from His grace. We can
do nothing. But He says He'll lift you up.
He'll lift you off the dumb hill. He'll lift you out of despair. There's not a medication in the
world that can lift you out of despair like the grace of God.
If it's given in power. If you taste the grace of God
in power, nothing can lift you out of despair like grace. Grace. No better medicine for a sinner
than grace. Bow before Him with a broken
and contrite heart, and He will lift thee up. But if you continue
on in the flesh in this way, it's evident you don't know Him,
and hell awaits." Now, let me briefly just finish
the rest of this chapter. James deals here in verse 11.
He deals with the tongue, the chief offender of the whole problem.
This whole problem he's been talking about, the chief offender
of it comes out with a tongue. And he says here, he speaks evil
in verse 11. Speak not evil one of another. You know what that means? Don't criticize one another.
I got this yesterday. I heard this yesterday. God does
not accept criticism. even if it's true. Isn't that
good? God does not accept criticism
even if it's true. What is the difference between
gossip and criticism? Nothing. Nothing. Oh my, that's something
to think about. That's something to think about. If we speak the truth in love,
You won't have time to criticize. The Scripture says love will
cover a multitude of sins. It's like we do a lot of that
for our children, don't we? We cover those things. We don't
tell if they get in trouble. We don't go out and tell it.
We tell it on other people's children, but we don't tell it
on ours. They get in trouble at home, cause trouble, you've
got to give them a spanking. You just don't tell those things. Love covers a multitude of sins. I believe where the grace of
God is in a congregation, it will cover. That congregation that has tasted
of the grace of God will cover a multitude of sins. Now he says if we judge, in other
words, if we criticize, if we are critical in what we're doing,
he said we are taking and acting like we are God. We're taking
the place of God and we're acting like we are God. Sitting in judgment
of our brothers. That's dangerous. That's dangerous. There's one lawgiver who's able
to save. He's able to save the soul. He's
able to save from all these inward corruptions. There's one that's
able to save and he's able also to destroy. Who art thou now
that sits as a judge? You're not able to do that. You
can't save anybody. You can't destroy the soul. You
can't cast it into hell. Only God can do that. He says
don't set yourself up as a judge. Go to now, ye that say tomorrow. This is the same proud spirit
here he's talking about. 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." Oh, you think you will? Well, tomorrow I'm just going
to go over and do something, you think? Why are you so sure you're going
to do that tomorrow? How do you know you'll even get past the
doors to die? What James is doing here, he's
still condemning that proud nature that goes its own way without
seeking the Lord in the matter. That's what he's doing. Remember
that rich man? He says, soul, thou hast much
goods laid up in store. Here's what I'm going to do.
I'm going to tear down my barns. I'm going to build bigger barns.
And I'm going to sit back and take it easy. No, you're going
to die tonight. God said, tonight your soul is
required. You are going to die tonight.
You're not going to do anything. But I believe it would have been
different if He had said, if the Lord will, if the Lord will,
I'll expand the barns and we'll use it for the good of the gospel.
I mean, if His heart would have been there, He'd have had to
build several barns. No, no, no. I have no doubt my
greatest problems come in here, my will, my will. How do I know
I still have this problem, my will, over God's will? Because
I still get upset when things don't go my way. When I get upset, when things
don't go my way, it is evident of that wretched nature raising
its head up of wanting my will. Do we not say the Lord's will
be done? Do we not believe that in everything God's will is done?
What do we have to get upset about? I've been upset in business
plenty of times. Thinking it was going to go this
direction or that direction. It was going to make something
out of it. And it didn't and I would be upset. And I'd get
over it. But that was just a revelation
of what I still am by nature. Getting upset when things don't
go my way. That's what children do. Children get upset when things
don't go their way because they want their will to be done. They
don't want mom and dad's will to be done. They want their will
to be done. The Lord brings us to this place.
He brings us around that. He brings us around to wanting
His and desiring His will to be done. He brings us to that
place. It says here in verse 14, "...whereas
you know not what shall be on tomorrow." Well, what is your
life? What is your life? Everybody thinks they're going
to live to be old and 100. It's just a vapor. If you live
to be 120, what is your life? It's a mist.
It's just a mist. If you ever go to the mountains,
And see that foggy mist that comes up, rises up in the morning,
and then it's gone. The sun comes out and it burns
off and it's gone. Just a little while. We are just
a speck. A microscopic speck in history. That's all we are. What is your life? It's just
a vapor. So how sinful is it to act without
consulting the Lord's will? If the Lord will, we'll go and
do this or that. If the Lord will. That's what
the believer says. This is the language of those born of God. Lord, thy will be done. But now you rejoice, he says,
in your boasting. You're boasting about going here
and doing this and doing that. He says don't do that. Don't
do it. All such boasting is evil. It's
not of God. Therefore to him that knoweth
to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin." It's sin against
light. It's sin against conscience.
It's sin against Christ. The worst that can be said is
this, it's sin. What did our Lord die on Calvary
for? Sin. Put away sin. Look what He had to do to put
away sin. He said it's sin. That's as bad as it gets. It's
sin. Now listen. I don't want to leave
on that note. To those who mourn over this
sinful, wretched nature, you see this. You see it in yourselves.
You see it. Well, listen. He giveth more
grace. Ask for it. Ask for it.