Remember, our services will begin
Sunday morning at 11 o'clock. We're not going to have Bible
study and we're pushing back to 11 o'clock. I've entitled the message for
this evening, Sinners and the Double-Minded. Sinners and the Double-Minded. Now when you hear that, do you
think he's speaking to somebody else? Sinners and the double-minded. If the shoe fits, wear it. I
certainly do not feel like he's speaking to somebody else. I
know he's speaking to me. Sinners and the double-minded. And he says, cleanse your hands,
ye sinners. That has to do with your actions. And purify your hearts. Your
hearts are the place where the sinful actions originate. That's where they come from.
You don't become a sinner when you sin. You sin because you
are a sinner. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners,
and purify your hearts, ye double-minded. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners. What is a sinner? A sinner is
the one who commits the sins. Now, you've heard that saying,
God loves the sinner, but he hates his sins. God doesn't put sins in hell.
God puts the ones who committed those sins in hell. That is a
completely erroneous statement. Sinners. What is a sinner? Now I'm giving this from the
scripture. That's the only way that can
be answered is from the scripture. But I'm also speaking from experience,
someone who knows. A sinner is someone who all they
do is sin. If we say we have no sin, we
deceive ourselves. And the truth is not in us. If
we say we've not sinned, We're liars. We make him a liar. And the Word of God doesn't even
dwell in us. A sinner is someone who really believes that all
they do is sin. A sinner is someone who cannot
not sin. They cannot not sin. A sinner is someone who truly,
in their heart, they believe that they can't look down their
nose in moral superiority at anybody. They can't stand in
judgment of anybody. That doesn't mean that we don't
have a view of what's right and what's wrong from the Word of
God, and that doesn't mean that we can say this action's wrong
or this action's right. We can. The Scripture does that,
but to sit in judgment on anybody. I wouldn't do that. I can't believe
they did that. No, not a real sinner. He doesn't
believe, she doesn't believe that they have the right to sit
in judgment on anybody or anything. And they certainly know that
they have no claims on God. If God sent me to hell without
giving me mercy, just and holy is His name. All this foolishness
about how could God be right and how could God be fair to
elect some and pass by others and to redeem some and not redeem
everybody. How could God be fair? That objection
comes from having no idea as to what sin really is. If you knew what sin was, and
if you knew what a sinner you were, you would not make that
objection. The double-minded man is the man who is uncertain,
divided in his interests. Believing two different things.
Going one way and going the other way at the same time. Like the
people Elijah spoke of. How long halt ye between two
opinions? How long are you going to straddle
the fence? How long are you going to be on both sides? That's the double-minded man.
The man who is divided in his interest. Now this is who James
is speaking to, the sinners and the double-minded, but he ends
this exhortation in verse 10 with humble yourselves. He's speaking to these people
in the sight of the Lord and he shall lift you up. These are the people that he
is going to lift up. And that word is literally exalt. Exalt. So this isn't just a feel-bad
message about all we're saying. No, these are the people that
God is going to exalt and lift up. And to be exalted and lifted
up by God, that's something, isn't it? That's something very,
I can't even express how special that is. Now, in verse 8, he
says, cleanse your hands, ye sinners. Well, how do I go about
cleansing my hands? Quit sinning? I've already said
that according to the scriptures, a sinner is somebody who cannot
not sin. Do I cleanse my hands by quit sinning? Well, I'd like
to. I'd like to never sin again. I really would, but what does
the scripture teach about this thing of cleansing your hands
when he says, cleanse your hands ye sinners? The great majority
of the time that that word cleanse is used is dealing with the cleansing
of the leper. I'd say four out of five times.
Anytime you read in the New Testament of cleansing, it has to do with
the cleansing of the leper. Now, do you remember that leper
that came to Christ and worshipped him and said, Lord, if you will,
You can make me clean. I can't make myself clean. I'm
filthy and unclean. And there's not a thing I can
do to wash away my sin. But if you will, I'm in your
sovereign hands. If you will, you can make me
clean. Now, here's where I begin with
this thing of you being made clean and being cleansed. Ask
the Lord to cleanse you. can't clean yourself. You've
got to begin right here. You ask the Lord to cleanse you. If you will, you can make me
clean. First John 1 7 says, If we walk
in the light as he is in the light, we have fellowship one
with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ God's Son cleanseth
us. from all sin. Now if we walk
in the light, what's that mean? God is light. In him is no darkness
at all. If we walk in the light of how
he saves sinners by Christ, that's the light he's speaking of. The
light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus
Christ. Remember when Christ said, I
am the light of the world? And right before that, he'd spoke
of that woman who was taken in adultery in the very act. And
he ended up saying, woman, where are those odd accusers? Hath
no man condemned thee? Neither do I condemn thee. Now,
Christ is the light as to how God can look at me and say, He's
perfect. There's nothing to condemn Him
for. That is called justification. Christ bore my sin, put Him away,
gave me His righteousness, and now God has nothing to condemn
me for. I'm perfect in His sight. Now,
if we walk in that light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship
with one another, don't we? We have communion. We are partakers
of the same benefits. This is true Christian fellowship.
The fellowship of light. I mean, there's some people here
who are saints in light who know how God can accept them through
Christ. If we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have
fellowship one with another. And the blood of Jesus Christ,
God's Son, cleanseth us. from all sin. How can I clean
my hands? Walking in the light as he is
in a light. And then 1 John 1 9 says, if
we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins
and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Now what does it mean to confess
your sins? Does it mean to Name them before
God. Well, I lied today. Please forgive
me. I stole today. Please forgive
me. I had a lustful thought today.
Please forgive me. Is that what it is to confess
sin? Well, we ought to confess all the sins we know of. I realize
that, but I've said this before. There's not enough time in the
day for you to confess all your sins. You'd be spending the entire,
all your existence doing that. And as far as that goes, most
of the sins that you've committed, you don't know anything about.
That's how ignorant we are. What confession of sin is, is
agreeing with God. It's taking sides with God against
yourself. Have you ever done that? Have
you ever taken sides with God against yourself? If we confess
our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us of our sins
and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Acts chapter 15 verse 9, Peter
says, God put no difference between us and them purifying their heart
by faith. And that word purifying is the
same word translated cleansing. How is my heart cleansed? How are my hands cleansed? By
faith. By faith. By believing the Gospel. What's the evidence? You're telling
me that you're justified and that you're sanctified and that
you stand before God without guilt. Give me some evidence.
How do you know that? Faith. the evidence of things
not seen. I can't see that I stand before
God without guilt, but I believe I am because God tells me I am
in His Word. Faith purifies the heart. And then we read in 2 Corinthians
7, 1, Let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh
and the spirit, seeing we have these promises, dearly beloved.
Seeing we have, we possess these promises, dearly beloved. Let
us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit,
perfecting holiness in the fear of God. Seeing we have these
promises. Now in the immediate context,
The promise he gives in the verse before, I'll be to them a God,
and they shall be to me a people. What's that promise do for you? In the greater context, he said,
all the promises of God in him are yay and amen. Galatians 6.14,
what a precious promise this is. Sins shall not have dominion
over you, for you're not under the law. but under grace, having
these promises. Dearly beloved, let us cleanse
ourselves. Now here we have, how do I cleanse
my hands? Well first, ask the Lord to make
you clean like the leopard did. Walk in the light as he is in
the light. Confess your sin. Purify your
hearts by faith. Having these promises. Then in our text it says, Purify
your hearts. James chapter 4 verse 8. Cleanse
your hands, ye sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded,
you who are uncertain, wavering, divided in interest, having one
foot in grace, another foot in works. How do you purify your
hearts? Well, Peter tells us once again,
We read in 1 Peter 1.22, seeing you have purified your souls
in obeying the truth. Now listen real carefully. The
truth is something to be obeyed. The truth concerning the true
character of God. The truth concerning the true
character of man. God is holy. Man is sinful. Salvation
is of the Lord. Man can't save himself. The true
character of salvation is in Christ. It's by grace. Now, that
truth is to be obeyed, not argued with, bowed to, and obeyed. You know, it's easy to obey the
truth. If God gives you faith, you just bow. You bow. This is
the truth. This is the truth of God that
we rejoice in. That is how The double-minded
heart is purified through believing the truth. And John said in 1
John 3, verse 3, Everyone that hath this hope in him purifieth
himself, even as he is pure. Now let me tell you what you're
going to do if you have a hope in him. Now what is the hope
in him? My hope is simply to be found
in Him. So that all God sees when He
sees me is not my preaching, not my prayers, not my Bible
reading, not my witnessing, not my efforts to be a better person. All I want is for God to see
me in Christ. That's it. Now everybody that has this hope
in Him, what do they do? They purify themselves even as
He is pure. You have this hope in Him, you
will purify your hearts. And let's go on reading in verse
9 of our text. Be afflicted. mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to
mourning and your joy to heaviness. Now why would he say that? Who
wants to be heavy all the time and mourn all the time and weep
all the time? Who wants to have that kind of
existence? Now remember his great end is
lifting you up. Let's don't forget that. His
great end is lifting you up. Be afflicted. Now that's the
same word that Paul uses when he says, oh, wretched man. Not that I used to be, but that
I am. Be afflicted. Mourn over your
sin and weep over your sinfulness and double-mindedness. Let your
laughter be turned to heaviness and your joy to mourning. Now
what he is doing is rebuking that spirit of Laodicea. Let
me show you this. Turn with me to Revelation chapter
3. Verse 14. And to the angel of
the church of the Laodiceans write, These things saith the
Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation
of God. I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot. Both of those states, coldness
or hotness, are states of discomfort. He said, I would that thou wert
cold or hot. I would that you were one of
the two. So then, because thou art lukewarm and neither cold
nor hot, I will spew thee, vomit thee out of my mouth, because
thou sayest, Hey, I'm rich. I'm fine. I'm increased with
goods. I have need of nothing. and you
don't know that you're wretched and miserable and poor and blind
and naked. How you doing? Great. Great. How you doing? Wonderful. Couldn't
be better. I'm fine. I'm okay. Don't worry
about me. I'm spiritually in good shape.
Oh. Oh. Do you know Jesus Christ
despises that attitude? You've been around someone who
you ask them how they're doing and they put on this, oh great,
wonderful, and you know better than that. That's what the Lord
is speaking of. He said, let your laughter be
turned to mourning and your joy to heaviness. This word afflicted
is the word, O wretched man that I am, and as long as I still
have a sinful nature, I will be in this state of affliction
and misery. Paul said that. That was his
experience. David said that. Every saint
of God that's ever lived has said that. Turn with me for a
moment to Luke chapter 6. Verse 24. Woe unto you that are rich, for
you've received your consolation. Woe unto you that are full, for
you shall hunger. Woe unto you that laugh now,
for you shall mourn and weep. Woe unto you when all men shall
speak well of you, For so did their fathers to the false prophets. Now back to James chapter 4 verse
10. Now this is a part of humbling
yourself. Be afflicted and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be
turned to mourning and your joy to heaviness. And then he says
in verse 10, humble yourselves. Humble yourselves. in the sight
of God, in the sight of the Lord, and He shall lift you up." Humble
yourselves in His sight. You know, the sight of the Lord
is reality. How He sees things are how they really are. Humble yourselves in the sight
of the Lord. There's no point in trying to
put on anything phony because he sees right through it. Humble
yourselves in the sight of the Lord. Look at how Peter uses
this in 1 Peter chapter 5. Verse 5. Likewise, you younger, submit
yourselves unto the elder. Yea, all of you be subject one
to another, and be clothed with humility. For God resists the
proud, and he gives grace to the humble. Humble yourselves,
therefore, under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you
in due time." Now, God resists the proud. He's opposed to the
proud. He's against the proud. And He
gives grace to the humble. Now, pride. Pride. It is the most groundless
thing in all the universe. What do you have that you didn't
receive? Who maketh you to differ from
another? What do you have to be proud
about? Now let me tell you how evil
pride is. What pride does is it takes credit where credit
is not due. Now what if through the grace of God You
were enabled to anonymously give $100,000. You write out a check
for $100,000 and put it back there in the box. You do it for
God's glory. You do it because the Lord has
enabled you to do it. You do it cheerfully, willingly.
What a blessing that is to be able to give like that. You're
not doing it for any recognition, but it's seen on the monthly
statement. Man, we had a whole lot more
money than usual this month. Instead of $30,000, it's $130,000.
You see that. Now, what would you do if I stood
up here and said, you see that extra money? I gave it. What would you think of me? I know what you'd think of me. When Christ said, it is finished, pride says, not until I do my
part. I'm the one who completes it. Pride, God hates it. Six things doth God hate, yea,
seven are abomination to him. And the first thing he mentions
is a proud look. Pride goes before a destruction
and a haughty spirit before the fall. Now, both James and Peter
say, humble yourselves. under the mighty hand of God. Now, you humble yourself when
your humility is not an act. What do I mean by that? Well,
I need to be humble. Okay, I'll be humble. That's
an act. It's not real. It's what Paul
called in Colossians 2 18, voluntary humility. I'm going to be humble. Oh, Kind of like the fellow who
said to his wife, behold, I've overcome my pride. Doesn't work
that way. You don't decide to be humble.
You are humble. You see yourself as the very
chief of sinners. And you take your place as the
chief of sinners before God. You're not worried about anybody
else. This is you humbling yourself under his mighty hand. Now turn with me to Luke chapter
18. Verse 9. And he spake this parable unto
certain which trusted in themselves that they were righteous. And the inevitable result of
that, they despised, they looked down upon others. If you have
any personal righteousness, you know what you are? You are self-righteous. Verse 10, two men, and I know what their names were.
One's name was Mr. Pride and the other's name was
Mr. Humility. That's their names. And we find
the essence of pride and the essence of humility in this parable
our Lord gives. Two men went up into the temple
to pray. The one a Pharisee. The word means separated one.
He believed that what he did separated himself from others. And the other, a publican, a
despised tax collector, the Pharisee stood and prayed. I love this
line. Thus with himself. I love the. I guess it's sarcasm. He wasn't
praying to God. He thought he was, but he wasn't. He was just talking to himself.
God didn't hear this prayer, but he thought he did. The Pharisee
stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank thee. I'm giving you the credit. I
believe in grace that I'm not as other men are. a religion of comparison. I'm not like that person. I may not be perfect, but I'm
better than he is. I'm not like her. He thanked
God that I'm not as other men are. And then he begins to lie. I'm not an extortioner. I'm not
unjust. I'm not an adulterer or even
as this publican. Now, this man was unjust. He was an extortioner and he
was an adulterer. The only thing he said that was
true was I'm not like this publican. He wasn't. I would agree with
that completely. I fast twice in the week, and
I give tithes of all that I possess. One thing that proud pride will
do, it's always going to let you know what it's doing. Always. You're going to find
out. Verse 13, and the publican. standing afar off. would not lift up so much as
his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God
be merciful to me, the sinner. And that could just as easily
be translated and should be translated, God be propitious. God, do something about my sin. Be propitious toward my sin. Be appeased through the blood
of Christ. You see, you don't just look
for general forgiveness when you see what sin is. You know
who God is and something has to be done about it. He's not
going to just sweep it under the carpet. It has to be put
away. I need the Lord God to do something
for me that I can't do for myself. I need him to do something for
me with regard to my sin. God be propitious. Oh, may the blood of your Son
remove my sin. Now here is a man who humbled
himself. And what does it say in verse
14? I tell you, this man went down
to his house justified. Not merely forgiven,
but justified. Not guilty. Perfect in God's
sight. Rather than the other, for everyone that exalts himself shall be abased. And oh, how God knows how to
abase. And every one that humbles himself,
takes his place with the publican, shall be exalted. That is the unalterable law of
the kingdom of heaven. Turn to Matthew 18. At the same time came the disciples
unto Jesus saying, Who's the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?
Now that question supposes that somebody's better than somebody
else, doesn't it? Who's the greatest in the kingdom of heaven? Well
what that is, the very thought of that is a denial that Christ
is all. Who's the greatest in the kingdom
of heaven? What do you got to do to exalt yourself above somebody
else? And Jesus called a little child
unto him, and set him in the midst of them, and said, Verily
I say unto you, except you be converted, and
become as little children, you shall not enter the kingdom of
heaven. Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little
child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven. Turn to
Luke 14. Verse 7, And he put forth a parable
to them which were bidden, when he marked how they chose out
the chief rooms, saying unto them, When thou art bidden of
any man into a wedding, sit not down in the highest room, lest
a man more honorable than thou be bidden of him. And he that
bade thee and him come and say to thee, Give this man place.
And you begin with shame to take the lowest room. How embarrassing. But when thou art bidden, go
and sit down in the lowest room. Believing, I'm not adding anything
to the word of God, but believing that's where you belong. It's
not an act of condescension for you to take the lowest room.
You believe that's where you ought to be. But when thou bidst
go and sit down in the lowest room, and when he that bade thee
cometh, he may say unto thee, Friend, go up higher. Then shalt
thou have worship in the presence of them that sit and meet with
thee. For, here we have it again, whosoever exalts himself, shall
be abased, and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted. Back to our text, James chapter
4, verse 10. Humble yourselves in
the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up. How high? How high is Christ? He's mighty high. Caesar's the
right hand of the Father, and as he is, so are we in this world. You humble yourself in His sight
and He will, He will exalt you. Let's pray. Lord, we ask in Christ's name,
that by your Spirit and His irresistible and invincible grace, you would
cause each person in this room to humble themselves under your mighty hand and in
your sight. Lord, you've promised that if
by grace we do humble ourselves in your sight, that you will
exalt us in thy blessed son. Bless these words for Christ's
sake. In his name we pray. Amen. We got Dwayne. Come and welcome.