Let us turn again in our Bibles
to the letter of James. Today we are looking at the first
10 verses in chapter 4. The title of the message is simply
practical words. James chapter 4. From whence
come wars and fighting 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. You adulterers
and adulteresses, Know you not that the friendship of the world
is enmity with God? Whosoever therefore will be a
friend of the world is the enemy of God. Do you think that the
scripture saith in vain, The spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth
to envy? But he giveth more grace, wherefore
he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble. Submit yourselves therefore to
God. Resist the devil, and he will
flee from you. Draw nigh to God, and he will
draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners,
and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Be afflicted, and mourn, and
weep. Let your laughter be turned to
mourning, and your joy to heaviness. Humble yourselves in the sight
of the Lord, and he shall lift you up. After reading these verses
as you followed along with me, someone might ask this question. Is James, is the Apostle James
still writing to the same people? We know that he began writing
this letter to those he addressed as my brethren, that is, to the
household of God, the family of God. But in these verses he
speaks of wars, killings, adulterers and adulteresses. Is he still
writing to the same people? This sounds like something he
might write to the people down at the local bar at the corner
of Beer Joint. Brawls, brawlings and killings
and adultery and things of that nature. Is he still writing to
the same people? Well, the simple answer is yes.
Yes, he is still writing to the same people. Well then, preacher,
how would you explain these words? Well, first, I have three explanations. First of all, recognize that
in some passages of Scripture, the words are not to be taken
literally, but they are to be taken in a spiritual or metaphorical
way. That happens a lot in the Word
of God. As I thought about this, recognize
that words like these are figurative or metaphorical, I thought about
the book of the Song of Solomon, a love book between Christ and
his bride, Solomon and his bride. If you do not recognize that
much of this book must be understood figuratively, you will get into
some problems. For instance, when the bridegroom
compares his wife, his love, he says, Oh my love, I have compared
thee to a company of horses and Pharaoh's chariots. I don't know
of any bride who would like to be compared today to a company
of horses and Pharaoh's chariots. That's not very complimentary
to our way of thinking. But in Solomon's day, it was. It was. Nothing was more beautiful
than a team of horses that were matched perfectly, pulling a
wagon or a carriage or a chariot. And then when the bride, just
another example, when the bride in the Song of Solomon, she compares
the bridegroom, who is altogether lovely to her, She says, as the
apple tree among the trees of the wood, so my beloved among
the suns. I sat down under his shadow with
great delight, and his fruit was sweet to my taste. So she
compares him to a tree, to an apple tree. But you must recognize
that these words are figurative, and they must be understood in
the same way. And we see the same thing here
in this passage in James. And secondly, we should recognize
that all of the New Testament letters, all of them, to the
church at Colossae, to Ephesians, Philippians, all of them were
written to people in those churches as they professed to be. They
all professed to be believers in Christ, to be born again and
children of God. That doesn't mean that every
person in those churches was saved any more than it would
mean that every individual in a local church today is truly
saved. For many people have their names
on the rolls of churches who have never been born of the Spirit
of God, who have no real saving interest in Jesus Christ, but
they are addressed as believers, as Christians. And then third,
recognize this. First, recognize that some words
must be taken figuratively. And second, that these letters
were addressed to people as they professed to be. And third, recognize
the truth about every believer and sin. The truth about every
believer and sin. Let me explain what I mean by
this last statement. What is the truth? What is the
truth about every believer, every child of God and sin? Well, here's the truth. By nature,
when we came into this world, when he came into this world,
a true child of God, when he came into this world, he was
dead in sin. And when born of the Spirit of
God, he became dead to sin. You say, can you make good on
that from the Word of God? Yes, I certainly can. I want
you to look with me. And first of all, see that all
believers, when we came into this world by nature, we were
dead in sin. We had no spiritual life. We
didn't know God. And let me tell you something.
If God passes us by, if God leaves us in that condition, we'll never
come to know God. We were all dead in sin. This is what Paul writes, if
you will, in Ephesians 2. And remember, he's writing to
believers in the church at Ephesus. But in Ephesians 2 and verse
1, we read, And you hath he quickened. What does that word quickened
mean? It means to be made alive. to
be resurrected from the dead, spiritual death. And you hath
he quickened who were dead in trespasses and sins. You remember the Lord Jesus Christ
in John chapter 5 and verse 25 said, Verily, verily, I say unto
thee, The hour cometh, and now is, when the dead shall hear
the voice of the Son of God. and they that hear shall live. You say, well he was talking
about the rest. No, no. Because three verses later he
speaks about those who were physically dead. But there's a spiritual
resurrection. There's a quickening. There's
a new birth. that a person experiences. So
all of us, we were dead in sin. Every child of God was dead in
sin, but now every child of God is dead to sin. Let me show you
that in Romans 6. These things must be recognized
when we read a passage of Scripture like we're looking at this morning.
In Romans chapter 6, Verses 1 and 2, the apostle says,
what shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that
grace may abound? God forbid. How shall we, now
notice, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein? We are dead to sin. You say,
well how is it that a person becomes dead to sin? The same
way that a person becomes dead to the law by the body of Jesus
Christ. That is by the believer's union
with Christ. When he died, we died. We died to sin. And this is so
easy to see when you think about a person who is arrested and
he's accused of a crime and he's put in jail to the time of his
trial and he dies in jail. Well, are they going to still
have a trial? Of course not. He's dead. He's dead to that law. He's dead
to that crime of which he was accused. He's dead to it. And the same way every child
of God is dead to sin, that is, to the guilt of sin. Sin can
never be laid to our charge again because Christ has died in our
stead. Now think about this. While every
child of God is dead to sin, that does not mean that we are
dead to the power of sin. We are dead to the guilt of sin. But no one here this morning,
I don't think, would stand up and say, well, preacher, I'm
dead to the power of sin. I've never tempted to sin. When
the Lord saved me from that time to now, I have lived a perfect,
holy life, never committed another sin. No one would confess that. And if you did, it would only
show that you are still dead in your sin. Because you're calling
God a liar. We're not dead to the power of
sin. And though Paul says we are dead to sin here in Romans
chapter 6, further in the chapter he goes on to exhort believers
who are dead to sin to do certain things. It's our responsibility. Later in chapter 6, to the same
people that he says we're dead to sin, he says, neither yield
your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin, but
yield yourselves unto God as those who are alive from the
dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God. Well,
my message this morning, as we look at these verses, has two
parts. First, what about the wars, the
killings, and the adulteries that James speaks of in our passage? Where does the discord, the misunderstandings,
and the strife come from among brethren? Where does that inclination
or that temptation to be a friend of the world, where does that
come from? Now we're all familiar with the
many scriptures which teach us and tell us to love one another,
to be kind to each other, to pray for one another, to forgive
one another, to esteem others better than ourselves. Then where
do these things come from? And I want to show you, turn
with me in Philippians chapter 4. We'll look at a couple of
places. And sometimes I think we get
the idea that these New Testament believers, those who were actually
in the churches to whom these letters were written, were some
kind of superhuman people. And they just lived above sin.
They never had any problems. No, that's not true. Brother
Lance Eller wrote an email, he didn't write it personally to
me, but wrote a letter this past week and he was in the letter
speaking about dealing with a problem there in one of the churches
and he said, I thank the Lord that the New Testament is sufficient
to help us to deal with whatever problem may come up in a local
church. And do you know the reason it
is? Because of the problems that were manifested in those local
churches, and the apostles had to write and give instruction
concerning the problems. Here in Philippians, if you've
turned here to chapter 2, and remember this is a church that
was especially near to Paul's heart. This is the only church
that communicated with them. with him, rather, after he left
there and went off preaching. This is the only church, you
would think all of those churches, the church at Corinth, the church
at Ephesus, wherever he went, God raised up a church, you would
think, well, let's help this man. Let's give to his support. The only church, Paul said, that
did that was the church at Philippi. And that's the reason he said
unto them, but my God, shall supply all your need according
to his riches in Christ Jesus. But here in the church at Philippi
in chapter 2 and verses 1 through 4, he said, if there be therefore
any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship
of the Spirit, if any vows and mercies, fulfill you my joy. that you be like-minded. Now, if there was not a tendency
maybe not to be like-minded, why would he need to say this? Why would he need to write this?
Fulfill you my joy, that you be like-minded, having the same
love, being of one accord of one mind, let nothing, nothing
be done through strife or vainglory. You mean in a local church some
people might do things through strife or seeking self-glory? Yes. Paul said let nothing be
done through Strive for vain glory, but in lowliness of mind
let each esteem other better than themselves. Look not every
man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others. Consider others, how you might
help them, and how your conduct might influence them. You know, Cain, who murdered
his brother, he said, am I my brother's keeper? That's what
he asked God. Do I have a responsibility to
my brother? Absolutely. As a child of God,
as a member of a local church, yes, we have a responsibility
to one another. That's what Paul is saying here.
Look, not every man on his own Well, you know, it just pleases
me to do this. Yes, but is it for the glory
of God and is it for the good of the congregation? We can't
just think about ourselves, just consider ourselves. We've got
to take everyone into consideration. That's what he would have us
to do. And then look in chapter 4 of Philippians. Therefore, my brethren, dearly
beloved, and long for my joy and crown, so stand fast in the
Lord, my dearly beloved. I beseech, Odius, and beseech
Synthoche, that they be of the same mind in the Lord. Evidently,
there was two ladies in this church, two believers, two children
of God, and they had some division. That's so easy, isn't it? The
miracle is that God's people, we come from different backgrounds,
we're raised differently, different education, that we
can come together and be one, be of one accord. And that's
true because of the Spirit of God. But that may be disturbed. If you've been around very long,
you've heard of some problems in churches where the church
just was split right down the middle, as they used to say.
On one side sat one group, and the other side sat another group.
And they wouldn't communicate, they wouldn't talk, there was
no love. There was wars! That's what Jim's talking about,
right? There was wars! Look with me in 3 John. Look
over here. Here's a man by the name of Diotrephes. Diotrephes was a member of a
church that the Apostle John wrote to. What do you think this
man did? He wouldn't give the letter to
the people. Notice in verse 9, I wrote unto the church, but
Deothrophes, now notice, who loveth to have the preeminence
among men, receiveth us not. Wherefore, if I come, I will
remember his deeds, which he doeth, pratting against us with
malicious words, and not content therewith, neither doth he himself
receive the brethren, and forbiddeth them that would, and casteth
them out of the church. In my opinion, the thing that
causes the most problem in any church, and I'm so thankful for
this church, and I realize when I say this that Satan may be
listening, but I believe one of the things that has caused
more problems in local churches is seeking preeminence. When
one person or another seeks preeminence, That's the reason that James
writes here of these things that we might think would be better
written to lost men and women. Where do these things come from?
Wars, fightings, and things of this nature. Where do they come
from? Well, they come from that body
of sin. We refer to it many times as
that old nature. That body of sin that remains
in every child of God. Paul said, O wretched man that
I am. Paul? Paul? You call yourself a wretched
man? O wretched man that I am. Why
would he refer to himself like that? Because he carried about
with him a body of sin. I'm not talking about this physical
body. The body of sin works itself out through the members of the
body, that's true. But there's that principle or
that nature, that fallen part of man that remains in every
child of God and will continue until Christ comes or Christ
takes us away in glory. When we drop this robe of flesh
and rise to seize the everlasting prize, that's when we will be
done once and forever with sin in us. We desire what someone
else has. It may be material things. It may be a house. It may be
a job. It may be a car. It may be some
spiritual gift that we see that someone else has, and we don't
feel that we're blessed like that other person is being blessed.
It may be that one pastor has a larger congregation than another
pastor. You say, even preachers? Oh,
especially preachers. Especially preachers, my friends. We become envious and jealous
to the point that in our hearts we dislike that other person
who has something that we want, something we wish that we had.
We're not content with God's providence and God's gifts to
us and before long we become guilty of having hard feelings
or hatred or wrath in our hearts and we are guilty of murder. Not literally. But yes, spiritually. To desire something that we see
someone else has is far too common. I read a couple of weeks ago
a fable of the canary and the goldfish. I don't know if you've
read that fable or not, but it was sent to me through Grace
Jims. But you can just picture in your
mind this goldfish in a bowl, swimming around, and a canary
in the cage up above, singing so beautifully. And one day it
was rather warm, and they were both kept in the same room, and
the goldfish said, Oh, I wish I could be up on that limb, singing
like that canary. And the canary said, Oh, I wish
I could be in that water and cool off. And so their master
just reversed the order, put the goldfish up in the cage and
put the canary down in the bowl. And they soon repented. And isn't
it so, my friends? You've heard that old saying,
the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence.
Have you ever seen a cow out there and there'll be a fence
and barbed wire and they've got plenty of grass to eat where
they are, but they'll stick their neck through that barbed wire
and get as far over there and eat that grass on the other side
of the fence. It always seems greener. Someone
else seems more blessed. Someone else has greater gifts.
rather than to learn to be content with the things that we have. Paul said that is true contentment
when we learn to be content with godliness is great gain. And then James reminds us that
we should pray for these things. And some people do pray, but
they ask and they do not receive Why? Because they're not asking
for whatever it is, for God's glory, and for using it to serve
Christ with, but to consume it upon their own lust. And so,
they don't have it. They don't receive it. So that's
where they come from. Now that's easy. But second,
what are we told that will help us in this area? These things
that I've just mentioned, I know we're all familiar with them.
But now, what does James tell us will help us in this matter? Well, three things I want to
point out from these verses. First, more grace. Second, repentance. And third, resisting the devil. First, more grace. You notice
in verse 6 he says, but he, but he giveth more grace. Now that's what we need, isn't
it? We think about the lust and the envy and the jealousy and
the malice. What do we need? We need more
grace. More grace. And he giveth more grace. Grace is always a gift. It cannot be anything other than
a gift. If we could earn it, if we could
deserve it, it would not be grace. For grace is unmerited favor. And let me tell you, one sure
mark of the true grace of God in Christ in a person's heart
is, he will always be crying, she will always be crying, God,
give me more grace. I need more grace. I need more
grace. All of God's grace is stored
up in Christ. When God saves a sinner, he doesn't
just bundle up a big bundle of grace and put that on your back
and say, now, there you go. That ought to last you until
you get to heaven if you're careful. But if you run out of grace along
the way, you're going to fall, you're going to be lost, you're
going to go to hell. God doesn't work that way, does
he? When he saves a sinner, he tells us that all of the grace
that we'll ever need is stored up for us in Jesus Christ. In Jesus Christ, we will find
more grace. How soon, I thought about this,
how soon, how early did God give us this grace? Well, look over
in 2 Timothy chapter 1. Child of God, how early did God
give you this grace? 2 Timothy chapter 1 and verse
9 Paul says, who hath saved us
and called us according or called us with an holy calling not according
to our works but according to his own purpose and grace which
was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began. God's people were chosen by His
grace. Grace. The children, not yet
born, neither having done good or evil, that the purpose of
God according to election might stand, God said, the elder shall
serve the younger. God's children, each and every
one, we were all saved by grace. God passed over, and this is
the reason. This is the reason, my friends,
that every child of God should be so humble. A proud Christian, that should never be. That just
should never be true. A proud Christian, everything
we have, We owe to God's grace. Everything. You may be proud
of your looks. Where'd you get that? You didn't
have anything to do with it. God's grace. We were chosen in
Christ from before the foundation of the world. We were called
by grace. Some of us were out here and
if God had left us, I know this is true of myself, If God had
left me to myself, no doubt I would already be in hell. But God didn't
leave me. God didn't pass over me. He had
every right to. If He had given me what I deserved,
He would have. But no, no, He called me by His
grace. Everything we have. Chosen by
grace, called by grace, justified by His grace, sanctified by His
grace, comforted along the way by His grace, and one day we
will be glorified by His grace. To the praise, Paul said, to
the praise of the glory of His grace. Every child of God says
the same thing. James says that God resists the
proud. Look at the verse. But he giveth more grace, whereof
he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace under the humble. More grace! More grace! Humble yourself under the mighty
hand of God. The Apostle Peter wrote. Nothing,
as far as I'm concerned, nothing will humble a child of God like
meditating. I'm not talking about just coming
into a service like this and hearing us preach or talk about
grace. And yes, all of us who know God,
our hearts are moved, surely, when we hear about grace. But
get along. Get along in your room sometime
and just stop and think, meditate about God's grace. That's how
a person, in my opinion, will humble himself. Everything, everything
I owe to His grace. I see that in David. You know,
David wanted to build a temple to God. He loved God. And he
told the prophet Nathan, he said, I want to build God a temple.
Bricks and stones and magnificent. Nathan said, do it. Later that
night, God told Nathan, you go back and tell David he's not
going to build me a house but you tell David I'm going to build
him a house and you know the scripture says David went in
and I guess he went into that tabernacle I'm not sure about
that but says he sat before the Lord and he asked God this question
who am I oh Lord God who am I that you would think upon me, that
you would build me a house, that of my sons you would raise up
a King, Jesus Christ, who would reign on this throne forever
and ever. Get along. Meditate. Think about God's goodness, God's
grace. And then number two, repentance.
When James says weep, you know many times in the scriptures,
tears are associated with repentance. And I say unto all of us, when
that spirit of envy, jealousy, when it first begins to raise
its ugly head in us, that's the time to nip it in the bud. That's
the time, my friend, to say, oh God, forgive me. Repent. How could I have ever been so
foolish to want something that you know
is not good for me. Something that you see would
be my detriment maybe. Repentance. And then number three, resist
the devil. Peter tells us that the devil
goes about seeking whom he may devour. Robert Hawker pointed
out he doesn't go about seeking whom he will devour, because
if he did that, he would devour everyone. He doesn't have that
liberty. He doesn't have that privilege.
He seeks whom he may devour. And when he tempts the child
of God, who resists him by drawing nigh to God, then the devil will
flee. Resist Him and He will flee from
you. How do we draw nigh to God? How did God draw nigh to us? How did He draw nigh to us? There
He is, Holy God. We certainly couldn't come into
His presence as we are, but He drew nigh to us in the person
of His Son, Jesus Christ. And that's the way we draw an
eye to Him through Christ, looking unto Him, the author and finisher
of our faith. May the Lord bless His word to
all of us here today.