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welcome to everyone for our call to worship you can turn in your Bibles to Psalm 29 Psalm 29 I'll begin reading in verse 1 a psalm of David give unto the Lord O you mighty ones give unto the Lord glory and strength give unto the Lord the glory due to his name worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness the voice of the Lord is over the waters the god of glory thunders the Lord is over many waters the voice of the Lord is powerful the voice of the Lord is full of majesty the voice of the Lord breaks the cedars yes the Lord splinters the Cedars of Lebanon he makes them also skip like a calf Lebanon and Syrian like a young wild ox the voice of the Lord divides the flames of fire the voice of the Lord shakes the wilderness the Lord shakes the wilderness of K - the voice of the Lord makes the deer give birth and strips the forest bare and in his temple everyone says glory the Lord sat enthroned at the flood and the Lord sits as king forever the Lord would give strength to his people the Lord will bless his people with peace amen we'll turn in your Trinity Psalter - Psalm 122 the Red Trinity Psalter you can stand when you find Psalm 122 [Music] [Music] let us pray our God and our Father we gather together on the Sabbath day to praise you to come to the Father through our great high priest the Lord Jesus Christ and by the power of the Holy Spirit and we would pray that God would be all in all in this place it should be exalted and glorified and enthroned upon the praises of your people here we acknowledge that you are Most High that you are from everlasting to everlasting one God in three glorious persons and worthy of praise and adoration and exaltation we acknowledge your handiwork in the creation we thank you for this beautiful day in the sunshine which leads us back to consider the God who spoke this world into being we thank you as well for your Providence and the way that you caused all things to work out for good to those who love you to those who are the called according to your purpose we know you not only rule over the church you rule over all your creatures and all their actions in accordance with your holy purposes and plan we thank you for redemption through our Lord Jesus Christ we thank you for the gospel of our salvation the fact that our beloved Savior came in the fullness of the time born of a woman and born under the law to redeem those under the law we thank you for His perfect life of obedience unto the father wherein he fulfilled all the obligations of your law we thank you for his death at Calvary and the fact that he is our substitute that he was a sacrifice the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world we thank you for the resurrection from the dead that the tomb could not hold him that he rose again that he showed himself to many many witnesses and then he ascended on high he led captivity captive and there he gives gifts to men how we praise you for the current session of our Lord Jesus and how we look forward to his coming again in glory to judge the living in the dead we thank you for these Lord's days that are a a market day of the soul a downpayment of what we will enjoy when we enter into that eternal rest and as as we longed to meet with you in public worship we pray that you'd be well pleased to run the heavens and come down do forgive us now for all of our sins and our transgressions whenever we consider your majesty and your holiness we see our own waywardness and our own sinfulness how we thank you for the promises of your word that if we confess our sins you are faithful and just to forgive us and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness to wash us now in the blood of the Lamb purify us and sanctify us and help us Lord God to be conformed more and more unto the image of your beloved son we pray for any and all who have come here tonight that are outside of Christ we pray that today would be the day of salvation that your Holy Spirit would apply the Word of God that there would be conviction of sin and there would be that demonstration that Christ alone is the way of salvation by grace alone through faith alone in him alone we ask that you would look with favor upon the various needs in our local body here we thank you for all the brothers and the sisters that attend this church we pray that you look with favor upon those who are ill those who are struggling and we pray for Nicole that you would bless her on Wednesday as she gives birth we pray that all would go well that this little one would be healthy and strong and that you would fortify both Josh and Nicole very very richly we also pray our Father for mr. Neufeld we pray that you would just help him as he continually recovers we pray that you would just uphold bless encourage and strengthen him in the faith and cause him to know the nearness of God as his good we pray for the Saints in South Surrey and we thank you for the church there we pray that you would bless and prosper that work god caused them to stand fast on the word of truth and on the the good confession that we hold dear we pray for pastor Kirkpatrick that you would use him to preach the gospel to minister to the people of God in that place and may they be a light and that in that part of the world in a crooked and perverse generation and may they hold forth your word of truth and Lord blast those and nations that suffer for the cause of God and truth we know there are a multitude that do not have the Liberty that we enjoy here we pray for your suffering Saints that they would be revived in spirit by the power of God that they would be granted the graces of perseverance and consistency in the midst of suffering and hardship and we pray that in these nations where Christ is is is rejected in law and in large part we pray that the faithful people of God would indeed set forth the truth as it is in Jesus and we pray that word would run swiftly in these places and be glorified father continue with us now bless and encourage our hearts and help us to receive with thanksgiving your word we know that your voice is able to shatter the Cedars of Lebanon and we pray tonight shatter our hardened hearts and that you administer unto us you lost the grace Lord God to repent from sin and to pursue those things that are pleasing in your sight and we pray these things through Jesus Christ our Lord amen well you can turn with me to 415 in your Trinity hymnal hymn number 415 will stand as we sing together [Music] [Music] [Music] well for our scripture reading tonight you can turn to the Prophet Joel Joel chapter 3 the second of the Minor Prophets Hosea Joel and then amos obadiah and so on Joel Joel chapter 3 we'll begin reading in verse 1 for behold in those days and at that time when I bring back the captives of Judah and Jerusalem I will also gather all nations and bring them down to the valley of Jehoshaphat and I will enter into judgment with them there on account of my people my heritage Israel whom they have scattered among the nations they have also divided up my land they have cast lots for my people have given a boy as a payment for a harlot and sold a girl for wine that they may drink indeed what have you to do with me Oh tyre and sidon and all the coasts of Philistia will you retaliate against me but if you retaliate against me swiftly and speedily I will return your retaliation upon your own head because you have taken my silver and my gold and have carried into your temples my prized possessions also the people of Judah and the people of Jerusalem you have sold to the Greeks that you may remove them far from their borders behold I will raise them out of the place to which you have sold them and will return your retaliation upon your own head I will sell your sons and your daughters into the land or into the hand of the people of Judah and they will sell them to the Saban's to a people far off for the Lord has spoken proclaim this among the nations prepare for war wake up the mighty man let all the men of war draw near let them come up beat your plowshares into swords and your pruning hooks and the spears let the weak say I am strong assemble and come to all all you nations and gather together all around cause your mighty ones to go down there Oh let the nations be wakened and come up to the valley of jehoshaphat for there I will sit to judge all the surrounding nations put in the sickle for the harvest is ripe come go down for the winepress is full the vats overflow for their wickedness is great multitudes multitudes in the valley of decision for the day of the Lord is near in the valley of decision the Sun and Moon will grow dark and the stars will diminish their brightness the Lord also will roar from Zion and utter his voice from Jerusalem the heavens and earth will shake but the Lord will be a shelter for his people and the strength of the children of Israel so you shall know that I am the Lord your God dwelling in Zion my holy mountain then Jerusalem shall be holy and no aliens shall ever pass through her again and it will come to pass in that day that the mountains shall drip with new wine the hills shall flow with milk and all the Brooks of Judah shall be flooded with water a fountain shall flow from the house of the Lord and water the valley of occations Egypt shall be a desolation and Edom a desolate wilderness because of violence against the people of Judah for they have shed innocent blood in their land but Judah shall abide forever and Jerusalem from generation to generation for I will acquit them of the guilt of bloodshed whom I had not acquitted for the Lord dwells in Zion amen will let us pray our God and our Father we thank you that you are indeed a shelter to your people in times of calamity and trial we thank you that in this new covenant setting the true the same is the case we know that the people of God are beset by many many sorrows and many challenges and many difficulties between here and heaven and Lord how we thank you that you are our refuge that you are our our protection our defender we thank you for the kingship and the reign of the Lord Jesus Christ over the church we thank you that he does secure and stabilize his people we pray that even tonight God as all of us through various trials and temptations and hardships we pray that you would draw near to us that we would derive great comfort from the Word of God and from the presence and the power of the Holy Spirit that you would cheer us on on the wane that you would help us to press onward to be faithful to be consistent to be disciplined and to realize that this world at its best is nevertheless still a place filled with difficulties and hardships we ask that you would just enable us to understand your word properly in this regard give us the grace to guard against that desire to have pleasure and ease and cause us Lord God to find our hope our contentment our all in all in the person and in the work of the Lord Jesus Christ and it's in his name that we pray amen well for our final him before the preaching you can turn with me to him number 400 hymn number 400 again we'll stand as we sing together [Music] well please turn with me in your Bibles to James chapter 4 James chapter 4 I'll actually begin reading in James 3 at verse 13 and we'll read to James 4:12 so beginning in James 3 at verse 13 who is wise and understanding among you let him show by good conduct that his works are done in the meekness of wisdom but if you have bitter envying self seeking in your hearts do not boast and lie against the truth this wisdom does not descend from above but is earthly sensual demonic for we're envy and self seeking exists confusion and every evil thing are there the wisdom that is from above is first pure then peaceable gentle willing to yield full of mercy and good fruits without partiality and without hypocrisy now the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace where do Wars and fights come from among you do they not come from your desires for pleasure that war and your members you lost and do not have you murder and covet and cannot obtain you fight and war yet you do not have because you do not ask you ask and you do not receive because you ask amiss that you may spend it on your pleasures adulterers and adulteresses do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God or do you think that the scripture says in vain the Spirit who dwells in us yearns jealously but he gives more grace therefore he says God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble therefore submit to God resist the devil and he will flee from you draw near to God and He will draw near to you cleanse your hands you sinners and purify your hearts you double-minded lament and mourn and weep let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord and He will lift you up do not speak evil of one another brethren he who speaks evil of a brother and judges his brother speaks evil of the law and judges the law but if you judge the law you are not a doer of the law but a judge there is one lawgiver who's able to save and to destroy who are you to judge another Amen well let us pray our Father we thank you for the word of God we thank you for its clarity and its pointedness we thank you for this epistle of james certainly it does direct attention to our own remaining corruptions and we pray that tonight the Holy Spirit would work in our hearts and lives she would convict us as individuals that we may indeed repent of sin and pursue those things that are godly we pray for our church that all of us would endeavor to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace that the sorts of wars and Fighting's and murders going on that James addresses would not be true of the three Grace Baptist Church help us to press onward in the fear of the Lord help us to know the scripture help us to live as you would have us to do in community with one another and in our families as well certainly it's not just the church and view it's wherever the people of God find themselves do you forgive us again for all unrighteousness and sin and help us by your Holy Spirit and we pray through Jesus Christ our Lord amen well here specifically we're going to look at James for one two six and I think that James for one to twelve actually goes quite it along with what precedes in James three three to eighteen remember that last time in our study in James we looked at James's presentation of two types of wisdom there is a wisdom which comes from above that which is from God that produces good fruit there is that wisdom that comes from below James calls it demonic wisdom that produces rotten fruit and here in James three thirteen to eighteen after describing these two types of wisdom he then shows or applies what he is said to the specific situation he's writing against in James for one to twelve in other words what we find in verses 1 to 6 are the rotten fruits of demonic wisdom the sorts of things that are true of people when they don't mortify the flesh when they don't fight against their own remaining corruption when they give vent to those things instead of crushing those things it looks like what James describes in James 4 so in James 4 1 to 6 we have the rotten fruit of demonic wisdom and then in 7 to 12 the issues a call to repentance he exhorts the people of God to repent to submit to God to resist the devil all those sorts of things and it's very practical admonitions on how we need to come back to God in verses 7 to 12 but as I said our focus tonight is primarily on verses 1 to 6 now the two rotten fruits that come from this demonic wisdom are in the first place conflict with one another it's what he deals with in verses 1 & 2 a and the second rotten fruit of demonic wisdom is enmity with God and he deals with that in verse 2 B 2 verse 6 so you've got conflict with one another and you've got enmity with God there's both horizontal effect as a result of this demonic wisdom and there is a vertical effect there is a problem with God toward us when we live in a manner that is consistent with this demonic wisdom so let's look first at this conflict with one another in verses 1 to 2 a the first place we ought to notice the presence of this conflict as he does in verse 13 of chapter 3 he asks a rhetorical question to introduce his subject he does the same thing here in chapter 4 at verse 1 where new Wars and fights come from among you so we see that James not dealing in the theoretical alone James is dealing with something that is practical something that is concrete something unfortunately that was going on that he had to address in the early church something that unfortunately continues to go on in modern church is when we don't mortify the deeds of the body when we operate according to this demonic wisdom so he asks the question and highlights the reality that these things are present he is not dealing with unconverted sinners here he's not shifting direction he is not saying okay believers I want you to go to sleep now and I'm gonna address all those wretches that come into the church that are not saved his audience hasn't changed James 1:1 he's writing to dispersion Jews Christians believers those he calls brethren in a couple of places in this particular book he has not stopped he's not ceased he has not shifted direction from the people of God to the non people of God I think one of the things that's most difficult to comprehend about verses 1 to 6 is that it's actually true that it's actually the case that God's people can act like this that it is actually the case that God's people can be so proud and so arrogant and so judgmental and so full of carnal desire and so full of love for the world and so ready to compromise the relationship with God then it strikes us as a bit odd but if we properly reflect upon what we just sang if we properly reflect upon the truth of God's Word and we properly reflect upon the content of our own arts we have no problem admitting with Robert Robinson prone to wander and prone to leave the god that I love James is dealing with believers believers who compromise believers who sent believers who give in to that remaining corruption rather than to cut it off at it's very rude so he asks the question and then he tells us where it comes from Lourdes he's not asking this question for groupthink he's not asking this question for your contribution he's not asking this question because he knows good and well you will tell him that these wars and these fights from that guy back there these wars and these fights come from that gossipy woman over there these wars and these fights come from the world no James says they come from you they come from your heart the origin is in your own unmodified heart this is the problem the presence of such wars and fighting is owing to persons in the church who are not waging war against the flesh notice in verse one be do they not come from your desires for pleasure that war in your members and I think by way of application we ought to appreciate James honesty and we ought likewise to be honest with God we ought not to blame shift we ought not to say it's everybody else's fault it's everybody else's problem it's everybody else's issue no we have enough issues in our own hearts to sink us into hell for an eternity of eternities and we need to acknowledge that reality I think the the beauty of James the book as a whole confronts us with the fact that we're really not that great of people in fact it confronts us with the fact that we're really not that good of a people that the only way in which we stand is by God's grace and we can praise God for verse 6 that he gives more grace but we ought to acknowledge the reality that more often than not the sorts of conflicts that we have it takes two to tango was one of the sort of fundamental procedures or fundamental rules in our home when our kids were growing up one of the children would come and say so-and-so did such-and-such and my wife beloved wife would say well it typically takes two to tango and it wasn't ever the case that it was just one person we need to own the fact that we're not as great as we may think we are we need to own the fact that we don't always abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul turn to Romans chapter six where you see this emphasis is on the people of God who have remaining corruption needing to destroy by the Spirit of God that remaining corruption notice in Romans 6 at verse 12 therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body that you should obey it in its lusts and do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin but present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead and your members as instruments of righteousness to God now this section is glorious because Paul grounds it in the gospel the words he confronts this myth or this idea what shall we say shall we continue in sin may it never be Romans 6:1 and then he points to our Gospel experience we died with Christ we were buried with Christ we've been raised with Christ as a result of that indicative the imperative now follows do not let sin reign rather kill it do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness do not satisfy gratify and fulfill your lusts James says whence the origin it's your desire for pleasure it's your unmodified lusts it's your cravings it's your unsatisfied nature that demands and desires more Colossians 3 the same sort of an idea Colossians chapter 3 specifically at verse 5 is showing that this is what James is dealing with the desire or rather the presence of such wars and fights is owing to persons in the church who are not waging war against the flesh Colossians 3:5 therefore put to death your members which are on the earth again it's the same process or the same manner or the same chronology he deals in verses 1 to 4 what is with what is true of us we have died we have been Aged we are in Christ it is the gospel that serves as the foundation for our practical pursuit of godliness and holiness according to his law to be sure the law is a revelation of who God is the Spirit uses that to guide to instructed to lead us it is our rule or our pattern of life but notice because you have died with Christ because you aren't raised with Christ notice in verse 5 therefore put to death your members which are on the earth fornication uncleanness passion evil desire and covetousness which is idolatry you see James's audience wasn't doing that James's audience wasn't putting to death those things and then as I already alluded to in 1st Peter chapter 2 you can turn there first Peter chapter 2 some people say well you know lost isn't that big of a deal or porn isn't that big of a deal or sexual immorality isn't that big of a deal or James or Paul or making mountains out of molehills I mean it's common to every man every man has these struggles every woman has these struggles it's not that big of a deal look at what Peter says in 1st Peter chapter 2:11 beloved I beg you as sojourners and pilgrims abstain from fleshly lusts which do what they war against the soul that's what your lusts unmodified do they wage war against the soul they battered down or try to batter down the door of man's soul they want to destroy you and you need to be on guard so going back to James in James 4 he asks the question it highlights the presence of this conflict he then tells us that it comes from us it comes from you the desire for pleasure dominates in such persons Matthew pool describes the lusts this way he says those lost sware of pleasure is the end which is therefore put for the lusts themselves he means the over eager desire of riches worldly greatness and carnal delights I think that pretty well is an A to Z of everything encompassed by loss I mean if you think about your own desire for pleasure well I don't ever have that okay well pray for the rest of us slobs that bring these sorts of things to the table typically these are the categories riches worldly greatness carnal delights so James asked the question where do these things come from it comes from you now notice he then describes how this affects the church he says in verse 2 you lost and do not have there is this lust for things and the resulting frustration Lord you have these lost and they're never ever fulfilled isn't that the nature of things isn't that the way it goes you ever just content you know you think about some of the richest people in the world they have a net worth of I don't even know how much do you ever ask the question how much more do they need like why would you need more than a billion dollars I realize inflation and I realize you know you know a gallon of milk is more expensive now but could you feasibly not make it for the rest of your life on a billion you see this and these very wealthy people but we ought to see it in our own art it's never enough we're never satisfied Manton described this lust this way the language of lust is give give this from the Proverbs the leech has two daughters give give he says the language of lust is give give it is an appetite without bound or measure if we had one world yet we are not happy we would covet another carnal desire is a gulf that is never filled up it's intriguing because Calvin uses the same illustration Manton writes after Calvin I didn't notice Manton say as our brother Calvin says but Calvin says the same thing if we had one world it wouldn't be enough we'd want another world that's the language of lust give give now brethren again maybe you're not having any struggles with this particular message pray for the rest of your fellows as this is some of the things that we struggle with and then notice the passage demonstrates that there is this jealousy of others so note verse two you lost and do not have you murder we'll get to that murder in just a moment but where it says you murder and covet you covet and cannot obtain it's a bit of a different shade of meaning here the lust that he's already spoken of is this desire for stuff for me so it's this carnal desire riches worldly greatness the things that pool sets forth this second use translated here in the New King James as covet means this jealousy of others again it's not just a bear jealousy it's an Envy it's a desire for them not to have the good things that they have fact b-day one of the Greek dictionary defines the word that is used here this way it says to have intense negative feelings over another's achievements or success to be filled with jealousy or envy to have that somebody else is doing well it's not a good sign that things are fine in your soul in other words if somebody shares at the prayer meeting hey I got a promotion at work and you're upset you need to repent you need to forsake your sin you need to take your mind to Romans 12 when the Apostle tells us to rejoice with those who rejoice and weep with those who weep if there is an enmity that invades your soul because of the advancement of the prosperity of a brother or a sister you are doing the very thing that James condemns you murder and covet and cannot obtain so lust and covetousness is prospering in the church that James writes to but then notice as we continue continue to look at this conflict murder fighting and war I think the one thing we ought to appreciate about James is that you never wonder what he's actually trying to say I mean it's tough at times to figure out his connection it's hard to figure out you know does James 4 go with James 3 and that sort of thing but but when he uses words like he will in James 4 to call the church or people adulteress is Pastor James what do you mean by that you didn't say that because you knew what he meant by that when he uses this type of language to describe church conflict he says you murder you fight and you war now there are some who believe that we ought to understand this literally Lords the first century in Israel was a very violent century it culminated in the Jewish war with Rome in AD 70 I mean preceding that it wasn't a peaceful time there were Wars and there were rumors of wars again the Romans ultimately come in and they sacked Jerusalem in AD 70 specifically what Jesus spoke of in Matthew 24 Luke 21 and Mark 13 there was a movement called the zealots and the zealot in that context didn't mean somebody full of zeal for a particular cause zealot in the first century meant somebody that was anti-government anti-roman government and had a revolutionary spirit or tendency and they would engage in violence to accomplish their particular purposes so some have understood that James is denouncing actual acts of violence among the people of God in fact Manton says that James is not only writing a letter to the church but he's writing to the nation of Israel to tell them not to engage in that sort of violence I don't personally think that's correct I don't think it excludes physical acts of violence but I think it's about metaphorical acts of violence in other words he is dealing with heart sins that the people of God engage in and they violate the sixth commandment I think this is consistent with what Jesus teaches when he expounds the sixth commandment in Matthew's Gospel in the Sermon on the Mount Jesus says with reference to the sixth commandment it covers such things as unwarranted or unrighteous anger if you are with your brother without a cause the sixth commandment covers character assassination if you call your brother raca empty head fool knucklehead in an ethical sense or in a in a horrible way that is covered by the sixth word if you do not make peace with your brother you have violated the sixth commandment it's in the context where Jesus says if you go and present your gift at the altar and there you remember that your brother has art with you first go to him make peace or reconcile with him and then come back and present your offering those are sixth commandment violations for the people of God so I believe that James is using this language this very charged language in a metaphorical way it could be he's dealing with brethren that are actually cutting each other's throats with knives but more than likely he is dealing with those conflicts of an internal or a spiritual nature where the on mortified person does not put to death their sin it issues forth and Wars Fighting's battles and murder of the Brethren John the Apostle uses the metaphorical in John our first John 3:15 he says whoever hates his brother is a murderer and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him so this very strong language illustrates the very real violations going on in the church at that time motya says this James chooses the vocabulary of war to express controversies and quarrels animosities and bad feelings among among Christians not because there is no other way of saying it but because there is no other way of expressing the horror of it I think that's what James is doing he is using this very charged language to cause the people of God to reflect a on the gravity of sin that's why he says adulteress says again I'm gonna argue in just a moment that's not seventh commandment violations could include that could be that but when he speaks of adulterers and adulteresses or some Bibles just have adulteresses there's a variant reading there either way the point is the same it's spiritual adultery it's spiritual harlotry it's the whoredom condemned by the prophets an Old Covenant Israel when the nation went a whoring from God when they bowed to bail when they offered their babies to Molech when they engaged in covenant breach with Yahweh that was adultery that was harlotry James uses that charged language as it were to grab us by the collar and say this is the net effect of your unmodified lusts this is what you bring to the table when you act like a little baby this is what you bring to the table when you act like one who is the center of the universe he's gonna deal with pride God opposes the proud but he gives grace to the humble there was a quote I read not a Christian but some man somewhere wrote when they finally discover the center of the universe there's going to be a lot of unhappy people that they're not there because that's how we operate it's all about me everything is me my needs my feelings my desires James says a constant approach like that reduces the Church of Christ not to a body of believers that worship the triune God but to a battlefield to a war a war ground to a place where fights are rampant that's what the church becomes when you don't mortify the deeds of the body when you give vent to these things when you express yourself in these ways this is the net effect where do Wars and fights come from among you do they not come from your desire for pleasure that war and your members not members of the church the members of your body that are undisciplined and ungodly you lost and you do not have you murder and covet and cannot obtain you fight and you war the decade or the dedicate rather an early Christian manual in chapter 3 paragraph 2 says do not become angry for anger leads to murder do not be jealous or quarrelsome or hot-tempered for all these things breed murders now before we move on it is good to get that view of God's law the sort of view that Jesus pronounces or produces or promotes rather in the Sermon on the Mount the law of God as expressed through Moses he was the mediator this really drives me nuts when we call it the law of Moses thinking that he was the developer of it no he was the medium by which the the instrument by which Yahweh communicates his law to Israel but that law always always not only spoke to the external but to the internal that law always transcended just the outward acts to the inner disposition that's why when Jesus taught in the Sermon on the Mount nobody should have said wow I can't believe he's telling me I can't have lustful thoughts about a woman I can't believe he's telling me I can't call a brother raca fooler you know assassinate his character I can't believe it all that the you know all that Jesus says then the Sermon on the Mount can be demonstrated from the Old Testament now herein lies the practical application for all of us we need to see the law in that light we need to see that we are not a law-abiding people insofar as we don't ascend the Clocktower in Chilliwack and pick people off with a 30.6 we may be murderers without having gone to that length we may be adulterers without having gone to the lengths of actually engaging in the act the law of God speaks to the heart the law of God speaks to us internally the law of God must be appreciated that way and we must see that an abuse in the inner is as bad as an abuse in the outer so that's the conflict with one another if these things are true of us we need to repent we need to forsake these things we need to mortify our Flash our lusts our desires and we need to promote peace you see it's demonic wisdom that brings confusion it's demonic wisdom that brings chaos it's demonic wisdom that produces battlefields in churches now notice secondly the enmity with God this breaks down into two parts first the problem of an unanswered prayer and then secondly the problem of spiritual adultery notice unanswered prayer in verses 2 B and 3 he says at the end of verse 2 yet you do not have because you do not ask now I believe that what he is suggesting here or telling us the persons in view lost after things they shouldn't have in other words worldly riches carnal desires and you know greatness or whatever it was that that pool said the the desire of riches worldly greatness and carnal delights on the one hand we want that on the other hand we don't want what God is offering you see he's already dealt with something concerning prayer notice in James 1 at verse 5 he says if any of you lacks wisdom let him ask of God who gives to all liberally and without reproach and it will be given to him you see he's just finished talking about the two types of wisdom and in 2b he's condemning the fact that they don't ask or they they want things that they're not supposed to have and then they don't ask God for the things that they're supposed to have you see there's a two-fold problem they're desiring these things that are wicked and not asking God for the things that he says are good wearing sin brethren if we're not seeking or fetching from the throne of grace those things necessary for godliness and righteousness and holiness how many of us actually pray daily for wisdom how many of us have read the account of Solomon where God commends him because he asked for wisdom and yet we still don't ask for it how many of us have heard the sermon on James three the two types of wisdom how many of us have read that section in James 3 and we still don't ask God for wisdom we still try to navigate in this life without wisdom we still get up out of our beds without wisdom we still go into the workplace without wisdom we still go into the marketplace without wisdom James condemns his hearers because you want stuff you're not supposed to have and then you fail to ask God for what you're supposed to have now of course some would say it would say but we do pray James that's verse 3 notice verse 2 B he says you do not have because you do not ask verse 3 you ask and do not receive so you know there's always the wise go we do we do do pray oh we do all right well let's just talk about how you pray see not all Prayer I think about this when I go to the thrift store looking for books some of the worst books on theology or books that say you know Bible study or you know what the Bible says about this sometimes those are the most off but for whatever reason people the Bible says oh I got to do it just because somebody says they're quoting the Bible or they're interpreting the Bible or they're exiting the Bible it doesn't mean it so the devil quoted the Bible with reference to the temptation of Jesus so I don't have to quote the bare words you've got to give the meaning you've got to give the sense you've got to say what it says got to communicate the truth and not all prayer is prayer and this is what I think James is telling us you ask and do not receive because you ask amiss that you spend it on your pleasures this is a wonderful passage to put in conjunction with Jesus teaching on prayer Jesus says whatever you ask in my name you will receive now brethren Jesus is not meaning by that summer homes and you know Italy I mean he might I don't know you may pray and get that summer home in Italy but that's not the point of that you hear wacky illustrations you know I I can do all things through Christ - strengthens me that doesn't mean you can you know shinny up Mount Everest necessarily it doesn't mean you can you know squat 800 pounds if you haven't done any training please don't be that guy you know you're 90 pounds soaking wet you get under the squat bar and say I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me please don't do that when Jesus says that whatever you ask in my name Jesus obviously means consistent with the will of my father that which is productive for your good that which will benefit you that which will conform you more unto the image of Jesus so James offers us not a corrective I'm not suggesting that but it's a place that qualifies this sort of blanket a blank check approach to put whatever I ask you'll give me James says there's a kind of asking that's wicked it's carnal it's vile it's wretched Allison makes the observation that God who gives good gifts visa V 117 does not answer wicked requests he just doesn't do it notice James says you ask and you do not receive because you ask amiss that you may spend it on your pleasures the believer may pray and not get what they ask for now you can't ever conclude well God doesn't hear O God heard you notice the the issue is not God won't hear you know I mean we use that in common parlance from time to time and I don't think there's anything intrinsically wicked about it but it's not that God doesn't hear it said he doesn't answer the way you want him to that's usually what you mean when God hasn't answered or heard my prayer it means he hasn't given you what you want try this with your kids sometime when they ask you for Twinkies for breakfast I don't know if you even know what that is in Canada it's a little golden cake with white filling inside when the child asks you for that say say no and watch them say but you never answered you you just don't like the answer when did Christians forget that no is an answer or even not yet we just immediately wait I didn't answer my prayer didn't give me what I want well if that's the attitude of the heart that James is addressing here why would he give it to you you're asking a Miss you're using God to get what you want to spend it on your lusts you may think that a bag of money is going to solve all your problems you may think that finding said bag in the bushes on your way home from work is going to fix everything God knows better God knows you and thank him that he does and therefore doesn't put bags of money in your pathway on the way home you say my friend found a bag of money God knows him and obviously your friend is able to deal with that I think about that with men in the church and God is used greatly I mean he uses a spur Jim greatly he uses Calvin greatly he uses men greatly I suspect that he just flooded those men with humility - a grace that they would need to maintain that kind of a profile among though the world stage I mean Spurgeon would go all over the place and people are reading his sermons all over the place certainly God filled that brother with great amounts of humility and the ability to deal with that the believer may pray a mess that he may use the thing asked for on his pleasures again Matthew pool you pray for the things of this life only that you may have wherewith to please the flesh and gratify your carnal desires and so an evil and spoils good means and while you would have God serve your lusts you lose your prayers you see that's the connection we have this conflict with man and then we have this enmity with God and one of the means by which we see that there's this enmity with God is that when we're praying to the we're praying to the ceiling and they're bouncing right back off the problem isn't God brethren the problem is it Yahweh the problem isn't the Lord the problem isn't our covenant mediator Jesus Christ through whom we go the problem more often than us is because we ask a miss we plan on using the gift that God gives us in an ungodly way so it's a mercy and a grace and the kindness that he doesn't answer those prayers the way that we want so mercy and a grace that he says no to us the people of God could appreciate that from time to time thank the Lord that I'm where I'm at because the Lord knows what's best this the disposition of the the the writer in proverbs 30 give me neither poverty nor riches isn't that the attitude the people of God should imbibe or pursue why does he pray that because if I'm poor I'll go out and I'll steal and I'll dishonor God but if I'm rich I'll forget God so give me neither put me right in the middle let me just be that man who has the things that I need so that I can glorify and honor God brethren how do you pray do you pray a miss is God your Genie is God your good luck charm is God your four-leaf clover is God your holy horseshoe is God your vending machine put the dollar in and out pops the coke is that how you treat God at the throne of grace if it is then praise him that he doesn't answer you in the affirmative this is what James says you ask and do not receive because you ask amiss that you may spend it on your pleasures and then notice finally with reference to this enmity with God this the problem of spiritual adultery note this indictment adulteress Azur adulterers and adulteresses do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God don't know that he could make the language any stronger the wars the fights the battles the the murder the adultery all of that but this enmity with God this making oneself an enemy of God God becomes your enemy when you sidle up next to the world and this is the author's point this is what he is condemning have already mentioned the spirit or the adultery and view is probably spiritual adultery we see it for instance in Jeremiah 3:20 zekiel 16 is probably one of the most extended passages on the waywardness of Israel in fact Ezekiel 16 is a great history of Israel God tells the nation how when he found them they were in their blood they were wriggling on the floor and he said live lived and he decked them out with ornamentation he beautify beautified his variety he gave her all of these good things and wonderful things and blessed her richly and what did she do she turned away from him and sought out other gods I mean some of the most vivid and pointed language I mean what Ezekiel says translated literally by the new American Standard Bible in Ezekiel 1625 makes James look tame the Prophet says that you're not like other prostitutes you see other prostitutes except pay from man to do their particular business he says of Israel you pay your lovers you go out there and court them you're the one coughing up the dough in that particular transaction the Lord says it's wicked and wrong so the adultery in view here is probably not an actual violation in terms of the marriage bed though probably that is included among a people that is described like this but it's this separation from God it's this chasing down every other than God it is being enamored with those things that are contrary to God the desire for pleasure lust and covetousness conflicts with brethren are characteristics of the world not God notice what he says in verse four adulterous adulterers and adulteresses do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God we don't typically describe worldliness this way do we worldliness in modern parlance is dancing worldliness in modern parlance is what you listen to or what you watch or where you go I'm not necessarily suggesting that isn't worldly but look at the sorts of things that James says is worldly those things that are antithetical to God those things that are contrary to our holy Lord the things that are opposite to him are things that we do to one another in the church that's worldliness according to James we bring that ethic that ethos that mentality and we baptize it in the name of Jesus well the world engages in wars and fights and battles so why shouldn't we in the life of the church there have been church meetings and I submit will probably be more in the history of the world that our shameful the fact that the blood-bought children of God who possess the Holy Spirit carry on like wicked men around a table and a board meeting is unholy look at this is the context adulterers adulteresses do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God isn't that incredible oh that person so worldly because they went to that movie I'm not worldly though even though I can't stand my brethren even though I am filled with rage at my brethren even though I have unmodified desires for pleasure somehow that's not worldly we always see everybody else's worldliness a whole lot easier than we see our own it's easy to identify that that that speck that's in somebody else's eye while we're wheel around a plague or a log James says don't do this I think Douglas mu correctly interprets for us with reference to this idea of worldliness he says we have no evidence that James's readers were overtly dis disclaiming god and consciously deciding to follow the world instead there's no evidence in James 1 2 & 3 that okay we're gonna have a rock band come and set up right in the middle of the church and we're gonna you know blaze we're gonna you know let them riff and raff and do whatever it is they want to do we're gonna sell tickets we're gonna bring people in we're gonna have lighters we're gonna do all he doesn't do that the worldliness is conditioned by the context brethren their tendency to imitate the world by discriminating against people in chapter 2 verses 1 to 13 by speaking negatively of others chapter 3 verses 1 to 12 by exhibiting bitter envy and selfish ambition chapter 3 verses 13 to 18 and by pursuing their own destructive pleasures chapter 4 verses 1 to 3 amounted to just that no again it's easy to see the world laying doing worldly things and somehow not see it when it's in our own hearts resenting a brother because he got promoted at work having conflict with brethren because your way must be you know insisted upon and every single encounter that's worldly Nath's and James says it's spiritual whoredom it is to depart from God it is to side with that that is contrary to God it is to put your arm around that which is antithetical to God that's the import of verse 4 adulteresses do you not know that friendship with the world now again we ought not to confine it to that obviously there are things that you ought not to do that the world does but dancing isn't in his crosshairs at this particular juncture it's internal disputes among the people of God that that brings that the identifier worldly Nass upon them do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God Manton says when you begin to please the world you wage war against heaven and bid open defiance to the Lord of hosts now I don't want to do what I'm about to do but we're gonna skip verse five and that's not because I don't believe it's the inspired Word of God but because it's a notoriously difficult verse and Erasmus said there are wagon Falls of interpretations of verse 5 I mean a comparison of the English versions the New King James and the King James don't even agree the NIV and the ESV are everybody's different there's a three big questions concerning verse 5 that I'm simply not competent up to answer but I don't think takes away from the exposition of the whole so let's finally finally look at verse 6 notice the appeal to scripture but he gives more grace now I don't mean that you should go home and trouble yourself about first 5 certainly take it it's a it's in Scripture you know it's it's a passage of Scripture intended for us I'm just as I said not able to explain it efficiently or effectively for you and I think it would take us way far afield to try to give you the three different positions or interpretations I just don't want to do that and you really don't want me to do that so let's just look at verse 6 this appeal to scripture and I think this verse functions transitionally I think it functions as a bridge between verses 1 2 5 and 7 to 12 it's a transition it's a bridge from the one to the other and I think it's both encouraging and again hard-hitting it's encouraging in terms of what's going to follow when he tells us to submit to it's encouraging if in fact the Spirit of God uses verses one to five to convict us because that statement of verse six is quite hope-filled but he gives more grace what does that mean it means in James's original context brethren these things are happening among you these things are occurring among you these things are actually taking a place among you but God gives more grace there is hope in Jesus there is forgiveness with thee that thou mayst be fear there is mercy to be had so it's a word of encouragement to the people of God who have conducted themselves in such a way that they have conflict with one another and have actually brought themselves into enmity with God Most High but he gives more grace the answer of the gospel the glory of the gospel the promise of forgiveness to those who by God's grace come to him Christians at times can do some pretty despicable things Christians at times can do some pretty horrific things but we always need to remember that he gives more grace not to enable us to continue in sin but when we do sin we have an advocate with the father even Jesus Christ the righteous this my brothers and sisters is james pastoral art he takes aim at the sorts of things that are going on he uses this martial language of wars and fights and murder he uses the language of adultery and adulteress s but James comes with the balm of Gilead and he says that he gives more grace there is forgiveness there is mercy there is hope there is help for you from the very one that you have made your enemy he will not remain your enemy he will not continue to treat you as an enemy submit yourself to him resist the devil lament and horn and weep cast yourself upon his lap of mercy and you will find grace so the verse functions transitionally it's a quote from proverbs three and verse 34 and it reminds the sinners in this particular context and us in our particular context that God does give more grace the latter part of the verse he gives grace to the humble we need that encouragement as we approach verses 7 to 12 we need that encouragement as we seek to ascend back to God we need that encouragement it kind of goes like this conflict with brethren enmity with God transitional verse concerning the grace of God and then our repair our relationship with God verses 7 to 10 and then repair the relationships with men verses 11 and 12 so you see conflict with man conflict with God transitional verse grace conflict with God repaired conflict with man repaired that's the structure that James sets before us and if we want to really bring it back to chapter 3 the first section is the rotten fruits of demonic wisdom the last section this is sent back to God is the pursuit of this wisdom that is from above so you see James counsels his readers not only on the wickedness of their sin but on the graciousness of God and before we stop or before we end notice it functions transitionally transitionally so the first statement verse 6 he gives more grace the last statement from Proverbs 3 quoted but gives grace to the humble prepares us for chapter 4 7 to 12 but notice before we leave 1 to 6 you need to ponder this God resists the proud God resists the proud so when you step back from the passage and you look at the whole you can see these desires for pleasure that result in conflict with brethren that have unanswered prayer is the net effect of one's relationship with God this adultery wherein we buddy up with the world and we make God our enemy gasps from whence it pride see that's our problem I mean all these other things are certainly our problems as well but pride there is one thing that's gonna kill a church it's pride there's one thing that's gonna kill a family it's pride there's one thing that's gonna kill society it's pride pride seems to be a mother sin I'm not suggesting these other sins aren't bad but you know you trace out sins and they typically come from pride we're all like that leech give give we're all like that one who wants to be esteemed we want to be held in Revere we want everybody to hear what we have to say and fall in the line we're not really content with just doing what Paul says to the Thessalonians work with your hands and mind your own business imagine a world where everybody just did that imagine a place where everybody just did what they were supposed to do but because of our pride because of our arrogance because we want everybody to do what we do - we want everybody to think what we think we want everybody to do what the things that that we approve of we have that Pope in the bosom as Hodge reminds us this tendency to lord everything over our brethren well it comes from wretched pride and the scriptures are very clear both old and new testaments God resists the proud he is the enemy of those who are proud he puts on battle array as John Trapp says and he fights against the proud brethren that ought to cause us to shake that ought to cause us to quiver that ought to cause us to lament and mourn and weep and to draw nigh unto God to cleanse our hands and to seek mercy from on high forgiveness from for sin and the power of the Holy Spirit to help us to mortify the deeds of the body in conclusion the reality is scripture tells us that the people of God have remaining sin Romans 7 14 to 25 Paul's experience as a believer Galatians 5:17 the flesh lusts the spirit the spirit against the flesh these are contrary to one another so that you don't do the things that you want we come to Christ and by the grace of God our sins are forgiven we come to Christ and by the grace of God we know cleanse a but we come and we have remaining corruption now there's a whole host of reasons for that persons would say well why doesn't he just take away that desire to sin because then we wouldn't come back to him we wouldn't use first John - why there's a whole host of reasons why even in the plan and purpose of God that that has a place now I don't say go out and sin because it's a good thing but brethren there are reasons for it sin remains in the believer so what happens when believers get together it's the grace of God that keeps them together how do married couples make it for 30 40 50 60 years and I'm talking about Christians because they had a good premarital counseling session because they've read the right books because God is merciful and gracious and kind and God has kept them together now you get three or more centers together in the church how do churches make it they take seriously passages like these and they see the gravity and the wickedness and the evil of sin and they fight against their own remaining corruption they fight and they say with the Apostle I want to endeavor to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace it's not gonna be me me me me me when I go to church I'm gonna actually be concerned first and foremost with God and with his people one of the things that the papist taught me when I was a kid that was actually right was joy Jesus others.you it's a good paradigm I hate to have to credit it to the papist but there you go Jesus others you that's the pecking order the people of God must and by it's not you and then Jesus and then others it's not you with God as your servant the kind of prayer that James can it's not Jesus you and then others you couldn't make joy out of that it has to be Jesus others and you that is the packing order the church demands earnest is necessity necessary for her well-being and then finally we need to understand that pride is a terrible thing Manton says that of all sins God said a--the himself to punish the sin of pride he abhor a--the other sinners but against the proud he professes open defiance and hostility he says pride doth not only withdraw the heart from God but lift it up against God all sin draws the heart from God pride not only does that but lift it up against God brethren humility is what we ought to be about killing pride seeking by the grace of God to be the people that James calls us to be and the hope of course is in the gospel of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ there is hope and in the blood of Christ to cleanse us from our sins there is hope and the power and the presence of the Holy Spirit to keep us from further sinning and if you're not a Christian tonight the way of salvation is by grace through faith in Jesus well let us close in a word of Prayer our Father we thank you for your word and we thank you for the clarity and the power of James for help us to take these things to heart help us to pray them in help us to consider our own place before a holy God and toward our brothers and sisters both in the church and in our homes and families give us grace to be those who pursue killing sin and who indeed cultivate humility by killing pride go with us in this coming week cause us to always reflect upon the fact that you give more grace in this we rejoice in this we are thankful and even now flood our hearts with the grace of God and the forgiveness of sins through our Lord Jesus Christ and it's in his name that we pray amen we'll close with a brief time of meditation and then be dismissed