January 22, 2012
Evening Service

James 4

 

Review:

1.     This morning James told us “Jam 3:1  My brethren, be not many masters, knowing that we shall receive the greater condemnation.”

2.    Then that faith produces wisdom.  Not earthly wisdom, but heavenly wisdom is pleasing to God.

 

This evening we are ready for chapter 4, let’s begin:

 

Jam 4:1-17  From whence come wars and fightings among you?

• Wars and fightings ---- James is referring to any turmoil of conflict, and he says among you.
• “War is hell”, and any of you that have been in one knows that that statement is true.  It’s not something to be taken lightly.  All the loss of life In a war is terrible.  And church history is full of wars and fightings.
• Our civil war alone cost Americans 500,000 men.  Think of that!  I know had I been in that war, or had boys in that war, I would have wanted more talking, anything to keep from losing my sons to war. 
• One of the things that is going to make heaven heaven is the lack of wars, and fightings.
• Jesus said turn the other cheek.  When you are as powerful as some of the Nations today it is hard to turn the other cheek.  It’s not a manly thing to do.  However, it is the Christian thing to do.  Do you not think He meant what He said?  You will find out one day that He did.

BUT WHY IS IT WE WAR, AND FIGHT?

come they not hence, even of your lusts that war in your members?  (2)  Ye lust, and have not: ye kill, and desire to have, and cannot obtain: ye fight and war, yet ye have not, because ye ask not.  (3)  Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts. 

• That is, you wish to have something which you do not now possess, and to which you have no just claim, and this prompts to the effort to obtain it by force. You desire extension of territory, fame, booty, the means of luxurious indulgence, or of magnificence and grandeur, and this leads to contest and bloodshed. These are the causes of wars on the large scale among nations and of the contentions and strifes of individuals.
• This was very true in the day James is writing this.  This is not so much our case today, because we live in the greatest, and richest country in the world.  We don’t lust after the things other countries have, but we feel we must protect, and guard our great country, and it’s way of life. 
• God will one day judge us in whether we were justified in doing what we have done in our conflicts with other nations.
• You have not, because you ask not.  THAT’S PRAYER.  There is only one Supreme Being that can grant the things we need.  The problem is that He won’t necessarily supply your wants. 
• And this is showing up to be a tremendous problem in today’s society.  People wanting, and expecting worldly things that they are not willing to work for, but want it handed to them on a silver platter.  They think the world owes them a living, and at the expense of those who have worked hard to get what they have.

 

 

 

NOTICE WHAT JAMES SAYS CONCERNING THIS:

(4)  Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.

·         Adulterers and adulteresses:  The idea is, “You have in effect broken your marriage covenant with God by loving the world more than him; and, by the indulgence of your carnal inclinations, you have violated those obligations to self-mortification and self-denial to which you were bound by your religious engagements.”   To the Jews.

The same could be said to the church.

• Now what does it mean to be a friend with the world?
• The “friendship of the world” is the love of that world; of the maxims which govern it, the principles which reign there, the ends that are sought, the amusements and gratifications which characterize it as distinguished from the church of God. It consists in setting our hearts on those things; in conforming to them; in making them the object of our pursuit with the same spirit with which they are sought by those who make no pretensions to religion. See the notes at Rom_12:2.
• Is enmity with God - Is in fact hostility against God, since that world is arrayed against him. It neither obeys his laws, submits to his claims, nor seeks to honor him. To love that world is, therefore, to be arrayed against God; and the spirit which would lead us to this is, in fact, a spirit of hostility to God.
• Whoever” he may be, whether in the church or out of it. The fact of being a member of the church makes no difference in this respect, for it is as easy to be a friend of the world in the church as out of it.
• This warning cry has gone out from the pulpit for years.  That the church was becoming more worldly with each generation that passes.
• John says this;  1Jo 2:15-17  Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.  (16)  For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.  (17)  And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth forever.

(5)  Do ye think that the Scripture saith in vain, The spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy? 

• This phrase is not found together in the O.T.  And I understand that what James is saying is that the O.T. Scriptures show very clearly that the spirit of envy was very prevalent in the many examples we have in the O.T.

(6)  But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble.  (7)  Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.  (8)  Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded.  (9)  Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep: let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness.  (10)  Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up. 

• Then you can rejoice, and be full of joy, and happiness.

(11)  Speak not evil one of another, brethren. He that speaketh evil of his brother, and judgeth his brother, speaketh evil of the law, and judgeth the law: but if thou judge the law, thou art not a doer of the law, but a judge.  (12)  There is one lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy: who art thou that judgest another? 

• Again, this teaching is throughout the Scriptures.  We are not to speak evil of anyone, nor to judge other people.

(13)  Go to now, ye that say, Today or tomorrow we will go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and get gain:  (14)  Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away.  (15)  For that ye ought to say, If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this, or that.  (16)  But now ye rejoice in your boastings: all such rejoicing is evil. 

(17)  Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin.

 

Other def. of sin:

Pro 24:9  The thought of foolishness is sin: and the scorner is an abomination to men.

 

Rom 14:23  And he that doubteth is damned if he eat, because he eateth not of faith: for whatsoever is not of faith is sin.

 

1Jo 3:4  Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law.

 

1Jo 5:17  All unrighteousness is sin: and there is a sin not unto death.

 

As you can see we need a Savior.  Sin is what separates us from God.  So we need Jesus as our intercessor.

 

John says; 

1Jo 1:7-10  But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.  (8)  If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.  (9)  If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.  (10)  If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.

 

What we have as Christians is an everyday walk with our Savior.  It is a walk of striving to overcome, and with His help, we can.

 

Remember all the promises in Rev. are to him that overcomes.