WEBVTT - James 4:1-10 - Divided Hearts Produce Divided Churches 0:00:02.680 --> 0:00:11.640 Life Audio. Well, how do you a good morning, friends 0:00:11.640 --> 0:00:14.840 and faithful listeners, and welcome to the Book of James today. 0:00:15.400 --> 0:00:19.040 I am so excited to delve into today's topic because 0:00:19.120 --> 0:00:22.560 I think it is such a relevant problem in the church. 0:00:23.400 --> 0:00:24.840 In fact, I think you guys can tell that I'm 0:00:24.920 --> 0:00:27.680 kind of on a war path right now when it 0:00:27.680 --> 0:00:30.200 comes to the church. And it's not just Western churches. 0:00:30.360 --> 0:00:33.879 I'm telling you this is a worldwide problem. And James 0:00:33.880 --> 0:00:37.520 calls it a demonic problem because the enemy of God 0:00:37.760 --> 0:00:41.199 hates the church and does not want the church to succeed. 0:00:41.560 --> 0:00:43.640 So we are going to get into this topic today 0:00:43.960 --> 0:00:49.200 right after this first sponsored ad. Hopefully while that was playing, 0:00:49.240 --> 0:00:51.520 you got a chance to grab your Bible to read 0:00:51.560 --> 0:00:54.680 with me this morning, and also your a delicious cup 0:00:54.680 --> 0:00:57.120 of coffee or your cup of tea for you crazy 0:00:57.160 --> 0:01:00.160 tea drinkers. I'm telling you, I have had teas that 0:01:00.280 --> 0:01:05.280 genuinely taste like grass. I don't think I can ever 0:01:05.360 --> 0:01:08.200 really get into tea all that much. Sometimes sometimes I'll 0:01:08.240 --> 0:01:10.679 drink a cup of tea, you know, like in the 0:01:10.720 --> 0:01:13.600 evening when I can't drink coffee because it'll keep me 0:01:13.720 --> 0:01:16.120 up all night. But yeah, tea is just not my 0:01:16.200 --> 0:01:19.679 cup of tea. Let's read James four one through ten today. 0:01:19.760 --> 0:01:22.280 We're going to talk about factions. And I'm not talking 0:01:22.280 --> 0:01:25.759 about the factions between you coffee and tea drinkers. I'm 0:01:25.800 --> 0:01:28.360 talking about like church splits. So let's go ahead and 0:01:28.400 --> 0:01:31.000 read this together and give reverence to God's word. I'll 0:01:31.000 --> 0:01:36.080 be reading, as usual from the web. Where do wars 0:01:36.120 --> 0:01:39.080 and fightings among you come from? Don't they come from 0:01:39.080 --> 0:01:42.200 your pleasures? That war within your members? You lust and 0:01:42.240 --> 0:01:45.800 don't have. You murder and covet and can't obtain. You 0:01:45.840 --> 0:01:49.200 fight and make war. You don't have because you don't ask, 0:01:49.520 --> 0:01:51.840 And you ask and don't receive because you ask with 0:01:51.920 --> 0:01:54.680 wrong motives, so that you may spend it on your pleasures, 0:01:55.240 --> 0:01:58.880 you adulterers and adulteresses. Don't you know that friendship with 0:01:58.920 --> 0:02:02.720 the world is hostile toward God? Whoever, therefore wants to 0:02:02.760 --> 0:02:05.360 be a friend of the world, makes himself an enemy 0:02:05.360 --> 0:02:08.000 of God? Or do you think that the scripture says 0:02:08.040 --> 0:02:11.239 in vain, the spirit who lives in us yearns jealously, 0:02:11.880 --> 0:02:15.440 but he gives more grace. Therefore, it says God resists 0:02:15.440 --> 0:02:18.359 the proud, but gives grace to the humble, be subject 0:02:18.480 --> 0:02:21.240 therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee 0:02:21.280 --> 0:02:23.639 from you. Draw near to God, and he will draw 0:02:23.680 --> 0:02:27.959 near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, Purify your hearts. 0:02:28.000 --> 0:02:31.360 You double minded lament and mourn and weep. Let your 0:02:31.440 --> 0:02:34.360 laughter be turned into mourning, and your joy to gloom. 0:02:34.840 --> 0:02:37.320 Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he 0:02:37.480 --> 0:02:41.919 will exalt you. So what we just read there is 0:02:41.960 --> 0:02:46.040 a continuation actually from James chapter three. So let's read 0:02:46.200 --> 0:02:49.320 James three to get a good idea of what James 0:02:49.360 --> 0:02:52.720 is talking about here in our passage for today, Starting 0:02:52.720 --> 0:02:57.120 in James three, verse fourteen, if you have bitter jealousy 0:02:57.160 --> 0:03:00.360 and selfish ambition in your heart, don't boast and don't 0:03:00.400 --> 0:03:03.720 lie against the truth. This wisdom is not that which 0:03:03.760 --> 0:03:07.520 comes down from above, but is earthly, sensual and demonic. 0:03:08.200 --> 0:03:12.000 For where jealousy and selfish ambition are, there's confusion in 0:03:12.160 --> 0:03:15.960 every evil deed. So that is what James is talking about. 0:03:16.200 --> 0:03:18.840 As we move into the passage we just read, which 0:03:18.880 --> 0:03:21.360 starts out in verse one by saying, where do wars 0:03:21.360 --> 0:03:24.160 and fightings among you come from? Don't they come from 0:03:24.160 --> 0:03:27.160 your pleasures? That war in your members so he is 0:03:27.160 --> 0:03:31.840 still talking about selfish ambition in the church and how 0:03:31.919 --> 0:03:35.600 damaging this can be. It causes fights and divisions, and 0:03:35.680 --> 0:03:40.400 it causes wars in the church factions. It causes a 0:03:40.440 --> 0:03:42.560 lot of problems. And you can see that with how 0:03:42.600 --> 0:03:47.040 many church denominations there are out there, because a lot 0:03:47.080 --> 0:03:49.240 of times the churches would split over some of the 0:03:49.280 --> 0:03:52.480 silliest things. I don't remember which denomination it was, but 0:03:52.480 --> 0:03:54.520 one of them split because they didn't like the fact 0:03:54.520 --> 0:03:57.200 that the church leaders start using grape juice instead of 0:03:57.240 --> 0:04:00.880 wine for the communion. And I think there is another 0:04:01.040 --> 0:04:06.520 church split over incorporating English into the services instead of Latin. 0:04:06.840 --> 0:04:09.320 So I mean, there's been a lot of really interesting 0:04:09.440 --> 0:04:12.280 church splits out there. But even if a church doesn't 0:04:12.320 --> 0:04:16.559 split into another denomination, we hear about church splits happening 0:04:16.600 --> 0:04:19.480 all the time, churches shutting their doors, or schisms happening. 0:04:19.560 --> 0:04:22.600 We hear about these things all the time. And apparently 0:04:22.640 --> 0:04:26.480 this was happening way back in James's day. Remember who 0:04:26.520 --> 0:04:29.159 he's writing to. He is not writing to the non 0:04:29.240 --> 0:04:31.840 Christians here, He is writing to the churches. That's what 0:04:31.880 --> 0:04:34.880 it says in James Chapter one when he addresses the 0:04:34.960 --> 0:04:38.279 Letter to the Twelve Tribes. This is the believing Jews 0:04:38.320 --> 0:04:41.200 that he was speaking to, not to the non believers. 0:04:41.839 --> 0:04:46.279 He is talking specifically about factions and fightings and wars 0:04:46.600 --> 0:04:50.359 happening within the church. And it happens all the time. 0:04:50.560 --> 0:04:54.440 And here is why, because of the pleasures that war 0:04:54.560 --> 0:04:59.080 within your members. So, in other words, the jealousy, the envy, 0:04:59.320 --> 0:05:03.680 the selfish ambition that causes them to tear each other up. 0:05:04.000 --> 0:05:06.440 In verse two, here's what it says, You lust and 0:05:06.520 --> 0:05:09.839 you don't have. You murder and covet and can't obtain. 0:05:10.360 --> 0:05:13.479 You fight and make war. You don't have because you 0:05:13.560 --> 0:05:18.560 don't ask. And likely James was not talking about physical murder, 0:05:19.080 --> 0:05:21.640 but the type of murder that Jesus mentions in the 0:05:21.680 --> 0:05:25.880 Sermon on the Mount in Matthew five twenty one through 0:05:25.880 --> 0:05:29.320 twenty two, where Jesus says, you've heard that it was 0:05:29.360 --> 0:05:31.919 said to the ancient ones, you shall not murder, and 0:05:31.960 --> 0:05:34.960 whoever murders will be in danger of the judgment. But 0:05:35.040 --> 0:05:37.200 I tell you that everyone who is angry with his 0:05:37.279 --> 0:05:39.800 brother without a cause will be in danger of the judgment. 0:05:40.200 --> 0:05:42.799 Whoever says to his brother raca will be in danger 0:05:42.839 --> 0:05:46.120 of the council, and whoever says you fool will be 0:05:46.160 --> 0:05:49.200 in danger of the fire of Gehennah. So Jesus was 0:05:49.279 --> 0:05:53.080 essentially saying that undue anger and hatred towards your brother 0:05:54.120 --> 0:05:57.039 is essentially the same thing as murder, because it all 0:05:57.040 --> 0:06:00.480 starts in the same place. When you have a premeditated murder, 0:06:01.120 --> 0:06:03.719 you are thinking about it in your heart. You have 0:06:03.880 --> 0:06:06.960 already murdered that person in your heart, is what Jesus 0:06:07.400 --> 0:06:10.760 is saying here, and James mentions that exact same thing 0:06:10.920 --> 0:06:14.480 in James chapter four. You murder and cove it. Not 0:06:14.520 --> 0:06:17.440 physically murder somebody, but you murder them in your heart, 0:06:17.880 --> 0:06:21.600 and you covet and you still can't obtain You fight 0:06:21.760 --> 0:06:24.679 and make war. And here's what James says. The problem 0:06:24.800 --> 0:06:27.640 is not just the selfish ambition, but also because you're 0:06:27.680 --> 0:06:31.160 not taking these problems that you have to God. You 0:06:31.160 --> 0:06:33.320 are not saying to God, Hey, God, you know I 0:06:33.360 --> 0:06:36.720 really want such and such, I really want this thing, 0:06:36.839 --> 0:06:39.760 and you know I need you to come through for me. 0:06:40.360 --> 0:06:43.320 We aren't taking our problems to God. And if you 0:06:43.360 --> 0:06:46.560 guys listen to the episode that I did on Thursday 0:06:46.760 --> 0:06:51.280 on James chapter three regarding selfish ambition. These pastors a 0:06:51.320 --> 0:06:55.520 lot of times will do politics and manipulation to get 0:06:55.560 --> 0:06:59.240 what they want from the sheep. And sometimes their goals 0:06:59.240 --> 0:07:03.760 aren't necessarily bad. It's not necessarily bad to want more 0:07:03.800 --> 0:07:07.160 people to come to your church, it's not necessarily bad 0:07:07.240 --> 0:07:11.080 to want a bigger building. But it becomes a problem 0:07:11.440 --> 0:07:15.960 when it is for selfish ambition. And James calls selfish 0:07:16.000 --> 0:07:20.680 ambition demonic, a demonic kind of wisdom that is not 0:07:20.880 --> 0:07:25.040 from the Holy Spirit. So if these pastors and just 0:07:25.120 --> 0:07:29.200 church congregants in general went to God first with all 0:07:29.240 --> 0:07:32.720 of their issues, a lot of these problems would disappear. 0:07:32.920 --> 0:07:37.560 But here's another problem. Even when you are taking these 0:07:37.600 --> 0:07:41.040 issues to God, you're not doing it with the right heart. So, 0:07:41.160 --> 0:07:43.880 for example, let's say a pastor really wants a bigger church, 0:07:44.440 --> 0:07:46.760 and he prays to God and he says, God, I 0:07:46.880 --> 0:07:49.800 really want you to bring me more congregants. I really 0:07:49.840 --> 0:07:53.720 want a bigger church. Well, that pastor if he's doing 0:07:53.720 --> 0:07:56.360 it with the wrong motive of just wanting to be 0:07:56.440 --> 0:07:59.080 the best pastor in the area, not actually wanting to 0:07:59.080 --> 0:08:01.840 feed the sheep, and maybe even hoping for a little 0:08:01.840 --> 0:08:04.920 bit of money that comes through the door. God knows 0:08:04.920 --> 0:08:08.040 that motive, and he's not going to necessarily grant that 0:08:08.120 --> 0:08:12.080 pastor with what he's asking for because the motive is incorrect. 0:08:12.680 --> 0:08:14.840 And this doesn't just go for pastors, you know. Again, 0:08:14.880 --> 0:08:18.120 pastors are an easy target because they're the leaders of 0:08:18.160 --> 0:08:21.760 the church. But this could be any member, any single 0:08:21.760 --> 0:08:26.200 individual in the church that is working with selfish ambition 0:08:26.960 --> 0:08:30.680 instead of working with the spirit. James calls these people 0:08:30.840 --> 0:08:35.280 adulterers and adulteresses. In verse four, he says, you adulterers 0:08:35.320 --> 0:08:38.720 and adulteresses. Don't you know that friendship with the world 0:08:38.840 --> 0:08:42.800 is hostility toward God. Whoever therefore wants to be a 0:08:42.840 --> 0:08:46.360 friend of the world, makes himself an enemy of God. 0:08:47.040 --> 0:08:49.720 This reminds me of a verse actually from First Corinthians 0:08:49.760 --> 0:08:53.720 ten twenty one through twenty two, which says this, you 0:08:53.760 --> 0:08:56.440 can't both drink the cup of the Lord and the 0:08:56.520 --> 0:08:59.960 cup of demons. You can't both partake of the table 0:09:00.240 --> 0:09:03.040 of the Lord and the table of demons. Or do 0:09:03.120 --> 0:09:07.080 we provoke the Lord to jealousy? Are we stronger than he? So? 0:09:07.120 --> 0:09:10.280 In other words, you cannot have friendship with God while 0:09:10.320 --> 0:09:16.880 also having friendship with the enemy. James calls the selfish 0:09:16.920 --> 0:09:21.440 ambition a demonic kind of wisdom that is not of God. 0:09:22.120 --> 0:09:26.720 So if somebody is acting with this selfish ambition but 0:09:26.840 --> 0:09:30.439 still going to church and still taking the communion and 0:09:30.480 --> 0:09:34.840 still professing the name of Jesus, they are essentially drinking 0:09:34.920 --> 0:09:38.440 the cup of the Lord and also the cup of demons. 0:09:38.800 --> 0:09:41.600 They are both partaking the table of the Lord and 0:09:41.679 --> 0:09:44.840 also the table of demons. You cannot be a friend 0:09:45.160 --> 0:09:49.560 of both. That's called having a divided heart. That's what 0:09:49.640 --> 0:09:52.600 James says right here. Don't you know that friendship with 0:09:52.679 --> 0:09:56.360 the world is hostility toward God. Whoever therefore wants to 0:09:56.360 --> 0:10:00.680 be friends of the world makes himself an enemy of God. Now, 0:10:00.720 --> 0:10:04.600 some Christians have taken this verse to an extreme where 0:10:04.640 --> 0:10:07.720 they say that they can't have any friends that aren't Christians. 0:10:08.360 --> 0:10:12.120 They can't go to the movies, they can't go have 0:10:12.160 --> 0:10:15.560 a drink at a restaurant, because those things are all 0:10:15.720 --> 0:10:18.240 of the world. And if you become friends with those things, 0:10:18.280 --> 0:10:21.160 and that means that you have a divided heart toward God. 0:10:21.640 --> 0:10:24.040 But I don't believe that's what James is talking about here. 0:10:24.920 --> 0:10:28.040 James is talking about a condition of the heart where 0:10:28.040 --> 0:10:31.560 you are claiming Christ and yet you are living a 0:10:31.559 --> 0:10:34.240 double life, and it might not be a double life 0:10:34.240 --> 0:10:35.959 that anybody can see. It could be a double life 0:10:36.360 --> 0:10:40.400 within your heart alone, where you are saying outwardly, I 0:10:40.400 --> 0:10:43.400 am a Christian, I love Jesus, I go to church 0:10:43.440 --> 0:10:46.240 every single week, I donate to charity, I do this, 0:10:46.320 --> 0:10:49.120 I do that. But internally, their hearts are as far 0:10:49.160 --> 0:10:51.760 away from God as you can get, because all they 0:10:51.840 --> 0:10:55.199 want are things for themselves. This is why the prosperity 0:10:55.200 --> 0:11:00.239 gospel specifically is so incredibly dangerous, because it is teaching 0:11:00.280 --> 0:11:03.600 people that if you follow God, you are going to 0:11:03.600 --> 0:11:06.679 be blessed with all sorts of wonderful things on this earth, 0:11:07.040 --> 0:11:14.640 whether it's health or peace, or prosperity, or wealth or love, romance, 0:11:15.360 --> 0:11:18.000 anything you can gain for yourself, anything you can imagine, 0:11:18.040 --> 0:11:21.520 you can manifest it just by believing in Jesus. And 0:11:21.559 --> 0:11:25.239 this is extremely prevalent in the church. This is everywhere 0:11:25.280 --> 0:11:28.160 You're going to find this in probably the majority of 0:11:28.240 --> 0:11:31.199 churches across America, that if you believe in Jesus, you're 0:11:31.240 --> 0:11:33.160 going to gain a whole lot of stuff for yourself. 0:11:33.320 --> 0:11:36.520 But that is essentially doing exactly what James warns against 0:11:36.640 --> 0:11:39.240 right here, because these people are teaching that you can 0:11:39.280 --> 0:11:41.840 become both a friend of God and also a friend 0:11:41.960 --> 0:11:44.719 of the world. You know, I just went onto Bethel's 0:11:45.040 --> 0:11:48.080 Bethel Church's website, and I saw something that raised like 0:11:48.120 --> 0:11:53.199 a million red flags on their mission statement, and I quote, 0:11:53.240 --> 0:11:55.120 here's what it says. I pulled it up right now. 0:11:55.160 --> 0:11:58.800 It says, we joyfully give our time, affection, talents, and 0:11:58.880 --> 0:12:05.080 money to a tract God's attention, draw Heaven's blessings, produce transformation, 0:12:05.480 --> 0:12:10.160 and enable him to trust us with the true riches 0:12:10.160 --> 0:12:14.120 of the kingdom. So by giving our money to him, 0:12:14.600 --> 0:12:18.960 that enables him somehow to trust us with all of 0:12:19.000 --> 0:12:22.040 this wonderful stuff. You know, the God of the universe 0:12:22.080 --> 0:12:26.720 has to be enabled by our giving to trust us 0:12:26.920 --> 0:12:31.120 with all of these riches. Okay, that's on Bethel's mission statement. 0:12:31.120 --> 0:12:33.520 In fact, here's another thing actually that Bethel says on 0:12:33.559 --> 0:12:38.160 their mission statement, and I quote, while anticipating Christ's glorious return, 0:12:38.240 --> 0:12:40.400 we simply do not know when he will come, which 0:12:40.440 --> 0:12:43.520 should inspire us to have a long term earthly vision. 0:12:44.280 --> 0:12:46.040 You know, it never says anywhere in scripture that we 0:12:46.080 --> 0:12:49.400 have to have a long term earthly vision. It actually 0:12:49.440 --> 0:12:52.160 says that we are to store up our treasures in 0:12:52.240 --> 0:12:55.720 heaven and look forward to the heavenly treasures, not the 0:12:55.760 --> 0:12:58.520 things of this earth. So there are plenty of churches 0:12:58.559 --> 0:13:01.439 out there with huge names and huge amounts of influence, 0:13:01.720 --> 0:13:05.840 like Bethel that are saying stuff like this, essentially pushing 0:13:05.880 --> 0:13:09.679 the prosperity gospel, saying that when we do X, Y, 0:13:09.720 --> 0:13:12.040 and Z for God, he is going to bless us 0:13:12.080 --> 0:13:16.240 with all this wonderful stuff. And here's what James says 0:13:16.280 --> 0:13:19.280 in verse five. Do you think that the scripture says 0:13:19.360 --> 0:13:24.199 in vain the spirit who lives in us yearns jealously. 0:13:25.960 --> 0:13:29.480 This is from Exodus chapter thirty four. Here's what God 0:13:29.600 --> 0:13:33.920 himself says in verse fourteen. You shall worship no other God. 0:13:34.200 --> 0:13:39.080 For Yahweh, whose name is jealous, is a jealous God. 0:13:40.240 --> 0:13:42.079 God is jealous for our attention, and he does not 0:13:42.200 --> 0:13:45.440 want us to worship anything else. And a lot of 0:13:45.480 --> 0:13:47.720 the other idols that we see in the church today 0:13:48.080 --> 0:13:51.960 are things like money and numbers and prestige. We see 0:13:52.000 --> 0:13:54.320 this all the time, and it's not just in the 0:13:54.320 --> 0:13:56.880 big megachurches. It is in the little church that is 0:13:57.000 --> 0:13:59.920 down the road from your house. This is a huge, 0:14:00.160 --> 0:14:04.280 massive problem that Jesus warns against actually in the Sermon 0:14:04.320 --> 0:14:06.760 on the Mount, he says in Matthew six twenty four, 0:14:07.240 --> 0:14:09.680 no one can serve two masters, for either he will 0:14:09.720 --> 0:14:11.800 hate the one and love the other, or else he 0:14:11.840 --> 0:14:14.800 will be devoted to one and despise the other. You 0:14:14.880 --> 0:14:18.400 can't serve both God and mammon, which is just an 0:14:18.400 --> 0:14:22.320 old fashioned word for money or wealth. You can't serve 0:14:22.400 --> 0:14:27.280 both God and wealth. God's spirit longs for us, and 0:14:27.320 --> 0:14:30.800 he is jealous for us, jealous for our entire attention, 0:14:31.320 --> 0:14:34.760 not for our divided attention. However, in spite of all 0:14:34.800 --> 0:14:36.920 of these problems that the churches across the world have, 0:14:37.040 --> 0:14:40.720 there is hope because James four to six says he 0:14:40.840 --> 0:14:44.840 gives more grace. Therefore, it says God resists the proud, 0:14:44.960 --> 0:14:48.680 but he gives grace to the humble. God is a 0:14:48.680 --> 0:14:53.160 gracious God. He understands our weak nature. He has struggled 0:14:53.240 --> 0:14:55.680 in every single way that we struggle here on earth. 0:14:55.720 --> 0:14:57.760 He has been tempted in every way that we have 0:14:57.800 --> 0:15:01.440 been tempted, except Jesus went through life in perfection and 0:15:01.480 --> 0:15:05.000 did not cave to those temptations and to those struggles 0:15:05.280 --> 0:15:08.760 that he had. So God gives us grace, and he 0:15:08.920 --> 0:15:11.520 is eager for us to turn to him once again. 0:15:11.920 --> 0:15:14.640 I mean, just look at the Old Testament. God is 0:15:14.680 --> 0:15:17.440 the same yesterday, today, and forever. In the Old Testament. 0:15:17.480 --> 0:15:19.920 What was God always doing. He was warning his people, 0:15:20.240 --> 0:15:22.760 turn back to me, get rid of this idolatry, get 0:15:22.840 --> 0:15:25.160 rid of the divided heart. Stop worshiping this God and 0:15:25.200 --> 0:15:29.360 also worshiping me, just worship Me alone. And God would 0:15:29.360 --> 0:15:32.640 send his prophets time and again saying, please turn back 0:15:32.680 --> 0:15:35.680 to me. Find yourselves a brand new heart. That's what 0:15:35.720 --> 0:15:38.560 he says in the Book of Ezekiel. Find yourselves a heart. 0:15:38.840 --> 0:15:41.800 Why should you perish? Do not perish, Do not live 0:15:41.960 --> 0:15:44.760 in this idolatry. It is bad for you. I am 0:15:44.840 --> 0:15:47.880 jealous for you. I want you to be mine. God 0:15:48.000 --> 0:15:51.600 was constantly offering grace and mercy to his people, but 0:15:51.640 --> 0:15:54.960 they were rejecting it time and again. But God still 0:15:54.960 --> 0:15:58.000 offers grace to his people. And here in America and 0:15:58.040 --> 0:16:01.000 across the world, we are in desperate need of God's 0:16:01.040 --> 0:16:04.640 grace because the church is not doing what they should 0:16:04.720 --> 0:16:07.680 be doing. They are doing exactly what James warns us 0:16:07.680 --> 0:16:11.720 against right here. Pretty much every church is guilty of 0:16:11.760 --> 0:16:15.600 this in some extent. But God is still offering his 0:16:15.800 --> 0:16:18.960 grace to us. His grace is not over yet, so 0:16:19.000 --> 0:16:21.560 we need to take hold of that grace and not 0:16:21.640 --> 0:16:24.640 be like the Israelites in the Old Testament that rejected 0:16:24.680 --> 0:16:29.720 God's offer of grace time and again. He gives us grace. Therefore, 0:16:29.800 --> 0:16:32.640 it says verse six. God resists the proud, but he 0:16:32.720 --> 0:16:37.080 gives grace to the humble. So be subject therefore to God. 0:16:37.240 --> 0:16:40.840 Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. What 0:16:40.960 --> 0:16:45.200 is James calling all of this selfish ambition demonic? He 0:16:45.320 --> 0:16:48.960 is calling this stuff demonic in nature. So we need 0:16:49.000 --> 0:16:52.600 to resist this personally. We need to call others to 0:16:52.680 --> 0:16:55.520 account that are doing these kinds of things, especially if 0:16:55.560 --> 0:16:57.200 we see it as a blatant sin in our church. 0:16:57.680 --> 0:16:59.800 We need to call people to account. We need to 0:17:00.240 --> 0:17:04.040 resist the devil, and he will flee from our churches. 0:17:04.560 --> 0:17:07.119 A lot of times people take this verse and use 0:17:07.160 --> 0:17:10.200 it personally, and yes, it can certainly be applied personally, 0:17:10.400 --> 0:17:12.720 but think about it in the context that James is 0:17:12.760 --> 0:17:16.040 talking about here. He is talking about the collective church body, 0:17:16.600 --> 0:17:19.040 and Satan is really good at it because he's not 0:17:19.119 --> 0:17:22.720 going to do it in a blatantly obvious way. He's 0:17:22.760 --> 0:17:25.879 going to do it by encouraging somebody who is a 0:17:25.920 --> 0:17:29.200 false prophet to claim the name of Jesus to come 0:17:29.240 --> 0:17:34.200 in and seem super kind, super respectful, super loving towards 0:17:34.240 --> 0:17:38.320 other people, who then starts leading people astray very subtly. 0:17:39.119 --> 0:17:42.560 That is how Satan sneaks into the church, very very subtly. 0:17:42.920 --> 0:17:45.399 It says that he's the father of lies, meaning he 0:17:45.520 --> 0:17:48.440 is the best at it. He is so good at 0:17:48.560 --> 0:17:51.320 lying because he spreads a tiny, tiny bit of truth 0:17:51.320 --> 0:17:53.840 in there. In fact, he can quote the Bible quite well, 0:17:54.080 --> 0:17:56.600 because when he was tempting Jesus in the wilderness, he 0:17:56.720 --> 0:17:59.560 was quoting from the Bible. Satan can quote the Bible. 0:18:00.080 --> 0:18:02.840 That's why we cannot trust every single person that walks 0:18:02.840 --> 0:18:05.160 through our door is claiming to be a Christian, that's 0:18:05.240 --> 0:18:08.440 quoting Bible up on the stage. We can't trust them. 0:18:08.560 --> 0:18:11.200 Anybody can quote the Bible because it's a public book. 0:18:11.480 --> 0:18:14.480 Anybody can read it. Anybody can claim to be a Christian. 0:18:15.080 --> 0:18:18.359 You have to test the spirits. That is why there 0:18:18.400 --> 0:18:21.680 is so much in the Bible that talks about false 0:18:21.720 --> 0:18:24.880 prophecy and false teachers. It is like the main thing 0:18:25.240 --> 0:18:28.440 that all of the authors in scripture are constantly warning about. 0:18:28.520 --> 0:18:32.880 Is the false prophets with sheep's clothing, trying to lead 0:18:33.040 --> 0:18:37.119 people astray down the wrong paths. All of these letters 0:18:37.119 --> 0:18:40.560 to the churches are addressing some sort of issue that 0:18:40.720 --> 0:18:44.679 seemed good on the surface but was actually demonic in nature. 0:18:45.080 --> 0:18:48.879 Everything from the Judaizers that Paul was constantly fighting against 0:18:49.280 --> 0:18:51.119 to the nickelations we're going to read about in the 0:18:51.119 --> 0:18:55.240 Book of Revelation and everything in between, like the Prosperity 0:18:55.280 --> 0:18:58.520 Gospel and the false prophets and everything else. So we 0:18:58.560 --> 0:19:02.840 need to resist the devil, Okay, resist these tactics of 0:19:02.880 --> 0:19:06.159 the devil, and he will flee from our churches and 0:19:06.240 --> 0:19:10.440 our church will actually become strong and unified for real. 0:19:10.960 --> 0:19:14.560 I just heard a sermon today that was not a 0:19:14.680 --> 0:19:17.680 very good sermon, quite honestly, and the pastor was talking 0:19:17.720 --> 0:19:21.240 about unity in the church, and he was saying that 0:19:21.400 --> 0:19:23.320 in order to be unified in the church, we all 0:19:23.359 --> 0:19:27.240 have to be like a lego. Right, Individually, a lego 0:19:27.320 --> 0:19:29.639 can't really do much on its own. It is just 0:19:29.680 --> 0:19:31.520 a piece of plastic. But once you put all the 0:19:31.600 --> 0:19:36.200 legos together, then you form something really beautiful. But then 0:19:36.200 --> 0:19:38.240 the sermons started going off the deep end because the 0:19:38.280 --> 0:19:42.679 pastor started saying stuff like grace does not allow exclusion. Instead, 0:19:42.680 --> 0:19:44.959 it brings us together in unity. And that is a 0:19:45.040 --> 0:19:48.800 direct quote. Quite honestly, that quote is anti biblical. Grace 0:19:48.880 --> 0:19:52.200 does allow exclusion. You are not to bring bad teaching 0:19:52.560 --> 0:19:56.679 into the church under any circumstance whatsoever. You have to 0:19:56.760 --> 0:19:59.840 exclude certain things from the church in order to have 0:20:00.080 --> 0:20:04.800 a truly unified church. But unfortunately, this stuff that James 0:20:04.920 --> 0:20:08.840 is warning about here is not taken seriously enough in 0:20:08.920 --> 0:20:12.240 today's churches. We fall way too much into the overly 0:20:12.359 --> 0:20:15.280 tolerant kind of church so that we don't hurt feelings. 0:20:15.440 --> 0:20:17.280 But when we get into the Book of Revelation not 0:20:17.320 --> 0:20:19.719 too long here, we're going to talk about what Jesus 0:20:19.760 --> 0:20:24.000 thinks about the overly tolerant church. Spoiler alert, it's not 0:20:24.040 --> 0:20:27.800 that good. So we need to resist the devil, and 0:20:27.880 --> 0:20:30.840 he will flee from us. And while we're resisting the 0:20:30.880 --> 0:20:33.480 devil verse eight, we need to draw near to God, 0:20:33.720 --> 0:20:37.200 and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, 0:20:37.280 --> 0:20:41.720 you sinners, purify your hearts. You double minded. So this 0:20:41.760 --> 0:20:44.600 is a direct call to repentance for anybody in the 0:20:44.720 --> 0:20:48.480 church who is double minded. Essentially, doing what Jesus tells 0:20:48.560 --> 0:20:51.719 us not to do by serving two masters. We need 0:20:51.760 --> 0:20:55.439 to cleanse our hands from these things together. And James 0:20:55.480 --> 0:20:57.560 even goes so far to say that we need to lament, 0:20:57.920 --> 0:21:01.000 mourn and weep over these things. We need to have 0:21:01.080 --> 0:21:04.440 our laughter be turned into mourning and our joy into gloom. 0:21:04.760 --> 0:21:07.560 So this is a big issue for James to go 0:21:07.720 --> 0:21:10.760 that far and be like, you better be beating your 0:21:10.840 --> 0:21:15.280 chests you churches. You need to turn your laughter into 0:21:15.640 --> 0:21:18.840 mourning over what you are doing because God thinks of 0:21:18.880 --> 0:21:24.439 this as idolatry and demonic in nature. And guess what, 0:21:24.600 --> 0:21:29.600 the church is not taking this seriously at all. They're 0:21:29.640 --> 0:21:32.320 just going about their days week to week, having the 0:21:32.359 --> 0:21:36.280 congregants come into the church singing fruit frou songs, listening 0:21:36.280 --> 0:21:38.720 to incorrect sermons like the one that I heard today 0:21:38.920 --> 0:21:42.280 with the lego pieces, and then sending everybody home and 0:21:42.320 --> 0:21:45.399 not seeing them for another week. If that that is 0:21:45.440 --> 0:21:48.359 the sorry state that our churches are in. And James 0:21:48.480 --> 0:21:51.960 is essentially going on a warpath to correct this issue 0:21:52.000 --> 0:21:56.280 because he knows how bad this can be. He says 0:21:56.280 --> 0:21:59.480 in verse ten, humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, 0:21:59.720 --> 0:22:02.680 and he will exalt you. So to conclude, there's only 0:22:02.720 --> 0:22:06.640 two paths the church can take. Either they can continue 0:22:06.720 --> 0:22:09.000 with the path that they are going and be humbled 0:22:09.040 --> 0:22:14.120 by God, or they can humble themselves and God will 0:22:14.119 --> 0:22:17.480 then truly exalt them. I know it's church I want 0:22:17.480 --> 0:22:19.720 to be a part of. I want to be a 0:22:19.720 --> 0:22:23.160 part of the second Church, where God offers grace, where 0:22:23.160 --> 0:22:26.200 we turn our hearts truly to God and stop being 0:22:26.440 --> 0:22:30.840 double minded, where we have true unity with God, removing 0:22:30.880 --> 0:22:35.000 the demonic practices out of our churches, and truly living 0:22:35.200 --> 0:22:38.480 in the spiritual wisdom that God commands us to live in, 0:22:38.760 --> 0:22:42.880 which again is this James three, verse seventeen and eighteen. 0:22:43.600 --> 0:22:48.600 The wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceful, gentle, reasonable, 0:22:48.720 --> 0:22:52.800 full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy. 0:22:53.440 --> 0:22:56.120 Now the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace by 0:22:56.160 --> 0:23:01.760 those who make peace listeners. Before I close out with 0:23:01.840 --> 0:23:04.320 a call to action for all of you guys, please 0:23:04.359 --> 0:23:09.840 listen to one last sponsored advertisement for today. You know what, 0:23:09.920 --> 0:23:12.720 Here's the thing. It starts with each one of us. 0:23:13.480 --> 0:23:16.400 I can guarantee that the majority of you faithful listeners 0:23:16.400 --> 0:23:19.360 that are tuning into this episode have the same sentiment 0:23:19.400 --> 0:23:20.840 that I had at the end, where you want to 0:23:20.880 --> 0:23:25.439