If you have your Bibles, please open to James chapter 4. James chapter 4. If you do not have your Bible, open up in the blue pew Bible, page 1012. Continuing our study in the book of James, and now jumping into chapter 4, this will be another larger portion of verses for me, and my intentions is to go through it in its entirety. It is interesting as James does go back and forth and all around throughout the letter, but he does seem to deal with literal, real situations consistently that you would think is, which we would know, is problems in the church today. And I was listening to Sinclair Ferguson, and he said he really, because James likely was a pastor over many churches, and helped do work there in Jerusalem for a while, and was probably a pastor to the pastors, in a sense. And there's a chance that many of them reached out and were sharing about a bunch of different issues that were going on, and he kind of just handles it all with one letter. And when we get to this portion here, verses 1 to 12, I think as we go through this, if this is the first time you've read through this, you would say, yeah, I see that today. very much today, a conflict that we're dealing with. And I mean, even as we looked at last week, verses 13 to 18 of chapter three, the division that is caused by jealousy and selfish ambition is now we're dealing with, as he's gonna get into, he's gonna say quarrels, fights, passions that war within you. Desires. These are all things that are real. We see this today, right? This is what causes conflicts in the church, right? This is what causes these fights and quarrels. What's with these passions that you have, right? And oftentimes, we'll see even here as you talk about this, but the great battle is, are these passions, are these battles, are these things that you're fighting about, do they matter for eternity? And sadly, too many times that cause splits in churches and conflicts or, I'm going to go to a different church, it has nothing to do with an eternal thing. It's a temporal thing. It could be a political passion or a personal passion about something else. It has nothing to do with the church, but I need to have this kinds of people around me. And it sounds like you're setting up an Elks Club, not a church. Right? And he's going to get real, as James has. I mean, come on now, this is James, chapter two, right? Oh, you believe? That's good. So it's the devil, right? Like, you're like, pastor, come on now, right? And I love that line. I love it, you know? Because even, I've said that many of times, and even amongst construction guys, they're like, that's real nice of you, pastor. I'm like, I'm just quoting a word. It's right in the Bible. Right out of the Bible it says that. He's going to get real in this portion too, and say some things that are just matter of the fact, call things out. But what we will see here is James is gonna say that, listen folks, we need to get, as I've titled this, submit to God, as he will say that in verse seven. Submit yourselves to God. As you submit to God, these other things come together. You know, it's the triangle that I, you know, MacArthur does that for his marriage counseling. It's the first thing I bring up whenever I do a marriage counseling. It's a triangle, right? Whenever, to bring two people together, you need to have one focus. And you say, well, I want to talk about this or talk about that. Right. But because we have so many different passions and desires and things, we need to have one focus. We need to have one central focus. And that one central focus needs to be the Almighty. And when you have the Almighty as your central focus, it's amazing how these other things iron themselves out. They will. I mean, even our young people, right? As they grow up and they become seniors, and what am I gonna do for school, college, and who am I gonna marry? You can just relax. Get up every morning and do what you know you're supposed to do. Do what you know what you're supposed to do. Focus on those things. And yes, you can reach out and you can check out things. It doesn't mean that you don't research, you don't check out, but let the Lord do this. It's amazing how he does. And those of you that are aged can tell me, yeah, it does. I spent six months worrying about something and then at the end of the six months it happened. And that six months of worrying had nothing to do with the completion of any of that. Nothing, right? It was really a waste of worrying. God did it. God did it. So let's all stand. I've split this up in two. First is verses one to five, we'll see is the problems he's gonna bring up. And verses six to 12 is the solution. Quite simple. James 4, let's start in verse one and read on through to verse 12. It says, what causes quarrels? and what causes fights among you? Is it not this that your passions are at war within you? You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive because you ask wrongly to spend it on your own passions. You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore, whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. Or do you suppose it is to no purpose that the scripture says he yearns jealously over the spirit that he made to dwell in us? But he gives more grace. Therefore, it says, God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble. Submit yourselves, therefore, 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. Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves before the Lord and he will exalt you. Do not speak evil against one another, brothers. The one who speaks against a brother or judges his brother speaks evil against the law and judges the law. But if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law, but a judge. There's only one lawgiver and judge, he who is able to save and to destroy. But who are you to judge your neighbor? Let's pray together. Father, we do thank you so much for this time, for your word. Please, Lord, I ask. Have me speak what you once spoken. Teach us what we know not. We thank you in Jesus' wonderful name. Amen. Thank you. You may be seated. First is the problems. The problems. And here's a dear pastor, right? Trying to go through this. I love the analogy one guy gave and he caught his young children, a pastor, off in a room and he heard just yelling and screaming. And he went in there and told them, stop, stop, stop. What are you guys doing? They said, oh no, it's okay, Dad. We're just reenacting a business meeting. And sadly, amongst the Baptist brothers and sisters, that is too often. That is too often. We shouldn't be like that. Right? I mean, literally the people, your brothers and sisters in the Lord, the church, anyone should be able to show up to any meeting, any time, any place amongst brothers and sisters and see Christ. Hear of Christ. Yeah, it doesn't mean that there's not going to be a conflict, a problem, somebody get upset, but the retaliation should not be more immaturity. maybe a step or two, but there should be quickly some solving, especially as, I used a joke as a youth pastor, amongst adults. Amongst adults. And that's what he's talking about here, right? We read this and we don't say that, well, this must have been the early church, because there's none of this going on today, right? That's over 2,000 years ago. The church has got it all figured out now. We don't fight, we don't quarrel, we don't have conflicts amongst each other. Do we all? The first thing he asks, right? What causes these quarrels? What causes these fights? And he answers, is it not this, this passion? Now, the thing is that he does imply it, and we'll get into that more later when he asks them to cleanse your hands and calls them sinners. The reality is that most don't want to believe this, but it is a truth, is that there is unsaved often in the church. There is unsaved people in the church. And so many just went, well, they go regularly, they attend, or they're participating, they're doing X, Y, Z. It's a reality. You can have someone that regularly attends a church, that's kind and nice, but they don't have a relationship with the Lord. And you know, did they see this early on in the church? Yeah. Yeah, it did. I mean, Paul deals with this in 1 Corinthians 3. He calls them out and says, but I, brothers, could not address you as spiritual people, but as people of the flesh, as infants in Christ. I fed you with milk, not solid food, for you were not ready for it. And even now you're not ready, yet ready, for you are still of the flesh. For while there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not of the flesh, behaving only in a human way? And then, it's possibly a year, two years later, he writes 2 Corinthians, and chapter 12, verse 20 says, for I fear that perhaps when I come, I may find you not as I wish, and that you may find me not as you wish, that perhaps there may be quarreling, jealousy, anger, hostility, slander, gossip, conceit, and disorder. There was still this going on, right? And understand, church, in that day, that there was, especially amongst the poverty, The church was a great blessing. People were jealous in the sense of wanting to participate in the church, not in all of the areas. Yes, some of it was under such great persecution, you wouldn't just pretend you were a Christian, but you also could find some safety, some safe haven amongst the church people because they were kind people. They were good people. And that's why Christ even warned, and yes, we find Peter teaching this, Paul teaching this, there's charlatans, there's frauds that get into the church, even right up to the leadership, the scripture tells us. There could be an unsaved pastor amongst the church. So this can cause a lot of these conflicts because you have the unsaved. And you may wonder, well, how could that be regularly? Well, because too often, the gospel is mentioned as a byword, a side thing. It's a soft thing, because we're all believers. We don't need to get into those things, right? There's no wrestling of it. There's no questioning. But oftentimes, as he's gonna get into the next part, is it not this? Your passions are at war within you. Your passions. Church, we look at today, right? You could translate passions to pleasures or whatever it is. It's something that you desire greater than the things of the Spirit. We look at the church today and many of the battles and conflicts among many churches today are about passions and pleasures. They have nothing to do. And they may even slap the word on there that it's gospel this or gospel that or, you know, they use the term ministry, right? You know, this is a ministry here. This is what we're doing. But is that genuinely what it's for? Is it really that? I mean, even amongst churches, there is an argument of what even the church is for. Is the church supposed to be designed for the unsaved or the saved? I mean, if you're coming together regularly to press one another unto good works, why would you ask an unbeliever to do good works? You're going to make a Pharisee. I would dare challenge that the church itself, Sunday morning gathering, is for the believer. and we come together pressing and then we go out to do the mission, which is for the unbeliever in reaching them, it doesn't mean that you don't tell an unbeliever to come, but it also means that when an unbeliever comes and they say, I don't feel comfortable here, you would say, that makes sense. Rather than saying, pastor, you gotta do something so that all my unbelieving friends feel comfortable in church. Right? Why would they feel comfortable? They're not part of the group. They don't get the comments, the questions, the one-liners, the Christianese language. They're not going to get any of that because they're not part of the Spirit. These passions, and it is, I love the picture too, at war within you, right? It's just, it's consuming them. It consumes them so much, he just brings it out even farther. Verses 2 and 3, right? You desire and do not have, so you murder. Now, you know, Was there people actually killing off each other in a church? Well, I hope not. I'm assuming this is more of like the teaching of Christ, right? You hate a brother, it's like you murdered them. You shouldn't be like that. Matthew 5.22 says, but I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment. Whoever insults his brother will be liable to counsel. Whoever says you fool will be liable to the hell of fire. We can't be like that as believers. Christ didn't want this. First John 3.15, everyone who hates his brother is a murderer and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him. There's Pastor John just giving it to you straight. You can't hate your brother and say you're a believer. I mean, this is what he's saying, right? You're hating on them because your desires, your passions have consumed you so much, you'll do whatever you gotta do to get. And that's why I think he's talking about in verses 11 and 12 later on, you'll even slander. someone, slander them, try to ruin their life so that you can gain. What is the matter with you guys? Because he expands it far, right? You do not have, right? I'm sorry, you covet and cannot obtain, so you fight, right? I want this, I can't get it, so I'm gonna fight you for it. You do not have because you do not ask. So it's weird, right? Verse two and verse three, you'd be like, James, just make up your mind, right? Verse 2, you do not have because you do not ask. Verse 3, you ask but you do not receive because you ask wrongly and you spend on your passions. Are people asking or not asking, James? I think it's both. I think likely this is talking about the poor and the wealthy. Verse 2 is talking about the poor. They covet, they desire, they don't have it, so they fight. And maybe they'll even say, how dare you have this? You should be giving this to me. Didn't you hear about the early church? I've heard this before. You shouldn't have all this stuff. You should be giving it all away. How dare you have these things? God doesn't want the wealthy having all this stuff. You need to give it all away. There's no scriptural context for such a thing. It says that your stuff shouldn't consume you, but it doesn't say in the Bible you're not allowed to have things. It doesn't say you're not allowed to have good things. You read through the Scriptures, you'll find that there was some that were blessed financially, and God provided for them, and they had much, much stuff. And God never condemned them for having such things. But you'll also find that these things didn't consume them. They gave a lot of stuff away. I think what's talking about here in verse 2 is the poor, those who have less, they're coveting it so they can't get it, so then they start fighting and quarreling, and he says, why don't you just ask God for it? Why do you need to ask them for it? Ask the Almighty who provides. God may provide it through a person like that, but he also may provide it out of nothing. Then you get to verse three, and it says, you ask and do not receive because you ask wrongly to spend on your passions. This, I think, leans more towards maybe the more wealthy or those who have stuff. I want this so that I can do X, Y, Z. And this is where I would even challenge, you know, it's not the most pleasant thing to talk about at a prayer meeting, but if God were to answer your prayer, how would you use that for eternity? Pastor, pray, my legs are killing me. My body aches. Tired, worn out. Okay, let's pray for that. Pastor, how could that be a wrong thing to pray for? What are you gonna do with that body? What are you doing with it for eternity? What did you do last night? What have you been doing all week? Why are you tired and worn out? Maybe the Almighty wants you to change your life and lifestyle so you're not tired and worn out. Well, I have to do this. If I don't do this, I can't have, oh, so God can't provide a pastor, right? It is something to chew on. I mean, really, I mean, sometimes I think that we do. We run to the Heavenly Father expecting and treating him as if he's Santa Claus. I ask for it, you must give. Because, and you'll have people say, but I asked it in Jesus' name and therefore you must give, but why? He hasn't healed this thing, he hasn't helped me here, but maybe he wants you to keep it that way. There's much scriptures where the Lord did leave things in people's lives, because his grace was sufficient and God used it for them. There is times that God does heal and does give it to them and he also gives them over to the passions of their life and they go into the pit of hell because that's all they really wanted. They didn't want Jesus. They wanted nothing to do with the Almighty. I've told you that example of a dear friend of mine that came, he lost all his funds, he had just horrible sad things, comes home from a war and all these things that you would think would never, never should a vet have to deal with. asked me to pray for him, all these battles, these demons he's dealing with, and I told him I strongly was concerned that when the Lord answered these things, he'd be gone. And he said, no, no, and he pressed and pressed, and as soon as the check came, I never saw him again. He came for that, and it was revealed to him, and he knows it. Whether he wants to admit to it or not out loud, and I challenged him with it, you got what you wanted. You didn't come here for the Almighty. You came for that. And you can't take that with you. There'll be nothing for you to cling to in the pit of hell and no excuse for you. You've heard it. He's challenging him, right? You ask to do that. People say that, well, I've been praying for this, but are you asking wrongly? Is it to spend it on your own passions? Why do you want God to answer this prayer? That is something that I think we need to wrestle with, even with our requests, what we're doing here. Because then verse four, he's going to get spiritual with this, really spiritual, and say, verse four, and call them adulterous people, which, all right, Pastor James, thanks for the letter, but my goodness, this is not bringing in the people in church. Adulterous? This is where he is very much talking very Old Testament, right? This is not typically what you hear in the New Testament, but it is often what you heard when God was talking about the people of Israel. He would call them adulterous, you idolaters, right? You idol worshipers. And then you would say, well, some of them was. I mean, they were praying to Baal. I mean, just this morning reading, offering your sons to Baal, sacrificing your children to God. I mean, There's none of that though anymore, right, Pastor? Yes, there is. Just because they don't burn their children, they do sacrifice their children. Yes, they do. By giving them off to whatever system there is, saying, I can't argue against the world, I can't fight against the world. You can offer your children to the world. You can offer yourself to the world. Even as he goes on, expands it here in verse four, right? Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? That is huge. Therefore, whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. Isn't that a line that you hear amongst many evangelicals? We need to at least show them how much we love them, win them to Christ through love? I'm not saying that we should be jerks, church. We shouldn't be. But our passions are not in this world. They're not. We should not be consumed. It comes back to our passions and our desires, our pleasures. What consumes you? We should be kind to people in this world. But our focus should not be to gain this world. to gain in the sense of what does God want us to do? What does God want us to live? How should we preach the gospel? How should we teach them about the Lord? He spells these things out in the Bible, doesn't he? How should you bring up your family? I mean, how many groups you go to, even amongst Christian folks, that, you know, how do I be a better husband? And there'd be like little bits and pieces of the Bible here and there. Why don't we just open the Bible? How do you be a better wife? Open your Bible. How do we train up our children? Open your Bible. How do I be a better worker, employer? Just open your Bible. I mean, I get into emails, right? Even with sales positions and things and training and how to help the guys at your work or gals at your work. How do you encourage them and walks and live? And I'll read through that and say that, well, you know, I could put a Bible verse next to each one of these statements. And most of them, you'd swear that they took them right out of the book of Proverbs. Like, yeah, I've seen these. I've read these. We become so concerned. You can't just read your Bible. You can't just say your Bible. You gotta be careful with why, though. Why do we need to fear the world, church? Be proud of who your God is. You could read it and say, you know, this is great, because I just read this in Proverbs this morning. Looked this right up. Proverbs such and such. Well, let's be careful there, okay? We don't need to be like, okay. Do you want someone else to do it? Because I'm loving this. I'm not kidding, church. I mean, it's at work, I see it. I see the press against it, but today I see more and more of a people willing to hear it. And the more that you'll drop those hints and have those conversations, you'd be amazed how many people will come up to you randomly when you're alone and they'll bring up the Lord. Because they know, they know. To focus on being a friend, how can you be a friend with the world, with this system, when it hates God? How could you have a good friend as a husband when they hate your wife? How could you as a wife have a friend that hates your husband? It doesn't work. How can we be friends something, a system, a people that hate our God. Pastor, how do you win them? How do you talk to them? What do you do? You tell them of Christ. You teach them, you point them. But the fact is, even as he mentioned, remember back in chapter three, look at verse, the end of 14, it said, do not boast and be false to the truth. Don't boast, don't talk like you're a Christian and lie to us. You don't really love the Lord. I mean, that's the challenge, right? You'll meet so many that, no, I believe in the Lord, I believe in God, but do you really? Don't boast about being a Christian and lie about the truth. This next verse is a tough one. And after service, if you really want to dive deeper into this, or even if you want now, so you don't forget, send me a text and I'll send you. Dan, help me out. Great message. This verse, many have had many odd translations, interpretations of this, because the question is, is it talking about the human or the divine? So, I'm reading an ESV. Anyone here have the King James? Nobody? Okay, so then nobody's getting confused. If y'all have the ESV, it's written as the Divine, meaning He, capital H, and Spirit capitalized, I'm sorry, not Spirit capitalized, He is capitalized, and the King James is capitalized Spirit, that this is God being jealous. And the guy's name's Dr. Sid Dyer. He goes through phenomenally, and he says the best way, and what it did help me is appreciate translations because there's no punctuation. There was no punctuation early on. You think it doesn't matter? I love this simple example. When Jesus was on the cross, he looked to the thief on the cross, right? And what'd he say? Today, you will be with me in paradise. Or is it as Jehovah Witnesses say, Jesus said today, comma, you will be with me in paradise. Not meaning that literally today, but he said it that day, so that eventually he'll be there. See how punctuation can change the entire meaning of a sentence? And even here, you say, what's the punctuation? Well, the question mark. Does the question mark go after, or do you not suppose, the purpose, the no purpose the scripture says? To make a statement like scripture says, and put it in quotes, church, I should be able to give you a chapter and verse, right? You can say yes. If I tell you scripture says, and put it in quotes, you should say, pastor, I'm not finding that, can you please give me the chapter and verse you just quoted? There isn't one. There isn't one for this. It's never written, ever, in scripture. So the battle is, is did he take it from a secondary thing? I read some crazy ones out of the Book of Wisdom, out of the Apocrypha. Some people try to drag in, doesn't make sense, because it wouldn't have been then. Is he trying to teach us something that's implied within the scriptures? Does God, the question is, is God ever jealous? Yeah, actually there's a lot in the Old Testament that talks about God being jealous of His people. He doesn't want His people worshipping other things, worshipping other people, leaning towards Him. He is jealous of His people. So, it's not horrible in a sense to imply that the divine could be jealous over us. But it is what makes it hard. Some people say that, well, Humanly speaking, this is fine. Divinely speaking, I can't camp there with you. So let me just give you his study, very thorough. Spends an hour explaining why he came to this. He feels the best interpretation of this verse should be, or do you think the scripture speaketh in vain? The spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy. Do you think the scripture speaketh in vain? The spirit that dwelleth in us lusts to envy. Does the spirit seek these things or not? I mean, verse six, he gets right into it. But he gives more grace. He gives more grace. When Paul came to him and saying, I am battling this, this is hard for me, God please remove this from me, how did God respond to Paul? My grace is sufficient. He didn't say that, he doesn't even say too bad. which some would say that's pretty much what God told him was too bad. No, he didn't say too bad. He said, my grace is sufficient to get you through this. He understood you have something you're struggling, you're battling through, you're going through this, I understand, and as I'm telling you, church, there will be things you'll go to the Almighty and say, God, please help me with this, I'm struggling with this, and you will feel like the Lord's not answering, but you will read the word of God, study the word of God, and you may trip over that verse and find where God reminds Paul his grace is sufficient. Is it real that we battle things, that we strive and desire these things? You read verses one through four there, you're like, this is the church today. Oh my goodness, we have not learned a stinking thing. Thank you, Solomon, there's nothing new under the sun. Wow, yes, we're not reinventing the wheel. We're not coming up with new problems and conflicts. We are so obsessed with passions. What are we doing here, church? So what's the solution? Well, first, yes, verse six is grace. Therefore it says, God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble. So what's he saying there? Well, that's Proverbs 3.34, toward the scorners he is scornful, but to the humble he gives favor. Or even Proverbs 16.18, pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before the fall. We know those verses, right? So what is he, he's pressing, right? The grace is there, but who does he give grace to is the humble. Not to those who are proud. So in a sense, he says, check yourself. Why are you praying for these things, right? Which is uncomfortable to even challenge a person with, right? Because I'm asking you for prayer. What do you mean, why? Just pray for it, right? I had a dear pastor do this to me once, and I, to this day, I thank him for it. Because I asked for, just, I need to do better with my time, my scheduling, and yeah, I've met plenty of pastors that look at me like I have seven heads when I tell them the juggling that I do throughout the week. I just met with another pastor that's part of our consortium, and he's new, he moved up from the city, he's just starting here as a pastor, which, He's from Indiana. He hasn't met New York Christians yet. Poor guy. Oh, man. They stuck him here to see if he can help get this church going. That poor soul. So, it's terrible of me, but it's the reality. Church people, you know, it's just not Indiana. Anywho, he just couldn't believe it that I have a full-time job. How do you And, but you do this and that. I'm like, but it's reality. This is what I got. Is it stressful? Yes. Is it hard? Yes. But I don't dwell on the things that are, you know, I did that early on. It will drive you to depression. I wish this, I wish that. It's not reality right now. So I just pray that God help me to organize this, what some would call chaos. And the pastor asked me, if God were to grant it somehow and allow you another hour, what would you do with that hour, Pastor Jesse? It's a fair question. I said, honestly, if I could find it, I'd probably read or study. He said, well, then I'll pray for it. Thanks, brother. You know? It's a good question, though. What is he going to do? What are you going to do with this answered prayer? What are you going to do, right? You know, because that's what it is, is pressing against the pride. Because I want this so I can do stuff for myself. Because verse 7, he's going to go pressing right into it, right? Submit yourselves therefore to God. Submit to God, resist the devil, and he will flee from you. And some people are like, wait, the devil? Where did he get involved with all this? Church, are we not dealing with the flesh? Did he not, remember chapter three? Remember the three things? He said it's either earthly, unspiritual, or demonic. Yes, I know we're Baptists, and the demonic part, that's our Pentecostal friends, no. It's real, church. It's real. Nick's smiling over, he knows, we've gone through the battles. Come on now, it's real, church. And it's not, when we went through that in chapter three, it doesn't dress up the same way anymore. Right? Well, you read through the early in Acts, you know, there's no kids running across coals and stuff like that and doing it. Right. If the devil came disguised as the angel of light, don't assume he's not going to show up dressed differently for you. Submit to God. What does this mean to submit? And let me give you Gil, because he just knocked that out of the park here and I just, I'll just read it to you. To the will of God, with respect to worldly things, and be content with such things as are enjoyed, and be satisfied with the portion that is allotted. It is right and best for the people of God to leave themselves with Him, to choose their inheritance for them, since by all their anxious cares, their striving and struggles, their impatient desires, wars and fightings, as they cannot add one cubit to their stature, so nothing to their worldly substance, and it becomes them to submit to God in all afflective dispensations of his providence, and be still and know that he is God, as well as to submit to his way and the method of salvation by Christ, and particularly to the righteousness of Christ for justification, and to depend upon him for supplies of grace in the discharge of every duty and the exercise of every grace. I mean, we sing this song, I need thee every what? Hour. But yet the church only gets together once a week. Right? I mean, Hebrews, as you see the day approaching, as you see when you feel like that Christ is coming, you should gather together even more. But the only reason you can gather the church today is to talk about the second coming and then go back to as normal. But we should be gathering together again, together to press one another onto good works. But why? If Jesus is coming, that's the danger of having an escape mindset, that I'm just getting out of here. Very dangerous. He's called us to teach everyone here. To teach them, yes, to teach the gospel. But what did he say? Go into all the world and tell them to obey me. You are to teach the law, church, the law. But pastor, they don't wanna hear it. He told you that, church. They didn't like me. They crucified me. They're not gonna like you. We get out there, we preach it, we teach them and we live it. We draw near to God. In verse eight, I love this. You draw near to God and he will draw near to you. Right? What a beautiful picture. And some would say, well, isn't he omnipresent? Yes, but he's talking about your flesh, your spirit will feel this. Right? I mean, come on church, you know this. When you spend that sweet devotional time in your word, your Bible, and sometimes it just hits and you know it's not the coffee, you know it's just God just ministered to you through his word that day. You feel like you just literally stepped foot into the throne and there you were, like you're reading, you're like, what? And you don't want to leave. But this next portion is weird to me, because maybe not to you, but cleanse you hands, right? Okay, I got you. But then he calls them sinners. The term sinners is not typical to be used against Christians. Purify your hearts, you double-minded. Now the double-minded part I think is dangerous too, because It's dangerous. Double-minded sinners are typically used for the unbeliever. But you remember, remember back in James chapter 1 verses 6 to 8? I think I have it on the screen anyway. Yeah, I do. So, but let him ask in faith without with no doubting for those who doubts is like a wave of the sea that's driven tossed by the wind. For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord. He is a what? A double-minded man unstable in all his ways. Was, is he calling that guy an unbeliever too? I think what James is doing here is he's preaching to the mass, he's preaching to all of them. I think he is calling out the unbeliever, but he's also calling out the believer. I mean, Paul tells Timothy, right, make sure the guys lift up their hands, but make sure they're holy hands. Clean your hands, guys. He's not going to say run to the bathroom and wash your hands. You know where your hands have been, and you're lifting them to God? I mean, it is, right? This is what I love about, this is reality, right? I mean, you think about it, guys. Somebody goes to the bathroom, and they come right back out, and you were just in there. The guy never washed his hands. You want to shake his hand? No, right? This is reality, right? No. Dude didn't wash his hands. It's weird and gross. Now he's up there, hey buddy. No. You know what you just did with your hands? You know what you just did with your mind, your body, this morning, last night, and you came in here and you lifted that same body to the Lord? James is getting real. This is something that is very much for the believer, too. But I think he also is very much calling out those who are there who are claiming to be with Christ. I mean, me, I immediately think of 1 Kings. I was just talking to the kids about it this morning with Elijah, right? There's Elijah there. He just called fire down from heaven, and then he turns to the people. What a sermon, right? Here we go. 1821, Elijah came near to all the people and said, how long will you go limping between two different opinions? If the Lord is God, follow him. But if Baal, then follow him. But then, what does the people? They still don't make an answer. How many of you met that? If God would show up and just say it, like, I am God. Come on, I would follow him. No, you wouldn't. How do you wanna know? Look at this. Fire just came down from heaven, consumed it. I mean, ate up everything. And they're all sitting there like, I don't know. You know, it's amazing. Where are you? What needs to happen, church? Nine. Ten, this is what needs to happen. Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning, your joy to gloom. Gill giving you this, wretched, not by afflicting the body with fasting and scourgings, by renting of garments and cloths, clothing with sackcloth, and putting ashes on your head, and other such outward methods of humiliation. but afflicting the soul is meant an inward mourning and weeping over the plague of the heart, the impurity of nature, the various sins of life. He's calling for a regeneration, right? Not an outward profession, a genuine, real, wretched, torn. It's real, you know. The sins you once loved, you now feel disgusting, disgusted, gross considering. He is exposed, wretched. Now it's causing you to mourn. You're sad, you're laughter. your joy to gloom. In verse 10, you don't stay there, church, you don't stay there. You humble yourselves before the Lord, and then who lifts you up? The Almighty. I love this. Psalm 147.6, the Lord lifts up the humble, He cast the wicked to the ground. He lifts up the humble, those who come to Him before Him, lowering themselves, He lifts them up. Same contrast right there in Psalms is the same as what James is saying here. Listen, you wanna be proud, prideful, you wanna just lift up self and all about yourself, then you will be tossed down. You humble yourself, you submit yourself to the Almighty, He lifts you up. And it seems like this is a great way to close right there, but then 11 and 12, he just knocks out of the park again and he says, don't speak evil against one another, brothers. You're almost like James, you could have taken six and put it at the end of 12 down here. But it's like it just came to his head again, like he's writing through this because what is he talking about here? Not speaking evil, don't speak against a brother, right? You can't judge your neighbor, verse 12, like what's the pastor? So I thought we are supposed to judge people by their fruits. The idea is not judging them by their fruits here. The idea is speaking ill when you don't know. You don't know the truth. You don't know what's going on. You're just letting the mind have fun. Yeah, well, I mean, I haven't seen her at the house lately. So, I mean, they're probably separating. I heard him yelling the other day. Why would you talk like that about a brother? A sister? How dare you? That's what he's saying. How dare you? You don't know the truth? The Bible's got much to speak about the law. You know something happened, you're confident, you've got witnesses, you go to that brother and you handle it. But this talking, this kind of stuff, this is what the world does, church, right? I mean, they can't help themselves. They love it. That's what sells the tabloids. That's what sells all the stories. Why do you think all these stupid magazines and all these people, they're rich and wealthy, all kinds of stories and probably 60-70% are fake? People are loving it. Oh, they got problems? Oh, it makes me feel so much better. My problems aren't this bad, right? You've witnessed the people like that. You've got to repent. Well, I'm not as bad as my neighbor, that guy. We're not talking about your neighbor. He really is just trying to drive this home with them. Don't speak evil against the law and judge the law. But if you judge the law, you're not a doer of the law, but you're a judge. You say you're a Christian, you say you're a believer. Why are you doing this? MacArthur, I love this. The first step in avoiding the sin of slander is not keeping one's lips sealed, but keeping one's thoughts about others right. The first step in avoiding the sin of slander is not keeping one's lips sealed, but keeping one's thoughts about others right. In church, this is hard today, right? the gossip amongst the lunchroom, the break room, the stores, the social media. You gotta be careful with that. Don't jump in with that. As brothers and sisters, we need to press one another onto good works, and that's not a way to go. Let me close. How do we do this, church? As I started, I close with submitting to the Lord. Submission to the Lord is submitting to Him in everything, not just in a part and piece. It's in the way we walk. It's the way we talk. It's the way we do our private life. It's the way we do our home life. It's the way we do our jobs. It's the way we drive, ouch, right? It needs to affect every part of our life. We need to be confident as we will be calling out sinners and double-minded people in this world that we ourselves have taken the time to cleanse our hands and purify our hearts. We do, church. The difference is we have a savior who's done it, we have a way through repentance and faith, and church, We have, because of that, when we call out a sinner in this world and tell them, listen, you need to cleanse your hands, you need to cleanse your mind, you need to turn from your wicked ways and run to God, and the people say, but I have no desire to. And that's where you can say, then ask God for that. And you can pray for them, but you understand, church, When you pray for that for a person, you're praying against their pleasures, their passions, and their desires. Now think about this. You are going to ask God to come against all those things. They're not gonna be comfortable with that. It's painful. It's a fight. But that's reality, church. It's reality. That is soul winning. It is uncomfortable, it's hard. Yes, once in a while, you may be blessed with a person that walks up and says, what must I do to be saved? Or you may never get that. But most of this will be a wrestling because you're going to be wrestling and fighting against exactly what he's talking about here. This is reality, church. But what I love is that I have a Savior. In John 6, 37, Jesus says there, all the Father gives me will come to me. And listen, whoever comes to me, I will never cast out. We tell them, you go to Christ, you repent, turn and go to Christ. He won't, but you don't know all the things I've done. I don't need to know everything. I don't need you to clean out your closet for me. I don't need you to go into details. You can do that with a Savior. You can go and you could, I mean, this is, what a passage. You could go there and say, listen, dear one, come here, listen to verse nine, be wretched and mourn, weep. Stop with your laughing and silliness and just trying to, pill popping and partying, whatever you're doing, to just try to numb the pain. Just put it all aside. I'm telling you, dear one, stop the joy, excitement, be gloomed, be torn up. You have life now and it's not in eternity. I'm telling you, you've gotta change. We go to them and we share this with them and church, in reality, it's not comfortable. But when he does, when he regenerates them, he saves them. And the lights turn on. The darkness is shrunk. It's beautiful. It's beautiful. Let's pray together, church. Father, oh dear Lord, We thank you so much here, Lord. So much reality in these verses of what we see and hear today. But I thank you, Father, that you worked in James to make sure that the problems were not only shared, but a solution was. Lord, I pray for those that are believers here today, listening or here, God, please, help us to submit to you. Yes, we ought to already be, we ought to be walking with you, but help us to submit the more, the parts that we have held on to. Help us, Lord. Spirit of God, work in us, convict us. But Lord, I wanna pray if there'd be anyone here, anyone listening. That came to God for just goods, but don't care for the Savior. That want answered prayer, but care nothing of glory. They may not say it out loud, but they know. They know. They don't genuinely want to submit to the Lord in everything. They don't want to give self, life, children, spouse, jobs. They don't want to give that to you. God, I pray and I thank you that I don't need to convict. I don't need to go out. I don't need to press. No, Holy Spirit, you do. Holy Spirit, you do it well. Convict. Our dear ones, Lord, convict our friends, our family. Convict them and show them that they are very dead and there is no hope within themselves. God, please, grant them repentance. Do work in the mind, the soul. Do work in their hearts, their pleasures, their passions. And God, when you're doing that work, and if anyone here gets that call of how uncomfortable, may we never try to mute it, may we never try to soften it, but may we jump in and weep with them. We need to hate sin, God, more. Oh God, your church is dabbling too much. It's trying too hard to be friendly. Help us, Christ. Help us to walk and live as you did. Kind, yes. Loving, yes. but never apologetic for what the Father said, never apologetic for what the Father tells us to do, never apologizing for what the God of the universe commands. Never ashamed. May you work in us, strengthen us, guide us, help us, Lord. for each and every day that we live, walk, and talk in this mission field you've called us to. Thank you, Lord. May we as a church, too, press one another, encourage one another onto those good works. In Jesus' name, amen.