James 4: ~ The WORLD; The FLESH
& the DEVIL!
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James 4 ~ New International Version
Submit Yourselves to God
1What causes fights
and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from your desires that battle within
you? 2You desire but do not have, so you kill. You covet but
you cannot get what you want, so you quarrel and fight. You do not have
because you do not ask God. 3When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with
wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.
4You adulterous
people,a don’t you know that friendship with the world means
enmity against God? Therefore, anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world
becomes an enemy of God. 5Or do you think Scripture says without reason that he
jealously longs for the spirit he has caused to dwell in usb ? 6But he gives us more grace. That is why Scripture says:
“God
opposes the proud
7Submit yourselves,
then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 8Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your
hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. 9Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning
and your joy to gloom.
10Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you
up.
11Brothers and
sisters, do not slander one another. Anyone who speaks against a brother or
sisterd or
judges them speaks against the law and judges it. When you judge the law, you
are not keeping it, but sitting in judgment on it.12There is only one Lawgiver and Judge, the one who is
able to save and destroy. But you—who are you to judge your neighbor?
Boasting About Tomorrow
13Now listen, you who
say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there,
carry on business and make money.” 14Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow.
What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then
vanishes. 15Instead, you ought to say, “If it is the Lord’s will, we
will live and do this or that.” 16As it is, you boast in your arrogant schemes. All such
boasting is evil. 17If anyone, then, knows the good they ought to do and
doesn’t do it, it is sin for them.
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Chapter 4
~ James addressed some problems he experienced in his Jerusalem church.
Desires and divisions 4:1-10
·
This passage is
talking about fighting within a church body; 1).People at war with each
other; 2).People at war with themselves and 3).at war with God.
·
People need to be
taken into account for their actions, but it often doesn’t happen within
fellowships
·
(Selfishness; Self-centeredness is
the root problem) “All we like sheep
have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own
way; ~ Isaiah 53:6
(V.4) “friendship with the WORLD means enmity against God”
·
Lot was a friend of
the world; he separated from Abraham & camped ever closer to Sodom and
his family suffered the consequences.
·
If I asked for a show
of hands as to who here in this room has committed adultery, I’d get some
dirty looks from you all. But the
bible says, that if you have “Friendship with the world”, that makes you
an adulterer! ; As Christians we
are “married” (figuratively) with Christ;
·
Romans 7:4 “4Likewise, (as in
marriage) my brothers, you also have died to the law through the body of
Christ, so that you may belong to another, to him who has been raised from
the dead, in order that we may bear fruit for God.
·
This idea (concept) of the believer being married to Christ is found
throughout the bible: Jeremiah 3:1-5; Ezekiel 23; and in the first several
chapters of Hosea.
·
We need to be faithful to Christ! …not to the world and the world
systems.
·
Another enemy of God is “the FLESH” Not the body, but the old
nature that keeps coming back and needs to be dealt with frequently.
·
“For to set the mind on the flesh is
death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. 7For the mind that is set on the flesh
is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot. 8Those who are in the flesh cannot
please God.”~ Romans 8:6 &7
(V.6)“God opposes
the proud; but shows favor to the humble.”
·
The antidote to pride is humility
·
We get humility through God’s grace.
(V.7b) ~ “Resist the DEVIL,
and he will flee from you.”
·
Devil introduced
PRIDE; and it caused him to fall; He is the father of lies & deceit
·
Isaiah 14 &
Ezekiel 28 chronicle the history of Satan & we find that sin starts in
the heart “I will ascend into heaven; I
will be like the Most High; I will, I will, I will …” Satan's use of "I" is sickening!
-Sometimes
we come under satanic attack and it perhaps is sometimes hard to identify;
Recognize who is attacking You and …RESIST!
·
Sometimes satan
will continually accuse us; deceive us …these are his trademarks!
·
Recognize/Resist/Rejoice through victory in Jesus Christ
(V.8) ~Come near to God and he will come near to
you.
·
How do you program
your minds?
·
Psalm 22:3 “He inhabits the praise of His people” ; Praise is his address.
You can change your situation by praising and inviting His prescence.
·
Technology brings
filth into our homes & minds….be careful with access to all kinds of
media.
(V.10) ~ Humble YOURSELVES before the Lord, and he will lift you
up.
You don't really need to pray for Humility; ...James says to just "HUMBLE Yourself!"
· How Spiritual are
YOU?
Hmmm …perhaps a better question
is …how much do you hate sin?
(Psst...That’s how spiritual you REALLY are!)
Speaking evil and *judging 4:11-12
Planning without God 4:13-17
(v.17) If anyone, then, knows the good they ought to do and
doesn’t do it, it is sin for them.
· Be Aware of your sins of omission
& Sins of commission (The things you DO and the things you DON'T DO!)
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Jan 27, 2016
James 4 ~ The WORLD; The FLESH and the DEVIL
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