Father, we thank you that we can enter into worship together through YouTube Live.
Father, I ask that the Holy Spirit would fall upon each one of us, upon me as I speak, upon each one of us as we listen.
We ask, Father, that you would bring your word deep into our hearts,
and that as your word comes deep into our hearts, that you would speak to us,
and, Father, in fact, that you would rule.
And we ask, Lord, that you deliver us from all fear of your ruling in our lives
by making us more and more and more convinced and gripped by the truth of the gospel.
And we ask this in the name of Jesus, your Son and our Savior. Amen.
Just as we get started, it's allergy time of the year,
and so if I'm a bit runny, I have a bit of a frog in my throat.
I might have to cough occasionally.
It seems to be a bad day for allergies, at least for me.
I don't know about you folks who are watching this online.
So I don't know how carefully you listen to the Bible text.
It's not a test or a quiz or anything like that.
But if you listen to the text that I was going to preach on, it sounds a bit odd.
For many of us, it just seems to say things like,
why on earth would the Bible tell you to submit to God?
To most Canadians, in fact, probably most people in the world,
the idea that you are commanded to submit to God is actually very, very unattractive.
Probably the motto of most Canadians would be,
go along sometimes, but never submit.
Go along sometimes, but never, ever, ever submit.
And so why on earth does the Bible say submit to God?
It's very, very unattractive.
Another thing is, why on earth does the Bible command you to be miserable?
In fact, this text touches on some of the fears that people have about God,
that if you actually were to give your life to Jesus,
that you would be more miserable and not more filled with joy.
But why does the Bible command you to be miserable?
And then finally, why does the Bible tell you to resist the devil?
And for most Canadians, that just sounds a bit hokey,
as if we're not really being serious to throw in something like that.
So if you happen to be watching this and you're curious about the Christian faith,
maybe you are in recovery from some type of toxic Christianity.
You're a non-Christian.
You're just sort of curious.
Welcome.
Really glad you're entering into worship with us.
And I'm honored that you would check us out.
One of the things that you could do over this next half hour or so,
as we look into God's Word,
is think of yourself a little bit as an anthropologist.
Who's trying to figure out a strange tribe.
But rather than going into some part of the rainforest in the Amazon,
where no human being, no non-tribe member has ever been,
you're trying to figure out this strange tribe called biblical Christians or faithful Christians.
And so this weird stuff about submitting and commanded to be unhappy and resisting the devil.
Just think of yourself as an anthropologist.
You're trying to think, so imagine, I don't know, you have a glass of sherry or scotch or something like that,
maybe a big cigar, and you're sitting back listening to a presentation on this strange tribe and their practices.
I will tell you that despite the surface strangeness,
I think, and I hope you will see,
that in fact the Bible gives profound good news,
and profound good news about how you can wisely and beautifully grow as an individual.
And in fact, I think there is no better or more beautiful way than the Christian way.
Now just before we get into this a bit more,
one of the things that we're preaching through the book of James, that's what we do.
In fact, if you're curious about the Christian faith,
you can trust that if you come to Church of the Messiah,
because we go through whole books of the Bible,
it means we touch those bits and pieces that a lot of churches never talk about.
So it's almost as if we make sure you look at all the fine print.
And rather than trying to pretend that the fine print isn't there,
we always walk towards it.
That's what I'm going to do today in my time with you as we open the Word.
And so there's a lot of scholars who think that what the book of James is,
it's one of the very, very, it might be the very first,
it's not the first thing that the early Christians wrote,
but it's sort of the first book that we have.
And some people think that what it really is,
is like a list of topics or speaking points that should be covered
if you want to help a person grow into maturity,
to grow into the beautiful life.
And so it's almost as if, okay, make sure you talk about desires.
Okay, oh, make sure you talk about God opposes the proud.
Oh, make sure you talk about trials.
Make sure you talk about this.
Make sure you talk about that.
And some people think that that's actually what the book of James is.
And you're going to see that this morning,
because what you really do is,
almost every little bit of these verses,
you could almost, like if you were to have coffee with me afterwards,
because you're curious about the Christian faith,
you could do a whole talk about resist the devil,
or you could do a whole talk about submit.
You could do a weekend away on each one of these topics.
So I'm going to be giving you like the 10,000 feet in the air view of it all.
And just one other sort of a bit of a geeky type of moment,
for those of you who are into the grammar geek type of stuff.
Chapter three and the first part of chapter four,
in some ways, verse five summarizes the problem.
There's wisdom, which is put in those texts as well,
as well as different commands for what you do, you should be doing.
But in some ways, what it does, it gives,
I'll summarize it in a moment,
a very sophisticated analysis of a problem.
And then in a sense, verses six and verses 10,
work as bookends about what the good news is in light of the problem.
And then verses seven, eight, and nine, in some ways,
unpack that frame of verses six to verses 10.
So I hope I haven't lost you with that geeky moment.
Let's read verse five.
Or do you think the scripture says without reason
that the spirit he caused to dwell in us longs toward envy?
I'll read it again.
Or do you think the scripture says without reason
that the spirit he caused to dwell in us longs toward envy?
Over the last couple of weeks,
what we've looked at is actually a very sophisticated,
both a very ancient analysis of the human condition,
but also a very sophisticated analysis of the human condition.
In the first part of chapter three,
it brought out something which is very puzzling,
which, you know, if you don't live an examined life,
you've never thought about it.
If you don't really practice any type of self-reflection,
you've never thought about it.
But if you have practiced some reflection,
or maybe if you've been in some counseling or therapy,
or you have tried to wrestle with some types
of different self-help books,
or you've just puzzled maybe over a beer
or a glass of wine or coffee with friends
about your condition,
the first part of chapter three comments on the fact
that human beings are both natural and unnatural.
We're natural because obviously we fit into this world,
but there's something different about human beings,
and the thing that it talks about
in the different human beings
is that human beings can tell the truth
and they can tell lies.
They can do things which are very, very loving
and things which are very, very cruel.
They can do things where we really are attentive
to other people's feelings and show compassion,
and we can do things that show
that we don't give a hoot about people's feelings
and we trample all over them.
We can be a terrible racist
and then go home and yet still love our children
or something like that.
That there's this aspect of human beings,
a mystery, a riddle about human beings,
that we can do both of those at the same time.
You don't see that in the natural world,
you just see it in human beings.
That there's something in a sense divided
or fractured in us as human beings.
And then in the last part of chapter three,
it moved into a different type of self-analysis
of the human condition.
And in that analysis of the human condition,
it just pointed out that there's a fundamental problem
of selfishness and self-centeredness for human beings.
That even the best of us,
in fact, actually often,
even when we do things which are virtuous or good,
we do them for self-centered reasons.
You know, there's an old line that if you can fake that you care,
then you can really advance yourself a lot in an organization.
So don't care for people because you care for them,
but just care for people because it's going to help you
to get promotions or it will help you to get what you want.
I remember one older man,
this is way 100 million years ago
when I was in a working environment,
and he jokingly,
it was a bit of a joke, but very serious.
He said,
always offer to buy people coffee
because it'll give them the illusion that you're generous.
So chapter three,
the end of chapter three,
gives us actually very profound reflection
upon the problem of self-centeredness
and the division and the problems that it causes.
And then the part of chapter four just about this
has another type of a very, very profound
and sophisticated analysis of the human condition.
It says different things.
It says that one of the things is,
and if you're curious about how I sort of prove this,
you can look at last week's sermon,
but we have contradictory desires.
And not only do we have contradictory desires
that get in the way,
that we often end up desiring things
that we can't even have.
That on one hand,
if we were to tell our best friend
that we have this desire,
they'd say,
well, that's crazy.
You'll never have that.
Why on earth do you desire that?
But we still have those desires for things
that we can never actually possibly have.
And at the same time,
we get these desires that get,
in a sense, overheated.
And as they overheat,
they aim at terrible things.
We can have a murderous rage.
We can be consumed with greed.
And even if it stops us
from doing something illegal
or something very, very wicked,
the fact of the matter is
that circumstances or something stops us,
but we still have these things
which are aimed in terrible directions.
And as well as that,
that many of our pleasures,
and it's not just referring to physical pleasures,
it can refer to aesthetic pleasures.
It refers to intellectual pleasures,
that in fact,
many of these passions that we have
for intellectual or physical or aesthetic things
are in fact self-pleasuring passions,
that that's what's going on within us.
And then it sort of summarizes
and sort of brings it to a little bit of a head
in a very, very profound way.
Once again, in a sense,
going back almost to the first part
about the fact of the matter
is that we have something within us
that we're divided.
There's something that we can tell the truth
and we can tell a lie.
And that is this verse five.
Do you think the scripture says,
without reason,
that the spirit he caused to dwell in us
longs toward envy?
In other words, we have longings
and there's nothing inherently wrong with longings,
just as there's nothing inherently wrong with desires,
but they keep being shaped or formed by envy
and by implication with this,
the way the word would open up with pride,
with greed, with gluttony, with sloth, with lust,
that there's this sort of dual nature in us.
So then after we've had this very ancient
and very sophisticated analysis of the human condition,
that in fact is many types of therapy
try to deal with it.
In fact, the two most popular ways
of dealing with it in the world,
I mean, I guess there's three.
One would be different types of therapy,
but also different forms of Buddhism,
which are trying to deal with the fact
that we have all of these desires
and contradictory ways and self-pleasuring.
And the other one, of course,
is sort of a reappropriation of Stoicism.
All of them are ways of trying to deal
with these different conditions of selfishness
and self-pleasuring and desires.
So in other words, it's recognized by many people
that this is in fact a problem.
We can keep our lid on it at certain times,
but times in our lives, it does cause chaos.
It costs us relationships.
It damages relationship with children,
breaks up workplaces.
But there's a big problem.
And the big problem is this,
that the analysis, not just the biblical analysis,
but often if you're to listen to the person
talking about the new Stoicism or Buddhism,
the problem is the analysis is too strong.
And it's almost as if now that it comes to the solution,
they just pick a rabbit out of the hat.
I compared it last week to movies
where in the first half of the movie
or the first three quarters of the movie,
the bad guys seem to be able to do no wrong.
They triumph in whatever they do.
But we all know that if that just continued on
and the end of the movie was that the bad guy
kills every single good guy or enslaves them,
that that's a depressing movie
that very few of us would watch.
So because of that, filmmakers and storytellers,
often if it's a poorly done one,
all of a sudden they just basically change the power dynamic
that the bad guys can't shoot as well,
their plans don't work as well,
their hacks don't work as well.
But it's not connected to it.
They just know they have to give the good guys
a chance to win.
Otherwise, nobody's going to watch the movie
or read the book.
And in some ways, the same thing happens here
because whatever it is,
whether it's in a sense to try to step back
from your experience in mindfulness,
whether it's through doing different types of exercises
to curb your desires,
whether it's doing stoicism
and you're trying to, once again,
have some method by which you control
your different desires
or different types of therapies that do it,
what they do is their analysis of the problem
shows that their solution doesn't work,
which is, in fact, what most of us experience
if we try these different things.
You see, what they're, in effect, saying
is that all of a sudden they're saying
that there is a part of you
that isn't divided,
that isn't selfish,
that doesn't self-pleasure,
that doesn't have contradictory desires.
And in effect,
there's an old definition of God
as the unmoved mover.
It's a very,
it goes right back to Aristotle.
And it's almost as if they say,
without actually coming out and saying it,
they now all of a sudden posit
that within you and me,
I, you, have an unmoved mover
somewhere in the very center of who we are.
And what we need to do is,
in a sense, unleash it
or discipline it
or give it permission
to start to move
and deal with all of these
different contradictory things.
But you have to say,
where on earth did this come from?
And why is it that you ever think,
why can you or I ever think
that we have an unmoved mover within us?
The fact of the matter is
that we don't.
So this is where verse six
is going to come in,
which we're going to read in a moment.
Only the gospel
can actually provide,
really provide,
a fulfillment
to that problem
that we've analyzed
in the first part
that we all understand.
That if we examine ourselves,
the selfishness,
the self-pleasuring,
the contradictory desires,
that in fact,
only the gospel
in the context of the Bible
and the Bible
in the context of the gospel
actually provides a solution.
And the solution is this.
What if there really is
an unmoved mover?
And the unmoved mover
isn't in me,
isn't part of me,
but what if there actually is
an unmoved mover?
And that unmoved mover
in its unmoved center
is actually good
and true
and just
and beautiful
and gracious
and generous
and compassionate
and loving
and love itself,
justice itself,
goodness itself.
And what if that unmoved mover,
that transcendent one,
came into the world
with compassion
and justice
to move in you?
And that,
my friends,
is the gospel.
And that's what verse 6
is going to tell us.
Look what it says
in verse 6.
But he gives more grace
or he gives greater grace.
Therefore,
it says,
God opposes the proud
but gives grace
to the humble.
This is the good news
of the gospel
in a brief summary
that there is in fact
a God that does exist,
the triune God,
that that triune God
is love himself,
is peace himself,
is goodness himself,
is justice himself,
is mercy himself,
and that he is,
in a sense,
unmoved
by your pride,
your anger,
your whatever.
He's unmoved
by those things.
Nothing can stop God
from being just,
good,
loving,
pure,
holy,
compassionate,
merciful.
Nothing can stop him.
And he,
from that unmoved position,
can move.
And what he has done
is he has more grace
than whatever it is
is going on within you.
Whatever the chaos is,
whatever you've put the lid on,
you have some control on,
in every case,
for every desire,
every longing,
every self-pleasuring,
his grace is greater.
And God always opposes the proud
and he always
will give grace
to the humble.
that is,
in fact,
the profound good news
that he really has come,
he really will always oppose
the pride
and the self-centeredness,
and he really will
give you grace.
Now,
to help you to understand
just how radical this is,
I've provided two little outlines
that hopefully will be
at the bottom of your screen.
And if you look at the first one,
and my wording here
might be slightly different
than the wording,
but you get the basic idea.
The first one is basically
how we tend to think.
It's what I call
natural spirituality,
it's natural religion,
it's natural therapy,
it's natural human growth,
and in this sort of natural way
that we naturally think,
that we just assume
whatever the answer
to the human problem
is going to be,
it has to fit
within this type of category,
whatever it is.
So you try a new therapy,
you try a new spirituality,
you combine different things together
in your own bespoke,
self-curated spirituality,
you embrace an ancient religion,
it's always going to form,
we just think naturally
that this is the way
things have to work.
And in the way they just,
in fact, actually,
it's just very interesting,
two weeks ago
I had somebody come
and speak to me,
they knocked on the door,
and their life was a mess,
and I invited them
to have some conversation with me,
I tried to share
the gospel with me,
and they in fact
perfectly articulated this thing.
They said,
well basically,
I have too much trouble
with alcohol,
and I have too much trouble
with drugs,
and my life is in too much chaos,
let me try to get myself together,
and then I will come
and have maybe
some other type of thing
with you and all.
And what it is,
is this,
that first of all,
by your own effort,
you have to do better.
You have to do better,
you have to drink less,
smoke less,
start to exercise,
say an apology or two,
but do better on your own.
And then after you've done
better on your own,
then you're going to be able
to do some type of religion things
that maybe involve God
or spiritual things.
You're going to get in touch
with your higher self,
you're going to get in touch
with your higher power,
you're going to get in touch
with Allah,
you're going to get in touch
with God or Jesus
or Krishna or whatever,
because there's Christian versions
of this natural religion.
And then after you've sort of
get control of your life,
and then you sort of bring in
some God aspects,
then maybe you can be
accepted by God.
And if you're taking
different,
more secular things,
then maybe you'll have
some type of a peace,
or you'll be at one
with the universe,
or at one with creation,
or however you want to put it.
And that's just the natural
way we think,
and there's Christian versions
of this.
But if you look at
the next one,
well, by the way,
just before we look
at the next one,
about a third or maybe
it's up to 40% of Canadians
now over 18 describe
themselves as nuns,
N-O-N-E.
They have no religion.
They've turned their back
on religion.
They've rejected religion.
They've rejected bespoke,
self-curated spiritualities.
But what they've rejected
is what I've just described.
They've rejected that.
They've come to realize,
you know what?
It just doesn't work.
You know?
It just doesn't work.
You try to get yourself
a little bit better.
Well, that's a good thing.
You should try to be a little bit,
you know,
you should try to be less rude
and, you know,
less self-centered.
But, you know,
don't forget about all that,
you know,
talking to God stuff
or calling down the moon
or getting in touch
with the feminine powers
in the universe
or what it is
or getting in touch with,
like, forget the crystals.
You know, just, you know,
go for a walk,
have a glass of Jack Daniels.
Like, just do something.
Forget about it.
You know,
turn your back
on all that type of stuff.
They've rejected.
What they've rejected
is natural religion
and natural spirituality.
But here,
if you look at the next thing,
is this surprising,
shocking news
that verse 6
has just said.
What has verse 6 said?
Verse 6 has said,
but he gives more grace.
He gives greater grace.
God acts first.
Before you've got yourself better,
before you've talked to him,
before you've sought him,
he gives more grace.
God opposes the proud,
but gives grace to the humble.
And so the gospel
is this profound news
that you begin
with acceptance
with the triune God.
God.
And from there,
you begin to draw near to him.
And from there,
you begin to try to get
some type of control
in your life.
It's a complete
and utter reversal.
The gospel is this
radical news
of a complete
and utter reversal
of the natural way
that we think
of religion
and spirituality.
Part of the,
if you want to know,
part of the history
of the Christian faith,
part of the history
of the Christian faith
is that we get the gospel
and then we start
to forget the gospel
and we sink
and we fall
into these naturalistic ways
and then we have to have,
you know,
the good works
and we have to have indulgences
and we have to have,
you know,
priests
or we have to have the minister
or we have to have this
or we have to have that
before we can be accepted to God.
We forget it.
And in some ways,
the whole history
of the Christian church
is proclaiming the gospel,
forgetting the gospel,
remembering the gospel,
forgetting the gospel,
remembering the gospel.
And if you're an outsider
trying to figure out
the Christian faith,
I've just explained to you
the whole history
of the Christian faith
in a 30,000 view level.
And what I'm telling you
is this is what the Bible teaches.
The Bible teaches this
unbelievable radical news,
that it's true
and that it's real,
that Jesus,
God,
the Son of God,
dies on the cross
to make you right with him.
When you didn't even know
about Jesus,
when you didn't even think
about Jesus,
when you didn't even care
about Jesus,
before you even thought
about any of those things,
God did everything
that had to be done
so that you could be
made right with him.
He deals with the just demands
against you.
He pays the penalty
of the wrong things
that you've done.
He absorbs your shame.
He offers you
his perfect standing
with God.
Everything that has to be done
to make you right with God
is done by Jesus
in his birth,
life,
death,
upon the cross,
tasting all there is
to taste of death
and resurrection
and it is offered
to you
this greater grace,
no matter how bad,
no matter how chaotic
your life is,
no matter how superficially,
well together,
put together,
in charge your life
seems to be,
but you know
and I know,
I know so many people
over the years,
their lives seem to be perfect
and they're haunted
with regret,
they're haunted
with nightmares,
they're haunted
with self-doubt,
they're self-pleasuring
in many,
many different ways
to try to numb
the different things,
they're terrified
that someday somebody
will see beneath the surface
as to what's really going on
in their lives
and I want to announce
to you the gospel,
it's not me,
it's what the Bible says,
is that God's grace
is greater,
it's greater
and it's real
and it's actual
and it's in history
and it's in philosophy
and all,
it's real,
he always will oppose
those things within you
and that's good,
you want God
to always oppose that
and he gives grace
when you humble yourself
before him,
he gives greater grace
so it begins
with being accepted,
it begins
with him adopting you
as his child,
it begins
with you being clothed
with his righteousness,
it begins
with you being promised
that you know
the end of your story,
that when you die,
God will say,
welcome my child
whom I love
and that is the new
end of your story
and out of that place,
then you can begin
to listen to God
say you have to look,
now draw near to me,
draw near to me every day,
draw near to me
through the scriptures,
draw near to me
through worship,
draw near to me
through small groups
with other people
and as you're gripped
with who Jesus is
and what he did for you
on the cross
and this profound good news
as you draw near to him,
let's help you
with your selfishness,
let's help you
with your lack
of generosity,
let's help you
with your sexual problems,
let's help you
with your finances,
let's help you
with your alcohol,
let's help you
in terms of your family
and in your career,
let me help you
and that's now
what we're going to see
in the rest of this thing
that in a sense
it's not just
that we have
this profound story
of what God
has done in the past
although we have it
but that in fact now
that you have
an unseen presence
in your life
that you see
when you give your life
to Jesus
and you really are accepted
by the triune God
and you just say
we're going to say
in a moment
Jesus I need your grace
I need you to be my savior
now the unmoved mover
in the person of his son
now the unmoved mover
in the person of the Holy Spirit
actually comes to dwell
within you
so it's not just
that you have a story
and an image
that can begin
to shape your life
and a confidence
in that
but you also have
his presence
and his word
within you
as they start
to tackle
and handle
these things
addressed
in the human situation
you see
you do not have
an innate
unmoved mover
but by grace
if you humble yourself
the unmoved mover
the true unmoved mover
who's created all things
can come and dwell
within you
unworthy as you are
and worthy
as I am
so now
if you think about it
I'm going to sort of
jump ahead
look at verse 6 again
but he gives more grace
therefore it says
God opposes the proud
but gives grace
to the humble
and in verse 10
it says
humble yourselves
there before
before the Lord
and he will exalt you
and that's in a sense
this great news
it's set up in verse 6
and verse 10
it's going to be
unpacked a little bit
remember I said
it's as if
you could take
each of these next ones
you could do a whole
teaching session
on each of them
but what are the different things
within this
in verses 7 to 9
the first one is
submit to God
submit yourself
verse 7
submit yourselves
therefore to God
resist the devil
and he will flee from you
submit yourselves
therefore to God
now you see a little bit
of why this begins
to make some sense
it's not saying
begin to submit to me
so that if you submit
to me enough
if you grovel enough
I will accept you
but in fact
if God is giving you
greater grace
if he is giving you
a grace
that will oppose
that's greater
than whatever's going on
within you
and that in fact
he's always going to
oppose the pride
and the envy
and the evil
that you want to do
that you long to do
if he's always going
to oppose that
and if he's going to
in fact
if he's going to
always give grace
to you when you
humble yourself
and if you humble yourself
he's going to exalt you
and by exalt you
it doesn't mean
that you get to rule
on the earth
it means that you get
to dwell in the new heaven
and the new earth
with a resurrected body
with a glory
that is
an eternal weight
of glory
an eternal weight
of glory
that's the end
in the gospel
why wouldn't you
submit to that
like as
and you see
that's
if he begins with grace
it's not a matter
of I want to try
to make you feel guilty
so that you submit
I want you to be
in love with the gospel
so that in fact
you go
why wouldn't I
submit to that
and the word
submit here
is primarily
an allegiance word
it does mean
that you become
now
your allegiance
is to the triune God
to Jesus
to grace
that's your allegiance
and out of that
allegiance
that's what you obey
that is where you obey
you obey
out of that type
of allegiance
and this is
a really important thing
there's a very very
if you read
one of the ancient
biographies of Jesus
if you read
John's gospel
which is one
of the ancient
biographies
the very first
sort of miracle
that John
talks about
it might not
have been the first
miracle that Jesus
ever did
but the way
John works it
he gives you
significant
miracle stories
to help to reveal
the Christian life
who Jesus is
and what the Christian
life is
and in the very first
one Jesus turns
water into wine
and so what happens
is this
the weddings
run out of wine
and this is
a great embarrassment
and this is
like a shocking
thing I think
to most Canadians
to realize
that this is
the miracle
that in a sense
Jesus agrees
with John
that I want
to introduce
myself to Canadians
by this miracle
and it's not
you shouldn't
do this
you shouldn't
do that
it's not
no no
I'm going to
introduce myself
with this miracle
and so what it is
is they're having
a great time
at the wedding
they run out of wine
and so Mary
says to the servants
do whatever
Jesus tells you
and so Jesus says
fill these big
stone water pots
fill them with water
and take them
to the person
who's in charge
of the feast
and so they do
they fill up
the stone water jars
with water
and then they carry
the stone water jars
to the person
who's organizing
the feast
and by the time
they get to the person
organizing the feast
the person organizing
the feast
takes a ladle
and it's the best wine
it's the better wine
that's been served
at the entire party
it's huge
big barrel
it's a lot of wine
and you see
this is going to be
the key to this
this is why
the very very first thing
is submit and obey
you see that you make
your allegiance to Jesus
you submit to grace
and out of that
you begin to obey
and you see
the fact of the matter
is
is it's just like
you see
Jesus
God wants to fit you
for an eternity
with him
he wants to restore you
to the proper humanity
and so what it is
is
you need to obey
and he turns the water
into wine
because you can't
turn water into wine
I can't turn water
into wine
I can't do it
but if I obey
the things he tells me
to do
if I submit and obey
God will turn
the water of your obedience
the water of your life
into wine
and that's the heart
of submit
so what does the rest
of the text say
the first thing
is submit yourselves
therefore to God
resist the devil
and he will flee from you
this is a whole big topic
which I can't really get into
I just want to say this
first of all
the word resist
is very interesting
it's not a crusade word
go out and find the devil
wherever he is
and fight him
no
it's
it's more as if
it's
it's really
you know
interesting
Jono mentioned
at the beginning
this is Anzac Day
and a very important day
for Australians
and New Zealanders
and in fact
maybe one of the few times
that Aussies
in New Zealand
or Kiwis
and Aussies
sort of
sort of stand side to side
without being in rivalry
with each other
but that's just what
I sort of know
from a distance
and it's
the resist the devil
is really more
like a military term
it's as if they say
your commander says
I want you to hold
this pass
and you don't surrender
the pass
I want you to stay there
and fight
stand your ground
and no matter how much
attacks come
you stand your ground
and that's the word here
for resist the devil
and many of us think
that it's a hokey thing
it's a whole other topic
of conversation
the Bible teaches
that there is
there are in fact
unseen beings
that are evil
and hostile to you
that can influence you
and every single human being
including you
whether you realize it or not
have experienced
demonic
a demonic presence
in your life
the way most of us
experience it
is through
believing lies
through believing
slander about yourself
and believing others
to be tempted
to despair
to be tempted
to pride
to have that sense
when you know
you shouldn't do something
and you have a pressure
against doing something
but then there's
this stronger pressure
erring you to do that thing
which you know is wrong
and if you have experienced
that you have experienced
demonic
you have experienced
demonic
presences
to
hold on
to despair
when maybe
the beautiful day
or a child's laughter
tempts you to forget
about it
and it's as if
this voice is
no no no no
continue in your despair
continue in gloom
refuse joy
you have known that
just one other thing
there can be in fact
profound demonic oppression
and some of you
if you
some of you are experiencing
what you might think
is profound demonic oppression
contact us
and we will try to put you
in contact
with a good local church
where there can be people
who pray over you
for the setting aside
and the binding
of demonic oppression
and just one other thing
you should definitely
not do anything
if you are doing anything
now just remember Jesus
be gripped by the gospel
submit to God
and have nothing to do
with certain types
of practices
crystals
seances
other things
which are opening
yourself up
to demonic influence
not resisting it
but that's just it
very very very briefly
so once again
what is it
remember verse 6
but he gives more grace
therefore it says
God opposes the proud
but give grace to the humble
and verse 10 says
humble yourselves
before the Lord
and he will exalt you
that's the big picture
what's sort of
the next type of thing
submit
resist
the next thing
is draw near to God
that's in verse 8
draw near to God
and he will draw near to you
cleanse your hands
you sinners
and purify your hearts
you double minded
now this just means
what we're doing right now
that God wants you
to have times in the day
when you consciously
draw near to him
where you read your Bible
during the day
you pray to him
during the day
you confess your sins
during the day
you maybe set aside
time during the week
to be part of a small group
where you can meet with others
and get to know each other
have a bit of a one another life
and share the joys
and sorrows
all around God's word
and prayer
to be able to
I mean
you can't do it right now
it has to be
sort of like a wave
but when we can meet together
to have that arm
of a brother
or sister around you
you know
say yeah
we're going to weep with you
we're going to rejoice with you
we're going to pray for you
and let's look at God's word
or to have mentors
or disciples
and to gather
on Sundays
for worship
where we hear God's word
and we sing his praises
God invites us to draw near
to him
remember
but he gives more grace
therefore it says
God opposes the proud
but gives grace to the humble
humble yourselves
before the Lord
and he will exalt you
and
and then the very very next thing
and this is a bit of the hard part here
it says
it makes it sound as if
you have to be miserable
all the time
that's the next bit here
where is it
it's verse 9
be wretched and mourn and weep
let your laughter be turned
to mourning
and your joy to gloom
be wretched and mourn and weep
let your laughter be turned
to mourning
and your joy to gloom
just two very very simple things
or three very simple things
about that
first of all
if you read the book of James
you look at the beginning
it encourages you to be joyful
so in fact
what the Bible is doing
is the Bible wants to
heal
and free up
the full range of emotions
within you
and have your emotions
properly connected
to the right context
the real you
and the real thing
which is going on
and that's what the Bible
wants to do
and so what it's saying
is that a few
long long time ago
when we were in our rural church
we went away for a week
of camping
or something like that
and when we came back
we found out
that the power
had gone
in our house
and so it meant
that we lost all of the
we had a lot of meat
in our freezer outside
and we had stuff
in the fridge
and it was all spoiled
and I remember
when I went to pick up
the big outdoor freezer lid
and the second I did
the smell of rancid meat
I just about threw up
like it was just
oh
it was so terrible
if any of you
ever come across
something which is
deeply rancid
you just want to retch
had to close it
eventually figure out
what to do
so what the Bible
what would you say
about somebody
who if they came
to rancid meat
said
mmm that smells
delicious
you'd go
there's something
wrong with this person
in fact if it was
in a zombie movie
or a end of the world
movie
you'd know that
there's something
deeply wrong
about that movie
and you'd be thinking
don't you know
that person's a zombie
or whatever it is
right
and so what the Bible
is saying
is that as we get
draw
as the full acceptance
of God
becomes more real
to us
as we start
to become
more healed
by God
that what
that will start
to actually
be
like right now
people can tell lies
and laugh
they can tell lies
and they can go
to the bar
and they can tell
everybody about
how they told
these lies
and got away
with it
and everybody
laughs
but really
telling a lie
and laughing
is like lifting
a freezer
filled with rancid
meat
and saying
boy that's yummy
and so what
the Bible
is saying
is one of the
things that's
going to happen
to you
when you become
a Christian
is that your
emotions are
going to be healed
like
don't we find
it abhorrent
that somebody
can be racist
and laugh about
and enjoy it
don't we want
that person
who's racist
to gag
and wretch
and mourn
for their racism
if we found out
that somebody
was salivating
over child porn
wouldn't we want
them to gag
over that
and the Bible
is just saying
that as you
draw near to God
as this
as the gospel
becomes real
to you
but he gives
more grace
therefore it says
God opposes
the proud
but gives grace
to the humble
humble yourselves
before the Lord
and he will exalt
you
is that God
is going to
start to heal
your emotions
you will find
evil abhorrent
you will grieve
over the fact
that you used
to laugh at it
you will get
you will start
to want to vomit
over some of the
things that you
have done
you see
there's a closing
image
and then we're
just going to
say the final
verse
the closing
image is this
it's as if
every single
one of us
is a piano
every human
being is a piano
but the fact
of the matter
is that
we're missing
some keys
and in some
cases there's
the key
but the metal
the wire
stuff that makes
the noise
there's nothing
there
and then some
of the keys
if you do it
somebody like
John would say
yeah that's
the right key
that sounds
right
and then the
very next one
is out of tune
and you see
it isn't the
case like
lots of secular
therapies
and lots of
other types
of things
that God's
going to get
rid of the
whole keyboard
or that God's
just going to
give you a piano
and get rid of
all the keys
just except
one or two
little high notes
that you find
pleasurable
that what happens
is that God
wants to restore
the whole piano
I mean we don't
even know what
beautiful music
and how we're
going to sound
in heaven
Lord have
mercy
it will be so
glorious and so
beautiful
but on this
side of the grave
God is going to
start to work
within you
that unmoved
mover is going
to start to
all of a sudden
this key that
wasn't connected
to anything
there's wires
there
and then he's
going to start
to take some
of the stuff
that's out of
tune and he's
going to tune
it
and then at
the same time
he's making
you more and
more fully human
you're starting
to learn how
to play
and you're
playing all
of the notes
that's God's
goal for your
life
and as part
of God's
goal for your
life
he's going
to make you
grieve
you make me
grieve over
some of the
evil that I've
done
my unforgiveness
for my lack
of generosity
for my miserliness
for my lust
for my pride
for my envy
for my inattention
to the demands
of justice
and the demands
of compassion
my lack of
concern for the
poor
all whatever it
is he's going
to make you
start to find
it worth
crying about
and what's
the final verse
is this wonderful
promise humble
yourselves before
the Lord and
he will
exalt you
what is the
gospel friends
the gospel
the good news
is he gives
more grace
therefore it
says God
opposes the
proud but
gives grace
to the humble
humble yourselves
before the
Lord and
he will
exalt
you
friends
wherever you
are if you've
been sitting
I'm going to
invite you to
stand I'm
closing with
prayer we're
going to have
some other
prayer and
we're going to
sing some more
but just to
bring this to a
conclusion if you
haven't given your
life to Jesus
there's no better
time now than
to say Jesus be
my Savior and
my Lord I
want that I
want that I'm
willing to turn
away from
whatever I want
that I'm
Jesus I will
submit I won't
submit to man I
won't submit to
woman I won't
submit to ideologies I
won't submit to the
state but I will
submit to grace
come and take me and
never let me go
thank you that you
will exalt me that's
the end of my
story and for each
of us one of the
reasons it's so
important to come and
gather around God's
word is that we can
once again say the
pledge of allegiance
no it's an American
model but we can
once again say yes
that is why I follow
Jesus the one who
will take my
obedience and turn my
water into wine
Jesus help me to be
more obedient let's
just pray father
grip us with the
gospel we give you
an unconditional
invitation and
unconditional
permission to
speak your gospel
and your word into
every part of our
lives and to have
your gospel and your
word rule in every
part of our lives we
give you unconditional
invitation and
unconditional permission
and we do this in the
name of Jesus amen
translation and
British