WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:09.419 James chapter 4, verse 1. What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Well, James, I'll tell you. I'll tell you. I'll tell you. 00:00:09.419 --> 00:00:25.579 I'll tell you. That's obvious. That's an easy place to start. It's them. It's them. In my marriage, it's my spouse. She just doesn't understand. 00:00:27.179 --> 00:00:32.340 At work, it's my colleagues. They started this. I just defended myself. 00:00:32.340 --> 00:00:40.260 Children, boys and girls, look up for a second, boys and girls. Think about it for a moment. You'll not need to think too long. 00:00:41.080 --> 00:00:49.940 When you have fights and quarrels with your brothers and sisters, whose fault is it? It's them, isn't it? It's their fault. 00:00:49.939 --> 00:01:02.459 With our friends, she was so nasty to me, and I won't stand for it. He's just so arrogant, and somebody needed to tell him. 00:01:02.460 --> 00:01:12.700 In church, when there's division in church life, they said that thing, and they need to apologize. 00:01:14.980 --> 00:01:21.480 They don't approve of the way that I do the Christian life, and I won't have anybody look down on me. 00:01:22.180 --> 00:01:23.560 They won't treat me like that. 00:01:23.560 --> 00:01:31.620 Of course, in society, it's the left's fault. It's the right's fault. It's everybody in between's fault. 00:01:32.000 --> 00:01:34.040 Our problems are their fault. 00:01:36.700 --> 00:01:37.780 It's true, isn't it? 00:01:39.640 --> 00:01:44.420 Okay, you know you're not perfect, but fights and quarrels, wherever conflict turns up, 00:01:44.980 --> 00:01:50.280 if it wasn't for them, whoever they are, they wouldn't happen. 00:01:50.280 --> 00:01:56.320 Well, I'm glad we've cleared that up. Let's pray and go home. 00:01:58.060 --> 00:02:02.099 Now, we haven't cleared anything up, have we? Because James doesn't just ask the question, 00:02:02.599 --> 00:02:08.280 he answers it as well. James is turning the heat up on the behavior of these scattered churches, 00:02:08.400 --> 00:02:13.979 these Christian communities that are struggling and facing hard opposition, state-level opposition, 00:02:14.240 --> 00:02:18.819 because they name the name of Christ, and because of that, it has become increasingly clear to us, 00:02:18.819 --> 00:02:23.739 as we've gone through this letter, that they are marked by all kinds of conflict. 00:02:24.939 --> 00:02:30.739 There is the angry rhetoric of the leaders. There is political manipulation going on. There is 00:02:30.739 --> 00:02:35.939 partiality being shown to the rich and the powerful in the hope that they could get this group out of 00:02:35.939 --> 00:02:41.840 their trials, the trials that the Lord has sent their way. And because of all of that, there is a 00:02:41.840 --> 00:02:48.099 neglect of the needy. They're too busy arguing and fighting amongst themselves and railing against 00:02:48.099 --> 00:02:54.560 what's going on around them. The needy among them get lost. And there's insults and there's boasting. 00:02:54.719 --> 00:03:00.859 Chapter 3, verse 16, have a look. Disorder and every vile practice. 00:03:02.740 --> 00:03:08.519 So James asks the question, but he's not looking for an answer. He gives us the answer. And what he 00:03:08.519 --> 00:03:15.000 says is uncomfortable because he doesn't use the word them, does he? He uses the word you. 00:03:15.000 --> 00:03:21.780 It's clear as day, verse 1, your passions at war within you. 00:03:23.960 --> 00:03:31.099 Seems we need to rethink things. Seems we need to take a different perspective on the fights and 00:03:31.099 --> 00:03:37.080 quarrels that we get caught up in. But here's the thing, if we are prepared to do that this morning, 00:03:37.500 --> 00:03:43.900 if we are prepared to rethink, not all of us are. It's worth saying not all of us are prepared to do 00:03:43.900 --> 00:03:47.800 that because there's great safety and security in being able to point the finger at other people. 00:03:48.560 --> 00:03:53.300 There's great safety and security in being able to apportion blame for my problems to someone else 00:03:53.300 --> 00:03:58.620 without having to look at myself. But if we are prepared to revisit the question of where conflict 00:03:58.620 --> 00:04:05.700 in our lives, in our world, comes from, while James does have a hard and searching word for us, 00:04:05.840 --> 00:04:14.500 he also holds out the hope of change. Change that replaces blame and bitterness with lightness and liberty. 00:04:16.199 --> 00:04:20.740 So I want us to see that James tells us where conflict really comes from, number one, 00:04:21.120 --> 00:04:25.699 what it really is, number two, and what we should really do about it, number three. 00:04:25.699 --> 00:04:31.459 Let's go on that journey. Number one, where does conflict really come from? Verses one to three, 00:04:31.579 --> 00:04:38.839 what causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war 00:04:38.839 --> 00:04:45.459 within you? You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight 00:04:45.459 --> 00:04:58.339 and quarrel. There's no mention of them. Your passions, your desires, your covetous heart. James draws a big, 00:04:58.339 --> 00:05:03.319 fat, unmistakable line straight from our fights to our hearts. 00:05:05.099 --> 00:05:14.319 Our desires that go unmet, our coveting that cultivates resentment, and the quarrels that inevitably 00:05:14.319 --> 00:05:18.959 follow our envy. Our envy, that is the source of the unrest. 00:05:22.500 --> 00:05:27.199 Now, in the context we've seen over these weeks, these are these scattered churches that are facing 00:05:27.199 --> 00:05:31.800 the brunt of the Jewish zealots, hounding them out of their homes and their communities. 00:05:32.439 --> 00:05:40.180 And in some cases, even what we saw with Stephen in Acts chapter 7, they are even prepared to kill. 00:05:40.180 --> 00:05:47.000 We know that Saul of Tarsus was a leader of this group, and he was breathing murderous threats 00:05:47.000 --> 00:05:51.980 against these churches, even as he was accosted by the Lord on the Damascus Road. 00:05:53.579 --> 00:05:57.340 But in these trials, these Christians are struggling to trust God and His purposes, 00:05:58.060 --> 00:06:04.939 and instead they're envying the ruling elite who were chasing them. They are coveting the power of this 00:06:04.939 --> 00:06:09.439 group that are making their life so difficult, and they desire the influence that their persecutors 00:06:09.439 --> 00:06:16.639 have. So what they've decided to do is return like for like. When it says in verse 2, can you see that 00:06:16.639 --> 00:06:23.040 you desire and do not have, so you murder? It is possible, I guess, and many people take it this way, 00:06:23.100 --> 00:06:27.839 that James intends this in the sense that Jesus meant it. That is, to harbor anger for someone is 00:06:27.839 --> 00:06:33.259 to murder them in your heart. But I actually think that it's more likely to be referring to actual 00:06:33.259 --> 00:06:38.240 murderer. A like-for-like response, if you like, in the name of Christ to the zealots and the way that 00:06:38.240 --> 00:06:44.019 they're being treated. Just as they killed the godly Stephen, well, so it is that in this context, 00:06:44.199 --> 00:06:51.500 we fight back. They fight against their persecution. And what is going on? They are fighting back, 00:06:52.180 --> 00:06:55.920 literally in this case, in their pursuit of God's righteousness. 00:06:55.920 --> 00:07:03.300 They have chosen to adopt the world's methods to bring about godly ends. And James says this is 00:07:03.300 --> 00:07:09.300 wrongheaded, and it is more about their ego, their desire to get out of their trials, their desire to 00:07:09.300 --> 00:07:16.879 be powerful and influential than anything else. But there's also, verse 1, wars within you among the 00:07:16.879 --> 00:07:25.079 community itself. When you envy another person's state and your passions, your desires for what they 00:07:25.079 --> 00:07:32.300 have are thwarted, you get angry. And you turn your anger on those who have what you want but you don't 00:07:32.300 --> 00:07:41.339 have. It could be their skin color. It could be their sex. It could be their status. It could be anything. 00:07:41.659 --> 00:07:45.600 Those three are just the areas where we have conflict in our culture at the moment, where people say, 00:07:45.600 --> 00:07:52.780 it's them. They're the problem. But James is saying, trace that conflict all the way back to its source, 00:07:52.920 --> 00:07:58.840 and you will find coveting and envy. And those things live in your heart. 00:08:00.540 --> 00:08:09.040 It is God who assigns to each whatever they have. It is God who is sovereign over every square inch. It 00:08:09.040 --> 00:08:14.660 is God who gives us what we have and keeps from us what we don't have. And what we have, we should 00:08:14.660 --> 00:08:21.820 receive with thanksgiving, and we should be content with what He gives. We should not be looking at what He 00:08:21.820 --> 00:08:30.020 gave to someone else and hating them for it. Because God chose to give something to John and something else to 00:08:30.020 --> 00:08:36.480 Susan, it doesn't mean that He's being unfair, nor is it a conflict between John and Susan, a cause for conflict 00:08:36.480 --> 00:08:43.440 between John and Susan, or, for that matter, all their online followers. If someone gets something 00:08:43.440 --> 00:08:49.600 that you want because of injustice, well, there is more to say, yes. But even then, that's the case for 00:08:49.600 --> 00:08:56.019 James' hearers. And they are experiencing terrible injustice, persecution for naming the name of Christ, 00:08:56.019 --> 00:09:00.240 and still James exhorts them to put aside their envy, and they're fighting. 00:09:02.600 --> 00:09:08.939 And James doesn't stop at the interpersonal conflict. Do you see that? He traces it back even further, because our envy 00:09:08.939 --> 00:09:16.819 of others is actually, when you get to the bottom of it, it is actually an expression of our dissatisfaction with God's 00:09:16.820 --> 00:09:24.100 providence in our lives. He hasn't given us what we want or what we think we deserve. He has given to that 00:09:24.100 --> 00:09:29.860 person, however undeserving they may be, what we want. I am angry with God. 00:09:32.200 --> 00:09:39.340 When your passions for what you want go unmet, twists up your relationship with God, it cannot but twist up 00:09:39.340 --> 00:09:45.840 your relationship with God. Can you see that in verses 2 and 3? Verse 2, first of all, you do not have 00:09:45.840 --> 00:09:55.100 because you do not ask. Our prayer life, when we are angry in this way, when these desires that are 00:09:55.100 --> 00:10:02.180 directed, misdirected, twisted up desires, when these are at play, when they kind of lead things for us, 00:10:03.620 --> 00:10:08.700 our anger at God means that our prayer life becomes superficial. We're not honest with Him. We're not 00:10:08.700 --> 00:10:14.700 really telling Him what's going on in our heart. And the reason for that is, well, we don't ask for the 00:10:14.700 --> 00:10:19.640 sort of things that we know we shouldn't be asking for the sort of things that we really want. We 00:10:19.640 --> 00:10:25.620 shouldn't be asking for another person's status. We shouldn't be asking that God would take someone 00:10:25.620 --> 00:10:33.200 out and give us what they had. And we know that, so we don't ask. So our prayer life becomes superficial. 00:10:35.220 --> 00:10:40.560 But then from time to time, the desire just becomes so strong, and we do ask, but we ask in a veiled way. 00:10:40.559 --> 00:10:48.259 Lord, Lord, give me privilege and influence for the sake of your kingdom. 00:10:50.199 --> 00:10:55.000 But God, of course, can see through it. He knows our hearts. Verse 3, you ask and you don't receive 00:10:55.000 --> 00:11:01.619 because you ask wrongly to spend it on your passions. You ask because it's what you desire for yourself. 00:11:02.919 --> 00:11:08.979 You're praying that God would get on board with your ego in whatever guise that takes. And the truth is, 00:11:08.980 --> 00:11:14.300 we know when we're doing that. James simply says God is deaf to those requests. 00:11:16.700 --> 00:11:22.600 When we pray for the sake of our ego, as one author puts it, we find heaven made of brass. 00:11:24.180 --> 00:11:25.680 Our prayers don't go up there. 00:11:27.980 --> 00:11:34.820 Now, just to be clear, James isn't saying ambition is necessarily wrong. To be faithful to God doesn't 00:11:34.820 --> 00:11:39.840 mean that you don't have any goals in life. Nor is he saying that when life is tough for whatever 00:11:39.840 --> 00:11:46.460 reason that you don't pray for the hardship to be lifted. Nor again is he saying that we shouldn't 00:11:46.460 --> 00:11:51.379 pray for deliverance from enemies of the gospel who oppress us, or for the vindication of God's name. 00:11:51.680 --> 00:11:57.280 Those things are all good things to pray for. But there is a difference between being ambitious 00:11:57.279 --> 00:12:02.839 because you want your life to be used for the glory of God or being ambitious for your own glory. 00:12:05.000 --> 00:12:13.360 There is a difference between praying from a place of rest in Jesus and patient confidence that God 00:12:13.360 --> 00:12:19.740 will deliver his people and vindicate his name in his time, and seeking to crush and destroy those who 00:12:19.740 --> 00:12:26.959 oppose us. World of difference. If your desire is for revenge rather than the peace that will 00:12:26.960 --> 00:12:33.259 deliver a harvest of righteousness, remember 3 verse 18, then your motives are skewed, 00:12:34.259 --> 00:12:44.860 and God who knows your heart won't listen. Conflict flows from the distorted desires in our hearts. 00:12:46.960 --> 00:12:53.920 And James then gives this approach to life a name. Second point, what it really is. 00:12:53.919 --> 00:12:56.539 What is this really? Verse 4, 00:12:56.719 --> 00:13:02.839 You adulterous people, do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? 00:13:03.399 --> 00:13:07.299 Therefore, whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. 00:13:09.059 --> 00:13:13.059 It's friendship with the world. That kind of approach is friendship with the world, he's saying. 00:13:13.279 --> 00:13:17.879 Now, I mentioned when an earlier reference to the world came up in this letter, 00:13:18.299 --> 00:13:21.459 that Christians often hear language of world and worldliness, and they think, 00:13:21.460 --> 00:13:25.800 oh, sex, drugs, and rock and roll. That's the vices that go in the drawer that, you know, 00:13:25.820 --> 00:13:31.220 we're not allowed as Christians. We think sometimes being worldly is being overly involved 00:13:31.220 --> 00:13:37.200 in the material creation. That's not the case. That's not what James means. Rather, what he's 00:13:37.200 --> 00:13:43.160 talking about here when he talks about friendship with the world is he's describing a life that is 00:13:43.159 --> 00:13:50.360 driven by selfish ambition and envy. A selfish ambition and envy that both mimics the zealotry 00:13:50.360 --> 00:13:56.159 of their opponents as the way to change their circumstances and transform society, and that 00:13:56.159 --> 00:14:02.600 creates conflict in the community. A way of looking at the world and acting towards the world that is 00:14:02.600 --> 00:14:08.539 driven from your passions and desires that inevitably then will create conflict with others. 00:14:08.539 --> 00:14:16.000 And James is saying that when the church adopts worldly assumptions regarding truth and power 00:14:16.000 --> 00:14:22.599 and how society has changed, it is living out of the wisdom we saw last week described. Look at 315 00:14:22.599 --> 00:14:30.199 again. Earthly, unspiritual, demonic. The world, the flesh, and the devil. James says, 00:14:30.200 --> 00:14:39.980 to do that, Christian, is sleeping with the enemy. You adulterous people. It is spiritual adultery. 00:14:42.480 --> 00:14:48.540 Now, what that means is, on a personal level, we are to cultivate contentment with what God has 00:14:48.540 --> 00:14:58.900 allotted to us and refuse envy at every turn. Every good and perfect gift comes down from God, 00:14:58.899 --> 00:15:08.659 James chapter 1. Whatever He has given you, how you look, what you have, where you are in life, 00:15:09.259 --> 00:15:13.039 is to be received as a gift from His hand with gratitude and thanksgiving. 00:15:15.500 --> 00:15:24.120 And God shows no partiality, James chapter 2. He doesn't have favorites. So, we shouldn't get funny 00:15:24.120 --> 00:15:29.179 about how He has distributed those gifts because He has given more to one and less to another. 00:15:30.200 --> 00:15:32.720 That's not saying that they're His favorite and they're not. 00:15:34.720 --> 00:15:39.419 We shouldn't get grumpy because we don't want the gifts that He's given us, 00:15:39.620 --> 00:15:42.820 or envious because we do want what He's given others. 00:15:44.080 --> 00:15:45.639 That is the height of pride. 00:15:45.639 --> 00:15:51.960 Imagine on Christmas Day, someone gives you a gift, and you open it up, and you say, 00:15:52.240 --> 00:15:56.779 huh, that's not great. And you look over at the gift that they give to someone else, 00:15:57.000 --> 00:16:00.559 and you hate that person who's got that gift because they got something better, 00:16:00.939 --> 00:16:05.919 or something that you wanted that was different. It's incredibly proud and self-serving. 00:16:08.480 --> 00:16:13.360 Nor, by the way, should you feel guilty for the gifts that you've been given because the envious 00:16:13.360 --> 00:16:21.700 person wants you to feel that way. God gives the gifts, and His blessing is never, never, 00:16:21.879 --> 00:16:30.320 never a cause for guilt. Envy and covetousness drive so much of the cultural agenda today because 00:16:30.320 --> 00:16:38.519 it is driven by my desires. And that is the pride, verse 6, that God opposes. Do you see? God opposes 00:16:38.519 --> 00:16:45.120 the pride. That is why friendship with the world, living according to these values, 00:16:45.220 --> 00:16:48.860 is enmity with God. He opposes that kind of approach. 00:16:53.379 --> 00:16:59.059 That's a personal level if we think a bit further up. This is an important reminder, again, I think, 00:16:59.120 --> 00:17:02.899 for how the church engages with the world. Do you remember at the beginning of the series, 00:17:02.899 --> 00:17:08.339 I talked about the fact that we now live in the negative world. We live at a time in a culture 00:17:08.339 --> 00:17:15.579 where to be Christian is viewed negatively, and we're seen, some describe it as being the bad guys 00:17:15.579 --> 00:17:21.819 in culture. It's not just that Christianity is a kind of neutral thing, but it is actually a negative 00:17:21.819 --> 00:17:27.099 force in the world. Well, how does the church engage in that context? James is rebuking here a 00:17:27.099 --> 00:17:31.779 persecuted church for how they have allowed their passions to rule their agenda for bringing about 00:17:31.779 --> 00:17:37.000 the peace and righteousness of God that they desire. So they've set out with good intentions. 00:17:37.160 --> 00:17:40.960 They've just gone the wrong direction. And what they've done is they've followed the lead of the 00:17:40.960 --> 00:17:46.579 culture, a culture that pursues violence and anger to bring about their purposes, rather than waiting 00:17:46.579 --> 00:17:53.559 on God and following the example of the one who came to bring glory through suffering, the Lord Jesus. 00:17:54.559 --> 00:18:00.539 They have forgotten, blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test, 00:18:00.539 --> 00:18:08.119 he will receive the crown of life. Chapter 1, verse 12. The crown of life which God has promised to 00:18:08.119 --> 00:18:17.000 those who love him. Remain steadfast under trial. Stand the test. Wait for the crown in God's time. 00:18:18.259 --> 00:18:25.440 James' hearers haven't done that. They've decided instead to adopt the methods of those around them to 00:18:25.440 --> 00:18:32.880 try and achieve godly ends with worldly means. Now, in our day, I think it is unlikely. I hope it's 00:18:32.880 --> 00:18:37.519 unlikely we'll be tempted to show our affection for the world by conspiring to murder our enemies. 00:18:38.840 --> 00:18:43.860 But at a time, let's be honest, where holding traditional Christian views makes you unacceptable, 00:18:45.019 --> 00:18:51.740 where you get canceled for saying what the Bible says, where you face injustice and persecution because 00:18:51.740 --> 00:18:57.359 you just want to live out your Christian faith. That's all you're doing. Everybody else is living 00:18:57.359 --> 00:19:01.559 out their faith, even the faith they say they don't have. They live out according to their worldview. 00:19:02.000 --> 00:19:09.220 You're just trying to do that. And you get persecuted for it. When that happens, the temptation to let our 00:19:09.220 --> 00:19:14.359 passions take over and to fight back in ways that violate what James is saying in this letter is 00:19:14.359 --> 00:19:22.219 significant. Favoring the rich and powerful in order to gain favor for the gospel. Employing heated rhetoric 00:19:22.219 --> 00:19:28.519 designed to destroy our opponents. Look at so much of the Christian discourse online today. What is it if 00:19:28.519 --> 00:19:36.779 it is not that? Trying to win against opponents of the gospel using their methods. This is how the world 00:19:36.779 --> 00:19:41.240 operates. And James couldn't be clearer. He says it's spiritual adultery. 00:19:41.240 --> 00:19:51.579 I think there are times when we get so frustrated, we get so downcast about the state of things in our 00:19:51.579 --> 00:19:56.400 culture. We're seeking to be obedient to Christ. And it just seems that yet again, another thing has 00:19:56.400 --> 00:20:00.640 happened and it makes it harder and harder and harder for us. And it is more and more destructive 00:20:00.640 --> 00:20:07.019 for people to live in the culture. And we just wonder whether the reason that the wicked seem to 00:20:07.019 --> 00:20:11.039 prosper and the righteous suffer is because the wisdom of the world is actually the right approach to 00:20:11.039 --> 00:20:16.599 take. If we adopted their methods in the name of Christ, maybe that would be the right thing to do. 00:20:18.839 --> 00:20:21.000 James says to do that as spiritual adultery. 00:20:25.039 --> 00:20:31.680 But we do feel the pull of these desires. We feel them in our hearts, in ourselves. The world looks and 00:20:31.680 --> 00:20:38.319 feels impressive. The world looks strong and it is alluring. And it's a bit like a fish hook in the 00:20:38.319 --> 00:20:46.539 cheek. We get dragged along. So, what do we do? Well, we really need to look again at verse 6. 00:20:48.879 --> 00:20:52.839 Look at verse 6, and I want to suggest there is some delightful news there for us. 00:20:58.119 --> 00:21:06.379 Verse 5, God speaks of His jealousy for us. He hates our spiritual adultery because He has called us to 00:21:06.380 --> 00:21:13.260 Himself. He has wedded Himself to us and He yearns jealously for our affection. Verse 6, 00:21:13.320 --> 00:21:20.380 but He gives more grace. Therefore, it says, God opposes the proud, yes, but gives grace to the humble. 00:21:23.100 --> 00:21:32.780 So, all is not lost. As we feel that strong pull, that bias, as it were, in the base of our hearts that 00:21:32.779 --> 00:21:40.099 always seems to pull us in the wrong direction. James says what we should really do. Verse 7, 00:21:40.220 --> 00:21:45.720 submit yourselves, therefore, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw near to God, 00:21:45.759 --> 00:21:50.379 and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. 00:21:50.920 --> 00:21:55.180 Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. 00:21:55.180 --> 00:21:59.279 Humble yourselves before the Lord, and He will exalt you. 00:22:03.160 --> 00:22:10.000 We need to submit ourselves to God. We need to get our lives back under His rule, 00:22:10.320 --> 00:22:16.539 ordered according to His Word. We need to have our desires ordered rightly, 00:22:16.920 --> 00:22:23.200 and we need to embrace the pattern that Jesus left us to follow. So, that means a number of things. 00:22:23.200 --> 00:22:28.779 At the fundamental level, it means we need to repent. Do you see the language? It was just, 00:22:28.920 --> 00:22:37.360 it was so grief-laden, wasn't it? Be wretched, mourn, weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning, 00:22:37.779 --> 00:22:44.840 your joy to gloom. We need to repent. We need to humble ourselves before God. We need to recognize, 00:22:45.019 --> 00:22:52.720 confess, yes, I think that way. I do those things. I have those desires. I have been the 00:22:52.720 --> 00:23:00.299 cause of the conflict in this relationship. And we need to mourn over that. We need to take it 00:23:00.299 --> 00:23:06.860 seriously and pass it away. We don't stop and not pass over it. It's not okay to say it's them. 00:23:07.019 --> 00:23:12.740 It's always them. It's always them. To point the finger all the time. We need to get ourselves out 00:23:12.740 --> 00:23:19.120 of the way and humble ourselves before the Lord. That isn't just a one-time thing. 00:23:20.900 --> 00:23:25.940 It is a posture for every day and how we should think about our life all the time, for that matter. 00:23:26.180 --> 00:23:32.279 Repentance is a whole life thing. Repentance involves resisting the devil's lure to pursue 00:23:32.279 --> 00:23:37.980 earthly wisdom in these things. Repentance looks like leaning into the heavenly wisdom of peacemaking 00:23:37.980 --> 00:23:48.000 and gentle mercy towards others, 3, 17 and 18. We need to admit that the problems that exist 00:23:48.000 --> 00:23:52.339 around us, we have a part to play in that, and we need to confess it to God. 00:23:55.920 --> 00:24:01.960 But there are three positive outcomes when we do this. Do you see? Look what he says. Resist the 00:24:01.960 --> 00:24:11.660 devil. Resist the temptation to go in a particular direction that is away from God, and he will flee 00:24:11.660 --> 00:24:19.960 from you. When you resist the devil, he will flee from you. When you resist the temptation to covet and 00:24:19.960 --> 00:24:24.900 fight and quarrel when you submit to God, Satan will get on his bike. He won't leave you permanently. 00:24:25.180 --> 00:24:31.059 He'll look for another time to get you. But in that moment, and life is lived in moment by moment by 00:24:31.059 --> 00:24:36.039 moment, making the right decision moment by moment by moment, and in that moment, he'll flee, and he 00:24:36.039 --> 00:24:45.759 won't have caused you to sin. And it is one battle won. One battle won, one at a time. Resist the devil, 00:24:46.059 --> 00:24:56.359 and he will flee from you. Number nine, verse nine, draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. 00:24:56.359 --> 00:25:06.559 Isn't that a beautiful promise? Go to God. When you're convicted of your sin, often God is the last 00:25:06.559 --> 00:25:10.859 place that you want to go because you feel so guilty, so you don't have because you don't ask. 00:25:11.079 --> 00:25:15.959 You feel guilty. You don't think, I can go to God in this state, and so you don't. And all that does, 00:25:16.059 --> 00:25:22.839 it exacerbates the problem. We must go to God. Draw near to Him. He is the one place where we can receive 00:25:22.839 --> 00:25:27.240 grace and restoration, and where He responds by drawing near to you. 00:25:30.839 --> 00:25:36.199 When you fall, when you sin in some way, when you get caught up in some kind of conflict, and 00:25:36.199 --> 00:25:41.779 everything feels twisted up in your heart, coming to church is often the last thing you feel like doing. 00:25:41.779 --> 00:25:52.519 You feel guilty. You feel shame because of your sin, but it is the one place where you need to be. 00:25:55.420 --> 00:26:01.099 We come near to God, as one author has said, we come near to God to worship Him, to serve Him, 00:26:01.240 --> 00:26:09.119 to meet Him, to seek Him, and to gain assurance. And God responds in each case with His presence. 00:26:09.119 --> 00:26:18.319 You draw near to Him, He will draw near to you. He is here now. He is with us. He is speaking to you. 00:26:20.059 --> 00:26:27.219 Draw near to God. He'll draw near to you. Verse 10, humble yourself. Humble yourselves before the Lord. 00:26:28.079 --> 00:26:32.259 And what is the promise? He will exalt you. 00:26:32.259 --> 00:26:45.519 Get lower before the Lord. This is where we follow the example of the Lord Jesus. We do what Jesus did. 00:26:45.519 --> 00:26:51.779 You remember Philippians chapter 2? Though He was equal with God, the very Son of God Himself, 00:26:51.960 --> 00:26:58.000 He did not consider that a thing to be clung on to. He didn't consider it a thing to be insisted upon, 00:26:58.000 --> 00:27:06.799 a right to be demanded. Instead, He emptied Himself by becoming a servant. The King of glory wrapped in a 00:27:06.799 --> 00:27:15.920 towel, washing people's feet. The Sovereign of heaven receiving the spit and blows of those He created. 00:27:15.920 --> 00:27:26.660 And then He humbled Himself even further to death. And not just any death, to the cursed death of the 00:27:26.660 --> 00:27:31.560 cross. The most humiliating, disgraceful, disgusting, appalling death that there was. 00:27:33.200 --> 00:27:39.480 Now, we know that bit. We know that glorious aspect of the hymn. But what happens as a result of that 00:27:39.480 --> 00:27:49.240 humiliation? Paul says, therefore. You see that connection? Because He humbled Himself to the lowest 00:27:49.240 --> 00:27:59.140 place, God has highly exalted Him. The exaltation follows the humiliation. God has given Him the name 00:27:59.140 --> 00:28:05.680 that is above every name, simply because He humbled Himself to the Father, because He accepted the trials 00:28:05.680 --> 00:28:12.920 and the suffering. Because of His humiliation, Jesus is exalted to the place of honor. And as it was for the 00:28:12.920 --> 00:28:20.960 Lord Jesus, so it is for us. When you put yourself at the Lord's feet, whatever trials He has given you, those 00:28:20.960 --> 00:28:28.820 trials are on a clock. And one day, in His time, those trials will cease, and you will be exalted. 00:28:28.819 --> 00:28:37.000 You will be where Christ is. You will be lifted up to the place of glory with Him. 00:28:39.259 --> 00:28:44.279 And again, James is reminding us what the Lord Jesus said. Words that would be ringing in the ears 00:28:44.279 --> 00:28:50.039 of some of these people. This is a reminder, Luke 18, 14, for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled. 00:28:50.439 --> 00:28:58.059 God opposes the proud, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted. He gives grace to the 00:28:58.059 --> 00:29:07.819 humble. You can't choose whether or not you're going to face trials in this life, but you can choose how 00:29:07.819 --> 00:29:15.299 to respond. And the choice is fighting the way the world fights, because your desires aren't being met, 00:29:16.379 --> 00:29:22.579 because you're not getting what you want. You can go that way, or you can go the way of Christ. 00:29:23.159 --> 00:29:28.039 Submit yourself to God's wise providence. Refuse the wisdom of the world. Cleanse yourself 00:29:28.039 --> 00:29:33.019 of its corrupting influence and draw near to Christ. He walked the same road ahead of you, 00:29:33.220 --> 00:29:39.839 and His example assures you that however low we get today, however low you go, one day, 00:29:40.440 --> 00:29:43.819 you will be exalted. Let's pray. 00:29:43.819 --> 00:29:44.259 Let's pray. 00:29:44.259 --> 00:29:44.259 00:29:44.259 --> 00:29:44.259 00:29:44.259 --> 00:29:44.259 00:29:44.259 --> 00:29:44.259 00:29:44.259 --> 00:29:44.259 00:29:44.259 --> 00:29:44.259 00:29:44.259 --> 00:29:44.259 00:29:44.259 --> 00:29:44.259 00:29:44.259 --> 00:29:44.259 00:29:44.259 --> 00:29:44.259 00:29:44.259 --> 00:29:44.259 00:29:44.259 --> 00:29:44.259 00:29:44.259 --> 00:29:44.259 00:29:44.259 --> 00:29:44.259 00:29:44.259 --> 00:29:44.259 00:29:44.259 --> 00:29:44.259 00:29:44.259 --> 00:29:44.259 00:29:44.259 --> 00:29:44.259 00:29:44.259 --> 00:29:44.259 00:29:44.259 --> 00:29:44.259 00:29:44.259 --> 00:29:44.259 00:29:44.259 --> 00:29:44.259 00:29:44.259 --> 00:29:44.259 00:29:44.259 --> 00:29:44.259 00:29:44.259 --> 00:29:44.259 00:29:44.259 --> 00:29:44.259 00:29:44.259 --> 00:29:44.259 00:29:44.259 --> 00:29:44.259 00:29:44.259 --> 00:29:44.259 00:29:44.259 --> 00:29:44.259 00:29:44.259 --> 00:29:44.259 00:29:44.259 --> 00:29:44.259 00:29:44.259 --> 00:29:44.259 00:29:44.259 --> 00:29:44.259 00:29:44.259 --> 00:29:44.259 00:29:44.259 --> 00:29:44.259 00:29:44.259 --> 00:29:44.259 00:29:44.259 --> 00:29:44.259 00:29:44.259 --> 00:29:44.259 00:29:44.259 --> 00:29:44.259 00:29:44.259 --> 00:29:44.259