Conflict with God: Part 2

James 4: Friendship with the World as Spiritual Adultery

Please turn with me to James chapter 4, and we are reading. And what I'd like to do, let me just read again verses 1 all the way to verse 10 to get the context, but specifically we will look at verse 4 and 5.

Hear the word of the Lord. What is the source of quarrels and conflicts among you? Is not the source your pleasures that wage war in your members? You lust and do not have, so you commit murder. You are envious 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 with wrong motives, so that you may spend it on your pleasures. You adulterers, do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God?

Therefore, whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. Or do you think that the scripture speaks to no purpose? He jealously desires the spirit which he has made to dwell in us.

But he gives a greater grace. Therefore, it says, God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble. Submit, 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. Purify your hearts, you double-minded. Be miserable and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned into mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves in the presence of the Lord and he will exalt you.

Let's pray and ask the Lord's touch upon us this morning. Father, here we are standing in your presence. Lord, our desire is to see only Jesus, and that's really all that matters. Father, I'm thinking in my mind right now.

Lord, we desire a touch from your hand. That is so important. But I'm also thinking about the woman with the issue of blood for many, many years. She was desperate enough to get to you no matter what the crowd was around her.

She had an issue of blood that was serious. It was life-threatening.

She was desperate.

But she was moved in faith. And she pressed her way through the crowd and touched the hem of your garment. And then the Lord Jesus said, who touched me? He knew it. Who touched me? Lord, we need a touch from you, but we also need a touch you.

As Scripture says, draw near to you and you draw near to us. So Lord, may your presence flood our souls this morning. But may your word penetrate our hearts. May you be glorified in everything. Father, sanctify us wholly.

Sanctify us through and through. As only your word can do because your word cleanses, it purges. Father, we know also that it comforts the afflicted and it afflicts the comfortable. It has a double-edged sword.

It does its wonderful work because it has the power of life. It's life-giving power in it.

It's your word.

And faith comes by hearing and hearing by your word. So Father, encourage us this morning. But give us instruction in righteousness. That our lives may be well-pleasing in your sight. And Father, we pray that your Holy Spirit, through your word, will do a work in our souls this morning.

And we ask this in Jesus' name.

Amen.

The Meaning of Spiritual Adultery in James 4

When we see conflict with God, specifically James 4 .4, is a very strong verse. You adulteresses, do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? James gives a diagnosis of spiritual adultery as we've been looking at.

You adulteresses, do you not know? Do you not know? You have a knowledge that friendship, phileia, an intense emotional friendship with the world, makes yourself an enemy of God. This is a friendship with the world, it's a very sobering truth that even unbelievers, and specifically speaking about unbelievers, because they are the ones that are friends with the world, makes themselves an enemy of God.

And they are God's enemies, and that's taught throughout Scripture, everywhere. But we see here, adultery is the sin of violating a marriage covenant. That's what adultery is. It violates the covenant by having sexual intimacy with someone other than a spouse.

That's the definition of adultery. And Scripture is very clear that it is transgression against the holy law of God. How do we know this? Because the word of God says so. Exodus 20 -14. God said, in His eternal, perpetual law, you shall not commit adultery.

And actually, if you look at the Ten Commandments, it's all for our protection against sin. I always used to think, before I was converted to Christ, oh, that sounds so hard and so harsh. But really, it's loving.

It's like a parent.

This protects you.

And even though we've all broken these laws, how often does sin reap its consequences upon our souls? And we find devastation. And it brings us down, down, down. But Jesus is to bring us up in the truth.

And as hard as that truth is, there is a healing balm to it. So, that's the law of God. You shall not commit adultery. And referring to adulterous here in the text, James is using the terminology, metaphorically, in a way that his Jewish readers would clearly understand exactly what he's saying.

And they got it. Now, it's hard for us to understand it in our American thinking. But this is, to the Jewish mind, when he's speaking of adulterous, they got it. They understood it. And this is actually referring to men as well as women in the marriage contract.

And Scripture nowhere uses the terms adulterer or adulteress, figuratively, of Gentiles. Now, this is interesting. He's not speaking to Gentiles. He's speaking to Israel, in a sense, or the church, which is grafted in.

Because there's one bride. And that is Israel. And God's people are grafted in. So, God's covenant people, that's what he's speaking of, adultery, or adulteresses, had a covenant relationship with God.

And it is to be unfaithful to and just as husbands and wives have the covenant relationship of marriage. And that's what he's speaking of, about adultery. Now, Gentiles could be spiritual fornicators, but not adulterers, as it were.

But not adulterers. And a contendable distinction reserved for Israel only. So, the unfaithful wife. And that's what he's speaking of, an unfaithful wife. Whether they turn to pagan gods or idols or to simply turn to the world as their supreme love.

And to do so was to be unfaithful to the Lord and commit spiritual adultery. And that's what he's speaking of here. A figurative name for apostasy as well. That's really an eye-opener. That's very sobering because it's going apostate.

Israel’s Covenant Unfaithfulness and Jesus’ Rebuke of an Adulterous Generation

Now, there's some verses of Scripture I'd like for us to turn to. And we can find this. Turn with me to Exodus chapter 34. And Brother Keith brought this to my attention. And this is the covenant that was renewed the second time of the giving of the law of God.

But if you look at chapter 34 in Exodus, notice what the Lord says and what He does here. After the two tablets of the law of God was replaced, you see this in verses 1 through 10. They basically restored it.

But in verse 10 all the way to verse 17, notice the word of the Lord and what is said about the giving of the law. Then God said, Behold, I'm going to make a covenant. God's a covenant keeping God. But notice what He says, Before all your people I will perform miracles which have not been produced in all the earth nor among any of the nations.

And all the people among whom you live will see the working of the Lord. For it is a fearful thing I am going to perform with you. Be sure to observe, God says, what I am commanding you this day. Behold, I am going to drive out the Amorite before you and the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Perizzite and the Hivite and the Jebusite.

Watch yourself. Now notice what He says here. Watch yourself that you make no covenant with the inhabitants of the land into which you are going, like the world to us. Or it will become a snare in your midst.

A snare. But rather you are to tear down their altars and smash their sacred pillars and cut down their asherim for you shall not worship any other god. There is the re-emphasis there, that you are not to worship any other gods.

For the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God. Otherwise, you might make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land and they would play the harlot with their gods and sacrifice to their gods and someone might invite you to eat of his sacrifice and you might take some of his daughters for your sons and his daughters might play the harlot with their gods and cause your sons also to play the harlot with their gods.

You shall not make for yourself no molten gods. And I'll stop right there. But notice the seriousness that God has of giving this covenant with Israel. And God is a jealous God. He makes that very clear.

The covenant is renewed here. And Jesus spoke also of unbelieving Israel. In His day, as an evil and adulterous generation. He said this many times. Matthew 12 .39 is an example.

I'll give one here.

But He answered and said to them, an evil and adulterous generation desires or craves for a sign. And then He says this, and I love it, how He pinpoints this. And then He says,. And yet no sign will be given to it but the sign of Jonah the prophet.

And of course He goes on about what happened to Jonah the prophet. He was three days and three nights in the heart of the sea monster. So will the Son of Man be three days and three nights. And then He would rise again, focusing on His death and burial and resurrection.

But that was the only sign given. Why He said because adulterous and evil and adulterous generation craves for a sign. Now, it was because most Jews, even those that were religious in Jesus' day, had turned away from the Lord.

And His revealed word to idolatry and to gods of their own making. And to their own man-made traditions. And to interpret Scripture the way they wanted to interpret the Scriptures. They picked and chose what they wanted.

Isn't this so in our day as well? No new thing under the sun. And in doing so they strayed, they departed from the Lord, and often they contradicted Scripture because of it. They never got the truth out of it.

And becoming self-deceived. That's where we are today as well. And blinded to God's truth. Even to Jesus, the Son of God. There's another Scripture, I just quoted that one verse from Matthew 12, but if you turn with me to Matthew chapter 15, I'm going to hit a few Scriptures here and see how we can connect these to the text of what James is driving at.

But there's so many verses of Scripture we can go to, but Matthew chapter 15 is a very strong chapter. I'm going to read most of this chapter. But chapter 15 pretty much speaks a debate over tradition.

And here is the Son of the living God. MacArthur says of this about the tradition of the elders, he said this was a body of extra-biblical law that had existed only in oral form. And only since the time of the Babylonian captivity.

Later it was committed to the writing in the Mishanah. Near to the end of the second century. The law of Moses contained no commandment about washing one's hands or before eating. Except for the priests who were required to wash before eating holy offerings.

Now, there's a debate that is going to go on here. And Jesus sets this very straight. But there's a point that he makes. And the point I really love the way he always goes to the heart. Keep in mind that Jesus always goes to the inner motives.

The Pharisees and the scribes and the Sadducees and the religious theologians of the day were all about externalism. It was all about the washing of the hands and the traditions that they were passed on.

They got so stuck in the rut on their traditions. But Jesus was all about the heart motive. But notice what it says in verse 1. I'm going to just read a few here. A few verses. And then some of the Pharisees and scribes came to Jesus from Jerusalem and said, Why do your disciples break the traditions of the elders?

For they do not wash their hands when they eat bread. See, they're all about externalism. You see this? And he answered and said to them, Why do you yourselves transgress the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition?

Notice how Jesus answers them. He answers them with a question. He throws a question back to them. And then verse 4, And God said, Notice how Jesus goes straight to the word of God. Honor your father and mother.

He goes to the commandment. And he who speaks evil of father and mother is to be put to death. But you say, Notice what he says. But you say, whoever says his father or mother, Whatever I have that would help you have been given to God.

He is not to honor his father or his mother. And by this you invalidated the word of God. Made it of no effect, basically. For the sake of your tradition. Now this is interesting. See, notice what Jesus is saying.

Basically, Jesus is saying you misinterpret the scriptures. You're not seeing the truth as it should be seen. Of course, they didn't have the spirit of God. What does he call them in verse 7?

You hypocrites.

In other words, he said you play actors. You're all about just show. Rightly did Isaiah prophesy of you. Notice Jesus does not hold back truth. He goes to Isaiah and he said, This people honors me with their lips.

But their heart is far away from me. Notice that's what he's talking about here. He's getting to the heart. And then in verse 9,. But in vain do they worship me, Teaching as doctrines the precepts of men.

After Jesus called the crowd to him, He said to them, Hear and understand, It is not what enters the mouth that defiles the man, But what proceeds out of the mouth that this defiles the man. I want to stop right there.

Jesus is teaching about the inner depravity of man. It's not the outward that is corrupting all on the outward that influence the society in which we live in. But it is an inward issue. It is depravity.

That's exactly what James is talking about. Now in verse 12, Then the disciples came and said to him, Do you know that the Pharisees were offended when they heard this statement? You know why they said it?

Notice how Jesus, He did not stagger or did not hesitate in giving the truth. He gave the truth straight down the barrel. Oh, the disciples, You offended them. Yeah, yeah, amen, good. Verse 13, But he answered and said, Notice how Jesus, How wise and loving and compassionate, But no compromise of truth.

And then he says this, Every plant my heavenly Father did not plant shall be uprooted. Let them alone. They are blind guides of the blind. And if the blind man guides a blind man, Both will fall into a pit.

That's truth, folks. That's loving truth. That's hard truth. Now most people that would hear a sermon about that text today would say, He's bad. He's not compassionate. But Jesus is the most compassionate man that ever lived.

Peter said to him, Explain the parable to us. Peter is still trying to get this.

Jesus said,.

Are you still lacking in understanding also? Do you not understand? Notice how many times he says understand. That everything that goes into the mouth, Passes into the stomach and is eliminated. Very graphic.

And then he says,. But the things that proceed out of the mouth come from the heart. Those defile the man. And then he says this, For out of the heart come evil thoughts, Murders,.

Adulteries,.

Fornications,.

Thefts, False witness, Slanders. Notice what he says. He gets to the point. These are the things which defile the man. But to eat with unwashed hands does not defile the man. Jesus got to the very heart of the matter.

And that's exactly what James is saying. But notice he said, Do you not know? Jesus constantly argued without understanding. We need a revival of coming back to what the word of God says About the issue.

And the issue of the heart. About worldliness. Scripture teaches a lot. James is like one of the Old Testament prophets. Who used marriage covenant as a parable To our relationship with God. And he holds nothing back.

And he sees, I like the way Sinclair Ferguson says here, He sees the scarlet A in our soul. That's strong. Friendship with the world leads to adultery. In our relationship with God. Plain and simple. And it's strong language but we need to hear it.

But indeed to what James calls enmity with God. In verse 4. Now my question is this. So how does this happen? How does this happen? That's a good question. What are the telltale signs leading to adultery?

Spiritual adultery. Well, I'm going to point out something. I was reading Sinclair Ferguson. He's really good. And I can't hold back to what he had to say about this question. In his study of James. He has an insightful explanation on this.

From his commentary. Let's study James. And he says this. Speaking of avoiding worldliness. He says, quote. Often the marriage relationship has become jaded. And at the same time our real commitment level is exposed for its lack of depth and resilience.

Resilience, I'm sorry. Feelings trump discipline. Our immune system is low. We become prone to the attractions and the attractiveness of someone else. Notice what he says here. We begin to prefer to spend time with them.

And we find their company stimulating. One thing leads to another. And the friendship develops. And then we commit adultery. Notice a little at a time. And he goes on to say this. It may happen in a matter of hours.

Or it may take months. But in the process. An enmity towards our spouse is built up. Whatever pretense is made. The factious expression, I still love her. But I'm no longer in love with her. Confuses the emotional conditions with the personal commitment.

And he goes on to say. And how can it be that two people who committed themselves to spending the rest of their lives together. Can no longer tolerate living in the same house. Promised love has turned into enmity.

And this is the echo of our spiritual adultery. Although I still love God. This other love is important to me. I must have it. That clause right there says everything. Let me pause on his comment here for a second.

I must have it. It becomes covetousness. I gotta have it. And we will justify that in any way we can to get it. He goes on to say this. And he nails it right here. But the truth will emerge in the end tale.

I can no longer live in the same home as God. Enmity will build up against him. And he will become ultimately my enemy. End quote.

That is so true.

Isn't it?

And that is a very pricking statement in which he says. So really the root cause. What's the root cause of all this? What's the root cause of our conflict with God? What's the root cause of internal and external conflict?

I'll tell you what it is. It's our rebellion against God. It's our pride. The root of it is pride. And the root of spiritual adultery is the pride that we have against God himself. And it's against God and God alone.

Even at the beginning of creation. We behold the perfect harmony that God made between man and woman. Between Adam and Eve. But sin came and sin interrupted that harmony. It comes into the world. And this leads to conflict.

And notice the conflict that came and followed after sin came into the world. Sin is lawlessness. And lawlessness is rebellion against God. You know you say that today but people don't want to hear it.

But if we really humble ourselves before the pages of Holy Writ and Scripture. And the truth of what God is saying. We will find there is a healing balm for us. You know here is a heart problem. That's as Jesus was speaking of.

And a heart issue. And it's always a heart issue. And that's what James is referring to. You've got a heart issue basically. You've got a heart issue towards God. The Maker. The Redeemer. The Savior. So how does a believer declare war against God?

Well, when he leaves his first love. Now, technically I believe in the context of what James is speaking here in James 4. He's speaking of unbelievers. But there is a sense that a believer can move away from God and leave his first love.

We will see that in a minute. But here, by being friends with the world, we become an enemy of God. And that is a person, if you are an enemy of God, you never were a redeemed believer in the first place.

But James names three enemies and we are not going to look at all of them. And you know what all these three enemies are. We must not fraternize if we want to be at peace with God. We are going to look at just today the world.

And I may pick up a little bit on the flesh and the devil next week. And bring a complete application to it. But let's just look a little bit more at what he is talking about of being friends with the world.

The World as the Enemy of God

Now, there is a verse of scripture that came to me when I was thinking about spiritual adultery. And about being... You know Jesus says you cannot serve two masters. You will love the one or hate the other.

Right? But also in Amos. Turn with me to Amos chapter 3. I want you to hear this. We quote one verse of scripture that is found in this. But get the whole context of what this prophet is speaking about.

And by the way, the book of Amos is a short book that would pay for you to read in your devotional time. And it speaks of... Actually, they call it one of the minor prophets. Brother Keith talked about the burden this morning.

But the name Amos actually means burden. It means burden bearer. Isn't that interesting? And it is not to be confused with Amos, stout or strong. But the father of Isaiah. But it is interesting that his name is burden bearer.

And this whole book really speaks of apostasy. And evidence that is continued. And there is willful rejection of the prophetic message of Amos. And his promised divine judgment. And you see judgment falling.

Because of his covenant. That is what we got to get. And however the Lord will not abandon Israel altogether. But he will bring future restoration of the righteous remnant together. Now, notice what he says in chapter 3.

And all the tribes are guilty here. But I just want to read just eight verses. And notice what the word of the Lord says here. Hear this word which the Lord has spoken against you, sons of Israel. Against the entire family which he brought up from the land of Egypt.

And this is strong language. But notice what God says. You only have I chosen among all the families of the earth. That is love right there, isn't it? Therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities.

Do two men walk together unless they have made an appointment? Does a lion roar in the forest when he has no prey? Does a young lion growl from his den unless he has captured something? Notice the examples from nature.

Does a bird fall into a trap on the ground where there is no bait in it? Does a trap spring up from the earth when it captures nothing at all? If a trumpet is blown in a city, will not the people tremble?

If a calamity occurs in a city, has not the Lord done it? Surely the Lord God does nothing unless he reveals his secret counsel to his servants, the prophets. A lion has roared. Who will not fear? The Lord God has spoken.

Who can but prophesy? And I'll stop right there. That's some strong language. It's almost as if God, there's a jealousy there. That's what I'm getting to. There is a jealousy, a holy jealousy that God has over his people.

And notice it comes in a series of questions. Questions after questions. And one of the main verses we quote a lot, can two walk together unless they are in agreement? Or they have made an appointment.

Very important. Well, you know, the scripture language is very strong about the world. And James means, of course, the fallen human society. We looked at this last week. Apart from God, the whole system of the world, the system that is anti-Christ and anti-God.

And as 1 John 2 .15 -17 says, Do not love the world, neither the things that are in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. And then he says this, What's in the world?

All that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world. The world is passing away and also it's lust. But, don't you love that?

But, I'm thankful for that but. But, the one who does, there it is, that does the will of God abides forever. You want to abide forever? Do God's will. Do the will of God. And what's God's will? It's what God desires.

It's opposite of what the world desires. And that's why God and the world are in conflict with one another. There can be no harmony between the two. There's no agreement. It's like God gives us from the beginning in creation.

God made light, which is a symbol of His holiness, by the way. And then God, there's darkness. But what did God do? He separated the light from the darkness. He separated the two. You cannot blend them together.

No more than you can blend oil and water together. So those on the other hand, you see, what is said here, are those who love the world, do not belong to the Lord Jesus Christ. They are of the world. And the world does not receive the things of God.

Isn't that what Paul said? The people of the world, they have a longing to be involved in the world's desires, the world's drives, the world's impulses, the attractions of the world, the things of the world they love.

We're just not talking about the things God made. We're talking about the world's system. And who's the prince and the power of the air? The prince and the God of this world? Satan himself. You see, you have that.

For which they have determined and have a habitual attachment for.

The love for the world.

You see, the goal of the world and the Satan-directed system of this present age is really hostile against God and God's people. And everything that the world's goal falls under the category is self-centeredness.

It's all about self, isn't it? Look around you. Can't deny that. It's all about self. Godless value.

Ungodly.

It's not godly.

It's ungodly.

It's an ungodly system. It is full of self-glory. It's all about what man can do, about humanism, about how good man is. You see this. It's about self-fulfillment. And it's even crept in the church.

You've got false teachers teaching about self-fulfillment, how you can love yourself. Norman Vincent Peale, he was one of the pioneers of this years ago. And he constantly focused on positive, this is where the positive confession, positive thinking came in.

He was big on this positive, positive, positive. We hear too much negativity. We don't need to hear anything negative.

Oh really?

What about what Jesus said? All the truth that he gave was pretty much on the negative sense. To deny yourself? Oh, that's negative. But Norman Vincent Peale would say, love yourself. Self-fulfillment.

Self-indulgence. Self-satisfaction. It's all about self. What does that sound like?

The world?

The devil? See, they go in harmony with each other. And the flesh. The flesh is pampered, the flesh loves it. The devil actually, when he rebelled against God, when he was an archangel, he says, I will exalt myself against God.

I will exalt myself against, I will, I will, I will. Jesus didn't talk that way. Actually, Jesus was in reverse.

Thy will be done.

Thy will. And actually when he was praying in the garden of Gethsemane, he was on his face, and sweat and blood and tears before he went to the cross to give himself up as a sacrifice for our salvation.

He says, not my will, but thy will be done. You see? You see, even in the garden, Jesus had that temptation to bypass the cross. At the beginning of his ministry and at the end of his ministry. Satan did everything he could, and he threw everything he possibly could muster up against the Son of God, the Son of Man, to bypass the cross, but Jesus went all the way through and made it to the other side.

Praise God. You see, the world's all about self, isn't it? But Jesus, you don't see that. See, the world, all which amounts to hostility towards God. Why? Why? Obviously, self-glory. It's lifting up in pride.

Rebellion against God. That's the ultimate sin that beats all in our hearts, that we have to have mortified by the power of the Spirit of God. You tell the world this today when I'm speaking of you, they'll look at you cross-eyed and think, you've got to be crazy.

Pat me on the back. Lift me up. Glorify me. And look on the TV. Everything glorifies the flesh. You see, the flesh, the devil, the world, it's all in cahoots together, and that's why God says these are enemies.

Against Himself,.

Against the supreme authority of God. So when we are in this kind of sin, of being worldly, we come up against the authority of God Himself. And God has to punish it. And God will not have nothing to do with it.

Isn't it wonderful to know that our God, that there is a God in heaven? This thought just really ran across my mind as I was speaking these thoughts and speaking this to you and ministering the Word of God to you, that God will never, ever change.

God will never compromise. You know, we waver. God is unwavering. He will not waver. He will not break His covenant.

God will be God.

And that's what Moses said, from everlasting to everlasting,.

Thou art God.

He's not going to change His ways. He will be God and always will be God. In other words, He is as holy as He was billions of years before the earth even was made. And He will be holy as holy billions of years after the earth is burned up.

Isn't that wonderful to know? And not only in His holiness, His mercy will not change. His love will not change. His faithfulness will not change. He is God from everlasting to everlasting, from vanishing point to vanishing point.

In other words, you take eternity to eternity, there's no end to it. Without limitations, without ends, no changing with God. So you can count on that. Now the devil, he's got his day coming. He's going to burn and fire.

Right now, God's using him.

He is. God's using him. That's the way God, that's why He runs loose. Most people say, why does evil exist? Well, you know, there is a mystery in iniquity, isn't it? The Scripture says there's a mystery of iniquity.

And we don't understand all these things. And we see suffering without end. And we see children and families. And we think, and in our own concept and imagination, we say, why God? But the question should be, God, why have you allowed me to even live?

Why do we even live? God is so merciful. From the beginning, when man failed,.

God could have easily killed Adam.

But He had mercy on him. And He gave him the Gospel.

And He clothed him.

He couldn't clothe himself.

What did He try to do? Take fig leaves from off the trees that God made and try to cover his nakedness? God says, no, I can cover you.

Amen.

That's the Gospel.

He covers us in the righteousness of Jesus. You see, James, what's James saying? James said, therefore, whoever wishes, desires to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. Now, let's dig in a little word study here.

Don't you love the word study? The word wishes here in this translation connotes more than just wanting a desire or a wish to be fulfilled. It goes deeper than that.

Listen to this.

It carries the stronger idea of choosing one thing over the other. That's what it's speaking of. You ultimately are choosing. And we make that decision, don't we? What am I going to choose this day? Choose you this day in whom you will serve.

See, every day we live, we make choices. We make decisions. Who am I going to serve this day? In other words, am I going to give in to the world here? Or am I going to love God here? We make these little decisions.