Conflict with God: Part 2

Redeeming Grace Church

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Please turn with me to James chapter 4, and we are reading, and what

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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.

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Hear the word of the Lord. What is the source of quarrels and conflicts among you?

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Is not the source your pleasures that wage war in your members?

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You lust and do not have, so you commit murder. You are envious and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel.

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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.

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You adulterers! Do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God?

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Therefore, whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. Or do you think that the

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Scripture speaks to no purpose? He jealously desires the spirit which he has made to dwell in us.

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But he gives a greater grace, therefore it says, God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble.

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Submit, therefore, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

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Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners.

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Purify your hearts, you double -minded. Be miserable and mourn and weep.

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Let your laughter be turned into mourning, and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves in the presence of the

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Lord, and he will exalt you. Let's pray and ask the

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Lord's touch upon us this morning. Father, here we are standing in your presence.

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Lord, our desire is to see only Jesus. And that's really all that matters.

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Father, I'm thinking in my mind right now, Lord, we desire a touch from your hand.

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That is so important. But I'm also thinking about the woman with the issue of blood toil.

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For many, many years, she was desperate enough to get to you, no matter what the crowd was around her.

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

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But she was moved in faith. And she pressed her way through the crowd, and touched the hem of your garment.

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And then the Lord Jesus said, Who touched me? He knew it. Who touched me?

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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.

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So Lord, may your presence flood our souls this morning, but may your word penetrate our hearts.

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May you be glorified in everything. Father, sanctify us wholly. Sanctify us through and through.

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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.

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It has a double -edged sword. It does its wonderful work, because it has the power of life.

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It's life -giving power in it. It's your word. And faith comes by hearing, and hearing by your word.

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So Father, encourage us this morning, but give us instruction in righteousness, that our lives may be well -pleasing in your sight.

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And Father, we pray that your Holy Spirit, through your word, will do a work in our souls this morning.

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And we ask this in Jesus' name. Amen. When we see conflict with God, specifically

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James 4 .4, is a very strong verse.

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You adulteresses, do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God?

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James gives a diagnosis of spiritual adultery, as we've been looking at.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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That's what adultery is. It violates the covenant by having sexual intimacy with someone other than a spouse.

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That's the definition of adultery. And Scripture is very clear that it is transgression against the holy law of God.

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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.

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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.

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But really, it's loving. It's like a parent. This protects you.

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And even though we've all broken these laws, how often does sin reap its consequences upon our souls?

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And we find devastation. And it brings us down, down, down. But Jesus is to bring us up in the truth.

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And as hard as that truth is, there is a healing balm to it. So, that's the law of God.

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You shall not commit adultery. And referring to adulteresses here in the text,

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James is using the terminology, metaphorically, in a way that his

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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

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American thinking. But this is to the Jewish mind, when he's speaking of adulteresses, they got it.

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They understood it. And this is actually referring to men as well as women in the marriage contract.

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And Scripture nowhere uses the terms adulterer or adulteress figuratively of Gentiles.

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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.

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Because there's one bride. And that is Israel.

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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.

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And it is to be unfaithful to, and just as husbands and wives have the covenant relationship of marriage.

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And that's what he's speaking of, about adultery. Now, Gentiles could be spiritual fornicators, but not adulterers, as it were.

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But not adulterers. And a contendable distinction reserved for Israel only.

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So, the unfaithful wife. And that's what he's speaking of, the unfaithful wife. Whether they turn to pagan gods, or idols, or to simply turn to the world as their supreme love.

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And to do so was to be unfaithful to the Lord and commit spiritual adultery. And that's what he's speaking of here.

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A figurative name for apostasy as well. That's really an eye -opener.

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That's very sobering, because it's going apostate. Now, there's some verses of Scripture I'd like for us to turn to, and we can find this.

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Turn with me to Exodus chapter 34, and Brother Keith brought this to my attention.

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And this is the covenant that was renewed the second time of the giving of the law of God.

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But if you look at chapter 34 in Exodus, notice what the Lord says, and what

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He does here. After the two tablets of the law of God was replaced, you see this in verses 1 through 10.

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They basically restored it. But in verse 10 all the way to verse 17, notice the word of the

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Lord and what is said about the giving of the law. Then God said,

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Behold, I'm going to make a covenant. God's a covenant keeping God. But notice what

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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.

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And all the people among whom you live will see the working of the

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Lord. For it is a fearful thing I am going to perform with you.

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Be sure to observe, God says, what I am commanding you this day. Behold, I am going to drive out the

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Amorite before you and the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Perizzite, and the

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Hivite, and the Jebusite. Watch yourself. Now notice what He says here.

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Watch yourself that you make no covenant with the inhabitants of the land into which you are going.

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That's like the world to us. Or it will become a snare in your midst.

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A snare. But rather you are to tear down their altars and smash their sacred pillars and cut down their asherim.

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For you shall not worship any other god. There's the re -emphasis there that you're not to worship any other gods.

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For the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous god.

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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.

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You shall not make for yourself no molten gods. And I'll stop right there.

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But notice the seriousness that God has of giving this covenant with Israel.

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And God's a jealous God. He makes that very clear. The covenant is renewed here.

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And Jesus spoke also of unbelieving Israel. In His day, as an evil and adulterous generation.

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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.

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And then He says this, and I love it, how He pinpoints this. And then He says,

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And yet no sign will be given to it but the sign of Jonah the prophet. And of course

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He goes on about what happened to Jonah the prophet. He was three days and three nights in the heart of the sea monster.

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So will the Son of Man be three days and three nights. And then

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He would rise again focusing on His death and burial and resurrection.

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But that was the only sign given. Why? He said because adulterous and evil and adulterous generation craves for a sign.

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Now, it was because most Jews, even those that were religious in Jesus' day, had turned away from the

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Lord. And His revealed word to idolatry and to gods of their own making and to their own man -made traditions and to interpret

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Scripture the way they wanted to interpret the Scriptures. They picked and chose what they wanted.

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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

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Lord, and often they contradicted Scripture because of it. They never got the truth out of it.

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And becoming self -deceived. That's where we are today as well.

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And blinded to God's truth, even to Jesus, the

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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, we're going to hit a few

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Scriptures here and see how we can connect these to the text of what

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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.

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I'm going to read most of this chapter. But chapter 15 pretty much speaks a debate over tradition.

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And here is the Son of the living God. MacArthur says of this about the tradition of the elders.

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He said, this was a body of extra -biblical law that had existed only in oral form and only since the time of the

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Babylonian captivity. Later it was committed to the writing in the

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Mishanah near to the end of the second century. The law of Moses contained no commandment about washing one's hands before eating, except for the priests who were required to wash before eating holy offerings.

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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.

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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.

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The Pharisees and the scribes and the Sadducees and the religious theologians of the day were all about externalism.

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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.

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But Jesus was all about the heart motive. But notice what it says in verse 1.

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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,

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Why do your disciples break the traditions of the elders? For they do not wash their hands when they eat bread.

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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?

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Notice how Jesus answers them. He answers them with a question. He throws a question back to them. And then verse 4,

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And God said, Notice how Jesus goes straight to the word of God.

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Honor your father and mother. He goes to the commandment. And he who speaks evil of father or mother is to be put to death.

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But you say, notice what he says. But you say, whoever says his father or mother, whatever

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I have that would help you have been given to God. He is not to honor his father or his mother.

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And by this you invalidated the word of God, made it of no effect basically, for the sake of your tradition.

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Now this is interesting. See, notice what Jesus is saying. Basically Jesus is saying,

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You misinterpret the scriptures. You're not seeing the truth as it should be seen.

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Of course they didn't have the spirit of God. What does he call them in verse 7? You hypocrites.

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In other words, he said, you play actors. You're all about just show.

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Rightly did Isaiah prophesy of you. Notice Jesus does not hold back truth. He goes to Isaiah and he said,

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This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far away from me.

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Notice that's what he's talking about here. He's getting to the heart. And then in verse 9,

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But in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the precepts of men.

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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 disdefiles the man.

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I want to stop right there. Jesus is teaching about the inner depravity of man.

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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.

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It is depravity. That's exactly what James is talking about. Now in verse 12,

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Then the disciples came and said to him, Do you know that the Pharisees were offended when they heard this statement?

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You know why they said it? Notice how Jesus, he did not stagger or did not hesitate and give them the truth.

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He gave the truth straight down the barrel. Oh, the disciples, you offended them.

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Yeah, yeah, amen, good. Verse 13, But he answered and said,

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Notice how Jesus, how wise and loving and compassionate, but no compromise of truth.

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And then he says this, Every plant my heavenly father did not plant shall be uprooted.

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Let them alone. They are blind guides of the blind.

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And if the blind man guides a blind man, both will fall into a pit. That's truth, folks.

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That's loving truth. That's hard truth. Now most people that would hear a sermon about that text today would say,

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He's bad. He's not compassionate. But Jesus is the most compassionate man that ever lived.

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

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Jesus said, Are you still lacking in understanding also? Do you not understand?

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Notice how many times he says understand. That everything that goes into the mouth, passes into the stomach and is eliminated.

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Very graphic. And then he says, But the things that proceed out of the mouth come from the heart.

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Those defile the man. And then he says this, For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witnesses, slanders.

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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.

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Jesus got to the very heart of the matter. And that's exactly what James is saying.

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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.

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About worldliness. Scripture teaches a lot. James is like one of the

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Old Testament prophets who used marriage covenant as a parable to our relationship with God.

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And he holds nothing back. And he sees,

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I like the way Sinclair Ferguson says here, He sees the scarlet A in our soul.

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That's strong. Friendship with the world leads to adultery in our relationship with God.

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Plain and simple. And it's strong language but we need to hear it. But indeed to what

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James calls enmity with God in verse 4. Now my question is this.

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So how does this happen? How does this happen? That's a good question. What are the telltale signs leading to adultery, spiritual adultery?

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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.

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He has an insightful explanation on this from his commentary on the study of James.

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And he says this. Speaking of avoiding worldliness. He says, quote,

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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.

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Feelings trump discipline. Our immune system is low.

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We become prone to the attractions and the attractiveness of someone else.

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Notice what he says here. We begin to prefer to spend time with them. And we find their company stimulating.

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One thing leads to another. And the friendship develops. And then we commit adultery.

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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.

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But in the process, an enmity towards our spouse is built up.

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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.

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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?

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Promised love has turned into enmity. And this is the echo of our spiritual adultery.

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Although I still love God, this other love is important to me.

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I must have it. That clause right there says everything.

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Let me pause on his comment here for a second. I must have it. It becomes covetousness.

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I gotta have it. And we will justify that in any way we can to get it.

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He goes on to say this, and he nails it right here. But the truth will emerge in the end tale.

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

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End quote. That is so true, isn't it? And that is a very pricking statement in which he says.

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So really the root cause. What's the root cause of all this? What's the root cause of our conflict with God?

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What's the root cause of internal and external conflict?

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I'll tell you what it is. It's our rebellion against God. It's our pride.

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The root of it is pride. And the root of spiritual adultery is the pride that we have against God himself.

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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.

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But sin came, and sin interrupted that harmony. It comes into the world, and this leads to conflict.

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And notice the conflict that came and followed after sin came into the world.

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Sin is lawlessness, and lawlessness is rebellion against God. You know, you say that today, but people don't want to hear it.

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But if we really humble ourselves before the pages of Holy Writ and Scripture and the truth of what

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God is saying, we will find there's a healing balm for us. You know, here is a heart problem.

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That's as Jesus was speaking of. And a heart issue. And it's always a heart issue.

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And that's what James is referring to. You've got a heart issue, basically. You've got a heart issue towards God, the

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Maker, the Redeemer, the Savior. So, how does a believer declare war against God?

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Well, when he leaves his first love. Now, technically,

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I believe, in the context of what James is speaking here in James 4, he's speaking of unbelievers.

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But there is a sense that a believer can move away from God and leave his first love.

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We will see that in a minute. But here, by being friends with the world, we become an enemy of God.

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And that is a person, if you're an enemy of God, you never were a redeemed believer in the first place. But James names three enemies, and we're not going to look at all of them.

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And you know what all these three enemies are. We must not fraternize if we want to be at peace with God.

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We're 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 in what he's talking about of being friends with the world.

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Now, there is a verse of Scripture that came to me when I was thinking about spiritual adultery and about being...

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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.

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I want you to hear this. We quote one verse of Scripture that's found in this, but get the whole context of what this prophet is speaking about.

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And by the way, the book of Amos is a short book that would pay for you to read in your devotional time.

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And it speaks of... Actually, they call it one of the minor prophets.

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And you know, Brother Key talked about the burden this morning, but the name

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Amos actually means burden. It means burden bearer.

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Isn't that interesting? And it's not to be confused with Amos, stout or strong, but the father of Isaiah.

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But it's interesting that his name is burden bearer.

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And this whole book really speaks... It speaks about apostasy and evidence that's continued.

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And there's willful rejection of the prophetic message of Amos and his promised divine judgment.

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And you see judgment falling. And because of his covenant, that's what we've got to get.

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And however the Lord will not abandon Israel altogether, but He will bring future restoration of the righteous remnant together.

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Now, notice what he says in chapter 3. And all the tribes are guilty here, but I just want to read just eight verses.

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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

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He brought up from the land of Egypt. And this is strong language, but notice what God says. You only have

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I chosen among all the families of the earth. That's love right there, isn't it?

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Therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities. Do two men walk together unless they have made an appointment?

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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?

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Notice the examples from nature. Does a bird fall into a trap on the ground where there is no bait in it?

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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?

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If a calamity occurs in a city, has not the Lord done it? Surely the

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Lord God does nothing unless He reveals His secret counsel to His servants, the prophets. A lion has roared.

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Who will not fear? The Lord God has spoken.

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Who can but prophesy? And I'll stop right there. That's some strong language.

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It's almost as if God, there's a jealousy there. That's what I'm getting to.

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There is a jealousy, a holy jealousy that God has over His people.

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And notice it comes in a series of questions. Questions after questions.

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And one of the main verses we quote a lot, can two walk together unless they are in agreement.

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Or they have made an appointment. Very important. Well, you know, the scripture language is very strong about the world.

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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.

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And as 1 John 2 .15 -17 says, Do not love the world, neither the things that are in the world.

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If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. And then he says this,

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What's in the world? For 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

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Father, but is from the world. The world is passing away, and also it's lust.

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But, don't you love that? But, I'm thankful for that but.

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But, the one who does, there it is, that does the will of God abides forever.

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Abide forever? Do God's will. Do the will of God. And what's

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God's will? It's what God desires. It's opposite of what the world desires. And that's why

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God and the world are in conflict with one another. There can be no harmony between the two.

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There's no agreement. It's like God gives us, from the beginning in creation,

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God made light, which is a symbol of His holiness, by the way. And then

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God, there's darkness. But what did God do? He separated the light from the darkness.

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He separated the two. You cannot blend them together.

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No more than you can blend oil and water together. So those on the other hand, you see, what is said here, those who love the world do not belong to the

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Lord Jesus Christ. They are of the world. And the world does not receive the things of God, right?

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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.

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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?

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The prince and the God of this world? Satan himself. You see, you have that.

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For which they have determined and have a habitual attachment for the love for the world.

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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.

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And everything that the world's goal falls under the category is self -centeredness.

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

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Godless value. Ungodly. It's not godly.

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It's ungodly. It's an ungodly system. It is full of self -glory.

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It's all about what man can do, about humanism, about how good man is.

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You see this. It's about self -fulfillment. And it's even crept in the church.

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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.

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And he constantly focused on positive, this is where the positive confession, positive thinking came in.

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

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Oh really? What about what Jesus said? All the truth that he gave was pretty much on the negative sense.

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To deny yourself? Oh, that's negative. But Norman Vincent Peale would say, love yourself.

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Self -fulfillment. Self -indulgence. Self -satisfaction. It's all about self.

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What does that sound like? The world? The devil?

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See, they go in harmony with one each other. And the flesh. The flesh is pampered, the flesh loves it.

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The devil actually, when he rebelled against God, when he was the archangel, he says, I will exalt myself against God.

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I will exalt myself against, I will, I will, I will. Jesus didn't talk that way.

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Actually, Jesus was in reverse. Right, amen. Thy will be done. Thy will.

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

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He says, not my will, but thy will be done. You see?

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You see, even in the garden, Jesus had that temptation to bypass the cross.

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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

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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.

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Praise God. You see, the world's all about self, isn't it? But Jesus, you don't see that.

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See, the world, all which amounts to hostility towards God, why?

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Why? Obviously, self -glory. It's lifting up in pride. Rebellion against God.

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That's the ultimate sin that beats all in our hearts, that we have to have mortified by the power of the

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Spirit of God. You tell the world this today, what I'm speaking of you, they'll look at you cross -eyed and think, you've got to be crazy.

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Pat me on the back. Lift me up. Glorify me. And look on the

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TV. Everything glorifies the flesh. You see, the flesh, the devil, the world, it's all in cahoots together.

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And that's why God says these are enemies against Himself. Against the supreme authority of God.

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So when we are in this kind of sin, of being worldly, we come up against the authority of God Himself.

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And God has to punish it. And God will not have nothing to do with it. Isn't it wonderful to know that our

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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

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Word of God to you. That God will never ever change. God will never compromise.

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You know, we waver. God is unwavering. He will not waver. He will not break

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His covenant. God will be God. And that's what Moses said, from everlasting to everlasting,

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Thou art God. He's not going to change His ways. He will be

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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.

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And He will be holy as holy billions of years after the earth is burned up.

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Isn't that wonderful to know? And not only in His holiness, His mercy will not change.

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His love will not change. His faithfulness will not change. He is God from everlasting to everlasting, from vanishing point to vanishing point.

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In other words, you take eternity to eternity, there's no end to it. Without limitations, without ends, no changing with God.

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So you can count on that. Now the devil, he's got his day coming.

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He's going to burn and fire. Right now God's using him. Yes, God's using him. That's the way God, that's why

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He runs loose. People say, why does evil exist? Well, you know, there is a mystery in iniquity, isn't it?

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The scripture says there's a mystery of iniquity. And we don't understand all these things. And we see suffering without end.

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And we see children and families. And we think, and in our own concept and imagination, we say, why

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God? But the question should be, God, why have you allowed me to even live? Why do we even live?

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God is so merciful. From the beginning, when man fell, God could have easily killed

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Adam. But He had mercy on him. And He gave him the gospel. And He clothed him.

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He couldn't clothe himself. What did He try to do? Take fig leaves from all the trees that God made and try to cover his nakedness?

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God says, no, I can cover you. That's the gospel. He covers us in the righteousness of Jesus.

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You see, what is James saying? James said, therefore, whoever wishes, desires to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.

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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.

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It goes deeper than that. Listen to this. It carries the stronger idea of choosing one thing over the other.

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That's what it's speaking of. You ultimately are choosing. And we make that decision, don't we?

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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.

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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

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I going to love God here? We make these little decisions. Am I going to make a decision?

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And sometimes at the spur of the moment, in our emotional heat, we make bad decisions, don't we?

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We do. We all fail. And that's why we need an advocate with the Father. And we confess our sin.

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I'm telling you, keep short accounts with God. Take it to God right then. We've all sinned.

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But we don't practice habitually, so we've got to have a consciousness that God is in our midst and He's looking, and His eyes are upon us,

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His ears. We've got to have that personal commitment that as I live every single day,

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I must make this decision for Jesus. What would the Lord do? How would Jesus do it?

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So here in the text, in this word, the word wishes means it's choosing one thing over another.

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Similarly, it makes Himself, or it means to appoint, to make, or ordain.

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Also indicating a conscience intent. Whether He recognizes it in His own mind or not, a person who wishes to be friends with a friend of the world system has chosen to make

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Himself an enemy against God Almighty. And in His heart, in His soul, His desire for the world supersedes any supposed positive ideas

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He may have about God. John MacArthur in his commentary says this, he says,

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He does not have a neutral relationship with God as an impartial bystander or a distant admirer, but is in the fullest sense

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His enemy. And to be God's enemy is to remain in a spiritual darkness daily, grow more fit for the eternal death, and have the sovereign king of the universe as your foe.

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End quote. Strong words. And Jesus said it, No man can serve two masters.

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You will hate the one or love the other. Right? I mean, a lot of people try to gray that, but you can't gray that with God.

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There's no graying with God. Anyone who does not belong to God belongs to the world. That's that plain and simple.

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Now, you have people that try to straddle the fence. That's not going to happen. And if a believer tries to straddle that fence,

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I guarantee you God's got the woodshed for us. Guarantee it. And you and I have all experienced that some way or another.

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And that's love. God loves those He chastens,

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He loves. Amen. Amen. And everyone. Amen.

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He does not tolerate flirting. Amen. And everyone that belongs to the world does not and cannot belong to God.

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Friends of the world, controlled by the spirit of the world, have no part with the spirit of God.

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Know that on the other hand, Paul makes it very crystal clear that believers have not received the spirit of the world, but the spirit who is from God.

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1 Corinthians 2 .12 Now, let me go ahead and start on my application here because I've got a little bit to give you on my application.

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How can we apply this to everyday living? Let me start with the words of Jesus. And I've already mentioned

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Jesus' words, but as far as I see it in Scripture, I always go to the

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Gospel. And the words of the Lord Jesus Christ. And I'll tell you what, study

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John 15, 16, and 17. You really want some deep study.

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The whole book of John, of course, is recommended here by this pastor. But if you really want to get down to it, if you turn with me to John 15.

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I'm not going to quote all these verses, but notice what he says in application. Did you know chapter 15 is all about relationship?

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It's all about relationship. You know, it's interesting in this world in which we live. Just about everywhere you go, these southern country songs has something to do with about a relationship.

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It does. I can't stand it. Amen. It's sappy, isn't it there,

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Zach? It's sappy and it doesn't have depth. But if you notice, it's always talking about some kind of relationship.

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I was in Dollar General the other day and I don't know who was singing. Some of these country singers. And he was talking about this guy that was divorcing his wife.

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It's always about something like that. And he was saying, sell this and sell that and give it away.

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Give it away. Give it away. You probably heard it out there. How did you know, Michael?

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Just give it away. And I'm thinking, it has something to do with relationships there. But notice the heart of man craves a close relationship.

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You know, God through Jesus Christ comes to give that truly to us.

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But yet the world is constantly, and when I hear these songs out there, there's so many more. There's about a thousand.

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I mean, constant. But if you notice, and it's just not country songs, it's other songs too. But it's almost like that's the inner part of man that desires that.

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Even in his fallenness, he desires that close relationship. And Jesus comes to reconcile us back to God.

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And it's almost like God the Father says, I'm giving you my Son, and He can mend that.

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And what you're all about, God the Creator, I can bring you to the Creator who made you. And bring you back to God and give you purpose and being and wholeness.

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Isn't that glorious? It's like what old Billy Graham said years ago, I know where I came from,

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I know why I'm here, and I know where I'm going. You know your purpose. And that is true.

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But John 15, Jesus speaks in verse... Look at this. Verses 1 -11, He speaks about relationship of believers to Jesus, to Himself, to Christ.

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And this is some of the verses I want to hit right here. Verses 12 -17,

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Jesus is speaking about relationship of believers to each other. First to Christ, then to each other.

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Notice the perfect harmony in the order here. First it is to Christ, because you've got to buy it in the vine.

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And Jesus says, you can't do nothing without Me. And then He gives an example of the vine and the branches and the fruit.

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And then the relationship out from that is our relationship with one another as believers in Jesus Christ.

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And then He gives a commandment, that love one another as I have loved you. That's a great love. What did

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He do? He laid down His life. He sacrificed Himself. I loved you so much, I took it all the way to the cross.

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And then He says, I call you friends, if you do what I command you. But notice in the last part of this, in verses 18 -25.

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And I'm reserving verse 26 and 27 for something. But notice what He says.

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In 18 -25, what is He talking about? Relationship of believers to the world. First to Christ, then to each other, then the world.

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Now this is what Jesus has to say about the world. Look at verse 18. If the world hates you, now

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He's talking about hate now, you know that it hated Me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own.

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But because you're not of the world, then He says this, but I chose you out of the world, because of this the world hates you.

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That's why the world hates you. Let's stop right there. Because you're different. You're changed.

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If any man be in Christ, he's a new creation. Amen. A new creature. Old things are passed away, beholds all things become new.

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You see, Jesus says the world hates you because I chose you out of the world.

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You see, you're different. And He says because of this the world hates you.

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And ultimately it hates Christ. That's what He's getting to. And I love what

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Jesus says here. Remember. That's a key word, folks. That's a covenant word.

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Remember. Remember the word that I said to you. A slave is no greater than his master.

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If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you.

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If they keep my word, they will keep yours also. But all these things they will do to you for my name's sake.

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Because they do not know the one who sent me. They do not know the

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Father. They're away from the Father. And actually what they do, they do it in absolutely ignorance.

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And we need to keep this in mind, folks. When we're having a hard time out there and you've got the world hating your guts for no reason whatsoever, you can't say why.

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Know this. It is a spiritual battle. It is a...

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Listen. Ephesians 6. We don't wrestle against flesh and blood.

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Against principalities and powers of the air. The God of this world. And you know, this is how we can love a person.

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And a person in the face of an enemy that hates you because you see, you pity them.

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You see their fallenness. They're doing something that they cannot, in a sense, they naturally are doing.

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They can't help it. But they're naturally doing something in their nature. They hate

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God. They hate themselves. They hate you. And they specifically hate the believer because of the truth.

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Jesus Christ in you. Now, verse 22. If I had not come...

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Listen to what Jesus said. If I had not come and spoken to them... He's speaking about the world.

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They would not have sin. But now they have no excuse for their sin.

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Listen to what he says. He who hates me, hates my father also. If I had not done among them the works which no one else did, they would not have sin.

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But now they have both seen and hated me and my father as well.

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But they have done this to fulfill the word that is written in their law. They hated me without a cause.

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You see, that's the word of God. But the key is here. Verse 26 -27.

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Here's the application I have for all of us here. We've got the Holy Spirit of God. He's within us.

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He's taken residence. He lives and abides within us. Jesus Christ in you.

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The hope of glory. That's Christianity. He lives within us.

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Now the Holy Spirit. Jesus says when the helper comes, the paraclete.

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This is the promise of the Holy Spirit. Whom I will send to you from the Father. That is the

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Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father. He will testify about me.

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And you will testify also. Don't you love that? You will also testify.

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You see? Because you have been with me from the beginning. Oh, I love this.

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This is a mark of a true believer. Right here. The Spirit of God. And isn't it wonderful?

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You know what Jesus is doing? He just told them all this news about how the world is going to hate them.

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You're going to be hated for my sake. And in other words, it's not going to be easy.

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But you've got to help her. He doesn't leave us as orphans.

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He doesn't leave us alone and say, OK, you're just going to have a hard time with this.

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OK, tough it out, buddy. No, I'm going to give you my Holy Spirit. The third person of the

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Godhead. He's going to live within you. He's going to give you power. He will even lead you into all truth.

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You can't do this yourself. He's going to give you the truth. And He will abide within us.

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Isn't that glorious? The Holy Spirit of God. And He reveals everything that Jesus gives to Him.

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And the Father, it's all three in one. It's glorious. He doesn't leave us as orphans.

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Well, that's one of the applications, I believe, that's very important for us to live a holy life in an unholy world.

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In a world that hates us. This whole chapter. Look at chapter 16.

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I don't have time to go into it, but this whole chapter, chapter 16, Jesus is focused on teaching

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His apostles and His followers of Jesus the ministry of the Holy Spirit. So, He picks up right there at the end of chapter 15, but if you read everything about chapter 16, it's about the ministry of the

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Holy Spirit, the promise of the Spirit. Oh, it goes on and on. I mean, I don't have time to go into it, but if you see some of these, but I tell you the truth in verse 7, it is to your advantage that I go away.

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Because, you think of it. Here's the Master. He was going to die on the cross.

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He's going to be buried, resurrected. He's going away, but He said, but when I go to the Father, I'm going to give you the gift of the promise of the

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Father. And that's what happened on the day of Pentecost. The Holy Spirit came in His power and fullness.

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And I tell you, after that, look in the whole book of Acts. They turned the world upside down for Jesus. Nothing could stop

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Him. And then He says, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. In other words, when

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I get there on the right hand of God the Father, and when the Holy Spirit comes, know, know that I'm there.

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That's indication. And if I go, I will send Him to you. And He, when He comes, here's the ministry of the

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Holy Spirit here. When He comes, what's He going to do? Just make you feel good about yourself? No. He will convict the world.

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There has to be conviction of the world concerning what? Sin. And righteousness.

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And judgment. Sin, righteousness, and judgment. Those three things.

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Of sin, then Jesus breaks it down. Listen to how He breaks this down. Of sin, concerning sin, concerning sin, because they do not believe in Me.

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That's the sin. Concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father, and you no longer see

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Me. And concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world has been judged.

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You know, I could just take off right there, but I don't have time. But the whole chapter speaks about the ministry of the

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Holy Spirit. Now, go to John chapter 17. Now you enter the Holy of Holies. We come before this, and Jesus is praying.

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It's broken up again. Everything is a perfect order in the Word of God. Notice this. Jesus prays for Himself, in verses 1 -5.

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Verses 6 -19, He prays for His disciples. And in verses 20 to the end of the chapter, in verse 26,

01:00:05

Jesus prays for all believers. Isn't that wonderful? It's glorious.

01:00:11

But notice what He says about how He prays for His disciples. And I was sharing this with Brother Keith. Notice this.

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This is important. And I got this to say, and I got one more thing to say, and I want to close it down. He says,

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I've manifested Your name. Now He's speaking to the Father. The name of God is absolutely, perfectly holy.

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He says, I have manifested Your name to the men whom You gave

01:00:36

Me. See, Jesus is saying, the Father gave Me these men. He's praying to the

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Father. You gave Me out of the world. God called them out of the world.

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They were Yours, and You gave them to Me. And they have kept Your Word. Now they have come to know that everything

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You have given Me is from You. Notice the way Jesus is praying. For the words which

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You gave Me, I have given to them, and they received them, and truly understood that I came forth from You, and they believed that You sent

01:01:13

Me. I ask on their behalf. I do not ask on behalf of the world, but of those whom

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You have given Me, for they are Yours. And all things that are

01:01:28

Mine are Yours, and Yours are Mine, and I have been glorified in them. Notice the sovereignty of the

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Father. He's speaking up. Now notice how He speaks here in His prayer. I'm no longer in the world, and yet they themselves are in the world, and I have come to You.

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Holy Father, keep them in Your name. The name which You have given

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Me, that they may be one even as we are. While I was with them, I was keeping them in Your name.

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Notice how many times He speaks about keeping them. While I was with them, I was keeping them in Your name, which

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You have given Me. I have guarded them, and not one of them perished, but the son of perdition, so that the

01:02:10

Scripture would be fulfilled. But now I come to You, and these things

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I speak in the world, so that they may have My joy made full in themselves.

01:02:21

I have given them Your Word, and the world has hated them. There it is. He's speaking to the

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Father again. The world has hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.

01:02:35

I do not ask You to take them out of the world. Notice how many times He speaks about the world. He says,

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I do not ask. Notice how His request is before the Father. I'm not asking

01:02:47

You to take them out of the world. Don't you feel like getting out of this world sometimes? It is so wicked.

01:02:53

It is so evil. Lord, just come. Lord Jesus, come. And that's legit. But Jesus here is basically praying,

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Father, don't take them out of the world, but keep them.

01:03:07

This is beautiful. In other words, in the midst of evil, in the midst of darkness, see that light of the glorious gospel of Jesus Christ can shine through you like a beacon.

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We don't realize it, but how dark this world is, and the darker it gets, the brighter the light will shine.

01:03:27

You notice in a dark, dark room, you light up one little match. You can see that match. One little match.

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One candle. But keep them from the evil one.

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Keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. And then

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He says this, sanctify them in the truth. That's the Word of God right there. Sanctify them in the truth.

01:03:52

Your Word is truth. As you sent me into the world, I also have sent them into the world.

01:03:58

Now, He takes us out of the world. He makes us holy. He puts us back into the world to be kept from the evil one, to go into the world, to reach the world.

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Praise God. I have sent them into the world for their sake, for their sakes,

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I sanctify myself, that they themselves also may be sanctified in the truth.

01:04:23

You know, that's a lot of application there, but you see, there's a reason why we're in the world.

01:04:31

We have a divine mission. Let me close this down. MacArthur says this, when the world is pleased with the church, we can be sure that God is not.

01:04:48

We can be equally sure that when we are pleasing to God, we will not be pleasing to the system of Satan.

01:04:55

Well said. A .W. Tozer, he said, danger's approach approaches the

01:05:01

Christian life from three directions. The world through which we journey, the God of this world, and our unmortified flesh.

01:05:10

That's why we need a rock, a fortress, a deliverer, a buckler, and a high tower to run to.

01:05:19

All names for God. I don't know about you. In this world, I see this more and more and more.

01:05:27

Lord, I got to run to that tower. I got to run to you, God. I feel like Peter all the time.

01:05:33

Where am I going to go? God is everything. He's all in all.

01:05:40

There's nothing in this world. Nothing in this world. Oh, everything for the flesh, but the flesh is going to rot and pass away very quickly.

01:05:54

So why we're not to love the world? Why? Well, let me give you 20 quick reasons by Horaeus Bonar. 20 good reasons to.

01:06:02

Number one, because the gain of it is loss of the soul. Matthew 16 .25

01:06:09

Two, because its friendship is hatred to God. James 4 .4 Three, because it did not know

01:06:15

Christ. John 1 .10 and John 17 .25 Four, because it hates

01:06:21

Christ. John 7 .7 and John 15 .18 Fifth, because the

01:06:27

Holy Spirit has forbidden us. 1 John 2 .15 Because Christ did not pray for it.

01:06:36

John 17 .9 Because Christ's people do not belong to it. John 17 .16

01:06:43

Because it will not receive the Holy Spirit. John 14 .27 Because its prince is

01:06:51

Satan. John 13 .31 and John 16 .11 Ten, because Christ's kingdom is not of it.

01:06:59

John 18 .36 Eleven, because its wisdom is foolishness. 1 Corinthians 1 .20

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Twelve, because its wisdom is ignorance. 1 Corinthians 1 .21

01:07:11

Thirteen, because Christ does not belong to it. John 8 .23

01:07:17

Fourteenth reason, because its condemned. 1 Corinthians 11 .32

01:07:23

Fifteen, because the fashion of it will pass away. 1 John 2 .15

01:07:31

and 1 Corinthians 7 .31 Sixteen, because it slew Jesus Christ.

01:07:37

James 5 .6 Matthew 21 .39 Seventeenth reason, because it is crucified to us.

01:07:45

Galatians 6 .14 Eighteen, because we are crucified to it. Galatians 6 .14

01:07:51

Nineteenth reason, because it is the seat of wickedness. 2 Peter 1 .4 and 1

01:07:57

John 5 .19 and 20, because its God is the evil one.

01:08:04

2 Corinthians 4 .4 What have we forgotten? When we make the world our friend, what have we forgotten?

01:08:13

Let me tell you what we have forgotten. We have forgotten that God is a jealous God. You think of it.

01:08:20

What Scripture says, do you suppose it is no purpose to what the Scripture says, He yearns jealousy over the spirit that He has made us to dwell?

01:08:30

There is a false and superficial, sinful jealousy, which is condemned by Holy Scripture, but it is an uncontrolled interest in ourselves, an envy of what others possess, but we lack.

01:08:46

James had already exposed that kind of jealousy in verse 2. But, the jealousy of God is a different matter.

01:08:53

And this is what we need to get, beloved, right here. God is jealous over His children.

01:09:01

God is jealous over His bride. It is His proper zeal to possess.

01:09:09

What is rightly belongs to God. You belong to God. We have been bought with the precious price of the

01:09:17

Lord Jesus Christ, His blood. It is the jealousy that only true and pure love knows, to possess the loved one entirely, and to do so for their good and their blessing.

01:09:31

This is the jealousy the Lord attributes to Himself. And as we say, you shall not worship them and serve them.

01:09:38

For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers of the children, of the third and fourth generations, of those that hate me.

01:09:48

Now, we talked about that. And let me leave you with this. The Lord your

01:09:53

God is a consuming fire. He is a jealous God. And the Lord your

01:09:58

God is a merciful God. That is what Scripture says. And He will not leave you, or destroy you, or forget the covenant with your fathers that He swore to them.

01:10:10

Sinclair Ferguson said this, This is the pure and holy love of the only devotion to us that can bless us through time and eternity.

01:10:22

It must, in its very nature, be willing to consume anything that prevents that blessing being enjoyed by the object of its love.

01:10:33

We should have learned that from the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ in Romans 8 .32,

01:10:41

He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us, how will

01:10:50

He not also with Him freely give us all things? Now, listen to what he says here.

01:10:57

His love. This is all about God's love. Even His jealousy. His love is a love that led

01:11:06

Him to see His Son experience sin and judgment, bearing

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God's forsakenness on our behalf. That's the kind of love God has.

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That's the kind of jealousy God has. To be a friend of the world in the face of such love is to show we have not begun to understand the nature of the gospel.

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And therefore, we have little sense of who God really is.

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Amen. Amen. I really believe, according to Revelation 2, when

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Jesus spoke to Ephesus, our glorified Lord basically said to the loveless church that was orthodox, by the way, that was discerning, by the way,

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I have somewhat against you. He says, you have forgotten your first love.

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What did Jesus say? Repent. Repent. First of all,

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He said, remember. He says, remember. And then He says, repent. Remember whom you have forsaken.

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And then repent. Do your first works over. So there's always hope. Praise God, the gospel gives us that hope through the

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Lord Jesus Christ. Amen and amen. Let's pray. Father, we thank

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You for this time. We've studied Your Word. Within this hour, we bless

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Your holy name, and we ask You, Lord, may our hearts fully love

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You more than anything else in this entire world. As the song says, give me

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Jesus. Take this world, but give me Jesus. You can have this world, but give me