Latest / Tabernacle Talk - A Bible Study Podcast with Pastor Bryon Self / 17.13 - James 4:1-12 - Church Arguments and Grace-Filled Humility

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17.13 - James 4:1-12 - Church Arguments and Grace-Filled Humility · Tabernacle Talk - A Bible Study Podcast with Pastor Bryon Self

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  Welcome to Tabernacle Talk Tabernacle talk is a Bible study
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  podcast from Tabernacle Baptist Church in Essex, MD.
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  We hope that this podcast will help you to know Christ, grow in
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  his word, and show his love to others.
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  Let's dive right in. Welcome back to Tabernacle talk.
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  Today we are in James chapter 4, James chapter 4.
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  And seems like just a few days ago that we began walking
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  through this book together and written by the pastor of the
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  church at Jerusalem, the half brother of Jesus, the son of
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  Mary and Joseph. And today we're going to be
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  looking at verses one through 10.
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  He he's writing to some people that he dearly loves that were
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  once a part of his congregation there in Jerusalem.
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  Now they're scattered all across the Roman Empire as a result of
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  persecution, and yet they are not unified right now.
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  In fact, there's there's some trouble even within these people
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  that they gave up where they lived and and their homeland in
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  response to their obedience to Jesus.
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  And yet it didn't mean that for all the rest of their life they
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  were perfectly holy people. They still had to deal with
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  times of temptation and struggle.
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  And that's what we're going to read about today.
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  James four and verse #1 what is the source of wars and fights
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  among you? There's fighting within this
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  church. Where's it coming from?
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  He says. Don't they come from your
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  passions that wage war within you, that you guys want some
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  things? This would be the word should be
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  the word epithumi or something like this.
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  Yes, a a state or condition of experiencing pleasure for any
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  reason. There are things that you all
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  want and that it's sparking a war within you within your heart
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  of OK, I know this might not be like totally right or I might
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  not be going about this in the right way, but I really feel
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  passionate about this. And James says This is why you
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  guys are fighting, because you want things and it's causing
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  spats, it's causing arguments, it's causing, if you will,
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  warfare between you within your church verse #2 you desire and
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  do not have. You murder and covet and cannot
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  obtain. You fight and wage war.
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  I'm going to look at these three sentences real quick.
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  He says, first you desire and do not have.
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  He says it doesn't matter how much you want whatever this is,
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  it's not making you get everything that you want and so
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  you should not keep pursuing this fighting.
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  He says are you getting what you want from it?
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  No, He says you murder and covet and cannot obtain.
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  I, I do not believe we are supposed to understand this
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  murder as like literal physical murder happening within the
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  churches. This is what Jesus would say in
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  Matthew 5 in the Sermon on the Mount, that if you hate your
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  brother in your heart or you call him an idiot, it is like
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  you have murdered him because you have murdered him in your
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  heart. You have said, I don't care
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  whether he is here or gone. I, I don't want him around.
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  I don't want this person who is standing in the way of me
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  getting what I want. All of us can do that.
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  That is an easy place to get you not to actually want to murder
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  someone, to be like, man, I just wish this person was gone so
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  that way I could do whatever I want.
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  That is, that is a normal human thing to think.
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  That is not a godly thing to think.
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  And here James says you're murdering people in your hearts
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  and you are coveting, You are wanting what others possess and
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  you're not getting it. And then he says you fight and
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  wage war, that you are not settled even just with, if you
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  will, sinning within your heart and hating and coveting within
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  yourself. You are then taking it out to
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  other people. You are waging these battles in
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  other people's minds that you want to persuade to your side.
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  You are, you are going, you are saying words against this other
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  person and you are fighting them in order to try and get your
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  way. We're going to continue on here
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  with what James says. Obviously, this is not how we do
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  things within the Church of God. And yet this from the very
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  beginning of the church, this perhaps first portion of
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  Scripture written, this was present then and it shouldn't
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  surprise us when it is present today.
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  He says you do not have because you do not ask.
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  OK, well I've asked. He says you ask and don't
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  receive because you ask with wrong motives so that you may
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  spend it on your pleasures. He says here this, OK, you don't
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  have the things that you want that you're passionate about
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  because you have not asked God for them.
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  And you go, OK, well I have asked God.
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  And then he says, OK, you ask and you don't get it because you
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  are asking with wrong motives so that you can do what makes you
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  feel good so that you can feel important.
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  And God says, no, I am not about that.
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  That is going to be bad for you spiritually.
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  This is going to make you more prideful.
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  This is going to make you less reliant on Christ.
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  This is going to make you less loving towards other people.
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  And as a result, I am not not giving you what you ask for.
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  This is a comfort to me when I pray for things and God does not
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  answer it in the way that I wanted it answered.
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  Because it is not God saying no, I don't love you enough to give
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  you this. He's saying, I love you too much
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  to give you this because you don't understand the
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  implications of what this would mean in your life.
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  You don't know who you would become if I gave you the answer
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  to this prayer request. I'm just going to speak for me.
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  I love that. That is a comfort to my soul
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  that I'm like, OK, well, then I can just, I can just pray and
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  pray because if it is good and God wants it for all my life, I
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  know that if I ask anything according to his will, he hears
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  me. And we know that if he hears me,
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  then I have the request that I've asked of him.
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  Wonderful. That's, you know, first John,
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  four and five, great, that's awesome.
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  Or if I pray something and God goes, no, that's not going to be
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  good for you, then I can know when God says no, that there is
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  something better for my spiritual life and for those
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  around me. There's something better for me
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  that God wants than what I'm praying for.
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  Do you have that confidence that when you pray, you know if this
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  is God's will, I'm going to get it?
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  If it is not God's will, then he's going to give me something
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  better than what I'm asking for. Now, I'm not saying if you're
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  praying for a minivan that God's like, sweet, I'm going to give
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  you a Lamborghini. That's not what I'm talking
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  about. I, I am saying whatever God does
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  give you is going to be better for your soul than whatever
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  you're asking for. Verse #4 James, again, there's
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  all the fighting, the craziness. People aren't praying for stuff.
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  They're just like trying to battle it out in church for what
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  they want. And some people are asking God
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  for these things, but they're doing it so that they can, you
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  know, be important so that they can enjoy stuff.
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  And it has nothing like it's not benefiting their soul at all.
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  And James says you adulterous people.
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  OK, They this took a turn. He says, you adulterers.
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  I I believe if I remember correctly, the old King James
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  has this. You adulterers and adulteresses,
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  like just naming it. You guys are being unfaithful,
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  OK, within marriages. No, no, no, you're being
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  unfaithful to God, he says. You adulteress people, don't you
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  know that? Friendship with the world, with
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  the world systems, the world ways of doing thing with the
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  world's wisdom and what it pursues.
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  Idolatry and sexual immorality and covetousness and greed and
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  position and and possessions, that kind of stuff that the
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  world is after. When you buddy up with that and
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  when you are seeking that, especially within the local
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  church, he says friendship with the world is hostility towards
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  God. You have become an enemy of God
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  when you have chosen to pursue stuff or position or pleasures
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  rather than your God, he says. So whoever wants to be the
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  friend of the world becomes the enemy of God because God is
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  against idolatry, God is against immorality, God is against
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  greed, God is against covetousness.
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  And so when you pursue that, you step into the line of
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  condemnation and anger and wrath of God.
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  Don't do that. Instead, pursue Jesus.
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  There is no condemnation in that path.
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  But when you have chosen to, as here, particularly within the
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  local church setting, when you choose to try and Duke it out
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  for stuff or for money or for position, you are absolutely in
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  the wrong. And God is, you have become an
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  enemy of God in that moment. That is not what I want to be.
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  I want to be a, you know, I want to be a friend of God as the
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  old, I forget if it's Lakewood worship or Gateway worship or
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  Phillips Craig and Dean or someone has that old song.
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  I am a friend of God. He calls me friend.
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  I want to be that. I don't want to be singing.
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  I am an enemy of God. He calls me his enemy.
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  I want to be a friend of God. Verse #5 Or do you think it's
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  without reason that the Scripture says the Spirit He
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  made to dwell in US envies intensely?
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  There's a lot of different ways that people have taken verse 5
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  over the years. My personal understanding of it,
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  at least at the level for a Tabernacle talk, is this.
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  God has a love for his people that He describes most often,
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  both in the Old Testament and the New Testament as a marital
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  relationship. The church is the bride of
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  Christ, and when the church loves things other than God,
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  other than Jesus, other than the Word, and it pursues other
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  things, it wants to pursue fame, it wants to pursue fortune, it
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  wants to pursue pleasure. Instead of pursuing Jesus, it is
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  committing spiritual adultery. And the Holy Spirit inside of us
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  is a, in a good way, a jealous husband that is jealous for the
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  exclusive love of his wife. It is, if you will.
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  It is the wife that does not want her husband looking
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  elsewhere for love or elsewhere for intimacy, but that it would
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  only be found within that marital relationship.
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  And the same thing is true spiritually with us and our God,
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  that God wants us to love and to pursue and to worship Him.
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  Not this world. Verse #6 What's our response to
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  this? What?
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  What do we do when we have been pursuing this world and its
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  treasures and possessions in ways?
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  What do we do? He says he gives greater grace.
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  He gives more grace. Therefore he says God resists
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  the proud but gives grace to the humble.
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  Think we went over this verse in Proverbs.
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  I can't remember at what point, but I don't want God to resist
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  me. I want him to give me grace.
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  I want him to empower me for the work that he has called me to
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  do. So what do I do?
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  I become humble. I'm not proud.
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  I'm not looking for what am I passionate about and what do I
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  want to force. Instead, I'm going to choose.
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  I'm going to be humble. I'm going to have that kind of
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  wisdom that we learned about last episode that just goes, I
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  just want what's right in the eyes of God and I don't really
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  care how I shake out as that's being pursued.
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  Verse #7 Therefore, submit to God.
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  Make his mission your mission. He says resist the devil and he
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  will flee from you. Then we say, no, I'm not going
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  to. I'm not going to talk trash
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  about that other person. No, I am not going to attempt to
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  wage warfare to get, you know, my way or my thing within the
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  church. Instead, I'm just going to
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  choose to love. I'm going to be like God,
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  whatever you want. That's what I want.
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  And if you want the same thing that I want in this church, then
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  as I just peaceably, lovingly, gently and treatingly as I go,
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  hey, what about this? Here are some benefits of this.
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  Here's what the Word says. And so I think this should take
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  place as we do that we can see God's will be accomplished and
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  we can see the devil be thwarted as he's trying to destroy the
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  church, that we resist him through not letting him guide us
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  into actions that we want to do but that are against the will of
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  God. We submit to God.
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  We say your mission is my mission, not my mission is your
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  mission. We say God is your church, not
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  mine. So I just want to do what you
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  have in your church, devil. You're not going to get me to
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  fight against my fellow soldiers in the Gospel army.
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  You're not going to have me stabbing him in the back or in
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  the side or in the front. We're on the same team.
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  You're on the opposite team. And so I'm not going to listen
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  to you and I'm not going to do what you want me to.
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  Resist the devil and he will flee from you.
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  What a joy and a comfort for Jesus.
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  This meant three different times within the wilderness
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  temptations, 3 times that we know about that we have written
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  in Scripture that Satan tempted him.
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  And each time Jesus responded with the Word of God and he
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  resisted Satan and then Satan left him alone after that.
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  And what a joy that we have this promise from God that when we
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  resist the devil, He will flee from us.
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  It might not be right away, but He will flee if we resist.
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  Verse #8 Draw near to God and He will draw near to you.
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  What a wonderful promise. The closer you want to get to
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  God, the closer God will be to you.
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  You You don't have to earn back your standing with God or like
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  go whatever amount of days without sinning in order to be
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  close to Him. But when you draw near to him,
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  when you read the Word, when you are praying, when you are asking
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  the Holy Spirit to to work in and on and through you, He will
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  answer and God will be right there with you.
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  What's our response to that, to God drawing near to us?
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  Well, verse #7 verse #8 continues, cleanse your hands,
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  sinners, and purify your hearts. You double minded that we would
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  say I'm going to get rid of the sin because I have no desire for
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  it. If I'm going to be close to God,
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  I want nothing to do with sin. I'm not going to pursue my way
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  and God's way. I'm just going to pursue God's
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  way. Verse #9 Be miserable and mourn
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  and weep. Let your laughter be turned to
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  mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves before the
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  Lord and He will exalt you. Our response to our sin ought to
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  be sorrow that we would be broken over our sin.
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  We would be broken over how it sours our relationship, our
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  relationships with other people. We ought to be broken over the
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  fact that we have rejected God's way in favor of our own.
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  And as we do that, as we choose that I'm not going to take joy
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  in sin. Instead, I'm going to be broken
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  over it. I'm going to reject it.
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  I'm going to have a hatred in it that I want no part of the the
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  sin that wants to spring up in me.
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  I hate it and I do not want it. And as we humble ourselves
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  before the Lord and we recognize who we are and what our
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  shortcomings are and we say, God, I need you love the old
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  hymn. I need the every hour, most
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  gracious Lord, no tender voice like thine can peace afford.
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  I need the oh, I need the every hour.
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  I need thee. Bless me now, my Savior, I come
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  to thee. As we pursue that humility
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  before the Lord, there we find his exaltation.
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  I'm going to also do verses 11:00 and 12:00 because it's
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  connected. I was going to do this in
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  another episode, but I'm just going to tag it onto this one.
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  So then the ending of this, our fighting with each other, our
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  response, humility, confession, grace, weeping before the Lord.
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  Then verse 11 and 12 is back to how we interact with each other.
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  Don't criticize one another, brothers and sisters.
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  Anyone who defames or judges A fellow believer defames and
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  judges the law. If you judge the law, you are
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  not a doer of the law, but a judge.
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  There was one law giver and judge who is able to save and to
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  destroy, but who are you to judge your neighbor?
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  When it comes to the local church, there is what's called
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  encouragement, exhortation, where you challenge your
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  brother, sister to live in accordance with the gospel.
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  However, criticizing and judging is a whole different thing here.
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  This word criticize this would be to speak I'll of, to speak
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  degradingly of, to defame or to slander someone else.
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  That when you are talking about other people, is it really clear
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  from the way you're talking that you do not love this other
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  person that you are talking about?
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  That while you might say, Oh yeah, I love them, but they are
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  this, this, this and this, because that is not godly.
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  That is not a a way to live. And the other way that this is
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  phrased, that James says don't criticize one another.
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  Don't speak evil of defame. Don't slander each other because
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  anyone who defames this is actually that that same word or
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  judges. This is to make a pronouncement
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  of judgment on to condemn someone to give a a final
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  statement about who they are. It's a this person will always
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  be or they can't do anything but this, that kind of statement has
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  no place within a local church. Why is this?
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  Because they don't answer to you.
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  They answer to God. And this is what James says.
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  They they have a judge and a lawgiver who will hold them
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  accountable, ultimately accountable.
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  They're not ultimately accountable to you.
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  So if there is a behavior that maybe someone is involved in, it
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  is not slander to go to that person to encourage them to walk
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  in accordance with their belief in Jesus and in the word of God
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  that they claim to have. Be like, hey, I love you.
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  I've been seeing you do this thing in this scenario.
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  In this scenario, I'm a little concerned for you.
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  This isn't the way that Jesus wants us to live and and I would
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  love to to help you to grow in this area.
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  That is a good thing that's coming alongside someone else
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  and helping them walk with Jesus.
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  But you just telling your friend, Oh yeah, did you see
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  what that person did? They are such this or that that
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  is pronouncing a a final judgement or a condemnation of
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  they cannot and will not change. And so I'm going to hold some
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  bitterness against them, but I'm also not going to be the person
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  that helps them to grow to be better.
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  Let us not be those that criticize the fame, tear down
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  and judge others. Let's be those that come
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  alongside and help and grow. And when we do that in a spirit
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  that is fixed on loving God, pursuing God, loving our fellow
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  Christians that is built on grace and humility.
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  That is how a church goes forward.
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  It is not found in bitterness and backbiting and people
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  jockeying for position and whatever their pet thing is.
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  Let us choose humility before our God and love for each other.
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  Thanks for tuning in today and I hope that this would be an
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  encouragement to you, a challenge to you.
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  I know it is for my heart. And let us love one another as
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  He has loved us.