Scandalous Behavior (Part C)

Do you not know? Friendship with the world is enmity with God.

That's pretty fierce. Do you mean I can't be friendly with people who aren't saved? Of course not. We are to be hospitable. We are to be decent and polite. We're not to be rude. Paul, in writing about love, love does not behave rudely. We are to love our enemies. That doesn't mean we help them along.

But we keep the line of separation very clear between the two ways of living. This is Cross-Reference Radio with our pastor and teacher Rick Gaston. Rick is the pastor of Calvary Chapel, Mechanicsville. Pastor Rick is currently teaching through the book of James.

Please stay with us after today's message to hear more information about Cross-Reference Radio, specifically how you can get a free copy of this teaching. And now here's Pastor Rick with his message called Scandalous Behavior in James chapter four. Do you believe it? Are you willing to hurt for it? Or are you willing to hurt for the devil?

Which one will it be? The church in the days, the last days of the apostles, I read in Revelation chapter two. I know I've read this verse a few weeks back, but it's worth mentioning again.

It shows us what was taking place, what is taking place. Each, again, each generation has to face this junk. How will you do it? Nevertheless, I have a few things against you, the Lord is speaking to the church, because you allow that woman, Jezebel, as a character, not the actual Jezebel, but one that was as wicked as her, who calls herself a prophetess, to teach and seduce my servants to commit sexual immorality, to eat things sacrificed to idols. She is being used by Satan and there were those that were in love with it. An appalling picture of the church, that not only does James paint, but the writers. And not long after, again, the birth of the church. I mentioned 30 years, actually James' letter is probably more like 12 to 15 years after.

Most of Paul's writings then come about 30 years later, or at least. But, the world is bursting with deadly delicacies and predators, and whether they know it or not, whether they care or not, they're doing Satan's work. And it is to entice, to lure you away, here little boy, come on, follow this, follow this, gotcha!

Just like that. You should hear some who scream and kick when the pastor tries to hold them to the scripture in their own confession of faith. The scripture says, don't be joined to an unbeliever. What is complicated about that?

I could write that down in five different languages, it would mean the same thing. Why can't you understand this? Why does the pastor become the bad guy for upholding and many other such things?

That is the devil in action seducing, being that predator as I mentioned. And yet the church still stands and the righteous remnant in her has always been and always will be till he calls the church out of here. Every victory that you have in Christ triggers a counter-attack by Satan, at least in the planning stage.

He does not always get to pull it up. Sometimes the fortification is just too strong because you're doing everything according to the book of God. You cannot penetrate the defenses. Anytime you have a victory in Christ, as I just said, it triggers a counter-attack plan at the very least, if not a response. Fortify your base, fortify your camp, be watchful, be on your toes. But don't expect to be ready for action if you have not been readying for action. I mean, don't expect the ammunition to just magically appear after you've emptied your magazine.

Someone has to put more bullets in it, someone has to haul them, and that is you, that is me. And Paul knew these things. I know we're talking about James, but I'm referencing Paul. When he made a list of hardships that he put at the end of his recital concerning what he struggled through as an apostle of Jesus Christ, he said he spoke of his deep concern for all the churches.

What does that mean? People, that's what. His concern for human beings, for souls that name Christ as Lord, his deep concern for all of them. He said in 2 Corinthians 11, besides the other things, after mentioning the night and the day and the deep and the robbers on the road, the sickness, the cold, the hunger, the persecutions, and other things, what comes upon me daily, my deep concern for all the churches. And then he says in the next verse, who is weak, and I am not weak, who is made to stumble, and I do not burn with indignation. That is an unalloyed indignation.

We do believe in the gifts of the Spirit, but not like that. That is an indignation that does not have leaven in it. It is not human anger born of human things. When he says, who is made to stumble and I do not burn with indignation, he says, it burns me spiritually to see God's people stumble in sin, get mixed up, get hurt, and hurt others. It burns me.

A very difficult thing. We don't think of it as something that God does bless, and he does, but it is so hard for him to find someone worthy of the blessing because so many times anger is mingled with the wrong things and it is no longer a righteous indignation. The world, it will hear from Jesus Christ again. This world will hear from Jesus Christ again. When he ascended, he essentially told his apostles, well the angels have said it for him because he was busy ascending. And they essentially said, they're going to hear from him again. This ain't over.

He will be back. But until then, tarry in Jerusalem till I come. And thus came the birth of the church with the pouring out of the Holy Spirit, which so many churchgoers are afraid of. They're afraid of the Holy Spirit. Well, one reason is why so many counterfeits have come along and ruined it for everyone almost. And another reason why is they really don't want the Holy Spirit.

They want to be free, to be carnal. In verse 4, he says, adulterers and adulteresses, do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. So imagine we have a guest speaker and he comes up and he addresses the congregation, he says adulterers and adulteresses. Oh man, that would not be a recommended way to start a sermon.

And which is probably why he has it way back in chapter 4. He's talking about spiritual unfaithfulness. Well that does not exclude physical unfaithfulness either, but that's what he is emphasizing is that their hearts are not right with God. Their allegiances are twisted. They're not serving God, they're serving someone else. Once you come to Christ, you're supposed to be faithful to him.

Everything is supposed to turn that way. Now imagine you get married and the person you married wants to keep on their night table a photograph of someone they used to date. That's idolatry.

It's a picture of it. It's insane. Would anybody stand for that? Who would be expected to stand for that? Well why do people do it with Christ?

They could pick up stuff like horoscopes. If you're a Christian you have nothing to do with that junk. This stuff is from hell. And I'm a Pisces. What?

What is that? Anyway, and they're very serious about it and you may be sitting there just singed. Well again if the shoe fits, you have to wear it. God has forbidden these things. You do not look for some spiritual information, some line of spiritual information outside of God.

Find out about the future. Well this outburst, it seems like an outburst, as you read it he's you know he's going right along and he's telling them about themselves as he should and then he says adulteresses and adulterers. You're not being faithful to your calling. Exodus 20 verse 3, you shall have no other gods before me and if you do you are a spiritual adulterer. David said I'm not even going to mention them on my lips. I will not give them recognition. I will not honor them. I will not give them the satisfaction, those who worship such things, of hearing me repeat their God's name because I don't recognize them as gods. And that is lacking in churches and Christians also. There's just often times this desire to be friendly with things that need to be condemned.

Don't let that be you. There are things that are anathema to God and they are to be accursed to us also. Paul said if anybody comes along speaking another gospel let them be accursed.

Fierce words. And the Bible never says when you get to the book of Revelation it says okay disregard everything Paul said about being fiercely committed to what God said. Now you certainly have to be balanced because you can become a religious nut and that again is the work of the devil. We are to be the bride of Christ. We are to belong to him and to spread our affection to others unlawfully and makes us adulterers. We read Jeremiah who had to battle this in the lives of the Jews in his day.

He says surely as a wife treacherously departs from her husband so you have dealt treacherously with me O house of Israel says Yahweh. Romans 7 continues this into the New Testament church therefore my brethren you also have become dead to the law through the body of Christ that you may be married to another to him who was raised from the dead that we should bear fruit to God. No Christian in their right mind would would disagree with this. We can't serve two masters you will love the one and hate the other it is a fundamental that Jesus put forth to the church that seems to be just discarded by so many. And so these that James was writing to their refusal to obey was not from weakness in the face of temptation but rather willful indulgence.

They just wanted to satisfy themselves outside or apart from their own confession of faith to serve Jesus Christ. He says do you not know ignorance is costly that's why he brings it up. Hosea said my people perish for lack of knowledge. He only has to say that one time in all the Bible for everybody to remember that he said it. God said it through the prophet my people perish through stupidity through ignorance willful ignorance folly that could have been avoided. God said I'll give you a whole book about fools he calls it the proverbs. You can't read the proverbs and if you've never read through the proverbs you should start today five minutes after service.

Start as quickly as you can in a month there's 31 chapters of proverbs you can read one a day in a month with 31 days or you just do two in a month with 30 days. Anyway friendship with the world he says he says do you not know friendship with the world is enmity with God. That's pretty fierce what do you mean I can't be friendly with people who aren't saved of course not we're to be hospitable we are to be decent and polite.

We're not to be rude. Paul in writing about love, love does not behave rudely we are to love our enemies that doesn't mean we help them along but we keep the line of separation very clear between the two ways of living. We don't merge with our enemies and their views and their approach to life and so we we can see the world without stretched arms saying come come let me embrace you and we respond no I'm sorry I'm embraced by another I belong to another which is the song of Solomon I belong to someone else king I belong to a shepherd that's where my heart is not with you and she the Shulamite and the song of Solomon stays true to the end. Abraham kept his distance from the world told the king of Solomon of Solomon Gomorrah I don't want to take anything from you lest you say you made Abraham great not a thread or a sandal strap will I take from you. Balaam on the other hand joined the world departed from the Lord and was skewed by the people of God. John 7 verse 7 the world cannot hate you but it hates me because I testify that its works are evil he said those to enemy his enemies the enemies of Christ the world can't hate you by definition the world is against me that's what is meant not the earth the planet earth but the system of belief the collection of human beings who have not accepted Jesus Christ and are marching through this life without him our morals are supposed to serve as a barrier between they and us as well as our beliefs about God I want to ask is anyone here offended when I say that the world cannot hate you because you're too much like the world if you are guilty of it I'm not saying that you're guilty but if you are I'm asking this question if you are so like the world and you name Christ as Lord the world can't even tell the difference between you and a born-again Christian how do you feel about that are you offended when it's pointed out true believer won't be offended will be motivated to make sure that that's won't be the case this is when in second we've read this verse quite a bit of times too in the last few weeks from second chronicles jay who the son of Hanani the prophet went out to the king reading from again second chronicles 19 and said to the king jehoshaphat should you help the wicked and love those who hate yahweh therefore the wrath of yahweh is on you nothing's changed isn't it we don't get to a point in the new testament where it says void out second chronicles 19 verse 2 it keeps holding it up before us john 12 verse 31 now is the judgment of this world now the ruler will be cast out who is the ruler of the world's thinking satan first john 5 19 we know that we are of god and the whole world lies under the sway of the wicked one so the bible is very clear on this verse five or do you think that the scripture says in vain the spirit who dwells in us yearns jealously so he goes to the scripture which is he is supposed to do scripture never speaks empty words there's no such thing as bible trivia some you know the game there is a game called bible trivia but in reality there's no such thing because nothing in scripture is trivial it all has meaning even those difficult names to pronounce that we only have to read once or twice in our lifetime they had meaning to someone and they had meaning to god don't blame the bible for your weakness don't say it doesn't work i've tried it it doesn't work the scripture is true the standard of god is high does not move don't blame him don't blame his word the world does the world says you hypocrites oh i tried the bible they're blaming the scripture for their own sin or for the sin in others they blame christians if they sin and then they blame them if they don't sin so we don't really care what they blame us for if they are wrong the spirit who dwells in us yearns jealously jealously this is not the human spirit in us this is the holy spirit in us that dwells in the spirit of the believer it is that conviction of god that is inside of us yearning this is not human jealousy i must point out this is divine protective jealousy see this that human jealousy that looks out for itself wants what it wants what it thinks it should have and belongs to it it will hurt others to keep it whatever that possession may be divine jealousy is this you are mine and i am very protective of you and if anyone messes with you i will deal with them god has his eyes on eternity he may not deal with them until after this life and most often that is the case it seems so let's not get confused here let's not assign carnal attributes to god because he is perfect in every way this yearning it expresses passion love emotional feelings and emotional desire our communion table our communion table is not built on intellectual experiences yeah we have to think the doctrine has to be correct that is true but once that is in place when we come to the communion table it is supposed to be an emotional experience supposed to feel like thank you lord i dodged a bullet because of you i was going to hell and you stopped that you died for me that gets me excited it's the communion table is like being away from a loved one for a long period of time and taking out a picture and looking at that loved one and yearning to be with them again i hope that helps when we come to the communion table to understand it's okay to be in touch with your feelings concerning your salvation and the love of god love repels the sin that so easily besets us it is love you say well can you give me a tip on how to fight the sin that so easily sets me off the right road love the very thing that i think we we all struggle with it's easy to love people we like to love unlikable people and there's no never been a shortage of them jesus said the poor you have with you always and i'm sure he whispered in unlikable people too no i'm not sure he whispered that but love repels the sin first peter four eight above all things have fervent love for one another for love will cover a multitude of sins you know peter was hounded by people for for years after because he denied the lord some wouldn't let him get past it and yet he's still preaching love not vengeance at the end of james letter he will say let him know that he who turns a sinner from the era of his way will save a soul from death and cover a multitude of sins what is the motivation for turning a sinner away from sinful life it must be love not i am right you are wrong do it my way that's not love may be truth in it love without courage is not agape love it is not the love that god is upholding throughout the scripture concerning his relationship with himself and his believers the love that comes from god will go to the cross for god we all know this only because of our flesh are we weak but only because of the spirit are we made strong psalm we have some verses i'm almost done you're almost a little late with this message and so i'll try to finish it up it's always nicer to blame the other person psalm 18 verse 29 for by you i can run against the troop by my god i can leap over a wall david wrote that he loved the lord second corinthians and he said to me this is paul paul is saying lord i just want this thing that's sticking me in my side from satan to go away it's hidden from us the precise thing that it was but we all have one a thorn in the flesh and this is christ's response to paul my grace is enough for you for my strength is made perfect in weakness therefore most gladly paul says to that i will rather boast of my weakness that the power of christ may rest upon me well love makes that work first corinthians 13 4 love suffers long and is kind how many christians talk about love and are the kind you want to avoid because they're not kind it would kill them to be nice it would seem that would bring relief many times oh you missed that one but you think about it later love suffers long and is kind love does not envy love does not parade itself is not puffed up and for those who find pleasure more important than the honor of christ they will suffer with these things they will suffer suffer insecurity because they don't have the love which brings the strength and the courage of christ and speaking of being puffed up with pride verse six but he gives more grace therefore he says god resists the proud but gives grace to the humble there's an ample supply of grace to counteract whatever sin you find yourself in do you believe that there is enough grace and love coming from the throne of god to counteract any sin that trips you up who shall separate me from the love of god paul asked no one if you don't believe that you're going to stay weaker if you lock on to it you will become stronger god resists the proud because the proud resists god this is the this is not the proud you know oh i did a good job i'm very happy with that or who my son won the race great job he ran backwards even that would be you know there's there's some room for that this is that self-serving pride that exalts the self that says i am better i am it and i should be the one in god's place again another tozier quote nothing that comes from god will minister to my pride or self-congratulation god has two dwelling places heaven and the contrite heart satan also has two dwelling places hell and the proud heart remember pride turned an archangel into the enemy of god and his people and so god is looking to bless you but not your carnal nature and close with this psalm from psalm 138 verse 6 though yahweh is on high yet he regards the lowly but the proud he knows the far off so you keep away from me kind of a picture thanks for joining us today as we took a deeper look into the book of james here on cross reference radio cross reference radio is the daily radio ministry of pastor rick gaston of calvary chapel mechanicsville in virginia we're blessed to bring you god's word with each broadcast if you'd like more information or want to listen to additional teachings from pastor rick please visit our website crossreferenceradio.com if you've been blessed by this program we'd love to hear from you when you visit the website simply click on the contact us link at the top of the page and leave us a message that website again is crossreferenceradio.com please join us again next time as we continue our study through the book of james right here on cross reference radio