Scandalous Behavior (Part B)

Even though there were these problems in the church they were dealt with, and if they weren't, the church would not have stood, but she is still here and you're living proof of that right now. The passing of the centuries of Christian experience and growth has been taking place in spite of setbacks, but each generation has to face the same, the identical temptations as the last one, as those first believers.

Otherwise the Bible would be a dated book, it would be a cultural thing, but it's not. 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 book. Today Pastor Rick continues through the book of James in chapter 4 and his message, Scandalous Behavior. You don't have to single anybody out. To some degree or one or another, we're all guilty of it at some time, but some more than others, let the Holy Spirit minister to you if this is something you are struggling with in particular. Turning churches and homes and environments into battlegrounds, an abrasive person, that's so you get the feel that when James is writing this and he's singling these types out in the churches, there were those that were just abrasive, insistent upon getting their will done. I've heard of fistfights in church boards, people hating on each other, trying to get their way done. Church-going peace breakers, they always feel justified when they break the peace it seems. They always have some reason that catapults them beyond the restrictions of Scripture.

So he says, yet you do not have because you do not ask. But some of them didn't even bother to pray. They just don't get to be bothered with praying. Why should I pray when I can force my will? Why should I depend on God?

He covered these things in the first chapter. In verse 3 of James 4, we continue, he says, you ask and do not receive because you ask a mess that you may spend it on your pleasures. Those who did ask fail to ask according to the rules. Prayer has rules. Grace has rules. Lawlessness is not part of the Holy Spirit, is not part of faith.

It is contrary to it. Improper prayer is avoidable. All one need do is come to the Scriptures and learn. God is notorious for walking away from improper prayer.

I'm out of here. For example, 1 Peter chapter 3. We'll take three verses. Husbands likewise dwell with them with understanding, giving honor to the wife as to the weaker vessel and as being heirs together of the grace of life. That your prayers may not be hindered. If you're the problem, if you are the problem, husband or wife, don't you think for one moment that you're not supposed to leave your sacrifice on the altar and go and get it right with the person you've offended? It goes for all of us.

Weaker in position. God is given in the marriage, which is between, whoever thought you'd even have to say such a thing. Marriage is between a man and a woman and that's it. And anybody else is outside the will of Scripture, which is the will of God, the voice of God. You don't have to like it, but that's what I believe.

I'm Rick Gaston and I approve of this message. 1 Peter 3.12. For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and his ears are open to their prayers, but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil. It is nothing difficult to understand about anything I just read.

Everyone in this room understood what I just read, unless you're drifting, so when's this thing going to end? And then when you go and want God to work for you and you're scratching your head to wonder why you've gotten to the mess you've gotten into, maybe you can trace it back to such an attitude. Proverbs 28 verse 9. One who turns away his ears from hearing the law.

Even his prayer is an abomination. So Solomon again writing to Jews and he says the law of Moses, our constitution for life, for how we should live. If you reject the voice of God through his law, God's not going to listen to you. And if he is listening, he's stacking up demerits against you, charges against you.

So it's very serious business. Now the wicked object to this. Objection overruled, says God. How many suppose God is just a personal genie standing by to bless them with treasures? Well, we have a whole line of butchered theology known as the prosperity movement that actually is built on that type of thinking. But the prayer men and women of scripture who were heroes of the faith, Abraham, Hannah, Elijah, Elisha, Daniel, David, Hezekiah, Ezra, Nehemiah, the list goes on. They were not heroes of faith simply because they prayed within the confines of prayer. But because they sought to live honorably before God in spite of failures.

Their testimonies are written for us to follow. Not to say, oh that's too high for me, I can't do it. The Holy Spirit says, nonsense.

Put your back into it. Roll up your sleeves and get busy at it and see how far, how much farther you will go if you pursue the way of the Lord. So it takes more than prayer to make a hero of the faith.

It is how we conduct ourselves. He says in verse 3 that you may spend it on yourselves. You ask, you do not receive because you ask amiss. You ask the wrong things, the wrong way with the wrong lifestyle.

That you may spend it on yourself. Where is the cross of Christ in that? Where is deny yourself, take up your cross and follow me in that? Dear God, please feed my greed. Such prayers never make it out of Earth's atmosphere.

They don't even get past the ceiling. Bless me because I want stuff. God is not a material gift dispenser. He does want to give. He does want to bless. But not so that our carnal nature, our lower self, our sinful nature can feast itself upon things that are perishing. Self-centeredness. It is not a fruit of the Spirit. The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, selfishness.

No, it doesn't ever say that. That would kill it all. There's enough to go around for you and me and others. And so getting what I want is this. I want what I want to match what God wants.

I want it to match what I believe. I want my life to match my confession. And Satan says without failure to everyone who makes such a pledge, we'll see about that. Because I'm going to tap into your members, your flesh. I know there's a sinful side to you.

That's my portal. And I will do everything I can to access it and destroy. He doesn't care who he destroys as long as he is destroying. And God knows this and that's why the mercy, the grace, the kindness of God is sufficient to overcome these things and wash away the guilt through the blood of Christ. And so God often gives an answer to prayer. This word, wait, or, no, or, yes.

That's it. He reserves the right to do this. Now I want to take a minute to go down a little bit of a side road here concerning the church because she still stands. Even though there were these problems in the church, they were dealt with and if they weren't, the church would not have stood.

But she is still here and you're living proof of that right now. The passing of the centuries, the Christian experience and growth has been taking place in spite of setbacks. But each generation has to face the same, the identical temptations as the last one, as those first believers. Otherwise, the Bible would be a dated book.

It would be a cultural thing, but it's not. And this is why the word of God endures forever. It does not change. In the face of countless attacks and bloody onslaughts, the devil has come. He never gives up. We have to understand that. He will never give you mercy, not without setting you up for something even worse. The enemies have mingled themselves into the church amongst believers to influence their wickedness. Devils infiltrating and nesting in churches in the house of God, in the hollow halls of the body of Christ, and then there are those completely apostate institutions.

You younger Christians, I don't know, but somewhere in your, let's just take 29 and down. Satan still thinks he can make you an apostate, fall away from the faith, find something that you think you're better off with. He's lying to you, but he's trying to snatch your soul. If you are faithless enough, if you are dumb enough, if you are rebellious enough, if you are dissatisfied enough, if you are self-impressed enough, he's going to take you out. But none of those things should happen because Christ says, you stick with me, kid.

You stick with me and he'll never get you. And surely goodness and mercy shall follow you all the days of your life and you shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever. 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, we read in Revelation chapter 2. 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. 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. This is 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 after 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 off. Sometimes the fortification is just too strong, because you're doing everything according to the book of God.

He 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. 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 named 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 being the robbers on the road, the sickness, the cold, the hunger, the persecutions, besides 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 do not 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 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, 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. 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 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 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. You may be sitting there just singed. Well, again, if the shoe fits, you have to wear it. God has forbidden these things. Why would you 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 going right along and he's telling them about themselves as he should. Adultruses 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 oftentimes 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 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. If you've never read through the Proverbs, you should start today, five minutes after service.

Start as quickly as you can. 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, 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. We don't merge with our enemies and their views and their approach to life.

So we can see the world with outstretched 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 in 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. 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.