The Peace-Stealers - Part B

We are the bride of Christ is the bridegroom of the church.

So if your friend of the world if the world is more important than the values of the world are more important to you. You are making yourself main cause for strife and conflict receiving connect with Skip Heitzig today as he gets to the Google among and within people shares how you can find peace from that conflict first to let you know about an opportunity to visit the ancient land of the Bible take a trip to experience Israel is the historic landscape delicious that the spiritual significance in 2022. You have the opportunity to join my Mac to worship and study that's working very places Jesus taught Princeton find out more@inspirationcruises.com/CAD Q were James chapter 4 as we dive into the teaching with Skip Heitzig. One thing about DL Moody that people noted he was not a polished speaker is not a highly educated individual, like a lot of clergyman at the time were, you know, sort of like a simple person packs a punch. You know street-level kind of guy, so you can always say things perfectly, and people noted that and often criticized him because of that. Now he was not naïve. He understood that people were talking smack about them. So he addressed liquidy set. You may find hundreds of fault finders among professed Christians, but all their criticism will not lead one solitary soul to Christ. That's powerful.

I never preached a sermon yet that I could not pick the pieces and I find fault with. I feel that Jesus ought to have a far better representative than I am but I live long enough to discover that there's nothing perfect in this world. If you're waiting until you find a perfect preacher or a perfect church. I'm afraid you'll have to wait till the millennium arrives.

First of all, can I just make note that he believed in a millennium literal millennium way to go. DL Moody old the guy that I really like but but but what he's saying here is powerful. Here's what he saying same there criticizing. I'm evangelizing their pouting I'm preaching there using their words for evil. I'm using my words for good and that's why I say use your mouth to heal and not to hurt.

We could do that we could decide what to do days when no man can tame the tongue. You're right that you're filled with the Holy Spirit you're filled with the Holy Spirit.

This can happen. You could use your mouth to preach the gospel. You could use your words to encourage people you could use what you say to blast to instruct to equip to inspire.

So that's the war among us. But there's a second, more. In fact, the reason for the first four is because of the second war, and that is the war inside of us. Let's look at what he says he says word of wars and fights come from among you regarding with you that now he answers it. Do they not come from your desires for pleasure that war in your members uses the term in your members. He's not saying in your church members in your body, the bodily members of your person that that the different parts of your body, your makeup that are vying for attention and affection. That's what he's talking about and he continues you lust and do not have. You murder and covet and cannot obtain.

You fight in war.

You do not have because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive because you ask amiss, that you might spend it on your pleasures me some that up and pick it apart.

Here's a summary. The reason there's a war among us is because there's a war inside of us. It's the war inside of us that is fueling the fires of the wars among us. That's what he is saying the war inside the heart was fueling the war inside the church.

That's the real source so so just keep this in mind if you're struggling with other people that struggle could be generated by the struggle with in you. Some of you have no clue what I decided struggle within me. I don't have a struggle with me. I love me. I'm not struggling with me.

I love me I my own best friend. I get along fine with myself.

I give me whatever I want. Bingo. Therein lies the issue because you'll notice in verse one.

The word pleasure. Do they not one of these things come from one's warmongers come from. He says do they not come from your desires for pleasure very interesting and important work.

The word pleasure here is the Greek word Haydon known and Haydon known is the word from whence we get our word hedonism averted hedonism, hedonistic person is a philosophy of life that says my personal pleasure is my highest goal is hedonism.

I look for pleasure, a pleasure seeker. No on the push the pause button just okay I'm pause in the sermon that I want to say something before we get back in this. There's nothing wrong with pleasure, per se. God created us with a very amazing intricate nervous system with pleasure receptors so that we would find enjoyment in life. He did that. That's how we are created, so there's nothing wrong with enjoyment.

There's nothing wrong with pleasure, per se. There's nothing wrong with, say, enjoying a fine meal together or a day in the sun. We feel like in a day like this: feel so good that warrant on my skin you not to feel guilty because of that, a nice barbecue in the backyard with friends and family hug a golf game especially when you're headed really well defined and pleasure in it. I went right down the fairway soak healthy sex life.

In the covenant of a marriage relationship God created you to enjoy those things but when those desires become the passion of your life.

That is, they drive us they control us. So the life is one continuous search for pleasure. That's a problem it's a problem when we beat we become like what Paul described in second Timothy chapter 3, those people who are lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God. When we become like a seed sown that Jesus spoke about in Luke chapter 8 and he said that they were choked with the pleasures of this life or when we become like what Paul described in Titus three. Those who were enslaved by all kinds of passions and pleasures you get the idea driven by enslaved by control by okay now pause button off, let's go to verse one.

Look at the second part of it again. Do they not come from your desires for pleasure and notices that war in your members. The pleasures are waging war inside of you those pleasures are like little rebel soldiers demanding satisfaction and when they do not get satisfied. They declare war that's the war inside you. When a person is victimized by their own desires.

Their inner life becomes a battleground and when that happens, relationships around them get hurt because people at that point or collateral damage. Like, I'm sorry, but it's all about me right now. I'm sorry that you I'm hurting you, but really I want to get my pleasure fulfilled Cecil when you when you are that focused people around you don't matter and so you have diminish their importance and they get hurt so so the war inside of us is what is causing the war outside of us among us. But look at verse two now Vicki gets a little have you know James is is upfront, like DL Moody just in-your-face kind of a preacher, but he says this. You lost and do not have the next sentence. You murder and covet and cannot obtain okay while I'm that that sort of a shocking statement. Imagine having your Friday morning ladies Bible study group gather mall in your home in the ring look good morning murderers site what what did you just call me.

I so he is. He's calling them murderers. What is he mean by this.

Well, most people think it's a metaphorical statement, just like Jesus that if you hate your brother you've committed murder. He could be that I'm not that I disagree with that but some scholars actually believe that he was not being metaphorical is being actual being literal that there was a case of a church where somebody killed another church member and it became known became a scandal in one of the reasons that cause James to want to write this general letter was because of incidents like that that's a possibility. I don't know. I can't tell you I can tell you that if you were to look up in your Bibles of the life of King David, the man after God's own heart. There's a record of how he treated a woman named Bathsheba and her husband named Uriah the Hittite and if you go look at that story. It is almost word for word verse two and three in adulterer murder.

It's like he acted these verses out in real life. Whatever the case, James point is taken, the struggle inside of you is real, but that real struggle is ruining relations around you and ruining your testimony for the gospel call about want this and I want this. And if I'm not getting what I would.

So if you get five people together and they all want what they want only be a war in the room is all right to be awards and be warned that room. I read an article this week. I wanted to share with you as a biologist from Purdue University named Lillian Muir of Purdue's in Indiana. He's a biologist and he was doing an experiment or doing research on chickens which I was at the file thing to research but one is the seats see if you're listening and you are check and follow good good good good your tracking okay, so he is he is studying chickens and he decides to find out how they reproduce over time.

So he did. He divided the chickens into two groups.

Let's call group number one. The average chicken group was call group number two, the super chickens the super flux of heat he found chickens that were extraordinarily individually productive and put them all in the same group and just put regular chickens in the other group and watch them over six generations. So after six generations of reproduction. This what he discovered. The first group did just fine. There were plump fully feathered there a production increased. All good. What about the second group. What would you imagine what he discovered is that all of the chickens in the second group except three were dead. They killed it they text each other to death. Now I see a corollary, sometimes that happens you get a bunch of super achievers together right because it's like none I know my plans but also know you're an idiot, Michael, your insight clash clash right that's that's that happens a lot. So the war among us is according to James, because of the war inside of us know, keep following his line of thinking here because the end of verse two, he says you do not have. Here's something you want what you want you you don't have it because you do not ask and the implication is you don't ask God you don't pray about it. You're not talking to God about it not ask God. Should I have it.

Should I not have this.

Can I have this verse three you ask and you do not receive because you ask a mess that you might spend it on your pleasures without unraveling that too much. We just put you this way, selfishness leads not only to wrongdoing. It leads to wrong, praying because you see when you're self focused, as an individual you become self-sufficient self focused. People often become self-sufficient and us last time I checked, self-sufficient people don't pray that it I don't need to pray.

I got this I'm strong enough, I'm smart enough to God to help me on this is like easy stuff.

Self-sufficient people don't pray, and self focused people when they pray praying for all about them that's that's the greater point here limit many closes before we move on by saying whatever it is you think you need in you want in your life you need to understand that what God wants for you is far greater than anything you could want for yourself so what comes of just enjoying life and having pleasure. Keep that in mind number two about that, even if following Christ is hard sometimes.

The very worst that God has for you is better than the best that the world has for you it is it's it's better it's a better plan. So the war among us is caused by the war inside us, but there's 1/3 warmer than the close with this and that is the war above us and and and oddly.

Often this really is the issue of war.

It's because people are fighting God to look at verse four adulterers and adulteresses again thank you pastor James God bless you to do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God. Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world and makes a makes himself an enemy of God, or do you think that the Scripture says in vain. The spirit dwells in us yearns jealously but he gives more grace. Therefore he says God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble. Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.

Do you know that a person can declare war on God. The sale yet unbeliever cancer unbelievers shake their fist got all the time never know he's writing to brethren speaking to fellow believers. You can declare war on God. You want to know how you can declare war on God by getting too close to God's enemy fraternizing with the enemy when you move from God toward God's enemy more and more.

You are in effect making God during your declaring war on God and in the enemy he speaking appears not only the devil but he mentions the world the world you probably know, I hope that when the Bible talks about the world is not necessarily referring to the world of people were to love them, not referring to the world of plants and animals were to enjoy them. It's the world of ideas. Since the system of values that is opposed to the values of God and his kingdom.

That's the world to be a friend of this world and notice that he compares friendship with this world to adultery. Why would he do that well simply because were married to Christ. Romans chapter 7 says that we are married to Jesus Christ where the bride of Christ, he is the bridegroom of the church so if you're a friend of the world if if if the world is more important than the values of the world are more important to you and you are making yourself an enemy of God.

So this begs the question, how do I know I'm a friend of the world love jotted out a few general ideas you know you're a friend of the world when your personal pleasure is more important to you than spiritual pleasure.

If that's happening after tending toward that pretty good indication your your friend of this world, you know, you're a friend of this world. When you care more about what unbelieving friends and family think about you than what God thinks about you or knows about you all on them for that.

It up. A better way. You know your friend of this world. When you care more about what unbelieving friends and family think about you than what the leaving friends and family. Think about and you know you're a friend of this world. When you disregard Scripture judge twice in this passage, James is quoting Scripture is referring to Old Testament passages.

But if you are the enemy of God or of your hostel forgot you don't care what he has to say in his word us on the poor need you disregard the allocated Bibles of what God wrote in support of a tell me what it means from time to time off all listen to it every now and then but the disregard so what's the solution. The solution is verse seven. I love it so simple. Therefore, there is submit to God. In that simple, it's not complicated and is not easy, but it's pretty straightforward therefore submit to God.

Resist the devil and he will flee from you. He's writing to a group of people that have resisted God and submitted to the devil. Now he saying turn out around submit to God and resist the devil submit to God because God is fighting for you now want to look at verse five really close with this.

I'm done almost. What do you think that the Scripture says in vain.

The Spirit who dwells in us yearns jealously of the idea behind that verse is is simple it. It's this God is passionately pursuing you.

He's put his Holy Spirit in us because he jealously desires a relationship of intimacy with us. That's his heart and he proved on the cross he was willing to go to any extent to rescue so if you know my number close with the movie clip can I do that and I was like I was church.

Maybe I shouldn't do that I'm to say something. Maybe you want to say that I would talk about a favorite movie. Maybe a preacher should have a favorite movie, but I'll tell you why this is one of my favorite shows is about a father who loves his daughter so much.

Nothing will stop him from rescuing her and that to me is heart of God. So in 2008. This movie came out a skull taken. Liam Neeson was a CIA operative and he finds out that his daughters abducted by child by sex traffickers in Paris and France and are going to sell her so he flies all the way over France inspects the crime scene, and he's a CIA guy asked Diego so he knows his stuff.

He inspected finds a cell phone makes contact with the abductors and has this conversation. I don't know who you are.

I don't know what you want. If you're looking for ransom I can tell you right on the money. But what I do have a very particular set of skills. Skills I've acquired over a very long career skills.

The McNeil nightmare for people like you if you let my daughter go now that'll be the end of it you will pursue, but if you don't look for you.

I will find you and I will kill you yeah yeah good luck they need. Good luck. You know how the movie ends he finds his daughter rescues her.

He's beaten up. He's bloodied but he rescues his daughter. His daughter collapses in his arms and says daddy you came for me and he said I told you I would. That's the commitment of a father I and look, I'm not advocating take along your own hands go kill people but obviously but any daughter would love to have a father like that will stand up for her and protect her and go to the ends of the earth, for her so I did that because that's that's a picture of this verse God's jealous love for you is I'm willing to take on the devil and all his thugs and go to the cross and get bloodied and beaten. I love that concludes give Jesus message from his series, give peace a chance want to share about a special resort credible insight into what's going on in the Middle East and why it matters for you.

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