If we look at James chapter 4, look at verse number 8.
It says, draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you.
The title of the sermon this evening is Draw Nigh to God.
Draw nigh.
That's what nigh means, to draw nigh unto the Lord.
Now, Reverend, let's start there in verse number 1.
Actually, before we just get into it,
let me just remind you that the book of James,
I personally believe that the book of James
is probably one of the most challenging books
of the New Testament.
Probably the only one that comes close
is the book of Revelation.
And there's a reason why these books are
toward the end of your Bible.
It's because God wants us to build our knowledge
and understanding as we read the scriptures, a line upon line,
precept upon precept, drinking and enjoying
the great milk of God's truth, and then moving on
to the stronger meat as we grow and mature
in the Lord Jesus Christ.
And I already shared with you when
I went through James chapter 2 that that
is the most misunderstood chapter of the Bible
that I've come across with people.
But I find that many of the chapters,
or many of the passages in the book of James,
are misunderstood even amongst believers.
And so I hope that as we continue
going through the book of James that you are being challenged,
you do re-examine what the passage says.
And again, the beautiful thing about going chapter by chapter,
verse by verse, is you keep things in context.
It's very easy to pull a verse out and to use it.
And again, there's nothing wrong with that.
There's nothing wrong with taking a verse of the Bible,
a great truth of the Bible, and applying it.
But you don't want to miss where,
you don't want to apply it to the point
where you miss the point of that verse being there
in the first place was about, is what I'm trying to say.
And so I kind of think there's going
to be certain things in James chapter 4
that you're going to be challenged even as a Christian.
Just even someone that's read the book of James
a few times over your life, there's
probably going to be things here that you're just
challenged with and you probably did not realize.
So let's start there in verse number 1,
James chapter 4, verse number 1, begins by saying,
from whence come wars and fightings among you?
Come they not hence, or from here,
even of your lusts that war in your members?
So James is reminding us that we've got a war in our members.
We've got a war in its flesh.
He's reminding us that we have a sinful flesh, a sinful flesh
that lusts, a sinful flesh that wants to go to war,
that wants to fight, that wants, it's selfish.
You know, it has its world of desires.
And we're being reminded about this body, these members
that we have.
And don't forget that if you're saved, you have a dual nature.
You have the flesh, you have the spirit.
You have the old man, you have the new man.
And these two elements of your life,
they're battling against each other.
The flesh lusts against the spirit,
and the spirit against the flesh.
The new man wants to do things that the Lord will be proud of.
The Lord will be pleased if you do.
And the spirit wants to walk in the ways of God
and prioritize the kingdom of God.
But the flesh wants to prioritize this earth,
this kingdom that you're trying to develop on this earth.
Your own desires, your own selfish needs.
And the other great thought that we get out of here
in verse number one, it says,
from whence come wars and fights among you?
I mean, you know, we may have fights as Christian brethren,
but how often do we go to war?
How often do we take armed conflict?
You know, no, obviously this is referring to the nations.
You know, not just the people,
but the nations are made up of people.
And the reason nations go to war one against another
is simply because of lust.
That's what the Bible says.
You know, right now in the news,
you've got the, you know,
the thoughts that Russia might invade Ukraine.
There might be a great war there.
And if Russia does invade Ukraine,
then you know, the United Nations are gonna come around
and the allies of Ukraine might come and defend.
And who knows where that's going to lead?
Maybe, maybe not, who knows?
Okay, the Bible speaks of wars and rumors of wars.
So far, we have a rumor of war that Russia might invade.
And you know, there's been great wars in history
and by great, I mean, large wars.
You know, no war is great.
No war truly is good, you know?
Unless you're the people of God in the Old Testament
and the Lord is sending his nation to go to war
to destroy the wicked people of the land of Canaan.
That's a different story.
But you know, when it comes to the wars of men,
the Bible tells us that the reason people go to war
and have fight is because of lust, all right?
Why do nations invade other nations?
Because they lust over the resources.
They lust over the territory.
They lust over the power and building a greater empire
and making a name for themselves in this world.
That's why nations go to war.
Look at verse number two.
It says, ye lust and have not, ye kill and desire to have.
So this is again, going to war and killing,
desire to have and cannot obtain.
You fight in war, yet you have not because ye ask not.
Interesting.
Okay, again, the thought here is all war is due to lust.
You know, it's never like, oh man,
this one nation is just so righteous
and they just go into war for the good of their nation.
Right, it's because of lust, okay?
It doesn't matter, you know,
it doesn't matter what side of the war it is, brethren.
Killing, murder, war, it's all down to lust.
Desiring to have the resources, the oils, the natural gas.
You know, the wealth of a nation.
That's why people go to war.
That's it, that's the bottom line, okay?
I'm not saying it's the reason the soldiers go to war.
They're just following orders.
For those that are pulling the strings, it's just lust.
Okay, this is why people go to war.
But it's interesting here because verse number two ends
with, yet ye have not because ye ask not.
Okay, so that was basically saying there are two ways
to get what you want in life.
Number one, yeah, you can fight and go to war.
If you, you know, you have selfish desires,
you've got lust, yeah, you can go and fight about it.
You can go and commit theft
and take what doesn't belong to you
and give into the envy and the desires of this world
and just, you know, step on each other's toes.
And it doesn't matter who you knock down,
as long as you get what you want and you go to fight
and you go to war, hey, that's one way to get what you want,
I suppose.
The other way to get what you want is just simple to ask
because ye ask not.
And here's the thing, even if you go to war
seeking what you want, you know, causing fights,
causing arguments for your own selfish reasons,
the Bible says, really, when it comes to believers,
we're not going to get what we want, okay?
It says you fight in war, yet ye have not.
You're not satisfied.
Now people think if I got it, if I just get what I want,
I'll be satisfied.
No, the rich people are never satisfied.
They just want to be richer.
You know, the people that have investments in properties,
they're never satisfied.
They want another investment in the property market.
It's one thing after another.
You never really achieve, you know,
if your desires are on this earth,
you're never going to get what you want.
You know, be satisfied, be content with what you have.
And brethren, if you have needs,
if you have things that you desire,
instead of fighting,
instead of being argumentative and selfish,
why don't you just ask?
Ask God.
That's what he's teaching.
It's beautiful.
We don't have to go to war as Christians.
We don't have to fight with one another.
You need something, brethren?
Ask God.
God, I need this.
Can I have it?
Okay, look at verse number three.
Ye ask and receive not.
So sometimes we do ask of God,
but we don't receive what we ask.
Why?
Because he asks amiss.
You're missing the target.
You're not asking the right things
that you may consume it upon your lusts.
Brethren, there are times that we go to prayer, all of us,
and we're just praying for things that we lust after.
You know, it's no good for us.
God knows it's not going to profit us.
God knows it's just something with sight in the flesh.
It doesn't profit us in the spirit.
It doesn't profit us with eternal matters.
You know, we might be asking for things
and God knows, you know what?
If I give them that,
it's just going to cause them to become selfish,
spoiled, rotten.
Their hearts and their eyes are going to be upon this world.
And you know what?
They're asking amiss.
They're asking out of their own lusts
and God won't give it to you, okay?
So sometimes, yeah, we don't get the answers to prayer
simply because God knows it's not good for us.
It's just coming out of our lusts, okay?
And so, you know, please, you know,
please think about your prayers.
Make sure that your prayers are not hindered
and they would be hindered
if they are driven by lusts.
So we have this concept again.
You can either fight for what you want
or you can just ask God.
And if I can just bring you back to your thoughts,
they're back in James chapter one,
just as a reminder,
go back to James chapter one, verse number six.
James chapter one, verse number six, the Bible says,
"'But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering,
"'for he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea
"'driven with the wind and tossed.'"
And so brethren, when we do have great needs
and great desires
and it's not coming out of our own lust,
God says, just come to him, ask of him.
God will give us everything we need.
And, you know, not only does God give us what we need,
he gives us an abundance.
You know, we all have reasons to glory and to thank God.
We all have been blessed.
We've all got more than we truly need.
You know, we're starting to pack our things again
here in Sydney, packing and getting things in boxes,
ready to move back to the Sunshine Coast.
And we just look around, man.
You know, we're only here for a year and a bit.
And, you know, we tried to live as minimal as we could.
Then look, we look around,
it's just the house is full of clutter.
You know, we just have too much, right?
I mean, God's blessed us with so many things in his life.
And God has blessed us in a great country, Australia,
where it doesn't really take a lot of effort
to get your basic requirements met.
You know what?
The Bible's very clear here that, you know, yes,
you know what, you have needs.
There are things that you need answered.
Might be a difficulty that you're going through.
It might be a tough financial situation.
You might be desiring a job.
You might be desiring God to heal you from an illness.
You know, there are certain things
that you want God to help you in your walk,
in your plans of life.
And you are going to ask God, go and ask Him,
and don't waver.
Go ask in faith, knowing that God can answer.
And make sure it's not something that you're asking
out of your own personal lusts, okay?
Okay, back to verse number four, please.
In James 4, verse number four.
James 4, verse number four.
Then it says these words,
ye adulterers and adulteresses.
Now again, the book of James, who is it written to?
We looked at this in chapter one.
My brethren, brethren, the saved.
You know what?
Sometimes the saved people as Christians,
God might call us adulterers and adulteresses.
I mean, that's pretty harsh words, right?
What's an adulterer?
A man who cheats on his wife.
A woman that cheats on her husband.
That's what an adulterer is.
I mean, this is wicked.
And you know what, the punishment for adultery,
you know, actual adultery, physical adultery,
cheating on your spouse, was a death penalty.
It's not just a sin, it's a crime in the eyes of God.
And God refers to Christians here
as spiritual adulterers and adulteresses.
Why?
Know ye not that the friendship of the world
is enmity with God?
Whoso therefore will be a friend of the world
is the enemy of God.
And again, this idea of desiring things upon our lusts,
the wars that we have in our members.
Reverend, all of us in our members desires
earthly treasures.
All of us in our members have this desire
to be worldly and to prosper in society
and be seen in the eyes of men.
We all have it, okay?
But we need to war.
We need to go and fight those members.
We need to walk in the new man.
We need to overcome those sinful desires
that we have in this sinful state.
But if we don't, if we just give in,
and just think, you know what,
I'm just gonna live for this world.
I'm gonna try to make something of myself in this world.
You know what, if I have to step over people,
I'll step over them.
You know what, I'm gonna go to war
and I'm just gonna desire,
I'm gonna give in to all my lusts,
and I'm gonna love this world.
I'm gonna be a friend to this world.
These are Christians.
But God says, boy, if you become a friend to this world,
you desire this wicked, awful world,
God calls you an adulterer or an adulteress, okay?
I mean, it's horrible, right?
And look, and if you're a friend to the world,
it says you're an enemy to God.
You cannot be a friend of this world
and a friend of God at the same time.
You know what, brethren,
we should desire to be a friend of God,
not a friend of this world.
And this thought again hearkens back to James 2.
Please go back to James 2 and verse number 23.
James 2, please, and verse number 23.
The Bible says, and the scripture was fulfilled,
which saith, Abraham believed God,
and he was imputed unto him for righteousness,
and he was called the friend of God.
Who called Abraham the friend of God?
God called Abraham my friend.
That is my friend.
Abraham is my friend.
If God can look at Abraham and say, this man is my friend,
then what does that tell us about Abraham?
That Abraham did not love this world.
That even though he walked in the land
that was promised unto him,
Abraham still saw himself as a sojourner,
as a pilgrim walking that earth.
His eyes were set on the new heavens,
new earth, new Jerusalem,
a city whose builder and maker was God.
Abraham's heart was on the Lord God.
Hey, he still had to live in the world.
He still had to function in society.
In fact, if you read the story,
Abraham was a very wealthy, a very rich man.
You know, lots of cattle, lots of servants,
lots of riches that God had given him,
but his heart weren't there.
Yeah, he was blessed by God,
but his heart was not on those things.
You know, he had said, no, I'd rather be a friend of God.
And God saw him as a friend.
You know, we've got that choice, brethren.
Do you want to be a friend of this world?
Hey, yeah, you know, you've given to your lust.
You'll get some level of satisfaction, some level,
but you're never going to be truly satisfied.
You're never going to achieve really what you want to achieve
because it's never enough.
No matter what you attain this world, someone has more.
And then if you attain what they have,
someone else has more.
Someone always has more than what you have
and you'll never be satisfied.
I don't want to be a friend to this world, do you?
I'd rather be a friend of God, a friend of God.
Let's not love this world.
Let's make sure that our love, our hearts, our passion,
our endeavor is toward the work of God
and to the Lord God himself.
You know, the Bible says in 1 John,
I'll just quickly read to you, 1 John 2.15.
Love not the world,
neither the things that are in the world.
If any man love the world,
the love of the Father is not in him.
For all that is in the world,
the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes
and the pride of life is not of the Father,
but of the world.
And the world passeth away and the lust thereof,
but he that doeth the will of God abideth forever.
Boy, let's do the will of God.
Let's love God first,
because that work that we do for God will abide forever.
The rewards, the riches that God gives us for serving him
will be forever.
Treasures are laid up for all eternity.
We can seek the treasures of this world,
but it's not going to be there forever.
It's all going to burn one day.
And you're going to look back
at everything you've built in life, all your achievements.
It's all going to be burnt down.
And you're going to, man, it's all destroyed.
What did I do for the Lord?
I got saved.
Well, praise God, praise God for Jesus Christ
and the free gift of salvation.
But what have I done for the Lord?
Where are my riches?
I have no crowns to cast before the feet of Jesus Christ.
Now let's make sure that we desire,
we put the effort, our foot forward to be a friend to God
and not a friend to this world.
James 4, verse number five.
Now, verse number five for me out of this whole chapter
was the most challenging one.
So let's have a look at it.
It says, do you think that the scripture safe in vain,
the spirit that dwells in us lusts to envy?
Question, that's a question mark, right?
It's a question.
All right.
Now, if you read verse number five alone,
you could be left thinking that when it says here,
do you not think the scripture safe in vain?
That somewhere in the scripture,
somewhere in the Old Testament, this phrase appears.
That the spirit that dwells in us lusts up to envy.
You may be thinking, okay, that must be something
that's in the Old Testament, but it's not.
That phrase does not exist anywhere in the Bible.
So is this a Bible contradiction?
No, it's not, okay.
And we need to be just thoughtful about this.
Before I explain to you what's going on here,
let's just look at that question.
The spirit that dwells in us,
well, that would be, I suppose,
the Holy Spirit that dwells in us, okay?
Or you might even say, you know, the revived spirit.
You know, we're born of the spirit.
We have a, what's the word I'm looking for?
A spirit that has been born again, right?
The born again spirit that has been born
by the spirit of God.
So we know that the Holy Spirit's not going to cause us
to lust, to envy.
I mean, lusting and envy, that's sin, isn't it?
But will the new spirit, the new man,
lust and be envious as well?
Of course not, okay?
So think about the question for a moment.
The spirit that dwells in us lusts up to envy, question.
Brethren, this is a rhetorical question.
Of course, the spirit that indwells us
will not cause us to lust after, or lust and be envious,
you know, lusts up to envy.
That's not the new man.
We already saw at the beginning of this chapter,
it's the members, it's the flesh that caused us to lust.
Okay, so it's a rhetorical question.
I believe it's referring to the Holy Spirit,
the spirit that dwells in us, lusts up to envy.
Will the Holy Spirit cause us to desire to lust?
Of course not, of course not, okay?
And so what this is kind of saying
is this thought here that, you know,
of course, if you're saved
and you have the Holy Spirit of God,
you know, the Holy Spirit's not going to cause you to sin.
All right?
Now, the way this might be phrased in our current,
you know, life, or, you know, in 2022, in our generation,
would it be this thought that, well, if you, you know,
if you believe salvation is by grace,
through faith alone and without works, okay?
So what, you know, and you're saying that
even if after you're saved, you can still sin,
then are you saying that, you know,
salvation is basically a license to sin?
Isn't that what people say?
You know, they say to you,
well, if it's just by grace and faith alone, without works,
without trying to fix your life,
then what you're also saying is what they say
is that then you're giving people a license to sin,
that you're saved, you've got the Spirit of God,
and this is going to just allow us to go on
and sin with our lives, okay?
Of course not, okay?
It's stupidity, that idea that we're just allowed to,
God just won't do anything, and God just wants us to sin.
That is stupidity, okay?
But understanding verse number five,
you need to understand what verse number six says,
because look at how verse number six begins.
But, okay, so in response to that question,
in response to that thought that the Holy Spirit
or salvation gives us license to sin,
but he giveth more grace, that's the answer, okay?
That if we sin, God gives us more grace, okay?
The more you sin, the more grace God gives you.
You cannot out sin the grace of God.
That's the right answer to the question, okay?
Then it says this, wherefore he saith,
so this is what is actually in the scriptures, okay?
Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud,
but giveth grace unto the humble.
And that passage of scripture comes from
Proverbs chapter three, verse 34,
surely he scorneth the scorners,
but he giveth grace unto the lowly, all right?
And so the idea there is basically, you know what?
If we have, and we will sin, we sin every day,
when we do sin, if we just lower ourselves,
if we just humble ourselves, if we come lowly before God
and say, God, I messed up again, I'm a sinner,
please forgive me, that God will give us the grace,
God will forgive us, and we can be back
in fellowship with God, all right?
Now, again, look at verse number five.
It says, do you think the scripture is safe in vain?
What does vain mean, empty?
So what was it that the scripture said?
Well, again, verse number six,
God resisteth the proud and giveth grace unto the humble.
Listen, what this is saying is that even though we're saved,
God continues giving us grace.
Even though we're saved, our sinful actions will not escape,
will not be greater than the grace of God, okay?
That's what it's saying.
So here's the thing, if salvation,
if salvation was a clean up of your life,
if salvation was, stop sinning, repent of your sins,
clean up your life, then this passage would be in vain.
This passage will be useless.
Why would God need to give you more grace?
Because if salvation is to clean up your life
and stop sinning, then what's the point of more grace?
It's vanity.
The reason the scripture's there,
that God will give grace to the humble
is because even after we're saved,
and salvation is one saved, always saved,
you can never lose it, but even after you're saved,
you will continue to sin,
which is why God continues to give us his grace.
It has a purpose.
It's not a vain scripture, okay?
It's there because God's basically saying, yes,
even after you're saved, you will continue to sin, okay?
And so it's answering that stupid rhetorical question.
Oh, you got the license to sin?
That's not salvation.
Listen, salvation's not about how much you sin.
Salvation is not about how much you clean up your life.
Salvation is on the finished work of Jesus Christ.
He's taken all our sins upon himself.
He paid the brunt of our penalty.
He became sin for us.
He took on the curse for us, okay?
Salvation is based on the finished work of God.
It's not based on how much you've sinned
or haven't stopped sinning.
No, yes, you're gonna continue sinning your life,
but you need God's grace.
And when you sin, what do you do?
Pride, oh, I'm not gonna confess.
You lower yourself, you humble yourself.
God, I mess up again.
Please send me your grace.
Please send me your forgiveness.
Not because I've lost my salvation,
but because I wanna stay in fellowship with you, Lord.
That's why.
I wanna walk closely with you.
Draw nigh to God and he will draw nigh to you.
That's the title for the sermon tonight, amen?
I hope that makes sense.
And just to clarify this point, okay,
if I'm gonna read, you can turn it if you want,
Romans chapter five verse 20,
but I'm sure many of you know it.
Romans chapter five verse 20.
It says, moreover, the law entered
that the offense might abound.
Offense, that's your sins.
Your sins abound, brother.
But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound.
You cannot escape God's grace.
Verse number 21, that as sin have rained unto death,
even so might grace reign through righteousness
unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord.
You know, people have said to me,
I think I've fallen out of God's grace.
I think I've sinned beyond God's grace.
You cannot sin beyond God's grace.
It's impossible, okay?
It's impossible.
You know, if you think your life,
you know, salvation is based on how much you sinned
or does your sin balance God's grace,
then you're not even saved
because then your salvation is based on your works,
how well you're living your life.
You're not saved.
You're going to die and go to hell.
Hey, stop trusting your works.
Stop trusting how much you've cleaned up your life
for salvation and place all your faith
on the finished work of Jesus.
It's a free gift.
It's by faith alone on Christ, death, burial, resurrection.
Man, it's such, it's so easy.
It's the most basic doctrine.
It is a free gift and people don't get it.
People don't get it.
Hey, they didn't get it in James chapter four.
They don't get it today.
The world hasn't changed all that much.
Honestly, human beings are still the same, okay?
They find it too hard to accept
that salvation is a free gift,
and they are faithful by the blood of Jesus Christ.
Okay, let's keep going.
Verse number seven, verse number seven.
James chapter four, verse number seven.
Submit yourselves therefore to God.
Resist the devil and he will flee from you, okay?
So again, it's the same thought there.
Okay, yes, you've messed up.
You've sinned.
Submit yourself to God.
Resist the devil.
The devil's there trying to tempt you,
trying to tempt the word, the lust of the eyes,
the lust of the flesh, the pride of life.
The devil knows how to push our buttons, brethren.
You're going to learn to resist that.
It's easy to give in.
It's easy to sin.
It's easy to follow the world and follow the devil.
I'd rather resist, resist.
Put on the new man.
Draw yourself to the Lord.
Submit yourself.
Let's humble yourself.
Make the Lord understand
that he has got authority in your life.
Please the Lord, your body is a temple of the Holy Ghost.
He has purchased you, okay?
He has purchased you of the blood of Jesus.
Submit yourselves to God.
Resist the devil and he will flee from you.
The Bible also says that great is he that is in you then,
he that is in the world.
Yeah, we submit ourselves to God.
We draw nigh to God and the devil can't handle God, right?
I mean, the devil can play some games with you,
but if you're close to God,
if you're in close fellowship, close proximity to God,
the devil has got no chance to touch you, okay?
So we're to submit ourselves to the Lord God.
Verse number eight, please.
The Bible says, draw nigh to God
and he will draw nigh to you.
I love that because, you know,
sometimes we may feel far from God, okay?
So the Bible's basically saying this,
if we just draw nigh to God,
that God is also, has drawn nigh to us.
Meaning that if you just take one step to God,
say, God, I messed up.
One step is basically equivalent to two steps
because not only are you drawing nigh,
the Lord is also drawing nigh.
Now, the reality is that God's not gone anywhere.
God has never left us nor forsaken us.
It's that we have gone away from the Lord God.
We have gotten ourselves to a back-slidden state.
We have gotten ourselves out of fellowship.
We have gone and walk in the ways of darkness.
We've walked away from the Lord, okay?
The point is that if we draw nigh to God,
God's not going to get,
he's not going to get further away from us, okay?
You know, God wants our fellowship.
God wants to have a great presence and a great work
and a great blessing in our lives.
I love this about God.
You know, we are sometimes ashamed of our sins.
We're embarrassed, but God says,
look, just draw nigh to me.
Just submit yourself to me.
Just ask for forgiveness, all right?
Just humble yourself.
Just be of a broken and contrite heart
when you've rebelled against God
and God will make sure that you feel his presence,
that you're close to him.
Then it says this.
This is how we draw nigh to God.
Cleanse your hands, ye sinners,
and purify your hearts, ye double-minded.
The Bible's reminded us again,
two elements in our life that can cause sin.
Our hands, that's our members, our body.
You know, we can sin in his flesh.
We can do that, which is wrong.
You know, with this body, that's what we're to cleanse,
clean up the dirtiness that we do in the flesh,
but not just what we do.
It says, and purify your hearts, ye double-minded.
And you know, many times the Bible speaks of a heart
as a place where we think, even though we know it's the mind,
but not mind the heart.
Sometimes these things can be interchangeable in the Bible.
So the hands represents what we do.
The hearts represent what we think, okay?
The thought life and what we do.
These are two elements in our life to cleanse,
to clean, to fix, to improve.
And this is the part of drawing light to God.
Yeah, confess your sins, you know, clean up your life,
seek the power of God to have victory
over that wickedness and that filth.
And you'll feel a greater presence of God.
You'll enjoy greater fellowship,
greater blessings to be near the Lord God.
Verse number nine, it says,
be afflicted and mourn and weep.
I don't like affliction.
I don't like mourning.
I don't like weeping.
Bible says, be afflicted and mourn and weep.
Let your laughter be turned to mourning
and your joy to heaviness.
Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord
and he shall lift you up.
You know, when we go confess our sins to the Lord,
it shouldn't be this minor thing.
Dear Lord, since day, please forgive me for my sins.
In Jesus' name, amen.
Every day, you know, every moment.
You know what?
God actually wants us to feel sorrow for our sins.
God wants us to look back and realize
that we've offended the Lord God,
that we've given it to our lusts,
that we've become friends of this world
and not friends of God.
God just, you know, he wants us to be in that broken state.
You know, sinning against the Lord is not this minor thing.
Is it something that we should accept
that we're gonna do for the rest of our lives?
We should accept and understand that,
but just because we accept it
doesn't mean it's a small issue.
Oh, I sin against God, who cares?
No, God wants us to really be broken, all right?
Instead of laughing and laughing in our sin
and oh, who cares?
You know, I, whatever, I, you know, attacked this man
and I'm like, ah, ha, ha, ha, good job.
You know what?
God wants us to really be broken
about the sins that we've committed, all right?
Cleanse your hands, purify your hearts,
humble yourself in the sight of God,
and he will lift you up.
That's what's great about going to the Lord, yeah?
Having that brokenness about you.
Man, I messed up, weeping, nothing wrong with that.
So it's not manly to weep.
God wants us to weep.
Jesus wept, okay?
We've been sorry for what we've done.
You know what?
And God will lift you up.
God will strengthen you.
You know, instead of you being strengthened
in your own pride, you know,
in your own, you know, thoughts of your greatness,
it's the power of God.
God will lift you up.
If God lifts you,
you're gonna be stronger than you've been before.
You know, I don't know when the last time,
Reverend, you've had a broken heart before the Lord.
I don't know the last time you've really wept before God
and said, God, I'm sorry, I really, man, I'm sin.
I've really messed up again, God.
When's the last time you've had that level
of a broken heart?
You know what?
God requires that from us.
That's what he wants.
You know, he wants to see that we truly are sorry
for what we've done, you know,
and be in fellowship with God.
Walk in his paths, be close to the Lord,
draw nigh unto the Lord.
I read this passage on Sunday,
but let me just read it again.
It's 2 Corinthians 7, verse 10.
For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation,
not to be repented of,
but the sorrow of the world worketh death.
You know, godly sorrow worketh repentance.
You know, if we truly want victory over our sins,
we need to have godly sorrow.
We truly need to have that, okay?
If it's just, oh God, forgive me, amen.
Yeah, do you really have godly sorrow there?
It's very likely that you're not gonna have the power
to overcome that sin.
It's very likely that you're gonna be able
to give into that sin very quickly.
Maybe the moment you finish that prayer,
you're back in that old way.
You know what?
It truly shows some remorse,
that broken heart, that weeping.
The Lord lifts you up.
You've drawn close to God.
You've got God's strength.
You're gonna have a greater level of achievements
of overcoming the sins,
the temptations, the lusts that come out of our flesh.
Verse 11, please.
James 4, verse 11.
Speak not evil one of another, brethren.
He that speaketh evil of his brother
and judge of his brother speaketh evil of the law
and judgeth the law.
But if thou judge the law,
thou art not a doer of the law, but a judge.
There is one lawgiver who is able to save and to destroy.
Who art thou that judges another?
Who are you?
Who are you that judges another?
You know what this teaches us?
The same thing that I've been teaching
probably the last few weeks.
And I also taught about this in James 3
just last week as well.
But you know what?
If you're at an equal level with somebody,
someone's your brother.
Of course we think of a brother as a safe person,
but the thought here is basically
you're at the same level as somebody else.
Let's say I work as an electrician, for example,
or pretend, all right?
And I work with another,
I've got another electrician that I work with
and we both have a supervisor over us.
You know what?
I am not to judge the other electrician.
I've got no authority over him.
I mean, the one that will judge him
will be the one that's above him, the one that's over him.
You know, we're in church.
We're all at the same level.
I mean, I've been given authority in the church,
but when we look at our brothers and sisters in the church,
we're at the same level.
You know, I don't care if you're a father.
You know, I don't care if you're a mother.
You know, I don't care if you're a school principal.
I don't care if you're a politician.
I don't care what authority.
You know, if you run 10 businesses
and you've got a hundred property investments
and whatever, you know, whatever your status of life is,
you know, in church, we're at the same level, okay?
We're not there to judge one another.
The ones that judge us are those
that have authority over us, okay?
And when it comes to the brethren, the church,
the one that has authority over all of us
is the Lord Jesus Christ.
He is the one that judges, okay?
And we have to be careful because we saw this last week
that our tongues are like fires.
We can light fires.
We can start wars and fightings without fires.
It's, again, continuing the same thought here,
being careful what we have to say, you know, to others.
And again, I want you to really consider this.
I think, you know, the Lord really wants our church
to learn this, is that if, you know,
instead of being critical to another person,
you know, I know, Pastor Kevin,
I know they're doing wrong.
I've got to say something to them.
Oh, they're doing this and that.
I've got to step in there and fix them up.
They have authority over them.
Or are you acting as a judge?
You know, are you their judge?
Or is Jesus their judge?
All right, now, you say, Pastor Kevin,
then are we ever allowed to judge one another?
Of course we're allowed to judge one another, okay?
Again, don't forget what we read there in James chapter,
sorry, James chapter three,
go back to James chapter three just very quickly
and verse number one, James chapter three verse number one,
my brethren, be not many masters,
knowing that we shall receive the greater condemnation
for in many things we, that's the masters, offend all,
if any man offend not in word, the same as a perfect man,
also able to bridle the whole body.
Who is to judge somebody?
Their master, the one that has authority in their life.
They are the one that passes judgment, okay?
They're the ones that are gonna cause the offense.
Again, we saw last week to season our speech,
results, et cetera,
so we can have a positive influence on others, right?
Not to cause conflict and issues.
And I really wanted to meditate upon this, brethren.
And you know what, you can look around the church
and you can make a list of every family,
every person, find all their faults, all their problems.
You know what, if I really wanted to,
I could pull out a book right now
and I could just go for every family
in the church right now
and start making a list of all the problems.
Okay, list family name, single person here,
single lady there, child X, Y, and Z.
I can look at all the little issues that I've seen.
Now I'm gonna step in and judge them.
I'm gonna step in and criticize them.
I'm gonna step in and tell them they're doing wrong.
Wrong, you're not their masters.
You're not their master.
No, judge your family.
Husbands, you're the head of your wife.
Judge your wife.
Mothers, judge your daughters.
Your sons and daughters,
you've got authority over them, all right?
If it's a church-related issue,
yes, I have authority over that person.
I can judge them, okay,
because God gives us that authority.
But be careful, brethren.
You know what, if you step out of line,
you know, you put yourself a judge over them.
The Bible says there in verse number 12,
who art thou?
That judge said, who are you?
What are you doing?
This is not your place.
Why are you stepping on someone's toes?
This is where the walls and the fightings come from.
It's the last.
It's the members, you know,
in your body that wants to step on someone else's toes.
We must be careful, brethren.
We must be careful about how we judge.
It's not wrong to judge,
but the question is, are you the right person to judge?
Have you been given that authority by Jesus Christ?
And let me just quickly remind you of Romans 14 four,
who art thou that judges another man's servants
to his own master, he standeth for falleth,
yea, he shall be holding up,
for God is able to make him stand.
All right, so your desire,
in fact, actually look back at James 4, verse number one,
James 4, verse number one,
from whence come wars and fightings among you,
come they not hence, even of your lusts,
that war in your members,
look at verse number two again,
you lust and you have not,
you kill and desire to have,
you desire to have.
You know, when you go and criticize this family,
you criticize those people,
you know, you stand in judgment
of what this person has done.
You need to, you don't understand Pasco,
I have to step in there and tell them that they're wrong.
Again, why?
You desire to have, it's out of your lusts.
You desire to have authority over that person.
You desire to step on that person's toes.
You desire to lower that person
and show them that you know best
and brethren, it's coming out of the lust of your members.
Okay, it's coming out of the lust of your members.
Reverend, if you know that this person
who's on equal level with you has an issue, has a problem,
instead of going and fighting with them,
what did it say?
Ask, ask, don't ask out of your own lusts.
Go to God, say, God, I'm worried about brother so-and-so,
I'm worried about sister so-and-so,
I'm worried about family so-and-so,
Lord, can you please work in their lives?
Can you please open their eyes to the problems
and the struggles that they're going through?
I don't have authority over them, God, but you do.
Can you please step in and judge them?
Can you please step in and show them the truth?
I want the best for them, Lord,
because I feel like they're on their pathway
to destruction and I love them,
it's not out of my lust, God,
but I know you're the one that has judgment over them
and I'm gonna leave it in your hands.
That's the right approach.
Don't fight, don't go to war, ask, ask God,
ask God to step in and be the judge over them.
Let's get going there.
James 4, verse 13, it says, go to now,
ye that say, today or tomorrow,
we will go into such a city and continue there a year
and buy and sell and get gain.
You know, I once heard, and look,
I guess if you take verse number 13, again, by itself,
it could sound like God is saying,
hey, never go to another city, you know,
even if it's profitable.
Now, sometimes I've heard people just recently say to me,
you know, I'm thinking about moving out of Sydney
and moving to another place, another city,
maybe another country,
because they just can't afford a house here.
You know, the living expenses are so high in Sydney,
mortgages have gone up, rents have gone up,
maybe if I just move to another place,
it's gonna profit me.
And some people will teach,
well, see, the Bible says, never do this.
You know, never move to another city and make profit.
Never go to another place and start a business
and, you know, for profitable reasons.
That's not what it's saying, okay?
And again, you need to look at all this together.
Like, because if you look at the end of verse number 13,
you've got a column.
So the thought, the sentence has not finished, okay?
What is this actually teaching, okay?
Let's keep going there, verse number 14.
Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow,
so you don't know what's going on tomorrow,
for what is your life?
It is even a vapor that appear for a little time
and then banisheth away.
So God is reminding us that if before we make
some major decision, like moving to another city,
like moving your whole family,
that's a pretty big decision, right?
We're not just saying, you know,
making a decision on what you're gonna have for breakfast.
We're not just saying, hey, making a decision
of what route, what road you're gonna take
when you travel to point B, okay?
We're talking about some major decisions of your life here
and I'm gonna move to another place
because it's more affordable, it's more profitable for me,
it's gonna be better for us in the long run.
That's a pretty big decision, okay?
But God is reminding us, listen,
before you make some major decisions in your life,
you know, that might be, you know,
you might be making decisions,
but again, keep within the context,
based on your own lusts, your own desires,
your own earthly, you know, needs, you know,
that don't do that because you don't even know
if you're gonna see tomorrow.
You don't know if you're even gonna live tomorrow.
How can you make such a massive decision
based on your own desires, your own lusts?
How can you do this?
It's not saying don't go to another city.
It's not saying don't make a profit.
The question is, how can you do this
when you don't even know if you're going to see tomorrow?
You don't even know if you're going to live tomorrow.
You don't know what the future holds.
How can you make such a decision?
Look at verse number 15.
So it's not saying don't make a decision,
but how do we make a big decision?
Verse number 15.
For, and again, that for is a conjunction.
The for continues here.
For that ye ought to say,
this is instead of just making big decisions
based on your own will and desires and lusts,
instead for that ye ought to say,
if the Lord will, we shall live and do this or that.
So when you make a decision,
a big decision to move to another city,
the question is, is this God's will in my life?
You know, you make a decision not based on your lusts.
You make decisions based on God's will.
Is this God's will?
When I moved from the Sunshine Coast of Sydney for the year,
you know, my question is, is this God's will?
God, if it's your will, can you open doors?
Can you show me?
Can you make it happen?
Can you give us the resources and the men
and the ability to do this if it's your will, Lord?
Because I don't want to be some selfish desire
of my own heart to make a big decision
like moving to Sydney, if it's the Lord's will, okay?
Big decisions doesn't line up with God's will, all right?
That's what it's saying.
It's not saying it's wrong to make a profit.
If it's within God's will, it's fine.
Ask yourself that question.
Is this okay?
Am I disgracing God?
Is it, you know, am I making a big decision
out of my own lusts?
Or am I making a big decision
that fits within the will of God?
That's the question here, okay?
Do this or that.
And so, you know, sometimes people take this verse
and, you know, I'm not trying to criticize anyone
because I know where you're coming from.
People take this verse
and basically apply it to little decisions in life.
It's like, you know, for example, my wife,
maybe after the service, my wife might say to me,
you know, honey, can you pick up some milk on the way home?
And I'll say, well, if the Lord wills.
Yeah, but are you gonna pick up the milk?
No, if the Lord wills.
You say, I'm gonna, you know,
I'll see you in church on Sunday.
If the Lord wills.
Well, hold on.
I mean, ask yourself the question.
Do you have to say, I'll see you in church on Sunday
if the Lord wills?
Or is it God's will for you to be in church?
Like if it's God's will for you to be in church,
you don't have to say, if the Lord wills, right?
If I need to go and buy some milk on the way home
or some bread to feed my family,
it's God's will for me to provide and feed my family.
I don't have to go, if God wills.
And sometimes people apply this
to just every little minor thing.
You know, I'll see you tomorrow, if God wills.
You know, I'm gonna take Isabel for a drive
because she needs to drive at nighttime
as she's learning to drive, okay?
You know, she's probably thinking,
if God wills, you know?
I mean, people just, you know, if God wills, if God wills.
And I think we need to be careful about this
because, and again, I know people's hearts
are in the right place, if God wills, if God wills.
But the problem with that is,
I think you're on the verge
of using the Lord's name in vain.
Like if just every little minor thing
that is obviously within God's will,
and you're like, God wills, God wills,
the Lord wills, the Lord wills.
You know, it's almost like vain repetition, you know?
And you gotta be careful about this.
Let's not remove from the context.
Again, people take this one verse
and apply it in whatever way.
Let's think about it, what is it again?
Someone moving to another city,
making a huge decision in life, okay?
The question is, is this within God's will?
You know, I don't wanna act out of my own lusts.
And if it's God's will, then yes,
we'll make this decision.
You know, the Lord's opened the doors.
We're not transgressing his law here.
We're not sinning here.
Yes, it falls within the options
that are presented before us.
You know, then we're gonna step out
and move to that other city,
make a profit for whatever reason.
But you know, we're not just making decisions
based on our own lusts, okay?
I hope that makes sense to you.
Let's keep going there.
In James 4, verse 16.
But now you rejoice in your boastings,
all such rejoicing is evil.
Therefore to him that knoweth to do good
and doeth it not, to him it is sin.
Verse number 17 is another verse
that people just rip out
and I've just applied it to everything.
Okay, let me show you just how people misapply it.
And I'm not saying it's, again, it's completely wrong, okay?
But keep it in the context, okay?
Therefore to him that doeth to do good
and doeth it not, to him it is sin.
So every time I can do something good
and I don't do it, have I sinned?
But that's how people apply it, right?
For example, let's say I'm working at a job.
I'm trying to think of an example, actually.
Trying to think of an example that I,
yeah, okay, I can think of an example.
I remember once traveling to work
and there was a car that was broken down, all right?
Now, would it have been good for me to stop my vehicle
and see if I could have been assistance to that person?
That would have been good, wouldn't it?
But I didn't do it.
Did I sin?
Okay, no, but I needed to be work on time.
I needed to get there on time to do my work.
Isn't that something good to do as well?
To go to work and be on time and do my job?
You know, rather than being late and being caught up?
You know, the question is, it's not,
again, leaving it within context.
What are we learning here?
Okay, again, look at verse number 16 again.
But now you rejoice in your boastings.
All such rejoicing is evil.
Taking it back to the other thought
that if you make these big decisions in your life
against the will of God,
you know, you make decisions based on your own lusts.
And let's say you do profit.
You know, you say, well, I didn't follow God's will.
I did what I wanted and I've profited.
Look, I've made a million dollars, all right?
You know, I've gone to this place,
but I went to this other place and there was no church.
You know, I've been far from God,
but I've made all this money.
You know, look at me, I'm profiting.
Bible says, don't rejoice in your boastings.
All such rejoicing is evil.
Why is it evil?
Because it wasn't aligned with God's will, okay?
And then it says, therefore,
therefore, to him that knoweth to do good
and doeth not to him, it is sin.
So what is this teaching?
That we need to do things in accordance with God's will.
All right, that is good.
Doing things in God's will.
And if we do things contrary to God's will,
then that is sin.
That is sin, okay?
It's not just a personal opinion,
that was good and I didn't do it, then I sin.
Now, if it's contrary to God's will, it is sin.
You've profited, you've done well in life seemingly
because you've gone against God's will
and you're boasting and you're rejoicing.
Look at me, guys, you can be like me.
If you just go against God's will, that is sin.
What is not sin?
Lining your will to God's will.
Doing things God's way.
Not giving into the lusts of this world,
but rather drawing nigh to God
and he will draw nigh to you.
And as God draws nigh to you,
he's going to show you his will.
The Bible shows us his will in our life
and whatever we do in accordance to God's will,
if we do it, then it is not a sin.
All right, Brevin, James 4, draw nigh to God.
You know, the big lesson here is,
you know, where is your heart?
Is your heart toward this world?
Do you love this world or do you love God?
You can only choose one.
You can draw nigh to this world.
You can go against God's will.
Hey, you may even profit to some extent.
You know what?
And that profiting might lead you to fightings and wars
and stepping on people's toes and judging people
that you have no authority over,
or you can draw nigh to the Lord God, okay?
Humble yourself, recognize yourself as a sinner.
Being in close proximity with God,
you know, lowering yourself and having a broken heart
when you've sinned against God.
It says, God, I wanna be your friend.
I wanna be a good friend to you.
I don't wanna be a friend to this world.
Help me to live in accordance to your will.
Okay, Brevin, let's pray.