You do not have because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive because you ask wrongly to spend it on your passions. You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore, whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. Or do you suppose it is to no purpose that the scripture says, he yearns jealously over the spirit that he has made to dwell in us, but he gives more grace. Therefore it says, God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble. Submit yourselves therefore to God, Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Draw near to God and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves before the Lord and he will exalt you. Amen. And so far, God's holy words. James was acutely aware of the danger and destructiveness of worldliness in the church, both as it manifests itself in the lives of individuals and in the health of the body as a whole. His previous discussion of strife, as we read in verses one through three, principally among professing Christians, you remember, to whom he is writing, clearly had these disastrous effects in view. The invasion of worldliness into the church. So, that is his great concern here as he comes to this next major section of verses 4-10. And in particular, in the section we will be looking at this evening, verses 4-6. What do we find here? Well, in James 4-6, James states that worldliness is spiritual adultery. But God's gift of grace enables the humble to live faithfully to God, who is jealous over his people. Let me repeat in James 4, 4 through 6. James states that worldliness is spiritual adultery. But God's gift of grace enables the humble to live faithfully to God. who is jealous over his people. As we unpack that this evening, we are going to do so under three headings. First of all, an adulterous people. Secondly, the divine jealousy. And thirdly, given grace. So, an adulterous people, divine jealousy and given grace. The first of all, an adulterous people, verse 4. The general principle here is stated in the most uncompromising terms, isn't it? You adulterous people, James says, do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? And so, selfishness, self-centredness, and love of the world are to be seen for what these things are." And James doesn't pull any punches, does he? He said, they are spiritual adultery. Now Christians, by the profession of their lips, are united to their Saviour Jesus Christ. Collectively, they are to be thought of as the Bride of Christ. And that is what they truly are. But how so sadly and often their squabbles and quarrelling and hatred, even to the point of murder that James warned about, whether that be literal, though most often murder in the heart and by lips, they show themselves to be the wandering bride of Christ. Not faithful to Christ as they are called to be, but rather walking in their own ways. driven by the passions of their own hearts. And so, James rightly says, that is spiritual adultery. That is not being faithful to the husband to whom you have been given. Why does he use such strong language, that of adultery here? Well, simply because it is a betrayal. When Christians behave in this manner, They betray their professed love for the Lord and that covenant commitment into which they enter, to be faithful in their discipleship to Christ. James wants to, in many senses, shock them and shock us into the reality of what this is all about. This is spiritual adultery, he says. Friendship with the world is sin. There is no other word for it. It's ultimately the denial of God and of His power to save us from those sins. When again we return and, as it were, ally ourselves with the very enemies of God Himself. That's why this phrase here is very significant, friendship with the world. It's not difficult to understand, is it? But it is very, very significant. Here the world is used to express that which is opposed to all that God is, the one true and living God. And all that He has revealed in His will as set out in the Holy Scriptures. We're not just talking about world as we often use it in a way of describing all that is in our existence here as humanity on this planet. Yes, we use world in that sense, but he's not using it that way. He's using it in this ethical sense, in this sense of something that is organised in its opposition to God. And he says friendship with that, by very definition, means you oppose God. Because that, by definition, is opposed to God. Friendship with the world is enmity with God. And so it is, we're brought to this subject this evening, brothers and sisters, of worldliness, spiritual adultery. Now, this is a very highly unpopular thing, often amongst Christians today. They don't want to talk about worldliness. They don't want to talk about what it is to betray their covenant commitment to Christ. Why do you have to talk in these restrictive terms? Why can't I just live and let live? Almost suggesting that we can live in our relationship to our great husband, the Lord Jesus Christ, as many do in this world, in their betrayal of marriage to one another. In all the bizarreness of what people call open marriages. It's a contradiction in terms, isn't it? How can you have covenant commitment but be simply free to be whatever you want with whoever you want? Although we might deny that we would ever think that way in terms of Christ and the Church, how often that way of thinking invades into the hearts and minds even of Christians. And so people don't want to talk about worthiness because perhaps it strikes home too clearly It's too real. It's not theoretical. However that may be the case, we do need to talk about it. Because worldliness describes the attitude and pattern of life which arises from open rebellion against God. Friendship with the world is enmity with God. We are not to be deceived about the seriousness of the situation. Now having said that, we do need to be careful that we don't think in exclusive external terms here. I think part of the difficulty in many of the generations of the church is that as the subject is being talked about, it's being talked about exclusively in terms of some outward behaviour or action. So, worldliness was said to be if you smoked or drank alcohol. or participated in some dancing, or in a particular style of dress, or if you, particularly the ladies, arranged their hair in a certain way. And so, there was some outward laugh where people said, that is worldliness and nothing else. Of course, it's very easy to do that, isn't it? Particularly if that's not a behaviour or thing that you do. It's very comfortable to say, well that's it. Because by inference you say, well I'm not, because I don't do that. Brothers and sisters, I'm not suggesting that in any of some or more of these types of activities we ought not to address the issue, is there worldliness in those things? But I am suggesting to you that we should not restrict our thinking about worldliness exclusively in terms of external behaviour, because it is altogether possible, and too much altogether possible, for there to be a quiet and mild-mannered way to our lifestyle, where we might look on the outside and everything looks fine, according to our judgments, but inwardly the heart still be consumed by worldly desires and aspirations. Simply because there's not a particular external manifestation does not mean there's no issue of worthiness. But often we have tended to think in that way. What James does here is challenge our whole pattern of life. Outward behaviour and inward desires and aspirations. Both and. Because of course, one, the external flaws from the internal anyway. But he wants to make sure that we do not simply look at it in a restricted way. We need to look at both. The friendship with the world then is when these inner desires and motives are in harmony with those of the world, a world that does not know and does not want to know anything about God. It is when either externally and or internally we seek what the world seeks, when we want what they want, whether it's terms of riches that may fade away, when we hunger for the praise of men that God says is a snare to us, when we much prefer what the pleasures of what the Bible calls the old man, that which was us before the Lord called us by his grace, than to the righteousness of Christ. In all of these things, whether they manifest themselves in a particular pattern of behaviour or not, That's when we know worldliness has invaded individual hearts and the life of the church together. Brothers and sisters, what we have to be clear about is this. Friendship with the world is not some alternative lifestyle that is OK with God. It is not. We hear that so much these days, don't we? Well, you know, it may not be your way, granted. But it is a legitimate alternative. And so there is this constant plea, isn't there, for tolerance. That everything has to be okay and legitimate. You don't necessarily have to agree with it, you don't necessarily have to adopt it, but you must tolerate it. James is clear here. God the Holy Spirit, as he writes Holy Scripture here, is clear. Friendship with the world is enmity with God. In these terms, there is no alternative lifestyle that's okay with God. We choose, again, in the most strong language, don't we, it's hatred towards God. To live in conformance with the sinful patterns of this world. And so the forceful and uncompromising language here is carefully chosen by James to address any objection that we have, to overthrow any tendency we have to explain away and compromise what we're doing. But we say, well it's not really that serious. You know, come on, chill out a little bit, just let me do what I want to do. You don't have to do it, but it's not really a problem. Oh yes it is, says James. Friendship with the world is hatred towards God. It makes him your enemy and he is yours. What is James doing here? Well, he's trying to prick those consciences that need to be pricked. He wants to challenge us, confront us with this issue such that we are not comfortable and so that we cannot just say, well, that's fine, that's okay, heard that, but it really doesn't call me to do anything. Rather, his aim is to put us firmly back on track, having shown us how we have wandered away from the Lord, if this is the way in which we are thinking and behaving. It's what one of the commentators calls a doctrine of antithesis. Two things that are opposed to each other. It can't possibly be both and. It's one or the other. There's an utter contradiction between God and his righteousness on the one hand and the world, the flesh and the devil on the other. Antithesis between worldliness and godliness. You cannot have both. It is one or the other. And the Lord again through his word is calling us to side with him in this great antithesis, to true peace. to inextinguishable hope, to inexpressible joy. But it's only found in what God has revealed and not in a multiplicity of choices where we are free to select the one which suits us the best. And so we see that James drives this home with relentless vigour, doesn't he, in verse 4. He just pounds on this again and again and again. Whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. There's no doubt here about what he's saying. It emphasises that every individual here is responsible before God for his chosen path. So, if you choose to live in this way, do not think you can say, well, it's not my fault and God will not hold me accountable. Whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. You are accountable for that. And so, James, where he fainted, he said, OK, I've stated the general principle for you. We need to begin right here, right now, with the real situation in our lives, brothers and sisters. What will you do with the revealed will of God? It's not an issue of ignorance of how we ought to live as those who profess to be believers. It is not that we can claim that God has not told us what we are to do and not to do. So, how are we going to respond at this very precise moment? Let me look you in the eye as I try and look myself in the eye metaphorically with the Word of God here. What are we going to do when God says, live in this way? claims that God has upon us with regard to the motives of our hearts and the behaviours and actions that flow from them. How does our commitment upon our lips to Christ square up against what God has said in his infallible words? Remember the words so simple of the Lord Jesus, if you love me, keep my commandments. You see, again, friendship with the world is a deliberate choice. We cannot argue it is something that we just have fallen into. We don't really know what we're doing. It is a deliberate choice. No one can excuse himself by saying, well, someone else made me do it. We can't blame peer pressure. We can't blame our upbringing. We can't blame our environment. We can't even blame the evil one in that sense. We are individually, morally responsible. And when we take the side of the world, which we inevitably will do by nature, because that is how we are as fallen sinners, we are accountable. James wants us to be clear. Friendship with the world makes you an enemy of God's. We know that when we set out and we set our faith in that particular direction, to be a friend of the world, we know because God has made it clear We're setting out, turning our face against Him, opposed to Him. James Adamson in his book on James says this, he who determines to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God. Not because God hates him too much, but because he hates God. It starts in our deliberate willful sin. That is what we are doing. Friendship with the world is to be an enemy of God. It is spiritual adultery. Well, that brings us in the second place to divine jealousy, verse 5. Oh, do you support it? It is to no purpose that the Scripture says. He yearns jealously over the spirit that he has made to dwell in us. Now, James' striking application of this Old Testament imagery as God, as the spouse of his people, in verse 4, is key to understanding this verse 5. It explains why flirtation with the world is so serious a matter, by bringing to mind the jealousy that the Lord has for his people, as the husband of his bride. A jealousy which demands total Unreserved, unwavering allegiance from the people with whom he has joined himself. And of course, as we understand the whole concept of marriage as it's revealed as a creational ordinance, that is exactly what it's all about, isn't it? Faithfulness, covenant faithfulness. And so, this fits together, verse 4 and 5, in terms of this imagery of God as the husband of his bride. Now, we have to take a few moments this evening, brothers and sisters, to acknowledge that James 4, verse 5 is a very difficult verse. It could be argued it's one of the most difficult verses in the New Testament with regard to exactly what it is saying. There are two major interpretations possible from the Greek text. with some other minor variations on each of these, but they fall into two options. The first option is that James is referring to the human tendency to be envious. The second option is James is referring to God's jealousy for his people. And as you might have already noted, that is the way that I'm going to go in terms of the exegesis of this text, but I want to let you know but if you read the commentaries, this is a difficult verse and not everybody has agreed. Some think that the reference here is not to God's jealousy of His people, but the envy by nature of the sinful hearts. If you read a number of the English translations, you will find quite quickly which one the translation committee of your version favours because they translate it consistent with that. English Standard Version, New American Standard, go with God's jealousy over his people. New International Version, for instance, goes with human envy by nature in the heart. Well, let's pause for a moment and say, well, how can you get so diametrically opposite interpretations from the same verse? How can that be? There are no great textual variants here in all the manuscripts of of the Greek scriptures, so that's not the reason why there's a difference. The Greek text is pretty well agreed, those are the words that were written by James. Now I don't want to give a great long explanation this evening in an evening sermon about principles of interpretation, but just honesty and integrity require us to deal with this text. There are three issues with what verse 5 says that causes the difficulty in interpretation. I'm simply going to state these for you so you understand what the issue is. First of all, there is the grammar of the sentence. As it's said out here in the English Standard Version, New American Standard Version, God is the subject, Spirit is the object, and if you take that to be the case, then that pushes us in the sense of the second interpretation, this is about divine jealousy, God's jealousy over his people as his bride. So the grammar of the sentence tends to push us into that direction, option two. But the problem is the meaning of the word that's rendered, jealousy, or sometimes it's put envy, if you follow the human envy point of view, that word in the Greek, which is a word called thanos, most often does refer to human envy. Not absolutely exclusively, but more often than not, both in the scriptures and in other Greek literature of the time of the first century. So, this is an unusual way to express God's jealousy, to use this Greek word. That's why there's some discussion about it. So, you've got the grammar pointing in one direction, You've got this particular Greek word that tends to push in the other direction, and then just to provide further difficulty, the phrase that is rendered for it that he yearns over, again is a difficult phrase to translate and interpret, and again it could go either way. It is not conclusive that it makes one interpretation favourable of the other. So broadly when you take those three things that's what gives you the difficulty. Grammar one way, this vocab word the other way and this other phrase that you can't be determined one way or the other. So what do we do? I'm mentioning all of this to help you to see that there are difficult texts in the scriptures and we cannot duck them, but to try and help you to see how do we work our way through this. Do we just throw up our hands and say it's hopeless, we can never know then what God has said. Of course not. What we have to bring at this point then, and we always do this of course, but it's particularly important here, context. Verse 5 does not exist in isolation. It comes after verse 4 and before verse 6. We take all of the context into consideration. And I think when you do that, that is what pushes you in the direction of saying this is talking about God's jealousy over his people. rather about the nature of envy in the sinful hearts. Is it absolutely conclusive, so that I could say it is error and sin for somebody to take the opposing view? No, I couldn't do that. Sometimes in the areas of the Scriptures we have to acknowledge there are difficulties and grant some latitude for others to disagree with what we are saying. But I think when you take the context into consideration, it points us in the direction of divine jealousy. Why do I say that? Well, verse 5 clearly substantiates the point that's already made in verse 4, if you take that view. What is verse 4 about? It's about spiritual adultery. And it's about the consequences of not being faithful in a marriage covenant, spiritually speaking. And what would that provoke when a spouse is not faithful? The jealousy of the spouse that's been wronged. a woman of a relationship of marriage is unfaithful to her husband, what does it naturally provoke? The jealousy of the husband that she has not been true to him. So, that is a natural way to read verse 5 in what has already been said in verse 4. The James readers are committing this spiritual adultery by following the world in distinction from their only true spouse, the Lord. And the Lord is not indifferent to that. provokes his jealousy over his bride. In addition, a reminder of God's desire that His people be holy and unreservedly His, provides then this opportunity in verse 5, appropriate for this warning that's already been given. That we are not to be in alliance with the world. We're not to be unfaithful to our spiritual husband, the Lord Himself. So you see how they fit together. The context, I think, in the end pushes us in that direction. God has a claim on us. By virtue of his work in us, in his Son, we are his. And so the scripture does not say in vain that he yearns jealously over the spirit that he has made to dwell in us. God is not indifferent. to our spiritual adultery. But then thirdly, it brings us to give and grace in verse 6. And perhaps we're thankful at this point we are back on much more clear ground in the text. I don't think there's any lack of clarity as to what James is saying here. But again, our decision about the meaning of verse 5 determines the nature of this exhortation and contrast that he begins to show us in verse 6. particularly in the contrast of verse 6a, but he gives more grace. If, as is most likely, verse 5 is talking about God's jealousy for his people, then James here is reminding us that God's grace is completely sufficient for us to meet the requirements of faithfulness in covenant to God. You see, there are requirements placed on us as the bride of Christ in order that that jealousy that God rightly has for His provide is not provoked in the sense of His anger over unfaithfulness. But God grants grace that His people might live faithfully to Him. Yes, the Scripture speaks that our God is a consuming fire. It is not a good place to be in, to have committed spiritual adultery, when God is your husband and his jealousy is provoked. But here, James reminds the reader that God's demand for our exclusive allegiance to him may in one sense seem terrifying. So, to be in covenant with such a great God, with all of the demands that he makes of his righteousness, But James at the same time reminds us that God is merciful and gracious, that in great love He willingly supplies all that we need to meet those all-encompassing demands. As Augustine was famous for saying, God gives what He demands. That's why James says here in verse 6, but He gives more grace. We need never fear. How can we be faithful to God? He gives the grace, whatever is necessary, so that we might live faithfully to Him. Spiritual adultery is not inevitable because the power of sin is broken in those who have come to Christ. He gives more grace. But at the same time, just in case someone takes that phrase and thinks, well, then I don't need to worry. God will give grace. Grace in the sense that, yes, his jealousy might be provoked, but it doesn't really matter because God is merciful and gracious. No, no, no, says James. In keeping with his strong emphasis on exultation throughout this epistle, James does not let this word of grace stand by itself for long. Yes, it starts here, it must start here. God gives more grace. We will never meet the demands of faithfulness to God without that grace. But he never wants us to think that we can be complacent and just think that God will be gracious no matter how we behave. You see, God's grace demands a response and that response is humility, not an arrogant presumption. That's why here James quotes from Proverbs 3.34, God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble. And so this humility that's introduced here becomes A dominant theme, as we'll see in verses 7-10, and Lord willing, we'll see more of that next week. But God's gift of sustaining grace, the more grace given so that we might live faithfully to God, is enjoyed only by those who are willing to admit their need of it and accept the gift freely offered to them in Jesus Christ. The proud, on the other hand, meet only with the resistance of God. And we do not want to encounter the resistance of God. If God resists us, there is no way to prevail. There is not. But he gives grace to those who humble themselves. He gives and gives and gives the grace again. Of course, that brings us back to this central theme of pride, doesn't it, that James has been dealing with. Pride, the essence of our self-centredness. which is in turn the root of all practical worldliness. These things are tied together. One influences the other. But by contrast, humility is a grace flowing from Christ given to us. It does not come by nature. It's nurtured by the ongoing exercise of faith in Him. And it results in the greater rewards of God's favour and love. He gives more grace. so that we might live faithfully to Him. But God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble. That's why Peter, of course, says the same thing, doesn't he, in 1 Peter 5.5. Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another. For God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble. Brothers and sisters, we need to humble ourselves before the Lord. to confess those times that worldliness has invaded our hearts, invaded our corporate life together as a church perhaps, to not deny the truth of what is spiritually the case in our hearts. But as we humble ourselves, what we find is though we are adulterers, did God abandon His unfaithful people We saw this morning in the book of Numbers, he did not. Return to the book of Hosea, the great picture of the unfaithful wife of the prophet, where God commands the prophet to take such a wife for the purposes of showing what Israel had done to him as their husband. But again, did God abandon them? No, he did not. He was gracious. but as he has been gracious even to us in our spiritual adulterous, that not of not to embolden our sin in presumption, but rather again ought to drive us to our knees that we might plead for more grace that God has promised to give so that we might live faithfully to him even in this combative, aggressive world that will always be our enemy, brothers and sisters. There is no way to make peace with this world. There is no detente with wilderness. It is always warfare. But as we seek to be faithful warriors on the Lord's side in that warfare, we pray and plead that he would give more grace that we might do so faithfully both in our hearts and in our behaviour. Let's pray. Our Father in heaven, we again bow down before you. We hold our heads in shame of knowing the times when wilderness has invaded our hearts, when we have allied ourselves with this world in our thoughts, in our aspirations, even perhaps in our outward behaviour. Have mercy upon us all. Grant us to agree with you about what you say about this, that it is spiritual adultery. Grant us to own our sin and to repent of it. But coming and knowing that you are a God who is gracious, who does not cast us off even as adulterous, unfaithful, we thank you that you are the faithful husband of your people. who takes her again and washes her clean in his own blood, that he will present her as the spotless bride on that last great day. Grant us that grace which you give, O Lord. We know you to be the God who gives what he demands, and we are so thankful for that. We pray then, O Lord, that you'd help us to respond in faith and obedience. We ask in Christ's name. Amen.