I have you now turn in your Bibles to James 4. As we continue on in our study through James this morning, we come to verses 4-6. I will read verses 1-6 for context. We'll focus on verses 4-6. So let us now here give careful attention to the infallible and the eternal Word of God. James writes, Where do wars and fights come from among you? Do they not come from your desire for pleasure that war within your members? You lust and do not have. You murder and covet and cannot obtain. You fight and war, yet you do not have because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive because you ask amiss that you may spend it on your pleasures. Adulterers and adulteresses, do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. Or do you think that the Scripture says in vain, the Spirit who dwells in us yearns jealously, but He gives more grace. Therefore, He says, God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble. Amen. May the Lord bless to us the reading and the preaching of His Word. King Solomon writes, Love is as strong as death. Jealousy as cruel as the grave. Its flames are flames of fire. A most vehement flame. Given the amazing power and the great intensity and the great jealousy of love, It comes as no surprise to us that perhaps the most grievous form of betrayal that one could experience in this life is when a husband or a wife discovers upon the very sad and devastating news that his or her spouse for a few moments of pleasure has forsaken the I do's has forsaken those covenant bonds and has chased after the embrace of another. And so great is that bond of love, as Solomon said, that when that bond is broken, when that bond is ruptured, there is great pain, raw pain. And it can bring about feelings of anger. It can even lead to murder. Sometimes you'll find in the news, husband kills bride or kills wife suspected of infidelity. There is a great sense of jealousy and love, isn't there? We know that. And that betrayal can be of the worst kind. Perhaps, in your case, you have had the unfortunate experience of having to endure such a level of betrayal. And even if you haven't, the mere thought of your spouse committing such an act is enough to unnerve you. It's unsettling. You don't even want to think about it. And while it is the case that perhaps several of us have never had to experience that level of betrayal in our own lives, When we come face to face with the Word of God and God's Word confronts us, we discover that we, each one of us, has committed this kind of betrayal against God Himself. In Matthew 5, you read of the Lord Jesus Christ. They're speaking about the sin of adultery. He speaks about the sin of adultery and what is He attributed to? He says it is ultimately coming from the lust of someone within their heart. That's where adultery springs from. From the lust within the heart. And that lust is itself in God's sight to commit the sin of adultery. Those lusts within. And that is no less true when it comes to spiritual adultery. In James chapter 4 in the beginning, as we saw a couple weeks ago, in the first few verses of James chapter 4, James addressed these lusts, these desires for pleasure within our own hearts. And there he spoke about the effects of those lusts. And he talked about the effects of those lusts in the context of the church. And he attributed the wars, the quarrels, the fights that occur within the body of Christ ultimately to each individual pursuing selfishly after their own desires, their own worldly desires. These are the effects of lusts and worldly desire within the church. And he also attributed, he also blamed the ineffectual prayers that we will often raise, if we raise them at all, to our desires, our lusts, our worldly pleasures. But here in this passage as we move on into v. 4-6, James now takes our attention and he has us continue to consider these lusts, these worldly desires, and he goes deeper and he shows us what they really are. as God sees them. What our lusts and our worldly desires have to do with God Himself. And it is here in this passage we see that the pursuit of worldly lusts are to commit spiritual adultery against God for which we need His grace. Our pursuit of worldly lusts is to commit spiritual adultery against God for which we need His grace. As we consider that this morning, we will consider first the grief of spiritual adultery, and then second, the grace for spiritual fidelity and faithfulness. So first, the grief of spiritual adultery. There are many ways in which God describes His relationship to His people, but perhaps the most the most poignant, the most fitting way that God describes His relationship with His people is that of a husband to a wife. As God says in Isaiah 54, verse 5, for your Maker is your husband. The Lord of hosts is His name. As Isaiah would say, as the bridegroom rejoices over his bride, so your God rejoices over you. We can read through the Song of Solomon and at times blush at what we're reading, but God there is straining, showing you that picture of that love between a man and a woman, a husband and a wife. God is trying to show us the intense and the great love that He has for you, that He has for His people. God loves you greatly because He is a great God. He is infinite. He is eternal. He is all-powerful in His being. And He cannot love you anything less than infinite, eternal, and an all-powerful love. God cannot love you little. God loves you with every ounce of His being. Here's My Son. I love you. Here's My Son for you. I love you. You are precious to Him. You whose life is so short as your days are just like the days of the grass. here today, gone tomorrow. Your years are few. You stumble. You fall. You fail. And yet, you are precious to God. He has set His eternal, His infinite love upon you. And this love of God for you is a faithful love. It is a love that cannot be taken back. It cannot be undone. Even as Ephesians 1 says, it was from all eternity that He loved you. He predestined you. In love, He sought you. And God promises to you, I will never leave you nor forsake you. God is not interested in any other lover. And as God loves you and His attention is singularly focused upon you, He's not looking and checking out someone else as they go by. His love is purely fixed upon you. This is God's love for you. But what about your love for Him? How are you in this relationship? What is your dedication like to God in this marriage? James says, adulteresses. Literally, adulteresses. Adulteresses. And this is the Word of Christ. This is Christ's message for you. Hear Him pleading. It is Christ that is saying to you this morning, adulteresses, you who are cheating on Me, this is the Word of the Lord Jesus Christ. Does this not prick our hearts to hear such words? These words throw us back to the Old Testament. throw us back to places where we find where God speaks of His people in a similar way. Even as Hosea the prophet, even as Hosea was charged by God to take for himself a woman of harlotry, a prostitute, and marry her, a woman that would be unfaithful to him, and he would still have to remain faithful to her. God using that picture to show the kind of love that I have for my unfaithful people. My people that are always turning away. Or as Jeremiah says in Jeremiah 3.20, Surely as a wife treacherously departs from her husband, so you have dealt treacherously with me, O house of Israel. Jesus speaks of a wicked and adulterous generation. And here we have this word. As I said, this word in the Greek, it's not adulterers and adulteresses, it is adulteresses. It's feminine. Why? Because we are the bride of Christ. We are the bride of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's why He is specific in this way. And you might wonder, why does He say adulteresses if we are one bride as God's people? Why doesn't He just say adulteress? But He says adulteresses. Because lest we hear this indictment that God's people have been unfaithful and we think, well, that applies to most everyone else. The bride of Christ at large. Perhaps they're being a little bit more unfaithful than I am. No. James is coming to us and meeting us right where we are. He is singling each one of us out before the Word of God. You see, God is trying to jar us here. The Lord Jesus Christ is trying to shake us from our complacency, our ho-hum attitude towards our sin, our lack of devotion to Him. And would you receive it? Would you receive this Word? Are you not even a little bit stirred by these words? Or is your heart hard and you don't care so much to hear it? God is seeking to stir our hearts. James goes on, do you not know? Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? The way he's saying it is, of course you know. You do know this. Certainly you know. You cannot but know that friendship with the world is to be at enmity, is to be in hostility, open defiance against God Himself. James says, you know this. but you are acting against it anyway. It's making it that much worse. You know this. You're being hostile to God in your friendship with the world. For the world is hostile to God. It is not in any way in agreement with God. It is utterly and completely opposite God Himself. 1 John 2, verse 15, For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, the pride of life is not of the Father, but is of the world. is to have that carnal mind, as Paul speaks of in Romans 8.7, that carnal mind that is at enmity with God. And when you enter into friendship with the world, you are entering into that hostility. That hostility against God. What does he mean then? when He is calling us away from this friendship with the world. What does He mean? Does He mean that we are not to have friends who are in the world? Friends who are worldly people? Is God calling us to live in a Christian ghetto? To live in a Christian gated community where we have no unbelieving associations? We don't work with unbelievers. We don't talk to unbelievers. And we live separate in that way. Is that what James is saying? This kind of friendship with the world He's warning us against? Well, no. The Lord Jesus Christ. He ate and He drank with tax collectors and sinners. Jesus even said in His high priestly prayer in John 17, He said, I do not pray that you would take them out of the world, but that you would keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world. Sanctify them. He goes on to say, as you have sent Me into the world, so I have also sent them. You see, we are to be in the world, but we are not to be of the world. We are not to have a friendship with the world. And what does that mean? What does it mean to have a friendship with the world? Well, I believe we've come to understand what James is getting at with the help of Amos. Amos 3. Amos there asks this question. He says, can two walk together unless they agree? For two people to walk together, they must be in agreement. And so, when your lusts and your desires are in agreement with the lusts and the desires of the world, you are exercising friendship with the world. When you agree with the world's beliefs, the world's thought life, the world's mentality, the world's attitudes, when you value the things that the world values, when you think what is important is what the world thinks is important, when the world says it's okay, it's okay to watch that ungodly movie, it's okay, and you say, okay, Well, then you are exercising friendship with the world. When it says you can have that attitude, you can cheat on that test, you can disrespect your parents, you can speak evilly, that's just fine. Don't worry about it. And you say, okay. Then you're taking the world by the hand and you're skipping, la, la, la, la, la, down the lane and you're one with the world. You're exercising friendship with the world. When you enjoy those lyrics of those songs, that are hostile to God's holy character, and you sing them without a thought, you're exercising friendship with the world. When you engage yourself in activities, all kinds of activities that distract and keep you from serving the Lord, even from coming to worship Him, you're exercising friendship with the world. when you want the world's approval. You want the world to think highly of you. You want to maintain that friendship. You want the world to like you. And so in order to do that, you suppress what you would otherwise say. You don't speak the truth. You conceal your faith. You hide that light under a bushel. In order to have them like you, you wouldn't invite them to church. That would be weird to them. But I want to maintain that friendship. In order to avoid that embarrassment, you cave in and you go along and you do what they would want you to do. Then you're exercising friendship with the world. When you use the term Christian liberty, merely to excuse your indulgence and your gratification, then you're exercising friendship with the world. When you throw the term legalism at someone who is seeking to call you to a more faithful walk with the Lord, to get them to back off, well, then you're exercising friendship with the world. Brothers and sisters, to whatever extent your heart and your soul is not panting after and longing for the living God, To whatever extent you cannot say this with perfect honesty, Psalm 63, O God, You are my God. Early I will seek You. My soul thirsts for You. My flesh longs for You. In a dry and a thirsty land where there is no water, so I have looked for You in the sanctuary to see Your power and Your glory. Your lovingkindness is better than life. To what extent that is not true in your heart. That is friendship with the world. To the extent that you see this world and everything it offers not as a dry and thirsty land, but a desert oasis. An oasis of pleasure to be had. And you see the promised land. You see the Kingdom of God as the wilderness. You're exercising friendship with the world. Is this what God wants from us? Is this what God wants from you? From His people? Does God want you to have Him as your alone heart's desire? Does God really want all your heart, all your soul, all your strength? Is God so serious? Is God that jealous? He is. Exodus 34, verse 14, You shall have no other God for the Lord whose name is jealous. is a jealous God. He is an all-consuming fire. Now that might sound very demanding to us. We might be tempted at times to think, well, that kind of has to be wrong. How could God be so selfishly demanding of all my affection? That kind of seems wrong. Well, let me put it this way. How much or what kind of pleasure would you be okay with your husband or your wife finding in another? How much pleasure would you tolerate? Is that being too demanding? And when your spouse, if your spouse were to pursue another lover, that would be one thing. As bad as it would be. But when we pursue something else other than God, we're pursuing something that is not God. God is the only God. God says, I am the first and the last. Besides Me, there is no other God. There is nothing else for you. God is to be your only object, worthy of your heart's love, worthy of your satisfaction. You see, when you set your affection on anything else other than God, you are setting whatever that is up as a God. You're setting your affection on those things. Your car, your house, your children, your career. You're setting those things up as your God because you're looking to them to satisfy you as only God can satisfy you. And at the same time, you are also setting yourself up as God as well. Because you are then treating yourself as a God who deserves to be pleased. Whose will ought to be done. I see every single time that you pursue something that does not have God's glory or your true good as its end purpose, but is ultimately your glory and your pleasure. That is friendship with the world. That is to be having a heart that is hostile to God. That is to go behind enemy lines. Not there to fight against the enemy, but to join with the enemy in fighting against the one true God. Fighting against the God who is to have no competitors. And you join in with the enemy. As verse 4 goes on to say, Whoever wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. You see, the Lord's lordship is an exclusive lordship. You're either His friend or you're His enemy. There's no middle road. A man cannot have two masters. Jesus said, if you're not with Me, you are against Me. There is no middle road. And if you think that you can pursue a relationship and have a relationship with God and try to hold that in one hand while you pursue worldly pleasures with the other hand, you are trying to join together two things that God has put asunder. You're trying to join together the most irreconcilable things. God as God and everything else that's competing against Him. You're trying to join the two together. And you can't do that. You will have one or the other. You will either be a friend of God or you will be His enemy. God has no frenemies. He has no frenemies. He has friends or He has enemies. And if you would choose the world, then you are choosing to be His enemy. And you won't win because God cannot lose. And Scripture says it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of an angry God. What does that mean for us though? What does that mean for believers though? Clearly, James has called us out. James has brought before us the fact that we are exercising, we are demonstrating friendship with the world. We are not walking perfectly. So what does that mean? Does that mean that we have now become God's enemies? Have we lost perhaps our salvation? Is that what's going on? 2 Corinthians 5, verse 18 says God has reconciled us to Himself through the blood of Jesus Christ. No, you are not God's enemy. If you are covered by the blood of Christ, you are not His enemy. But you see, James wants us here to see that while we cannot as believers, we cannot undo the fact that God has reconciled us to Himself through Christ. Nevertheless, He wants us to see what our lusts, our worldly desires are. He's exposing them to our eyes. We are living as if we are God's enemies and He is calling us to repent and to turn away from flirting with the world. Understand though, You might hear those words and perhaps, I hope this is not the case, but you might hear that word and go, oh, well then there's my easy out. I'm off the hook. If Christ has forgiven me, I can live however I want. No problems. No worries. But this does not let you off the hook. Because if you are not impacted by what James is calling you to, if what his words are doing do not lead you to a godly repentance and a sorrow for your sin, and you use that only then as an occasion for more sin, you have no reason to believe that you have ever experienced the grace of God and that you are God's friend. You have no reason to assume that. And teenagers, young people, While this applies for all of us, I would direct this to you this morning. Where are your affections? Where are your heart's desires? Is God the object of your affections? Is He the One that you desire above all things? You're in church now. You're in church now, but is that going to remain? Will you eventually walk away? Will you be like Judas? You're in church now. You're doing the church thing now. But your first opportunity when you're out from under your parents' nose, you're out from the church, you're going to kiss Christ goodbye and walk away and betray Him with a kiss, a mere show of affection, but not real affection. Is God the object of your heart's affection? There are people in Scripture that have turned aside, that were in the kingdom, but showed themselves to not truly be those who love God. Even as Paul writes of this man Demas in 2 Timothy 4.10, forsook the kingdom, left the kingdom, because he loved this present world. Is the world what you love? Is that what you desire? You see that world and what it does and you go, that's what I want. That will be good for me. That will please me. That's what I desire. For those who are in the Lord Jesus Christ though, they will not ultimately be able to walk away. They will not ultimately be able to betray Christ ultimately and finally because of the Spirit of God that dwells within them. And to show us this as well as to show us that God is in fact at enmity with those worldly lusts within us, James goes on to say, do you not think that the Scripture says in vain the Spirit who dwells within us yearns jealously? Now here, James is not quoting a specific verse. He is referencing a principle that Scripture teaches. It's like a systematic theology. James is drawing our attention to a general theme of Scripture. The other apostles do this from time to time. Jesus did this as well. James is drawing our attention to a specific theme. He's saying here that while we often are chasing after our worldly lusts, we're pursuing the desires of our flesh, the Spirit at the same time within us is lusting against the flesh. The Spirit of God is within us. God, by His Spirit, is jealously pursuing us. Pursuing us to have our affection for Him. He is of the work of removing all the idols deep within our hearts and causing us day by day to love Him more and more. To love what He loves more and more. To hate what He hates more and more. And with the Spirit of God within us, when we do sin, and when we strive against Him, when we strive against that work of the Spirit, notice that it is a grief to Him. It is a grief to God. As Ephesians 4.30 says, we grieve the Spirit And we have that outburst of anger. Or we think that lustful thought. We take what doesn't belong to us. We're grieving the Holy Spirit. Think of that the next time you are at the crossroads of decision. And the question is, am I going to deny myself? Deny what would please me in order to obey God? Or will I satisfy myself even if that means disobeying God to do it? Think of that, that God is grieved when we do these things. That the God of heaven is pained with our affairs of the world. God is like a husband in that case. God is trying to hold on to us. The wife is pushing away, reaching out for the other desires and things of the world, and God is hanging on and the wife is pushing away. He doesn't want that affection. He wants the world. That is what's going on inside of us. And yet, notice what an amazing husband this God is. that He continues to yearn within us jealously, continues to pursue our affections, that He, unlike many, does not go off in a jealous rampage, in a shooting spree, and cast aside His bride when He's found her to be unfaithful to Him. No, out of His jealousy, He pursues us. He tries to woo us back to Him, to draw us back to Him, and finding our delight in Him. That's the jealous nature of this God. And God gives us grace. As we go on to see, He's there ready to give us grace. A grace for our spiritual fidelity. As we move on here, verse 6. While we struggle, while we stumble so often and give in to our sinful desires over and over and over again. We do this, but, as James says, but He gives more grace. He gives more grace to us. Grace upon grace, new mercies I see. Lamentations 3.22-23 Through the Lord's mercies we are not consumed because His compassions, they fail not. They are new every morning. Great is His faithfulness. God's grace to us is like standing beneath an eternal waterfall, continuing to pour more grace, lavish more grace upon us. He stands ready ever with a handful of grace, ready to be there to forgive us when we fail. To cleanse us. from such lusts. He stands there with more grace to enable us to live and to walk in the ways that we are to walk, to mortify that self-idolatrous pursuit of self-gratification. He's there. He's there with more grace to free us from our bondage to lust. Where sin abounded, God's grace abounded all the more. But notice in saying this, in saying that God gives more grace, James is careful. He goes on to quote Proverbs 3.34, this grace that God gives is not given to just any. Here he says, God resists the proud, but He gives grace to the humble. He gives grace to the humble, which are you? Are you the proud that James speaks of here? Are you the humble? Are you one who will be given grace or not? If you are the proud, You are someone who thinks you have no need of God. You don't ask for grace. You don't ask for help because that would be beneath you. You think that you are independent. You rely upon yourself. You place yourself up on high. You look with contempt on those below you. And in fact, not only do you not ask for help, you don't want help. You don't want help to turn from your desires. Your desires are primary. Your desires are number one. You have affection for yourself. You're self-centered. You don't want to listen to others when they call you to repent. You think that life is merely a pursuit of your own pleasure. And that's all the whole purpose is. And your will, you think, is above God's. And so you know that if this is you, you are merely painting a target upon your back. You're inviting God to array Himself against you. James here uses the words from Proverbs, and these words are the words of war. God resists the proud. He sets Himself. It's a military term. He sets Himself in battle array against the proud. Much like He did in Genesis 11. You remember those people. They built their tower of Babel. They wanted to exalt themselves. They wanted to make a name for themselves. They exalted themselves. And all that did was invite God's attention. And it wasn't, of course, good attention that they got from Him. There they are building their monument to themselves, making a name, thinking themselves to be so wonderful and so great. And Scripture says God had to come down. Oh, they're building a tower. Look at that. There they are, shaking their fist at God. Like little ants, shaking their fist at God. God resisted them. God resisted their plans and their pursuits. This is what God does. This is how God responds to the proud. He resists the proud. If you are the proud, He will frustrate your efforts. He will frustrate your efforts to satisfy yourself with the things that God has never ordained to satisfy anyone. Your life will be met with frustration. Frustration of trying to be satisfied in this world. And if you do not repent, ultimately, you will finally be cast down. And you who would exalt yourself, you will be cast down. What will be done to you is what you sought to do to others. You sought to scorn others. God will bring your name to everlasting shame. He will oppose you. And just like that rich man who was in the pit of hell, the very pit of hell, even from the pit of hell he was not humble. There he was in the pit of hell still barking commands trying to get Abraham and Lazarus to do his bidding. To do what he wanted them to do. He was still exalting himself though he was in the pit of hell. And if that is your heart, you, like Him, will receive no grace. You will receive no grace. Not even one drop. Not even one drop to cool the tongue. Ultimately, like Satan, you will be cast down. You must repent. You must repent. And you must humble yourself. lest you remain God's enemy. For it is only the humble who receive grace. Or as James says, who receive more grace. Notice what James says. He says the humble. But he gives more grace and that grace is to the humble. He gives more grace to the humble. Just like Jesus said, to those who have, more will be given. To the humble. To those whose proud hearts have been humbled by grace. That grace that taught their hearts to fear. Those individuals will receive more grace. They are promised more. And if you are the humble, you are one who is made to see your need of God. You are made to see your need, your dependency upon Him. You are one who casts yourself upon Him, not relying upon yourself. You are one who sees your own lusts as that which is against God. And you would seek to turn from them. You would not regard your will and your desires as ultimate, but God's. and you would seek to be delivered from those lusts and from those desires that compete with God's. And if this is you, if this is your heart, you have the assurance from God's Word, you will receive grace. You will receive an increase of grace. Are you asking for it? Are you in humility asking? Are you asking Him for this enabling grace daily? Have you asked God for grace today to wage war against those lusts and those passions within you? Or do you think in some ways like the prideful man, I can wing it. I've got it. I can handle it. Perhaps this time in your life you are struggling with sinful pleasures. sinful pursuits, sinful desires. You're exalting your will over God's and you're not much improvement in your life. Have you been growing in faithfulness? Have you been growing in holiness? Perhaps you're not. You're struggling with it. Maybe it's because you haven't humbled yourself. You're not asking as a beggar for grace to grow. Perhaps you have not been growing because you ask not. You must humble yourself. You must beg. Because this is Christ's purpose. This is the work that Christ is about. And Christ is pleading with you today. His Word to you and His providence today. He is pleading with you today to become a more faithful bride to Himself. To turn away from your lusts. To turn away from your own worldly desires and pursue what is His desire. And what is His desire? Ephesians 5, verse 27, Christ's desire for you, that He would present His church to Himself, a glorious church, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she should be holy and without blemish. Christ wants for your religion to be pure, to have a pure and undefiled religion, to be unspotted from the world, even as James has said earlier. This is what God desires. So oftentimes we think of jealousy in terms of taking and wanting to have and taking away. But in the jealousy of God, God gives. In God's jealousy, He gives. In His jealous love, God gave His Son. to redeem you, to pay for your sins, your sinful pursuits. He gave His Son to cleanse you from those. And yes, in God's jealousy, He demands from you every ounce of affection. And in His jealousy, He is committed to give you everything you stand in need of to meet those jealous demands. To love your Creator. To love your Redeemer as you should. Not only that you should be forgiven of those lusts, but that you should be cleansed from every trace of them inside and out. And to be that spotless bride adorned for her husband, prepared for that future wedding supper of the Lamb. And to that end then, may by God's grace we grieve Him less and less. And may we in humility more and more approach Him for grace to help in time of need. Even praying that prayer to God as we find it even in that wonderful hymn, O to grace how great a debtor I am daily constrained to be. Let Thy grace now like a fetter bind my wandering heart to Thee. Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it. Prone to leave the God I love. Here's my heart. Oh, take and seal it. Seal it for Thy courts above. Amen.