Welcome to the Susquehanna Valley Baptist Pulpit, preaching a life worth living, abundant life in Christ, and now the message. I spent a couple times, I guess the last two weeks, speaking on the opening verses here to James chapter four. Really pulling in from the third chapter, he mentions, James does, by inspiration, there's two types of wisdoms. You'll see this found in the closing verses, verses number 14 and following. He mentions about a wisdom from above, and then a wisdom that is earthly, sensual, and devilish. And he gives something of a comparison and contrast in between those, speaking of the earthly wisdom, that it is full of envying, strife, it's self-centered, both in its ambition and its attitude, and then he speaks of a heavenly wisdom. And of the heavenly wisdom, one word that if you would just, and there's several that are given here, but if you would just focus in on one word, you'll see it in verse 17 and 18, both as a description of heavenly wisdom. In fact, I would say between the two, if there's one easy, call it elementary way to distinguish between heavenly and earthly wisdom, it could come down to one word. Note if you will, 17 and 18 of chapter three. The wisdom that is from above, he's going to speak of it being pure, but notice this, then it is what? Peaceable. Look in verse 18. And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace of them that make peace. So if you were just going to draw one distinction between heavenly wisdom and earthly wisdom, it seems replete in scriptures that the redundancy here in multiple layers is one word, peace. And keep in mind when we speak of wisdom, we're talking about applying the fear of the Lord to the decisions of life. That is, gaining by deciding to follow the scriptures the divine power that only salvation has to reshape our thoughts, our hearts, and our mind and cause us to make and do actions of righteousness. And the great difference between earthly and heavenly wisdom? Peace. Now then you open up chapter 4. Whence come what? Wars. I almost said rumors of war thinking about our summer school class. Whence comes wars and fighting among you? I tell you folks, the more I study this, the more I am seemingly convinced James is not writing to the moralist like Romans chapter 2. James is not writing to the reprobate, if you will, in Romans chapter 1. He's writing, I think, to the believer. In fact, if you were to skip down a few verses and he comes again, he talks about the brethren in verse number 11, speak evil of his brother. He speaks of prayer in verses 3 and 4 through 5. You go to chapter 5 and look at the last few verses. He's again talking about brethren and one that shall return from the error of sin. On and all, I think that there's a distinction here between not the lost and the saved, but rather the committed saint and the uncommitted saint. The one saint that in one sense, if you will, is going to focus his thought and intents, and perhaps we could tether this to our morning series of discernment, that he is focusing his thoughts and intents on actions that please God, and because of such, he is imbibing and discriminately in use of exclusivity of heavenly wisdom, and therefore peace is his mark. For after all, is not peace a work of the Spirit? Sure it is. versing or contrasting the uncommitted Christian that is still engaging in interactions with the mindset that is embraced in earthly, sensual, devilish wisdom, and I might would put this, innate, or that thing that naturally comes to humanity. And I believe that's what he's leading through in these passages. As you come to chapter four, after giving this great discourse on the two types of wisdom, and we focused on just one, but I think a very important one that shows us, showcases the difference of peace, on and on in chapter four, wars, fightings, war in your members in verse number one. And you come to verse number two, he says, you lust, you have not, you kill. That's the idea of murder. He's not talking about self-defense there. You murder. He goes on. He says you fight and you war. You have not. You consume it upon your lust and then bringing full fence. In verse number four, he says you adulterous and adulterous. And over the last two weeks, we highlighted three conflicts that are present. There's a conflict inwardly. In verse number one, come they not even of your own members. There's an internal conflict. And then there's an outward conflict. He speaks in verse number two, you kill and desire to have because you can't obtain, you fight and war, yet you have not. And then there's an upward conflict, or if you will, as we spent good time last week, a conflict with God. I would note verse number four, friendship of the world is enmity with God. God, whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God. And we gave some characteristics of that last week. I want to take as our text, as was read just a moment ago, and begin looking at verse number 7 all the way down through verse number 10. And in these passages, right on the heels of all of this conflict, both personal, both selfishly, or self-centered, I should say, and both Godward, or inward, outward, and upward, God here is speaking to His saints. It's interesting to consider that this is not the design, conflict, that is, is not the design of a believer. It is not to have one in consistent conflict. That is not to say that our life as believers, that we are not opposed by an eternal vigilant enemy. I might would mention the world system, demonic influence, et cetera. But rather over and over throughout scriptures, there is an emphasis on the deep ever abiding peace that a believer can have despite the oppositions of this life. I think in the prayer that the Lord prayed in John chapter 17, he says at the concluding verses of John chapter 17, he said, in the world you have tribulation, And then he mentions to fear not, he said, because I have overcome the world. John and Philippians chapter 4 and speaking on this same theme, the Lord through Paul pens these words. He says that the peace of God which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus our Lord. One of the marks of a child of God is the overwhelming expressive satisfaction of peace. not of perpetual conflict. Perpetual conflict in the life of a believer should be seen, and this is an important statement, it should be seen as a warning signal that ultimately our communion with God is not where it should be. We're told this specifically through Scripture. Think of Proverbs chapter 16 and we have some passages that take us to Proverbs later on. I won't have you turn during this introduction but think if you will for Proverbs chapter 16 and verse 7 and note these words. When a man's ways please the Lord, he maketh even his enemies, anybody remember the last of it? There's that word again, to be at peace with him. I think of Matthew chapter 11 and 28 and 29. Come unto me, all you that are weak and heavy laden, and I will give you rest unto your souls. Take my yoke upon you. And he continues, he said, for I am meek and humble and will give you rest unto your souls. God and he alone gives greater grace. That's there right in the text of verse number five. He giveth more grace. Why would God need to give his children more grace? The answer is this, you're going to face opposition, you're going to face trials, you're going to face persecution. There'll be plenty enough conflict in life for a believer to face. You don't even have to make things up. You don't even have to let your mind, as we were talking about this the last couple of weeks, you don't even have to let your mind invent things. There'll be present realities. 2 Timothy chapter 3 and verse 12, and all those that live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer. Persecution, you know. Verse number 10, you know my manner of life. You know my sufferings, Timothy. You know all of these things, yea, and they're even extending to you. By the way, thinking of that passage, look over in 2 Timothy a moment. That's what I'm quoting from. I'm in chapter 3, but I want you to notice chapter number 4. Just a few things. The essence is our life does not have to be at an ever ebbing and flowing of perpetual conflict with people. I'm not trying to say that there won't be things that bring conflict, but we don't always, we do not have to be mad at the world all the time. There need not to be fightings, wars, and rumors of war in the heart of a child of God. Now note this, if you will. Listen, chapter four, 2 Timothy. Notice, if you will, in verse number 14, Alexander the coppersmith did me much evil. If you pause there, you're already probably ahead of me with your eyes, but I think of this fellow all the time. I know, I believe it's Ephesus that was Alexander the silversmith. I don't think these were the same individuals. But here's the apostle Paul. I doubt there's anything outside of preaching the gospel that he did to earn this man's irritation, and my question would be, what would be your response to someone that did you much evil? I was making a visit sometime, it still comes to my mind regularly. I was making a visit to someone once, and it was somewhat shut in, and I went there and I spent some time, a good person, a good man, and I was spending some time with him, and this, I don't know, one of these Tuesday evening, whatever shows came on, NBC or whatever, one of these police detective shows or something. And this guy came in and he was one of the lead detectives. And I'm visiting. I'm not there to watch the show, but it's on. And this guy, you know, he just keeps getting in their face like this. And here sat this guy and just calm at peace. And as soon as that guy on the picture walked in, he just... And I thought for a moment he was mad at me. I looked at him and I said, you OK? He said, man, turn that off. He said, every time I see that guy, I want to just pop him in the nose. What would you do if that was your Alexander the coppersmith? What is your natural response? Look at what Paul says. The Lord reward him according to his... This is a contrast between fleshly wisdom and heavenly wisdom. between from that which descended from above and that which is guttural. The world will answer that for you. If he hits me, I'm gonna hit him back harder. Preemptive strike. He's mostly been bad to me and I'm gonna be worse to him before he gets the opportunity to do unto me. This is what the world will do. Note if you will, let's continue reading in the text. He reminds Timothy, "...of whom be thou aware also, for he hath greatly withstood our words." Oh, there's now another revelation. It's not just what he did to Paul, but it's also how it's involved Timothy. For time's sake, go to verse number 16. And at my first answer, he's referencing here that time he goes before the Roman tribunal to give an account of the charges laid against him. No man stood with me. Now listen, he's in Rome. Was Paul and Timothy the only believers? And obviously Timothy's not in Rome at this particular time, but was Paul the only believer in Rome? No. So how do you know that? Because I've read Romans chapter 16. Well, why didn't they come to help him? Why didn't they aid him? Now you might in your mind, as I often do, well, if they'd have come forward, maybe they'd have been killed. But what's about to happen to the Apostle Paul? He says earlier, the time of my departure is at hand. In the previous verses, he said, I'm ready to be poured out, I'm finished, like a drink offering, man, I'm done. I know what's about to come. In Philippians chapter one, he's in Mamertine prison. He writes, man, I'm at a crux in the road as it was having a desire to depart and to remain with you. Well, there's believers toward the end of his life that aren't present with him. I believe the military term is you could say they're derelict in their responsibilities. He outlines some of them here. Obviously, in previous passage, you got Demas has forsaken. And by emphasis of forsaken, he's walked away from the things of truth. He's now going to his hometown of Thessalonica. Crescens is Galatia. I think by emphasis of Titus that not all of these had departed for the same reason, but Demas had. Some of them are in other places of the will of God and they can't come. One of them here in verse number following here are sick. He said, I left them there in Troyes. They're sick. Timothy's not here. There's a number of reasons, some good and some bad, but that was in all the saints in Rome and I want you to know how he responds to this conflict. Look if you will in verse 16. At my first answer no man stood with me, but all men... What? Man, at the end of your life, you got five friends you can count on, you have something. Here he is at the end of his ministry, and there's no hiding or hair of anybody. Look at his response. He gets on Facebook. Meta, meta, metaverse, I'm sorry. And boy, he's posted a negative meme about, look at his response. I pray God that it may not be late to their By emphasis, friend, I take this at its face value. That what God wanted those saints to do was at that time strengthen Paul, rally around him. And for whatever reason, some unavailable, legitimate reasons, some fled from the truth. But there seems to be another classification of group of people here that could have been present and weren't. Now tell me that won't cross your wires. Bloodthirsty Roman tribunal just looking to kill another one. That's all Paul was to them. A pest. And they're not with him. In fact, look at verse 17. He says, "...notwithstanding the Lord stood with me." And notice this phrase, strengthened me. The idea is he was devoid of any personal strength. He's already mentioned the need for a cloak, a coat. It's cold. He's sick. We know for that in Corinthians. All of these physical infirmities compounded by the emotional disturbance that some of the friends that no doubt in times past had laid down their life for him. That's what he said of Aquila and Priscilla. And all of this at this great need in his life, they're not present. And look at the spiritual response. I pray God that it may not be laid to their... Pray God I forget about it. What a level of spiritually induced wisdom. I take you to this test to let you know that there's a thousand reasons to have conflict inwardly, outwardly, and upwardly. But that's not the goal of your Christian life. At the end of the Christian life, if all you can do is enumerate all the people you're mad at, you have missed a great and glorious opportunity in your Christian life. Turn back to James if you will. The reality? We have a responsibility. How do you overcome conflict that inevitably is going to come? How do you overcome conflict that is inwardly? I joked about that sometimes. I hate long text messages. because I am the world's worst at reading between the lines. I remember when text, when I first started using text message, somebody had loaned me, they said, read that, tell me the tone in that text message. That's where I became aware there's other people with my same proclivities. There's a tone, I mean, you can have somebody get, you can misinterpret a text that says get milk in such a wrong way if you even start getting in the tone of requesting of milk. They read into things all the time. That's why I still attest the best way to do things is face-to-face, if at all possible. Here in this particular passage, how do you overcome inward strife? How do you overcome strife with others? How do you overcome conflict with God? In particular, you say, well, I've never been in conflict with God. So then you've always perfectly done His will. Jacob didn't manage to not be in conflict with God. David did not manage to always be without conflict in God. And even the apostle Paul at times prayed about things that he's at a straight betwixt two. What's he saying? There's what I want to do and what God wants me to do. I'm ready to go to heaven. It's Philippians chapter one. But it's more needful. It's the will of God. I stay here in Terry for you. How do you overcome conflict upwardly. Man, I think of blessed Naomi over in the scriptures of Ruth. Call me no longer Naomi, but call me... If you've got a conflict, she's upset at the Lord. Now you can chalk that thing down spiritually and say the reason she's upset, really, really it was her own fault. Or we could even move into the 21st century and say it was her husband's fault. Or we could blame it on her son's fault. Or you could ultimately take it back and say it's God's fault because he brought it to Pam in the first place. But ultimately she had conflict with God. We don't live in the isolationist vacuum here. How does one overcome that? And I believe the essence is given in verse number eight. Really the theme of our message tonight. Draw nigh. or near to God. Reminded of the old hymn, Draw Me Nearer, Nearer, Precious Lord. God and God alone gives grace at all times. Yea, even greater grace for every burden and every conflict in life. Not just a saving grace, but graced yea, even in the midst of constant conflict." In these following verses, verses 7 through 11, there are 10 specific imperatives. that are necessary for us to draw nearer to God at all times, especially in times of conflict. Lord willing, with the time that we have tonight, let's move through the first five of them. Notice the first of them found in verse number seven. He says, Submit yourselves therefore to God. So you've got conflict. At the root of a conflict is a decision, a perspective. The word submit is quite important because you can chase it through scriptures. The Greek word there is hupotasio. And in a real sense, it means this. To arrange, it's a military term, to arrange in order of rank. That's what a military would do, you know, you'd have your various ranks. The idea is to put in the correct order. Let me give you a biblical expression. You remember in the Gospels, the disciples gathered unto our Lord and said, Lord, teach us to pray as John also taught his disciples to pray. And the Lord's going to lay out a highlight, an example. And we call it the Lord's Prayer, though it was really the example prayer. And he says there in the Gospel account, he said, when you pray, pray on this wise, our Father, which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Now note this next one, thy kingdom come. Do you remember the next one? Thy will be done where? You see the conflict? A lot of things in earth that I might would pray for, a lot of things on earth that I might wish were going the way I wanted it to go that are in direct conflict with the will of God. And by the way, note if you will James chapter 4 and verse number 3. The believers in James Times, perhaps at the Jerusalem church there in the same place, they ask, and what happens? They receive it not. Why? Because what they wanted and what God wanted were two different things. So how do you have peace at this time of potential conflict with God? You draw near to Him. The first step of drawing near to God comes back to the first word found in verse number 7, submit yourself to God. Get into rank. Submission, submission is an intentional act of the will. It's what it is. It's an intentional act of the will. Folks have asked me before, said, and I've heard preachers talk about how God called them to preach. And I had a fellow I was in Bible college with, man, he had a story about something to do with a window opening up and air blowing a candle out. It was some craziness thing. He's not in the ministry anymore, but that was his story, you know. And I always, man, what's mine? And so I'll joke sometimes, you know, that really I was drafted, I wasn't called, you know. But the fact is, we ought to be very careful about the attitude we have in obedience to Christ. Submission is a key theme throughout the Scriptures. Let me give you a few of these. For instance, if we were looking for examples, we need really no further than Jesus Christ. Let me give you some familiar verses. You'll see an example of Jesus Christ that He is submissive at every stage of His life. Let me give you the earliest one we find, and that's in Luke chapter 2 and verse 51. Remember, He and His parents had gone nigh and now they're returning back into Galilee. Jesus Christ in Luke chapter 2, the reference there is that he submitted unto his father and mother and he grew in wisdom. Even as a child he was submissive. Eternally he has been submissive to the Godhead mightily. Philippians chapter 2, in writing on the self-emptiness of Christ, Philippians chapter 2, he writes that he thought it not right to be equal with God, but made himself of no reputation and humbled himself unto death, even the death of the cross. So eternally past, he's submissive to God the Father. As he said, after the incarnation, as a lad growing in favor with man, he was submissive to his parents. we can look at submission of God, we can look at the example that Paul left in Romans chapter 13 when he beckons Christians to be subject unto the powers that be. We could look at the home by which Paul preached in Ephesians 1 and the submission that is to occur both personally and in the relationship of the structure of the home in Ephesians 5. In Titus 2 that we looked at in the morning hour, we can see submission in response to the servant and his master. Verse 9 is where he tells him not to be pure-loining but to be obedient. We can see a similar passage given in Ephesians 6 where we're to do the will of God even from the heart. We're seeing the essence of submission even in the example that is given of salvation. In Romans chapter 1, Paul begins to cry out how that he's made an apostle into the gospel of Jesus Christ. And in verse number 5, he talks about the responsibility of those that hear the gospel to be obedient to the gospel. And then hearkening in chapter 10, I think it's around verse number 18, he speaks on this wise, he said, for yet have not all obeyed the gospel. It takes submission to come to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. Submission is a trait that is an identifying mark that one is in a constant state of communing with God. Rebellion or willfulness, on the other hand, is the trait of one that is not communing with the things of God. The Scripture tells us in Proverbs chapter 8, and this is what... let's look at this. We didn't turn there earlier, but turn over to Proverbs chapter 8. This is one of those Proverbs that would do us well. If you mark in your Bible, to mark this one. If you have a highlighter, highlight this one. Because I'm going to tell you something. A lot of us are guilty of violating Proverbs chapter number 8, in particular this verse. But look there if you will. We're talking about the theme of submitting yourselves unto God. We're looking at various examples. Look in chapter 8 of Proverbs. In chapter 6, these six things that the Lord hateth ye, seven are abomination unto him. In chapter 8, when he begins to talk about wisdom and how it crieth aloud and how it gives instruction, he beckons him in verse 10 to receive instruction. And then verse 11, he gives a comparison of wisdom, that wisdom is better than rubies and all the things that may desire are not to be compared with it. Notice verse 13, the element basis of wisdom is the fear of the Lord. Notice what he says. The fear of the Lord. If one would say they have the fear of the Lord, then these following things cannot be part of that. Why? For the fear of the Lord is to hate evil, pride, arrogancy, and the evil way. And the what? Look carefully. It's not a misprint in your Bible. The froward way. Do I hate? If you write in your Bible, you circle that word, not forward, but froward. It's two different words. We don't much use the word froward anymore and it's at our expense to do so. Ready? This is what froward means. Not willing to comply to that which is reasonable. At its very essence, it is this. an unwillingness to yield even though the circumstances conveniently display the necessity of yielding. I penned in one of my Bible these words, it's a rebel without a cause. Rebellion just for the sake of rebellion. You ever been there? Disagreeable. I know we're all angels. That's what he's talking about with the forward mouth. Reminds me that this fellow, not in our church, but in this other church had business meetings, you know, and he was always the no vote. And it frustrated the pastor. It frustrated other people in the church too, but he was always the guaranteed no vote. Coming up on the 20th anniversary of the church, you know. And the preacher said, we ought to get a nice chandelier in a place. And let's vote on it. Because this is going to be an expense, you know. And everybody in the place voted yes. And then he's got to say, and all those opposed, like sign. And that one man's hand went up and that preacher, he was struggling now. He said, I've got to ask you a question, dear brother. Why are you voting against this? And everybody else is looking at him. They're wanting to know the same thing. He goes, well, I have my reasons. Well, please tell us what your reasons are. You vote against everything. Why are you voting against this? Well, if you must know, I don't really know what a chandelier is and after all, we need some lights in this place anyhow. Why is he voting against everything? Just to be against it. That's a silly example of the froward mouth. If one is going to be submissive to God, he will have embraced the fear of God. Therefore he'll hate the things about himself that God hates. He'll hate, Proverbs 8, verse 13, evil, all wickedness, general and specific. He'll hate haughtiness in himself, the elevation of himself, Romans 12, mind not high things. He'll hate the smack of arrogancy that exists in his heart. It might be like that publican that beat his chest, woe is me, I am undone. He'll hate the specified evil. And he'll seek that natural proclivity in self to rebel even against the reasonable things. Submission unto the Lord is a theme throughout the Scriptures. In fact, if we had time we could look at Psalm 51 and verse 17, speaking of David's submission to God as repentance. In verse 17, David cries, "...sacrifices thou wouldest not, but a broken and contrite spirit, O Lord, thou wilt not despise." I want to draw nearer to God. It starts with the child of God submitting themselves. unto their God. Notice the second thing here. Not only submission before God, but he's going to move to something that is kind of a parallelism, if you will. It's the second hand. It's the opposite side of the bread or the opposite side of the coin. If one is to be submissive to God, it stands as a necessary juxtaposition that that individual is also resisting the devil. Now, we're not unfamiliar with the word resist. If you're there in the text, resist the devil. He says in verse 7. If you bring your eyes up to verse 6, it's mentioned before, God resisteth the proud. Very, very similar words here. Do you remember what this word is from last week? God resisteth the proud. Remember the word picture I gave you? It was this. where it says that God resisteth the proud, it's the same manner by which we are to resist the devil. The idea of the word here, resistance, it means to stand against with every fiber of your being. You see, the idea of an enemy aggressing towards a defensive position. And it's the idea of that defensive position, raising the battle flags, and bringing all the cannons forward, and bringing the standards forward, and arraying out in every aspect of display for, if you will, the old adage of shock and awe, so that it can be an overwhelming force of resistance. It's the opposite of doing the least possible. It's synonymous of doing all that is possible to stand against, to oppose, full battle array, no neutrality, no tiny bit of middle ground whereby we surrender most instead of all earthly devilish wisdom. It has the aspect of verse number 4 of no friendship with any of the mindset of foolish wisdom. The idea of resisting the devil means to depart completely from all aspects of his influence. to cease from our earthly, fleshly consideration as we seek to submit ourselves to God. And why shouldn't it be that way? Why shouldn't a child of God that would seek to draw themselves near unto God... Yes, they should submit to God. Why shouldn't they move in every aspect, in every advanced battle array to resist the wisdom that is from this earth that is described in the previous chapters being devilish? I mean, after all, is that not the very mindset we have been delivered from? Listen to these words in Ephesians chapter 2 verse 1 and following. And you, the child of God, hath he quickened, who were dead and trespassers in sin, wherein in time past you walked according to the course of this world. And what did the course of this world look like? According to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience, Among whom..." Referencing back to the God of this world, listen to this. "...among whom also we all had our conversation in time past." He's going to use a familiar adage here. "...in the lust of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others..." You know what he's saying? God delivered you. from a satanic grasp. I don't know about you, but I look back upon my pre-conversion years and I was no animal worshiper. I don't think I had any graven images. I couldn't spell demonology, much less did I think I engaged in it. But the reality is, pre-my salvation, I was a citizen under the dominion of Satan. At my very best, my natural man..." How did he say here? "...walked according to the course of this world." And who rules this world? Prince of the power of the air. "...my natural man, its conversation, its lifestyle, pursued the lust of the flesh, and salt to fulfill the desires of the flesh and of the mind. You ask me a question before I've got saved and I will give you the best fleshly answer I could. By the way, that's why naturally forgiveness does not come to someone. It's why naturally there's no peace. Why? Because the God of this world instructs and tempts men the same way He did back in the Garden of Eden through the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. And He comes but to seek to kill and to steal and destroy and He is excellent at those endeavors. And that's what I understood and that's what I did. James is reminding these that would read by inspiration to resist the tendency to revert. And I note that again, resist the tendencies to revert. Oh, how that is easier said than done. It is the devil, the slanderer accuser. Sometimes in the scriptures a devil is mentioned as one that follows Satan's doctrines. I think of 1 John 3 and verse 8, it mentions basically in essence that he that would practice sin is of the devil. He's commanding us, submit to God, resist the devil, stop serving the God of this world in action and mind. Resist him, and here's a beautiful word. Let me give you another word picture here in verse number eight. Resist the devil and he will what? He'll flee. That's what the fly said to the flea, let's flee. The Greek word there is, ready? Hugo. You hear it? The word picture there. You go. I think it's beautiful, isn't it? There seems in verse number 7 to be no cataclysmic, drawn-out operation of fleeing the devil, or rather of resisting the devil. Why? Because once I am in Christ Jesus, my salvation and position and my citizenship is eternally established by my voluntary embracing of the truths of God's wonderful grace towards me. What is he saying? When I'm saved, I'm taken from darkness into His marvelous light and I'm forever going to be there to the end of all that exists. And there's no chance of me reverting back positionally. But that doesn't mean that I don't revert back in a matter of corruption of my mind. And the idea is, I am safe in Jesus Christ and the devil can be, though he is awfully powerful as he is. He was defeated by Jesus Christ at the cross of Calvary. In John 12, verse 32, the Lord speaking, He said, Now shall the prince of this world be cast out. and because he has been defeated, because we have the indwelling of the Spirit of God, because we have the opportunity of a renewed mind, because God has commanded us, resist not. That must mean that that can exist in my life and that I, through Jesus Christ, have the steadfast ability to repeatedly defeat the attitudes of this dark age by the Spirit and power of God. Isn't that exactly what Paul's telling us in Ephesians chapter 6? And above all, take the shield of faith that you may be able to quench the fiery darts of the wicked one. He leaves no room there. It's as though in essence he's saying you do this and this will happen. I've got the sword of the Word. I've got the helmet of salvation. submitting to God, putting on the whole armor of God. Yes, God has given us the power to be victorious right now in this Christian life. It doesn't matter how grave your conflict is. It doesn't matter how deep your misunderstandings are. You can draw near to God and not even Satan himself can resist that from the child of God. Let's move on to a third thing. really the essence of our entire message, draw an eye to God. If you will, an expression of intimate fellowship with the living, eternal, almighty, all-powerful God. I might submit to you that submitting ourselves to God and resisting the devil are necessary. They're a dependency upon which this third one, drawing an eye to God, is based. Let me give you some thoughts about how to draw nigh unto God. In fact, these come mainly from the Old Testament, but I scratched down about four attitudes that must be present if one is really going to draw nigh to God. If one is going to draw nigh to God, I would submit to you that he must be approached genuinely. Listen to the writings in Isaiah 29, Wherefore the Lord said, Forasmuch as this people draw near me, with their mouth and with their lips do honor me, but have removed their heart far from me, and their fear towards me is taught by the precept of men. You know one of the accusations the Lord's making there? That there were those in the nation of Israel who would talk often about being drawn near to God, but it wasn't genuine. It was disingenuous. It was fake. It was hypocritical. far from me. Oh, their mouth proclaims one thing, but their heart is far from me." My, if the child of God in this age would draw near to God, he must do so genuinely, thoroughly genuinely. Number two, if a man would draw nigh unto God, he must be approached, that is, God must be approached truthfully. I think of Psalm 145 and the following verses starting in verse 17. The Lord is righteous in all his ways and holy in all his works. Listen to these words. The Lord is nigh unto them that call upon him, to all that call upon him in He will fulfill all the desires of them that fear Him. He also will hear their cry and will save them. The Lord preserveth all of them that love Him, but all the wicked will He destroy. If one's going to draw nigh to God, they must draw nigh unto Him genuinely but truthfully. I think of the woman at the well in John chapter 4. He said, come a day when they worship me in spirit and in truth. He is truth. If you're going to draw an eye to him, it will be done only through the exclusive umbrella of all that his truth proclaims. Thirdly, he must be drawn to or approached primarily. Primarily. Jeremiah 29, verse 10, For thus saith the Lord, that after seventy years be accomplished at Babylon, I will visit you, and perform my good word toward you in causing you to return to this place. Now notice verse 11, For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you an expected end. Then shall you call upon me, and you shall go and pray unto me, and I will hearken unto you. And ye shall seek me and shall find me when you search for me with all your heart. I'll be found of you, he said, saith the Lord. I'll turn again, he continues in verse 14, the captivity of my people. But don't you dare come unto me, partly seeking me. I'm a jealous God. I want all. If we're going to draw near to God, we must approach Him primarily. Number four, we're going to draw near to God, He must be approached confidently. Now I'm reminded of Hebrews 4 and verse 16, talking about we boldly enter the throne of grace, we find help, confidence. But I'd rather take you to Hebrews 10 and verses 22 and following. He said, Let us roll near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering, for He is faithful that promised. draw near to God. It must be done genuinely. It must be done truthfully. It must be done primarily. He must be the preeminent one. It must be done confidently. And if that redeemed heart longs for communion with God, and if they seek it, they are promised, 1 Corinthians 28, verse 9, to find it. to Solomon shortly. In the Scriptures the passage says, And thou, Solomon my son, know thou the God of thy father, and serve him with a perfect heart, and with a willing mind. For the Lord searcheth all the hearts, and understanding of all the imagination of the thought. If thou seek him, he will be found of thee. But if thou forsake him, he will cast thee off forever. And draw nigh to God, it must be done on his terms. And then look, if you will, at the balance of verse number 8, two more. He speaks of clean hands and pure hearts. That's another parallelism really. Just as is submitting to God, the opposite side of that coin is resisting the devil. The clean hands and the pure heart is similar to be given. Clean hands is rooted in Jewish ceremonial descriptions throughout the Old Testament. Specifically, before priests were to commune with God, as in Exodus chapter 30, they were to wash their hands and their feet. And the Scripture says that they die not. You find this throughout the Scriptures. I think of Isaiah chapter 1 verses 15 and following. He told them that he wouldn't hear their prayers. He said, I will not hear for your hands are full of blood. Wash ye and make you clean, and put away the evil of your doings from mine eyes. Cease to do evil. On again to Timothy, I think in 1 Timothy 2, he said, I would that men everywhere would lift up holy hands. Remember? without wrath or doubting. If we would seek to remedy the matter of the heart and if we would seek to draw near unto God, we as believers must be sure that our actions are demonstrative as it comes to the holiness of God. Let's keep it in Ephesians chapter 4. I must in every day seek to walk worthy of my holy vocation. I must, 1 Peter chapter 1, be holy for I am holy. then continuing in verse number 8, cleanse your hands, you sinners, purify your hearts. Well, if the hands represent the outward sin, the heart is representative of the inward sin. And that's an amazing thing because it's an easy thing to pick on all the outward sins, is it not? You can see them, you can describe them. But the inward sin, That's hard to see. That was the very fault of the Pharisees, was it not? Was it not? They were very good at the outward projection. But what did the Lord describe as their inward being? That they were full of dead men's bones. Purify your heart. The psalmist said in the 23rd Psalm, he that hath clean hands, and here's that parallelism, and a pure heart, who hath not lifted up his soul into vanity nor scorned deceitfully, he shall receive the blessing from the Lord and righteousness from the God of his salvation." Not only should we seek to be clean outwardly, but also inwardly. It was the Scriptures in which the Lord said in Matthew chapter 15 that out of the heart all evil, I paraphrase, come. As the Scripture says, cometh the issues of life. In Jeremiah 4, we're commanded to wash our heart from all of wickedness. In Ezekiel 18, verse 31, cast away from you all your transgressions whereby you have transgressed, and make you a new heart and a new spirit. For why will I die, O house of Israel? Every man has a natural disposition to hate God. And only when repentance enters can his heart be thoroughly changed by the washing of regeneration. and this washing, in one sense, must be continued through communion with his Savior. Only then can the whole soul be changed to have new inclinations, new desires, and new habits." He concludes verse 8 with a warning, really an accusation. Clean hands, pure heart, and notice the expression here. He double-minded. Not unlike what you find over in chapter 1 where he says the double-minded man is Unstable, do you remember the conclusion? And all these ways. The word picture here again, and I enjoy these, they help me see it viscerally, but the word picture of unstable, it has the idea, and I know this is an experience that most of you had, but you wouldn't go right now, but you go to the shore and you're standing next to the waves, the edge, you know, the shore, and the waves come in, and your feet are on firm ground, and as the waves go back out, what happens to that ground under your feet? It swirls. And you know, it doesn't matter how stable you are or agile you are, what happens? Enough waves come out and whip that undercurrent, whips out that sand from the ether, what happens to you? You fall. It's hard to stand. That's the idea of what a double-minded man says. The accusation he's saying is, make up your mind which path you're going to take. If you want a life that exudes the will of God, you're going to need heavenly wisdom. And that heavenly wisdom is purer than peaceable and it bears forth the fruit of peace. This is the essence of the end of chapter 3. Why? It embraces the fear of the Lord and applies that to every decision in life. And the result of that individual is he's drawn near to God. His heart, his mind, his soul belongs to God. He has resisted all the demonic influences of a culture and mind and world which he is. His hands are constantly in a sense. He is constant in his confession of sins. His way is upright. He is sought to be perfect before his God. This individual is constantly drawing nearer still nearer to the communion of his Savior. but to that child of God who vacillates. Moved, yes, to conviction by the Spirit of God, yes, a child of God, but not fully embracing heavenly wisdom, but rather earthly wisdom. conflict arises. They're inconsistent with their walk with God. They're inconsistent with their understanding of the things of God. They're inconsistent with their compliance and obedience to the express will of God. They're inconsistent in every aspect of their spiritual life. Paul said, you're double-minded. There's no integrity. You claim one thing and do another. You're unstable in all of your ways. And by the way, The choice isn't how much of God you're going to serve. It's whether or not you're going to serve God or not. Remember that was the very cry given in the Gospels. The Lord expresses you cannot serve God and it's impossible. Yet so often in our Christian lives that's where we're at. We're going to try to serve just enough God for him not to be mad at us, but just enough of the world to somehow plausibly be liked by the world, and then when conflict rise we're constantly frustrated. Why? Because we're double-minded. Give it all to him is the essence he's speaking. Draw nearer, still nearer to him. It should be the desire of every child of God. It will put the conflict of this world into a perspective and produce a steady appetite to know more of Him and His marvelous grace. Then as the songwriter said, the things of this world should grow dim in the light of His glory and grace. No wonder, draw me nearer still, I stand or flee. Thank you for listening. If you would like to contact us, please write us at P.O. Box 126-541 Harrisburg, PA 17112 and visit our website at www.sdbcpa.org. Until next time!