Now please turn with me to the letter to James, James chapter 4. We will be reading the first 10 verses of James chapter 4. Again, the Word of God. Where do wars and fights come from among you? Do they not come from your desires for pleasure, that war in your members? You lust and do not have. You murder and covet and cannot obtain. You fight and war, and 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, and gives grace to the humble. Therefore, submit 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. Lament and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning. and your joy to gloom. Humble yourself in the sight of the Lord, and he will lift you up." Thus far, the reading of God's most holy word. One of the important descriptions or understandings that we have about the church is that it is referred to as the church militant. From that word, we get the idea that there is a struggle, there is war. You see the connection between the word militant and the word military. It simply means that until the Lord returns, being a member of Christ is yet a struggle. And often that struggle, as James points out, spills over into the church. There will always be an attack, of course, on the church from outside. And the church is living in a dark world where it is struggling against that attack. And that will take place until the Lord returns. And yet, perhaps more important, the church militant is that until the church becomes the church glorified, there is a struggle within the church, which is ultimately a struggle within ourselves. We confess that we belong to Christ. that we have acknowledged our sin and our commitment to turn away from sin, and yet we find a huge conflict within ourselves. It is what leads to strife within the church. It is the reason that we do not treat brothers and sisters always as we ought to. James has already addressed that in chapter three, but he takes that concept a step further in chapter four. The problem is even more basic. It is not just within the church. It is within ourselves. It's what leads to strife within the church. The Heidelberg Catechism says that we struggle with sin because of temptation that is yet within us. And that temptation is identified as the devil seeks to tempt us to fall into sin. The world around us tempts us in our own sinful heart, the desires and the pleasures, worldly pleasures that come from within. The war, the militancy is within us. We confess loyalty to God. We read about the loyalty that is required back in Deuteronomy 6. We confess loyalty to God through Christ by His Holy Spirit. And yet we find in our lives often that there are commitments, that there are certain loyalties which are not to God, but to fulfill the sinful pleasures, the worldly pleasures. This morning, Christ addresses us with his word through James in this way. And first, we will see the reality of this struggle. James gives a very clear and dramatic picture of ourselves. It is not flattering. It leads to the need to be militant, to take up the struggle. And then we are led to see how we can and must, in fact, be victorious in this fight. You know, when you look carefully at everything that the inspired words say here in James, the first number of verses, James chapter 4, it is very difficult It is indeed a sobering word of God to each of us. In fact, scholars have struggled with how to exactly understand all that is being said. Keep in mind, James is not talking about the things that go on out there in the world, and strife and war and adultery, etc. He's talking about in the church. You know, it's one thing to say that there are fights, okay, we understand that happens. Sinful desires for worldly pleasures, we all know about them. He even goes on to talk about lust and coveting the church. But he uses the word war and even murder. Is this, in fact, James just giving us sort of an over-the-top dramatic statement to make for shock purposes, perhaps. Are the words not to be taken in the most literal sense, but spiritually, spiritual warfare, even spiritual murder, perhaps. It's difficult to be certain. But what is clear is that sin is yet active in the church. Even in the first century church that James is addressing, we have a tendency to think that the church in the first century was this glorious church that started out everything just great, then it deteriorated over here. That is not true. We see that again and again. Remember the account of Ananias and Sapphira. Paul has to tell in Ephesians that members of the church ought to stop stealing as a matter of a life vocation. What is in fact pointed out to us here by the Word of God is what the Heidelberg Catechism states in question answer number 60 in this way. It says that, I am still prone always to all evil. When God changes the heart, and he does, He comes upon the heart of stone that is ours, inherited from Adam, which is dead in sin, and he awakens that heart and changes it into a heart of flesh, and he does that by the Holy Spirit, but he doesn't immediately remove sin and a desire for sin in an absolute way. We yet struggle with that. James is reminding us, he is addressing us in a very clear and in fact, a very unflattering way here. the reality which we all must face every day. We are tempted by worldly desires. In its most basic form, there is a militancy that is within the believer himself. James states it this way, you war in your members. Members here referring to not between fellow members in the church, that does take place as a result, but more particularly, members within us. There is a desire to do one thing and then the other. We have an argument with ourselves. It is common to refer to conflict and desires by a single person within himself. You have an argument with yourself. You like to please the temptation in this world of desires, but you also want to please God. The conflict between serving God and serving man is directly between you and I. And as we deal with those conflicting influences, there is a tendency to excuse ourselves. For example, you might say something like, well, most of the time, I try to do right, and I think I do pretty good, but you can't expect me to be perfect. Occasionally, I can't help myself, and I just fall into a little sin here, and even a great sin, but I know I shouldn't, it just happens. James says, don't you know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Friendship here with the world is in reference to enjoying the immoral worldly desires of the flesh. So there is loyalty to God, and there is loyalty to man. They are at odds with each other. In fact, James goes even further, to be a friend of the world is to be an enemy of God. We don't want to be an enemy of God, do we? It is that clear and straightforward. To follow the desire of the heart, to fall to the temptation of the devil, is in fact to be an enemy of God. This is not to say that we serve two masters. The Bible makes it absolutely clear. Again, we read about that call in Deuteronomy 6 earlier. The Bible says the believer cannot serve both loyalties here, but understand that sin is following a desire that is in conflict with God. What James is pointing out, and he does so, yes, in a very dramatic way, as James does, is the reality for every believer. Now, that is not to say that every believer, not that you are being told this morning here that every believer here does all of these things in a complete way, not at all. But we all struggle with sinful desires, desires which are not only harmful to others or to ourselves, I should say, but also within the church. That's where strife comes from. In other words, the war or conflict in our members, James says, is the reason why we have problems with one another and in our world, of course, as well. On the one hand, all true believers do make a commitment to God, absolutely. But by means of the Holy Spirit within the believer, there is a desire to follow his direction in life and to serve him. Be careful to note in this passage, I want to underscore this, James is not saying that no one has done that. He's not saying that nobody in the church has really made a commitment to God. He's not saying that at all. But he is concerned that you understand the conflict that is yet a reality in life. I mentioned earlier, or in reference to the law of God, we are taught in Deuteronomy 5, verse 3 again, that the law is given for your good. That is what James is seeking to bring to your attention. But there's the reality of yet being prone to all evil. How do we deal with that? The desire to have the so-called pleasure of the world is yet with us. and basic to the wicked heart which has fallen in sin." This is the conflict spoken of in this passage. This is the picture that James is speaking about when he addresses the church in his day, and therefore addresses us. We want to serve both God and man, the world and nature. Paul spoke of his own struggle and disregard. He said in Romans 7, I find that the things that I desire to do, I find I do not do them. And the things that I do not want to do, I find that I do them. There's a struggle that he's dealing with. We are loyal to God, and yet we find in some sense a loyalty to the temptation from this world. Now, what do we do about this? Do we throw up our hands in exasperation and say, well, I guess I can't help it. James says that's a reality for us. I may want to overlook this, but James is right. There is this war within me, and what can I do? First of all, let me be clear. you, the believer, are not just stuck, to put it bluntly, with this situation. James does not just leave us hanging there with this reality, and there's no remedy for it, not at all. It begins with addressing the false narrative that the world presents. We are constantly bombarded, as you well know, on our TV screen and in our newspaper and et cetera and said all around us, the idea that when we overthrow the law, when we follow the desires of the flesh, that's when we're gonna have a happy, pleasant life. When you follow the lusts of the flesh, when you think of yourself first before your neighbor, then life is going to be good. That's what the world tells you. The Word of God says that when it comes to the life promoted by the world and our sinful hearts, we should lament. We should mourn, and we should weep. That is not a happy life. Specifically, that which is seen as pleasure and joy from the world, the lust, should be a matter of mourning and of gloom. We need to be careful here. You know, being faithful to God does not mean that there can be no joy and no pleasures in life, not at all. That's not the point. The call to turn laughter into mourning is very specific in terms of the context. of that sinful struggle that we are dealing with in our life. It is a lifestyle which is very specifically based on living the opposite of what is presented in the moral law, further in the context of what James specifically offers as a solution. That is, in the context of resisting the devil. Serving the devil, in other words, is not pleasure. It is a cause for mourning. I mentioned earlier the struggle that scholars have with a portion of this, but particularly, again, we come to verses 5 and 6. And there is a lack of understanding on how to interpret this passage. But in general, we need to see that in the context of human pride, which is loyalty to the devil, God does resist the proud. Being proud means being an opposite to God. And he gives grace to the humble, those who submit to God. We clearly understand that the change which needs to take place in your heart, the fight that you need to take up must be work of God. Paul teaches this very clearly, for example, in Ephesians 2 verse 10, that when we respond by the gift of grace within us, those works that are pleasing unto God, they are ultimately the works of God through us. The inspired Word of God which we are considering here says, resist the devil, and he will flee from you." It also says, you ask and you not receive because you ask amiss. We want God to give us a good life, but we're asking for that in the context of following the world. James says you're asking wrongly. Clearly, God's people are held accountable before God to use the means of grace given to the church. and to take up that fight against sin with humble understanding regarding what we should ask for and he will provide. You are directed by God to take up the fight against sin. Be militant, take up the struggle, And yet, even as God encourages us and commands us, resist the devil, say no to those temptations, do the right thing, follow the law of God, there is a point where we get to, how? How can I, whom still prone always to all evil, actually resist the devil? Are we all of a sudden slipping back into do the right thing and you will earn credit from God for doing the right thing? A works righteousness? Not at all. But we do need to be careful and understand that with a sovereign God, we are not just puppets. We cannot blame God when we have not worked hard to resist the devil and say, well, God didn't stop me from doing this. God holds everyone accountable for their sins. We cannot blame him for not working hard enough upon our hearts of stone to make them hearts of flesh. Notice this, that in the context of telling us to resist the devil, he underscores with an important concept. Now, certainly we must recognize that without the grace of God, we indeed could do nothing. It is not a works of righteousness that we are being called to. That's often an accusation or an interpretation that's given to James, and it's wrong. It's not where James is going. While the Catechism does state, I am still prone to all evil, it also speaks of the grace undeserved grace that is yours, that is mine, which clearly is not deserved. It is the grace that gives us the strength of Christ, the gift of Christ who has kept the law for us and brought us to this state of being under the power of His grace. James encourages you and I this morning to look to, to turn to, to seek His grace, resisting the devil, the strong temptation of the world, and the heart desire. Doing just that must begin with a complete reliance upon the grace of God. In verse 3, there is a reference. I've already mentioned it. He says, you pray and do not receive because you pray amiss. The problem is not that God doesn't answer prayer. The problem is that you pray with a haughtiness. Pray with humility. When you're seeking God's grace, humbly on your knees before God, he will answer that prayer. When for God's help, based on grace by means of humbling yourself before God, he will answer such prayer. While the temptation is strong, humbling yourself before God begins with simply recognizing, first of all, that what we desire from the sinful nature within us. To believe that such is pleasing, on that score, he says, humble yourself. That is to recognize the danger, the worldly pleasure, and the need for help from God, and he says, bow before God. Seek Him. But it's not to just humble yourself before God. It's not to just say, yes, Lord, in this life, there is a struggle. And yes, Lord, I am all too easily tempted by the world around us. You are holy. I am not. You are right. I am wrong. That would be correct. We can say and believe that all we want, but it is meaningless if we do not then also turn away from the devil and resist the devil and do the right thing. Having said that, God gives grace to the humble. He says, submit to God. Actually do what God says. We must be very careful to note, even as this inspired word by James paints this very drastic, humbling picture of the church, he does not say, well, I guess you're all lost. He doesn't say that. There is no salvation for you. He does not say that. or that God is just always angry at you." Again, he does not say that. But he does point us to the grace of God, the desire that you benefit from the grace of God. You see, the purpose of God inspiring James to write these words is not that the life of the believer should just be one of being filled with mourning and weeping and we just go through life depressed and sad look on our face and filled with sorrow. It is actually, in fact, the very opposite of that. He says that you'd be lifted up, He will lift you up. You know, you can read this passage. and respond with, wow, that's really negative. It's really a bad passage about us, really a difficult passage. And I caution you that you do not read it that way. That should not be your conclusion. Rather, what you should conclude and respond to is this, wow, what a great salvation we have by God's grace. How great is His grace? Just think about the foolishness that we are tempted by and know that God's grace is sufficient to take up the struggle, to truly be militant, and He will keep your loyalty. There is no room for divided loyalties. Ultimately, our loyalty is to God and to Him alone. The call to lament and mourn is a call to lament and mourn about the temptation to sin, but it is also a call to joy and peace in the grace of God. which is sufficient to fight even this picture of sin given to us by James. Let us pray. Our God and Father, we do lament, we do mourn our sins, but we do more than that. We humble ourselves before you and we ask for your grace. We do so with confidence, knowing that Your grace is sufficient. That even as we are called to serve You, may we gain more and more in serving You and turning away from serving in the struggle that is and yet will be with us all of our life long. We ask for this, even as we Lift up our hearts in the prayer which our Lord himself taught us, saying, Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, deliver us from evil for thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever.