 We're in James chapter four. We're gonna be looking at verses seven through 12 as we continue our verse by verse traveling through and going through the book of James, our exposition of James. James is dealing with situations now in the church. Chapter four, we'll be looking at that, but we've already looked at it, the first several verses by introduction. And there are what are called church wars. There are problems that are taking place that in this portion of scripture, James has to begin to address. He's addressing, according to verse one, wars and fights that are occurring in the church there. And the church is really that he's addressing in the book of James. And so that's what we're gonna be looking at because I'm gonna be laying the foundation by speaking about the context of division, division in the church and all, and we'll be looking at that in just a moment. We'll be looking today at verses seven through 12. And again, chapter four is dealing with conflicts and wars that are taking place, church wars that are taking place amongst the believers. So beginning in verse seven and reading to verse 10. James writes, 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, your sinners, purify your hearts. You double-minded. Lament and mourn, weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning, your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord. He will lift you up. And so James again is dealing with strife, division. He speaks of wars and I mentioned in verse four when he said, where do wars and fights come from? I mentioned to you that the word wars can also be spoken of as quarrels. And when the word fight is used, it can also be translated strife. So where do the quarrels and the strife come from? And so this has begun to be commonplace among the churches that he's writing to, quarrels and strife. Now that kind of church life reveals carnality. It reveals spiritual immaturity. But it's something that occurred in the early church it had to be dealt with. When you begin to read your Bibles and you start looking at the book of Acts and you start going from chapter one and just flow through the book, you're gonna notice that the church was birthed. It came to be in the second chapter of Acts. It records how that on the day of Pentecost that the Holy Spirit fell upon 120 who were in an upper room there in the city of Jerusalem. And that they were baptized in the Holy Spirit and they flowed out of that upper room. And they went out there in the area surrounding it and began to speak in languages they hadn't learned. They were speaking in tongues. And as they came out and they were speaking in these languages, there were people who were beginning to be drawn and they assembled and began to mock them and they began to say things about them including, oh, they're filled with new wine. And you remember how that the apostle Peter stood up amongst them. And he said, men and brethren, he said, these men are not drunk as you suppose. It's too early in the morning, the bars haven't opened. He says, but this is that which was spoken of by the prophet Joel who said in the last days, I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh. He began to preach out of the Old Testament scriptures given an explanation for something spiritual that was happening. And as he did that and as he proclaimed this message of the gospel, people began to listen and many were saved. Acts chapter two verse 41 tells us that around 3,000 souls were saved that day. And so you have 3,000 or so brand new believers in Christ. And so in verse 42 through 47 of Acts chapter two, we're told that the new believers continued steadfastly in the apostles doctrine and fellowship, the breaking of bread and in prayers and goes on to say the result of it was that many people came to know the Lord Jesus Christ. According to Acts 247, the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved. So they began with 3,000 but on a daily basis people were being added to the church. And so you see that in the original church in the first days of the church, the church began to explode. When you get to chapter three, the third chapter of Acts records how that Peter and John performed a healing on a man who was crippled. He was there at a gate that is called beautiful, the beautiful gate. And Peter and John were about to walk in and the man looked at them as Peter looked down at the man and scripture says that Peter said to the man, look at us. And the man looked up expecting to receive something because he was there at this particular site because the pilgrims who had come in would be generous to those in need. And they would give what is called an om. They would give a charitable donation. And so he looking up expecting to receive something was I would assume at first a bit surprised that the words of the apostle when the apostle Peter said silver and gold have I none but such as I have give I thee in the name of Jesus Christ they say to you rise to your feet and walk. And the Bible says that Peter reached down and took the man by the hand and began to lift him and the man received strength in his ankles and throughout his legs was able to stand. And he began to walk and he began to leap. And the Bible says and he began to praise God. And when this miracle happened because this man had been there for so long and people knew him. A crowd begins to gather around and once again that gives the apostle Peter opportunity to speak to them concerning Jesus Christ. Men of Israel why do you look upon us as if this miracle was done because we're good people is how he goes about speaking to them. He said this was not done because we're good people. Let it be known to you that it's at the name of Jesus Christ whom you crucified. It's by him that this man has made completely whole. And as he began to preach once again sharing with them about what Jesus has done. The result was that this crowd began to listen and according to the book of Acts in chapter four verse four many who heard the word that was being preached believed and the number of the men came to be about 5,000. And so now you have an initial 3,000. You had people being saved. Another 5,000 apparently are added and the church is exploding. Miracles are being performed. The church is growing but in the midst of all of that opposition begins to exist. And now the apostles are being persecuted. They were arrested, they were beaten, they were forbidden to speak in the name of Jesus Christ but instead of closing their mouths they began to rejoice that they actually were suffering for Jesus Christ. They didn't stop them from preaching it energized them to continue to do so. You see the devil did not succeed by inspiring persecution by an attack from the outside. So if you can't beat them, you join them. And so in the initial stages of the growth of the church from chapter two, three, four, five now you enter into chapter six and there's a division. A division begins to occur between cultural Jews. Those who were from Israel and they were culturally Jewish and what they called the Hellenized Jews are the Greek speaking and culturally Greek Jewish people. And they were in the church and there was a division that began to occur. It was related to how widows were being treated differently. The Jewish widows were being treated differently than the Hellenized Greek Jews. And the Hellenized Jewish widows were being neglected in what it was called the daily distribution. And because of that that's where you begin to see a little division start and the church at that time actually was led to form the deacons who began to serve in the church leadership. The apostle said it is not right that we should leave the word of God in prayer and wait on tables. It wasn't because they were too good to wait on tables. It was just that this is not our call. What we need to do is we need to be in the word and we need to be in prayer. We need to spiritually lead but we need help. And that's how the deacons and they chose out from amongst themselves seven men filled with wisdom and the spirit and all who were able to do the work. But it all began because division occurred and that was very early in the church. All the good things that were taking place people being saved, miracles that were occurring even though persecution came. The fact of the matter is when the persecution came it only strengthened their resolve to remain faithful to the Lord whether it is right for us to stop preaching in his name you decide but as for us we ought to obey God rather than men was the response of the apostles to that and so what do you end up with? Well if I can't beat you by coming on coming against you on the outside I'll just infiltrate. I'll just inspire division. I'll inspire argumentation. I'll inspire these kinds of things because a house that is divided cannot stand. So the enemy has tried for so long to divide from the outside but he began to work from the inside and that's what James is beginning to speak about here in the fourth chapter of the book of James. He says that there are wars and there are fights among you and he's rebuking the churches for that. You see, love for Jesus Christ is intended to produce a unity not competitive divisions amongst believers. In Ephesians in chapter four verse three we are to be endeavoring to keep the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace Paul told the Ephesians and when Paul was writing to the Romans in chapter 12 verse 18 he said, if it is possible as much as depends on you live peaceably with all men. Now as much as depends on you do your best seek peace pursue peace live at peace with all men. Now we know as believers that the fact is and it's a simple fact but the fact is sometimes when you come to faith in Christ it does create a division. It creates a division in your family not every family member is happy. Hey, maybe you guys had a great Thanksgiving because you have a lot of believers in your family and you were able to sit down and you were able to devour that turkey and the ham and whatever else you ate and you all kind of just sit around patting your belly and just going, oh, we're so blessed but not everybody's that way, right? Not everybody's that way. Sometimes before you go to things like that not to say your family's bad, it is but not to say it. Not to say your family's bad but sometimes it's tough isn't it? Sometimes it can be tough to be with your family. Grandma's not always nice. You know, that's a fact, you know? She's not always nice. Sometimes she's been putting a little brandy in this and a little more in her and then at the end of the day, she's not too happy. You can have conflict at the table. Sometimes it's nice, sometimes it's not. Well, you kind of expect that in some ways. Marie and I before in earlier days in our relationship, you know, there were times that that she and I would pray before we went somewhere. You should always keep what you're doing in prayer anyway but we would say, Lord, you know, help us but we're here to remember who we are. That was kind of our prayer to remember who we are. We're believers, help us remember that because sometimes it may get a little conflict, a little, it could be a little tough sometimes so you pray and I can remember we'd go and I'd say Lord, Jesus, help us remember who we are. Then I'd drop her off and drive away and let her deal with it. No, I wouldn't do that. Well, you kind of expect, you're prepared and Jesus said in Matthew 10, 34 through 36, Jesus taught us. He said, do not think that I came to bring peace on earth. I did not come to bring peace but a sword for I've come to set a man against his father, a daughter against her mother. And here you go, ladies, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. Underline that one. Man's enemies. I have a great mother-in-law, I better say that. Marie's here. A man, no, she is, I love her. A man's enemies will be those of his own household. Your brother, your sister, your mom, your grandma, your man, the man's enemies in the home. They're not always happy. They don't kill the fatted calf because you came home saved. Now, that division, if you will, is between a believer and non-believers. That's gonna happen. Jesus didn't come to bring peace but a sword. There's gonna be a division and he prepared us for it. You see, people can resent having friends leave them and they can get mad because that friend came to faith in Christ and so they condemn their faith in Jesus Christ. And that kind of division is a result of believers being rejected by non-believers. And that kind of division is common in the world but it's not to be common in the church. You see, division isn't birthed by the Holy Spirit. Division very most often is a result of our sinfulness, our flesh. Paul identified this kind of contention and dissension as a work of the flesh in Galatians 5, 19 through 21. And he described it, he said works of the flesh include hatred, tensions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, and also told you in time past that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. So that is works of the flesh is what the scripture says. So because of their carnality, James is calling the church, adulterers and adulteresses. In verse four, when he says adulterers and adulteresses, do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? You see, they have adopted the world system as their standard for behavior. And so doing it reveals an unfaithful heart towards the Lord. You know, we live in the world, but we're not of the world. It's not that we should run around and change the way that we dress and everything and try to dress quote unquote Christian because that's kind of a hard thing for me to be able to define. What does it mean to dress Christian? You know, I'm sure that you can dress with modesty and things of that nature. Obviously that's true. But I'm not saying that if some style's out that I can't wear that jacket or that pair of shoes or whatever. I'm not saying that and I'm not saying that to you. And there's sometimes in the church, the church has adopted such a distancing from the world and in terms of its appearance that you'll see that even to this day, you'll see the Amish will wear a certain way or dress a certain way and wear certain mirrors and don't use electronic devices and things of that nature because they're saying there's trying to stay separate from the world and all of that. There are some churches that will tell the women that they need to wear a certain kind of dress and they have to wear their hair in a certain way and that they can't wear makeup. Makeup's a good thing. But they'll say you can't do these things, you can't wear jewelry and all of that and they'll take scriptures and out of context apply them to you and put you in some rigid format that is all on the outside. It's all outside. The short hair on the guys and the suits and the ties and the nice shoes and all of that. Sunday dress we used to call it, we're in our Sunday best and you dress like that and it's all on the outside. It's like dressing a chimpanzee in a tuxedo. I mean it's a nice tux but it's still a chimp. It's the nature that has to be changed and that's what God does. God changes the heart. He works on the inside and there's so many of us that are caught up trying to clean the fish before it's caught. But the Lord says no, once you get caught by the Lord then you begin to read your scriptures and you begin to understand what it means to stumble somebody else and begin to understand what the word modesty means. You begin to learn how to use your finances properly. These are the things you learn. And it's not because if somebody's got a tattoo, I remember that years ago, my dad hated tattoos and my dad was from the Navy. My dad served in the Navy during the World War II and he got out of the service and my dad hated tattoos. He just thought it was a mark of a criminal. It was a mark of something he didn't appreciate. And now that was my dad's opinion. You know and I honored and respected my father for his opinion but that isn't something that I necessarily had to follow my life saying all tattoos are bad because I don't think they are. And I don't have a problem with them at all. Some people have them all over the face. That's a little extreme but sometimes they needed it. You know the piercings and things like that. So we get caught up on the outsides when I'm saying, we get caught up in the way they're looking and all of that but I discovered a long time ago that sometimes a person who gets saved from a lifestyle and he has the taggings of that lifestyle will say on his body or her body that they are people that actually have a whole mission field that they speak to who are not put off by that and can respond to that. So who am I to say, oh go out and get it all lasered off and this and that? I don't do that. I don't do that because God wants to change the heart. It's the heart that he works on and it's a heart that he wants to fix because it's the heart that's evil. And so in their carnality because they're adopting the world system James says this is revealing an unfaithful heart towards God. So he points out in verse six that instead of judgment, God actually has provided his grace because without his grace the church would never accomplish what it's intended to do. It's through his grace that we master our carnality and it requires humility to receive the grace that is offered by God. He says God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble. So it requires humility to receive the grace that is offered by God. So God's grace extended to us gives us opportunity and time to repent and turn to him. So how are the churches as well as modern believers to overcome carnality? What are we to do to experience and obtain his favor? Well he begins to tell us in verse seven and he says in verse seven first therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Since God opposes the proud and gives grace to the humble, submit to God. Instead of resisting God, submit to God. James suggests that the unfaithfulness of the believers is due to the enemy's influence. I want you to note that. Submit to God and resist the devil. He's saying that the enemy is provoking them. He's provoking this and that's what he does. He brings division, he provokes differences. And so he says the answer to this is first and foremost submit yourself to the Lord. Now the word submit speaks of a voluntary attitude of yielding, cooperating or assuming responsibility. So submission is the yielding of one's will to God which leads to obedience. In the attitude of humility, yield to what he has said is necessary for our good. Because it's when we submit to God that we're able to resist the devil. Now that word resist, he says resist that word resist is to withstand or oppose. So he's saying withstand or oppose the devil instead of resisting God's will for us. And we do this in faith. We wear the armor of God. We're aware we are in spiritual warfare. The Bible tells us that we're in a spiritual war and that the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but are mighty in God for the pulling down of strongholds. He says casting down imaginations, every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God and bringing into submission every thought and to the obedience of Christ. So though we're in the flesh, we do not walk according to the flesh and God has given to us spiritual weaponry in Ephesians 6, 10 and 11, my brethren be strong in the Lord in the power of his might. Put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. So it's a spiritual war that he's speaking about. We submit to God and that way we resist the devil. We don't resist the devil in our own strength. There's no way we could defeat him. We resist him with the armor of God and faith in God knowing our sure victory is in God. Having done all we stand is what Paul said. And when he said we haven't done all to stand, that word stand in the Greek language means they have your feet planted in a pose of victory. We already are victorious because of what Jesus Christ has done. You need to understand that. You're already victorious. We're more than conquerors in Christ. A lot of times the enemy will whisper propaganda into your mind saying you cannot win and that's not true. We've already won. We stand in the position of the victor. Now that does not mean that there aren't still battles that continue but we always are on top in Jesus Christ. We always end up on top. We are more than conquerors. We are victories in him and nothing can take you down. We resist the devil. He will flee from you. Now it's not because you're so bad because you're not. It's because he's bad. I was six years old once. I went to school for a little while in Manabello at a school called Fremont Elementary School. I was on the playground and some kids were playing with those little rubber balls that they would play kickball with and the ball came rolling to where I was and so I picked it up and some big kids said to me, hey, give me that ball. I didn't like his tone so I turned around and I kicked it in the opposite direction. He didn't like that and he jumped on me. I still remember it. He's right on top of me. His little face was so angry and I'm just looking up as he's strangling me and all of a sudden this angry red face, he had an angry face and his teeth were gritted. All of a sudden his expression changed to one of pain and he's coming off of me. See, I had a big brother who went to the same school and my brother Frankie saw this kid jump on me and Frankie came and pinched his neck. I still remember he had him by the neck and picked him up and put him off of me and the kid ran away. Well, you know what? I got a big brother who does that to the devil all the time. All the time, so do you. The enemy may come after you and he does and when you're trying to serve Jesus Christ, you know this. When you're serving Jesus, he comes after you even harder. If you're backslidden, you're on his side. You're not doing any harm for his kingdom. You're actually expanding it because people know you're a Christian but you're out there living for the world, not the Lord. So I've got him already. That's no problem. But when you stand up for Jesus, when you say here I stand and I will go no further, this is what I'm gonna do for him, then he comes after you and the weapons of our warfare are not carnal though. They're mighty in God. I have the victor on my side, Jesus Christ who said it is finished. He filled me with his powerful Holy Spirit. He stands beside me. I'm walking through that valley but I'm never alone. He carries me in my troubled times and he gives me victory. I am always victorious in Jesus Christ. I am more than a conqueror because of him and that's how you need to understand it. So you resist the devil. You resist him. Not with puffing your chest out and posing like whatever you saw Bruce Lee do in one of those movies that you like so much. But in Christ, in faith, you stand up and say here's the shield of faith and here is the sword of the word and my feet are shod with preparation of the gospel of peace and I've got my waistband of truth. My helmet is on, the one of salvation and my breastplate is of righteousness and in Jesus Christ I can do all things and here I stand and I'm not gonna fall for this. That's what he's telling us to do. James is making that clear. He says submit to God, resist the devil and he will flee from you. It may take a while. It's not always as fast as you want is it? It's not always as fast as you want. Sometimes I wish that he just wouldn't bother me at all. I always wish he wouldn't bother me at all. But guess what? I'm always a conqueror in him and every wound that I've ever received has only deepened my love for Jesus Christ. That's what happens. That's what happens. And so he is your strength. In First John 5.18, the Bible says, we know that those who have become part of God's family do not make a practice of sinning. For God's Son holds them securely and the evil one cannot get his hands on them. In Romans 8.35 through 37, who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written, for your sake, we face death all day long. We are considered a sheep to be slaughtered. No, in all these things, we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. And so we submit to God, we resist the devil and he will flee. He says in verse 8, draw near to God and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners. Purify your hearts, you double-minded. Lament and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord. He will lift you up. And so draw near to God, verse 8. He will draw near to you. In setting their hearts on pleasure, they have ceased drawing near to God. But when a soul sets out to seek God, God sets out to meet that soul so that while we are drawing near to him, he is drawing near to us. Now what do we do in order to draw near to God? Well, he tells us, verse 8. He says cleanse your hands, you sinners. Purify your hearts, you double-minded. When he says cleanse your hands, that's simply another way of saying clean up your life. When he says purify your heart, he's speaking of your thoughts, your passions, your desires, your purposes, your affections. Clean up your lives and purify your hearts. What you dwell on is what you desire. And what you worship, you become like. So what do you do? Well, you cleanse your hands. You say, Lord, I know that this is not something that you are pleased with. And you purify your heart. God, I wanna settle my attention and affection of those things that matter. And you start today. You start today. You start keeping short accounts with the Lord. You start learning to confess and to forsake as a habit. You begin to say, Lord, I don't want that thought. And Lord, do you know where that desire will take me? I'm talking about being a Christian now. I think a lot of people who are Christians have failed to actually put into practice what James is saying right now, to be honest with you. I think that a lot of believers have ceased drawing near to the Lord. That they have ceased cleansing their hands. They have ceased purifying their hearts. They've filled their hearts with so many things that not to be there. And they haven't learned verse nine to lament and mourn and weep. They haven't let their laughter be turned to mourning and their joy to gloom. They think, if I do this, that sounds like a bummer. What a bummer life that is. I mean, everything, there's no joy, there's no laughter, there's nothing, there's no love, there's nothing. It just seems like, oh man, what a boring life. Not know what he's describing here is repentance. And repentance is a word that a lot of us think is a bad word, but it's been said that the word repent is the first word of the gospel. It's the first message Jesus gave in the book of Matthew, repent. The kingdom of God is at hand. It's the first word that John the Baptist gave, repent, the kingdom of heaven is at hand. It's the first word of the gospel. It's a turning away. And a lot of times we fail to realize that that is what God has called us to do. And life is filled with momentary times of repentance. It's your whole life, really, a life of repentance. And he describes what repentance looks like. The word lament, the word lament there means to grieve. It speaks of being miserable or even wretched, afflicted. The word mourn, mourning is a passionate grief that people can see. You see mourning at funerals. You're going when your mom, your dad, grandma, grandpa, one of your favorite friends or relatives has died. That's mourning. You see, it's a passionate grief that people will look at you and know that you're in mourning. Weeping speaks of strong tears. It's the times that some of us in this room have actually wept. There's times you've cried. You watch one of those YouTube videos of kittens and it's so cute that you cry. No, weeping's an entirely different thing. Weeping, some of you have, not all of you. All of you will if you haven't. Weeping is when you roll up into a ball on a carpet and you just are so intensely in pain that there's nothing you can do other than just pour out your tears to God. How many of you know what I mean? I'm not asking to raise your hand, some of you will. But you know what I mean. It's that moment in your life where you think that the floor has dropped out and you don't, who's gonna catch me? I don't understand. What is going on? Oh God, I've done that. Have you done that? I have done that more than once. More than once. I think sometimes my life has been filled with it over the loss of this and the loss of that. The sorrow of this or pain for that, you know? But again, you resist the devil and he will flee from you because sometimes when you're mourning you think there's no hope and the enemy's whispering and saying there isn't any. You got a friend that's unsaved, you got a mom or a dad that's unsaved, you got a kid that's not doing well to you parents or grandparents, you have a grandchild that's being raised in an environment that you know is destructive for that baby and there's nothing you can do. There's nothing you can do. I've been there where I've been on a carpet somewhere on my face and I've been saying God, unless you do something, I feel like I'm gonna die. God, unless you move and then the enemy, oh he's not listening. Why do you even pray? So waste your time. That one's mine. You can't have them. I fought for my kids when they were in high school. I still do but not to the same degree because they have come to follow Christ but in high school I have to tell you it was hard for us to have kids. I weren't doing well and I'd be in the room and I can still remember being in the room speaking to the Lord. Some of you parents know what I mean. Some of you do. Others, you've raised great kids. God bless you. I had mine. They were a little tough. They could be tough. Just because I'm a pastor doesn't mean they didn't have a sin nature. Just because they gave them devotions, brought them to church, took on missions and did all that I did for them doesn't mean that they didn't have a choice that they had to make for their own life and it doesn't mean that they weren't number one on the enemy's target list because they tell you pastor, kids are. The enemy is after those kids in a way that he's not after other kids and that's just a fact because if you take down the kid he can take down the dad. That's how that works. And so I can tell you there were times in my life that I would be on the ground. Marie wasn't even around. My wife wasn't even around where I would shake my fist into the heavens, not at God but in the direction of the enemy in my heart and I still remember doing that and I still remember saying they belong to God. You cannot have them. They belong to him. You cannot have them. Resist the devil. He will flee from you. And you have to have that moment of fervor sometimes, that passion that comes because it's so real and you know the enemy wants to destroy and you humble yourself before the Lord and you say God because in due time you will lift me up. You hear my cry. You know my desire. I love these children but not as much as you do. In Jesus' name, save them. In Jesus' name, touch my mom. In Jesus' name, touch my father. In Jesus' name, Lord work in my neighbor. You know what I mean and you resist the devil. He will flee from you but you also afflict your own soul by saying God, I mourn before you. I lament before you. I weep before you. And he says in verse nine, let your laughter be turned to mourning, your joy to gloom. In other words, become sober-minded. Take sin seriously. Guard your walk with Jesus Christ. In 1 Thessalonians 5-6, let us not sleep as others do. Let us watch and be sober. Now you have this attitude because you see sin for what it is and you begin to see what sin has done to this world if you watch the news at all. Besides the fact that you have your friends who share with you the pain that sometimes they go through. This is a tough world. It's a lot of pain. If you look around this room here, there's a lot of pain in this room. And some of you know that. Some of you are experiencing it. Some of you don't know that. And the person you don't know who may be seated near you, you don't know them. They may be going through some pain that is unbelievable. When I go out and I talk to people and I do it after first service and I stand out there before service and I walk amongst anybody who's here. Then I talk to people afterwards and I hear their stories every week. I hear their stories. Can you please pray for my husband just this morning? I don't think I'm violating a confidence. One of our ladies, can you pray for my husband? And she starts describing what he's going through. Can't be here. This guy's been in our church a long time. Can't be here. He's ill right now. Think of somebody that you may know that's going through something right now, something painful. Maybe an illness. Maybe a diagnosis. Maybe something that is personal pain. All of us know somebody like that. And the enemy whispers and the enemy whispers. And he may be saying something to you. You might as well give up. Nothing's gonna happen. How funny are you gonna pray? Is he God's not listening to you? There's no such thing as a God. He doesn't answer prayer. A friend of mine was speaking to me about an atheist and a Christian evangelist. It's a true story. This guy's one of these preachers who likes to share with people on college campuses and all. And he was on a college campus and he was sharing. And some guy walks by and calls himself an atheist. This evangelist on campus says, do you mind if I pray for you? And the guy says, I don't believe in God. If you wanna pray for me, there's no God. If you wanna pray for me, go ahead and pray for me. But I don't believe in God. I don't believe God's gonna answer your prayers. And he says, so you don't mind if I pray for you? And he says, no, pray. So this guy looks at this guy. This is a true story. It happened on one of the local college campuses. So the evangelist looks at the guy and says, God, in Jesus' name, I ask that you just destroy this man. I ask that he may have many accidents that he might break his legs than it being so. And the guy's, wait a minute. What are you praying like that for? And the evangelist says, then you do believe in prayer, right? So you do. Gotcha. But there are people who do that. And the enemy can whisper your heart can conspire. And so what do you do? You say, God, in Jesus' name, I ask that you would work in me. I humble myself because Lord, I don't want to be causing problems because I'll way back into the context in chapter four, verse one, Wars and Fights. And he's saying, do you want peace? Submit to God. Resist the devil. He's provoking these things. Draw near to God. Cleanse your hands. Purify your heart. Lament, mourn, weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning. Enjoy the gloom. And then he says, humble yourself in verse 10. We've sinned against God. Humble yourself before him. In verse 11, he goes, do not speak evil of one another, brethren. He who speaks evil of a brother and judges his brother speaks evil of the law and judges the law. But if you judge the law, you're not a doer of the law, but a judge. Instead of engaging in wars and fights, he's saying, humble yourselves. Live in peace. Do not gossip. Don't backbite. You're family in Jesus Christ. Peace and unity are evidences that you belong to him. It's all built on the foundation of loving God and loving someone else. He says in verse 11, he who speaks evil of a brother and judges his brother speaks evil of the law. You see both the law of Moses and the teachings of Christ forbid believers from judging harshly. And by disregarding God's word, you're saying that it's not true and that you're above it. When you look at the law in the Old Testament, the law of Moses is called, it's really summed up in loving God and loving one another. In Galatians 5, 14 through 16, it says all the laws fulfilled in one word, even in this, you shall love your neighbor as yourself. But if you bite and devour one another, beware lest you be consumed by one another. I say then, walk in the spirit, you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. The whole law is summed up in love. And anyone who claims to love God but doesn't love other people, that person doesn't understand what a Christian is. According to 1 John 4, 7 and 8, beloved, let us love one another. Love is of God. Everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. He who does not love does not know God, for God is love. And that'll help you when you begin to hear of these people who blow themselves up for the love of God. And they kill people as they do that. Well, John would say, if you don't love people, you don't love God. You don't really have a love for God. You see, the essence of love is the willingness to sacrifice your interest on behalf of somebody else. And that's best demonstrated by God's willingness to send Jesus to die for us on the cross. And it's that kind of love that God gives to us and it empowers us to give that kind of love to somebody else. In John 5, 12 and 13 it says, this is my commandment that you love one another as I've loved you. Greater love has no one than this that it'll lay down one's life for his friends. And so love is the birthmark. It's a birthmark of a believer. It identifies us as God's children. It's the kind of love that God gives to us and uses that kind of love to reach others. In John chapter 13, 34 and 35, a new commandment I give to you, that you love one another as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this I will know that you're my disciples if you have loved one to another. That's how they know that's your birthmark. So a person who says I love God but hates people doesn't know God. You know, my mama used to say that, David, I love God. It's people I have problems with. I say, yeah, mama, but that's not the way it works. I love ministry, but I don't like people. No ministry, people are ministries, mama. And mama didn't understand that. If you ask a non-Christian to describe a Christian, sometimes the answers can be interesting. Many of the people who respond to such a question will say something kind of negative. Some will describe a believer by what we're mad about today or what we are against. But if you were to ask an ancient pagan to describe a Christian, something else might be said. Chuck Swindall says, one of the most profound comments made regarding the early church came from the lips of a man named Aristides sent by the emperor Hadrian to spy out those strange creatures known as Christians. Having seen them in action, Aristides returned with a mixed report, but his immortal words to the emperor have echoed down through history, behold how they love one another. That was the mark of the early church. Listen guys, that's the kind of thing that you heard me before the service began where I was saying to those who came on Thanksgiving and served here, made meals, served, put tables out, took the tables down, cleaned everything up. That's the kind of thing I'm talking about. That kind of thing that on Tuesdays when we have our men's studies, you know the study begins at 6.30 a.m., that's early for it, pretty much for anybody, 6.30. But we have guys here at 5.30. And these guys who are here at 5.30 are out there making burritos and things so that they can serve their brothers who are gonna come later on. To me, that's the tremendous thing. I love that, I love that. And like I mentioned, we have guys who took off right after Thanksgiving, drove all the way up north to the Oregon border and they're there in a prison right now, ministering to people who could not get out on Thanksgiving but they came and brought the love of Christ. You see, that's what the Bible says we're to do, is to love one another, to get along with one another, to put up with one another sometimes, you have to put up with one another, to receive one another, to pray for one another, to comfort one another, to care for one another, to show compassion on one another, to be patient with one another and not to cause divisions, James is saying. Not to have wars and conflicts, not to be that way. Not to speak evil of one another in verse 11. Not to speak slander. You can destroy people with your tongue. And when you do that, God's love isn't being revealed. It's been said that slander destroys three people, the speaker, the one spoken to and the one spoken of. In Proverbs 16, 28, a perverse man stirs up dissension. A gossip separates close friends. So instead of tearing one another down, we build one another up. He says not speaking evil, that refers to any form of speech against somebody else. It includes speaking what may be true but with a heart to destroy or hurt somebody. Christians are different. We're to encourage and to love one another. Our goal should be grace and love, truth. It should be unity. Our speech should reveal that. And our goal as believers must be for the body of Christ to be edified and unified. And that's evidenced in the way that we speak to and of one another. And to love is the decision that we make through the power of God's spirit. Listen, we all know people who are difficult to love. We may be married to them. We may be raising them. But we all know people that are hard to love. If you don't know anybody, you must live in a box because we all know people like that. And yes, they can be irritating, of course. And of course, notice how I say they. I'm probably that person to somebody else right now. To a lot of you. Yeah, I know what you mean, Pastor David. How do you handle that? How do you handle that? When this church was very new, I was standing in front of the building that we used to meet in back in the 80s, about 83. And somebody came up and they were one of these difficult people. And I stood there and I listened, talked to him and all of that. And I had my worship leader standing right next to me for some reason he was there. Well, this person was speaking to me. And they were one of these irregular people. You know, irregular people, you know that term, right? You go to a store and there's something on sale and they're called irregulars because maybe one of the legs is an inch longer than the other and they're irregulars or maybe the sleeve or maybe it's just sewn. But they call them irregulars. They used to be called irregulars. You go to the store and they had irregulars and they're regular sales. And there are people who are regular people. They're kind of like, hey, how you doing? They're just different. And they're hard. It's not hard to love the lovely, is it? It's not hard. They think you're the greatest. And you see, tell me more. They're the greatest. But what do you do with the one who comes and complains and whines and cries and every time they're on Facebook you have to pray for them because something bad just happened? You wonder what happened before Facebook? Who'd they complain to? Pray for me, my feet hurt. Okay, pray for me. I have the wrong color of nail polish and I'm dying. I'm in such a trough. Okay, I pray they, I'll pray for you. You know, I mean, we're trippy people. Human beings are trippy. They really are. That's an old saying. Some of you understand it. Crazy is a good word. We are cuckoo. How do you handle that? And so this person came in and was an irregular person and spoke to me for a while and walks away. And my music minister said something I've never forgotten. Obviously it just comes to mind as I'm teaching you. It just came to mind. And he says to me, how do you do that? And I said, do what? Do what? How did, he said, because she was kind of different because he said, you stood there and you didn't leave. You didn't, you listened. How'd you do that? Because he couldn't do that at that time. And I said, how did I do that? He goes, yeah. I said, you love him. You love him. That's how you do that. That's not a new idea, is it? You love him. Because you know what I think? I think this. And this may sound bad. Maybe I shouldn't say it, but I will. I don't think it's that bad. Because this poor person wakes up with himself every day. Can you imagine how painful their life can be? They wake up like this every day. That's their life. And I'm gonna make it worse by not giving them my time. Why would I make their life worse? When maybe just by loving them for a moment it might help them in their future. People have done that for me. I've been the irregular person. I've been that person that nobody wants to be around. I've been that person that was gonna be the failure. I was that person that, I'll give you an example. I was in 10 years old. I was 10 years old and a friend of mine named Bill and I decided to cut school. And we got caught. We weren't the best. I got better later. And so the principal had us in the office. And he called my friend's mom. And he said, I wanna make a recommendation. Keep your son away from this boy, David. He's a bad influence. And I was sitting right across from him. The principal's right there. And I'm sitting here and he's looking at me as he's speaking. You keep your son away from him. He's a bad influence. And I'm just sitting there looking at him. That was my best friend. And the principal is saying, keep your son, he's a bad influence. You know, the principal was right. I was a bad influence, I confess. But guess what? My friend Bill comes and meets with me every month so I can disciple him in the ways of Jesus Christ. I'm thankful for God, not keeping June, his mama, keeping him from being near me because to this day at our age, I'm still dear friends with him and ministering to him the things of the kingdom of God. So when people say things like that, they don't know what they're talking about. And we have to be careful the way that we speak of others. You know, one of the good things that you can learn to do if I may is learn to speak of others as if they were standing next to you while you're speaking. How would you speak if they were standing there at that moment? That helps me. I keep that in mind. If they were listening to me right now, how would I be speaking of them? Would I be saying or would I be speaking with charity? It's an easy thing to do but that's what you do. You learn to do that. You have to be careful. You have to be careful not to speak evil of one another. He says he who speaks evil of a brother and judges his brother speaks evil of the law. If you judge the law, you're not a doer of the law, but a judge. You've put yourself above that. He's saying, who gives you the right to judge? You have usurped God's right. He's saying, God is the ultimate judge and God judges fairly. And so finally, verse 12, there's one lawgiver who is able to save and to destroy who are you to judge another? You can only see the outside. You never know the thoughts, the motives. You never know the intense of the heart. We're not the final judge. Only God is. And constant criticism and nitpicking destroys the body of Christ. So instead of destroying, God help us to uplift and encourage. God help us to speak truth but to always do it with love. To honor him and care for somebody else, to learn to do that. And it is something God will teach you. It is. God help us to learn that.