“You adulteresses, do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.”
- James 4:4, NASB
Have you ever wanted to could go with your friends to that big party? Have you ever been walking down the street, and just wished you could steal another glance at that good-looking guy or girl – even though you know you probably shouldn’t? Have you ever wanted to tag along to that movie… the one that everyone’s going to… and, you know, there’s only that one scene that isn’t really the greatest.
Before we get much farther I want to make sure one thing is clear: temptation isn’t sin. We need to be tempted, as it says in James 1, to become stronger. So don’t think you’ve sinned just because you’ve been tempted.
But back to our comparison: So maybe you didn’t go to the party. Maybe you decided not to ogle at the good looking gal or dude. Maybe you didn’t head off to the movie with your friends… but maybe – sort of – in the back of your mind, you still wished you could have done those things? You know that you wouldn’t have gotten drunk at the party, and you wouldn’t have partaken in any of the filth being portrayed in the movie! You just wanted to have some fun… even though you understood the surrounding circumstances.
I want to tell you something – there’s a heart problem involved. Not, not clogged veins, but a clogged conscience. You understand the sin, and you know that you wouldn’t actually commit the sin… but it’s kind of fun thinking about what it would be like to do it.
Your mind is telling you to stop and “put to death the old man,” but your feelings are wanting – begging – your brain to stop being so logical! Listen to your brain.
So, do you have this heart problem?
There’s a lack of understanding, and there’s a lack of faith involved. First, to have this problem, you would have to be lacking in understanding that God’s promises are much, much more fulfilling than Satan’s. Think about this: would you lend money to a person who just lost their house, has no food, and is living on the street, just because they said, “Hey, if you give me some money, I’ll promise to buy you a yacht and a sports car!”? Of course you wouldn’t do that! Really, what does Satan have to offer? Nothing! Well, he can do his best to offer, but he can’t deliver on anything.
There’s also a lack of faith – why are you choosing to embrace Satan’s lies over God’s promises? The same God who says, “Come to me and I will give you rest” is the same God who said, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.”
Here’s something you should recognize: Just wanting – lusting – something evil means you’ve already crossed the line. Let’s look and see what Jesus says about this:
“But I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment: and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council: but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire.” … “Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not commit adultery: But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart. “
- Matthew 5:22:27-28
According to God’s standards, simply hating is the same as killing, and all it takes is a quick glance (with lustful intent) at someone’s body to count as fornication.
“You adulterers and adulteresses!”
Doesn’t this phrase sound familiar? I’ll give you one word, it should ring a bell: “Israelites.” I like to think back to when the Israelites – then Hebrews – were captive in Egypt. They were in bondage, but God freed them. As they were leaving, they got to plunder the Egyptians, too. On another occasion, they were stuck between a wall of water and Pharaoh’s chariots, but God provided a way of escape. They were on the brink of dehydration on certain strains of their journey, but God provided water.
God did many things for them, but what did they do? They complained. They went off on their own paths when they didn’t agree with God’s commands. They threatened to stone Moses, God’s messenger, on several different instances. When I think of this passage in James, I think of some verses in the old Testament that relate to their stubbornness and unfaithfulness.
“Then I will set My face against that man and against his family; and I will cut him off from his people, and all who prostitute themselves with him to commit harlotry with Molech.”
- Leviticus 20:5
“Now Israel remained in Acacia Grove, and the people began to commit harlotry with the women of Moab. They invited the people to the sacrifices of their gods, and the people ate and bowed down to their gods. So Israel was joined to Baal of Peor, and the anger of the LORD was aroused against Israel.”
- Numbers 25:1-3
I also think of Hosea, who was told to marry a prostitute.
Now when she had weaned Lo-Ruhamah, she conceived and bore a son. Then God said: ‘Call his name Lo-Ammi, for you are not My people, And I will not be your God.”
- Hosea 1:8-9
Why was he told to do this? To illustrate the pain that God feels when we, by our actions (or even words), act as though God isn’t good enough for us.
“Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God?”
Sure, we can quote this verse in our studies. But do we really “know” that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Because if we truly did, it seems like we wouldn’t be committing any sin at all! I don’t think we truly understand the ramifications of our declaration of war (on God). Why would you choose to make yourself the enemy of the most powerful Being of all, and the Creator of everything? Let’s go back to our example of the Israelites – God had told them that if they served Him that he would make it so “five [men] shall chase a hundred, and a hundred of you shall put ten thousand to flight; your enemies shall fall by the sword before you.” That’s power right there. Whose team would you want to be on, the team with more people, or the team that will win? See, this is why we must be on God’s side! And we see the legacy of the modern-day Israelites – if only they would have served their Master and Creator!
And here’s the point: it doesn’t take a congressional statement and an official press conference from the President to declare a personal war on God – all it takes is for us to want, to yearn, to lust after sin.
We need to be like Christ. We need to be raising in us the new man, the one who wants to serve Christ. Don’t we know that a servant can’t be higher than the Master? And our master died, not for Himself, but for us! If Christ was able to carry His cross (for us) and to allow Himself to be put to death (for us), we should at least be able to do the same.
Why do we yearn for the depraved things in this world? Let’s look a few verses back at James 3:16 – “For where envy and self-seeking exist, confusion and every evil thing are there.” The path we’re on isn’t for ourselves, it is for Christ.
If you’ve fallen into this trap, I hope you’re aware of the problem now.
Get out of the line of fire
So, at this point (if we’re wise), we need to throw up the white flag, and surrender our lives back to God. I don’t think any of us want to be God’s enemy. The next verses in the chapter tell us how we can train to be in God’s army.
“Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God. Do ye think that the scripture saith in vain, The spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy? But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble. Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded. Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep: let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness. Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up.”
- James 4:4-10
Verse eight says that God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble. Therefore, submit to God. Bow down. Make yourself low. Understand your position. Fight for the Lord, fight against Satan, and continue to grow closer to the Lord because the closer we are to our loving Master, the closer He is to us.
Remember what 3:16 said? The word “self-seeking” is similar to another word – “pride.” Much of what the previous verses were talking about relate in someway to pride. It comes back to the attitude of, “Me, first!” and not “God first!” This is what James is addressing here. Think about it: it’s really not about us. We’re here to serve God. We’re wasting God’s time if we’re putting ourselves first. Look at it that way.
Have you ever heard (or used) the excuse, “Well, I just don’t feel like I’m close to God anymore”? Look what it says in James 4. We need to draw closer to God. Let’s say brother Steve is having some trouble with this issue. So, maybe Steve is reading his Bible. But maybe he’s not fully humbling himself. Maybe he’s mourning for sins that he’s committed, but maybe he’s not cleansing his hands. He’s not fulfilling all of God’s requirements then, is he? If Steve goes and washes only one hand, are his hands clean? Absolutely not. He needs to be completely pure before expecting to feel close to God. As it’s been said many times before, people want Jesus to be their savior, but not their master. We want God in one hand, and sin in the other. It can’t work this way, though. Only after submitting to God, resisting the Devil, cleansing our hands, purifying our hearts, being afflicted, being in mourning, weeping, and humbling ourselves can we be closer to God. God cannot accept even 1% of impurity. Verse 10 sums it all up very well: “Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he will lift you up.” We need to carve this into our hearts and our minds.
Living our lives in God’s army
Do you want to be an enemy of God? No. Are you willing to do all things mentioned in James 4:4-10, though? Well, if you’re wanting to please the Lord and be fighting the good fight, you’re going to need to be doing those things.
We mentioned Hosea earlier in the post. If you remember, Hosea was supposed to buy his wife back. The wife whom he had a right to… he was to purchase again.
In the same way, when we leave God we are the ones who are walking out the door. But, when we’ve found the error in our ways, God is still waiting at the entrance, ready to take us back in.
God loves you. The pleasure of being with the Lord forever is worth the toil, pain and embarrassment. Serve God, and to Him be the glory!
I quoted: New American Standard Bible (NASB) Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation | New King James Version (NKJV) Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.
Tags: adulterers, adulteresses, army, enemy, enmity, friendship, humble, humility, line of fire, temptation, wants, war, whover, wishes, world
Very good William; very good! You need “share” button so we can post this on FB