We've been talking about the unifying principles
of our faith, right? And so all of these things
should all be principles that we all hold to,
we all agree with, they all follow the principles
of course, they all hold to, we all agree with,
and if we all agree, then we are unified by our
very nature. And each time we've been looking
at a problem that prevents us from being unified,
that decides the unified principle of today's
problem is... Where some folks desire the benefit
of the principle without being bought into the
principle. That's the problem. And it's the reality.
It happens a lot. I want to be members of a group,
but I don't want to pay the dues. Or I don't
want to do the work. I want to be a part of the
team, but I don't want to bust my butt and grow
my muscles or become a better player. And so
some would say this is hypocrisy. I would say,
I don't even think about it that deeply. Because
the person who is involved and wants to have
a lead part and lead by principle and have a
lead by principle person, you know, they would
say, yeah, I believe that. Yeah, I'm for that.
And they would accept their life and think that
they are basically following the leaders. They're
basically doing what is not an intentional choice
on their part to be a cracker, not an intentional
choice to be late or to give up or to fall in,
but rather... It's just that they have assessed
it and looked at it and they thought, man, I
am there. I'm part of the team. Oh, my God. I'm
part of the church. I'm part of the workforce.
Whatever it might be. Do a lot of what you're
doing. If you think it's okay. And they don't
stop to examine themselves in light of the divine
principles. So I'm not going to give you the
divine principles yet. We'll get to that way
towards the end. But we're going to see an example
of some folks who did exactly what I'm talking
about. Amazingly enough, they did it over and
over and over again. Because when you're happy
with my principle, and you believe it, but you're
not really bought into it, you're not applying
yourself to really work with my principle, it's
easy to find yourself in a third position over
and over and over again. Where sometimes you're
good with what you're supposed to do, and the
rest of the time you're okay and you're not doing
it, and then you're going to come back. We'll
see the example, and I will make it more clear.
So grab your Bible if you would. I hope you brought
it with you today. I hope you felt a little bit
excited. The word of God. You might want to say
all right or amen or just a hoot or a holler.
Have you heard Judges chapter 2? All right. Unfortunately,
the story that we find here is not what you would
call a very uplifting story. So before we begin
to read from Judges chapter 2, I'm going to set
the scene a little bit for you. And I have to
say something about salvation. Brother Tony already
said it well. He made a couple of us say it well.
And that is that if you are saved, you are saved.
And it's by virtue of God and by virtue of Jesus
Christ who gives that gift. So nothing that you
can do to earn that gift if you didn't already
have it. And now that you have it, if you are
saved, nothing that you can do can earn having
it. You don't receive a Christmas gift and then
go out and impress your friends with how awesome
that you are so they'll be glad that they gave
you the Christmas gift. And you don't impress
your friends with how awesome that you are so
that he will give you a Christmas gift. That's
not the way it works. If he loves you and he
wants to give you a Christmas gift, then you
give him a Christmas gift by virtue of Jesus
Christ. and say that it's true with God. God
gave it by salvation, by his grace, and paid
for it, through, by the death of his son on the
cross. He proved that he gave it by the resurrection
of Jesus after the death of his son on the cross,
and so on. If you are here today and you are
saved, you are saved. I say that because now
we're going to talk about sin. Eventually we're
going to be talking about our sin. So that's
going to step on your toes. Step on mine. Be
happy. So we saw our purpose today. We're going
to step on yours today. This is your heart. This
is your life. This is what I have. Now for the
story. Joshua. Just died. He was God. The Bible
tells us he was God. Right. Right. Back in Moses,
he was the leader of Israel after Moses passed
away, right? God was the leader. So Joshua was
in charge of the people. And what was the big
thing that Joshua led in his lifetime? He claimed
the fame. Joshua was awesome. He led the people
to the promised land, right? He led the people
to the promised land. And the people went in
and their job was to... Wipe out the people that
were there who were chafed out, because there
were a lot of people who wanted to do this. Wipe
out the people who were chafed out, the people
who were there, the land, the laws, the people's
lives. God had promised Joshua was seasoned in.
Joshua was basically a faithful man of God. Verse
8, it says, Joshua, come new, the servant of
the Lord, died, being 110 years old. But he was
a leader, right? He was a leader right up until
he was 110 years old, and then he died. And it
buried him in verse 9. Verse 10 says, And also
all that generation was gathered under their
fathers. Because the men who lived under Joshua
were leaders, who judged him, who worked under
Joshua, because they had a future for God. The
rulers, etc., who were faithful to God, they
all died off. They gathered under their fathers.
And there arose another generation about them,
which knew not the Lord, nor yet the Word, which
was given to them for Israel. So these leaders
who grow up now, they don't know God firsthand,
and they don't realize, they don't see firsthand
the amazing things that God has done. First of
all, I want to say to you, before we were saved,
this was our flight. Your mom or your dad may
have been following you, but that doesn't mean
that you could see God in them. Even if they
were doing godly things, you could say, well,
they were just doing that. We went to go to church
for the first time ever as adults. We felt like
God was kind of calling us out. We didn't know
what was going on at the time, but God was kind
of calling us out. There was only one church
for us. find only one church on the face of the
entire planet. Anybody know how many churches
are on the face of the planet? I'm going to say
you cannot know, right? Even if they call themselves
a church, right, that's still up to God to decide
where they are. Now, the first church in the
state calls itself a church. Is that a church?
No. Because if it's somebody who is in the first
church in the state, who is nonetheless a state,
because they use the Bible, and they burn it,
and put it in the masses, you get caught. So
the reality is, there are a lot of churches.
As far as we know, there are a lot of churches.
We don't know which ones are churches and which
ones aren't. Well, we only knew of one church
where anybody on the face of the planet went
who was, as far as we could tell, what we thought
it was going to be. Only one. Anywhere. And I
haven't easily met the church, but over here
in East Louisville, I haven't even known Bolton,
Terry's grandmother. She was the only one on
the face of the planet, despite some people saying
there was a star, that we had ever seen a person
that we thought acted like we thought of Britney
Spears. So that naturally leads us to the church,
that's the church we went to. I was 26 years
old. I was living, believing that there were
churches out there somewhere. I actually thought
there was a God, but I realized that I didn't
know a Christian. And this is the reality. Your
relationship with Jesus Christ comes out of a
generation of people that did not know God, and
they did not first -hand see the works of God.
Were you there when Jesus was resurrected? Did
you see Jesus walk the earth after he was resurrected?
No. Because you had some kind of a vision or
you had some kind of a spiritual meeting with
God. You didn't physically see Jesus alive with
your own human eyes. If I saw that, I'd be like,
whoa! I'd be like, James was. James was the brother
of Jesus. And in his lifetime, he thought Jesus
was nothing. That was crazy. But then afterwards,
he became what we call a messianic. He lived
in duty. He also realized that Jesus was the
Christ. And he became a Christian and rose up
like James, a leader in the church. He changed
his life. He turned his life upside down. Because
he genuinely thought he was alive after he was
preached by God. I wish I had the opportunity.
That would be really cool. I would say again,
of course, as you believe, not having seen that,
then you're all the more blessed. And that's
where we are. We are at a place where our fathers
could not, it was not possible for our fathers
to keep their hand on God. It's not possible.
Don't do that. Don't do that. That's up to God.
If you and I come out of the same place as God,
I'm going to submit to you that in some sense,
we went into the same place as God. That's what
it says. The children of Israel did evil in the
sight of the Lord and served Phalans. Phalans
was a god. I don't really have to read too much
about that. But they did evil in the sight of
the Lord. They didn't know the office that God
had done for them. They didn't see God working
the office in the lives of their parents. They
had to have a person in charge of them. So they
did evil in the sight of the Lord. And they forsook
the Lord God with their fathers because they
left him behind. Now, before I can really put
it, I want you to see something. God who led
them into Christ. Their parents are moving out
of the country. They're dying off. God has blessed
them because their parents are crazy. But they
don't see that. So now they're going to make
a choice on their own. They've now got to manage
their own finances. They've got to manage their
own land. They've got to do their own work. They've
got to figure out how to keep the house from
falling down. You can clean, you can function,
take care of their children. Man, their children
are high -maintenance. Those little kids, they're
high -maintenance. They will draw you right into
their life, and you're about their everything,
right? Because if you don't, they cry. That's
annoying. You've got to do everything they want
you to do. You know what I'm saying? And so this
is a secret. Let's be a little sympathetic, shall
we, to these people that are now in a new land,
in new homes that they now own. And what do they
do? They begin to serve the God of the land that
will get them, the people tell them, will get
them where they need to get to. Except it is,
because the God of the universe is the only God.
This is the false God. They left behind the Lord
God of the universe. The Lord God and their fathers,
we brought them out of the land of Egypt. They
brought their people there. And they followed
other gods and the gods and people that were
found about them. They followed themselves and
them. This is exactly the point. We came to the
point where because we did not know first hand
God, we did provoke and we provoked God to anger.
They pursued the Lord and they chose Paul and
Andrew. They did not know God. They were together.
And the anger of the Lord was hot against Israel.
He delivered them into the hands of sinners that
spoiled them. Now, hang on. God is now upset
with people. Just one generation after God's
people are brought into the promised land, He's
blessing people right after this. One generation
later, and they're struggling. Well, they do
everything. They get on men. They work their
butt off. There's a bunch of women here trying
to be taken out, trying to take care of the kids
and the wives and everything. God is angry with
them, and he's sending them over into the hands
of the spoilers that spoiled them. They sold
them into the hands of their enemies round about,
so that they could not treat longer the enemy
for their enemy. Now they're in a situation where
the stuff doesn't add up. It's not working out.
I work really hard all day long, and yet I come
away with nothing. I've made the deepest way,
but at the end of the month, there's no money
left. We plant the crop, it grows up, we harvest
the crop, and then by the time we take off what
it's going to be. what it's going to take to
replant next year. We've got to go to the left.
There is no E. And then on top of that, now the
enemies around us, they're raiding our lands,
they're taking our services, they're taking our
animals, they're burning our homes down, etc.
Where is God? Where is Bob? Where is Asherah?
Where are these people, these beings that we
devoted ourselves to? So Jesus says, Good so
ever they went out, and the hand of the Lord
was against them for evil. It doesn't mean that
God was doing evil. God's not evil, He was just
evil. He was against them. The bad things happened
to them. They didn't work out in their favor.
As the Lord has said, and as the Lord has sworn
unto them, they were greatly distressed. I'm
going to submit to you that when the God of the
universe is resisting your force of action, you
will be greatly distressed. I'm going to submit
to you that we are sometimes greatly distressed.
Even though we have been saved, our soul is saved,
and our life is eternal. It has begun to long
in salvation. People go to heaven. We are nonetheless
sometimes greatly distressed. It's about time
that God's people recognize that the people of
the world who don't know Jesus because God is
kicked off with them. Not at them. He doesn't
hate them. He's not against them in the sense
that he would destroy them. He's against them
in the sense that he would see them as retentive
and fake. But if he just lets them continue on
in their form of evil actions, they'll never
get faith. They'll never figure it out. But if
he resists them, then they may turn from their
wicked ways. God is the same truth in the house
of God. He is their follower of Jesus. We know
Jesus. We say they are faith. And yet, it doesn't
add up. Their actions do not line up with the
unified principle that we're talking about. I'm
not going to get too close. Verse 16 says this,
Nevertheless, the Lord raised up judges, which
delivered them out of the hand of those who spoiled
them. God raises up leaders who will lead them
to save them from the people that God sent against
them that God is giving victory to. It sounds
like God is working against himself. And yet
they would not hurt me under their judges, but
they went on whoring after other gods. They followed
themselves under them. It turned quickly out
of the way which their fathers walked in, obeying
the commandments of the Lord. But they did not
do so. So we have the leaders who rise up out
of the digital people who are faithful to God.
They become the leaders of God's people. But
the people of God at the same time, while the
leaders continue to strive for God and do what's
right for God, they continue to battle against
the forces of God and go on. Those who spoil
God's people. As leaders do that, the people
continue fooling around in their swaps, playing
with false gods. They go to the temple, and they
praise the false god, and they come home and
go, oh, I hope that works out. And the judge
comes around, and their sons go out to battle,
and they win, and they come back, and they go,
oh, I was so glad I went and praised that false
god. And the people of today are so concerned
about advances in technology and a faster, better
-looking, pretty car and a better relationship,
or, man, she's a little bit better -looking than
he, than she is, and I'm lusting, somebody's
lusting after another female. Are they watching
TV and getting into watching things they shouldn't
watch? Or do they play around with... And the
leaders of the church, the people who love God,
try to lead us out. They try to get us to go
and do what it is that God wants us to do. And
meanwhile, we're a whore after our other things.
Instead of being after the God of the universe.
And when the Lord raised them up judges, then
the Lord was with the judges. He delivered them
out of the hand of their enemies all the days
with a judge. Listen to this. For it repented
the Lord because of their groaning by reason
of them that oppressed them and vexed them. In
other words, when those people came in and oppressed
them, when those people came in and made them
angry with their stuff, they cried out, Oh, woe
is us. We need help. Who in the universe is there
to help us? They were so distressed. They were
so upset. And God loved them. I feel bad because
they're so distressed. They're so upset and they're
not right. And so God sent a judge. The judge
would lead and then God would take his people
out of their hands and God sent them to distress
them. Back and forth goes the God of the universe.
He sends the distress to try to get their attention.
It doesn't work. They can see the sin. And then
he has to send someone to stop the distress in
order that they can survive in such a terrible
situation. And then they continue in sin. We
say, oh, praise God. We got that. That we need
it. Oh, praise God, he saved us from that that
we needed. I submit to you it's entirely possible
that that salvation that you need from your situation
in your life, that desperate need of something
that you needed in your life, it could be because
of your own sin that was there in the first place.
And God did not send the salvation out of that
situation in your life because you were doing
well, because you started to do better, or because
he prayed to him and asked him to do it. He sent
it because he loved you and he wanted you to
survive that difficult situation in the hope
that you would one day protect. God is not out
to destroy you. He's not to save you. We often
praise God for good things that happen. So often
we praise God for bad things. So often we stop
and ask ourselves, the bad things that happened,
did they happen to us because we made it happen?
God allowed that difficulty into our life. Indeed,
sent that difficulty into our life to get us
to turn from our sins. But because of the grace
of God, we're saved. You're saved. So we say,
well, I'm saved, so it's all settled, right?
But who doesn't want to have a good life serving
the Lord? Who doesn't want to be profitable in
the kingdom? Who doesn't want to see God moving
in themselves? And what about your children?
Don't you want your children to have a first
-hand experience of seeing God work in you so
that they won't become this same thing that we
were? My dad was a Mexican Christian. My dad
was a follower of the Lord Jesus Christ. He professed
Christ. But in my home, after I was six years
old, we never went to church once, ever. The
only preaching I had ever heard. It was at one
of about six or seven weddings that I went to.
I had a sermon on what it means to be called
a God and to be a parent. We love it. We love
it here today. And I'll pronounce you, and I'll
pass it to you. Because people have forgotten
our society that God is supposed to be at the
center of. So what I'm saying is, what God is
saying, I think, to the Catholic Church is, there
is a cycle of sin that continues and gets worse
and worse as God continues to send oppression
and difficulty in the lives that have turned
them from their sin. And then they cry out, and
because of his mercy and grace, he sends deliverance.
Not because they have done better, because they're
still the same kind of person with the same failing,
if you will. And then they say, oh, see, because
I'm a Christian, God saved me. Oh, see, because
I'm a Christian, God sent this. Oh, see, because
I'm a follower of God and I'm doing better. God
bless me. And then they go into the trouble again,
which causes the distress again. And it happens
because they think, well, that's all right. If
it gets really bad. God will do something miraculous
to save you from my trouble, right? And if you've
got a safety net while you walk the wire, then
you're willing to try a little bit more risky
tricks. I'll tell you what, I'm not walking the
wire without a safety net. And God becomes a
safety net for those who supposedly love him.
They profess Christ, profess their living to
the Lord, and they become a safety net, which
allows them to be even more risky, even more
risky in their walk, even more... Outreaching,
if you will, in their pursuit of these gods that
are not of God, that are not God of heaven. Repentance
of the Lord, because of their groaning, by reason
of them, and of Christ, them, and that of them.
And it came to pass, when the judges were dead,
that they returned and corrupted themselves more
than their fathers. Even Michael was standing
against Heber and Heber. and following other
gods, to serve them, to bow down unto them. They
cease not from their own doings, nor from their
stubborn way. That brings us almost right up
to Isaiah 33, doesn't it? Where it says, we all
let Jesus go in prayer. And the anger of the
Lord was hot against Israel. This is the people
that God chose for himself. And yet the anger
of the Lord was hot against them. And he said,
because that this people has transgressed my
covenant, which I commanded their father. and
have not hardened unto my voice, I also will
not henceforth drive out any from before them
of the nations which God will let me die. In
other words, he was not going to give them the
full promised land that they were originally
going to be entitled to because of this. He said
in verse 22, that through them I may prove Israel,
I may test Israel, I may see. So the people that
remain, the false gods that remain, the temptations
that remain, the things that remain in this people's
life, God left them there so that he could test
his people whether they would keep the way of
the Lord to walk therein as their fathers did
keep it or not. And I submit to you that the
reason there are things in your life that you
struggle with, the reason there are things in
your life that you are tempted by that you need
to reoccur, is because God has left them there.
Now, God is not tempting you. God is not tempting
you, but God has left them there. He's not giving
you total, complete victory over them, because
God wants to see, will you follow him? Will you
follow them? Therefore, the Lord left those nations,
and stopped driving them out easily, neither
delivering them to the end of time. And once
God's people remained those who tempted them,
practiced them, and bribed them with false gods,
not with your Bible, but with the right, right,
and right. under what we know is the old covenant.
We live under what we know is the old situation.
This is the situation where the Holy Spirit does
not come into our life. This is the situation
where Jesus Christ does not live and die. But
the prophets were looking for this. And Jeremiah
spoke of the new covenant now in the book of
Jeremiah, chapter 31, verse 31. He spoke of the
new covenant. How will some day be given? Because
I don't know about you, but that situation we
spread is pretty depressing. only be benefiting
us to burn us from our sin, which we refuse to
turn from in any sense, war and stress. So God
decided, as he actually decided when he made
creation so long ago, to do it a little differently.
And Jeremiah gets a window into it in 31 -31
and following, and it says this, Behold, the
days come, sayeth the Lord, that I will make
a new covenant with the house of Israel and with
the house of Judah. Not according to the covenant
that I made with their fathers in the day that
I took them by the hand to bring them out of
the land of Jesus, with which my covenant takes
place. In other words, I'm going to give them
a new covenant, not like the old one that they
keep breaking up, annihilating, and destroying,
and the patient is killing false gods. I'm going
to give them a new covenant. They should be able
to break it, although I was a husband unto them,
saith the Lord. In other words, though God was
taking care of their every need, they could use
it. But this covenant, the covenant that I will
make with the house of Israel after those days,
saith the Lord. I will put my law in their inward
hearts, and I will write it in their hearts,
and I will be their God, and they shall be my
people. Now that is what we are supposed to do.
That's what it's supposed to be like after Jesus
comes, lives, dies, and is resurrected. Because
the Holy Spirit now takes up residence inside
of Jesus. We're not supposed to be like those
people who never in their lifetime saw. We have
to give them some credit. They worked hard. They
didn't have the Holy Spirit inside them to bring
them conviction. They didn't have him teaching
them constantly the law of God. They only had
the judgment. He didn't put the Holy Spirit on
them to tell them what was right. So they had
a human being. Any covenant that is wrapped up
in a human being has a problem in and of itself,
doesn't it? Because if you want to be flawed,
if you want to be judged wrong, you've got to
get it right. Just like y 'all look at me a lot
of times and say, I don't have to do what the
word says. I don't have to do what the word says.
You can't teach it correctly. I'm supposed to
say that, don't I? So Jeremiah says that it will
come this day when God would write the law on
this inward heart and he would write in their
hearts and he said, and I will be their God.
And they shall be my people. And that is what
the church is supposed to be. It's the culmination
of everything that God was pointing towards.
And God sent a judge to lead them. That judge
was representative of the one day eternal King
Jesus. That Holy Spirit would settle on that
judge. The same Holy Spirit that settled on the
Holy King Jesus. That now lives inside. Holy
believers were following the Holy King Jesus.
Jeremiah was pointing towards him. So my goodness,
after the church got started, everything went
perfectly, right? No. And that cycle of sin comes
from those who desire the benefits of unifying
principles. The cycle of sin comes from... who
desire the benefits of the unifying principle,
but they are not bought in. Do not move according
to the unifying principle. That's the cycle of
sin. And the cycle of opposition is a reality
also, and that is where God resists those who
desire the benefits of the unifying principle,
but are not bought in. Now, when they get to
be so bad off that it will likely destroy them,
and they have not yet repented, then God sends
them relief. which then empowers them if they
do not at that time or at some step walk away
repent and then return to the Lord God it empowers
them to go even deeper into their cycle of sin
and they do even worse the next time and God
sends them relief. The hope is that they will
through the cycle of sin and the cycle of opposition
they will eventually one day repent and come
to God. And then through the new covenant which
Jeremiah promised that we now have through Jesus
the idea is that we would repent and come to
God because the cycle of sin which is the result
of those I have the benefits of unifying people
in English, but are not bought into unifying
people in English. The results are in the cycle
of sin and the cycle of opposition. Now, I'm
going to give you a follow -up question. The
cycle of sin and the cycle of opposition is something
like what I'm about to show you. If you don't
see what I'm about to show you reoccurring in
your life, then you find the principle that we're
talking about is that. Now, I have here some
Legos. These labels are going to represent building
blocks from God. God, I'd like to use this. Building
blocks from God. They are. The bottom. The bag.
The bag has a hole. It's not really a bag. It's
a hole. More like a sweetie, yeah. Here's the
reality. If you sometimes use. Sometimes. If
you. I'm just going to say it this way. If you
ever. The God of the universe. He decided you.
He decided you'd be able to live in the sky,
in the sun, in the stars. He set this earth up.
Indeed, it all does in Acts chapter 2. He said
that. He set up the parameters of your very existence.
God decided in what country you were born. He
decided in what city you would live. He decided
what you would look like. He decided all of that.
Now, that's not a big effort. It's not like you
have to check and see. You have to go through
a set of thousands of steps. But it's a good
part. Ohio, wherever you're at. ... ... ... ...
... ... And that should have put an end to the
cycle. But then in reality, some folks would
say, okay, now that I'm saved, I know God's going
to take care of it all, so I no longer really
have to do anything at all. I don't think there's
anybody in the universe like that. But I would
say that there are also some folks who are saved
and say, now I know God is going to take care
of it all, so now I can do whatever I think is
right in any given moment. I think there are
a lot of people like that. Now the problem with
that is, while we all sit and... stand here and
think that we're doing whatever is right and
get it wrong. Some of the times, we're getting
it wrong. Which means, at that moment, at that
moment, when you make that decision to pinch
yourself, your birth, your strength, your life,
your health, your experiences, everything up
to this point, Jesus' death on the cross, the
pain for you to get out of your own life, you
take all of that, your finance, the knowledge
that you have, which probably isn't as much as
the knowledge that you should have, the wisdom
that you can apply in your life, which probably
is not as much as you should have. I mean, our
Bible is what Jesus taught. And so, if you take
all of that, and you would put that new work
on some course that does not honor God, that
is not obedient to God, then when you do that,
it looks like this. God's wooden building walked
in your bag. And so, right out the bottom, they
did not achieve that which God was trying to
achieve. The reason that happens is because we
made this logic. We said, well, I'm going to
be okay. I'm done. I'm no dummy. I'm providing.
I'm okay. I've got blood, sweat, and tears. behind
my four cards. I'm trying to pay my bills. We
just say, like, I'm trying to tithe. And some
people say, I am tithing. We say, I'm trying
to read my Bible. Some people say, well, I am
reading my Bible. Probably not a bunch of shizzles.
I'm trying to do that. And so on. And we look
at ourselves and say, you know what? Day to day,
we're working pretty hard. We're doing a pretty
good job. Guess what? So were they. So were they.
They got out of bed every now and then. A lot
of their devotion was to Paul's God and so on.
But even then, they thought they were doing...
what was right. Day in, day out, doing what you
think is right, probably not going to be enough
to get that result. New Covenant, the promise
of God is that there would be a part of the moment
where you could say, that was hard. That's what
happened when we got saved. The building blocks
of God could go into us because our existence
was turned upside down. And so, this is the reality
that under this new covenant, things are supposed
to be turned upside down. Let's hear James talk
about what was going on in the New Testament
and compare that to some degree to what's going
on in our family. Why is there strife in our
church? Why is there disagreement? Why are we
not in line with unified principles and then
therefore all unified? Why is it not like that?
And he says, isn't it because of the loss? Or
in other words, the desire to things that you
want and more in your neighborhood. You struggle
with what you want. And then that struggle shows
up in the relationship. You don't like it when
your church does something you don't like. But
rather than putting their needs first, rather
than putting them on that. sacrificial line,
where you're going to sacrifice your preferences
and let them have their way. Rather than doing
that, you're going to be here receiving tips.
I'm not helping. I'm not helping. I'm not helping.
I'm not helping. I'm not helping. who gets their
way this time, and instead of doing it by, I
want to be the one who gets my way this time,
it ought to be, I want to make sure somebody
else gets their way this time. But we've become
this. We have our desires and our wants that
come from within us, our fleshly nature, and
that's why we have conflict in the church. You
can tell me what was going on in James' day.
You lost and you have not. You killed and desired
to have, and John changed. I don't think he meant
that they were virgins in the church. I'm pretty
sure he meant that you're angry and you're happy.
And it happens. It happens in our church. It
happens in Christians. It happens in Christians
all over the world. Because you love and you
have not. You kill and desire to have and not
be. You fight and war. Yeah, you have not. Because
you have not. We're so busy trying to get what
we want in our church and in our life and the
people that are in our church and in our life,
we forget that it all comes from the one that
we only have to ask Him. And less than six people
show up to prayer groups every week because instead
of thinking prayer, asking God for what it is
that we want, and we come here on worship on
Sunday, and I'm just guilty of that, I'll point
to you today, but we come here, and we're lucky
if we get three prayers in, right? God forbid
that one of the prayer warriors in the congregation
call on to Exodus to say the opening prayer,
and it starts to go on for about four minutes,
because the little toddlers, they can't tolerate
that, and the young adults are taking care of
the little toddlers, they can't tolerate that,
and people who have the backache to the pain,
they can't tolerate that, and the worshipers
are waiting to get on to worship, And Jesus said,
if you crack the whip and chase them off, my
house will be a house of prayer. Woe unto God's
people. God is up there going, I sent my son.
I started to be covetous. This is supposed to
be God's people. It's supposed to be turned upside
down. What happened? And we war and we lost and
we cannot obtain. Then sometimes, I don't know,
you get in a tough spot. God, I need a job. God.
Sometimes you don't get what you ask for. He
says, because you ask amiss. asking God for was
your bag hanging this side up. God, please give
me whatever it is you're asking me for. But he
knows your bag is this side up. He knows you
put it in. So what you're saying to God is, God,
God of the universe, God of the heavens, God
of creator, all that you are, all that you ever
were, please Lord, pour some more resources into
my bag that has a hole in the bottom. Oh, and
then when you pick those up and put them back
in again, because I certainly can't clean up
after myself. So about time we started living.
by this unifying principle that has yet to be
named. Rather than lusting after the things that
we want and cannot obtain, having not because
we don't ask God for them, and when we do ask,
asking for the wrong reasons. The report says,
the adulterers and adulteresses, though not the
friendship of the world, this enmity is not the
friendship of the world. And it wasn't adulterers
like they were sitting around with somebody other
than their husband. It wasn't like that. It was
adulterers like... They said God was their God,
and yet they were attracted by the things of
the world. That's what it says, friends and friends
of the world. His entity with God. He says, whosoever,
therefore, will be a friend of the world is the
enemy of God. Hold on. Follow the Lord Jesus
Christ. That shouldn't translate, enemy of God.
Son of God? That shouldn't translate, enemy of
God. But if you are busily trying to get God
off the throne of your life, searching after
war technology, war money, federal relationship,
more time spent on what you like to do, less
time spent. on what God wants you to do and so
on, that's who you've become. And don't think
that a son can't be an enemy. But don't think
that God will not send opposition into your life
if you're going to continue to live that way.
This is what James says. He thinks that the scripture
stands in vain. The spirit that dwells in us
will suspend you. In other words, God forged
his Holy Spirit in you. That resource remains
inside you regardless. It'll hover around you.
right here and not fall off the key, will hover
right here and not fall off the bottom of the
bag, you can say he didn't, he's not going anywhere.
But you so dismiss him and he is not happy about
it. As you change that through the things of
the world, as you become a friend of the world's
system, the things of the scriptures, the things
of the scriptures, the laws of the world, he
is not happy. But he gives us more grace. God
resists this process. In other words, if you
become proud, you think you know something? You
think you are well trained? You think you know
more Bible than somebody else? You think you
can do a better job than somebody else? You think
you deserve to do somebody else's job? You've
got to tell somebody how good you are? Right
there is the authorization. God resists the crowd,
right? And the cycle of opposition begins. You
think you're going to be okay because you know
what's right to do? God resists the crowd. The
cycle of opposition begins, and you'll be crying
out before long. You'll be begging God before
long, and he'll intervene because he loves you.
And the cycle will continue. And you'll say,
yeah, I think you did that because I'm good.
Yeah, I think you did that because I know. Before
long, you'll be in sin again. And then, like
he says this, rather than God resisting the problem,
he gives grace under the humble. He would just
come to God and realize, you are not that. And
I'm going to say this. I don't like to come to
this very much. Nobody in this room knows what.
And the time we got home before God realized,
no, I'm not going to go there. This is time.
This time we realized that God heard us. bag
upside down. You've got to learn how to walk
and walk again. You've got to learn how to eat
again. But wait, if you're going to walk and
talk and eat in the same way you worked before,
you've got to say it. You've got to say it. You've
got to say it. You don't know much. You've got
to submit ourselves, therefore, verse 7. Submit
ourselves, therefore, to God. Resist the devil
and he will flee from you. Submit ourselves.
Let God be in charge. Let God say how I'm supposed
to be done. Resist the devil and he will flee
from you. to God. Let's draw near to God. Seek
God out. Search for and work to get close. And
draw close to every pirate that you seek out.
And you will draw nigh to you. God with his name.
I'm sorry. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners, and
purify your hearts, ye double -minded people.
Double -minded? Double -minded? Double -minded
people are those who desire the benefits of your
life. He says, be afflicted. In other words,
be afflicted and mourn and weep. Let your laughter
be turned to mourning and your joy to heaviness.
Out. But look at the pronoun. Let your laughter
turn to mourning and your joy to heaviness. Whatever
you rejoice in, if it isn't God, whatever you
think is cool, you need something that makes
you get more pleasure inside, or you do a good
job and get proud of what you did, whatever,
all of those things are rubbish. I know. You
get really excited that the wiring worked, right?
You get really excited that the tape turned out.
You get really excited that they said, oh, the
car ran. You get really excited about that. But
those joyful moments will be gone the next time.