1 00:00:01,160 --> 00:00:02,880 All right, good morning, church family. 2 00:00:04,640 --> 00:00:10,240 As you guys find your seat, let me encourage you to open your 3 00:00:10,240 --> 00:00:13,240 Bibles to the book of James This morning. 4 00:00:13,240 --> 00:00:17,800 We're going to be in James chapter 4 and just two verses, 5 00:00:17,800 --> 00:00:23,160 verses 5 and 6. These are two dense verses and 6 00:00:23,160 --> 00:00:27,240 so I plan to do a longer text, but as I finished these two 7 00:00:27,240 --> 00:00:32,920 verses that I was filled up with material and hopefully you will 8 00:00:32,920 --> 00:00:35,600 see what I am referring to as we go through them. 9 00:00:36,320 --> 00:00:39,640 James chapter 4, verses 5:00 to 6:00 this morning. 10 00:00:40,560 --> 00:00:43,880 I'll give expedition of the text and then I'll give us a context 11 00:00:43,880 --> 00:00:46,560 and then our context, the next position of the text, and then 12 00:00:46,560 --> 00:00:48,840 I'll give us application. So let's read the text, open us 13 00:00:48,840 --> 00:00:51,120 a word of prayer and we'll jump into the sermon this morning. 14 00:00:51,120 --> 00:00:54,320 James chapter 4, beginning in verse 5. 15 00:00:55,280 --> 00:01:02,680 Here's what James writes. Or do you suppose the Scripture 16 00:01:02,680 --> 00:01:09,360 says He yearns jealously over the Spirit that he has made to 17 00:01:09,360 --> 00:01:13,560 dwell in us, but he gives more grace. 18 00:01:14,400 --> 00:01:20,360 Therefore, it says God opposes the proud, but gives grace to 19 00:01:20,360 --> 00:01:22,920 the humble. Would you pray with me? 20 00:01:30,240 --> 00:01:41,120 Father, as we close out 2025 and as we look forward to 2026, I 21 00:01:41,120 --> 00:01:43,800 pray God that there's one thing that would be evident among all 22 00:01:43,800 --> 00:01:47,040 of us this morning, and it is this. 23 00:01:48,200 --> 00:01:52,760 We need your grace. We need your grace to, to 24 00:01:52,760 --> 00:01:55,960 breathe. We need your grace to, to do 25 00:01:55,960 --> 00:01:59,840 anything in this life. Lord, we recognize that there is 26 00:01:59,840 --> 00:02:03,480 nothing we can do apart from you as your son said. 27 00:02:04,800 --> 00:02:07,880 And so God, I pray that you would give us grace in the new 28 00:02:07,880 --> 00:02:10,639 year. Lord, you would give us grace 29 00:02:10,680 --> 00:02:15,240 and, and our marriages and our parenting and our ministries and 30 00:02:15,240 --> 00:02:20,800 our, our, and our housing and, and our communities and our jobs 31 00:02:21,440 --> 00:02:24,040 and our personal lives, our fight against sin. 32 00:02:24,040 --> 00:02:28,280 Lord, please give us grace. Lord, please help us to to 33 00:02:28,320 --> 00:02:32,120 humble ourselves that we would position ourselves to be able to 34 00:02:32,120 --> 00:02:36,520 receive this grace. So Lord, come and teach us now 35 00:02:37,440 --> 00:02:43,800 what you require of us and how we can have access to this 36 00:02:43,800 --> 00:02:46,240 grace. Lord, I pray this in Jesus name, 37 00:02:46,600 --> 00:02:56,080 Amen. Recently our air compressor in 38 00:02:56,080 --> 00:02:59,600 this room behind us that runs it's connected to our sprinkler 39 00:02:59,600 --> 00:03:04,040 system was running constantly. I I came here one Friday and I 40 00:03:04,040 --> 00:03:05,920 noticed it was just running and running and running. 41 00:03:05,920 --> 00:03:09,520 I was trying to figure out why is it running and turns out that 42 00:03:09,520 --> 00:03:11,720 the only way to shut it off was to cut off the breaker. 43 00:03:11,720 --> 00:03:15,000 So I cut off the breaker, called the company that came out and 44 00:03:15,000 --> 00:03:20,080 they said that there is the pressure switch was broken, that 45 00:03:20,080 --> 00:03:23,280 that would turn it on and off. Not to bore you with all the 46 00:03:23,280 --> 00:03:26,080 details of it, but essentially there's air that goes in the 47 00:03:26,080 --> 00:03:29,080 lines. This air holds back the water 48 00:03:29,080 --> 00:03:32,800 that keeps it, you know, so that it's mainly water is is not 49 00:03:32,880 --> 00:03:34,640 flowing through all the lines all the time in case there's a 50 00:03:34,640 --> 00:03:38,080 leak or anything. And the danger with the 51 00:03:38,080 --> 00:03:41,920 compressor running is that it would put too much air in the 52 00:03:41,920 --> 00:03:44,960 lines and there's too much air in the lines. 53 00:03:45,000 --> 00:03:47,600 If there ever really was a fire, it would be difficult for the 54 00:03:47,600 --> 00:03:53,680 water to make it to the fire. And as I was thinking about this 55 00:03:53,680 --> 00:03:56,040 as came out and they fixed the pressure switch so that the 56 00:03:56,040 --> 00:03:59,560 thing wouldn't run all the time. I was thinking about this of 57 00:04:00,400 --> 00:04:06,960 this is such a picture of of us and our pride and God's grace 58 00:04:10,080 --> 00:04:14,440 that when we are prideful, we get filled up with, with air. 59 00:04:17,399 --> 00:04:22,200 Pride puffs us up. And the problem with that is 60 00:04:22,200 --> 00:04:26,240 that it puts us in a place where we are not able to receive the 61 00:04:26,240 --> 00:04:28,960 grace that's intended to be dispensed. 62 00:04:30,640 --> 00:04:33,040 Pride acts as a buffer to God's grace. 63 00:04:33,720 --> 00:04:39,120 God is opposed to the proud and we need a pressure switch. 64 00:04:39,120 --> 00:04:46,440 We need the Holy Spirit to come and turn off our compressor that 65 00:04:46,440 --> 00:04:50,040 we are able to receive the grace that God intends to give us. 66 00:04:52,800 --> 00:04:58,120 God opposes the proud. It gives grace to the humble. 67 00:04:59,440 --> 00:05:00,640 So we're going to talk about this morning. 68 00:05:01,560 --> 00:05:03,480 We have a lot to get to. So let's start with the 69 00:05:03,480 --> 00:05:08,360 expedition of the text because verse 5 is a very difficult 70 00:05:08,360 --> 00:05:10,360 verse and I'll get there in just a minute. 71 00:05:10,360 --> 00:05:12,720 Let me get the context so you kind of know where we're at if 72 00:05:13,240 --> 00:05:15,360 if you were not here last week. Here's the context. 73 00:05:15,920 --> 00:05:20,440 Last week we saw that James is rather blunt and direct with 74 00:05:20,520 --> 00:05:22,120 these churches that he's writing to. 75 00:05:22,760 --> 00:05:25,280 He starts off the text last week with this phrase. 76 00:05:25,280 --> 00:05:29,520 You adulterous people. Now why would James use such a 77 00:05:29,520 --> 00:05:31,960 drastic term? What appears that some of the 78 00:05:31,960 --> 00:05:35,480 church have become friends with the world. 79 00:05:35,800 --> 00:05:38,920 And when James says friends, he means that they have aligned 80 00:05:38,920 --> 00:05:43,480 themselves with the philosophies and the values of the world. 81 00:05:43,840 --> 00:05:47,280 But James warns them, he says, brothers and sisters, if you 82 00:05:47,280 --> 00:05:51,480 make yourself a friend of the world, you will also make 83 00:05:51,480 --> 00:05:56,960 yourself an enemy of God. Now, the beauty of our God is 84 00:05:56,960 --> 00:06:01,440 that he is not complacent. He is not content to just sit 85 00:06:01,440 --> 00:06:06,320 back and watch his people go and prostitute themselves out with 86 00:06:06,320 --> 00:06:10,200 the world. He does something about it. 87 00:06:11,240 --> 00:06:13,160 And this morning we're going to see God's heart. 88 00:06:14,080 --> 00:06:18,800 We're going to see what God feels, if you could call it 89 00:06:18,800 --> 00:06:23,840 that, when his people stray. So let's look at our text this 90 00:06:23,840 --> 00:06:27,320 morning. We'll start with verse 5, where 91 00:06:27,320 --> 00:06:30,400 James writes. Or do you suppose it is to no 92 00:06:30,400 --> 00:06:34,200 purpose that the Scripture says he yearns jealously over the 93 00:06:34,200 --> 00:06:37,120 Spirit that he has made to dwell in US? 94 00:06:37,680 --> 00:06:40,920 Now, almost all commentators agree that this is the single 95 00:06:40,920 --> 00:06:44,840 most difficult verse in the book of James, and it's actually one 96 00:06:44,840 --> 00:06:47,600 of the most difficult verses in all of the New Testament. 97 00:06:48,080 --> 00:06:53,000 This verse raises several questions and the reason is, is 98 00:06:53,000 --> 00:06:56,520 because there are many ways to interpret this verse which are 99 00:06:56,520 --> 00:07:00,560 quite different from each other. What I want to do is I want to 100 00:07:00,560 --> 00:07:02,600 look at just two different interpretations. 101 00:07:02,600 --> 00:07:04,720 There are many. I just want to look at 2:00 102 00:07:05,000 --> 00:07:07,800 because these are the 2 main ones and they are captured by 103 00:07:07,800 --> 00:07:11,920 the NRSV, the New Revised Standard Version, and the NIV, 104 00:07:12,000 --> 00:07:15,040 the New International Version. And I and I'll read both of them 105 00:07:15,040 --> 00:07:17,240 to you. Here they are #1 this is the 106 00:07:17,240 --> 00:07:19,640 NRSV. Here's how they translate it. 107 00:07:19,960 --> 00:07:25,480 Very similar to ESV. God yearns jealously for the 108 00:07:25,480 --> 00:07:28,880 Spirit that He has made to dwell in US. 109 00:07:29,960 --> 00:07:32,920 And so there, if you translate it that way, James is referring 110 00:07:32,920 --> 00:07:35,000 that God is jealous for His people. 111 00:07:35,360 --> 00:07:37,880 He is jealous for you and me for his children. 112 00:07:38,680 --> 00:07:41,600 That's the first way to interpret it or translate it. 113 00:07:41,800 --> 00:07:44,000 Here's the second way. This is from the NIV. 114 00:07:45,080 --> 00:07:51,040 The spirit he caused to live in US envies intensely. 115 00:07:52,200 --> 00:07:57,320 The spirit he caused to live in US envies intensely. 116 00:07:58,040 --> 00:07:59,920 There. If you translate it that way, it 117 00:07:59,920 --> 00:08:03,760 means that James is referring to the human tendency to be 118 00:08:03,760 --> 00:08:07,520 envious. Now, how can there be such 119 00:08:07,640 --> 00:08:10,280 differing translations, interpretations, because those 120 00:08:10,280 --> 00:08:12,840 are very different. Those are two totally separate 121 00:08:12,840 --> 00:08:16,160 meanings. It boils down to three items. 122 00:08:16,640 --> 00:08:21,240 Here are the three items. Number one, in the Greek, the 123 00:08:21,240 --> 00:08:24,920 word for spirit numa. The Greek word for spirit numa 124 00:08:25,600 --> 00:08:28,960 can either in this sentence can either function as the subject 125 00:08:28,960 --> 00:08:31,200 of the verb or the object of the verb. 126 00:08:31,200 --> 00:08:32,840 You guys are going to get a grammar lesson this morning. 127 00:08:33,200 --> 00:08:35,640 It can either function as the subject of the verb or the 128 00:08:35,720 --> 00:08:39,640 object of the verb. The NRA takes spirit as the 129 00:08:39,640 --> 00:08:43,240 subject of the verb and therefore spirit. 130 00:08:44,320 --> 00:08:47,600 If you take it that way, it means the natural spirit of the 131 00:08:47,600 --> 00:08:50,440 human right. It means our spirit. 132 00:08:51,520 --> 00:08:56,440 The the the NRSP takes spirit as the object of the verb. 133 00:08:56,840 --> 00:09:00,400 If it is the object of the verb, it can refer to either the 134 00:09:00,400 --> 00:09:04,200 spirit that God breathed into us to give us life, right? 135 00:09:04,200 --> 00:09:07,160 What separates a dead person from a living person is just one 136 00:09:07,160 --> 00:09:10,440 has spirit, one has breath and the other doesn't. 137 00:09:11,360 --> 00:09:13,560 Or it can refer to the Holy Spirit. 138 00:09:14,840 --> 00:09:18,520 Either one is can work. Now, from a grammar standpoint, 139 00:09:18,560 --> 00:09:22,960 the NRSV is preferable here if you understand what I know. 140 00:09:23,560 --> 00:09:26,480 Most of us, if not all of us, do not understand Greek grammar the 141 00:09:26,480 --> 00:09:31,680 way we should, if at all. But from a grammar standpoint, 142 00:09:31,680 --> 00:09:34,760 the NRSV is preferable here. That's number one. 143 00:09:34,760 --> 00:09:40,120 Number two, the Greek word for jealousy is used nine times in 144 00:09:40,120 --> 00:09:45,360 the New Testament. In all of the other 8 usages, it 145 00:09:45,360 --> 00:09:48,560 always has a negative sinful connotation. 146 00:09:49,560 --> 00:09:51,560 All 8. It's always negative and simple 147 00:09:51,560 --> 00:09:54,400 for this word. In the New Testament, where 148 00:09:54,400 --> 00:09:57,760 jealousy is used in a positive sense and sometimes it is used 149 00:09:57,760 --> 00:10:01,120 in a positive sense, a different Greek word is used. 150 00:10:02,160 --> 00:10:06,000 So this point seems to favor the NIV interpretation. 151 00:10:07,320 --> 00:10:12,560 And #3 the Greek word for yearns is used nine times. 152 00:10:12,560 --> 00:10:16,040 Also in the New Testament. It is always used with a 153 00:10:16,040 --> 00:10:20,360 positive sense, but it is never used of God. 154 00:10:22,400 --> 00:10:26,240 It's always used of humans. And so the fact that it's 155 00:10:26,240 --> 00:10:30,480 positive but it's always used of humans seems to be a draw 156 00:10:30,480 --> 00:10:36,120 between the two translations. So we have one point for NRSV, 157 00:10:36,240 --> 00:10:39,600 we have one point for NIV, and we have a Third Point, which is 158 00:10:39,600 --> 00:10:42,240 a draw. So where does that leave us? 159 00:10:43,520 --> 00:10:47,200 It leaves us at a tie. So what's the next thing we do 160 00:10:47,840 --> 00:10:50,920 whenever you're doing this? Context is our next best 161 00:10:50,920 --> 00:10:53,040 determining factor. We want to look at context. 162 00:10:53,680 --> 00:10:57,000 How should we understand this in terms of context given that 163 00:10:57,000 --> 00:11:01,760 verse 4 where James accuses them of having a being adulterous 164 00:11:01,760 --> 00:11:05,600 with the world, I think the NRSV interpretation is better. 165 00:11:06,240 --> 00:11:09,480 I think James is arguing that you are adulterating yourself 166 00:11:09,480 --> 00:11:12,760 out with the world and James is arguing that God is jealous over 167 00:11:12,800 --> 00:11:15,800 his people. The NRSV is better I think. 168 00:11:16,240 --> 00:11:21,280 But given verse 6, well James says he gives more grace. 169 00:11:22,560 --> 00:11:24,640 I think the NIV interpretation is better. 170 00:11:25,600 --> 00:11:29,800 James appears to be contrasting our sin of envy that we have a 171 00:11:29,800 --> 00:11:33,120 spirit that envies intensely. And he seems to say that even 172 00:11:33,120 --> 00:11:37,560 though you have a spirit that is so prone to envy, he gives more 173 00:11:37,640 --> 00:11:40,600 grace that seems to favor the NIV. 174 00:11:42,800 --> 00:11:46,320 So where does that leave us? Confused. 175 00:11:49,960 --> 00:11:54,280 There is no good way to be dogmatic about this. 176 00:11:55,760 --> 00:11:59,960 But on the whole, I'm going to slightly favor the NRSV 177 00:11:59,960 --> 00:12:03,560 interpretation, which is also how the ESV translates it as 178 00:12:03,560 --> 00:12:07,040 well. I think in this verse James is 179 00:12:07,040 --> 00:12:13,760 arguing that God jealously desires the Spirit that dwells 180 00:12:13,760 --> 00:12:16,120 inside of us. I think that's what he's arguing 181 00:12:16,120 --> 00:12:18,760 for, though the other one would be possible as well. 182 00:12:19,720 --> 00:12:25,120 Now, that is not the end of the confusion of this verse. 183 00:12:26,440 --> 00:12:30,160 There are three other questions that are still in order here. 184 00:12:30,160 --> 00:12:34,760 They are #1 if we take the NRSV view. 185 00:12:34,840 --> 00:12:40,600 If we go with that view, should spirit be lowercase S or 186 00:12:40,600 --> 00:12:45,240 uppercase S? Whenever the Greek word pneuma 187 00:12:45,240 --> 00:12:48,520 occurs, translators have to decide whether to treat it as 188 00:12:48,680 --> 00:12:55,120 Holy Spirit or our spirit. In other words, is God jealous 189 00:12:55,120 --> 00:12:59,800 for our spirit or is he jealous for his spirit? 190 00:13:01,560 --> 00:13:02,480 Right. Either one. 191 00:13:02,800 --> 00:13:06,160 There, there's no capital letters in, in, in the middle of 192 00:13:06,160 --> 00:13:09,280 a sentence in, in, in Greek. So you got to decide which it, 193 00:13:09,280 --> 00:13:11,640 which is it? What does James intend? 194 00:13:11,920 --> 00:13:15,800 Given that James never mentions the Holy Spirit anywhere else in 195 00:13:15,800 --> 00:13:17,880 his letter, He never talked about the Holy Spirit in his 196 00:13:17,880 --> 00:13:19,600 letter. I think it's most likely 197 00:13:19,600 --> 00:13:24,320 referring to our spirit, but I don't think it would be wrong as 198 00:13:24,320 --> 00:13:27,320 the NASB, if you have the NASB translation. 199 00:13:27,320 --> 00:13:30,640 They capitalize spirit here and interpreted as Holy Spirit, that 200 00:13:30,640 --> 00:13:34,960 God jealously desires the Holy Spirit that dwells inside of us. 201 00:13:35,200 --> 00:13:36,760 I don't think that would necessarily be wrong. 202 00:13:38,160 --> 00:13:42,080 Second question, where does it say this in the Scriptures? 203 00:13:42,640 --> 00:13:46,320 James writes. Do you suppose it is to no 204 00:13:46,320 --> 00:13:50,680 purpose that the Scripture says? Where does it say this? 205 00:13:51,320 --> 00:13:54,200 Now, normally when a New Testament writer quotes from the 206 00:13:54,200 --> 00:13:56,400 Old Testament, there's a cross reference there. 207 00:13:56,400 --> 00:13:58,720 If you know what a cross reference is, those little, your 208 00:13:58,720 --> 00:14:00,880 Bible may not have them, but if your Bible has like little 209 00:14:00,880 --> 00:14:03,840 numbers and letters in your verses, those are called cross 210 00:14:03,840 --> 00:14:05,840 references. They're had to kind of help you 211 00:14:05,840 --> 00:14:08,280 understand where like they're referring to and so forth. 212 00:14:09,240 --> 00:14:13,360 My Bible has, it's filled with cross references, but in this 213 00:14:13,360 --> 00:14:17,400 verse there is not one. I'm not sure if you have one in 214 00:14:17,400 --> 00:14:18,200 yours. I don't know if you have a 215 00:14:18,240 --> 00:14:21,000 little letter or number there and your verse, but there's not 216 00:14:21,000 --> 00:14:23,840 one in mine. And the reason there is not one 217 00:14:23,840 --> 00:14:28,960 in mine is because there is no Old Testament passage that says 218 00:14:28,960 --> 00:14:32,360 this. There is no Old Testament 219 00:14:32,360 --> 00:14:35,480 passage that says this. So is James lying? 220 00:14:36,440 --> 00:14:38,640 Is he referring to another set of Scriptures? 221 00:14:39,080 --> 00:14:41,440 Is he referring to the Apocrypha or the Pseudepigrapha? 222 00:14:42,640 --> 00:14:44,120 I don't think so. I don't think so. 223 00:14:44,880 --> 00:14:48,880 Sometimes when the New Testament writer quotes an Old Testament 224 00:14:48,880 --> 00:14:53,320 scripture, they do not quote a direct reference, but a general 225 00:14:53,320 --> 00:14:56,160 idea. Now the author of Hebrews even 226 00:14:56,160 --> 00:14:59,760 does this where he says somewhere it says, right. 227 00:15:00,200 --> 00:15:02,960 So sometimes they don't quote a direct reference, they just 228 00:15:02,960 --> 00:15:06,800 quote a general idea. We know that the Old Testament 229 00:15:06,800 --> 00:15:09,600 teaches that God is a jealous God. 230 00:15:09,840 --> 00:15:14,880 Exodus 25 For I the Lord your God, am a jealous God. 231 00:15:14,880 --> 00:15:19,000 Exodus 3414 For you shall worship no other God. 232 00:15:19,200 --> 00:15:23,560 For the Lord whose name is jealous is a jealous God. 233 00:15:23,760 --> 00:15:28,680 So I think James is saying that Scripture as a whole testifies 234 00:15:28,680 --> 00:15:32,000 to this truth. Scripture testifies that our God 235 00:15:32,200 --> 00:15:35,920 is a jealous God. That's the second question. 236 00:15:36,160 --> 00:15:38,400 Third question, final question for this verse. 237 00:15:38,800 --> 00:15:43,240 Why does James ask, Do you suppose it is to no purpose? 238 00:15:43,920 --> 00:15:45,920 Why does he say that? Do you suppose it is to no 239 00:15:45,920 --> 00:15:48,080 purpose? Literally how it translates? 240 00:15:48,280 --> 00:15:51,440 Do you think it is in vain that Scripture says this? 241 00:15:51,840 --> 00:15:54,720 Do you think it's in vain? Why does he ask this question? 242 00:15:54,720 --> 00:15:58,360 It appears that James is accusing them of dismissing 243 00:15:58,360 --> 00:16:02,280 God's commands. The churches are kind of acting 244 00:16:02,280 --> 00:16:05,280 as though God doesn't really care if they become friends with 245 00:16:05,280 --> 00:16:08,120 the world. It's kind of mentality, you 246 00:16:08,120 --> 00:16:11,360 know, hey, as long as I go to church, as long as I tithe, as 247 00:16:11,360 --> 00:16:14,880 long as I serve, as long as I sing wholeheartedly, it doesn't 248 00:16:14,880 --> 00:16:17,200 really matter what I do outside these walls. 249 00:16:21,600 --> 00:16:23,920 And James is saying no, no, no, no, no, he cares. 250 00:16:25,240 --> 00:16:29,640 He cares. He told you in Scripture that he 251 00:16:29,640 --> 00:16:31,760 is a jealous God. He cares. 252 00:16:34,720 --> 00:16:40,400 Look at verse 6A. But he gives more grace. 253 00:16:41,720 --> 00:16:45,880 But he gives more grace The but here you guys have heard me say 254 00:16:45,880 --> 00:16:47,640 this before. Prepositions matter. 255 00:16:47,840 --> 00:16:50,800 Conjunctions matter. This conjunction matters. 256 00:16:50,800 --> 00:16:55,200 The but here tells us that verse 6 is connected to verse 5. 257 00:16:55,880 --> 00:16:59,840 The butt tells us they're connected, but how in what sense 258 00:16:59,840 --> 00:17:02,840 are they connected? Well, how we connect these two 259 00:17:02,840 --> 00:17:05,440 verses will depend on how we interpret verse 5. 260 00:17:05,920 --> 00:17:08,960 This is why I say that you know when you read verse 5, it it 261 00:17:08,960 --> 00:17:11,040 matters how you interpret this because it's going to tell you 262 00:17:11,040 --> 00:17:14,560 how it's connected to verse 6. If we go with the NIV 263 00:17:14,560 --> 00:17:18,800 interpretation, which says, do you think Scripture says without 264 00:17:18,800 --> 00:17:23,480 reason that the Spirit he caused to live in US envies intensely? 265 00:17:23,960 --> 00:17:26,640 If we go with that interpretation, James is 266 00:17:26,640 --> 00:17:32,960 suggesting that even though our flesh is strong, even though our 267 00:17:32,960 --> 00:17:36,560 natural proclivity is to envy, is it not? 268 00:17:37,920 --> 00:17:41,440 Do we not all have a natural proclivity to envy, even though 269 00:17:41,440 --> 00:17:47,280 that is true? God gives more grace. 270 00:17:49,240 --> 00:17:52,200 In other words, our envy may be strong. 271 00:17:53,920 --> 00:17:58,280 God's grace is stronger. That's what James is saying. 272 00:17:58,280 --> 00:18:04,200 If we go with NIV, If we go with the NRSV, God yearns jealously 273 00:18:04,400 --> 00:18:06,240 for the Spirit that he's made to dwell on us. 274 00:18:06,920 --> 00:18:11,280 James is saying that God's jealousy requires much of us, 275 00:18:12,760 --> 00:18:16,680 doesn't it? God will have no rivals. 276 00:18:18,680 --> 00:18:20,280 He will not compete with the world. 277 00:18:23,520 --> 00:18:26,920 God will have no rivals in your life and in my life. 278 00:18:28,960 --> 00:18:31,720 He won't compete with any idol in your life. 279 00:18:32,440 --> 00:18:36,800 He won't make space for it. He won't tolerate it. 280 00:18:40,760 --> 00:18:45,440 And this type of jealousy, it can seem suffocating to a 281 00:18:45,440 --> 00:18:51,280 fleshly people. It can seem suffocating, it 282 00:18:51,280 --> 00:18:53,760 could even seem terrifying to a godly people. 283 00:18:55,960 --> 00:19:05,360 But God gives more grace. Grace here is not being used in 284 00:19:05,360 --> 00:19:07,720 the forgiveness or mercy sense. When you see the word grace in 285 00:19:07,720 --> 00:19:10,640 the Bible, it has many different meanings and, and it's not being 286 00:19:10,640 --> 00:19:13,240 used here in the mercy sense of the forgiveness sense. 287 00:19:13,280 --> 00:19:17,640 Here Grace James is using it and the empowering sense, the 288 00:19:17,640 --> 00:19:22,360 empowering sense. God gives us grace in order to 289 00:19:22,360 --> 00:19:29,080 have the power to defeat envy in our life and to submit ourselves 290 00:19:29,480 --> 00:19:32,600 to a jealous God. Either one, both are true. 291 00:19:34,320 --> 00:19:41,160 Look at 6B. God opposes the proud. 292 00:19:41,840 --> 00:19:43,960 Therefore it says God opposes the proud. 293 00:19:44,200 --> 00:19:47,720 Now here James is actually quoting a direct verse. 294 00:19:47,960 --> 00:19:50,520 The verse he's quoting is Proverbs 334. 295 00:19:50,520 --> 00:19:53,280 You might have a cross reference in your Bible now because he's 296 00:19:53,280 --> 00:19:57,640 quoting from Proverbs 334. Now if you read Proverbs 334, it 297 00:19:57,680 --> 00:20:00,280 reads like this. Towards the scorners he is 298 00:20:00,280 --> 00:20:02,920 scornful, but to the humble he gives favor. 299 00:20:03,080 --> 00:20:04,840 Why is that different than our English? 300 00:20:04,840 --> 00:20:08,440 Because almost always in the New Testament, when they quote the 301 00:20:08,440 --> 00:20:10,680 Old Testament, they're quoting from the Septuagint. 302 00:20:11,040 --> 00:20:14,080 The Greek translation, not the Hebrew Scriptures that quote 303 00:20:14,080 --> 00:20:17,320 from the Greek translation and and so that's why it sounds 304 00:20:17,320 --> 00:20:20,360 different. There are two parts to this 305 00:20:20,360 --> 00:20:22,320 verse. Let's break them down 306 00:20:22,320 --> 00:20:26,200 individually. The first part is this. 307 00:20:26,280 --> 00:20:30,960 God opposes the proud. Now we first have to ask who are 308 00:20:30,960 --> 00:20:32,600 the proud? Who is this? 309 00:20:32,880 --> 00:20:35,520 If God opposes somebody, he's opposing the proud. 310 00:20:35,520 --> 00:20:38,760 Who are the proud? Proud here means arrogant or 311 00:20:38,760 --> 00:20:40,840 haughty. It essentially means to think 312 00:20:40,840 --> 00:20:44,480 highly of oneself. And I want you to notice what 313 00:20:44,480 --> 00:20:49,240 James says is God's disposition in regards to proud people. 314 00:20:50,880 --> 00:20:54,000 How does God think about prideful people? 315 00:20:55,240 --> 00:21:01,320 He opposes them. He opposes them literally to be 316 00:21:01,320 --> 00:21:05,280 hostile towards them. Now certainly God is opposed to 317 00:21:05,280 --> 00:21:07,000 all sin in some measure. That's true. 318 00:21:07,800 --> 00:21:10,880 But what's interesting is that there's only one sin that the 319 00:21:10,880 --> 00:21:16,040 Bible explicitly says that God opposes, and that's pride. 320 00:21:18,560 --> 00:21:23,720 Look at verse 6C. But he gives grace to the 321 00:21:23,720 --> 00:21:27,520 humble. James previously wrote that God 322 00:21:27,520 --> 00:21:32,920 gives more grace, but to who? Who does God give this more 323 00:21:32,920 --> 00:21:41,640 grace to? The humble He gives grace to the 324 00:21:41,640 --> 00:21:45,480 humble. When we see the word grace, it 325 00:21:45,480 --> 00:21:47,560 can have a few different meanings. 326 00:21:47,560 --> 00:21:51,000 I've alliterated them for you. A can mean favor. 327 00:21:51,840 --> 00:21:55,640 B It can mean forgiveness. C It can mean fortitude. 328 00:21:56,640 --> 00:21:58,160 Give me. Neither is giving me favor, 329 00:21:58,320 --> 00:22:02,120 forgiveness or fortitude. So when James says that God 330 00:22:02,120 --> 00:22:06,160 gives grace to the humble, which sense of grace is he referring 331 00:22:06,160 --> 00:22:07,760 to? Well, clearly all senses are 332 00:22:07,760 --> 00:22:10,320 true. God gives favor to the humble. 333 00:22:10,960 --> 00:22:12,800 God gives forgiveness to the humble. 334 00:22:13,440 --> 00:22:15,320 God gives fortitude to the humble. 335 00:22:15,320 --> 00:22:17,920 But which of these does he intend in this passage? 336 00:22:18,400 --> 00:22:21,400 It the context would lead us to to believe that he is talking 337 00:22:21,400 --> 00:22:25,440 about the fortitude sense. The fortitude sense. 338 00:22:25,960 --> 00:22:28,760 I think the idea here is that James is trying to tell the 339 00:22:28,760 --> 00:22:34,920 church, church body, I recognize you all have desires, you have 340 00:22:34,920 --> 00:22:41,760 strong desires, We have desires, we have strong desires. 341 00:22:41,920 --> 00:22:45,000 And sometimes it feels like putting those desires to death 342 00:22:45,000 --> 00:22:51,400 is impossible, doesn't it? And what James is saying is that 343 00:22:51,400 --> 00:22:59,880 if we are prideful and defend our desires, if we say well, 344 00:23:00,040 --> 00:23:03,240 well, I, I need this, you don't understand, I need this. 345 00:23:07,040 --> 00:23:13,160 If we are prideful and defend our desires, God will be opposed 346 00:23:13,440 --> 00:23:19,840 to us. It is only when we are humble 347 00:23:20,800 --> 00:23:27,080 and we recognize I. I must put these desires to 348 00:23:27,080 --> 00:23:30,480 death and I cannot do it on my own. 349 00:23:32,680 --> 00:23:36,680 It is only then that God gives us grace. 350 00:23:39,880 --> 00:23:41,640 We'll stop there. With exposition of the text 351 00:23:42,240 --> 00:23:47,200 application. I have 6 exhortations. 6 352 00:23:47,200 --> 00:23:55,040 exhortations #1 Be careful that we don't turn parts of scripture 353 00:23:55,520 --> 00:24:00,680 into terms and conditions. Be careful, careful that we 354 00:24:00,680 --> 00:24:04,720 don't turn parts of scripture into terms and conditions. 355 00:24:06,040 --> 00:24:08,000 James asked an interesting question. 356 00:24:08,240 --> 00:24:11,920 He asked the question, Do you suppose it is to no purpose that 357 00:24:11,920 --> 00:24:14,080 the scripture says this literally? 358 00:24:14,080 --> 00:24:16,200 Do you think the scripture says this in vain? 359 00:24:16,800 --> 00:24:18,320 What does that mean? What is he getting out of that 360 00:24:18,320 --> 00:24:20,360 question? It appears that some of the 361 00:24:20,360 --> 00:24:24,520 church were treating parts of the scripture like terms and 362 00:24:24,520 --> 00:24:27,000 conditions. What do you mean by that? 363 00:24:27,520 --> 00:24:29,760 You know how when you sign up for something, you go to sign up 364 00:24:29,760 --> 00:24:32,160 for a new app or you sign up for a new subscription or something, 365 00:24:32,480 --> 00:24:35,520 you fill in your name and your phone number, your e-mail, your 366 00:24:35,520 --> 00:24:37,960 address, and at the bottom it has a little box and that's 367 00:24:37,960 --> 00:24:40,760 terms and conditions. Does anybody read that? 368 00:24:43,120 --> 00:24:45,160 Do we not just click the box and move on? 369 00:24:47,920 --> 00:24:48,560 Right. This. 370 00:24:50,040 --> 00:24:52,840 Do we not just just move on and be like, I don't know. 371 00:25:02,030 --> 00:25:06,790 So the danger is that we can turn parts of the Bible into a 372 00:25:06,790 --> 00:25:11,870 set of terms and conditions, things that we rarely, if ever 373 00:25:11,870 --> 00:25:17,710 read or consider. We're all guilty of this. 374 00:25:17,710 --> 00:25:21,270 On some level, the churches here were guilty of ignoring God's 375 00:25:21,270 --> 00:25:22,950 warning that he is a jealous God. 376 00:25:26,400 --> 00:25:29,840 They were guilty of ignoring the fact that God will not share his 377 00:25:29,840 --> 00:25:32,160 people with the Word, with the world. 378 00:25:35,120 --> 00:25:37,720 And we too can be guilty of ignoring parts of God's Word. 379 00:25:39,800 --> 00:25:42,080 But James reminds us that all Scripture has a purpose. 380 00:25:43,880 --> 00:25:45,320 None of this book is written in vain. 381 00:25:47,400 --> 00:25:51,920 And if we ignore parts of it, we are playing with fire. 382 00:25:55,400 --> 00:25:59,720 Recently, our van, we, we got a new van. 383 00:26:00,000 --> 00:26:02,080 We still have the old one. We have two vans now. 384 00:26:03,520 --> 00:26:04,960 Hopefully one of our sons will drive it. 385 00:26:06,120 --> 00:26:09,280 Drive one of them recently got a new van and, and it's, it 386 00:26:09,280 --> 00:26:10,960 started just shutting off while we're driving. 387 00:26:11,880 --> 00:26:14,640 We'd be driving down the street going like 45 miles an hour and 388 00:26:14,640 --> 00:26:17,720 the thing would just shut off. And it's very dangerous because 389 00:26:17,720 --> 00:26:20,800 when your vehicle shuts off, you have no power steering if you, I 390 00:26:20,800 --> 00:26:22,480 don't, if you've ever driven without power steering, but like 391 00:26:22,480 --> 00:26:28,200 it's very difficult to steer. And so I was like, we got to get 392 00:26:28,200 --> 00:26:29,440 this fixed because this is dangerous. 393 00:26:30,120 --> 00:26:32,400 So I took it the Firestone because they were right, you 394 00:26:32,400 --> 00:26:34,480 know, like I was able to get it to restart and I don't want to 395 00:26:34,480 --> 00:26:36,080 take it far away. So I get the Firestone. 396 00:26:36,480 --> 00:26:40,960 They kept it for five days and at the end of the five days, 397 00:26:41,560 --> 00:26:49,710 this was their diagnosis. We don't know what's wrong with 398 00:26:49,710 --> 00:26:54,880 it. So I brought it home and I 399 00:26:54,880 --> 00:27:02,560 turned to my favorite mechanic, YouTube, and my new favorite 400 00:27:02,560 --> 00:27:09,240 mechanic, ChatGPT. I decided I was going to fix it 401 00:27:09,240 --> 00:27:14,520 myself and by God's grace I was able to. 402 00:27:15,720 --> 00:27:17,040 Turned out it was the ignition switch. 403 00:27:17,040 --> 00:27:19,360 I had to take the steering column apart and replace the 404 00:27:19,360 --> 00:27:24,360 ignition switch and YouTube and ChatGPT led me in the way I 405 00:27:24,360 --> 00:27:28,560 should go and I was able to fix it by God's grace. 406 00:27:29,320 --> 00:27:34,080 But as I did this, I'm meticulously, meticulously 407 00:27:34,080 --> 00:27:38,560 watched video after video after video and ran scenario after 408 00:27:38,560 --> 00:27:42,360 scenario and AI. Why? 409 00:27:43,040 --> 00:27:47,280 Why? Because I realized if I get this 410 00:27:47,280 --> 00:27:54,320 wrong and we're going down the mountain at 70 miles an hour and 411 00:27:54,320 --> 00:28:04,360 our van shuts off, we might die. I need to get this right. 412 00:28:08,440 --> 00:28:16,440 That is how we are to read and consider this book meticulously, 413 00:28:17,720 --> 00:28:28,480 with great care, with the fear of God that I need to get this 414 00:28:28,480 --> 00:28:34,680 right. Be careful that you don't turn 415 00:28:34,840 --> 00:28:39,360 this into a set of terms and conditions where it's like I 416 00:28:39,360 --> 00:28:41,040 would like, would you like to sign up for Christianity? 417 00:28:41,040 --> 00:28:44,200 Yes, I would, please read this check. 418 00:28:46,320 --> 00:28:49,920 Where can I serve? What do you need me to do? 419 00:28:52,440 --> 00:28:55,320 Go back and read the terms and conditions. 420 00:28:59,080 --> 00:29:04,640 Your life depends on it. I don't mean that figuratively, 421 00:29:04,640 --> 00:29:17,430 I mean literally. Your life depends on it #2 It is 422 00:29:17,430 --> 00:29:21,830 God's jealousy that keeps us from dying in a whorehouse. 423 00:29:24,360 --> 00:29:30,120 It is God's jealousy that keeps us from dying in a whorehouse. 424 00:29:33,160 --> 00:29:37,880 The churches were frequenting the red light district known as 425 00:29:37,880 --> 00:29:42,280 the World. Some had become friends with the 426 00:29:42,280 --> 00:29:45,800 world. They had propped their feet up 427 00:29:45,800 --> 00:29:50,320 on the coffee tables of the world and they felt very at 428 00:29:50,320 --> 00:29:54,600 home. But their husband was not 429 00:29:54,600 --> 00:29:59,880 content to sit by. Their husband was not complacent 430 00:29:59,880 --> 00:30:04,200 to sit by and watch his bride prostitute themselves out to the 431 00:30:04,200 --> 00:30:08,760 world. Their husband yearned jealously 432 00:30:10,160 --> 00:30:12,120 over the Spirit that he made to dwell in them. 433 00:30:14,200 --> 00:30:18,520 And it is this jealousy and only this jealousy that keeps them 434 00:30:18,640 --> 00:30:21,840 from dying in the whore houses of this world. 435 00:30:24,280 --> 00:30:25,640 And the same is true for you and me. 436 00:30:27,440 --> 00:30:31,880 God is jealous for His bride, and this is a good thing, 437 00:30:31,880 --> 00:30:37,960 Brothers and sisters, this is a glorious thing because God is 438 00:30:37,960 --> 00:30:42,520 not dating us. He is united to us in a 439 00:30:42,520 --> 00:30:46,120 covenant. What do you mean by that? 440 00:30:46,120 --> 00:30:50,120 Here's the difference. Suppose I was 20 years old and I 441 00:30:50,120 --> 00:30:55,280 started dating a girl and after dating, one week I see her 442 00:30:55,280 --> 00:30:59,320 flirting with another guy. I give her the benefit of the 443 00:30:59,320 --> 00:31:02,440 doubt. Then after another week I see 444 00:31:02,440 --> 00:31:06,280 her flirting with another guy. What do you think I would do? 445 00:31:08,600 --> 00:31:19,200 Break up with her. I would be a fool not to, but 446 00:31:19,200 --> 00:31:23,960 suppose I am 44 years old and I have been married for 16 years 447 00:31:25,240 --> 00:31:28,160 and I see a guy trying to flirt with my wife. 448 00:31:30,160 --> 00:31:33,880 What do you think I will do? I will not leave her. 449 00:31:36,200 --> 00:31:39,920 I will go and protect her. I will go and pursue her. 450 00:31:41,280 --> 00:31:45,920 Why? Because she is mine, she is 451 00:31:45,920 --> 00:31:53,360 mine. God is not dating us. 452 00:31:55,840 --> 00:32:02,200 He has united us to Him in the New Covenant and it is His 453 00:32:02,200 --> 00:32:13,240 jealousy alone that keeps us from dying in a whore house #3 454 00:32:15,160 --> 00:32:20,920 The Holy Spirit is a daily reminder of how invested God is 455 00:32:20,920 --> 00:32:25,120 in His people. The Holy Spirit is a daily 456 00:32:25,120 --> 00:32:29,320 reminder of how invested God is and His people. 457 00:32:29,640 --> 00:32:32,280 Now, as I mentioned, the exposition translators have to 458 00:32:32,280 --> 00:32:36,560 decide whether the translate pneuma as either capital spirit, 459 00:32:36,800 --> 00:32:40,280 like Holy Spirit, or lowercase spirit, meaning our spirit. 460 00:32:40,760 --> 00:32:42,920 So it's either our spirit or the Holy Spirit. 461 00:32:43,280 --> 00:32:46,640 The NASB and the ISV are the only major translations that 462 00:32:46,640 --> 00:32:50,120 translate with a capital S. And I think it's entirely 463 00:32:50,120 --> 00:32:52,800 possible that James does intend the Holy Spirit here. 464 00:32:53,280 --> 00:32:55,360 I don't know if that's true, but I think it's entirely possible 465 00:32:55,960 --> 00:33:00,320 if he is intending that he is saying that God jealously 466 00:33:00,320 --> 00:33:06,080 desires not just not our spirit, but the Holy Spirit that He has 467 00:33:06,080 --> 00:33:09,040 caused to dwell in us. We know the Spirit dwells inside 468 00:33:09,040 --> 00:33:13,000 of us. So meaning that God doesn't want 469 00:33:13,080 --> 00:33:16,120 to share his Holy Spirit with the world. 470 00:33:16,600 --> 00:33:19,280 This is the idea of like, you know, if if we live as 471 00:33:19,280 --> 00:33:23,240 Christians in this room, but then we go out there and we go 472 00:33:23,240 --> 00:33:25,800 and dwell and become friends with the world others. 473 00:33:25,800 --> 00:33:28,960 The Spirit stays here, you know, and then we like, we pick them 474 00:33:28,960 --> 00:33:30,960 up. When we come back, the Spirit 475 00:33:30,960 --> 00:33:33,720 comes with us. Whatever we're doing, whatever 476 00:33:33,720 --> 00:33:36,760 we're watching on the computer, the Spirit is watching with us. 477 00:33:36,880 --> 00:33:39,920 Whatever our hands are touching, the Spirit is touching with us. 478 00:33:40,040 --> 00:33:43,360 Whatever we're putting in our mouth or drinking, the Spirit is 479 00:33:43,360 --> 00:33:46,800 doing those things because we are the temple of the living 480 00:33:46,800 --> 00:33:49,240 God. Paul addresses this idea in 481 00:33:49,240 --> 00:33:51,720 First Corinthians 6. He says, do you not know that 482 00:33:51,720 --> 00:33:53,680 your bodies are members of Christ? 483 00:33:54,120 --> 00:33:57,600 Shall I then take the members of Christ and make them members of 484 00:33:57,600 --> 00:33:59,200 a prostitute? Never. 485 00:33:59,800 --> 00:34:02,440 Or do you not know that he who is joined to a prostitute 486 00:34:02,440 --> 00:34:05,280 becomes one body with her? For as it is written, the two 487 00:34:05,280 --> 00:34:08,000 will become one flesh, but he who is joined to the Lord 488 00:34:08,000 --> 00:34:12,760 becomes 1 spirit with him? Or do you not know that your 489 00:34:12,760 --> 00:34:15,840 body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have 490 00:34:15,840 --> 00:34:20,560 from God? Have you ever stopped? 491 00:34:20,560 --> 00:34:24,719 You considered how amazing it is that God gives us His very own 492 00:34:24,719 --> 00:34:27,480 Spirit. Here are something thought about 493 00:34:27,480 --> 00:34:29,880 that. How amazing it is that the 494 00:34:29,880 --> 00:34:36,320 Spirit of God, the member of the Trinity, God himself, is 495 00:34:36,320 --> 00:34:42,239 dwelling inside of us. I was thinking about this this 496 00:34:42,239 --> 00:34:45,400 week. As parents, we don't even let 497 00:34:45,400 --> 00:34:48,120 our boys have sleepovers at friends houses. 498 00:34:49,800 --> 00:34:52,320 We don't. They've never slept over anybody 499 00:34:52,320 --> 00:34:56,440 else's house. Why? 500 00:34:57,000 --> 00:35:01,240 Because I know the type of sin they will be exposed to or 501 00:35:01,240 --> 00:35:04,240 potentially be exposed to and be tempted to engage in. 502 00:35:04,440 --> 00:35:06,920 I know this because I slept over at friends houses. 503 00:35:11,000 --> 00:35:14,360 I got introduced to pornography having a sleepover at my 504 00:35:14,360 --> 00:35:22,200 sister's house. So we don't let them sleep over 505 00:35:22,200 --> 00:35:32,320 at anybody's house, but God gives us His Spirit to have a 506 00:35:32,360 --> 00:35:40,360 permanent sleepover in this house, even though He knows what 507 00:35:40,360 --> 00:35:47,120 type of sin we will engage in. God says, I know all of the sin 508 00:35:47,200 --> 00:35:51,120 that you are going to engage in and that you are going to bring 509 00:35:51,120 --> 00:35:57,440 my spirit to engage in, and yet He still gives us His spirit. 510 00:36:02,240 --> 00:36:06,040 Now here's why this is such good news. 511 00:36:07,040 --> 00:36:11,600 Here's why we should praise God that He is willing to make us 512 00:36:11,800 --> 00:36:15,880 temples of the living God because it means that he is 513 00:36:15,880 --> 00:36:24,000 highly invested in us. He is highly invested in us. 514 00:36:26,360 --> 00:36:31,240 It means that when we stray from him, when we start to rub elbows 515 00:36:31,240 --> 00:36:35,680 with the world, what keeps God pursuing us? 516 00:36:39,000 --> 00:36:41,200 Sometimes we may think, you know, like, why does God pursue 517 00:36:41,200 --> 00:36:42,680 me? I'm not worthy to be pursued. 518 00:36:42,680 --> 00:36:45,720 Yeah, that's exactly right. Neither am I. 519 00:36:47,240 --> 00:36:54,640 Why does God pursue me? What keeps God pursuing us is 520 00:36:54,640 --> 00:36:59,960 that which lives inside us. We are the temple of the living 521 00:36:59,960 --> 00:37:07,520 God and he jealously desires the Spirit that dwells inside of us. 522 00:37:11,680 --> 00:37:16,120 You see, the Spirit is our assurance that God will stay 523 00:37:16,120 --> 00:37:22,200 invested in US. Even you know, it's not like a 524 00:37:22,200 --> 00:37:23,880 stock, you know where stocks is tanking. 525 00:37:23,880 --> 00:37:25,760 You know they tell you like cut your losses, get out. 526 00:37:27,120 --> 00:37:29,960 When we start tanking, it's not like God's like I'm cutting my 527 00:37:29,960 --> 00:37:31,800 losses with Matt. I'm getting out. 528 00:37:34,360 --> 00:37:39,160 Not if I got a spirit inside me. He will stay invested in me. 529 00:37:40,920 --> 00:37:48,290 He will stay invested in you. Four. 530 00:37:49,930 --> 00:37:54,930 Our desires are strong. God's grace is stronger. 531 00:37:55,730 --> 00:38:04,130 God's jealousy is thick. His grace is thicker, James 532 00:38:04,130 --> 00:38:08,170 writes in verse 6. But he gives more grace. 533 00:38:08,480 --> 00:38:10,120 As I mentioned in the exposition. 534 00:38:10,360 --> 00:38:14,720 This is clearly connected to verse 5 because of the word but 535 00:38:15,760 --> 00:38:20,080 but how it is connected depends on how we interpret verse 5. 536 00:38:20,640 --> 00:38:25,560 If we go with the NIV, then James is essentially saying our 537 00:38:25,560 --> 00:38:30,480 desires are strong, but God's grace is stronger. 538 00:38:32,480 --> 00:38:37,400 If we go with the NRSV, he is saying that God's jealousy is 539 00:38:37,400 --> 00:38:45,400 thick but His grace is thicker. Our desires are strong, are they 540 00:38:45,400 --> 00:38:48,880 not? I mean, is that not why we sin? 541 00:38:48,880 --> 00:38:55,200 Because if if the desires like I have never engaged in gluttony 542 00:38:55,360 --> 00:39:08,000 of durian because my desire is weak, but I've engaged in 543 00:39:08,000 --> 00:39:10,040 gluttony of other things many times. 544 00:39:11,480 --> 00:39:14,760 Isn't that why we sinned? Because our desires are strong. 545 00:39:18,600 --> 00:39:25,160 Desire for approval, sexual satisfaction, financial 546 00:39:25,160 --> 00:39:32,480 security, control and power, physical pleasure, getting new 547 00:39:32,480 --> 00:39:38,400 possessions, being made much of feeling loved. 548 00:39:41,040 --> 00:39:44,800 These desires can feel so strong that sometimes it feels 549 00:39:44,800 --> 00:39:47,960 impossible to not let them have complete control over our life. 550 00:39:47,960 --> 00:39:51,640 Right. Like my desire for this is so 551 00:39:51,640 --> 00:39:55,800 strong it feels like I cannot, I have no other option just to let 552 00:39:55,800 --> 00:39:57,240 it run. Run wild. 553 00:40:00,040 --> 00:40:02,440 But James reminds us that God's grace is stronger. 554 00:40:04,560 --> 00:40:09,040 His grace is stronger. God will give us sufficient 555 00:40:09,040 --> 00:40:11,520 grace to put our sinful desires to death. 556 00:40:12,480 --> 00:40:15,760 Church, family, whatever grace you need in the new year, 557 00:40:16,080 --> 00:40:19,440 whatever you need, whatever sin in your life, whatever desire 558 00:40:19,560 --> 00:40:23,480 your life you need to put to death, God will give you the 559 00:40:23,480 --> 00:40:31,120 grace to dig a deep grave. In addition, God's jealousy is 560 00:40:31,120 --> 00:40:34,200 thick. If we go the NRS feed, God's 561 00:40:34,200 --> 00:40:37,920 jealousy is thick. You ever had a friend who was 562 00:40:37,920 --> 00:40:42,560 jealous for your friendship? You ever had a child who was 563 00:40:42,560 --> 00:40:47,600 jealous for your affection? You ever had a Co worker who was 564 00:40:47,600 --> 00:40:52,280 jealous for your time? It can feel suffocating, right? 565 00:40:54,600 --> 00:40:58,280 It can feel suffocating sometimes we can feel, we can 566 00:40:58,280 --> 00:41:01,200 sinfully feel this way towards God, right? 567 00:41:02,680 --> 00:41:05,440 Like Jonah, we can thank God. Just let me live my life in 568 00:41:05,440 --> 00:41:09,280 Tarsus just for a season like just this. 569 00:41:09,280 --> 00:41:12,360 Just stay over there. Like I'll come back. 570 00:41:12,400 --> 00:41:15,480 I'll come back, God. OK, Like, just for like this 571 00:41:15,480 --> 00:41:20,200 next hour or just for this next week, like, just let me have 572 00:41:20,200 --> 00:41:24,360 some fun and Tarsus, and then we'll talk about Nineveh. 573 00:41:26,360 --> 00:41:30,000 Jonas, you ever consider that Jonah's desire to not go to 574 00:41:30,000 --> 00:41:34,880 Nineveh was so strong that he was willing to commit suicide to 575 00:41:34,880 --> 00:41:38,920 get away from God's will when he told him to Dome off the boat, 576 00:41:39,240 --> 00:41:43,280 He can't swim to shore. He's committing suicide. 577 00:41:43,520 --> 00:41:46,840 That's how strong his desire was to not go to Nineveh. 578 00:41:47,000 --> 00:41:49,440 But God would not let him go. Why? 579 00:41:49,520 --> 00:41:53,520 Because his jealousy is thick. It's as thick as a whale. 580 00:41:59,080 --> 00:42:07,760 And Jonah might thank God, I'm suffocating inside here, but his 581 00:42:07,760 --> 00:42:15,400 grace was thicker. God gave Jonah the grace to do 582 00:42:15,400 --> 00:42:18,600 the one thing that he really didn't want to do. 583 00:42:20,360 --> 00:42:24,000 The last thing in the world I want to do is go to Nineveh, and 584 00:42:24,000 --> 00:42:30,880 God gave him the grace to do it. The same is true for you and me. 585 00:42:33,680 --> 00:42:37,120 There may be a time, maybe in this coming year where God is 586 00:42:37,120 --> 00:42:39,480 going to call you to do something and it's the last 587 00:42:39,480 --> 00:42:40,960 thing in the world you want to do. 588 00:42:44,040 --> 00:42:45,880 You say to God, God, I'd rather do anything. 589 00:42:46,160 --> 00:42:49,360 I don't care what it does. Give me anything but this. 590 00:42:50,080 --> 00:42:54,800 If God calls you to do it, He will give you the grace to do 591 00:42:54,800 --> 00:42:58,760 it. Five. 592 00:43:00,480 --> 00:43:05,200 God's grace is manifested and His active opposition to our 593 00:43:05,200 --> 00:43:10,000 pride. God's grace is manifested and 594 00:43:10,000 --> 00:43:12,280 His active opposition to our pride. 595 00:43:12,960 --> 00:43:14,480 Now, I want to be clear about something here. 596 00:43:14,480 --> 00:43:16,080 I didn't mention this earlier. I want to mention it now. 597 00:43:16,080 --> 00:43:19,880 I want to be clear that James is primarily referring to a class 598 00:43:19,880 --> 00:43:22,800 of people here, not a description of God's people. 599 00:43:23,720 --> 00:43:27,320 In other words, when James writes God opposes the proud, he 600 00:43:27,320 --> 00:43:30,920 is referring to the lost world. Here he's referring to the lost 601 00:43:30,920 --> 00:43:32,960 world. This is important because from a 602 00:43:33,000 --> 00:43:36,960 position standpoint, from a position standpoint, from a 603 00:43:37,200 --> 00:43:41,040 categorical standpoint, God is never opposed to us. 604 00:43:43,440 --> 00:43:45,840 God is never, but he is always for us. 605 00:43:46,480 --> 00:43:51,320 Always. God is opposed to his enemies, 606 00:43:53,560 --> 00:43:55,720 but he is always for his children. 607 00:43:57,720 --> 00:43:59,760 But don't take that to mean then that that means what? 608 00:43:59,760 --> 00:44:01,720 What God doesn't care about. I mean he cares about my pride, 609 00:44:01,720 --> 00:44:04,680 but just like anything else. No, no, no, that also means that 610 00:44:04,680 --> 00:44:07,720 in some measure God also is opposed to his children's pride. 611 00:44:08,720 --> 00:44:12,640 God can be for us and yet opposed to us at the same time. 612 00:44:13,240 --> 00:44:17,400 He can be for us positionally and opposed to us in our 613 00:44:17,400 --> 00:44:21,280 behavior. How many times do we see in 614 00:44:21,280 --> 00:44:23,840 Scripture where God disciplined his children for their pride? 615 00:44:25,720 --> 00:44:28,160 Remember when Moses pridefully struck the rock? 616 00:44:29,600 --> 00:44:34,160 He said, must we bring you water from this rock? 617 00:44:34,920 --> 00:44:37,560 And what did God do? God disciplined him by saying 618 00:44:37,560 --> 00:44:38,880 you won't go into the promised land. 619 00:44:40,440 --> 00:44:43,520 Remember when Aaron and Miriam pridefully challenged Moses? 620 00:44:44,680 --> 00:44:48,600 Moses, you've gone too far. We are all holy to the Lord and 621 00:44:48,600 --> 00:44:53,600 God gave Miriam leprosy. Remember when David pridefully 622 00:44:53,600 --> 00:44:56,520 ordered Joab to take a census Joab against Joab's counsel, 623 00:44:56,520 --> 00:45:00,600 Joab said do not do this thing David Dave said no do it and God 624 00:45:00,600 --> 00:45:05,840 put 70,000 people to death. Remember Hezekiah? 625 00:45:06,920 --> 00:45:10,560 He pridefully showed off all the treasury to the king of Babylon, 626 00:45:11,560 --> 00:45:15,800 wanted him to know what all the glory of of of their gold. 627 00:45:15,920 --> 00:45:18,920 And what did God say? God said now Israel will be 628 00:45:18,920 --> 00:45:23,680 carried off to Babylon. Remember Uzziah pridefully 629 00:45:23,680 --> 00:45:28,320 burned incense, a task that only priests are allowed to do, and 630 00:45:28,320 --> 00:45:31,720 God gave him leprosy. And of course we all remember 631 00:45:31,720 --> 00:45:35,040 when Peter pridefully boasted that he would never deny Christ. 632 00:45:36,560 --> 00:45:41,600 God made sure the gospel writers recorded all three times. 633 00:45:45,600 --> 00:45:50,880 Over and over again we see that when God's people took a posture 634 00:45:50,880 --> 00:45:54,520 of pride, God took a posture of discipline. 635 00:45:56,880 --> 00:46:00,640 But listen to me, that too is the grace of God. 636 00:46:03,000 --> 00:46:08,560 It is a grace of God that He is actively opposed to our pride. 637 00:46:13,400 --> 00:46:21,560 6th last point. If grace were rain, humility is 638 00:46:21,560 --> 00:46:28,760 the only bucket without holes. If grace were rain, humility is 639 00:46:28,760 --> 00:46:34,920 the only bucket without holes. Imagine if you were in a very 640 00:46:34,920 --> 00:46:38,400 hot desert. There's nothing in this. 641 00:46:38,400 --> 00:46:40,240 There's just sand. That's all there is. 642 00:46:41,600 --> 00:46:45,280 You're stuck in this desert and it rained only once a week. 643 00:46:46,720 --> 00:46:51,160 That's a problem because you need water every day, so you 644 00:46:51,160 --> 00:46:57,440 need a way to collect this rain. When it rains to a miracle, you 645 00:46:57,440 --> 00:47:05,480 find a bucket. You walk up to it, you're so 646 00:47:05,480 --> 00:47:07,960 happy. You look inside this bucket and 647 00:47:07,960 --> 00:47:13,880 it's filled with holes. You find another bucket. 648 00:47:15,440 --> 00:47:19,320 It also has holes in it. You find a third bucket, a 649 00:47:19,320 --> 00:47:22,280 fourth bucket, 1/5 bucket. They all have holes in them. 650 00:47:23,920 --> 00:47:27,120 How are you ever going to collect this rain? 651 00:47:29,040 --> 00:47:32,840 Well, on the day that it, you could just open your mouth, but 652 00:47:32,840 --> 00:47:35,880 all you're going to get is a small amount and how long will 653 00:47:35,880 --> 00:47:39,960 that last? You need a way to collect a 654 00:47:39,960 --> 00:47:47,960 large amount of rain so that you can go to this bucket and drink. 655 00:47:52,360 --> 00:47:54,680 This is how it feels sometimes when it comes to God's grace, 656 00:47:54,680 --> 00:48:01,160 doesn't it? We get drip after small amounts. 657 00:48:01,360 --> 00:48:05,560 It feels so little. We think like, how can I ever 658 00:48:05,560 --> 00:48:11,160 collect enough every day? I mean, there are there not so 659 00:48:11,160 --> 00:48:14,800 many scenarios in our life where every day we need God's grace. 660 00:48:15,440 --> 00:48:17,640 And yet so often I feel so thirsty. 661 00:48:17,640 --> 00:48:21,800 I feel so dry. It's like, I mean, every time I 662 00:48:21,800 --> 00:48:23,840 turn around and we talk about this in Sunday school this 663 00:48:23,840 --> 00:48:26,520 morning, right? Like I read an e-mail where 664 00:48:26,520 --> 00:48:28,720 somebody accuses me of something, Man, I need God's 665 00:48:28,720 --> 00:48:30,480 grace. Then my kid is bugging me. 666 00:48:30,520 --> 00:48:32,960 Man, I need God's grace. Then my spouse is bugging me, 667 00:48:33,040 --> 00:48:35,640 Man, I need God's grace. Then something breaks in the 668 00:48:35,640 --> 00:48:39,920 house, Man, I need God's grace. It's just over and over and over 669 00:48:39,920 --> 00:48:42,760 again. How do I get it? 670 00:48:44,240 --> 00:48:48,480 How do I find a bucket where I could have this grace that I can 671 00:48:48,480 --> 00:48:51,080 have access to? Brothers and sisters, if grace 672 00:48:51,200 --> 00:48:56,600 were reign, Humility is the only bucket without holes. 673 00:49:01,360 --> 00:49:06,280 God opposes the proud and everyone. 674 00:49:06,280 --> 00:49:10,400 I say this self-sufficiency, self-reliance is pride. 675 00:49:15,400 --> 00:49:20,880 God opposes the proud, but He gives grace to the humble. 676 00:49:23,320 --> 00:49:30,600 If we desire God to give us grace, we must humble ourselves. 677 00:49:33,760 --> 00:49:37,800 Nobody can receive rain if they are above the clouds. 678 00:49:42,800 --> 00:49:47,080 How often do we pray? God, please give me grace to be 679 00:49:47,080 --> 00:49:52,800 patient in my marriage. God, please give me grace to not 680 00:49:52,800 --> 00:49:58,520 discipline my kids and anger. God, please give me grace to 681 00:49:58,520 --> 00:50:00,840 minister in the power of the Spirit. 682 00:50:02,760 --> 00:50:05,400 God, please give me grace to not complain at my job today. 683 00:50:07,360 --> 00:50:10,080 God, please give me grace to be disciplined in my studies. 684 00:50:14,920 --> 00:50:17,640 What will determine if God actually gives you grace? 685 00:50:20,520 --> 00:50:24,000 What will be the deciding factor other than the the will of God 686 00:50:25,560 --> 00:50:27,760 on your end? What will be the deciding factor 687 00:50:27,760 --> 00:50:29,560 as to whether you get this grace or not? 688 00:50:32,080 --> 00:50:37,680 Are you humble? Are you humble? 689 00:50:39,960 --> 00:50:43,200 The text does not say God might give grace. 690 00:50:43,760 --> 00:50:49,200 It says God gives grace to the humble. 691 00:50:49,720 --> 00:50:53,400 That's a promise. That's a promise. 692 00:50:55,200 --> 00:50:56,560 Do you believe that, church family? 693 00:51:00,960 --> 00:51:05,440 Next week our church name will be Grace and Truth. 694 00:51:08,280 --> 00:51:14,280 Let that be a reminder that God will give us all the grace we 695 00:51:14,280 --> 00:51:20,600 need in 2026 if we humble ourselves. 696 00:51:22,520 --> 00:51:22,880 Let's pray.