James - Chapter 4

[0:00] Good morning. Appreciate you all being here this morning. Thank you. Thank you for coming this morning.

[0:16] It got kind of chilly out there, wasn't it? I put my long sleeves back on, you know? Yeah. Yeah. Okay. I need to share this with you. It's a picture of a lady here. I've never seen her before, didn't know her. You probably don't either.

[0:36] It says, remember this lady? I didn't either. Her name is Irina Sendler. She died May 12, 2008, at the age of 98, in Warsaw, Poland.

[0:54] During World War II, Irina got permission to work in the Warsaw Ghetto as a plumbing sewer specialist. She had an ulterior motive.

[1:11] Irina smuggled Jewish infants out in the bottom of the toolbox she carried. She also carried a burlap sack in the back of her truck for larger kids.

[1:24] Irina kept the dog in the back that she trained to bark when the Nazi soldiers let her in and out of the ghetto. The soldiers, of course, wanted nothing to do with the dog and the barking covered the kids' and the infants' noises.

[1:41] During her time of doing this, she managed to smuggle out and save 2,500 kids and infants, all Jews.

[1:57] Ultimately, she was caught. The Nazis broke both of her legs and arms and beat her severely. Irina kept a record of the names of all the kids she had smuggled out in a glass jar that she buried under a tree in her backyard.

[2:22] After the war, she tried to locate any parents that may have survived and tried to reunite the family. Most had been gassed. Most had been gassed.

[2:34] Those kids she helped got placed into foster family homes or adopted. In 2007, Irina was up for the Nobel Peace Prize.

[2:49] She was not selected. Al Gore won for a slideshow on global warming. Oh, God. Oh, God. Oh, my God.

[3:03] That's just one of the kind of injustices that eventually is going to be rectified. It is a fallen world, and there are so many inequities in it day by day, and we see this as just another of many.

[3:20] But, you know, one of these days, you mark it down, one of these days, all of these things are going to be made right. Meanwhile, we continue to live in a fallen world.

[3:37] Okay. Anything you'd like to mention? Yes, Roger? Pastor Paul Sandler used to say, Mark my words and mark them well.

[3:48] Okay. But he reminded me of that. He said it meant pay attention. Dan? I asked a prayer for my wife. Sue had a stent put in her right coronary artery in Miami Valley this weekend.

[4:03] She's been having kind of chest pain or pain up here, and so she went to the doctor and got it at the time because had she not, she might not have been.

[4:16] But she's holding rest and doing well. So just prayer for her. Okay. We certainly will. Well, let's look to the Lord. We're grateful, Father, that you've given us another day, and we want to make the most of this opportunity by being sensitive to your leaning and obedient to the word that will come forth.

[4:37] We thank you for the day that you've given us, and for those who were able to join with us this morning, we are especially grateful for each one of them and for the potential that you have placed within each of us to honor and glorify you.

[4:52] We thank you this morning for the procedure that Sue recently received for the stent that was placed, and we just ask that as she continues to recuperate from the procedure, that you will allow her body and the arteries to respond in the best way to the stent so that she can get the maximum benefit from it.

[5:11] And once again, we want to thank you for the modern medical miracles that we see taking place almost daily, how you've allowed men to develop skills and wisdom in treating these marvelous bodies that you've created, and we thank you so much.

[5:28] We are mindful of the fact that they are not equipped and outfitted for eternity, but you have provided something else for us that is, and we look forward to that. Thank you for the meal that we'll be enjoying shortly, and for whatever the day holds for us ahead, because we know you're in charge of it, and we thank you in Christ's name.

[5:47] Amen. Well, now, let's look at James chapter 4. We are continuing through this epistle. It is loaded with all kinds of practical benefits, with a lot of wisdom, and a lot of things that are to be implemented in our lives as believers.

[6:06] And as he starts this fourth chapter, and by the way, it's the fourth chapter to us, but it wasn't to James, because he just wrote in one continuous letter. But over the years, in fact, only about 500 years ago, the Bible was divided into chapters and verses, and some of them are beneficial, and some of them are not, because some of them kind of disrupt the continuity that had been established, and if you stop reading at the end of the chapter, sometimes you miss the punchline, because it might be starting in the next chapter.

[6:42] So don't limit yourself to reading a chapter at a time like that, because you might miss some really good stuff. So he begins with a question. What is the source of quarrels and conflicts among you?

[6:57] Is not the source your pleasures that wage war in your members? And that is self-pleasing. We have pointed out from time to time that no doubt one of the greatest consequences of the fall of Adam and Eve is that they took to themselves, as a result of their rebellion and disobedience, they took to themselves a different kind of nature than what God created in them.

[7:30] Whereas before, whereas before their focus and attention was exclusively on the Creator.

[7:41] But when they rebelled against the Creator, their focus and attention turned from Him to themselves.

[7:53] And it became an inward concentration, an inward proposition, an inward interest, an interest demand to satisfy self.

[8:04] And when their first child was born, he was born with that nature. His name was Cain. And we all remember what happened with Cain and his self-centeredness.

[8:18] That was passed on to all succeeding generations with the result that there is not a one of us today that does not have to deal with this item called the flesh.

[8:30] It is the self-centeredness that we all automatically have. It can be overcome, but only supernaturally.

[8:44] It cannot be overcome in the flesh because the flesh loves it and will not seek to overcome it. The flesh wants to rule the roost and call the shots.

[8:56] And sometimes there isn't anything wrong with that unless there is another person involved in the mix. And if there's another person involved in the mix, maybe it's one you're married to. Guess what?

[9:10] They have a self-centeredness too. And when you want to please yourself with your self-centeredness and your mate wants to please themselves themselves with their self-centeredness, you've got what James is talking about here, conflict.

[9:27] And this becomes the basis for all conflict, whether individuals in marriages, some of which have unhappily ended in separation and divorce, and it includes even nations that go to war one against another.

[9:46] Because remember, fellas, nations are nothing but an extension of individuals. That's all they are. That's all any nation is. It's just a congregation of individuals.

[9:58] So it becomes the source of quarrels. And I don't know how many of you have heard or have listened to the series that we've done on Marriage on the Rock.

[10:10] But in that, the whole subject of self-centeredness is dealt with. And we have posited the idea that all conflict, it doesn't make any difference what it is, whether it's individuals in a marriage, whether it's in a school, whether it's in a neighborhood, a community, a workplace, or on the global scene.

[10:31] All conflict is a result of just one thing. That's an offense. An offense is something that is said or done that offends another person.

[10:48] It wounds them, hurts them on the inside. And it results in creating an emotional distancing between the offender and the offended.

[11:01] So there is not the closeness that there once was. There's a little separation that sets in. And sometimes, if that offense continues and more offenses are added to it, the emotional distancing increases.

[11:15] And people get further and further apart. And in the case of a marriage, the emotional distancing can be so great that they no longer want to be together even physically.

[11:29] And that's the ruination of relationships and the end of a lot of marriages. The solution is what James is talking about here. And it also ties in with the principles that Paul has shared in Romans, talking about the flesh, and in Galatians, about walk in the Spirit and you'll not fulfill the desires of the flesh.

[11:51] But one thing is for sure, it's going to be one way or the other. If you're not walking in the Spirit, you are walking in the flesh automatically because there's the only options open to us. And one gives way to the other.

[12:04] So this is what he's talking about. What's the source of quarrels, conflicts among you? Is not the source your pleasures that wage war in your members.

[12:16] You lust and do not have. So you commit murder. And you are envious and cannot obtain.

[12:27] So you fight and quarrel. You do not have because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive because you ask with wrong motives so that you may spend it on your pleasures.

[12:41] This is nothing but a description of human nature across the board. It's this way everywhere. It doesn't make any difference what country you live in. It makes no difference what language you speak.

[12:52] It makes no difference what color your skin. This is a human problem and it is systemic to humanity. But you know something? Most people don't even understand the problem.

[13:03] How in the world can you address it looking for a solution if you can't even define the problem? It's like a medical situation. It's like a doctor trying to treat a patient who is in pain but he hasn't made a diagnosis.

[13:21] Well, what in the world can a doctor do for a patient if he doesn't diagnose the problem? You can't treat it. And it's the same way spiritually. Humanity is beset with a spiritual problem that is systemic to humanity.

[13:38] Humanity. And most of humanity doesn't even understand the problem. Most of us think the problem is the other guy. Problem's never me.

[13:49] The problem's always somebody else. This is past the buck thing, you know. It makes us look good and it makes them look bad. And that's the way it's supposed to be because that's the way it is. I'm the good guy and they're the bad guy.

[14:01] And that's automatically the way we see it. So he says, you adulteresses. Now that's an interesting expression here because what's that got to do with what he's talking about?

[14:11] Well, in the first place you've got to remember that James is coming from a Jewish perspective. Not what we would call a Gentile or a Christian perspective.

[14:26] He's coming from a Jewish perspective. And in his Jewish background, as a matter of fact, he addresses the epistle when he opens it to the twelve tribes scattered abroad.

[14:36] And those are the dispersion, the diaspora. So he's writing specifically to them same people that the writer of Hebrews is addressing.

[14:47] Same people that Peter is addressing in his epistles and John and so on. We call these the Christian Hebrew epistles. So he is talking from a Jewish mindset to people that he knows will appreciate this concept.

[15:02] And he is calling his audience adulteresses. The reason he's using that term is because throughout the Old Testament God describes his relationship with the nation of Israel as a husband and wife.

[15:22] God is the husband. Israel is the wife. He has taken her unto himself. He has pledged his faithfulness and his provision to her.

[15:33] He has protected her. He has provided for her. He brought her out of Egypt. And she has played a harlot. She has taken the position of an unfaithful wife to a faithful husband.

[15:49] He has never sought another bride. He has never sought another love. He has been faithful to her. But as a result she has retaliated with unfaithfulness.

[16:00] What Joe? And in Hosea God actually has a person Hosea act out what you just said. Yeah. The true thing of the relationship between God and Israel he has a person actually go through it with a wife.

[16:14] Right. He did. And that is he's using that Hosea God calls Hosea to take this unfaithful woman to himself and he is using that illustration to explain what is taking place between Israel the nation and God who is acting as the husband.

[16:35] And here he is charging these people in the audience that he's addressing this epistle to with the same kind of infidelity. You adulteresses you do not know that do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God.

[16:54] And John's going to tell us that we are not to love the world because if you love the world the love of the Father is not in you. And yet at the same time we are told that we are supposed to love the world because God loves the world.

[17:11] And the distinction that is made that becomes very very clear as you compare these and study these is God loves the world and it is the people in the world but the world that we are not to love is the world's system.

[17:28] It is the fallen system over which none other than Satan himself is the God of. We are seeing that in 2 Corinthians 4 He is the God of this age.

[17:42] This is an evil world system in which we live and the people who are in it are captives of the Master.

[17:53] They are blinded Paul says. The God of this age has blinded the minds of those that believe not so that the light of the glorious gospel of Christ which is the image of God should not shine unto them.

[18:06] So there is a spiritual impediment there and it is provided by the adversary himself. Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.

[18:24] Or do you think that the scripture speaks to no purpose in other words to no end? Do you think the Bible is just whistling Dixie that it doesn't really have anything to say here?

[18:36] he jealously desires the spirit which he has made to dwell in us. That is God has provided for us the remedy the formula that is needed to combat the problem.

[18:56] Mark I've got to stop you there. Alright. Because I totally disagree with your interpretation of that. Okay. What do you think it's saying? He's talking about the human spirit here and not the Holy Spirit because we haven't even had Paul's doctrine introduced at this point in James.

[19:13] He's like you started out this is to the Jews this is prophecy this is not Jesus' doctrine because if you finish that phrase the spirit that dwells in us lusts us to envy.

[19:25] That's talking about our natural spirit our nature spirit the one that we're born with it lusts us after envy. This is not this is small s too. It's a small s it's not a big s I think he's not talking about the Holy Spirit here.

[19:38] Well he's not no. He's not talking about the Holy Spirit. No he's not talking about the Spirit that comes in us when we accept Jesus. Well where do you think the capitals came from when you see here it was the spirit being capitalized?

[19:56] Yeah it came from man. It didn't come from the Lord. They're capital letters that we see in our Bible whether it's King James or New American Standard or whatever you have. They were not in the original text.

[20:09] They were written in the regular case letters and they did not capitalize like that. In fact in the Greek they did not use what we consider to be punctuation.

[20:23] And when the Greeks wanted to emphasize something in a sentence and make it paramount they led the sentence with it. They put it at the very beginning.

[20:35] It might be a little awkward to read it that way but that's the way they emphasize the content of that particular verse. And when he says here do you think that the scripture speaks to no purpose he jealously desires the spirit which he has made to dwell in us but he gives greater grace therefore it says God is opposed to the proud but gives grace to the humble.

[21:02] Now what does this say about the spirit that he has made to dwell in us? Well the spirit that he has made to dwell in us originally was fine.

[21:15] That's the problem. But that spirit that human spirit and this is the human spirit that he's talking about and I don't want to belabor this but because we've covered it I think sufficiently but let me just for the sake of the text here make it clear again.

[21:33] We are as human beings we are comprised of material and immaterial substance. Well I can't even call it immaterial substance because if it's immaterial it isn't substance but we are comprised of that which is physical and non-physical.

[21:53] materiality and immateriality. Our materiality is our physical body that is made up of stuff.

[22:04] Blood, bone, tissue, etc. Our immateriality is not made of anything and this is what causes so many to deny its existence because you cannot evaluate it.

[22:27] You cannot subject it to a laboratory experiment. You can't weigh it. You can't measure it. You can't see it. but it is real. Now it is only I suspect it is only the Christian position that adopts this as having objective reality because the scientific community does not and you need to understand that.

[22:52] But it is the scientific community that rejects the concept and let me explain it.

[23:05] You've heard the expression of mind over matter. Mind is immaterial. Matter is not.

[23:17] And as difficult as it is for us to believe this your mind has superiority over your matter.

[23:30] Let me put it this way. your mind is the boss of your brain. The brain is physical the mind is not.

[23:43] And I read an interesting book just recently her name the name of the author is Sharon Dirks D-I-R very unusual name spelled D-I-R-X-X I think.

[23:57] And the title of the book is Am I Just My Brain? And the conclusion that she reached of course and she's coming from a Christian position is that no I am not just my brain because I am also a mind as well as a brain.

[24:16] And I pointed out to you in the past the Bible never once uses the word brain but it uses the word mind hundreds of times.

[24:27] and this goes back to this very principle that we're talking about here that we are more than our body. We really need to understand that because you have a non-physical dimension to your being and this is what James is talking about and this is what the Bible is talking about in general when it talks about the spirit.

[24:49] God's spirit bears witness with our spirit that we are the sons of God. And when you receive Christ as your Savior it was that immaterial part of your being that was regenerated that was made new and your body wasn't changed at all.

[25:13] And that immaterial part of your being when you die physically exits the body and is present with the Lord. And the body is buried or cremated or whatever and you become a disembodied spirit.

[25:31] But the spirit goes to be with the Lord. And this is the very core of our being. What this means is fellas is that your human spirit is that which gives direction to your brain your wishes and desires and your will starts in your human spirit.

[25:59] And you in that human spirit the mind sends a signal to the brain what you want the brain to do.

[26:10] And the brain responds by looking, by touching, by reaching, by whatever. What Joe? Just quick. That spirit and that human spirit is the one that we got then when Adam sinned.

[26:23] From then on, all man had a spirit, this bad spirit, this human nature we call it. Right. We're sinners.

[26:34] It makes us sinners. It makes us sinners. And that's the one he's talking about here. Right. And the thing that makes it difficult, and it is difficult, is that there is this contest going on because when you receive Christ as your Savior, you receive a new capacity, a supernatural capacity, to actually be able to please God.

[26:59] You did not have that ability before. And by the way, we really need to understand, that doesn't mean that it's automatic, because it isn't. The will comes into play here in a way that is just truly remarkable.

[27:12] and it is the will and the fact that we are endowed with a volition that gives each of us a sphere of accountability. It is because we have the ability to make choices, to make decisions, that's what holds us responsible or makes us responsible.

[27:33] If you don't have that ability, then you become an irresponsible person like somebody who is mentally impaired. That's an entirely different situation. situation. And let's continue on now. He says, he gives a greater grace therefore, God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble.

[27:50] The reason that God is opposed to the proud is because anyone who is traveling in a sphere of pride is someone who is trafficking in unreality.

[28:08] And God is a God of reality. pride, human pride, is that which deals with a falsity because there is no basis for it at all.

[28:22] And yet, people traffic in it, travel in it, treat it as legitimate, but it has no legitimacy at all. If there is anything that is a contradiction in terms, it's a proud Christian.

[28:36] Christian. That is an oxymoron, a proud Christian, because one who is a Christian knows he has no basis for anything to be proud.

[28:48] Now, there is a difference between, let me put it this way, Paul, Paul said that God forbid that I should glory, that I should manifest pride, or have anything to be proud about.

[29:07] God forbid that I should glory, save in, or accept in, the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. That's what I glory in.

[29:18] that's the basis of pride right there, is what God did in Christ. That gives you something to be proud about. But it's because you are a recipient of that, it's not because you have earned it or deserve it, you have no claim upon it.

[29:33] So, the pride thing that goes before the fall is endemic to this self-centeredness that we're talking about. And it is a kind of thing that is infectious, and it causes us to elevate ourselves in a way that we ought not.

[29:54] God resists the proud but he gives grace to the humble. How do you humble yourself anyway?

[30:07] You use your will. You use your will to decide to put others ahead of yourself. that's the essence of it.

[30:18] To put Christ ahead of yourself. It is, well, pride is such an insidious, pride is that thing that when you think you've got it, you don't.

[30:33] Don? I don't know, it seems like it's impossible. You have pride in your children, you have pride in accomplishments, you have pride in a number of things, but, I don't pride in you.

[30:46] We use the term and it's not a good word to use. It's not a good word to use. We can be proud of our family. No, you have no basis to be proud of your family. I'll tell you what you have, you have a basis to be grateful for your family.

[31:01] There's the difference. Grateful, thankful, not proud. If you are, and we use the term all the time, and I trust that you know what we mean by it, but it all depends on where the person is coming from as to what they mean.

[31:15] They may say that they are proud and they mean it in the right sense, but it's not a good word to use because it's an inaccurate term.

[31:27] And pride is such an insidious thing, but like I said, when you think you've got it, you don't.

[31:38] It reminds me of a fellow that said, I wrote a book, oh really, what's the title of it? It's called The World's Ten Most Humble Men and How I Chose the Other Nine.

[31:55] We have a way of betraying ourselves, really. We can be proud of the most insidious things. It's like saying my family is greater than your family.

[32:09] Yeah, that's true. It's like saying my family is greater than your family. And if it starts out with a kid when they're three or four years old, my dad can whip your dad. And it's, where does this come from?

[32:23] It's born in you. It's ingrained. It's automatic. You don't have to work to adopt this. You have to work to root it out. And you can root it out only when you understand that there is no truth to it at all.

[32:39] And we as believers have no business trafficking in anything that we discover to be untrue. Because we are supposed to speak truth, every man to his neighbor.

[32:52] So this is really practical stuff. And you know what? James is dealing with a malady that infected the people that he was writing to 2,000 years ago and nothing has changed.

[33:05] Not a thing. Not a thing. Human nature is the same as it has always been. God is opposed to the proud but gives grace to the humble.

[33:16] Submit therefore to God. How do you do that? You use your will. You use your will. You determine. You have, listen, and this is an amazing thing.

[33:28] I wish I understood it better. Everyone has a volition, a human volition, capacity to make choices and decisions. And when you came to faith in Christ, God did not remove that volition from you.

[33:46] But you've got a new sphere in which you can operate and are supposed to operate with that volition because it is something that God has placed within you at regeneration that gives you the ability to overcome things that you did not have the ability to overcome before.

[34:09] You did not have a supernatural soul. Before, all you had was willpower. And some people get a lot of mileage out of willpower.

[34:22] But most of us know that there is a point in time when willpower is going to fail you. It just doesn't always deliver because we sometimes succumb to the temptation even though and here's the point even though you don't have to you choose to.

[34:43] And we can con ourselves into thinking I really have no choice. The temptation was too great. I could not possibly resist it.

[34:54] So, it wasn't my fault. That's self preservation. That's, hey guys, that's the ego thing. And the ego thing is our major besetting sin.

[35:08] The ego is another thing, is another expression of this self-will, of this self-centeredness. That's what, we're all part of the same package. Submit, therefore, to God.

[35:20] You can do that. And for the one who says, well, I really wish I could submit to God, but it's just not in me. I just can't do it. Yes, you can.

[35:30] You choose not to. It's as simple as that. You want to run your life your way. And God, bug off. And if I need you, I'll call you, and then I expect you to be there.

[35:44] But in the meanwhile, leave me alone and let me make my own decisions. That's pretty much where the world's coming from. And it's my life. I'm going to do with it as I please.

[35:58] And how many times has that been said around the world. And there is no consideration at all. It's your life? Yeah. Where do you think that life came from? Who gave you that life?

[36:11] Who gave you eyes to see and ears to hear and legs to walk and all the rest of it? And that's, of course, completely ignored. But this is part of the blindness with which we are all accursed.

[36:28] Wow. Draw near to God. I can't do that. Yes, you can. He says you can. And he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.

[36:43] Double-minded man is unstable in all his ways. How many, goes all the way back to Elijah, how long will you halt between two opinions?

[36:55] If Baal is God, worship him, and if the Lord is God, worship him. Dave? You skipped over a verse. Right after drawing near to God, and he will draw near, no, back up.

[37:08] Submit, therefore, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. You jumped over that. Well, we're not finished with the passage.

[37:19] Yeah, go ahead. That's the hardest part, is to resist the devil, and he will flee from you. It's hard to make, it's hard to convince anybody that the devil will actually flee from you.

[37:35] Yeah, well. He's resident. How do we, how do we make the devil flee from a political party that is completely consumed by it?

[37:47] What party is that? Well, I don't, I don't, I don't have, I don't have the handle on, on the devil that, that, that I wish I had.

[38:02] And I don't have any reason to believe that Satan is omnipresent. But he does have a demonic horde that he utilizes, and we don't understand either exactly how they operate.

[38:17] How, how, how do demons actually affect people? We've got some very dramatic cases of it in the New Testament where our Lord dealt with demons and actually even communicated with them.

[38:30] Who, we know who you are. Have you come to destroy us before the time? The demon cried out when Christ was ready to cast them out. So, we know that there, that there are demonic beings, and we know that they are spirit beings, and as far as we can tell, they are, they are the one-third, or comprised the one-third of the fallen angels that Lucifer succeeded in recruiting when he fell.

[38:59] And exactly how it is that they operate, how they affect the human mind, and impact people's decisions, I don't know. But Joe does. Go ahead, Joe. Joe does.

[39:10] Yes, because we know he's the deceiver. And he tries, makes things look really good that aren't really good. Now, that's the, you take the political thing.

[39:22] All right, there's a lot of good Democrats out there that are wonderful people, and they think they are on the right side, and they are doing the right thing. Name what? Well, deception is his principal tool, there's no doubt about that.

[39:44] And it's really important to understand, not only politically, but morally. And I've often made the point, because sometimes people accuse me of being too political.

[39:56] And I want to emphasize this, and I believe this with every fiber of my being. There is no possible way that you can separate politics from morality.

[40:12] It cannot be done. Because politics involves government. It's government. Politics is government. It's the realm under which we live.

[40:25] It has to do with those who make the rules. And people who make the rules and enact the laws do so always on the basis of someone's concept of right and wrong, morality and immorality.

[40:44] And we see that coming out in spades today. I mean, in ways that are so previously unthinkable.

[40:57] Same-sex marriage? Men competing in women's athletic events? Are you serious? What is going on?

[41:08] I'll tell you what's going on. The world's going crazy. The world has bought into this concept. We have repeatedly made the point that when our first parents fell, morally and spiritually, everything about them fell.

[41:28] Everything. Not just their physical being, but their emotional and spiritual being. Our fallenness is in totality.

[41:40] And that's the problem. And it affects the way we think. this is one reason that we have, and a very big reason, this is the reason we have the Word of God, is to give us the corrective that shows us where we're wrong and why we're wrong and what the right is.

[42:01] That's what this book is all about. It addresses that issue. And let me tell you fellas, there isn't any place else that does.

[42:11] you will not find the remedy to the human problem in the encyclopedia. It isn't there. You find it only in the scriptures.

[42:22] Only in the one who has the true perspective of it all and he reveals it to us so that, so that, we can embrace it, live by it, and die by it and be the better for it.

[42:38] Because that's what this book is really all about. It is to address the creation that God has provided. It is marvelous, marvelous stuff. Draw near to God and he will draw near to you.

[42:53] Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Be miserable and mourn and weep. This is contrition. This is contrition.

[43:04] Now, that's another issue that I've struggled with because I think that the gospel is as simple as it can possibly be.

[43:15] To believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. But you have to have a reason to believe. And Paul tells us in Romans, I think it's Romans 13, whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord will be saved.

[43:33] The question then comes, why call? Why call on the name of the Lord? You call only because you have come to the position that you have a need and you can't meet it.

[43:47] You can't meet it. So you appeal to one who can. You call on the Lord. And along with this recognizing that you have a need, and the temptation that many would say is what you would be doing, is there a feeling there?

[44:14] And I struggle with this because I certainly don't want to encumber the gospel with anything. But I am troubled. I am troubled by the fact that there are numbers of people who have professed a relationship with Christ.

[44:36] They claim to be saved and yet they evidence nothing by way of a changed life or changed interest or anything.

[44:49] And you cannot, you cannot really tell them from an unbeliever. And yet they will make no bones about it and telling you that they are a believer.

[45:01] And I struggled with that and I used to just say well, maybe it's just a lack of spiritual growth, that's all. They just have it grow.

[45:11] Well, invariably that's involved because all of us have a growth or lack of growth problem, I don't care who you are. and I'm trying in that phrase to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ as an act of the will.

[45:26] And there are those who say that if you add anything to that, you are depreciating the gospel because it is justification by faith alone.

[45:37] You don't have to feel anything. Okay? But let me ask you this. Is it okay then, regarding this sin issue, and this is the whole basis for believing on Christ is because we have a need we can't meet and the problem is our sin.

[45:56] What is your feeling or your relationship to your sin? Is there something you have to feel about your sin?

[46:09] Need you have regret or sorrow about your sin? And there are some who say no! No! Doesn't make any difference how you feel about your sin.

[46:21] All you need to do is believe. Alright? Then, about my sin, can I do this? Can I say, well, frankly, I'm proud of my sin.

[46:39] I love my sin. sin. And I have no desire to, I have no desire to give up this sinful lifestyle.

[46:51] However, I do want to go to heaven when I die, so I believe on that basis. But I'm not about to give up my sin. What's going on here?

[47:05] is there something that we've overlooked? What, what does the word contrite mean? God loves a sincere and a contrite heart.

[47:27] What is contrition? Contrition is an inner pain or discomfort over your failure and over your wrong.

[47:41] You are contrite. That is the opposite of being proud of your sin when you realize, is this involved?

[47:52] Is there something that is taking place here whereby a person has just made a profession but hasn't really even analyzed the idea or the need of sin that they never come to grips with the reality that it was their sin, their waywardness, their rebellion that resulted in Jesus Christ dying in your place for your sins?

[48:21] Is it possible for someone to say they believe and they've never really experienced any true sorrow of heart, any real?

[48:32] And our Catholic friends call this penance. And I've tried to make a distinction between penance and repent because there's a world of difference.

[48:42] Don't make the mistake of saying they are the same because penance is something that you must do yourself in order to please God or satisfy God.

[48:56] But repent simply means change your mind. It has nothing to do with penance. It has nothing to do with paying part of your salvation. Repent means you change your mind.

[49:10] That is you reverse yourself from what you believed previously to this new position of Christ died for your sins and you need whatever it was you believed in and you were counting on getting you to heaven before you came to faith in Christ.

[49:26] You've got to change your mind about that. That's what repentance is. What Don? You carried it a little bit too far. Okay. All right. Let's say that repentance.

[49:38] Let's say that well a stream coming right out of the earth. You could drink the water there. As it comes up and down it gets polluted. Well that's what you basically are facing like in our youth today.

[49:51] You can teach them everything that you're teaching the choir here but when you get to the youth and you've taught them all this and you put them in an atmosphere where it's poison.

[50:04] Are they strong enough to resist that poison? No. Not anymore. It doesn't seem that way. So you know how do you get around this? That's the thing that bothers me at no end. You can have this child you can take it to church you can take it to study school or whatever it gets into college and boom it starts believing in self-sex marriage and earth.

[50:23] There is certainly no question that that is a big big issue and it is so disconcerting and disheartening to parents who sometimes pay exorbitant sums of money to send their kids off to an expensive college where they are expected to get the best education possible and they come home for their first home visit and they announce to the family around the Thanksgiving dinner table that they no longer believe in church or that religious stuff and whatnot and they have been liberated from that and the family is supposed to be happy for them but they have seen the light and that this younger generation you know these kids today they are so much smarter than we are.

[51:10] I mean they've learned so much and they you know and hey you wonder how many how many living room dining rooms across America this scene has been played out you know it's and and parents scratch their head and they say what and you know what fellas listen I don't want to beat this drum but it is so important everything everything everything depends on information don't ever forget that everything depends on information information information is data it's content that requires analysis and processing and you process that information for just one reason and that is to determine the veracity of it is it believable is it true or not because information that is process is then acted upon then it's time for action you reach a decision you reach a decision and that too is what repentance is all about and you listen fellas you can repent and be as wrong as rain I mean as wrong as anything you can repent and move from a position of truth to error and that's still repentance because the word means change your mind that's all it means that's all it means change your mind and you can change your mind from believing something that was true that you embraced as true and now you reject that and you believe something that isn't true you've repented you've gone the wrong direction there's still repentance all I'm talking about is the meaning of the word words mean things don't assign definitions to them if you don't know what the word means you've got to decide what the word means and it means to change your mind and it doesn't by the way it doesn't necessarily have anything at all to do with anything spiritual you realize you realize that many of the words that are used in the Bible were used in common everyday language long before the

[53:32] Bible was ever written the word gospel is not original with the Bible gospel the word gospel was around long before Paul ever wrote about it all it means is good news that's what it means but you have to define the good news like Paul talks about in Romans when he opens it when he talks about the gospel of God which God has given about his son the good news about his son and that particularizes the good news so you got to talk about what good news are you talking about all kinds of good news and someone says there's only one gospel no there's a lot of gospels there's a lot of good news there's only one gospel of the grace of God that leads to salvation that's true there's only that one gospel but there are a lot of other gospels there are a lot of false gospels out there a lot of false gospels in fact fellas there are more false gospels than there is a true gospel that's the basis for all the cultic activity and everything that you see other comments or thoughts yeah you can't believe both that's right you can't believe both you've got you've got to no Jesus said no man can serve two masters because the master is the ultimate one that you serve so you cannot have two masters it's impossible you can only have one master make a choice because a double-minded man is unstable in all his ways and

[55:25] Jesus said no man can serve two masters he will love one and hate the other or reverse it because you cannot serve two masters it's like well it's illogical to do so and it looks like it's time to make it quick because the competition has arrived so hey guys thank you for your kind attention this morning we've covered some really important concepts and material and this is this is this is life changing stuff and I I trust that it's getting getting to you as it's gotten to me thank you all for being here all �ès if hone great fun you