We have to be honest about where we are on the inside, and then decide whether we are going to live for God or for ourselves. What I am going to do is preach from the Bible, but how am I going to approach the Word of God? If I approach it in the wrong way, it’s not helpful. If I approach it as the Word of God and open my heart, which means I don’t come with a preconceived idea of "Here we go again," or "God never speaks to me." But if I come and believe it is the Word of God, I’m coming to something which is life transforming, and by His Holy Spirit He can get inside you to help you.
We’re going to look at something direct this morning. I want you to suspend the image you portray to other people. I want you to treat this as if I’m saying words by God’s Holy Spirit direct to you. It isn’t that you have to be someone else, you can be you. Forget everyone else. We’re going to look at something very relevant to you and to me.
On Friday I spoke of the power of words. With words backed up by a heart that’s wrong, you might as well be a hitting someone. You can batter an individual with what you say. We looked at how the tongue is a fire. The tongue can only be tamed by a change on the inside, when God gets hold of an individual. Otherwise, as we’ll now see, there’s something as far as the east from the west: the difference between a heart that’s right and a heart that’s wrong. By the end of this sermon, we will see verses which outline the difference between what is right and what is wrong. This talk is set in the context that God wants to do what is right for you. He is not against you. God is going to show to you the way forward for your good.
James 3:13 - 14
The word ‘strife’ in verse 14 means selfish ambition. Before we meet God there is no sense in which we can care for another person. We can’t. Only God can bring care for a person. If you have bitter envying and strife in your hearts, don’t boast about it. Wisdom of the world is destructive.
James 3:16
‘Confusion’ could mean unquietness. Confusion is a great cover up. What we like to do is portray what we want others to think about us.
It is possible that God can get hold of an individual, and they can be at peace knowing that God has come to this earth to sort out the sin that is in their heart. There’s a sense in which there’s a need to sort the sin issue out. But you say, “If God comes inside you become a robot.” No, what I’m saying is that inside there is something you can’t stop if God has not changed you inside.
For some of you the reaction is, “If God can’t do it, I can’t do anything.” The purpose that God has for you today is this: He wants to change you on the inside, and He will. He is organising circumstances to hem you in. It’s a wonderful hemming in because it’s God’s love hemming you in.
He never gets it wrong with circumstances. The circumstances are there, driven by a God who loves you and who wants to reach you on the inside, to change you.
James 3:17 - 18
In other words, the fruit is righteousness and the peace makers bring it about. The opposite of verse 17 is the wisdom of this world, which is discordant, it is hard to be entreated, it is hard to help. One day they are this, the next they are that - you just don’t know where they are. They are full of hate, and in the inside is decay.
‘Without partiality’ is showing no favouritism. The opposite of that is a clique that puffs themselves up, and has their own personal opinions. ‘Without hypocrisy,’ the opposite of which is a double life; one thing here and something else outside.
James 4:1-3
For someone without God, everything is for the pursuit of pleasure, which doesn’t last. It’s possible to have everything which is geared to pleasure. Curiously, it’s as if you’ve asked God before, and it hasn’t worked out because you’ve asked for the wrong thing.
James 4:4-5
Obviously, the Gospel is for mankind and is the answer for mankind. These two verses, 4 and 5, wrongly taken would mean that God somehow is depriving you of something, that somehow the world has something which you are not allowed to have. That is how, in your mind, you justify what you do. That’s what the enemy puts in your mind. It’s funny how the spirit of the world portrays something as a must-have, and the spirit of the world says, “It doesn’t matter how far you go and what you do or say, and that you link up with these people who do you no good.” It’s of concern that anyone should be shunning God’s love for them.
James 4:6-7
Do you believe in God? Yes you do. Is there something inside you that’s prompting you about what you need to do? You need to submit yourself to God. One problem for some is that they’ve built up such a pathway that they like to go through. They know it is wrong but they still go through it. There’s been a prompting by God’s Spirit that actually says, “That is what I need to do; I need to submit myself to God.” That is the way of life; the other is the way of death.
James 4:8
This is saying that if I make a move in my heart to God, He will draw nigh to me. Who’s putting it in you to draw nigh to Him? He is. Draw nigh to God, and He will draw nigh to you. I don’t believe you when you say that you don’t care about this. I know you do. I know that God is speaking to you. It doesn’t matter about the people around you.
James 4:9-10
You have what you have because of what God has done for you, because He loves you. You need to go to where you’re gut honest and know that you cannot sort your own life out. You say: “I need God to change me on the inside, because I am a sinner.”
James 4:10-12
Self-explanatory. We are all under the master.
James 4:13-14
God has His way in His people to perfect what He wants to do in His time. He’s our loving heavenly Father – see verse 13. In other words, the priority of someone’s life should be set in the context of, "What do you, God, want for my life? I want to do what you want me to do from now on in. As a father, mother, whoever you are. What God is putting his finger on this morning is to arrest your attention and to ask you what it’s going to be. Are you going to live a double life? Or are you going to be so honest, that no matter what happens, you are still there standing before God knowing that you need God to save you on the inside. Draw nigh to God and He will draw nigh to you. There are so many people at the moment who are trying to make plans for their life, day by day. Hang on, who’s giving you the breath to breathe? Whose is your life?
James 4:17
Sin is knowing what to do and not doing it. The positives from these verses as to what you can do are:
James 4:7-10
I feel that today is a watershed, because what God wants is for you and me to be clear, going forward, following Him. What He doesn’t want is for us to be unclear. He doesn’t want us to have a foot in both camps, as in, the world as opposed to Him. Each person is of equal value in the sight of God. These verses this morning, if you like, take each person as an individual before God. For some of you I’m reinforcing where you are in God. As for me and my house we’ll serve the Lord. For some of you, the Holy Spirit is saying to you that you have to come down on one side or the other. You cannot go with spirit of the world that is where basically anything goes, but in church it’s a different image.
The wisdom comes from above. God is showing you things in your life at this moment because He loves you. We are all different but the common denominator is that He is our Saviour. He has cleansed us from above. He has cleansed on the inside. The power of sin has been broken in my life. I’m going God’s way.
Today God is saying, “Draw nigh to me and I will draw nigh to you.” Forget your image, and what others have said. Others have said, “What is church?” Church is about individual people, such as you and me. Church is a group of people for whom God send His Son. We need to get serious because life is serious. The devil says that as a Christian you can’t have fun because you can’t do Christian x or y. This is not true. The joy of the Lord is wonderful.
It’s an honour for me to be able to preach this to you and to myself because this word is the Word of God. If there’s anyone here who is hearing these words and knows that the Spirit is talking to you. The Spirit is saying that you need to set yourself to go God’s way. He got you here to hear these words. Is it going to be the wisdom not from above or the wisdom from above?
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